The next day, just before noon all three boys joined Chris and Aaron on the bridge of the Alteran Prince as he slowed down to a slow ten knots, through the front window they could see a large island in the distance. They piled into any empty seat they could find around the bridge all eager to see their new home for the first time.

 

 

Kevin frowned as he looked at the main monitor, just below it the depth indicator showed the sea bottom rising rapidly in front of them, there was no way the Prince could make it through the reef, and they were still so far out from the island, “Hey where's the channel?” Looking around for any buoys or other telltale markers Kevin pointed to the monitor as they slowed to a stop, “The bottom is covered by one huge ass reef according to this, how are we going to get to the island?”

 

 

Aaron smiled like a proud parent while Chris chuckled from the helm station, "Good eye Kevin.” Chris told him as he pressed on the touch panel to the left of the wheel causing it to rise up from the console revealing another panel underneath, tapping a few commands into the newly risen panel a light blue shimmer appeared around the Prince in a sideways wedge shape and he started to submerge.

 

 

Tim looked up at seeing the water rising above the outboard pylons and panicking turned around, “Hey were sinking.”

 

 

About to laugh until he caught Tim’s mind panicking, almost screaming in his fright, Aaron jumped up from the Captains chair and moved next to Tim and pulled him into a tight hug, “We are not sinking, just like a submarine, we are submerging.” Sending calming thoughts towards the teen he wondered why he panicked, “Do you know how to swim?” Wondering if that might be the problem.

 

 

Shaking his head no, Tim leaned back all dejected before looking up, “There was never any place I could learn for free, mom would not pay for lessons let alone enough food for me to eat so I was not hungry.” Shivering as he was lost in memory of that day his mother brought her fiancé to the park with them for the first time, and how if it was not for a stranger he would have drowned after being pushed into the lake by the man. It was then he had started to make plans to leave before he was killed for real.

 

 

Looking on as Tim played back his memories from two years ago Aaron frowned over the top of Tim’s head and played around with the idea of paying his old parents a visit, shaking his head he decided only if he was in the area would he show his displeasure on their parenting skills. "Well then, one of the first things we will have to do is set you up with swimming lessons after you settle in.” Turning him around so he could look out of the front wrap around windows Aaron pulled him back to his chest and held him tight while Pete looked on with a smile, he finally thought he did the right thing watching how Aaron comforted his friend instead of laughing at his fear of the water.

 

 

Opening his tightly clenched eyes Tim at first started in fright before feeling the strong arms holding him tightly as he looked out the front windows to see it covered in the light blue of water with fish swimming around in the distance above them. Finally in control of his panic he grinned back at Aaron before sitting back down, “How deep are we?”

 

 

Glancing up at the depth gauge Chris smiled, not aware of the panic attack behind him a few moments before, “Thirty feet. We will descend to one hundred feet before the opening in the reef becomes visible, after that the tunnel slopes to just over a depth of a hundred and fifty feet before opening up to the underwater lagoon.” Right hand tapping on the terminal a new picture overlaid the screen, showing the course they were about to traverse, all of it underwater. “The tunnel takes us halfway around the island, the city is between the spit and outlying formation of rocks here.” Chris pointed to a spot on the monitor as the tunnel opening started to rise as they sank deeper in the clear water.

 

 

Continuing his lesson from the day before Chris looked over at Kevin who was practically glued to the side of the console, “It's very important that you never exceed one knot while in the tunnel, especially not with a ship like the Prince.” Shaking his head knowing his lover would of course exceed those limits in the cruiser he was slated to command, “This for the most part is a pleasure craft not the heavily reinforced hull of a cruiser, and while the shield will protect us from a lot of things it is best not to tempt fate by seeing if it would protect us from a tunnel collapse.”

 

 

Aaron smirked knowing that the shield would protect them and knowing his future self designed the tunnel so it could be traversed at twenty knots if needed, reinforcing the reef just in case. Walking over to where he could watch the boy’s faces he waited until they got the first good look of their new home, he wanted to see the looks of surprise.

 

 

The Prince halted the descent and started forward, pylons leading the way into the dark tunnel when Kevin’s eyes widened as he got his first close look at the reef, “Hey this thing is artificial or just recently built, the sea life is just starting to take hold.”

 

 

Aaron was shocked at Kevin’s comment, and the double take that Chris did before glancing his way told him he had not even given it a thought, “The whole island has a two mile wide reef that surrounds it, there is no way that any ship can make it through the reinforced and hardened reef, the inner three miles of water is still natural, other than the fact the sea bottom was raised so the depth is sixty feet. This is the first of the defense perimeters around Altare Island.”

 

 

Pete frowned as he looked up at the tunnel they had entered, “How come no one noticed this reef being built, hell there has not been anything in the news about this…something this big would have been hard to keep secret.”

 

 

Nodding his head in agreement that normally it would, Aaron smiled, "It would be if there was a satellite that crossed the area closely enough to get a picture, or we were near shipping or flight lanes, as far as the rest of the world is concerned this is a small island a third of its size totally barren of life, nothing more than an series of rocky outcrops.”

 

 

Twisting around in his seat Pete looked shocked, “But the whole island was green and defiantly looked fertile, how did you manage that?” before looking sheepish, "I keep looking for all this tech like in Star Trek, I keep forgetting how much you can do being a TEEP.”

 

 

Tilting his head to the side Chris was confused as he worked the acronym over in his mind, “TEEP?”

 

 

Shrugging his shoulder Pete turned back to view in the tunnel, “Yeah, TEEP short for the three T’s. sounds better that TEEE, which sounds like a drink or TEES which sounds like teasing…TEEP.”

 

 

Shaking his head Chris pondered the logical illogic of teens briefly before coming up to the first turn because he needed to pay closer attention to what he was doing, after all it would not be a good idea to bump the wall with the Prince, not with the owner aboard, reinforced or not.

 

 

Aaron smirked at the conversation between Chris and Pete and seeing the light shining in the distance was ready to see the boy’s expressions. Rounding the final turn in the distance they could see quite a distance in the crystal clear water, the boys strained as they noticed the lights in the distance under the water.  There on an underwater shelf was the biggest city any of them had ever dreamed of seeing underwater.

 

 

“HOLY FUCK…” Kevin caught a glimpse of the city they were approaching, it was huge, and had fish swimming around it.

 

 

Pete was staring out the window mouth moving but no sounds coming out of it while Tim spoke up for the first time with a giggle after putting together several of the comments so far this morning, “Safe…we're finally safe.”

 

 

Aaron nodded his head as he smiled seeing Pete’s eyes bug out again as the front pylons started to touch and then merge through the transparent shield around the city perimeter, causing what looked like sparks to fly as the two shields merged, as the one passed through the other. And he really broke out into a grin when Kevin asked Chris, “Hey, what about the pressure difference and the bends and shit like that?”

 

 

“There is a transparent shield surrounding the underground cove that counters the pressure, there is no more pressure hitting the city walls than if it was only two feet under water.” Pointing out the pyrotechnics of the two shields meeting, “See what is happening as the two shields meet? That is the sure sign that we are passing through an active shield.”

 

 

Now fully through the shield, the shield around the Prince appeared to have disappeared, actually it had only changed frequency. Chris increased speed to four knots and turned the Prince towards the far right of the city where they could see strange berthing arms extending out into the ocean. Lining up the Prince by the lines on the monitor, Chris watched carefully as he powered down the forward thrusters and coasted into the waiting arms. Waiting until the last moment to rapidly slide his finger backwards on the power indicator causing a jet of bubbles to appear near the bow as the Prince halted before he tapped the indicator twice stopping all power to the thrusters. Hand still on the wheel just in case, he used his other one tap a few touch screen emblems and they all could feel the slight shudder through the hull as the grapples made contact as the claws retracted around the ship, locking it in place before that arms started to slide back into their housing and pulling the Prince along for the ride through the now open door in the side of the cliff face.

