Saturday 13 May 2017

The Best of both Lives - Chapter 4: Suspicious Minds


The Best of Both Lives, a story written by Tarana and me. :D

You can find the first chapter of our story, here.

The second chapter of our story, here.  

And the third chapter of our story, here.

The Best of both Lives

Chapter 4: Suspicious Minds

Greg and Liam felt a little uncertain about John and the way he has been behaving. They felt that something wasn’t quite right with him. That morning, was being a quiet one; Greg was silently reading the paper, not talking at all about last night; Liam was standing by the device, looking at it intently, while reading a book he hoped it would help with the research.

John came into the room and noticed the shift in the air. It was not like the way it was before, everything changed; everyone was silent and did not talk. John walked over to where Liam was and looked at the device. The more they both looked at it, silently, the more it felt awkward for the both of them.

“I’m going to go and make some coffee,” John said glumly and walked out of the room. Liam looked at Greg; they both exchanged looks and nodded towards the front door.

“John, Liam and I are heading to the university earlier; we have a few things we need to do.” Greg said.

“Yeah that’s fine. I’ll chat to you guys later,” John replied although he felt upset knowing full well that the guys actually didn’t have anything to do at the university; they were avoiding him and they were sending him a clear message of that.

John decided that he had to do something. He absolutely needed to figure out what was happening to him and fast. He walked to the table, where they had spread the documents with the embedded writing, and he started looking at it once again, as if he would be passing an UV lamp over it. The embedded writing, that couldn’t be visible to the naked eye, was in front of him.

“John, the time has come, we need you to return,” he read.

“What the...” He said out loud, although there was no one around to hear him.
John, instinctively, grabbed the device and entered a code. Suddenly a whooshed sound was heard, followed by a very bright light. When John opened his eyes, he was no longer in their apartment.

“Welcome home.” A smiling face greeted him.

John was feeling a little bit confused and disorientated, but at the same time, the surroundings seemed somewhat familiar. “Taylor?” Her name escaped his lips.

“That’s right!” The woman’ smile broadened. “It worked.”

How did he know her name? A chill ran through his body, opening up a flood of emotions, and in a blink of an eye, he remembered everything.  “Elizabeth!”

“The kids made contact with her.” Taylor reported.

***
Taylor handed John the reports they had gathered during his absence. She looked up at him feeling concerned.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a break? I mean you just travelled through time, and we practically used the most advanced technology we have to wipe your memory and even though you managed to break down that barrier instantly.”

“No I’m fine; I had a bit of an headache for a moment but as soon as I remembered Elizabeth and the kids, the pain went away; I seem to have no pain at all now. I’m just worried about them and all I can think about right now is how to save them.” John said feeling completely determined and looking intently at the reports. Taylor smiled, impressed at the strong bond between John and his family. This extraordinary individual has just gotten even more extraordinary. “Elizabeth’s firewall seems to be quite exhausting for the kids. I fear they might soon find themselves too mentally drained and as a result they won’t be able to hold their position for much longer; we need to get a move on. The Sarusans have no idea that I’m back, do they?”

“No, I think now will be our best chance to get to their planet and rescue Elizabeth and the twins.” Taylor responded.

“Excellent, send the incognito alert to Lizzy and James letting them know that we’re on our way. Make certain that it’s discreet and that no one else has any knowledge of it; this is absolutely vital to our plans.” John instructed Taylor and the team, he wanted to make sure that the twins would get the alert.

They waited patiently for a response. Two minutes later, an alert message arrived. It was from James:

PLEASE HURRY NOT MUCH TIME, ENEMY IS VERY ALERT!

This was the answer they were waiting for; they needed to know if they were still alive and still able to make contact. John and the rest of the team immediately started with the preparations that would take them to Sarusa.

John entered the office that was both his and Elizabeth. He set his eyes on the few holograms on the left that portrayed several moments spent with his family. “Happy memories,” he thought.

“I’m sorry to interrupt.” Taylor said entering the room.

“No, come in.” John motioned for her to a seat opposite to him. “I was actually going to call you.”

“I’m guessing you want to discuss our next strategy.”

John nodded. “I want you to assemble a team and I would like you to lead them on a small trip back to Earth.”

“What’s the mission?”

“I want you to bring my Earthling friends here. They might be able to help us infiltrate Sarusa.”

***
A few hours later, Liam and Greg were still trying to figure out how exactly they had moved to that strange world once again. The only thing they knew so far was that John had disappeared, as well as the device they were studying. So how in the world could they have gotten back to that place again?

