Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 18:16:28 -0400
From: Ron <wolfwalker2@alltel.net>
Subject: TEEP chapter 10

Aaron was up early, he had spent the last hour going through emails, the
ones from Altare Technologies were the most numerous. It seemed that the
weekend had set the world on fire as some of the computer toys hit the
market, the orders were staggering, along with carefully worded inquiries
from the U.S. government, those he passed along to Roger and his firm to
handle. The last email not dealing with applicants had a link to a short
video that showed a news report and the dark outline of the Alteran Prince
before all the lights came on, evidently two Med Evac helicopters heading
out to sea caught the attention of the news chopper's pilot and he followed,
hoping to get a story. Glancing over at the calendar off to one side of the
monitor screen, Aaron thought, not bad the news about the Prince broke three
days early.

Opening the filtered emails, Aaron was once again surprised by finding over
a hundred in the in box, categorizing them by skills, he sent them off to
Joe before opening up the file sent back by Joe that included the final
interviews and the schedule for Friday and Saturday so far, he would be
seeing a new face every five minutes, just enough time for him to scan the
applicant's mind before offering him a job, the lucky ones would ride the
Prince back on Sunday morning to begin alteration. He also noticed that
Chris was scheduled to meet with the ones most likely not to be offered
alteration in the beginning, being a touch telepath, he could scan them
twice, when shaking their hands entering and leaving the interview.
Approving the schedule, Aaron sent it to both Joe and Chris before logging
off and trying to think of what he had to do today besides meet with several
college guys and start the teleport training for his guys. Stretching, he
noticed it was time to go start breakfast if they wanted to eat before he
started his day, Chris was going to take duty at the dining hall this
morning, so he only had to worry about feeding his guys.

Walking downstairs, he heard sounds coming from the kitchen and
investigating, he smiled as Pete was in there scrambling a ton of eggs, if
the empty shells on the counter were anything to go by, and he could hear
the gentle sizzle of bacon from the stove, "Need a hand?" Aaron asked as he
walked past the counter that had all the dishes stacked and ready on it next
to drinks.

Glancing over his shoulder as he poured the eggs into the hot pan Pete
smiled, "nope, almost done, as soon as the eggs are done everything will be
ready," Pete went back to stirring the firming eggs.

"Well how about I go get Tim and Kevin, by then you should be about ready,"
Aaron volunteered before walking back towards the common room. Once there,
he looked around and not seeing anyone looked into Tim's room and found him
in front of the terminal, "breakfast is almost done."

Not bothering to look up, "I'll finish this section in another couple of
minutes, I'll be there after I complete this test." Tim continued taking his
placement test.

Nodding his head, he walked over to Kevin's bedrooms and peaking in he saw
he was also in the middle of placement testing, waiting until he finished
typing his answer in, Aaron whispered, "breakfast is ready when you get to a
spot where you can take a break." Seeing the slow nod of Kevin's head, Aaron
quietly left going back to the kitchen.

Seeing Pete already at the table eating, Aaron walked by as he looked his
way, until he had to walk into the kitchen, Pete was inhaling the food at a
rapid rate, picking up a plate, Aaron filled it with eggs, bacon and toast
before pouring some juice then he went to the table to sit across from Pete;
sitting down, he started to eat and in between bites, "This is good, thank
you for fixing breakfast." Receiving a smile and a nod back from Pete, he
was curious, "Did all of you get up early to start the placement tests?"

Swallowing long enough to talk Pete smiled "I started last night after you
all went to bed, I got through math and history before bed, so I volunteered
to do breakfast while Tim and Kevin caught up with me, after breakfast we'll
all start out at the same point in science then English before lunch." He
started to eat again as Tim walked by heading for the kitchen.

Tim sat down with his plate and a glass of milk "we all talked last night
and we wanted to get all the placement tests out of the way today, then
start in on school tomorrow if that is alright with you? The tests were not
that hard so far, as I am the farthest behind in schooling."

"Sounds like you guys have everything planned out, this will give me some
time to get things done, if it's alright with you I will be gone at
lunchtime and return to fix dinner for all of you."Aaron smiled at each of
them and then Kevin as he walked in food in hand, then piercing Tim with a
gentle look, "I'll help you catch up as I am sure both Pete and Kevin will
help out also, so try not to let it get to you."

Smiling and nodding his head Tim continued to shove the food into his mouth
as fast as he could, unconsciously watching what everyone was doing.

Finishing up Aaron stood to go into the kitchen and washed his plate and the
dishes after putting the leftovers in containers on the counter so all that
everyone else had to do was to wash their own plates. Going to the
refrigerator he noticed the red box of emergency donuts was open and
counting them he saw none was missing but it reminded him he needed to
explain something he had overlooked. Removing the box he grabbed one of the
donuts and started to munch on it as he walked back to the table "I
overlooked something and when I saw the open box I remembered; normally I
would go over this in depth during our first class, but before I forget and
you make yourselves sick thinking these are normal donuts, I'd better
explain."

"Each of the donuts or any other food found in these red containers," Aaron
pointed to the open red box on the table "Have the same amount of energy
packed into them as three days of full meals," he watched their eyes bug out
at that comment and the fact he was eating one. "The trick is, if you start
to eat one and feel the slightest bit full you need to stop, or it will make
you very sick."

Leaning forward as he closed the top of the box and placed half the donut on
it unable to finish anymore, "You can get sick because in a very small
amount of space," Aaron tapped the half eaten donut, "there is a lot of food
packed into it, so if you overeat, well let's just say it would not be
comfortable. The reason we have these around is that Alteran's are not like
normal humans, you already know about the neat gifts we have, what we have
not gone over yet is that kinesis and porting take a lot of energy out of
us, and if we get too low on energy, our body's will start feeding off our
fat reserve and muscles which can be a bad thing."

