A Different Place
By Dark Star
Disclaimer, please read.
All work contained herein is my own and copyrighted as such. All characters, events, places and anything else in this story are completely fictitious and are not meant to bear any resemblance to anyone living or dead. Places and other entities mentioned in this story that actually exist are not to be taken as in any way resembling whatever may be portrayed in this story. I make no claim to their beliefs, actions, inactions or anything else relating to them for that matter. This story may not be reproduced for other than personal use unless you have my written permission.
This story may very likely contain scenes of a sexual nature. Not only that but the scenes may be between children as well as between children and adults and may be homosexual in nature. I am not sure where the story will go at this point so cannot say for sure all that may occur. This is NOT a sex story and if you are looking for one then go elsewhere. This story also may deal with abuse of a child by reference or by description. Except for any abuse described the scenes of a sexual nature will be consensual. If this isn't your cup of tea then stop now.
Author's Note
I want to take a moment to say that the scenes of abuse described herein are for the purpose of showing what the child had to deal with and why things which occur in the story do. They are not meant to excite or titillate in any way. I do NOT support the harming of a child EVER under any circumstance and those scenes depicted herein are not meant to get someone off but make them sick as they did me when I wrote them. Needless to say beware of any laws where you live which may pertain to a story like this and abide by them. You may infer what you like from my stories regarding my beliefs about things but for the record I do not advocate sexual contact with children and encourage you to keep it to reading about it rather than doing it.
This is my first story and you should know that while it is likely to have sex in it at some point, a lot of the story won't. It isn't about sex. I have tried to make it about writing a good story. I hope you enjoy it and like I said keep in mind it's my first. I hope it's not too bad. Thanks go to Jeff, AC, MS and DK amongst others who couldn't write chapters fast enough and caused me to give it a try after reading Comicality and his comments about how he got started. Also thanks to all the kids in the CSU, awesome every one of them. Feel free to e-mail me at Darkstar7177@gmail.com or Darkstar7177@aim.com
Author's note 2:
*asterisk indicates telepathic communication.
< --- > indicates emotion being sent during telepathic communication.
Dani is pronounced Dahnay, Tanara is pronounced Tahnahrah
The Radio Rancher is on board as the official editor of this story as well as OOTP. He also is acting as a sounding board for me about the chapters and I feel that his input can only improve the product that you will see not to mention fixing my lack of punctuation skills amongst other things. J
RR is an accomplished writer in
his own right and I urge you to check out his story "The Shimmering Ship" at Crackerwriter's Story Site
along with the other fabulous stories contained on Crackerwriter's
website as well as the entire
In addition if you get the chance check out some of the following stories on Nifty and other sites.
Author Miguel Sanchez and his works like "The Ranch and Julio"
Gary Q and his stories on Jeffs Fort
Scribe1971 and "Substitute Dad" at The Story Lover
SnwDmn and "Rodies' Love" at Rodie's Love
Dan Kirk and his multiple stories at Stories by Dan Kirk
They are great stories and there are others around as well that deserve your attention.
RR Thank you.
Thanks goes to ACFan for hosting this story on the cafe and especially to
the whole
I kind of woke up some time later in that half awake state between being awake and being asleep to hear soft voices speaking and Rebecca saying
"If
you look out the window you can see
I sat bolt upright in shock and felt fear run through me, suddenly I couldn't breathe and started gasping for breath as the kids ran over scared and calling my name but all I could manage to gasp out as I stared wildly at them was
"No...it can't be"
All I
could think about were the words `
Chapter 16
I frantically got up and pushed past them in a fog, ignoring their cries of concern, as I ran to the window and looked out.
There below us was a brightly lit city, and the bridge, even from this altitude plainly visible and both very much alive.
I sank back into the chair, as if all the energy had just run out of my body, and something clicked in my mind.
I now
knew why
We
had been to
How?
