Gordon was the first to wake. He stood up and inspected his surroundings. It was a wide beach with plenty of surrounding trees and bushes. The ocean continued into the horizon, unhindered by sign of other land.
He found a spot a little while away from the others and tried to focus his mind into the rock. Unfortunately, he was having reception problems, and so he had trouble trying to communicate with his ship.
Jo woke up and noticed where he had wandered. At first she didn’t notice it, but then she realised that he was talking gibberish again. She frowned slightly as she listening, getting an odd feeling that it wasn’t nonsense babble after all.
“Morning Jo,” Rachel greeted with a yawn. “Wow, where are we? And where’s Taylor?”
“Over there,” Jo pointed. “And we’re on a beach.”
“Funny.”
Jo grinned at her and looked back at Isaac and Carla.
“Aww, don’t they look so cute?” she giggled.
“Adorable.”
“If it weren’t for the fact that they pretty much saved our lives, I’d be sorely tempted to take advantage of this situation.”
“Me too,” then Rachel sighed. “So, what do we do now?”
“Well... we should try and figure out where we are, and keep an eye out for other people who might be shipwrecked here too. And we should set up some kind of camp.”
“So, how do you propose we do that? Figure out where we are, I mean.”
“We have shape shifters don’t we? They can just turn into birds when the wake up and get a birds-eye view of the situation.”
“You’ve had time to think about this huh?”
“More than enough,” Jo replied, waving a hand. “Thirty seconds, tops. Please, this is a little problem. And fool could have thought of it more likely sooner than later.”
Rachel looked a little embarrassed and Jo grinned.
“Please don’t get reliant on me for answers,” she advised. “People have to learn to think for themselves and besides, believe it or not, sometimes I’m wrong!”
“So, uhh, met any mutants yet?” asked Rachel in an effort to change the subject.
“Have I ever! The first thing I found out was that they’ve been curious about me ever since I was in the skiing accident that should have broken my neck. Turns out that one of their people saw the whole thing and they’ve had an eye on me ever since, trying to work out if I was another mutant or not. I never did anything that confirmed their suspicions, but the fact that I was smart, never been sick, never been injured and so sporty made them even more curious!” Jo giggled. “They keep trying to get people close enough to me to interact with. Turns out my tour manager is a mutant.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope! And, you wouldn’t believe this, but the same hour I was offered a position in their mutant secret service.”
“MIA?”
“You’ve heard of them.”
“Yeah. Did you take it?”
“Heck no! I’m not going to be a think tank for an organisation that’s been spying on me for years. And I told her so in those almost exact words.”
“How’d she take it?”
“She laughed. After all, she’s still my tour manager and when all is said and done, we do get along. In fact, she did tell her, erm, superiors that she didn’t believe I would take the offer. After all, I’m sixteen, I’ve made a successful career as a musician for myself, I get to travel the world, write, record and perform music, all of which is something I love doing. She said that she can also see MIA’s side. They aren’t the only mutant force out there. Wouldn’t want me and my powers being snapped up by one of their allies – and certainly not their enemies.”
“You’re so loved.”
“Yeah. Maybe I should start my own organisation. We all could, y’know... we’re the only Triggered in the world. Hey, did they get you on their key pal system?”
“Nope. I know the Hansons are though... I’m in one of their clubs. It’s been pretty fun, actually. I went to one of their schools. It’s on a farm and meant for mutants who are so physically mutated that they have no chance of passing as human. It’s amazing. The people there are just awesome. Oh, and I am actually happy that I didn’t get into college last year. These guys have got a list of colleges they recommend because certain professors are mutants too, or whatever.”
“Wow, they sure get around, huh?”
“Yep. What’s your key pal like?”
“She’s pretty nice. Her Intelligence had mutated so badly though. She’s awesome with words to the point, where, like me, she memorises whole novels in one read, but any other subject goes right over her head. She can go over a certain formula in maths for hours, but within twenty-four hours she’s completely forgotten it. Fortunately her everyday living memory isn’t affected, y’know, people, things she’s done, blah, blah, blah.”
“Wow. One of my friends has Weather, like me, but he always feels the opposite. Like, if it’s raining, he feels a hot sunshiny day. And if it’s a hot sunny day, he feel rain. Honestly! I’ve seen him drenched in the middle of a hot day without a cloud in the sky, and he’ll complain about being hit by hail.”