 

 

Watching the monitor Aaron waited until the rear cavern doors closed behind them and the water started to retreat as the bay was pressurized, exposing the top of the bridge tower. Once the water had retreated back to a normal surface level the shield collapsed with a brief strobe of light and the gantries from all sides of the berthing claws started to extend out so they could bridge the docking station with the ship. Nodding in satisfaction of another trip to the U.S. without exposing themselves, Aaron watched Chris power down the different stations, powering down the reactor to standby and launching station keeping and housekeeping programs so the Prince would be ready to go after being serviced on a moment’s notice. “Okay guys, let’s go pack up all your stuff and take a trip to the city where you can pick out your own rooms or even your own apartment if you want.”

 

 

Feeling the hurt in the thoughts coming from Tim, “No I am not throwing you guys away.” Aaron turned to face Tim so he could see he was sincere, “Even if YOU chose to spend every night in my bed you still would have rooms of your own to keep your stuff in and use as your own personal study or school station.”

 

 

Smiling again Tim ran from the bridge intent on reaching the cabin first, “I can’t wait to start school again.” Laughing at Kevin’s strange looks as he raced beside him and the yelled, “EEWW you like school”

 

 

Looking towards Kevin sadly, “When it was your only safe place and most times the only place you got food…” Tim trailed off seeing that Kevin understood.

 

 

Aaron with one arm around Pete’s shoulder walked into his cabin in time to see full packs being tossed on the bed with both boys running out of the bathroom clutching the new toiletries they had been given. Shrugging and deciding not to tell them they could leave them there so they would be on hand on their next trip, he figured from some of the leakage of thoughts from their minds they did not even realize what they were doing in their attempt to leave nothing behind that would be useful or cost them money to replace.

 

 

Slipping out of Aarons arms, Pete grinned as he ran into the bathroom and returned shortly clutching his own toothbrush and assorted toiletries, smiling all the while as Kevin and Tim who had already donned their packs held his up so he could twist around and slip it on, which he did as he skidded to stop in front of them. Slapping the buckles together he stood there and joined the other two smiling towards Aaron, their rescuer as if saying, ‘well’.

 

 

Laughing and holding his hand up to fend off an imaginary attack, “Alrighty just let me grab my case.” Aaron walked over to the desk and popped the Isolinear chip out of the P.A.D.D. and inserted it into one of the empty slots in the carrying case that was half full before walking to the door, “Okay, I am ready now, shall we…”

 

 

Puzzled Tim looked back at the closet full of clothes before running to catch up with everyone else, maybe he was going to come back later and pack he thought, as he caught up and heard Pete ask, “Are we going to port into your house?”

 

 

“Not until after you guys gets your first good look at the inside of the city. There is a balcony that overlooks the whole city just outside that bulkhead over there, with a view you have to see to believe." Aaron told them as he pointed off to the far side of the dock as they walked out of the passage onto the drying deck of the Alteran Prince. Walking quietly as the three kept swiveling their heads from side to side eyes catching something new to gawk at. They soon made the moving sidewalk on the dock, stepping on it with giggles from all three boys they soon made it to the end of the dock nearest the bulkhead. Glancing back and up towards the bridge Aaron sent Chris a short message telling him to join him for dinner as the boys would more than likely be in the med bay undergoing their procedures by then.

 

 

As they approached the bulkhead doors the inner doors opened so they could step inside, once they were inside Aaron walked in front of the teens and tapped a six digit number on the keypad causing the doors behind them to close with a hiss before the inner doors cycled open. Rushing forward the three teens halted as they hit the railing in awe at the huge open area filled with houses and parks, there was even a small waterfall in the distance splashing into a clear lake. “This whole place is huge,” Pete’s loud voice echoed suddenly in the quiet and he turned with a happy grin on his face eyes alight with pleasure.

 

 

“You can’t see my balcony from here, but gather round and hold on.” Aaron opened his mind feeling around for the three as they grabbed hold as he prepared to port them all to his house. Kevin being closest this time wrapped his arms around his neck while the other two hugged him from each side.  Sure that all three had a good hold he ported the four of them to his balcony and kissed Kevin as he turned his head to each side and kissed the other two first Tim then Pete before they released him with a giggle.

 

 

Pete looking over the balcony still giggling, “That is the only way to travel.”

 

 

“Come on guys let’s get you settled into your rooms, later on if you decide to roam the city you might find an apartment or something you want to move into, but for now you can stay here.” Aaron told them as he opened the sliding glass door and entered the living room, “kitchen and guest bathroom are past the dining room over there.” He pointed off to his left before pointing to his right, “That hall leads to a common room with the bedrooms off of it,” he told them as he walked down the hall and pointed out the stairs leading up, “my office is up those stairs.” Entering the circular common room Aaron pointed towards the open double doors near the window seat, “That’s my room, feel free to take any of the others for your own, they should all be the same and each has their own bathroom.”

 

 

Walking further into the room Tim spotted the large bed through the double doors and silently wished Pete wanted to stay here because he planned to spend a lot of nights in that big bed. Looking around he noticed Kevin standing in the room next to the hallway staring with his mouth open. Not able to see anything but the bed, which must have been queen size at least he walked over to the door and stuck his head inside. Blinking in shock he glanced around the door to see a huge desk with monitors set on the wall and further down a huge plasma screen with what looked like a DVD player and stereo system under it. Hearing Pete yell out, “HOLY SHIT,” behind him he turned around and rushed to the other room to see a duplicate of Kevin’s room, glancing at the door closest to Aaron’s bedroom he rushed over to it and threw it open as he wiggled out of his pack and threw it on the bed claiming this room as his own, the room closest to Aaron’s was his now. looking around the room for a few minutes he ran his hand along the empty book shelves near the desk and smiled at seeing he would have his own P.A.D.D. and a small case of chips was slotted next to it, seeing an opening to one side he walked over and saw a large closet that gave way to a bathroom on the far side. Deciding to christen his room he walked through the empty closet and stood in front of the urinal next to the toilet and picking up his flaccid cock he aimed at let go with a smile, finished he looked for a handle and not seeing any stepped back wondering if it was like the mall bathrooms and nodded when it flushed by itself.

 

 

Realizing he was all alone in the room and the others were elsewhere, Tim walked out of his room and hearing sounds coming from the one Kevin was standing in smiled as he found everyone else. “I found mine…I mean the one I want if that is ok,” he back peddled in case Aaron would change his mind by him taking things for granted.

 

 

The threesome now complete since Tim walked in, Aaron walked over the to the desk and started to point out features, “Okay, of course you have shelves to fill with books and stuff, whatever you want to order in really within reason. Once you log into the system for the first time you have a lot of things to choose from in setting up your account and such, one of them is setting up your bank account, you will get a weekly stipend that is based on how well you do in your chosen studies, it’s an incentive to push you to learn faster and harder.” Laughing at the clueless looks on their faces, “like if you know you can earn forty dollars for getting a B on a test but fifty if you get an A, it sure is an incentive to get an A now isn’t it?”