I could still hear the kids calling to me, and Rebecca, asking what was wrong, but I was lost in thought, as I heard Keith say
"I
don't know it doesn't make sense, he thinks
I knew I should answer them, but I couldn't think straight, the only thing that was in my mind, was how could it be there.
I knew that some races had the technology to travel through time, but I also knew that it was banned to all except the temporal enforcement unit of the Federation.
I frantically searched my mind but couldn't find anything from those last minutes to explain how I could be in a different time.
One minute we were leaving the planet, and the next we were in those distortions.
Mom hadn't moved us in time, to save us or anything, because after we had hit the distortions, I could remember the computer saying that we were going to crash into a Class M planet within a few minutes.
If she was going to do it, then she would have done so before we hit the damn things, not after, and the computer had said Class M, which meant a fully habitable planet for most carbon based life forms, after we struck them soooo that would mean that the distortions must have a temporal element to them.
Somehow they had catapulted Tani and I back in time. But the question is...
And I came back to my surroundings with a gentle slap on the face and Rebecca, shaking me calling my name.
I looked up at her, and actually recognized her as she gazed at me with worry plainly etched on her face.
I glanced around to see everyone else looking at me with the same worried concerned expressions on their faces mixed with fear for me as Rebecca asked,
"Danny, are you alright? What happened?"
I looked at them and didn't know what to say.
I must be back in time, which would mean everything that has happened since my appearance has altered the timeline.
If I told them...
"What's a timeline?" Keith asked breaking my train of thought, and I slammed my shields down hard enough to make all of them cry out and clutch their heads with the pain of it, since we had been linked.
"Timeline?" Rebecca said looking at Keith, and then back to me.
I just stared at her tightlipped and Keith said
"He was thinking about this timeline thingy, before he shut us out," with a hurt expression in his voice.
I could see Rebecca thinking, and putting things together, and I didn't know what I was going to do.
If I said anything, it could alter the timeline, yet my presence had already done so.
I just didn't know enough about these things, I was only eleven after all.
I remember my studies about how important it was for the TEU not to change anything when they went on exploratory missions, and I remember the lesson about Kazoz 3. The ruler there was an evil man who murdered millions in his quest for absolute power. I remember the lesson to extrapolate what would have happened if he hadn't died when he did.
The scenario was not one which was pleasant to contemplate in the least.
He had been stung by a Narvina and had died within moments. The lesson in temporal interference had been to ask what if someone went back in time and killed the Narvina, the week before thereby making it impossible for it to sting the king on that particular day, thereby saving the king's life, and allowing him to continue with his bloody rule.
The point being, that the smallest most inconsequential seeming change in a timeline could have disastrous results.
I certainly had done things which were far beyond tiny changes.
I had given a life and I may also have saved three others as well, at the very least I had altered their lives from what they would have been.
These weren't little things.
I realized Rebecca was trying to get my attention again, and I focused back on her, to find her calling my name.
"Danny, are you from the future instead of another planet?"
I shook my head and said
"I...I am from another planet Rebecca," while she looked at me and said "and"
"And the distortions we encountered seemed to contain a temporal component as well, this is not my time," I told her.
She nodded and said, "you're scared now of changing the timeline, aren't you?"
I looked at her and told her, "yes, but more than that, I already have," I said as I looked at my new family surrounding me.
"Explain." She said commandingly.
I bowed my head, and then raised it, telling her
"Keith would be dead right now if I hadn't interfered, and possibly Matt and Amanda as well.
At the very least, the outcome would have been vastly different for them than what it is now." I told her.
She looked at me, and asked "are you sure?" while the others looked at me, not understanding any of it.
"Yes." I told her simply, and she sat back with a whoosh.
"So now what? She asked.
"I don't know." I told her.
"What are you talking about?" asked Matt, and Keith asked "what going on?"
"Why did you put your shields up?" Amanda wanted to know.
"That hurt." Keith said.
I felt tears in my eyes, as I grabbed Keith and pulled him to me.
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, any of you." I said looking at all of them.
