Aberrant: In the Beginning - Juno Reyes

[SalmonMax]

03/23/1998 5:13pm

13635 Birch St

Los Angeles, CA

Even as Juno Reyes pedals her rusty old handmedown tenspeed up to her squat little stucco house with peeling sunbleached green paint sitting in a patch of dry grass peppered with bare spots, she can hear her little brother crying through the torn screen door. She drops her bike in the driveway next to her dad's battered old pickup and runs for the front door.

No sooner is she through it than she sees her father pacing up and down in the space between the tiny kitchen and the slightly less tiny living area, holding her baby brother awkwardly over his shoulder and trying unsuccessfully to calm him...and getting more and more agitated himself.

"Jesus CHRIST Juno!" he blares at her the moment he turns to see her. "Where the hell were you?!"

She quickly goes to him and reaches out for Javier...a load that her father eagerly relinquishes. "I'm sorry, okay? They kept me after school again."

Javier's screams quiet a bit when she tucks him in a more comfortable position, then vanish altogether as she bounces him gently there. She heads for the fridge to get a bottle of formula out for him.

"They? Who's they? Was it that one teacher again? The guy who's giving you shit?" Hector Reyes is dressed in the tan slacks of his night job and a white undershirt. Before Juno can answer he charges down the short hallway to his bedroom to get the rest of his uniform on.

Juno tries a few answers to that in her head for a second before regretfully betraying Mr. Tanenbaum and answering, "Yeah..."

"Goddamnit, I already called the principal...have you seen my good shoes?"

"Over in front of the TV chair," Juno replies automatically. That's where they always were. He took them off after getting home and generally fell asleep in the comfy old recliner with a bottle of whiskey near his hand, the TV on, and his work shoes on the floor under his upraised feet. She'd throw a blanket over him if it was cold out.

"You know I need you home on Mondays," Hector complains as he comes storming back into the living room, buttoning up the shirt on his security guard uniform. "Can't you just keep your head down? He wouldn't keep you after if you didn't do anything."

Juno sighs as she puts the bottle in the microwave to heat it up a little. The ironic thing was that her dad was right...just not the way he thought he was.

"Sorry...I know...some kids were dissing on the US...couldn't just sit there and let it go on, you know?"

Hector Reyes had been discharged under questionable, if not quite dishonorable, circumstances, but he was still thoroughly indoctrinated. Nothing would get his gander up faster than the idea of high school kids spreading hate for the United States.

Indeed, he spat a curse and jammed his feet into his shoes. "Whole world's falling apart," he grumbled. "Kids killing kids, no one respects the goddamn country anymore..."

Javier flinches when she brings the bottle up towards his mouth, and Juno bites down on a curse of her own. He'd tried to feed him, and he'd made the formula too hot. No wonder he'd been crying.

"Did you heat up Javier's formula?" she asks angrily.

Hector pauses just long enough to make it obvious, then shakes a finger at her. "Don't you take that tone with me. He was crying! You weren't here! Like you were goddamn supposed to be!"

"You could have really hurt him!"

"It wasn't hot!"

"You don't KNOW that! You can't even read the timer!"

Hector's face turns flaming red and he comes at Juno from the living room. "I SAID it wasn't HOT!" he yells at her. Terrified, Javier starts crying again, around the bottle's fat rubber nipple.

"Fine," Juno replies icily, turning away and comforting her little brother again. "Better hurry."

"I wouldn't have to..." The rest of the tirade would have to be expended harmlessly in the pickup though, because his time was out.

Juno relaxes a little as the door closes behind him, and lets herself down into the otherwise-forbidden TV chair with her little brother resting his head on her shoulder and sitting in the crook of her arm. Like that, her mind wanders...not quite sleeping, but revisiting the day.

---------------------------

[SalmonMax]

(replying instead of editing so it flags in the recent posts In the true tradition of confusion that my thought processes invoke, this post takes place immediately BEFORE the last )

03/23/1998

3:01pm

Garfield High School

Los Angeles, CA

The students were already piling out of the classroom, having lapsed into a cacophony of conversations as soon as the bell rang...though well in advance of that they had been gathering books and papers...those that had them out to begin with. The teacher, Mr. Matthew Tanenbaum let himself sit in his chair with a sigh. He knew, from experience, that high schools uptown and in the hills had fairly extensive programs in science, even broken down into broad specialties like Biology and Physics. Not college-level, of course, but you could sink your teeth into things. Here, there was a class. Science. And this was it.

There was one section on the test that covered scientific topics...and the students knew it. It made class...difficult. But they couldn't just torch the class (though he knew they wanted to) because it WAS on the test.