Breaking the uneaten half into three equal pieces he handed them out to the
teens, "I happen to like chocolate donuts, so mine are made like that, and I
normally keep them in the freezer." Aaron watched with a smile as they all
tried a nibble before smiling and popping the piece into their mouths,
savoring each bite.

Pete picked up his last slice of bacon and as he started to eat it he all of
a sudden, felt over full and he placed it back on his plate and looked at it
funny, "I see what you mean, all of a sudden the thought of food makes me
sick."

"It can do that to you, but when you are running on empty, you sometimes
can't eat enough of them. The night I rescued Kenny and the others, I was so
tired and empty once I got back I ate a huge bowl of ice cream with fruit
and then ate my way through four of those." Aaron told them to their huge
eyes as they looked at the container.

"I'll just put these back in the refrigerator, since they've been thawed,
now you won't mistake them for the normal kind and make yourselves sick."
Aaron got back up and returned the box back to the fridge. Returning to the
dining room, he bent down and kissed each teen in turn soundly, lingering
long enough to make sure they got hard, he figured they could relieve some
stress before going back to being tested, and this way was perfect.
"Alrighty, the only dishes left are yours and I have things to do, so I'll
leave you to relieve those very nice little problems all by yourselves now,"
he laughed as he ran to the balcony and ported out leaving some hot and
bothered lovers behind.

Porting directly over to the gardens on Altair Minor, Aaron made his way
down the paths towards the Atrium, he just had enough time to catch up with
John before doing morning rounds. Walking in through the open doors, Aaron
looked towards the buffet and smiled, the end section was sending steam into
the air, checking it out as he walked past, he noticed the eggs, sausage and
potato's along with toast, grabbing a sausage link, he walked into the
kitchen and searching, he finally found John in the office talking to
someone. Standing just out of hearing range, he waited until the
conversation was finished before walking in "Well it seems like you are
having a productive morning," Aaron popped the last bit of sausage in his
mouth.

Glancing at the clock, John realized how late it was, he had forgotten about
the time difference he was dealing with, just what time it was in the
states, smiling as he thought he knew what Aaron was after, he grabbed the
terminal and brought up his order of what he felt was needed to open the
kitchen to staff next week, "I did not send the completed order, I had no
idea where it went or if it would get filled, but it's ready to go."

Chuckling, Aaron motioned for him to click submit, "Go ahead and send it,
until I get the positions filled, it will be brought up on my terminal in
the office. I will have a nice selection of staples along with chicken and
fish sent over for today's meals, and maybe some beef. Anything else you are
out of, keep in mind that lunch on Wednesday will be the last meal in this
kitchen till the end of the following week."

Thinking about it for a moment, John nodded his head, "If you can buy some
more of that breakfast and sweet Italian sausage we had last night, I can
make a jambalaya for dinner tomorrow, other than that, I can't think of
anything special."

"Later I'll send over what is left in my freezer, I'll have to find some
time to make up another batch this week, maybe show you how I make it."
Aaron stopped leaning on the doorframe, getting ready to leave.

"You made that yourself? I knew it was a fresh sausage because of its color
after being cooked but.you are planning to share the recipe with me, aren't
you?" John all but demanded, standing up, searching for something to write
with, forgetting the terminal in front of him in his haste to get an awesome
recipe.

"Yes I made it myself, that was the only way to get sausage ninety eight
percent fat free," laughing at John's antics, "and you'll have to wait until
later to get the recipe.later being when I know you are back for good next
week and not able to be tortured for the recipe."

John stood there for a moment gaping, as Aaron walked out of the kitchen
chuckling, it was only after he was out of sight that he realized that he
had been had and broke down into his own laughter.

Walking into the trauma pod a few minutes later, Aaron smirked in Gordon's
direction causing him to get nervous, "consider yourself lucky morning
rounds will just leave you wishing you choose another career." Seeing Theo
laugh, Aaron shook his head, "Relax Gordon, while there is some truth in
that little statement, the reality or should I say my intention is not to
second guess you but to make sure I know that you recognize what you are
seeing and you are comfortable and know the treatment you have chosen is the
best one available. And unlike some teaching hospitals, I am not going to
hold it against you if you don't know something, you're here to learn, to
put that knowledge Theo and the rest crammed into your head into something
that is useful. So let's start as if this was your patient from the
beginning, Theo can act as the source of information that is not covered in
the treatment notes, use him like you were looking at the chart, to refresh
your memory when something I ask comes up and you have no clue, because it
was not there. "

As the questions started to get more complex, leading into areas that he, at
first, did not see how it was related to the treatment of the two boys in
the bio-tubes, after a forty five minute merciless question and answer
session, he finally was allowed to relax against the counter, feeling
totally wrung out.  "That was the most intense thing I have ever been put
through, are all morning rounds this bad?"

Shaking his head no, while Theo laughed, "You will get used to it, and after
time, until I know up here." Aaron tapped his head, "that you know this
backwards and forwards, it will seem the hardest thing you have ever done,
in time it will become easier, just think, I went easy on you, as they were
not your patients initially." He held his laughter as Gordon looked at him
like he was nuts.

Theo clapped Gordon on the back, "This was relatively easy, you have to
remember that Aaron here was not around you while you went to classes and
exams, morning rounds for fourth years really is designed to let your boss
know exactly what you know."

Laughing, Aaron made one last point before it was time to leave, "Don't
forget that you and Carl go home tonight, to start putting your affairs in
order, you'll have three days to get everything packed and to the docks
before the Alteran Prince shows up, Sunday morning, the Prince sets sail for
home, and I expect you and Carl to be on board, you start the following week
learning everything you can about the equipment and computers. While from
time to time, you will help out at Altair Trauma Center, both your and
Carl's main posts will always lie with Altare Main."

