Home (Book of the Guardian 1)

by Ben Winston

  Mary looked thoughtful. “That would certainly bring a new meaning to ‘until death do we part’. The basic core enhancement of the un-enhanced partner wouldn’t work. The type of enhancements needed to support the endangered areas goes way beyond a basic package. However, the subprogram might have promise. Although the molicytes, or nanos as you called them, would have to be programmed to deactivate once contact with the host-controller is lost.”

  “So, you think it might be possible?” Mark asked.

  “Yes, I’m pretty sure it’s possible, but I do have some reservations about creating the program to begin with. For example, most of the real enhancements trigger off of the increased amount of certain chemicals in the body ...” Mary began.

  Mark nodded to her, and leaned forward. “What’s been called the ‘fight or flight’ reflex?”

  Mary nodded to him. “Exactly. Now, sexual arousal shares a lot of those same chemicals. Combat mode, if you will, is an automatic function that engages when those chemicals are detected. That’s why it’s impossible for a soldier to control themselves during sex. Even if we just give the partner the ability to heal the damage caused by the sex, it wouldn’t be any fun at all for them.

  “The issue wouldn’t be a simple subprogram, no, we’d have to rewrite the whole framework. I still think we could do it, but how would it affect combat reaction times? Who would you get to try sex the first time?” Mary finished. “Damn, now I really wish I had a lab here I could use!”

  Mark’s ears perked up, and he glanced at John and winked. John knew that there would be a brand new enhancement center close by, by the end of next year. “I’ll see what I can do to help get you some resources, Mary. John, please take this young lady out and buy her dinner. I think you should probably tell her who I am, but I don’t want it to change our relationship, please. In the meantime, I’ll have one of the special computers sent to you so you can do what research you can, Mary.”

  Mary looked surprised. “Those are really expensive, and strictly controlled!”

  “Since you have the qualifications for it, I’m sure I can get one sent to you. As for the price, I’ll doubt I’ll have too much of a problem getting authorization for it.” Mark replied.

  “I’ll do that. By the way, I recorded the arrival and the christening of your ‘fishing boat’. You know, you could have warned me?” John said.

  Mark looked a little confused. “What do you mean?”

  “The ‘fishing boat’ is actually a sixty foot luxury barge. We’re sitting in the master bedroom!” John replied.

  Mark looked around, “Wow, I had no idea. Honestly John, when I ordered it for you, I did honestly say a fishing boat. Although I have to say, I think I like this much better!”

  “I just uploaded the footage for you, now, we need to get the Remembrance over to my private cove, and then get her stocked and outfitted,” John said.

  “Hey, let’s just go tie off at Bernie’s and we can stock her while we’re in town. That way we don’t have to carry everything so far, and you can buy me dinner right there,” Mary suggested.

  “Sounds like a plan to me. I need to run, I’ve got three meetings yet today, and I also need to get some orders issued. Take care you two!” Mark said as he started to fade.

  “You too! It was great to meet you, Mark!” Mary said.

  “It was a joy to meet you as well, Mary. Please take really good care of our boy. Talk to you later.”

  “Oh, I will!” She replied, but she was talking to empty air. “Okay, who is he really?”

  “Like I said, he’s ‘Uncle Mark’,” John grinned. “I'll tell you the rest over lunch. But in the meantime, how about we get started?”

  Chapter 05

  Stocking the barge took a lot of money. John complained loudly about the cost, and Mary teased him back as they went around town buying this or that for the barge. John also managed to buy a new dress for Mary as well as the missing Gloria. They had decided to include her for Dinner, in order to try to ‘explain’ their new relationship to her.

  Mary was glowing with happiness, as each of their purchases got taken to the barge. She’d called Gloria and told her that John was going to take both of them out to dinner at Bernie’s. When John had called her earlier, he hadn’t told her about the barge, so when Mary talked to her, she didn’t either. They left it so Gloria would be surprised.

