1). THE REVIVAL
The street was cold and badly lit. A cold gust of wind picked up discarded pieces of newspaper and other debris. A solitary figure trudged down the street, keeping to the pools of darkness where the sodium glare failed to illuminate. A liver spotted hand slipped into a pocket of his tatty overcoat and withdrew a glass bottle with a brown paper bag wrapped around it in a vain attempt to hide this human weakness. He spat a gob of brownish phlegm onto the paving stone. "Human." The very word was an insult and spoken with vehemence. Jedikiah put the rim of the bottle to his cracked lips and took another swig. Drops of alcohol caught in his greying beard as he lowered the bottle. He felt warmth growing in his chest and the cruel bitterness of the wind seemed to ease for a little while.
There had been a time when he had been a ruler of these paltry creatures, he had simply to replace their Pharaoh and take on his form. Then he bade them to use Khultan technology to fashion a vessel to take him away from the planet. There had been an incident and they had discovered the truth. He was a machine, an immortal being of circuits and electricity. The Galactic Council had taken away all of this from him and transformed him into a human being. Now he was cursed to live out the rest of his life as one of the insects he should be able to destroy without a second thought.
***
The Lab was a spacious underground facility. Developed over a number of years, it contained everything the few members of a new, emerging, species of humanity could need. Food, shelter, amusement and research were all governed to a certain degree by the sentient computer system known as TIM. TIM's overriding mission was to maintain the safety and security of the human species Homo Superior or The Tomorrow People as the few specimens liked to call themselves. Currently there was only one member of this group at home in the Lab, their leader John.
John paced around the living room that was the centre of social life. "Where is he TIM?" He was expecting the return of an old friend from the planet Peerie.
TIM's lights began to flash blue and red. "Incoming signal now John."
John watched the jaunting pad as the outline of a tall man began to take shape. In a matter of seconds the outline solidified and a person dressed in a greyish silver environment suit stood on the pad.
***
It was all the fault of those Tomorrow People; they had interfered in his affairs once too often. His plan to lure them into his trap had been perfect but the Galactic Trig had sabotaged the whole operation. That collection of spineless imbeciles had acted like judge, jury and by giving him a mortal existence they had become his executioner. Of them all though, one person was reserved a special hatred.
***
John smiled and shook his old friends hand. "It's good to see you again Stephen. You must have had the time of your life with the Vesh."
Stephen Jameson nodded. "It was great, Arkron sends his greetings. He's marrying Lenda next year and guess who's going to be his best man?"
"Well that's good news, I'm sure they'll be very happy together." John gestured to the rest of the Lab. "How do you like the place?"
Stephen nodded slowly. "I was going to say. Timus told me that you had to move but he never mentioned that you could afford to buy the Hilton!"
***
"Stephen Jameson." The name was a curse, a blasphemy. There would be a reckoning one day, one day soon. He coughed again, he drew his hand away from his mouth to see tiny red dots covering the palm and fingers. Jedikiah took another drink from his bottle in an attempt to dull the pain in his chest but it wasn't very successful. He coughed again, this time longer and more painfully. "No!" he shouted more with anger than fear. "Not yet. I must feel his life slip away as I squeeze his neck tighter and tighter with my fingers." He lurched to his left as his mind swam and his legs no longer supported him. Hitting the cold floor with a thud, Jedikiah looked up past the tops of the building and at a particular star, a star that had seventeen planets, the fifth of which was where he came from all those centuries ago.
***
Stephen sat down on the brown and gold sofa next to John. "Well this is more than welcome after living in that forest for five years. I almost forgot what comfort really was." He looked at the strange mobile table that seemed to contain the majority of TIM's processors. "I think I like TIM like this, better than all those overhead tubes that needed dusting everyday. He's also handy for putting drinks on!"
John laughed. "Two cups of lemonade please TIM. We may as well put you to some use."
TIM's lights began to flash. "I'm overhearing a telephone conversation John, an elderly man has been admitted into a nearby hospital. His description exactly matches the last recorded appearance of Jedikiah if you take into account the human ageing factor."
"Jedikiah?" Stephen asked with a lot of reservation. "Which hospital TIM?"
"St Mary's, it's less than five miles away."
Stephen stood up. "Jaunt me there TIM."
John took a hold of his friends arm. "Stephen are you crazy? It's almost certainly a trap."
"Timus and the others made him human, remember? He can't hurt me, and if he tries to tell them about us they'll think he's just a crazy old bloke."
"You'd better change out that suit first. You can borrow some of my stuff. We can jaunt there together. I'm not risking letting you go alone; he's very dangerous even if he's a human."
