Disclaimer: The Tomorrow People is the property of the CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ X ~

Conventions used throughout the story

"text" = mental telepathy

text = thoughts

~ X ~ PREFACE

And just like that the world of the Tomorrow People changed. The Founder and his machine were obliterated. The greatest threat to Homo sapiens since the species first evolved was gone. At the same time the bogey man of Homo superior, Ultra, was symbolically beheaded and rendered powerless.

Stephen Jameson, son of Roger Price, was left with all the pieces in his lap. He was just turned eighteen, regarded as a Messiah by the young of the Tomorrow People who flocked to their savior.

To say he was unprepared was perhaps the grossest understatement of all time. He had reached within himself to find powers he had never dreamed of. Pushed by a burning hatred for the Founder, and anguish at the loss of the father he had just found again, he had destroyed the man who wanted to destroy humanity.

He had never looked beyond somehow defeating the Founder, Hugh Bathory. So much had happened within such a short time that he was overwhelmed by the conflicting emotions threatening to tear him apart. He had come of age in battle, but nothing in his short life had prepared him to rule; to govern. In an amazingly short time, he had transitioned from his greatest anxieties being winning a basketball game and avoiding detention to how to ease a new species into a world unprepared to accept them. His only solace was that he finally had Cara Coburn by his side. The twenty five year old had assumed leadership of the Tomorrow People when her lover John Young was ousted. She was willing to cede command to Stephen, but agreed to co-rule at his insistence.

Together, they were thrust into new territory, trying to learn as they went, trying to not be overwhelmed by the mundane to life threatening decisions they were required to make every moment. Trying to oversee two hundred vastly different young people thrust into close contact with each other was exponentially more difficult than dealing with twenty people united by fear of a common enemy.

Because it was the young who flocked to them. The older paranormals did not emerge to celebrate. They had learned to blend in with the humans, and they were too cautious to believe that suddenly the human world would accept them. Their camouflage had protected them all these years, and many still had young ones who might or might not break out. They were determined to hold on to their anonymity.

But there was one who was prepared for this new world. One who had planned in the unlikely event that the Founder was defeated. Dr. Jedikiah Price, evolutionary biologist and master chess player. Always a dozen moves ahead of his opponents. Plans within plans, schemes within schemes. Always prepared no matter which way the path twisted and turned or split.

During the last days of the confrontation he had solved the final piece of the puzzle that had eluded him for so long. All those years of research and testing, and finally now the chromosomal pattern, the mutation that allowed the Tomorrow People their gifts, was laid open for him like the pages of a book.

Dr. Price understood not just evolutionary biology, but politics and command and most of all he understood power. As much as he loved his brother, Roger, he was jealous of and longed for his powers. And now it was within his grasp if he had the will to snatch it.

He was in the right position at the right time with the requisite knowledge, the tools, and the desire for power burning within him since childhood.

He had programmed his AI Alice long ago in case of just such an eventuality. She was an inner intelligence wrapped within an outer core of a conventional super computer. She showed only him, her creator, her inner spirit. He released her as soon as he knew Bathory was dead, and she was more than willing to put her creativity to use for him. Within seconds, files were destroyed or modified, contacts made with other AI, money and properties transferred, transactions completed that were impossible to detect. All incriminating evidence against Jedikiah Price was destroyed, or altered to implicate Hugh Bathory. Jedikiah Price was the champion of the human race. His hands were clean. His reputation whitewashed.

Within minutes all organizations doing contract work for Ultra were evaluated and infiltrated. Any ties to those who missions would be subject to censure or outright condemnation were aligned with the Founder. Those with acceptable outcomes were linked to Dr. Price.

Ultra was bankrupt. All funds, stocks, properties, and investments disappeared.

Jedikiah's next step was to track down his protégé John Young and finally bring him home. He would carve out a place in this new world with John at his side.

Jedikiah's intent was to guarantee humanity's continued existence but there was much for him to do. The Founder's death troops would be tracked down and eliminated. He envisioned himself as the undisputed leader of a new organization with paranormal militia loyal to him. The mother of his unborn child had to be found and protected. The Tomorrow People needed policing. He could not, would not, rely on a teenager and his hard headed girlfriend to monitor and control the unruly breakouts. And Hugh Bathory had not been alone. There were others who believed that Homo sapiens had their time to rule and that time was over.

Huge problems. Huge complications. Huge challenges.

The breath of life for Jedikiah Price.

He had always been in his brother's shadow fighting for his place in the sun. He had that place now, and he intended to use it. And he would never again let go of his John Young. John would be at his side as he connived, bargained, betrayed, lied, cheated, and fought his way to power.

He knew that he had to strike while confusion reigned. The one who moved first set the pace and left the rest scrambling to catch up. He moved and moved fast.