Legend
Chapter 01
Charles W Bird
[email protected]
This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The story is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced by any means without the express, written permission of the author.
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THE LANDING
The ship came spiraling down, silently to rest on the sands of the southwestern desert, far from curious eyes. It made no noise and would have been only marginally detectable had anyone been watching their radar screens at the exact moment it passed through the clouds.
It was not a large vessel, its power source did not require vast quantities of fuel, or large machinery to power the craft. Inside, were fifty beings, all descended from natives of the planet they had just landed upon, Earth. They did not look unlike those who live on the planet now, they were, perhaps, a little bit taller than average and, like those who presently live here, came in a variety of skin tones and hair colors.
They rarely spoke aloud, they could, but they had mind to mind contact with each other that was faster and more complete. They were the first of their kind to return to the planet that gave them life in the nearly 30,000 years since their forbearers took to the stars.
It was not by chance they had returned, there had been a great galactic conflict and they were all that had survived out of the hundreds of worlds they had called home.
They had been victorious in that conflict, but the price they had paid had left them homeless and nearly extinct.
They had not been a warlike people, war had been forced upon them by a race of saurians, the Gua’rn, who considered warm blooded beings only as food. The Gua’rn lived in nests and swarmed at regular intervals, devouring any and all living things in their path.
Their sole thought in coming back to their origins was rest and recuperation, the planet had been quarantined since they had left in order that those left behind not be contaminated by “outside” knowledge and could develop at their own pace.
They dug their ship into the base of the mountain and made a tunnel for access. In the adjacent valley, they built homes for themselves and their families so that the star that had given their kind life, could once again shine upon them and restore their war weary souls.
In the reckoning of those who had remained on the planet, the year was 1947. They had no name for their folk, except “The People” and that is how they referred to each other.
There were several small towns nearby, the largest was called Globe. The People were, by habit, peaceful and The People traded small amounts of minerals they extracted from the nearby hills, along with grains, fruits and vegetables they grew on their small farms for necessary items to complete their “cover”.
They had their own school, not an uncommon practice in the area at that time, and kept to themselves, also in keeping with the habits of many small communities nearby.
They were rarely bothered by local authorities, once in a while officials from the local education system would check on the school and, occasionally, the sheriff or one of his deputies would ride by to make sure there was no trouble in their community.
Little did those authorities know that their real school was buried under the mountain in a space ship and, should there be trouble, their minds were of such power, the troublemaker would have seen nothing and wandered away wondering why anyone would willingly live in such a barren and inhospitable place.
There were a few “natives” they had discovered who could detect their minds, although they were rare, The People were aware of them. It was not surprising; after all, they all had evolved from the same folk. Two such natives were Ben and Nancy Fellows, a young couple recently married.
Ben had been a Navy Officer in the recent war and had lost his left leg. He got around on a prosthetic and Nancy was obviously close to delivering their first child.
Ben had been an airplane pilot in the war and had seen terrible things, all he wanted was a place they could live in peace and raise their children. He had been an engineer before the war and had several patents that paid them enough that he did not have to work for a living. Nancy had been a school teacher and was looking forward to being a mother; they both wanted a large family of happy children.
They had purchased a plot of land from the government and had contracted with several young men from Globe to help them build their house.
When they arrived in the valley, they were surprised to find a small village already there, but for their new family, they were happy to have peaceful neighbors. Both of them occasionally caught thoughts of their new neighbors, but passed them off as daydreams.
The two young men the couple hired, brothers John and Ted Barccus, they were both 19 years old, twins and had been unable to find work so they eagerly accepted the offer to assist Ben in building a house for his family in return for a small wage, their meals and a place to sleep.
The People were initially surprised that the twin boys were, also, sensitive to their thoughts, but they both were so mild and polite that they did not worry about them.
All through the spring and early summer Ben and the two boys made adobe bricks that they dried in the sun. They were all living in tents and children of The People, being naturally curious, were frequently nearby, watching the men work. They would sit, out of the way, and watch the men making the bricks and later, watch them build the walls that were to become a small home for the young family.
One afternoon, Nancy felt her pains and she knew their baby was on its way. She and Ben had practiced what they were to do, so Ben did not panic, he helped Nancy into the tent and they prepared for the arrival of their first child.
Two of the children of The People, Petr and his younger brother, Andru, had been watching the men working, they sensed something was happening and they extended their minds in query. They “saw” what was happening in the tent and, suddenly, they knew that the baby was in trouble! They knew that, if they did not do something right NOW, that little baby would die! They just could not let that happen, life was precious to them and this new life would not survive its birth!
They mind called to their Mother, Celi, and related to her what was happening. Celi was concerned about getting too familiar with the “Native Couple” but she was not about to let a child die, even someone else’s. She was a Caregiver and had dedicated her life to the care of others, so she contacted her husband, Jona, and, together they went to the young couple’s tent to offer assistance.
When they were in their presence, both Ben and Nancy realized that their visitors were different from themselves. Celi sent to them, “Do not worry about that now, let me help, your baby is in trouble.”
