Chapter 1 (Part 2) - Changes

Jolentru walked home with determination in his step. Father had always told him never to run on the public walkways. Today, however, he felt like breaking out into a full sprint. He wanted to show his Parents the Evaluation of his project. He was full of excitement as he walked through a crowd of people and onto the side street. Most of his schoolmates road Transports home. Jolentru loved to walk. Even through his excitement, he looked about admiring the Poly-Crete Pilasters and Columns of the fancy homes along the way. His mind began to wander as he changed pace on the less crowded boulevard. Poly-Crete! Heh! Poly-Crete design was easy. He had crunched the numbers for structural loading in his head during many an exercise at school. Star Drive Power calculations, now there was a challenge.

He continued to let his mind wander as he rounded the corner onto the Culdasac where he lived. Here, the Poly-Crete and Alloy facades gave way to only slightly less grand Plasta-Sheen copies. He strolled passed a long section of Plasta-Sheen fence with its intricate etchings and moldings. As he admired some of the finer detail, the two bullies from class jumped out from behind a planting. Jolentru wasn't easily startled, but he cringed and stepped backward to avoid bumping into them. The bullies advanced, threatening him with words he had only heard when the outskirters got into scraps over food. "Not good, definitely not good.", he thought to himself. One of the bullies lunged forward with something in his hand. Instinctively, Jolentru side stepped sending the bully tumbling into the fence. The second bully made a grab for him and missed. He picked up a large Alloy Bar that he had hidden in the Planting and began to take wild swings at Jolentru. Jolentru was much faster and easily avoided each swing.

Without warning, both bullies turned away from their attack. Something had caught their attention. Jolentru looked up and saw the pretty girl from class. Before he could even shout, the bullies had grabbed her and began tearing away her E-books and jacket. Jolentru became enraged. He ran to the first bully and tossed him aside making sure that he flew into a clearing so not to injure him. The second bully threw the girl to the ground and turned to face Jolentru. He charged at Jolentru again. This time his Alloy Bar made contact with Jolentru's face. Without a thought, Jolentru grabbed the Alloy Bar and the scruff of the bully's neck and shoved him headlong into a Poly-Crete column. The bully's head smashed through the Poly-Crete's surface and stopped at his ears. Jolentru felt the life force ebb from the bully's body. He pulled his hand away and stumbled back into the street, tears streaming down his face. He screamed at the top of his lungs. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOO! NOT AGAIN! Not again!"

Inside Jolentru's home, his mother and father both heard the scream and knew at once who it was. They ran out onto the balcony and headed for the stairs. They stopped as they saw the scene down on the street. A young girl lie motionless in the street, sobbing loud enough they could hear her from the balcony. Jolentru was prone in the street, pounding his fists into the pavers and screaming. Jolentru's father looked up and saw the first bully trying to pull himself up over the wall which he had easily cleared. He began to chuckle, but then he noticed the column. His heart sank. He ran with everything he could to the street below, hoping that it wasn't too late. Jolentru's mother didn't notice the column until her husband leapt from the stairs and began to run. She pulled open her communicator and summoned the Med Techs.

Several neighbors had witnessed the grizzly scene in its entirety and rushed down to the street, as well. Jolentru's father beat them all there. The neighbors gathered on the far side of the street as the Med Techs cleaned up the mess and City Maintenance Bots repaired the column. The neighbor's conversation rose to a loud din and then to shouts. Some supporting Jolentru, but many calling him a monster.

Jolentru's father checked the bully at the column. He clearly had not survived the impact. He then turned to his son who was now sitting on his knees staring at the bully blankly. His father reached out for him. Jolentru shoved his hands away. "I don't want to hurt you too! I'm Sorry!", He spat more in fear than in anger. His father knew this was going to be tough. The girl began to stir. She turned and looked at Jolentru with a fear in her eyes like his father had never seen. Jolentru turned to the girl and began to slowly reach out his hand toward her. She scrambled to her feet and ran down the street glancing back with tears in her eyes. Jolentru screamed, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt anyone! Come Baaaaaaaack." His voice trailed off as tears again welled in his eyes. His mother had arrived and cradled him in her arms, stroking his ruffled hair and singing softly. He began to feel at peace again.

Jolentru's Mother and Father spoke quietly inside their home as the Security Drones took statements from Jolentru. A doctor was sent to examine Jolentru thoroughly. They found nothing unusual about the boy, medically, at least from the medicine this doctor had seen. After everyone had gone and the house was again silent, Jolentru's mother and father stood at the window of their suite, staring at the street below. "What are we going to do?" Mother asked. "We've pulled through before and we will again. We have to stick together as one family.", replied Father.