They were looking around at their surroundings when someone entered the room they were in.

“How are you feeling?” The woman asked.

“Fi... Fine.” Liam stuttered.

“You know our language?” Greg said a little bit astonished.

Taylor nodded. “Would you please follow me?”

They did as asked and after walking by a few hallways, they entered in, what seemed to be, a conference room. Taylor left them there.

“Well, if they were going to hurt us, they would have done it by now, right?” Liam asked a little bit apprehensive.

“No one is going to hurt you.” They heard someone say, someone that sounded like,

“John!” They both said at the same time.

John entered the room and once he did that, the scenario around them completely changed. It seemed like if they were inside a fish tank, like if they were the fishes and they were seeing other people walking around them from inside the tank.  “This will give us some privacy.”

“You think?” Greg said.

“I forgot you guys aren’t used to this. I mean, well, we’re inside a cloaked room, we can see what’s happening outside, but they can’t see us.” The scenario changed once more. They seemed to be on a beach now; nothing but sea and sand in front of them.

“How do you do that?” Liam asked.

“I’m projecting my thoughts into the room.” John laughed. “You will understand everything in a bit, if you will just let me explain it to you.”

“Would you like to drink something?” A young lady asked, coming apparently from nowhere.

“Wow!” Greg was beaming.

They didn’t have to say anything and suddenly, and once again out of nowhere, their favourite drinks were being served.

John laughed at their expressions that had a mix of confusion but of amazement as well.  He then turned serious, memories of Elizabeth and his kids flashing into his mind.

“These are Elizabeth, Lizzy and James.” A hologram with their images could now be seen in front of them.

“Who are they?” Greg took a sip of his drink.

“My wife and kids,” Liam almost choked on his drink, after hearing John’s revelation.

“They are being held on another planet and I need your help to save them.”

John paused for a few moments to allow his friends to digest what he just had told them.

“How’s that possible? Who are you after all?” Liam asked suspiciously.

“Well, it’s bit of a long story, so what about if I just start from the beginning?” John smiled.

The scenery around them changed once again. In front of them was the Universe, like if they were seeing it from inside a space ship, or then like if they were adrift in space.

“Wow, this is cool!” Greg was all excited.

“I’m glad you like it.” John said. “Here is Sarusa.” He pointed to a planet. “Sarusa, many millennia ago, was my Ancestors’ home planet.”

“Okay.” Liam said crossing his arms in front of him. “Greg, can you believe this?” He was sounding incredulous.

“We’re here on... where are we exactly?” Greg asked.

“You’re in Sittlan.” John said pointing at another planet. “But if you allow me to explain.”

“Explain? We’ve been kidnapped from our own planet.” Liam was feeling restless.

“Liam, let us hear what John has to say first, before jumping to hasty conclusions, okay?” Greg tried to calm Liam down.

Liam and Greg fell quiet, the scenery around them changed to the calmer view of the beach. They knew right away, it was John projecting his thoughts again of the time they spent together at the beach.

“Okay, so as you are aware Sarusa used to be my Ancestors’ home planet, now due to many conflictions with the Sarusans it’s become difficult to work with them, so my Ancestors departed from Sarusa and settled on this uninhabited planet that is now Sittlan. We’ve tried to make peace with them many times but each time they refused to listen to what we have to say.” John watched his friends; he can tell this was overwhelming for them. “Why don’t we take a little break?” John suggested.

“No. I want to hear what you have to say.” Liam said, he felt that he was being punched with multiple revelations and he needed to face them right now whether he liked it or not. Liam could notice that John definitely knew this was overwhelming for them. However, he did not want to give him the benefit of the doubt just yet.

John stared at Liam, this wasn’t going to be easy that much he knew, but he needed to be honest with them no matter what.

“Very well I’ll continue,” John said and continued with the story. “Sittlan is a planet that has many high tech features and facilities, it’s how I was able to develop myself and be able to do what you see before you.” The scenery around them changed, this time it was of a planet with many civilians going about their day. It looked like Earth but people were hovering, and there was a lot of communication with transmitters and holograms everywhere. “As you can see, Sittlan is just like your planet Earth, we’re pretty much the same with a few alterations here and there.” Greg looked fascinated by this new found lifestyle.

“Wow!” Greg said excitedly, he was not expecting half of the things that were happening, but it looked incredible and beyond their imagination.

