22: Some News is Better Than Others

“I’m glad you stopped by to help,” Simon said, shaking Alex’s hand. “Though you may have your doubts, you’ve made a big difference. At the worst, you’ve added years to these people’s lives, and at the best, you may have allowed them to turn the corner. I’m sure they’re all thankful, and I appreciate that you could help out.”

“Yeah, I’m just sorry I couldn’t have helped more. Like I said, I’d originally planned to spend more time here, but...”

“That’s my fault,” Gini offered. “He was stuck for a couple of days trying to scale me off the side of a desert cliff.”

“It hard having such responsibilities,” Kuubba said. “You must decide between impossible choices. Most people happy to save one person, instead you must choose between saving one or many. It not easy choice when you stare person in face.”

“Well, I think you’ve done amazing things for all of us,” Winona cooed. “You’ve given us the gift of life itself, and there’s literally no way we could possibly repay you.”

Cate couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Normally Cate had no problem putting up with Alex’s many adoring fans, but Winona just seemed to be a bit much. She’d been clinging to Alex all morning, acting like a love struck school girl. Normally, any new followers of Alex’s were well aware of how many others there were, so they didn’t demand his time. However, Winona had no one else to call her on her behavior. Both Gail and Gini felt it necessary to remain in the background, and Cate certainly couldn’t say anything. But she felt herself ready to hurl over Winona’s obnoxious behavior. She did briefly consider whether her feelings might be flavored by the idea Winona might be the one woman everyone had been looking for, but she wasn’t ready to consider that at the moment.

“Still, if I’d gotten here a day earlier...”

“You wouldn’t have been able to do any more than you did,” Jennifer told him. “As you said, you’ve done as much as you can at this stage. True, you had to work nonstop to do it, but you’ve tried to help everyone in the village, and that’s saying a lot.”

“Well, what’s going to happen in the future?” Alex asked. “How are they going to keep moving forwards?”

“You’ve given them several years at a minimum,” Simon said, “and if what you say is true about slowing the rate of growth of the cancers, then you’ve given them even more time.”~

“I think we ready to leave,” Kuubba revealed. “If we away from water, help more.”

“But I thought you couldn’t?” Alex asked. “That this was your cultural home and if you abandoned it the evil spirits who caused it would follow you?”

“No, prophecy say if we seek refuge in white man’s world, we be lost and soon die without anyone who care, removed from ancestor spirits and thus cut off from our spiritual journey. But you fulfilled prophesy. You help us, now rest up to us. We stay here till you come, since you a, ah...”

“A catalyst,” Cate suggested.

“Yes, catalyst. You start change, give us time to deal with problem on own. But we no leave heritage behind. Instead we seek home with other tribes, maybe ask other nations take us in.”

“And that would be OK, I mean, it wouldn’t cause conflicts?” Alex asked.

“Oh, it create lot of problem, but we be OK. Most tribe now made of people from different race. Very few pure blood still. Mix Ute with other tribe not odd. This region home to many, so many home to share.”

“Then why couldn’t you have done that before, avoiding all this sickness and death?” Alex asked before he caught himself. “Never mind, I get it. You felt you had to wait for me, even though I think it was a stupid decision, since I haven’t managed to ‘cure’ any of you, I’ve only managed to delay the inevitable.”

“No, you start change in people, we no know what change be, but we have time now to adjust. Prophesy fulfilled. We no leave customs or spirits by going.”

“What about the spirits?” Cate asked. “Can they find you if you go somewhere else?” Despite her scientific training and her reluctance to believe these tales of spirits left over from a pre-industrial culture, she was intrigued by the internal consistencies of such beliefs, and wanted to understand just what they believed.

“Spirits travel. They at home here, but if need, they find. They no like white city. No soul live there. Refuse visit city, even if we must go. Good choice. We farther from spirits, but do as they ask. They understand.”

“Well, I’m glad you’ll be getting away from the source of the contagion,” Alex told her. “It makes me feel better about your prospects. Hopefully, leaving the area will prevent new cancers from developing. Personally, I’d have liked it better if you’d done this years ago, but I guess I can see your conflicts.”

