One minute until life support system deactivated.
There was a finality to the words.
As I started to gasp for air, I thought of the days Jules and Hugo were born, and all the times our family had spent happily together.
“I love you, Mary,” I whispered as the final message played for me. Life support system deactivated. The HUD went dark.
____________
Jules felt the remnants of the huge explosion. The energy remained there in the vacuum of space, the residual pieces of the space station lingering as tiny specks of debris. Jules moved fast and with purpose. She saw the ship return, the Kraski vessel, and for a moment feared their old enemy had returned.
She sent a tendril out and felt Uncle Magnus’ essence inside, but not her father’s. She knew Magnus had tracked her, as he piloted the ship to follow her course. She didn’t think he could keep up.
She searched for Papa, using the same skill she’d honed as the two of them had flown over each continent a few years ago, scanning for any hiding Kold. Only now, she was grasping for her father’s life force.
When she didn’t feel it, she knew he hadn’t made it. Her abilities were too strong to be mistaken. She almost stopped, thinking him dead. She wasn’t able to hold back the tears that came in a rush of emotion as she thought about Papa not being around anymore. She couldn’t go on without him. He was everything to her. He was her hero.
She felt a surge of emotion as she raced through space, moving away from Earth and the remains of the space station faster and faster, the Kraski ship tailing her far behind. Jules was a blur of a green sphere as she flew, and she screamed in rage, a primal sound she hadn’t known she was capable of.
Jules sent out more power in her search, and minutes later, something tickled the inside of her mind. It was like seeing a blur from the corner of her peripheral vision. She turned to it, focusing with all her strength.
“Papa!” she shouted, racing for the tiny, almost indistinguishable sense of her father. It was so faint, but it was there. She slowed and moved around his armored suit, which was clipping along quickly from Earth. As she landed on the other side of her father, she saw their home planet in the distance, a tiny speck in the solar system from here. He’d traveled quite far in a short amount of time.
“Papa,” she said softly, seeing the suit was completely dark. She opened her sphere, absorbing the entire EVA. She touched it, sending energy inside, and within seconds, it was charged, the HUD flashing on, the arm console lighting up.
Her father didn’t stir inside. “Papa!” she shouted, shaking the suit. “Wake up!”
She’d been through dealing with her powers, and she felt the exhaustion of the last week fill her as she cried for her father. Her arms were growing weak, and she hardly noticed the Kraski ship arrive behind her.
Her eyes reflected from Papa’s space suit, and she knew there wasn’t much time. She had to act promptly.
They were in the safety of her sphere, and she grabbed hold of her dad’s helmet, disconnecting the clasps. The suit alarm warned her of the danger, but she ignored it, dropping the helmet, which passed through the sphere’s energy wall. She grabbed Papa’s face, his cheeks cold, his face covered in a couple weeks’ worth of beard. She breathed toward him, a green mist pouring from her mouth. It pried open his blue lips, drifting into his lungs.
____________
I came to with a gasp, coughing as if something had been shoved down my throat. I felt it recede, and saw the bright green glow around a familiar face. “Mary,” I said, my vision blurry, my mind fuzzy.
This wasn’t Mary. That happened years ago: thirteen years.
“Papa, it’s me,” Jules said, her voice so small, her cheeks glistening with fresh tears.
I took another breath, glancing around me. Everything was green, the walls of the sphere a tightly woven energy field. “Where are we? How did you get here?”
She laughed, crying again. “Papa, you’re okay.”
“You saved me,” I said. My eyes hurt to blink; my throat was raw and burning. Each breath was torture, but I was alive. “What happened?”
“You tell me,” she said.
“We stopped Frasier from destroying the world,” I told her.
“I don’t know who that is,” she said, laughing again. “Magnus is here. We need to get onto the ship.”
Jules moved us toward the looming Kraski vessel, which was directly above us. I waited for the ramp to open; instead, Jules made us pass through the hull. That was new.
The handful of Restorers Magnus had taken with him were inside the cargo hold, staring with wide eyes as my daughter deactivated her glowing sphere, settling us to the ground.
“Dean!” Magnus was running down the hall, stopping to crouch beside me. He patted my chest with a meaty paw. “Are you okay?”
I sat up and coughed a few times. Someone passed me a bottle of water and I drank deeply, the liquid easing my sore throat. “I’m fine now that my daughter found me.”
Magnus glanced over at Jules and smiled. “You never cease to amaze, do you?”
“I guess not,” Jules told him.
“Where are the others?” I asked. “Slate, Suma?”
“They’re on Menocury L05,” she said.
“If they’re all the way over there, how did you locate me? There’s no portal on that planet,” I asked, knowing there was a lot I was missing.
Jules peered around at the strange unfamiliar faces and leaned in. “I’ll tell you about it later, without an audience. Can we go home for the night?”
“Home?” I asked, and she nodded.
“Home.”
Twenty-Six
I woke to the sunlight pushing past my drapes. I didn’t have to look at the time to know I’d overslept. I’d obviously needed it. Noises carried from down the hallway – clattering of dishes in the kitchen – and I found Magnus and Jules side by side, making waffles.
