The Visionary
An OS/NS crossover. A new Tomorrow Person brings a new puzzle and a new power to the team.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the concept of the Tomorrow People. The Tomorrow People belong to Roger Damon Price, Nickelodeon, ITV and/or Thames/Tetra Television. I am using the characters for entertainment purposes only, and I am making no money from this story. Any other characters that you do not recognise from either series of the Tomorrow People are mine. Please ask if you want to use them.
A big Thank You goes to both my husband Chris and Elizabeth Stanway for Betareading and their help in filling in things I missed. :)
NB. The spelling used is UK English except where Americans are speaking.
It was the last lesson on the Friday before half term began. Jade did not mind Art, it was a bit of fun for a Friday afternoon. The class's normal teacher had been off ill all week, and for this period a new supply teacher was taking over, Ms M'Bondo.
The lesson was unremarkable until about half way through the lesson when something happened to Jade's friend Caroline. She suddenly saw a kaleidoscope of images, each one slightly different from the last, and all but one were the view from the eyes of one of her classmates, the other was one from Ms M'Bondo. She screamed and put her hands to her head, closing her eyes tight to shut them out, which only made them more vivid. She passed out, falling to the floor.
Just as Caroline put her hands to her head Jade caught a glimpse of her friend's vision. She nearly passed out herself, but automatically snapped up her mental shields just in time. Although Jade did not notice, she was not the only one to react to Caroline's vision. For a moment Ms M'Bondo had a faraway look in her eyes, as if she had seen something like this before.
While helping new members of her kind to "break out" as Tomorrow People, Elizabeth M'Bondo had seen many things in her time, but nothing quite like this. She had been enjoying her week at this school, and had had no idea that there were any potential Tomorrow People among those she was teaching, except perhaps, Jade. There was a look in Jade's eyes that seemed somehow familiar, but at the same time different, as if she had some big secret to hide - perhaps like Elizabeth's own.
Elizabeth knew she needed to take Caroline to the sick room and to get another teacher to cover the remains of her class while she saw to her. She looked around the room looking for someone reliable, other than Jade, to get a teacher to cover the rest of the lesson for her. Martin seemed to be the one to choose if the information that other members of staff had given her was correct. For some reason she could not quite put her finger on, she wanted Jade to come with them to the sick room.
"Martin," she said. "go to the staff room and ask for someone to come here, explain that we have a medical emergency and I need to deal with it."
The boy was startled at the request, but did as he was asked. Mr Bozanko, head of year, offered to come when he heard what had happened. When they arrived at the classroom, Ms M'Bondo explained the situation and left the class with him.
"Jade, would you help me bring Caroline to the sick room?" Elizabeth asked.
"OK." she replied. It seemed to Jade that there was something odd about this teacher, for once someone else had some idea of what was going on. It was an odd sensation. Like her teacher, Jade had come to the conclusion that Caroline was going to become a Tomorrow Person.
Jade and Elizabeth moved the unconscious Caroline to the sick room where they laid her on the bed and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. Elizabeth phoned for an ambulance and then called Caroline's parents. Her father was still at work and could not get away for at least another half hour, her mother offered to come immediately, as she had built up enough flexitime to leave early. She would be there in twenty minutes, traffic permitting.
An uncomfortable silence settled upon teacher and pupil for several minutes that seemed like hours. Both wanting to say something about the Tomorrow People, but neither quite able to summon up the courage to do so. Finally Jade got fed up and called Megabyte.
"Megabyte!" she 'pathed. "Something odd's happened and it might mean a new TP joining us soon."
"What? Where are you?" he replied.
"I'm at school, of course. It is still term time!" she shot back. "I'm with my friend Caroline and Ms M'Bondo. Caroline just had some kind of vision and passed out. I caught some of the backlash, but fortunately I managed to put up my shields in time otherwise I might have joined her."
"What about the teacher, can we trust her?" asked Megabyte.
"I don't know. There's something familiar about her but I'm not sure what it is."
Elizabeth smiled as she heard every word of the telepathed conversation between Jade and her friend. She was right, Jade was a Tomorrow Person, but the puzzle of how she came to be one without the help of TIM and those based in the lab would have to wait. The most important thing was that she could finally break the ice with Jade.
She looked closely at Jade. What she said next might compromise her privacy for ever as she had a niggling fear that she might be wrong. She took a deep breath and said "You're a Tomorrow Person aren't you."
