The Aftermath

They left the hospital relieved that they had in some small way been able to help Caroline get through the trauma of her breakout. General Damon dropped Elizabeth off at the school and then took Jade and Megabyte home.

Elizabeth went to the bike shed and took out her bicycle. It had been a trying day and she was looking forward to getting home and being able to put her feet up. She had managed to mark all the homework she had had in earlier that day so she would be able to enjoy the half term holiday properly for once.

As she cycled home she wondered, while keeping her mental shields up, what John would make of the events of that day. He would be most interested in the new breakout. That could wait until tomorrow. She had had enough excitement for one day and she was in no mood to report to him. It had been bad enough that she had had to let General Damon in on what little she had, without being reprimanded by John and the others for doing so. At least she had not given away the Lab's location.

When she got home she locked up her bike, went in and made a cup of tea and prepared her evening meal, the old-fashioned sap way. Her house was solar powered, so she would not be doing any damage to the environment. It was one of the first things she had seen to when she had bought the house. It did not seem right for a Tomorrow Person to rely on fossil fuels that could do so much damage. If TIM's calculations were correct (and they almost certainly were) those fuels would run out within the next thirty years.

Once she had eaten, she cleared up, switched off her alarm clock and went to bed for an early night as she was exhausted both mentally and physically by the day's unexpected events.

Next day she woke late and was more relaxed than she had been in a long time. She finally felt ready to let the rest of her team of TPs in on the previous day's events. After a leisurely breakfast, she got dressed, put on her jaunting belt and jaunted off to the Lab. As usual John was already there, looking at a map TIM had put on the screen of where her adventures had taken place the previous day.

"Morning John, TIM."

"Morning Elizabeth," TIM greeted her.

John looked up, a little startled at her arrival, then smiled. "Morning Elizabeth."

"I see you're going over what happened at the school yesterday, and I assume you'd like to know what happened."

"If you don't mind."

Elizabeth spoke slowly, "One of the girls in my afternoon art class broke out yesterday. It was odd. I don't think I've seen one quite like it. I know they're usually difficult, but this one seemed unusually so."

"In what way?" asked John.

"She was receiving sensory input from everyone in the room. She could see and hear everything that was going on from everyone else's perspective." She paused. "Well, almost everyone else's perspective."

"Well, that would complicate things."

"What's this I hear about a new breakout?" came a familiar voice from the jaunting pad.

"Hello, Stephen." Elizabeth greeted the figure as he came further into the Lab. "One of the girls in my art class broke out yesterday, and it wasn't easy I can tell you."

"You were saying something about her receiving some kind of sensory input from those around her."

"Yes, she picked things up from everyone in the room except me, and her best friend, Jade Weston. The sensory information overloaded her senses and she just collapsed," said Elizabeth. She paused for a moment, "There's something else. There was something oddly familiar about Jade and I'd never met her before."

"Could she be a Tomorrow Person?" asked John.

"Don't be silly, John," interrupted Stephen. "She's hardly likely to be a full Tomorrow Person if we've never met her. I mean, who could have helped with her breakout while we were off doing the Federation's dirty work for them?"

"Stephen, you're wrong. She is a Tomorrow Person, and as far as I could tell, she broke out some time ago. There's at least one more like her, Megabyte Damon, possibly others, but I'm not sure who they all are." Elizabeth paused to gather her thoughts. "There's something different about them. They're not quite like us."

"What do you mean?" asked Stephen.

"She didn't have any kind of jaunting belt and, as far as I could tell, she doesn't need one."

"TIM, is it possible for other Tomorrow People to have broken out without our knowledge?"

"I believe it is, John." he replied. "There is a spaceship buried in the sand on an island in the South Pacific which contains a beacon that could theoretically draw a Tomorrow Person to it. It seems to have been put there by someone before the dawn of the Federation, and it has been there for well over a millennium. It may have drawn them to it. However, I cannot say why you have never been affected by it. There are another four Tomorrow People like Jade and Megabyte who have been to the island in the last few years. I believe one of them is a relative of yours, Elizabeth."

"Who?" replied Elizabeth.

"Ami Jackson," TIM answered.

"That would explain a lot." her eyes lit up and she smiled. Ami Jackson was her cousin's daughter and referred to her as Aunt Elizabeth.

"Oh?" said Stephen.

"My cousin, Alex, phoned me a few months ago to see if her daughter, Ami could stay with me for a few days while she was in hospital. She said she had made some odd friends and wanted to keep Ami away from them." she smiled wryly. "I didn't like to say no, and agreed. Fortunately Ami's smart enough to stand up to her and that's the last I heard of it. I suspect we may well have helped her if she had come."

"So give us all the juicy details, what happened?" demanded Stephen.

"I was covering the last lesson of the day, looking forward to half term, when Caroline, collapsed. I'd picked up part of the backlash from her visions, but was able to shield in time. I wasn't really sure what was happening, but thought there was a chance that she was close to a breakout. I sent for a colleague to cover while Jade and I took her to the sick room. I only found out Jade was a Tomorrow Person when I heard her telepathically call out to Megabyte for help. Jade wasn't too sure about trusting me, but I had to help, so I introduced myself. It was quite a shock when Megabyte arrived, I can tell you."

"Why?" asked John.

"His jaunt was very different from ours. He wasn't wearing a jaunting belt or any other kind of navigational device; the sound is different, louder; and I may be wrong about this, but it seemed quicker than ours. I suggested we find a hospital where we could keep an eye on her and try to keep the doctors in the dark. Megabyte just grinned and jaunted away. Jade said he'd gone to ask his dad for help as he works for a private security company and has helped them out occasionally. When she came to, Caroline confirmed what we'd picked up and I gave her the advice Carol gave me last time we met." Stephen nodded at this, remembering what Carol had told him during his breakout. "We took her to a hospital that apparently belongs to Generals Damon's company and I explained a little bit about us."

John rolled his eyes. "And before you say anything, no, I didn't breach security. Caroline knows only about me. I told Jade, Megabyte and General Damon a bit about the rest of us."

"What?!" exclaimed an astonished Stephen. "What makes you think you can trust someone in the military with this?"

"He already knows about the Tomorrow People," she laughed at Stephen's horrified reaction. "He can hardly fail to know about them. After all, he is Megabyte's father."

She let that sink in for a few moments, then asked TIM to reassure them about the General, "TIM, please will you tell John and Stephen what you told me about General Damon yesterday?"

"Very well. Please pay attention to the screen," began TIM. Pictures of General Damon and Megabyte appeared on the screen as he mentioned their names. "General William Damon used to work for the American Department of Scientific Intelligence up until a few years ago. He was investigating strange disappearances of young people when he suddenly gave it up. Apparently his son, Marmaduke Damon, better known as Megabyte, 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."

"Thank you, TIM."

"You're welcome."

Elizabeth turned to John. "I asked them to keep our existence secret. I thought you might want to decide when to make contact."

For the first time that day, John visibly relaxed. He nodded and smiled. "Thank you." He had been worried about the signals that he had picked up from Caroline the previous day and what Elizabeth had said put his mind at rest.

"I'd say that calls for a celebration." grinned Stephen as he noticed John relax. "Let's go out for lunch."