 

 

Turning so he could stare at each of them in turn, Aaron told them, “You will not be able to earn any money for sex though…I am not running a brothel. Like I said before, you share my bed or anyone else’s because you want to.” Waiting until all three nodded back at him, “Good then we will not discuss this again. When you log on for this first time you will be prompted to set up your account which will have a starting balance of two hundred and fifty dollars. You will get a weekly stipend of seventy five dollars as long as you maintain a C average in your chosen fields.” Holding up his hand to forestall any interruptions, “I know that the current outside education system is a bunch of crap and even if you choose a field of study, that some things just are useless, things that you will never use again. English is like that in some respects. So what you will learn is how to properly write essays and research papers and as long as you can pass the tests designed to see if you know how to find the information you need you can move on. I mean if you are going to go into engineering being able to discuss Keats in depth is useless to you. The same with the other bullshit subjects for your chosen field, history is only useful if you like it and it is going to be part of your career. That’s one of the things this system will help you with, you will advance at your own rate of learning and after mastering the basics you will use day in and out for the rest of your life it will start to tailor what you learn so you will soon be neck deep in your chosen field. From time to time you will be tested on the basics to make sure you have retained what you learned, so fair warning.”

 

 

“I figure you will spend about two and a half hours with the teaching programs each morning, then maybe another hour or two in research mode the rest of the time will be spent mastering your gifts and then doing what you want for the most part. You will get out of the system what you put into it, it will be up to you to work to make your dream come true, I will just give you the means to do so.” Aaron was tickled at the range of emotions playing across their faces as he outlined briefly the tools now at their disposal to make their dreams come true.

 

 

Waving them out of Kevin’s room and back into the common room Aaron turned and looked to the eagerly grinning Pete, “I know I promised to start the procedure to alter your DNA as soon as we got here, so the question is do you want to settle in first or port over to the med bay to get started?”

 

 

“Now please,” Pete bounced in place practically screaming his thoughts out, once he had been altered and became an Alteran he knew he would finally belong, and he wanted to belong with his whole being.

 

 

Glancing at the other two Aaron watched Tim nod shyly in agreement while Kevin thought for a moment before slowly nodding his head also “okay dump all your dirty laundry in three piles over by the washer by color,” Aaron pointed of to the right of the hallway to the washer and dryer snuggled into the nook. “I will get them washed and the clean clothes on your beds so when you get back you can put them away.” Frowning slightly as he thought about how a lot of the new kids they would soon rescue would be in the same situation of very few changes of clothing. “The whole Island is of course clothing optional,” seeing their confusion he grinned, “meaning you only have to wear clothes if you want to but I will fix the accounts so everyone that joins us gets the basics without charge. Just remember that it will take a week to get stuff as the Prince will only be taking weekly trips to San Francisco for now. So if you order it and it misses being to the warehouse by Friday you have to wait till the following week.” Later on he thought he would set up some wholesale orders so there would be a clothing store  on the island, as he never gave it a thought about how most would not be able to port wherever they wanted to shop, he kept forgetting he was the only one so far that had unlimited range.

 

 

Quickly bringing his two changes of clothes out into the room Kevin dropped them to one side of the washing machine frowning in thought, thinking about how much money he had now that Aaron searched it out and set it aside in his name instead of that thief, he would have to ask about it later. Figuring it was Pete’s turn to ride in the front so to speak Kevin hugged Aaron’s side for the trip without having to be asked as the others quickly threw their clothes down and rushed over to grab on also.

 

 

Laughing Aaron held up a hand, “Hold on guys, we need to go back to the balcony so we can port over to the med bay.”

 

 

Confused Pete looked around the room for any signs of shields or something, “Why? Is there something that prevents porting from inside your house?”

 

 

Shaking his head no as he walked towards the balcony Aaron explained, “Not really, it’s just common courtesy, good manners and all. Even though you're the first group to come live here everyone needs to start off on the right foot. While it is possible to port anywhere how would you like it if someone you did not know ported in your room while you were studying.” Shaking his head once more he led them to the balcony, “no it is better to port from and to a person’s balcony, get in the habit now and it will stop problems later on down the road. The only exceptions are medical responders and security forces, though I don’t think security will be a concern as not many telepaths would dare harm another telepath, feeling the pain you inflicted on another telepath stops most of that. So as common courtesy everyone will learn to port to a persons balcony and if the door is open they can just walk in calling out a greeting as the owner is welcoming company or if the door is closed they will know to knock and wait for the door to be answered.” Pointing to the touch screen they had missed when they arrived, “even if no one answers the door you can always record a message in case you missed the person you intended to visit.”

 

 

Not having to tell the boys again they closed in on him and grabbed on with their body hugging him so he could port them to the med bay. Aaron chuckled as he kissed Pete and ported them to the middle of the med bay, and in reverse order kissed the other two setting them giggling and smiling. Pete the first to be released from his kiss stepped away and thought to himself this was more like it, definitely something more advanced than the Star Tech Universe.

 

 

Hearing Pete mumble about something better than Star Trek, Aaron chuckled as he watched him run his hand lovingly alongside the bio-tube, “Since you are so eager, you can be first Pete.”

 

 

Hearing his name and told he was first Pete bounced in place grinning from ear to ear and started to climb into the tube.

 

 

Laughing Aaron held his side as Pete climbed into the tube and squatted on his heels as he tried to determine which way his feet were supposed to go, “Feet towards the wall.” He walked over to the tube as Pete sat with his back to the room legs stretched out in front of him, moving things around inside the tube as he examined them trying to discern their purpose.

 

 

Pulling a cart over to the side of the tube Aaron swatted Pete’s hand, “Go on and lie down and get comfortable while I get you prepped.” Taking a bottle of sterilizing gel off the cart he picked up Pete’s right arm and squirted a liberal amount over the crook of his elbow and used some gauze to rub it around before picking up what looked kind of like a blood pressure cuff with tubes running into it, holding it up so Pete could see it. “This will feed the fluids and other goodies into your blood stream, the cuff will keep you from bending your elbow while wearing it.” The sounds of Velcro being undone was the next thing Tim and Kevin heard as they stepped close to the Tube watching what was happening closely, listening to the instructions intently.

 

 

Securing the cuff to Pete’s elbow Aaron gently laid the arm down in the tube and reached over and grabbed the surgical lube and pulled the clear hose from the left side and applied a liberal amount to the other end ,“Pull up your legs so I can insert this in your bottom, this way it will keep the fluid clean, we are not as worried about pee in the tank as that will be easily filtered out, this will make sure that there is no floaters.” He gently laughed at the blushing teen as he slowly inserted the end of the tube before pumping up the end so that the opening slowly became larger and the balloon would hold it in place. Patting Pete’s legs he pushed on them so he would stretch out again, “There the worst part is over now the only thing left is the sensors that will maybe pinch a little, nothing that is worse than running your finger over the sharp ends of a some staples.” Picking up the two sensors he showed them off before squirting some more of the cleansing gel on Pete’s chest above his heart and on the right temple before working it in with some new gauze. Pushing the sensor in over Pete’s heart the panel near his feet lit up displaying his vital signs with another panel lighting up above it after he placed the one on his temple. “There how was that, did those two hurt any?”

 

 

Smiling back Pete shook his head no, “Not really not even much of a pinch, though the tube in the ass was weird and uncomfortable at first.”

 

 

“Ok then sleepy time then.” Aaron told him kissing him on the forehead before activating the soma unit that would put him to sleep through the sensor on his head, he would secure the mask that after placing the tube into his lungs after all three were asleep, so that they would not freak out before sealing the tube and starting the cycle that would fill the tube with the regen liquid. Brushing some of the loose hair back from Pete’s face he pointed to the next tube, “NEXT.”

 

 

Tim smiled as he climbed in and squatted in the tube and picked up the hose and held it up so it could be lubed, grinning when Aaron did so for him and slowly worked it through his sphincter, slowly settling down with his hand guarding the tube before stretching his legs out and removing his hand with a grin and offering up his right arm.