"Be ready to leave after lunch, Carl is going to need you to help out when I
bring him out of the bio-tube, he is going to have the same problem you did,
so I will let you help him deal with it before imprinting the knowledge of
his gifts into his brain." Aaron sent telepathically before waving and
walking towards the door, "Later all, I have a few dozen interviews to take
care of this morning, I'll be back around lunchtime to take you back to the
main med bay, Gordon."

Knowing he was about to port halfway around the world again, Aaron made his
way to emergency docks, he was planning on using the gestalt generator on
board the Prince, that way he would not deplete his power, and he had three
stops to make over in the U.S. so if he spread out the ports, he would not
be as tired at the end of the day, or at least that was what he hoped.
Making his way through the silent ship, he finally found himself in front of
the Captains chair up on the bridge, touching the hidden buttons to reveal
the twin metal plates on the end of the chair arms, he stood hands resting
on them drawing in the power as the second generator woke from standby
pulling power into his body as quickly as he could grab it. Just as the
whine of the generator became audible, he ported out, the chair returned to
normal and the generator cycled back to standby mode.

Arriving inside the house that would be the rescue base for this part of
Florida, Aaron took a moment to walk around, getting a feel for the floor
plan, overall he liked it and he was very happy with the large library on
the first floor, he would make sure that it was stocked with all the
reference books his first three residents would need, to complete their
studies, after several years, it would be a fine library for any subject
taught at Miami State.  Spotting the boxes that would contain the terminal
which would link up to the Altare core, he set about opening them and
hooking it all together, first, he had to set the plasma screen in place.
Once it was securely bolted to the wall, Aaron hooked up the wires to the
input touch pad and then to the main CPU link, no hard drive was in the
case, just a relay that gave a real time link to the central core, there
were also slots for isolinear chips to be inserted. Breaking down the boxes,
now that he was finished, he went upstairs and spent the next half hour
installing the terminals in the other four bedrooms. Placing the P.A.D.D. on
the desk of the last terminal to be activated and linked to the core and
placing all the packing and broken down boxes in the last big one, he left
it in the hall and went downstairs.

He would have to come back later to install the fusion generator deep under
the foundation, he just had time to check out the safe room before the
candidates showed up, he just hoped that they would be on time. Making his
way into the kitchen, Aaron opened the built in pantry and opening the
doors, slid them together into the cabinet until he heard a click, walking
over to the back steps leading to the second floor, Aaron touched the
banister and counting up the row to the third one, pushed the baluster down
until he heard it click home. Stepping back, he noticed the stairs start to
rise towards the ceiling and the floor panel slid down and back exposing
stairs leading down. Stepping back into the kitchen, he noticed the pantry
doors were once more extended, and smiling, he entered the safe room.

Taking the steps down, he found everything as it should be, including the
heavy bank style door at the end of the passage. Poking his head into the
room; it too was as he had planned it and it could be tested later also, as
it was time to meet his guests. Climbing back up the stairs, he twisted the
ornament on top of the banister, causing the baluster to snap back up and
the stairs to once more descend. Just in time, he thought, as he heard the
doorbell ring. Making his way out of the kitchen, he went to the front door
and opened it to find four people standing on the porch, instead of three,
"Hello there, can I help you?"

Mike glanced down at the paper in his hand to double check that he had the
right address, this young guy did not look like some rich multibillionaire
mega corporation dude, giving them a chance to finish school. "Umm.I think
we are expected, at least we are, if there is an Aaron Stranton here."

Nodding his head, Aaron opened the door further and waved them in, "Come on
in, let's talk in the living room, which is to your left as you enter."
Closing the door behind the four young studs, he followed them into the
living room and pointed out the couches, "Have a seat, Guys, and we can get
started in a minute."

Waiting until they sat down before taking a seat himself, Aaron briefly
skimmed their minds before stopping on the brown haired freshmen on the love
seat, he was very nervous and had a girlfriend he was regularly fucking, in
fact, it would take a scan to check his DNA out, to see if he was gay as he
had never thought of doing anything with a guy before, he thought of himself
as straight, but he needed the help, to stay in school and was willing to do
anything.  Moving on to the couple he read their surface thoughts and
secretly smiled the freshman Toby had brought his boyfriend with him, and
his boyfriend was a lot younger that he was, and secretly lived with Toby so
he could survive. Aaron knew Toby would be one of those altered, Mike, on
the other hand, could go either way.

Taking out his passport, he handed it to Mike, "This should help prove who I
am, these new diplomatic passports can't be altered, as they are partially
made of metal. You three were referred to me by your advisers as young men
in danger of losing out on your dream of graduating collage, due to family
or financial situations, but mostly both." Aaron smiled at the look of
disbelief that crossed Mike's face, before he passed the passport to the
next guy. "Let me go over what I am looking for, then we will take a tour of
the house, then we can all sit down and I will try to answer any of your
questions before I make the offer to you."

Sitting back, after taking back his passport and placing it in his pocket,
Aaron folded his hands and looked out the window while letting his mind take
in the surface thoughts from each of them. "Well, first off you should know
that the program I am setting up will be nationwide, houses like this one
will be built near all the major colleges and universities. I am doing this
for several reasons; the first reason is, just like the pro teams, I am
nurturing my future employees, I expect that if I pay for your schooling and
room and board, that I will get well educated execs out of the deal for any
of my multiple companies. So the simple fact is, for every year I pay for
your schooling, you must work a year for one of my companies, hopefully you
will like your job and its benefits enough that you will want to make your
entire career with one of my companies."

Tasting surprise and acceptance of it being fair so far in all their surface
thoughts, Aaron continued, "The second reason is also a simple one on the
surface, the mission of my country is the rescue of 'in danger, gay youth',
and all my businesses revolve around making money for that sole purpose."
And the nudging of the world from the path of destruction it is currently
set on he added silently. "You must retain at least an overall 3.0 GPA , and
if you need tutors you are expected to ask for them, I have no problem
giving help to those that ask for it. Also, summer internship's with one of
my companies in your field of study will be offered, plus other part time
work will be offered for extra spending money."