"What's wrong Danny?" Keith asked me, looking up at me with such complete faith, it was scary.
I didn't know what to do and looked at Rebecca, who was staring silently back at me.
I could tell there would be no answer there, and I said to her,
"I'm just a kid, I don't know what to do."
"I don't have an answer for you, Danny, what's done is done, and there's no use crying over spilt milk. All I can say is to follow your heart, it hasn't done too bad so far," Rebecca said, with a gentle smile on her face, and finally taking some pity on me.
"What is it Danny?" Matt asked, this time, and I looked at all of them before continuing.
"I didn't realize it until I heard Rebecca telling you to come and look out the window, at a city that doesn't exist." This got confused looks, and Amanda saying,
"I don't understand."
"The distortions which hit and destroyed the ship, killing my mother, sent us back in time, not somewhere else in space, as I thought." I said, as Rebecca interrupted saying,
"this is the planet you were studying isn't it, the one where the civilization destroyed itself?"
I nodded my head yes, and raised my eyes to her, to see her gasp in shock at my confirmation.
"In my time, Earth is destroyed completely.
There is no life of any kind present.
It is one of a number of planets that children are taken to, in order to see what could happen with emergent species.
We were leaving our field trip, to go back to meet the rest of my family, when we hit the distortion fields.
They sent us back in time, and not to another planet, as I thought at first.
That also explains why my mother and father are not here, and why the computer doesn't have any record of my being born."
"I haven't been," I said as Rebecca stared at me in shock.
The kids still didn't look like they understood it completely, so I tried again.
"I am from the future." I pointed at Matt and said "you were born 10 years ago, but I haven't even been born yet." I told them. "It would be kind of like if you went back to when your mother was a little girl. You would still be 10 years old, but you would be back in time. Does that help any?" I asked.
"Yea kind of, but why are you so upset about it?"
I took a deep breath and said,
"Well, when you go back in time, you have to be real careful, not to do anything that would change the way things are supposed to be."
"What do you mean?" Mandy asked me.
How can I explain temporal causality to a bunch of kids that have no idea what I am talking about, when I don't really understand that much about it myself?
Rebecca came to the rescue.
"listen, let me try to explain it to you. There is a little girl, and she is walking to school one day. Now, if you look at history, this little girl left her house on Monday, and walked to school just fine, and went through her day without any problems. But lets say you go back in time to that morning, and as you are walking along the street, you bump into her while she is on her way to school. She is at a street corner, when you accidentally bump into her, and it distracts her just as she is about to cross the street, so she doesn't look both ways before she crosses the street, and a car hits her. She gets hurt, and has to go to the hospital and get a cast on her leg. They keep her overnight to watch her, and make sure she is ok. You see where things have been changed in the history now?"
Everyone nodded their heads and she went on.
"Now the first version of history and the changed version are called timelines. Timeline 1 is when she went to school Monday and didn't have any problems at all, while Timeline 2 is what happened when you bumped into her, and she got hit by the car. But see the problem is that the smallest change in a timeline can have horrible consequences that you don't see. Now in Timeline 1 the girl was fine, so she went to school the next morning, and after school got into a conversation with another girl which kept them hanging around the school for a while, and then they went home, with the other little girl running into her house and changing clothes, then running back out and going to the first girls house to play. But in Timeline 2, the girl was in the hospital the next day, and couldn't be there talking to that other little girl, so the other little girl headed straight home after school, and since she wasn't going over to the first girl's house, decided to take a bath. The only thing is that she slipped and fell, striking her head, and by the time her parents came home, from work she had died. All this because of you bumping into the one girl. But you see that's not the end of it either. The second girl met people and made friends as well as enemies. She eventually grew up and had a job and children and stuff like that in the first timeline, but in the second, none of that ever happened, because of one small thing happening that changed it all. Lets say that for instance that in the first timeline, she had a little boy, when she grew up and that little boy became a doctor, who invented the cure for cancer, but in the second timeline the little boy was never born, because the girl dies, all because you bumped into the other child. One little thing, and it all changed I could go on but do you understand better now?" she asked them.
