CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

As Tom looked out the window, a red GM truck drove up into his yard, driven by a man dressed in a red checked shirt, jeans, and work boots. In the back of the truck was a hard hat and the sign on the side of the truck said, 'Ben's Nursery."

There was a passenger besides the driver, a boy whose dark hair had a slight reddish tinge, and although the driver had red hairs and freckles, one could see by their face shapes, that the boy and he were not related.

"It's Eddie" screamed Sloan, and dropped the book she was holding. It fell to the floor.

"Your condition," warned Tom.

But Sloan didn't care. She ran out, and hugged the boy as he climbed out of the passenger side. "Edward, I missed you!"

"Mother," He was very calm, and his smile, almost too polite, but he had a twinkle in his eyes.

"The Sisters didn't tell us you were coming," she said as she let him in the door, followed by the Driver.

They, however, weren't prepared for Tom's reaction. "Do you realize the danger that you have put him in?" the Supreme Chosen asked the man.

"What do you mean?" asked Sloan.

"You specifically asked that he come here," said the driver.

"I did not, Alfred."

"But look, Chosen." The man in the red-checkered shirt handed Tom a letter. "From the Council itself."

"I see," said Tom after examining it, "but it is not from the Council. Of course, you wouldn't know. You're not in the same position. Besides, we were careful at his birth and told both John and Mary not to reveal his presence as soon as we enlisted him in St. Catherines. Wait here."

He went into another room while Sloan asked Edward how things were at school, and if he had any friends.

The boy said, he did, but he missed his older brother and sister. "I saw them at the Official Union," he said.

"You have to remember to be careful and not tell anyone about that," said his mother.

"I fail to understand that."

"I have to go back to my truck and get a change of clothes," said the driver.

"Okay," said Sloan, and watched him leave. She then turned to her middle child. "The Official Union is the same as my species, Marriage, only you do it earlier. Our species is not ready until they reach their late teens or early twenties, so we have to keep it silent."

"And they can't have small ones until they're in their twenties?"

"No Edward. They don't have Special Instructors," said Sloan, referring to the older Dominant male and female who instructed a newly mated couple in married life.

Edward nodded. "So why am I here? I thought I was to go through the Ceremony. Am I not one of the Chosen? How can I learn how to govern people? What if someone comes to me when I'm older and ask me to decide whether someone is guilty of a miscreant?"

"And you will, but first I have to decide if you're ready," said Tom. "I talked to the Council about the letter and informed them of its contents. As I suspected, it was a falsehood, which would have sent us to our death. Since we are after Kevin, I suspect he instigated it, by its contents, it was written months ago."

"Months ago?" asked Sloan.

"One has to show the necessity of the Ceremony by writing the official location and then mail it off or send it off, in as obtuse a manner as possible, a day or two before the Ceremony takes place."

"So how did you know?"

"When I was put through the Ceremony, my mother received a notice with extensive corrections. This one had none. Places change, the time of ascension changes. In my case, it was first 1995, and then 1992, and then finally 1998. Only the Supreme Chosen or in my case, the mother or father of the future Chosen, receive the notice. Not even the Council knows."

"So if the Council doesn't know? Who does?"

"The one whose in charge of constructing the Column. The Council gives him the writing instruments, tells him who is to be going through the Ceremony and to chose a place, the workers, and the time of ascension. The one given the task came to the Council, saying that he had to write another notice because someone had stolen the other. They instructed him to change the location I apologize for not telling you this information, but as I told you, only the Supreme Chosen knows. Everyone else of our kind think that we just found a place to have the Ceremony."

Alfred came in, now changed into ordinary street clothes, Dominant style, that is his shirt and Docker slacks seemed almost formal. It was not that there were custom made and tailored, it was that his erectness and noble bearing turned even slovenly t-shirts and jeans into something worn by Kings and Princes.

Ever since they made Tom, the Supreme Chosen, there was no need for a Ceremony because naturally his children would inherit his status. The only time they needed the Ceremony was when they needed Chosen for newly acquired territories — that is, when they were sufficient in number in a particular state, county, or city to have a Chosen. And going through the Ceremony often meant the child forgot his previous childhood. The Council did not want anyone asking the boy or girl about their background or family and later learning that a paramilitary group had wiped them out.

They blocked out their memories and started reintroducing them when they were around sixteen. By that time, the new Chosen was apt enough to defend himself or be on the offensive.

