Abel III's Awakening - 32. Chapter 32 Full Circle

Chapter 32

Full Circle

As abstracted from the personal logs of Abel Silversmith-Klein III:

My birthday had come and gone while we were mentoring Bart through the emergence of his powers and it was already almost the end of June 2734. We were on our way back to Earth and scheduled to be there for only a short time, to deliver some cargo and take on another passenger who was a family member.

Steve and Bill's dad, Dr. Kevin Brown had finished his research and published a landmark paper in the prestigious journal, Sovereign Scientific in February and then taken a one-year sabbatical from his position. He and my aunt had done a ninety-day Sovereign Celebrity cruise and then returned home and he got antsy. So he was going to join us for about six months to spend some time with his sons and get to know the rest of us better as well. Evidently, my aunt had enough of space travel and fifty percent gravity to last a lifetime and assured Kevin that she would be fine and had plenty to occupy her time and keep her busy.

Steve and Bill were ecstatic and over the moon that their father would be joining us. They thought it would be a good chance to get to know him as a person and bond with him as he was always so busy as they were growing up. He would be occupying Bill's old cabin, most recently used by Bart, as the brothers had continued to share.

We had made all our original deliveries based on the cargo we took on board at Starview and picked up additional cargo at most of our stops as well with plenty to deliver back to the home planet. Dennis and I had been telepathically monitoring the government and space naval forces whenever we got close enough to make contact and found nothing suspicious about the Silverspin or its crew. The furor over our hasty departure from Earth and the further notoriety at Starview seemed to have settled completely. Meanwhile we were busy sprucing up the ship prior to our arrival as Grandfather planned to host a full family get together and the guest cabin needed to be aired and thoroughly cleaned as my aunt would not miss an opportunity to see her boys before we headed out again.

Dennis was as excited as Steve and Bill as he had not been back to Earth and it's environs since his parents moved the family to Starview when he was a young teenager. He had never had a chance to explore Magellan, the huge space station and wanted to take some time to do that as well. We would not be making the trip down to the planet and the plan was for us to be docked at Magellan for only three days so we were carefully planning our itinerary to mesh with our duties on the ship and my Grandfather's plans as well. To that end, we pulled some extra time in engineering to clear up as many of our tasks ahead of time as could be done within the constraints of the systems.

On the big day, the entire family was strapped in their seats on the bridge as we docked at Magellan, the largest space station in human space. Dennis was particularly enthralled and the vista was breathtaking through the view screens. It was a beehive of activity and an impressive engineering marvel. The procedure was slow and somewhat tedious in my estimation but with all the moving pieces, care was necessary and Dad and Kade were fully engaged throughout the process. When the main docking sequence was finally initiated, Dennis and I hurried back to Engineering to help in establishing all the umbilical connections to the station and shut down the internal systems as we switched over to the station power and systems.

Gravity was already up to fifty percent as required before docking. We had gradually increased it as we entered the solar system. Many of the umbilical hook-ups were automatic, but all of them needed to be checked and locked into place as they took over from ship's systems. We were lucky in that only minor routine maintenance was needed on a few systems while we were docked. We soon finished our chores and had engineering all buttoned up and were fully on station power and life-support.

We headed to the main entry way and arrived just in time to see my cousins greet their mom and dad. It was a joyful sight all around as the brothers pulled their parents into a group hug that went on for several minutes as kisses were exchanged all around. The rest of the family was soon pulled in and I was busy introducing Dennis to my aunt and uncle who were genuinely happy to meet him. Once the greetings were made, and my aunt and uncle's stuff moved to the family wing, we all departed for the elaborate luncheon Grandfather had arranged at one of the pricier restaurants on Magellan. It was located on the outer tip of one of the longer spokes from the middle Magellan and provided an unparalleled panoramic view through its huge floor to ceiling windows that surrounded the room.

Our group was shown to our table, which was on its own raised dais right next to the windows. As we stepped onto the dais, we heard and felt a slight buzzing noise and sensation and the Maitre D' explained that we had passed through the acoustic wall, which gave our table privacy. He further explained that using noise canceling technology, that the tables along the window wall which were on their own dais, were surrounded by individual invisible walls of sound that enclosed the tables in their own little domes of privacy. It was one of the signature features of the restaurant, which was called The Silent Stars.