“My Ancestors developed this planet in what it became today and I’m still working on developing and improving it more with the help of my team.” The scenery changed again to a more basic and simple room, much like the flat they were sharing back on Earth. “However,” John fell quiet; he started to remember Elizabeth and his kids. “My wife, Elizabeth, has been kidnapped by the Governor of Sarusa.” Both Liam and Greg gasped in shock at the revelation, “They’ve wiped out her memories of me and our kids, Lizzy and James. We’ve tried many things to bring them back but nothing worked. Right now, my kids are trying to break into her firewall; but I actually don’t know how long they will be able to last before being discovered. My mission was to find people on Earth that would be able to help me. That’s why I went to Earth.”

“But how did you come to the conclusion that it was us?” Liam questioned.

“That’s because when I was sent there I was programmed to collide with two beings that would have the most extraordinary minds of that world. You two happened to fit in that equation and that’s why I was able to find you.” John said feeling really helpless and hopeful at the same time. “I know it’s kind of farfetched, but that device we found was created using some of our best technology here. You two, although not being able to understand it fully, were able to understand most of its functions in just a few moments. I just need you to believe-“

“No way!” Liam said, feeling a little hurt and used, “how can we? John, you don’t seem to understand something, we were your friends, yet you kidnapped us from our own homes and brought us here, and then you want us to help you?”

“Look, I’m sorry for the harsh measures I took but it was necessary.” John tried to explain.

“No John, it wasn’t. We were your friends you don’t do that to friends.” Liam repeated.

“That’s true,” Greg said, “I mean, how do we even know if you’re telling the truth? You basically did exactly what this governor person did to your wife.” John fell silent. What they were saying was true and it hurt him a lot. But he needed to get them on board.

“Greg, I would never lie to you.”

“If this is true, why haven’t you told us anything about it before? You should have been able to, you had many chances, and I mean we practically hung out every day working on so many projects.” Liam said feeling hurt. John took another pause.

“Ok,” he said after a moment, “how about this. I will let you go, but before you go, I will like for you both to watch something. It’s going to show you if I’m lying or not. After this I want you to decide on your own.”

***
John showed them the footage of everything up until this point. It was like John was a camera and everything was recorded, right from how he met Elizabeth, and his happy life with her and their kids, to the point of her being kidnapped; of John being sent to Earth and how his memories were erased so he wouldn’t be traced.

Liam and Greg both looked at the footage, still feeling doubtful.

“I’ll leave things with you guys here and I’ll send you back to Earth. After one week on Earth time, I will bring you back here. You can tell me your decisions then. How is that?” John asked. Both the guys nodded.

End of Chapter 4.

Wednesday 27 January 2016

The Best of both Lives - Chapter 3: Who are you?



The Best of Both Lives, a story written by Tarana and me. :D

You can find the first chapter of our story, here

And the second chapter of our story, here.  