They were all looking at her with serious expressions on their faces, and they all nodded their heads yes.
"So you are afraid that you might do something to change the timeline?" Matt asked me
"I already have." I said.
"Its me ain't it?" Keith said in a sad forlorn voice.
I just looked at him sadly, and Amanda turned to him and asked
"What do you mean?"
"The doctor said I died, and Danny saved me. If he wasn't there, then I would've died" he said with tears in his eyes.
I pulled him close to me, and just hugged him.
I let my shields down and let him feel how happy I was with having him here, and how much I loved him.
"Listen, its too late now, I've made a lot of changes to the timeline, because I didn't know what was going on, and I'm not sorry that I saved you, Keith, I'll never be sorry for that." I told him.
"I won't be sorry that I saved you, any of you. I don't know what will happen now, but I'm glad you're all here with me, no matter what." I told them, as I let the love I felt flow over them.
They were my family now and forever, and they needed to know that.
"What happens," Rebecca asked, and I knew exactly what she was talking about.
I looked at her sadly and simply said,
"Too much, and too little, way too late."
She looked at me confused for a moment, and finally said, "you aren't going to tell me are you?"
I shook my head as I said, "it wouldn't do you any good. Many of the things that result in what is to come, are the result of years of things coming together. While you might be able to prevent isolated events from happening, you couldn't prevent the overall destruction which is to come." I told her.
"I don't believe you." she said.
"I know." I told her sadly.
I knew what she wanted, a simple answer that would save her world, but I didn't have it for her.
The others were looking back and forth between us not sure of what was going on.
"What is the month and year?" I asked her next.
"May 2017" she said and I couldn't help but wince. "Its close isn't it?" she asked.
I simply nodded my head.
"Please?" she entreated me, and I finally decided to tell her something of what I had learned.
"We studied your civilization with special attention to the end, and what led to it. You have to understand that the beginning of the end dates back over 50 years. It's not coming up its already began." I said to her.
"I don't understand?" she said.
"My mother told me once that small things can have repercussions much later on, and that is what happened here. Yes, bombs and other things will destroy your world in the future, but its what has already taken place, that results in your destruction." I said as I looked sadly at her.
She didn't say anything for a moment, but then "Tell me, please."
"Very well then. It started with a subspecies of your race. They were mistreated, and had many grievances against your society for their treatment. Your enemy saw this, and bided their time. They first entered your facilities, of incarceration and targeted that group. Not only were they dissatisfied with their treatment, but these were the worst of that group. Your enemy found fertile ground to convert within this mass. Eventually they spread outward from there, into society in general, and that subspecies in particular. By this time you had redressed many of your past actions, and were working to address others, but this group has always felt, and still does feel, that they are owed something by everyone else, within your society, for the actual as well as perceived injustices done to them. Once again, your enemy found fertile ground, feeding the inferiority complex, which this group has. They built a firm base within this group, and fed on the group's hatred of the larger society, to further their own goals."
I paused as she nodded her head in comprehension
"We have our worst enemy already here, don't we?" She stated.
"Yes." was my simple answer.
"Add to that, the influx of believers, into your country, and they don't really need to get people from elsewhere in, they're already here,"
I told her, and let her digest this for a moment before continuing.
"There were many other factors as well. Your governments ineffectual dealing with this group, and its refusal to actually recognize your enemy as such, all lead to the final point. Couple that in with the attitude of appeasement, which your government has practiced, since the late 1980's when your last effective leader was in office, and you have what you have." I finished.
She just looked at me, shocked, before saying;
"But with your knowledge, you must be able to help somehow."
"How? By telling you that on such and such a date, someone in some city in your country is going to detonate a radioactive device. I don't know who or exactly where, so how can it help. Other things we learned from data, indicate assumptions as to where certain events took place, but no surety. If I told you that leaders thought after the fact that a biological toxin was released in a certain city, and you take action but they were wrong, then what?" I asked her.