 

 

Handing Tim some gauze Aaron squirted the sanitizing gel on Tim’s elbow chest and temple, rubbing it into the elbow while Tim did the other areas. Quickly attaching the Velcro IV set he placed it around Tim’s elbow and secured it before quickly placing the sensors. “Night,” he kissed Tim’s forehead before activating the sleep unit and turning towards Kevin who looked pensive. “You can wait or even change your mind you know, it’s not too late to back out if you want.”

 

 

Blinking Kevin looked up at Aaron ,“HUH,” before walking towards him.“Oh…no I was thinking about what you said last night, about having all the money stashed in the bank for me when I turn eighteen, I was just thinking it might be nice to have some of it put in the account so I can buy a few extra things in the beginning, things that will brighten up our rooms and make it a real home for the three of us, plus I was wondering about pets, Pete used to have a dog long ago until his dad got rid of him, I think he may of killed Raffe, but Pete never said, he loved that dog and it protected him for a while from his drunken father.” Turning around once he was close to Aaron, Kevin pulled his arms around his abdomen, wanting the comfort of being held, “it was bad enough after my parents were killed and what that bitch tried to do to me, and the group home…well the guy only hit me once before I took off.” Squirming a little in the comforting arms, “I guess it bothers me that their life was so bad, I was only on the street a short time compared to both of them, and I had nowhere near the bad experiences they have gone through.” Turning around so he could look up at Aaron, “I just want to be able to do something special for them…for my family, because that is what we are to each other.”

 

 

Nodding his head, “I have no problems with dogs, I am rather partial to them really, though you might want to wait until you three master porting, most of the apartments are high up, and our place is the highest above the main park.” Aaron quickly changed track adding in our place when he felt Kevin’s emotion start to change. “As far as getting your hands on your money early…well I did set it up so no one could touch the principal until you're eighteen to protect it from being stolen again, what if you take…No that won’t work. I know, how about you take a disbursement on the interest generated, that should be pretty hefty, after all you are earning three and a quarter percent interest on half a million dollars, the rest has been invested in secure bonds and such until we could sit down and decide how you wanted to invest it, so I would imagine it would be at least several thousand dollars a month if not a lot more.” Looking up to the ceiling for a moment as he worked the math in his head, “A whole hell of a lot more, ten percent of half a million dollars is fifty grand so at least fifteen thousand and some change from the other quarter percent.” Looking down into the shocked face of Kevin he had to chuckle, “I can direct the interest to your account at the end of the month for this months earnings if you want, you will just have to wait a couple of weeks for the money…or I could loan you some now and you can pay me back when your money does come in.”

 

 

Nodding his head in a daze Kevin stumbled over the words at first, “Th…Thank…Thank you. Could you put two thousand in each of our accounts, I’ll pay you back at the end of the month.”

 

 

“Okay, I'll do that later on this afternoon, and I will have them deposit a disbursement which should hit on the fourth I think it is.” Changing tracks for a moment as he moved them closer to the bio-tube Aaron kissed him gently on the top of the head, "You know you are an incredible giving person to think of your friends like you are. Though let’s not make taking disbursement a habit, save them for things you really need, that way once you hit eighteen you’re set.” Leaning over and placing his mouth near Kevin’s ear, “Though I will never kick you out…just remember you are free to live where you want, and that will always be your room.”

 

 

Smiling Back Kevin moved to the side of the tube and stared into it, “I was going to ask, that before I went in there, for you to do to me what you have with Pete and Tim, but I think I would have trouble concentrating right now. My head is swimming with informational overload, so it might be best if we did it when I get out.” Kevin looked over his shoulder hopeful.

 

 

Aaron moved in close and kissed him soundly, tongue pushing past his lips before nodding his head, “Whenever you want, however you want.”

 

 

“Later then…after,” Kevin told him as he climbed into the tube and lay down on his side so the tube could be placed easily.

 

 

Aaron quickly prepped Kevin and once he was finished he kissed his forehead like he did the others and started the sleep cycle so he nodded off into a deep sleep. Assured that all three boys were asleep He pulled the tray off the bottom of the cart and placed it on the top and uncovered the emergency equipment. Starting with Kevin he Intubated him, securing the breathing tube in his trachea before sealing a mask in place around the nose to keep the fluid out and attaching the end of the tube to the respirator. Checking over the vital signs one last time he pushed the button that would seal the tube and start the regen fluid flowing in. once it was full he went to the computer console and programmed it to start the DNA alterations before moving onto Tim, and then finally Pete.

 

 

Watching the three boys for a moment to make sure they were comfortable and everything was progressing as it should Aaron dimmed the lights before activating the computerized doctor so he could safely leave.  The last thing he did was to tie in his communicator to the computerized doctor so he could be reached instantly if something started to go wrong.

 

 

Porting back to his office he secured the ear bud before checking his email after sitting down, sighing he saw a couple of hundred emails since this morning and the day was far from over, he really needed to find some people to help oversee this shit he thought as he opened the first one. Reading the subject heading he quickly minimized it and scroll through the listing, seems about half of them were answering the ads he placed for ex military for security positions with his new company saving those for later when Chris showed up he hunted through the headers, opening the emails not looking for a job and slowly worked his way through the list, thankfully most of the emails dealt with status reports not cry’s for solutions to imaginary problems.

 

 

Thinking about the emails he had read updating him to the going ons in the companies he had bought outright, companies that his future self had targeted as being instrumental in research and development of a large amount of the technology he had brought back to the past with him, he felt it was time to buy up the rest of the ones on his list and set in motion releasing certain of his advanced toys on the rest of the world, properly controlled of course. Firing off an encrypted email to Roger and his law firm telling them he would meet with them at their new office building at eleven, Aaron sent one other telling the company exec of Altare technologies to hold a press conference announcing the release of the Isolinear chip. The world would wake in a frenzy at finding chips that could store up to ten terabytes of information, in non magnetic form in the size of a business card, it would revolutionize the computer industry, especially as he was prepared to release the chips at the cost of seventy five dollars a terabyte, in several different sizes. Of course that would mean that a few other of his companies would need to make their own announcements, he would have to watch carefully for the right moment to buy out both AMD and Intel as their stock plummeted, it would be easier to retool their factories than build from scratch.

 

 

Finished for the moment with his planned takeovers Aaron spilt the screen so he could refer back to the ad Chris had placed in the military times and on the ex-military gay hub.

 

'New International firm is currently recruiting those that the military deem non appropriate just because of their sexual orientation. We have positions in every field imaginable, from advanced security for our corporate facilities up to and including pilots for our fleet of aircraft and cruise ships. Please send resume with cover letter which includes service branch, grade and picture to …'

 

 

Well that was vague enough even he did not know what the hell was up with that ad, he would have to ask Chris about it at supper, there had to be more to it than that, or some secret code that those in the know could spot Aaron thought as he went back to the first email and opened it up, reading the cover letter. Interesting and just as vague as the ad, opening the attached resume he noticed that most of the jobs held by the applicant dealt with aircraft maintenance, after opening up the picture attachment he created a new folder labeled air and moved it over before going on to the next one.

 

 

Half an hour later he had three folders full of applications, each labeled either air, sea or land which would not give anyone at a casual glance an idea of what they involved. Opening the final email he read through it and it seemed this guy was looking for a position in an orgy or something like it, opening the attached resume the screen filled with lines of code instead of the words he had expected to see. Very grateful he did not use any known forms of operating systems available to outsiders he glanced over the first couple of lines of the code and smiled when he saw it was designed to attack Microsoft software. The whole attachment was a hidden executable file, too bad his system did not use an environment that allowed executables. Starting an analysis program that would let him know what the virus was designed to do, he opened the jpeg attachment to see another bunch of scrolling code, this one designed to attack open source systems. Hmm this guy seemed serious as he dragged the file over to the analysis program and set it after that one too. Closing both attachments and double checking his system just in case, out of habit from when he was a windows user exclusively, he smiled as the system reported no intrusions just as the analysis was finished, seems it was a redirect to a web site that would then download something to his system. He had an old laptop somewhere around here that operated with windows, he would find it then alter it slightly and send the email over and watch what it did to a secure stand alone system.