"Huh?" asked Jade.
"So am I," she replied, this time telepathically.
"Who's that?" asked Megabyte suspiciously.
"I'm Jade's teacher, Elizabeth M'Bondo. I know you're Tomorrow People because I'm one too."
Megabyte arrived in a flash of light that startled Elizabeth but which did not even phase Jade. That they were Tomorrow People was clear to Elizabeth, but they were nothing like what she had expected. For a start they wore no kind of navigational device to help them jaunt, and the jaunt itself was very different from her own. Things would no doubt be explained in time.
"How can we help her?" asked Jade. "I'm not sure that taking her to the ship would be the best thing for her at the moment."
"Agreed" said Megabyte.
"It'll probably be best to send her to a hospital, but it'll be difficult to trust Sap doctors, unless there's some way we can keep her presence secret." suggested Elizabeth.
"Sap?" chorused the younger Tomorrow People.
"Just a name that some of us TPs give to non TPs."
"Good idea," grinned Megabyte, "and I know just who to contact to arrange it." With that he vanished.
"Where has he gone?" asked Elizabeth, just as the bell rang to signal the end of the school day.
"Probably to find his Dad." answered Jade.
"What?"
"He's been very helpful to us in the past, and if anyone can find a place to take Caroline without attracting too much attention he's the one to do it." she continued.
Meanwhile, Megabyte arrived home, where his father was preparing for a quiet weekend of fishing. He did not get much time to himself and when General Damon had the opportunity to get away from work he grabbed it with both hands. His aides Frank and Jim had assured him they could handle anything that came up in his absence. Megabyte was relishing the chance to turn the tables on his father for all the times he had cancelled promised activities in the past.
When he saw his son General Damon rolled his eyes thinking, Oh no, not again! If anyone can spoil this vacation, it would have to be Megabyte. before turning to greet him.
"Megabyte, I assume this is important."
"Would I be here if it wasn't?" replied Megabyte.
"OK. OK. How can I help?"
He took a deep breath and told his father what had happened at the school.
"A friend of Jade's collapsed during art class about half an hour ago. Jade seems to think she's going to become a TP. We're not sure what's happening to her and there may be some problems so we need to get her to a hospital where people won't ask too many awkward questions and get her checked over." explained Megabyte, careful not to say anything about Jade's teacher claiming to be a TP, for some reason that did not seem that important at the time. "Jade and a teacher, Ms M'Bondo are with her while they wait for her Mom to get there."
"Let's go," said the General. "I just need to make a phone call before we go. It won't take long."
"Does that mean you're going to help, as in right now?" asked an astonished Megabyte.
"Sure, why not," his father grinned at his surprise. "I'm not really doing anything important at the moment. I'm sure we can arrange something."
The General went back into the house and called Jim to arrange for Caroline to be offered a place at the private hospital owned by Worldex, should that become necessary.
"Megabyte, could you give me the school's phone number so I can speak to her parents when they get there?"
"OK. I'll ask Jade. Oh, I'll need either the phone or a pen and paper," he replied, then 'pathed, "Jade, could you give me the school's phone number and let me know when your friend's Mom arrives?"
His father gave him a pen and notepad, and as Jade gave him the school's phone number, Megabyte wrote it down.
Back at the school, shortly after Megabyte had left, Caroline was starting to come round. That odd migraine seemed to have disappeared for the moment, thank goodness.
"How are you feeling?" asked Elizabeth.
"Much better thank you," she replied.
"What happened?" asked Jade.
"I'm not sure you'd believe me," she started.
Jade smiled reassuringly, "We may surprise you. I have been through some strange things, as I suspect, has your teacher Ms M'Bondo here. Try us, we won't laugh, I'm sure."
Reassured by this she explained what had happened. "I've been having weird headaches on and off for the past month or so, sometimes pictures flash in my mind, other times I hear voices in my head as loud as a waterfall. Each time I get the headaches I do all I can to block out the sensations, but whatever I do, put my hands over my ears, or close my eyes only makes it worse. The only thing that helps is to try to get some sleep. When I wake up it's gone and I can forget about it until the next time." She paused for breath. She was getting more and more hysterical as she told the story. "This was the worst attack yet. I could see everything that everyone in the class was looking at. It was horrible. I just want it to stop." By this time she was in tears as she started to panic about what was happening to her. She was completely terrified.