And to think, he'd come here by choice.

As the last of the students left, Matt gathered up his things and stood up to leave as well...when he saw one of the students was still there. Juno, her name was. One of the prettier girls; dark haired, dark eyed...he was pretty sure she was latina, though her skin tone was fairly light. He paused on seeing her there.

"Juno...what's up?"

She had this thing she did where she puffed out her bottom lip from the inside of her mouth with her tongue, then sort of bit it thoughtfully when she was trying to find the right words for something...which was fairly frequent. When he'd talked in the faculty lounge the other week, the other teachers had been surprised, saying they'd always assumed she was kind of dim. One of the 'cholas,' the tough gang-girls that prowled the school either in packs, or paired off with their boyfriends...who were not infrequently either dropped out or too old for high school. More often than not, they wound up teen moms, or 'tecatas,' drug addicts.

Juno did look the part, at least if you didn't look too closely. The old olive green army jacket with a T-shirt under it and baggy pants hanging low on her hips was a bit boyish, but not at all out of the norm. She often wore a black ballcap, forward or backwards and had clearly spent some money on her sneakers. But she didn't wear the makeup, or sport the jewelry. She didn't wear colors, and Matt had never seen her in a pack, or with a boy. In short, she looked the part, but didn't play the part. And he knew that even though she took her time picking words, if you listened to what she had to say it was usually pretty smart.

"Yeah," she answered now. "Not really a question. Just sort of...something came to me while you were talking about Darwin and all that."

Matt grinned and sat down in the desk ahead of her, sideways in the seat so he could look back at her. The desks were godawful here, uncomfortable for any length of time...but if she could do it, so could he.

She'd stayed after class twice before now. The first time, because he'd basically told her to or she'd get detention. The second time had been after their week long overview of the entirety of the American space program that had broken Matt's heart with all it couldn't cover. Then had come the enraged call from her father...he hadn't been expecting to see her again.

"Okay, what came to you?" he asked.

Juno looked towards the door. She never asked questions in class...another reason she seemed unmotivated and dim. Her tests told another story though. Matt thought she just didn't want to seem involved when no one else did.

"Well, I was thinking, you were saying like...how it's survival of the fittest, right? Like, only the ones who are good at stuff get to go on and have kids...right?"

Matt nodded. He didn't interrupt to lecture or try to direct her...he just listened.

Juno got more animated as she gathered momentum. "Right, so, it's just like that for people too. I mean...sort of. Look, like...okay, if you have five guys...and two are good runners and three aren't, the three that can't run are gonna get caught, right? So they won't be around anymore. So what happens? All the guys can run." She winced and shook her head. "It makes sense in my head, you know...it's not just running. It's everything." Abruptly her face went scarlet and she picked up her backpack. "Sorry, it's stupid."

"No, hang on a second," Matt said quickly. He even started to reach out, but stopped himself quickly. It had been drilled into him again and again at any number of teaching conventions and meetings, -no physical contact-. No matter how innocent or well meant. Ever. Anything could be taken any way, and today's happy student could become a raging vengeful monster tomorrow when she got her test score.

She paused though, looking him over the way one might a mysterious hole in the ground. Interesting, but potentially the home of something dangerous.

Matt continued, "Go on with that. Don't stop. What you said was good...but keep thinking it through. What does it -mean-?"

Juno frowned slightly and did the thing with her bottom lip. "It means that...cops sort of make crime worse. I mean, not really because the good ones are there no matter what, but...like, they take all the guys who are stupid and get caught and put them in jail..." Once again she started gathering speed when he didn't interrupt her. "...which is like school for crime, you know? So they go there, and work out for a few months or years, because that's all there is to do there, and then come back and they're better."

"Okay, but if only bad criminals are in jail, aren't they learning from other bad criminals? How does that make them better?" Matt asked.

"Because not -only- bad ones go there," Juno went on, grinning suddenly. She had a fantastic smile...all the more so because she used it so seldomly. "Sometimes you just get unlucky...something goes bad, or there's a cop around you didn't know about and...bam."

Matt grinned back. It wasn't possible not to. "Well, there's a lot of stuff around law enforcement and all that that complicates the equation, but there's a lot of people who would agree with your conclusion."

"Yeah?" Juno asked. She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. Her hair was cut short, but it hung over her eyes in front if she didn't hold it back. "Well, a lot of people think the world is a few thousand years old, right?"

Matt chuckled. "As far as that goes, who knows? I'm just a teacher. If I knew the ineffable works of God, I'd be..." He trails off.

"Where?" Juno asked, her smile turning wry. I know you don't want to be here, it said.