The Best of both Lives
Chapter 3: Who are you?
Once they arrived back at their apartments, they felt exhausted. John however didn’t feel the same. He in fact felt more energetic and felt like he could do anything. His main concern was the device and how it worked. He wanted to test things out but knew there were other things to take care of first. One of which was telling the guys about his experience on that strange new world.
“I wish we could go on vacations like that all the time,” Greg said as he collapsed on one of their comfy sofa smiling to himself.
“Tell me about it,” Liam agreed, while stretching out his legs on the other sofa. “I feel a little weird though,” Liam said feeling a little concerned, “I don’t know what it is but I’m getting this tingling feeling in the pit of my stomach like something is about to burst.” He said stroking his belly softly. “It must’ve been what I ate,” Liam said nonchalantly. “To top it off I have a throbbing headache, it feels like it’s piercing through my head,” Liam groaned while massaging his temples. “Didn’t you say you had a headache as well, Greg?”
Greg looked at him, nodding his head in agreement, and Liam couldn’t help but notice that he was also massaging his own temples. “Not to mention the nauseous feeling I began feeling not long ago.” Greg added. He then looked at John, waiting for his reaction and also to try and figure out if John was feeling the same weirdness as they both were.
John, however, knew there was more to this feeling, and if you would look at his face, you could tell there was something more there; he looked like he had just found out something.
“I think I might know what it is you guys are feeling,” both his teammates looked at him in anticipation, “I think our little trip, to that strange new world, made us a little different and feeling things we didn’t before. It wasn’t a dream, Liam, it really did happen.”
“No way,” Greg said laughing. “That can’t be possible, can it? True, that place was something beyond anything we have ever seen before, it was definitely so illuminating to me. Almost unreal, so it can’t have been real, right?” Greg looked at Liam for approval. “Okay, let’s say that it was really real, how different could it have made us? I mean there can’t have been any side effects from it, right? I mean we were barely there!”
“Well…to be honest there might be,” Liam said thoughtfully.
“Think about it, you guys,” John said reminiscing to that time, “whenever we go on vacation and come back we’re a bit tired yes, but both of you feeling weird in your stomach, isn’t normal, right? Our dream, or whatever that was, happened as soon as I touched the device. How can it be that all three of us had the same dream of the same place? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.” John said looking at Liam. Liam started to nod in agreement while John continued with his hypothesis, “What I think actually happened is that in fact we traveled to another place. I just know it, and I’m sure it’s because of the device.”
“You know I think you’re right, it just seems a little too strange for it to be all just a dream, we all felt the same way when we were there, wherever there might be, and saw the same things so it wouldn’t make sense if it weren’t true,” Greg said smiling at the possibility that this may in fact be something beyond their wildest dreams.
“What about you?” Liam asked John, “What happened to you?” There were two meanings to that sentence John realized, one being right now what he felt and the other being what had happened to him at the time of their little adventure.
“Well…” John trailed off. There was so much he needed to tell them, and now was the time to say it all. John looked up at his two teammates who were eagerly waiting for his tale. “I don’t know where to begin. I mean as soon as we entered this new world-“John was suddenly interrupted by a phone call. Greg and John turned to look at Liam.
“What a timing, it’s Jessica again. It must be urgent.” He answered the call. In the meantime, both John and Greg decided to leave the conversation as so and continued tidying things up around the place.
On the following morning, the three of them left quite early for the university. One of the reasons it made them do that was, of course, the device; they wanted to begin studying it as soon as possible and no doubt that their labs, back at the university, would prove to be the best place to do exactly that. The other reason was also for them to finally find out, what exactly was going on at the university and why was Jessica so eager to have them back there. It didn’t take them long to find out, since Jessica was already waiting for them in the lobby of the university’s main building.
“Good morning, docs.” Jessica greeted.
“Good morning, Jessica.” Liam replied; the other guys nodded at her.
“You will not believe the discovery we made!” Jessica said, gesturing for them to follow her.
A few moments later, they were all standing around a table, studying various documents spread out in front of them.
“Watch this.” Jessica said, while she was turning on a UV lamp.
“Wow!” Greg exclaimed.
Jessica was now hovering over the UV lamp that was beaming on top of the documents, and once she did that, some sort of writing could now be seen embedded within the documents’ text.
“Yeah, we found this by accident.” Jessica said sounding excited.
“And do we know the meaning of it?” John asked, taking a closer look at the embedded writing. Somehow, the more he looked at the documents, the more prominent the embedded text became, almost camouflaging the main text that in a way seemed to only be there to hide the embedded text.  “Somehow, this writing seems familiar…”