Jade went and put her arms around her friend to try to comfort her when suddenly, they all heard Megabyte. "Jade, could you give me the school's phone number and let me know when your friend's Mom arrives?"
"What was that?" asked Caroline, clearly she had heard Megabyte.
"Don't worry about that. You are not going mad. That was just my friend Megabyte. We'll try to explain what's going on when your Mum gets here, and maybe we can arrange some help for you." Jade smiled at her reassuringly.
Jade headed to Mr Bozanko's office where he was clearing his desk of items he needed to work on over the weekend and during the half term holiday. She asked him for the number of the school to pass it on when they phoned for an ambulance. (This was just an excuse to get the number for Megabyte as the ambulance had already been called.) He wrote the number on a post-it note and gave it to her.
"How is she?" he asked.
"Well, she's conscious if that's what you mean," she replied. "Sadly, other than that we're not really sure what's happened to her." As an afterthought she added, "By the way, Ms M'Bondo's offered to stay with her as long as she's needed, so you don't need to worry about anything."
As she left, she saw a look of relief on the head of year's face. He was not looking forward to the potential headlines blaming the school for damaging the health of one of its pupils. Somehow the fact that Ms M'Bondo had taken responsibility for seeing that the child was alright reassured him, even though he did not know her very well.
Jade 'pathed the number back to Megabyte as she headed back to the sick room. He repeated it back to her as he wrote it down to make sure he got it right, and then thanked her.
Just as Jade arrived back at the sick room, the ambulance's sirens could be heard as it came into the school grounds, followed by the blue Ford Fiesta that belonged to Caroline's mother. Elizabeth went to greet the ambulance men and Caroline's mother.
"What's happened?" she asked Elizabeth.
"We're not sure. It could be a bad migraine, but I'm not sure. I'm no expert." she replied.
"Oh no, not again!" Caroline's mother was clearly worried by the news.
"What is it?" asked Elizabeth gently.
"She's been having what the doctors thought were migraines for the last month or so. Each time they seem to get worse, only when they do their tests, they don't seem to find anything wrong," she was clearly very worried and upset, "and none of the medicines they've prescribed seem to help her. They just give her frightening side effects. I wish I knew someone who could help, it's been driving the whole family up the wall."
Jade brought Caroline out to the ambulance, just in time to overhear Caroline's mother tell Elizabeth what has been happening to her. The ambulance crew came over to them and helped Caroline into the ambulance, where the paramedics checked her health as thoroughly as they could. There seemed to be nothing wrong, but they offered to take her to the nearest hospital so a doctor could check her health properly.
"Megabyte, Caroline's Mum and the ambulance have arrived, but I don't think she'll want to take any calls at the moment. We should talk to her later on when we get the chance." 'pathed Jade. "What's happening with your Dad?"
"He's going to help. He's arranged for her to have a place at Worldex's hospital if her parents agree. It'll give us some privacy that we won't get anywhere else, to do what we can to help."
"I didn't know they had a hospital!" she exclaimed.
"Neither did I until he offered the place," he admitted. "We should be with you in about ten minutes – if Dad doesn't get caught speeding on the way.."
"Ok. Thanks."
Caroline's mother agreed to go with her daughter to the hospital and invited Jade to go with them in the ambulance.
As she got into the ambulance with her friend, Jade asked the crew which hospital they were going to and passed those details on to Megabyte telepathically. The ambulance crew called ahead to their base hospital to find out if a bed was available. Sadly without success.
Suddenly Caroline got another attack. She froze for a moment, with a far away look in her eyes, then screwed her eyes tight, put her hands over her ears, and screaming in pain, passed out for the second time that day. She had seen everything that was happening in street from everyone's point of view, pedestrians, drivers and cyclists alike. Having all those visions at once was too much for her mind to handle. Jade had noticed the look on her friend's face and had put up her shields just in time to avoid being blasted by the backlash of her vision.
As they came into the town, Megabyte got out the A-Z map and directed his father to Jade's school. The General was pulling out all the stops for them. It was times like this that made Megabyte really proud of his Dad.
"This is Megabyte, and his Dad, General Damon. You've already met our teacher, Ms M'Bondo." said Jade. "We may be in a position to help Caroline, as some of us have gone through something similar ourselves." Megabyte nodded his agreement.
Caroline's Mum looked at her in disbelief.
