by Amy DuBoff
“Things that have no place in the Priesthood’s reality where abilities are the exception.”
“Not necessarily,” Saera countered. “Such abilities are very important to them—they just want to keep that power to themselves.”
Cris sighed. “Good point.”
“Either way, this discovery indicates that either the TSS’ history stretches back way before we imagined, or all of this was repurposed from something else.”
“I could reach out to Taelis and see if he knows anything,” Cris suggested.
“No, I’m still not convinced we can trust him,” Saera countered. “I’d rather keep any discoveries in our inner circle.”
“Uh, sir?” Alric said over the comm.
Cris unmuted the channel. “Sorry! We went off on a little tangent there.”
“Understood, sir. So, for the repairs…”
“Is it salvageable?” Cris questioned.
Alric nodded. “Yes, sir, but there’s a bigger issue. I’m afraid that now that the shell is in normal space, it’s going to begin degrading. This fracture may only be the first.”
“In other words, we need to re-build all of Headquarters.” So much for TSS funding not being an issue.
“That’s my assessment, sir,” Alric confirmed.
“Great.”
Saera gave him a weak smile. “I guess some renovations are in order.”
* * *
Wil excused himself early from the festivities. At the rate things were going, the rest of the party attendees seemed to be dead-set on having debilitating hangovers in the morning, and that was not an eventuality in which he cared to participate.
Furthermore, his friends had been quick to question Saera’s absence. Though he and his wife could only dodge questions about her pregnancy for so long, select individuals should probably be the first to know before the information became public. Leaving the party was the easiest way to avoid the information getting released out of turn.
He found Saera sprawled on the couch in their living room.
“How was it?” she asked as soon as the hallway door was closed.
“Getting quickly out of hand, as I suspected,” he replied with a smile.
“Figures.”
“With most people distracted and in a celebratory mood, I was thinking it’d be a fitting time to share our news with my parents.”
She lit up. “Good, because I just about told your dad earlier today. It’s dicey talking about plans a few months down the road when we know that’s coming.”
“Agreed.” Wil reached out telepathically to his father, “Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure, come on over,” Cris replied.
“How are we going to tell them?” Saera asked as she rose from the couch.
“Straight out with it, I suppose.”
She shrugged. “Works for me.”
Wil and Saera made the short trek across the hall to his parents’ quarters. His mother answered the door and they were welcomed inside.
“Is this about the shell?” Cris asked.
Wil eyed his father. “What do you mean?”
“Oh right!” Saera shook her head. “We made a discovery while the maintenance crew was doing the repairs on the coupling. Apparently the shell around Headquarters is old—like, at least a thousand years old.”
So it was constructed well before the TSS or the Bakzen war. “Very interesting.”
“Yeah. So, that’s a new mystery to figure out,” Cris said.
“It makes sense, though,” Wil realized. “Constructing it…”
“That was our thought, as well,” Saera responded. “We were wondering if maybe the Aesir had something to do with it. Back before they separated from Tararia.”
Wil nodded. “It’s possible.” Their current technology is well beyond ours, but perhaps they simply have what was lost to us.
“I get the impression that’s not why you came here,” Kate interjected.
Wil smiled. “No, it wasn’t.” He looked to his wife.
“Working on the repairs wasn’t the real reason I skipped out on the party tonight,” Saera began. “I’m expecting.”
“Stars!” Kate immediately embraced her.
“I wondered…” Cris shook his head and smiled. “How far along?”
“About forty days,” Saera replied. “We wanted to make sure there weren’t any early complications before we said anything.”
Cris smiled. “Well, he’ll be very lucky to have you as parents.”
“Actually,” Wil cut in, “after much consideration, we opted for twins—a boy and a girl.”
His parents’ eyes widened.
“There hasn’t been a Sietinen girl for hundreds of years!” Cris exclaimed.
“So it was beyond time to mix things up.” Wil put an arm around his wife. “Besides, Banks said something in his final note to me. I’m still not sure what he meant by it, but I think having a girl is the right thing. Twins just all around made sense.”
Kate nodded. “I won’t complain.”
Wil and Saera glanced at each other. “So, that’s the news,” Wil said. “However, there’s still the bigger issue of where to raise them.”
Cris crossed his arms. “That is a complicated choice. Tararia and Headquarters do each have their own sets of pros and cons.”
“Or even some third to-be-determined option,” Wil countered. “It’s a lot to consider, but we have several months to work it out.”
His mother stepped forward and gave him a hug. “We’re here to support you with anything you need.”
“Thanks.” Wil took Saera’s hand. “For now, we’d like to keep it quiet. We’ll tell our close friends next, but I'm sure word will get out soon regardless.”
“Of course,” Cris acknowledged. “We’ll follow your lead.”
Kate clasped her hands. “This is so exciting!”
Wil beamed at Saera. “It’ll be a good change. We’re ready to start this next phase of our lives.”
