'The Lost Gods' (2 Parts) by Roger Price

John lets Mike take his first solo glider flight, but while in the air a girl, Hsui Tai, contacts him telepathically, and he loses control of the glider. Just in time, John manages to jaunt inside the glider and regains control. Hsui Tai tells Matsu Tan, a Shansu monk, that she believes Mike to be the lost god Kishnu. After Tim is unable to find a reason for Mike's blackout, Elizabeth contacts John and Mike while on a mission for the Galactic Federation. Matsu Tan and the Sage discuss Hsui Tai's contact with Kishnu, and decide that he must be found so he can be ‘re-born’. John lets Mike take another solo flight, and Hsui Tai tries to contact ‘Kishnu’ again; Mike manages to keep control and lands safely, and remembers the names ‘Hsui Tai’ and ‘Kishnu’; he and John are convinced that Hsui Tai is a Tomorrow Person, and Tim finds some newspaper articles featuring the names, and claims that the Shansu sect kill the ‘Child Gods’ when they reach maturity so that they can be re-born into a new body. John and Mike try unsuccessfully to make contact with Hsui Tai, who, meanwhile, is told by Matsu Tan that it is time for her re-birth. John and Mike attempt to reproduce the conditions when Hsui Tai first made contact by flying John's glider again, but the weather conditions are too dangerous. Mike sneaks back to the glider and tries a solo flight, just as the ceremony of Hsui Tai's re-birth begins; she makes contact with Mike and he loses control of the glider, crashing it. Mike somehow appears in the temple, bound in front of the flames next to Hsui Tai. Finding just the crashed glider and Mike's jaunting band, John telepathically contacts his friend, and Mike tells him that he is in the temple, where the monks think he is Kishnu. Hsui Tai picks up the telepathy, and Mike tries to persuade her to leave the temple, but she refuses, instead going into a meditative trance. Tim tracks Mike's co-ordinates, and John remarks that he will jaunt there with a jaunting band and a matter transporter for Hsui Tai, but the Sage overhears the conversation between Mike and Hsui Tai, and confronts Mike, telling him to leave without Hsui Tai. John arrives and overpowers the Sage, and he and Mike take Hsui Tai back to the Lab. After a while Hsui Tai comes out of her trance, but refuses to believe that she is not a god. After some of the monks become afraid and want to leave the temple, the Sage decides to find Hsui Tai and Mike and complete the re-birth ceremony. John and Mike explain to Hsui Tai who the Tomorrow People are, and show her how to jaunt. The Sage tells Matsu Tan that they must start the re-birth ceremony for one of the ‘other’ gods. Hsui Tai tells John and Mike about these other gods, and the two decide to rescue them; they all jaunt to the temple, where the re-birth ceremony has begun, but Hsui Tai refuses to interfere in it, and after a struggle, takes Mike’s stun gun. John and Mike find the re-birth chamber and are attacked, but Mike manages to stun everyone in the chamber, while John releases the child. Hsui Tai arrives and uses the stun gun to stun John and Mike; the two awake to find themselves chained up in the ceremony chamber, along with Hsui Tai, who asks why John has been chained up as he cannot be re-born. Matsu Tan tries to release John, but is stopped by the Sage, who begins the ceremony, Hsui Tai jaunts back to the Lab, and returns with two stun guns, which she uses to stun everyone and stop the ceremony. Hsui Tai declares Matsu Tan Master of Meditation, in charge of the temple, all the children are sent back to their homes, and Hsui Tai joins the Tomorrow People.



Nicholas Young (John), Elizabeth Adare (Liz), Michael Holoway (Michael Bell), Misako Koba (Hsui Tai), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Burt Kwouk (Matsu Tan), Robert Lee (Sage)

Directed by Peter Webb

TX:
'Flight of Fancy' - 15th May 1978
'Life Before Death' - 22nd May 1978

Notes:
*Featuring John, Elizabeth, Mike and Tim, and introducing Hsui Tai