  Once they finished shopping, John stopped by the package store to place an order for a keg of Thraskas Dark, a bottle of the brandy that had been used to christen the barge, and a few other things he’d like to have on hand. The barge did have a small wine cooler, and John planned on filling it.

  Mary asked if she could take a nap in the master bedroom, and John kissed her on the forehead. “Rest well, beautiful.”

  After she was sleeping in the master bedroom, John headed for the local Jeweler. He wanted to buy something for both Gloria and Mary. He immediately saw a ring that would be perfect for Mary, except for the price. He could have easily afforded it, but he had to stay in character.

  He settled for two necklaces that while still beautiful, were more in line with the money he was supposed to have. They also reflected the new relationships between Mary and him. Gloria’s was still beautiful, but more in line with something for a friend. The Jeweler had seen him walking around holding Mary’s hand earlier, and knew who the necklaces were for. It seems everyone in town knew that Mary and Gloria were best friends. What had them guessing though, was which one was going to receive the nicer of the two pieces.

  John returned to the barge, cast off, and piloted it back to his private cove. As he passed the bluff where he’d killed the lizard, he could see the great clouds of smoke billowing up into the clear sky. The fire hadn’t reached the edge of the bluff yet, but it looked like it would by the end of the day.

  After checking on Mary, who was still sound asleep in his bed, he ran into the house to grab some clothes and extra ration bars. He grabbed the charger for his phone, and returned to the barge. Once he’d hung his clothes in his closet, and put away everything, he returned to the fair-weather bridge and put back out on the water to return to the birth beside the restaurant.

  When he got there, he noticed that with just a little adjustment he could set the main deck of the barge on the same level as the deck of the pier just outside of the restaurant. He made sure there was a short gang way and he opened the curtains after raising the table and setting the multipurpose room up as a dining room.

  He spoke to the host in Bernie’s, who happily agreed to his plan once John explained it. With the stage set, John sat at the bar in Bernie’s, and drank coffee until Mary joined him.

  “Gloria just pulled in. She said she’ll be over as soon as she can unload, run home and change clothes. I didn’t tell her to not worry about it,” Mary said, giggling as she sat down beside him.

  “Actually, while you were sleeping, I ran home and grabbed a few things. How do you feel about going out on the lake for a few days?”

  “I’m all for it, but I’m still worried about how Gloria is going to react to us,” Mary said taking a drink of his coffee. She made a face. “Geoff, what is this crap? I thought you weren’t serving this piss-water anymore?”

  “Marebella! It is such a pleasure to see you again!” a flamboyant man wearing a chef’s hat said as he came out from the kitchen. “I did not know that you were back again! And who is this? Your Mi Amore'?”

  Mary smiled. “Geoff, this is my boyfriend, John Ashland. He recently moved into Axel's place.”

  “Bonjour, Monsieur Ashland! It is good to meet the man that can put such a smile on my little Marebella's face!” the man said extending his hand.

  “Bonjour Chez Geoffrey. It is always a pleasure to meet new people,” John replied, shaking the man’s hand with a smile.

  “Geoff, could you please get John a real cup of coffee? We need to talk to you about dinner tonight,” Mary said and winked.

  “Ah? A special dinner
for two, or three?” Geoff asked as he lay a finger on the side of his nose. He winked at John as he poured two fresh cups of coffee from an ornate pot. He sat the cups before the pair, his grin still in place. “This is a special blend. Its origins are shrouded in the mists of history, but I’ve been told the original seeds came directly from Old Earth itself! Now, what’s this about a special dinner?”

  Mary turned and pointed to the Remembrance docked just outside. “John’s Uncle Mark sent that to him this morning, and told John that he had to take me out to dinner tonight to celebrate its arrival. Do you think you can whip up a suitable meal for such an occasion? We are going to invite Gloria as well.”

