Altered Children
Chapter 8: Consolidation

Dorothy and Howard Starkey were in Dr. Al Cohen’s office bright and early Wednesday morning, the day before Thanksgiving. Dorothy told Al of their sons’ recent telepathic contact with Anna. Soon connected by phone with Dr. Krasicki and Dr. Sanchez, the neurologist and physician treating Tom Wallace, Al made the introductions.

“We’ve all checked out your website,” Dr. Cohen informed the other doctors. “You did a great job with it. We were amazed by the amount of information you put together so quickly.”

“Thanks,” Dr. Krasicki said. “It’s good to get that feedback. We weren’t sure if it would be productive. Wwhat can you tell us about your patient?”

“Actually, I have two,” Dr. Cohen answered. “Identical twin boys, four years old in August. Their CT scans revealed an abscess or tumor similar to what you found. They’ve exhibited significant telepathic abilities, but haven’t demonstrated strong clairvoyant or telekinetic talents . . . at least, not yet.”

“When you say ‘significant telepathic abilities’, just how significant?” Dr. Sanchez asked.

“They communicate with one another as clearly as we’re talking now,” Howard replied.

“And, recently they had a brief telepathic conversation with a girl in New York,” Dorothy added.

Dr. Krasicki was astonished. “A girl . . . in New York?”

“Yes,” Dorothy said. “Is that important?”

“It might be,” Dr. Krasicki replied excitedly. “An hour ago we received an e-mail from a Doctor Pacheco in Rochester, New York. It concerned her patient, a girl named Anna.”

“Anna!” Dorothy blurted. “that’s the name of the girl Jason and Peter said they talked with.”

“That makes four . . . no, . . . six children we’ve identified who have the exact same physiological condition,” Al Cohen declared. “But there—”

“Six! We only know of Anna, Tom, and now Jason, and Peter,” Dr. Sanchez threw in.

“Give me a minute and I’ll explain.” Dr. Cohen said. He informed the two doctors about the Starkey boys’ computer skills and use of the Internet. “Almost two weeks ago they found a website set up by Professor Dennis Murphy for a research project at the University of Washington. His project involves correlating intelligence and paranormal abilities.

“I’ve checked it out myself, and spoken with Dr. Murphy. The site has a questionnaire they use to identify contacts for follow-up interviews. Apparently, they’ve found scores of highly intelligent children around the age of four who have paranormal abilities.

“Dr. Murphy told me he received a questionnaire and e-mail from Dr. Munir Ben Nafi, the chairman of the Psychology Department at a university in Morocco. He’s greatly respected in Europe as well as the Middle East. The e-mail described a boy and girl, fraternal twins, who have high IQs and paranormal abilities. Since their initial contact, the children had brain scans that revealed similar tumors.”

“My God, what the hell’s going on here!” Dr. Sanchez said vehemently.

“Do we have any idea how many of those other children have the same tumor as our patients?” Dr. Krasicki inquired.

“Not a clue,” Dr. Cohen replied. “I didn’t know about the tumor when I first talked with Dr. Murphy. He never mentioned it, and there was nothing in the questionnaire on his website which would give him information on it. People can add comments, but Dr. Murphy and his assistant have checked a small number of them so far. There’s likely more information to come.”

“You know, . . . it might be helpful if we gave the condition a proper name, one we can refer to,” Dr. Sanchez commented.

“I’ve been giving that some thought,” Dr. Krasicki said. “I considered its location in the right lateral ventricle and the paranormal abilities the children seem to have. Came up with a name: ‘lateral ventricular paranormal proficiency syndrome’. What do you think?”

No one objected. Dr. Sanchez joked, “Good enough for an article in the AMA Journal.”

“Not likely we’ll be publishing anything soon,” Dr. Cohen asserted. “Now, shouldn’t we also come up with a name for the children? Something simple we can use in our documentation . . . maybe technical and cryptic, like the name we chose for their condition.”

“We could refer to them as ‘latven children’,” Dr. Krasicki suggested. “It fits the bill by relating to the syndrome and being both technical and cryptic.”

“Yes, it is appropriate,” Dr. Sanchez agreed.

Dr. Cohen chortled. “Those names may suit our purposes, but the Starkey boys have started calling all the children ‘wizards’.” This lightened everyone’s mood and they all had a much needed chuckle.

“What of the tumor?” Howard asked as the laughter died down. “Anybody have a hypothesis?”

The silence was like the vacuum of space, until broken by Dr. Sanchez. “First of all, is it an abscess or a tumor? And if a tumor, is it benign or malignant.”

“Right now, all we know for certain is that it’s an abnormal structure somewhat similar to either an abscess or a tumor,” Dr. Krasicki observed.

“So it doesn’t really matter if we refer to it as a tumor or an abscess,” Dr. Sanchez said.