“Actually, I’m even more pleased,” Simon admitted. “We know the water supply here is incredibly dangerous, but I’ve had a hell of a time trying to get anyone to consider relocating. Most of my work has been importing fresh water and keeping healthy people, like Stu and Winona, from coming back here since it puts them at such increased risk.”

“Yeah, since you’re likely to get pregnant, Winona,” Cate told her, “you’d better move away as soon as possible.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m going to do whatever I can to protect this baby,” she said as if it was already a proven fact that she was pregnant.

“Well, I’m glad you took the extra time to help the last few people this morning,” Stu told him, walking up to shake Alex’s hand. “My cousin was one of those you helped, and I feel sure you’ve given him many more years as a result. You’d already set his cancer on its ass, and the extra treatment means it’ll be that much longer before it can regain a foothold.”

“Well, I’m glad I could make a difference, even if it wasn’t an unqualified success.”

“And speaking of misses, I don’t know what you were trying to do, but you know that itch of mine you tried to treat? You made it even worse. It’s starting to drive me bonkers, I keep rubbing my side, but I just can’t ease it.”

“Well, sorry about that, but it turns out my energy permeates all living things, so it feeds parasites and viruses as well as heals. I suspect I probably made your rash worse than it was.”

“Actually, there’s no—”

“I think what Alex is trying to say, is that while you don’t have an actual rash, it’s probably a dermatological problem just under the skin,” Simon told him, trying to save Alex having to explain more about what he could and couldn’t do. “If you return to the city, you should see a dermatologist. After all, if Alex can grow kidneys and shrink cancers, I’d hate to see what he does to a case of athlete’s foot.”

“So, Jennifer, if the tribe is going to break up, I’m guessing that Simon’s research project will end too, if I haven’t already screwed it up. What are you planning on doing? After all, you originally came out here to set things up for when I finally arrived.”

She looked a little taken aback. “Well, I guess I should think about what else I should do, but there’s still a lot to do here.”

“Nonsense,” Simon told her. “You’ve been a tremendous help, but I know you’re heart lies in helping Alex, and this is your chance to follow him for a while.”

“But how will you evaluate how everyone responds?” Jennifer asked. “You can’t determine how well the treatments worked if you can’t evaluate anyone. And we should discover as much as you can before everyone disperses.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Alex told them. “Hold on a second. OK, I’ve got a solution. I’ve got another Indian friend, Robin Peters, a member of the Hualapai tribe in Northern Arizona. She said she’d come up and take over for you for a few weeks, and that she’d also find a place for some of you to stay, if you don’t mind traveling that far.”

“No, that very kind,” Kuubba said. “We respect Hualapai neighbor, climate similar. But I refuse to lead white children through Great Canyon.”

“I think they may be able to make an exception in your case, but actually Robin is more of a traveling medicine woman.”

“I know Robin,” another grizzled older man said, walking up to them. “My name is Tate Shilah, or ‘he who always talks too much’. I’m the local medicine man for this tribe. I’d have introduced myself sooner, but I was waiting to see how you came across. Both Kuubba and Winona spoke to me about you, and they asked me what I thought. I encouraged them to undertake their own vision quests on the matter, but I had none of my own, thus I was cautious. I’ve worked with unseen spirits all my life, and I get nothing whatsoever from you. No, that’s not quite true, I can feel the spirits of my ancestors, and of the various animal and spiritual guides. They’re buzzing all around you, but I get nothing from you for some reason. But I’m convinced Kuubba’s vision is true, that you bring us good fortune, and that we’ll soon be turning a corner as a result.”

He proceeded to shake Alex’s hand, and despite his advanced age, he had the grip of a blacksmith.

“Well, I’m glad I’ve convinced you. You’ll have to tell Robin about these other spirits around me, as I’d be glad to learn more, but I’m afraid we don’t have any more time.”

“That’s understood, we’re all aware of your tight timetable. That’s why I wanted to make sure I said my two cents worth before you left.”

“Two cents worth? It’s always interesting the way you all keep mixing Native American spirituality with American idioms.”

“Nothin’ strange about it. We’re all Americans here. I fought for Uncle Sam myself, as have many of the people here. We have a dual cultural heritage. As much as we’re Americans, we’re Ute too. We’re also mostly Christians, which I’m sure you’ll find odd as well. We don’t deny your Western God, but we don’t refute our own beliefs either.”

