— Day 2, Early Afternoon —
Palisade National Park

Each of the Baxters responded differently to Jenny’s rather abrupt reply to their innocent attempt at conversation.

Grace, too young and naïve to pick up on her new friend’s warnings about her name, simply said, “Jennifer is pretty. I like it.”

Dan was puzzled by the girl’s sharp retort. For an instant, something about her last name nagged at the back of his mind, but he dismissed it.

It was Angie who quickly made the connection. Perhaps her role as a teacher, with daily interaction with other educators, made her more aware of some things than the rest of her family. Besides, Dan had long shown no interest in politics beyond being an informed voter, while she tended to follow those happenings a little more closely.

Still, Taylor was a common name; it could just be coincidence. But it was Jenny’s reaction that allowed her to conclude that her guess might be correct. Could Jonathan Taylor – the political cartoonist implicated in an assassination attempt on President Wentworth’s life some years before – be her father? It would explain Jenny’s desire to not speak further of her name.

Angie had had her doubts at the time of the highly-publicized trial and subsequent execution; it all seemed a little too handy and convenient. And government’s current response to the supernova – blatantly disregarding her family’s personal rights and possessions – only added to her scepticism. She would not pass judgment on any of the Taylors right now.

To lose one’s father this way! She felt even more compassion for Jenny and the tough life she must have had since then. Yet she would respect Jenny’s wishes, and her privacy. The girl had shown her reliability several times in the short time they’d known her, and that was worth their trust.

“We’re sorry to have pried, Jenny,” Angie finally said. “We really didn’t mean to be nosy. But we promised to answer your questions about us, and a promise is a promise. So, ask away.”

Day 2, Early Afternoon, Palisade National Park

Jenny let go of the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. It looked like this conversation wouldn't go where it had gone so many times before. "I'll have to remember that trick in the future," she thought.

She didn't feel half the relief Volt felt. For a dog who is used to seeing his person remain calm at times when he is angry, having the positions reversed is nerve-wracking. "Grace mentioned something about getting a brother when you got home," he said. "Do you mind explaining that?"

— 10 AM, Day 2 —
Parksville, Erbaine
Palisade National Park
Lui's Cabin
Three pairs of eyebrows shot up behind dark glasses. The men in black didn't buy Lui's story one bit.

"You'll need to come with us, miss," the man in the middle said, taking in the woman's bandages, "for medical evaluation. That goes for all of you," he finished coldly. That was when Terra noticed that the three men were slowly, almost lazily, reaching into their jackets. . . for compact firearms that would persuade the girls when words inevitably failed.

The time to talk was over, and the time to run was deathly close.

Terra looked at Lui, trying to keep the panic off of her face. She caught her cousin's eyes, and shook her head a fraction of an inch, hoping that the eyes hidden behind those three pairs of sunglasses weren't trained on her every move.

They needed to get away from these men, and quickly.

— Day 2, Early Afternoon —
Palisade National Park

Previously...

"Grace mentioned something about getting a brother when you got home," [Volt] said. "Do you mind explaining that?"

Dan looked down at Volt. “Please don’t be offended by this, but I think it’ll take a little time for me to get used to a talking dog. It’s pretty cool, though.”

They walked on another moment in silence, and he made no attempt to answer Volt’s question.

“I want a brother, that’s all,” Grace said quietly. To her it was another one of those obvious, basic facts of life, like her father’s ability to fix anything or her mother’s desire to teach kids.

Angie knew that Dan was deferring the answer to this sensitive question to her, and she loved him for it. But how to proceed? She wanted to answer honestly without revealing too much of what was a deeply personal issue for both of them.

“Well, it’s like this,” she finally began. “We knew we wanted children once we married, but had some trouble at first. We were thrilled when Grace here was born.” She rested a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

“We loved having a child and wanted to give her a little brother or sister, but years passed with no baby. We went to numerous doctors, and all of them confirmed that we can’t have any more children. So we decided to adopt a child, a baby boy, since someone is so eager for a brother.” She tousled Grace’s hair affectionately.” We’re in the final stages of that process now.”

“So I get a brother when we get back home,” the little girl beamed, confident in her childlike logic.

“Well, we hope so, but I’m not so sure.” Dan spoke up now. “We’ll do all we can, but we may have to wait longer, because of the supernova.”

“Why?”

