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arfic-l-digest        Monday, November 12 2001        Volume 01 : Number 061




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Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 09:31:01 -0500
From: "Michele Bumbarger" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (arfic-l) Mistaken Identity (Part 9/12)

Mistaken Identity
By Michele R Mason

Notes & Disclaimer in Part 0

***

Part 9



"General Damon, your phone call said this was urgent," Peter Roth was tall
and slim, with thick blonde hair and black wire glasses. He cast a curious
glance in the direction of Ami and Adam as he led his three impromptu guests
into his personal study. "I'm afraid that I'm a bit confused. I'm only a lab
rat?"

It had been decided that Ami, as the only eyewitness to the kidnapping, and
Adam, who actually knew the plans of the kidnappers, would accompany General
Damon to meet with Dr. Roth. The plan didn't exactly sit well with Megabyte,
who had been relegated to the task of hiding out with Jade at the warehouse.
There they could monitor Shelby, and insure that she remained safe and well.

"I believe that once you've heard my story, you'll understand, Dr. Roth."
General Damon leaned back against the sofa. "We need your help in returning
a kidnapped child to her parents."

"I'm afraid I don't understand, General."

"Early this morning, five-year-old Shelby Logan was kidnapped from the
International Airport. She and her mother were supposed to rendezvous with
her father here in London. They were on the AeroPacific's Flight 8719 from
Sydney."

A flash of understanding flickered in the eyes behind the glasses. "That's
the flight we missed."

"Precisely. The man responsible for Shelby's kidnapping is Rojal Kinsmall--"

"Rojal! He's mixed up with this? What could he possibly want?" Dr. Roth
frowned. "And how can I possibly help you? I don't even know the man
anymore."

Adam pushed a photograph across the desk. "This is a picture of Shelby
Logan."

Ami startled. She wondered where Adam had got hold of that picture.

"Adam, where did--" the General's question was interrupted by a gasp from
Dr. Roth.

"She almost looks like Daria!"

Adam nodded. "That's why Rojal kidnapped her. He thinks that she is Daria,
and he wants to use her as leverage."

"Leverage?" Knowledge dawned on Dr. Roth's face and he sank into his seat.
He glanced in confusion at the General. "This is about Agent Sleep Aid,
isn't it?"

General Damon nodded. "In an hour, you're going to receive a phone call from
Rojal's men, listing their demands. It's important that you play along with
them. Pretend that Shelby is Daria, and set up a meeting. Hopefully, this
way, we can rescue one little girl and collar Rojal once and for all."

"Will you do it, Dr. Roth?" Adam leaned forward, dark eyes intent on the
biochemist.

"Of course I'll do it. What sort of question is that? If it were Daria, I'd
know what I'd feelàwhat I'd hope that someone would do." Dr. Roth paused,
his eyes darting between Adam and Ami. "One thing I don't understand though;
what do you two university students have to do with all of this WorldEx
security detail?"

"Ami's our eyewitness," General Damon explained. "She was at the airport
when Shelby was kidnapped."

"And, you, Adam? What about you?" Dr. Roth nodded to his fellow Australian.

Adam kept his eyes averted as his fingers slid Shelby's photograph back
across the desk. His words were so soft, for a moment, Ami wasn't certain
that she had heard him correctly.

"Shelby Logan is my niece."

Then, he got up and walked briskly from the room, leaving Ami and General
Damon staring after him in shocked silence.

End of Part 9

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 09:33:20 -0500
From: "Michele Bumbarger" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (arfic-l) Mistaken Identity (Part 10/12)

Mistaken Identity
By Michele R Mason

Notes & Disclaimer in Part 0

***

Part 10


Ami found Adam on the Roths front porch. He hadn't returned after fifteen
minutes, and Ami had convinced the General that Adam needed some time alone.
Forty-five minutes later, she decided that he'd had enough time alone.

She found him on the top step, head down, hands folded in his lap. Dropping
down onto the step beside him, Ami became immediately aware of how closed
off he was. Nothing was getting through his shields; not a single emotion or
thought darted across her awareness.

"I really don't want to talk about it, Ami." He didn't look up at her. He
kept staring down at his lap.

Another mystery from Adam's past had partially unraveled itself, but he was
refusing to share. It was nearly enough to make her want to scream. But it
did explain his reaction to the mind merge and his overwhelming concern for
the safety and well being of Shelby.

Ami didn't need to be a telepath to tell that whatever demons Adam was
wrestling with at that moment, they were hurting him. And they were hurting
him badly. But he was hiding, drawing into himself, and putting mortar on
whatever chinks had developed in his wall.