“So, Jennifer, which is it?” Alex asked, turning to address her before they left. “Do you want to tag along or stay here and help Robin adjust.”

Jennifer bit her lip, looking like she was tempted. “I really want to help people with cancer, like I had,” she admitted.

“You can always compromise,” Simon suggested. “After all, that’s what brought you here. Take off on your own, driving on ahead of Alex. You know his route. Visit the local hospitals along the way so he’ll know who he can treat as he travels. That would do more for your sick friends than your spending time here doing paper work. Face it, you’re standing beside greatness here. I say go for it. This is the only chance like this you’ll ever have.”

With that, she threw her arms around Simon, kissed him, then turned to Alex. “All right, I’m yours. But I’ll have to get a car somewhere, and I’ll have to work out a schedule.”

“Hey, you can travel in the back with me,” Cate told her. “I’m the one in charge of the schedules. Alex never knows what’s going on.”

“Well, I’m really sorry to be leaving like this, but duty calls. I’ve got women to awaken, dreams to chase, and a devil to run from,” Alex said as they headed off. He blew Winona a kiss, knowing she’d appreciate it, then they climbed into the dirty beat up old car, ready for another several hours in the hot sun before they reached Las Vegas.

“Gail, you’d better alert everyone, we’re getting close. We’re at the 20 mark.”

Alex, who’d been discussing what they’d experienced since Jennifer left following his shooting by Rakeem, looked up. He and Jennifer were riding in the back seat. When he glanced forward at Cate, he noticed she was closely examining her iPad, and it looked like she was studying the map app.

“We’re still a ways out of Las Vegas, aren’t we?” Alex asked. “I mean, we haven’t been on the road long enough to reach the city yet.”

“Yeah, we’re still a ways from Vegas, but we’ve got a little surprise for you,” Cate told him with a grin.

“A surprise?” Alex asked dubiously. He wasn’t always crazy whenever someone surprised him. Sure, the one for his birthday was nice, but the one for his graduation had certainly alerted everyone that he was more than he appeared, and Cate’s last ‘surprise’ had almost killed him. He wasn’t sure he needed any more. After all, he had surprises every damn day, whether it was women approaching him or walking in on an armed robbery. He’d really rather avoid any unnecessary surprises if he could.

“Let’s just call it an experiment,” Cate told him.

“Your last experim—” Just then Gini raced past. She’d been following behind them, but now she was gunning the engine and racing off.

“What the hell was that about?” Alex asked. “Where’s she off to?”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure she’d warn you if she suspected anything dangerous,” Gail advised him.

“Why do I get the impression you both know exactly what’s going on?” Alex asked.

“A surprise? Really? I just love your surprises,” Jennifer gushed. “I remember the ones back in Carbondale. I thought Alex was going to stop breathing when he walked into the loft for the first time to find all of us waiting for him. What do you have planned?”

“Yeah, why don’t you let us know what I’m going to be walking in on?” Alex stressed.

“Ah, don’t you like surprises?” Cate asked sweetly. “After all, you took to Leanna’s surprise pretty well.”

“Leanna didn’t try to set me up. She just didn’t want to announce to the world that her place was a gay bar. However, setting me up isn’t a way to make amends for doing it be—”

“Hold on a minute,” Cate said, waving Alex off momentarily. “That’s the 15 mile mark,” she announced to Gail who didn’t respond, showing she knew precisely what was going on.

“OK, this is more than just the four of us, could you at least give me an idea of what I’m supposed to be expecting?”

“You’d really better tell him,” Gail advised. “We’ve kept him out of the loop for long enough, but this is about him, so he really deserves to know. Besides, he’s likely to panic when he gets a vision of what everyone looks like.”

The reference to what everyone looked like did in fact panic Alex. He could imagine a bunch of injured people waiting for him to respond to them.

Cate seemed to consider that for a moment, then turned to Alex with a smile. “You remember when you told us to set up a test using the relatives of known Seers and Seekers?”

“Yeah, so what, you’ve arranged for me to meet someone out in the middle of the desert to activate them? That sounds a bit too unnecessary for it to be a very complete explanation.”