 

 

Chris would be here soon Aaron thought as he looked at the clock, so standing up he went down to put some clothes on and grab some cash, he was going to port over to his favorite Chinese restaurant and order takeaway, if he hurried there would just be enough time to get back before Chris showed up.

 

 

Walking outside the restaurant and around the corner with his order he made for the dumpster so he would be well out of sight when he ported out, stomach rumbling at the enticing smells coming from the bag he was carrying so he was not really paying much attention to his surroundings, relying on the fact his mind would warn him of any approaching hostile thoughts. So it was a shock when he heard a voice from behind the dumpster call out to him.

 

 

“Hey mister you want me to blow you for ten bucks?” The voice interrupted his musings and stopped him a moment before he ported, just in time it seemed.

 

 

Aaron stopped and looked around the back of the dumpster and spotted what looked like a young child and he blinked several times as he sent his mind searching the area for other thought patterns. Finding none he smiled at the kid and sent out his mind towards the urchin, time was short and he was intent on getting answers fast, nodding his head so the kid would not run when he slowly approached rubbing his crotch he was rewarded when the youngster grinned and moved closer.  Delving into the boys mind Aaron was slightly shocked to find out he was eleven years old and a runaway from his religious father who had found his older brother looking at pictures of guys on his computer and beat him until he stopped moving. The kids name was Kenny and he ran thinking his dad had killed his brother, but he found out later that his brother was alive and somewhere around here was a hidden church re-education camp that his brother, named David had been sent to. Constantly cold and hungry, Kenny did what he had to so he could eat each day and keep searching for his brother. Glancing at his watch and seeing he had about five minutes before Chris would show up Aaron did something he hoped he would not ever have to do to a child and sent his mind out touching the nerve center of the youngster and sent Kenny to sleep, jumping forward to catch him before he could fall completely. Standing up holding onto the kid he glanced around one last time before porting them back to his house and safety.

 

 

Porting into the living room about the time Chris came walking through the door Aaron handed off the bag of food, “Hey Chris grab this will you, while I get Kenny over to the med bay.”

 

 

Grabbing the offered food Chris opened the top and looked in, taking a deep sniff he smiled, “Only you would go after Chinese and come back with and extra serving of kid.” He laughed at the look on his boss’s face.

 

 

“Not funny.” Looking back down at the kid in his arms he whispered, “not funny at all.” Aaron ported over to the med bay and entered a different room, one designed for emergency treatment and laying his burden down on the table he carefully cut the boys clothes off, nose wrinkling in disgust at the smell.

 

 

Chris setting the food on the table worried over to what Aaron said to his joking comment before porting out, he thought he knew him pretty well and had yet to encounter a situation where he did not find the humor in any given situation, making up his mind he ported over to the med bay himself to find out what the hell was going on that had Aaron upset.

 

 

Not as used to being in the med bay he ported to the entrance and walked into the emergency section, the smell hit him first as he approached the table where Aaron was hosing the boy off with warm water, looking at the floor in disgust towards the remains of the clothes the boy wore he used a bit of kinesis to gather them and dispose of them down the refuse chute, at least the air would clear soon he hoped as he looked through the items left behind on the table, including a photo of the boy and what looked like his older brother.

 

 

“His father is a religious nut, and he found David, his older brother checking out pictures of guys on the computer and beat him nearly to death,” pointing at the boy on the table as he finished housing him down, after washing most of the dirt away, “Kenny here ran when he saw what was happening to his brother, later on a friend told him his brother was alive and was taken to some re-education center to fix his problem. Kenny has spent the last three weeks making his way to the city I found him in so he could rescue his brother.”

 

 

Being trained in basic first aid and the use of the med bay equipment Chris pushed over the prep cart and squirted liberal amounts of the sterilizing gel on the kid’s temple, chest and right arm. Placing the sensor and control unit on the temple first so Aaron could Intubate the kid after starting the suppression cycle or as Aaron referred to it the go to sleep button. Once that was done he moved to the side giving Aaron access and cleaned the chest and placed the sensor that monitored vital signs before cleaning the kids arm and wrapping the IV / med line in place. Five minutes had not passed before the boy was totally hooked up tubes and sensor all over the place and the bio-tube sealing and the regen liquid filling it rapidly, “So we ARE planning on visiting this asshole father after supper right?”

 

 

Nodding his head yes, Aaron looked over the readouts as the system started to diagnose the kid, seeing the white count was way elevated he tapped a few commands to bolster the immune system and set about reading through the reports. “Chris this might take a while so can you port back and bring supper here, we can eat over in the next room, it’s going to take about an hour to find out everything that is wrong with Kenny.”

 

 

Looking around the room so he could fix it in his mind for the future, Chris nodded his head, even though Aaron’s back was to him and ported to the apartment and back again in under twenty seconds, Grinning to lighten the mood he called out, “Soups on…or should that be lo-mien.”

 

 

Nodding his head happy for the distraction Aaron slowly walked away from the readouts, there was no sense in hanging out watching each report be created after the test had been preformed, after all nothing was life threatening that he had to stay right there to direct the automatics. Walking into the other room he smiled towards the three sleeping teens in their bio-tubes before sitting down at what eventually would become the central station once they were fully staffed. “I can’t imagine the pain that kid must have gone through, I mean he offered to suck me off for ten bucks so he could get something to eat. Plus the shear balls he has with taking off to save his brother without a plan.” Taking an egg roll he bit into it as he thought about what to do as he opened the container of pork lo-mien and picked up the chopsticks.

 

Chris snorted as he picked up a fork and opened his own container, “How the hell you can use those things is a mystery to me.” He pointed his fork towards Aaron’s chopsticks.

 

 

Shrugging Aaron grinned as he fluffed up the lo-mien making it easier to pick up, "Pretty easy once you get use to it.”

 

 

Silence reigned for the next ten minutes while they ate, broken finally when Aaron’s hunger had abated enough he slowed down. “I was planning on talking over the fifty or so emails I have received so far in response to your ad. Though one of them will have to be investigated once we have a few geeks on board as he sent a virus that would have directed a normal computer to a web address to do who knows what to the system.”

 

 

Chris looked up and at Aaron strangely for a moment before figuring that he wanted to talk about something normal, at least until the trauma  scan was complete. Obliging him for the moment, as he too was eager to jump in that kids fathers shit big time. “Well that was fast, did any of them look promising enough to set up interviews?”

 

 

“Most of them look good on paper so far,” Aaron nodded his head as he finished the last of his food, “If you would have Joe set up video conference interviews with the list, and then if they pass muster we will fly them out to California next week for face to face interviews, I would think most will be hired, it is just a matter of finding out how many of them will be good candidates for alteration.”

 

 

“As soon as you get it to me I will get in touch with Joe so he can get right on it, he is very eager to get to the island next week and begin the alteration process.” Laughing at the last instant messenger session they had together this afternoon, “the old prune face himself tried to toss him shit, that is until Joe reminded him that he had completed all his schooling without the navy’s financial help by the time he was sixteen.”

 

 

Aaron smiled and Chris frowned as he followed his boss’s gaze back to the trauma side, “This is not working is it?” Seeing the raised eyebrow and questioning look, “we both want to be in there finding out what is wrong with that kid and planning retribution against the jackass of a father and rescuing the kids brother.”

