Back in Florida, an alien reached into Kat’s telepathic mind and gave her the information she had been waiting to hear. For the past two months, she and nine other telepathic teens had been hiding out in Steve’s beach house in Key West because of the dangerous newspaper article Dr. John Matthews’s had written about them. The evil doctor had revealed their telepathic secret to the world, putting their lives at risk.

Kat was the group’s leader, and she worried about where they would go if their location were revealed. To stay safe, they never went out as a group, preferring to shop for supplies in pairs. Every day, she pushed her superior mind to reach someone who could explain how or why they had developed telepathy and what they should do next. She searched the minds of everyone on Earth, but no one responded.

Last night, Kat had finally received a response to her questions. Kat had been laying on the beach with Steve when she felt an alien mind reach out to her. Kat was the first of the kids to develop telepathy, so her telepathic abilities were more advanced than the others. This was the reason why the alien contacted Kat.

At that moment, Kat heaved a huge sigh of relief when she heard that voice and she immediately thought, “Who are you?”

“I am Kiran of the Thorans. We live on a planet many light years from Earth.”

Since Kiran and Kat were communicating telepathically, Kat thought the question foremost in her mind. “Do you know anything about our comas or why we woke up with telepathy?”

“Yes,” Kiran replied. “We gave you the gift of telepathy. You were chosen because of your varied cultures, your strong and independent personalities, and your logical beliefs.”

Kat mulled this over and then asked, “But why kids?”

“Children do not have as many preconceived opinions as adults, and children find it easier to learn a new existence. My job is to lead you to your new home.”

“So, we’re leaving Earth?” Kat stood up and paced about the beach. Her intuition had been correct. Kat had always believed they would be removed from Earth to colonize a new planet. She couldn’t explain how she knew that, but it was something she had accepted from the very beginning. The others dismissed her assumptions, so she was glad to finally have been proved right.

“Yes,” thought Kiran. “My people search the galaxies for societies we can transplant.”

“Transplant?” asked Kat. She was excited. “For what purpose?”

Kiran replied, “Your word for it is ‘utopia.’”

Kat’s heart skipped a beat. All her dreams were coming true. Growing up on the reserve in northern Ontario, her life had been limited. She fought to attend the local city high school instead of the one on the reserve. She needed to be constantly challenged, and the city school offered that opportunity.

But on her thirteenth birthday, Kat had fallen into a deep coma for three days. This had also happened to the other nine kids when they reached their thirteenth birthday. When each of them awoke, they were telepathic. At first, they were frightened by this unusual ability, but they soon learned all its wondrous possibilities.

Then Kat wondered, “How do you know how to speak English?”

Kiran laughed. “My species knows many languages. We have been watching you for some time, and we easily learn new languages.”

“Where will you be taking us?” Kat asked. She sat down on the rubber mattress and shook Steve to wake him. They had been sleeping together on the beach under the stars.

“Listen to this,” said Kat.

Steve scrunched up his face and sent his mind into Kat’s. After some concentration, he could hear Kiran’s voice too.

When Steve touched Kiran’s mind, she laughed. “Welcome, Steve. In answer to your question, Kat, we’re taking you to live on a moon in a galaxy far from Earth.”

“A whole moon?” asked Kat. Through her mind-link with Steve, she could feel his growing excitement. They couldn’t remain in hiding at the beach house much longer, and they had been worrying about what would happen next. Now that they had that answer, they were thrilled.

“Yes. Six moons orbit our planet of Thoran. We have placed a different species of children on each one.”

Kat’s mind was spinning. The possible opportunities were endless, but she could only think of one word: “Why?”

“My species has been in existence for thousands of years, and we’re always searching for new, challenging projects to improve ourselves and our existence. A few years ago, we decided to populate our moons with the best children from nearby galaxies. We’ll share our vast experiences and our immense knowledge to help you create a utopian society.”

"So we’re lab rats?” asked Terry, who had just woken up. As soon as his sleeping mind had roused, Kiran’s words entered his head.

Kat and Steve laughed. Terry was the group’s medical expert, and his thoughts always verged on questions. He was continually seeking an explanation for everything.

From their beds in the beach house, the other kids woke up after hearing the laughter in their minds, and they smiled thinking this was a great way to wake up. Then Kat’s thoughts loaded their heads as she filled them in on the news. They turned their minds over to Kiran’s sweet voice.

Kiran was pleased the whole group were listening, so she continued, “You have a choice, but we’d like to take you to a moon in the Ralenia Galaxy, about twenty-eight million light years from Earth.”

“We have a choice?” asked Anne who wasn’t happy about leaving Earth.

Jean-Claude interjected his thoughts and said, “Of course we want to go with you.”

Kat said, “Anne, we need to go somewhere safe where we can explore our telepathic powers.”

Anne lowered her head and played with a loose string in the blanket. She shrugged her shoulders. “Okay.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” thought Kiran. “Don’t worry, Anne. We will take good care of you.”

“We know you will,” agreed Alex. “Are the other species already living on the other moons?”

“Yes,” replied Kiran. “You’re the last species to be relocated.”