“Well, it is a little more complicated than that,” Gail admitted, growing nervous about how much they’d kept from Alex. “There was quite a bit more to it than simply finding someone for you to activate. After all, we’ve been doing that for a long time now.”

“You left the details up to us, like you usually do, and we’ve done everything that’s necessary,” Cate reminded him. “The surprise part is just a little payback we get for having put so much work into it.”

Alex sighed, but he was smiling as he did it. “OK, you got me there. I sometimes give you guys fairly large tasks without asking for explanations. So what was involved with this?”

“If you remember, we decided you picked who to activate by what you saw in their eyes. So we needed to figure out just what it was you saw, and once we did that we had to measure it so we can apply those same measurements to others, then we can determine who will and who won’t respond to you.”

“How did you manage to measure how people will respond to my ener ... So that’s where all my clothes have been disappearing to, lately?” Alex asked, finally catching on to the obvious.

“Exactly, I’ve been stealing your used t-shirts every night for the last couple weeks and mailing them so others can use them to conduct the very tests I’ve been dying to undertake.”

“But why couldn’t you—?”

“Because I needed to be here, and we couldn’t conduct these tests with you present, since you’d blow the test out of the water. We used the shirts to measure the responses of a lot of people, documenting the differences between them. Now we think we can precisely pick not only who’s a Seer or a Seeker, but we think we can measure who’ll react negatively to you.”

“Geez, that’s major,” Alex replied, sitting up and leaning against the seat in his enthusiasm. “If I can spot who’s going to go off on me, I can either try to keep my distance, or we can try to intervene.”

“Exactly, that was the idea. Pardon me ... That’s ten miles, Gail.” Gail, of course, didn’t bother responding. “So this is the final test. We need to confirm that our assumptions are correct, but beyond that, we need to do a final measurement of how they react to you, versus how they responded to a smaller dosage of your energy.”

“But that means—”

Here Cate smiled at him. “Yes, it does. It definitely proves the existence of your BCM, although it does it indirectly, which still means it would never be publishable, but it’s still pretty convincing. We’re thinking if we can establish a ratio of responses, we can guestimate how much BCM you’re giving off.”

“OK, I apologize. This really is a big deal, and it’s clear you’ve put a hell of a lot of work into this. This could be a game changer.”

“You’re damn right it is,” Cate assured him. “This takes it from ‘he seems like he does amazing things’ to ‘he’s got a measurable energy we can determine which he’s using to achieve what he does’.”

“Shit, have you told Ryan? Or Lists?”

“Don’t worry your little head about the details,” Cate said. “We’ve handled everything for you. Now it’s time to reap the rewards.”

“But why are you doing it in the middle of the desert?” Jennifer asked, it not being an unreasonable question.

“For a number of reasons; first, it’s out of the way, so no one is liable to wander across us, secondly, it allows us to maintain a steady approach, and thus we can measure when they can detect Alex approaching.”

“So that’s why you keep announcing the distance?” Alex asked.

“Exactly, and lastly, we wanted to control the environment, which we couldn’t do if the meeting took place in the middle of a park.”

“So where are you meeting?” Jennifer asked.

“It’s an old abandoned warehouse,” Gail told them. “One of the local girls knew about it. They used to manufacture the metal signs they used to use in Vegas. The ones with all the lights? When they started switching to the electronic lights the company folded and the large industrial space has sat empty ever since. But because of worries about neighbors complaining about it, they built it well away from the city. Since the place closed, almost no one comes out this way anymore.”

“Seven point five,” Cate announced.

“You weren’t paying attention, but I turned off on this little side road a ways back. That’s why we have no traffic around us anymore.”

“I’d noticed that, but I hadn’t wanted to say anything,” Jennifer responded.

“This road takes us to it along a pretty straight path, so we can correlate the responses to how far away you are at any given time. By maintaining a constant rate of speed, we can calculate the exact distance they each respond to you at.”

“Wow, there’s certainly a lot more you people are putting into this stuff than when I was in Carbondale,” Jennifer observed. “Back then it was, ‘we think he may be doing this, but we really have no way of knowing’.”

“It’s been like that all along,” Cate told her. “However we had a breakthrough a little while back, when we kind of stumbled across how Alex handles his activations. That gave us the lead in how to measure responses. It gave us something we could measure, rather than just conjecturing all the time.”