“And we won’t know if it’s malignant until we observe it for awhile,” Dr. Cohen advised.

“Well . . . with those metallic strips inside it, I think we’re all agreed it has to be an artificial implant,” Dr. Krasicki declared.

“Has to be,” Dr. Cohen affirmed.

“No doubt about it,” Dr. Sanchez agreed.

“The next questions,” Dr. Cohen continued, “are who implanted it and why?”

“At this point, there’s no answer for that,” Dr. Krasicki said.

“But one thing is certain,” Dr. Cohen stated. “The tumor could not have been implanted by any technology currently known on Earth.”

“That may be an overstatement,” Dr. Krasicki observed. “However, as an experienced neurosurgeon, I can say one thing with conviction. I know of no surgeon or surgical technique capable of implanting it.”

After a pause, Dr. Sanchez said, “Seems we’ve run out of steam. We’ve probably covered everything we can for now. I’d like to continue these teleconferences.”

“Let’s be sure to invite Ben Nafi, Murphy and Pacheco,” Dr. Cohen proposed. “How’s next Tuesday morning for our first doctors’ conference?”

“The head of neurology at Strong Memorial in Rochester should be included as well,” Dr. Sanchez said. “Dr. Pacheco mentioned his participation in Anna Burgio’s case.”

Dorothy inquired, “Don’t forget the parents. We have to be involved. How are we going to be kept informed?”

“Why don’t we schedule a separate teleconference for the parents to follow our own,” Dr. Cohen suggested. “One or more of us can participate and give them the latest info.”

“Good,” Howard agreed. “If anything important comes up, we can always schedule a special meeting. You know, there may be visuals to show, so why not set up videoconferences?”

“That’ll work,” Dr. Sanchez said. “But it might be difficult to arrange for the first one. Let’s do videoconferences starting with the second one. If someone doesn’t have access to video, they can still participate by phone.”

“Hold on a minute,” Dr. Cohen said. “Not all the professionals are doctors. How about calling these conferences ‘professional’ . . . technical . . . ‘scientist’ or . . .?”

After a short discussion the term ‘technical conference’ was agreed upon.

Dr. Krasicki cleared her throat. “Jeremy and I will continue operating our website for the time being, and keep it up-to-date. Okay, Jeremy?”

“Definitely, Paula,” Dr. Sanchez confirmed. “By the way, we’ll be working very closely from here on. I get enough formality in the navy. How about using first names?” That suggestion was welcomed by all.

Following another break in the conversation, Al Cohen said, “I think we’re doing everything we can for now. Let’s end the meeting and get back together next Tuesday.”

Dennis Murphy was in his office with his research assistant, waiting for the start of Tuesday’s scheduled technical teleconference. When the call came, Rama pushed the speakerphone’s button on the first ring.

“Rama and I viewed the website Paula and Jeremy set up,” Dennis Murphy said. “We were truly captivated, and also stunned by the information on that strange tumor.”

“Jeremy and I checked out your website on Saturday, Dennis,” Paula Krasicki remarked. “Fascinating! The responses to your questionnaire have been amazing.”

“It’s seems unreal,” Anna Burgio’s neurologist at Strong Memorial commented. “More like science fiction than reality.”

“Much too real, I’m afraid,” Dennis retorted. “Rama and I found comments describing children with strange brain tumors from . . . oh . . . maybe a dozen physicians and . . .” He paused and looked at his research assistant.

“Seven psychologists and three psychiatrists,” Rama added. “Most of the responses were from North America and Europe, but we received them from just about everywhere.”

“The vast majority of what we consider valid responses were from worried parents or the children themselves,” Dennis Murphy finished.

“The children!” Jeremy Sanchez cried out. “They’re only four years old.”

“It appears many, if not most, of these children are intellectually superior,” Rama replied. “And many are skilled in using a computer.”

“I can attest to that,” Al Cohen stated. “The Starkey twins are among the children who accessed Dennis’ website. They learned to read and do basic math before they were three. And they can beat their father and me in chess, which they learned reading a book of rules and playing on the Internet.”

“Hard to believe,” Paula Krasicki said.

“Astonishing!” Anna’s neurologist exclaimed.

“But not unknown,” Karen Pacheco announced. “I could give you a list of people who have done remarkable things when they were as young as these children—and younger. Mozart, Bobby Fisher, John Stuart Mill and Oprah Winfrey are just a few examples.”

“And what used to be called ‘idiot savants’, don’t forget them,” Dennis Murphy reminded everybody. “The skills they demonstrate are undeniably astounding.”

“I would like to add,” Munir Ben Nafi said, “that, from my recent experience with Kamal and Zahra, the children behave like the typical child prodigy—with the addition of having exceptionally strong paranormal abilities.” Sitting in his office at Mohammed V University in Rabat, he leaned back and blew smoke rings.

