Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four)) (13 page)

Rose looked at Danielle and said, “I could feel him and know that he was the one.”

Danielle looked at Rose and said, “Yet you told me you had to wait until you were eighteen before you could meet him; why was that Rose.”

Rose furrowed her brow and said, “I can’t explain it in words. Our inner selves knew that to come together before then was prohibited. Matter of fact, we knew it would be dangerous for us to meet.”

“So you deliberately chose to wait for the right moment, right?”

Rose nodded.

“Rose what do you think would have happened if the two of you were forced together before that time?”

Rose thought a moment and said, “We would have fought against it.”

Danielle looked at Cassandra and said, “You wonder why you attacked and treated Tommy so badly at the Academy don’t you?”

Cassandra lowered her head and nodded.

“You had no other choice. You were forced to do it against your will.”

Tommy said, “What do you mean?” Cassandra was also confused.

“Your inner selves knew that if the two of you came together before you were ready, then one of you, possibly both could severely damage the other from that contact. You were forced to do things to insure that you would not make contact before your time. Cassandra, you had to make him avoid you at all costs. Tommy you had to hate her so much that you would not go near her if you could avoid it. Neither one of you consciously did it, your psychic self made it happen.”

Cassandra looked at Tommy and said, “Duke Gardner, I’ve never understood why I did the things I did to you. It just wasn’t like me but I couldn’t stop myself. I have lived a lifetime of self blame for doing those things to the wonderful man I now know you to be. I am so sorry.”

The room was absolutely silent. Then Danielle said, “Now for the thing that both of you might not be willing to believe. You have now made contact with each other and you will not find contentment or peace of mind until you love each other.”

Tommy looked at his mother for a long moment then looked at Cassandra with her head down sitting in the chair in front of him. He looked inside himself and wondered what had just happened. He said to Cassandra, “What do you think about this story my Mother has just told you.”

Cassandra did not lift her head but Tommy saw her take a deep breath and say, “I started caring about you the moment you decided to leave what happened in the past in the past. It’s only grown since then. I know that I’m undeserving of someone like you. Since that shock yesterday, I can’t get you out of my mind. I saw during that touch what a wonderful person you are. I’m so ashamed of how I treated you.”

Tommy stood and walked around the table to the chair and knelt in front of Cassandra. She lifted her head and looked at him with tears in her eyes. She said, “I’m so sorry.”

He reached forward and everyone saw them jerk when he took her hand, “We need to touch each other more often so that these shocks will stop.” Then he leaned forward and kissed her; she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried. Tommy said, “Now I feel whole. Cassie, there is nothing to forgive.”

Cassandra held on and cried for a long time; first for forgiveness and then from happiness.

Rose looked at her mother and father and knew that there was going to be another Gardner soon. She could see Cassie’s aura was even darker than her father’s. She wondered what power this couple possessed. Even Tommy’s aura was darker than before. “I need to watch them,” she thought. “They could be dangerous if they don’t learn to control her talents.

Tag stood up and said, “I believe that there is a party waiting for us. Let’s go have some fun.”

Everyone stood up and left the conference room. Danielle came to Cassandra and gave her a hug. “If you need me, I’ve done what you’re going through, don’t hesitate to call me. The best part of your life is beginning at this moment.”

Cassie wiped her tears and said, “I will and thank you.” Danielle nodded and left to attend the wedding party.

Tommy looked at Cassie and said, “You are beautiful. I meant what I said earlier. You are absolutely gorgeous. Will you dance with me?”

Cassie stood and took his hand, felt the shock of their contact, and walked out into the auditorium that had been cleared for the party. As they walked out on the dance floor, everyone was speechless. Tommy was right; Cassandra was beautiful and she had a smile that no one had seen before. Wes and Linda Kay watched Tommy hold Cassie tight as they danced and noticed that they only had eyes for each other. Linda Kay could see Wes’ confusion as well as his happiness for his friend; she whispered softly in his ear, “You can stop worrying about him now. She will take care of him.” Wes looked at Linda Kay and she said, “Just like us.” Wes danced with his bride and held here close looking forward to the rest of his life.

Tgon-Gee stood on the stage and watched as Tommy and Cassie entered. He immediately saw their auras and grew alarmed. Tgon-Gee’s only psychic talent was that he could see psychic auras. He raised his com to call the leader of the Guidance Peers on Glod and had the leader ask him mentally, “Are you trying to contact me?”

Tgon-Gee lowered his com and said, “I was just going to com you.”

The Leader said, “I heard you in my mind. How did you accomplish that?”

Tgon-Gee thought back, “I didn’t. I don’t know what you mean.”

“Tgon-Gee, I’m hearing your thoughts without having to enter your mind. That means you have to be broadcasting to me psychically.”

Tgon-Gee looked down and saw an aura surrounding him that was red in color. He walked three steps to the right and the aura stayed around him. The Leader of the Peers saw what Tgon-Gee was seeing and immediately contacted the other forty nine Peers and brought them in to what was happening. Tgon-Gee looked up and thought, “Leader, I’ve never possessed an aura, at least one that could be seen.”

The Leader of the peers asked, “Why were you trying to contact me?”

