by Shea Oliver
A silence settled over the table. Everyone was emotionally drained and physically exhausted. With only two days until the return vessel departed, and a truly unbelievable story, it was unlikely that anyone at that table could change the direction of fate. Even as they each sat thinking about it, the weight and complexity of it all felt overwhelming.
Hector had remained silent through most of the discussion. His mind had raced back to the auto accident that left him stranded alone on Earth. He had never really thought of trying to find the next crew. It was best just to make a life here on Earth. He always thought that if he lived to see the invasion of Earth by Koranth, then he would simply return to his planet a hero, and, until then, he would just live here. Now, he knew that in two days a return vessel would leave Earth, and it wouldn’t be three to six years before he could go home. It would be less than a year.
In the time since Kadamba had left Koranth, Tomar Donovackia had absorbed all the other Corporations. He alone was free to direct the development of other planets. Rather than launch every mission from Koranth, Tomar had begun moving the parts for spaceships through various portals and assembling them on other planets. He had simply begun using a hub-and-spoke model. The trip from Aechmea, the nearest hub planet to Earth, had only taken two months for Hector’s crew.
While portals still couldn’t be sent through a portal, Tomar began sending spaceships with portals to these hub planets. It made it easier and quicker to get a portal to a new planet, or add a portal to an already developed planet. Tomar was even setting up portals between other planets. No one had ever even dreamed that portals would lead anywhere but to Koranth and Zoranth.
“Hector, where was your return vessel hidden?” asked Dylan, his mind still struggling to figure out how to stop the coming invasion of Earth.
“Uh, what?” replied Hector, lost in his own thoughts.
“You’re spaceship. Where did you land and hide your crew’s return vessel?” repeated Dylan.
“Oh, that’s a good question, we hid it really well. It was, well, um, it was in the Appalachian Mountains, at a place called Saint Julian Lake,” Hector reported.
“Do you think we should have someone check the two lakes where your crews hid your ships?” asked Dylan to Mr. Freeman and Hector.
“Who would we get to do that—and how would they do it?” interjected Tim. “Anyway, the latest crew probably has theirs hidden somewhere else.”
With the weight of the evening getting heavier and heavier, they all decided that it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow they would try to figure out if there was anything at all they could do other than help Bjorn hide his abilities and wait for the coming of the Donovackia military. While it seemed hopeless in the long run, the fact that Bjorn was okay and back with them seemed all that really mattered.
Hector took Adelita home to her sister’s and his house. They would all touch base tomorrow. Perhaps not all was lost; maybe they could salvage some of the vacation and go for a scuba diving session.
A room was arranged in a nearby condo for Mr. Freeman. While he actually did have an acquaintance in Cancun, it would take a few hours to drive to there, and it was very late. Atticus settled into the room and headed to bed. The events of the day continued to play through his head over and over. The future seemed always so uncertain. We do so many things to try and guide the strings of fate, but they don’t always twist in our favor.
The cane was back in Ka’s hand as he walked along the path on Schmarlo’s Landing. The sky was clearing from a recent rainstorm, but drops of water still ran down the force-field cover that protected the Landing. He headed to his favorite bench, looking off in the distance at the city that was once his home. After all these decades, he rarely thought of the city itself. Alorus was really the only thing from Koranth that was with him day and night.
He looked at the cane in his hand and then pulled out the hidden, white blade. Dried blood spotted the sharp dagger in many places. The blade was made of bone, and the bloodstains seemed to penetrate the blade. Ka let out a heavy sigh. He’d bought the bladed cane years before, when a simple injury required a little assistance. Somehow, it became to be part of his image. He didn’t need it but liked having it. The more he thought, the more it was good that he had it, because he did need it when he’d met Dr. Tarea again.
“Ka, will Dr. Tarea be joining us here on the Landing?” came the child’s voice from behind him.
Ka looked at his hands. They weren’t the hands he had when he last visited the Landing in his waking hours. They were hands of an older man. He hoped that the hands belonged to a wiser man than the teenager that he had been.