"Right here," Matt concluded, and honestly surprised that he meant it.

She laughed, obviously not quite believing it...but a little pleased nonetheless.

"As far as what you were talking about goes, there's another example too," Matt went on. No reason to keep it going...she seemed like she'd said what she wanted to say...but he liked talking to her. "Antibiotics. Drugs, basically. When someone has an infection, they prescribe these drugs that..."

"I know what antibiotics are," Juno interrupted with a smile. "My dad was in the army. I'm even certified in first aid."

That stopped Matt short for a second. Jesus Christ...the things you'd never SUSPECT about someone... "Sorry...right. Anyway, all these new diseases coming out lately? SARS and superflus...there's a lot of talk that they're the result of antibiotics being used so often that the only microbes left alive are the ones we have no cures for. And at first that means disease is nearly wiped out, but as they evolve..."

"Yeah, but..." Juno hesitated, then plowed on, "Evolution only happens like...over millions of years, right?"

"For things like mammals and people, sure," Matt agreed. "But for germs, it can be a lot faster."

"How come?"

"Time for evolution is measured in generations...the time that's needed for an organism to mature and reproduce. For humans, that's roughly twenty years..."

Juno laughed. "Try thirteen."

"Uh." Matt paused, honestly at a loss. "Right...I mean, in general. A human generation is usually given as twenty years, but it's not absolute, like you say..." Damn...he'd never really thought about the shrinking size of a human generation. What consequences would that have on human development?

"And you know," Juno said, "When you look at, like, history? They were always getting married at like...twelve or whatever. I don't think ANYONE ever really waited until they were twenty to have a family...well, unless they were in college or something."

Matt looked away, thinking. Then he snapped back. Oh. Right. "Okay, well, the specific isn't too important for this, except as a point of comparison. Biologically a human being normally can have kids starting around eleven, so lets say that."

"Eleven?! Oh my god..."

"Juno..."

"Alright, alright...just saying, that's pretty sick knocking up an eleven year old."

With as much dignity as he could muster, Matt went on, "Bacteria measure their generations sometimes in just seconds. They can literally split...then split again before a minute is up. Each new division is a new generation."

Now it was Juno's turn to be thoughtfully quiet.

"So evolution can take place on a scale of time thousands of times faster, in theory. In practice, as always, there's other factors that complicate it...but..."

Juno just nodded, her eyes kind of distant.

It was time to go. He knew that. But...

"One other cool thing about evolution, then I have to go."

She refocused on him with those gorgeous dark eyes. That alone nearly caused him to change his mind. When you started thinking of a student as 'gorgeous,' it was time to GO. But when he followed that slinking snake back into its psychic den, he found what was really holding him here was her interest. That bright light in her eyes that said she was listening and fascinated. It was flattering yes, but more than that, he could imagine it dying away because he said it was time to be over. Because through neglect, he'd allowed it to. And then maybe she'd wind up being just what so many already thought she was doomed to become.

"You were a fish," he told her.

She raised an eyebrow, but trusted him enough to assume he was going somewhere with it.

"In the womb, you had gills for awhile. And a body that would have looked a little like a tadpole. The human fetus in fact passes through several phases where it seems to have traits that aren't possessed by adult humans. Like, we have tails for awhile too."

She never even thought about questioning if it was true. He could tell just by looking at her. Confusion was there, but not DOUBT. It was really time to go.

"So..." She did the thing with her bottom lip again. It was time to go. "...it's kind of like...we start out just little cells...then turn into fish, and then like...animals. And finally we come out people," she mused.

"Exactly," Matt replied. "It's not exact, you know...it's not like you're changing into animals exactly...but the implication is that the entire evolutionary history of humankind is written into our DNA. Like...imagine human evolution is...is like..." He paused, searching for an analogy.

"Like an essay," Juno said abruptly. "The first paragraph is like...cells. Then the next paragraph is fish. Then you know, like...dinosaurs. And monkeys. Then the last paragraph is a regular person. And you only ever read the last paragraph...but everything else is still in there."

"Sort of, yeah," Matt said with admiration. How long had it taken him to get to that basic conclusion? Even if it was not terribly articulate in its expression. "I think I'd say it's more like, think of an article that's gone through a series of editions. The final version is there, it's what you have. But you have a series of previous editions...things that you eventually tossed out because it wasn't quite right. Some might be little tweaks, some might be total rewrites. Now, online, when I post that article, I'd include the edition history as a series of hyperlinks..."

"Uh...wait wait," Juno said, waving a hand. "What?"

"Web links," Matt clarified. "So instead of having page after page of these now dead editions, there's maybe one sentence summarizing the change, and then it links to the previous edition if you click on it."