***
The casualty department was its usual Friday night riot of people demanding undivided attention for every ache and pain they had ever suffered. They all parted like the Red Sea when an ambulance drew up outside and a trolley was pushed through the mass of humanity into a room.
"Name?" Paula Raisbeck asked.
"He's a John Smith." The paramedic handed the young nurse the few details he had gathered from the old man.
"Poor sod, he looks a bit like my Granddad." Paula began to undress the man in preparation for an examination by one of the doctors.
***
John looked at Stephen who was dressed in on of his old suits. "Are you ready then?" He handed Stephen what looked like a chunky wristwatch. "These are the latest thing, those belts were too impracticable in the long run."
Stephen adjusted the jaunting band around his left wrist until it was just right. "Anything more to report TIM?"
"No Stephen, may I suggest that you each take a stun pistol? I'd hate for you to run into any harm."
John shook his head. "I don't think that's necessary TIM, we can always jaunt straight back out if there's trouble."
"I don't think I can remember how to fire one anyway. After using a Vesh stun crossbow for so long it would take too long to get reacquainted."
***
The heart monitor suddenly flat lined. "Oh hell." Paula quickly jelled up the paddles of the brand new and recently introduced heart machine while Doctor Thurman tried to check the patient's breathing.
"He's stopped breathing too, don't you die on me old man."
Paula laid the bed flat while Dr Thurman applied a shock of electricity to the old geezer. Of course she had to blow air into his lungs when instructed his breath smelled like a cross between paint stripper and babycham.
"Clear." Dr Thurman applied a second charge once the nurse was clear of the patient.
Jedikiah's eyes opened as electricity surged through his body. He shouted with the pain as the strange machines paddles were pulled into his body.
"What the hell?" Paula pulled Dr Thurman back to safety. "Is this supposed to happen?"
"No, there's never been anything like this mentioned in the reports."
Jedikiah looked at the humans. "I should thank you for restoring me. It seems that those sanctimonious idiots in the Trig merely jammed my body into human form. While my body may have resembled that of your species I was an android all along." He smiled at the female before breaking her neck. "Thank you my dear." He turned his gaze to the male human. "Now you my dear sir have a most memorable face, I would like to borrow it for a while." He altered his body shape until he was an exact duplicate of Dr Thurman. "I don't think we need a spare." Jedikiah broke the human's neck and laid him down on the floor next to the other one. "That was entertaining. Now to find an old friend."
***
"Okay TIM, jaunt us." To John it seemed as if the Lab melted away to a smear of colours before the hospital appeared less than a second later in front of his eyes. In truth they had been turned into a stream of electrons which passed through a trans-dimensional realm known as hyperspace before re-entering reality at the hospital and resuming their proper shapes. Rather than explain this complex process, they called it jaunting as it sounded quite catchy at the time.
Stephen looked around; they were in an empty cubicle with a navy blue curtain surrounding them on three sides. The fourth side was a grey brick wall with a bench of equipment pushed up against it. In the middle of the room was a large bed with a long roll of paper towel stretched out over it, ready for the next patient. "Well do we split up or stick together John?"
John ran his fingertips over the cool black leather of the edge of the bed. "I think we should stick together, it would be a lot harder to take us by surprise then."
Stephen nodded. "I'm only glad he can't change shape anymore, that's how he almost got us last time. Luckily Trisha broke out in time to jaunt to our rescue."
John pulled the curtain back and stepped out into the rest of the hospital. "Yes, I haven't seen her in ages. I heard she's doing great things as Steen's protégé." He looked left and right before turning to the left. "There seems to be some sort of commotion."
Stephen listened. "Yes, I wonder what it can be?"
"Well only one way to find out Stephen, after you." John held out his hand for Stephan to take the lead. "You need the practice after such a long holiday."
Stephen stood still. "I may have been away a while, but you're not number one on Jedikiah's hit list are you?"
***
Jedikiah stalked through the corridors and rooms of the medical centre looking for an exit from the labyrinth like maze. He passed a porter lugging a large bed from one ward to another ward, a group of junior doctors talking about a new process of using ultrasound to scan babies in the womb before he decided to follow an elderly staff nurse who had just said goodnight to a colleague. He could follow this female out of the building before searching for Stephen Jameson and the rest of his troublesome friends. The development of Homo Superior was about to be delayed on this miserable little speck of dirt if Jedikiah got his way.
Audrey McGovern walked over the hard concrete of the hospitals car park, her shoes making a click click sound that seemed to echo around the place. She spotted her car, a slightly rusted orange Volkswagen beetle and searching in her handbag she fished out the keys.