Tasting their thoughts, so far he had not lost anyone yet, "this house will
not become party central, in fact, no major parties will ever happen in this
house, there is an underlying reason for this, which you will find out if
you are accepted. Small study groups that want to come over to watch some TV
or blow off steam after an exam or study, of course are welcome, the only
thing you have to keep in mind is that this house is a safe place for gays,
straights and Bi's are welcome to visit, but they must be accepting,
problems need to be reported immediately, even if you think they are blowing
smoke up their ass, forewarned is forearmed and safety is the name of the
game, as far as that goes, so no threat, however small, goes unreported."

"Any questions so far?" Aaron asked, as he looked back at the four guests,
Toby and Bill were both thinking this was the answer to their prayers and
they had pretty much decided before hand that if everything worked out, they
would be asking for help with Bill's problem and Daniel was wondering if he
could pull it off, pretending to be gay, he had no problems with gay people,
but being a foster kid thrown out of the system, he really needed this
opportunity, and Mike was quietly accepting of the whole thing so far.

"Okay then, let's start the tour." Aaron stood up, "You'll notice that this
is the living room and there are no distractions here, the television and
such is in the family room, so this room is perfect for study groups, it is
also the only room that does not open into another, except the library, both
open only into the hallway." Motioning for them to follow him, Aaron walked
out into the hall and pointed to the steps "We'll leave that for the moment
as I think everyone pretty much can figure out where the steps go, Around
behind the steps though, is the door to the library," walking into the room
Aaron waved at all the empty shelves, "It is a little sparse right now as
this will be the first group to occupy the house, I will slowly build up the
reference books, and as I will be buying new books for all your classes,
those that you don't need in the future after graduation will stay on the
shelves for the next group. There is also one terminal here at the built in
desk, for research purposes."

"Holy.look at how big that monitor is" Toby exclaimed in wonder, as he
approached the desk, "whoa it even has one of those fancy new touch screen
keyboards that were on the news this weekend."

Aaron smiled at his enthusiasm and felt the first prickling of excitement
from the calm and collected Mike, he was mentally going 'oh shit, how cool
is this'. Steering the group back into the hallway, he continued down until
he entered the kitchen, its two arches and the stairs going up, "For the
most part, you will eat at the school commons with the rest of your
classmates, but you do have a fully equipped kitchen to use and stock as you
see fit. To your right is the family room, and this is where you can unwind,
kick back and relax," Aaron told them as he walked in and pointed out the
multiple couches and the mammoth plasma screen DVD setup.

"Shit! Look at this." Bill trailed off after slapping his hands across his
mouth and getting worried he blew his boyfriends chance.

Laughing, "Relax Bill, I'm not some old fogy that gets all indignant over
the word shit or fuck.I have been known to use them from time to time
myself." Aaron pointed across the kitchen, "The dining room slash extra
study room is across on the other side of the kitchen."

Making his way to the stairs, Aaron opened a door leading down, "The
basement with laundry room is downstairs, there is also room down there to
put in an exorcise room in the future, but for now, it is empty, except for
a few free weights and benches. Upstairs on the second floor are six decent
size bedrooms and a large communal bathroom. There is also a third floor
with eight smaller bedrooms, for a total capability of fourteen residents
living here at once."

Walking up the steps, he noticed the depression starting in Daniel's mind,
stepping into the hallway he stopped halfway down by the stairs leading to
the third floor, "The first two rooms closest to the kitchen of course are
empty as the other four on this floor have been set up and are ready for
occupants, they are all set up the same, each has a terminal with a decent
desk, a queen size bed and a decent size closet. Each has a nice window with
a window seat and a built in bookcase on either side of the window."

Walking into one of the rooms at random, Aaron finished the tour by pointing
out all the top cutting edge tech toys laying around, "These, of course, are
for your use, and the P.A.D.D. will become a graduation present, so it will
be yours, and note that the terminals have slots for isolinear chips and
there are two per room. If you need more, they are your own responsibility
to buy, though you will get a damn better price than the wholesalers do, but
honestly with the one in the P.A.D.D. and the two extras that gives you just
over three terabytes of storage, I can't imagine you needing much more than
that." Laughing, Aaron told the curious students, "This, of course from the
person that carries around thirty of the chips at all times," causing them
to join in his laughter.

"I think for the next ten minutes or so, go ahead and explore the house,
take a good look around the next floor or the other bedrooms, then I'll meet
with each of you individually, and lastly, as a group, "Daniel, stay a
moment." Aaron sat down on the edge of the bed as the rest of them left the
room,

Shuffling over slowly, Daniel stood in front of Aaron before sitting down
next to him at Aaron's patting of the bed, eyes downcast, not looking up to
meet Aaron's eyes.

"Daniel, or do you prefer to be called Dan?" Aaron started, and picking up
the thought of Dan from his mind, he started over after pulling the scanner
out of his thigh pocket and setting it for a DNA scan, might as well find
out how many of the eight clusters he had, if any, he thought, before
activating the scan. "Dan, you seem very down all of a sudden, so let me ask
who is pushing you to apply?"

Shocked, Dan looked up before looking back down, "My girlfriend, I am not
sure why, I mean we are pretty active in bed, and the sex is pretty good.she
just keeps pushing me towards the gay life, for some reason, she has ever
since we got together. I thought at first it was her way of making me be
more aggressive in bed, but while on the tour, she sent a text message to my
phone, telling me she knew I was gay and to finally be true to myself, she
also mentioned she moved and was disconnecting the phone, not to call here
again."