The restaurant featured a diverse menu with several daily features as well. As we were seated, we each were handed large, but very slim and light electronic menu pads where we could scroll through the offerings and make our selections. We were all sternly told by Grandfather to start with appetizers and drinks and to order from each section of the menu to include soups, salads, entrées, sides and desserts as he seldom got the chance to provide his family such a wonder dining experience. It was then that Dennis and I noted that the menus did not have any prices on them.

The table was arranged in a horseshoe shape with all of us sitting to the outside facing the windows and each other. The servers approached through the open end of the table and appeared and disappeared quickly and efficiently from the floor below. It was a most unusual arrangement but one that the restaurant had worked to perfection. Drinks, appetizers, and courses seemed to appear and disappear like magic, while the conversation around the table centered on Steve and Bill extolling their adventures and the places they had seen. However, nothing was mentioned of telepathy and certainly not of the Guardian. They did detail their rough ride in intra-stellar space on the way to Starlight and detailed the findings of the investigation as to what caused that, all the time emphasizing they never felt in any real danger as it was no worse than the turbulence you could encounter in an airplane on Earth.

Steve and Bill also talked almost non-stop of their new appreciation for food, its preparation and presentation and they kept commenting on the excellent way food was prepped and presented at the Silent Stars. Meantime the views were truly spectacular and as the space station slowly rotated, the view did too. And the Earth never looked so majestic and beautiful as it floated in space high above us. Our home planet was a water world and gave us the extraordinarily blue marble to behold which would captivate us all and distract us for a bit whenever we happened to glance at it.

Dennis and I were of course joined lightly and monitoring everyone telepathically as was both my Grandfather and my dad. Kade, Drew, and Kevin were barely monitoring everyone. One of the drawbacks of the acoustic wall with its noise canceling technology was that telepathically, it could be sensed as a minor but annoying buzzing. Dennis, ever the engineer reminded me to use my telekinesis to provide the noise canceling procedure I used when scanning military ships. With a little tweaking it worked, for both of us. Then Dennis sent, {Do it for the rest of the family, as even if they are not consciously sensing the buzz, it has to still be slightly annoying.}

I alerted everyone telepathically at what I planned to do while my aunt was busy exchanging some local gossip with her sons about some of their friends. Everyone gave me their assent and I implemented my routine for them as well. I could immediately sense that it worked. My uncle Kevin was amazed, and we all relaxed a bit as we continued our festive, but elaborate luncheon. It lasted two and a half hours and was topped off with absolutely fabulous desserts and coffee.

Then my Grandfather announced he had a surprise for Dennis and I. He explained that we were so occupied with business that we never truly celebrated my twenty-fourth birthday in May. Therefore he planned for us to do some sight-seeing on our way back to the Silverspin, as the Magellan truly was a magical place filled with engineering marvels and startling architectural details. He paid everyone’s admission to The Hanging Gardens on the top of the central hub, which was perhaps one of the most photographed areas of the whole station. The admission was 50 Sovereigns per person and it was worth every bit of that. It was filled with flora from Earth including orchids, roses, palm trees, willows, and flowers of all kinds including blooming trees and flowering bushes of several varieties. It was an enclosed area, which covered five hectares or about twelve acres and also contained birds and butterflies. The surrounding arched roof was over one hundred meters tall in the center. Winding paths led you through the garden and there was even a maze you could walk. We spent several hours there, including some time where Dennis and I just wandered off by ourselves, and everyone took pictures and video with their com units.

It was the first time Dennis or I had experienced the garden and we were enthralled. Everyone else in our group had seen it before, but they were excited to see it again as it was a colorful oasis which existed on a space station a quarter million miles from the planet below. When we arrived back at the Silverspin, Grandfather announced that the family would be having a late supper at 20:00 and it was courtesy of Steve and Bill who did the planning and most of the prep. We adjourned to our cabins while my aunt and uncle took their boys to their cabin.

Dennis and I had plans of our own for our private time and we no sooner entered our cabin than we were stripping and heading to our rock show shower where we danced and washed each other thoroughly, both inside and out. Then it was off to our bed for the main event, which ended up having several encores as well. We finally satiated our physical desires and fell into a contented sleep, which was rudely interrupted by Hal warning us we had only thirty minutes to get cleaned up and dressed for our late supper.