So it was that Domi Fellows was born, that his mind was even more powerful than those of his parents was immediately apparent to his impromptu midwife, Celi. Whether it was coincidence or the proximity of other powerful minds will never be known, but his two younger brothers Pol and Jorg would be equally as powerful when they made their entrance into the world over the next several years.
The family became very close to the folks in The Village and, before many years passed, the whole family became part of The People. People who shared the ability to meet, mind to mind, cannot remain apart.
The twins who hired on to help Ben build their house stayed in the valley where they felt at home there as they were as “different” as Ben and Nancy’s children. They lived in a small bungalow behind the Fellows Family and they, also, became in integrated part of The People. They had, at last, found a place that they did not feel they were outcasts, so different that they had to hide the fact that besides being brothers, they also were a couple, mated for life.
The little valley was very remote, few ever came there and it was not until 1965 that the county even put them on the map. By then, the first generation of children born in the valley began having children, Domi claimed Ali, a child of The People, as his bride and they settled down to start a family.
The two brothers, John and Ted were content living with each other and there with the people, no one made them feel they were outcasts because they loved each other. The People had no social mores against those who loved a member of their same gender.
All the valley’s children were schooled locally and then schooled by the computers on board their craft. Even with the rapid advances that were taking place on the Planet Earth, the graduates of the ship’s teaching computers were still light years beyond the knowledge known outside their valley.
A few ventured out into the outside world, but they were repulsed by the culture of avarice and greed, few remained for more than a few years before they retreated back to their isolated valley.
With each additional generation, the demands on the small valley became greater, realizing that additional resources and a reason for them even being there, were needed, they opened a small mine and a factory to build specialized sun related systems.
Using their technology, they began to build solar power systems and unitized water recovery systems for homes and small communities. They refused to build or sell anything that could be used in aggression against others and what they sold would self-destruct if tampered with.
Their products were an instant success, those living in desert areas all over the planet were interested in purchasing one or more of their units.
They had a few problems with the government, especially the Census Bureau, their natural lifespan was many times that of the native population, even those few who were born of a native person and the other parent was of The People, their offspring inherited the longer lifespan as well as their mental powers.
They were pretty much left alone until 2012 by local reckoning and this is where our story begins:
THE BEGINNING
Domi Fellows, Jr., President of Sun Valley Manufacturing, was in Las Vegas attending a Solar Products convention. He had steadfastly refused to use his mental powers to eavesdrop on his competitors, but he could not help but notice two individuals who kept hanging around his company’s display booth.
He finally walked up to them, asking, “Is there anything I can do for you, answer any questions you have about any of our products?”
One man asked in broken English, “What is power source of water purifier?”
Domi replied, “Sunlight, there is a small solar cell in the top of the unit, that is the only power it needs, the accumulator will charge during the day to power the unit for use at night.”
The man asked several more questions before the second man asked, “What metals used in make this machine?”
Domi replied, “The outer shell is an aluminum alloy and the piping is stainless steel. The rest is proprietary and will self-destruct if the outer case is opened.”
The first man then asked, “How much big can electric generator be make?”
Domi was becoming uncomfortable answering these men and he put out a mind call to his sons, Domi III and Beni, asking them to come near. Domi’s alarm bells were ringing off his mental hook!
He then replied to the man, “The largest capacity unit we make is 10 kilowatts, it can be fitted with an inverter to make either 60 or 50 cycle alternating current, but the capacity is slightly reduced to 9.5 KW. It can be made in any voltage up to 480 volts.”
The two men then noticed young Domi and Beni standing behind them, both boys were well over six feet and both had shoulders like a Brahma bull. The men made a hurried departure leaving Domi and his boys wondering what was behind their questions. They could have probed the minds of their visitors, but it was not an emergency and their moral code prohibited such an intrusion.
They then got busy, their products were very popular and several governments had sent representatives with large checkbooks. The government of India ordered 12,000 electric units and 20,000 water purifiers. The representative from Australia was eager to purchase even more and the Dominion of Canada ordered 15,000 electric units.
Profit wise, it was a very good convention for them, their new factory was going to be hard pressed to fulfill the orders, but, with their improved manufacturing line, they would be able to complete shipments in less than a month. To get a jump on production, Domi mentally sent the orders home, so work could begin immediately.
He was feeling very pleased with himself and he looked around for his sons, thinking to take them for an early supper. Domi III was nowhere to be seen. Both he and Beni looked for him and then called for him mentally.
Domi III replied immediately, “Papa, they have me tied up and a hood over my head. We are in a car headed to the airport. I will stall them until you can rescue me.”
At that, Domi III reached out with his mind and stalled the engine of the car, leaving them stranded on the freeway to the airport. He then triggered the relay on the automobile’s horn and headlights, making the lights flash and the horn to start beeping.
The two abductors were unable to stop either and the car was soon surrounded by police. As the police were untying him, Domi’s Dad and Brother arrived to rescue him. No one was hurt in the incident, but it brought home to them the knowledge that the Earth was still a violent place and they needed to be on their guard at all times.
The production line at Sun Valley Manufacturing was running full out to produce the orders Domi had collected. They had to up the production at the mine and modify the automated production lines to turn out that many units in the time promised.
