by Saxon Andrew
“I was afraid you would say no; I am, or was, an alien.”
“You’re not any more. You’re more human than any of us. Let’s go now! I’ll contact Dad and he can meet us there.”
Lukas leaned back and looked into her eyes, “Are you sure about this?”
“I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life. We’re wasting time.”
Lukas smiled and said, “Willow, will you take us to Boston?”
“I’m waiting in the silo. I do trust you’re going to allow me to attend?”
Salud wiped her tears and said, “You’re going to be the maid of honor.”
Lukas said, “Contact Joey and see if he’s available to be the Best Man.”
There was a moment of silence and then Willow said, “He’s on the way to Boston. He’s honored you would ask.”
Salud said, “Contact Jack and see if we can do the ceremony at the restaurant.”
Lukas smiled and nodded.
“I hope you don’t mind but I also contacted Trevor and he’s on his way from Andromeda with Amanda. Jinks is also coming in with Stoney and Kathy.”
Lukas started shaking his head, “I thought we’d keep it small. But I’d love to see all of them.”
Salud stepped out of Lukas’ arms and took his hand and pulled him toward the door, “We’re wasting time. Let’s go!” Lukas moved toward the door as Salud started running and he ran with her.
• • •
“Captain Goddard?”
“Yes Sir.”
“I need you to report to the Troy.”
“Yes Sir. Is something wrong?”
“No, Julie and I are making a fast run back to Earth to attend a wedding. You’ve been promoted to Commodore and will be in command in my absence.”
“But Sir. I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”
“I believe you are ready; don’t disappoint me. I’ll be back in a few days.”
“Yes Sir.”
Jason shook his head and Piper said, “You’re ready.”
“But Piper. I could have caused a huge mistake if the Admiral had listened to me and attacked. I’ve still have a lot to learn.”
“That is what tells me you’re ready. You won’t rush into anything now.”
“Will you go with me so I can use your council if I need it?”
“Jason, I’ll certainly be a resource for you but you’re ready. If I were going into a battle, you are the one I’d want fighting with me.”
“But…”
“I also consider you a friend as well. You’ve come a long way over the last two months. You really are more than I thought and your Admiral was wise to see it in you.”
“Thank you, Piper. You’re much more than I thought as well. Let’s move over to the Troy.”
“I’m right behind you.”
Chapter Six
The restaurant was full and the staff were still crying from the ceremony. Salud was absolutely stunning. Joey got her measurements on the way and a dress was waiting for her when she arrived. She was amazed at how it fit her so perfectly. She kissed Joey right on the mouth and he turned six shades of red. Salud smiled and said, “Your partner is just going to have to accept it.”
Joey laughed, “He will. Congratulations. The two of you are perfect for each other.”
Salud walked over to her father and hugged him, “I love you so much, Dad.”
“Your mother would be so proud, Saludie.”
“I know. Are your proud?”
“More than you could ever know. He’s a good man. I know he’ll take care of you. I’ve been praying you would find someone before I joined your mother.”
“You are going with us, Dad.”
“No, I’m not. My place is here with your mother in what little time remains. I’ve had a good life and I’m ready to be with her if it comes to that.”
“Dad!”
“You know I’m right. I don’t have that much longer. I want to be here with her.” Salud sighed and wrapped her arms around him.
• • •
Jack was standing with Lukas and smiling, “It appears you have caused a rather huge traffic jam.”
Lukas looked out at the street and saw the police were having fits with the giant gathering that was still growing, “I guess the Pods hovering over the street are hard to miss.”
“That and the local news got wind of it. Everyone on the planet wants to see the one that saved us. You’ve managed to successfully stay behind the scenes. You’re going to have to go outside and at least wave.”
Lukas nodded and looked Jack in the eyes, “I have a shuttle coming in tomorrow at noon to pick you and the staff up to go to Andromeda.”
“Lukas…”
“Don’t argue, Jack. It’s time to go and they won’t leave without you.”
“Lukas, Mary is buried here. I won’t leave her behind.”
“Then plan to come back some day. This is not good-bye.”
“Tell me honestly, will we come back?”
“I will personally bring you back before all is said and done.”
“Do you promise?”
“I do. Earth may not be the same but I will.”
“Is Earth going to be destroyed?”
“I honestly don’t know, Jack, but the time to go is now.”
Jack stared at Lukas and looked at the workers that had been his life for the last fifteen years. They had refused to leave without him. “I’ll tell them.”
“Please do. They are just the sort of people we need on the new world.”
“There are billions that have refused to leave.”
Lukas shook his head, “I know. We’ve got four cities built and working on three more. More than a billion have left and I don’t know how to persuade the others to go.”
“We’ve all heard the announcements but I suspect there are many just like me that refuse to leave the ground where their families have been interred.”
“I know this is Holy Ground, Jack. We will not abandon it. One day we will come back and retake it. It might not happen in our lifetimes, but we will defend it as long as any of us are alive.” Lukas looked at Jack, “You will be buried with Mary.”
