A Mother's Love

The trip to the headquarters took about forty-five minutes. They were escorted from the truck into a large tent that had a table and video equipment in it. Around the table there were eight folding chairs. Five of them were on one side of the table and three on the other side. There were three microphone set up on the table. They were asked by a man in a military uniform sitting in one of the three chairs to please take a seat on the opposite side of the table. May sat in the middle chair of the group, with Gabrielle to her right and Parker to her left. Gaetano sat down nest to Gabrielle and Angie stood behind the chair next to Parker. “Please be seated Mister Festa” the man on the other side of the table requested. “Thank you very much sir, but I rather stand if you don’t mind.” replied Angie. The Major entered the tent and he was accompanied by a man dressed in a dark suit who was carrying a metallic case. The Major saluted the man sitting on the opposite side of the table He and the other man he entered with also sat on the opposite side of the table.

Major Brewster introduced the other men. “On my right I would like to introduce General Thompson, Commanding Officer of Army Intelligence. The other gentleman on my left will be addressed as Mister Jones.

We will try to make this as short as possible for you, but that will depend on your cooperation in this matter. We are going to record this meeting if that is okay with your clients.” Gaetano responded saying they will cooperate completely and that they had no objection to the recording. The Major reached under the desk and pressed something and the video equipment came to life and stared to record the meeting. The man known as Mister Jones open his metallic case and placed it on the table.

Major Brewster started the meeting by saying “I am Major Thomas Brewster of the United States Army.

Present are me are General Paul Thompson and Adam Jones representing Army Intelligence. Also present is Attorney Gaetano Mucci who is representing May and Parker Garrison, Angelo Festa and Gabrielle Maisto.

Attorney Mucci please make your statement at this time.” The statement I am making pertains to the knowledge of the whereabouts of Peter Garrison. At the present time we do not know where he is or who he is with.” replied Gaetano to the question. The Major looked at Mister Jones with a questioning look. Mister Jones just simply nodded his head. “Mister Mucci do you have any information about the incident that occurred yesterday involving Peter Garrison?” asked the Major. “We do not know what the incident was about or why it happened. All we know is that one moment Peter was in his home and then next he wasn’t” replied Gaetano.

Again the Major looked at Mr. Jones and the man in the dark suit nodded his head again.

“Could you please be more specific about the phase “he was there and then he wasn’t?” Major Brewster asked. “If I may I will explain it as it was explained to me. I was informed by Mrs. Parker that about noon yesterday her door bell rang. She was in the process of teaching Peter who is home schooled. At the time they were studying literature and reading a book by J. M. Barrie title the Adventures of Peter Pan. She went to the front door and found a lad who introduced himself only as James. He told her he had met Peter at the bakery owned by Mr. Garrison and that he and Peter shared a lot of the same interests. He then showed her a wooden box and said that inside the box he had something that might interest Peter. When he was showing her the wooden box she states the she noticed that he was wearing what appeared to be a metal glove on one of his hands. She explained to the boy named James that Peter was studying right now and it was a bad time for a visit. Mrs. Parker politely told him to come back later in the day around three in the afternoon and closed and locked the front door. She heard a popping sound and felt a short quick breeze that came from directly behind her. When she turn to see what caused it she saw the boy name James standing there with a smile on his faced that she described as pure evil. He told her that he needed to see Peter now and that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Mrs. Garrison then tried to walk towards the boy but found she couldn’t move her legs to take a step. She then stated that Peter entered the hallway that leads to the front door and asked what was going on. Mrs. Garrison tried to tell Peter to run but found she couldn’t speak. James was an arms length from Peter and he reached over and put his hand on Peter’s shoulder. Mrs. Garrison saw them pop out of existence then fainted.”

The major looked at Mr. Jones who seemed to be adjusting something in the open metal case. Mr.

Jones just nodded his head which brought an unhappy look to the Major’s face. “Are you sure?” he asked Mr.

Jones. “Definitely Major, as farfetched as it might seem, he is telling the truth.” Angie, who was still standing spoke up and asked, “Okay Mr. Jones what is it that you have in that case and how do you know what Gaetano has said is true?” The Major addressed Angie Question and said, “The case contains a device that reads the electromagnetic signature of a person. It can determine if the person is lying or telling the truth.” Gaetano stood up and said “Major, we have not been advised that this device was being used, but since we have nothing to hide we will not protest its use. Before we continue though is there anything happening here that we were not advised of?” “I am sorry for the oversight of not informing you of its use and no there is nothing else. I did not inform you of it because we cannot use its results in a court of law. It is a prototype model and the only one in existence. If you mention it we will deny that it exists. Do you understand my statement?” Gaetano nodded and sat down. “Pease continue with your statement Mr. Mucci.” directed General Thompson.

