Hi everyone!
I have scheduled this post to go off right now because I wanted to take a week off here, to work on the next chapter of my story. Because I am (almost) running out of nearly finished chapters and am pretty soon going to have an even harder time keeping up. And I am having so much fun that I don’t want to slow down just yet, so I thought I would get ahead a little.
I hope you don’t mind.
That does mean that I won’t be sharing the results of our poll just yet, and you’re going to be in limbo about the audio version for a while still.
As for the story…
Previously: Logan, Luke and Tom retreat to the mountain cabin to recover, while their home gets rebuilt. Luke locks himself away with Elle like some kind of mad scientist while the boys ponder the vague threat of the PG.
INDEX | Chapter 3 | Scene 1 | Scene 2 | Scene 3 | Next Scene →
I am standing on a blanket of fresh snow, appreciating the bluest sky I have seen in months. There was a massive storm last night and for once we are not covered by a thick layer of cloud. I stare out Westwards at the jagged line of white and black teeth, enjoying the cold clean air and the bright morning sunlight on my back when I sense Tom's approach.
"Hey brother, think fast!" he shouts, releasing a quick lightning ball in my direction from fifty paces distance. I deflect it easily with an energized palm and launch one of my own.
Tom darts towards me in counterattack, dodging, strafing, left then right, as more energetic missiles fly his way. He grins as dodges trying to close the distance between us but he is, as ever, too slow. I duck and weave and a well-timed fireball hits him in the gut, right before he can land a heavy right hook. It knocks him back just long enough for me to get under his guard and the next few minutes are lost a in concerted sparring match.
It feels like I have the upper hand until Luke calls from the veranda, "Time to start packing boys!" My gaze flits involuntarily to our surrogate father, mid-roundhouse kick.
Tom grabs my foot, effortlessly swinging me up by my own momentum like a rag-doll and in half a second I am on the ground.
"I got a call from the contractor. We are going home!" Luke announces joyfully, and I can sense my brother's mood mirroring my own. Tom extends his hand to me and we dust the snow off with rather deflated enthusiasm. Luke can't possibly understand.
The past four months here have been idyllic. The light and air and relative freedom have done wonders for my state of mind, and I can almost forget how close the incident with Elle drove me to utter despair.
As for Elle, she has been stable, breathing on her own, but that's pretty much it. Luke has done his best, basing his treatment on what he would do for Tom and me since Telerans and Manorians are physiologically similar, though not identical. Even so, her recovery so far has been very 'much wait and see' because we don't really know anything about Telerans except that they are highly reclusive.
Since they won the Quarter Century War, the Blue Solar System fell off the map, or charts, so to speak. Telera controls everything including space travel and they don't usually allow visitors. Our parents were among the last Manorians to venture into open space as refugees. How Luke was able to get us the papers to go there is a secret only he knows.
So, in the beginning, Luke spent days at a time locked up in the cabin's little lab, running all manner of tests and scans, building up the data he needed from scratch, in hopes of finding a way to explain exactly what happened and why.
From what we can tell it was basically an energy gone haywire thing, sort of like it was building up and for some reason couldn't escape. It is a concept I found hard to understand. Why would her body keep building energy even if she was at the limit of what it could hold, and then why wouldn't the excess just bleed off like it does for us?
After that, he spent weeks trying to get into her head. When that petered out, he commuted back and forth to oversee the repairs to our home and worked to shed the relatively small amount of attention it did attract.
This all kept Luke quite busy, so he was pretty much out of our hair the entire time, and after the few weeks it took for Tom to get back on his feet we were able to spar and train to our hearts’ content. Best of all is that, here there's only one rule; that no energetic blast leaves the atmosphere, or it can be traced by the PG.
Now it's time to go home. Back to everyday routine and restrictions. My heart sinks at the thought.
* * *
Flying over, the manor looks the same as it always. Landing, the masons have done such a great job with the stonework that it is almost impossible to see what is old and what isn't, there is no trace of the crater. The gardens have been freshly laid out and the lawns manicured to perfection. Disembarking, the architectural layout has been mostly kept except for a few upgrades.
Luke prattles on about all the interior changes and Tom follows close behind. The inside has been updated and refurnished. There is a brand new lab and gym, complete with atmospheric- and grav-control. The library has been expanded to accommodate a meditation nook and a classroom - planning ahead - and Elle's room, the infirmary, and the lab are lined with a special material able to conduct large amounts of raw energy so that it can be channeled away safely, just in case.
Luke... Always forward-thinking, always hopeful, even though he is the one who said she probably won't wake up.
I roll my eyes and sigh as we walk up the steps to the front door. My energy signature dampens to within acceptable levels almost automatically.
Next Time: A mysterious visitor entices Logan to enter a world he has not previously explored. We learn a little more about Luke’s abilities and get to know some about the Planetary Guard.
Here’s the usual,
or if you’ve already done that, help me expand a bit and:
Or keep me super happy and engaged and excited and:
Still working on getting consistent with my formatting, so be patient, as I figure out what I like I’ll adjust. If there’s something you’d like me to add, leave me a hint in the comments.
Cheers, till Tuesday. 👋🏻
Another great scene! I am really enjoying this story, thank you!
New teaser! The Quarter Century War. Looking forward to reading about that.
Thanks for writing this story Jenny, it is an excellent vacation from the clown world we live in.