Chapter 54
Kelly
Do It

"I have to go, I am on schedule for Downstairs. Actually kind of fun we are making some necklaces out of some things I brought up from my field trip. I will be keeping one of them, " Brian says with a smile. Then he turns his head and glares at Kelly, "Next time remember we have rules. The rules are meant to keep us safe. Remember it only takes one person to betray us even though they do not mean to do so."

"Alex and I, well we are kind of one." Kelly nods his head to Alex, "This means a lot to us. Thank you for making us part of this. We will keep to our assignment, this I promise."

Brian smiles once again, "I can't thank you enough for what you did with the break the bonding program we were under. Not just for myself, I mean for all of us. How you figured out how to do get us out of our bonding and cover your tracks is impressive. You two could have already paid a heavy price just for trying to help us. You are allowing us to be more of ourselves. I just wish we could actually live as ourselves, but we will. Just know that what you will be doing is very important and also try not to be disappointed if it takes a full year for us to do as we hope." He then stands up and puts his jacket on. "I am sorry that you must also leave family and friends behind when we start this new life on Avena."

"I appreciate having been made part of this, Kelly should not have included me without asking you. Still, I appreciate that you approve of me being part of this." Alex is speaking softly, "My hope is I never disappoint the movement. And I understand, we are not resisting, we are not fighting, we are simply going to leave when the time is right. The way things are going at home is bad, I overheard John and Diana talking about two protests that took place recently. They were both huge and they said something about maybe two hundred people being killed. I would like to think changes will happen with the Regime, but I know that isn't very realistic." Then Alex turns his head for a moment, "I have to say the whole taking you out of bonding was scary. We had no idea if it would work and how you would react afterward. Nothing may have happened, or you could have aggressively retaliated against the Regime. So many things could have happened."

Kelly smiles and speaks slowly, "That program I found. It was the key and we only suspected later after we plunged ahead with what we thought was the right thing to do. I just watched you everyday becoming a different person. If I told you, you would thought me a traitor to the Regime."

"Like I don't rush into things," Brian smiles and shakes his head slowly. "Kinda why I have to have you all reining me in when I think things up lightening fast and want to do it right now."

Alex is smiling and nodding in agreement, "Your roommate is a true friend and all he wanted was to protect you. I have to say that Kelly is like the prince of software. The more and more he worked the more he stumbled into something that made no sense. Kelly knew there was more to the programming, but we couldn't wait. If the time ever comes I hope to be by his side if needed."

Brian turns to Kelly and nods his head slowly in agreement. "Me, too. You have been a great roommate and a good friend. I am happy that you are with me on this little adventure."

"It is more than an adventure, it is life changing." Kelly knows he will never forget how frightened he had become of Brian. The last bonding was changing Brian everyday into someone he didn't know. He shrugs, "I tried to put it together. They had one wild coder out there, the program is very complicated. I know you said it is Our Leaders brother who was in charge of the procedure in the beginning. I have heard this as well and that he is actually the one that started the bonding programs that were being used on the Youth Corp and was supposedly the instigator. I would say this was his way of getting, no offense the breathing tools he needed when he was ready to part from his brother's Regime. Now there is a long-term plan. Which means if what they telling you is true, then you were never supposed to remain under the spell so to speak. So he immediately put in the what the humans call the get out of jail card, before any changes were made to it when he was forced to Avena." Kelly shrugs again, "We just played it a bit early."

"I am just happy that it turns out they had prepared you and that you in turn were able to prepare your fellow Youth Corp members. Kelly and I really were afraid we had made a mistake, so I am happy that you are not unhappy with us." Alex sighs and chuckles, "So much going on already and we sure turned everything upside down."

To this day Kelly has been unable to fully put that program together. He does know that the speeches Brian and the other Youth Leader were making before they enacted their program literally prepared the Youth Corp to stay united and not let their superiors know what was going on. He likes to think this is fate on their side to succeed. "I just hope we didn't mess things up."

"I am glad you did it. This puts this on us, we leave on our terms. Brian smiles, "So far it has gone well. However, it is not over yet. Just having an objective though, one that we want is doing more for our morale than anything. Again, remember no matter how much you don't want to do as commanded, you must and act as you always have. We can never betray ourselves." Then he snorts, "Then again we are all pretty used to acting the part of a dedicated member of the Regime."

