Love your neighbors and do whatever you can to help those in need. Walter knew how to do that. He was a cranky old dude sometimes, but he had a heart of gold. That’s all I got to say. I’m gonna miss you, Pops.”
After the burial, Christy approached Franklin and Kendra.
“So, what are your plans?”
“Plans? Haven’t thought much about it,” Franklin said.
“You know what that cylinder did, don’t you?”
“It healed me.”
“More than that. It should have transferred his abilities to you.”
“Well...I haven’t given much though to that, or to even trying to see what I can do.”
“You don’t feel different?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You might want to do a bit of a self assessment, but I would recommend not letting anyone see you. If I’m right, you might need to do a better job of concealing your identity than Walter did.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. What plans do you have?”
“I think I’m going home. I’ve missed it all these years, but there are more immediate plans. You remember Mike?”
“How could I forget him? He shot me.”
“Not that Mike, the other one. The man who lives near me.”
“Oh, the dude with the fake legs? What about him?”
“He had invited me to dinner at his house when everything went down. That’s how he showed up there when he did. He was looking for me. They’re having the dinner today, and you’re invited.”
“When is that?”
“In a couple hours. We’d best hurry, unless you can figure a faster way to get there.”
“I might have to. I have to run up to Lebanon.”
“What’s up there?”
“My dad. He’s getting out of prison.”
“That’s good news, and you just found out?”
“Yeah, but you know how things have been going lately. Apparently he had the hearing scheduled, but he didn’t bother to mention that when I was last there...didn’t want to get my hopes up in case it didn’t go through. Well, it went through but we’ve been so caught up with everything the last few days that I never checked my phone or my email. He can go home, provided he has a home to go to.”
“And is there a home for him to go to? Do you have a place?”
“I was staying with Walter, but now...well, it’s paid to the end of the month.”
“There’s a perfectly good house in Seaman, with a pretty nice finished basement. I think it might be available, along with another place that’s recently come vacant.”
“Which one is that?”
“The one that’s about 240000 miles away, but since the house comes with a few vehicles, that shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I’m not staying on this planet, at least not permanently. You take the house, and everything that’s in the hangar. I’ll take a transport and go home. I’ve been gone a long time, but since the threat to this planet is taken care of for now, I don’t have much need to hang around. You and Kendra can keep an eye on things. I’ve put orbital sensors that you can access from there to see if anything unwanted is coming, and from my planet I can keep tabs on any other overly aggressive people that might have designs on this place.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Just say you’ll take the house.”
“It is kind of far from town.”
“I have a feeling that won’t be much of a problem for you, and speaking of that, Walter’s dog is still hanging out upstairs, and I don’t know how long it’s been since he’s been fed.”
“I guess we can check on him before dinner. Mike lives close to there, right?”
“Not far away at all, but I mean what I said about your abilities. I’m pretty sure the cylinder he used did more than just heal you.”
Kendra stuck her head out of the car window a few feet away.
“Franklin, we need to get going if we want to pick up your dad.”
“Okay, I’m coming,” and to Christy, “We’ll see you at Mike’s in a couple hours then.”
“See you then, but you might need this,” she said, handing him a piece of paper.
“What’s that?”
“His address. See you there.”
Franklin got in the car and Kendra pulled out on the highway, heading north.
“So, thirty minutes to Lebanon, and then from there it’s what, an hour and a half to Mike’s house?” Kendra asked.
“Yeah, seems about right, if you’re driving.”
“How else would we get there?”
“You been feeling normal lately?”
“Yeah...maybe better than normal, now that you mention it.”
“Christy thinks that thing Walter used on me might have done more than just heal me.”
“Wait a minute...was that the one that the alien Mike gave him at his apartment when we were there?”
“I think so, why?”
“He told Walter that it would transfer powers.”
“Hmm...and the Mixon lady used it on you before she left, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, I forgot about that. I felt something tingly and didn’t think much of it at the time.”
“Only one way to find out. Take the next exit and try to find someplace out of the way.”
Kendra took the next exit and pulled into a gas station parking lot.
“Is this out of the way enough?”
“Not really, but maybe if I go behind the building...”
Franklin walked behind the gas station, leaped up, and shot into the sky, coming back down a minute later and walking back to the car. One look at the grin on his face told Kendra all she needed to know.
“What did you do? How far did you go?”
“I went about twenty miles just like that until I figured out how to slow down and aim myself. It’s way cool. Just jump up and...well...I can’t explain it. You just go.”
Kendra didn’t bother to go behind the building, but just leaped into the sky and disappeared from sight. Five minutes later she came back, her hair looking