Patience is a virtue, she reminded herself as she sat beside him. Adam
Newman didn't owe her any answers or any explanations. He had taken her in
once, shown her a glimpse of his private world, but that didn't mean that he
was going to do it again-- it didn't mean that he had to do it ever again.

Ami tried to ignore the blinding hurt that caused her. She tried to remind
herself that they didn't have time to worry about these sort of things right
now; the most important issue right now was rescuing Shelby.

She wanted to tell him that he didn't have to talk about it; she wanted to
tell him that she would understand if he wanted to be alone. She wanted to
tell him that she wouldnÆt pry.

Instead, she reached for his hand. [You're wondering if you did the right
thing.] It was not a question, but a statement.

Adam flinched, his shields wavering for just a heartbeat. Not nearly long
enough for her to glimpse what truly ate away at him, but long enough to let
her know that she mattered-- and that he was trying. "What do you mean?"

"Leaving her there when you might have been able to get her out. That
couldn't have been easy."

Adam stared down at their hands. His voice was a whisper. "No, it wasn't."

"We'll rescue her, Adam."

He looked up at her then, his eyes misty. "And then what?"

Before Ami could think of a suitable answer the door opened and General
Damon nodded to them. "It's time. Rojal's call should be in about five
minutes."

Ami sighed inwardly, following Adam to his feet.

It was time to be a Tomorrow Person again.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

"Remind me again, what are we waiting for?" Megabyte peeked around the
corner of the building, shifting from what foot to the other in anxiety.  "I
mean, we're here. Shelby's in that building, why don't we just go and get
her?"

"Because then Rojal and his colleagues would just find some other way to get
their hands on the formula for Agent Sleep Aid," Adam reminded him. "Trust
me, Megabyte, I don't like it anymore than you do, but as long as Shelby's
alright-- " Adam trailed off, his voice dipping softly.

[She's fine, Adam.] Jade assured him. [She's sleeping right now. She really
is cute.]

[Just remember to be careful, Jade. And--]

"Hey, guys, Dr. Roth just arrived," Megabyte informed his friends, still
peeking around the corner.

Adam called to Jade. [I'm going to join you, Jade. I want to be there when
they prepare to make the switch.] He gave Ami and Megabyte a smile, "Be
careful, you two."

"Yeah, same for you, buddy," Megabyte nodded at Adam.

"You too," Ami remarked as he disappeared in a flash of light and a
displacement of air.

"He'll be okay," Megabyte told her. Ami wondered if that was for her benefit
or for his.

The next few moments became a chaotic jumble that it would take a few hours
to put together afterwards. It all began when Jade appeared beside them,
complaining that Adam had decided that they only needed one of them to keep
an eye on Shelby. Then the argument between Dr. Roth and Kinsmall's men had
begun; the WorldEx team descended upon the two men, surrounding them with
police cars, and unmarked vehicles.

Ami remembered hearing shouts and cries, but the words made no sense.

[Adam, something's gone wrong,] Ami quickly 'pathed to the other.

He never answered. At that particular moment, a loud cry of "It's trapped!"
sounded across the lot and the warehouse went up in a blast of dust and
thunder.

End of Part 10


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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 09:35:51 -0500
From: "Michele Bumbarger" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (arfic-l) Mistaken Identity (Part 11/12)

Mistaken Identity
By Michele R Mason

Notes & Disclaimer in Part 0

***

Part 11

Ami felt sick. She felt as though her entire heart was being ripped from her
chest as she watched the building implode. Her mind denied what she was
seeing, her eyes struggled to put reason and right to it but failed
miserably.

"Adam," she whispered.

"No," Jade cried besides her, taking a few steps toward the building.

The only sound louder was Karyn Logan's anguished scream tearing through the
night air.

Then came the familiar prickle along the base of her neck, the air filling
with energy. One moment, Adam was inside the warehouse, the next he was
standing in front of his friends with a very wide-eyed little girl in his
arms.

"Adam!" The three Tomorrow People descended on their friend like a swarm.
Their words tumbled out at once, each expressing their overwhelming
happiness at seeing their friend alive and in one piece.

Ami reached him first, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her
face in his shoulder. She didn't care what Megabyte and Jade thought-- all
she cared about was that Adam was alive. "I thought I'd lost you."

"God, Adam, you had us going," Megabyte gave him a swift punch in the arm,
and gave Ami a slight shove. "Come on, let the kid breathe already."