Before Brian leaves Kelly says, "Remember that dream is not real. You are not going to die in some strange cage. We are going to see this through together."

"My death dream refuses to go away and now some human child is being included and I can't seem to understand why. I shouldn't have told you so much about it, too sad to share." Brian turns to the door, "Remember you now have two assignments, one complete your assignments for the Regime as given. Secondly and most importantly; you are now doing your own thing. Any assignment from the Regime may need to be, shall we say monitored." The door opens and he puts his fist to his chest for a moment. "Always friends." Alex and Kelly repeat the gesture.

Time passes as Kelly and Alex discuss what Brian has asked Kelly to do and how Alex is going to monitor his superiors whenever they are having meetings and are discussing anything. For it could be the smallest thing which could be important for their own movement. It is good that quite often they seem to forget he is sitting right there with them and at times speak about things that he should not be involved with.

"So what happened before I came. How did he find out it was us who took them out of bonding," Alex asks.

"He didn't know," Kelly is shaking his head trying to put his thoughts together, "He has been asking me questions for the last few days and then today he told me that bonding was really conversion and that he came out of that bonding. Brian said he was very confused when he came out of it, then he was really angry and felt sick he had supported the arrest, torture and execution of his own father. Then he told me that he and his friends decided that they must leave as they were through with the Regime. He said it was part of the plan anyway."

"What plan?"

"He said he has some telepathic ability and it is only temporary, but his mother had the gene and that was passed to him. As you know it is only some Whipelli women that have a gift of Future Dream, but for some reason they found he carries the gene. Just normally males can't do anything about it and it certainly wouldn't have anything with communicating telepathically."

"I know some Whipelli women have the gift, can't imagine someone wanting to see their future. I don't want too, you could see things you never want to know about; just let it be a surprise when it happens. I would be thinking about the future every second of the day. Not the way to live." Alex shivers noticeably. "Had do idea that males carried the gene, but that makes sense, just 'cause you can't use it doesn't mean you can't pass it on to your children." Alex says puzzled.

"They discovered they could be trained to use it for this telepathic communication, even though the brain wants to fix it and after it does there is no more magic communication." Kelly sighs, "I have to tell you just weird. Anyway, for now he can use it, he said since his brain is probably fixing it he can't overuse it. Gordon was here before you came and he said Brian was able to show him it was for real and that it was up to me to believe or not believe. He said there are some on Avena before they knew it was a short-lived gift that used it and then it became more difficult and then they stopped being able to do it all. Don't understand all of this, but Brian has been in contact with those on Avena that want to disrupt the Regime and Brian's father was part of this plan."

"I trust you, I know that the mountain people try to hide these gifts that some of their women have from the Regime." Then a look of shock comes to him, "No, way. His father was part of this?" Alex is shaking his head. "So his father was found out or betrayed. He really was committing treason."

"I guess it is treason depending on how you look at it," Kelly says with a shrug. "Brian said he remembered the last thing his father told him, which was that home wasn't always the place you were born. That Brian's home is Avena."

They discuss several aspects of what taking two ships may mean and the possibility of it taking longer than a year to do everything they want.

"Let's get some chaffee, coffee or whatever they call it and go to my room." Alex looks at Kelly smiling, "Glad to be doing our own thing for sure."

They laugh and know that leaving the room means no longer being able to talk about the movement that they have committed themselves too. The room where the coffee is served is filled, but there is a table available and they decide to stay and just sit and enjoy themselves. It is not long and a Youth Corp member comes up to them. Kelly looks surprised, "Becky! Looking for a safe place to sit?" Then he laughs.

"Thank you so much, and not just for the chair." She smiles and then whispers, "It was awesome. I loved that sneaky bit you put into the program for me. The drone worked just the way I wanted it too. You are totally awesome."

Kelly puts a finger to his lips, "Our little secret." He smiles and introduces her to Alex who gives her a shy smile. "Ever wonder why in our age group and not not just on this ship, but all ships that males are in the majority." He gives her a wink, "I bet you have a lot of guys interested in you."