Now things were different. Since 2001, most of the United States, Canada, and Mexico had Chosen in almost every state and province, so the Council decided that periodically, one of the children of the Chosen, whether he be of the Supreme Chosen, or one of the other Chosen, would go through the Ceremony. It just happened that a few months ago, that Edward, the third son of the Supreme Chosen would go through the ceremony and they made preparations.

John and Mary assumed that Edward would go to St. Catherines like them until his intelligence grew too great for them and then at eight years old go to the Dominant School if it were close enough or an Academy that only took students of superior or later intelligence. Of course, most of these Academies had some members of staff who were secretly Homo Dominants and much of the classes echoed those of the Dominant School. Their method was wise to make the Sapiens believe these were just highly intelligent kids.

They learned political science, military history, the studies of English, and literature, calculus, psychology, computer science, and others, that were usually reserved for Universities. The Dominants were too smart to have classes where everyone recited, "We will rule in the Kingdom of Man." No classroom of students stood at a attention when a Council member entered and said things such as "We are the Future. We are Superior." Actually had they done such things, the Homo Sapiens would have wiped out the Dominants in an instant, but they had learned survival so that their classes looked on the outside like any normal University classroom. They knew as soon as they were five at the latest, that they were different, that they were superior. What they needed was how o make them survive

Tom explained that Alfred was a pre examiner, one who decided whether a child was ready for the ceremony since not all five year olds were the same. "Being a Chosen means having to make decisions of life and death. If Edward wavers in his convictions, it could mean a disaster."

"And what about Lewis?"

"At that time, few knew that Progenies were able to marry and have children of their own. We thought that our species were incompatible."

"Oh like horses and donkeys, mules."

"If you say that, that is so."

Alfred called Edward into a small room and told him to stand while he questioned him. These were about how much he knew about their origins, the history of their ancestors, and the specific sayings that most Dominants were supposed to know by heart and say instinctively. Edward answered all of them. He also had to endure pain, and so the Dominants had him pick up a poisonous snake and let it bite him. Edward closed his eyes, getting to the point of almost death until the questioner injected him with the antidote. There were other tests as well and in the end, he passed.

"He is ready," said Alfred, opening the door.

Tom and Sloan hugged their son. They would follow Alfred to the location where the Dominants had set up the Column, now restored after the incident in the late 1990s. No longer in Mexico, it was in an undisclosed location in California, and not even the Driver nor the Supreme Chosen would know until they arrived.

The truck with their son inside drove along the highway, and turned towards Los Angeles. The driver then stopped at a gas station, went inside, and called Tom on his cell phone.

"We turn north east."

"We will follow."

An hour later, after walking into a fast food joint, the driver spent a few minutes talking to the girl who was busy cleaning a table. "She says to go East along Route 66 and then stop at Carman's Dress Shop. Your mate is to go in and ask if the fittings were ready."

"Did you hear that Sloan?" asked Tom.

"Yes I did."

Carman's Dress Shop designed mainly for the Mexican Wedding Industry. There was a long white dress, custom made, that reminded Sloan of her wedding, and Carman, if that was her name, was a petite brunette who had a voice that reminded Sloan of honey mixed with cayenne pepper. It's sweetness was a façade.

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

This can't be the contact, thought Sloan who looked around for another girl, one more amiable. But she saw no one.

"I've come to ask about the fittings," she said, "I ordered them last Friday. Are they ready yet?" It was a white lie, and she hoped secretly that Carman would say that she made a mistake.

"The fittings?" Her face took on a knowing expression. "Wait here."

A few minutes later, she returned. "You are to turn west and the next stop sign, and continue until you get to the junk yard and then go along the road until you reach the movie theater. See the manager.

Sloan thanked her and went outside. All this time, she had been calculating the distances, the twists, and the turns.

"I think I know where the Column is. It's either near, in. or under The WCAAA."

They were going to have the Ceremony there.

"But how?" she asked her husband.

"Wait and see."

Tom let her in the passenger side, and started down the road, after giving the Driver the directions. They had just went crossed into a traffic lane when a beige Toyota drove by, and something flashed in the driver's window.

"Get down!" ordered Tom as a bullet wished by, missing he and Sloan by inches. "They know. We have to approach the Academy by another direction." He got the Driver on the cell phone. "We need evasive action."

"Right sir," came the answer and they were on their way, trying to elude their pursuer or pursuers.