  “That beautiful ship is yours?” Geoff asked. “I would be honored to prepare such a repast. But only if I may beg the favor of a tour sometime.”

  “Of course!” John said, “I’d like to have your opinion of the galley too!”

  “She has her own galley?” He slapped his forehead. “Of course she does! How are you supposed to eat when out sailing?”

  When John tasted the coffee he was surprised by two things. First it was a Turkish blend that he hadn’t known had survived. And second that it had so much stimulant in it, that it was outlawed on most planets, including this one. Which explained why Geoff wasn’t serving it to the general public.

  John leaned in and conspiratorially whispered. “May I buy some of this wonderful coffee from you? I swear, I will never tell anyone where I got it!”

  When Geoff suddenly looked at John, John winked. Geoffrey’s smile returned instantly. “No! You may not! I’ll happily share it with you!”

  “Fabulous, now, how about that tour before we order lunch?” John offered.

  Geoff snapped his fingers, and stood. “I’ll be right back, I must take care of something first.” He was gone before either of them could say a word.

  Mary chuckled. “I think he approves of you. By the way, what’s the deal with the coffee? I thought it was just a really good blend.”

  When John told her about it, and that it had illegally high levels of caffeine in it, she looked shocked. “I guess that explains why he isn’t selling it to just anyone!”

  John nodded. “After the fall, when everything was in short supply, the only coffee we had was ration pack coffee. The stuff tasted like it doubled as a chemical weapon, but we still drank it. I had heard that a large amount of seeds had been rescued from Old Earth, but I hadn’t heard that Colombian or Turkish coffee had been among them. It’s been almost four thousand years since I’ve tasted a cup of coffee this good.”

  She kissed him on the cheek. “You do know we are both duty bound to report him, right?”

  “Report him for what? I didn’t see anything, did you?” John said and was rewarded with a hug and another kiss.

  About then, Geoff returned from the kitchen, and came around the bar. John took Mary’s hand, and showed the excited Chef around the Remembrance.

  Later, the couple was sitting down to the late lunch Geoff had prepared for them. No one else was in the restaurant yet, so they pretty much had it all to themselves.

  “I was meaning to ask you; how is it that your enhancements are letting you only eat what a normal human eats?” Mary asked.

  John grinned. “I cheat.” he pulled a bar out of his pocket and showed it to her. “I eat one of these usually a half hour or so after I eat a normal meal. I haven’t received any nutrient warnings yet, so I should be good.”

  Mary nodded her agreement. “Will you be able to keep these in stock though? How hard are they going to be for you to get?”

  He tried not to laugh in her face, at his secret. “No, I won’t have any problem getting more unless they stop making them. You see, I’ve got friends in high places.”

  “Ah, yes, the mysterious ‘Uncle Mark’. Do I finally get to know who he really is?” Mary asked.

  “Yes you do, but you have to promise me that you won’t freak out, or treat him any differently. He’s just as human as I am, and he needs to be treated that way. Okay?” John asked seriously.

  “Uh, okay, is it really that bad?” Mary asked.

  “It’s hard to say, different people take information like this different ways.” John said. “Just remember, don’t freak, or we’ll have a hard time explaining it.” He shifted mental gears and took a deep breath.

  “I first met Mark shortly after he’d finished secondary enhancement. He’d been having a really hard time making the final adjustment, mentally, and was in danger of being euthanized. I asked the Commanding officer if I could adopt him for a time to see if that would help him. I had to promise that if his sanity hadn’t returned in a year, I would put the bullet in his head myself.

  “So I added him to my team as an attack dog. I think on some level he understood what was happening, because he accepted that role readily. When the year was up, he loaded the pistol, and handed it to me. Sanity is a relative concept that humans use to gauge the stability of those around themselves. While Mark hadn’t made the whole journey yet, he had come far enough to remember what we’d done for him.

