Here's part one of the interlude! It's time for a flash to the past as we look at a crucial point in Professor Jasper Lowry's childhood... and see why he acted the way he did when Mission spoke to him about her vision...
Previous Chapter: Chapter 2: What Has Passed
Next Chapter: Interlude, Part 2
Interlude, Part One[]
Professor Lowry remembered when he used to be a happy go-lucky five year old. Back then he was known as just Jasper.
By the time he turned six though, things had changed. He grew more withdrawn, more secluded. No longer was he the joyful little child, no longer did he play tag or do silly things or try to build robots from cans and glue.
Instead, Jasper kept to his room almost all the time, terrified of the outside world. The inside world was as frightening enough.
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It all began when Jasper first discovered he could move objects around with his mind. He could easily lift the family Lincoln Town Car with no issues just by using his mind.
Jasper at first thought it was just fun and games. But apparently he had many more special abilities than just that. He could sense other people's presence, their emotions, and so forth. At first it was fun. But as he grew stronger in that power, he sensed worldwide pain and suffering. And when suddenly a large amount of people died, it felt like a loud outcry of pain and terror. Had Jasper been older, he would have been able to push the feelings down and hide them. But because he was a young child, if he sensed the genocide of many people, he would burst into tears.
Since his parents didn't have the same powers as he, they didn't know what was wrong. They couldn't understand Jasper's sorrow, his grief, his pain. They couldn't understand the burden he was carrying with him day after day.
Eventually he was taken to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist determined that he was suffering from a mental disorder, according to what Jasper and his parents told him. Soon enough, he was given a treatment plan. Each time he sensed the deaths of many people, he was to tell himself it wasn't real. That his mind was messing with him. The treatment eventually worked and Jasper began living a seemingly normal life. But there was still pain as he tried to convince himself that it was all his imagination.
But in reality... was it really?
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Although Jasper managed to convince himself that the things he sensed in the environment weren't real, the visions still haunted him day and night. One in particular instilled much fear in him.
That vision always began with everything being pitch black, leaving Jasper wondering where he was. Then suddenly there would be the sound of blades of lightsabers clashing together. Jasper would turn around to see he was inside a huge space station, and on a platform below he saw two people fighting. One was a cloaked figure with a hood, leaving Jasper unable to discern the figure's gender. The opponent was a male and was wielding a red lightsaber. The other's lightsaber was moving too fast for Jasper to see its colour.
All around the two opponents were capsules, capsules with people in them. The man said to the figure at one point that the people in the capsules were dead, but he never let them become one with the Force.
Jasper heard all this and felt pain and suffering all around him. It was as if the people in the capsules were pleading, "Set us free... set us free... please..."
And that's when it would end, leaving Jasper awake in bed, sweating and silently crying. Crying for those prisoners, who only wanted to reach their destiny- to be one with the Force.
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Eventually the visions stopped. Jasper didn't know why, nor did he care. All that mattered to him then was that the pain stopped. But later on, he began feeling... empty. Like something was missing, like he was cut off from something important.
Soon, however, the feeling passed and the visions themselves seemed to be forgotten forever, buried deep within the farthest reaches of Jasper's mind. He forgot the power that he had, he forgot the visions, he forgot it all. It seemed as though nothing could bring back those memories of sorrow, remorse, and grief.
But the Force would have its way, regardless of whether or not Jasper remembered. Destiny was the name of the game, no matter what. Even if he didn't want that destiny.