Gaetano continued “When Mrs. Garrison regained consciousness she immediately started to search the house for her son Peter. Needless to say her searching was futile. She thought of calling the police but after thinking it through thought otherwise. How could she explain to them that her son and a boy name James just disappeared into thin air in front of her eyes? She would look to them as a delusional. She decided to call her husband, Mr. Garrison, at his place of business; a bakery. She explained to him what had occurred and even he had a hard time believing what she was saying. Mr. Festa, who is a close friend of the family, and Mr.

Garrison left the bakery and went to the house. When they arrived they found Mrs. Garrison very disoriented and still searching for Peter. With the circumstance of the disappearance of Peter they sought legal advice and contacted me. Mr. Festa drove out to my house and picked up Miss Maisto and me and explained the situation.

At first I thought that Mr. Festa was pulling a joke on me. We are old friends and have known each other since childhood and are prone to such actions. When we arrive at the residence of the Garrison’s and I spoke with Mrs. Garrison I realized it was no joke. Her sincerity about the matter was overwhelming. I just had to believe everything she said about the alleged abduction.”

“Why didn’t you notify the authorities right away? The child was missing was he not?” asked the Major.

“We were just about to call 911 and report him missing when Miss Maisto call our attention to a news report being aired. I had asked her to step out of the room while I consulted with the Garrisons on the matter of the missing child. She had gone into the living room and was flipping through the channels to entertain her. When she came to the local cable news channel she saw a banner across the bottom of the screen about something happening in Winchester. While watching the report she realized that what she was watching was occurring on the street where I reside and that they were showing the remains of my home. That’s when she called for us to come and see what was happening. Just as we were entering the living room the face of Peter Garrison was filling the screen to all our amazement. In shock we all stood, listen and watch the event unfold in front of our eyes. We couldn’t believe that that was Peter doing the astounding things they were showing. Up until then we knew him only as a normal ten year old boy. I will say that he was highly intelligent and beyond his years in book learning, but I had never seen him deflect lightning bolts or tear a hole in time space before. As I said we did not believe what we were watching. At that time I gave legal advice to my clients to wait until the authorities contacted them about Peter.”

Through the whole response given by Gaetano Mister Jones just nodded his head to confirm that Gaetano was telling the truth. General Thompson then asked “Mister Mucci, Do you know or have had contact with a man by the name of Caleb Scull?” “Yes I know of the man and have assisted him professionally. Why do you ask?” responded Gaetano. “In what manner did you assist him?” asked the Major. “He came to me looking to acquire space for a secluded research area in close proximity to his offices in downtown Boston. I simply advised him about how to proceed and what paperwork needed to filled out and processed thru the proper channels. I did assist him in filing the necessary paperwork, but know nothing of the location or what type of research he was performing there. May I ask why you need to know this information and how it pertains to the missing Peter Garrison” replied Gaetano. Major Brewster turned to General Thompson with a questioning look on his face. The General simply nodded and waved his hand as giving the okay to proceed.

Major Brewster paused for a long moment to gather his composure to present the information

requested. “You’ve must have heard about the incident of terror that happen in the downtown area of Boston.

Well we have visual evidence that places the boy you have named as James at the location at the time of the incident. We also have visual evidence placing him at another incident minutes later yet over a thousand miles apart from the incident in Boston. At the second incident we suffered the loss of a major military person. This information is classified and cannot be repeated by any of you to anyone outside this meeting. Repeating any of this information and it will be seen as an act against national security and will be treated as such in a court of law. Do we understand each other on this matter?” Gaetano and his clients all nodded their heads in acceptance. “Good. Now that we have that out of the way I will continue.” stated the Major. “The military official that we lost was a member of a group operating outside military jurisdiction. We have no idea of who the other members of this group are or if they represent any world powers. What we do know is that they were funding Doctor Scull’s research. Our military official gave up classified material to Dr. Scull to further his research. We believe that he used this material to genetically enhance the human brain to operate on a superhuman level.

