Fugitive From Asteron
Page 29
“What name would you like to pick, Alex?”
“I’d like my teacher to pick my name, because he seems like something more . . . something I never had and never knew how much I missed.” Our eyes met in mutual affection.
He threw an arm around my shoulder, squeezing me fondly. “I’d say you learned the meaning of the very word I did, so you deserve a last name which reflects that.” And so it was, after a brief discussion, that I became Alexander Manning of Planet Earth.
After I lowered the craft gently onto Charles Merrett’s lawn, Mykroni and I jumped down to see Kristin’s eager face. Then our “extra cargo” alighted from the ship, weak from his confinement in a dark room with little food, but otherwise healthy. I had remembered unloading two large boxes from Feran’s spacecraft at about the time he would have brought the sunbeam to Asteron. One box contained equipment. The other, a crate with wooden slats, held the man whose face I couldn’t see in the darkness, the man who gave me the gold coin as my tip for bringing him water and who said to me: “Thank you, son.” Mykroni and I helped down from our spacecraft the man from the crate.
“Daddy!” Kristin screamed.
She almost knocked down the man from the crate as she leaped into his arms. While they clung to each other in a tender outcry of laughter and tears, I wanted to look away to give them privacy, but I was unable to do that because I knew that I was part of the moment. As if thinking the same thing, Charles Merrett stretched an arm around my shoulder to pull me into their embrace.
On the Sunday when Feran had stolen the sunbeam, the records showed that Dr. Merrett had checked into the Project Z area twice but checked out only once. Feran, of course, had checked in and out once as Charles Merrett. That meant that the real Charles Merrett had only checked in. My suspicion proved true: Feran had carried Dr. Merrett out in one of the cargo boxes after drugging him with a shot from Coquet. Then Feran had taken him back to Asteron to get him out of the way and take his place. But Feran had not killed him, in case he needed Dr. Merrett’s skill in reassembling the sunbeam. He would no doubt have tortured Dr. Merrett for that information, but fortunately, the Asteronian engineers were able to reconstruct the device themselves, thereby saving their prisoner from undergoing any more cruelty beyond squalid confinement and mental anguish.
After welcoming her father, Kristin turned to me. As I held her close, drinking in the sweet fragrance of her skin and tasting her mouth, the two men were apparently analyzing the matter.
“I see what Alex meant when he said that he and my daughter have closeness.”
“Now I’ve got to juggle the schedules around to try to get those two in space together,” grumbled my teacher. “Separating them is harder than pulling apart two attracting poles in a magnetic field.”
When I released Kristin, I saw the man from the crate smiling approvingly.
“Daddy, even though the company’s finances need fixing, I hope you’re not going to bury yourself in work so we’ll never get to see you.”
“I intend to spend lots of time with you, honey, beginning with dinner tonight—since we’re all alive to have dinner together.” His smile vanished as his mind seemed to drop back into the damp dungeon where he had lived for two months with the terrifying dread that Feran would irradiate Earth. Then his eyes met mine, and his face took on a solemn look. “We have someone to honor tonight. We have a special toast to make to an extraordinary courage that saved us all.”
In a silent pause that felt like a tribute, the three of them—my new family—looked at me admiringly.
Then Dr. Merrett turned to Kristin. “And Alex tells me we also have your cunning and bravery to thank for defeating Feran.”
I nodded, adding: “In the end, it was Kristin who tripped Feran and made him fall onto the sunbeam—and her plan worked, as you Earthlings say, like a charm.”
Kristin beamed proudly. With her father’s return, her spirit had lifted. In fact, she looked more radiant and desirable than ever to me.
“And over dinner I’m going to tell the three of you about my plans to not just rescue MAS’s finances but to also expand the company tremendously.” The same face I despised on Feran underwent the most appealing transformation when it graced the person of Charles Merrett. His vibrant eyes and broad smile seemed to dance with excitement. “And my plans for MAS are called Zamean matter.”
“What do you mean, Daddy? We don’t need the sunbeam anymore, do we?”
“We don’t need the weapon. But we sure can use Zamean matter. It’s a revolutionary, clean, untapped, and abundant source of energy that we can produce cheaper than anything preceding it! The particle that injured Steve’s brain can be immediately redirected to interact with Earth’s matter. That way, we’ll get the energy without any of the harmful radiation escaping. You see, there’s nothing bad about any scientific discovery when we harness and control it for good purposes. What’s bad is Feran, or what he used to be before Alex zapped him.”
He turned to me. “You’re smiling, son.” His eyes seemed to hold a special sparkle when they glanced at me.
“In Feran’s hand even a stone was dangerous,” I said.
The others nodded in agreement.