They parted ways from his parents with hugs and returned to their quarters. With the news broached, they had a lot of decisions to make.
Wil stood in front of the coffee table while Saera eased onto the plush couch at the center of the living room. The quarters they shared would soon be far too crowded with two infants.
“Where are we going to live?” his wife asked.
“I wish I had an answer for you. There’s not one obvious option,” he replied.
“I know. I just never figured everything would be this up in the air.”
Wil ran his fingers through his hair. “Me either. I guess it comes down to what kind of life we want for them.”
“After what you’ve told me about your experience growing up here at Headquarters, I can’t say this is my first choice.”
Even if we try to give them the best, there are no guarantees. “No, I wouldn’t choose this, given an alternative.” Wil paced across the room in front of her. “I’m thankful for all of the friendships I forged here, but it was tough not being around other kids. While they’d have each other, that’s hardly a substitute for a proper peer group.”
“Agreed.” Saera rapped her fingers on the armrest of the couch. “There’s always Tararia.”
“Growing up groomed as heirs to the Sietinen Dynasty. That would certainly be the best path to further our political objectives.”
Saera raised an eyebrow. “What a nice way of looking at it.”
Wil shrugged. “That’s the truth, though. If we raise them there, there’s no way around the inevitable preparations for that lifestyle. We can pull them into the TSS when they’re ready, but they’ll be set on a deliberate path from birth onward.”
“Your father escaped it.”
“Oh, I’m sure we could get them to see through the layers of political shite. All the same, I don’t see a childhood there being a very fun experience.”
“So what do we do?’ Saera asked. “It sounds like there’s a downside either wa
y.”
“We’re not limited to those two options.”
“That’s true,” Saera conceded. “What are our alternatives?”
“There are any number of colony worlds,” Wil offered.
“Yes, but how far away from Taran government will that really get them?”
Wil considered the position. “You’re right. We’d be recognized anywhere we went.”
“Getting back to the heart of the issue, what kind of life do we want for our children?”
After a moment of contemplation, Wil said, “I’d like them to be able to choose their own paths, to the extent possible.”
Saera nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Well, there is another option, but I don’t think anyone is going to like it…”
CHAPTER 3
“Stars! Can you believe we’re going to be grandparents?” Cris commented to his wife as he got dressed in the morning.
“No.”
Cris laughed. “Not the least bit excited?”
“Oh, I am.” Kate got a wistful look in her glowing hazel eyes while she secured her dark brown hair in a braid. “It’s just that it only seems like a few short years ago that Wil was a baby himself.”
“I’ve felt every year. So much has happened…”
“I have, too. But you know what I mean.”
Cris walked over and hugged her. “I do.”
“I guess this is a chance for us to do things right,” Kate said, looking up at him. “Let kids be kids. Wil had to grow up way too fast.”
“And hopefully our grandchildren don’t have to experience that. At least the war is over.”
“We’ll need to keep them away from the Priesthood.”
Cris nodded. “Without a doubt. We’ll figure out a safe place.”
* * *
“Are you sure about this?” Wil asked in the morning to make sure Saera hadn’t had a change of heart overnight.
She squared her shoulders. “I’m still not crazy about the idea, but I agree it’s for the best.”
“All right. Then we’ll tell everyone and begin the preparations.”
When they’d made the decision to have a family, Wil had known that they’d need to make some significant changes in their lifestyle. What he hadn’t considered would be the need to start over somewhere entirely new. But, as he’d discussed the possibilities with Saera, one option eventually stood out above the rest: to move down to Earth.
With Saera’s roots on the planet, the proximity to Headquarters, and the operations outside of the Taran empire, it just made the most sense. Still, Wil had reservations. To blend in on Earth, he’d need to keep his children’s true identity from them. It wasn’t unlike the manipulation he’d experienced his whole life, but he saw no way around it. If they were to gain a perspective of what it was like to live without the privileges of being highborn, they needed to immerse completely.
At the same time, he didn’t want Saera to need to walk away from her position as Lead Agent just because she was going to be a mother. Travel would need to be cut back, surely, but the rest of her responsibilities were not mutually exclusive with parenthood.
However, they couldn’t very well take a shuttle back and forth from Earth all the time. As the countries of Earth continued their own advancements in space travel, the TSS’ concerns were no longer as straightforward as temporarily cloaking Headquarters whenever astronauts had a mission that circled the moon. Even though teams with top-level security clearance were able to edit out TSS Headquarters and ships from most official government and military photos and videos, masking ship transit from stargazing civilians and space tourists was another matter. Fortunately, Wil was pretty sure he had a solution to the commute issue.
The ring transport technology he’d refined to connect the Prisaris shipyard with H2—bridging two different relative positions in normal space—could likely be scaled down for transporting a person. He’d been working on a design sporadically for the last couple of years and was close to having the details worked out. Such a transport device would allow him and Saera to walk through one arch on Earth and step out of another right within Headquarters. All things considered, it’d make for a pretty easy morning commute.