The surrogate mother program that he ran was nothing but a front for his research. We have our intelligence people looking through the surrogate mothers program’s record right now. There is one case that interested us.

You may remember it. One of the surrogate mothers committed suicide by jumping in front of a bus. Her name was Fawn Moore. The interesting part was that the child she was carrying was delivered outside of the program and was never found.”

The Major examined the faces of the five people across the table from him to determine their reaction to his statement. All but May Garrison showed no facial reaction to the statement. He addressed Gaetano and said “May I have your permission to address a question directly to your client Mrs. Garrison?” Gaetano turned and looked at May and she nodded to show she didn’t mind being questioned directly. “She agrees to your request.” Gaetano replied. The Major turned to May and asked “You seem to react negatively towards the statement I made about Fawn Moore. May I ask why this bothered you?” May replied quickly and said “It brought up bad memories for me. I couldn’t bring myself to understand why she did what she did. Did she kill her child before she killed herself? As I understand it the child was never found, though a detail search was performed by authorities and Doctor Scull’s office. It’s a motherly instinct to worry about a missing child and as a new mother at the time I was empathetic to the plight of the lost child. As I held our new child Peter in my arms I thought of how it would hurt to lose such a precious thing as a child. It made me feel an emptiness right down to my very soul. A void, that was dark and cold and without the hope of a mother’s love. That is what I reacted too.”

Major Brewster turned and whispered something into General Thompson’s ear. The General didn’t reply right away and just stared off into space with a look of deep thought. You could see in his eyes that he was trying to make a decision of great importance and the difficulty it might create. He finally spoke and said “We have researched the adoption process and papers of your son Peter. Everything of course was in order and met every legal requirement. Further checking brought to light the death certificate of the birth mother who cause of death was not listed. Further checking of the mother and her death brought us to a newspaper article about her passing. It stated that she died in child birth and the child she bore was still born. It also goes on to read that the body of the child was buried with the mother. The funeral director who oversaw the burial confirmed to one of our agents that the newspaper article stated the truth. The male child was placed in the coffin with the mother and the burial documents also stated that fact.” Gaetano stood up and in a vocal tone filled with anger said “Are you saying that the Garrisons and I falsified those documents?” “No.” replied the General “But it does shed some light on the missing child of Fawn Moore. As I said your adoption process and paperwork was in order right down to child entry into this country. What we have theorized is somehow Doctor Scull with the help of the agency he was working for substituted the child and falsified the paperwork of the child birth. Our deduction of the matter leads to a logical step in his research. To place one of the children in a natural environment of home and family to see what results it would incur. Would it help or hinder the honing of the ability of the child. We conclude that child was Peter. Somehow the confrontation with the boy called James, or the contact with the other children that seemed to be aiding Peter in Winchester, ignited his untapped abilities that had been lying dormant. May I ask if Peter ever showed signs of ever having extra human abilities?”

Angie spoke up and told how he felt that Peter could always read people well. Like he knew what they were thinking and what they needed. When he worked with us sometimes in the bakery, behind the counter filling orders, he would amaze us and the customers by telling them what they wanted as they walked in the door. Amazing as it was we all wrote it off as Peter had a good grasp on our customer base and knew what they always bought.”

The Major looked over at Mister Jones who again just simple nodded to state that the truth was spoken.

“Mr. Mucci I would like to thank you and your clients for participating in this get together. As I stated before everything that we talked about here is highly confidential and should not be repeated outside of this location. I will see that transportation is given to all of you back to the Garrison’s House. A word to the wise is say nothing to the media. They will eventually move on to something else to report in a few days.” said the Major as he present his hand to Gaetano. Gaetano shook his hand and handed him one of his business cards. “Glad we could help and call me if you need to contact any of us to gather or share information. With that said they were escorted out of the tent and loaded into a waiting vehicle outside. They drove away in complete silence and nothing was said again till they entered the Garrison’s home.

Chapter 49:

A thousand and some odd miles away from the meeting that had happen, thirteen bodies floated in the air above the Atlantic Ocean. They were holding hands in a circle and the voice of Mister Blue could be heard by all of them. “Your planet, like all others, has a life essence and is consciously aware of itself. If you reach out with your combined minds you will be able to communicate with it. You must present yourselves to its consciousness but do not ask for what you need it will know. You will become one with its consciousness and will experience things that no human mind has ever perceived. You will hear, feel and see things that you will be unable to comprehend, but you must show no fear in your thoughts. Just embrace the chaos that you encounter. If it senses any fear, all communication will be lost. Now reach out and find its consciousness.” The thirteen boys all closed their eyes and reached out with their minds. The circle they formed started to rotate clockwise. Slowly at first but over time it picked up speed and soon all that could be seen floating in the sky above the ocean surface was a blur of colors. Images and sounds started to fill their conscious minds.

