"Can someone please explain what's going on?"
Drake gestured for Tebrey to be silent. "What is your mother's name?"
"Amanda," Ragnar said. "You can't actually be my father."
Tebrey felt sick. "Amanda?" he repeated. "What was her last name?"
"I've been trying to remember," said Ragnar. "I'm sorry, but the whole process was more than a little traumatic. Things are a little blurry, as I said."
"Tebrey?" Drake suggested. "Amanda Tebrey?"
Ragnar shrugged. "I can't remember. I know that the name Tebrey meant something to me. I think I caused you a lot of grief because it was stuck in my head," Ragnar said, directing this at Tebrey.
"You're telling me my mother is still alive?" demanded Tebrey. "I was there when she died!"
"Were you?" Drake asked. "You told me she'd hidden you in a storage locker. You heard her scream, but her body was never found. It was even an Empire ship that boarded yours. Maybe..." He trailed off.
"Maybe what?"
"Maybe she wanted it to be this way," said Drake.
"You're saying she abandoned me?" Tebrey shouted.
"I'm saying she may have had good reason to be afraid of what you might become. I once told her about myself. It was the last time I saw her. If she did a genetic analysis on you, she would have noticed that you are not entirely human."
"And Ragnar?"
"I never mentioned it because I thought her dead, but she was pregnant when we parted."
"Oh, fuck me," Tebrey said wretchedly. He sat in one of the chairs at Ragnar's table. "Nothing I believed about my life was true, was it?"
"Life is like that," said Drake. "Where is Amanda now?"
"I don't know," Ragnar answered. "She had been on Vesuvius, but she left when most of the personnel were evacuated. If I had to guess, I'd say Nastrond, in the Gamma Laporis system. It was a penal world. As I understand things, the Empire has decided to make more people like me. I think they're using criminals, people who would actually enjoy this state."
"Then we need to go there now," Drake said.
"Wait," Tebrey interrupted. "You can't go in there alone. We don't know how many Thetas are waiting for us. There may even be Ancient Ones there. We have to do this right. If we barge in unprepared, we could get killed. Worse, we could get Amanda killed."
"You're right," Drake admitted.
"What about me?" asked Ragnar. He cautiously approached the table and sat down across from Tebrey. "She is my mother, too. I want to help."
Tebrey met Ragnar's softly glowing red eyes, and shuddered. This man had tried to kill him. Had tortured him. Only the possibility that he hadn't been completely in control of himself kept Tebrey from ending him here and now. If Ragnar truly was a victim, if he truly hadn't chosen to become what he was... then Tebrey had to accept him. If Drake said Ragnar was his son, who was Tebrey to question that? Surely Drake would know better than anyone.
"How can you tell?" Tebrey asked.
"What?" said Drake.
"How can you tell Ragnar is my brother?"
Drake sighed and sat down at the table between them. "My people are shapeshifters. We learn to identify one another, no matter the form. I could sense his relation to me before I entered the room."
"So why aren't we shapeshifters?" asked Tebrey.
"Have you ever tried?"
That hadn't occurred to him.
"I have," Ragnar said. "I can't do it. The... Masters were most displeased that I couldn't."
"That probably has something to do with the gene therapy," said Drake. "Amanda must have managed to remove most of my genetic material from your DNA."
"And me?" Tebrey said.
"You don't express everything from my line. Your daughter appears to, though."
"You have a daughter?" said Ragnar.
"Yes."
"I always wanted children but couldn't have them. I guess that was a side effect of the therapy."
"Or an intended effect," Tebrey said. "If our mother would abandon me, who knows what she'd do."
"I doubt she meant to abandon you," said Ragnar. "The woman who raised me would never do that. Maybe she thought you were dead."
"Yeah, I guess I'll just have to ask her."
"I think it safe to say that we each have something to speak with her about," said Drake. "Talk to your people and plan this assault. Let them know that I will provide support."
"That will help," Tebrey said.
"And me?" asked Ragnar.
"We'll see," Tebrey replied.
"I would like him with us," said Drake.
Tebrey sighed. "I'll see what I can do. This isn't going to be easy."
"I never thought it would be." Drake turned to go.
"Father..," Tebrey said hesitantly. "You'll be around, right? We could really use you."
"I'll be around. I've connected myself into your networks. You can call me. Your MI will know how to find me."
"What now?" Ragnar asked after Drake left.
"You stay here for now," said Tebrey. "Sorry. I'll make arrangements to have you transferred up to my ship as soon as I can. We'll get this sorted out. I also know a couple of people who may be able to help you."
"I don't think anyone can help me."
"I think they can," Tebrey said. "From a few things they've let drop, I think at least one of them used to be a… Theta. They're human now. Or near enough."
"You think I can actually be like I once was?"
"I think there's a chance."
"There is hope, then?"
"There is always hope."
Asura Press books by Paul B. Spence
The Awakening Series
The Remnant
The Fallen
The Madness Engine
About the Author
Paul B. Spence is a practicing archaeologist who hopes to one day get it right. He currently lives in New Mexico, where all the cool kids hang out, with too many cats.
Like most authors, he had an eclectic career path. He’s worked as a retail gofer, a food service monkey, brute laborer, a rennie, a writer for the RPG industry, and many other rewarding jobs that didn't pay enough to feed him or his cats.
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