Chapter 18

Posted: September 23, 2006 - 11:50:33 pm

Ten minutes after the coffee finished dripping, the rangers showed up. They got out of their SUV, and tramped to the door. I opened it before they could knock.

"Come in, before we start heating the great outdoors," I said in a jovial voice.

They came in. They introduced themselves, and asked a favor.

"We're sort of stuck. Usually the snow doesn't come this early. The station up here, for emergencies, is only half prepared. There was a slide a little south of here, and it's blocking the road.

"We got out and climbed the blockage, but even as we watched, more snow further down the hill was causing more rock and snow slides. The main station says they can get to us in the next day or two, but not till they are sure the slides have stopped.

"We were wondering if you could put us up for a couple days? I know it's an imposition, but we are sort of stuck," the male ranger, Oscar Mansfield said.

"Of course! Let's see, we have a spare room that the two of you can share upstairs if you want. If you are shy about the accommodations, one of you can take the room, the other can make do on the couch here," I said helpfully.

Brenda and I, along with Courtney, went into the kitchen. We started cooking a nice big supper, leaving Tom to entertain my two guests. They had asked if they could contribute work or anything, but we had nixed that idea quickly, saying guests were treated royally at 'Lost in The Woods Lodge', as I called it.

They chuckled at the name, and spent the time warming up. Oscar's partner, Cathy Lafferty, asked for a tour, and I was drafted from kitchen duty to be the tour guide. I showed them through the house, and they were impressed with it and the fact I was set up to handle weather and situations like this, and to be independent of outside utilities.

They were also curious how someone my age could afford something like this. I just cocked an eye at them, and they had the grace to look embarrassed. While I was doing the nickel tour, Tom was doing his thing, and backtracked the rangers in time. When they went to go upstairs after supper to get sleeping arrangements settled, Tom pulled me aside for a quiet talk.

"Ok, while it is true that the road is blocked a bit, they caused the blockage. They then made a beeline straight here. There was no stopping or checking on this emergency station that is supposedly up here. Also, with their four wheel drive capability, I am sure they could have powered right through that little slide," Tom told me.

So it seemed we were being checked up on by someone. Well, I had known it would happen, sooner or later. I had been hoping for later, though. I knew these two were real rangers. I had asked the locals about them, prior to this visit. Still, I was wondering what was going on.

So it was that we were hosting a couple snoopy rangers. Every once in a while, I would catch one or the other going off to check things out. Also, since they were here, Tom, Courtney, and Brenda could not very well leave; since they would have to be 'driven' out, and I was acting as if I believed the story these two gave me.

Early in the afternoon of the second day, we had a visit from another ranger. He had driven up to let 'our' two rangers know the road was open and serviceable. I was thanked profusely for putting them up. They offered to pay me a rate for the inconvenience. I waved that aside, telling them I was glad to help out. We then watched as the rangers left in a group.

Tom was listening to his ear bud, and smiling. I asked him what was funny.

"Your two guests are openly discussing that nothing out of the ordinary was found, and they were wondering what the big deal was. We seemed a normal bunch of people," he said chuckling.

It seemed that Tom had planted a listening device in the ranger's vehicle, sometime during the last day and a half, and was now getting a live feed. Tom was a veritable gadget guru. His future computer, and its core data of discoveries and knowledge of listening devices, combined well with that alternate world where Tom had so much power. I was going to have to ask him about that someday, but only when we had time to relax and enjoy a good story.

Several weeks went by. Brenda had started doing something recently, that required her to control her ability a little better. When she became angry, she could cause a definite reaction in the air temperature in the immediate vicinity! Her power and range were increasing as well.

She was not the only one, though. I was practicing the training I had received in that alternate world, religiously. I now grabbed power automatically, and started storing it for my own use. My TK was getting stronger, as was my deciphering of the immediate future. That was still a complicated puzzle though.

Still, my future visions were becoming more firm. My range had extended out to ten days, now, with a good probability of being accurate. I mean, the further from tomorrow I got, the less stable my predictions were. Tomorrow, I had down to almost a hundred percent, now. A few days into the future, and it was a 98.2 percent accurate prediction, according to my computer. There were still things that happened to change things a bit, but I was now seeing what would basically happen shortly, with extreme accuracy! Even as far as a week into the future, I was still at a 90 percent rate.

For the next few weeks, nothing really happened. Brenda went back to school, and Tom and Courtney were off doing their own thing. This left me alone, and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with myself.

I discovered I had liked working. Now that I was unemployed, I felt out of sorts. Strange. The only problem with working for the feds was that it had been a forced issue. I kept coming back to that thought, for some reason. Ok, lots of people worked at jobs they didn't really like. Yet they did it, anyway. It was something to think about for the long run.

The weather had started turning warmer, and winter was coming to an end. In all honesty, I was ready for the warmer weather. It was during this time that things came to a head with Tom's half sister and mine, Debra Willows.

The feds had been watching her for sometime, now. They finally had decided to bring her in. What they had not counted on, was her ability kicking in as it did, or what form her ability would take. Tom had decided to go back to the point where the feds had forced her to take action, and make a preemptive move to change what had happened.

It was a direct violation of Tom's stated ideal of not to interfere with time. But he did not want his half sister, and mine come to think of it, to live with the results of that disastrous evening.

He had explained what had happened between his sister, and the extraction team sent to get her, and it was not pretty. It had caused her such mental anguish, that he had decided to take action to fix the problem.