Juno frowned as she tried to fit that into the framework of the analogy. "So, like...the stuff in our genes is...like..." Her frown deepened and she made a gesture like she was trying to crush something between her hands. "Crushed...like online files...you can make them smaller."

"Compressed!" Matt agreed, louder than he intended, because the word fit so well that he could FEEL his mental model of the concept reconstructing itself around a new paradigm. "Yes! All the information for what evolutionary forms we've passed through is -compressed- and stored in our DNA."

He paused and realized he'd gotten more than a little out of even his own depth there. "Bearing in mind that this isn't really my specialty field," he admitted. "I'm sure a real geneticist could point out a thousand holes in the idea...but it's still a pretty interesting idea, I think."

Juno was staring at him with a little smile. "Me too," was all she said.

Oh boy, was it ever time to go.

He picked up the accordion folder he brought to keep his class materials organized in and stood up. "I should get going, and you probably should too. But you know if you have more questions..."

She nodded and picked up her backpack again. "Thanks." That admiring look was blessedly (but he missed it too) absent from her expression as she got up and headed for the door. "Thanks, teach. Seeya tomorrow."

"Oh, hey...Juno?"

She paused and looked back.

"Did you tell your dad I was putting you in detention last week?"

Juno looked away, then back. "Yeah..."

"Would you...not? I mean, he called the school. I had to explain to the principal that I'd only kept you after once, and the second time you'd stayed to ask questions...which was even worse, because then they wanted to know what the hell we'd been talking about..." He shook his head. "Admin gets...anxious when parents call, lets just leave it at that."

Juno nodded slowly. "Sorry."

She was back to her usual, terse speech. Matt felt wretchedly guilty, but everything he'd said was true. The principal had not been happy hearing he'd spent an hour with a female student unsupervised.

God, she was going to have a COW over this. If she found out.

He nodded back. "No worries, just...you know..." Matt had no idea what he was trying to say, so he wasn't sure how SHE was supposed to know, but she nodded again and walked out.

Matt Tanenbaum stayed in the classroom a moment longer, then shut off the light as he left.

[SalmonMax]

(getting back into Time Sync here )

Juno woke up an hour after drifting off in her father's reclining chair. Her baby brother was still conked out over her shoulder. She smiled when he sniffled and shifted position slightly in response to her moving under him. He woke up blearily as she carried him to the crib and laid him gently down inside it. He didn't cry, but stared at her with his disconcerting infant fascination, until she distracted him with the mobile. By the time it stopped wobbling and jingling, he was asleep again.

She made dinner for two. Her dad's went back in the fridge for when he got home. Dishes washed. She managed to squeeze some homework in even before Javier started crying again and she had to change him and lull him back to sleep. Then Simone had called, and kept her on the phone for awhile.

And then it was bedtime. When she finally got undressed and climbed into bed, Mr. Tanenbaum's face kept swirling around in her head as she tried to relax. Then she saw herself underwater. All around were fish with people's faces. As one they swam away towards the shore, growing legs as they went. They'd be the dinosaurs, she knew. They'd rule the world. But when she tried to follow them, she couldn't. There were chains around her ankles connected to the ocean floor, holding her in place.

Eventually her father would get home...usually well before sun rise. If she was lucky, he wouldn't wake her up, leaving her with not much to do except get foggily up and start making breakfast. With just a little luck, maybe she'd get through the night.

[Titan]

Hector Reyes drove his pickup 10mph over the speed limit. He never, ever did that. But the light wave that passed over his head while he was making rounds scared the crap out of him. He had clocked out early, and was going home to check on his family. He had the radio on, listening for news announcements. None so far.

Had to be Twenty-Nine Palms, he thought, Communications center for the West Coast military is probably down. Who, though? The Chinese? I just doubt that. They aren't suicidal. Who? Dammit, another light.

He surveyed the traffic, almost non-existant at this time in the morning, and ran the light. He never questioned his conviction that the US was under Nuclear attack. He had to get Juno safe. And the boy, of course, his son for the love of God. No one would ever doubt his love for all of his family. But it had been obvious from an early age that Juno was special.

She will do great things. She will outstrip her old man like jumping over a fence.

For some reason, though, it always made him more critical of her. He wanted so much for her to achieve the potential he saw in her. He did not want his gifted daughter to bang, like her friends at school, or God forbid bear some teenaged boys illegitimate kid.

Currently, he just wanted to see her, make sure she was ok.

He skidded into his driveway, and to a stop. He was out of the car and running before the engine had completely quit. He banged open the door, and almost wept with relief when he heard Javier cry out a second later. He opened Juno's bedroom door.