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated," Adam laughed, his dark
eyes focused on Ami. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Shelby--" Karyn Logan pushed her way into the throng of Tomorrow People,
clearly intent on reaching her daughter. There was no way that the Logans
could have missed Adam appearing out of thin air, but Ami figured that as
long as their daughter was alive they probably didn't care.

Then, Mrs. Logan paused in mid-stride, her eyes on Adam and Shelby. She
stared at Adam for a long moment, confusion clouding her eyes. "How did, why
are--"

Shelby lifted her head from Adam's shoulder, a smile breaking out across her
cherubic face. "Mummy! Uncle Adam rescued me."

Ami felt Megabyte and Jade's shock at the little girl's words. In fact, it
probably mirrored the shock she had experienced when Adam made the admission
back at the Roth house. But they weren't left with any time to ask
questions; Karyn Logan suddenly found her pace again, and in an instant had
wrapped Adam and Shelby in a tight embrace. A few moments later, they were
joined by Mark Logan and the group moved off to a distance.

Megabyte moved to follow, but Ami placed a hand on his arm. "Megabyte,
don't. If Adam wants to explain to us. He will. But right now, I think that
they need time together."

Only Dr. Roth stood off to the side, shaking his head. "Can anyone explain
to me what's going on? How did he--?"

General Damon came to the rescue, clapping Dr. Roth on the shoulder.
"Amazing trick of the light wasn't it? It was a good thing that I saw him
coming from the shadows, or I might have thought that he just popped out of
thin air.

"That's not what you thought was it, Dr. Roth?"

"Adam's an uncle," Jade remarked at last as General Damon's voice
disappeared in the distance.

"Yeah, who'd have thought," Megabyte remarked.

"I guess life is just full of surprises," Ami linked an arm through
Megabyte's and the other through Jade's. "Now, let's go help General Damon
talk Dr. Roth out of thinking that Adam appeared out of thin air."

"Hey," Megabyte laughed. "That's impossible, right?"

"Yeah, the next thing you know, he'll be believing in space ships," Jade
added, with a giggle.

Ami glanced back toward Adam and the Logans as the three walked away, arm in
arm. His dark eyes met hers and he gave her his familiar half-smile.

[Later,] He promised her.

That was good enough for now.

End of Part 11

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 09:39:18 -0500
From: "Michele Bumbarger" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (arfic-l) Mistaken Identity (Part 12/12)

Mistaken Identity
By Michele R Mason

Notes & Disclaimer in Part 0

****

Part 12

Ami hesitated at the door to Adam's flat, her hand raised in mid-knock. He
had asked her to meet him here, but he had seemed a bit distracted and his
invitation had seemed forced. These past few days, Adam had been behaving
strangely, rebuilding the walls around himself that Shelby's kidnapping had
knocked down. He had refused to provide any of them with any details on
Shelby, or his sister Karyn, other than acknowledging that they were his
relatives, and that he had his reasons for keeping the two separate.

"Whatever that means," Megabyte had growled after Adam teleported away from
the Ship.  It had taken Ami and Jade a good twenty minutes to convince
Megabyte that Adam wasn't intentionally being rude or mean-spirited;
fortunately, it had taken only a few minutes to remind the American that
Adam carried a burden of hurt and pain with him that he might never share--
with any of them.

Then, Adam had invited her here. Ami's mind was very capable of dreaming up
all sorts of bad reasons why, and she didn't like the road her imagination
was going down.

But, she reminded herself, you knew better than to expect a Cinderella
story.

At least she hoped that she had.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

It opened almost immediately, Adam flashing her a hesitant smile on the
other side of the threshold. "Ami, you came."

Did he think that she wouldn't?

Ami nodded, hooking her fingers through the back pockets of her jeans. She
rocked on her toes. "You said that you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah," Adam stepped aside, motioning her inside. "Come on in."

She did as bade, trying to ignore the dull thumping of her heart in her
chest.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Adam spoke slowly, closing the
door behind her. He seemed to be concentrating, choosing each word with care
and after consideration.

"Sure, what's going on?" Ami answered nonchalantly, sitting on the edge of
the sofa. To be honest, his manner and behavior had her anxious-- no, it had
her worried. Again, she reminded herself that she and Adam were friends,
friends before anything else, and no matter what he said-- well, she wasn't
going to do anything stupid.

Adam perched on the sofa beside her, watching her closely. As usual, such
intense scrutiny by him made her shift, feeling slightly flustered. She
stared down at her hands, and examined the inseam of her blue jeans.

"First of all, I wanted to thank you." Adam said at last.

Ami raised her head. "Thank me?"

