Earthlight Space Academy Boxset

by Heather Lee Dyer

  “But I’m the common denominator here,” I argue.

  “You might be involved in both events, but that doesn’t make it your fault.”

  I can’t argue further because when we turn the corner, we find the commander stopped in front of a door. He’s got his hands behind his back and seems to be patiently waiting for us.

  The door opens and I realize he was actually waiting for the general. At seeing the general again, all the memories of the events near the Dragon Wall come flooding back. I squeeze Kai’s hand tight.

  Kai leans forward, trying to look past the general.

  “Your parents and Cam aren’t here,” he says when he sees us. His deep voice booms in the small corridor, even though he’s speaking normally.

  Kai tenses, but he stays quiet.

  “They were moved to another safe house. Inside the base.” The general glances at the commander and some unspoken message seems to flow between them. “If we brought them here it might endanger them.”

  I frown. “Why? The commander said you have my father in custody.”

  The general looks as uncomfortable as I’ve ever seen him. Even when he had to concede power to a couple of teens to save Kai’s parents, he maintained his near-arrogant attitude.

  A cold shiver goes down my spine as I brace myself for his answer.

  “We do have him in custody, for now. But,” he looks at the commander before answering, “he’s set himself up a very clever electronic trail to explain why he’s here on Earth despite the no-travel order.”

  I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths. When I open them, I take a step toward the general. “What does that mean, exactly? What explanation could he possibly have to violate a Space Council order?”

  The commander steps forward. “He says he didn’t know anyone in that house but received a message from his supervisor to travel there to obtain a cube of information for the moon base.”

  “And that makes sense to you?” I look between the general and the commander.

  “No. But he has e-docs to verify it. And when we showed him a spread of pictures, ones where you were included in plain clothes, he denied recognizing anyone.”

  My first instinct is to ask where they got a picture of me in civilian clothes, but I bite the inside of my lip. I pivot to the real question. “He’s basically denying being Anonymous then?”

  The commander looks at the general, but all he does is nod in affirmation.

  “And that means you’ll have to let him go eventually?” My body feels numb, and I clench and unclench my hands to keep the blood flowing.

  The general gives me a small nod, but still doesn’t say anything. I turn back to the commander. “What isn’t the general telling us?”

  “He’s trying not to tell you that there’s something you can do to help. But you won’t like it.”

  “Which is?” Kai asks, stepping up next to me. Every time I think I’m in this alone, Kai is there to remind me I’m not. I smile at him.

  “The only way is to confront him. He can’t keep denying he doesn’t know you when he’s face to face with you.”

  My body breaks out in sweats. “Me?” I squeak.

  “We’ll be watching on vid, of course.”

  As if that’s supposed to help me face the man who abandoned me years ago.

  “That man has been threatening her, and now you want her to be in the same room as him?” Kai’s tone is not complacent anymore. He’s shaking so hard his voice quavers. “You can’t ask that of her.”

  19

  Facing Fears

  I place a hand on Kai’s arm and wait until he turns to look at me. “They aren’t asking me to do this. They’ve suggested it, and I need to make the decision now that I should’ve made days ago.”

  “To face him though? That’s different than messaging him from the safety of your dorm room.” Kai’s eyes glisten as he studies me.

  “I know you care about me and don’t want me to get hurt, but I have to face him. I can’t let him hurt your parents or Cam. I have to try everything to stop him. And I need to know why he’s all of a sudden decided to do this to us.” A tear slips down my face and I quickly wipe it away.

  He nods and pulls me into a hug. “I understand, but I don’t like it,” he whispers.

  “I know,” I whisper back. I pull back and give him a quick smile before I turn to the commander and general.

  “If I do this, what do I need to get out of him?”

  “We need him to admit he knows you and that he was threatening you as Anonymous.”

  “And that’s enough?”

  “That will prove that he’s been stalking you and that he’s violating a no-travel order. If his supervisor really did create the travel documents, which we doubt, then his supervisor will be charged with obstruction.”

  “And my father? Will he be charged? Kept locked up?”

  The commander and general share a glance. “That will be up to The Three,” says the commander.

  “The Three have jurisdiction over this?” In space law class we learned that “The Three” space judges only preside over inter-spacial major crimes.

  “They will in this case since the SIA is involved,” answers the general, finally diving back into the conversation.

  “Are you all right with doing this?” asks the commander. Despite running the academy like a small military ship, he’s more empathetic than I imagined.

  “Yes. I know I have no control over what happens in the space courts,” I say to the general. “But I want to do what I can right now.”

