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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
Completed:
2010-06-22
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2,047
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2/2
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The Lost Generation

Summary:

They lost an entire generation of Guides to suicide when they made Guide-Training mandatory and passed laws that made Guides little more than servants to their Sentinels.

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Notes:

Disclaimer: Just borrowed, briefly.

Chapter Text

The Lost Generation
by Jayed

 

 

       They lost an entire generation of Guides to suicide when they made Guide-Training mandatory and passed laws that made Guides little more than servants to their Sentinels. Guides and their families and friends, including all the Bonded Sentinels, tried to fight it, but on the day when the new Regulations were expected to go into effect, 97% of the world's Guides -- from the young, mostly unBonded ones in their early teens to the oldest in their nineties, mostly Bonded--committed suicide by the pure and simple expedient of calling on their Spirit Guides and following them into the Spirit Plain. The other 3% were living in more primitive surroundings, and their status never changed. They continued to live with their peoples and their Sentinels in peace.

       The loss of Guides, Bonded and otherwise, was, of course, a disaster. Those Sentinels who had been Bonded to Guides joined their Guides on the final journey. Those who needed Guides, whether they had supported the new Guide Laws or not--and some of the unBonded, to their literal eternal shame, had--slowly lost themselves, falling into zones from which they never recovered.  Not too long after the morgues cleared out their backlog of Guides and Bonded Sentinels, they began to fill with the bodies of unbounded Sentinels who had fallen into zones without someone there to get them immediate care and the bodies of those Sentinels who slid inexorably from zone into coma into death.

       In retrospect, no one, sociologist or political scientist, friend or even foe, could at first figure out how the situation had gotten so out of hand. Most of the countries of the world had laws against any type of involuntary servitude, and the Guide Laws had flown in the face of those older laws.  They had been inhumane and slightly insane. And, they had lost the world a generation and more of Sentinels, leaving the possible next generation vulnerable by making sure that no seniors were left to train that next generation and no Seekers existed to find the new Sentinels before their troubles could overtake them.

       Eventually, over time, hints of underworld activity and power-hungry wannabes were discovered. It was, obviously, to the joint advantage of these two groups for the world ruin the dynamic between Sentinels and Guides. The deaths were, actually, a bonus. Or so it seemed.

       However, when it came out--through guilty consciences and the slow understanding of previously oblivious underlings and secretaries--how the worldâ's politicians, in country after country, had accepted bribes and taken secret meetings, well, those governments toppled. On top of the loss of the world's best protectors, the political losses were earth-shaking in many places.  New governments formed, and the first thing they all did was to immediately revoke the Guide Laws and to put in place new ones that attempted to protect both Sentinels and Guides from a repeat action.

       There was some talk of making attempts to bring the "primitive"  Pairs into the mainstream, but it was clear that those efforts would put great strains on Pairs unsuited to "modern"  society, and no one, now, wanted to be seen as coercing Pairs in any way. Not now. So, the various tribes kept their Sentinels and Guides, and the rest of the world looked to its children and waited for a new generation to grow and manifest.

       And  waited.  The universe, however, having given the world a gift it had chosen to squander, was not so forgiving. Whereas a certain known percentage--1 in 10,000--had been Sentinels or Guides in the past, in the slow years following what came to be known as "The Loss,"  no Sentinels or Guides were discovered. A year past and then another. Then ten.  People began to fear that none would ever come again.

       Finally, however, they did. A relieved world welcomed back their Protectors, followed their progress as they tried to regain what they had been and tried to understand the texts that spoke of their abilities without anyone trained to teach them the practice to go with the theories.  They demanded new laws to protect themselves, and those laws were passed.

*******

       It was Testing Day at Rainier High School, and the Seeking Sentinels were excited.  Somewhere in that school was a very powerful Guide.  Yet, as the day went by, and student after student was tested, they didn't find him. They did find two others, a young girl who seemed to giggle every time someone looked at her. Well, she was sixteen.  An older boy, an exchange student from France who had taken the test on a dare, also passed.  It meant getting the Embassy involved, and he would probably go back to Europe to Bond, but even that was acceptable in the joy of having discovered a Guide.

       As the bell rang at mid-day, fifteen year old work-study student Blair Sandburg could only dream of having the time to go to the Test. How lovely to be a Guide, to have someone to depend upon. He should be used to it, but he never was when he was left alone. His mother had gone off for three weeks. He'd expected that she really meant two months, as that was the usual ratio of prediction and promise to reality. But that had been five months ago now.  He was slowly coming to realization that this time she wasn't coming back. He supposed he should be grateful that she has waited until he was somewhat self-sufficient to leave him behind for good.

       He needed to get to work on time, and he needed to get the money for the water bill this month. If they turned the water off, they'd need a hundred dollars to turn it back on, and he'd never be able to come up with that. And no water would bring him to the attention of the authorities. He'd done foster care in the past, thank you, and he didnâ't want to go there again.

       Work was, as usual, a night filled with lots of dirty dishes and the secretive smoking of the Chef. He felt dirty and smelly, and despite his work in a restaurant kitchen, hungry.  He was allowed to eat in the kitchen if he paid half-price, but even that was beyond his means for all but the meals he didnâ't really want to eat.  Despite his very real hunger, he couldn't make himself eat the greasy foods amidst the tobacco smoke-filled kitchen.  He'd actually tried twice, and ended up puking both times.

       As he hurried through the cool night on his way home, he passed a small house that was lit up brightly. Sounds of celebration filled the air.  Almost against his will, he was pulled slowly up the drive, peering, a reluctant voyeur, into the living room through the large picture windows.  A pretty girl he recognized from school was standing amid a group of adults, men and women.  A similar group surrounded someone he knew a little better; it was Claude, who was in his history class.

       As he stood, half-mesmerized by the lights and the happiness and hope radiating from the entire gathering, half-cold and hungry, a voice came out of the darkness, "Would you like to come in?"

       Mortified, he startled out of his staring and began to back away. "I'm sorry, man, I didn't mean to intrude."   He looked at the well-dressed man who had come out on the front porch, and he looked down at his stained and smelly outfit. Even he wanted to intrude, he couldn't. Not like this.

       The man on the porch, sensing, literally, the young man's distress, tried again. He was one of the Testers from the school, and this young man, tired and dirty and so very young, was clearly the powerful Guide he and his fellow Tester had felt earlier that day.  His appearance and the scents of hunger and fatigue on him were setting off all the Sentinel's protective instincts. This was a Guide in distress, and that was unacceptable. But coercing the young man was also not an option.

       The door opened behind before he could decide his next move. Two of his fellow Sentinels joined him on the porch. Then, one, moved by instinct and tradition and connection, stepped forward. "Hello,"  he said, gently, slowly, "my Guide."

       Startled, Blair looked up at the tall man approaching him. "Yes,"  he said smiling, "I am."

 

end part 1