Nodding his head, Aaron glanced at the scanner and figured another two
minutes or so before it was ready, so he might as well ask questions, "Let
me ask you a few things, if you don't mind; maybe I can help you try to
figure this out, I'm making a huge assumption here, that you've only had sex
with girls before."

Dan nodded his head before sighing, he might as well be truthful, right now
it was the only way he might get picked, "Growing up, my best bud and I
discovered the wonderful feelings we could give each other, though when we
both started dating a few years ago, and girls came into the picture, we
slowed down on the hand jobs and once we stared double dating and the girls
let us go all the way, we stopped helping each other out."

"So, the first time you ever went all the way with a girl, you're best bud
and jack off buddy was with you, were you both able to watch each other?"
Aaron asked gently, and smiling at the embarrassed nod, "Close your eyes and
think back, picture that time in your mind clearly.which brought you more
excitement, the fact you were about to lose your virginity finally, or the
sight of your best bud thrusting in and out of someone?"

Dan's eyes shot open in shock as he thought about it, and feeling the
tightening at his crotch as he started to grow hard, he blurted out in
almost a whisper, something he just now realized, "It was so hot watching
Jose's cock move in and out of Susie and the first few times I was with
Kendal without Jose around, I had to remember watching him before I would
get all hot and ready."

Smiling gently Aaron whispered back, "Was Kendal the one that just dumped
you?" watching Dan nod his head dumbfounded, "did she ever suck you off or
play with your ass during sex? I'm not trying to embarrass you, but I want
to you to think about it."

"She wasn't very good at it, though I finally only let her suck me if we
were watching.porn" Dan whispered, as he realized he had his best orgasms
and could ignore Kendal sucking him only if he was watching someone else
getting sucked. Placing his head in his hands, he started to cry, "I'm
really gay then? She was right all along."

Glancing down at the scanner and seeing it had finished, Aaron held it up
and read down the eight lines quickly, all eight were positive which meant
that Dan had all eight clusters, he was gay and was just now realizing it.
"One of the first things you have to believe in and take to heart is that
being gay is not something you decide, it is something you are born being.
There are eight separate gene clusters that someone has to have, to be gay,
having six of them means a person is Bi, four or less and they are wishy
washy, mostly it is recessive and they can pass it on to their kids."

Holding up the scanner so Dan could see it, "This is one of the medical
tools I use in the emergency room, it has the ability to scan someone's DNA,
when we started this conversation, I set it to scan you, do you want to see
the results?" Aaron held the scanner out so Dan could see the screen.

Dan was unsure what to do; his whole world was being turned upside down, the
proof of his being gay or not was inches from his face and he was too
frightened to look at it. Finally getting some courage, he glanced over and
saw eight lines, reading down them he started to sob harder with each
positive he read.

Turning off the scanner and replacing it in his pocket, Aaron pulled Dan
into a hug and held him as he sobbed out his pain. "I have nowhere to go,
now that Kendal left, what am I going to do now?"

Holding him tight, Aaron stared out the door reading the surface thoughts of
the three others out in the hall who had come looking for him, Mike didn't
want to get involved, while Toby and Bill where planning different ways to
help Dan out." You know this can be your room now, if you want, or the one
in the front of the house if you want it instead. You're accepted into the
program, and as far as what you are going to do, well I think I can help you
out there. "

Feeling Dan start to calm down and his mind latch on to the fact he had been
accepted, Dan felt relief and then tired. "Tell you what, swing your legs up
and onto the bed and lay down for a bit, it will give you a chance to center
yourself." Aaron told him, as he stood up and gently pushed Dan back into
the bed, "I'll hunt the other guys up before they come looking for me, and
take them elsewhere to have their talks."

Waiting until Dan nodded his head and followed his instructions, Aaron
dipped into his surface thoughts, making sure he would not do something
drastic, finding nothing there that would even give him reason to think
that, he patted him on the shoulder before walking out the door and
motioning the others to follow him; went up to the third floor and chose one
of the empty room to go into, before turning to the other three, "First rule
of the house, whether you are accepted into the program or not, what is
learned in this house is not to be used to manipulate or hurt each other, I
know you overheard pretty much the whole conversation."

Mike's thoughts were indignant that he would even have to be reminded of
something like that, but he calmed down pretty quickly when he realized if
that had been him in there, he would want someone to do the same for him and
nodded his head.

"Mike, why don't you go next, Toby and Billy I'll talk to you in a few
minutes." Aaron smiled at them, as they nodded and walked out of the room
hand in hand. turning back to face Mike who was sitting at the desk chair;
he caught the stray thought from him as he wondered again how close the two
were and if Bill was in fact eighteen, he looked far younger than that.

"Would it bother you if Bill was younger than eighteen?" Aaron asked
quietly, making Mike jump, wondering if he had said that out loud, figuring
he must have, he sighed.

"I suppose it should, but it's not like they are hitting on me or anything
like that, as long as it is consensual, it doesn't matter, I guess." Mike
trailed off, thinking he liked older men, so what was the difference if Bill
did too.

"Okay, then let me ask you this; what do you think that the members of the
house could do for Dan and the next Dan that comes across the doorstep?"
Aaron asked, listening in to the thoughts surfacing in Mike's mind.

Thinking about if for a couple of minutes, Mike finally looked into Aaron's
piercing eyes and cringed a little, "I have no clue, it's not like I have a
lot of experience dealing with emotional problems, even my own. Usually I
steer clear, afraid I will do something to make it worse."

Aaron, pulling his scanner out and entering some information to save Dan's
scan for upload later into the system core, turned it so it could get a
reading on Mike, "I find that usually even if you don't know what to do, a
hug goes a long way in helping someone not feel so alone, that maybe someone
cares, a hug can be a powerful thing."

Mike looked startled, "I never thought of something so simple, all you did
downstairs was hug Dan close and hold on.and you listened to him,"
realization hit him, 'was it really that simple?' he thought.

