The Split Skies (The Possessor Wars, Book 4): The Possessor Wars, Book 4

by Chad Spencer

  “Sure, Dad. Send me the coordinates and I’ll come and meet your ship.”

  “I’ll still be on duty when you get here,” Kent told Jeff. “But we can meet for dinner.”

  “Sure, Dad,” Jeff repeated.

  It took slightly more than an hour to rendezvous with the Porsche’s Haven. After connecting his shuttle to one of the docking ports, Jeff boarded the huge megafreighter and found a comm panel. “Computer,” he asked, “where is Danae Highborne?”

  “There is no such person aboard this ship,” the computer responded.

  Remembering that Danae had recently changed her last name, Jeff asked, “Yeah, I mean where is Danae Bowman?”

  “Danae Bowman is riding horses with Denise Bowman in biodome 1,” responded the computer. Taking one of the ship’s many hovercars, Jeff soon arrived at the biodome. Sure enough, both of his stepsisters were trotting their mounts through the tall, moist grass. Upon seeing Jeff, they both rode up and greeted him.

  “Jeff!” squealed Denise. “Ride with us!”

  Chuckling, Jeff replied, “I can’t. I don’t have a horse any more.”

  “Ride with Danae,” Denise advised as she nudged Duke forward.

  Danae flushed slightly in surprise, but agreed, “Sure. You can hop up behind me. Lacey is strong enough to carry us both.”

  Jeff smiled easily and said simply, “Ok.” He strode to Danae’s horse, put his foot into the stirrup, and hopped up behind her. Lacey, with her placid demeanor, was unperturbed by the extra passenger. Jeff took hold of Danae’s waist and told her, “Ok, I’m ready.” Because Danae’s sandy hair was cut short, he could see that the back of her neck was turning pink. He wondered why.

  As usual, Denise took off like a shot. Danae nudged Lacey into a trot and followed. As they rode, Jeff commented, “I kind of feel sorry for the horses. These biodomes are only five acres each. That’s not a lot of room to run around.”

  Over her shoulder, Danae explained, “Most of the horses learn pretty fast to use the tunnel that connects the biodomes. So they have fifteen acres they can use.”

  “I guess.”

  “Jeff?”

  “Hmm?”

  “How did your date with Amanda go?”

  Jeff sighed, “It was ok. I was a little late getting into the Mars simulation because of work. But we had a good afternoon together. Just when we were going to eat, Governor Connors called me out to work on the Living Miner. We didn’t get to eat together or go to the dance or get pictures taken. I hope she isn’t too mad.”

  Danae was quiet for a moment, looked over her shoulder again, and then told him, “She probably wasn’t mad, Jeff. She was probably just very disappointed. She really worked hard on her dress. Material is hard to get. Did you tell her how pretty it was?”

  With a guilty start, Jeff realized that he had barely noticed her dress. He recalled that it was pink and that she looked good in it. But he hadn’t commented on it at all while they were together. ‘I think I’m toast,’ he thought.

  “Jeff! Don’t tell me you didn’t say anything to her about it.”

  “Well . . .”

  “Oh Jeff,” Danae moaned disappointedly. “What about her hair? She started on that first thing in the morning. Did you say anything about her hair?”

  “Well . . .”

  “Jeff, you’re toast! As a matter of fact, I think I’ll probably kill you myself.”

  Jeff didn’t know what to say.

  “Do you like Amanda?”

  “Sure! But . . .”

  “But what, Jeff? If you’re serious about Amanda you need to pay attention to her.”

  “Serious? Danae, it’s our first date. And it took six months just to make that happen with all the work that I’ve been doing. I don’t know if I’m ready to be serious about anyone.”

  “Jeff, think! If you don’t choose somebody fast, you won’t be able to get married at all, ever. If you choose Amanda you have to treat her like she’s special to you.”

  “Well … I’m not really sure how to do that.”

  “Jeff, you either need to launch into orbit or power down your engines.”

  “What?”

  With a huge sigh, Danae told him, “Decide soon, Jeff. If you’re not going to be serious about Amanda, then it’s time to tell her so and move on to someone else.”

  “Someone else? Who?”

