“Who’s this?” I asked, nodding toward the robot.
“This is NM-19. She’s a nursemaid… or something,” Magnus said.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Parker,” she said, holding out her hand. She was a brand-new model, shiny and quite humanoid in appearance. Dubs was a few thousand years old now, and technology had come a long way from his clunky shape.
“Nice to meet you too, NM-19. Come on in,” I told them, and the kids ran inside.
“Jules. Jules!” Patty squealed. Little Dean followed her inside with far less enthusiasm. I hoped he had friends on board his own age. Someone to get into a little trouble with and play games with.
“We all set?” Magnus asked. He wasn’t in uniform tonight, and it was the first time since being aboard that I’d seen him relaxed like this.
“Are we leaving the kids here alone?” I asked.
“No. We’re leaving them with the Nanny-Bot.”
NM-19’s eyes glowed blue. “I am fully capable of caring for up to six children under the age of ten human standard years at the same time, with a ninety-eight point three percent chance of success rate.”
I mouthed the words “success rate” to Magnus, and he grinned. “See? She has it under control.”
What choice did I have? Mary and Nat were out with Loweck doing a kickboxing class, and we’d set up a meeting. A very important meeting.
I sneaked in to say goodbye to Jules, and she was already watching some animated movie with Patty on the couch.
“Dad, can’t I come with you?” Dean asked.
“You’re too young. We’re doing important… ship stuff,” Magnus said.
I jabbed Magnus in the ribs lightly with an elbow. “Let him come. It’ll make his week,” I told him quietly.
“Fine. But don’t breathe a word of it to your mother,” he told Dean, and the boy ran up to us, hugging his dad around the waist.
“Thanks, Dad!” He peered up at me. “Thanks, Uncle Dean.” This was quieter. So he had heard me pitch for him.
“Girls, we’re off. Dean’s coming with us. Behave for NM-19,” I advised, but neither of them glanced over.
“Where are we going?” Magnus’ son asked as we entered the foyer outside the main crew’s suites.
“Like I said, to an important meeting,” Magnus told him.
Five minutes later, we moved into the room on the side of the cavernous hangar on the side of the Horizon. Security was posted at the door, letting us past them.
“Are the others here?” Magnus asked the guards.
“Yes, sir. All four of them are inside,” one of the guards said.
We moved across the metal floor, and Dean was thrumming with excitement as he scanned the room, seeing the various types of spaceships still docked inside the massive vessel we called home.
We passed a Kraski ship, then a Padlog one, and finally made it to the far side of the hangar. The door opened at our arrival, and we found the others waiting for our clandestine meeting.
“Boss, you finally decided to join us,” Slate said from behind the poker table. He was shuffling cards, and a fat cigar hung from his lips. The smoke swirled above as the ventilation fan kicked in with a whirring sound.
“Wouldn’t miss the big game for anything,” I told him.
Hectal took the end seat, his huge armored frame threatening to snap the table in half if he leaned forward. He wore a dealer’s visor. “Where did you find that?” I asked him.
“3D printer,” Magnus answered.
The Shimmali man I’d seen Suma with was here, still in uniform. “I don’t think we’ve met.” I stuck my hand out, and his snout wagged as he shook it.
“I’m a science officer. Name’s Silo,” he said.
“Great to meet you.”
“I’ve heard… a lot about you. All of you. I feel like I know you guys already,” he said in English. Clearly, he had the voice translator modification as well.
“Suma’s the best.” I didn’t want to be the overprotective father type but couldn’t help it. “How are things going between you?”
He blinked, glancing around at the others nervously. I could tell he felt like a trapped animal when Magnus stood at the doorway, arms crossed over his wide chest.
“Good. Really well… I think,” he answered.
“Glad to hear it. We playing cards?” I asked, pulling up a seat.
“Magnus, you finally realized you have no skills, so you brought a ringer to play for you?” Slate asked him, nodding toward the young boy in the room.