“Alorus, Dr. Tarea will never be here on the Landing,” replied Ka.
“You’ve killed a lot of people, Ka. Haven’t you?”
“I suppose.”
“How come I’m the only one here on the Landing?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, it’s because you were the only child whose life was stolen by my actions.”
“I guess that makes sense,” the boy confirmed, as he sat down on the bench next to Ka. “Am I the only one that you regret?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer. I wish that I’d never taken anyone’s life.”
“But if you hadn’t, Bjorn would be dead.”
Ka looked at the boy, as the child stood up and walked to the playground. Alorus climbed into one of the swings and began to swing back and forth.
Chapter 39
Duty-Bound
Hector lay in bed next to Adelita’s sister. He’d fallen in love with her the moment that he saw her. She was a radiant beauty on a vacation in paradise. They’d connected on a scuba diving trip when he was her instructor. She’d made him laugh. She’d made him smile. She’d made him forget that he had been the Commander of an exploratory mission to Earth from a planet far away called Koranth. She’d returned multiple times to see him and then eventually moved to Mexico. They had a good life together. They were happy.
In the dark, he wondered what would happen to Earth. He knew the basics of bringing and powering up a portal, but what would the invasion actually be like? He would know soon enough, and he knew it wouldn’t be pleasant.
He rolled over and stared at his wife as she slept. He wished this day had never come. His crew had found the planet Earth not quite ready. He hoped that he would just live out his days and be in the grave before Earth was invaded. But it was a dream. He was a Commander of a spaceship in the Donovackia military.
He slipped out of the bed and into the closet, retrieving the old revolver that he kept in a shoebox. He watched his beautiful wife as she slept. This would be painless, he told himself. She won’t feel a thing. He pointed the revolver at her head and pulled back the hammer. His finger was on the trigger, but he just couldn’t pull it.
His mind raced looking for a reason. He knew who he was and what he needed to do. His crew had identified a perfect spot for the portal. He would just make his way to that spot and wait. He would be a hero as he helped his fellow soldiers prepare for the invasion. All he needed to do was pull the trigger and free himself from the one thing on this planet that tied him to it. He could go home a hero. He lowered the hammer carefully. He realized that he had forgotten about Adelita sleeping in the next room. The gunshot would wake her.
The teenage girl looked so peaceful sleeping in the guest bed. She was like a miniature version of her sister. He’d always liked her. She’d taught him the game of soccer, spending hours with him in the park. He let out a deep sigh. He couldn’t do everything that he really needed to. Killing his wife would untie him from this world, but he just couldn’t do it.
The minutes ticked by slowly as he returned to bed, torn as to what to do. “Shhh,” she whispered as she ran her hand up his bare chest. “Adelita and I are going to breakfast in a little bit, but I have something for you first.” He felt her leg move across his legs, as she crawled on top of him. How could he do this? The gun was now in the drawer by th
e nightstand. She was the one thing that kept him tied to a life on Earth. He had to be free.
His mind was torn to pieces as her hands ran over his body. In his mind, he could see himself, the hero returned to Koranth—the wealth, the glory, and the honor. But his body said otherwise and reacted as a man does to a sensual woman’s touch.
After they were both satisfied, he listened to her shower, wanting to join her. He pretended to sleep when she came back in and gently kissed his lips. As he heard her car pull away, he crawled from his bed, duty-bound to free himself from this life on Earth and return to his home world.
Chapter 40
Defending the Nation
The next morning, Bjorn was sitting at the table with his mom while Tim fixed breakfast. In his usual indomitable style, Bjorn was cheerful and grinning with a smile that can only come from the face of a child. He was happy. He was special. He had dem brainwaves! At first, Tim wanted to make Bjorn stop moving things around on the table, but Joanna, in her gentle way, relaxed the man, allowing the boy to play.
In so many ways, it was unreal to watch. Bjorn quickly figured out that he could manipulate more than one thing at a time. He lifted his spoon, then his fork, and then his knife and plate. With a giggle, he lifted the piece of toast that Tim had set in front of Joanna and dropped it quickly onto his own plate.
