by Frank Carey
"Any way we can find out?" Clio asked.
"Let me make a call," Alex said. Ten minutes later, they had their answer. A security camera caught an image of the pilot at the time Gus was shot. "Who is that?"
"He's an immortal, whoever he is," Clio noted. "Look, I know every god and demigod in this galaxy, and I don't recognize him, so either he's from another galaxy, or he's from another universe."
Neta stared at the image on the screen. "Mr. Rennick, what happened to Gus twenty years ago?"
Kayleth explained. "We mountain Storens live by strict rules, one of which involved those who are disowned by their parent or parents. Gus's father, though of the river, did just that, he blamed his son for the death he knew was in store for himself and his family. Gus took that to heart, which is why he tried to commit suicide.
"Wait a minute. Why was there a hit out on Nelson?" Neta asked. "Glant said something about a contract."
"Nelson was up to his eyebrows in shady deals with known criminals. He tried to play one against another and got caught. Gus and the rest of the family only knew their father was making more money than could be explained by the legit contracts they were signing. I warned my daughter—Gus's mother—that Nelson was bad news."
"So Gus got caught in the middle of all this and has spent the last twenty years hiding in plain sight?" Neta asked.
"Yes," Alex said, "that would be the logical conclusion."
"And what about Minnie and Horus? How do they fit into all this?"
"They're Gus's immortal companions, like I'm Kel's. This means that they are helping Gus with a task given to him by Zeus—Bob—even though he probably doesn’t know anything about it. Having two immortals assigned to a mortal is unheard of, so this must be something big."
Neta walked over to the viewer and gently ran her hand over the image of the prone and unconscious Gus. "Will he survive?"
"Only Oracle knows, and she never tells," Clio said.
"I need to take a shower and get to work. I need to find this Glant character before he figures out that Gus is still alive. Thank you for letting me know all this." She looked at Kayleth. "Not to be rude, but where does this death sentence stand?"
"There isn't one," Kayleth explained. "There never was one. Nelson used a legend against his eldest son. May he rot in the swamps of hades for that. Please, bring him home, alive. I need to fix this somehow."
Neta turned back to the image. "You have my word, I will do everything in my power to bring Gus Curran home, safe and alive. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have much to do." She walked out the room, headed for the shower.
"Tell me, My Queen, are Gus and Neta in a relationship?" Alex asked Losira.
"What? No. He does jobs for her on occasion, but as for a relationship? Not that I know of."
"Odd. She seems to be very much in love with him."
"Yeah, I'm getting the same vibe," Clio said. "I wonder if he knows?"
"Him?" Losira noted. "I wonder if she knows."
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Though too slow for an organic eye to perceive, the star beyond the ancient space station was slowly dimming. Soon, it would flare in brightness to start the whole cycle over again.
Stationed fifteen clicks away, the Earth-based research ship Henrietta Swann Leavitt studied both the star and the station using every sensor it had at its disposal, the data it generated being sent back to Arctillus via high-bandwidth hypercomm. Within a few hours of taking up orbit, the Leavitt had found its first of many anomalies.
"Captain, you should see this," Lead Sensor Scientist Johanna Jones said from her station.
Captain Marsden Marks walked over and peered over her shoulder. "What did you find, Jonesy?"
"The missing Memphis probe," she said, pointing to one of her screens. "We triggered its IFF beacon with our first scan."
Capt. Marks looked at the screen for a moment before reaching over and twiddling a control.
"Damn, Jonesy, you're now in line for a bonus when we get back to Earth. Hmmmm, power, comm, computers, all look normal. I wonder why Arctillus couldn't reach her."
"Sir, our scans are pretty powerful. Possibly, the station's shielding blocked Arctillus' signals."
"Jonesy, run precision scans, then pipe the data to Engineering, Data Processing, and Communications. I want them to see if anyone has been playing with our probe. We'll meet in the wardroom in an hour to discuss our findings. I want you there as well."