Adam nodded, his eyes still intently on her. "For understanding. About Karyn
and Shelby, and for not asking questions. That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome." That seemed to be the only appropriate response. "I just
thought that if you wanted to tell us, you would."

"I had just hoped that I could keep this part of my life away from Karyn. I
didn't think she would understand. She surprised me."

"Then she knows about the Tomorrow People?"

Again, he nodded. His hand reached out, lifting one of her braids from her
shoulders and curling it around his finger. "She understands. She accepts
it."

"That's a good thing, right?" Ami tried to ignore the familiarity suggested
by Adam's action. Tried to ignore it because it reminded her of a few
moments that she wasn't quite sure she would want to remember in a few
hours. She didn't think that Adam had brought her simply to tell her about
Karyn.

"Yeah, I guess so," Adam sighed, a shadow falling across his face. He lapsed
into silence for a moment, his gaze so penetrating that Ami felt as though
he was seeing right through her.

Ami touched his hand lightly. "Adam, was there something else?"

He glanced at her startled, clearly pulled from wherever his thoughts had
gone. And then he took her hand in his. "We never did talk about this, did
we?"

Her heart skipped a beat and her throat went dry. Not trusting herself to
speak, Ami simply shook her head.

"All right," Adam released a low, slow breath. Holding tight to her hand, he
closed his eyes and his words came in a rush. "You're one of my best
friends, Ami, and I don't want to do anything to ruin or destroy that. But
we can't ignore what happened, and I don't really want to. I think that
sometimes when two people are as close as we are, things happen. Feelings
change, people change. That's not a bad thing; it complicates things
sometimes, but--

"I want to try this, if you want to. But if you have any second thoughts--"

[Will you two just admit it and get over it already? You're making some of
us sick,] Megabyte's voice rang in their heads. [If I wanted sappy, I'd rent
Beaches.]

[You're eavesdropping, Megabyte,] Ami accused, feeling Adam's sudden and
overwhelming embarrassment through the contact between their hands. Of
course, she felt hers much more keenly, and only chiding Megabyte kept her
from doing or saying something otherwise stupid.

[I am not. You're broadcasting. Satellite television doesn't come in nearly
as clearly as you guys do.]

[Thank you, Marmaduke,] Adam remarked dryly.

[I think its sweet,] Jade chimed.

Adam groaned, patches of pink coloring his cheeks, and he buried his face in
his hands.

Ami pried his hands away from his face. "I'm not having any second
thoughts."

"I am," Adam lifted his head slowly, a wry smile on his face. "About hurting
Megabyte."

Ami laughed and threw herself at him in a hug that knocked them both from
the sofa.

Megabyte snorted. [That's more like it.]

Ami wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes at the intrusion. "I'm afraid
you'll just have to take a number."

Then he kissed her and for the moment their prying redhead friend was
forgotten.

** Fin ***

That's all, folks. Done. Finished. Complete. It's been gathering dust for
over three years, and now it's finally seen the light of day. Hope everyone
enjoyed.

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 19:48:41 -0600
From: Wendy Perkins <[e-mail]>
Subject: (arfic-l) Grimm's Law - Part 08/10

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Grimm's Law
A Tomorrow's Future Story
by Wendy Perkins
[e-mail]
Part 08 of 10

Chapter 8

The tentative knock at his office door pulled Grimm from the nearly
hypnotic task of grading homework assignments. He looked up at the two
people who stood in the doorway, both of whom were the right age to be
his students but neither were faces he'd seen staring at him in a lecture
hall. The younger, a black teenager with a full face and intelligent eyes,
looked far more nervous than a visit to a professor should warrant, unless
she was one of those students who only showed up to the first and last day
of class. Behind her stood a white man, taller than the woman by a few
inches, older by a few years and obviously the moral support of the pair.

"Can I help you?" he asked, directing the question at the woman. He
pasted an expression of polite interest on his face in case he was supposed
to know her. There were so many faces and though he tried, he never could
learn them all.

"Maybe," she replied, glancing down at her sneakers and then back up to
him. "We wanted to talk you about Sara." The name came out as a
question. She licked her lips and opened her mouth as if to say something
more, then closed it.

"You are friends?" His eyebrows drew together as he tried to match their
faces with any he might have known. The woman did look familiar, but he
couldn't figure out why. The more he looked at her, the more he was
certain she wasn't one of his students but that he did know her from
somewhere.

"We've met," she said.

"I'm Adam," the young man introduced. "And this is Lisa."

