CRYSTAL LAKE, OHIO, PART TWO

[Nancy Hartwick has met two more superhumans, Kim 
Brenner, from California, and Ashiya, who claims to be 
an alien representing a galactic civilization. 
Ashiya's attempts to explain the intentions of her 
people do not go over well with the two Earthlings, 
and their hostility triggers an emotional breakdown in 
the sensitive telepath. Nancy suggests that Kim take 
the young woman to the teacher's lounge, to rest, then 
returns to discuss things with her husband.]

[GM's Note: Kim played a rather passive role in this 
segment, as the player was traveling abroad and unable 
to participate.]

******************************************************

Nancy:

"It's all right," Nancy assures the other woman.  
"It's not fair to expect you to be totally acclimated 
to our society yet.  It all just takes time."

     As she comes back into her room, she finishes 
drying her eyes and sits behind her desk again.  "All 
right," she says calmly, with a slight smile on her 
face, "you can yell at me now for inviting them to 
stay with us.  Or is it still her story that's 
worrying you?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

"Yell at you?" Mike frowns. "I never yell at you. 
Well, almost never." He looks out the window, 
thinking. "*Everything* about this bothers me. I'm not 
sure about inviting her to stay with us, though I 
don't really think she's a direct threat. As for her 
story....I don't know. We can't dismiss the 
possibility that she's lying, or deranged, but 
something tells me she's neither. Of course, from 
everything she's said, obviously these 'Shabaali' are 
no less biased than us 'savages' when it comes to 
viewing other cultures."

He turns and looks at you. "For all her assurances 
that she means you no harm, it stills boils down to 
this; according to her, they're either going to take 
you away, maybe 'allowing' me and the kids to come 
with you, and live in a society where we'll be 
regarded as retarded children....retarded *barbarian* 
children... or else they'll somehow remove your powers 
and erase our memories of their being here."

"She tries to put a sugar-coating on everything, and 
I'm sure from her point of view, everything they do is 
right and just. The Nazis thought they were doing the 
right thing too. No doubt she thinks Galactic 
civilization would crumble if they didn't follow their 
all-important laws. I suspect a twenty-thousand year 
old civilization probably doesn't deal well with 
change. For them to be that stable, they'd have to be 
incredibly static."

"There are still a lot of holes in her story. How do 
they explain our evidence that we've been here a lot 
longer than twenty thousand years? There are still 
some gaps in evolutionary theory, and we have no 
absolute proof that human beings lived on Earth 
twenty-thousand years ago, but the circumstantial 
evidence, and the logical links between us and other 
life forms, are overwhelming."

"She seemed to indicate that these 'Functions' are 
hereditary. They'd have to be, if her entire race is 
telepathic. But she says they can interbreed with 
other races, but that doesn't result in different 
Functions being mixed among them? That doesn't make 
sense. For a geneticist, she's making statements that 
defy even what us 'primitives' know about genetics. 
Maybe their civilization is such that their races 
never interbreed, but I find it hard to believe. No 
matter how isolationist they may be, no matter what 
taboos they may have, if they have any contact at all, 
and if they really are humans, there are going to be 
occasional instances of racial intermixing. What 
happens if a Shabaali and a Sebth have a child? Or a 
Shabaali and a 'mind-dead' Terran?"

Mike keeps thinking out loud, going over scientific 
questions. But you sense he is disturbed, on a much 
deeper level. There is something like anger in his 
eyes, and it's not because of genetics or 
anthropology.

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     Nancy shrugs.  "I meant what I said.  I think 
someone who looks like that would attract a lot of 
attention in our town.  Besides, I want to have the 
two of you in a place where I can keep my eye on both 
of you," she teases.
     "I agree.  I don't get the feeling from her that 
she's lying, and I don't think an insane person could 
have created something like that metal doughnut.  
While I'm taking what she says with a grain of salt, I 
think she's telling the truth, at least as she sees 
it."
     With a sigh, she answers, "Well, I must admit 
that the thought of going into space...being part of a 
galactic society, is certainly an interesting one.  I 
just think of the kids and how much broader their 
horizons would be if what Ashiya says is true.  I 
mean, even if we were the sort of 'black sheep' of 
whatever group we'd end up with, there would still be 
things we could do there that we couldn't even 
concieve of here."
     She goes over and lays her hand on his shoulder.  
"But it would be a decision we'd make together.  And 
if you didn't want to go, I wouldn't hesitate for a 
moment in having these powers taken away and 
forgetting about being part of their 'Functional' 
society.  I love you...and I would never leave you or 
the kids.  Not while I had anything to say about it."
     "Which was why," she continues, a tinge of fear 
clouding her eyes, "I paniced when she first mentioned 
taking 'Functionals' away.  It may sound silly to you, 
but Chad Reiter did use his power on me...and there 
wasn't a thing I could do about it.  If they really 
wanted to, they could take me away and I'd forget 
everything about you and the kids." She gives him a 
brief hug.  "I just don't want to lose all of you...."
     She nods.  "That sounds reasonable.  If they've 
been living under the same system for so long, there 
probably isn't anyone who questions it anymore.  The 
harvesting of Functionals, the exiling on non-
Functionals...it's probably all very second nature to 
them.  Their morals have explained it all away very 
neatly by now."
     "I don't know how she'll account for it," she 
says.  "I think that her story of 'preserve planets' 
where their non- Fuctionals are provided for sounds 
like a fairy tale.  Their societies are all set up 
around the use of their Functions, to the point that 
someone without them is virtually crippled. If it were 
so easy for them to make a place for these people 
live, why not do it on the planet where the 
Functionals live? It can't be efficient to just ship 
people and resources off to these other planets...it 
would be more economically viable to have preserves on 
their own planets.  There can't be THAT many non-
Functionals."
     "I still have trouble believing they're actually 
humans, I mean as in Homo Sapiens, the species...not 
like in human beings.  Did you see how important she 
thought it was that we thought she was just like us?  
As if we wouldn't accept her if we thought she wasn't 
like us.  I don't think any of us are so stupid that 
once we accept the possibility of aliens that we 
couldn't imagine them having emotions like ours.  It 
just doesn't connect."
     She lays her hand on his shoulder, feeling the 
tenseness in his muscles.  "What's wrong?", she asks.  
"Something else is bothering you...not the 
science...something...more important to you.  
Please...tell me what's bothering you?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

"I don't know if she's 'human' or not," Mike says. 
"But her story is too elaborate to be a garden-variety 
delusion, and that girl, Kim, seems perfectly sane and 
intelligent, and she says she's seen these Sebth. And 
with the technology she's displayed, and those powers, 
I can't imagine why she'd bother inventing such a 
thing."