"You
don't understand, this disease was allowed to flourish on so many levels, for
so many years, that when it starts, it won't be in one place, but hundreds, all
over the world. Your enemy is within you, everywhere. There is nothing to
fight, because you can't exterminate every member of that group, nor can you
find and eliminate all those from muslim
countries, which have come here. There is nothing you can do." I continued, as
I finished trying to convince her. "This will occur, in your cities, of
At about that time, her phone by her seat buzzed, and she answered it. I saw her face tighten and then she said "very well" and hung up.
I looked to her and she said,
"It seems that if we land here, as we originally planned, we would have company awaiting us. They are going to continue on with the original flight plan, while I decide what to do."
"What can we do?" I asked her
"I don't know, I have to make some calls." And she got up and went back towards the rear of the plane.
Everyone was looking at me, with fear on their faces, and finally Matt asked
"What now?"
"I guess we wait." I said.
He looked at me and said "What you were saying, I mean, ah..."
"Yes Matt its true, I'm so sorry." I told him.
He was silent as were the others and I didn't break it.
My concern was how I was going to get out, off this world with my brother and them, before it started.
I didn't have a ship, and didn't know how I could get one either.
I couldn't just contact someone either, for that held the distinct possibility of screwing up the timeline way beyond what it was already, and with much farther reaching consequences than anything I had done on this planet already, so we sat there in silence, each lost in his or her own thoughts, until Rebecca came back.
She
sat down and began, "We are going to be going to
I nodded just as the phone once again rang. She spoke for a moment before saying,
"We should be landing in about 20 minutes." I nodded once again before telling her,
"We should change our appearances for the time being just to be safe," I told everyone.
They all looked a bit hesitant, although I knew they had the knowledge to do it. I looked at Rebecca, and extended my hand concentrating on her body and a soft glow enveloped it. As the glow faded a woman with long auburn hair approximately 30 years old, sat in her place, dressed in an emerald dress, with gold highlights. There were indrawn breaths from everyone, as I smiled and Amanda got up and walked over, gently touching her face saying,
"Your beautiful."
Rebecca looked slightly confused, before slowly getting up and wandering back to the bathroom, where I heard a startled
"Oh my God!" come from her.
She walked back into the cabin with a look of disbelief on her face. "How?" she asked me.
I told her.
"Molecular transformation."
"Is this...I mean is this real?" she asked me next.
I smiled as I said "Very much so. You now have the body of a 30 year old woman, and that appearance. It will not alter until I change you back." I told her.
She was like a little kid again, as she laughed giddily, and twirled around briefly.
"I forgot what its like to be young again." she said in wonder.
"I could make you 7 again, so Mandy has someone to play with," I said teasingly.
She looked at me, as if she was considering it for a moment, but then shook her head with a hint of sadness thrown in, as she said
"No, you only get one childhood, and I have had mine."
I simply nodded.
I understood.
Mom had always said you only grow up once, so make sure you enjoy it, and she was right.
When I was hundreds of years old, I could make myself a child again, but I would never truly be a child again.
It only happened once in a person's life and once it was over, you couldn't go back.
"You can still come visit," Keith added with a grin on his face which got laughter from all of us, before the next comment rang out,
"What am I going to be?" Mandy asked next.
"Well what do you want to be?" I asked her with a smile on my face.
"A teenager." she said.
"Are you sure? You're body will be different, you know?" I asked and she nodded her head, so once again I concentrated, and extended my hand.
When the glow faded, a young woman of about 15 years, stood there, with dark blond hair, wearing a red dress and black boots.
She marveled at herself, and then ran to the bathroom, before squealing and coming back out.
"Wow, I look so cool!" she said.
"Ok, who's next? I asked, and watched as Matt and Keith looked at each other.
Finally, Matt shrugged his shoulders and stood up, walking over to me, and saying, "I think I would like to stay a kid."
