Gifts Of The Future Ch 13

After the first of the year in 1989, Jada Seldon had surgery to restore her ability to conceive. Lily Richards assisted at the request of her friend and they did the best they could but, once they cut her open, they knew they weren't going to be able to offer Jada much hope. The Saudi doctors had removed more tissue than was necessary...

Lily and the other surgeons were forced to splice a section from one of her tubes so they could reattach the other one... she would have only one functioning fallopian tube that would be riddled with scarred tissue. Lily sadly informed Jada after she woke up that her chances to conceive were even less than 50/50 because of what they'd had to do.

Jada once again cursed the country she no longer considered her homeland... she was more determined than ever to become a U.S. citizen! She wished that she could pray for a plague to descend upon the evil government that had robbed her of her ability to have children with the man she loved...

**********

The years continued to march on in much the same manner. Natural disasters and severe weather patterns seemed to worsen. The price of oil had started to creep up again in 1989 and the Cold War came to an end. However, the break-up of the Soviet Union sparked outbreaks of violence in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe as the former Soviet Republics struggled to gain freedom and establish their own forms of government. The region was riddled with malicious dictators and religious unrest...

The Chinese tried to express dissatisfaction with their communist government. Thousands of protesters, mostly students and intellectuals, gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June of '89. While the demonstration was broadcast on television, the People's Liberation Army moved in with tanks and forcefully drove the protestors away. Hundreds were killed, but no official number was ever reported... the Chinese government didn't want to admit it had even happened.

When Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini died, Megan North had hoped it would quiet some of the unrest in that country... but Yosef Madani had warned her it would change nothing. In fact, he'd told her that the one they should be keeping an eye on for the time being was President Saddam Hussein of Iraq... he'd heard through the IOPF that Hussein was planning something...

Sure enough, in August of 1990, Iraqi forces invaded the country of Kuwait to the south. Saddam Hussein claimed it was because Kuwait had been exceeding OPEC quotas keeping the price of oil lower for several years causing Iraq to nearly go bankrupt while waging war with Iran. Iraq owed large debts to both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia because of the war. Hussein was pissed when both countries had refused to forgive the debts when he argued that they had given him the money because they were happy to sit back and let him take out Iran for them!

The U.S. immediately sent military aid to Saudi Arabia to prevent any of Iraq's forces from attacking the Saudi oil fields, which were within striking distance from Kuwait. The U.N. issued sanctions against Iraq and then finally threatened to authorize military action if Hussein did not withdraw troops from Kuwait and release all hostages. He released a few Western hostages but refused to withdraw...

In January 1991, Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm when the U.S. Congress passed a resolution to authorize military force to liberate Kuwait. Unknown to the public and most of the government, Kuwait had hired a U.S. public relations firm to spread sympathetic propaganda to garner support for the plight of the Kuwaiti people being tortured by Iraqi troops... but not all of the reports were true.

Major Jay Hanson had been bitterly disappointed when his request to be assigned to an F-117A stealth fighter squadron that was being deployed to the Middle East was denied. He had known the B-2 bomber pilots were not yet trained well enough for missions, and his request had been denied because they'd needed him to stay and continue training in case Desert Storm lasted longer than they expected...

Which it didn't. By March, it was over... except for the hundreds of Kuwaiti oil wells that were set afire by the retreating Iraqi troops at the end of February. U.S., British and French ground forces pursued the Iraqi troops and most people were of the opinion that the conflict shouldn't end until Baghdad was captured and Hussein surrendered. But President Bush declined to pursue that end, and called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. That decision and other missteps by Bush caused him to lose his bid for reelection in November 1992...

Then, in February 1993, the unthinkable happened... a bomb exploded in the underground parking area of the World Trade Center in New York. Radical Islamic terrorists had finally gotten around to pulling off an attack on U.S. soil! Yosef had also warned Megan that it was only a matter of time...

Luckily, the bomb did not do as much damage as the terrorists had hoped but 11 people were killed and thousands were injured. And it also startled most Americans into waking up and finally taking notice that living in a free country did not mean they were free from danger...