“Dean, how are you feeling?” Magnus asked, not even turning around to see it was me.
“I’m…” My throat was a little dry, and Jules slid me a glass of water. “I’m good. I feel much better.”
“Perfect. I was able to talk to Paul last night and sent a message to the Horizon. Everyone knows we’re fine, and that we’re coming to the ship through the portal today. They’re almost at Menocury L05 again,” Magnus said as he poured me a cup of coffee.
“Jules, did you talk to your mother?” I asked, hoping she’d gotten word to Mary. I knew my wife would be concerned about our well-being.
“I did,” Jules said. Her eyes were bright, and I still needed to talk to her about what happened. She hadn’t completely filled me in yesterday, but that was for the best. My mind was rattled after my near-death experience.
“And? She knows we’re together?”
“She sure does. She should already be on the Horizon.” Jules gave me a plate with a syrup-covered waffle, and I took it, eating ravenously.
“Thanks for breakfast. This is great,” I told them.
Magnus’ face was serious, and I waited for him to take a sip of coffee before speaking his mind. “Dean, I was talking with Jules.”
“Okay.”
“They had a run-in with the Collector,” he said, so calmly I nearly didn’t catch what he said.
“What? The Collector? How?” I asked succinctly.
“No one knows, Papa. Slate was in my group, and we were attacked a little while after taking off in our Nirzu transport,” Jules said, and I had to cut her off.
“Wait, you were shot down? Is everyone okay?” I asked.
“Yes, Papa, just listen. Dean was with us, and some other kids. We landed in a big lake, and were attacked by some huge eel creatures,” she said, and when she saw I was about to interrupt again, she raised a silencing finger. I obliged. “My powers have been sporadic, failing more often than working, and as soon as we were on the planet, they weren’t working at all.”
This was news to me, but I
kept chewing my food, letting her tell the story.
“Tell him about the stone,” Magnus said, his waffle untouched.
“A lot of things happened, but a force had been beckoning me since we landed. The locals that live in the valley pray to the stone. They think it’s a god, and maybe it is,” Jules said.
“What do you think it is?” I asked.
“I think it’s been around a long time. There are more out there, I could tell that. I think the Theos knew of them, and that’s how they figured out how to build the interface and create the portals,” she said.
“And you used it to travel to Earth?” I asked her.
“I did.”
“And was there a table? A computer screen?” Magnus set his cup down.
“There wasn’t.”
“So no one but you could travel through it,” I suggested.
Jules shook her head. “No one but the ones like me.”
My heart raced at her calm words. “What do you mean, like you?”
“I think I’m part of something ancient, far older than the Iskios. From what I can understand, the world the deceased Iskios were placed on had one of these stones on it. I think they absorbed the power, creating the Vortex when Mom became their vessel. But I don’t have Iskios abilities; they’re something else.” Jules blinked quickly, and for a moment, I thought the green glow might vanish, but it didn’t.
“This is a lot. We’ll have to talk to Regnig and Karo about this,” I said.
Magnus cleared his throat. “There’s more.”
“Right, the Collector,” I said.
Jules sat up straighter, a broad smile crossing her face. “I stopped him. We freed everyone.”
“That’s amazing. I can’t wait to hear about that,” I said with enthusiasm. We’d only managed to free Ableen, and I’d hated having to leave the rest of the Collector’s captives on board.
“There might be someone like me on the ship. I didn’t free him yet,” Jules said quietly.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted the answer, but I had to ask. “Why not?”
Jules stared at me, a hint of fear in her eyes. “I think he may be dangerous.”
____________
Mary greeted us at the door with Natalia at her side. Our wives rushed toward us, and we embraced, Jules between Mary and me in a family hug. Hugo arrived, and I tousled his mop of hair.
“How did you two possibly end up together?” Mary asked Jules and me, and I could only shrug.
“It’s a long story, Mom,” Jules told her. “How are you doing? Did you figure out how to deal with the threats?”
Mary’s jaw dropped. “How did you know about that?”
Jules led the way out of the portal room, past the two huge guards stationed at the door, and through the familiar corridor. “I may have been shown a few glimpses into your worlds. That’s how I knew what was happening to Papa.”
Mary met my gaze.
“Like she said, it’s a long story,” I reiterated.
Magnus and Natalia were behind us, talking quietly, and when we were in the meeting room, we all sat at the table, Hugo the only one not interested in what was happening. He was already playing with a video game. I didn’t bother telling him to put it away this time.
“So what happened out there?” I asked Natalia.
“We dropped the Academy team on Menocury L05, and shortly afterward, we received a distress call. Since their mission was cut and dry, we followed it, only to find nothing but a device sending out the fake signal,” Nat said, clearly frustrated.
“It was a trap by the Collector,” Jules told her.
“What? The Collector?” Natalia banged a hand onto the table. “Is everyone safe? Where’s Dean?”
“He’s fine, honey,” Magnus said. “Don’t be upset. You did the right thing. By all accounts, Slate and the others should have been safe on the planet’s surface.”
“We lost communication with them,” Nat said. “I should have known that we had to stay.”
“Everything worked out,” Jules said, still smiling.