“I didn’t do nothing,” he declared, trying to look innocent.
“Ladies first, young man,” declared Tim, in a mock voice of authority. “Serve your mom before you serve yourself.”
The three of them laughed, and Joanna said, only half-jokingly, “You know what would be impressive, Bjorn, is if you could butter the toast for me.”
Bjorn’s smile widened, and his brow furrowed as he focused. At first he focused on trying to mentally grip the handle of the knife, but it clattered to the table. Before anyone could react, it was in the air again, with Tim and Joanna mostly ignoring the profanity that had slipped from the boy’s lips. Relaxing, Bjorn focused again. In his mind, he told himself not to focus just on the knife, but rather focus on what the knife needed to do. He took a deep breath, and the blade slipped through the butter, cutting a perfect pad.
He breathed a “yes,” and then the knife flicked the pad of butter sending it through the air. Reflexively Bjorn reached for the butter, even though it would sail past his hand by a few feet. It stopped in midair, not far from his hand, but the knife clattered to the table again.
“Not bad, kiddo,” Tim noted. “Alright, let’s just eat now.”
“I’m not done,” replied Bjorn stubbornly as he moved the butter through the air. He closed his eyes for a moment, then waved his hand, with the palm down in the same motion that a knife would make to spread butter. The butter, having hit the toast, spread itself across the slightly brown surface.
Joanna picked up the toast and regarded it. “Perfect,” she exclaimed, as she nodded to Bjorn and bit into it.
Mr. Freeman’s knock on the door awakened Dylan. He had slept late, after having serious issues falling asleep the night before. On her way to bed, Joanna had checked on him and found him struggling to get to sleep. She sat on his bed for some time, trying to get her oldest son to understand that he couldn’t save the world. But the weight of the day had fallen heavily on Dylan. He hadn’t been able to protect his little brother. In so many ways, Dylan was a truly amazing big brother for Bjorn. That was impossible to deny, but for Dylan, having his brother snatched away was more than he could handle. He didn’t know how, but he swore he would do everything he could to protect the little guy, especially when the invasion began.
It was hard for Joanna to watch her son be so hard on himself, but she understood. He loved Bjorn with all his heart, and, with a heart as big as Dylan’s, she was sure that he would do everything in his power to take care of his younger sibling.
“Good morning, Dylan,” said Mr. Freeman, as the teenager walked into the kitchen, still in his t-shirt and underwear with his hair completely a mess.
“We have to stop that return vessel, Mr. Freeman,” Dylan announced.
“Oh, I wish we could, but I don’t know what we could do,” replied Mr. Freeman.
Before he could continue the conversation, Dylan’s phone rang.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Tim, “a phone call and not just a text. Probably a telemarketer. I’m not sure teenagers know that those devices also make calls, not just texts.” All of the adults shared a chuckle that quickly evaporated as they watched the concern grow on Dylan’s face.
“Have any of you guys seen or heard from Hector this morning?” Dylan asked.
None of the people in the room had heard a thing from him. Everyone just assumed that they might see him later, perhaps even go scuba diving.
Dylan, setting the phone on the table, sat down. “He’s gone. Adelita and her aunt went out for breakfast this morning. The aunt’s debit card was denied. They paid with cash and went to the bank. Hector cleaned out the account while they were eating. They rushed home, but he and a bunch of his stuff is gone.”
“Did they check his work?” asked Tim.
“Yes. Video from the marina shows that he took off in one of the company’s boats early this morning. Either the GPS tracking that the company uses failed, or he disabled it. His cell phone is also just rolling to a prerecorded message. Adelita’s sister is a wreck. It looks like he has skipped out.”
Joanna looked accusingly at Mr. Freeman again, and the older man appeared to feel around for his cane. He would often roll it in his hands when he was thinking, but, of course, the Mexican police had taken it.