He takes your hand and kisses it, still looking off 
into the distance. "What's bothering me?" he murmurs. 
He turns away. "If what she's told us is even close to 
the truth, if there really is this twenty-thousand 
year old civilization out there, spread out throughout 
the galaxy, technologically sophisticated beyond our 
comprehension, and most *especially* if we're all here 
because they used Earth as some kind of dumping ground 
for their mental rejects, far back in the past....it 
means our ENTIRE HISTORY is a FRAUD!" He clenches his 
fists, suddenly angry as you've rarely seen him. 

"Thousands and thousands of years of human history, 
mankind struggling its way from cave-dwelling 
neanderthals to a global civilization, exploring our 
world, then looking out into the stars and wondering 
what's there....stone age, iron age, the rise of 
agriculture, the development of religions and 
government, the Renaissance, the Industrial Age, and 
now we're poised on the edge of an explosion in 
technology, where we might well have begun exploring 
space in our lifetimes....and it's ALL BEEN A JOKE! 
These 'Galactics' out there have been there all along. 
We could have built our first clumsy starships and 
lumbered our way out there, and found them waiting, 
saying 'Sorry, all the real estate is sold, you'll 
have to go back home!' Our top scientists are devoting 
their lives to unravelling the secrets of the universe 
and the Galactics ALREADY KNOW THEM! I told you 
gravity control is something that's at the far fringe 
of theoretical physics research, something our best 
and brightest think may be possible, but they still 
haven't even got the math to devise a theory for it 
yet? And this....girl, I don't know how old she is, 
but if she's a geneticist, she can't have had time to 
study physics too....that silver donut of hers is just 
a tool she uses, like we use a car or a toaster. What 
is a deep, vitally important mystery to us is a 
HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE for them!"

"No, I'm not exaggerating!" he says, as you look a bit 
skeptical. "Granted, I could be completely wrong, but 
the way she acts, what she's told us...unless it's a 
complete farce, she isn't some kind of elite special 
agent equipped with their most sophisticated, top 
secret technology. She's a....an intern! Sent to a 
backwater world to do some cataloguing, checking up on 
the genetic inventory, now that these Sebth were 
supposedly gone! Just a kid, with standard equipment, 
and that's why she's panicking and overreacting, 
because she suddenly found herself trapped with the 
savages. Like an anthropology grad student sent to do 
a research project in Peru, except her plane crashed 
in the Amazon."

Mike looks at you, with a haunted, despairing 
expression. "What's it all been for, Nancy? Why have 
we been struggling through wars and revolutions and 
everything else, when we've been no more than monkeys 
on display for them? I always thought we were destined 
to...accomplish something. Be more than just a bunch 
of highly intelligent apes creating complex games to 
govern social interaction. I guess..." he pauses. "I 
guess that's really why I believe in God. I figured 
there had to be some higher purpose for us."

He looks in the direction of the teacher's lounge, 
where Ashiya is, and any fear you might have had of 
Mike being attracted to Ashiya is dispelled by the 
bitterness in his voice. "They've taken that away from 
us. We're nothing but savages, waiting for them to 
decide what's most convenient for them to do with us."

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     Nancy listens through his whole speech, pondering 
deeply what he's said.  When he finishes, the silence 
hangs this as peasoup for a few moments before she 
answers him.
     "I can't say that you're not right," she finally 
replies with a sigh.  "The fact is that, however 
disturbing it might be, that we're not the center of 
the universe.  There are other beings out there that 
are more...well, I won't say more advanced...I think 
'more technologically adept' would be a better way to 
put it.  They do know more of what is out there and 
have probably already carved up the galaxy to suit 
themselves."
     "But I still do think that our race has a special 
place out there," she continues.  "If we are the 
descendants of the people they left here, we aren't 
like them any more.  For whatever reason, we can do 
things they can't...like manifesting the different 
Functions within our race.  Ashiya couldn't explain 
that...it's apparently beyond the boundries of their 
rigidly stratified society.  Maybe we can't conquer 
the galaxy, but I'll bet we will be able to make them 
respect us."

<><><><><>

[GM]

"Respect us?" Mike looks in Ashiya's direction again. 
"Ashiya seems to genuinely care about how we feel; 
she's obviously not malevolent. But do you think she 
respects us? And from what Kim and her have said, it 
sounds like the Shabaali may be the *most* tolerant of 
the Galactics....although naturally, she would portray 
her own people in the most positive light. Still, it's 
easy to see how telepaths might be a little more 
understanding about how other people feel."

"We need to know more about their goals, their 
society. WHY do they think it's so important to 
separate Functionals from the 'mind-dead'? What's the 
genetic component of these psionic abilities? Why 
don't they all spread throughout the entire human 
population? What would the Shabaali do with you, since 
you are apparently not a 'Shabaali'? If they used to 
be in charge of collecting Functionals, what did they 
do with those who had a power other than telepathy? Or 
who had more than one? And how do all these 
superhumans manifesting now tie into this?"

Back in scientist mode, he keeps talking, and you know 
he's still distracting himself from something else. He 
suddenly stops, and turns to you with alarm. "If these 
Functions really are heritable characteristics...what 
about the kids? Are they going to have powers like 
yours?"

<><><><><>

Nancy:

"I'm not saying she respects us now, but that she will 
once she comes to know us and our capabilities," Nancy 
answers.  "Besides, as I've always told my students, 
it's most important to have a sense of self worth...to 
know that you're someone special...because you can 
usually change the opinions of others.  If you know 
you're important, if only because you're you, then 
you've gone more than half way."
     Nancy shrugs at the flurry of questions.  "Maybe 
they remove the Functionals because they're afraid 
that an 'active' one will continue to pass his 
Function along to his progeny.  Once the genie is out 
of the bottle, so to speak, it's got a cumulative 
effect.  But if the initial gene is incredibly 
recessive, as Ashiya said before, then if they make 
sure to nip the Functional in the bud, before he can 
breed with others, then that would prevent it from 
spreading further."
     She goes up and hugs him when he asks about the 
kids. "I'm not sure," she says.  "I imagine we can 
have Ashiya take a look at the kids...they probably 
have some kind of gadget to detect latent Functions.  
If they do...well, we'll cross that bridge when we 
come to it."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Mike frowns. "Do we really want her collecting data on 
our children?"