“There are strong indications these children are highly autodidactic and may have photographic memories,” Rama said.

Jeremy Sanchez added, “Tom picked up Spanish on his own, so―”

“So, now we have even more to follow up on,” Karen Pacheco noted. “We need to determine the full scope of their abilities.”

“The Starkey boys want to create a website for the children,” Al Cohen added. “We’ve held them back, so far. But they’re precocious rascals . . . and,” Al shrugged, “who knows? Oh, and FYI, they also coined the term ‘mind-talk’ for their telepathic communications.”

“They’re really quite clever,” Karen said. “But I want to get back to something we seem to be skimming over. We’ve no idea at all how many children have been . . . well . . . altered. Is it a few hundred, a few thousand, or what? We can’t depend on someone finding these websites and giving us information.”

“We did contact imaging centers and hospital radiology departments with information needed to contact Jeremy and me, including our website URL,” Paula asserted.

“But is that enough?” Dennis asked.

“We do need to be more proactive,” Anna’s neurologist suggested.

“Okay then,” Karen said. “Let’s notify members of every national medical and psychological association we can reach.”

“So what do we tell them?” Jeremy inquired.

Munir Ben Nafi stroked his goatee and, after a short pause, answered. “Just say we’re a group of doctors and psychologists . . . um . . . doing research into a particular medical condition and . . . ah . . . want to be contacted whenever they come across children with the symptoms we describe.”

“Yes, good,” Dennis Murphy said. “But we need to make it clear we have information to share. It would be more likely to get a response from them. I’ll write a notice and pass it around to you before sending it out. We will also need to decide the best way to get it distributed in the quickest manner.”

“Before I forget,” Al Cohen added, “Jason and Peter Starkey have taken to calling the latven children ‘wizards.’”

“We could certainly adopt their term in casual discussions,” Dennis proposed. “It would likely please the children.”

“Excuse me,” Munir interjected, scratching his goatee. “While it might please the children, calling them wizards, sorcerers, magicians, or something similar could have dire consequences.”

“What do you mean?” Paula asked.

“If I may reply,” Rama said. “Those terms often connote practitioners of black magic in many extremely conservative, traditionalist and fundamentalist societies and religions.”

“Among Muslim fundamentalists and some of the more primitive sub-Saharan African tribes,” Munir Ben Nafi added, “children referred to in those terms could be placed in physical danger.”

“Jason and Peter were rather proud of the reference,” Al Cohen said. “They’ll be very disappointed.”

“I have a suggestion that should please all the children and their parents,” Dr. Ben Nafi offered. “It would not be inappropriate to consider them miracle children, despite those tumors. Therefore, why not call them ’wunderkinder’?”

“Terrific idea,” Dr. Murphy said. “After all, the German term ’wunderkind’ has been used by psychologists and educators in dozens of countries for years to refer to child prodigies like Mozart.”

“Excuse me,” Dr. Krasicki interjected, “but something Karen said stuck in my mind. She mentioned not knowing how many children have been ’altered’. It’s just what they’ve been. Calling them ‘altered children’ might be the best way to refer to them.”

Several comments ensued regarding the pros and cons of each of the terms. Finally the group settled on calling them “altered children”, or just “the children”.

“All well and good, but let’s get back to more serious business,” Dr. Sanchez advised. “We need to keep track of all these people so we can arrange interviews with them. Dennis, did those who e-mailed your website leave good contact information?”

“All the professionals and a large number of others did,” Dennis Murphy answered. “Some parents and children left only e-mail addresses, and a few gave us a phone number and nothing else.”

“We received a substantial number of questionable responses, most of which we’ve eliminated,” Rama added. “Though, there’s a group we can’t discount yet.”

“Why are they questionable?” Munir inquired.

At a nod from Dennis, Rama replied. “Several appeared to be from people who suffer from a neurosis or psychosis unrelated to the latven syndrome, and six were from people faking it for unknown reasons. We eliminated those we considered unreliable, but were left with questionable responses we have to examine more deeply.”

“How did you analyze those replies and make that determination?” Karen Pacheco asked.

Dennis explained. “We included a secondary questionnaire with over a hundred questions and statements from the latest version of the MMPI and a link to an online version of the full questionnaire with more than five hundred. Based on our interpretation—”

“Excuse me,” Jeremy blurted. “If you don’t mind my asking, that University of Minnesota personality test has been around a long time. Is it still being used?”

“It’s being updated all the time and has greater validity today than ever,” Dennis said. “Now, as I was saying, based on our experience and training, we made a preliminary determination concerning the credibility of the responses. As Rama indicated, we were able to discount the largest part of those questionable ones entirely, but maybe a half dozen or so need further investigation.”

“The professionals and parents from your website should be contacted, Dennis,” Karen said. “We have to tell them about the tumor and warn them not to have MRI scans.” She described Anna’s close call with the MRI.