“What do you mean, John?” Jessica said. “We have tried to figure out its meaning, but so far we found nothing similar to it. It seems like some sort of new alphabet or something.”
“The thing is…” John trailed off.
“John… so that you know, you didn’t finish that sentence out loud…” Liam said.
“Oh sorry… yes… as I was saying, I think I have seen something similar to this writing before.”
“For real?” Greg asked feeling surprised.
John nodded. “Yes. Now, if only I could remember where…?
The four of them stood still, just looking at the various documents spread out in front of them
***
“Taylor!” One of the technicians called out, gesturing to the dot on the screen that had started blinking.
Taylor approached the console, circling it once as she took in the blinking lights on the screen. “They began broadcasting the signal.”
“It seems they made it.” The technician said.
“Yes, they did.” Taylor said. “They managed to locate Elizabeth.”
***
Lizzie and James were gawping at Elizabeth as she was analyzing a document in front of her. Elizabeth took one glance at the two and gave out a soft laugh.
“If you stare any harder at me you might just shoot me with your laser,” they both laughed at the comment still fascinated by her every action and speech. “Come to think of it,” Elizabeth said, thinking back at the encounter with them, “you almost did laser me.”
“I am sorry for that.” James blurted, Lizzie gave James a jam in the stomach. “We weren’t sure what you would do to us, so in a way we had to be on alert. I mean you attacked us with your magnetic wave balls. Sorry about that.” Elizabeth laughed softly again.
“Yeah I guess it was my fault,” she said nodding to the situation and continued with her analysis, “but if you had told me that the governor sent you two as my assistance then it wouldn’t have been a problem. I don’t understand why I didn’t receive an alerted message though, that’s strange.” Elizabeth said thinking if everything was ok. Lizzie panicked at the thought that Elizabeth just might try to make a communication connection to make sure everything was ok.
“Oh, no you don’t have to worry. The governor said that he would have sent you the message but he didn’t want any other prying eyes to find out.” Lizzie lied quickly just to assure her.
“Yeah that does sound like him,” she laughed again and continued with her work.
***
“I can’t believe this!” John said, his teammates looked up at him from their documents,
“What’s up?” Greg asked.
“I knew I had seen it somewhere!” John said smiling to himself.
“What are you talking about?” Liam asked curiously,
“The writing under the UV lamp we saw, I knew I saw it somewhere,”
“Where?” Greg asked, moving closer towards where John was; Liam did the same.
“Here!” John took out the device from his bag.
“Wait a minute!” Liam whispered urgently, he tiptoed over to where the door was opened and closed it. “The whole reason why we’re in your lab room, John, is so that no one else listens in our conversations, especially when we are talking about that.”
“I know but look at this,” John said eagerly, “the writing is the same on the device.” Greg looked at the device and then at the writing on the documents.
“You’re right, they do look the same,” he said in agreement, “Let’s look at the rest of the documents and check what exactly is the writing trying to tell us.”
“I have a better idea,” Liam said, “Let’s take it back home with us. We don’t really need to be here for this. I think it’s safer this way. Plus, we already have the okay from the University to use the documents since we’re the best team in what concerns solving this sort of thing.” He smiled. John and Greg nodded and started to clean up, eagerly to get started with the decoding.
“And John can finally tell us about what happened to him back at the ‘place’, too.” Greg said lowering his voice. John felt relieved to know that he would finally be able to tell them what had happened to him during their short “trip” to that strange world.
“Yeah, I really want to know it, too. It’s been bugging me since we came back.” Liam said in agreement and they left the lab, heading straight home.
***
“I don’t know how much longer I will be able to trick her.” Lizzie admitted.
“We have to find a way to get out of here for ourselves. We can’t wait any longer.” James said, standing up.
Lizzie was pressing her hands on Elizabeth’s temples; she had managed to finally break her firewall and was now connected to her. The conversation they were both having was only happening in their minds, it wasn’t exactly real. Both Lizzie and James hoped that by maintaining Elizabeth on this illusionary state they would be able to gain time in order to find a way to get out from that planet on their own, since waiting for them to be rescued would be almost impossible now. They were in a sort of advantage now, and they couldn’t waste this opportunity.
***
“Okay.” John said settling down on the couch with a drink in his hand. Greg and Liam were seated opposite to him, eagerly waiting for John’s explanation.
“Once I got to that strange place, I actually thought that I belonged there. Don’t ask me why, but it just felt right, felt good. But at the same time I panicked and was feeling lost. It was a storm of feelings all happening at the same time.”
“Okay, but why was that?” Greg asked.
“I don’t know… I really don’t know.” John said. “Once I started looking at the surroundings of that strange place, they looked quite familiar to me, but at the same time, I could tell I had never been there. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder whether I actually had been there before or not.”