"He's really strong for his age", came a voice from the dimly lit doorway to the Balcony. Jolentru's parents spun around. "He's what now, Eleven?", the stranger asked. "Eleven and three-quarter", Jolentru chimed from his bedroom as he peeked out of the door to see who this stranger was. Father laughed to himself. Even with all that had happened, Jolentru was still stubborn about his age. How many times today had they heard "Eleven and three-quarter", when someone asked his age. "Yes" Father said, "Eleven... and three-quarter". He motioned for his wife to take Jolentru to his room. "Don't worry.", the man said. "I'm here to help you get through this." "How?" Jolentru's Father inquired. "What do you know of our situation?" The man moved out of the shadow and into the dim light. No, it couldn't be. Could this really be the man that he and his wife had sought out twelve years ago. They moved to the main living quarters and sat down. "Come out and bring the boy with you. Please.", the man begged. Jolentru and his mother joined them.

The man asked them if Jolentru had exhibited any other instances like the one tonight. Father and Mother both looked at each other. Actually, there were several times during his first days in school with other kids that problems had arisen. Nothing of this nature, well, except for the first incident with the science project and the bullies. The man explained that during the fertilization experiment they had taken part in, certain genetic codes were tweeked. It made the chances of success much greater, but it also produced several known side-affects, changes if you will, in the physical and mental ability of the offspring. This was all new to Jolentru and obviously the stranger picked up that he didn't know what was going on. The stranger proceeded to lay it all out for Jolentru. Suprisingly, this man had answered several questions which Jolentru had pondered for sometime. Questions that Jolentru was not afraid to ask. "It would seem his intelligence is not limited to science and math.", the stranger remarked. "So it would seem." his mother replied. They talked long into the evening, until Twighlight became Sunset and Sunset became darkness. The stranger promised to help sort things out for them. Jolentru's father stood on the Balcony and watched as man walked to his personal transport. Had he been watching Jolentru all along? He promised to help the family. Had he been the silent benefactor who got them the house? Was he responsible for the job and the money? Father could only wonder as the transport took off down the street.

Chapter 1 (Part 1) - Changes

The dim light of morning is shattered by the screams of Jolentru. His mother runs to his room. Jolentru, now 11, squirms across the bed in tantrum like fashion. His mother tries to wake him. The nightmares are getting worse. Father appears in the doorway with a worried look on his face as Jolentru sits up and clings to his mother, sweat and tears pouring down his face. She runs her fingers through his hair soothing the shaking child with her soft sweet singing. She looks to the door. The expression on her face tells her husband just how worried she has become. Jolentru and his mother walk to the water closet, where she helps him wash up. This has been the same scene over and over in the past few months, only now it has become more violent and harder for the boy to wake up from.

Later, Jolentru and his father sit on the balcony of their home waiting for mother to finish preparing breakfast. How much better their life was now than it was back in the days before Jolentru was born. They had never told Jolentru what they did, but now they questioned whether they may have to. Were his nightmares a side affect of all those medical tests? Neither his mother or father could be sure, but the one person who knew had not been seen since the day he left them in that fancy white room. They had tried to find the man many times. They even went back to the city to the sewer pipe where the corridor and fancy white rooms were. They were gone.

Mother called for Jolentru to come in for breakfast. Father lingered on the porch for several minutes. He stood there pondering everything that had gone on since those days. Money had started arriving unannounced. Job offers came with no strings attached. The house they now lived in came from some unseen benefactor. These things he appreciated but none-the-less, he could not explain how they came to be. Jolentru called to his father, breaking him out of his deep thought. Yes, he would tell Jolentru some day, maybe when he had more answers.

Breakfast finished, Jolentru ran off to get ready for school. Neither of his parents had the opportunity to go to any kind of school, so they were glad to see that he was excited about going. Even though he had such horrible nightmares, they seemed to evaporate like the dew on the morning leaves. By the end of breakfast, he would almost always be bouncing, full of energy, ready to head off to school. "School...," Jolentru's father thought, "how long would it be before this began to affect his schooling?"

Jolentru was of exceptionally gifted intelligence. His teachers from the west had said so many times. He had even managed to win several school competitions against his western classmates who's parents worked at the same company as his father. Jolentru liked school, a lot! He excelled at math and sciences. His gifts made him the star of the class. There had been incidents where Jolentru had been assaulted because of his gifts. Other students didn't always like that an outskirter had moved into their ranks. Jolentru often was treated unfairly by his school mates, but he didn't mind. He understood that he was different. He had achieved a much higher level at the school than the others and in a much shorter time.