"Believe me, they've been through a lot. Even if they can't help, which I sincerely doubt, I can offer her a bed and free treatment at a private hospital, which just happens to be the best hospital in the country for dealing with situations like your daughter's."
The ambulance crew were astonished at the General's connections, but had no problems with the move.
"Why are you doing this?" Caroline's mum asked the General.
"Jade is my son's friend and both of them think it's important to help her, and now I've seen the situation with my own eyes, I happen to agree with them."
Caroline's Mum got out her mobile phone and called her husband. She explained to him what had happened and told him of the General's kind offer.
"I don't think we've got anything to lose, love." Her husband replied gently. "They might even find out what's wrong and come up with a way to help her. Send her, sweetheart, with my blessing."
She thanked him then hung up, and went back her daughter who was now coming round.
"General, thank you for your kind offer," she said.
She's going to refuse, I know it, thought Jade anxiously to herself.
"We accept."
Yes! thought Jade triumphantly.
"What offer, who are these people?" asked Caroline.
"I wanted to get you into hospital for the weekend for tests and observation, but they have no beds here. General Damon here," said one of the paramedics from the ambulance crew, pointing to him, "has offered a free place in a private hospital where they should be able to help. You don't know how lucky you are to have friends like that."
"Great, when do we go?" she enthused.
"There's no time like the present," replied the General.
Elizabeth was concerned that the military seemed to be involved, why else would Megabyte's father be introduced as a General. She 'pathed to TIM back in the Lab. "TIM. Could you let me know what you can find out about a General Damon, he seems to be involved with the younger Tomorrow People and I'm not sure whether I can trust him or not."
"Of course." replied TIM
A few moments passed as he searched for the information Elizabeth had asked for.
"He used to work for the American Department of Scientific Intelligence up until a few years ago. He was investigating the disappearances of young people, when he suddenly gave it up. Apparently his son Marmaduke Damon…"
"Marmaduke?!? I thought his name was Megabyte!" replied Elizabeth.
"Apparently that is a nickname. If you will let me continue.."
"Sorry TIM."
"Apparently Marmaduke Damon helped a Tomorrow Person escape from his men and eventually broke out himself. Since then the General has left the American DSI to join a private security firm called Worldex. It seems that he has helped his son and his friends on many occasions since then."
"So he can be trusted?" asked Elizabeth.
"So it seems."
"Thanks TIM."
"You're welcome, and Elizabeth, be careful."
Elizabeth tapped the General on the shoulder and said, "General, may I come with you, I think I might be able to help. I'd like to do whatever I can."
He took the younger Tomorrow People aside "Jade, would you go with your friend and her Mom. Megabyte, would you prefer to come with me or Ms M'Bondo?"
"I'll come with you, Dad. I'd like Ms M'Bondo to come with us. I think she's right, she may be able to help."
"Elizabeth, I haven't told him you're one of us. I'll leave that to you to do."
"Thank you, Megabyte. I will tell him myself later." she 'pathed back. "He's a good man."
"Ms M'Bondo, would you like to come with us?" asked the General.
Elizabeth thought about it for a moment before replying. I could always jaunt home later if I need to.
Once she had decided what to do she said, "Thank you, I'd like that."
With that, they set off to Worldex's hospital. Half an hour later they arrived. As soon as security recognised General Damon and he had explained why he was there, they let both vehicles straight through. The ambulance crew helped Caroline to the reception area and then left to continue their work elsewhere.
Meanwhile everyone else met in Reception. They were somewhat surprised that Reception and the smell of the place were more like a hotel reception rather than a hospital. The receptionist called for someone to take them to Caroline's room.
Once everyone was inside and their privacy was assured, the Tomorrow People decided that it was time to tell Caroline and her mother what they believed was happening to her.
"Caroline, I think we know what might be causing your headaches." said Jade.
"You might not believe us, but please hear us out until we've finished." asked Elizabeth.
"Jade do you want to do the honours?" asked Megabyte.
"OK." she replied, then took a deep breath. "Caroline, we think you are going through something we have gone through – Megabyte and I – although slightly differently. We think you are breaking out, becoming something new."
"What are you talking about, she's still my daughter. How can she be becoming something new?"
"We believe she is becoming a Tomorrow Person."
"A what?" replied Caroline's Mum incredulously.
"We're supposed to be the next stage in human evolution. We are telepathic, we can teleport, and have various other gifts between us." Jade explained.