They all felt something probing deep into their very fabric of existence. Something so great and chaotic, that it was beyond all human comprehension. No words or mathematical algorithm could describe or define it, but its existence could not be denied. Then like the crescendo of a musical piece everything they had been experiencing exploded into a brilliant white light that slowed faded to a calming hue no human eye had ever perceived. Then a blast of sound that seemed to echo into infinity rang out the word “Neverland”. The consciousness of the planet now knew their needs and prepared to meet them.

Below the rotating group of children the ocean surface began to bubble and surge upward spreading out from a central point. The disturbance in the water spread more than 2 miles across in all directions. The upward surges of water froze in place like ice but still in a liquid state forming the shapes of the island. Higher and higher the water surged until it formed Neverland as was perceived from the mind of the children. From the water surface upward the island started to solidify and take on color. The foliage took on the colors or green and the mountains and rocks took the shades of stone surfaces. On the northeastern side of the island rose the rock shaped like a skull. To the south east was the mermaid’s lagoon. North of the lagoon was the fairy forest. A western peninsula formed the location of the Indian camp. Pirates Cove existed just as it was on the map in the book leading into Crocodile Creek. It was all there even Dead Man’s Tree and the Lost Boys hideout.

The circle of children started to decrease its rotation speed and slowly descend. As they came to a complete stop in their rotation their feet touched solid ground. They all looked around in amazement and took in the visual beauty of the island. It was just as they had imagined in their minds. Peter called out to all the boys to form the circle again and join hands. “We need to thank our benefactor for this wondrous place.” said Peter. They all gathered back into the circle and held hands. Once again they reached out to the mind of the planet and sent thoughts of thankfulness for its kindness in helping them. Its response just asked for them to treat it with respect and live as one with it.

Around the world any person or country that was monitoring the Earth’s gravitational field may have denoted a slight spike in the field but could not locate the point of disturbance. The planet dispersed the large amount of energy it used to create the island through the gravitational envelope that surrounds it. The planet knew that the island’s location should be one of secret so it created a cloud bank around it to hide it from the world.

This would be home to Peter and the Lost Boys from now on. A thought entered Peter’s mind that asked if he would ever see his family again but he couldn’t let this thought tarnish the wonder of the Island.

The other children needed for Peter to be strong and lead them. They had no real grasp on what life was really like outside of the laboratory environment in which they were raised. He turned and faced the Lost Boys and said “Who’s ready for our first adventure in Neverland.” The all responded in unison and replied “We are.” Peter and the boys set out to explore the island with the spirit of adventure in their hearts.

Chapter 50:

James was in a dream world where he felt his body submerged in warm water. There was a woman there and she was talking to him as she lifted him from the water with a loving tone in her voice. He did not recognize the woman’s face but felt he knew her somehow. He reached at her to push her away and notice that he had two normally formed hands. He never had a dream like this before. It was filled with loving emotions and he had no misshapen hand. The dream felt like a memory more than a dream.

A thunderous noise dragged him back into the conscious world and out of the dream state. He opened his eyes and saw a red sun directly overhead shining down on him. He realized that he was still lying in the spot where he collapsed after entering the portal. He shaded his eyes and sat up and he heard the thunderous noise again. It was coming from the area to his right. He turned to see what was causing the noise and realized that it was coming from the buildings that he had saw through the portal earlier. He inspected his metal hand to see if it had been damaged in the battle but it appeared to be okay. He opened and closed the hand to make sure it still functioned correctly and it did.

James stood up and started walking toward the sound and the buildings. The landscape of this place seemed surrealistic. The foliage was scarce on the landscape but they seemed hardy. These were plants like he had never seen before that changed color as he watched them. Every plant changed to a different color at the same time going through all the colors of the rainbow. Each plant was exactly the same except for a small flower. Each plant had a different flower configuration on it. Not one flower was even similar to another and they looked nothing like the flowers of Earth.

