“Cathomira?” Aaran searched his memory to recall the place and failed to do. “I've never heard of it.”
“It sits on the other side of the spiral arm. Jut beyond charted space, on our northern frontier,” Delea explained dully. “It has a giant red star meant to go nova in the next few decades or so. The rest of the crew believes we are performing a rescue mission. The story being told is we've received a distress call from Cathomira.”
“What about the missiles?” The audacity of the lie shocked Aaron, because it would be believed.
“No one other than the bridge crew and a handful of Security staff know about them,” Delea explained. “The crew thinks we've launched probes with duranium shielding to withstand the high radiation content of the Cathomiran star system.”
“And the Fury, the Vigilance and the Nimbus?”
“Like us, only the bridge crew is aware of what is really happening. As far as they are concerned, they've taken on the last survivors of the planet Cathomira. We should be on our way home to Brysdyn within the day.”
“What about the bridge officers who know?” It was inconceivable anyone should remain silent about what had taken place on Earth. How could anyone ignore planetary genocide? Promotion or not? “How can Edwen guarantee that no one will talk?”
“It is easier than you think. Everyone wants to save the Empire. Thanks to us, there will a new generation of children borne of a White Star world, populating Brysdyn and the Empire. How can anyone see the crime in that? Self preservation is the constant of all civilisations.”
“No doubt there'll also be bribes to ease their conscience?” Aaran's tone was full of accusation. “What did you get?”
“Retirement,” Delea answered without hesitation. “I am finished with this. I asked him to let me go and the General has agreed.”
“Commander, we can't be silent about this!” Aaran cried out, unable to believe this atrocity was going to go unpunished. “People are dead and we have stolen their children! You can't allow this to go unanswered!”
“It is over, Aaran! I saw the gas kill that planet by the billions! I watched the Earth come to a stop. The very absurdity of it all is that we didn't get everybody! Some of them survived the nerve toxin. So what did we do? We sent in our pilots to rain artillery on any adults left. If we killed a few children in the process? What was the harm? They were roughly several million, so we would not miss much.”
Aaran was beyond horror and managed to ask, “how many children did we get?”
“Approximately two million. Seventy percent of the children taken on board are barely three years old.”
Delea did not elaborate on the reports from the men and women chosen to retrieve the children. They knew what they'd done was for the good of the Empire, but the duty would haunt them for the rest of their lives. They tore screaming babies from the bosoms of dead parents and subdued older children fighting feebly to keep their younger siblings from being taken. These were scars that would last forever.
“I came to say goodbye, Lieutenant.”
“Goodbye? You're leaving?”
“No,” the Commander of the Starlight shook his head. “You are.”
The door to Aaran's quarters slid open to reveal Edwen and Danten at the cell door. With them was a contingent of security officers and they invaded the room like a swarm.
“I'm sorry, Lieutenant,” Delea said finally before stepping out. He had no wish to see this. “If you'll excuse me, General.”
“Dismissed, Commander,” Edwen permitted him to leave, understanding the man's conflict.
Aaran's heart clenched. Was he going to be executed in this room?
“What's going on?” he demanded when he saw Delea leave. The sight of his departing commander sent a stab of fear through his heart.
The General's response was an order barked at the guards in the room. “Bring him.”
Panic struck Aaran without warning as he saw those security officers moving towards him. He tried to bolt past them and felt a dozen hands slamming him into the wall, restraining him. Once he was properly subdued, he was dragged out of his quarters, for the last time.
* * *
Aaran was taken to the main flight deck of the Starlight and bundled into the cargo hold of a small shuttle. Once the hatch shut behind him, he heard the sounds of boarding in the main passenger centre of the craft. For a terrible moment, he thought the shuttle was going to take off into space and jettison him to the vacuum. Seized with fear, he pounded on the steel hatch, but no one paid attention to his hysterics.
As Aaran feared, the shuttle did launch. The journey took a few hours and Aaran spent the time curled into a ball, because even though the cargo hold was oxygenated, it was not temperature controlled. Except for himself, there was nothing else in the hold with him. Aaran wondered if this was intentional. Perhaps Edwen was hoping the temperature drop would kill him and spare his security team the trouble.
Defiantly, he refused to allow himself to succumb to the cold. Several hours later, he felt the temperature rise sharply in one burst of rapid heat. Without even needing to see it, Aaran realised the sudden warmth had come from an entry burn. The shuttle was landing on a planet. Within minutes of penetrating the atmospheric layer, the small craft touched down on its surface.
When the hatch opened again, his eyes were bombarded with the brightness of daylight. He squinted hard and tried to focus. The security team dragged him out of the cargo hold and led him away from the ship. When they released their grip on him, he sank to his knees, still feeling the effects of the cold and the sudden illumination after hours of total darkness.
“Welcome to Earth,” Danten said, with Edwen standing beside him.
Aaran gazed into the sky and saw it was the crispest colour of blue he'd ever seen. A brilliant yellow star shone brightly through tufts of white clouds. He did know much about Earth, but Aaran knew immediately this was a beautiful day on the planet. The beauty stopped when his gaze reached the landscape.