Later that year, Brad Seldon and Jay Hanson, both still Air Force Majors, resigned their commissions and joined the FBI to work with Jonnie North. By that time, Jonnie was spending more time in Washington working to try to identify suspected terrorists.

Brad and Jay were pleased when their request to be assigned as partners was approved and they took up the task of working with Major Karen Moss-Estevez and the CIA in trying to track down the group responsible for firing the missiles laden with CFC compounds into the ozone layer. It had happened only a few more times over the previous years but they were determined to make sure it was stopped completely.

The only things that seemed to be going well during the 90's were the leaps in technology. Personal computers became more and more available and affordable and innovative... the Internet and the World Wide Web gave people access to more information about almost everything in the world! Cellular phones increased in popularity as they got smaller and more technologically advanced. It was strange that technology in the auto industry didn't seem to be advancing as quickly as everything else...

It was getting easier and easier for people to communicate and stay in touch... but it was doing nothing to help humans "connect" to each other! There were so many people who were trying, but there seemed no way to stop the forces of hate and violence throughout the world...

In 1996, Megan was surprised when the U.S. government began to acknowledge the existence of more radical terrorist groups that were expressing increased anger at U.S. involvement anywhere in the Middle East. The U.S. was embroiled in a no-win situation... some Arab nations were just as dependent upon us for military protection as we were on their oil!

That was why Megan and Jonnie were one of the first couples to jump on a new GM vehicle that came out in '96... the EV-1... an all electric/battery powered automobile. They had wanted to buy two of the cars outright and were confused when they were told that it was only available with a lease agreement and they were only allowed to lease one per household...

GM came out with the EV-1 because the California government, at the urging of environmental activists Senator Robbie Seldon and his wife Crystal, had passed legislation to mandate strict vehicle emission controls to help alleviate the smog problem so prevalent around Los Angeles and other larger cities. Wayne and Jada had finally located that former GM employee in the early 90's when they found some information on a web site about how to convert a gasoline powered vehicle into a gasoline/battery hybrid... it had been posted anonymously.

Wayne and Jada had tracked the post to its source and given Megan the information. The man had refused to talk to her at first, saying that he'd been paid to keep his mouth shut and his life threatened if he ever talked. But guilt had gnawed at him over the years knowing the technology existed to produce non-combustible power sources for vehicles and that it was deliberately being withheld. That was why he'd come up with a design so people could do it themselves and at least reduce their need for gas and help cut back on emissions.

Megan had promised the man she would not reveal his identity, but she did pass along the information about the web site with the do-it-yourself instructions. He had contacted her about a year later to say that GM had called him to come work for them again when they'd heard that California was talking about imposing stricter emission laws. So Megan had known the EV-1 was coming, but what she hadn't known was that it was only going to be a temporary thing...

Jonathan graduated high school in 1996 and they leased the EV-1 for him and Nuri to drive while they attended UCLA. The boys were studying philosophy and international diplomacy. They needed to fully understand how to communicate with people without using their "gifts." It was an unfair advantage and they had promised their parents that they would be wise and fair in utilizing their abilities.

Tommy Seldon and J.J. Hanson graduated in 1998 and also decided to attend UCLA so they could spend more time hanging out with Jonathan and Nuri. Tommy was also studying philosophy as well as environmental science. J.J. was in pre-med; he wanted to be a doctor like Charlie and Lily Richards. He'd always known his body had a special ability to heal itself and he wanted to work with them in researching what it was about his genetics that made that possible... especially after some incidents with Nuri and Jada that Jasmine had sparked...

**********

Near Year's Eve 1996, Yosef Madani was at Megan and Jonnie North's for a visit to celebrate Jada and Wayne's 10th anniversary the next day. Nuri was living with the Norths while attending UCLA on a student visa. During the party that evening, Charlie noticed that eighteen-year-old Nuri seemed weary and was complaining of a headache, so he went to him.