  Jeff saw her flush red. She quickly turned her head to face forward again, but Jeff saw it anyway.

  “I’m just saying you have to decide. That’s all. And if you’re serious about Amanda, then you have to show her.”

  “Ok, ok. I’ll think of something.”

  “Hmm . . . why don’t we go down to biodome 3? Sirsen Pickett is probably there now working on his roses. I bet he’d give you some if you gave him something good. I know! Promise him some water from your shuttle pod’s fuel tanks. Dad gives you extra water anyway. Sirsen Pickett is always looking for more water for his garden.”

  “Yeah, ok. I’ll get her some flowers.”

  “And don’t leave her again when you’re on a date!”

  “Danae, I had to help with the Living Miner. It’s important.”

  “I suppose.”

  Falling silent for a while, they exited the forward biodome and ambled down the long tunnel that led to the next biodome. The clear tunnel showed the brilliant river of stars around the colony.

  “Jeff,” Danae ventured.

  “Mm?”

  “I’ve been talking with Eden.”

  “Mrrr,” Jeff growled.

  “Oh don’t be like that. She’s helping me learn to use my powers.”

  “Where do you practice?”

  “I actually don’t. Eden has a way of dumping the knowledge right into your mind. It’s actually kind of scary. I can gather light into disks and throw them. Now I understand how you must feel sometimes. The power we could have over other people is scary.”

  “Mmm. I don’t really think about that too much. I’d rather just live my own life and let everyone else take care of themselves.”

  “Eden says there was a … a war back in the Alliance.”

  “Yeah, she told me that too.”

  “She says we have to save the human race.”

  “Mmm.”

  “She says there’s a ship coming.”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m not worrying about it until then.”

  “You don’t think the ship is coming?”

  “Don’t know. Not gonna worry about it.”

  Lacey clopped her way into the middle of three biodomes that sat on the long spine of the Porsche’s Haven. All around them were young trees planted in square plots. Denise trotted Duke happily along the paths between them.

  “Jeff,” Danae said, “what if the fate of the human race really is in our hands?”

  Jeff sighed and replied, “I’m not a superhero, Danae. Unless Eden wants to be more specific about what she wants from us, I’m happy to stay here. My life has never been this good. I can’t think of any reason why I’d want to leave and fight some big fight.”

  “I suppose,” agreed Danae. “So if that ship is really coming, you wouldn’t use it to go back to the Alliance.”

  “No,” Jeff stated flatly. “We were in cryostasis for twenty years. Akio and Harriet are in their late thirties by now. Even if I could get back to the Alliance, Akio and Harriet might be dead when I got there. There’s just no one to go back to. My family is here. Amanda is here. So I’m staying here.”

  Suddenly, Jeff heard his dad call out, “There you are.”

  Denise guided Duke next to Lacey. Turning, Jeff saw his dad walking toward them from the rear of the biodome. “I’ve been looking for you three,” Kent told them. “Who wants a late dinner?”

  Danae shook her head and answered, “Denise and I ate with Mom before Jeff showed up.”

  To Jeff, Kent asked, “What about you, kid?”

  “Yeah, Dad. I’ll go. I’m hungry. What are they
serving?”

  “Dragon steaks.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. You knew that the Ellsworth took a small group of scientists to study planet Akio a month ago didn’t you?” Jeff nodded. “Well,” Kent explained, “You remember those dragon-like creatures you saw when you first landed on the planet?” Jeff nodded again, cringing at the memory. “One of the shuttles hit one on the way down. The scientists wanted to leave it even though they knew it was safe to eat. But the crew of the Ellsworth decided to keep the meat. When they got back, I traded a bunch of the fish we grow in the lake in the aft biodome for some of their dragon meat. I figure what the heck, why not give it a try? So our cook is serving it for dinner tonight. Interested?”

  “Sure. Dragon steak sounds good to me.”

  “Well then, let’s go.” Kent gestured toward the biodome’s aft access doors.

  Jeff slid down from Lacey’s back and told his stepsisters “See you two later.” Danae nodded and Denise waved.

  Jeff and Kent rode a hovercar to the cafeteria. Quickly picking up their food, the pair settled down at a table to eat.