<><><><><>

Nancy:

Nancy nods.  "If one of the children is Functional, 
I'd rather we know so we can help them learn to use it 
the right way.  I keep thinking of Chad and how I 
might have helped him if I'd known earlier what he 
could do...."
     She shakes her head.  "It's just so hard to know 
what to do," she says with a sigh.  "Do you think I'm 
making a mistake helping her?  Letting her stay with 
us?  Please don't give in to me just because you don't 
want to argue, Mike.  I want to know what you 
think...I married you because you were the one who 
used his head, while I always thought with my heart."
     She goes over to the window and looks out towards 
the playground and the wooded area beyond.  "Maybe I'm 
too close to it all," she says.  "Maybe these gravity 
powers have affected my mind...made it hard for me to 
think straight.  I just want to try to do what's best 
for everyone here."

<><><><><>

[GM]

"No", Mike sighs. He puts his arms around you and 
holds you. "I like that you think with your 
heart....but there's nothing wrong with your head, 
either. This is just....I know it's more of a shock to 
you. But I never imagined having to deal with 
something like a...science fiction movie. You have 
super powers, a beautiful alien telepath drops into 
our town and says she represents a galactic empire, 
and she's got some teenage telepath from California 
with her....I don't know what to do."

He gives you a kiss. "You *always" want to do what's 
best for everyone. But you can't, always. Don't blame 
yourself over Chad. He needed help a long time before 
you ever met him. Maybe Ashiya would know how to deal 
with him, though. If she's a telepath, maybe she's 
better than him, since he's probably inexperienced. 
Except of course we have no idea how that works; maybe 
it's not a matter of learned skill, but innate power." 
He sighs. "There's too much we don't know."

"I guess it's all right to bring Ashiya home. At least 
there we can keep an eye on her, and learn more. I'd 
be more nervous to have her wandering around, 
wondering what she's doing and when she's going to 
show up again."

<><><><><>

Nancy:

Nancy sighs as she gives her husband a long slow hug. 
"We'll just have to do what we think is right when the 
time comes then," she says with a sigh.  "There's 
nothing else we CAN do.  I don't think running away 
would solve this problem. Heck, I don't think there's 
anywhere we could run TO that would get us away from 
something like this.  Life is going to change for 
everyone...not just us.  I'm afraid all we humans can 
do for the time being is just try to hang on and keep 
from panicing."
     "I'm hoping she can help him," she answers 
softly.  "But there's so much hurt inside of him...I 
don't know if she's prepared for something like that.  
I'll have to make sure she understands what she's 
getting in to."
     "At least we're getting SOME answers," she says 
in a hopeful voice.  "That's more than a lot of people 
might be getting."
     She starts walking down the hall with Mike.  
"We'll tell the kids that Ashiya and Kim are friends 
of mine from...err...out of town."  She smiles weakly.  
"That's true enough, I suppose.  They're in town for a 
few days and wanted to visit.  Ashiya's not from this 
country and so she might seem a little different...so 
they're not to make fun of her or bother her too 
much."
     "Does that sound all right to you?  True but not 
too revealing?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

Mike says "You're right about Ashiya. From the way 
she's been talking, I gather her society is a rather 
peaceful one. Though I'd like to know more about this 
war they're having with the Sebth. And we might hope 
that if they're so advanced, they've ended the problem 
of child abuse. If that's true, though, she might be 
totally unprepared for what the inside of an abused 
child's head looks like. I suspect your long talk will 
involve a lot more outrage from Ashiya, telling us how 
sick and depraved we are for letting things like that 
happen." He pauses. "Though come to think of it, it 
may be hard to argue the point," he finishes sadly.

He thinks a moment, when you propose your explanation 
to give the kids. "That won't hold them off very 
long," he points out. "They'll naturally be excited to 
have overnight house guests, especially someone from 
another country. Bonnie and Jeremy especially, will 
start wanting to know exactly *which* country Ashiya 
is from. I can't think of an easy fix, though, that 
doesn't require a lot of fabrication. We'll just have 
to deal with their inquisitiveness as best we can." He 
sighs. "At least Jeremy's not any older. Can you 
imagine bringing Kim and Ashiya home to a teenage 
son...?"


When you go to the teacher's lounge, you find Ashiya 
curled up against Kim, who is gently stroking her hair 
as she sleeps. Kim doesn't seem particularly tired. 
Ashiya looks young and alone, and it's hard to imagine 
her representing a threat to your family, much less to 
Terran civilization.

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     "Another mystery to add to all of this," Nancy 
sighs. "If this Galactic Council has such sweeping 
powers over their daily affairs, to the point where 
they can tell people where to drop off their 'mind-
dead', then how could it allow them to have wars?  If 
they're so civilized, you'd think they'd be beyond 
that."
     She nods sadly.  "True.  I think Ashiya is just 
going to have to adjust to the fact that we're not 
as...developed as she is...no pun intended," she says 
with a wry grin that quickly fades.  "I can't explain 
why it happens...just that it does.  I don't 
know...sometimes I see things like that and I think 
that we might be better off if Ashiya and her people 
were in charge.  Then kids like Chad might not have to 
suffer like he did...not to mention the other problems 
we have that they could probably solve.  Then again, 
maybe we'd just be trading them for a whole new set of 
problems."  She sighs. "I'm glad I'm not the one who 
has to make the decision."
     "I'm almost having problems bringing Ashiya home 
with the *grown-up* we've got!", she teases.  "I saw 
how you were looking at her...."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Mike flushes a little, then shakes his head. "I 
wouldn't insult your intelligence and claim Ashiya 
isn't attractive," he says. "But I'm still not even 
convinced she's the same species as me, whatever she 
claims. And even if I *were* interested in an 
overemotional possibly nonhuman alien telepath who's 
threatening to destroy my way of life-" he pauses, "I 
suspect she'd as soon sleep with a gorilla." He gives 
you another kiss on the cheek. "I think I'll stick 
with Earth women, thank you very much."