At first he didn't see her, and he sagged against the door frame.

"Juno?" He said loudly.

Juno sat straight up in bed. Her dream faded quickly. Her father stood in her doorway, and he seemed very upset.

"What is it, Papa?" the rarely used pet name slipped out without thinking.

His expression softened.

"I need you to be strong, Juno. We may be under attack. Get your brother, and come into the living room. I have to see the news."

[SalmonMax]

For a moment Juno just sits there in the tank top she slept in, the blanket pooled around her waist, waiting to wake up. Only, she still remembered a little of her dream...something about an octopus? Did you remember dreams when you were having a dream?

She didn't think you did.

Feeling suddenly nauseous with fear she gets out of bed and pulls a pair of shorts out of her hamper to put on over her underwear before gently scooping Javier up out of the crib...it was in her room so she didn't have to go too far to comfort him in the night...and padding cautiously out into a house dark except for the flickering witchlight of the TV illuminating the living room.

"What's going on?" she asks in a soft, 'baby is sleeping' tone of voice as she comes in. "Did you say we're under...attack?"

[Titan]

Hector turned to his daughter. He saw the fear there, and it broke something inside him. He would not fail her. He would not allow her to fail herself.

"Calm your brother, don't you hear him crying!" he heard himself shout, "and wake up! Don't you understand English? We are under attack! Now be quiet so I can hear the news!"

Somehow, he had to make her strong, worthy of the gifts she had been given. He turned to the news. Nothing about an attack. All the news was about a satellite that had exploded. He felt foolish. There was no attack. They were safe.

Juno came back into the living room with a bottle of formula. She was feeding it to Javier. He saw with approval that she wore a defiant expression.

"Juno, I-"

The earth heaved under their feet. Hector fell to the floor. Juno caught herself with one hand on the sofa, cradling Javier to her chest for protection.

The noise was unbearable. Stone ground against stone, the house shrieked as wood was torn apart, and seams popped. In the kitchen, dishes fell out of the cupboard. It seemed to go on forever. The ground bucked and buckled under them. It was hard to tell which way was up. The ceiling ripped in half, and Hector was convinced that the roof would collapse.

"Outside!" He yelled to Juno, "We have to get outside!"

[SalmonMax]

Juno clutched Javier to herself tightly between her arms and hunched over to shield him from anything that fell. The movement was instinctive, bubbling up from the monkey in back of the brain. In the confusion of the moment, she didn't know where the door was, didn't know even where her father was relative to herself. Everything was moving. Even her mind felt as if it had splintered away from her body and was now floating serenely overhead a few feet away. As it did, her body kept reacting as bodies did...with panic and flight.

It seemed so unfair though, she thought distantly as she staggered towards what she hoped was the front door. So totally unfair. She'd never had kids. Javier would never have kids. They were about to get snipped out of the human race completely. They hadn't done anything wrong...their only crime was a genetic vulnerability to being crushed under a collapsing house...

And it wasn't fair.

"Dad! Where are you?!" she shouts, freeing up one arm to grope wildly, blindly, for the door...not even sure if she was near it yet.

[Titan]

Across the room from where she flailed, the roof finally fell in. She fell backwards into something hard. She looked up, and saw that the roof above her was collapsing as well.

Javier screamed in her arms.

His scream pierced her, and set off a vibration that made her stomach clench and her skull nearly split apart. She screamed herself, in pain and in rage at the death sentance imposed by her genetic vulnerability.

**********************

Juno opened her eyes. She was curled in a ball around her brother. The earth was still. All around her lay the wreckage of the house. Her skin seemed to be settling into shape. She was hungry.

[SalmonMax]

As Juno uncurls, a broken slab of drywall falls off of her and onto the boards and glass around her. The sound makes her jump a little. She's on her knees, Javier struggling in her arms, making googoo noises. She feels stiff. She feels hungry.

What had happened?

She'd been trying to get to the door. She couldn't see her dad, couldn't hear over her brother's screams and the roar of the shaking earth. She'd lost her footing...gone to one knee...and there was a terrible ripping, splintering noise from above her. The roof.. She'd bunched into a ball around Javier, thinking what she'd expected to be her last thought. What had it been? Some crazy thing like a germ with her face...like if she could only do what they did, become immune to everything, grow whatever they needed to...maybe she wouldn't be dead. Something stupid like that. There'd only been an instant...

And then...

Juno frowns dazedly. And then...

There was a moment, a second...no, an instant. Time stopped and everything was still; the pieces of house strung around her in midair like ornaments on a tree. And in between the ticks of the clock there was a light. A light that filled her...destroyed her...recreated her... A light like looking into the face of God.