"You look tired, Nuri... do you need to go rest for a while?" he asked gently. When Nuri shook his head and tightened his arm around Jasmine, Charlie looked at his daughter and said, "Jasmine, my sweet girl... I think you need to convince your boyfriend to go get some rest. You can even stay with him if you promise to be good!"

Nuri smiled slightly and shook his head as he replied, "That's not a good idea, Uncle Charlie. Jasmine is a good girl... but she's also very beautiful and I'm the one who can't promise to be good! I'll be OK soon. I've been getting these headaches off and on for a little while now. They usually don't last very long."

Charlie frowned slightly as he said, "I don't like the sound of that, Nuri... headaches are usually a symptom of something else that's wrong. Have you seen a doctor about this yet?" When the young man shook his head, he crooked his finger at him. "Come here... let's see if I can figure out what's going on."

Nuri obediently moved in front of the man he knew would be his father-in-law someday. He stood still while the man closed his eyes and placed his left hand on his head, frowning slightly as he moved it to different areas.

Dr. Charlie Richards froze and winced when he discovered the source of Nuri's headaches. He opened his eyes slowly and stared into the young man's weary dark brown eyes. "Son... we need to get you to the hospital this evening and get an MRI. You and Jasmine go find your father and tell him while I call the medical center and get it scheduled. Go on..." he urged them gently.

A couple of hours later, doctors Charlie and Lily Richards were consulting with a friend of theirs who was a neurologist on Nuri's MRI results. They were staring at a tumor that had tendrils spread throughout his brain tissue. The neurologist was shaking his head slowly as he explained that it was inoperable because it would be impossible to not cause damage to his brain while trying to remove it.

Charlie and Lily watched their daughter while the doctors explained possible treatments they could try to shrink the tumor or at least stop it from growing, including radiation and chemotherapy. Her eyes swam with tears while listening to all of the possible side effects that might occur... and there was no guarantee that the treatments would work.

Yosef and Nuri told the doctors they had a lot to think about before they could make a decision. When they got back to Megan and Jonnie's house, Jasmine made a decision for them. Charlie and Lily once again watched their daughter as she took her soul mate by the hand and led him upstairs to the room he'd been occupying and shut the door. They looked at each other and smiled softly...

Yosef also watched with concern, wondering why Jasmine's parents were allowing their young daughter to go into a bedroom alone with his son... a young man in his prime who was saving himself for their beautiful girl. He walked over to the Richards and asked quietly, "Uhh... I know Nuri and Jasmine love each other, but don't you think she's a little young yet to allow what might very well happen between them if they're left alone for too long?!!"

Charlie and Lily smiled at him as Charlie answered softly, "Don't worry, Yosef... we trust our daughter to do the right thing. And we know Nuri would never force Jasmine to do something she wasn't ready for. She just wants to help... just give them a little time."

Jasmine flipped the light switch on, lay down on his bed and held her arms up to him. She shushed him when he started to protest, "Shut up, Nuri, and just lay down with me. I want you to lay your head on my chest and hold on to me. Do you think you can restrain yourself enough to do that?" she asked him teasingly.

Nuri frowned, fighting the slight headache he still had that was rapidly being replaced by an ache in his groin as the blood drained from his brain to his cock. Every time he was alone with Jasmine it was getting more and more difficult for him to remember she was still only fifteen years old... she had a woman's body and the face of an angel. He'd been dreaming for years of drowning in the depths of her ocean blue eyes while making love to her...

And she wanted him to lay with her and hold her with his head on her full breasts and restrain himself from doing anything else?!! Did she think he was not yet a man?!! Then he noticed her eyes widen slightly when she glanced at the bulge in his pants.

He took a deep breath when she moaned softly as her lush lashes lowered and then he stifled a groan when he saw desire glittering in her eyes when she stared into his again. Her breasts were heaving as she dragged air into her lungs, but her arms were still beckoning for him to come to her...