"Woman! Woman! I meant the singular!" he laughs, as 
you elbow him in the ribs.

Ashiya stirs slightly as the two of you enter, then 
she wakens fully, apparently not having gone deeply 
into sleep. She looks at you with a guileless 
expression, until Mike says "I guess we'd best get 
back to our house, so you two can sleep on something 
more comfortable than this torn up couch."

As Mike predicted, the kids are thrilled to be having 
guests. And, you notice ruefully, even as young as 
Jeremy is, Ashiya still has an effect on him. Of 
course, part of it is no doubt her exotic ethnic 
appearance. Crystal Lake is mostly white, after all, 
so he hasn't met too many Asians, and certainly no 
"Asians" like Ashiya.

Ashiya, for her part, cheers noticably on meeting your 
children. She greets them warmly, and you notice she 
speaks to them most seriously, at a level they can 
understand, but she treats them with the same 
politeness she shows you and Mike. She stops just 
short of embracing them, when they hesitate, and she 
looks at you. Without being a telepath, you can sense 
she is making another internal comment about your 
culture. The way she curled up with Kim (and Kim, 
while not looking unduly distressed, also didn't seem 
that accustomed to it), and readily accepted your 
embraces when she broke down earlier, you can guess at 
another facet of Shabaali culture; they are very 
casual about physical contact. Hopefully she'll reign 
that impulse around Mike, you think with another tinge 
of jealousy.

"Yes," she says softly, making you jump. "I may be 
still an alien here, but I have learned some of the 
more obvious taboos of your culture. I would not 
approach your husband, even if I was attracted to 
him." She pauses, then adds "He is not right in his 
assumption that I regard him as a lower life form. It 
is true I....we do not normally consider the mind-dead 
suitable partners. But we do not regard them as lesser 
human beings." She yawns, delicately, then says "You 
have wonderful children. They are well loved." She 
says the last almost as if it were an evocation.

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     Nancy isn't surprised that Ashiya seems to have 
an influence on Jeremy...she looks something like one 
of his comic book characters.  All she needs would be 
to run around in some tight spandex.  The blonde sighs 
as she thinks of the costume she wants to make once 
she gets a little spare time. While she's kept in 
pretty good shape, especially considering her three 
kids, she looks a little drab next to the exotic 
alien.  *Make sure not to invite her to the team 
picture,* she says to herself jokingly.
     When they leave, Nancy will make sure Herman 
knows they're gone...leaving a note if he's still 
dozing. <g>
     "Thank you," she says gratefully when the alien 
compliments her on her children.  After meeting them, 
she and Mike steer the two women to the den so they 
can talk in private with them for a few minutes.
     "We know you're tired, Ashiya," Nancy begins, "so 
I'll try not to make this too long.  First, I just 
wanted to know if you have any special needs that 
we'll have to take care of.  Like if you have a 
special diet or whatever."  She looks over to Kim.  
"That goes for you too, of course...I know sometimes 
people from...out west have some habits that might 
seem strange to us here."
     "Also, Mike and I were discussing the genetic 
nature of Functions.  Would it be possible for you to 
check our kids...without being obvious about it?  If 
they're Functional too, we think that would be 
important to know...before they discover it by 
accident like I did."
     "Lastly...I'm sorry if being evasive about what 
you are is difficult, Ashiya, but I don't think that 
children should have to worry about up there."  She 
gestures vaguely towards space.  "I'm hoping we won't 
have to lie to them to protect you...but we'll cross 
that bridge when we come to it."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Ashiya smiles slightly at your question regarding 
"special needs". "I am human," she repeats again, 
though not with as much force as before. 
"However.....we are-" she looks at Kim, "The term was 
'vegetarians'?" Kim nods. Ashiya continues "I mean no 
offense to your customs, but the thought of eating 
flesh makes me ill. I would not like to impose on you, 
so if you have non-animal products, I would be happy 
to take my meals in another room." She pauses. "No," 
she sighs, "if I am going to be here for any length of 
time, I suppose I must learn to endure the sight and 
smell of dead animal flesh being consumed." She looks 
a bit nauseated, but tries to cover it.

<><><><><>

Kim:

"I like Taco Bell" replies Kim with a grin, "Some people would call that strange."

<><><><><>

[GM]

"Yes, of course I will examine your children for 
Functional genes," Ashiya says. "There is a strong 
possibility of active or latent Functions, even with a 
mind-de-" she stops and looks at Mike guiltily. "With 
a non-Functional parent," she finishes weakly. Mike 
doesn't seem to think that 'non-Functional' sounded a 
lot better. "All I need is a cell sample. I have an 
instrument that can take a sample from their skin. It 
is totally painless. They should absolutely be trained 
in their abilities as soon as possible. We Shabaali 
begin in the womb."

She ponders your comment about evading her origins to 
the kids. "I understand your concern," she says 
slowly. "It is very difficult for me to lie, or even 
misdirect. It does not come naturally to us. I am not 
sure how I can avoid the truth, if they ask me 
directly. But I will...try to give an acceptable, non-
disturbing answer."

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     "It wasn't a matter of being 'human'," Nancy 
replies. "It's just...it made sense that you wouldn't 
like eating meat."  She gives a small smile as she 
adds, "And I'll try not to let your enthusiasm for my 
cooking go to my head."
     "If the children are Functional, though," she 
asks, "won't they have gravity powers like mine, if 
it's genetic like you say?  Is there a race out there 
that has gravity powers?  I'm just wondering how you 
could train us in abilities you don't have."
     "In the womb?", she says in amazement.  "Well, if 
you're telepathic...I suppose that would work, yes."  
Several questions boil up through her mind, but she 
can't seem to put them in any order, so she puts them 
aside for the moment.
     "I would appreciate that...I don't think the kids 
need to know about all of this right this minute."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Ashiya looks concerned. "I mean no aspersions on your 
food preparation skills! I just....cannot eat meat." 
She looks distressed. Chalk up another personality 
trait of Ashiya's, you think; doesn't understand 
Terran humor, apparently.