She couldn't remember.

Moving cautiously, Juno gets to her feet. They're bare, so she doesn't try to walk. The house looks like a tornado hit it. Nothing recognizable remains. Just drywall and broken wood and insulation and bits and pieces of what might have been furniture.

Dread starts to creep into her stomach. The question of how she'd survived fades into insignificance as she starts to wonder WHO had survived...

"Dad?" she calls in a tremulous voice. "Dad?!"

[Titan]

Hector whirled from the pile of rubble that he was frantically pulling apart. Where? He scanned the scattered remains of his house.

"Dad?!"

There! He leaped over the stove, now collapsed and on its side, and hurried to his daughter and infant son. As he swept them up into his arms, a sob escaped his lips. He thrust Juno from him, held her at arms length. He scanned her for injuries. An incredulous concern clenched his face.

"Where, Juno, where are you hurt?"

Against her protestations, he raised her shirt a bit and examined her ribs. He pulled her head down and looked for wounds in her scalp. Finally, he stared unbelieving at her face.

"I stumbled on the steps, ended flat on my back in the yard. You didn't make it out...I saw. I'm so thankful to have you and Javier alive, but how? It was like God stomped on our house. Nothing could have made it out alive...Nothing!"

Tears ran down his face. He still looked like he was mourning their deaths. He was shaken to his core.

[SalmonMax]

Juno hugs her father as best she can while still carrying Javier in the crook of her arm. Tears come to her eyes as he speaks. Tears of abject relief.

She shakes her head at his questions.

"I don't know...I remember the ceiling caving in...I just sorta ducked down with the baby and...I guess we got lucky. There was stuff on top of me, but nothing heavy..."

Hector realizes as he looks Juno over that the back of her sleeveless shirt has been trashed. The fabric ripped and split open more or less down the center. Only the loops around her shoulders are holding the shirt together and keeping her modesty intact at this point. Her shorts aren't in much better shape, held in place primarily by the elastic waistband. Despite this, the skin underneath is completely untouched. Not so much as a bruise.

Juno swallows, apparently unaware of the state of her clothes. "Dad...what -happened-? Was that an earthquake? Did a bomb go off? You said something about us getting attacked, and then said it wasn't and then..."

She trails off and looks around for the first time, taking in the rest of the neighborhood.

[Titan]

As they stood looking at the destruction, Hector struggled for words. While he tried to frame his reply, they heard engines approaching. Juno clutched at her father although she didn't know why. It just felt like things were changing too fast. She had been asleep, dreaming, not long ago, she remembered.

Among the rubble of the neighborhood, Juno could see other survivors picking through the wreckage. Not many, though. Not enough. In the distance, the rising sun behind them, a row of four-wheelers and jeeps approached slowly. Juno could see the familiar sign of the Red Cross on the side of one of the coming vehicles. She started to cry with relief. Hector clutched her, and his son, tightly.

**************************

FEMA had responded quickly. The Red Cross and National Guard were on site even as the tremors started to fade. Working together, they were systematically clearing the rubble, and rounding up survivors. Large tents full of cots had sprung up almost immediatly after they arrived. The FEMA coordination team was advised about an hour into relief efforts that representatives from the World Health Organization would be joining the Red Cross for an unnamed health concern.

Any disaster relief is by nature impersonal. Tending to hundreds or thousands of wounded will break the hearts of the overly-empathetic, and processing that number of people into a system requires a decent sized beauracracy. Juno, however felt that she was recieving a little too much personal attention.

First, they had apparantly asked everyone strange questions. She knew they had asked her father if he had had any 'unusual experiences' during the last 24 hours. When he had replied that the exploding satellite and earthquake certainly were most unusual for him (with his usual charm, of course), they changed tack. They asked if he had witnessed anything 'miraculous' or 'impossible', he had looked at her just a moment too long before saying no, he hadn't. Then they questioned her.

She tried to be honest. It was just one of those freak occurrances, she told herself, and the people from the WHO. She wondered, though. Her father kept staring at her strangely, and when she was allowed to shower (in the women's shower tent, latticed with PVC that rained a frustratingly weak spray down into the makeshift cubicles), when she dressed and looked in one of the several mirrors provided, she got a shock. She was stunning. Well, not cover model gorgeous, but beautiful nonetheless. Her hair had grown a full six inches overnight. She herself looked taller. Her bosom was fuller, and her waist waspish. Her cheekbones were more prominant, and her lips seemed to pout.

What the hell?