Nuri carefully moved beside the girl he'd always known he was destined to marry... trying to remind himself that she was still too young to be his wife. But that didn't stop his cock from throbbing as soon as he felt the softness of her breasts under his cheek. He groaned as he wrapped his arms around her and then hissed through his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut as she slid her hands into his dark, wavy hair, holding him tightly to her.

Jasmine took a deep breath and closed her eyes as her hands firmly caressed Nuri's head. She frowned and her breathing became labored after a minute or so and lasted for about ten seconds. She dug her fingers tighter into his hair when she felt him struggling to pull away, thinking he was hurting her. "I'm OK, Nuri!" she gritted hoarsely. "Just don't let go! Keep holding onto me!"

Nuri relaxed but wrapped his arms even tighter around her, feeling the warmth of her hands on his head as she caressed him. He sighed when he noticed that his headache was completely gone, but then groaned again when her leg brushed against his stiff cock causing it to ache and making him wish she had her warm hands wrapped around that head instead...

When he felt her hand move to his cheek and caress him softly, he lifted his head to see tears swimming in her eyes. His heart pounded when she whispered, "I love you, Nuri... I've always loved you! And I'll love you forever..."

It was the first time he didn't stop her from saying it because it was the first time he'd seen the true depth of her feelings for him. He'd wanted to be sure she knew what that meant... not the lingering feelings of her lifelong "little girl" crush on him, but a deep love that could only exist in a woman's heart...

He moved up completely on top of her, staring into her eyes as he noted how natural it felt to cradle his pelvis to hers as she lifted her skirt and spread her legs. She gasped and arched against him when he slowly rubbed his hard cock against the silky material of the panties covering her crotch... he knew she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. But she was still too young. His promise to wait until she was eighteen nearly shattered when she spoke again.

"Ohhhh Nuri... make love to me... please!!!" she moaned desperately as she continued to writhe against him. Her full breasts were crushed to his hard chest and her hips moved provocatively with his... it was almost impossible for him to believe that she was still a virgin! But... he was still a virgin as well and the movements were coming just as naturally to him...

He kissed her deeply for a moment before breaking it and leaning his forehead against hers as he sighed regretfully, "We can't do that, Jasmine... not yet. You're still too young." She whimpered softly and he lifted his head to stare into her desperate eyes. "We don't need to go that far to give each other pleasure, my habibah," he groaned as he continued to slowly grind the full length of his hard cock against her, feeling an orgasm building quickly.

Suddenly he could no longer hold back. Nuri gritted his teeth and hissed as his cock erupted in his pants. He groaned miserably as he collapsed over top of Jasmine, realizing that he'd not been able to last long enough to give her the same pleasure. But there were other ways he could help her...

She whimpered again when he lifted off of her and moved beside her on the bed. He leaned down and kissed her softly and then asked, "You do trust me, don't you?" His heart constricted when she looked so sincere as she quickly nodded her head. He rested his head on his left hand and watched her reaction as he slid his right hand up under her skirt and then down inside her panties.

He groaned and his groin tingled when he felt how hot and wet she was. He'd never touched a girl that intimately before and he hoped he'd be able to figure out what to do to make her come. That was why he wanted to watch her face as he touched her, hoping her expressions would tell him when he was doing something right...

He'd learned from some of his friends who were older and had married that one of the most sensitive parts of a woman's nether region was her clit and they'd explained to him where it was located. He moved his fingertips near the top of her wet folds and felt for the nub of flesh, hoping to get some indication from her when he found it and if he was stimulating her properly.

Nuri smiled when Jasmine moaned softly as her hips jerked and her thighs spread wider when he rubbed over what he was sure was her clit. He continued to watch her face flush and her lips deepen in color as she panted and writhed herself erotically against his fingers... he just held his fingers still and watched as she got herself off!

He dove down and ran his tongue over her parted lips as she moaned deeply when she started to come. He thrust his middle finger inside her pulsing, wet flesh. Nuri groaned hotly, his shaft instantly stiffening again as he pictured her devouring his cock when she groaned and sucked his tongue inside her mouth...