“I have no doubt he’d beat you, Slate, but Dean is only watching… this time.” Magnus set a hand on his son’s shoulder.
“Nick,” I said, noticing him for the first time. He was tucked away in the corner, in a tight room with a lot of hefty personalities. “What are you prescribing tonight?”
He reached for the fridge behind him. “Cold beer. Lots of it.” He passed me a bottle.
Little Dean took a seat between his father and me, watching with interest as we played the first few hands, strategizing one another’s styles of gameplay. I won the fourth hand, and we settled into a rhythm, bantering as we played.
“This station we’re heading to, is it like Udoon?” I asked.
“I’ve been there before,” Hectal said. “It really is the edge of the galaxy. Not much past it, at least not for a few light years. I haven’t seen Udoon, but I hear it’s a mess. This place is high-tech.”
“Who runs it?” I pressed, checking my freshly-dealt cards. I folded them.
“I’m not sure. I’m more of the shoot ‘em up kind of guy. I let the Admiral Yopes of the world worry about that kind of thing,” Hectal said, sticking a cigar in his mouth. Slate passed him a lighter.
“It seems like it’s run by some corporation, funded out of a nearby system called Oria Sixteen. Apparently, anyone is allowed to dock there, no matter who they are, but the first sign of trouble, they’ll disable you and arrest the entire crew,” Magnus said. He threw some chips into the growing pot in the center of the table.
“And that doesn’t concern you?” I asked.
“Why should it? We’re not going to do anything wrong. We’re also not bringing the Horizon there,” Slate answered for the captain.
“That’s right. We’re going to remain behind a day’s travel, and use one of the ships in this hangar to head there. We figured it might be advantageous to keep our mission to ourselves,” Magnus said.
“Then why bother going to the Tri-System Station at all?” I asked.
Magnus stared at the visible cards on the table, and bet again. He was heads-up against Nick, who was silently assessing his next move. “Because there’s someone there we’re picking up,” he told me.
“Really? And who is this someone?” I asked.
“The man that’s going to lead us to the Rutelium-filled planet,” Magnus said, flipping his cards over. He grinned as Nick mucked his cards, and Magnus raked the stack of chips into his corner of the table.
“I thought you knew where the world was already?” I asked.
Magnus glanced at me. “Close enough. This guy is supposed to be trustworthy. He wishes to be cut in on the Rutelium mines. Sounds fair.”
I didn’t like it one bit. “Did you ever think this could be a trap of some sort? That this guy has no clue where this planet is?”
“It’s crossed my mind a few times. Dean, relax, we have a capable crew, and we know what we’re doing,” he said.
I let it go. It wasn’t my show to run; I was merely a passenger and an ambassador when needed. I sipped my beer, trying to be in the moment and not worry about the future. This was part of the reason I’d chosen to come on this venture. To spend time with friends and family.
We kept playing, and my chips dwindled. My personal communicator vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out. It was a message from my suite, and I stood up, moving to the edge of the room. I tapped it, and the smooth gray face of NM-19 filled the screen.
“Mr. Parker, we have a problem,” she said.
“What is it?”
“Jules and Patty are missing.”
Six
There’s nothing in life quite like the moment you hear your young child has run away. Even if it was on a contained ship, a thousand terrifying scenarios ran through my head, each worse than the one prior.
“What is it?” Slate asked.
“The girls snuck out. We have to find them,” I told Magnus.
He instantly grabbed his communicator and called someone, speaking in rushed sentences.
“We’ll find them. Don’t worry. They couldn’t have gone far,” Magnus assured me, but his expression of panic must have matched mine.
I tried to think of where they would go, and couldn’t decide. “Let’s split up. Everyone take a floor, and keep in contact.”
We ran through the hangar, my legs half asleep from sitting for so long. We split up at the elevators, each exiting on a different floor. I checked the school first. It was dark and locked. I moved to the balcony overlooking the courtyard and scanned for any sign of the two small girls. Nothing.