“And during my confinement, I came up with an idea for an antidote to the sunbeam that I believe will work. I want Steve Caldwell’s mind functioning when I chew him out for taking unnecessary risks with a life as valuable as his.” Dr. Merrett put his arm around Mykroni. “You know, we need to talk about an operation to collect the Zamean matter and to transport it safely. . . .” The two of them walked arm-in-arm toward the house. “We’ll fix dinner for you kids,” Charles Merrett called back to us, but we weren’t listening.
My fingers were tangled in Kristin’s chestnut hair that was the color of Earth tree bark dappled with sunshine. I swam in her brown orbs with silver sparkles that were the color of Earth’s loam sprinkled with bits of white sand.
“Kristin, what does it mean when you feel another’s presence with such closeness that when you’re away from that person, you can do nothing but ache inside for her?”
“And what does it mean, Alex, when the sight of someone so completely excites your eyes that they have no vision left to see anything but him?”
“It means you love me, Kristin.”
“And you love me, Alex.”
With Earth under my feet and Kristin in my arms, I laughed—easily, freely, lavishly, the way we Earthlings do.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Genevieve (Gen) LaGreca writes novels with innovative plots, strong romance, and themes that glorify individual freedom and independence.
Gen's debut novel is Noble Vision. This romantic medical thriller won two important national literary awards. It was a Foreword magazine Book of the Year Finalist. It was also a finalist in the Writer's Digest International Book Awards contest—one of only six picks honoring general fiction published by independent presses. Noble Vision garnered praise from magazine magnate Steve Forbes, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, syndicated columnist Walter E. Williams, and other influential thinkers. Gen also wrote the screenplay for Noble Vision.
Showing her virtuosity across genre lines, Gen's second offering is the historical novel A Dream of Daring. This antebellum murder mystery took five book awards, including the celebrated Foreword Book of the Year.
In addition to fiction, Gen also writes social and political commentaries, which have appeared in Forbes, The Orange County Register, The Daily Caller, Real Clear Markets, Mises Daily, The Gainesville Sun, and other publications.
Prior to fiction writing, Gen worked as a pharmaceutical chemist, business consultant, and corporate writer. She holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Polytechnic Institute of New York and a graduate degree in philosophy from Columbia University.
Her variety of life experiences—in science and business, as well as in philosophy and writing—brings vibrant characters, urgent issues, thematic depth, and an outside-the-box approach to Gen's novels. Their sweeping themes of self-sovereignty and the triumph of the individual attract thoughtful readers across genre lines.
For more information, see: www.wingedvictorypress.com .
Gen may be reached at: genlagreca@hotmail.com .
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PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR'S FIRST NOVEL,
NOBLE VISION
“The novel deals with some of the most serious issues of the day, lending the story an immediacy and vibrancy. The author’s prose is polished and professional.”
—Writer’s Digest magazine
“. . . A well-researched . . . sensitively written . . . inherently captivating novel of suspense, Noble Vision is very highly recommended reading.”
—Midwest Book Review
“This is a beautifully written book! . . . For a first novel, this is a marvelous achievement.”
—Midwest Book Awards
“The mounting conflicts of this lovingly sculpted first novel will keep you turning pages late into the night.”
—Laissez Faire Books
AWARDS FOR NOBLE VISION
Foreword magazine
Book of the Year Finalist in General Fiction
Writer’s Digest 13th Annual International Book Awards
Honorable Mention in Mainstream Fiction
Midwest Book Awards
Finalist in General Fiction
Illinois Women’s Press Association Fiction Contest
Second Place
Order NOBLE VISION on Amazon Kindle HERE.
PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR”S SECOND NOVEL,
A DREAM OF DARING
“ . . . thought-provoking . . . [the tale] intrigues and should attract readers interested in historical fiction set in the antebellum South.”
—Booklist
“Throughout the narrative, LaGreca masterfully creates metaphors to explore her key themes. . . . A Dream of Daring is suspenseful. The crime at the center of the narrative will keep the reader guessing until the final revelation. . . . LaGreca's exploration of how people respond to, and sometimes reject, change and progress is relevant for all generations.”
—Foreword Reviews
“Old ways do not fade into the night quietly. A Dream of Daring is a novel set on the dawn of the industrial revolution. Tom Edmunton builds a proto-tractor, and tries to bring a world of change about Louisiana with his invention. But the whiplash is hard, as a loved one is killed and his invention is stolen. [As Tom is] faced with a crossroads and the charms of multiple women, A Dream of Daring is an enticing blend of mystery and romance, much recommended reading.”
—Midwest Book Review
AWARDS FOR A DREAM OF DARING
Foreword magazine
Book of the Year Finalist in Romance
Midwest Book Awards
Finalist in Historical Fiction
Midwest Book Awards
Finalist in Romance
2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Finalist in Regional Fiction
2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Finalist in Multicultural Fiction
Order A DREAM OF DARING on Amazon Kindle HERE.