“Okay…” Liam drawled. “But how could you have been there, I mean, we were only able to get there because of the device we found.”
“Yeah, I know… that’s why I really don’t know how to explain what I felt. It was all so weird.”
“It sure is.” Liam said.
The doorbell rang.
“Pizza is here!” Greg said all excited.
***
John opened his eyes slowly; the sun entering through the window was almost blinding him of how strong it was. John blinked a few times and then turned his head to look at his surroundings. A delicious smell reached his nose. A few moments later, John was levitating downstairs.
“Good morning, sleepy head!” She greeted him with a wide smile on her face.
 “Breakfast will be ready in a minute.” John approached her and encircled his arms around her waist, and then he lost himself on her scent.
“Smells good.” John said nuzzling her neck.
“Well, thank you.” She teased, knowing perfectly well he wasn’t referring to breakfast.
She turned around and placed her arms around his neck, placing a light kiss on his lips.
“Now, you sit down, while I will call the kids in.” She said.
John turned and walked towards the table. “Where are they?”
“Guess?” She winked.
John just shook his head. Then a shadow passed by the window and giggles were heard from outside.
“Kids, breakfast is ready.” She was now calling at the door.
“James, careful. I am almost falling!” Lizzie chastised.
“Hold on tightly, Lizzie.” James said.
The two kids were both on the backs of their new pet. A small green dragon with huge grey eyes, that seemed almost as happy as they were and was now hovering near their home. The kids giggled once again.
“Let’s go, Sparky. Mom is calling.” James said.
Sparky, the dragon, obeyed his command and soon after they were all on the ground.
“Mom!” Lizzie ran to her mother’s arms.
***
“John… don’t make things any harder than what they already are, please.” John’s wife said.
“I still think there must be something else we could do…” John said.
“There’s not, John. And you know that.” His wife told him. 
“Now, John. It’s time for you to go.” His wife said, making a huge effort not to cry.
“The pod is ready.” Taylor said.
John’s wife nodded and so did John. “I guess this is it.” John said.
“Now John, when the time for you to return comes.” Taylor began to explain. “This device will find its way to you.”
“But I will not remember anything!” John said.
“Don’t worry, you will.” His wife said.
Taylor decided to leave them alone. “Safe journey.” Taylor said before exiting the chamber.
“Go, John.” His wife told him. “We will be together in our dreams.” She tried to smile.
“Yes…” John was feeling his chest tightening. “I love you, Elizabeth.”
“I love you too, John.” Elizabeth said and then gave him one last kiss.
***
“John! Wake up!” Greg yelled.
John groaned from the noise that Greg was making.
“Give me a minute.” John mumbled.
“John, get up now!” Greg said again a little more urgently. John opened his eyes straight away.
“What’s wrong?” He asked sitting up abruptly and looking a lot more alert.
“You are.” Greg said concerned.
“What do you mean?” John asked; Greg pointed at the clock.
“Oh my God! How did it get so late?” John panicked.
“You slept for half the day and both me and Liam have been trying to wake you up but you wouldn’t budge. This isn’t like you, John. What happened?”
John started to gather up his thoughts, thinking what he did. He tracked back his actions; he remembered talking to the guys of his experience and then the pizza came and then they fell asleep...sleep...his dream!
“Greg, you would never believe what I dreamt!” John said excitedly. “Where’s Liam?”
“Whoa, calm down, John. Liam is in the other room going through the writings and the documents.”
John jumped off his bed heading towards the study room to find Liam intently looking at one of the documents.
“Wait for me!” Greg said from the bedroom heading towards them.
“You guys wouldn’t believe what I dreamt of.” John said excitedly.
“Just a minute, let me just recheck this part again.” John walked over to what Liam was doing he looked at the writing again.
“That’s strange,” He said with a bewildered look on his face.
“What?” Greg asked.
“These markings are sort of a code.”
“What do you mean?” Liam asked looking up from his work.
“This is really strange...” John said trailing off.
“No, it’s not. It’s genius! It must be a passcode or something.” Liam said getting excited.
“Yeah, you’re right. Maybe it’s the way to unlock the device or something.” Greg said eagerly, as he joined Liam.
“No. That’s not the strange part.” John said looking at the code.
“What is it then?” Liam asked.
“The strange part is that I think I understand it.” John said.
***
"Here, John. This is how we're going do things." Elizabeth began to explain.
"You really think this is the right thing to do?" John asked her, still full of doubts.
"Yes, John. If we want to prevent the Thwrai from stealing our knowledge and technology, we must do this. No matter how painful it will be for us..."
John just hugged her and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
***
"Lizzie, you need to focus, if you ever want to learn how to do it." Elizabeth said.
"I know, mom, but no matter what I do, I will never be as good as you." Lizzie said feeling a little bit frustrated.
"You don't have to be like me. Each one of us ends up developing a new ability. I'm just trying to help you find yours, that's all, sweetie." Elizabeth smiled to her daughter. "Now, just try to connect with me, and tell me what you see."