Aaron smiled as Mike worked it all out in his head and answered the last
question to pop up "yes Mike, it really is that simple."

Making up his mind, Mike stood up and started out the door, "Excuse me, I
think someone needs a hug and a friendly ear, maybe we both do."

Aaron smiled as he glanced down at the readout and saw seven of the eight
clusters positive, with a little bit of manipulation, the eighth and final
cluster could be activated, so Mike could become Alteran. Well, two down and
two to go, he thought as he got up and let his mind wander, looking for the
two, he found them downstairs. Walking down the stairs, he smiled as he
heard soft voices coming from Dan's room.

"I want to apologize for the way I acted towards you this morning; I was out
of line even if you were straight, it would have been out of line." Mike's
voice got softer until it disappeared as Aaron moved to the back set of
stairs toward the kitchen.

Entering the family room, Aaron waved at the pensive couple cuddling on the
couch, "Hey guys, saved the best for last," he smiled at them, as he plopped
down on the couch across from them. "So who wants to go first?"

Toby and Bill looked at each other for a moment before Toby cleared his
throat, "I suppose that I should, as I am the one applying for a place in
the program, Bill's just my boyfriend and ro." he trailed off before taking
a deep breath and looking at Bill gathering his courage. "Bill lives with
me, and unless we both can live here, he would end up on the streets.and
that is not something I am willing to let happen."

Picking up Bill's fear in his surface thoughts, Aaron smiled, "Relax Bill,
no one is going to judge you or attack you, I am very glad to hear you say
that Toby, otherwise you would not fit in with our mission to rescue 'in
danger' or homeless gay youth."

Scanner still in hand, Aaron tapped in the information on Mike and saved it,
before pointing it at Toby and running the scan, entering personal
information while the scan was running. "Bill will have to log into the
terminal and the teacher section, so he can gain his high school education,
if you work hard at it, you should be able to get at least your general
education diploma in a couple of years." Seeing the surprise on Bill and
Toby's faces he smiled, "I admit to being surprised when Toby brought you
with him to this meeting, but everything about the two of you I found out
within minutes of meeting you, everything important, anyway."

Sensing two minds approaching from upstairs, Aaron smiled at the confusion
on Toby and Bill's faces, "I'll explain to all four of you in a minute, IN
HERE GUYS." Waiting until the other two joined them and found a seat, Aaron
started to explain, "even though only three of you applied, and four showed
up, all of you will be accepted into the program." Glancing towards Bill,
"Bill your situation is different from the others, as you still need to
complete high school, which you can do by logging into the terminal and
doing your studies long distance, you also will be required to keep a 3.0
average, and if you start to get bogged down and behind, I expect you to ask
for help. You will be unique among your age mates as you will be submerged
in the college experience while finishing high school, so it should help you
out a lot."

Curious, as Bill did look a lot younger than Toby, now that he really
examined him, "How old are you Bill?" seeing Bill get scared and push
himself closer to Toby, Mike added quickly, "Not judging here Bill, my first
time was when I was thirteen, and the other guy was twenty five. So even
though I like older guys, I know there are those out there that like younger
guys."

Scan finished on Toby, Aaron saved it and started the last one, the one on
Bill, while listening in to the conversation as Dan worriedly reacted to
hearing that Bill was only fourteen, "how are we going to protect them if
word would get out, Toby could get in a lot of trouble because of Bill's age
and they are four years apart in age."

"I'll be fifteen in eighteen days," Bill offered, not really relaxing any
and very uncomfortable with being the center of the conversation.

"Age of consent in Florida is sixteen and there cannot be more than two
years age difference between partners, so we need to be very careful that it
does not get out.we could get a new birth certificate and change the birth
date by a year thus making him older," Mike considered as he tried to
remember what the two had said when they met this morning, "It's not like
anyone would come looking way down here for the two of you.you said you were
from Kansas, right?"

"If we took a trip back to Kansas and found someone the proper age, we could
get notarized a letter giving Toby custody.I'm assuming that your parents
threw you out, Bill." Dan thought about it and saw Bill nod his head
stiffly. "The thing we have to make sure of is that we do not bend any of
the laws in this state. Too bad the two of you are not from my state South
Carolina, the age difference is three years and starts at sixteen so we
would be fine there."

Aaron smiled widely, they were coming together as a team to solve one of
their owns problems; this is exactly what he was looking for, "I have the
ultimate solution," Aaron told them, as he saved the last scan, placed the
scanner in his pocket and pulled out his passport once more, opening it up,
he pointed to the bright red words ,"To be safe, all four of you would have
to give up your U.S. citizenship and become citizens of Altare. Then from
there, you get this nifty little metal book that gives you diplomatic
immunity."

The four just stared at him and the passport as they thought about what
Aaron had just told them, then Mike looked at him, "This directly ties in to
you saying the main mission of these houses is the rescue of gay 'in danger'
and homeless youth." A statement not a question caused the other three to
look at Mike before staring at Aaron.

Nodding his head, Aaron chuckled, "What the government won't do, and when
adult gays won't take the risk to do the right thing, we will do it. By the
time school starts, this property will be listed as Alteran soil, an
embassy, including security that can be trusted and you will be charged with
keeping your eyes out for gay youth in need of help, and we will relocate
them to our country and give them the chance to reach for their dreams and
grab on tight."

"I have no problem doing what should be the right and easy thing, but most
are uncomfortable or unwilling to do it, because the group in question is
gay, beneath them or according to the religious zealots, deserving of their
misfortune." Aaron sighed, "I have accepted you in the program, now all you
have to do is agree, what will happen then is you will spend a few days on
Altare Island, a whole country that is over ninety percent gay, with the few
non gays working at Altair Minor hospital. Then you would reenter the U.S.
as diplomats, and take up your studies once this house becomes Alteran soil,
which means that in the next couple of hours, you would need to move your
stuff into the house. Bill and Toby will be easiest to get set up, as their
belongings are in the van in the driveway, after emptying it, you could
swing around and pick up Dan's stuff and then pack Mike up from his campus
dorm."