Grimm was just rising out of his chair when the young man spoke up; he
sat down quickly and appraised the two again. "Oh! . . . I -- she's
mentioned you," he stammered after a second. "Please, come in." He
indicated the folding chair in front of his desk, eyes darting around the
small office as he looked for another available seat. There was none. He
gave a shrug, raising his hands in apology, and rose to his feet,
successfully this time. If they were going to stand, then so was he.

"She's mentioned us?" Lisa repeated, perplexed.

"Yesterday, in fact. She seemed worried about you. Are you okay? Of
course you're okay. You're here--" He realized he was babbling even as the
words spilled from his lips. In one of her stranger moments, Sara had
called out two names. The fact that people bearing those names showed up
at his door a day later shouldn't mean anything. It was a coincidence,
nothing more. But even as he had the thought, he dismissed it as another
rationalization that wasn't going to work. He knew his daughter had been
calling for the people who stood before him now. He also knew that if he
didn't rein in his tongue, they'd leave before he found out why they were
here.

"Professor," Adam interrupted. "Sara's alive?"

"Of course she's alive," he answered.

The looks Lisa and Adam traded made it clear that they'd expected a
different answer. "But . . we thought . . . I mean . . . ." Lisa threw her hands
up. "I give up," she said. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Why would you think she's not alive?" he pressed. Even asking the
question, he couldn't bring himself to say 'dead'. Dead was too final;
saying it might jinx it into happening. Sara wasn't dead because he couldn't
handle it if she left too.

They didn't have an answer. He could see it in their furrowed brows and
down turned lips; in the way the woman looked like she wanted to walk
right out the door and never return, in the way the man shoved his hands in
his jean pockets because he'd become conscious of them hanging helpless
at his sides.

Then it occurred to him who they were talking about. Not Sara after all.
But they wouldn't have any reason to know that.

"Clara," he whispered. They had known something he didn't, and now he
was sorry he'd wanted to find out.

"What?"

"Sara . . . and Clara. They're twins."

"You gave them rhyming names?" Lisa asked in disbelief. "Isn't that a
little . . . cliche?"

"Their names came from something I was studying for my dissertation," he
answered without apology. Centum/Satem. The name for a major division
in the world's languages. Sharing those names with his newborn daughters
seemed like a way to intertwine his work and home lives a little more; a
professional in-joke as it were; and a kind of honorarium.

"That explains it," Adam interrupted, freeing a hand from his pocket to run
it through his hair.

"It does?" Lisa asked at the same time as Grimm said, "Explains what?"
They weren't talking about the names.

"You were right," Adam told Lisa. "She couldn't have done it. And *she*
didn't."

He saw Lisa's eyebrow quirk up and some of the confusion disappear from
her eyes. Adam's words either made sense to her or she was listening to an
entirely different conversation. Possibly both. Grimm rubbed a knuckle
against the bridge of his nose. "Now could you please explain your
explanation?"

"It's kinda complicated," Lisa said.

"That much is obvious. Why don't we start with the reason you're here?
You said --" And for the second time since their arrival, his mind blanked
and his words cut off as his eyes came to rest on the manila folder that
peeked at him from beneath a stack of research papers. With one hand, he
slid the folder from beneath the stack and opened its worn cover. At the
top sat a photo copy from the front page of the Virginia Post. Lisa's face
stared out at him from a nest of slightly smeared copy.

He silently handed the page to her.

She accepted it; her mouth forming an "oh" as she registered what she
held. Her teleporting act hadn't gone unnoticed, had in fact been caught on
video by some proud father with a child in the talent show and a
camcorder. That tape had earned Lisa coverage on the local news, and then
an above-the-fold article in the local paper.

"Clara disappeared into thin air too," he informed them, all the hurt and
worry he'd felt over the past few months welling to the surface. "I didn't
see it, but Sara did. She told me about it. I . . . didn't believe her then. Do
you know where she is?"

Adam seemed to be studying the books lining the wall nearest him as he
answered, "We do."

"We do?" Lisa echoed.

"At least," the young man clarified, "we know what happened to her?"

"We do?" Lisa repeated. She looked hard at Adam, her gaze unwavering as
she directed her next words back to Grimm. "He might. In fact, he
probably does. But I have no idea what he's talking about, just for the
record."

He was about to respond, although he wasn't sure what would come out of
his mouth, when a movement in the hallway caught his attention. Holding
up his hand in a "wait a minute" gesture, he stepped around his desk and
across the office that really wasn't big enough for all the people now in it.

Sure enough, hovering in the doorway across the hall and a few feet down
was their topic of conversation. In silence the two youths joined him and
watched as Sara took tentative steps forward and back, as if being
compelled to the office but drawn away, like an iron filing between two
magnets.