Jedikiah looked at the primitive mode of transport, a shoddily built steel box powered by a petrochemical internal combustion engine. It would do for now. Quickly he rushed over to seize possession of it.
"Doctor Thurman?" Audrey McGovern managed to gasp in surprise before her neck was broken with a sharp twist of her neck.
Jedikiah stuffed the body of the woman into the front storage compartment before assuming her identity. Then she bent down to pick up the dropped keys from the cold concrete floor. She unlocked the door, started the engine up and drove the car out of the car park.
***
John spotted the black and white uniforms of two police constables and pulled Stephen up. "My father's a policeman and he says that the worst thing to do is interfere in their investigation. We can't afford to draw any attention to the Tomorrow People, you know how they would treat us."
Stephen remembered only too well. "Like lab rats or human weapons. We'll just have to come back later. Maybe TIM can monitor the emergency services radio frequencies?"
John nodded. "Yes, that's a very good idea Stephen. We should go back to the Lab and return here at a later date when all the activity has quietened down some what."
***
Jedikiah had parked the stolen car outside the entranceway to the abandoned underground railway station. She had been here briefly twice, once when she tried using that boy Peter to manipulate Time for her and the second when her plan to kill those meddling children had been thwarted. The nurse's form was discarded now that she was here. A strong masculine form was adopted with a severe face and a slightly greying neatly trimmed beard. He stalked forward to the metal door behind which the Tomorrow People had hidden behind, away from the lesser-developed members of their putrid race.
The metal door sailed inwards and arced down to clang on the dirt-covered floor. The inside of the room has been gutted and it was inhabited now by a few scuttling rats. One ran by Jedikiah's foot and he quickly brought his shoe down on it, crushing it flat. The sound of snapping bone and squashed flesh was like a symphony of musical pain to his ears.
Jedikiah concentrated and let sensory data from the room fill his mind. There was a residual energy signature, a fingerprint. He scanned the rest of the nearby area and smiled coldly when he picked up a very similar energy signature. "I have you now." He left the long abandoned Lab and made his way towards the place where they had moved to.
2). THE DECEPTION
Stephan had had enough of sitting around and waiting. The not knowing was burning his insides like a lit match to a stick of dynamite. The pressure of inaction was too much and any second now he was going to explode.
There was a noise over by the jaunting pad and casually turning his head Stephen saw a very familiar face. "Elisabeth?" He stood up as his dark skinned friend got over her initial shock.
"Stephen!" Elisabeth ran over and threw her arms around her long absent friend, hugging him tightly. "It's been too long, how have you been?"
Stephen began to tell Elisabeth about his time with the Vesh when TIM interrupted him.
"I'm sorry Stephen, but there's been a development."
"What is it TIM?"
"There has been another death, a nurse at the hospital. Her body was found half an hour ago. Her car was taken and it's just been found."
Stephen quickly brought Elisabeth up to speed about the possible reappearance of Jedikiah.
"The car was found outside the access way to the underground station near to the previous location of the Lab."
Stephan made a fist with his left hand and pounded it into the palm of his right hand. "So it is Jedikiah. Who else could leave such a trail of bodies and know the location of the Lab?"
Elisabeth put her hand on Stephen's shoulder. "It will be okay, we'll make sure Jedikiah doesn't harm anyone else."
"How?" Stephen asked. "He's a human now, we can't kill him remember? The prime barrier forbids any Tomorrow Person to willingly take a life, any life. I can't even swat a fly never mind shoot a criminal psychopath."
"We'll find a way Stephen." Elisabeth was only a few years older but in temperament she couldn't help but act like a schoolteacher once more. "Until then we'll just have to sit tight and wait for John to return with the others. You haven't even met Hsui Tai and Andrew Forbes yet have you?"
Stephan looked over at TIM. "Can Jedikiah find a way to locate us? Energy consumption? Radiation emissions? Anything that he can detect?"
"Jedikiah was built with technology far in advance of current human progress. Using extrapolation algorithms it is possible that he can sense some of the energy transmissions associated with jaunting."
"Great." Elisabeth paced over to her table of green leaved plants and picked up the small watering can. "My return will have been like a Christmas tree lighting up to say exactly where we are."
"Don't blame yourself Elisabeth, you had no way of knowing. Besides can Jedikiah even get in here? John said that jaunting is the only way in." He looked with anticipation at TIM.
"Some of my materials could not be brought here by the teleportation machine, they had to be physically brought here. Also the air is brought in from the outside along with water and electricity. There is a maintenance tunnel through which these services can be checked for damage."
Stephen looked sharply at Elisabeth. "A way in! We have to warn John and the others, we can't let them jaunt in here, Jedikiah would have us for sure."