"Ok," I told him and decided to keep him nearly the same, just changing his appearance some. I extended my hand, and once again when the glow faded, an 11 year old boy remained, that looked absolutely nothing like Matt had before.
He also ran into the bathroom and then came back out smiling broadly.
Next, I turned to Keith, and he smiled and said, "A little bigger maybe," and I told him, "ok," before repeating the process, leaving a young boy of about 8, standing before me.
He also ran off, and then came back smiling broadly.
I next went over to Ben, and decided to keep him the same age, but with different features.
When I was done, no one would ever suspect that Ben and this guy, were the same child.
For that matter no one would ever think any of us were the same children.
Keith ran up and asked "What about you?" and I told him, "Watch" as I concentrated on myself, and when the glow faded there was a 10 year old girl standing there, with long dark brown hair, wearing a white dress, with flowers embroidered upon it, and black shiny shoes.
Keith gasped and said, "but...but you're a girl."
"You noticed then, that's a good sign." I told him, laughing
"But you're a boy, I mean you're...I mean" and trailed off in confusion.
I waved my hand over myself removing all my clothes as I said "not anymore, you want to try it" which got a vigorous head shaking as they could all see the vagina there now and no penis as I once again reclothed myself, smiling at their shocked expressions.
The chime sounded, along with the light indicating that we were to take our seats, which we did, as Rebecca said,
"That means we are going to be landing soon."
We all settled back, and waited as we descended, and finally felt ourselves touch down.
They opened the door, and we all walked down the stairs, to the ground below.
I looked around as I noticed that this didn't seem like the airport for a major city.
I was about to ask when Amanda said,
"This feels so weird." and I looked at her, as she was walking.
I knew she was talking about the new body she was in, but she would get used to it, if she wore it for a while.
I turned back to Rebecca, as we reached the bottom of the steps, and asked her,
"I thought you said we were going to a major city?"
She
laughed and replied, "Look over there," pointing off in the distance where
there was a bright light emanating from the horizon. "That's
I nodded and smiled as she led us across the darkened parking lot, to a large vehicle, standing by itself.
She opened up the door and entered, and we all followed with several exclamations from the kids about how cool it was.
As I entered, I found myself in a well appointed interior, that was like a house, with living room and dining area, with more extending back into the dark reaches of the vehicle.
"This is a motor coach," she said as I sat down, and relaxed in the very comfortable chair.
I felt it start up and then we were moving, as she continued.
"The driver's compartment is separated from the rest of the coach, so we have complete privacy. There are beds in the back, if you want to sleep, and food and drink in the fridge.
We
should be in
"I think we should get there as quickly as possible."
She nodded, and walked over to a phone in the wall, relaying her instructions to the driver, before taking her seat again.
"We all should get some rest." I told everyone, and they nodded although I could tell they didn't like the idea much, what kid does?
I said goodnight to everyone, and headed back to an empty bed, where I stripped the clothes from my body, and lay down.
I had no sooner settled in, than I felt Keith crawl in beside me, and cuddle up to me, entwining himself around me in thought as well as body.
I told him, "Goodnight little one," and he said "I ain't little no more." giggling softly, then, "Goodnight Danny, I love you."
"I love you too little one," which caused a few more giggles, as we both drifted off to sleep.
When we awoke, it would be to rescue my brother.
That time occurred, as I felt myself being shaken awake by, it turned out to be, Rebecca with a gentle smile on her face.
"We're here. You have to wake up." She told me.
I shook my head to clear it, and grunted at her, causing her to laugh, although I didn't find it very amusing.
"not much of a morning person, are we?" she went on to ask with amusement."
A noise like an animal's growl was my only response, which seemed to cause her even more amusement.
She and my mother would have gotten along great, I thought.
Why did adults always take such pleasure when they disturbed our slumber?
She wouldn't leave either, until I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed, and gave her a grunt which she took to be consciousness at which point she said she'd see me in a bit, and went off to bother someone else, still chuckling to herself.