  “I refused to terminate him, and took the heat for that decision, until the day he’d finally passed his psych tests. But in him, it was like the sanity over took him, and after a while, the rest of us thought he’d truly lost his mind, because he’d requested transfer into the intel branch.

  “I had delayed signing because I wanted to talk to him about it first, but when I went looking for him, he was already gone. The spooks have their own way of dealing with recruits.” John paused to take a sip of his soft drink.

  “None of us heard from him again until one evening, almost a thousand years later, right here on this planet, I heard his voice on my internal comm. I had just found the Saurian base and was trying to resurface to breathe and to transmit the report. Just as my controller was shutting me down, I heard his voice in my head; I thought I’d imagined it.

  “Once I regained function, I tried to make contact with my command, but the link was grabbed by the spooks. That’s when I heard his voice again. Even though I’d already transmitted the report, he asked me a thousand questions while I swam back to the shore.

  “I hadn’t known it at the time, but he was actually the Colonel in charge of intel in this sector. During that long swim, we did get reacquainted, and he thanked me for saving his life. I didn’t see it that way, and still don’t, but he’s certainly returned the favor many times since then. You see, his real name is Marcus Candlewood. You might know him better as His Royal Highness, King Marcus the First.”

  Mary sat there staring at him open mouthed. “You mean we had a casual conversation with the King? You didn’t even warn me I was meeting him?” Her voice had begun rising, and put his hand on her arm to get her attention. “Yes we did, and no I didn’t. There was a reason for it too. Would you like to hear it?”

  She took a deep breath, and slowly let it out, then took another, and let it out. She opened her eyes, and calmly nodded her head.

  John gave her a small smile. “Thank you. The reason I didn’t warn you, or introduce him by title was that he’s a very lonely man. He’s still enhanced, just like I am, so he can’t get married, or have children. Since he was a later model soldier than I am, he wasn’t given the opportunity to leave viable sperm in a bank for later.

  “I believe he’s starting to think that he won’t ever be allowed to retire, or step down. On top of all of that, the only people that he could relate to were soldiers that had to treat him as the King, and not as a fellow soldier. I’ve since had new protocols uploaded, but at first, the only way I could refer to him by name was because he ordered it.

  “He doesn’t want you to treat him any differently than you did this morning. He would rather count you as a friend then as a subject. Hell, I think he actually needs friends after all these centuries. Granted there are hundreds of people that claim his friendship, but every single one of them have their own agendas, or simply want to use the relationship t
o garner some notoriety for themselves.

  “Honestly, I’ve only been talking to him as a friend for the last two days, and I think he would sooner give up the crown than lose our friendship. When I couldn’t be unenhanced, he made sure that I would never want for anything. He created the story of my death, to take the public eye off of me, so I could slip away to live out my life. He did all of that before he ever asked me to be his friend.”

  “I ... I hadn’t ever thought of it that way. He’s always been king, and he always will be. That fact alone brings peace because no single world is favored over another, No world has more than they deserve. I think my grandfather says it best; ‘Marcus Candlewood built a kingdom that no one loves, but everyone likes.’

  “For centuries, we were only a small group of planets huddled together for warmth and protection. Then Marcus got all of us to agree and talk to each other instead of bickering among ourselves and losing to the Tammerain. We were still at war back then, and the one thing the Tammerain did not want was a united human enemy. But every time they tried to destroy our union or assassinate Marcus, we got stronger. Even if, as some claim, the attempts on Marcus were staged, it still gave us the strength to defeat the Tammerain once and for all,” Mary said thoughtfully.

  “So how do you feel about your new friend?” John asked. “By the way, none of the attempts on Marcus were staged. Two of them would have actually succeeded if he hadn’t been enhanced.”

  “I think I can act the way he needs me to act. He really did seem like a nice guy.”

  “He is, but he’s really sneaky. For example, before he made his appearance, he ran a complete background check on you, and certified you for a security clearance. He told me he would send the paperwork for you to sign later,” John said grinning at the look on her face.