They were standing on the outskirts of a ruined city. In the distance, he could see buildings still burning, with charred marks across the paved roads. Vehicles had smashed into each other and buildings, their owners slumped across the front of the controls, dead. There were so many bodies. The carnage was worse than he had ever imagined in his worst nightmares.
“You murderers!” he screamed, rushing at the General.
Edwen stepped back and allowed Aaran to be properly restrained by his men. The butt of a rifle slammed into the back of Aaran's head and the pain flared across his skull, driving him to his knees. Someone yanked his head back and forced him to look at the General.
“I never wanted this for you, Lieutenant,” Edwin said sincerely. “We have so little talent left in Brysdyn now. I hate to waste it. I hoped you would be able to understand what we are trying to do. I hoped you would possess more vision.”
“More vision?” Aaran stared at him incredulously. He gestured in the direction of the burning buildings, the gutted homes, the twisted wreck of metal and stone, with everything reeking with death. “You call this vision?”
“You really don't see, do you? You see this as murder! I see it as salvation. You yourself furnished me with what I needed to make my decision. You showed me their wars, their utter disregard for life, towards themselves and the other species inhabiting the world. You showed me widespread famine, global pollution and plunder of every natural resource! If we had not come along, they would have destroyed themselves long before we did. This way, at least, their children have a future in a society of enlightenment and benevolence.”
“Enlightenment? This is supposed to show how much better we are than they?”
“You still don't understand. It is the constant in the universe that the weak are devoured by the strong. We are the strong and what we do for the survivors on the Starlight, and the other ships, is more kindness than any predator shows a fallen prey. We saved them so they can save us. The Empire will live, as wil
l the Earth when its children become our own.”
Aaran stood up and faced Edwen. “Murder is what you have done, General Edwen of the Security Elite. No ideal is worth that. You may lie to yourselves and create every justification under the universe for what you have done, but that's the truth no amount of debate is ever going to change.”
“Sir, must we listen to this anymore? The Starlight and the convoy are waiting our return,” Danten asked impatiently.
“Go ahead! Kill me! What is one more dead body on this planet?”
Edwen looked at him. “I am not going to kill you. There has been enough Brysdynian blood shed in my lifetime.”
At that, he saw one of Edwen's men raise their weapons to fire. In a flash of brilliant light, he felt his body drained of all consciousness when the blast hit him squarely in the chest.
* * *
When he woke up an hour later, they were gone and so was the shuttle. There was no sign of either anywhere on the ruined landscape and, with an awful realisation, he realised what they had done to him. They'd marooned him here on the planet Earth.
Forever.
XXV
Young
“I think I'm going to be sick.”
It was the only thing he could say when Aaran's story reach its inevitable conclusion.
When Garryn had embarked on this search, he'd expected to find a conspiracy regarding the true origins of the New Citizens. Never in his wildest imaginings did he suspect the truth could be this horrific. Of course there was no doubt in his mind that Aaran's tale was anything but the truth. The pieces fit too neatly with what he already knew about Cathomira and the Dreamers. The nightmares so full of violence made perfect sense and made Garryn wish he'd never learned the truth.
“I'm sorry,” Flinn didn't now what else to say. Sorry didn't seem like enough.
“Come on,” Aaran started walking. “We shouldn't stay out here.”
He led them through the barricade protecting the building with his transmitter. It was also his home and he protected it from intruders by constructing an access way through the barricade reinforced by mesh and razor wire. By Brysdynian standards, the measures were primitive, but still quite effective.
The city was once called San Francisco. Even though it appeared dead, Aaran assured them it was nothing of the sort. As Garryn suspected, the population had gone to ground the instant they had seen the Wayward Son's landing. For many, there was little difference between the freighter and the Imperial fighters assaulting their world twenty-three years ago.
Aaran had built his home within the transmitting tower to ensure he was near the signal in case a rescue ever came. He occupied a suite of rooms, several floors from the lobby. Occasionally, he ventured beyond the city limits to explore the rest of the planet. He found there were survivors everywhere and most of them were children approaching their early teens. As his language skills improved, Aaran convinced them he was one of the few adults who survived the invasion.
Leaving Garryn to regain his composure after what he was told, Flinn questioned the man further.
“So you have been here on your own for all this time?”
“No. Although, in the beginning, I kept to myself because I still had hopes someone would come for me. I really believed I wouldn't be left here forever. When I realised no one was ever coming, I tried to do what I could for the survivors. There were so many of them and I did what I could, but most of them were children, deeply traumatised by what had happened.”
Taking a deep breath, he continued speaking. “Some survived by scavenging and creating a society of their own, but others are savage and violent. It's why I fenced off this building from the rest of the city. I have a life here, as well as a wife and child. When I saw your ship, I sent them to a safe place to wait for me.”
After what Aaran had told them, Flinn could understand why.
“We'll find them and bring them to Brysdyn with us,” he offered.
“Home,” Aaran said with a deep sigh, his emotions overcoming him for a moment. “I never thought I would ever see it again.”