All of The People over 16 years of age were fully employed and the county was delighted in the increased revenue from taxes. They considered the folks out at the valley perfect citizens, they paid their taxes on time and the lone deputy who was assigned that area had never been called on for an enforcement problem.
The Deputy frequently complained of boredom, but when Sheriff Kelly offered to transfer him, he shut his mouth and said no more.
The National Government attempted to force Sun Valley Manufacturing to release drawings and specifications for their products, when pushed to the wall, they did release drawings and specs, but there was no engineer, other than their own, who could interpret either.
They opened an office in Globe to prevent their peaceful valley from being inundated with prospective customers and those merely curious.
They brought out a line of medical diagnostic tools, a small unit that could be purchased by an individual physician and a larger unit that could run several hundred tests in a day’s time. Both units could analyze contaminates in a sample down to fractions of parts per billion and could recognize all the diseases that could affect mankind, even those not yet discovered by the “second growth humans”.
The units were an instant success and, again, the factory in Sun Valley had to be enlarged.
The National Government could not get information through the Patent Office, because none of their products were patented. Their sales office in Globe had been burgled several times and products stolen, but every time someone attempted to open a unit, it self-destructed into a ball of melted metal and plastic goo.
The People’s only exception to “No Visitors” was sick and hurt children. They had built a clinic and small hospital in the valley and soon, there was a steady flow of desperate parents bringing their children for help that could be obtained nowhere else.
Every case was treated as a “charity case”, if a parent wished to make a donation, there was a confidential envelope they could put their donation in and drop it in a slot.
The children were allowed to play with the valley’s children as soon as they were sufficiently recovered. Most of those children found their way back to the valley as soon as they became adults. It seemed that contact with The People triggered something in the minds of the second growth human children and their new abilities urged them to return to the valley.
There was no genetic conflict in the DNA of The People and the DNA of the “Second Growth Humans”, however the DNA of The People was dominant, a child of a “Second Growth Human” and a member of The People was always a child of The People.
EXPANSION
The People were not interested in rapid growth, nor had they any desire for conquest, but in the natural course of life, more than two children were born to each family, so their population was slowly increasing. They were not, however, concerned about overfilling their valley, nor were they worried about food supply.
They already supplemented food production with the synthesizers on board the hidden space craft and income from their businesses allowed them to purchase food and goods on the open market.
Few of them traveled beyond the confines of their valley, but those who did, noticed a common problem in every city they visited. That problem was neglected and abandoned children living on the streets.
While the authorities appeared to be doing their best to care for and collect those children, they did not have the abilities those of The People had, mind reading. A person of The People could walk down the street and detect the minds of those children in hiding, in fear, hungry and desperate.
It was more than the emotions of The People could stand. Those whose minds could connect with others, felt the pain of those children as if it were their own.
They tried to ignore the problem and mind their own business, but they would return from their travels to the “Outside” in a state of emotional hysteria. It was simply not in them to be able to ignore such terrible distress.
On one such business trip, brothers Domi III and Beni, Jr. could not ignore the pleading cries of children huddled in a cold warehouse on the waterfront of San Francisco. Their own minds were screaming in agony and fear as they pulled the boards from a boarded up door and entered the gloom of the unused building.
They found a teen boy with three smaller ones huddled around him. They were all brothers; they used their mind powers to calm the youngsters and herded them out to their rental car. Besides being terrified, the youngsters were filthy and smelled abominably. They stopped at a Sears store in the mall and bought several hundred dollars’ worth clothing and shoes before heading to their motel across the bay in Oakland.
The teen, Dan told them they had not seen their parents in over a month and he had worked some to feed his brothers, but they had run out of money and none of them had eaten in three days! They were horrified at what they saw in Dan’s mind about what “work” he had been forced to perform in order to get the money to feed his brothers!
As soon as they returned to their motel room, they ran the boys through the shower and got them dressed in the new clothes. The old ones were worth only to be thrown away!
The next thing was to take them to an all-night Denny’s, where the boys cleaned out the buffet. With their tummies full, all the boys, including Dan, fell asleep in the car on the way back to the motel. Somehow, Dan had sensed that these people would not hurt him or his younger brothers.
The next morning, they talked with the boys. They had already decided among themselves, but the boys had to agree also, “Boys, we can take you to Children’s Services….” Right away the boys started to protest, so Domi continued, “Or, we can take you home with us and give you a safe home to stay in, plenty of food and you can go to school.”
There was no decision to be made, the boys were ready to go home with their saviors.
When they returned to their valley, there was no shortage of homes that the boys were invited to live, within a few weeks they had all lost that haunted look and were again growing like normal boys.
Under the guise of a physical exam, they cured Dan of the several diseases he had picked up while providing for his younger brothers and “adjusted” a brain defect the boy had inherited.
As they got older, their hosts explained to them what and who The People were. By that time the boys had integrated into the community as if they had been born there and had already suspected the true nature of their hosts.
From that time on, every time anyone made a trip to the outside, members of The People scheduled a “walkabout” listening for abandoned children. They never failed to return home with at least three or four children. For some unknown reason, it was mostly boys, but some girls were also rescued.