  Without preamble, Kent asked, “So how was your big date with Amanda?”

  “Does everyone in the colony know that Amanda and I went to the Senior Outing and Dance together?” Jeff groaned.

  Smiling like a Cheshire cat, Kent answered, “Pretty much. So how’d it go?”

  “Not too great,” replied Jeff glumly. “I had to work late so I was late meeting her. And then Governor Connors called me right when we were about to order dinner. I had to leave and meet the Ellsworth at the Implantation Site.”

  “Well son, don’t feel too bad. Your mother was very understanding when I was away for Space Corps assignments.”

  Somehow, that didn’t cheer Jeff up much. So he changed the subject by asking, “How was your trip?”

  “Pretty good,” Kent told him. “We found lots of water asteroids just outside this star system, so we were able to do a good harvest. All our tanks are full. And we froze a bunch of water into ice blocks and stored it in the cargo holds. Do you want some for your shuttle pod’s fuel tanks?”

  “Sure. Oh, that reminds me, can you give some water to Sirsen Pickett?”

  Kent’s eyebrows arched. “Sure, why?”

  “I’m going to call him after dinner and see if he’ll let me have some flowers.”

  “Aaaah,” Kent approved. “You’ve been talking with Danae.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, it’s a good idea. Real flowers are rare in this colony, so Amanda will really enjoy getting them.”

  They dug into their meals, not speaking for a while. Then Kent hesitantly asked, “Jeff, can we talk?”

  ‘Uh oh,’ thought Jeff, pausing in mid-bite. He wondered, ‘Is this another one of those when-I-was-your-age talks?’ With growing dread, he thought, ‘Or maybe it’s a there’s-things-you-need-to-know-about-girls talk.’

  “Uuuum,” Jeff answered with his fork hanging from his mouth. “Oooookaaay.”

  “Son, why did you quit your job as the Chief Engineer of the Porsche’s Haven?”

  Nearly laughing with relief, Jeff answered, “Oh that. I quit because I didn’t earn the job. Everybody on the Engineering staff was better at it than me. I didn’t want to get the job just because I’m the Captain’s son. I want to earn it. I needed Academy training. Besides, they needed me on the Living Miner project.”

  Jeff was surprised at Kent’s reaction. He seemed about to burst with happiness.

  “I’m proud of you, Jeff. That’s a really mature attitude.”

  “Why did you think I quit?”

  “Well … I thought maybe … maybe you were still mad at Porsche and I. Or maybe you were still fighting with Dirk.”

  Jeff waved his fork dismissively, and then shoveled more food into his mouth. “Naa. Porsche and I have a truce, I think. We get along. Dirk doesn’t want to be around me. But he never did. He’s a starship pilot now, and that’s what he wanted out of life. So I’m really not in his scanner range any more. He doesn’t even notice me except when we have family gatherings. Is he still dating that brown-haired girl? I forget her name.”

  “Yvette. No. They broke up. Dirk’s really good at getting girls interested in him. But he’s not that good at maintaining a relationship.”

  “Wow,” Jeff commented sarcastically. “What a surprise.”

  Kent heaved a resigned sigh, but made no reply.

  Realizing that his father was sensitive about their family problems, Jeff quickly said, “I saw Porsche on her new 3V show. She did really good.”

  Brightening, Kent agreed, “Yeah, the camera loves her. So does the audience. I think having a weekly advice show is a good morale booster for the colony. She’s really good at helping people solve their relationship problems.”

  Jeff didn’t say, “Too bad she can’t solve her own relationship problems.” He thought it, but he didn’t say it.

  “Excuse me,” a light female voice broke in. Jeff turned to find a group of four girls standing behind him. “Aren’t you Jeff Bowman?”

  Once again, Jeff paused in mid-bite. With his fork hanging out of his mouth (again), he answered, “Yup.”

  “Can we take our picture with you?”

  Jeff looked at his dad for guidance. Struggling to suppress his laughter, Kent was absolutely no help.

  Not knowing what else to say, Jeff replied, “Uh, I guess.”