“Remember the car and the phones? The people helping us adopt use computers just like those things do. So we may have to wait until things get fixed.” Dan wasn’t happy, dampening his child’s wishes like this, but wanted to be honest too. It’d be worse if he lied to her, saying a child was coming soon, only to find chaos once they arrived in town.

“Will that be long? Can you fix it?” The voice was very small. It was the first time Dan had heard his daughter question his ability to fix things.

He knelt down and looked into her eyes. “I really don’t know, sweetheart, I really don’t know. But your mom and I will do everything we can. Right now, we just have to get back home. Okay?”

Grace squealed happily and began skipping down the path, Candy barking at her heels.

“I hope that answers your question,” Angie added to Volt as she followed her daughter toward town. “Do you have others?”

-Day 3-
Quadrant 9
9:38 qn

Arthur listened, somewhat intrigued but annoyed by the mysterious way in which Dr. Steele vaguely described where he was. So it's called Quadrant 9? I want to know what Science Fiction book the government is basing this whole thing off of....

He kept an even gaze though, and refrained from any interjecting comments; until the other doctor was finished, ending his explanation with a question. "Little, frankly. When the Supernova occurred I was occupied, and since it seems all electronic devices are fried, I could not access through the media any further information." He glanced down at the drab desk for a minute, clicking his finger nails upon it, pondering. "I was kidnapped only a day after the Nova, so I hadn't much time to get out and search for further facts. Oh, this leads me to ask, how do you have power here if the rest of the world is without?" His brow raised. He knew he wasn't the one supposed to be asking question, but he did it anyway.

-Day 3-
Quadrant 9
9:39 qn

Dr. Steele smiled faintly, "I am not much of an electrician, but I imagine we have some sort of nuclear power grid that was not live at the time of the disaster. I do know we have an entire team dedicated to keeping it running."
The doctor tapped a spot on a glass screen with his long finger before folding his hands together. "The head of our Medical Department will be here shortly to show you your specific duties. Do you have any other questions, before she arrives?"

Day 2
Just outside Arida
Laney's House

Laney opened the door to find herself caught up in a hug. Then the person hugging her pulled back and she found herself looking her cousin, Allee, in the eyes.

"I am so glad you're okay," said Allee. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Laney replied pulling her cousin inside and shutting the door. "What about you? How are you?" It was then she noticed hr cousin's friend. "Who's this, Allee?"

But before Allee could answer there was another knock on the door. Opening it slowly, Laney found herself in another hug.

"Oh, Laney," said Mariah. "I was so worried. You didn't come hang out like you..." Her voice trailed off as she noticed that Laney had other guests. "I'll come back later."

Laney stopped her. "Wait, this is my cousin, Allee and her friend..." She looked at Allee and laughed. "I don't think we quite got to introductions."

Day 2
Just outside Arida
Laney's House

"Oh, I'm sorry." Allee chuckled. "Laney, this is my friend Xandria. Xandria, this is my cousin Laney. We met through the Water for Kids event... you know, the one I was reporting at... and I'm staying at the Convent with her until we can figure out what to do next." She sighed. "In answer to your question, I'm doing okay. This whole thing has turned the world upside down." She managed a weak smile. "At least it gives me something to report on. I can't wait to submit my story to the local newspaper."

Allee abruptly stopped rambling and turned to the girl, who hadn't been introduced by name yet. "And it's a pleasure to meet you too, although I wish it had been under better circumstances."

((First off, I want to apologize to everyone for how long I took to write this... maybe no one was waiting on me, but it shouldn't have taken that long...))
-Day 1-
Arenico, Edge of Downtown Diabolis
-Doran-

The sense of weightlessness that overcame Doran was as unsettling as it was fascinating. He was hanging in mid air, steadied by his hand still holding onto the drain, but with both of his feet simply swinging in mid air. Strangely, it reminded him of a movie he had seen once... "Mary Poppins" Where the characters floated in mid air while laughing like they had lost gravity...

That thought hit him like a brick wall. A lightbulb came on in his head and he realized that he had lost gravity. But nothing around him was weightless... the cars on the street were still stationary and a flowerpot on the windowsill nearby hadn't moved an inch.

Already today Doran had dealt with a lot of very strange things... explosions in the sky, falling many stories to land in the concrete, being unable to jump without flying out of control, and now weightlessness... this was just getting better.

He sighed and took a deep breath, trying to think what he would do next. He must have triggered this somehow... but how?

