by Anne
Disclaimer: The characters of Adam Newman, Megabyte Damon, Kevin Wilson, Ami Jackson, Jade Weston, General William Damon, Colonel Masters, Millie Damon and Caroline Damon belong to Roger Damon Price, Thames Television and Nickelodeon. So do any other names or events linked to the Tomorrow People TV series.
Max Evans, Liz Parker, Maria DeLuca, Michael Guerin, Isabel Evans, Alex Whitman, Kyle Valenti, Sheriff Jim Valenti and Milton belong to Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and WB. All other concepts and events linked to Roswell also belong to them.
The characters of Joe Dawson and James Horton (who appear in name only) belong to Panzer/David, Rysher/Gaumont Television. So do the concepts of immortality, the Watchers and the Hunters.
The characters of Geoff Anderson, Gil Hawkins, Jim Beckett and Simon Trent belong to me and should not be used without permission.
As Jade and Megabyte approached the UFO centre, Jade paused and looked around, shivering as she did so.
"What's wrong?" Megabyte sensed her uneasy feelings, and saw her shiver. This wasn't like Jade. He hoped this wasn't sign of something bad about to go down. The last couple of months had been uneventful, at least from the Tomorrow Peoples' point of view. The psychos of the planet seemed to have taken an extended vacation, which was a good thing. At least Megabyte hoped it was an extended vacation; that they weren't merely lying in wait, ready to pounce when he and the others weren't looking.
"Nothing. Just had a funny feeling for a moment. It's gone now. It's probably nothing."
"Hope you're not going to start getting premonitions on me," joked Megabyte. "I thought that was supposed to be Ami's speciality."
Jade still didn't look happy. "Must be my imagination," she reasoned out loud, "I mean, if there was something here you'd feel it as well, wouldn't you? I'm not the only Tomorrow Person here, remember."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Megabyte put his arm around Jade to reassure her. "Probably just your imagination. Come on, let's have a look inside and try and find this Max." He didn't tell Jade that he was also getting a sense of something not quite right. He'd been feeling a bit jumpy ever since that run in with that madman, Ramiis, a few months back. He hoped Jade wasn't picking up on his overactive imagination. Yeah, that was probably it. No point ruining the day. He knew Jade was really looking forward to showing him what she had seen here. Maybe he'd have a talk to Adam when they got back to the ship. He glanced around before he ushered Jade inside anyway, just to reassure himself.
Neither of them had noticed the nondescript black car parked a few metres down the street, on the other side. One of the men in the car nudged his companion, a middle aged man dressed in jeans and a casual shirt.
"Yes, Hawkins, what is it?" Jim Beckett shot his partner a look that said what Hawkins already knew. His partner thought this stake out was a total waste of time.
Their employer had told them to keep an eye on a teenager who worked at the UFO centre. He seemed convinced he had some kind of psychic powers. Hawkins remembered his partner's reaction to the reports as they read them. Beckett hadn't believed a word of them. The reports were full of some wild idea that the boy had healed some girl just by placing his hand on her. So far they hadn't been able to substantiate any of the story, but still who was he to argue? They were both being paid very well to keep up the surveillance, very well indeed.
Hawkins himself was a lot more open to the possibility that there were things out there they didn't know existed. Teenagers who appeared human, but were actually freaks of nature. With what he knew existed in the world, he was sure it was possible.
"Did you see that redheaded kid who just walked in? The one with the young girl? I'm sure he's one of the kids we're supposed to be looking out for." Gil Hawkins looked again at the photo in his hand. It certainly looked like the same kid, though of course he would be older now. It was a shame they didn't have a photo of the other boy, the one whom they were presuming was the one they were watching. Apparently he was a bit elusive. Their employer only knew that his name was Adam and that he was Australian. The boy who worked in the UFO centre was called Max but the description was similar, and he could have always changed his name and accent.
Their employer was convinced that Max was this Adam he had known some years ago. He had told them to watch the boy carefully and to let him know if he did anything out of the ordinary, though Hawkins and Beckett weren't quite sure what he meant by that statement. It had been assumed that they would know if and when it happened. They had also been told that the boy was a teleporter and that the others they were supposed to be watching out for were as well.
Beckett dialled the number they had been given and waited for the person at the other end to answer. When he relayed what, or rather whom, Hawkins had thought he had seen, the man on the other end of the speaker phone paused for a minute before replying. When he did so, he spoke faster, the urgent tone obvious in his voice.
"Are you sure it's the same boy?"
"As far as we can tell from the photo, sir. Looks a bit older, but definitely the same boy."
"This confirms my suspicions. He must be here to meet the other one. Proceed with extreme caution. I want both of them alive. Remember what I told you about their special abilities. Do you have the weapons you were issued with?"