  Standing awkwardly, Jeff stepped into an open area between the tables. Two of the girls glided forward and stood beside him, one on either side. A third produced a small holocamera to shoot a 3D image of them. She handed it to Kent who hopped up to take the picture. Then she stood next to the girl on Jeff’s left. The last girl in the group placed herself next to the girl on Jeff’s right. Kent lifted the camera and said, “Smile.”

  Suddenly, the girls that were immediately to Jeff’s left and right turned their heads and each kissed one of his cheeks. Before Jeff could react, Kent snapped the picture.

  Dumbfounded, Jeff managed to say, “Uh …”

  Kent handed back the camera and the four girls chorused, “Thank you.” They giggled as they skittered away.

  “Enjoy being a hero while it lasts,” advised Kent as he returned to his dinner.

  Still dumbfounded, Jeff replied, “Uuuuh …”

  “Have a seat, Jeff. Your dinner will get cold.”

  Jeff sat down and wordlessly resumed eating.

  17

  The next day, Jeff fidgeted outside the airlock to Amanda’s ship with a dozen roses. He scratched at his forehead nervously and pressed a button on the comm panel next to the door. “Amanda Meadows,” he barely managed to croak to the panel.

  “One moment, please,” the panel’s computer responded.

  After a few seconds, Amanda’s face appeared on the display. “Oh, hi Jeff,” she greeted. She didn’t look mad. Jeff found this encouraging.

  “Hi, Amanda,” he ventured. “I’m outside the airlock. Can I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  The door into the Amsterdam hissed open. Relieved, Jeff entered, holding the flowers behind his back. Making his way through the empty freighter, he arrived at the crew common area to find Amanda sitting on a couch and looking at the news from the colony’s grid. The holographic newspaper hovered in the air in front of her. She raised her eyes and smiled at his approach.

  Slightly reassured, Jeff explained, “I just came by to say how sorry I am for leaving you on our date. I know you spent a lot of time on that dress and on your hair. You looked really great.” He thought a moment and then added, “Really, really great.”

  Amanda beamed brightly and thanked him. Then Jeff produced the flowers. “I got these for you. I know it doesn’t make up for messing up our date. But … I … well … I don’t know. I just got these for you, so here.”

  Amanda gasped, “Real flowers! And they’re roses! No one has ever given me real roses before.” Whooshing towar
d him, Amanda accepted the flowers excitedly and gave Jeff a little thank-you hug.

  “I’ve got to get them into a vase,” she declared. As she rifled through the cabinets along the walls, she chattered things like, “You shouldn’t have,” and “They smell so wonderful.” After a bit of digging, she produced a vase that she quickly filled with water. Inserting the roses, she glided back to Jeff and set the vase on the low table in front of the couch. She sat down and patted the seat next to her.

  Reassured, Jeff sat down. Glancing at the newspaper, he asked, “Anything good in the news?”

  “Well, there was one thing.” Amanda swooshed her hand over the holographic image. It slid sideways to display the previous page of news. Right near the top was a big picture of Jeff in the center of four girls. He was being kissed by two of them.

  “Aaagh,” Jeff explained in surprise.

  “Well, yes Jeff. Aaagh.”

  “But I … but they … I didn’t know. They just asked if they could take a picture with me. I didn’t know …”

  Giggling, Amanda gestured toward the picture and soothed, “I know. I can tell by the look on your face. Did you really have to have your mouth hanging that wide open?”

  Sheepishly, Jeff commented, “I kinda look like a monkey.”

  Amanda cuddled his shoulder and agreed, “You kinda do. But a sweet monkey.”

  Jeff had no idea what to say next. But fortunately, Amanda spoke up with, “Jeff, would you like to pilot the Amsterdam for me?”

  “Sure! Where are you taking it?”

  “The vice principle of the high school called and asked if I’d take the Seniors to Ghostlight for their final Senior Outing.”

  “Where?”

  “Oh, you haven’t read the news today, have you?”

  “Nope.”

  Amanda explained, “They finally named all the planets in this system. The gas giant we’re orbiting is now called Asiel. The blue moon that orbits Asiel, the one that has those rings around it, they named it Ghostlight.”

  “Ah,” replied Jeff. “I guess everyone finally got tired of saying, ‘that blue, ringed planet’ and stuff like that.”