This is how I came to have a sister I had never known I'd had, to move into one of my guest bedrooms upstairs. Tom had rescued her and sent her to that training school in the alternate world. She had some conscious control of her talent now, and it was an interesting one. She had the ability to manipulate the temperature around her. To be exact, she could focus an incredible concentration of energy into a particular area. When the extraction team had come for her, she had reacted instinctively. She had incinerated them!

In all fairness to her, she had not known they were feds. They were dressed in all black, wearing masks, and were doing the extraction in the middle of the night. They did not knock on her door to serve a warrant. They broke in, trying to be very quiet about it. Tom had identified them when he 'back timed' and watched where they had come from. They were agents of the federal government, all three of them.

So Tom did his thing. He went back in time, and took his half sister himself, making sure the agents found an empty apartment. This saved his sister from the mental anguish of having killed three people, and saved the lives of the three agents at the same time. It also caused yet another split in reality, though. It also caused me to have a semi-permanent houseguest.

I would have thought that Brenda and Debra would get along great. Think again. They seemed to dislike each other from the start. Debra was a nice enough looking woman, I guess. But come on, she was several years older than I was, and I had no interest in her. Jealousy, however, is not a logical emotion.

Debra was dark haired, and I was wondering if her hair was died. It had a slightly strange tinge to it that was hard to put my finger on. As a matter of fact, the more I looked at her hair, the more difficult it was to define what I was seeing. Weird.

I came into the kitchen, during yet another exchange between the two.

"Debra, if you can't manage to get the supper started on time, let someone know. I am sure we could help you out if it's too much trouble," Brenda was saying in an overly sweet voice.

Uh oh. Not good. Polite sniping.

"Brenda dear, not all of us can afford to be kept by someone else. I do have a life other than this one, you know," Debra responded just as sweet and oily.

"Ladies," I said stepping in. "Might I suggest you go to neutral corners and come out swinging? Just let me get my cameras first. I want video, and pictures," I said, trying to show them how foolish this was.

They both turned on me. Foolish, yes, but apparently I was the foolish one. They both let me have it. Shit, but this was getting old fast. I actually was beginning to hate my house, and being in the same general area as these two women. I could not figure out why they didn't get along or like each other.

Both had control over temperature. Brenda's control was over large areas and concerned weather. Debra's was closer, but more intense. Debra could focus in on heat or cold. It was amazing to see her practice her abilities. I have seen her burn a hole through tempered steel, and freeze that same steel so cold that it became brittle and broke easily. It was a very useful talent, indeed.

I walked away after letting the two wind down, and made a beeline to my computer. I sent out an SOS to Tom. He showed up a few minutes later.

"Tom! Thank god, a sane person! Let's get out of here," I almost begged him.

Tom took one look at me, and transported us back to his place. Courtney came in from a different room. She smiled and welcomed me. I spent some time venting, and they listened to me. Finally, I wore down to a stop.

"Scott, I'm sorry. I knew this was a possibility, but I had not realized it was this bad. The psych people had mentioned this possible reaction. It has to do with jealousy, but it's a jealousy of each other's powers.

"Both women have good, strong talents. To Brenda, your half sister Debra's seems more instantly useful. While to Debra, Brenda is probably the ultimate in the control of her power. Both women have a touch of each other's abilities, to some extent. It is making them very jealous. Plus, Debra's power is the newest, and most unsure. Brenda is trying to establish a pecking order as the senior, more powerful, member," Tom told me.

"Well, all I have to say is, I am ready to move out and go into hiding," I muttered, half to myself.

"I think it's time for me to have a word with the ladies, Tom. I have no power, and no stake one way or the other. I can talk to them both, and make them listen to me," Courtney said after hearing what Tom had explained to me.

"Oh, God. If you can bring peace to my house, I will kiss your feet and worship you, Courtney," I said almost desperately.

She grinned at me.

"Well, you don't have to go that far, but it is a nice thought. My very own foot washer," she said, laughing.

"None of that! If anyone gets their feet washed, it will be me," Tom said with a chuckle.

So it was that Tom sent Courtney to my place. Courtney admonished us not to bother her until she called. While the girls were at my place 'discussing' things, Tom and I talked over our next move, and one of my own problems at the same time.

"Scott, you're our guinea pig. You volunteered for it. If you want a job, I suggest you go out and get one. Just be warned, that if the feds move against you, you will most likely lose the house. And you can't afford too much right now, if that happens," Tom stated concerning my idea of working.

There was also the fact that if the feds took the house, Tom had it rigged to blow into very, very small pieces. The explosion was going to be on the same scale as a small nuclear bomb. It would be more than enough to obliterate the future's and the other world's tech in the house and surrounding area. The explosive to be used was not nuclear, but the results were the same as a small one kiloton weapon being exploded. Thank god it wasn't in the megaton range, was all I could think!

With that resolved, we talked over a direction to go. So far we were just being defensive and reactive, but that was a recipe for disaster. We had to establish a goal for our group besides survival.

We tossed ideas around but came to no conclusion. Each one seemed to lead to dangerous confrontations with the US and/or local authorities. The problem was how to use our abilities in the most effective way, to the benefit of the most people. Or not use them, as the case might be.

We were still kicking ideas around when Courtney called, two hours later. She told Tom to bring me home and celebrate the newly ironed peace accords she had brokered.