Steve and Bill had fresh baked Italian bread and made chicken salad, tuna salad and egg salad. They also arranged a tray of sliced ham, sliced beef, and sliced turkey along with four kinds of sliced cheese to include cheddar, Swiss, provelone and a pepper cheese. Trays of condiments including olives, pickles and relish along with potato salads, jello salads, mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup were also provided. After the sumptuous dinner luncheon, this was the perfect late night supper. Because we were on the Magellan, the boys had also procured several varieties of bottled craft beers from dark and hearty ales to light lagers. For dessert they had made the double chocolate cake with the cooked chocolate icing from the recipe we got from Dennis' mom. Supper was a smashing success and everyone complimented both Steve and Bill on their wise choices and expert presentation with the dessert being scrumptious.

We took our time with supper and the conversation turned to the Silverspin's planned itinerary. Our first planned destination was Starview as we had plenty of cargo to deliver there and we would get a chance to visit Dennis' family. After that our plans were fluid depending on the cargo and contracts we picked up there. My uncle Kevin was excited to see that space station as that star system had not been on their cruise itinerary. My aunt Margot reiterated that a day or two at fifty percent gravity was about all she could take after the recent ninety day cruise.

The evening passed quickly and soon we were retiring to our cabins. Dennis and I had no sooner got in the door and were kissing each other while slowly removing the other ones clothes when our door chimed and it was my cousins. They were too excited about having seen their family and wanted to release some tension with us. They were very enthusiastic about it as well. Thankfully Dennis and I had no other special plans as we were soon being serviced by two very determined brothers who wanted to see how many times they could get us off. Fortunately, Dennis and I were up to the task and we could not help ourselves as we got caught up in my cousins' infectious good humor and mood.

The next morning we were slow to get up and arrived just in time for a late breakfast where the rest of my family was dawdling over coffee. They were in no hurry as my aunt was scheduled to catch the regular shuttle from the space station that left at noon. My cousins tried to get their mother to join them but she was adamant that space really wasn't her thing. It was OK to visit but it was not any place she wanted to spend any extensive time. Her main complaint was that she hated to do the regular work-outs necessary even at fifty percent gravity. Secondly, she indicated she always felt less than fully oriented when gravity was less than the standard full gravity of Earth and therefore felt clumsy which she found was really annoying on their cruise. She envied her husband and boys that they adapted so easily to low gravity, but let them know that despite the best pharmaceuticals that Kevin had supplied to her, she always felt a little out of balance which Kevin explained to her that it was due to her inner ear structure.

The time passed quickly and soon we were wishing my aunt a fond farewell. It was especially poignant for her husband and sons. After that, we got busy. Cargo was scheduled for delivery, systems had to be maintained, and Grandfather was planning on taking Kevin to meet Doc Dan.

The next day and a half passed quickly and we found ourselves all gathered on the bridge where another seat had been added at the back for my uncle. Undocking and leaving Magellan, the largest space station with the multitude of vessels coming and going including tugs, shuttles, cruisers, fleet ships and cargo ships always made for an interesting spectacle and a navigation nightmare. Thankfully, computers and well trained pilots enabled the intricate dance of ship movements to proceed with some order. Uncle Kevin was keeping track of all the movement on one of the old holographic modules at his mini-station and also eyeing the main view screens surrounding the bridge. He found it all to be fascinating and his sons who were sitting to either side of him kept pointing out additional bits of information about trajectories and speed of the various movements of different types of ships and vehicles.

Our trip was unlike the last one, as we had no encounters with the Guardian. However, during our first transit Kevin mentioned that on the cruise liners, everyone either went to their cabins and buckled in and watched one of the many movies provided for free or went to one of the holographic movie theaters on ship to watch a three dimensional holographic movie which was then added to your bill. It was after the middle transit that we retired to Grandfather's cabin and I telepathically replayed for Kevin all my encounters with the Guardian. He found it to be a transcendent experience with an almost mystical quality. He was particularly impressed when I replayed the final words of Uriel:

“Welcome Abel III and Dennis and also those family members observing! In answer to your questions, my name is Uriel and I am mankind's Sentinel.”

“I have been carefully observing you both in what you call intra-space and normal space, both now and in the future, and as well in your past.”

“You seek answers to your future but you must create it yourselves. Your only guideposts remain your own understanding of what is just and proper. Be confident in your abilities, continue to seek the counsel of your families and friends, be wary of those who want to exploit your talents and love one another.”

“If you follow these precepts, you will have a life journey filled with joys, heartaches, successes and failures.”