 

 

Standing up nodding in agreement Aaron started for the door, “Your right, let’s just see how far along the diagnostics are and then we can plan a trip to Ohio to visit with the good Reverend Billings, I am sure he will want us to hear his last confession as he slips down to hell.”

 

 

Agreeing, Chris followed Aaron into the trauma side and frowned at the blinking display with red sections highlighted; pointing at the display he moved closer, “what is that?” Looking over Aaron’s shoulder he whispered in shock, “Gonorrhea and Syphilis…just what the hell has that kid been up to, to get both of those?”

 

 

Nodding his head in agreement Aaron started tapping in commands to introduce the gamma goblin factors that would cure those two diseases, “Well it is rare for him to come down with those after being on the streets for three weeks.  I think after we rescue his brother we will have to sit down with him and try to figure out just who gave those to him and take action…The Winds alone knows how many other kids have been infected.”

 

 

“Can’t you just do a memory scan while he is asleep? I mean won’t it be less traumatic for him?” Chris wondered as he placed a hand on the top of the bio-tube and gazed at the cherubic face in the swirling vortex of the regen liquid.

 

 

“Not while he is in the artificial coma the soma unit put him in, and if I waited until we brought him out and did it while he slept it would be like a horrible nightmare he could not wake from, it is better to do it while he is awake and can be distracted by questions as I dig into his memories. That way even though he will have flashes he will not relive them as I will be the one to put together the bits and pieces as the questions bring up several memories to choose from.” Aaron finished programming the treatment he thought would be best and set the unit to automatic and tied in his ear bud to be alerted like the others.

 

 

Stepping back from the console Aaron turned and held out his hand, “So ready for a trip to Ohio, the bastard’s father will be home soon and we would not want him to find us packing his sons things.”

 

 

Grinning evilly Chris grabbed onto Aaron’s arm, “Oh I am so looking forward to this visit, and just think we get to let our dirty minds wander as we fulfill my dream of panty snatching in a boy’s dorm.”

 

 

Laughing as he shook his head at the mindless banter that would be inappropriate if he could not read the others thoughts, Chris was practically screaming out his need to bring both boys to safety. Aaron let his mind picture where they wanted to be and ported them both to Kenny’s bedroom on the old style ranch behind the small church. Glancing around the room Aaron let his mind search for others nearby and finding none, “It’s clear…you start packing in here while I go to his older brothers room, just pile things on the bed then wrap them in the bed sheets for portation, bundles are easier to port than loose items.”

 

 

Walking into the hall Aaron noticed right away the broken door to David’s room from Kenny's memories. Peaking around the corner he sighed at the sheer destruction done to the belongings and used a spot of Kinetics to clear a space on the bed before piling things on it. If anyone would have walked in on Aaron right then they would have been treated to the visage of a tall young man standing in a room as objects flew around him as he stared off into the distance, for those that were so religious they were frightened of their own shadow they would have sworn on a stack of bibles he was possessed. As Aaron filled each bed sheet with as much as it could hold he mentally tied their ends into a knot before porting the bundle to the empty suite on the lower floor apartment building Chris and Joe were living in. Checking all the usual hiding spaces a teenage male like to stash his goodies Aaron only found a few computer CD’s and looking at the trashed computer closely he thought they might be able to salvage the hard drive at least, he ported them to the apartment with the rest.

 

 

Finished Aaron returned to the younger brothers room and seeing the small bundles near the door ported them to the apartment with the rest, “Check the rest of the house for anything the boys might like, you know pictures and such. I’m going to check the bastards room and I will join you in a few minutes.”

 

 

Nodding his head a grim faced Chris walked out of the room and looked around until he spotted the linen closet so he could grab a couple more sheets and went to the living room and started to gather things. While Aaron walked down to the end of the hall and noticed the locked door to the bedroom. Holding his hand up and using Kinesis he pushed the air in front of him forcefully causing the door handle to fly out of the wooden door.  Walking in he looked around noticing how barren the walls were, nothing could tell a visitor that the person living in this room was once married.

 

 

Not seeing anything out of place but wondering why the door was locked Aaron went around looking for clues that would give him a lead on the answer of why such security.  Not finding any hidden stashes of porn or cash he was perplexed on why the locked door, well the man would be home in a few minutes and he could just take the information from his unwilling mind he thought as he walked into the living room and saw the bundle of stuff near the dining room table and after porting it so it joined the rest he joined Chris standing at the back door and looked in the direction he was staring.

 

 

Sighing he should have known, there across the lawn near the church was a huge sign proclaiming in huge block letters 'Fear God'. He never understood zealots. With almost all the religions out there stating that their God loved them why would this church be stating things making people fear their God, it just made no sense.

 

 

Placing his hand in comfort on Chris’s shoulder he was startled by the sound of the garage door opening, “We did not check out the garage…well shit we’ll have to do it after we talk to the prick.” Aaron moved to be ready to intercept the man as he entered the house.

 

 

Reverend Billings was not a happy man right then, his oldest boy was one of those damn perverts and his youngest had disappeared and now the deacons were getting suspicious and asking questions of where the youngest brat was, they of course knew about sending the oldest off to be cured. The first thing he noticed when he walked into the kitchen was that there were two people in his kitchen looking at him with looks of thinly disguised disgust on their faces. Before he had a chance to open his mouth and demand an explanation he felt himself flying through the air and landing hard on the top of the kitchen table.  The tall brown haired man in some type of uniform slapped his hands on either side of his head hard, “Welcome home reverend mother fucker…do be quiet as I dig through your mind won’t you.”

 

 

Aaron blinked, he looked at the mild mannered Captain he had hired and worked with all these past two months and was surprised at the venom in his voice, not only that Chris was forcibly mind raping the man, seeking the truth of what happened here several weeks ago and since. Cocking his head to the side he slowly reached out and tasted the emotions coming from Chris as this was so out of character as far as he knew, he watched him closely as he released the man and hauled back and cold cocked him across the temple sending him into the land of the unconscious. Before he could ask what the hell was going on Chris stumbled to the kitchen sink and hurled his dinner down the disposal as he fumbled to turn the water on.

 

 

Very concerned now, Aaron went over to Chris and placed his hand on his back and started to rub gentle circles as Chris sobbed in between bouts of being sick, not going further than the surface thoughts Aaron caught disgust and anger in his emotions. Chris rinsing his mouth out with water spit it into the sink before turning the water off. “I guess that was tougher than I thought it was going to be. That is one sick twisted fucker, he has a storage unit just outside the city limits where all the important stuff is stored, including close to a hundred thousand dollars he has skimmed off the top of the tithing’s. Also his S&M bondage stuff is there too.” Staring at his fist and then back to the man on the table, “I never thought of myself as a violent person…not really, oh I knew I could protect myself but to be the instigator...”

 

 

Shaking his head as he stared hatefully at the unconscious man on the table ,“I will of course make a telepathic report, but once it is downloaded I want you to take the shit out of my mind, if I am going to do this more often then I need to learn to control what I take…some of the stuff in his mind was unpleasant.” Chris rubbed the side of his head as if he could wipe away the memories.

 

 

Taking a crystal from his pocket along with a device that resembled the device used in the med bay to monitor patients brain activity and put them to sleep Aaron handed them over to Chris, "Do you know how to use this?” Getting a nod in return Aaron placed his hand alongside Chris’s temple, “Give me the location of the storage unit and then while you are recording the scan I will set things up and clean out the garage, after that we will go retrieve David.”