"This is easy, dad!" James said all excited.
"Yep, now let's try something harder." John told his son.
"I'm worried about Lizzie." Elizabeth told her husband after another day of training.
"She's still not able to focus, is that it?" John guessed.
Elizabeth nodded. "In order for the plan to work, she needs to be able to connect with me and bypass my firewall."
"Don't worry, she will be ready." John reassured her. "She kind of reminds me of someone, in the beginning."
Elizabeth looked at John and smiled. "I wasn't that bad."
"Neither is Lizzie. Once she manages to focus, she will be able to do it in a heartbeat." John said.
"I'm sure you're right." Elizabeth agreed. "And James?"
"He's doing great. He's a natural, almost just like me. So I'm allowing him to work on his own on the device." John explained.
"You think that's wise?" Elizabeth asked.
"I am supervising it, of course. But we need them to be able to work on their own. We will be away from them for a long time...” John trailed off.
"I know..." Elizabeth said and placed her head against her husband's chest. "I just hope we're doing the right thing..."
***
Elizabeth walked away from the new comers' cell. She couldn't exactly explain what happened, because she herself was feeling confused. "What's happening to me?" She asked herself.
***
"Now, we just have to wait for night to come. And hope that dad, will be here in time." James tried to reassure Lizzie.
"Yeah, I guess." Lizzie said. "If he's not here at the rendezvous point, we might not be able to escape."
"He will be here. I know he will!" James said full of conviction.
***
"Guys, I have a feeling that I need to do something." John said standing up from where he was seated looking at the documents.
"Sure, you need to end up deciphering the meaning of that code." Greg said exchanging a sarcastic look with Liam, who shrugged.
"I'm serious! I don't know how to explain it, but I have to. And sooner rather than later." John said.
"Wow, calm down, Bro." Greg said now with a more serious look on his face.
"I can't calm down. I don't know what it is, but I feel that someone is depending on me." John said feeling all alarmed.
"Who?" Liam asked.
"I don't know..." John replied.
That night, Liam and Greg went into the kitchen to make a midnight snack,
“I’ll have a small sandwich,” Liam said as he passed Greg the bread, meat and condiments. Greg nodded and proceeded with their sandwich.
“You know I’ve been thinking,” Greg said while he added a nice thin sliced turkey to his bread, “don’t you think John has been acting rather strangely?”
“You know; I was just thinking the same thing!”
“Right?”
“He’s been like that since our little trip back when we were in our holiday.”
“I just don’t understand him, and what does he mean by this ‘I need to be helping someone’ attitude? I mean it doesn’t seem like him at all.” Greg said feeling a little upset with John.
“I think he might have been a little effected by the teleportation incident. He was so quiet and he was sleeping way more than usual too. He’s been acting strange I don’t understand why.” Liam sighed.
“You know what’s the strangest part, is when he said that he was able to understand the writing, and his dream too. What’s that about?” Greg said feeling a little puzzled.
Liam knew there was something really off with John, he wasn’t being himself. He seemed to be sleeping, acting suspiciously quiet. Liam wanted to know what it is that is changing one of his closest friend. Has he always been like this and just hasn’t realized it? I mean all three of them grew up together and had the same aspirations as each other, so why does it seem like John is not the way he is? Liam was determined to find out what was bothering his friend,
“We should look into finding out what’s happening with him. He must need our help.” Liam said to Greg. Greg nodded in agreement whilst taking a bite in his sandwich,
“He’s our closest friend we’ve got to help him out.” Greg said with enthusiasm.
“You read my mind,” Liam said as they both went into the living room where John was closely looking at the writing on the device.
“Hey John you need any help there?” Greg asked as he came over stuffing his face with his sandwich. John continued to work but did not say a word, both Greg and Liam looked at each other and then at John again.
“John?” Liam said placing his sandwich on the table and looking at his friend, “did you hear us?”
“...Yeah...I did...” John mumbled barely audible. It was as though the vibe he was giving was of anger ready to surface any moment.
“John what’s up?” Greg said, “Why are you acting so weird all of a sudden?” John stopped what he was doing and looked up at the two.
“Is that how you see me as? Weird?” He asked Greg with a serious look on his face. Greg laughed,
“What are you talking abo- “
“YOU DIDN’T ANSWER THE QUESTION!” John yelled, the sudden rise from the voice made both Liam and Greg startle.
“What’s the matter with you?” Liam said feeling a little nervous.
“What’s the matter with me?” John repeated as though he was insulted. “I’ll tell you what’s the matter. My two so called best friend, think that I’m crazy! They don’t seem to trust me at all in what I say and also think there’s actually something wrong with me!” Both Greg and Liam froze on the spot. He heard them. “Yeah that’s right, I heard you two alright. I can’t believe you guys!” John said as though reading their minds. He looked hurt and upset with the two. He needed to get out of here. Get some space.
Just as he was about to leave Liam grabbed his arm trying to stop him. “Wait a minute John,”
“Let go of me!” John growled whilst trying to shake off of Liam’s grasp.