“Lukas, I want your absolute promise on that!!”
“I’ll make sure, Jack.” Jack stared into Lukas’ eyes and put out his hand. Lukas took it and shook it, before hugging Jack.
Salud came over and said, “I think we need to go outside and make an appearance.”
“We held the ceremony outside so Willow could take part.”
“I know, but the vast majority of them weren’t here when it happened.” Salud took his hand and led him toward the door.
He followed her outside and Joey lifted a microphone and said, “I present to all of you Mr. And Mrs. Lukas Axel.” Lukas turned and took Salud into his arms and kissed her tenderly. The huge crowd cheered and many began tossing flowers at them. Lukas looked out at the crowd and raised his arms. The roar grew in volume and was deafening. The news helicopters above the restaurant sent the feed to their stations and it was sent worldwide. Everyone agreed that the newlyweds were a beautiful couple. They stepped out to the police line and began shaking hands. Soon the other ONE WORLD officers joined them and the cheers continued non-stop. Stoney watched them and held Cathy under his arm. Christopher stood beside them and smiled. He looked at Kathy and whispered, “He’s my father.”
Kathy’s eyes went wide and she looked at her son, “How…how…”
“I can hear his thoughts. He’s really proud of me, Mom.”
Kathy pulled him into her arms and held him tight, “So am I, Chris; so am I?”
Christopher smiled, “I know.”
Lukas was shaking hands with people and heard in his mind, “Father, I think it’s time I was given my own Pod.”
Lukas’ head jerked around and he saw Christopher staring at him. “How do you know?”
“I can hear your thoughts, Father. If I’m going to make a difference,
I need a ship to go out and find what we’ll need to win this war.”
“But you’re only…”
“I’m old enough! It’s time.” Lukas stared at the young boy and after a moment nodded. “I’ll keep this a secret; Stoney doesn’t need to know. He’s also a father to me.” Lukas smiled and turned back to the crowd.
Kathy looked at Lukas and knew Chris had been communicating with him. She felt something and knew her time with Chris was growing shorter. Her tears stared and Stoney’s eyebrows came together, “What’s wrong, Darling?”
Kathy wiped her eyes with her sleeve and said, “Weddings always make me cry.” Stoney pulled her closer as Kathy’s tears continued to fall.
• • •
Lukas and Salud went back inside and Lukas saw Pat sitting in the booth where they had originally met. Salud saw him as well and they walked to the rear of the restaurant and sat down on the seat opposite him. Lukas looked at Pat, “Are you responsible for stopping so many from leaving?”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“When the invaders arrive here, what do you think will happen if there aren’t any humans on the planet?”
They stared at Pat and Salud said, “They’ll go after the Fellowship.” Pat nodded.
“But they won’t see any technology on Earth. For all appearances, Earth is primitive.”
“If they take a close look they’ll see all the food converters and guess that you are trying to hide them.”
“But…”
“Your best and brightest have left; those that are still here really want to stay. I’ve just given them the courage to do it.”
“Pat, there are billions still here.”
Pat turned to Salud, “I know and I really hate it. But, there must be this many to ensure the Invaders see your planet as my home. I need to know if you’re going to attempt to defend the planet once it’s discovered.”
“That idea came from you, didn’t it?”
Pat smiled at Lukas, “It did. I need you to do that to make sure they don’t go looking elsewhere.”
“Do you really think it needs to be done?”
“It’s what will convince them that you’re the ones that have been harassing them. If you don’t, they’ll start looking for where the ships that have decimated them came from. I also need you to leave the facilities on the moon and not destroy them.”
Lukas took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “We’ll do as you ask. I just hate this.”
“As do we all, Lukas. Your Admiral in Andromeda was wise to refuse the help from my species. You must stop them from getting a handhold in your new civilization there.”
“Why do you say that, Pat?”
“They are incredibly brilliant but they are worthless when it comes to working with others. The Fellowship is a good example of their stupidity. Let them think about what’s happened for a few millennia and they might learn from their mistakes.”
“We’ll keep our distance.”
“That’s good.”
Salud shook her head, “Pat, are you sure you need to die here?”
“We’ve discussed why Earth was chosen.”
“That’s not what I mean. Do you have to die?”
“It’s the only way to stop their push to find me. I can’t very well put your planet up for execution and not pay the price with it. It has to be done.”
Salud reached across the table and took Pat’s hand, “Thank you for helping us. Thank you for so many things.” Pat stared at her and smiled just before he disappeared. Lukas looked out at the restaurant and saw no one was moving. Pat had frozen time again. They stood up, took a step, and everything started moving again. Lukas looked at Salud, “I’m going to miss him.”
“Me too Lukas. Me too.”
They walked over to Joey and Lukas said, “You need to pack up and get things moving to Andromeda.”
“Lukas, I’ve got the responsibility of getting the blackouts to operate.”