The older teens of The People were concerned that children were being missed and they formed a group to accompany their elders to the outside world and, while their elders were conducting business, the teens went on a search to locate abandoned boys and girls who were living on the streets.
The group that Dan was in always came back with the most children! He was developing mental powers of The People, just by everyday association with them and some of his new found powers exceeded those of The People.
The teens were not afraid to confront those who were abusing the children on the streets and, over all, their powers were nearly as great as their adult brethren, so they were able to defuse a confrontation without attracting notice from the authorities.
The adults of The People were startled to learn that Dan had acquired mental powers nearly equal to and some superior to a “native born” child of their own race.
The number of children being brought into their community was straining the ability of families to care for them, the teens formed a Youth Council and they studied the problem. They recommended that a Children’s Home be constructed away from their valley, but close enough that The People could oversee the operation and contribute to the welfare of the children living there.
In the next valley over, they found suitable ground for a Children’s Home and construction was begun immediately. With a little mental help from their parents, all the permits and operating licenses were obtained before construction was completed. Domi’s youngest cousin, Jorg, Jr. became the administrator of The Home.
CHILDREN’S REFUGE
Dan volunteered immediately to be a councilor at The Refuge. He had begun dating a girl of the People, Jana, and she would accompany him whenever he was working as a councilor.
Jana was there one day, while Dan was working with a particularly difficult case involving two small boys who had been sexually abused by their Uncle. The sessions with the two boys were intense and troubling to Dan.
Dan was having his own problems about the case and Jana knew he was going to ask his Foster Mama, Elen, to help him that evening. Jana and Elen had been collaborating on observing Dan’s unusual mental development.
While Jana was waiting for Dan, two small girls were brought in. They were sisters from Detroit and had been found hiding under a bridge. The girls were frightened and clung to each other in fear. Jana used her powers to sooth the two little girls and then cuddled them on her lap.
She obtained two trays of lunch for them, and as soon as they had wolfed the food down, they fell asleep, again on her lap. Jana felt good having those little girls on her lap and she sent to Dan a single word, “YES!”
He had asked her the night before if she would marry him and he understood her simple mind send. He, also, was a human sensitive and had developed limited powers to send and receive, the entire building heard his mental scream, “YEAAAAAAAAA!”
The two settled down with a readymade family of two girls and two boys. The four children participated in the marriage of their new parents and would be a great help to Jana and Dan when their own children began to arrive.
The pair continued their work with The Refuge, Dan eventually became its Administrator and Jana became its Caregiver when she completed her education. It was always a scramble for Dan to have sufficient room for new arrivals, in the first year of his administration, the census hit 2,000 children.
There was always a new wing being constructed and, as the business of The People grew and as more of their folk traveled to the outside so also did the flow of new children for The Refuge to care for grew.
There were days when new children were standing a dozen deep, waiting for Jana to check them over. There also would be days that Jana would finish her day, weeping at what she had treated among the new children. Illnesses thought to be no longer existent, even among the Natives, she would find the children infected.
The day Dan found Jana in her small clinic, crying her eyes out, he brought in two more caregivers to assist her.
As children grew to their majority, they left the Care Center, but most remained in The Valley, adding to the population. The businesses of The People absorbed most of them, their products were wildly popular. They were gearing up to produce yet another new item, a bio-stimulator that would help an injured person’s body repair itself. It, like all the other products they manufactured and sold, was self contained, powered by a solar cell and would self-destruct if tampered with.
The People and their Human neighbors in the valley got along well, the Deputy assigned to the area finally found an outlet to his frustration of nothing to occupy his time, knitting! He discovered that very young children being brought to the Care Center had no caps to wear in the winter, which could be rather harsh in those desert mountains, so he experimented a while and came up with a knitted cap that would be suitable for both boys and girls.
It might have seemed strange to see a uniformed Deputy Sherriff sitting on the porch of his small station, knitting, but The People understood and there was no laughter. In fact, those children receiving the caps treasured them and passed them down to their own children and generations beyond as precious heirlooms.
The peaceful life with The People led the rescued children to excel in school and some did go away to college or university, but the majority went to the Learning Center in the hidden space ship. There, they learned the sciences of the war shattered civilization of The People.
The proximity of those who used mind speech and the other skills of that lost civilization opened “channels” in the minds of the children of the second growth Humans, mental centers long suspected but had never developed became functional and those children came close to the offspring of The People in mental powers. A few second growth humans even surpassed The People in mental powers. Dan was one of those rare second growth humans..
They were, after all, related, and they both sprang from the same genetic stock, so it was no surprise to The People that their brothers and sisters of the Second Growth Humans were joining them.
The way of life in the valley was ideal, but it was not to last. The winds of change were already headed in their direction, the Leaders of The People called for assembly; they had awful news to tell their folk. By local reckoning, it was July 15, 2012 and they had only a few months to prepare for disaster.
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TBC
What terrible catastrophe was headed in their direction? To have escaped annihilation at the hands of the Gua’rn a few tens of years earlier, only to be faced with yet another trial, would The People and their Cousins survive?