At your questions about functions, she sighs again and 
looks thoughtful. "That enters a larger subject. 
I...forgive me, but I would like to see you 'control 
gravity'. The Lemaar are psychokinetics, and they can 
move masses by telekinesis. Perhaps you have been 
assuming you were controlling gravity when it was 
simple telekinesis? No Lemaar, not even the most 
powerful, can directly control gravity without the aid 
of powerful psi-enhancing devices."

"I could not train you. If my suspicions are correct, 
you are a Lemaar, and it would be my obligation to 
conduct you safely to a Lemaar world. They would train 
you. As for your children, they should also be Lemaar. 
I would say absolutely, except..." she looks at Kim, 
somewhat oddly. "Kimberly seems to possess *both* 
Shabaali and Sebth Functions. That is....unheard of. 
It does not happen. Ever. That is why I am so 
concerned about your world. If your people are somehow 
able to manifest multiple Functions....your genetic 
traits have the potential to destroy the balance of 
power that has existed in Galactic civilization since 
our origins. It could mean the most terrible war since 
the Uprising, with your planet as the focus."

Then she looks at Mike and says, quietly, "I am not 
fabricating, and I am not trying to be dramatic." 
Mike's grim expression deepens. He obviously is not 
enjoying her habit of reading his thoughts. She looks 
away, perhaps in response to whatever thought came 
after that.

"But back to your children," Ashiya continues, after a 
short pause. "Normally, they should have your 
Function, yes. But, even aside from the potentially 
anomolous genetic phenomena here," another quizzical 
glance at Kim, "there is the fact, first, that their 
father....does not possess a Function." She sighs, as 
Mike seems dissatisfied with that phrasing too. You 
can't help feeling sorry for her; she really is 
trying. "That increases their chance of suffering the 
same condition." Mike scowls and Ashiya winces. 
Persisting, she says "Also, I presume your powers 
manifested only recently, after they all were born?" 
You nod, and she says "One of the traits of psionic 
potential is that close proximity to other Functionals 
contributes to the manifestation of an individual's 
own Functions. A child in the womb of a Functional 
mother is obviously in very intimate proximity, and so 
almost all Galactic children are born Functional. Your 
children's Functions may be....stunted. It may be 
difficult, or impossible, to cause them to manifest. 
The younger, the better the chance that no potentiator 
or similar means would be required. Bonnie will be 
most difficult to awaken any latent Functions, but 
there is a good chance for Jeremy, and a better one 
for Stephanie."

<><><><><>

Nancy:

Nancy's smile broadens.  "Relax, Ashiya.  It was a 
joke. You know...humor?  Arr, arrr...", she says in 
her best Robin Williams Mork voice.  When the alien 
only becomes more confused, she says, "Forget 
it...it's not that important."
     She shrugs.  "Certainly."  She goes over to the 
door, makes sure that none of the kids are around, 
then closes it. She looks around the room...and 
focuses on the coffee table. Gently, she lifts it up 
and lets it leisurely float about 4 feet off the 
floor.  "See...I'm not moving it with my mind, but 
changing its gravity.  If you touch it now, you'll see 
it will twirl and move the way you poke it...just like 
something you'd see in one of those space movies.  Oh, 
sorry...you know, like in outer space, where they 
don't have gravity?"
     Once Ashiya's done examining the table, she sets 
it down.
     "Maybe the reason we can do that is that you've 
bred the flexibility out of your gene pool, while 
we've been...feral, as you said," suggested Nancy.  
"You try to make sure everyone has those certain genes 
that result in those specific abilities...and you may 
be repressing other genes that have more unpredictable 
effects."
     She sighs and looks at her husband.  "Mike, 
you're not helping.  I *know* this is a lot to deal 
with...but just try to be a little more compassionate 
here...all right?  Ashiya doesn't MEAN to insult 
you...it's just the way she's learned to phrase 
things."
     "Potentiator...what's that?", she asks.  "I had 
to go through a very frightening experience to get my 
powers...will the children have to do the same?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

"I do have a sense of humor", Ashiya says, somewhat 
defensively. Then gives Mike a look that is almost a 
pout. He's definitely not being kind, at least in his 
thoughts.

Ashiya examines the coffee table, but still looks 
skeptical. She picks up her laptop computer and opens 
it. To you, it looks like the sort of portable PC you 
could buy at any CompUSA store....until holograghic 
displays materialize in the air above it. Ashiya 
studies the icons and alien lettering that flows past, 
while you and Mike stare. Kim seems to have seen it 
before.

"You ARE generating contragravity waves," Ashiya says 
wonderingly. "It WAS you our satellites detected!"

She shakes her head. "I would like to get a cell 
sample from you, Nancy. And Mike also. For that 
matter," she looks at Kim, "with all this travelling 
around your nation, I have not yet even analyzed Kim's 
genetic makeup."

"Potentiator is a drug, that can sometimes activate a 
latent Functional's abilities. It has risks, though. 
We use it only as a last attempt to cure someone who 
will otherwise be left mind-dead."

"God forbid you have any poor mind-dead children that 
might have to be abandoned on some primitive 
'preserve' world," Mike says, in an icy voice. "Better 
to give them some dangerous drug and risk harming 
them, is that it?"

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     Nancy resists the urge to say "I told you so!" 
(both aloud and mentally <g>).
     She shrugs.  "I don't have any objections.  
Whenever you'd like."
     "Mike!", she says sharply, in a voice usually 
reserved for the children when they're being 
exceptionally ill- behaved.  "That was uncalled for.  
Their society has a different set of values than ours.  
That's not to say that she's right, but maybe she'd 
think we were a little less primitive if we tried to 
be a bit more understanding!"
     "I don't think," she says, turning to Ashiya, 
"that something like that is necessary," she says.  
"They can get along fine on our world without a 
Function, especially if activating it might be 
dangerous."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Ashiya looks like she wants to say something, but 
refrains.

She produces a small metallic cylinder, the size of a 
pocket flashlight, and with your permission, touches 
it to the skin of your inner wrist. You feel nothing, 
but she takes it away (there is no mark at all left 
behind), then does the same thing to Mike. (He looks 
skeptical of this process, but with a look from you, 
he complies.) And finally she takes a sample from Kim.