"Is that her?" Lisa whispered near his ear.

He nodded sadly, trying not to see his daughter as Lisa and Adam must be
seeing her. It was strange, but it made sense too, that in the months of his
studies, of the apologies, he'd grown used to the silent teenager who would
dance her way in and out of his thoughts. He could talk to her, and even
though he wanted nothing more than to hear a real answer, there was an
incredible freedom in knowing he didn't have to be on guard against
injuring feelings or revealing more of the self than polite.

Grimm wondered at what point he'd become . . . comfortable with how
things now stood even as he railed against them with his every action.

"I don't know how she does that," Grimm said, speaking more to himself
than to Lisa and Adam. "She's barely capable of functioning on a day to
day basis. Yet, somehow, she manages to get out of the house, without the
housekeeper noticing, walk all the way across campus, and then up five
flights of stairs to find me."

"This happens a lot?" Adam asked. There was something odd in his voice
that Grimm didn't know how to place.

"Fourth time. No one ever sees her either. I have to wonder that she doesn't
freeze to death."

Sara didn't look cold; she didn't look like someone who'd walked half a
mile in the winter without benefit of jacket, gloves or hat. All she was
wearing was her usual sweatsuit, this one a faded yellow with the school's
name appliqued down the right leg in green. On her feet was a pair of
socks so worn that her big toes poked out.

She minced closer to the crowd in the doorway, her gaze not seeming to
register them. She stopped in front of her father, politely waiting for him to
clear the doorway so she could enter the office. Or, so it would appear to
anyone not aware of her current state.

"Hi, Sara," Adam said. The gentleness in his tone belied the tension in the
room.

Not surprisingly, she didn't answer. She did turn towards her father as if
waiting for him to explain.

"So there's two of them?" Lisa asked. "I just want to get this straight."

"There's two of them," Adam confirmed. "Sara is right here. Clara, your
sister," he said, his voice low, directed at the silent twin. "Teleported. She
is -- or was -- like Lisa and I: a Tomorrow Person."

Grimm released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding; haven't been
holding. A metaphorical breath released as the question 'why' finally got an
answer. Two words. Two simple, common words that together meant so
much more than a sum of their parts. They were Tomorrow People. And
for all the information those two words didn't convey, they made perfect
sense.

It didn't matter that Grimm wasn't supposed to believe in teleporting,
hadn't believed in it up until that very second. The proof had been
provided months before with Clara's disappearance. Seeing the face from
the newspaper article on a real person who stood right next to him, hearing
the young man's somber words, unseeing and careless of anyone's
acceptance -- those were all he needed to get beyond his intrinsic disbelief,
to accept the proof for what it was. Questions pounded his brain, but they
were questions to seek more information, not to pass judgement.

"Like you," Adam finished.

Sara pivoted, now facing Lisa. The vacant eyes stared at the elder girl, her
face expressionless. Was she the one seeking proof?

Grimm cleared his throat. "So, where is Clara now? Shouldn't she have
come back? Or is she not allowed . . . to come back?" He tried to swallow
back the rising bile. After all those months of wondering and blaming, he
finally got an answer. Its messengers seemed like friendly, mature young
adults. What weren't they telling him?

"That's a long story," Adam said. "I'm afraid the ending isn't a happy one."

Grimm suspected he already knew how this story ended, but he had to ask
anyway. "Will you tell me . . . ?" He had to ask, but he still couldn't say it.

Lisa pursed her lips. "But, it's not over. Right, Adam? Isn't there still
something . . . ?" She paused, leaned out into the hallway and looked both
directions. Grimm knew what she was seeing: the rows of closed doors
and dark rooms. The only sounds he'd heard in the building for hours were
Lisa and Adam's arrival, then Sara's arrival. Seemingly satisfied, she
continued, "The Ship isn't done yet."

"The ship?" Grimm asked. "What ship?"

"You'll see," Adam responded. He sounded proud, like it was something
he'd built himself. "It's where we're going now. Sara," he said, looking at
her again. "Are you ready?"

Sara minced back and forth a few steps, her gaze not leaving Lisa.

"I know," Lisa responded at length, "There won't be any touching." She
extended one of her own hands out towards the teen, palm out. "You don't
have to touch, just do what I'm doing."

"It's okay," Adam added in reassurance, extending his own palm in Sara's
direction.

Behind him, Grimm could feel the movement as Lisa and Adam shifted in
their stances. A glance over his shoulder confirmed that the two had
copied their strange action with their other hands, palms almost touching.
He looked back to see Sara's stiffened arms raising, for all the world like a
puppet on strings, until they matched the gestures.