“What is it you’re not telling us, honey?” I asked her. I knew her too well for her to keep secrets from me, at least good ones. Apparently, she was very good at holding in the bad ones.
“How long until we can head to the surface?” Jules asked.
“Another hour,” Nat answered.
Jules’ smile grew larger. “Can I show you instead of telling you, then?”
I looked around the room, and it was clear we all wanted to know what she wasn’t telling us. “Fine,” Mary said for us. “This’ll give your father and Magnus time to explain just what happened with the Restorers mission.”
I swallowed hard, not wanting to tell Mary the end part about me almost dying.
“Okay, but bear in mind, it was Magnus’ idea to go bicycling around Europe with me,” I said with a laugh, and began telling them exactly what had occurred during our adventure on Earth.
____________
Jules waited impatiently by the lander’s door as the ship settled to the grass in the valley, where the other students and her professors had set up camp. Uncle Magnus, Auntie Natalia, and her parents were in the vessel with her, as well as the Horizon pilot Dubs, mostly because he had some old translation abilities beyond the ones the Alliance used. Some of the languages had been deemed unimportant, because the planets or races no longer existed. Until now.
The lander door opened, and Slate rushed to the ship with Dean at his side. Jules was expecting a happy return, but she only received frowns from the two men. “What the hell, Jules! You ran off without telling us where you were going. We were worried sick!” Slate yelled.
Jules shrank away from it, but her Uncle Zeke’s expression changed as he saw Jules’ mom and dad. Dean was hugging his parents, and Jules glanced around them to see the Collector’s previous captives all watching the newcomers with interest.
Lolin arrived, and she greeted the group in her own language, her words translating through the device strapped to Slate. “Hello again, Jules. Can we use your ship to let my people know we’re safe? That we can return to the valley and rebuild?”
Suma and Loweck arrived with some of the students in tow. “There are other groups in the nearby valleys too.”
“We can’t let them stay here,” Jules told everyone. “They’ll die eventually.”
“We’ve tried talking sense into the locals, but they claim they need their god,” Suma said.
Jules glanced down the path that led to the cliff wall. “Papa, I have an idea.”
Her dad glanced at her and nodded, as if understanding what she was thinking. “I think I have one too.”
Slate cut in, arms folded over his chest. “Can you two stop doing that? It’s freaking me out. Tell us what you’re thinking.”
“We can find a new home for the Nirzu, the ones who abide by the old ways and don’t use technology,” Jules told them, and she caught the grin forming on her mother’s face. Jules beamed in pride at her mom’s reaction.
Suma’s snout wagged. “What about their god?”
Jules pointed to the cliff. “It’s in there, and we need to move it anyway. We’ll incorporate it into their new home.”
“Good idea,” Papa said. “You think it’ll still work?”
“We put a portal stone on the Horizon. I don’t see why we couldn’t transport this one,” Magnus suggested.
“Then it’s settled.” Jules looked at Lolin, who was hearing their conversation in bits and snips through the translator. “Do you think your people would find this acceptable?”
The boy they’d rescued from the Collector stood beside Lolin now, and he nodded. “I think my parents could be convinced, should our god approve of the decision,” Egant said. He was slightly taller than Lolin, and they stood close together.
“Jules, can you show us your surprise now?” Papa asked her, and she waved them forward.
“Sure. Suma, where is he?” Jules asked the Shimmali p
rofessor.
“He’s at the lake. He’s a little… moody,” Suma warned her.
“Dean, can you show us around?” Magnus asked,
“Jules, take this.” Suma passed a translator into Jules’ palm, then led Dubs the android away. Slate followed along, with Loweck beside him.
“You’re being a little dramatic here, aren’t you, Jules?” her mom asked as Jules motioned them toward the lake’s edge at the far end of the village.
“You’ll see why,” Jules told them. Her dad was oddly quiet as their boots crunched over the rocky pathway that took them past the half-destroyed village. In a few minutes, they found the alien sitting on a log, staring at the water.
“Oh my God,” her dad said. “It’s one of the beings from Sterona!”
He stood, his tail long and thick, his torso thin. His face was long; his huge eyes were dark and deep-set. He didn’t have a nose that Jules could see, and his mouth was a narrow slit near the bottom of his face.
“Sterona,” he said, his word fluid and bubbly.
“Hello. I’ve been to your planet before,” Jules’ dad told the creature, a hand pressed to his own heart. The words translated, and the being stepped closer. He spoke again, this time faster.
“How can that be? We were told it was destroyed.”
“Other than the lava and constant electrical storms, it’s not that bad,” her mom told the being, and it stared blankly as the device translated.
“What happened to you? I could hardly uncover a thing about your people,” Papa said.
“We were leaving to our new home. It was a long and arduous journey. I was on the last ship, about to venture through the wormhole, when it came. This Collector. It took me, freezing me and storing me aboard its ship,” it said.
“What is your name?” Jules asked.
“Brik.”
Everyone introduced themselves to Brik, and Jules had an idea.
She leaned over to her father and whispered in his ear. “We should help him find his home. Sterona is important to you. That’s where you first went through the portals, and where you met Suma. I was born there.”
Old World (The Survivors Book Eleven) Page 23