“John we were talking about you like that because we wanted to know how we can help you,”
“You mean some sort of mental help!” John said feeling more offended
“No! We wanted to know why you were acting so strangely we were going to confront you. Plus, you knew you were, you were telling us about it. Remember?” John went quiet. It was true he was acting strangely and he was going to tell them about it too.
“That’s true.” Liam let go and John stayed put.
“What’s wrong?” Greg asked, coming with his sandwich. “You aren’t the type to get angry like that. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this mad before.”
“I don’t know,” John said while massaging his temples. “I feel like I’m going through some wave of emotions. It’s crazy.”
“Hang on a minute,” Greg said thinking, “how did you hear what we were talking about? The living room door was shut, and we were whispering.”
“No you weren’t, I could hear you guys loud and clear,” John said. Greg and Liam both looked at each other with concern and then at John.
“John I think-“ Liam started but was interrupted by John yelling.
“Oh my God! Greg you’re going to choke!” John said.
“What?” Greg said confused, “I’m not going to-“ Just when he was about to finish off his sentence, with his mouth full, he ended up choking. Liam ran toward Greg and gave him the Heimlich maneuver. Greg spat out a small piece of his sandwich onto the floor and breathed heavily.
“You ok Greg?” Liam asked, Greg nodded and then looked up at John
“How did...How did you know?” He asked. Liam also was curious to know what was going on and found it really strange as well as terrifying too.
“I..I...I really don’t know,” John said scratching his head and feeling slightly frightened by what just happened. “What’s happening to me?”
***
“Hey, you better not put that in your mouth!” John warned her.
Elizabeth was about to try one of the delicacies set on the huge table that was set at the banquet room. She stopped taking it to her mouth, just a few millimeters away and then she glanced at the person who was daring to address her.
“I think I can handle it.” Elizabeth said and was about to place the delicacy once again in her mouth, when suddenly it literally flew away from her hand.
“Hey!” Elizabeth wasn’t pleased.
“Trust me, you wouldn’t have liked it.” John told her.
“And who are you to tell me what I would like and what I would not…” Elizabeth paused for a second and then continued. “Unless…I know you, you’re the son of the chancellor from Sittlan, and as a Sittlanean you can predict the future within a short limited period of time.”
John nodded. “Yes, you’re correct. My name is John.”
“Elizabeth and I’m…”
“You’re the daughter of the governor of Sarusa.” John interrupted her.
“Hmm… have you been spying on me?” Elizabeth teased.
“No, that wasn’t my intention. And I am sorry…” John sounded all alarmed.
“Relax… John. I was just teasing you.” Elizabeth laughed.
John stayed for a moment looking at her and then started laughing as well.
***
“But, father. I know John, and I know neither he nor his family would resort to such course of action. I have spent some time with them, and I can assure you...” Elizabeth tried to explain.
“Silence!” Elizabeth’s father ordered. “Maybe that’s the problem, you’ve been spending too much time with them, and you’re losing sight of what’s important to your own people!”
“That’s not true, father!” Elizabeth defended herself. “And you know that perfectly well, you know I would never do anything to harm our own people!”
“But you’re willing to ally yourself with our enemy!” Elizabeth’s father was furious.
“No, father, I am not. And for a single reason, they’re not our enemy. Don’t you see that? Father, what happened between our two peoples, happened millennia ago, things have changed; I believe both our peoples have the means to try and live peacefully with one another.”
“Elizabeth, I’m warning you…” Elizabeth’s father said adamantly.
“No, father. Please listen to me!” Elizabeth pleaded. “I know both our people had differences in the past over our technologies. But isn’t there a way for us to coexist peacefully, I mean, if we look carefully at the circumstances, it would only be proven helpful and more advantageous if both our people would work together instead of against each other.”
“They have stolen our technology, Elizabeth. I am just trying to get back what’s rightfully ours, nothing more, nothing less.”
“But father, that happened millennia ago, the people who inhabit Sittlan now, aren’t the ones who stole our ancestor’s technology, and okay, although what they did at the time was very wrong, the fact is they ended up improving our technology and they also learned how to work with it much efficiently. And what’s more, they didn’t use it against us, whatsoever!”  
“Silence! That’s enough, Elizabeth. I don’t want to hear anything else about it, anymore!” Elizabeth’s father was furious. “But I’ll tell you this, my child. If you continue to insist on visiting… them, I will arrest you for crimes committed against our people, do you understand?” Elizabeth’s father threatened.
“You wouldn’t dare to do that to your own daughter! Besides I’m not doing anything wrong!” Elizabeth was surprised at her father’s reaction, she had never seen him treating her like that before, and she had given him plenty of reasons to do so, many times before.
“I said that’s enough. Guards, please escort my daughter to her quarters!”
“No, father, please listen to me!” Elizabeth still tried while two guards started holding her by her arms and walking her away from her father’s sight.

End of Chapter 3.