Becky laughs and shakes her head, "Trust me it gets old sometimes. Truly getting old. You two didn't invite me to sit so you could flirt with me or set me up with someone." She then tilts her head to Alex. "Sorry, it is just getting old. I still would like to be friends."

"Its okay," Alex smiles. "My job kept me away from people for some time. They finally let me loose, but I'm just shy still around people."

"What do you do or may I ask," She takes a sip of her coffee. "You don't have to say."

"Its okay," Now he is laughing, "Wow, its okay, its okay." They all laugh for a bit and make some jokes. Then Alex sighs, "I enter the visuals for speeches and other stuff. However, I consider myself an artist. As you can likely tell, just like Kelly I am not in the Youth Corp either. Not really military, not Youth Corp. What can I say we are in the not in anything group." They laugh for a moment.

Becky shakes her head, "Well. If it helps most of the older ones don't see the Youth Corp as a division of the military either. So it's like a group not military, but we have our own officers, you know the Youth Leaders and crew; people like me are the crew." Again they all laugh. From there they talk about art and music and finally they decide to meet that evening and Alex will show her some of his work. With that they break-up and go to their assignments.

x . x . x . x . x . x Evening x . x . x . x . x . x . x

Kelly sees Becky as he is walking down the hall to Alex's room and calls out to her, "Ready to parteee?"

She shakes her head and smiles, "I thought we were looking at the artwork that Alex has. However, I enjoy the idea of hanging out. No, party. I am not looking to get it on with either you or your friend or both of you." They both laugh.

Kelly is feeling good and enjoys being teased by Becky and teasing back, today he is truly happy. He feels something like freedom is just out there beckoning to him, like he is part of something and not running away from everything. Becky seems nice and helping her with her little drone project had been fun. More now though is his awareness to the movement, a movement he sort of feels like he helped to start. With a smile he says, "I feel free today."

"Me, too," She says. "Been feeling like that for a little bit and I am truly embracing anything that I can say I did, because I wanted too. The rest of the crap, I just have to do like it or not."

Her statement makes sense to him, Becky is part of Youth Corp, which means she is likely out of bonding. Bonding he and Alex ended, which also means she likely hates the Regime now. Becky is certainly talented, what little he has spoken to people working with her, she is amazing at her drone work. What if you had someone like Becky who was so good with a drone and with his coding or some called it his hacking abilities. Between the two of them they could literally listen in on conversations held by their superiors or those crew members they may wish to bring into the movement, but need to verify. Yes, he hates being monitored and has sought ways to control the monitoring on his personal life. However, now it is for the cause and he can temporarily support it, but then again monitoring is something he dislikes. It is like Brian said it only takes one to betray them and it could be done by accident. They reach the door and he watches her as she walks in. He is most certainly going to discuss with Brian what he thinks may be a good use of Becky's talents and Brian should be the one who gets to make the unpleasant decisions.

"Hey, you two look who is joining us." Alex says as Jason waves to him and Becky. "My roommate."

Alex pulls out water bottles and offers one to everyone and they sit, laugh and tell each other about their day. Kelly notices that Jason is trying to act like he is not staring at Becky, then he looks up at Alex who is tilting his head in Jason's direction as he has noticed as well. They smile at each other, Becky does not appear to notice that Jason is infatuated with her.

"Humm," Kelly tilts his head for a moment, "Why do you think there are so few ladies our age? It is something Becky brought up today and I have been thinking about it. Strange that our age group is largely male."

Jason looks to the ceiling for a moment, "Yeah. I have noticed that as well. It's not that way for the rest on the ship. Just our age group. Seems strange, not just because we are young men and want to be with. . ." He then stops and rolls his eyes, "I am an idiot."

Then Alex chuckles, "We all want to spend time with girls. Nice for you Becky. You get to make the choice on who you want to spend that more personal time with."

"Sorry, but not as much as you would think. I don't know how many I have disappointed. You have to tell someone who is interested in being more than friends that you only want to be friends and the guy gets so disappointed. It breaks my heart and I feel sad about it and it is the same for all of us girls. It has gotten that we little old females just hang out together." Becky shrugs, "We prefer not to keep crushing any one's feelings. Have you ever noticed that there are no Whipelli girls and yet a majority of the Youth Leaders are Whipelli."