Something strange was definitely going on. When she rejoined her family, her dad actually dropped his jaw and his eyes were stunned. The WHO representative, obviously continuing a conversation, said:

"From New York, your family will fly to London, where the WHO has a state-of-the-art facility that we are dedicating to study this emerging phenomenon. Mr Reyes, your help is greatly appreciated in this matter." He produced a paper and pen. "If I can just get a signed consent form, we'll proceed to the airport."

Hector looked at Juno. He ignored the proferred pen.

"Junie, honey. Something has happened to you. The man says it is happening all over the world. They want to study what is happening to you all. Now, I think we should go. I want to know what has happened, and how this will affect you... but... it's up to you. If you want to go, we will. If not..."

The WHO rep shook his head, "Mr. Reyes, as Juno's legal guardian it is entirely your-"

"It's up to her," Hector said sharply, "It's up to you, Juno."

[SalmonMax]

"Wait wait," Juno stammered, making a 'time out' gesture. Her eyes nervously flicked from the official to her father, then back.

"You have to take me to London? Like...London in England? Clear across the ocean? Why can't we just go to the hospital here?" She thought of her friends...wondered wildly what had happened to them.

"What's happening to me?" she went on, hardly even waiting for an answer. "I saw myself in the mirror! How is that even -possible-?!"

(visual reference link: http://ghostyurei.deviantart.com/art/Angelina-Jolie-Sketch-41189948 )

[Mr Fox]

The WHO agent nodded in mute understanding of Juno's uncertainty then spoke, "I don't know. Honestly. Until this morning I would have said it was completely impossible, but you father showed me a picture of you taken at school this year, and unless you are an older sister to Juno and not really the same girl then I have to say that it is possible. As to why or how, I really couldn't say. My superiors contacted all field agents to be on special lookout for anyone displaying such unusual signs as you are."

She reached out and placed her hand gently on Juno's shoulder and said with conviction, "I do know that the WHO has made it the highest priority to see to it that you are given the best possible care and assistance in adjusting to this condition. I am told that of those found with your condition so far, none have died, but there have been some who have displayed unusual side effects." Seeing the worried look on Hector's face she quickly added, "Don't worry, Juno doesn't seem to be displaying any negative effects, but it really is in her best interest to make the trip to London. All expenses will be paid during your trip and except for submitting to a few non-invasive tests and physical exams you can think of it as a vacation."

[SalmonMax]

Juno bites her lip in consternation. It wasn't really in her nature to be overly trusting of official authority. But...all expenses paid? She glances at the ruins of her house and factors that in. Besides, when would she ever get a chance to go overseas again? Hell, bring on the tests. She could take it.

"Yeah," she agrees at last. "Okay. Fine. London. Can I get something to wear first? I'm...uh...feeling a bit of a breeze here." She adds with a touch of defiance, "I can pay."

[Mr Fox]

The WHO agent grinned and pointed to a generic blue sweatshirt and matching pair of sweat pants. "Sorry, that's not very fashionable, but Walmart donated the clothes." Turning toward Hector she indicated the forms that were still waiting to be signed and he in turn smiled at Juno as if to say it was a good decision then made his mark on the page. Once he was done the agent began a quick rundown of the schedule for their flights and ended with, "Now, the best news of all I was saving for last. Since you've agreed to the examination I am told that they will not only be helping you with the expenses of your trip, but since you have lost your home in this tragedy they will also be providing you and your family with new clothes and the basic necessities. Hector, they will also do what they can to provide you with work during your stay there so that when Juno is done, you will not be facing unemployment and with an empty bank account."

For a moment during the speech Hector looked like he was going to protest taking charity, but when work was mentioned he relaxed and truly smiled for the first time since the before the earthquake. His pride was too much to allow for charity, and even accepting the trip would have been turned down if he hadn't thought it was needed for Juno's sake. A man shouldn't take what he hasn't earned. How many times had Juno heard him say that!

After dressing and seeing to the babies needs the family was ushered to an SUV with WHO markings on the side and driven directly to the airport. After two plane changes and a car ride through London that was a little scary because of being on the wrong side of the street they arrived at a massive estate. Hector looked at the driver and asked, "Is this a palace? We're not going to be meeting the queen are we?" The driver chuckled and said in a very British accent, "No sir. This was once the estate of an Earl, I am not sure which one. It is now owned by the Aeon Society. I am sure you must be quite tired after your long flight and luckily there is still time for you to get some rest before the luncheon that will be provided this afternoon. Please be sure to attend it should be quite the event." In a tired daze the family was taken inside and shown to rooms that were elegant and far beyond what Juno was used to. A large breakfast was laid out in the common room of the suit. The servant said before leaving, "If you need anything else please pull this cord and someone will attend you. Also, some clothes have been provided for you, they are in the wardrobes in your bedrooms. Someone will come for you before the luncheon."