Kat felt Alex’s mind race. His thirteenth birthday had fallen a few weeks after Kat’s. He had been the next to fall into a coma and awake with telepathy. He had a great legal mind and was the judge for their little community. While perfecting his telepathy, he devoured the thoughts of people in the legal field, so if any of the group had a problem, they could go to him for resolution. Kat recognized him as the second-in-command.

“Yes,” said Kiran. “You’ll be introduced to them after you have acclimatized.”

“But we all speak different languages,” thought Anne.

Though all the kids spoke English, some came from other ethnic backgrounds and could speak a second language. Anne was the group’s historian and storyteller. She kept a journal of all their happenings so they could learn and better evolve. She also kept them entertained with fun stories about their past and their possible future.

“You’ll communicate through telepathy,” said Kiran. “We’ll teach you to think in pictures. Since visuals are universal, it doesn’t matter what language is spoken.”

“In pictures?” Sami looked perplexed.

It took them a minute to realize they thought in words. Learning to think in pictures would be difficult, but the kids loved nothing more than a good challenge.

“Fascinating,” thought Alex, and everyone laughed at his use of the word, which flashed in their minds.

Kiran then informed them, “You’ll be preparing for something greater than any existence you could have achieved on Earth. One of our starships has been dispatched to transport you to your new home. It will arrive in two days.”

Hearing their thoughts, Kat said, “What do we need to take with us?”

“Kern’s atmosphere is the same as Earth, but the environment will look very different. We will take you to a place on the moon where you can build your homes, and it’s situated near an ocean, a forest, and a cultivated field.”

Jean-Claude’s mind pictured his computers and all the equipment he used.

“Yes, Jean-Claude. You can bring your computers, but you’ll learn to control them with your mind.”

A multitude of combined thoughts flowed through everyone’s heads. Since they were considering too many things at once, their minds became so overloaded that everyone developed a headache.

“Calm down,” said Kiran. “You’ll have enough time to make all the necessary arrangements.”

Kat shook her head as if to rid her mind of everyone else’s thoughts. “We’ll be ready,” finally flowed to Kiran’s mind.

Over the next two days, they packed all of their belongings. They were glad to finally have a purpose, but they worried about how to explain all of this to their parents. The kids would miss them, but the kids understood that, because of their telepathic skills, they had to leave Earth.

Each of them had brought some small tokens related to their unique background so they could remember their past. Kat brought her yellow and brown dreamcatcher and a painting of an Ojibwe mother and child that her mother had given her for her fourteenth birthday.

Sami had developed his entrepreneurial talent at an early age and, from the age of ten, he had earned a good sum of money through his landscaping business. He now realized all that money would be useless on Kern, so he bought many things they needed such as seeds, plants, and kitchen equipment for Marya, the cook of the group.

For Jean-Claude, Sami bought the most advanced computers; for Steve, scuba gear; Terry needed some medical equipment and a few anatomy books. They picked out the best microscope, all the medicines Terry would need before he would learn to replicate them, and the top diagnostic tools.

That evening, Steve and Kat walked to the marina to say goodbye to Steve’s father. Ever since Steve’s mother had died two years ago, his father had been living on his fishing boat, which was parked in the third slip in the last row.

“Dad? Hey. Are you there?” Steve shouted while he and Kat climbed aboard his boat.

“I’m here,” he yelled from the cabin. “How’s the house?”

“Great, thanks, Dad,” said Steve. “I’ve come to tell you, we’re leaving. We are going to a new place where we can improve ourselves.”

His father shed a few tears. He had no money or connections, so he was unable to give Steve the kind of life he needed. Steve had to go elsewhere to live out his dreams of going to university and securing a professional job.

Wiping the tears, he said, “Can I know where you’re going?”

“It’s far away, Dad,” Steve replied.

“Do you know how long you’ll be gone?”

“No idea,” said Kat. “But we’ll be in contact as soon as we can.”

“I love you.” Steve tightly hugged his father and kissed him on the cheek.

Steve’s father placed his hands on his son’s shoulders and said, “I love you, too, but I’m glad you’ll have a chance at a better life.”

Upon returning from the marina, Kat encouraged everyone to contact their parents, explaining their situation. They had all left their homes suddenly because they had to go into hiding. Before leaving, they had left their families a note, hoping to explain the reason for their disappearance. They had been miserable to vanish, but they knew Earth was too small for them now. Their telepathic powers were too great. They tried to explain as best as they could, but each one knew deep down, their parents wouldn’t understand. Even though they had no idea as to their future, they had reason to believe something momentous was about to happen.

Their excitement level was high as they waited for the Thoran ship to appear. At three o’clock in the morning on the second day, the Thorans’ spaceship landed lightly and with ease on the sandy beach just outside of Steve’s beach house. It was constructed froma material unknown to the kids. It shimmered and sparkled like moonbeams on the ocean.

The excited group moved to stand in front of the craft, and they watched in awe as a small part of a wall opened, revealing a wide door. They understood the invitation, gathered all of their belongings, and left Earth for an unknown world.