Then she studies her holographic displays again. 
Without even bringing the cylinder to the computer. 
Her eyes widen.

"You are a Lemaar," she says, "but also Asgur. And Kim 
has Shabaali, Sebth....and Atla characteristics!" She 
looks at Kim, startled.

"What about me?" asks Mike, dryly. Ashiya hesitates, 
and he says, "I know, I'm 'mind-dead'. So what do 
these multiple traits mean? Which Galactic society 
gets to force Nancy and Kim to join them?"

Ashiya gives Mike another pained look, then answers, 
"I do not know what it means. It is not possible. But 
Nancy," she looks at you, "your Function is at a very 
high magnitude, at least fifth. You would need to 
display it more fully while I am running psi sensors, 
but with your level of active psi Function, the chance 
is much higher that your children will also be 
Functional. And the more you use your abilities around 
them, the greater the chance of causing them to 
manifest."

<><><><><>

Kim:

"What's an Atla?" asks Kim, clearly not knowing the name.

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     Nancy gives Mike a dirty look and says, "I know 
what the Lemaar and Shabaali are...but what do those 
other terms mean?"
     "Well, at least you were right about one thing," 
she murmurs thoughtfully to Mike.  "I've got to watch 
using my abilities around the house...or at least 
around the kids.  We want to avoid having them 
manifest accidentally."  If she hadn't lowered the 
table already, she does so now.

<><><><><>

[GM]

Ashiya looks puzzled. "Do you not want your children 
to manifest? But I can tell you more when I analyze 
them."

"The Sebth are teleporters, as I told you already. 
Kim....demonstrated that ability, I do not know how. 
She is also telepathic. It is quite impossible....but 
clearly, she defies what we consider possible. As do 
you. Perhaps to control gravity, I suppose your 
psionic Function would have to extend into the realm 
of matter *and* energy. The Lemaar can 
psychokinetically control matter, while the Asgur 
psychokinetically control energy, but no one can do 
both. Except you." She sighs. "And I do not know what 
it means that Kim also possesses Atla traits. The Atla 
are healers, but they are not a nurturing people. And 
allied with the Sebth, who are warlike and malevolent. 
But obviously the Shabaali traits are more dominant in 
Kim. You....you are much more calm and peaceful than 
most Lemaar, in fact in many ways, your mind set is 
almost like a Shabaali."

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     "I don't want them to manifest where there's no 
one to train them, no," Nancy Answers.  "No offense, 
Ashiya, but Earth isn't ready for all of this.  I 
agree with Kim on that point.  I think the less our 
planet knows of Functions, the wars out there, and the 
decrees of your Galactic Council, the better.  All it 
will do is cause panic and make things harder for 
everybody."  She thinks for a moment.  "Just out of 
curiousity, do your people have drugs that suppress 
Functions?"
     "Well, there are several things you've told us 
that don't make sense according to our science," she 
muses, "so I guess everyone has something to learn 
here."
     "It's interesting," she continues, "that you 
associate personality traits with the various races.  
Is that because the Function dictates your 
personalities...or are they racial characteristics?"
     "I'll take that as a compliment," she answers 
when Ashiya compares her to her own race.  "Thank 
you."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Ashiya looks frustrated. "Your science does not 
compare to ours! You have just begun to grasp higher 
physics, and you know nothing about psionics! Your 
genetic science is incomplete-"

Ashiya stops, as Mike is staring at her so intently, 
you *know* he is quite deliberately thinking something 
at her that she's meant to 'hear'. And obviously she 
does; Ashiya's dark skin flushes deeper, and she looks 
away.

At your other question, she hesitates. "I confess, 
much of what we consider 'racial characteristics' are 
undoubtedly social imperatives, impressed in us in a 
society that is quite ancient and tradition-bound. 
Yes, Mike, we are very stable, and by your standards, 
very static. But psionic ability is intimately linked 
with many higher-order brain functions, including 
cognitive ability and certain neural areas that affect 
behavior. So your Function does affect your 
personality, though of course it is not the only 
factor, or even the most important. A violent Shabaali 
is possible....at least on this world." You think of 
Chad. "Yes," she nods, "but I believe it will be much 
easier to teach him Shabaali ways than it would be to 
teach a non-Shabaali from a similar background."

And yet again, she winces at something Mike is 
thinking. "I am rather tired," she finishes weakly. 
"Would it be impolite if I was to retire for the 
night?" Kim nods encouragingly; after all, according 
to Kim, Ashiya has been operating on virtually no 
sleep for the last few days, during which time she's 
endured quite a lot. She got less than an hour of 
sleep at the elementary school. She looks more than a 
little spent.

<><><><><>

Nancy:

"Of course," Nancy says understandingly.  "It was 
inconsiderate of us to have you do all of this so 
soon.  I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to answer 
questions later on."
     She goes over and opens the door.  "You go to 
your room and get some sleep.  I'll bring you 
something to eat a little later...no need for you to 
have to do something traumatic like eating with the 
kids your first day here."  [It's probably...what, 
about 3:00 Sunday afternoon?  I assume they haven't 
eaten dinner yet....]

<><><><><>

[GM]

[That sounds about right.]

"Oh no," says Ashiya, "I enjoy your children very 
much." She yawns again. "But I would like to sleep 
first. Thank you." Gratefully, she withdraws to the 
guest room.