[SalmonMax]

Juno strolls into the common room, looking around. It looked like something out of television...one of those shows you catch a glimpse of on PBS as you flip past. Shows featuring names like 'Mr. Dandridge,' where everyone talks like a college professor. The wood of the walls is dark and polished, ending at the level where the windowsills are and replaced by colorful red and cold wall paper that stretched up to the high ceiling with, get this, a chandelier. The wood is a lighter shade of wood, also polished, with a thick maroon carpet under the table and of just slightly larger diameter. There's a desky thing over against the wall between the windows, also of dark, polished wood. Next to it is a short table with a lamp on it. Both the table and the lamp are polished.

She'd seen department store displays that didn't gleam as much as this room.

The only thing that didn't look like it had been there for centuries, patiently awaiting Juno and her family, was the crib. It was white plastic on rollers, with a little boom arm that had dangly toys on it. There were blankets and pillows inside. Juno suspected it had been rolled in just moments before they'd been led there, when someone had told someone they had a baby.

She carefully laid the tiny, sleeping form of her brother into the crib. He sniffled and wiggled slightly, grabbing at nothing before settling down again.

Hector was already sitting down at the table and loading his plate with eggs that were still steaming and strips of bacon and a biscuit. The smell of it was reminding Juno how hungry she was, and she sat down across from him to do likewise.

"Isn't this incredible?" Hector asks Juno proudly, as if it had been him that had gotten them there. "Look at all this!"

Juno absently starts to bulldoze breakfast foods onto her plate. "Yeah, it's pretty cool," she replies guardedly.

"Pretty cool?! Juno!" He pauses and then reaches over to lightly bap the back of her hand with his spoon. "Finish what you have, don't pile it up like that."

"I'm hungry!"

"So? The food's not going anywhere."

Juno rolls her eyes but stops making a pancake skyscraper. "It just seems weird, don't you think?"

Hector eyes her quizzically as he chews his makeshift biscuit-egg sandwich. "What does?"

She gestures around. "All this. The guy at our house said it was the World Health Organization...but then the butler driving..."

"Chauffer."

"Yeah, whatever. He said it was some Aeon thing? What the hell's Aeon?"

Hector shrugs. "Probably some program or something. These things always have projects and programs coming out their ears."

"Okay, but, like, aren't they supposed to be giving people in Africa AIDS shots or something?" Juno asks. "And out of money? But they fly us to London, on their dime, and put us up in some ex-king's house...for what? To do some -tests- on me?"

Hector hesitates at that, chewing thoughtfully. "They'll probably talk about it at the lunch."

Juno sits back and glares at her food as if it was to blame for the incongruities. "Luncheon," she corrects, imitating the clipped, nasal accent of the servant.

"You be on your best behavior, Junie," Hector warns her. "Don't f...don't screw this up."

She nods. She wants to eat, but is pretty sure that once she starts, she won't be stopping long enough to talk for awhile. "All right. All right..."

Hector nods and returns to his own meal. Juno takes that as a signal, and digs in herself.

She's finishing her second heaping plate before she looks up to see her father's expression.

"What? I'm hungry."

"That's enough, Juno. You're going to get big and fat like your aunt."

She sighs and gets up. "I'm going to see what they have in the 'wardrobe.'"

She opens one of the bedroom doors at random and walks in, taking in the giant four-poster bed with hanging drapes and the beautifully carved end tables on both sides...and the towering wardrobe. Curiously, she opens the doors to see what's inside.

--

Hector has to bang on the door she went through. "Juno! It's time! The guy's here!"

There's a pause, and she calls out, "Okay! Coming!"

The clothes she's settled on are a pair of jeans, a white T shirt with a logo that says 'AEON SOCIETY' where the 'A' and 'E' are sort of mushed together, and a light windbreaker. She gives a quick twirl and asks, "How do I look?"

Like your mother, Hector realizes with a sudden pang. When we first met. Whatever had let his daughter live had rushed her body through the remains of her adolescence, and the resemblence was strong. "You look fine. Get going before you're late and make us look bad," he urges. "I'll look after Javier."

She gives him a lopsided smile and goes on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Won't be long."

He laughs and gives her a swat out the door to meet the polite, somewhat unctious servitor who's come to fetch her. "Tell us all about it when you're back!"

(Moving to the luncheon)

[Titan]

This story will continue in the 'Prelude: Æon- Breath on the Waters' Thread...