[email protected]
This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The story is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced by any means without the express, written permission of the author.
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THE LANDING
The ship came spiraling down, silently to rest on the sands of the southwestern desert, far from curious eyes. It made no noise and would have been only marginally detectable had anyone been watching their radar screens at the exact moment it passed through the clouds.
It was not a large vessel, its power source did not require vast quantities of fuel, or large machinery to power the craft. Inside, were fifty beings, all descended from natives of the planet they had just landed upon, Earth. They did not look unlike those who live on the planet now, they were, perhaps, a little bit taller than average and, like those who presently live here, came in a variety of skin tones and hair colors.
They rarely spoke aloud, they could, but they had mind to mind contact with each other that was faster and more complete. They were the first of their kind to return to the planet that gave them life in the nearly 30,000 years since their forbearers took to the stars.
It was not by chance they had returned, there had been a great galactic conflict and they were all that had survived out of the hundreds of worlds they had called home.
They had been victorious in that conflict, but the price they had paid had left them homeless and nearly extinct.
They had not been a warlike people, war had been forced upon them by a race of saurians, the Gua’rn, who considered warm blooded beings only as food. The Gua’rn lived in nests and swarmed at regular intervals, devouring any and all living things in their path.
Their sole thought in coming back to their origins was rest and recuperation, the planet had been quarantined since they had left in order that those left behind not be contaminated by “outside” knowledge and could develop at their own pace.
They dug their ship into the base of the mountain and made a tunnel for access. In the adjacent valley, they built homes for themselves and their families so that the star that had given their kind life, could once again shine upon them and restore their war weary souls.
In the reckoning of those who had remained on the planet, the year was 1947. They had no name for their folk, except “The People” and that is how they referred to each other.
There were several small towns nearby, the largest was called Globe. The People were, by habit, peaceful and The People traded small amounts of minerals they extracted from the nearby hills, along with grains, fruits and vegetables they grew on their small farms for necessary items to complete their “cover”.
They had their own school, not an uncommon practice in the area at that time, and kept to themselves, also in keeping with the habits of many small communities nearby.
They were rarely bothered by local authorities, once in a while officials from the local education system would check on the school and, occasionally, the sheriff or one of his deputies would ride by to make sure there was no trouble in their community.
Little did those authorities know that their real school was buried under the mountain in a space ship and, should there be trouble, their minds were of such power, the troublemaker would have seen nothing and wandered away wondering why anyone would willingly live in such a barren and inhospitable place.
There were a few “natives” they had discovered who could detect their minds, although they were rare, The People were aware of them. It was not surprising; after all, they all had evolved from the same folk. Two such natives were Ben and Nancy Fellows, a young couple recently married.
Ben had been a Navy Officer in the recent war and had lost his left leg. He got around on a prosthetic and Nancy was obviously close to delivering their first child.
Ben had been an airplane pilot in the war and had seen terrible things, all he wanted was a place they could live in peace and raise their children. He had been an engineer before the war and had several patents that paid them enough that he did not have to work for a living. Nancy had been a school teacher and was looking forward to being a mother; they both wanted a large family of happy children.
They had purchased a plot of land from the government and had contracted with several young men from Globe to help them build their house.
When they arrived in the valley, they were surprised to find a small village already there, but for their new family, they were happy to have peaceful neighbors. Both of them occasionally caught thoughts of their new neighbors, but passed them off as daydreams.
The two young men the couple hired, brothers John and Ted Barccus, they were both 19 years old, twins and had been unable to find work so they eagerly accepted the offer to assist Ben in building a house for his family in return for a small wage, their meals and a place to sleep.
The People were initially surprised that the twin boys were, also, sensitive to their thoughts, but they both were so mild and polite that they did not worry about them.
All through the spring and early summer Ben and the two boys made adobe bricks that they dried in the sun. They were all living in tents and children of The People, being naturally curious, were frequently nearby, watching the men work. They would sit, out of the way, and watch the men making the bricks and later, watch them build the walls that were to become a small home for the young family.
One afternoon, Nancy felt her pains and she knew their baby was on its way. She and Ben had practiced what they were to do, so Ben did not panic, he helped Nancy into the tent and they prepared for the arrival of their first child.
Two of the children of The People, Petr and his younger brother, Andru, had been watching the men working, they sensed something was happening and they extended their minds in query. They “saw” what was happening in the tent and, suddenly, they knew that the baby was in trouble! They knew that, if they did not do something right NOW, that little baby would die! They just could not let that happen, life was precious to them and this new life would not survive its birth!
They mind called to their Mother, Celi, and related to her what was happening. Celi was concerned about getting too familiar with the “Native Couple” but she was not about to let a child die, even someone else’s. She was a Caregiver and had dedicated her life to the care of others, so she contacted her husband, Jona, and, together they went to the young couple’s tent to offer assistance.
When they were in their presence, both Ben and Nancy realized that their visitors were different from themselves. Celi sent to them, “Do not worry about that now, let me help, your baby is in trouble.”