“Rama and I will start doing that immediately,” Dennis concurred. He thought for a moment. “We’ll give the link for the Krasicki-Sanchez website to those professionals and to parents who’ve responded. We’ll also advise them to see their doctor, but try not to alarm them . . . at least minimize it as much as possible.”

“Dennis, will you and Rama be doing follow-up interviews?” Karen asked.

“Yes. I’d prefer to do them in person, but it won’t always be possible. Would you all be willing to interview people by phone—and in person if they aren’t too far away from you?”

Each in turn agreed to participate. Karen, Dennis and Rama volunteered to refine the questionnaires for the Murphy website and prepare a list of questions for the follow-up interviews, which they would e-mail and fax to the rest of them in a few days.

“We must be careful with contacting the children,” Rama suggested. “They may be highly intelligent, but they are young children.”

“Let’s try to contact their parents.” Al said. “They ought to know about this.”

“Not right away,” Karen protested. “There may be valid reasons children replied directly and not their parents.”

“Like what?” Anna’s neurologist wanted to know.

“Some parents may not be receptive to our calls,” Karen said. “It’s possible these parents have been putting undue pressure on the children to make them suppress their paranormal abilities and might punish them for contacting the website. Other parents could be refusing to accept what is happening and have avoided seeking professional advice.”

“Though it’s probably rare,” Dennis added, “some parents may take advantage of their children’s abilities for unfair gain or downright illegal purposes.”

“It might not be a good idea to call them in case their parents answer the phone,” Rama noted. “I’ll draft an e-mail for them and have you review it before I send it to the children. I think the e-mail should strongly suggest the children tell their parents, or maybe a trusted relative or teacher, about everything: their abilities, the websites, and the need to see a doctor.”

“We could be getting responses from the same people on both websites,” Paula said. “What if we consolidate the two sites into one?”

They discussed it for three or four minutes and resolved to combine the sites. Rama volunteered to set up the new site and be its webmaster, and promised he would keep the two existing sites active for a few months, but only to link people to the new site.

“I’m a little disturbed,” Al admitted. “We’ve covered serious issues, and made some good decisions. But we haven’t actually gotten to the heart of the matter.”

“Am I missing something?” Munir challenged him.

“But, we don’t know anything else,” Paula said.

“Aren’t we still trying to gather information?” Karen inquired.

“Think about it,” Al said, aware of their unease. “Here we’ve got a kind of artificial tumor which must have been implanted by someone with very advanced medical technology, certainly beyond the capabilities of anybody on Earth. And there’s a consistent pattern of dreams about strange-looking doctors examining them in spaceships. Are we ready to admit that extraterrestrial influences are involved?”

“UFOs and flying saucers? You’ve got to be kidding!” Jeremy exclaimed.

“Stories of alien abductions have been around for years, but not as many as we seem to be getting lately,” Al alleged.

“And there’s something else . . . something new. My wife is in charge of our hospital’s lab. She found traces of chemicals resembling propofol, ketamine and versed in the blood of Jason and Peter Starkey, as well as another substance in their parents’ blood . . . a kind of long-lasting general anesthetic. In all cases, the chemicals were close to what we commonly use in hospitals, but different in ways they haven’t quite figured out yet.”

“I pride myself on having an open mind,” Dennis Murphy said. “Though I was skeptical a few years ago, I now believe it’s extremely likely intelligent life exists on other planets. We can’t be the only ones in the universe.

“After speaking with Al last week, I took the liberty of approaching Professor Māra Rastaks, who teaches astronomy and physics at the university. We’ve known each other for several years and I trust her to keep our confidence. I invited her to participate because I thought this question might come up. Māra, can you shed some light on this issue?”

“Thank you, Dennis, for the opportunity to participate. Forgive me if I begin with information you already know. Our galaxy is a typical spiral galaxy looking sort of like a fried egg with the yolk in the center. Some spirals have a pronounced central bulge and others very little. Ours is quite prominent.”

“Aren’t there several arms like curved spokes on a bicycle wheel?” Al Cohen asked.

“Right. And, many of the brightest stars and regions of new star creation are dispersed along those arms. Our sun’s a rather nondescript, yellow star. It’s located in the Orion Arm approximately three-fifths of the way—30,000 light-years—outward from the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.”

“If I remember correctly,” Al said, “doesn’t our galaxy have around a hundred billion stars?”

“The best estimate we have is closer to two hundred billion,” Māra Rastaks answered. “There’s an average of one star in every ten cubic parsecs. Actually—”

“Excuse me,” Karen Pacheco interrupted, “what’s a parsec?”

“Sorry,” Māra Rastaks said. “It’s another measure of distance and one parsec is three and a quarter light-years. One light-year is the distance light travels in a year and is almost six trillion miles.