"Yes, Captain," she said while typing commands to implement his wishes into her console. "Any reason, sir?"
"We found a young lady in that ship docked to the station. A short time after being rescued, she stole a freighter, then disappeared. Let's say I have a hunch."
"Yes, sir," Johanna said as she got back to work while the Captain went back to his chair to compose a report for Arctillus. It was going to be one of those days.
###
Captain Marks walked into the Wardroom and found his senior officers sitting around the room's largest table, sipping coffee while they waited for his arrival. Closest to the door was Jonesy, followed by Lead Comm Officer Ratcliff "Rat" Sinclair. Opposite Jonesy was Lead Computer Officer Sentava "Senta" Treska, and next to her was Captain of Engineering Torrance "Mac" MacDonald.
"Coffee, Captain?" Jonesy asked.
"Yes, thanks."
"Sir, will the XO be joining us?" Mac asked.
"No, Kelly has the con. After reading this report, I wanted a combat-rated officer in that chair, and Commander Calloway fits that bill perfectly. So, what the hell is going on?"
"As you ordered, sir, I ran precision scans of the probe and the area around it," Jonesy explained. "The probe is sitting in some kind of pressurized docking bay. I've detected energy flows both in the probe and the surrounding section of the station."
"So, it's not dead, the station I mean?" the captain asked.
"No, it’s not dead, not by a long shot. We scanned the whole station and found about 75% of it was under vacuum with the area around the probe being maintained at full life support."
"Great. Mac, what do you have?"
"You're not going to like it."
"Sorry, that ship has already sailed."
"I'm detecting an interuniverse portal running. It's small, big enough for a few human-sized beings, maybe even a wombat. We're also detecting energy flowing between the probe and whatever is on the other side of the portal."
"Senta?"
"We're detecting live data streaming in and out of the portal. My guess? Based on the nature of the data, I think someone is using the probe's systems to access the League InterWeb via the probe's hypercomm system. I did some judicious hacking and I can say, with some certainty, that this has been going on since the probe dropped off the League's radar."
The captain rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Rat?"
"We've detected live video feed data pouring into the portal."
"Someone is watching?" Jonesy exclaimed.
"Yep, actively. They could be monitoring the area outside the portal, or the whole station, or even the area around the station. They may even be watching us at this moment."
The captain keyed the intercom. "Kelly, set up a leisurely orbit around the station and set up a standard volume scan of the area around it. Make it look like we found nothing interesting in the station or the attached ship."
"Aye, sir."
"And, Kelly."
"Sir?"
Have Helm make ready for an emergency dust-off if anything pops out of that station."
"Aye, sir. Bridge out."
"Mac, what about the attached ship?"
"The derelict is toast, sir, just like Ms. Hardy said. From the looks of it, the systems were scrammed years ago."
"Lovely. Either Ms. Hardy lied to us..."
"Or someone lied to her."
"I wish to hell someone had thought to call in a Venlanten to truth-read that young woman." Marks stopped and stared down at his hands. "Senta, Rat, can we spoof thei
r feeds so that they see an empty ship even if we're poking around, and receive false data through their network connection?"
Both officers nodded. Rat turned to LCO Treska. "What do you think, Senta? An hour?"
The elf woman thought for a moment while her tail swayed back and forth. "Yeah, that should do it."
"Good. If you need help, grab it, my authorization. Rat, before you go, set me up a secure link to Ventos Prime."
"Yes, sir!" LCO Sinclair replied.
"Then let's get this party started. I want Team One on the station and Team Two on the ship in one hour. Dismissed."
The officers left with a round of yes sirs, while the captain sat down to wait for his call to connect.
"Ventos Prime Office of Royal Security. This is Glen. How may I direct your call?" a voice said as the image of a young male elf appeared on the viewer.