“It sounds like it’s a lucky thing I decided to come along,” Jennifer responded. “This is going to be a ... well, a memorable occasion.”

“You’re right, this might be the day we change everything,” Cate said, a self-satisfied grin covering her whole expression.

Gail parked the car near the front of the large gray building. Although it was desolate, Alex noted a number of cars parked off to the side. They got out quickly.

“We need to maintain a constant pace so we’ll know your distance relative to the time,” Cate insisted as she and Gail led them towards the building. “Whatever you do, don’t stop. Also, we weren’t sure what to do about your activating the women. We briefly considered blindfolding you, but we decided that was a bit much. We’ll mark the distance they respond to you at, which we’ve always wondered, as well as measuring how they respond afterwards. In order to minimize it, though, the potential Seers will be facing the other direction, so I want you to walk right into the center of the crowd, say ‘Stop’ and then do so. Once we’ve gotten our measurements, just say ‘start’ and then walk to the Seers, stand beside them but don’t look at them, then walk about five feet in front of them, turn and do the activations.”

“Those are pretty specific instructions for a situation where I normally just glance at someone,” Alex complained.

“We weren’t trying to record measurements before,” Cate explained. “We need to compare distances with each individual’s reactions so we’ll know what distances are safe in the future.”

“OK, I got it,” Alex insisted, feeling more nervous about this than he really should. There was a lot riding on this.

As prearranged, Jennifer ran ahead and got the door, opening it so they wouldn’t have to slow down. Cate ran on ahead, though Alex couldn’t see what she was doing since the sun was still bright outside. “Remember to not slow down,” she called out.

Alex continued on through the door, and quickly realized why Cate had repeated that simple warning. The scene before his eyes was, to put it simply, shocking. There were a mass of people, several of whom were running around, checking on the people seated. The people sitting weren’t merely resting; they were strapped to their chairs, with their eyes propped open and staring as if horrified like the scene out of “Raiders of the Last Ark”. In front of each person was a little video camera, and there were people running back and forth applying eye drops, recording events, and checking on everyone. Alex saw several faces he recognized, but he didn’t have time to stop and identify people if he hoped to keep moving at a steady pace, though he did notice Cate recording his expression with her phone. He’d have to get her back for this.

He walked steadily forward, trying to ignore the few faces he recognized, but he did notice a few from Carbondale, New Orleans and Texas. He reached the middle of the group, making sure to establish eye contact with each girl sitting in the chairs facing him to test whether any were actually Seers he could activate, but since they were each incapacitated, he couldn’t be sure whether they were or not. The entire room was silent, despite the large number of people, as everyone was either focused on him, watching the strapped in women, or were unable to move. He also noticed that Ryan, of Meg and Ryan, was one of those strapped to a chair.

“Stop,” he called, and glanced around finally, taking in who was around him, but he didn’t comment, finally just announcing “Start”, as he walked to the waiting women facing away from him. He stopped when he was parallel to them, but unable to see their eyes, and said “Stop” again. As expected, he couldn’t recognize any of the faces from that angle.

“Start”, he said before walking forward. He didn’t bother calling this time, assuming it would be obvious. Instead he merely stopped for a moment before turning around and facing the three women. This time he could tell from their reactions that each was a Seer. But he was also watching their eyes. It was hard to see much, since their eyes already looked very large, but he noticed how their pupils shrank once they were activated and they got that notable glassy eyed look.

“Is that everything?” he called out. Instead of answering, Cate looked inquiringly at Caity. She flashed them a thumbs up.

“That’s it, Alex. We’re all set.”

“Good, then let’s let these poor people loose. It looks like they’re being tortured.”

The silence in the large hall evaporated, as everyone hurried around, unstrapping everyone.

“Girls, I’ll talk to you in a minute, but I’m anxious to say hello to some old friends,” Alex explained before stepping into the chaos.

“Shanna, I honestly didn’t expect to be seeing you again. Why are you involved with this?”

“Like I could avoid it,” she answered. “Besides, helping here is just part of what I’m doing. I’ve got to establish a regional office to handle the travel business for all your new fans. I’m thinking California, which is only a short distance from here.”