“You need to turn that task over to the United Government. We need you to go to Andromeda and get the currency we’re going to use straightened out. We don’t have anyone as knowledgeable about economics as you and we need you there. You’ve done a great job so far on the blackouts but we need you more at the new planet.”
Joey stared at Lukas and shook his head, “There are others that are better.”
“Not anyone that can be trusted to do it without self-interest. It’s time to go, Joey!”
“I’ll work on the blackouts for another week and then I’ll go.”
“Fair enough.”
• • •
Chad and Julie walked over with Summer and Salud said, “She just gets more beautiful every time I see her.”
Chad smiled, “She takes after her mother.”
“She has your face.”
Chad stared at Julie, looked at Summer, and smiled, “It is shaped like mine but she really looks like you.”
Salud took Summer and bounced her in her arms, “Get over it, she looks like both of you.” Summer started laughing and Salud said, “You’ve got a real heartbreaker here.”
Chad smiled, “Not until she’s thirty.”
Julie punched him in the ribs, “I’m not thirty, yet.”
“She will be.”
Lukas laughed and lifted his orange juice, “Here’s to being a parent.”
Salud said, “Salud!” Everyone laughed and the party continued.
• • •
Jason looked at the tactical monitor and saw the fleets were still in orbit above the planet. He turned to Audrey, “Have the new probes been put out?”
“They have, Sir.”
Jason jerked at the honorific and smiled, “Order half the ships to take a break. Those that have family on the surface can take it there. However, I want half of them taking it on the moon.”
“Yes Sir.”
Samantha said behind him, “Is it wise to send that many, Sir?”
Jason thought, “Piper, you’ll know if an aggressor enters your territory, won’t you?”
“I will be notified if one does.”
Everyone on the bridge heard the exchange and Jason said, “We don’t know when we’ll run into problems later but, for the moment, we need to give the fleet a break. We’ll take a break when the Admiral returns.” Samantha nodded. Jason looked back at the tactical, “I want a thousand Pods to skip out beyond the probes and keep an eye out for any skip traces.” Audrey nodded and turned to her panel.
Kenny looked at Jason, “What happens if they see any?”
“We’ll recall the fleet and send a Group to see what they are. Make sure they understand not to fire on anything before reporting in.”
“Why, Sir?”
“Because it might be one of our neighbors making a call to say hello. Make sure we get a feed on anything on the tactical monitor before we take any action. If it’s a large number of skip traces, order the fleet into orbit and send all the Pods out to intercept it.”
Audrey looked at Jason, “Will we be going out with the Pods?”
“No! We’re not going to leave the planet vulnerable until we determine what we’re facing. I suspect we’ll be fine until the Admiral returns but let’s not take any chances.”
Audrey smiled, “Yes Sir.” Samantha saw the smile and frowned.
Jason sat back in the Command Chair and said, “Piper, you were telling me that your species evolved on a planet. When did you leave and start living in ships?”
“Our sun was close to going nova. It was approaching the time when a sun had fused all the hydrogen into helium and didn’t have much longer before it exploded. We knew for millennia that it was headed that way so we started working on moving our society into starships.”
“How long ago was that?”
“About a million years ago.”
The bridge crew was stunned. Samantha said, “Do you mean to say your species is a million years old?”
“No, of course not.”
> Jason laughed, “You’re saying you’re much older than that.”
“Well, we’d have to be to evolve into our ships from being planet dwellers. We evolved on the planet for more than two million years before we began exploring space. It took another five hundred thousand years to eventually evolve into being a part of our ships. We had all left the planet before the sun eventually blew up.”
Audrey shook her head, “Do you miss living on a planet?”
“Yes and no. I personally miss the personal interaction with others but the freedom offered by being able to explore the universe is worth what we gave up.”
Kenny said, “There has been a lot of argument among scholars but the current theory is that our earliest ancestors were on our planet about a million years ago.”
“They were!”
The bridge grew silent and Jason said, “How would you know that, Piper?”
“I remember hearing about one of my species seeing them and telling everyone that intelligent life would eventually develop on your home world.”
Jason shook his head, “I’m constantly amazed by how old your species is. Did you ever visit the galaxy the invaders are coming from?”
“Yes, but the species in control there is not worth visiting. They’re really paranoid.”
Samantha shook her head, “How many of you are there?”
“Billions, but we’re scattered all over the universe exploring things that interest us.”
Jason smiled and continued talking with Piper until he left the bridge to get some sleep. Once he left the bridge, Audrey turned to Kenny and shook her head, “He has changed.”
Kenny nodded, “He is different.”
Samantha listened to them discussing the change and recognized it as well. He would have never given half the fleet R and R in the past. He would have insisted on being at their strongest in the event of an opportunity for battle. He actually sounded…interesting. She looked at Audrey and said, “I’m calling it a day. Wake me up if something happens.” Audrey nodded and Samantha went to her quarters. Maybe she and Jason would get up at the same time.
• • •
Piper looked at the crew’s thoughts and chuckled. It appeared Jason might find a mate. There were two very intelligent women interested in him. This was going to be fun to watch.