Not mine, don't sue. This is an Original Series Tomorrow People Fic that fits in after the Doomsday Men. It sort of follows from my fic 'A restless night' but it isn't necessary to have read that story first.
A Restful few days
John sighed, he didn't quite know what to do. There was no active threat to Earth, the solar system or the Tomorrow People and nothing in the Lab required fixing; it seemed like it would be good chance to rest. John picked up a book; he had been meaning to read Plato's Republic for nearly a year and had had a copy of it sitting by his bed for the last three months. He had managed to open it eight times but had never managed to get past the first page before something happened or as had happened once he had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion. He settled on the sofa and opened the red leather cover very gingerly. He was three sentences down the first page when the jaunting pad lit up. John shut the book with a dull thud and looked up to see who had arrived. It was Stephen.
"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" John asked as he walked over to the jaunting pad. Stephen grinned and shook his head.
"Training day for the teachers. Day off for me." John shook his head slowly, the last thing he need was a Stephen with nothing better to do hanging about in the Lab all day. "Come on John. There's something I've got to show you." He adjusted the bundle under his arm and gestured for John to join him on the jaunting pad. With a heartfelt sigh and against his better judgement John did so.
"Where are we going?" he asked. Stephen just grinned in response.
"That's a surprise," Stephen said. John just rolled his eyes. "Okay TIM, execute plan BP." Before john could ask what plan BP was they were gone.
As with every jaunt there was a moment of being no where as they passed through hyperspace then there was brightness. John blinked a few times to allow his eyes to refocus. They were standing on a golden sandy beach looking out to sea where the Sun was low on the horizon sending a long orange glow across the water towards them. John looked at Stephen.
"Very pretty. But where exactly are we?"
"Earth, Surentu Island in the Pacific to be precise. It's uninhabitited and off the major shipping lanes. Its six miles north-south, two miles east-west. Highest point two hundred and fifty metres above sea level. The nearest bunch of Saps are about 150 miles that way." Stephen pointed briefly over his left shoulder. John was, to say the least, surprised either Stephen hade finally started to pay attention in geography or there was a lot more going on this daytrip than he had realised. "Here you go". John's musings were interrupted when Stephen tossed part of his bundle in his direction. "Let's swim."
John caught the trunks and towel Stephen had thrown at him. He debated the wisdom of going with the suggestion but then decided 'why not' he wasn't doing anything else anyway. John retreated behind a bush to change while Stephen did likewise further along the beach. They hit the water laughing and thoroughly soaked each other until the Sun was right on the horizon. Needless to say it was Stephen who started the water fight but John had willingly taken part. Telekinesis could be very useful. They were both tired when they walked out of the sea to dry off and change. John went back to the bush he had left his clothes behind and started to rub his arms briskly with the towel. They could just jaunt back to the Lab to dry off though, that might be easier. He reached down to the pile of clothes and started rummaging.
"Stephen, I can't find my jaunting belt" He said telepathically. "It was here with the rest of my things but not it's gone. I thought you said this place was uninhabited."
"It is John," Stephen sent back "Don't worry, TIM jaunted both our belts back to the Lab. That's the surprise." He could sense John's anger building so Stephen hurried on with the explanations. "Elizabeth and I both know how busy you are, and how neither of us, but especially me, say thank-you for all the time you put in looking out for the rest of us. We also know you didn't get to celebrate you birthday this year or last year so we decided that we were going to give you a few days of complete peace and quiet." John was shocked. Stephen was right about his birthdays, he had spent the last one worrying while Stephen was in Scotland and the one before that had coincided with an attempt to destroy the planet. He looked around again with a new respect it was obvious that Stephen, Elizabeth and TIM had put a lot of effort in to planning this, he was about to spoil his own party.
"So are we camping?" he asked aloud as Stephen approached. Stephen shook his head and led the way through the tree to where three small prefab cabins stood in circle. The roofs were covered with solar panels so electricity was obviously provided. Stephen gestured round the clearing.