Turning to Garryn, who was still staring out the window,” he asked quietly. “You are one of them, aren't you? One of the children who were taken?”
The expression on Garryn's face was answer enough. “I have no memory before I was three years old. They told us we came from Cathomira.”
Edwen's speech about the Empire's survival flashed in Aaran's mind. The master of Security Elite had given the Empire a new generation of Brysdynians who had no idea everything they knew about themselves was a lie. For the past twenty-three years, he had lived with the consequences of Edwen's atrocities and prayed the General's crime would be revealed. Now his outrage at being stranded paled in comparison to the wrong done to the children spirited away from everything they knew.
Children like Garryn.
“I'm sorry,” Aaran said softly, “but how did you find your way here?”
“It was a hunch,” Garryn admitted and then proceeded to tell the former science officer about the nightmares plaguing him for months, the nightmares that had led him to Jonen and the rest of the Dreamers.
“After the Asmoryll was destroyed, I decided to find out the truth for myself. I chartered Flinn's services as a commercial pilot and got him to take me to Cathomira. Once I realised everything about the New Citizens being from Cathomira was a lie, I took a chance that this planet might be the one I was seeing in my dreams. It's the only system I ever visited with a yellow star and it was here the dreams started.”
Reaching behind him, Garryn took the gold chain and medallion hanging from his neck. After removing it, he handed it to Aaran.
“Can you read this? My mother tells me I was wearing this when I came to them.”
Aaran took the round, gold object and studied it closely. After a moment, he answered. “This is English.”
“English? Is that what they speak here?”
“It's the native dialect of this continent. As I explained, this was not a unified planet. They were divided into countries with their own individual dialect.”
“So you can read it?” Flinn asked, aware of how important this was to Garryn.
“Yes, it's an inscription. J. Alexander. Young. NSW.”
The words sounded odd to hear and were meaningless to him.
“Could that be my name?” Garryn asked, thinking it was too long to be a name unless it was the custom on this world.
“If I understand the naming conventions, Alexander would be the family name. Earther names are like the Jynes,” Aaran glanced at Flinn. “Personal name first followed by family names in order. The initial J is probably your first name.”
“Alexander.” Garryn mouthed softly. The word sounded alien to him. “What about the rest of it?”
“I'm not sure.” Aaran continued to study the medallion, “I think if might be a place.”
“Maybe on that continent we were going to land on before we picked up the signal. The one you recognised,” Flinn reminded Garryn.
“Which continent is this?”
“One located near the southern polar cap,” Garryn answered.
Aaran stood up and disappeared into an adjoining room. This room was the man's study and surrounding their leather chairs were an impressive collection of old paper books, maps and parchments. Garryn was not surprised Aaran had used his exile to learn everything he could about this planet.
A moment later, the former science officer returned with a larger leather book requiring both hands to handle it. He motioned them to a nearby desk and splayed it open. The size of the book covered most of the desktop. Aaran turned the yellow pages as Garryn and Flinn took up position on either side of him. It didn't take long for Garryn to realise that Aaran was thumbing through a book of maps. Finally, Aaran splayed out the book and showed the continents of the planet spread across two full pages.
“Which one is it?”
“That one,” Garry recognised it immediately.
He pointed to the continent located almost at the edge of the page. On the glossy paper, it resembled the image in his memory much more closely than his flash of memory upon approaching the planet.
“You know this continent?” Flinn asked the older man.
“Yes. They call it Australia.”
* * *
Aaran had met his wife Rachel two years after his exile on Earth. She was one of the few adults immune to the Prothos virus. Over the years he'd come across others with a natural immunity to the nerve gas, but Rachel was the first. It was the first time he had seen another adult since his exile. He had found her amongst the ruins, fending for herself and the growing number of children over whom she had assumed guardianship.
After Rachel taught him to speak English, Aaran learned some of the surviving adults had led the remaining children into parts unknown. There were rumours they left the city for the country, where the main food growing areas were located. Rachel had been a schoolteacher and she was in her classroom with her pre-adolescent students when the missiles hit.
In the years after their meeting, these children became his responsibility as well and Aaran was happy to watch them grow up to find lives of their own under his and Rachel's tutelage. He saw no reason to hide his past with Rachel, because she was an intelligent woman who would learn the truth anyway. By the time he was able to communicate with her fully, Aaran knew he could hide nothing from her.
Aaran convinced Garryn Rachel would be better able to find the place inscribed in his medallion. Garryn conceded the point, because this 'Australia' was a big continent and, despite the years Aaran had spent on this world, there were limits to his knowledge. They needed the expertise of a native.
Once they returned to the Wayward Son, it did not take them long to find Aaran's family.
The safe house was a dwelling located in the green hills of the city overlooking the ocean. Flinn set the ship down some distance away so Aaran's family wouldn't be frightened by it. Although it would be impossible to hide the roar of the ship's engines, Flinn was sensitive to Aaran's need to protect his family. While Aaran and Garryn went off to find Rachel, Flinn remained in the Wayward Son.
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