LYCEUM Book Three: Lyceum Diplomacy by J. Z. Colby - HTML preview

Epilogue

After almost a year at Lyceum, Marty Jelwen had made considerable progress in his social growth, and his parents decided he was ready to attend a private school in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, that school was unable to protect Marty from the same exploitative forces that had attempted to locate him at Lyceum. Marty disappeared, and could not be found by police, F.B.I.

agents, or private investigators.

After three episodes of surgery and regular physical therapy, Karen Sundberg regained the ability to walk about two years after her accident.

Although she remained the honorary team captain of the elite gymnasts at Lyceum for years, she was never again able to pursue the sport herself. She always treasured the medals and ribbons she had earned as a gymnast, and attended the meets and exhibitions of her former team mates whenever she could.

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Liberty Rae Buchanan shared the Nobel Peace Prize with her father for the part she played in the enactment of the Nuclear Disarmament Treaty. In their acceptance speech, they listed many people who deserved as much or more credit than they did, and spoke eloquently of the heroism of Sisters Ashley and Sarah. They did not keep the plaque, but placed it in a special display case in the Main Reception Lobby of the United Nations, along with the names of many others etched in brass.

The two men who died at Lyceum while making an attempt on Liberty’s

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life were never identified. Their superiors were unable to figure out how their plan could have failed given the obviously-minimal security of the place.

Neither was the cause of the plane crash in the Cascades ever attributed to anything but mechanical failure. The Chinese diplomats, however, became regular visitors to Lyceum, and they soon added another small shrine to the Asian Garden which was dedicated to their deceased pilot.

Within a year after passing her first pilot’s exams, Liberty had acquired her rotary-wing Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot’s License, and was working on a fixed-wing ticket, just so she would know how.

She became highly fluent in Russian, and along with Jason, was among the hundred members who transferred to the Moscow campus as soon as it opened. At that time she had enough credits for a college degree, but had not yet decided what her major should be.

Liberty continued to take the death of Sister Nancy hard, and only reluctantly chose another mentor, with whom she did not succeed in developing a deep trust for many years.

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Shawn Andrew Mitchell persevered in his scientific studies, soon adding Biochemistry to his curriculum. He completed a three month residency in Greece early the following year, during which he spent much of his free time reading old manuscripts in churches and monasteries. He was very proud to receive his first diplomatic clearance.

Shawn could not have realized it at the time, but his confrontation with his father marked the end of an era. For more than half a century, a certain branch of Christianity had been trying to undo the separation of church and state that existed in most modern nations. By the time of the mission to Birmingham, the momentum of that effort was fading. The Reverend Tommy Mitchell was one of the last leaders of that movement, and after his public confrontation with his son, his influence rapidly waned.

Sarah was often seen at Shawn’s side, but they never gave anyone reason to criticize their relationship. They knew their love had a special purpose, and they soon asked for, and received, the blessing of Sarah’s mother.

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About two months after the passage of the Nuclear Disarmament Treaty,

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Ashley received an envelope in the mail that contained a short note and half of a certain broken coin. In a private ceremony that no one else attended, she slipped the chain that held the other half of the coin over her head for the last time, added it to the envelope, and placed it with her other keep-sakes in a small wooden box.

For several weeks after receiving the envelope, she almost wished she had transferred to the Atlanta campus when it had first opened. That way she would have been closer to Tim, and she wouldn’t have been there to go through the glass window. But then she remembered that if she hadn’t been there, her friend Liberty might have been killed, and the Nuclear Disarmament Treaty might not have been ratified. After realizing the possible implications of that alternate course of events, a much wiser young Lyceum member was glad the future was not hers to see.

Ashley Marie Riddle did not win any medals at the Olympics the following year in Athens. Her routines were excellent and she happily placed well, but the European and Asian competition was, as always, very stiff. Soon after the games, Senator Buchanan made sure the best doctors were selected, and Ashley’s plastic surgery was even more successful than she had thought possible.

Ashley finished her G.E.D. about when her friend Liberty moved to Moscow. She was sad to see their circle of friendship separated by distance, but they all vowed to keep in close touch.

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During the year following the conference at Lyceum, Dr. Hasari Singh and Dr. Mari Tanaka considered seven more possible natural causes of the ultimaton path that were proposed by scientists and others from around the world. None of them came close to being a viable explanation of the data, which by then was even more complete and required little interpolation. They finished their collaborated article soon after, which was quickly published by one of the most prestigious scientific journals in existence. As soon as the article was in print, Hasari asked Mari to marry him, and she accepted.

The Nuclear Disarmament Treaty seemed to act as a catalyst. Within a year after its passage, several major nations were beginning to divert their foreign aid funds into the programs of the United Nations. A spirit of

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cooperation was sweeping the planet, and even those who had adamantly opposed the Treaty were beginning to realize that maybe its implementation would not lead to the end of civilization after all.

Some people even speculated that maybe, just maybe, the human race was beginning to grow up.

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About the Author

Born in the Mojave Desert, J. Z. Colby now lives and writes deep in a forest of the Pacific Northwest.

He has studied many subjects, formally and informally, including psychology, philosophy, education, and performing arts, but remains a generalist. His primary profession as a mental health therapist, specializing with families and young adults, gives him many stories of personal growth.

All his life, he has been drawn toward a broad understanding of human nature, especially those physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual situations in which our capacity to function seems to reach its limits. He finds fascinating those few individuals who can transcend the limits of our common human nature and the dictates of our cultures.