While I was moving, I wouldn't call it conscious.
I gave Keith a nudge, both physical and mental, and felt him stir, as I made my way to the bathroom.
I used the toilet, and then tried to figure out how the refresher was activated.
Keith found me like that, when he came running in to relieve his aching bladder.
"Ahhh, what are you doing? He asked as his stream hit the water causing obvious relief.
"Trying to figure out how to activate this fresher unit," I told him.
"Huh?" was his only response so I stopped and looked at him then said,
"Isn't this a refresher unit?"
"I don't know what a refresher is but that's a shower." He told me
"A what?"
Now he started laughing, and said, "you know a shower." seeing my look of puzzlement, he then sent an image in my mind of water running over you, as you put soap on and cleaned yourself.
"Oh, well same idea. How do you get it to activate?" I asked him.
"Huh?" he said.
He seemed to like that word.
I scowled at him, and said "How do you turn it on?"
"Oh that's easy" and proceeded to walk over and demonstrate, with instructions on how to adjust the water until is was the temperature I liked.
When I got it where I wanted it I stepped in and found Keith right behind me, a grin on his face.
"You don't mind sharing do ya?" he asked me.
"No." I told him,
"You're not a morning person are you" he stated.
"NO!"
Why do people who like mornings always feel the need to point out the obvious to all of us who do not?
Keith seemed to find this hilarious, as he started laughing while I just pretended to ignore him.
As we were finishing up, Amanda and Matthew came in and said,
"Leave it on and we'll get in when you get out."
Keith replied "Ok."
We did get out and Keith showed me how they dry off, while the other two jumped in.
As we left I waved my hand over myself creating a set of clothes, and I was pleased to see Keith do the same thing, with success.
He completed the task and turned to me with a huge grin on his face, as I told him,
"You look really great."
Which caused his smile to get even bigger, as we wandered into the dining area of the vehicle.
We ate breakfast, and talked, soon being joined by the others.
Ben didn't look like he knew what to make of it, but Matt explained that they had showed him earlier about their change of shape.
We all made sure to remain in mental contact with him, to some degree, so he knew we were really his brothers and sisters.
After we finished, Rebecca called us into the living room, where we all took seats and she began.
"We are about 5 minutes or so, from the hospital. My sources say that the military, and other factions within the government, have people in place, at the hospital, in case you were to show up. They also have a rapid reaction force deployed nearby, as well. Your brother is located on the 32nd floor of the hospital, in room 3211, and there are two police officers stationed outside his room, to prevent anyone from entering who isn't authorized. Translate that as the government. There are also two military guards, stationed just down the hall, to prevent anyone from getting to your brother, and of course to prevent your brother from getting out, as well, while of course, keeping an eye on the locals too. When you get there, you are to go up to the 32nd floor, and go to the nurse's station, located there. They were told to expect some children from a local church youth group. The on duty nurse, is someone from that church, and will try to get you into the room, although she doesn't know anything about who you are, or what you are planning. From there, it is up to you, just let me know what you want to do, at that point." She told us.
I nodded and said,
"Once we get inside, we can transport out."
She looked at me strangely, and said "Transport out?" with a question mark in her voice.
"Yes, once I know where you are, I can bring us back here." I told her.
"How?" she asked
I looked around the room and finally settled on Ben, as I silently told him that something fun was going to happen to him, and not to be scared.
He looked at me and smiled, as I concentrated for a moment, causing a soft glow to appear around him, before it faded and with it, him.
The glow immediately recommenced in Rebecca's lap as Ben materialized there, causing her to gasp in surprise, and Ben to giggle, as I smiled.
"We can do that from the hospital room, if you stay in one place." I said to her.
She thought for a second, before replying "we should be able to, if we can find somewhere where no one will bother us."
She picked up the phone, and spoke into it for a minute, then hung it up telling us,
"I told him to find a place where we wouldn't be bothered, and he's going to try." She told us.
I looked at the others and asked "you all ready?" and received nods in reply.