Jason rubs his neck as he looks around him, "I think they didn't want any Whipelli females here. The mountain people have this thing about family being their legacy. Even keeping them from having a child would likely not have kept them from marriage, which would cause turmoil among those not lucky enough to have a mate."

"That is probably true about the mountain people wanting to start a family right away, it's their thing." They all nod in agreement and Kelly says with a deep sigh. " Becky, I know what you mean about the friend thing. Both Brian and I have traded stories about that." He shakes his head. "He and I liked the same girl in fact, we didn't know that until after she friended me and I was complaining about it and he said she had friended him as well. She's a programmer; I just wasn't good enough I guess. Brian told me when he first boarded the ship he tried to connect with her; he said it did not take long for her to friend him as well." Kelly looks off in the distance, when he and Brian talked about it they had to accept that she could have anyone she wanted and they were not on her list. Maybe one day he will find the right girl for himself and hopefully Brian gets over his crush and moves on with someone better than Diana. Kelly looks about, "So if there are few girls, how are we supposed to have some relationships if what is beginning to seem like we are going to be here for awhile."

Alex nods, "I heard ships are coming to replace these." He shakes his head, "But it sounds like only crew and officers with family will be replaced. Look just a rumor going around."

"I have heard the same rumor," Becky glances around, "I once overheard two Youth Leaders arguing over a girl they apparently both liked. It wasn't good. Our people, are four different species and for the most part we treat each other with respect. I have been around humans and they are disrespectful to each other over the color of their skin. With only a few of us girls out there our age it makes it hard to commit to someone with the fear of others becoming angry." She shakes her head sadly. "Anyway, I heard one Youth Leader tell a Whipelli Youth Leader that he should back-off because he was Whipelli and they weren't meant to have a relationship with Depol girls. I honestly thought they were going to come to blows. Then they saw me and stopped arguing. It made me nervous as I didn't like they were fighting over her; us. I feel like we are ready to cross some line. Making it worse is that the Youth Corp has gone through what is called blurred facial training so as to know the person before us is not one of our people, but to blur it so we don't see that. We are trained to work with the person and not the species. Just seems like we will blur that with humans, but maybe we will not be able to learn to do that with our own people. Is this some sick experiment?"

"This is insane," Jason is shaking his head. "With Diana it could be an experiment, she actually enjoys experimenting on things that one would not expect, no matter how cruel. If we have to stay longer than the rest on the ship, how are we supposed to take full advantage of life's experience. Maybe it is going to be rank that decides who gets a girlfriend and who gets to marry? The rumors make me nervous as well, I fear that we are all chosen to remain here so that the Regime has consistency with those working with the humans. Now that is my thought, but listening to Diana and other officers makes me wonder. Could be a sick experiment to see how things would work on future projects. Like to know if we will be stationed here on Earth long term or this an absurd rumor that is growing."

"Well, how about we never go home if you want to talk about an absurd rumor." Becky has a look of fear on her face, "My friends, girlfriends and I have had this conversation and at first we just thought we were just overreacting. We have real fears, is it possible that we younger women will become slaves or are expected to have temporary relationships that will be based on a lottery or some other rotation system. This is so wrong, but they must have some plan going on." She sighs deeply, "I really hope this is just a rumor. I never thought I would become uncomfortable about this until that rumor began to go rampant. With few females of the same age group and if it is sometime before we get to go home; they are going to have to do something with women of our age group." Becky's tone has become angry. "To think our people have always had equality for gender and it could be that we will now lose it." Her face has a fearful look making it difficult for the others to know what to say as they have no idea if there is a secret agenda by the Regime or not.

Several minutes pass with everyone just trying to understand what the grand plan is. Jason sighs and smiles, "Changing the subject. Becky, what new project are you working on?" Then he frowns, "That is if you can say."