So it was that Domi Fellows was born, that his mind was even more powerful than those of his parents was immediately apparent to his impromptu midwife, Celi. Whether it was coincidence or the proximity of other powerful minds will never be known, but his two younger brothers Pol and Jorg would be equally as powerful when they made their entrance into the world over the next several years.
The family became very close to the folks in The Village and, before many years passed, the whole family became part of The People. People who shared the ability to meet, mind to mind, cannot remain apart.
The twins who hired on to help Ben build their house stayed in the valley where they felt at home there as they were as “different” as Ben and Nancy’s children. They lived in a small bungalow behind the Fellows Family and they, also, became in integrated part of The People. They had, at last, found a place that they did not feel they were outcasts, so different that they had to hide the fact that besides being brothers, they also were a couple, mated for life.
The little valley was very remote, few ever came there and it was not until 1965 that the county even put them on the map. By then, the first generation of children born in the valley began having children, Domi claimed Ali, a child of The People, as his bride and they settled down to start a family.
The two brothers, John and Ted were content living with each other and there with the people, no one made them feel they were outcasts because they loved each other. The People had no social mores against those who loved a member of their same gender.
All the valley’s children were schooled locally and then schooled by the computers on board their craft. Even with the rapid advances that were taking place on the Planet Earth, the graduates of the ship’s teaching computers were still light years beyond the knowledge known outside their valley.
A few ventured out into the outside world, but they were repulsed by the culture of avarice and greed, few remained for more than a few years before they retreated back to their isolated valley.
With each additional generation, the demands on the small valley became greater, realizing that additional resources and a reason for them even being there, were needed, they opened a small mine and a factory to build specialized sun related systems.
Using their technology, they began to build solar power systems and unitized water recovery systems for homes and small communities. They refused to build or sell anything that could be used in aggression against others and what they sold would self-destruct if tampered with.
Their products were an instant success, those living in desert areas all over the planet were interested in purchasing one or more of their units.
They had a few problems with the government, especially the Census Bureau, their natural lifespan was many times that of the native population, even those few who were born of a native person and the other parent was of The People, their offspring inherited the longer lifespan as well as their mental powers.
They were pretty much left alone until 2012 by local reckoning and this is where our story begins:
THE BEGINNING
Domi Fellows, Jr., President of Sun Valley Manufacturing, was in Las Vegas attending a Solar Products convention. He had steadfastly refused to use his mental powers to eavesdrop on his competitors, but he could not help but notice two individuals who kept hanging around his company’s display booth.
He finally walked up to them, asking, “Is there anything I can do for you, answer any questions you have about any of our products?”
One man asked in broken English, “What is power source of water purifier?”
Domi replied, “Sunlight, there is a small solar cell in the top of the unit, that is the only power it needs, the accumulator will charge during the day to power the unit for use at night.”
The man asked several more questions before the second man asked, “What metals used in make this machine?”
Domi replied, “The outer shell is an aluminum alloy and the piping is stainless steel. The rest is proprietary and will self-destruct if the outer case is opened.”
The first man then asked, “How much big can electric generator be make?”
Domi was becoming uncomfortable answering these men and he put out a mind call to his sons, Domi III and Beni, asking them to come near. Domi’s alarm bells were ringing off his mental hook!
He then replied to the man, “The largest capacity unit we make is 10 kilowatts, it can be fitted with an inverter to make either 60 or 50 cycle alternating current, but the capacity is slightly reduced to 9.5 KW. It can be made in any voltage up to 480 volts.”
The two men then noticed young Domi and Beni standing behind them, both boys were well over six feet and both had shoulders like a Brahma bull. The men made a hurried departure leaving Domi and his boys wondering what was behind their questions. They could have probed the minds of their visitors, but it was not an emergency and their moral code prohibited such an intrusion.
They then got busy, their products were very popular and several governments had sent representatives with large checkbooks. The government of India ordered 12,000 electric units and 20,000 water purifiers. The representative from Australia was eager to purchase even more and the Dominion of Canada ordered 15,000 electric units.
Profit wise, it was a very good convention for them, their new factory was going to be hard pressed to fulfill the orders, but, with their improved manufacturing line, they would be able to complete shipments in less than a month. To get a jump on production, Domi mentally sent the orders home, so work could begin immediately.
He was feeling very pleased with himself and he looked around for his sons, thinking to take them for an early supper. Domi III was nowhere to be seen. Both he and Beni looked for him and then called for him mentally.
Domi III replied immediately, “Papa, they have me tied up and a hood over my head. We are in a car headed to the airport. I will stall them until you can rescue me.”
At that, Domi III reached out with his mind and stalled the engine of the car, leaving them stranded on the freeway to the airport. He then triggered the relay on the automobile’s horn and headlights, making the lights flash and the horn to start beeping.
The two abductors were unable to stop either and the car was soon surrounded by police. As the police were untying him, Domi’s Dad and Brother arrived to rescue him. No one was hurt in the incident, but it brought home to them the knowledge that the Earth was still a violent place and they needed to be on their guard at all times.
The production line at Sun Valley Manufacturing was running full out to produce the orders Domi had collected. They had to up the production at the mine and modify the automated production lines to turn out that many units in the time promised.