  “Good. Why don’t you put your shoes on, then we can go out to the ship?”

  I look down and realize Kai and I are still carrying our shoes. We quickly slip them on and follow the general out of the hatch. Once inside the dock, the temperature drops even farther. I pull my hoodie over my head.

  Despite the situation I take a few seconds as we hurry along to study the amazing spaceship. Again, I wonder when academy students had time to design such a marvel.

  As we wait for the ramp to lower, I turn to the general. “Is he in here? Or do we have to go somewhere else?” I’m half hoping I get to have another ride in the ship.

  “No, he’s in here. We’ve got him strapped in the front and several armed guards are with him.”

  I exchange a glance with Kai. It’s unusual to allow weapons on a spaceship.

  We climb up the ramp and the general leads us to a secondary control room. It’s not very big but the four of us fit in without too much trouble. He wakes up one of the vids.

  And that’s when I see my father for the first time in over eight years. I’m frozen to the spot staring at him. He still has red hair, but it’s peppered with pure white strands. His blue eyes are as clear and bright as I remember, but instead of his fatherly smile, his expression is dark and withdrawn.

  I smell the cold, salty surf as I run beside him on the beach. Cam is too small to keep up, and I hear him whining behind me. But at this moment I don’t care because our father is actually paying attention to me. He looks like he’s about to say something when I hear another voice calling to me instead.

  I blink as Kai squeezes my hand. “Are you all right?”

  I nod, the memory fading into a fuzzy partition at the back of my mind. “He doesn’t look too different. Just angrier.” It’s strange how someone I haven’t thought about for years could still seem so familiar.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Kai whispers. He pushes my hoodie back and smooths my hair.

  “I do.” I look to the general. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

  “Just that we’ll be right here listening.”

  “What about the guards? I doubt he’ll let his cover slip with them around.”

  The general glances at the commander.

  “Do you feel safe without them in the room?” the commander asks.

  I look at the vid. “He’s strapped down and has an e-lock on the buckle. I’ve never known him to be viole
nt. He’s had anger issues, but he never hit any of us, that I remember.”

  The general nods. “He has no history of violence. The guards will be just outside the door, so they can be in the room in seconds.” He points to his ear. “They have ear comms in.”

  I nod and look again at his guards. I smile. Two of them were the special operatives I worked with on the rescue mission. Only one of them was small enough to fit under the Wall, the other had to stay back at the command trailer. “And I know a couple of them. I’ll feel safe with them nearby.” I direct this last comment to Kai, who’s frowning.

  The commander leans over and clips something to the inside of my hoodie. When he straightens up, he points to his ear. “An extra precaution. This recorder is just connected to my tablet. Just in case he’s able to hack into the general’s system.”

  The general huffs but doesn’t comment.

  “You think he could do that?”

  “He’s gotten around our security systems this far.” The commander shrugs.

  Then he leads me out and to the door. We step to the side and wait for the general to give the guards their orders. The door cycles open and the four guards walk out, the door closing behind them. The commander watches his tablet. He nods for me to go in.

  I smile at the two guards as they recognize me. I take a few deep breaths, trying to get my pulse to calm down. I press the button to open the door and take a step inside the passenger compartment. The seats are facing the vid at the front of the room so all I can see of my father is the back of his head. From the vid the general showed me he’s strapped down pretty good, so I doubt he could turn to see me yet.

  Which is good cause at this moment I can’t move my feet and my lungs don’t seem to be working as I stare at the man whom I used to call father.

  I can tell by the shift in his shoulders that he knows someone is in the room. Get it together, Anja. I force my shaking legs forward. Right before I turn the corner to where I’ll be in his sight, I straighten my shoulders and take a deep breath. He will not win this game.

  I study his face as I walk to stand right in front of him. The recognition is almost instantaneous. I smile inwardly hoping they can tell that on the video. I put my hands behind me and naturally settle into a sturdy at-ready stance.

  “Father.”

  His mouth hangs open. The familiarity of his face, although a bit older, tugs at my heart. I want to shake him and ask him why he left, why he abandoned his children.

  But I have to protect Cam at all costs. Emotions can be dealt with later.

  “Or should I say Anonymous?” I grind my jaw as a multitude of expressions cross his face; shock, anger, and finally settling into submission.

  “How did you know?” he whispers. His eyes dart around the room as much as the neck brace allows him.

  “I have my sources.”

  He shakes his head. “I know it wasn’t the SIA. They couldn’t find their way out of a booster rocket.” His tone is bitter with undertones of anger. I wonder what happened the last decade to turn my father into the person in front of me.