“So I take it this crazy idea of handling everyone’s travel plans is working out?” Alex asked a little doubtfully.

“It sure as hell is. Everyone you’ve ever met wants to meet everyone else. I’ve been running people back and forth. Not only that, but their family and friends usually want to travel with them so they can understand what’s happening, and they end up using my services. Who do you think arranged the travel plans for everyone here?”

“Well, thanks for arranging everything. But I’ll tell you what, how about next time you let me know what’s happening somewhere along the line?”

“What, and cross Cate? Are you crazy? You may make the decisions, but one word from her and you’d drop me in a second. I’m not about to take that kind of chance.”

“Hey, Alex, it’s us, Car—”

“Of course I know who you are, Carolyn and Kristi. Like I could ever forget you. You were the first people I activated in New Orleans at Patricia’s introductory concert. I take it Lekesia was indisposed?”

“Yeah, she and her mother don’t have a lot of extra money, and they’re trying to save to give Lekesia’s baby the best chance. Plus Noel didn’t want to leave because her fertile period is arriving soon, and she wanted to try to get pregnant via Dr. Hannah.”

“Ah, that makes sense. How are the two of you doing? Neither one of you is showing.”

“Nah, it’s only been a month. We won’t show until the third or fourth.”

“So what’s going on?”

“Well, I’ve gotten back with my family, like you suggested,” Carolyn said. “It went fairly well. I suspect my aunt might be a Watch ... I mean a Seeker, but she wasn’t anxious to commit to the concept yet.”

“I’ve been talking to Amy Ray and Tina Shaw about getting a sorority started when I start school again in the fall,” Kristi told Alex. “I’m excited to be reaching out to others in school like me, and even trying to teach those not like us in the hopes we can somehow trigger a natural adaptive behavior. Maybe we can force them to adapt, to become more ‘Seeker like’.”

“Well, I suggest you talk to Cate about that. After all, she’s the best for determining just how realistic that might be. But it certainly sounds like a valid goal,” Alex said, proud they were both still so motivated.

“Hey there, Alex. Man, I’m glad to be out of that contraption,” Ryan Shafer said, anxious to speak to Alex and hopefully make some amends.

“Uh, thanks Ryan,” Alex replied, nervously watching to see how he reacted. “I can understand that. It looked like some medieval torture when I first walked in.”

“Believe me, it felt like it. When they first started planning this, they were talking about doing this in a tent out in the middle of the desert. Can you imagine not being able to blink as sand gets blown into your eyes? As uncomfortable as this was, it was better than that alternative.”

“Hey, Alex, it’s good to see you again,” Megan Abrams, Ryan’s girlfriend said as she joined them, hoping to intervene on Ryan’s behalf. “And in case you’re wondering, we’ve talked it over with Becky. She’s of the opinion that Ryan is OK as long as we watch his exposure to you. He’s liable to have problems if he’s exposed for too long, but for short periods he should be fine. He doesn’t seem to have the negative reactions that certain other men have, but he does have some. You’ll have to talk it over with her, but she says you need to watch their pupils, just like you do the Seers. If they dilate noticeably upon meeting you, it’s probably a warning, and how much they dilate probably indicates just how severe it is. That will be important to learn and we’re hoping Ryan can play a big part in that process, since he represents a certain threshold between what’s safe and what’s problematic.”

“Well, that’s reassuring to know,” Alex replied, giving both a big hug, “and I’ll have to talk with her to iron out the details. I just want you to know, Ryan, that I never blamed you for what happened. Instead I blamed myself for putting myself into a bad situation. Hopefully, with what you can teach us, I can potentially avoid such situations in the future, though I suspect if I just listen to my own intuition I can simply avoid those situations altogether.”

“Oh, but that’s just the thing,” Ryan said, addressing Alex directly, looking him squarely in the eyes so he could evaluate him while they spoke, as they’d rehearsed beforehand, “I’d never ask you to redo what you did. Sure, it was uncomfortable, and I really embarrassed myself over it, but what you did for Megan has had a big impact in her life, and apparently what they’ve learned from studying me will make a big difference as well. As such, it really helps to make me feel better about myself and the role I can play in your mission.”