All of The People over 16 years of age were fully employed and the county was delighted in the increased revenue from taxes. They considered the folks out at the valley perfect citizens, they paid their taxes on time and the lone deputy who was assigned that area had never been called on for an enforcement problem.
The Deputy frequently complained of boredom, but when Sheriff Kelly offered to transfer him, he shut his mouth and said no more.
The National Government attempted to force Sun Valley Manufacturing to release drawings and specifications for their products, when pushed to the wall, they did release drawings and specs, but there was no engineer, other than their own, who could interpret either.
They opened an office in Globe to prevent their peaceful valley from being inundated with prospective customers and those merely curious.
They brought out a line of medical diagnostic tools, a small unit that could be purchased by an individual physician and a larger unit that could run several hundred tests in a day’s time. Both units could analyze contaminates in a sample down to fractions of parts per billion and could recognize all the diseases that could affect mankind, even those not yet discovered by the “second growth humans”.
The units were an instant success and, again, the factory in Sun Valley had to be enlarged.
The National Government could not get information through the Patent Office, because none of their products were patented. Their sales office in Globe had been burgled several times and products stolen, but every time someone attempted to open a unit, it self-destructed into a ball of melted metal and plastic goo.
The People’s only exception to “No Visitors” was sick and hurt children. They had built a clinic and small hospital in the valley and soon, there was a steady flow of desperate parents bringing their children for help that could be obtained nowhere else.
Every case was treated as a “charity case”, if a parent wished to make a donation, there was a confidential envelope they could put their donation in and drop it in a slot.
The children were allowed to play with the valley’s children as soon as they were sufficiently recovered. Most of those children found their way back to the valley as soon as they became adults. It seemed that contact with The People triggered something in the minds of the second growth human children and their new abilities urged them to return to the valley.
There was no genetic conflict in the DNA of The People and the DNA of the “Second Growth Humans”, however the DNA of The People was dominant, a child of a “Second Growth Human” and a member of The People was always a child of The People.
EXPANSION
The People were not interested in rapid growth, nor had they any desire for conquest, but in the natural course of life, more than two children were born to each family, so their population was slowly increasing. They were not, however, concerned about overfilling their valley, nor were they worried about food supply.
They already supplemented food production with the synthesizers on board the hidden space craft and income from their businesses allowed them to purchase food and goods on the open market.
Few of them traveled beyond the confines of their valley, but those who did, noticed a common problem in every city they visited. That problem was neglected and abandoned children living on the streets.
While the authorities appeared to be doing their best to care for and collect those children, they did not have the abilities those of The People had, mind reading. A person of The People could walk down the street and detect the minds of those children in hiding, in fear, hungry and desperate.
It was more than the emotions of The People could stand. Those whose minds could connect with others, felt the pain of those children as if it were their own.
They tried to ignore the problem and mind their own business, but they would return from their travels to the “Outside” in a state of emotional hysteria. It was simply not in them to be able to ignore such terrible distress.
On one such business trip, brothers Domi III and Beni, Jr. could not ignore the pleading cries of children huddled in a cold warehouse on the waterfront of San Francisco. Their own minds were screaming in agony and fear as they pulled the boards from a boarded up door and entered the gloom of the unused building.
They found a teen boy with three smaller ones huddled around him. They were all brothers; they used their mind powers to calm the youngsters and herded them out to their rental car. Besides being terrified, the youngsters were filthy and smelled abominably. They stopped at a Sears store in the mall and bought several hundred dollars’ worth clothing and shoes before heading to their motel across the bay in Oakland.
The teen, Dan told them they had not seen their parents in over a month and he had worked some to feed his brothers, but they had run out of money and none of them had eaten in three days! They were horrified at what they saw in Dan’s mind about what “work” he had been forced to perform in order to get the money to feed his brothers!
As soon as they returned to their motel room, they ran the boys through the shower and got them dressed in the new clothes. The old ones were worth only to be thrown away!
The next thing was to take them to an all-night Denny’s, where the boys cleaned out the buffet. With their tummies full, all the boys, including Dan, fell asleep in the car on the way back to the motel. Somehow, Dan had sensed that these people would not hurt him or his younger brothers.
The next morning, they talked with the boys. They had already decided among themselves, but the boys had to agree also, “Boys, we can take you to Children’s Services….” Right away the boys started to protest, so Domi continued, “Or, we can take you home with us and give you a safe home to stay in, plenty of food and you can go to school.”
There was no decision to be made, the boys were ready to go home with their saviors.
When they returned to their valley, there was no shortage of homes that the boys were invited to live, within a few weeks they had all lost that haunted look and were again growing like normal boys.
Under the guise of a physical exam, they cured Dan of the several diseases he had picked up while providing for his younger brothers and “adjusted” a brain defect the boy had inherited.
As they got older, their hosts explained to them what and who The People were. By that time the boys had integrated into the community as if they had been born there and had already suspected the true nature of their hosts.
From that time on, every time anyone made a trip to the outside, members of The People scheduled a “walkabout” listening for abandoned children. They never failed to return home with at least three or four children. For some unknown reason, it was mostly boys, but some girls were also rescued.