Being mere steps away didn’t make it easier for Wil to leave the place where he’d grown up and spent almost his entire adult life. The two rooms in their quarters were home.
The decision was made, though. It was time to tell their family and friends.
Wil decided to wait until after breakfast to break the news to his parents. He waved to them cordially across the mess hall as they ate, but it wasn’t until an hour later that he tracked his father down in the High Commander’s office. He requested that his mother meet them there.
When both his parents were seated around the desk, Wil took a deep breath. “So, about what we told you last night…”
“We’ll keep it to ourselves, of course,” Cris said.
“We’re so happy for you, Wil,” his mother added with a heartfelt smile.
They say that now, but once they know what we have planned… Wil gave her a weak nod. “It’s going to mean a lot of changes for us.”
“Oh, stars!” Her mother shook her head. “I remember when you were a newborn and decided that 03:00 was the perfect time for a feeding.”
“You’re brave going for twins,” his father said.
Or just crazy. “Yeah, we’ll need to ease up on our duties for a while.”
“Of course, take all the time you need,” his father replied. “And we can work on renovations for your quarters to add a bedroom—”
“That won’t be necessary,” Wil cut in. “That’s what I wanted to talk about.”
Kate frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t regret growing up here, but it’s not something I want for them,” Wil told his parents. “And, given present relations with the Priesthood, Tararia wouldn’t be much better. After a lot of discussion, we’ve decided that raising them on Earth would be best. So, after they’re born, we’ll keep them away from all of this.”
“I understand your reasoning. We’ll come visit,” Cris replied after a moment.
Wil swallowed. “No, I mean we want to really keep them away from all of this. As little outside contact as possible.”
His mother picked up on his meaning. “But we’re their grandparents!”
Cris caught on. “Why would you cut us out of their lives?”
“Not entirely.” Wil sighed. “Think about how you present. You were both raised High Dynasty and have been in command positions for three decades. By human standards, you look way too young to be my parents. That’s a lot to explain, and I don’t think we’d ever come up with a convincing argument.”
“So what?” Cris retorted. “Making them believe their grandparents don’t care enough to come visit isn’t any better.”
“That’s only part of it,” Wil went on. “We need them to have an outside perspective. They need to grow up as normal people without bias toward a particular way of thinking.”
“So you believe we can’t keep our opinions to ourselves?” his mother questioned.
“No, I…” Wil searched for the words. “I just want them to have the kind of normal life I never could. I’ll have a hard enough time trying to blend in as it is. We need to give them their best chance to become the kind of people we need.”
“Don’t deny us this chance to be in their lives,” his mother pleaded.
“If it’s about how we look—” his father started to interject
“It’s everything. You aren’t of Earth and could never pass as such,” Wil insisted. “We don’t need people asking questions. You can write emails and maybe video chat. We’ll see. But as of right now, I don’t think in-person visits will be in their best interest.”
Cris’ eyes narrowed. “I disagree.”
Wil rose from the visitor chair. “We can discuss it later. But, I don’t anticipate my opinion changing any
time soon.” He left before his parents could protest further. We need to have a completely separate life without Taran influences. Even the smallest subtleties in their interactions could reveal how much is going on beyond Earth’s view.
As soon as he was out of the High Commander’s office, Wil stopped by the adjacent Lead Agent’s office to see Saera.
She looked up expectantly from a report displayed on her desk when he entered.
“I broke the news,” Wil told her. “They’re going to put up a fight.”
“I don’t blame them.”
“Maintaining separation seems best…” I hope this is the right choice.
“I agree.” Saera reached over to take his hand across the desk. “Time to start telling the others?” she asked.
“Yeah. Let’s start with Michael and Elise. Hopefully they take it better.”
Their friends had remained close in the years following the war. Questions about any plans to formalize their relationship through marriage or otherwise were met with a smile and variant of “maybe someday”. Considering that Elise had moved into Michael’s quarters a year prior, Wil was certain they were in it for the long haul together. However, the path of commitment took different forms for every couple.
Being midday, the best chance to catch the two Agents was in the administrative wing of Level 1. Both Michael and Elise had stepped up as management support for the numerous transition activities associated with the dissolution of the Jotun Division and the monumental task of completing the rift repairs.
As Wil and Saera strolled down the row of offices on Level 1 in the direction of the lobby, they first passed by Elise’s office. Though the glass wall was set at half-opacity to indicate she was working, the door was open. They peeked inside and found Elise staring intently at a holographic rendering of a complex molecular model projected above her desktop.
“You do realize that these desktops aren’t equipped with a telepathic interface?” Saera quipped.
Elise startled to attention. “Yeah.” She laughed. “I wasn’t trying to manipulate it. I’m just dumbfounded that one of my students could get something so utterly wrong.”