 

 

While Chris was recording the scan he performed on the twisted fuck as he called him, Aaron went into the garage and searched for anything that looked like it belonged to the boys. Finding a couple of bikes and not much else he ported them to the apartment and ported himself to the storage unit Chris had visualized. Ripping the door off by kinesis and hearing the sounds of sirens in the distance he figured he must have tripped some alarm. Glancing around and not seeing any camera’s he quickly ported the boxes of money and what looked like heirlooms back to the apartment, he found some of the more damaging videos and toys and ported them back to the reverends car before pulling power directly out of the transformer causing it to explode as he ported back to the house, he had expanded quite a bit of energy so far and needed to replace it soon or suffer.

 

 

Wobbling after porting in Aaron went to the man’s refrigerator and opened it up and spying some soda he grabbed an unopened can and quickly downed it, feeling slightly better with the sugar rush hitting his system he looked up into Chris’s concerned eyes, “I’ll be fine after getting some food. I've expended a bit more energy than I thought I would, since there is no power I can draw from around.” Chuckling out loud “I think I melted half the substation when I grabbed what I could over by the storage unit.”

 

 

Smiling at the concerned looks he was getting Aaron moved closer hand held up to touch Chris’s face ,“I have enough to do this and then get us to a diner where we can gorge, or at least I can gorge and refill the empty tanks. We have time after all, seeing that the best time to hit that place is after dark, less people around then.”

 

 

Chris nodded his head as much as he wanted this stuff out of his head he was worried that Aaron was over extending himself.

 

 

Thankful that there was only about twenty minutes of information that needed to be erased Aaron quickly removed the information that Chris scanned leaving everything else in place, finished he dropped his hand and smiled back at Chris’s beaming face and nodded at his thank you. Looking over at the table and not seeing the reverend Aaron did not have to ask.

 

 

“He is half in and out of his car, seems the good reverend tripped and fell getting into the car and suffered a massive brain bleed,” shaking his head sadly Chris started to giggle, “He suffered before he died I assume…to bad really.”

 

 

Aaron just looked at him for a moment before shaking his head, he was tired and hungry so not about to question him at the moment. Visualizing the placement near Cincinnati, luckily he had eaten at one of those all you can eat buffets several years ago as he passed through on his way south, he ported them just outside of the mall and together they walked in to the food court. Sitting down with a couple of slices of pizza to start off with Aaron eyed the rest of the food stalls deciding on what to eat next while Chris came back with a cup of Coffee.

 

 

Practically inhaling the pizza Aaron excused himself and went to the Chinese place and ordered enough for three people and carried the heaping tray back to the table where the guy in the pizza place started to look at him funny as he started to devour that heaps of food on the tray. Chris sat here sipping his coffee watching Aaron put away the food, eyes wide with astonishment, surely his stomach was not that big he thought, there was no way he could be fitting all that in one sitting in his stomach.

 

 

Smiling around the last few mouthfuls Aaron chuckled, “One of the best things about being Alteran is the sheer amount of food we can eat. Like this for example, I was running dangerously close to empty from expending so much energy. So everything I ate just now skipped past my stomach and is directly being broken down for fuel, in another hour my energy levels will be back to normal.”

 

 

Smiling and waving at the guy working behind the pizza counter who was still staring at him in awe, Aaron stood up and placed the empty trays and trash in the garbage, stretching knowing that he was being starred at by the woman at the Chinese place. Grinning he motioned to Chris, “come on lets walk around, there should be a bookstore around here somewhere, we have an hour to waste.” Once out of hearing range from the food court Aaron walked closer to Chris, “Okay, after I have rested up I will port us to the outside of the farmhouse and we will have to sneak in close enough to see inside a window. You are going to have to be on the lookout for roving guards and dogs, use your kinesis if you see any to knock them out. We need to get in and out as fast as possible.”

 

 

“Are we going to rescue anyone else if we come across them?” Chris wanted to be clear on their objective from the start.

 

 

“Any adults are on their own, we will free them and let them escape if that is what they want…We TAKE every kid we find in there back with us.” Aaron sounded cold, thinking that for the most part it would be kids they found, parents of zealots mostly disowned and shunned their offspring that came out to them after they reached eighteen.

 

 

As they continued their stroll through the mall wasting time Chris finally asked, “Do you think there are many kids in there?”

 

 

“I hope not, for their sake, most of those places are nothing short of torture chambers, at least the ones disguising themselves as clinics only resort to drugs and stuff…mostly.” Aaron looked lost for a moment as he remembered some of the pictures he had seen of those institutes, and knowing that homegrown ones would be far worse.

 

 

After thinking those thoughts and feeling better Aaron steered them towards the bathrooms and once past the door grabbed Chris’s arm and ported them both to the farm, just around the corner from the barn he had seen in the memory.

 

 

Keeping a hold on Chris, Aaron pulled them down into a crouch as he sent his mind searching the area, echoing the results to Chris since he was only a touch telepath, not finding anyone close to them and several minds dulled with pain and drugs under the house with several minds in the kitchen they looked at each other before running across the yard to quietly sneak up the front porch. Checking the windows for one that was not heavily blocked off Aaron finally found one into what looked like the den or an office and touching Chris again he ported them inside. Standing still he sent his mind searching once more and the three minds he had felt earlier in the kitchen were still there and trusting Chris to keep watch he sent his mind searching under the house to find a total of six minds, though only three were functioning on a higher level.

 

 

Quickly communicating a plan to Chris and making sure he would follow it to the letter, Aaron opened the door to the main part of the house. They slowly and carefully moved towards the kitchen, stopping just before they would be in direct view from the table Aaron held up his hand and reached out with his mind and using a touch of kinesis he crushed each of the men’s fourth cervical vertebrae, he had planned to leave them alive until he had heard them bragging about the torture done to some thirteen year old that afternoon. Each new voice giddy with excitement as the one described all that had been done to the boy. Leaving them paralyzed, he would decide whether to leave them that way and suffer or kill them after finding the kids.

 

 

Now that it was safe to walk into the kitchen, Aaron stood up and waved Chris on in as he walked into the room, “Ah good evening folks.” Waving them to stay seated even thought they could not move Aaron smiled, "No need to get up on our account as we are just here to pick up David and maybe any friends he has made since being sent here.”

 

 

The head thug tried to move and found out he could not feel his body, trying to swear at the intruders he found he could not move his lips or make a sound. Truly frightened he did not know what those two infidels had done to them, but once he was able to move again they would pay. Aaron smiled at catching the thoughts from the big bruiser, "I don’t think you truly realize what happened to you, so let me explain.” Aaron sat down across the table from the man taking the last open chair, without turning to face Chris he told him, “Go on downstairs and see about freeing the boys would you?”

 

 

“Now where was I,…oh yes, unfortunately each of you will never move again. Your fourth cervical vertebrae unfortunately ended up being crushed and severing your spinal cord. None of you will ever move anything but your eyes ever again, meaning your days of torturing others for fun is now at an end.” Aaron glared at them. “Now for the most part I could care less about questioning the three of you beyond asking where all your records are kept?” Aaron caught the man’s mind flash to the safe in his den which had a USB external hard drive in it that contained all the records they kept. Smiling at the man so he would have squirmed if he could, “good I can retrieve them from the safe in a moment, I assume of course this will include a record of the accounts and where all the money you are paid to torture these kids is stashed?”

 

 

Grinning evilly when the man’s mind flashed to the cellar under the barn floor where they kept most of the money, just so the feds would never be able to track anything other than what three cousins who farmed collectively brought in. “My, my, tax evasion on top of torture, and a secret hidden cellar out in the barn. Now for the final question listen carefully as I do not plan to repeat myself.” Aaron leaned forward, “how many of the kids sent here have ended up dead?” The cold glare Aaron sent towards the big man at the head of the table could have frozen a tropical rainforest.

