He was disappointed in losing not only the vital information but also the friendship that Kenneth brought into his life. After his monitors stopped picking up the other man's signature. And as there was no other way to contact him, he reached out to the one other person he could possibly manipulate. His sister. 

 

She had destroyed her mind with drugs in an effort to hide what she knew he wanted from her. And even her husband was gone. Dead from overuse of the same kind of chemicals, he assumed. He found her almost useless. Almost but not entirely. Because sometimes she would slip without even knowing. And the best part, was that she didn't even remember she had done it. And she didn't seem to know she had the information still inside her brain. 

 

It wasn't much, since she didn't know anyone but her own son. A boy that Arthur wasn't sure what to do with, yet. Telekenisis was an interesting power for sure, but it was nothing compared to his own son's ability. The one he used to have. 

 

He remembered how powerful his ability had made him. Almost invincible. Certainly untouchable. The respect he got from everyone around him, even his own kind, made him feel like the God the commoners always assumed they were. Since they came from the heavens and could do miraculous things. Who wouldn't believe that?

 

*

 

But they had awoken on this planet with absolutely no power. No hope of protecting the tree of life. A thought that was too difficult to imagine. Some of the others had voiced the positive side to the situation. No powers meant a time of peace. Maybe they could start actual families and live out the rest of their suddenly mortal lives in that way as well. Arthur thought it was entirely too cocky of them to presume that they would be able to live like virtual invalids. Like someone without legs after being the world champion of long distance running. But that wasn't what bothered him the most. The real threat was death to the tree. 

 

It seemed like they would all be happy abandoning the tree if it meant starting their selfish, short-lived lives over again. Passing the task of care givers off to 'someone else'. Whoever that someone else was. Future generations perhaps. Or citizens. But for Arthur, the tree was their life. It had been them -a part of their souls- forever. Even when it had become corrupted and had depleted for that short time. It had still fed them their power. And nurtured them. Like the mother it had always been. But then.. the others wanted to just abandon it. Even after all the effort they had taken to build these worlds to protect it's existence. 

 

He began to sink into despair, but just as he started to forget what he was so upset about, reports came in about forces emerging in their boys. And once again, for Arthur, there was hope.