Shocking them once more, Aaron thought he might as well go all out, "Alteran
stands for altered human, all Alteran's have agreed to undergo DNA
alteration, those we rescue that do not wish to undergo the procedure are
still welcomed and never discriminated against, but when they leave our
nation, they are given normal passports, they don't fall under diplomatic
status as they have no duty to act to save endangered gay youth. Now,
besides the really nifty thing of being immune to ninety nine point nine
percent of all diseases that affect an unaltered human, there are three
really sweet abilities you would gain, even if they sound like they come
directly from science fiction books or shows."

Standing up, Aaron raised his hand and pointed it at the couch Mike and Dan
were sitting on and pushing some energy into his ability of telekinesis, he
caused it to rise up a good four feet in the air and hover there. Splitting
his fingers like a Vulcan salute, the love seat rose up also "This one is
called telekinesis, and it is pretty useful," Aaron switched the couch and
loveseat before setting them back to the floor.

"The one you probably wondered about, how I got all the information on you
guys without having met you, is called telepathy, generally that is the more
accepted gift, but then it is also the most feared," Aaron held up his hand
as Toby started to protest, "I went no further than surface thoughts,
linking up and going any deeper to a non telepath would lead to a severe
migraine on the part of the non telepath, severe enough to cause you to
collapse."

"So that was why all those open ended questions you asked upstairs," Mike
spoke, as it clicked home, "you asked the questions and knew the answer
before we ever said it, and how we figured out what to say."

Smiling as he nodded, "True, that is why I knew I could trust all of you,"
Aaron pointed at Bill "I knew by the time Bill sat down in the beginning,
why he was here, and that they planned to come clean with me about their
situation if it looked like Toby would be accepted, after all, I would find
out sooner rather than later when he moved in with Toby."

"I have violated others' minds and left them either dead or vegetables,
since I couldn't care less what happened to them, you see, one was a
religious zealot who sent his son to a church reeducation center to "cure"
his homosexuality or kill him if they couldn't. So to save his son, I ripped
the information from his mind." Aaron changed it slightly seeing as Chris
did the actual work to make his point he replaced Chris with himself.

"Watch carefully, as the last gift is the sweetest of all of them, it's
called teleportation. The moving of yourself and if you are strong enough,
more than yourself, from one place to another," Aaron ported across the room
to their shock and surprise. Walking back over, he held out his arm, the
final proof is me porting all of us to the Mall of America for lunch, for
this one, you need to touch me, if you want to come along."

Toby and Bill were the first to touch Aaron's arm and as Mike stood up, he
looked back down at the hesitant expression on Dan's face, and smiling at
him in encouragement walked over and placed his palm under Aaron's and
intertwined his fingers.

"Hypnosis does not work like that, Dan," Aaron had read the thought on Dan's
mind, "It will not let you touch and feel things after I am gone, so when we
port to outside the mall, and go into the food court, I will go for Japanese
while you guys get something else, once out of my line of sight, you can be
assured you are not being hypnotized, even your nose should give you proof
with the smells." Picking up that Dan did not have much cash on him Aaron
smiled at him as he slowly stood, "I'll buy lunch, since it's part of the
proof, and unexpected, so you could not have been forewarned about needing
to have money with you."

Once Dan touched his arm, he ported them to the mall, just out of sight by
the bathrooms in the food court, nudging them out into the hallway by the
bathrooms, he dug into his pocket while walking, pulled out some cash and
handed each a twenty, once they entered the food court and stopped in
amazement. "See that table over there, up top, meet up there, after getting
your food," Aaron did not wait for a reply before stomach leading the way,
he made for the short line at the Japanese place.

Hesitating then reaching out and pinching himself, then pinching Mike who
jumped, Dan muttered, "it's true all of it," before getting punched lightly
in the arm by Mike as Toby and Bill wandered off towards the hot dog place.

As Toby got in line to order, Bill saw a mall cop hassling two guys sitting
by themselves, not bothering anyone, wandering over he overheard the guard
telling the two they had to leave as there was no loitering allowed, and the
guard was not buying the explanation that they were waiting for friends.
Deciding to jump in and help out, Bill walked up to the two quickly "There
you are, we have been looking all over for you guys, we must have missed you
as we came in from the mall side and you were sitting here hidden from
sight."

The guard turned around to see who was talking and was surprised to see
another kid and it appeared that the two he was about to throw out were
waiting for someone he was about to say something telling him to butt out
when the two the kid was speaking two jumped up and grabbed their bags
relief evident in their faces.

Once the guard was out of sight, muttering the whole way under his breath,
Bill let out the breath he was holding, slowly before glancing back at the
two he saved, "Come on guys, you can sit and eat with us, so you don't get
hassled anymore today."

"That's alright, maybe we can go sit down at the table you are going to eat
at, we don't have much money and we already ate today." Drew trailed off as
he panicked at letting that bit of information out.

Bill looked back at the one who spoke and seeing the fear in his eyes, Bill
smiled, "Relax, it's our treat and maybe we can help you guys out." He did
not bother to wait for an answer, "hope you guys like hotdogs and fries, do
you want everything on yours?"

Walking over to Toby, Bill whispered in his ear for him to order four extra
hot dogs with the works and two more large fries before turning back to the
two bemused teens, "Do you guys like Coke or do you want something else?"
Not seeing any movement Bill stepped closer, "guys do you like Coke or do
you want something else to drink?"

Drew just nodded his head not sure what was going on, though his stomach was
making growling noises and he was really hungry, he felt awful for accepting
this from someone their own age.