Today, they were to receive their grades on the latest project. Given a choice between something dealing with Science or writing about some piece of History, Jolentru always chose Science. This project dealt with space flight, his favorite subject of all. He had spent hours on it, even after three bullies smashed his first models.

Jolentru had done something that day that he had never done before. He intentionally harmed another being. One of the bullies was substantially larger than Jolentru, yet he flung the bully away like he was made of the lightest of the plasta-sheen writing sheets that they practiced the old ways on.

He hated practicing the old ways. Written language was so out of date, even to someone like Jolentru, who had never seen a computer until he was seven or eight years old. There was only one thing he hated more. Hurting anything living. He slumped in his chair as he recalled the scolding his father gave him that day as they watched the med units take the bully away. That had been the worst day of his life.

The teacher called his name, breaking him from his day dreaming. She pulled a small yellow gold disk from her desk and held it before the class. With the flip of a switch, the models Jolentru had once built from Plasta-sheen and wire jumped to life in multi-dimensional full color accuracy. The teacher gleefully awarded Jolentru the maximum grade for all sections of the project. She even gave extra credit for rebuilding the project in such a short time. Jolentru smiled as he received his evaluation chip from the teacher. Two of the bullies responsible for the model incident were sitting near the back of the class scowling. The third was still in surgibay over at the local medical facility. His gaze was then distracted by a tiny smile from the desk two rows over from his. He had known her all his life, well, it had seemed that way. They met after the model incident. She was standing just behind the gateway partition as the bully went flying through it. He was almost hurt as much by the embarrassment of having a pretty girl see him hurt someone as he was by his father's scolding. One day, he would have the courage to talk to her, even though her parents had strickly forbade associating with someone from the outskirts.

The annunciator signaled the end of class and the end of the school day. They all headed for their transports home. Jolentru excitedly ran to tell his parents about his latest achievement.

Prologue

A family in a small, not quite third world country, awaits the arrival of their first born. They have tried for years to expand their family to no avail. They could not afford any of the fancy western therapies, so out of desperation, they risked dealings with the local underworld. It was hard to imagine the amount of time that had passed since the day they made that dreadful journey. A journey that took them down dark allies and into the hidden reaches of the city. They had never been to the city before and it was much more daunting than they had thought it would be.

They had met 'Him' in a dirty out of the way Hostel in the valley. He told them that he could make their dreams come true for just a little bit of money. It would mean selling all they had, but this was the one thing that they truly dreamed would make their family complete. They scrounged together what little they could by taking whatever work they could find, no matter how demeaning. In the end, He said it was enough and he would help them fulfill their dream. As they arrived at the predetermined meeting point, they both wondered what they had gotten themselves into. This was their dream that they had waited so long for and they would let nothing stand in their way, not even fear.

He led them down a long dark corridor at the end of what seemed no more than a sewer pipe. There were others here seeking their own dreams and they didn't seem to be so bad off. The couple settled in to the room which they had been told would be home for their time here. It was lit with a bed and a few furnishings. No, this wasn't so bad at all. They had always lived on the outskirts of the city. Most of the folks out there had little or no income and got by on day to day pickings that they could gather. Yes, this actually was nice. They settled in. In the closet were clean clothes and shoes, the quality of which neither of them had seen before. "How would their small amount of money pay for all of this?", they asked the man as he turned to walk out the door. His replied stunned them, "Here money isn't the answer. Life is the answer." With that, he walked out, leaving them to ponder when he might return and what they had gotten into.

In the following days after they arrived, the couple was split up, sometimes for hours, once for two days. Medical tests were done. They had expected that. Was this how it was done in the west? They could only hope the result would be worth all the pain and embarrassment. The last day that they were separated, neither of them could remember how they got back in the room or how long they had been gone. Where was the man they had met at the beginning of this? He could surely tell them what was going on.

They never saw the man again. After being confined to this place for what seemed like a year, they suddenly woke up one morning, home. They didn't know how they got there or even when. It wasn't until a few days later that she began feeling sick. A visit to the local clinic proves what she could have only hoped for so many months ago. She is pregnant. She races home as fast as her bare feet will carry her to tell her husband the good news. Their celebration continues long after the light coming through the cracks of their little tin shack has faded. It has all been worth everything they've gone through.