At this moment, Emma wasn’t paying attention to either of them. She stared straight ahead at the man walking toward her from the other side of the field. He advanced with purpose, pushing through the tall grass on steady legs.
She immediately understood that this man was complex. At his outer edges, there was a great weariness in his body, the corollary of long, hard miles, mentally and physically. There was a weight on this man’s shoulders, the result of burdens he hadn’t carried lightly.
But there was more. There was power in his movement, a smoothness of stride that oozed energy, fortitude and, if she saw rightly, tenacity. The very fact that fatigue pulled at his periphery bespoke the significance of the journey he must have undertaken. Emma also believed, looking at him, that in that battle between weariness and strength, the latter would win. This strength was written across his body, but not just in the muscles that pressed against his clothing. It was in his core.
Above all, she saw a gentleness of heart. As he approached, he sought her out with soft eyes, seeking hints that would reveal her thoughts. This man, who had seen so much, was vulnerable. He was afraid of how Emma might respond upon meeting him.
This was her father.
She was struck by how much they looked alike. Tawny Polynesian complexion and broad cheeks under deep brown eyes. A strong jawline centered on a rounded chin. All framed by a thick head of soft black hair.
This was Merrick Kettle, the man that had abandoned her before she was even born, the man who had sent Dallas to rescue her in his place rather than make the trip himself, the man who was responsible for getting her abducted and taken off Earth. She was furious at this man.
But he was her dad. He was blood.
Her heart thumped in her chest and a lump formed in her throat, but she did not feel light-headed. Despite the barrage of emotional fireworks erupting inside her, she had the capacity to think clearly. Despite the tears making her cheeks wet, her brown eyes locked onto his. Despite the anger and frustration welling up from within, she felt the desire to connect.
“That’s your dad,” Dallas said.
A little laugh burbled up past the lump in her throat and escaped her lips. “Thanks, Captain Obvious,” she replied, hoping that her voice didn’t betray the turmoil she felt.
Whether Dallas acknowledged her retort, he didn’t show. Instead, he said simply. “He’s a good man.”
“He abandoned me,” she said quietly. She didn’t know why she said that. It had just slipped out.
Dallas nodded. “Yeah, he can be a real dipshit sometimes,” the Marine admitted. “But you’ll see. He’s a good man.”
Emma didn’t reply. Her dad was getting closer, and she didn’t want him to hear anything she had to say just yet. She wanted him to say something first. She wasn’t sure what, but she wanted to hear it.
She could see his eyes more clearly now, and the expression essayed across his face. She witnessed the blend of concern and hope, mirroring her own fears and desires. She also saw an ugly bruise on his right temple and raw scrapes across the left cheek and jaw.
He stopped two paces in front of her and opened his mouth. At first, nothing came out. She guessed that he had planned on saying something but had just blanked. He had probably been practicing what to say, and now that the moment had arrived, the words just weren’t coming out.
“Emma,” he said finally. “I . . . I’m so sorry.”
She hadn’t expected him to start that way. Her hand came up and brushed off some tears that had coalesced at the corner of her mouth. “For what?” she mumbled.
“Everything. For everything. I never meant for . . . I just . . . I’m so sorry that all this happened to you. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through.”
“Merrick?”
“Yes?”
“Can you take me home?”
“Oh, Emma. I don’t know yet. I really don’t. But I can promise you one thing.”
“What?”
“I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.”
Without knowing exactly why or what triggered it, Emma stepped forward and in one quick motion wrapped her arms around Merrick’s shoulders. She felt him respond in kind, wrapping her in his arms and bringing her in close.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re safe now.”
She didn’t respond. For a long time, she stayed in his arms and felt the tension in him ease. Somewhere in her brain, she considered herself foolish for not being furious with Merrick, for not raging at him for all he had done. That part of her brain was soundly pushed aside by the part that just needed to hear someone tell her that it was all going to be just fine.
Dallas cleared his throat, interrupting the moment. “You went inside 1607?” he asked Kettle.
“Uh huh.”
“You didn’t find the cure, did you?”
“Nope.”
“Total waste of time then?”
“Maybe.” He paused for a moment and looked straight at Dallas. “Then again, maybe not.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know where the Zeroes are.”
“The Zeroes?”
“Uh-huh.”
“The people who created the virus.”
“Yep.”
“They didn’t all die when they nuked their planet?”
“No, not all of them.”
Dallas considered this and drew out a line of thought. “They could’ve been working on a cure this whole time.”
“It’s possible.”
“But they haven’t found it yet. Otherwise they would’ve started curing people.”
“Maybe not. Turns out there’s a good chance that they weren’t even inclined to cure people.”
Dallas nodded, still pulling out the thought process to its conclusion. “We have to go find ‘em. Only way to know for sure.”
“I don’t see any alternative,” Kettle agreed.
“Okay, so how do we find them.”
“Well, that’s the tricky part.”
“Tricky how?”
Kettle chuckled a little. Emma felt the laughter reverberate through his chest. She liked it. It was a deep, sincere laugh, and it made her biological father feel even more real to her, confirming the fact that this was not just some wild fantasy that she would wake up from.
“Tricky how?” Dallas asked again.
“You’re not going to believe me when I tell you.”
“We’ve travelled to multiple universes,” the Marine pointed out. “We worked as pirates for a while. Got shot at with muskets and stuff. Got your finger chopped off. Soup and I hijacked a Kye-shiv. You survived being captured by a bunch of war-mongering yokels. Then you walked through walls in a mysterious cave.” He paused to give a chuckle of his own. When he finished, he added, “I think I’m prepared to suspend my disbelief.”
“We’re going to travel through a virtual afterlife until we can find the surviving Zeroes in outer space.”
Dallas digested this new information. Then he shrugged and said, “Okay. When do we begin?”
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
PART 1: PURPOSE
1.1 SAELIKO
1.2 KETTLE
1.3 KETTLE
1.4 ELISKA
1.5 KETTLE
1.6 ELISKA
1.7 KETTLE
1.8 SAELIKO
1.9 KETTLE
1.10 KETTLE
PART 2: CROSS-PURPOSES
2.1 SAELIKO
2.2 KETTLE
2.3 ELISKA
2.4 KETTLE
2.5 ELISKA
2.6 KETTLE
2.7 SAELIKO
2.8 KETTLE
2.9 SAELIKO
PART 3: NEW PRIORITIES
3.1 KETTLE
3.2 SAELIKO
3.3 ELISKA
3.3 KETTLE
3.4 ELISKA
3.5 SAELIKO
3.6 KETTLE
3.7 ROY
3.8 SAELIKO
3.9 KETTLE
3.10 EMMA
Zero Site 1607 Page 33