ALASKA, 2258

She bade the little boy look at her, and being bred for duty, this is just what he did.

"Today, we're going to push things, Peter. But we're going to do it without touching them, alright."

"Okay, Jean."

He looked so healthy, she thought. But when Tomas Cartwright had found him on Deneva, he was starved, sickly and drifting. Sam and Aurelan were on a months-long bender, and their house showed it. The little boy had wandered off, solely to find food. No one had been willing to help him. Now, though, he knew how to cook and clean for himself, and let his live-in absentee parents go to their own devices. At least, this was her working theory. Jean Little would discover it had flaws.

"Push the air."

Around her, light zephyrs began to blow, despite the temperate summer climate known even to this part of Earth. She smiled.

"Good. Now. Push the stones around us."

From humanoid to insect, nothing dwelled in this area to observe or disturb the pair. Such was the power of the Line, that this had been done less by decree than by request. As she had bid, the latent power of her charge raised up the pebbles and stones around them, shooting up like popcorn.

"Very good. Now, that old tree is become rotten. It desires to be pushed over, so that it can feed back the soil and its siblings. Can you do that?"

The boy nodded, opened his palm and aimed at the tree. The woman Sam and Jim had always called 'Bright Lady' smiled anew. Until that is, she saw the rotted tree floating above its former spot--roots and all.

"I knew yours was not a subtle power. But so early on in life, and so soon after near-death?"

Telling James was rapidly becoming out of the question. Brianna's abuse had caused him to greatly fear concentrated power. That his 3-year old biological son wielded gross, rather than sublime abilities, would not sit well.

"Put the tree down, Peter. Then we can share a meal."

Placing it where Jean had directed, Peter happily sat down and ate what he was given.

"Mommy and Daddy had donuts."

She started at this.

"What, child?"

He looked at her, his small eyes beginning to tear.

"They got a box of donuts from someone. I was hungry. But they wouldn't give me any."

What pettiness, she thought. Sam and Aurelan were sad cases, this she knew. But to deny a starving child--anyone's child - a pastry was past their allowed limits.

"I know a shop in New York City that still makes them by hand. They will teach you to make them, if I ask them to. Would you like that?"

Like any good guardian, she knew that this pain was not about donuts. But sometimes a child responds well to distractions. Sometimes not.

"They ate them all! I only wanted one! I was hungry!"

In the distance, vast old conifer trees now swayed like wild palms. The boulders themselves were rumbling up and down. A very old, wise and powerful being suddenly felt deep fear.

"Peter--I can stop you, but that might only make things worse. Please--what they did was wrong. It was bad. But only you can control things, here. Stop it. Stop it, now."

"I WAS HUUUNNNNGGGRRRYYYY!!!!!"

In a white flash, it was all over. Jean Little stared in horror at what had occurred.

"Blatant energy manipulation. Oh, child. Did we give you too much?"

"I'm sorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry...."

She touched the sobbing, ashamed little boy. Of course he had been given too much. With the enemy forces so formidable, what choice was there?

"Peter? Listen to me. Make yourself forget this. You have the power. Now make yourself forget all of this."

He did, and then rapidly fell asleep. The Line would find a way to explain what had occurred. It always did. But keeping Peter's power under wraps carried as much risk as letting it run free. Surveying the damage, though, what choice did she have?

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GALACTIC NEWS NETWORK, THE NEXT DAY

"....and Federation authorities are still clueless as to how a meteor managed to slip by Earth's defensive sensors and grids to completely obliterate what was once Mount McKinley, Alaska. Once one of the tallest mountains in all of The Americas...."

THE END