"Put your hand on my shoulder, Professor," Adam said, without turning his
attention from Sara. "And shut your eyes."

Grimm complied, sensing that now wasn't the time to have his curiosity
satisfied. Sensing further that it was about to be satisfied beyond his
wildest dreams.

Nothing happened for long seconds except the buildup of some kind of
charge in the air; a charge that raised all the hairs on his arms and made
the back of his neck tingle. He fought the urge to open his eyes; the
direction wouldn't have been given if it weren't important.

He barely heard Sara whisper, "I can hear the ocean," then the back of his
eyelids turned pink, the hairs on his arms and head took a sudden jump,
and he felt the charge rip through his body, from the inside out.

****
End Chapter 8
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Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 19:49:08 -0600
From: Wendy Perkins <[e-mail]>
Subject: (arfic-l) Grimm's Law - Part 09/10

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Grimm's Law
A Tomorrow's Future Story
by Wendy Perkins
[e-mail]
Part 09 of 10

Chapter 9

Here it is," someone said.

And this is it, Lisa thought as the four materialized into the center room of
the ship. Unlike her other two appearances at the ship in recent days, Lisa
already knew that this one wasn't just a visit.

Oh, she'd be leaving of course. Only Adam could be happy living on the
island, and she still had college and her mother to worry about. But she
had been called on to keep her promise. When she returned to the ship, and
she would return, it would be without the fear that had marred her previous
visits. It wouldn't matter how long she'd been away or what had happened
in the interim; the ship would welcome her. When she returned, she'd be
returning home.

She didn't see herself ever re-joining the ranks full time, but the Tomorrow
People could call on her if they needed her.

No sooner had the flash of light faded, than she and Adam moved towards
the column, taking up positions next to it like guards.

"That was . . . interesting." Grimm cleared his throat and looked around.
Lisa could see him taking in details of the ship that individually didn't
seem unusual, but together added up to an obviously alien design. "Here is
the ship. Do I want to know where 'here' is?" he asked, sounding calm, but
only by a sheer effort of will.

"Don't worry," Adam reassured. "We're still on Earth, and we're not any
more aliens than you are." The last was a preemptive answer of the
question that usually came after "where are we".

Grimm drew a deep breath. Rubbing his hands against his black slacks, he
asked, "Does that mean that I'm an alien?"

"I hope not," Lisa interjected with a laugh. She had wondered when
someone would jump to the obvious wrong conclusion to Adam's line.
"My mom had enough trouble dealing with the whole teleporting thing.
There had better not be any other secrets I have to break to her."

That earned her a nervous smile, but the tension in the small room
dissipated.

Once Professor Grimm's worries were put to rest, he found a new focus for
his energies: on the writing that covered the walls of the ship. The alien
symbols. The linguist in him surfaced. Lisa could see the questions
forming, the curiosity at play as he wandered over to one of the walls and
lovingly traced the symbols etched there. She suspected he'd probably be
spending a lot of time at the ship until he solved the mystery of the words
written there. Even the Tomorrow People didn't know their meaning.

Adam grabbed Lisa's arm and pulled her into one of the side passages. The
air was heavier here and smelled of dead fish. Lisa crinkled her nose
against it.

"Yeah?" she asked, not knowing what to expect.

"Did you get a good look at Sara?" He glanced out into the main room. He
didn't comment on what, if anything, he saw going on in there.

Lisa hesitated, trying to find the right words. "She's not normal, right?
There's something wrong with her." She frowned; those were not the right
words. She sounded like she was commenting on a problem that one could
look up in the Merck Manual.

"She's a Tomorrow Person," he stated.

"I figured out that much. She was able to teleport here, which she wouldn't
have been able to do otherwise. Unless that's changed? No? Then, of
course she's a Tomorrow Person. But there's something else. There's
something wrong with her eyes, like she's seeing but not seeing. And
there's that whole 'no touching' thing. If I didn't know better, I'd say she
was Autistic."

Adam led her a little deeper into the passage, then lowered his voice,
"What makes you think she's not?"

"Because she's a Tomorrow Person," Lisa said, as if the answer were
obvious. "Plus, I get the feeling that whatever is wrong happened recently.
Teenagers don't just boom, wake up one day and find out they're autistic."

"Do you get the sense that she's not really here?"