“In the end, you will hopefully realize that it is enough.”

Dennis and I then relayed our failures and successes including having to silence the two prisoners and our success in rescuing the wild talent Bart.

We explained that we could foresee that we had to try but that failures and successes would be a part of life, just as they were for everyone else. After we were finished sending Kevin all our exploits over the past six months, he looked at us with a new understanding and turning to his father-in-law said, “Abel III and Dennis are the two most advanced telepaths I have ever encountered. Their auras seem to meld when they join in their mind-meld state and the sense of controlled power in their gifts appears amazingly strong and almost limitless. I am so happy that they have our family to help and guide them as I can only see them becoming more skilled over time. The medical possibilities alone using their shared ability is exciting. Their ability to construct and employ shields and filters is amazing. Their ability to figure out solutions to seemingly impossible problems is phenomenal. I think I will enjoy spending some time getting to know them better and seeing them advance and mature. I almost hope my sons come into their powers together while I am on board Silverspin so that I can see first hand how they are mentored by these two gifted men.”

That was high praise indeed and Dennis was flattered beyond words and I, well I reverted to form and blushed. I blushed a deep tomato red from the top of my head down to my toes. That provoked hearty laughter from everyone in the cabin and as I looked around at all the smiling happy and friendly faces, finally I was able to laugh too!

Our arrival at Starview was just as exciting as our arrival at Magellan. Dennis was particularly thrilled to be coming home to see his family. He confided in me that he really missed them, especially his mom. The others were excited for different reasons. Kevin was excited to see the second largest space station and the stunning view of the binary star system. His boys were excited to be able to show their dad around. My Grandfather, Drew, Dad and Kade were all excited because the rest were excited and they were happy that our transit had gone smoothly with no hitches, as that had been seriously on the minds of a minority of our crew members.

We arrived early in the morning on July the thirteenth and docked without a problem and starting unloading and delivering cargo. The tug pilots were especially busy moving whole cargo modules to other points on the station and collecting new loaded ones based on the work Grandfather and Drew had been doing lining it up. Our faster delivery capabilities were used by them to close several deals and even earned us some premiums. It seemed our itinerary was being set as usual by where the cargo was going and what time frame we had for making a delivery contract date. The first several hours were busy and it wasn't until after we returned to work in Engineering for a couple of hours after lunch that we finished up everything on our must do list.

We checked out with George and hurried to our cabin to shower and change so we could go meet Dennis' parents. My cousins and uncle Kevin had already left shortly after lunch, as Steve and Bill wanted to show their dad around. Fortunately, we didn't get too distracted in our rock show shower, but we did quickly relieve each other’s tension as we got ourselves squeaky clean. We spent a little extra time grooming and dressing ourselves, as we wanted to make a good impression on the parents. Within forty-five minutes we were on our way to Dennis' family home.

We expected a quiet family get together with the Kleins and a homemade dinner. However, we were duped. Our families had decided to throw a surprise half-anniversary party for us, as it was exactly six months since Dennis and I had laid eyes each other. In our mind-meld we both remembered that day and realized it truly was love at first sight for both of us. The party was festive and everyone had a wonderful time, especially Dennis and I. The food was good, there was much to drink and the laughter was seemingly unending. It lasted until half past midnight and those of us from the Silverspin helped each other as we made our way back to the ship. All of us were a bit inebriated and it was good that we traveled as a group as we got more than a few looks from some of the late night characters out and about.

Dennis and I were glad to get to our cabin for some alone time to really celebrate our love and our lives. We did just that and of course it started in our shower and ended up on our spacious bed. As we languorously cuddled together in our mind-melded after glow, I knew I would have to write up my personal logs to summarize the incredible year where I found my gift and my love! That night we both dreamed of making love on a deep blue satin duvet with the constellations of stars providing a silvery background.

As abstracted from the personal logs of Abel Silversmith-Klein III:

Shortly after I turned sixteen, I began keeping a personal log of my activities and thoughts. Twenty-three was a life-changing year for me and I began to realize it as I kept my log. The preceding was taken from my personal log as recorded during my twenty-third year. It was a bit detailed and perhaps a trifle wordy as I wanted to keep track of what was happening to me, around me and in me. I condensed it some, but these were my thoughts and recollections during that fateful year in my life that affected my family and I so much. And, during which I found the love of my life.