“Atticus, what aren’t you telling us?” she asked, even more bluntly than she had meant to.
“There’s nothing more that I know than you do,” Mr. Freeman responded as gently as he could. It hurt to feel the anger in her voice. She wasn’t hiding her feelings of betrayal as well as she wished she could. Mr. Freeman looked at Bjorn and Dylan. What mattered most to him was that the boys were safe. He didn’t know if he could protect them from the coming storm, but he would do his best. Hopefully, Joanna would eventually come to understand that he wasn’t the monster branded on the inside of his forearm, but he understood her concern. She was a good mom.
“Then why has he bailed out on everyone?” she asked again, almost sounding panicked.
“I really don’t know,” replied Mr. Freeman.
“Maybe he knows something about Mexican justice that made him run off,” added Tim.
“I doubt it,” said Mr. Freeman. “If he did, then he would have skipped out last night.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Bjorn, “I know where he might be! Chubby Butt Pond!” Everyone flinched as the plate Bjorn had been levitating crashed, shattering on the tile floor.
“Seriously, Bjorn!” snapped Joanna, “we’re going to need some ground rules around these abilities of yours, and number one is no messing with anything that is breakable.”
“Sorry, mom,” the boy replied sheepishly, “it’s just those guys only mentioned one place last night. Maybe Hector knows about it and is going to get them.”
“Chubby Butt Pond?” asked Dylan. “Where’s that?”
“I don’t know,” stammered Bjorn still feeling like he was in trouble for breaking the plate. “It was just the only place they mentioned that I can remember.”
Dylan looked at this little brother for a moment. The wheels in his brain were spinning in overdrive. Of all the people in the world, Dylan knew the little guy best. He grabbed his phone and started rapidly tapping away with his thumbs. “Hector lied, Bjorn could be right,” Dylan announced.
“Okay, Dylan, slow down,” Mr. Freeman responded. “You’ve totally lost me here.”
Dylan picked up his brother’s tablet, tapped a few places on the screen, and then spun it around. “There’s no St. Julian Lake in the Appalachian Mountains. That’s where Hector said his return vessel was hidden. There’s no St. Julian Lake at all in the United States,” explained Dylan as he point
ed to a map on the screen. “However, there is a Lago San Julian here in Mexico. He was lying last night. He needed a place but couldn’t think of anything off the top of his head in the US that wasn’t too obvious.”
“I’m a little lost here,” Tim admitted, “Catch me up.”
Dylan looked at Mr. Freeman. “All three ships from your planet went to the same place. That could be why Hector skipped out. He knows where the return vessel is.”
Dylan turned to Bjorn, “You heard them say the place last night, goofball. It wasn’t Chubby Butt Pond that they said.”
“Nope,” replied Bjorn smiling, “It was Fat Bottom Lake.”
They began hashing everything over. Dylan was probably correct. Mr. Freeman’s return vessel had been hidden in Fat Bottom Lake. The likelihood that Dylan was correct about Hector continued to grow, as Tim searched online, trying to play devil’s advocate and disprove Dylan’s theory. Bjorn, having heard the men talking yesterday about a return vessel and Fat Bottom Lake, simply further reinforced the idea that all three vessels had used the same landing place. More than likely, the return vessel from the latest crew was sitting at the bottom of that lake, but it would only be there for about twenty-four more hours before it departed Earth.
“This is all irrelevant,” declared Mr. Freeman. “Even if we weren’t stuck here in Mexico on travel restrictions, it would be impossible for us to get a flight and get there.”
“But we live in Denver, right at the base of the Rockies,” Dylan voiced. “Certainly, there is someone that one of us knows that could help?”
Unfortunately, there seemed little that they could do, and the discussion turned to protecting Bjorn. He was less than impressed that everyone wanted to hide his amazingly cool new skills, but he mostly understood the danger. After yesterday, he didn’t want to relive anything like being kidnapped again. Dylan excused himself and headed out onto the deck. A gentle rain had begun to fall, and he just wanted to be alone and watch the ocean.