"Yeah," she said. "That's it exactly. She's here, but not here. You know
what's going on, don't you? Again?" Because, why wouldn't he? And why
wouldn't Adam or the Ship make up its mind if it wanted her to be
involved in things or not? When this was over, she was going to have to
have words with both of them about dragging her into adventures and then
deliberately withholding all the vital information.

Adam nodded. "I reckon that when her sister died, it was really sudden.
They were both telepathic, and Sara got the backlash from it. She turned
her powers inward."

Lisa started. "On purpose?"

"No. Probably a defensive mechanism. Right now she's trapped in her own
head. We had to bring her here so the ship could help her turn them back
the right way."

He said that like he was stating the obvious. In a way, she figured, he was.
But, she was going to have to go home and spend a few hours thinking
about everything before she figured out how any of this was obvious. Until
then, she found herself saying, "Which you knew. And I guess I knew that
too, because I knew we had to come here. That makes sense. I guess. So
there's a new Tomorrow Person, now."

Adam didn't say anything right away. She gave him a few seconds, then
began to walk past him back to the main room. "That's cool," she said,
because it seemed like she needed to say something else. "The world needs
more."

They hadn't gone very far into the tunnels, just far enough that they
couldn't be easily overheard. With a few steps she was almost back in the
main room. The air became less oppressive as she walked, the humidity
level lessening. The dead fish smell also eased. Lisa drew a deep breath of
the fresher air and paused for a moment to enjoy the warmth. This was
turning out to be a pretty good day, after all.

From behind her, she heard Adam respond, "Yes, it does." He didn't sound
happy.

"What?" she asked, turning around to look at him. "What do you mean?"

He just shook his head. "It wasn't supposed to end this way."

Huh? That sounded familiar, but what did he mean by it? She glanced at
him again, about to ask, but he just kept walking, right on past her. His
face was set in an expression she knew well. If he had anything else to say,
she was going to have to wait to hear it.

No sooner had she stepped back into the main chamber when a small
sound directed her attention to Sara, who stood next to the wall that kissed
the sea. Sara stepped close to the panel, as if intending to walk through it,
then stopped short. "The ocean," she murmured. She too sounded happy,
as if finding something she'd been searching for her entire life. And
perhaps, Lisa speculated, she had.

Sara's remark preceding the teleport hadn't gone unnoticed, even if there
hadn't been time to comment on it. It had sounded almost rehearsed,
something said so many times that its meaning had been sapped away. But
it was becoming apparent that the Sara that had Lisa had met in her dreams
wasn't the Sara that Lisa and Adam had met. Maybe once the two had been
the same, but Clara's teleport had done more than tear apart a set of twins.

Lisa nodded to herself, a small glimmer of understanding taking root.

"Is that what she's been talking about?" her father asked, a different kind of
clarity stealing over his features. Then almost too low to hear, "All this
time."

The two Tomorrow People stood together, flanking the central column,
while Professor Grimm hovered somewhere behind his daughter, close
enough to assert his protectiveness and far enough not to frighten her.

Sara regarded her reflection in the transparent panel. It was faint, being not
in a mirror but on a glass panel backed only by deep blue sea water. It
wavered with the small movements of the sea pushing against the island,
and the remnants of the waves breaking against the shore. Looking closely,
Lisa could make out the barely visible image. Sara regarded her reflection,
but didn't make any other movement.

The three watched her, watching herself, waiting for her to complete
whatever ritual needed completing before they could take her home.

Nothing happened for long enough that Lisa's mind started to wander. She
almost didn't notice when the reflection brought both its hands up and
pressed them against the glass. She heard a sharp intake of breath from
someone, then realized that Sara still hadn't moved.

Slowly Sara brought her own hands up and mirrored Clara's gesture.

In the glass, Lisa could see a small smile start on the girl's lips. The smile
seemed hesitant at first, then grew, brightening her face; creating an
illusion of health and happiness on the wane countenance. The pose was
held. A sense of anticipation settled about the ship; Lisa took several deep
breaths, quietly forcing the air in and out of her lungs so as not to disturb
anything. She could hear Adam next to her doing the same thing.

Sara was here to get her powers turned around, to correct the backlash that
started when her twin sister killed. Lisa knew that because Adam had told
her. How Adam knew it, she still couldn't figure out. That was fine,
however, because she was coming to accept that Adam knew a lot of
things that he wasn't letting on.

She also didn't know what it would mean for Sara's powers to be fixed.
The concept was easy enough; the actuality was outside her imagination.

Despite the knowledge that something major was going to happen, Lisa
wasn't prepared when Sara turned away from the reflection, the smile still
on her face, and with a tilt to her head said, "Daddy?"

****
End Chapter 9
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