For a moment Becky looks like she has not heard him, but then looks up at them. "I can talk about it, I am learning how to use the drones to do repair work on the ships. We want to do it in such a way that humans are unaware about how much our drones can do. I am having a lot of fun, I have to say I thought it would be boring." She sighs deeply and with a pleased tone says, "It is so much fun. The intricate work and flying the drone in such a way that it is not noticeable. What do I call it." Becky pauses for a moment, then waves a hand around like it was the drone flying. "They are like mirrors, an invisibility cloak and if you look at them from the ground it is like little waves moving around the ships." She then continues on for several minutes talking about her project and then slaps her forehead. "I am so sorry. You should have stopped me."

Jason's head is bobbing up and down and his eyes never leave Becky. "No, I really have enjoyed what you have said. Working with Diana may sound good for one's career, but trust me it is not. Too much stress."

"I totally understand, eek! She scares me just hearing about all the things she does." Becky says with a grimace. She then notes the time on Kelly's computer, "Is it really that late?"

Kelly looks to Alex and then nods first in Jason's direction than to Becky. "This hall is filled with young guys looking to score with someone like you, one of us should walk you at least part way to your room. So I will do it," Then he snaps his fingers, Kelly is pretty sure he and Alex may be able to get Jason to get the courage to begin something with Becky. He understands how Becky feels about too many young men always trying to get her attention, but he has a feeling about her and Jason. "Oh, darn it! Totally forgot that Alex and I are supposed to finish a private project shall we say. Should only take a few minutes"

Alex in a loud whisper says, "A little longer than that. More like an hour."

He pauses for a moment and then Kelly says, "Look I will do it anyway. Alex can you start and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Wellll," Alex has a concerned look on his face. "Yeah, it is something we should do for you after keeping you here so long chatting away with us. Nice to have another friend added to this weird group. That is if you can put up with a Dahax trooper and know-it-all Youth Leaders." He looks in Kelly's direction, "I will start and do my best Kelly."

"I don't need any of you to do that, I walk alone everyday." Becky laughs and stands, "Love to do this again sometime, you really didn't keep me here, I wanted to be here and I understand the know-it-all Youth Leaders." Her tone becomes more serious. "Thanks also, I have been wondering about what is going to happen if we remain here for sometime and it helps to talk about it. I don't want to be some sort of slave to be sold off to the one with the most rank or whatever. Things are becoming toxic and I don't think they care, I mean the. . ." She bites her lip and simply stops speaking. "I can get to my room by myself."

Both Alex and Kelly stand and Kelly pushes Jason gently on the back. Kelly then sighs loudly, "No. I am not letting you do that."

Alex gives Jason a hard look and suddenly Jason announces, "Let me. I need the exercise anyway."

Kelly leans over and in Jason's ear whispers, "Take your time if you know what I mean."

Jason looks a bit embarrassed and then whispers back, "Thank you." Then both he and Becky leave.

Alex is shaking his head and beaming he says, "I think she is his crush. Kind of make sense now some of the things he has been saying."

"I hope he takes advantage of what we just set him up with. Funny that he is so shy in that area." Kelly has never had any problem throwing himself at the feet of his new crush. Then he frowns, he hates that this a trait he shares with Brian. It tended to set both he and his roommate up to be used, Brian he is pretty sure is being used now. As for himself he has been used more than once himself. Then his thoughts shift, "Alex! We are most definitely going to bring her in. I've worked with her, she is really good with the drones and hacking is my thing."

Alex nods in agreement, "She will be a good fit for sure." Then gives Kelly a thoughtful look and says, "I am going to like this. I am thinking about Jason, he really should be part of this. He is a good guy and deserves more than what life is handing him, meaning Diana." He then smiles, "Even if it takes over a year to do our own thing, which I am afraid it will. When we are ready, we just leave and if we do it right then we succeed and if not; I am most willing to make the sacrifice. We did this for the Youth Corp by taking them out of bonding and now we do it for us."

Kelly sits back in the chair and smiles up at the ceiling. Who would have thought taking the Youth Corp out of bonding would have given him the feeling of such fulfillment. He just isn't the kind of guy who goes out and faces troopers with signs and screaming against the Regime. He isn't someone who knows how to disrupt a government ruled by a dictator and overly devout followers doing everything he requested of them. No, he hacks programs silently, covering his tracks and making mischief that creates its own kind of attention. In this case that would be quiet attention to the select few. "I am happy. Glad to just do it, succeed or fail we at least tried. So I agree, we just do it."