"This is the R/S Henrietta Swann Leavitt on secure channel. Connect me with Dir. Neta Tavish. Priority one." It had been decided by persons far above his pay grade that R-Sec would be managing this op.
"One moment, Captain." The screen shifted to a pastoral scene with the R-Sec logo rotating above a herd of unicorns. "Elves," the Captain muttered while sipping his coffee.
Neta appeared, her whip snake of a tail cutting through the air behind her. "Marsden, report!"
He hit the send button, waited a moment, then simply said, "I think we may be looking at a beachhead situation."
"According to your report, the portal is only two meters wide. Don't you think that's a little small for an invasion?"
"Ask your boffins how big it could be if it was augmented by four-Thryster mark nine drive pairs. I'll wait."
"Dammit! Are you sure?" she asked while tapping something off screen.
"No, that's why you need to talk to your people," he said. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Neta, I'm a Navy man in charge of a ship full of boffins. It's my job to think of bad outcomes, then formulate ways of fixing them."
"Do your people know?"
"That I'm paranoid? Sure. That we may be facing another situation like we had with the grange or the Alue—invasion from another universe? No, at least I haven't brought it up. They have more than enough on their plates. I had my helmsman prep the ship for emergency dust-off in the event something emerges from the portal, but that's standard operating procedure."
"One-hundred meters," she replied.
"What?"
"My people estimate a portal one hundred meters wide could be created using the four drive pairs if power was available."
"Well, we do have a VC star pulsing away. Excuse me a moment." He tapped a button. "Team One Leader!"
"Go for Lt. Canalla."
"I want Team One and Team Two to look for anything that could use the VC star to power a portal."
"Yes, sir!"
"Captain out. Now, where were we, Neta?"
"Before this portal-thing? That you were paranoid."
"Right. So, where is Ms. Hardy and the Yosho? You could avoid all this hassle by just arresting her."
Neta explained what happened. "You know, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced Gus is falling in love with Ms. Hardy..." she started to say.
"Impossible."
"Excuse me?"
"Impossible. Look, I shouldn't tell you this, but I think I need to."
"Tell me what?"
"What do you know about Gus's past, in particular, prior to about twenty years ago?"
"Nothing. I've tried to find out, but the data is gone, not locked, but gone."
"Twenty years ago, when I was a midshipman, the patrol craft I was assigned to responded to a distress beacon. We found a freighter, the River’s Edge, floating in space. Its Storen crew missing, presumed dead, except for a young, teenage boy hold up on the Bridge. His name was Gustav Curran." Capt. Marks then told her about what they had found in the logs.
Neta swallowed hard, but said nothing. This confirmed what Gus had said on Alyson.
"Gus was in shock and a little crazy, so we lifted him to Ventos Prime. As for the crew and the pirates, we never found the bodies." Markson stopped. "I was surprised to meet him a few years later, being disowned and all. A lot of Storens couldn't handle the guilt associated with that. Then there's Gisele, his betrothed."
"Wait, he was betrothed?"
"Yes, and she was the only non-family member aboard the ship. We found her name on the crew manifest, so someone contacted her family. Anyway, she died on that fateful day. Most Storens don't deal well with a betrothed dying, let alone dying like that."
"Is that why he tried offing himself?"
"What a nice way to put it. No, being disowned was more than enough to push him over the edge. No, losing Gisele had its own set of problems."
"What kind of problems?"
"You're a smart lady, look it up. I have to get back to work."
"Right, thanks, so do I. Why do you think he broke protocol?"
"You mean why did he decide to help this person? You can ask him when he returns, assuming he does return. Leavitt out."
Neta stared at the blank screen for a moment. "Computer, access League database. Subject Storens. All entries pertaining to psychology, in particular, family loss and loss of betrothed."
The screen filled with articles, citations, and entries pertaining to her query. She keyed the intercom. "Glen, a pot of tea and a do not disturb lock. I need to do some reading."
"Yes, mistress. Coming right up."