From behind one of the plants a creature scurried out and cross James’s path. It appeared to be a cross between a rabbit and a spider. It had the fur and ears of a rabbit and hopped but it had five eyes that were like the spiders and mandibles that were positioned where a mouth should be. It also had eight appendages. The back ones, which it used to hop, where just like a rabbits, but the other six were like an insect in shape and appearance. They were white but lacked a fur covering and had small pincers on the end of each one. It made a high pitched noise that sounded like a whistling tea kettle that was boiling. It leaped at James as if attacking and James quickly stopped it in mid flight with his mind. He probed its mind and found that it was communicating with others of its kind and telling them that it had found a source of food. James caused the things brain to explode before it could transmit to the others of its species their location. James then decided that it would be safer to quantum tunnel to the outskirts of the buildings than to walk. With a pop and a gush of air he relocated himself just outside the area of the buildings.

The cluster of building on the outside edge of the settlement formed a circle and the inner streets were concentric to it. From what he could observe there seemed to be nine inner streets that were intersected by two other streets cutting the circles in quarters. In the very center of the settlement stood a building that was octagonal in shape and that is where the thunderous noise was coming from. Without hesitation James walked into the settlement and towards the octagon shaped building. As soon as he stepped into the settlement he heard a voice in his mind say “Welcome newcomer. I hope for your sake you are a Sender.

Come to the building in the center of our town and we can meet face to face.” James reached out with his mind to respond but found whoever it was that talked to him had stopped communicating and had put up a mental block to deter any other conversation. James started walking to the center of the settlement. After all that’s where he was going in the first place but now he knew that there was someone there and they knew he was coming.

When he finally reached the center of the settlement two large doors on the octagon building swung open gently and without making the slightest sound. James walked up the stairs that led to the two opened doors and stood in front of them looking into the building. He could only see a short distance into the building but from the darkness a sound of footsteps could be heard. Telepathically he heard the same voice again and it was welcoming him to a place called Anthros. The footsteps got louder and closer until out of the darkness of the building into the light of day came an extraordinary being. What stood before James was basically a walking head. The complete anatomy of the creature was a human style head supported by what appeared to be two arms that protruded out of the side of the head slightly behind the ears. It was completely hairless except for a large plume of dark hair on the top of its head. Its face was mostly human except for eyes and ears, His ears were very pointy and its eye color was red blending into yellow. There was no pupil to his eye only a black slit that ran through the center of the eye like serpents.

Once again the thing started to telepathically communicate with James. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Ragog. I am the leader of our small community and it is my responsibility to welcome newcomers.

The welcoming consists of a small test. If you pass you are welcomed into the community with open arms, but if you fail we simply end your existence. Are you ready for the test or do you wish to prepare for it.” James thought long on what Ragog had said and replied “What if I don’t want to take your stupid test and just walk out of here?” “You’d be dead before you took your first step to leave.” replied Ragog. “Well then it seems I have no choice but to take the test. May I ask what the test is and how can I prepare for it as you suggested?” James said with an air of confidence in his voice. “Oh the test is simple. We simply probe your mind to determine if you meet our standards of membership” Ragog replied. “What do you mean by “we will probe your mind’? I see no other living thing but you.” James said defiantly. “Oh there are many of us here, but like I said I’m the welcoming committee. Now are you ready to be tested?” James just nodded his head to show he was ready.

All at once every neuron in James’s brain seemed to be on fire. Every memory and bit of knowledge that resided in his mind was being examined and evaluated. He didn’t try to stop or deter it instead he reached out mentally and invaded their minds. What he perceived was at first was beyond his comprehension of reality. He saw images and experienced tastes, scents and emotions that he had never known existed.

Then little by little they started to fall into place as he absorbed more of their memories and knowledge. He was experiencing alien worlds, alternative realities and life forms never even imagined by the human mind. It was wondrous and overwhelming and he took it all in.

Something then caught his attention. It was a mind that was human as his. He blocked out all the other minds he was probing and focused on this one mind. The mind he was probing tried to block his attempt to dig deeper, but it finally just let him in. James then realized that the mind belongs to a female and she called herself Amora. She was not of his reality but from one that was a parallel universe of his. He felt her anger and hate and it echoed his own inner feelings exactly. He would have to meet her.

Without warning everything came to a sudden stop and all mental probing and communication ceased.

He found himself standing at the doorway to the octagon building with the strange little creature called Ragog.

The little creature turned and walked back into the shadows of the building beyond the doorway and telepathically said “Please follow me.” James followed him in to the darkness.