Out Of Orbit

Chapter 11

JARRYD

Brian was looking at him. Why was Brian looking at him? Jarryd watched Rebecca grin at Brian. He had the strange feeling he should be embarrassed. It was not a familiar feeling.

"Yay Brian!" Victoria squealed next to him. Jarryd rolled his eyes. Victoria's over enthusiastic support was getting a little old. As was his brain's strange habit of obsessing over Rebecca's every move. What had she said to Brian? Whatever it was, he'd appeared again. Well, appeared visible again.

"Your turn, Tori!"

"Thanks, Bex!"

Jarryd raised an eyebrow. Their second day together and they already had nicknames for each other. Typical girls.

"Nice job, Bex!"

"Thanks, Mikey!"

Oh no. It was spreading. Leaning back against the fence, Jarryd surreptitiously listened to Rebecca and Michael's conversation.

"So how long do you think she's going to take?"

"Oh, she'll get it quickly. No problem."

Michael laughed. "Always the optimist. Is that what you said about me before I started?"

"Well, you made up for the slow start with...you know...general amazingness at the end."

"Well, my power is the best, you know."

"Maybe you should have been given the power of modesty instead..."

"Why do you think we can all do different things? I mean, we're all human, right? So shouldn't the suns or the atmosphere or whatever have affected us all the same way?"

"I don't know...Brian, what do you think?"

Jarryd's ears perked up when he heard Brian's voice. He could count on one hand the number of times Brian had spoken to him since they'd crashed here.

"I think it may have something to do with previously existing abilities and tendencies."

"You mean, Jarryd could run fast as athlete and the planet somehow knew that and gave him a power that suited him?"

"It could be that muscles that are already well developed are the muscles that collect the most of whatever it is that enables us to do these things. Jarryd's physical muscles are well-developed so his powers stem from them."

"What about me then? The planet gave me brain power?"

"Well, if your brain is the most effective and well-developed muscle in your body, then your power would stem from that. From what you've said, your power originates from your thoughts."

"True. So what about your power, invisible boy?"

"Maybe it originates from a specific part of the brain."

"Maybe."

"You think they'll try to do experiments on us?"

The conversation screeched to a halt at that thought. Jarryd sighed. Brian's theory was as good as any, but there was no way they'd find out for certain. The only thing they could do was try to access their powers and hope that the aliens kept their word.

Unfortunately, accessing their powers wasn't proving as easy as he'd hoped.

Jarryd watched as Victoria screamed for what seemed like the hundredth time with no result. Cutting off abruptly, she said something to the Captain and threw up her hands. He smiled back, listening to her rant. When he placed his hands on her shoulders, she closed her mouth. Leaning in, he forced her to look him in the eye and said something softly. Nodding her head, Victoria glanced back at the others then turned away from them again. Conversation had picked up again, but now a sudden hush fell. Jarryd found himself holding his breath and let it out. Then she screamed. Shoving his fingers in his ears, Jarryd could feel the pressure building inside his skull. In front of Victoria, splinters of fencing twisted through the air. Blinking once or twice, Jarryd swore he could see what remained of the fence vibrating in place. As soon as the scream stopped, his ears popped. He vaguely heard Victoria squeal and turned to see her launch herself at the Captain.

They made their way back to the group, Victoria giving Rebecca a huge hug before launching into an explanation of what she'd done to make it work. The Captain interrupted before she could finish.

"Right. I think we have some time for you to practice. Later we'll start figuring out how best to use your skills in a battle."

Jarryd nodded and turned away only to see Rebecca's face pull into a frown.

"What about me?"

Jarryd opened his mouth to answer but the Captain beat him to it. Her expression softened as he spoke to her quietly and Jarryd felt his stomach clench and his heart beat a little faster. Ignoring the feeling, he closed his eyes, trying to find the state of mind he needed to access his speed.