Tgon-Gee answered, I want you to see this and tell me what it means.” Tgon-Gee looked out at the dance floor and watched Tommy and Cassandra dance. The Guidance Peers on Glod drew a collective breath; what they saw shocked them. The aura around Tommy and Cassandra was as black as space and was twisting, rolling, boiling like a gathering storm; it was also growing. The Peers and Tgon-Gee knew that a psychic aura only extended a few inches from the body of one that possessed it. This aura was growing and had already extended beyond the walls of the auditorium. Tgon-Gee walked over to one of the view ports in the wall and looked out. The aura had grown to more than a mile from the learning facility and was still moving away. Tgon-Gee then looked at the other Gardners in the room and saw that their auras had grown tremendously; the auras were now extending more than six feet from them and were getting darker as he watched. Tgon-Gee waited but the Peers were too shocked to respond. After a moment of thought, Tgon-Gee got up and walked over to Rose who was talking with Leila. Rose smiled but then saw the huge Glod’s expression and said, “Excuse me a moment, Leila.” Leila looked at Tgon-Gee, nodded, and backed away. Tgon-Gee said, “I need you to look in my mind and see what I’m seeing, Your Majesty.” Rose hesitated but saw real fear on the Glod’s face. She entered his mind and her eyes grew wide.

“Oh my God,” she thought. Then she saw herself in Tgon-Gee’s eyes and saw her aura boiling. She also immediately noticed that it was larger; she watched Tgon-Gee look at each of the Gardners and recognized that all of their auras were expanded.

Tgon-Gee thought to Rose, “What does this mean?”

Rose shook her head and said, “I have no idea. This is beyond me.”

The First Male watched on his sensors as the warriors swarmed throughout their galaxy. Suddenly, the old watcher accelerated away from the nexus point at his fastest speed. “What’s wrong,” the First Male asked?

“The nexus point is releasing heat into normal space,” the old watcher replied. “The nexus is now approaching the temperature it was at the time of the original explosion that started this universe and the temperature has not stopped rising.” One of the young warriors that was only twelve hundred miles wide, turned and attacked the nexus to protect the old watcher. Before the First Male could stop him he entered the area in space that held the nexus and fired his energy beam into the nexus. A black field erupted out of the nexus and followed the energy beam back to the attacking warrior. There wasn’t time for the warrior to scream. The huge ship’s bright red screen collapsed and the entire vessel shrank so fast that as the black field seemed to suck the attacking ship into the nexus, the young warrior disappeared from view. The Old Watcher called over and over for the warrior but there was no response. The First Male ordered, “All warriors, come no closer than five thousand miles from any nexus until ordered otherwise. What is happening,” he wondered and began to experience an emotion he had no words to define, fear.

Tommy and Cassie continued to dance.

T
he Gardners were not the only ones affected by the psychic storm. Twig and Sprig were standing in the back of the room observing the wedding. Both had absorbed information that described the process of weddings but seeing it first hand was different. Wes and Linda Kay’s emotions were open to the telepathic plants and they were moved by what they felt. They both stood observing and saying nothing until the psychic storm front washed over them. They both jerked as it touched and then passed them. All of the data they had stored was undergoing a massive reorientation. They stood and felt the inner change but were paralyzed unable to move. Finally Twig thought to Sprig, “Did you feel that?”

Sprig answered, “Yes, I did. It seems I finally understand the data from that black hole incident and that it relates to the fields that operate in null space.”

Twig shook the leaves around her feet indicating her confusion and said, “I didn’t see that. However, I now understand how the Kosievs’ power cells came into existence.”

Sprig shook his leaves and said, “How do you see that? We have both absorbed the same information and I didn’t get that relationship.”

Twig was silent for a full minute which was equivalent to a week in normal time, “I think that something has happened during this ceremony to reorient all of our data into a different storage. The process must have been done differently for us because we do not look at information the same way. It appears that it made it easier to understand based on the differences between us.”

Sprig looked at the new relationships that he now could understand and thought, “I do not need more information. I need time to process what I now see and attempt to understand what it means.”

“As do I,” Twig said.

Tommy and Cassie left the wedding celebration and walked to the empty observation deck to talk. Tommy dispensed a caffeine drink for Cassie and a sweet drink for himself along with a bag of popcorn. He sat at the table and said, “Cassie, what just happened to us?”

Cassie sat there looking at him amazed at how one’s fortune could change so suddenly. “I really don’t know but what your mother said makes sense to me. I never wanted to hurt you at the academy but every time I came close I felt a driving desire to punish you and make you go away. I didn’t understand it then or later. I think now it makes sense. I was protecting us from each other. It may be that you still touched me a little too soon and that was why the shock was so severe yesterday.”

Tommy looked at her and wondered where the intense feelings of wanting to protect her were coming from. “I agree; I think that you and I were destined to eventually find each other. I even think that we were trying to get there even when it was dangerous for us to touch. Our inner selves fought us and caused the pain that happened. Now I’ve seen inside you and know what you are truly like and I must confess that I am totally amazed by what I see. I’ve never in my wildest dreams knew the depth of feeling you never allowed anyone to see.”

Cassie smiled and said, “Most everyone thinks I’m a cast iron witch and honestly I’ve not tried to change that image. I felt I needed it to be a good officer.”

“Cassie, I want to try something. Instead of voicing what you want to say, just think it.”

Cassie thought, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Tommy thought back, “I thought so; as you were talking I was also hearing your thoughts at the same time.”

Cassie furrowed her brow. Tommy had not said a word but she heard his thought. She thought back, “Can you hear me now?”

“Absolutely.”

Cassie shook her head and thought, “I guess what Tgon-Gee said was true. Somehow your touch has given me some psychic skills.”

“I think it is a lot more than that. We need to see just what your skills are; we need to experiment and make that determination.”

Cassie smiled and said, “Can we save that for tomorrow. Tonight I just want to hold you. I’ve never felt so alive as when you kissed me tonight.”

Tommy smiled and leaned close to her and thought, “Then let’s just see if we can repeat the experience.”

Cassie leaned in to him and kissed him. They both felt the shock again but it was worth it. They stayed in their embrace losing track of time.