I tried to take a deep breath, and concentrate on what was going to happen.
I was worried.
So many things could go wrong, and I didn't want my family hurt by any of those things.
I had originally thought that Rebecca was going to go with us, but she had elected to wait with Ben instead, which made sense.
She had assured me that 4 children showing up wouldn't cause suspicion, so we went with that plan.
I felt the coach stop, and then suddenly a thought came to me.
"Hey, before we go, I want all of us to project fully human. Shield yourself tightly, and don't allow anything but normal human to show, in case they have more with abilities, working for them. Also make sure you know, this place and can get back here."
I saw them nod their heads, and Rebecca pick up the phone, as they concentrated for a moment, clearing themselves of anything that would tip off those who were after us.
I also felt them concentrate and firmly place the co-ordinates into their minds.
The last thing I did was to go and remove comm. units from one of the cases handing one to each, and taking one for myself, before giving the final one to Rebecca.
I keyed it to her, and then instructed her in its use, and how to activate it.
I also did the same for the others, before keying mine, and placing it on my throat.
It appeared to be a necklace, with an emerald crystal pattern on it.
It was a match to our bracelets for a reason, and looked like part of a set.
This way any of us could communicate with Rebecca, should the need arise, even though we could all do so within our minds.
"The driver says that this is the best he can do, and can't make any guarantees. Contact me before you come back to make sure we are still here. When you are ready, go out and to the right. Walk to the end of the block, and turn left. Follow it down, until you see the main entrance. Once you get inside, go to the elevators and go up to the 32nd floor, and then just try what I told you earlier." Rebecca told all of us.
We all nodded our heads, and I took one last look at us.
We appeared to be 8 and 11 year old boys and 10 and 15 year old girls.
All of us were dressed nicely, which Rebecca had told us would be a good idea, for a youth group from a church.
With a final breath, I nodded and stepped towards the doorway, with the others falling into step behind me.
As we reached the door and opened it to step down, Rebecca said,
"Good Luck."
We all smiled and said,
"Thank you."
While I added "for everything," as we made our way out the door, and down the stairs, turning to our right, as we had been directed.
We had all said our goodbyes to Ben, and told him we would see him soon, with a new brother for him.
Now all we had to do was go and get him.
END NOTE
Well the time is finally here. Tani lies only a short distance away. The search is over. Dani is back in time not on another planet, and he has changed history already, by saving Keith, but his love for him, and the others is more important to him, than what he has done. Make no mistake though, that his actions, even unknowing, weigh heavily upon him, and will continue to do so. Until next time...DS
Editor's Note;
Hey there, a little author told me that some people have been paying attention to the things I say in these notes, and I want to thank you for talking to me.
I noticed something. Dani is back in time, but in this place/time he is currently in the world of earth is going to end, just like it did in his past. I am only speculating here, so don't kill the messenger, but if he can't stop Earth from being destroyed, I don't see why he is so overly worried about changing things. The important thing is that he has a wonderful family now and he loves them and they love him. Hopefully he can do something to save himself and his loved ones to remove them from the danger of the planet going postal. Remember, I don't know what DS or Dani, for that matter has planned, I am just your humble editor, not the author, like an author has any say so in what happens to his characters. Just ask Jeff or ACFan if they have any say so in what happens in their stories. I know what the answer will be, because Delaren won't let me do certain story lines, even when I get uppity and try to do it, I always find that I can't manage to think of how it will go, until I listen to Delaren, or Del, then strangely the story starts to flow again, but that is a story for a different time.
Seriously, this is one of those nice chapters that ends with hope and not a horrible explosion for whatever reason, but don't get too excited about that, because I am sure that DS and Dani have more excitement ahead. Don't miss the next thrilling new chapter of A DIFFERENT PLACE!!!!!!!!!
Darryl
The Radio Rancher
radiorancher@crackerwriter.us will get any comments you might have for me to my mail box, and I promise I will respond to any and all e mails I might get.
Thank you very much