Bill nodded finally and went back to Toby, "order two more Cokes please,
those guys need help and after what Aaron told us, we can or he can help
them.I hope," he whispered before hugging his boyfriend not caring if anyone
saw, knowing that after lunch they would be back in Florida he kissed Toby's
cheek.

Returning to the wide eyed teen's, Bill heard the one that had yet to say
anything whisper worriedly towards him, "Dude, you need to watch out, if
anyone saw that you will end up like us on the street, hunted by the gangs."
Drew nodded his head as he frantically looked around to see if anyone was
paying attention to them.

"Relax, no one is going to do anything to me or my boyfriend, Mike and Dan
wouldn't let them, not to mention that Aaron who brought us here would whoop
their ass. Besides, after lunch, we are going back to Florida.want to come
with us?" Bill asked at the last moment, just as Toby called for him to help
carry the food.

Grabbing the tray with the hot dogs and drinks, Bill walked back and nodding
his head towards the two, "let's go guys we are sitting up top, we can talk
while we're eating."

Toby, bringing up the rear, nudged the two teens with the tray to start them
moving, "It will be ok guys, I promise, no one will make fun of you or make
you do something you don't want to do."

Trailing along like lost puppies that had been scolded, Drew and Eric
followed their savior to the upper deck and joined the others already
sitting or at least they stood to the side not sure if it was alright to sit
with them.

Toby pointed to the two empty chairs on the end and sitting the fries in
front of the spaces while Bill sat the hot dogs and Cokes there, "Sit down,
guys and eat before it gets cold."

Aaron had not missed the fact that Bill and Toby came back with two extra
people, pointing with his chop sticks he swallowed what was in his mouth
"Bill, are you forgetting something?"

Bill looked clueless for a moment, thinking about it, he still didn't know
what Aaron was talking about "There was this rent a cop that was hassling
them real bad, for some reason he had it in for them and besides, they
looked real hungry, so I invited them to join us for lunch so they wouldn't
be thrown out or hassled." Still not knowing what the problem was, as Aaron
gave him a pained expression, after all, he did say they were going to be
rescuing gay kids that needed help, and those two certainly qualified, he
thought. "HEY." Bill yelled rubbing the back of his head where Toby had hit
him after figuring it out.

"No you Doofus, Aaron's talking about introducing them to everyone." Turning
to face the two newcomers who looked shell shocked, Toby pointed to his
chest then each of them in turn, "My name is Toby, and Doofus here, the one
that invited you to lunch, is my boyfriend, Bill. Across from me is Mike,
one of our housemates, and next to him is Aaron, the big boss and across
from him is Dan one of our other housemates."

At the mention of Toby and Bill being boyfriends, both teens cringed and
rapidly looked around to see if anyone overheard them talking. Before Drew
hissed, "Keep it down, the gang that trapped us in here might overhear, then
you will be hunted just like we are."

Aaron had subtly been glancing at the two newcomers surface thoughts, it was
hard as they were mostly thoughts surrounding fear and running, plus hunger.
He watched carefully as they settled down and with a subtle nod to Dan, who
nodded ever so slightly at Mike, he listened in as the group started to ask
simple leading questions, they were starting to get good at it after a bit.
Feeling the teens thoughts freeze in fright, he followed their gaze and
noticed the mall security guard Bill mentioned over by the door leading
outside talking to someone, before coming back in and walking towards them.
"You are under my protection do you understand that Drew and Eric?!" he told
them, shocking them out of their fear by calling them by name.

Aaron stood up and walked over to the steps leading to the upper seating
area, thus blocking the guard from reaching the top of the stairs "is there
a problem?" Aaron opened his passport up, so the guard could see it clearly.
The thoughts were jumbled but easily read in the guard's mind as he flashed
over what to do, before deciding that he'd better just throw the first two
out and leave the others alone.

"Yeah there is a problem here, those two need to leave now, I told them no
loitering so if they don't leave, I am going to call the cops and have them
arrested." The guard bluffed.

"I don't think so, we have not finished eating and you are really pissing me
off, my food is getting cold and instead of eating it, I am over here
dealing with a bigot who wants to hand over two innocent teens to a gang
that wants to beat them up and more than likely kill them.NO, Mr. Bigot, you
are leaving and we will not see you again, unless you like pain." Aaron
folded his passport and put it back in his pocket while listening in to the
thoughts the man was practically screaming at him glaring at the guard who
was flexing his finger and thinking about reaching for his hidden gun, "you
will be dead before your fingers can even touch the thirty eight you have
hidden, strapped to your leg, if I see your hand even reach for the pocket
that is not really a pocket, you are dead." Aaron pushed some power into his
kinesis to block the man's nerves in his right arm to prove he was not
joking.

The guard stumbled back in pain, grabbing his arm as the cold glare from the
freak in front of him did something to his arm and he was in pain. Cussing,
he backed down the stairs, eyes never leaving the freak's face before
stopping on the bottom and turning and running away, he would show them; the
gang was outside waiting for the two fags, and he would tell them to come in
guns blazing and kill everyone up top there they had to be all fags anyways,
no one would mind, like the reverend told them in church the other day, do
not suffer a sinner to live.

Aaron's expression turned cold as ice, of course he heard the guards
thoughts and reaching out with his mind and power, froze the bigot's heart,
just as he rounded the corner and reached for the outside doors, thus
causing him to fall over dead. Making sure there were no security cameras
pointed their way, and only finding one which he disabled by smashing the
lens, Aaron walked back and motioned the others to come close, "We're
leaving now; grab your stuff and grab on; Drew and Eric, make sure you are
touching someone so you're not left behind."

Seeing the two were confused and frightened, Aaron heard the yelling and
quickly looked at Mike who was closest, "Grab them Mike we need to leave,
Dan, grab Mike." Once Dan grabbed Mike's shirt and Mike had gotten a hold of
the two scared teens Aaron ported them all back to the house in Miami.