“Hmm . . . where was I? Oh yes. It actually works out to higher than three hundred sixty thousand stars in a cubical volume measuring only 500 light-years on a side. That number applies primarily in the outer spiral arms. Toward the galaxy center and in globular clusters it’s much more crowded.”

“All very interesting, but how does this relate to our situation?” Jeremy Sanchez wanted to know.

“In that 125 million cubic light year volume, based on a reasonably conservative set of numbers, around forty thousand stars may have planets capable of supporting life as we know it. Of these, technologically advanced civilizations might already have evolved on close to thirty or forty planets, several of which could have reached interstellar space.”

“This seems highly speculative . . . a lot of guesswork,” Jeremy suggested.

“It’s reasonable speculation using the equation Frank Drake developed in 1961—hmm . . . sixty-one years ago. He was an astronomy professor at Cornell University back then. The equation’s been used by lots of people, including Carl Sagan. It’s not unreasonable based on the evidence of chemicals discovered in space during the last thirty-five years.”

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere!” Anna Burgio’s neurologist said.

“Does this relate in some way to the theory of panspermia?” Al asked.

Māra Rastaks chuckled. “I’m glad one of you has some familiarity with this subject. Panspermia explains how life on other worlds might be similar to what is found on Earth, Life could be common throughout the galaxy, and generally based on the same DNA structures found on Earth.”

“I don’t quite get that,” Karen said. “How can that be?”

“Let me backtrack a bit,” Māra replied. “Stars generate energy by nuclear fusion. They start by fusing hydrogen into helium. When stars run out of hydrogen, they fuse helium. The process repeats and stars create heavier elements as they age.

“When fusion can no longer be sustained in massive stars, gravity causes their cores to collapse. The consequent explosions expel these heavier elements. Clouds of material in interstellar space are known to contain ice and many complex organic compounds.

“Spectroscopic studies of these clouds have found methane, ethane, ethanol, formaldehyde, and other organic compounds. The first amino acid, glycine, was discovered in interstellar molecular clouds twenty-eight years ago, in 1994. Amino acid molecules fall upon every new planet. Any questions so far?”

Hearing none, Dr. Rastaks continued. “Material containing bacteria is found high in Earth’s atmosphere, and probably the atmosphere of a vast number of planets. Such material could escape into space, be blown out of a planetary system by the stellar wind, and filter into interstellar clouds. Bacteria are—”

“Wait!” Munir Ben Nafi said, holding up a hand like a traffic cop though nobody could see him. “I am not familiar with ‘stellar wind’. What exactly is it?”

“Photons in electromagnetic radiation, such as light, carry enough energy to apply pressure against molecules and particles of dust and bacteria in space and planetary atmospheres.”

Munir nodded his head. “Ahhh, that’s why comet tails always point away from the sun whether comets are moving toward or away from it. Right?”

“Right you are.”

“Thank you, Dr. Rastaks. Please continue.”

“Everyone, please call me Māra. Now, bacteria are able to go into a type of hibernation when exposed to an extreme environment. This preserves their DNA and various organic molecules until they encounter the right balance of temperature and water.

“When an interstellar cloud condenses, it forms new stars, planets, comets, and other planetary system fragments. As new planets cool, comets and dust from the protoplanetary disk will carry bacteria and all these chemical compounds, including DNA, down to their surfaces.”

“I’ll be damned!” Paula Krasicki exclaimed. “The DNA of Humans and chimpanzees differ by no more than two to three percent. So, I suppose intelligent species not terribly different from us could evolve on countless planets.”

“I see you’re beginning to understand the possibilities.” Māra Rastaks observed with a smile.

“One thing is consistent in all the children’s dreams,” Rama told them. “In each and every dream, the children described the aliens as being hominoid.”

“If that’s true,” Jeremy surmised, “they may be similar enough to us . . . to make dealing with them easier—if we ever get the chance.”

“How could we communicate with them?” Paula wondered. “Shouldn’t we notify someone in the government?”

“Or perhaps the UN,” Munir suggested. “This is outside the purview of any national government.”

“Leave them all out of it for now,” Al objected. “Don’t forget, we have expert psychologists in our group right now.”

“We can probably get help from top notch anthropologists at our universities,” Dennis added.

“What could a government do that we aren’t already doing . . . or are capable of doing?” Karen inquired.

“They have a lot more resources than we do,” Paula Krasicki answered.

“Oh, right,” Al Cohen remarked sarcastically. “And with what we can tell them now, how much of those resources do you think they’ll allocate to this? I think we can do a better job for now. If we’re not careful, they could screw it up, and possibly endanger the children.”

“Endanger . . . how?” Jeremy Sanchez asked.

“Under the guise of national security, a government organization may take the children supposedly under their protection,” Al replied. “I can see the whole thing placed under a veil of secrecy so tight we may never see the children again.”

“Oh, come on now, let’s not get paranoid,” Paula protested.

