At school the next day I was aware of something odd during the first lesson. The maths teacher was droning on about some obscure hypothesis. When to my amazement the teacher said, or I thought he said, ‘this is pointless…they are stupid’. I was absolutely shocked. I looked at the boy next to me who was carrying on with his work as if nothing had happened. In fact nobody at all looked surprised, then I realised I could hear several voices. ‘These children are useless’ cried the teacher. I looked up and he was just sitting behind his desk with his head in a book. It dawned on me that I was hearing real thoughts not real voices.
Later that evening, this new skill caused me more concern. There was a news report on a peace initiative between a guerrilla leader and the Colombian Minister of war. The guerrilla was promising to surrender his arms and the Minister was delighted. As the camera zoomed in on the two men shaking hands, I heard the guerrilla say, ‘this should buy us time to rearm ready for the attack next week’. I was stunned, when this was said. ‘Who is going to believe me?’ It was time to tell my parents what was happening to me.
At first my father thought I was ‘messing around’, but gradually he realised I was deadly serious. He worked for MI6 so he knew whom to contact. Despite my nervousness I agreed to talk to the Foreign Affairs Secretary. As there wasn’t much time, the meeting was arranged for the next day. The meeting went well and I was amazed and relieved that my story was taken so seriously. My experience with the terrorists added strength to what I was saying. He said he would take action and inform the Columbians whose spies, he hoped, would corroborate my story. A sense of satisfaction that I might have saved lives was with me all the way home.
The next few weeks were uneventful. On the way to the cycle exhibition in Birmingham, I sat next to a businessman, who was working on his laptop. I couldn’t help glancing at it but it was in a foreign language, which meant nothing to me. Once again my mind was filled with pictures and words. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. Even to imagine such a terrible deed was beyond belief. This was even more terrifying than ‘The War of The Worlds’, which had so impressed me in the past. This man’s plan would cause terror and panic in New York. After the suffering and fear of September 11th attack in 2001, it seemed doubly cruel. This was urgent and, once again, I knew I had to report it to the relevant authorities. I abandoned all idea of going to the exhibition and took the train back to London. For the first time in my life I took a taxi without my parents. At the embassy in Grosvenor Square. I tried to explain to the doorman that I must see somebody urgently. After several minutes of persuasion I managed to get in. A man, who may have been from the CIA, took me to an office and began to question me about my mission. I reported what had happened on the train. This is what I told him, ‘On the train, I sat next to a man with a laptop. He wasn’t worried that I was looking at the screen as he knew it was unlikely that I understood the language. In fact he even smiled at me. Looking back I can see it was more of a smug grin rather than a friendly one. To my amazement and stupefaction, I suddenly realised I could understand what the peculiar language meant.’ The American was looking doubtful about my new found powers, so I told him of the unusual stone I had found and my adventures since finding it. This seemed to satisfy him, ‘Go on,’ he said. I resumed my tale. ‘At first the words made no sense, and then I realised that what I was reading was an anti-American plot. I didn’t’ know why but this man was plotting to release a fatal virus in the New York subway.
I could see the CIA man obviously believed me by the shocked expression. He brought in another colleague. I told again, what had happened and gave a detailed description of what the man looked like. Luckily I’d made an effort to remember everything about him from his greying hair to his bitten fingernails. I also knew the make of laptop, a fact which the Americans were curious about. With these facts and the description of his clothes, plus the knowledge of his destination, they were confident that with the cooperation of the local police, more could be discovered about the terrorist. After giving my name and address, I left the embassy.
It was a week after that I first heard some news about the incident on the train. We were watching the 10 o’clock news on BBC1 when there was a report on the capture of a terrorist at Birmingham airport. According to the report, the CIA wanted the man extradited to the USA. The picture accompanying the report showed the man I had seen on the train. The CIA were extremely grateful to an ‘unknown Brit’ who had helped them. The knowledge I had saved many lives made me feel very proud and elated.
Since finding the stone I had looked at it everyday, I had liked the feel of it. After the terrorist incident, I had noticed something that I had missed before. The stone was getting smaller! I remembered that at first I had needed to use both hands to hold it and now it was the size of an orange and much lighter. I wondered if the energy it needed to stimulate my brain had diminished the stone or whether it had been gradually getting smaller by the day.
Once school had finished, we went to Switzerland. Snowboarding had taken up most of my time so I barely thought of the stone. There were no incidents out of the ordinary. My life was again like that of a normal 15 year old, whose interests consisted of cycling and music. I felt more relaxed. When I had thought of the stone I only wished it would disappear. Despite the fact that I had helped save innocent people, the stone, was an awful strain, and brought huge responsibility with it. Not only that but it seemed to separate me from my friends. Although I’d experienced great excitement and achievement, I wanted to be ‘normal’ again.
When I got home I looked at the stone. It was now the size of a large marble. I really hoped its powers had faded. That night I expected to sleep soundly. However, I woke suddenly after a vivid dream. I had seen the Prime Minister in danger...