"I think your daughter's particular gift is some kind of remote viewing that allows her, at least at the moment, to see exactly what other people can see. She said that each time just before she passed out she had seen everything that was happening through each person's eyes, both in the classroom and then in the car park." explained Elizabeth. "No one else has mentioned it, but I too broke out, as we call it, a few years ago. A friend once showed me how to help people in your situation, Caroline. I would like to try it with you if you are willing."
She looked at her mother, who nodded. "The doctors haven't been able to help, so I don't see what harm she could do." she said to her daughter. "Go for it."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Caroline asked cautiously.
"You want a demonstration?" asked Elizabeth. "Very well. Would you like a glass of water?"
Caroline nodded and Elizabeth telekinetically picked up a glass from the table, sending it to the sink, put it under the tap and switched it on. When the cup was nearly full, she switched off the tap and brought the cup towards Caroline, who grabbed it, and drank from it gratefully.
"Did that convince you?"
"For the moment," agreed Caroline.
"Enough to trust us?"
Caroline looked into Elizabeth's eyes. What she saw there reassured her. "Yes." With that, the tension that had been building in the room evaporated.
"I want you to practice something for when the next attack comes. Imagine your mind as a pair of hands, and that the visions are in your open hands. Close those hands tightly around the visions so they can't escape. Hold them there for a few seconds, then imagine opening your hands gradually and letting them go. Hopefully using this technique should stop you getting overwhelmed by them."
The others in the room could see from the look in her eyes that Caroline was going through the process in her mind as Elizabeth described it.
"I understand." said Caroline softly. "Thank you." As she said that she knew that Elizabeth's advice would prove to be the solution to her problem.
Elizabeth turned to General Damon. "I think we should leave them to get settled in."
"Agreed." he replied. He gave Caroline's mum his card. "That's my mobile number if you need to get in touch with me again."
With that, General Damon and the Tomorrow People left Caroline and her mother to get her settled in. As they were in the car park walking back to the cars, Megabyte asked, "Ms M'Bondo…"
"Call me Elizabeth, please, all of you."
"Alright, Elizabeth. Why have we never met you before?"
Elizabeth continued, "General, before I answer that, I must insist that you not divulge any of the information I'm about to give to anyone outside this group."
"Very well."
"We didn't know who the new Tomorrow People were or how best to contact you. We knew you existed, or at least that a new group of Tomorrow People existed, but for some reason our Computer and yours do not communicate."
"We?"
"Yes. There are a number of us. We have our base, or "Lab" if you will, in a disused underground station in London. From what I have seen of your abilities, they are rather different from ours…."
She stopped suddenly, as did the younger Tomorrow People, with a glazed look in their eyes.
"What is it?" asked General Damon.
"We have to get back to Caroline. She's having the visions again, and I think she may need our help."
They ran back to reception, and as General Damon headed to the room, the Tomorrow People teleported there ahead of him.
Caroline's mother, once she had got over the shock of their sudden arrival, was relieved that they had returned. Caroline seemed to be reacting as she normally would to the visions with her hands over her ears and her eyes tightly closed, though she had not yet got to the stage where she normally passed out.
Elizabeth simultaneously said and 'pathed to her gently, "Remember what I said. Imagine your mind as a pair of hands. That's it. Your visions are in those open hands. Slowly, close them tightly around the visions so they can't escape. Good. Hold them there for a few seconds, then imagine opening your hands gradually and letting them go."
As she heard Elizabeth's voice, she concentrated hard on following her instructions, following them precisely. She held the visions in the tight fists of her mind for a few seconds, then gradually released them. As she did so, they released their terrifying grip on her mind, and she saw them float away and disappear like harmless butterflies. She opened her eyes and smiled tiredly at Elizabeth just as General Damon entered the room.
"She should be alright now she has conquered the visions. We should leave now."
Caroline's mum smiled gratefully at Elizabeth and said, "Thank you."
"Just one thing before we go, Caroline" said Megabyte. "If you want to contact Elizabeth, Jade or myself, just call out in your mind and we'll answer."
"Yeah," agreed Jade. "Perhaps tomorrow we'll teach you to teleport."
"What?" asked Caroline.
"This," she grinned, teleporting to the other side of the room.
With that they left Caroline and her mother to come to terms with Caroline becoming a Tomorrow Person.
The End