“It wasn’t so long ago, during World War Two, the US government herded Japanese-American citizens into internment camps,” Al Cohen observed. “And there are people who still defend it.”

“Don’t forget the Arab-Americans who were arrested after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Arlington, Virginia. They were held without charge and refused access to attorneys in violation of their constitutional rights.” Munir Ben Nafi added.

“It’s well known the Soviets and the American CIA and military have experimented on people without their knowledge, and I’m not ready to give any government a chance to do it again with these kids,” Al pledged.

“Hold on!” Paula said angrily. “I’ve been a naval officer a long time. I cannot believe our government would do that now. It can surely be trusted to act in the children’s best interests.”

“Just a minute now!” Jeremy grumbled. “I know what we heard from Dr. Rastaks—excuse me, I mean Māra—but the distances between solar systems is so . . . so vast. Wouldn’t it be more realistic to think a rogue agency has developed such advanced technology and is doing this instead of evil beings from another planet?”

“Well,” Al replied, “it is possible, except these children are from all over the world, not just one country.”

“Excuse me,” Māra Rastaks interjected, “but just consider how far we’ve come scientifically in the last hundred years. Flying to the moon was science fiction back then and now we have the space station and planning a trip to Mars. Our scientists are already beginning to understand the principles of physics that might make interstellar flight practical in a hundred years or so. Why not an advanced civilization on another planet?”

“And, as I’ve said before,” Paula reminded them, “I don’t believe we have the technology to implant such a . . . a tumor in anyone’s brain.”

“I must concur,” Anna’s neurologist threw in. “Strong Memorial is one of the best equipped hospitals, and the staff is on top of the latest developments and research. We’d know if someone was working on this kind of technology.”

“Does anybody think the government might already know about the children . . . and what we’re doing?” Karen Pacheco asked.

“Interesting thought . . . and they do have the ability to spy on phone calls, e-mails and Internet traffic,” Al said.

“So where are we?” Dennis Murphy prompted. “We have questions as to whether or not we can trust our government, or any government, and what they may already know. What do we do now?”

“If they knew something, I expect one or more of us would have been contacted already,” Jeremy Sanchez answered. “However, we do need answers to those questions. I’ll talk to Tom Wallace’s father, Mack. He’s a commander in naval intelligence and can probably get answers for us.”

“Good idea,” Paula agreed. “I think I can accept whatever the group decides if Commander Wallace tells us we can’t trust the government for now.”

“Remember,” Rama said, “in the US there is no legal authority to invade anyone’s privacy unless it’s part of an investigation into a terrorist threat or criminal activity. Privacy laws have been upheld for quite a few years, so we’re probably okay.”

“Don’t they need a subpoena or warrant to tap phones and read e-mails?” Karen asked.

“That’s another question we need to get answered,” Anna’s neurologist replied. “But it sounds like we have legal questions a constitutional or criminal lawyer could answer better than Commander Wallace.”

“I can check it out with someone in the university’s law school,” Dennis said, “as if it were an issue concerning the privacy of a patient’s medical information. Actually it would not be untruthful—as far as it goes.”

“We also don’t know what actions governments besides yours may take,” Munir Ben Nafi said. “Wherever we find children, somehow we’ll have to determine how secure our communications are from their government’s intrusion.”

“And how safe those children would be if their governments discovered them,” Rama added.

“We can probably be careful about what we say—and how we say it—in most of our e-mails,” Al Cohen observed. “But we have to be able to discuss things openly during the videoconferences. I guess—”

“Scrambling—excuse me for interrupting,” Karen said, “but can’t our transmissions over phone lines be scrambled?”

“If the government picked up a scrambled transmission,” Rama asked, “wouldn’t it just draw attention to us?”

“Sounds like another question for Mack Wallace,” Al suggested. “As I started to say, it looks like we’re going to have to take risks, but we should minimize them by being extremely careful how we phrase things on the phone and the Internet.”

“Something else has been bugging me—no pun intended—while we’ve been talking,” Dennis Murphy noted. “Why would aliens, or anybody else for that matter, enhance the abilities of these children?”

“Good question,” Jeremy said. “If it’s what they’re actually trying to do.”

“What else would they be doing?” Anna’s neurologist wondered.

“That’s just it, we still don’t know enough about all this,” Jeremy Sanchez replied. “We need more information before we can make decisions regarding what action to take.”

“I guess you’re right,” Karen agreed. “We’d better be very careful in choosing who else we disseminate information to.”

“And what information we give out, as well,” Al Cohen added. “Our little group is already growing rapidly.”

“Here’s a puzzling question,” Dennis Murphy stated. “How are these children being selected?”

Rama waited through a short pause and said, “Another mystery for our growing list.”

“One thing I think we must all agree on . . .” Dennis insisted, “our primary responsibility is to the children.” A clear declaration to which all concurred strongly.