Elisabeth thought about this for a second, there was safety in numbers after all. The Tomorrow People worked best as a team, each person looking out for the other. "Perhaps we should jaunt to where they are? We can put up a united front against Jedikiah."
Stephen had already considered this option however. "If we jaunt out then we'll leave TIM here exposed and unable to defend himself. Our only hope is to escape through that service tunnel, get the others to meet us there and find Jedikiah before he can harm anyone else."
***
The trail was getting dimmer, but the residual energy signature was more than enough to follow with ease. Jedikiah had not bothered with the primitive transport vehicle, as he may have to travel through, rather than around vehicles. Nothing was going to get in his way this time...nothing could stop him now.
A family protested as he knocked their dwellings barrier into pieces, he dispatched the adults as they got in his way but he left their young as he could not afford to be slowed down in his pursuit of Stephen Jameson. He left the dwelling through the back door, but not before picking up a large metal knife from the food preparation area. He felt its weight in his hand and an analysis of the blade showed that it was sharp enough to cut into human flesh.
***
"Hurry Stephen!" Elisabeth followed on, as they had to run while crouched down the service tunnel.
"We're nearly there Elisabeth." Stephen called back. "Just another hundred yards or so and we'll be in a small shaft hidden under a corner of Wimbledon Common."
Elisabeth sucked air into her lungs and redoubled her efforts despite the cramping feeling in the left side of her stomach. She pushed herself on, through the pain barrier. She couldn't let Stephen down just because she had a silly stitch.
***
Jedikiah stood above the location where the radiation emissions were coming from. The source was weak as it was obviously underground. In a rage he smashed his fists down onto the hard tarmac of the road, making two tiny craters on the road's surface. He lifted his hands slowly, tiny pieces of the roads surface had stuck to them but they fell off one by one as Jedikiah flexed his fingers. "No where to run to and no where to hide. It's only a matter of time now, you'll not escape me forever."
***
They emerged into a cold winters night, the grill of the airshaft was rusted on but it gave way after a few good thumps. The two Tomorrow People helped each other out of the concrete funnel and they dropped the short four feet to the ground with ease.
"We should contact John and the others." Elisabeth took hold of Stephen's hand.
Stephen looked into Elisabeth's eyes and concentrated. Their thoughts became as one and they sent a telepathic signal to John and the others.
*John, it is Jedikiah, he went to the old location of the Lab to find us.*
*Oh no.* John's voice called back to Stephen and Elisabeth. *We'll jaunt back to the Lab at once.*
*No! We're outside the Lab, on Wimbledon Common. Jaunt here instead. TIM suspects that Jedikiah can detect the slight particle emissions associated with jaunting.*
*So you don't want us to give away the location of the Lab you mean?*
*Exactly.*
Stephen and Elisabeth relaxed and their arms fell down to their sides.
"I never knew how tiring that was without Tim's help." Elisabeth walked over to a dew glistening park bench and sat down on it. "It's a lot more draining than just normal telepathy."
Stephen joined Elisabeth. "I've practiced it a few times before, with the Vesh, but you never get used to how tiring it can be." He wiped away a bead of sweat from his forehead with the cuff of the shirt he had borrowed from John.
John's figure materialised over by the squat concrete cylinder of the airshaft and Elisabeth called over to him. John jogged over. "There you are, I was worried about you both. I decided to keep the others out of this, they don't know how cunning Jedikiah can be."
"I bet Mike didn't like that." Elisabeth smiled. "Stuck looking after those two when there's action going on elsewhere."
John nodded his head in agreement. "He was a bit reluctant, but ensuring that a few of us survive is far more important than some stupid heroics."
"I haven't seen Mike in ages," Stephen mused out loud.
"Yes, well there'll be plenty of time for reunions once this Jedikiah business is done with." John held out his hands and a transparent matter transporter bubble appeared in them. Inside were three stun pistols, one for each of them. "Now I don't have to remind you that Jedikiah is now human, so we can only stun him and turn him over to the authorities for a fair and impartial trial. We must not become a lynch mob, no matter our personal feelings. We'll leave the violence and hatred to the Saps"
***
Jedikiah was no stranger to violence or murder. His past was filled with such events. Being a machine creature he viewed each act coldly and dispassionately. They were necessary to ensure his safety and security; he wasn't like the filthy animal creatures of this and other worlds.
He didn't torture or maim for fun or entertainment, he never indulged himself in the psychotic fantasies of humans nor did he kill simply because he could. Until now. The flittering interfering Tomorrow People would pay for each and every insult they had heaped upon him.