Thinking hard, he suddenly felt a strange thrumming in the back of his mind. It was a weird sensation to say the least. It was as if he could feel an inner part of his brain that he had never felt before. He could reach INTO himself. There he found the humming feeling, though he couldn’t pinpoint where it was. When he ‘touched’ it, a wave of energy flowed through his limbs…. Then he realized the wind was rushing past him, and he was falling.

He panicked for a moment, twisting in the air as he anticipated the bone jarring impact that he had experienced earlier. He remembered the feeling he had felt before, and tried to concentrate, finding it again and grasping it with his mind. He suddenly felt the draw toward the earth ease up and stop. Reaching out a hand, he grasped the drainpipe, and was able to stop himself with only the tiniest bit of force.

"Gravity..." he breathed, "I can control GRAVITY!!" he realized he was shouting, and looked around, then pulled himself back to the pipe and held on with both hands, pulling himself up easily. He muttered to himself the whole way, "So, I can make myself lighter or heavier by changing gravity..." he reached the top in record time, "There has to be a way to control it in small increments though, not always either on or off..."

Once his mind was at work, Doran could usually puzzle through things pretty quickly. It was three hours later though that he finally made it to the top of the short building. By that time he had pretty much figured out how to alter his own gravity, and how to use his new jump ability to boost himself higher. He panted as he kneeled on top of the building, then began running once more, his boots crunching on the gravel as he followed his original gut instinct, that he needed to help people if they were in trouble, and to that end, he headed for the fires in the distance.

Day 2, Early Afternoon, Palisade National Park

Previously...“I hope that answers your question,” Angie added to Volt as she followed her daughter toward town. “Do you have others?”

"I hope things turn out all right for you," Jenny said softly. "Maybe it's time for some less serious topics," she thought. She hadn't had a chance to speak with Candy yet. "Hey, Candy," she called, "how old are you?"

Volt caught on quickly and added "I'll translate your answer" in Domestican.

Day 2: Arida
Laney's House

"Hi," Xandria said, smiling at Laney and at Laney's friend. "It is good to meet you."

The Convent

Romano stepped out on the porch, swinging the side door quietly shut behind him. He looked over at the quiet form sitting in the porch swing, then cleared his throat.

"Julietta?" he finally asked, slowly walking over and moving a small table closer to the chair. He set a tray down on the table, then sat down next to Julietta.

"How are you doing?" he asked, looking over at her.

Day 2: Arida
Laney's house

Laney grinned sheepishly. "Oh, yes," she said. "This is Mariah, a friend of mine."

Mariah waved. "Nice to meet you two."

Laney turned to Allee excitedly. "What brings you here, Allee? I haven't seen you for ages, it seems."

Day 2: Arida
Laney's house

"You're right, it's been a while." Allee hesitated. "I wanted to come by and see if you were okay. You know, after the supernova." She sighed. "That's the reason that the power went out. It's hit harder in some places than others, but it's not good." She looked around the room for a moment before continuing. "I was wondering if you'd like to come back to the Convent with us. It's a lot safer there."

The Convent

The porch swing swung gently, the chains creaking as Julietta rocked herself with her feet. Back and forth, back and forth. After every surgery she had to take a little time to rest and decompress. This was one such time.

She heard the foot steps first, then the sound of someone quietly clearing their throat. And then her name.

"Hey," she said softly. Butterflies appeared for the briefest moment in her stomach, then subsided. They made a prompt return as soon as he sat down next to her, and she chided herself for acting so ridiculous. "I'm fine. How are you?"

Day 2: Arida
Laney's house

"Of course I'll come with you," Laney said, giving Allee a hug. "It'll probably be safer in a big group anyway, right?" She glanced at Mariah. "Uh, can Riah come too?"

Day 2: Arida
Laney's house

Allee pulled away from the hug, trying not to let the worry show in her brown eyes. "Yes, exactly. I'd feel better if you were with us. The convent is probably the safest place right now." Her gaze shifted to Mariah. "I suppose that's fine, as long as she wants to and her family won't mind. Other than that, I have no objections."

She managed a weak smile and bit back a yawn. The last time she was running on this little sleep was during her finals at the local college. Even the deadlines for her writing assignments weren't as intense as this. Coffee. She needed coffee... or any type of caffeine, really. But where? With the power out, she wouldn't be getting any of that for a long time.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Um, Laney? This is kind of a weird question, but before we go, do you have any Pepsi?" She blushed. "Or, um, any kind of caffeine would suffice."