“I want to be sure we’ll notify the proper authorities if at some point we determine there is an actual threat from an extraterrestrial source,” Paula Krasicki proclaimed in a strong voice. “That would be way out of our league to handle.”

“I think we would have to,” Al said before he added, “But I’m still uncomfortable with letting them know about the children’s paranormal abilities . . . at least not the extent of those abilities.”

“Don’t forget—and I’m sorry to keep reminding you—this would be a world-wide threat,” Munir Ben Nafi noted. “We would have to determine which governments could be trusted not to jeopardize the children and would devote sufficient resources . . . and there’s always the UN.”

“You know,” Rama said, “I’m already on the hook to consolidate the websites and databases and I’ll have everything necessary to compile and maintain a list of the people to include in the conferences. It will take time to get it all set up, and there are lots of holidays to contend with. If you agree, I’ll set up a weekly e-mail and fax newsletter and schedule the technical conferences to begin on the seventeenth of January, seven weeks away.”

“We should keep it simple and provide a choice among several languages,” Munir stated, “mainly Arabic, Spanish, German, and Italian, in addition to English. Probably Chinese and Japanese too.”

“Hmm, could be a big job, but a necessary one.” Rama affirmed. “As we work our tasks let’s try to identify people willing to translate the websites.”

“I can provide a Russian translation,” Māra offered. “If you would like, I will document the information I gave you earlier for inclusion on your website. Just let me know.”

“That is most generous, Māra,” Dennis said. “Thank you.”

“I believe we should allow Jason and Peter to create a children’s website,” Al said. “Under supervision of course. I can assist them with the content.”

“And I can guide them in the more technical aspects,” Rama added.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Jeremy said. “We don’t know what information would be shared, or who might actually be privy to it.”

“As they get older,” Munir surmised, “I don’t think we could stop them from communicating and sharing information, especially since they’re telepathic.”

Jeremy continued his argument. “We should tell the boys not to do it because it’s dangerous and there are too many unknowns at this time.”

“These children seem to be as strong willed and self-confident as they are intelligent,” Munir said. “I don’t think we can hold them back for long.”

“These children may be a precursor of humanity’s future evolution,” Rama speculated.

“Particularly if their progeny also have their intellects and fantastic paranormal abilities,” Munir commented.

“Wouldn’t that be incredible,” Dennis agreed. “An occasion to look forward to.”

A silent minute passed before Al broke it. “May we get back to the here and now, please? If we encourage them to communicate via a website, we could more easily monitor their thinking and the information they share. I’m sure Howard and Dorothy would supervise them closely.”

“However,” Karen countered, “we should tell Jason and Peter not to invite children to subscribe to their website until we contact them and they’ve been notified of the tumor by their doctors or parents.” Everyone agreed with this suggestion.

As the conference ended, they each realized that they’d decided only on tactics and more information would be needed before they could plan a real strategy.

By the end of November, 2022, Rama had completed the consolidation of the two websites into a completely new site. Each of the original websites now consisted of a home page describing the new site and linking directly to it. He’d created a master list of people to be contacted, divided into seven geographically oriented lists, and e-mailed one to each of the seven who had participated in the teleconference.

Karen Pacheco leaned back in her chair and tapped a pen on her desktop while she watched almost a hundred names, with their contact information, slowly scroll by on her computer screen. They resided in the northern part of the US, eastern Canada and northern Europe. Approximately two-thirds were parents. A dozen were children and the rest were medical professionals treating them.

Karen specified the order by which she would make the calls, balancing them between North America and Europe and accounting for time differences. She refilled her mug of hot tea, settled in at her desk, highlighted the first person in the reordered list and clicked the dial button.

Karen introduced herself to Phil Demakis’ father and said, “I see you registered at Dr. Dennis Murphy’s website. I’m one of the doctors working with him. You noted that your son, Phil, hears voices in his mind, exhibits clairvoyant and telekinetic abilities, and recently has had strange dreams. Have you talked with a doctor about this?”

“Yes. We took him to his doctor and he referred us to a psychiatrist, who gave Phil several tests. As he explained it, the symptoms could be caused by a tumor. He advised doing a scan of Phil’s brain. The psychiatrist also said Phil has an extremely high IQ—‘off the charts’ was the way he put it.”

“Has Phil been scanned yet?”

“Yes, and they found something that really has us scared, a kind of—”

“—an unusual tumor with metallic strips in it, right?” Karen interjected.

“How did you know—the doctors have no idea what it is—what do you know about it? Wait! Before you answer, let me get my wife on an extension.” A minute passed before he said, “Okay, she’s on now and I told her what we’ve discussed so far. Please continue.”

“We know very little I’m afraid. Experts in the fields of neurology, physiology, psychiatry, and parapsychology are working together on this. I’m a psychiatrist and also have a doctorate in parapsychology from UCLA. We’ve been discussing several theories and have settled on one we consider the most logical, but also the most outlandish.”