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     As Ashiya leaves the room, Nancy turns to the 
young girl still there.  "Excuse us, Kim...could I 
have a few minutes alone with Mike, please?"
     [Since she's not there to stick up for 
herself...<g>]
     "Sure," replies the young woman.  She gets up and 
heads into the other room.
     For a moment, Nancy is turned away from Mike, 
watching the others leave the room.  When she faces 
him again, the look in her eyes is not pleasant to 
see.
     "I realize," she says in her "I am being very 
patient with you" voice, "that you don't buy a lot of 
what Ashiya is saying...and that what she wants to do 
sounds quite cruel and draconian.  None the less, she 
is a guest in our house...and your behavior towards 
her has been inexcusable."
     She takes a moment to calm herself.  "There's 
still a lot she needs to learn about us...and I get 
the feeling that the more she knows about who and what 
we are, the more sympathetic she'll be to keeping our 
way of life intact.  But that's not going to happen if 
you keep sniping at her."
     "I realize that you aren't...comfortable with the 
thought of her reading your mind.  But deliberately 
thinking horrible things just to shock her out of you 
is rude.  She still needs to learn about our 
customs...and I'm sure once she's had a chance to 
adjust, she won't read your surface thoughts in casual 
conversation anymore."
     She shakes her head.  "You've been a lot of help, 
Mike, and I really do appreciate your scientific 
expertise...but if you can't put any more effort into 
getting along with Ashiya, I'm going to have to 
exclude you from these conversations with her."  She 
pauses a moment to gauge his reaction.  "I hope you 
don't think I'm being unfair...I'm just doing this so 
we can get Ashiya to answer our questions and come 
over to our way of thinking."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Mike has a hard look at first, but it softens after a 
moment. "Nancy...." he hesitates. "I know Ashiya isn't 
evil. She's probably full of good intentions. Like the 
road to Hell is paved with. I don't trust her. All I 
hear from her is a lot of assumptions and prejudices 
indicative of a society that has no doubt about its 
own superiority, and the obvious benevolence of 
forcing a more 'primitive' society to adopt their 
ways. She's essentially got a case of "white man's 
burden". Oh, us poor savage Earthlings, won't it be 
wonderful when her people come and civilize us!" He 
rubs his head and says "Maybe I'm just not used to 
being condescended to, and I don't take it very well. 
Though everything I've 'thought at' her has been no 
more than my honest opinion, and I'm not about to hide 
what I feel to spare her feelings. After all, she says 
her people never do that."

"There's something else, though," he says, clutching 
his hands and opening them. "Something that bothers me 
quite a bit. For all that I'm angry at her arrogance, 
I guess from her point of view, it's hard *not* to 
look down at us. And pride in my own civilization may 
be part of why I can't take her attitude. But I can 
adjust to the notion that we're not the most important 
people in the universe any more. I guess it was 
inevitable, that when we make contact with another 
race, we might find that they're a lot older and more 
advanced than us."

"But I'm also angry that they DID leave us!" He takes 
a deep breath, then says "I want to believe she's 
wrong, and I want to think that we struggled the long 
road to where we are now all by ourselves. We have a 
lot to be ashamed of, in our history, right up to 
today, but a lot to be proud of too. Even so.....just 
think!" His eyes become angry. "They stood by and 
WATCHED! We've committed unspeakable acts of 
brutality, persecuted millions of people, fought 
genocidal wars, extinguished some of the brightest 
talents the world may never have seen.....if not for 
the Inquisition, or the Communist dictatorships, or 
countless other oppressive regimes, how much faster 
and farther might we have come? THEY COULD HAVE 
STOPPED IT! The Crusades, the Inquisition, the 
Holocaust..... the United States is agonizing over 
Bosnia right now. We see what's going on, we want to 
help those people, and we're frustrated because 
there's no easy, bloodless solution to stop the 
atrocities going on over there. But if Ashiya isn't 
exaggerating about what Galactic technology can do, 
and she isn't lying about being human like us, HOW 
could they sit their and just WATCH? We're not 
perfect, but if we had godlike weapons that could 
neutralize entire armies and make everyone stop 
fighting, without killing anyone, wouldn't we do it? 
Why don't they?" He glowers in Ashiya's direction. 
"Because they DON'T think of us as human beings like 
them! If they did, they couldn't possibly stand by and 
watch! They wouldn't watch as millions of us starve, 
and die of diseases that they probably have the cure 
for, and kill each other in stupid wars that they 
could end! It isn't because they have some kind of 
'Prime Directive' that says it's wrong to interfere in 
another culture. Ashiya's made it clear that they 
don't. They just. Don't. Care! Ashiya may, but I think 
she's niave."

"These Galactics don't give a damn about us, and won't 
have any mercy or compassion for us, if they start 
taking over our world. And Ashiya is the smiling face 
of a missionary, telling the Indians how they're going 
to bring them out of the darkness and ignorance of 
their primitive lifestyle....before the Conquistadors 
arrive to destroy their civilization. No, I don't 
trust her one bit!"

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     When Mike points out that he was only doing what 
Ashiya's people supposedly do, Nancy points out, 
"Yes...but just because we have freedom on speech here 
in the United States doesn't mean you should exercise 
it at all opportunities."
     She listens carefully to what Mike says, and then 
shakes her head.  "The more I think about those 
'preserve worlds', the more I think it must be a 
fabrication on the part of their Galactic Council.  I 
mean, I don't know a lot about economics, but I do 
know that setting up even one place like that would 
take an enormous amount of resources.  I mean, we're 
basically talking about the equivalent of a state 
institution...on a planet-wide scale!  I just can't 
believe that such a thing could actually be done...at 
least the way she says it is."
     "I hear what you're saying though.  Though I 
imagine it might just be my '20th century American' 
morals, I can hardly believe that human 
beings...especially ones that are so advanced, would 
treat anyone the way that they would have to be for 
the society Ashiya tells us about to work."
     She stops for a moment.  "You know...this is an 
odd thought...but the situation almost...well...seems 
farmlike. I mean, they have the cattle, us, who roam 
around our world. The farmers know the animals can 
take care of themselves, so they don't pay much 
attention...kind of like those free range animals they 
raise out in California.  They're only interested in 
one thing...the manifestation of Functions. When one 
does manifest, then the 'animal' is taken off the 
planet, trained to be a productive citizen with no 
memory of where they came from, and put to work.  
Also, if one of your citizens is 'mind-dead', they're 
of no use, so you wipe their brains and send them to 
be a part of the gene pool on the preserve world."
     "You know, it's been striking me as odd how 
important it is to Ashiya that we think she's 
human...just like we are. But their emotions just 
aren't the same...they're dictated more by their 
Function than 'human' considerations.  Ashiya is sweet 
and gentle...not because she had loving parents, but 
because her psychic powers make her very open."
     She frowns and looks at Mike.  "Does any of that 
make sense, or am I just going off on some weird 
tangent?"

<><><><><>

[GM]

Mike pauses, and thinks.

"I really don't know," he says finally. "Everything 
you're saying could be true. But I admit I'm biased; 
I'm prepared to believe anything bad about this 
Galactic society right now."

