The Journey Begins (7.3)

Rivi stood just inside a side door and watched as the President addressed the nation. Before, she was just nervous. Now, she felt paralyzed. She'd never talked to this many people before, and they all wanted to hear from her. As the President extended his hand in her direction, Rivi gulped and decided to take it a step at a time.

She walked slowly out the door toward the President, who was standing in front of a podium. She squinted her eyes against the glare of the photographers' camera flashes and took the podium. The President stepped off to the side. As she looked around the room, Rivi's nervousness melted away.

There were about one hundred people packed into this small, rectangular room, all of them sitting in metal chairs that had been placed side by side. Rivi knew that, at this moment, millions of people all around Earth were watching, eager to listen. This was the edge of the path to the future. There was no turning back.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen," Rivi began, "I know you have all come here wondering who I am."

Using her mind, Rivi picked up a pen that had been fastened to a clipboard on a gentlemen's lap in front of her, and she changed its magnetic potential in relation to her own and attracted the pen to her hand. She let it hover above her hand as it twisted and turned.

"Obviously, you have all noticed that I am not like you. You want to know where I come from and why I am here on Earth. The answers to those questions are not as simple as you might think."

"Many years ago, I was taken ..." Rivi said, as she sent the pen back to the reporter and launched into the story she now knew so well. She told the people how and where she was taken as well as how, when the Aunantet rescued her, they raised her and the other children as if they were their own. She tried describing how she was taught to use more of her mind, but soon realized that the people didn't understand. Rivi finished by telling them the circumstances under which she came to be on Earth.

"I first thought I was only coming here to Earth to escape being captured again, to live like a normal human. But as you can see, I am no longer normal. I've not been normal from the time I was captured by the Aruk. Being taken from a planet that has been the only world you know into a place where the natural laws of physics as we know them are, in essence, void ... This changes a person, your whole perspective of life. When I came here to Earth, I believed I must hide who I really am in order to keep humanity in the dark about what was out there, past Earth's atmosphere. I soon came to realize that having my identity discovered was inevitable. God, our creator, has a different purpose for me than to simply hide on the sidelines watching humanity become stale. I now believe I am here to help lead humanity past where you are today, to lead you toward realizing your full potential.

"You may not understand me about this. Many of you will not believe me. However, the wheels are already in motion. I've already told you I have been to and lived on another planet, and this almost makes me as alien to you as the 'aliens' by whom I was raised. Humanity's thirst to learn cannot be quenched. Humanity will not simply swallow what I've already said and leave well enough alone. You can't. How do you think you have been able to invent all this?" Rivi asked, throwing her arms wide, indicating all the technology in the room.

"I don't know what you will do, but—" Rivi paused as a man raise his hand. "You have a question?" Rivi asked.

"Yes, Miss ... Rivinaig? You said you have lived on another planet. Are there more worlds out there with other species on them?"

Rivi smiled, knowing that she had been right. The wheels were turning. There was no going back, only forward.

"Yes, sir," Rivi replied, and then she thought for a moment and focused on the large screen television behind her that was currently displaying the national symbol for the office of the presidency.

Rivi moved the podium aside carefully with a sweep of her hand, causing a rash of photos again. She stepped back and held her hand to the bottom corner of the television screen, forming her amalgamatory link. She began relaying to the audience (and ultimately, the entire world) pictures of different worlds she had visited with her Aunantet family.

#

In a different part of the country, Dan sat in the living room of his foster parents' house. He and his foster parents, along with the three smaller children, sat on the couch watching a family program when the message from the President interrupted. Ester tried to change the channel, only to find that the President's message was on all of them.

"It must be really important," Mrs. Erica said as they watched.

A teenage girl stepped up to the podium.

"Dan, isn't that your friend, Rivi?" Mrs. Erica asked.

"Yeah," Dan said, leaning forward. "This is important, then."

All around the world, people were listening hard—watching televisions, listening to radios, or watching on the Internet—to this strange girl who was trying to show them there was other life out there.

#

Rivi tried calling on the reporters for questions one by one, only to conclude that it was too time-consuming. Most of the reporters had run out of their own questions, Rivi noticed, and were being fed questions from their superiors through personal ear-mics. Rivi extended her amalgamate link and began listening straight to what their bosses were saying.

"Yes, sir, all the children know how to speak English. We were thoroughly taught how to live in Earth's many cultures. We have a vast knowledge of Earth's past and present. So yes, we know how to operate telephones."

"Yes, all of the children wear this type of attire," Rivi replied, shaking her head with a smile. "As a friend and I told an eighth -grade class a few days ago, this clothing is similar to what all the Aunantet wear."

Rivi pointed to a woman who had raised her hand. Obviously, she had a question of her own because her boss wasn't feeding it to her through her earpiece.

"We have heard rumors that you have found a friend among the children here on Earth. Have you told your friend about all of this?"

"My friend, I won't say his name, or you all will probably chase him to the ends of the Earth," Rivi said, eliciting fresh laughter from the reporters, "does know quite a bit about what I've already told you, although some of this may be new to him. You may have also heard rumors that my friend and I traveled to Mars yesterday to help the colony out there. This is true, but no, I have not been to your moon. No, I do not make crop circles," Rivi answered, laughing then as she turned to the president.

President Malcarosi stepped up and took over the podium as Rivi walked off stage.

"Their questions were getting ridiculous," Rivi said, shaking her head at the vice president.

"They are more than likely going to need some time to chew over what you have given them before they come asking any better questions," Vice President Trint explained.

"Their next question would probably have been whether or not you are a Democrat or Republican," President Malcarosi replied, leaving the room with all the reporters and walking with Rivi and the vice president down the hallway. "How about lunch, Trint? Do you eat taco salad, Rivi?"

"Yes, sir," Rivi answered, looking up at him. "And to answer your question, Mr. President, I don't think I could choose beforehand. I prefer to listen to both sides of an argument before making any decisions involving who will make the laws that govern the freedom of anyone."

"Wisely said. Have you ever thought of running for office, Rivinaig?" Vice President Trint asked with a chuckle.

"I think those reporters have enough to talk about. Let's not give them any more ideas," President Malcarosi replied, watching as Rivi bit her lip to hold back her laughter.

Nevertheless, the three of them were laughing heartily by the time they turned the corner.

#

The next few weeks were very busy for Rivi. She visited many talk shows, news channels, and conferences to answer questions. Finally, after being passed back and forth so many times, she was advised by President Malcarosi to lock herself in a room in a hotel—any hotel. She refused to answer the door and refused to answer any calls.

After a few days, she emerged from her room. She refused to answer any of the questions from the reporters standing outside the hotel. She called for a taxi and asked the driver to bring her to the nearest cable television station.

Rivi had spent the past few days working on her computer. She pulled hundreds of memories from her mind and created a comprehensive documentary that would hopefully answer many of the questions she was being asked—mostly about her past. After giving the disk to the television station, she returned to the White House, having received a call from the president's secretary.

#