Karen Pacheco explained about the children with a similar tumor, the new website, and the probability of extraterrestrial involvement. The line became quiet. “Hello, are you there?”

“Extraterrestrials? C’mon, Doctor, isn’t that science fiction?” Phil’s mother asked.

“The technology to implant this artificial tumor—and it has to be artificial—is beyond anything we can do on Earth,” Karen replied. “There is no other rational explanation. We’re using it as an operational hypothesis for now, unless something better turns up.”

“It still sounds awfully far-fetched,” Phil’s mother said.

“We also found chemicals in the blood of two of the children and their parents. These chemicals are similar to anesthetics we commonly use, but have differences we don’t fully understand yet.”

“It’s pretty hard to believe beings from outer space are doing it,” Phil’s father declared.

“All I’m asking is for you to review our website; then have your doctors, including the psychiatrist treating Phil, check it out. It has information on our medical and psychological discoveries, and on extraterrestrial considerations. Tell them to contact me afterward.”

“We’ll do it, Dr. Pacheco,” Phil’s father promised. “Even if we’re skeptical about space aliens, we do know something is going on . . . and Phil has us very worried. So, please keep us informed. We want to be involved.”

Karen Pacheco glanced at their address. “I see you live in Aurora, Illinois.”

“Yes,” Phil’s father said. “We’re twenty miles west of Chicago.”

“Well, I’m arranging a trip to visit affected children and their parents in several states, including Illinois. I’ll contact you in a week or so to set up a meeting.”

Karen hung up, entered notes on her computer and selected another name. She made four more calls and then came to a name with only a phone number to contact; she recognized the country code for England. Karen checked the time and saw it was after seven o’clock and she hadn’t had dinner, as her stomach reminded her.

Hmm, the next couple of numbers are in England, she thought. Karen looked up the time difference. It’s five hours later there. Don’t want to wake them. She closed up her office, picked up an order of Chinese takeout and went home.

Three days later Karen got to the European calls. She found the one in England with a first name and phone number. From the questionnaire she saw that the person who’d submitted it claimed to be a four-year-old boy. I hope I’ll be able to talk with his parents. She clicked the dial button. A woman answered on the fourth ring.

“Hello, may I speak to Alain please?”

“Excuse me, but ’oo wants ’im?”

“I’m a doctor. Alain left a message to call him.” Karen heard a slight commotion in the background and then a different voice on the phone—obviously a young boy.

“Right, this is Alain. And who are you?”

Karen explained who she was and the purpose of her call. “Was that your mother?”

“No, me mum and dad are out—as usual. That was me nanny. She’s daft as a brush.”

“Well, Alain, have you and your parents spoken with a doctor about the voices you hear and your strange dreams?”

“No. Nobody else knows . . . except you and Dr. Murphy—because of the website.”

Karen sighed. “Would you like me to speak to your parents?”

“No! That’d make a muck of everything.”

“Okay then. You really should speak to them and to a doctor because . . . hmm—Alain, do you know what a tumor is?”

“Uh, I think so. What of it?”

Karen told him about the other children and their tumors. “This is why you need to see a doctor—so you can find out if you have a similar tumor.”

“How can I learn more about this without talking to me mum and dad, or a doctor?”

Reluctantly, Karen described the neurologists’ website. “You probably won’t understand much of it. After you check it out, will you send me an e-mail or call me on the phone?”

“Maybe . . . and maybe not.”

“Please tell me why you don’t want me to speak to your parents.”

“Bugger it!” he said in a sharpened voice. “I already told you. I’ve got it pretty good now and they’d just scupper me life. They don’t bother w’ me much and that suits me fine. Me dad’s always out workin’ so he can make a pile. All’s they want is to be a couple of ‘nobs’ instead o’ the ‘skints’ they used t’ be. They give me nanny plenty of ‘money for jam’ so I can do whatever I want, can’t I.”

Karen shifted around in her chair, shook her head and thought, My God, what a troubled child. “Alain, I can’t think of anything else now. Except, there are other children like you who I’m sure you would like to know, so I hope you’ll keep in touch.”

“I don’t know, maybe. Cheerio.”

They hung up and Karen considered what to do for Alain. I wish I could gain his trust. Sounds like his parents ignore him. Must tell the others. Try to contact him again, or his parents, in a couple of weeks. That nanny doesn’t seem very good, and obviously can’t control him.

By mid-January 2023, the doctors had reached everyone on their lists. Most people wanted to maintain close contact and learn more about their common predicament. The doctors intended to wait awhile before trying again to win over those few who did not realize the importance of staying in touch.

Karen attempted to talk with Alain or his parents, one last time. The phone number, however, was no longer in service; she discovered the number had been for a cell phone.

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