"TIM helped us organise this. Liz and I put most of the things together over Christmas. We've just been waiting for a chance to get you out here. It's designed for all of us but we felt that you should be the first one to get away from it all." He pointed at one of the cabins. "That's you cabin. I hope you like it." John glanced around the clearing and then walked over to the hut that Stephen had indicated. Inside it was clean and simple, various activities had been provided; including, he noted, a copy of Plato's Republic. He sent a message of appreciation to Stephen as he continued to look round the cabin. He glanced out of the window and saw a small light in darkening clearing. He went outside again and looked for Stephen, he was leaning over a white box on the inland side of the clearing and checking it over with a torch.
"Reverse osmosis pump?" John asked. Stephen nodded as he closed up the casing.
"Had to make sure our hideaway had all the mod cons. There's self-heating meal packs in cabins although there's plenty pf edible fruit here. Shall I show you round the rest of the island in the morning?" John nodded. That was the tricky thing about jaunting; the time lag could be terrible. He estimated that they were about ten hours ahead on London here.
Stephen lit a small fire in the centre of the clearing; it was mostly for atmosphere as the evening was still warm. They sat around in the flickering light and ate a meal, after that they decided on a nap to help them get over the time lag and so they retired to their cabins.
John lay on the bed in his cabin; he picked up his book and started to read. He got twitchy as he turned the first page, but nothing happened. He continued to read. It was the best birthday present he had ever been given.
Liz jaunted in to join them as soon as she escaped the training day at school. She arrived just as the Sun was coming up. She had been designated TP in charge so she was only staying for the day. Stephen was due at school 9am on Monday so after that John would have the island and its peace and quiet all to himself. Liz and Stephen gave John the full tour of the island. There were carefully cut paths up to the top of the central hill and another that followed a small spring as in turned into a stream flowed down a small waterfall and out to the sea. Stephen managed to talk the others into a game of hide and seek and then into another where jaunting was allowed.
They picked fruit for lunch and then swam in the afternoon. Or, rather, Stephen and John swam while Liz lazed on the beach feeling tired. She knew that although she didn't work as hard being a Tomorrow Person as John did, she was very tired. Between her teacher training and the near constant threats to planet Earth she really didn't have time for anything else. Stephen was juggling his school work and saving the planet so he must be tired as well.
All three of them enjoyed the rest; the break had been very much needed. Liz and Stephen knew that John had been getting close to burn-out but neither of them had noticed that they had been heading down the same road. They were only homo Superior on Earth at the moment so they had a lot to do. There would be new breakouts but until then it was just the three of them against whatever and whoever came their way.
Liz jaunted home as the Sun was setting, she was sad to go but intended on spending the whole of the coming half term holiday on this island relaxing. She left John and Stephen sitting on the beach and looking out to sea. As she left John realised something.
"Thank-you," he sent. The message reached her in London.
"You are welcome," she responded. John also sent a mental thank-you to TIM. He turned to Stephen and repeated the message verbally.
"Even Tomorrow People need a rest sometimes," Stephen replied, he stretched. "So, do you think we should keep this place? It wouldn't take much to set up a few forcefield generators around it to keep the Saps out." John just looked at him.
"How can you even consider making a whole island disappear?" Stephen gave a vague shrug and a proper grin.
"This place is so remote even the Saps won't miss it. It isn't on any animal migration routes so they won't miss it either." John blinked twice and stared at Stephen.
"You had TIM check didn't you?" the younger tomorrow person nodded
"It was one of the criteria for choosing this place. We were very luck to find somewhere on Earth, I thought we'd have to go further a field." John was impressed, it seemed that Stephen really had done a lot of research, more than he had realised.
"Why not? It'll be nice to have somewhere we can get away to when things back in the Lab get a bit much." Stephen's grin became broader.
"It's my half term in a couple of weeks. I can spend some time then installing the forcefield generators." John nodded slowly. He could do the job himself but there was no reason to. Surentu Island was remote so they were unlikely to be interrupted. He didn't have to do everything himself anyway. It was a fairly obvious fact that he had only recently realised. Anyway if it came to it, he was on holiday and shouldn't be doing anything anyway. It was nice to have a few days off.