He thought about this blood thirst, it must be a remnant of the humanity they had tried to inflict upon him. Jedikiah laughed out loud as he held the stolen kitchen knife aloft and imagined plunging it down into Stephen Jameson's heart again and again and again and again and again.
There was a burst of energy from the East and Jedikiah's head snapped around the microsecond it was detected. "So that's where you're hiding. You thought to hide from me? We shall see, we shall see." He headed in the new direction at an inhuman walking speed.
***
John held the stun pistol in his hand. His hands were sweaty due to his constant gripping the handle too hard and then releasing it again. They had taken up a position behind another park bench that was further away but more secure in his opinion. This was taking too long however, Jedikiah was much more subtle than they could plan for. He could have a thousand quite different plans and they couldn't anticipate them all.
Elisabeth looked around the darkened vista of distant trees and dew covered grass. There were very few pools of light. Tiny oases of illumination caused by far off streetlights that followed the routes of the tarmac laid footpaths. "What's taking him so long? He should have detected John jaunting here."
"Sssh," Stephen hissed. "We don't want to give away the element of surprise. It might be all we have." He was scared, he could admit it to himself but this was necessary and facing your fears was the only way to conquer them, wasn't it? He sucked in another lungful of the cold air and let out a tiny cloud of warm breath, which quickly dissipated, in front of his eyes. Through this man-made mist he spied a tall human male walking into view. In his hand was something that caught the light from one of the streetlights; it looked disturbingly like the blade of a knife.
***
John switched to using telepathy to communicate with his friends. *Right, here he comes. Wait until he gets a bit closer, these things aren't so good over long distances.*
Stephen looked sharply at John. *Now you tell us.*
Elisabeth took aim with her pistol. *I have him in my sights, tell me when he's in optimum range John.*
John took aim with his gun too. *Not yet Elisabeth, the closer the better.*
Stephen reluctantly took aim. *Do we know what the effects of three stun blasts are? We can't even risk killing him.*
*There's no way of knowing Stephen. Tell you what, I'll fire first. If that's not enough then you fire Elisabeth and if he's still standing after that then you'll have to fire Stephen.* John readied his stun pistol, released the safety and fired.
Elisabeth saw that the stun blast had no effect so she too fired. *It's up to you Stephen. You'll have to fire open and stun him.*
Stephen paused. *I can't risk it.*
Jedikiah laughed at the stun bolts. "You call that effective? Show yourselves and I promise it won't hurt for too long."
*Shoot Stephen!* John waited while his pistol recharged itself. *Shoot him.*
Stephen shook his head. *I can't shoot him John, I can't risk killing him. They turned him into a human remember?*
Jedikiah spotted Stephen and moved quickly towards him. "So much for your superior intellect you stupid boy." He changed his shape into an exact replica of Stephen's. "You've really been very stupid you know."
Stephen gasped when he saw Jedikiah transform into the spitting image of himself. "You can change shape? But how's that possible?"
Jedikiah paused. "They jammed my circuits, rewired my mind. Changed my internal structure too but they could never truly change what I was. All it took was a jolt of electricity to break my conditioning and I was able to repair all the damage."
Stephen pointed his stun pistol at his identical image and fired at his face. The pseudo skin was burned away to reveal a blank silver shape. "Looks like you've got a weak spot after all Jedikiah."
"Stephen, get down!" John broke cover and fired at the damaged section.
"No!" the voice of Jedikiah called out despite having no mouth. He slashed blindly and felt the impact of the blade on something.
"Stephen!" Elisabeth rushed forward and pulled her wounded friend back to safety.
"It's okay Elisabeth, he only caught my arm." Stephen pointed at Jedikiah. "Use your gun, fire before he can repair the damage."
Elisabeth aimed and fired. She looked dispassionately as the body of Jedikiah started to emit smoke. It caught on fire in seconds and its burning figure lit up the whole area with its orange and blue flames.
John covered his nose and mouth with his handkerchief to stave off the effects of the oily black smoke that drifted over the whole area.
When the flames finally died down the three Tomorrow People looked down at the collection of scorched metal and circuit boards. Stephen eyed up a large chunk of it and brought his foot down hard on it.
John put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Come on Stephen, let's get back to the Lab. I think we could all do with a rest after this." They activated their jaunting bands and quickly jaunted away from the area, leaving it as if they had never been there.
***
Craig Daniels wired the circuit board into his homemade PC. He couldn't believe his luck at the find. He guessed that some older kids must have stolen a computer from one of the local businesses and set it on fire for fun. He looked at the screen as his computer booted up, there was a strange message in the top left corner that seemed very strange. What was a Jedikiah?