I took the elevator and searched behind the waterfall in the spot where Sergo had been hiding. They’d cleared out his garbage and blankets, and Jules wasn’t there.
“Think, Dean, think,” I said. Maybe she was with Mary.
I video-called my wife, who answered from inside Nat’s suite. Loweck was laughing beside her, and Mary’s face turned serious when she saw my expression. “Tell me Jules is with you ladies?”
“What do you mean?” Mary asked, worry thick in her voice.
“She was with the Nanny-Bot Magnus brought over. They left our suite,” I said.
“Where are you? I’ll be right there,” Mary said, and I waited for her in the courtyard.
It was late, but life on a vessel such as this didn’t go by a clock. The lights were still on, and people were ending their shifts, heading for coffee, or starting their days. It was a mixture of the weary and well-rested, and I felt out of place among them as I impatiently paced beside the green topiary.
“Dean.” Mary hugged me. “Where would she go?”
“I don’t know. We’ve only been here a few days. She hasn’t seen the entire ship yet,” I told her.
“Neither have we, for that matter.” Mary was frazzled, but she seemed more composed than I was. “Think. Where would she go?”
I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly, and it came to me. “I know where she is.”
We ran through the halls, taking the elevator to the fifth floor. We were permitted entrance based on our biometrics, and the two of us stepped through the blue energy barrier leading to the portal room. A guard stood on either side of the door, one human, one Keppe. Our big friends from Bazarn Five were nowhere in sight.
“I was so sure I had it right,” I said, and Mary stepped to the guards.
“Anyone come in or out tonight?” she asked.
The human acted annoyed, and he blinked at her, suppressing a smirk. “No. I’m still not sure why they even need us here. This has to be the worst posting on board.”
I wanted to grab the man by the collar and shove him against the wall. Someone could arrive through the portal inside the room they were guarding, someone or something dangerous. I imagined a creature like the one that had taken over the Shimmali man, then traveled to New Spero to nest in my home. If one of them were loose on the ship, it could be disastrous.
“Just keep your eyes peeled and don’t let anything out or in,” I told him through clenched teeth.
The Keppe nodded her understanding, and the man finally relented, nodding as well.
“I’m going to check the room anyway,” I said, opening the door.
“Listen, I told you no one has…” He cut himself off as he peered inside and saw what I did.
Jules and Patty stood by the portal, the crystal beneath the table glowing bright green, the symbols on the glass walls illuminating the entire room.
“Jules!” I shouted, and she glanced at me over her shoulder. She smiled; such an innocent, happy face.
“Papa! We’re going to help,” she said, her hands on her hips. She was in pajamas, and so was the slightly older Patty. They were so tiny, so young as they stood there, both basking in the glow of the portal.
“How the hell did they sneak in here?” Mary asked, tapping the human guard hard on the chest.
He raised his hand. “Gee, I don’t know. I swear we didn’t see anyone, did we, Yola?”
The huge female Keppe warrior shrank and shook her head. “No one went by us. We would have seen them.”
“Then how do you…” I started, but stopped as I heard Jules giggling.
“Don’t tell anyone about this.” I lifted a finger to my lips, frowning at the two guards. “Not a soul, understood?”
“Dean, what are you…” Mary, sensing my mood, didn’t finish her question.
“Jules, come over here, right now.” I walked over to her and searched the table. She’d selected a symbol, one I didn’t recognize. It had four lines at forty-five-degree angles, and an oval set horizontally across them. I made a mental note to study it later.
“Papa, don’t be angry. We were being good,” Jules said.
“We’re going to talk about this at home. Mary, can you let Magnus and Slate know we found them?” I asked, grabbing my daughter by the hand. I gripped Patty’s in my other and walked through the doorway. The symbols on the glass walls dimmed, and the crystal stopped thrumming, going quiet once again.