Both men checked their sidearms and confirmed that they did. They still didn't quite believe what they had been told about those so-called abilities, but then again they weren't being paid to believe, just to get the job done.
Megabyte looked around the room with interest, as Jade showed him the various displays. Someone had certainly gone to an awful lot of trouble to research this whole alien landing thing.
"Here's the bit about the weather balloon," explained Jade. "Isn't this place so cool? So what do you think?"
"Yeah, really cool, Jade. These so called aliens don't exactly look the same as those pod people though, do they?" Megabyte was referring to the aliens they had run into when Jade had first broken out, that is, become a Tomorrow Person.
"Come on, Megabyte. Don't you believe that a UFO could have landed in 1947? You can't tell me, after all you've seen lately, that you don't believe it's possible."
Megabyte shrugged. "Who knows? I mean, the whole thing sounds like something out of a movie or a TV series. But then again…"
"When you consider what we know exists," Jade finished his sentence. "I suppose what we can do sounds like science fiction as well, and what about…" She stopped as she noticed someone approaching.
A dark haired teenager was walking towards them. "Hi," he said. "I'm Max. Milton said you were asking for me."
"Milton?" asked Megabyte.
"Yeah, the guy that runs this place. He told me on his way out that you wanted to see me."
Oh yeah, the geeky guy who kept giving Jade funny looks. Megabyte wondered what exactly Jade had gotten up to the last time she was here. His train of thought shifted as both he and Jade stared at the newcomer. This must be Liz's friend. He looked like a typical teenager, but he was getting some really strange vibes from him. Megabyte's mind went back a couple of months to the last time this had happened to him. Tell me this isn't another immortal, he thought.
Max reached out his hand, and as Megabyte took it the flash hit him. Within moments The Tomorrow Person found himself gazing at the twinkling lights of some sort of starscape. He didn't even have time to register what he was seeing before some kind of white light blinded him. As it faded he had the sense of being inside some kind of spaceship. At least it seemed like some kind of spaceship. Yeah right, like he was an expert on the interiors of spaceships. He then felt as though he was climbing out of some sort of cocoon thing and reaching out to someone else. Megabyte felt himself sway slightly as the familiar walls of the UFO centre re established themselves in front of his eyes. Whoa for a flash, that was strong. Who was this guy?
[Megabyte, are you okay? What was that?] Jade's voice had an edge of panic in it. Obviously she had seen the same thing he had. As Jade showered him with telepathic questions, Megabyte realised that Max was speaking.
"Sorry," Max said. "I didn't catch your names." He was obviously trying to pretend nothing had happened though Megabyte got the impression that Max was just as unnerved by their meeting as he and Jade were. What or who was Nasedo? As he picked up on the rather loud surface thoughts that were running through Max's mind, Megabyte couldn't help but wonder if he had received some sort of flash too. Was that possible?
Megabyte decided the best approach was to put on a friendly act, and leave the questions for later. He didn't sense anything hostile from this Max, and yet there was something not quite normal about him. He laughed to himself nervously, as a thought occurred to him. Yeah like Jade or himself were what you would call normal, either. Maybe if they gained Max's confidence they could find out some answers later.
"I'm Megabyte, and this is Jade. Your friends Liz and Maria, at the Crashdown, told us to look you up."
Megabyte waited for Max to reply, but instead the young man fell to the floor as a bright light struck him squarely in the chest. Megabyte spun around as two men stepped out from behind one of the display boards in the room. Both were holding weapons of some sort, weapons that were pointed at Jade and himself.
[Teleport, Jade. Go warn Adam and the others.]
Jade hesitated. [Megabyte…]
[Don't argue, Jade. Go now. I'll grab Max and be right behind you.] Megabyte watched in horror as he saw a bright light hit Jade just as she vanished from view. [Jade!]
"Quick, grab the other one before he teleports as well."
Teleports? Thought Megabyte. Oh crap, they knew about the teleporting, he realised. He tensed himself, ready to dive over to grab Max and teleport after Jade, when he felt something pushed against his back, and his arms were twisted behind him.
"Disappear, and I'll kill the other one."
Megabyte turned his head and saw a man in his late twenties pointing some sort of weapon at him. His bleached blond hair stood out in the dim lighting of the room. His companion, who looked about ten years older, had a similar weapon aimed at Max.
"Okay," he said. "I won't disappear. Who are you, and what do you want?" He reached out telepathically and tried to contact Jade. If she had lost consciousness before she had finished teleporting she could be in big trouble. He felt Jade at the edge of his mind, but couldn't get her to answer. As Megabyte prepared to contact Adam to warn him about what was happening, he felt a shock run through his body. He felt himself start to fall as he tried to fight off the approaching darkness. As he lost consciousness the memory of Jade teleporting re ran itself through his brain and he frantically tried to reach out for help telepathically. Hope you're okay kid…
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