The older teens of The People were concerned that children were being missed and they formed a group to accompany their elders to the outside world and, while their elders were conducting business, the teens went on a search to locate abandoned boys and girls who were living on the streets.
The group that Dan was in always came back with the most children! He was developing mental powers of The People, just by everyday association with them and some of his new found powers exceeded those of The People.
The teens were not afraid to confront those who were abusing the children on the streets and, over all, their powers were nearly as great as their adult brethren, so they were able to defuse a confrontation without attracting notice from the authorities.
The adults of The People were startled to learn that Dan had acquired mental powers nearly equal to and some superior to a “native born” child of their own race.
The number of children being brought into their community was straining the ability of families to care for them, the teens formed a Youth Council and they studied the problem. They recommended that a Children’s Home be constructed away from their valley, but close enough that The People could oversee the operation and contribute to the welfare of the children living there.
In the next valley over, they found suitable ground for a Children’s Home and construction was begun immediately. With a little mental help from their parents, all the permits and operating licenses were obtained before construction was completed. Domi’s youngest cousin, Jorg, Jr. became the administrator of The Home.
CHILDREN’S REFUGE
Dan volunteered immediately to be a councilor at The Refuge. He had begun dating a girl of the People, Jana, and she would accompany him whenever he was working as a councilor.
Jana was there one day, while Dan was working with a particularly difficult case involving two small boys who had been sexually abused by their Uncle. The sessions with the two boys were intense and troubling to Dan.
Dan was having his own problems about the case and Jana knew he was going to ask his Foster Mama, Elen, to help him that evening. Jana and Elen had been collaborating on observing Dan’s unusual mental development.
While Jana was waiting for Dan, two small girls were brought in. They were sisters from Detroit and had been found hiding under a bridge. The girls were frightened and clung to each other in fear. Jana used her powers to sooth the two little girls and then cuddled them on her lap.
She obtained two trays of lunch for them, and as soon as they had wolfed the food down, they fell asleep, again on her lap. Jana felt good having those little girls on her lap and she sent to Dan a single word, “YES!”
He had asked her the night before if she would marry him and he understood her simple mind send. He, also, was a human sensitive and had developed limited powers to send and receive, the entire building heard his mental scream, “YEAAAAAAAAA!”
The two settled down with a readymade family of two girls and two boys. The four children participated in the marriage of their new parents and would be a great help to Jana and Dan when their own children began to arrive.
The pair continued their work with The Refuge, Dan eventually became its Administrator and Jana became its Caregiver when she completed her education. It was always a scramble for Dan to have sufficient room for new arrivals, in the first year of his administration, the census hit 2,000 children.
There was always a new wing being constructed and, as the business of The People grew and as more of their folk traveled to the outside so also did the flow of new children for The Refuge to care for grew.
There were days when new children were standing a dozen deep, waiting for Jana to check them over. There also would be days that Jana would finish her day, weeping at what she had treated among the new children. Illnesses thought to be no longer existent, even among the Natives, she would find the children infected.
The day Dan found Jana in her small clinic, crying her eyes out, he brought in two more caregivers to assist her.
As children grew to their majority, they left the Care Center, but most remained in The Valley, adding to the population. The businesses of The People absorbed most of them, their products were wildly popular. They were gearing up to produce yet another new item, a bio-stimulator that would help an injured person’s body repair itself. It, like all the other products they manufactured and sold, was self contained, powered by a solar cell and would self-destruct if tampered with.
The People and their Human neighbors in the valley got along well, the Deputy assigned to the area finally found an outlet to his frustration of nothing to occupy his time, knitting! He discovered that very young children being brought to the Care Center had no caps to wear in the winter, which could be rather harsh in those desert mountains, so he experimented a while and came up with a knitted cap that would be suitable for both boys and girls.
It might have seemed strange to see a uniformed Deputy Sherriff sitting on the porch of his small station, knitting, but The People understood and there was no laughter. In fact, those children receiving the caps treasured them and passed them down to their own children and generations beyond as precious heirlooms.
The peaceful life with The People led the rescued children to excel in school and some did go away to college or university, but the majority went to the Learning Center in the hidden space ship. There, they learned the sciences of the war shattered civilization of The People.
The proximity of those who used mind speech and the other skills of that lost civilization opened “channels” in the minds of the children of the second growth Humans, mental centers long suspected but had never developed became functional and those children came close to the offspring of The People in mental powers. A few second growth humans even surpassed The People in mental powers. Dan was one of those rare second growth humans..
They were, after all, related, and they both sprang from the same genetic stock, so it was no surprise to The People that their brothers and sisters of the Second Growth Humans were joining them.
The way of life in the valley was ideal, but it was not to last. The winds of change were already headed in their direction, the Leaders of The People called for assembly; they had awful news to tell their folk. By local reckoning, it was July 15, 2012 and they had only a few months to prepare for disaster.
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TBC
What terrible catastrophe was headed in their direction? To have escaped annihilation at the hands of the Gua’rn a few tens of years earlier, only to be faced with yet another trial, would The People and their Cousins survive?