Mary caught up at the elevator, and I refused to speak with Jules until we were behind closed doors. She was pouting now, her lower lip jutting out, tears threatening to burst at any moment. Patty was way ahead of her; understanding she’d done something wrong, she cried for her mom.
It felt like forever, but we finally made it to our suites, and Magnus stood waiting with Natalia at his side. Patty’s mom rushed to her, swooping her up. “Where were they?” Nat asked.
I scanned the foyer, seeing we were the only ones there. “They were in the portal room,” I whispered.
“What? How?” Magnus said, too loudly.
“I don’t know. The guards said they didn’t see anyone come through,” Mary told them.
“How is this possible?” Nat asked, assessing her little girl in bunny pajamas. Patty pointed at Jules, and nothing else needed to be said. “We’ll bring her to bed. Thanks for finding them.”
“Guys, I’m sorry,” Mary told them. “If you don’t want her to play with Jules…”
“Don’t be silly,” Natalia said. “They’re only kids. They’re also inseparable. Talk to her. She’ll tell you what happened.”
She was right. “Where’s NM-19?” I asked.
“In the closet.” Magnus pointed at a door across from the rooms. “She was very apologetic.”
“If Jules could make it past two guards, I can see how she could escape a Nanny-Bot,” Mary said.
We said our goodnights, and when the door shut, Jules slid free from my clutches and ran away, her soft footsteps slapping against the hard-tiled floor. I heard her door shut.
“What are we going to do with her?” I asked Mary.
Her hand went to her stomach, and she absently set it there. “I don’t know, Dean. She’ll talk to you about it. She seems to think you guys are a dynamic duo. I’m sure she only wants to be like her dad, using the stones to help people.”
My head was throbbing, and I kissed Mary on the cheek, heading for Jules’ room. Inside, a nightlight cast a warm orange glow over her princess-themed bedroom, and her small form hid under the blankets.
“Jules.”
Nothing.
“Jules, can we talk?” She remained still. “I really want to discuss what you did tonight.”
Finally, her tiny head emerged from beneath her covers. “I only wanted to show Patty something.”
“Show her what?” I asked.
“Never mind. It was wrong
. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m sorry.” Her eyes blinked quickly. She was putting on quite the show for me.
“Honey, how did you get there?” I asked.
She scootched up in the bed, sitting now. “I don’t know. I told the guards I didn’t want to be seen.”
“That’s it?” I asked, wondering what kind of power lurked under her skin.
She nodded.
“Where were you trying to go?” I asked, recalling the symbol she’d chosen.
“Nowhere. I was showing Patty the Shand-ree.” She said the name wrong and tugged harder at my heartstrings.
“Honey, you can’t go there. It’s dangerous,” I told her.
“But I helped make them,” she said defiantly.
“That’s right. And one day you’ll be able to use them like I do, but you’re not old enough yet. You have to stay safe, and go to classes, and listen to Mommy and Daddy, okay?” I asked, patting her on the leg.
“I guess. I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said, sounding so much older than she was.
“It’s okay. Promise me you won’t do it again,” I said firmly.
“I promise.”
“What do you promise?” I’d been tricked by her before.
“I promise not to go to the Shand-ree room.”
“And?”
“I promise not to make people not see me,” she added.
“Good.” I wanted her to promise never to use any of her powers, but it would be like asking her to cease breathing. Her mysterious gifts were growing all the time, and even now, the blankets moved up on their own accord. I sighed and gave her a hug. “I’m here to protect you. You remember that.”
“Okay, Papa,” she said.
“I love you.”
“Love you.”
I left her in bed and found Mary in the living room, staring out the windows into the vastness of space.
“What are we going to do with her?” she asked.
“Keep an eye on her. Try to understand what she’s capable of, and see if we can curb her use of the powers.” I plunked onto the sofa. “Maybe being here wasn’t such a great idea.”
“I think it was. I’m happy to be around everyone for now. Don’t forget we have an appointment with Nick in the morning,” she informed me.
New Horizon (The Survivors Book Nine) Page 5