"It's not necessarily true that these 'preserve 
worlds' would be such a massive investment of 
resources. With our technology, even assuming we had 
starships, yes, it would be almost inconceivable. But 
if we assume that they can travel between star systems 
with not much more difficulty than we travel between 
continents...heck, maybe it's like driving to another 
city. We don't know just how sophisticated their space 
travel is. Did Ashiya and her friends spend months, 
days, or hours getting here? And a sufficiently 
advanced robotics technology could create self-
repairing, self-replicating machines that could do the 
bulk of the work of colonizing a planet....God, now 
I'm inventing explanations to *support* her story." He 
sighs. "That's the problem, though. This whole 
situation is so bizarre to us, we can't really judge 
her veracity. Truth really could be stranger than 
fiction. I still wouldn't be totally surprised if it 
turns out she's from Earth; everything she's displayed 
so far could be explained by super powers of her own. 
If people can fly, control radio waves, gravity, 
weather, why couldn't someone levitate a silver donut 
around, and generate holograms? It's still an 
amazingly complex story she's telling, though, if it's 
a fabrication or a delusion."

"I don't know about their emotions. Ashiya *says* that 
Functions affect their emotions, though she did admit 
that probably is social bias as much as anything else, 
which is quite an admission from her, come to think of 
it. But just because their society is twenty thousand 
years old and technologically advanced, doesn't mean 
they can't suffer from erroneous beliefs. We're 
advanced enough that most people know better than to 
believe any particular race is inherently inferior to 
another, but racism is still common. I don't think 
psychic powers alone would automatically make someone 
pacifistic, though. But psychology isn't my field; you 
took more psych classes than I did in college."

Mike finally shakes his head, as if to shake off all 
these questions and doubts. "The bottom line is, we 
just don't know. We don't know if Ashiya had loving 
parents, or even had parents...they could all be test 
tube babies, for all we know, or genetically 
engineered. We don't know if she's human, we don't 
know if she's lying or insane...." He sits down and 
looks very weary. "You're right, though, I'm not 
helping much with Ashiya. I can try to be less 
hostile, but I don't think I can keep my cynicism and 
mistrust from showing. Your empathy has always been 
better than mine anyways. So maybe you should talk to 
her without me right there to upset her with my errant 
thoughts. Besides," he says teasingly, "two women 
always seem to communicate better when men aren't 
around, don't they?"

"I do think we should talk a little more to Kim too, 
though. For one thing, what do her parents think of 
all this? And," Mike chuckles slightly, "shouldn't she 
be in school tomorrow anyways?"

[Unfortunately, Kim's still 'gone'. I think I'm safe 
in saying that Kim will probably provide the following 
information;

She MET the Sebth, and has seen numerous examples of 
Galactic technology, not the least of which is the 
spaceship that she and Ashiya escaped! She saw the 
Sebth teleport, and has been communicating 
telepathically with Ashiya for the past couple of 
days. Telepathy makes it much more difficult to lie, 
or even avoid conveying things you don't want to 
convey; if you think about hiding something, that 
thought is what's most likely to pop to the surface! 
So while she also has serious reservations about 
Ashiya's cheery assessment of the benevolence of 
Shabaali culture and Galactic civilization in general, 
she does not believe Ashiya is lying, or suffering 
from delusions, though she is a bit worried about the 
alien's mental health, as she seems to be having 
trouble adjusting to Earth. Though Kim doesn't 
understand everything that's bothering Ashiya, she 
knows the slightly older woman is showing many signs 
of being highly stressed, and emotionally overwrought. 
She has not, however, seen much that would answer any 
of your other questions; she doesn't know how fast 
their ships are, or anything like that, and all she 
knows of their society is what Ashiya has told her, 
which isn't much more than what she's told you.]

<><><><><>

Nancy:

     "Maybe," Nancy argues, "but that doesn't fit with 
what Ashiya told us about their societies.  If they 
had robots or some kind of technology to compensate 
for the lack of a Function, why wouldn't they just 
keep the people on their worlds and use it?  It sounds 
as if most of their developments have centered around 
their Functions."
     She sighs and massages her temple.  "You're 
right, of course," she says.  "We can speculate all 
day...but until we get some other source of 
information, we'll be no closer to the truth than we 
are now."
     She goes over and starts massaging his 
shoulders...her fingers know right where to go to 
relax him.  "It's just...", she hesitates a moment, "I 
don't want to exclude you from any part of my life.  
You're a part of me...super powers and all. I don't 
want this to come between us...but I see how it could.  
I need your arms around me, your voice in my ear...I 
can't take all of this on my own."

<><><><><>

[GM]

Mike takes your hands and gently draws you around the 
chair, until he can put his arms around your waist and 
pull you onto his lap. "I'm not *ever* not going to be 
part of your life," he says softly, kissing you. "I 
don't like arguing with you either. Yes, this is 
putting a lot of stress on us, and dealing with Ashiya 
isn't easy either. We've got different outlooks on her 
and her 'Galactic civilization'. But I'm always going 
to be there with you. I'm not going to let them take 
you away, if there's *anything* this 'mind-dead 
primitive' can do to stop it." He holds you, and 
strokes your cheek, and you see that he really has 
been hurting over what he sees as a threat to you, and 
the family. And though he covered it with sarcasm 
before, being treated as inferior because he doesn't 
have mental powers obviously struck some kind of nerve 
with him. It's ironic that Mike and Ashiya, both 
obviously very decent, well-intentioned people who 
don't want to hurt anybody, don't seem to be able to 
get along.

Still, the fact that he *isn't* too fond of her helps 
diminish your jealousy somewhat.

<><><><><>

Nancy:

"And I'll do my best to stay here with you," she 
answers softly.  "I said I'd give up these powers if I 
had to and I meant it.  I love you and the kids, and 
I'd never do anything to hurt you."
     She kisses him again and continues, "That's why 
this's been so hard.  I don't care what Ashiya 
says...to me, you're the most perfect man in the 
universe.  She can have any Functional she 
wants...even that Paladin.  I can see the pain in your 
eyes...I know that it's hard to be 'the man' when I 
can do things you can't.  But none of that matters to 
me, because I love you...and I always will."