 

 

Frowning when the number twelve flashed through the man’s mind along with faces Aaron slammed his hand down on the table before standing up, "I condemn the three of you to death, your DNA shall be removed from the gene pool.” He walked out of the kitchen leaving the sweating and fear filled creatures behind him. Once out of the room he sent a thought towards Chris, “hey Chris I will be down in a moment, I have some hidden loot to retrieve. Are you having any problems finding the kids and have you found David yet?”

 

 

“Not yet, though most of these kids are like real young, lower teens, and heavily bruised and it looks like burn marks on a couple of them, around their nipples…why would they be burned around their nipples, especially this type of long burn.” Chris’s voice trail off as he opened another locked dungeon type door and saw an older teen hanging from chains hooked to the rafters.

 

 

Porting to the barn Aaron kept in mental contact with Chris and heard him swearing at the chains he was attempting to undo without any success, walking down through the trapdoor he sent back, “Use your mind to break the lock, concentrate and push your power using kinesis to destroy the lock.”

 

 

Calmer now knowing that Aaron was still in contact with him Chris did what he suggested and watched the locks shatter under the power of his mind, “Thanks that did the trick.” Catching the teen before he could hit the floor Chris dragged him back to the room with the other three and lowered him gently to the ground before rushing back out to check for the last two.

 

 

Aaron who had found the money, actually he found the fortune in gems and gold bars hidden there and ported it to his living room until he could have it valued and sold so it could be credited to each of the kids equally. He spent a moment looking around the empty room before porting back to the den and opening the safe, pocketing the hard drive and any other papers he found inside he would go through them later he told himself as he ran for the steps to the basement.

 

 

Halfway down the steps he felt Chris’s horror through the mental contact, “Almost there,” he sent in reply to Chris’s urgent summons.

 

 

Rushing past the four teens laying next to each other in the first room Aaron rushed into the last room to see two teens hanging from chains…one of them looked like David that he had picked out of Kenny's mind and both of them were close to death. “SHIT…” Rushing to help Chris free the two teens they gently held them up as the chains were destroyed and they dropped into their arms, “let’s get them back with the others, all six of them need the trauma center.”

 

 

Not bothering to reply, Chris half carried the battered teen, afraid to do any more damage, before wincing as the teen groaned in pain and ported them both back down the hall. Aaron on the other hand used his telekinesis to carry the teen as if he weighed a couple of ounces and walked into the room just as Chris was arranging the group of unconscious teens so they were touching each other. Spotting an extra large electrical service Aaron reached for it with his mind and ripped the cover off exposing all the wires and circuits. Sparks flying everywhere from Aaron drawing as much power as he could through the box and causing it to explode just as he ported the eight of them to the trauma center deep under the ocean.

 

 

Thankfully all the teens were naked already and Aaron quickly floated the teen in his arms into the bio-tube, time of the essence as he quickly intubated the teen and slapped the gel on rubbing it in with his hand as he set the sensors before hooking up the IV collar to the right elbow and fastening the ventilator hose in place he did not bother doing anything else before he flipped the cap off the red emergency button causing the tube to seal and cycle under emergency programs.

 

 

Chris by that time had three of the remaining five teens in the bio-tubes and also had placed the sensor and IV collars so Aaron quickly followed behind Intubating them and hooking them to the respirator hose, he had sealed the first tube by flipping the cover and punching the red button. two down and four to go as he moved to the next one as Chris settled back from the last teen and came to his side taking over hooking up the ventilation hose so Aaron could move to the next patient.

 

 

Finger poised over the red button to the last of the teens Chris sighed in relief when Aaron moved his hands out of the way and he could push the button, “I am going after something with caffeine in it, it looks like it’s going to be a long night.  What should I bring back for you?”

 

 

Washing his hands in the sink Aaron shook his head, it was going to be real close for two of those boys, and one of them was David, “How about a doctor and a couple of nurses.” Shaking his head Aaron dried his hands, “sorry to be flippant but I think we are a bit overwhelmed at the moment…some juice would be nice and maybe some chocolate.” When he remembered what was originally asked.

 

 

Staring at his boss for a moment Chris nodded his head with a tired smile, showing there was no hard feelings, “Be right back, one pitcher of juice and a couple of pounds of chocolate coming right up.” Porting out to the tired laughter behind him he thought of who he knew that he could call to get to help.

 

 

Setting the coffee pot to brew twelve cups he found another carafe and filled it with juice, not bothering to read the label, all he knew was it was red. Digging through the cupboards he grabbed all his stashes of chocolate candies and threw them on the table before getting an idea, walking to the terminal he logged in and had the computer connect to the net and dialed a call. Hearing the ringing he felt relief when the familiar voice answered the other end, “Commander Mandeline here.”

 

 

“Joe, thank god you are there, we have a bit of an emergency down here, do you happen to know of any doc’s that are safe and family ?” Chris rushed out as he sank into the chair wanting to erase from his mind the past couple of hours.

 

 

“Whoa slow down dude…what do you need the doc’s for? Who’s hurt? More importantly how the hell will you get them there in time to be of help?” Joe went into overdrive thinking that his lovers porting skills would not be an asset with Aaron hurt.

 

 

“If you can get someone, Aaron can port them here no problem, why? We rescued seven kids that have been tortured, two of them might not make it.” Tears were freely running down Chris’s face and the emotion was clear over the phone that he was hurting.

 

 

Hearing the pain in his lovers voice Joe replied slowly and clearly trying to take his mind off the emergency, knowing that the rock solid man he had been with since thirteen was rattled because it was kids, “I just got off the phone with Carl, remember my older brother the third year med student at Berkley…who just happens to be at my house with his lover who is also a third year med student. I will get them in my room say in fifteen minutes and the boss can pick them up there.”

 

 

Relief…Chris felt blessed relief after all if they did not work out their memories could be modified as a last resort, but at least they would have help. “Thanks Brainiac, I knew you would come through for me. I'll call you back from the trauma center after the crisis passes. I just came home for caffeine as Aaron said it was going to be a very long night…love you” he disconnected and vaulted out of the chair for the coffee pot and poured the contents in a carafe before gathering everything up and porting to the trauma center.

 

 

The sounds of a bag hitting the counter behind him followed by two carafe’s that were thumped down on the counter caused Aaron to twist his head over his shoulder, more out of habit as the only other person in the city at the moment was Chris. Walking back to the counter as there was nothing he could do at the moment he took the cup of juice being offered and grinned seeing the bag of M&M’s on the counter.

 

 

“I need you to take another location from my mind.” Chris started and seeing Aaron pale he was quick to reassure him “I was able to find you two doc’s and they will be waiting for you in Joe’s parents house. In his old bedroom actually, and they're family.”

 

 

Staring at Chris, cup half way to his lips Aaron blinked several times trying to process the information, he could have sworn he said he found him some help and they were gay. Twisting his head to the side he looked at Chris like he was spouting off in another language.

 

 

Grinning Chris nodded his head, “You heard me right. Joe’s older brother is a third year med student…so is his lover and they are visiting Joe’s family, waiting for him to get back from Hawaii, and they are alone all weekend as his parents are in Hawaii with Joe right now. Joe is calling them and letting them know to be in his room in five minutes and it is an emergency.” He looked back from the clock.

 

 

Slowly putting his cup down on the counter Aaron thought about it, he did pick up the thought that was practically shouted at him that if they did not work out they could always alter their memories according to Joe, for him to say that about his own brother told him he was trusted. “Okay, give me the location and I will go get them.” He held up his hand to touch Chris who picked up his rising hand and placed it on his temple. Getting the picture of the room clearly Aaron nodded his head, “be right back,” before porting out.