Living Under Ice

Living Under Ice 14

They had drawn random numbers again and this time Eliza was supposed to go first. She didn't know her twin had rigged the system so she would "win". Johan figured if she didn't go first she would back out of it all together as she almost did last time. As it was she was just starting to protest the idea when he plopped the artifact in her hands and she automatically caught it. When she raised it to her eyes and forehead, it began to flash in brilliant colors and seemed to make a sound like distant music. This time it lasted for ten minutes and then the stone became dark again.

Eliza refused to tell them anything about her experience. She was still a little miffed about not being allowed to back out of the experience. In reality it had not been unpleasant, but it was very intense and she just wanted to sit there and relive it in her mind. She had never felt anything like it. This time was so much more intense than the first time.

It took a long time for all of the teens to get their turn. They had agreed to keep the talking down to a minimum so that hopefully they wouldn't get caught this time. Technically, they had not been told they couldn't do what they were doing, but only because no one had thought of them doing it. None of the adults would have allowed it if they had known.

They all went back to bed exhausted. It wasn't like the first time when they had felt energetic afterwards. Things seemed different. Things seemed very different and they were all feeling reluctant to discuss what had happened and how it had felt. All of them admitted to a slight headache. Headaches were unusual for all of them. The next morning they all slept in late. Kyle and Deedri decided to let them sleep away instead of waking them up. They reasoned that they must have talked on into the night and needed their rest. It was unusual for them to sleep in and far from a bad habit so they decided to leave them alone. It was almost noon when they finally woke up still feeling a little bit groggy.

After their lunch they went to the farm area to talk. It was more isolated than the atrium and was a better place to talk in private.

"I feel different today, but I can't explain it," Tablitha complained.

"I feel the same way," Eliza agreed. "It wasn't unpleasant. In fact it was kind of nice. I could remember everything I have ever seen or heard or been taught. In fact I still can."

"I know," Talon said. "Me too, but I didn't get any new information that I didn't already know. It isn't like we got some alien data base loaded into our brain or anything."

"Well, it is like my brain is working better than it ever did before," Johan said. "I don't just have a better memory. I can make connections better too. It is like suddenly everything is more understandable than before. Even math keeps going through my head and I never really liked math except when I need it for doing electronics calculations. Now I keep thinking of weird theories like neo-quantum theory and quark calculations."

All of them had similar, but still different effects. Tablitha wasn't thinking about math except for how it interplayed with musical theory and art theory. She had been focused on chaos theory and its impact on art. All of them had increased mental capacity, but their focus was different depending on their interests and previous aptitudes.

Over the next several days, their abilities seemed to expand further. Every night, they slept more soundly than usual as if their brains needed time to process all the changes that had been brought about. On the third day they became sure of what they had only suspected before. They could pick up on each other's feelings even when they were not in the same room together.

They decided to do an experiment to see if it was real. Each sat in their own room and had their personal data device give them precisely timed alarms. As each alarm went off, they all wrote down first their own emotion and then the emotion of the others. To make it more challenging, they thought of things that would make them feel different ways. Once, Talon thought about when he had to leave his grandparents. That was definitely sad. He thought about the first time he had flown virtually on V.R., a definite adrenaline pump. At the end of the time, the four of them got together and compared written notes. Everyone had gotten the exact emotion every time. They even used the same terminology for each emotion.

A day later the telekinesis started. At first it was barely noticeable. Lightweight things just seemed to jump into their hand when they were almost ready to touch them anyway. An outside observer would have missed it since it was only a jump of about one or two millimeters. By the end of the day the distance was more like a centimeter. The next day, they could get small items from as far as a meter away to spring into their hands. The next day they could do it from across the room.

At first everyone was careful and they kept anyone from knowing, but it was impossible to hide forever. Tablitha and Talon got into an argument at the table because Talon wanted to use the salt and didn't want to share it as quickly as Tablitha thought he should. She reached out for it and made it fly straight into her hand. She knew she was in trouble when she caught her older brother's eye. He was looking straight at her with his mouth wide open. She could see everything in his mouth that he had been chewing. It was frankly gross.

"Did you see that?" Jacob yelled. "Tablitha just made that salt fly on its own across the table."

Talon thought about helping her deny it, but he knew they couldn't hide what had happened forever so he decided to show off instead. He made the salt fly from his sister's hand into his. Now the parents had seen what happened as well. Within minutes, the two families were in conference together.

Kyle and Deedri insisted on a full medical exam on all four of the teenagers. They all decided to keep what had happened quiet for the time being. They also made each of them promise that they would not touch the artifact again. No one could tell what kind of consequences it might bring about. The next changes could be just as unpredictable as the first two sets.

Compassion, as a medical A.I. was bound to keep confidences. It was part of her programming that was too strong for her to ever break. She was just as excited as the others. She had detailed brain scans from all of them on file. Tablitha's last scan was only a few days old from when she was examined right after touching the stone the first time. There were definite changes in the brain structure of all of them. On a microscopic level, everything was just more organized. Brain mass had also increased within the limits of their skull size. There was no way to know if their brains would try to expand further. That could be lethal if it happened. They would need daily brain scans to make sure it was not progressing.

Their abilities progressed, but their brain size remained the same after that exam. Now they could direct things away from themselves and not just into their own hand. There seemed to be a definite limit. They could make light things move a long way, but had to be really close to do anything with heavier objects. Talon did find out that he could still use his mind to assist his muscles with heavy objects, however increasing the maximum weight he could move by about ten pounds. It came at a price, however and fatigue was the price. Small objects were no big deal, but moving large ones required a nap afterwards. It wasn't magic. Natural laws were still at work. The energy had to come from somewhere. They just had new ways to harness the energy of their own bodies.

The final change that they discovered was the ability to call out to the other three with their minds. They couldn't convey sentences, but a single word like "Help!" or "Stop!" or "Come!" could go from one to the rest of them when they wanted it to. Unfortunately, so could words like "Stupid!" and other insults could also be passed right under the nose of their parents. Finally, Talon and Tablitha had to call a truce. The twins never had to because they were already used to being close and had never abused their new ability in the same way.

A week later nothing more had changed. Their brains and bodies were stable and there was no evidence to expect anything else happening. Compassion confirmed everything. That was when the parents decided to call a conference about what had happened involving the entire group. No one knew quite what to expect.