After they released Leo from the clinic, part of his memory was gone.

The splicing of Leo’s DNA had not only served to reprogram the DNA. It had wiped the slate clean.

The new order had only wanted to change his intelligence of being able to harness his thoughts. They feared that with Leo’s intelligence, that as he got older he would be able to think so many things into existence just like Holly’s brother. And that maybe one day he would think himself into the position held by the new order and that they would be usurped by the Elion family. And that they would once again rule Rillarok. This is why the new order had to have Leo’s DNA to be reprogrammed. Absolutely they did.

Before the Moving of the Cars effort began and before the new order found him; Holly, Owen, and Leo had located to a very quiet and unpopulated part of the planet when they had fled from the new order. Most of the people there were left alone as long as no challenges were detected by the new order.

There were walks together in the peaceful Forest of Rill, exploring the endless valleys with the purple flowers. There was lots of cooking at home and long dinners. They were comfortable, warm, and felt relatively protected from being inside.

And time passed as it had a way of doing on Rillarok that was both fleeting and grounding. Time kept on.

It was when the new order sent out a decree to the entire planet that anyone over the age of twelve would have to start helping with the Moving of the Cars.

The Moving Of The Cars efforts began as a decree. It began as a demand.

It became known on Rillarok that the emergency of blockages in the roads that were occurring from cars was going to involve orders from high up. The roads had been becoming more and more clogged. And people were being blocked in their own towns. And deliveries of essential food and items to stores was happening less frequently because the vehicles could not get there on the roads.

Sometimes different routes would have to be taken making the trip longer, or not being able to happen at all. People could not leave their towns. The order did not care so much about that. But they did not want entire towns of people dyeing because the stores no longer had groceries delivered, or pharmacies no longer could get the medicine that people needed.

There was a large incinerator on the far north side of the planet where the cars could be recycled into usable materials.

But first they had to get the cars there. They had to clear the roads.

Part of the DNA structure of the genetics of brain cells allowed for a kind of plasticity that could be used in mass level emergencies. This is how the evolution had occurred on Rillarok. There had been a series of emergencies that had to be dealt with over the centuries, for survival, and so over time the change that this required had resonated through the plasticity of the DNA.

And the cars clogging the roads was indeed becoming a mass level emergency.

The cars were becoming outdated due to a glitch in the new technology systems and they, one by one, were just failing to be able to be driven. Once they failed to be started again the tow trucks could not even help. The wheels would lock up so they could not be pulled or even towed off the roads.

The cars had to be restarted for a period of time just to get them off the road.

The power of hot-wiring a car had been part of the DNA because of the emergency it was causing. And so the plasticity had kicked into gear almost overnight.

It was a very specific thought that would occur, so as not to be misused.

The process was relatively simply. Once the ability had been acquired, one just had to walk up to the car and the brain waves would serve to start the car, as well as the direct link of course.

Without the direct link nothing could have happened.

The direct link had to do with the actual engine of the car. It could electrically wire into the brain waves. And so the entire combination was needed. But it really was not that difficult. It was actually kind of fun.

And so when they came door to door and asked them if he was over the age of twelve they decided not to resist this time. Where would they go this time?

And so Holly and Owen watched their now thirteen year old son go out into the afternoon sun and start on his work to hot wire the cars that were clogging the roads. And this knack for understanding how cars operated would serve his idea for stealing a car, on Earth, which now came naturally to Leo.