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Gus picked up a cable snaking out of the back of the control console and plugged it into the freighter's communications console patch panel. He looked up and saw five green lights and one red one. "Close," he muttered before typing a series of commands into the comm panel's keyboard.
"How goes the battle?" Savannah asked while peering over his shoulder.
'Good. I just have one more channel to connect, then we'll be ready to send a test sequence."
"Good. How's the wound?"
"Healed, though I'm going to have a bald patch for a month. So, what is your question?"
"My question?"
"Your body language suggests you want to ask me something, but you're unsure how to broach the question. So, what's up?"
She dropped her gaze to her feet. "OK, you got me. What are your Sheila and Kellen really like?"
"I thought you spent time with them?"
"I did, but not nearly enough. What are they like?"
"I've known Sheila for many years. She's tough, intelligent, reckless at times and careful at others. She is totally devoted to Kel and Samantha."
"And Kel?"
"He and I only recently met, so I only know him by reputation. He has two doctorates—history and archaeology—but he prefers to work in history. He's published a gazillion papers, mostly on the subject of the mythical Basili race..."
"Mythical?" Savannah asked as she self-consciously flapped her wings.
"Yep. Up until a few years ago, Dr. Kellen Hardy was thought to be the one and only Basili ever born on the Sokuhl home world. Then, Arctillus was discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud. On it lived the descendants of a race of once-winged reptoids who escaped a mutagenic weapon released on the Sokuhl home world. Shortly after that, Kel and Sheila found Nest, the lost city of the Basili. Now, Kel and Sheila spend their days raising Samantha while living completely normal lives as professors at Ventos Prime University. So, what's your story. What are your Kel and Sheila like?"
"My parents... What can I say about my parents?" she said while walking over to the fridge to get a bottle of cold water. After taking a drink, she sat down and put her feet up on the console. Gus noticed she was unshod, her bare feet muscular and clawed. He watched as the claws extended and retracted as she thought about the answer. "Where to begin? My mother is a genius; a tested and certified genius rated in the top 0.01% of the population. She has multiple degrees in science, philosophy, and theology. She used to work for
one of the biggest think tanks on the planet, but now she pursues her one true passion: the overthrow of my father, the Right Reverend Kellen M. Hardy, Leader of the First Church of the Prohedron and current Patriarch of the Sokuhl people."
"Did you hurt your jaw saying that?"
"No, but it is a mouthful."
"The mind boggles at the thought of Kellen Hardy running a planet. Sheila, sure, but Kellen? He's always struck me as a doer and a worker, not a leader. Speaking of which, what's a Prohedron?"
"We common folk call it the Swarm. It's a voracious, multi-unit life form which ravaged this part of space, but spared the Sokuhl, before disappearing into the infinite blackness of space." She saw the look on Gus's face. "Too much?"
"A tad. Storens are more reserved with our religions. I take it your Kel is a little fanatical in his beliefs."
"Just a tad. Mom use to be his top acolyte before they married and had me. Then things went to hell."
"Look, it's never the kid's fault..." She cuffed him
"No, not me. She found a text in the church's secret library where it detailed how the Sokuhl were able to sequester the swarm into another universe..."
"Shit. The station!"
"Correct-o-mundo. She studied that thing for months. Finally, she grabbed me and some money, then took off to tell the world. Dad sent out some death squads, but finally quit when she started sending back heads."
Gus just stared at her. Finally, he had to asked. "So, why are you here, in this universe, I mean."
"Mom is convinced that the ancients tricked the swarm into leaving, and part of the trick was that it would be allowed to return at some later date."
"Lovely. So, why are you and Morty here?"
"Mom was able to open a small doorway to the station. After months of study, she detected a sophisticated probe checking the station out, so she captured it and used it to link into your League and someplace called the Commonwealth. A week ago, she was able to open a gate large enough to allow a person through—me."
"Did she say why you were being sent through?"