  “No. Not the SIA.” I stare at him, waiting for that to sink in. It’s almost sad seeing the man who I once thought would always protect me against monsters locked up from ankles to neck.

  20

  Truth Sucks

  He clears his throat. “How are you, Anja?”

  “No. You do not get to ask that. Or anything else about me or my brother. You need to tell me why you’re threatening us.”

  He tries to shift in the stiff seat. The general was true to his word. My father is not going anywhere.

  “I can’t tell you that here.” He closes his eyes.

  “If you want to ever have the chance to live like a free man, you will tell me right now.” I push my nails into my palms until it hurts.

  His eyes fly open. His look almost makes me apologize for yelling at him. But I remember Cam’s blue eyes. So much like his father’s. I keep my mouth shut, because Cam is more important than this man’s feelings.

  “You and your brother are absolute geniuses. Your mother did well with you.”

  A surge of hot anger boils in my gut. “You won’t speak of her. You had no right to dig her up from her resting place.”

  “She deserved to be buried at Grissom. You know that. Just because I wasn’t there for you and her doesn’t mean I ever stopped loving you three.” His eyes sparkle and he blinks away the tears.

  “Her final resting place wasn’t your decision. You gave up any choices or decisions concerning us when you left.”

  “Is that what she told you? That I left?” His eyes are wide and pleading.

  I force myself to relax my hands before I make myself bleed. “That doesn’t matter.” I sigh. “Just tell me why you contacted us now, and why you tried to do it anonymously.”

  “I told you I can’t tell you here.”

  “At least tell me why you’re threatening us? Cam’s just a kid, he doesn’t deserve to have a father that abandoned us and then when he resurfaces, threatens him like a common criminal.”

  His expression goes cold. “I did it to protect you against them.”

  “Them? Who?”

  His eyes dart around the room. “They’re listening, aren’t they?”

  “Just tell me who do you think you’re protecting us from?”

  “The SIA. If they knew you were my children, you’d be in danger.”

  I step forward. “Who do you think helped bring you here? They already know we’re your children.”

  His mouth drops open. “You need to get me out of here.”

  I laugh. “No way. You threaten Cam and you expect me to just let you go?” It takes everything in me not to hit him. I take a step backward.

  His expression takes on a frantic, desperate look. He pulls on his restraints. “I need his research. It’s a life or death issue.”

  “Whose research?”

  “Cameron. I need the software he’s testing for my research. I’m close to a breakthrough that will get me out of that moon base hell.”

  I narrow my eyes. “You threaten your own children after not seeing them for over eight years, for a job advancement?”

  The door slides open and I realize I was yelling. “I’m fine,” I quickly say and give the guard a nod.

  She frowns, but steps back and closes the door.

  I turn to my father. He’s studying me with an expression I can’t quite figure out. “Seems you’ve made a few friends.” The words are simple, but the implication behind them is not.

  “I don’t break the law.”

  Pink spreads up his neck and then across his face. The color offsets the white in his red hair. “I haven’t broken any laws.”

  It’s as if he’s transforming into a completely separate person in front of me. His face, the set of his shoulders are all different. Although I know we probably have enough information to charge him, I push him further.

  “That’s not true. You weren’t allowed to leave the moon base. The travel documents you have are fake.” I lean in close. “I have the resources to prove that, just like I was able to figure out who you were before the SIA did.”

  He jerks in his restraints. The cuffs tighten, pulling up his sleeve past his wrists. That’s when I notice something poking out underneath his skin.

  I grab his wrist and run my finger over the bulge. It’s a small metal capsule. There’s still a red scar over it.

  He tugs harder. “Get away from me.”

  I hold his wrist still as I study it. “Commander, come here please.”

  My father freezes in place, his eyes wide.

  The door whooshes open, and rubber soled shoes hurry in.

  “You all right, Miss Toland?”

  “Yes, quite, commander.” I don’t look away from my father’s face. “But did you lose the main vid a few seconds ago?”

  “Yes,” he says quietly.

  “But you still have the extra one recording?”

>   “Yes.”

  “This is how he did it.” I lean to the side so the commander can see the capsule.

  “We scanned him.”

  I let go and step away. “It’s probably some alloy that your scanners can’t detect. When he’s relaxed you can’t even see the capsule, other than the scar over it.”

  The commander swears under his breath. I glance at him, amused.

  “Do you have enough to keep him in custody?” I ask, ignoring his slip-up.

  “Yes, he’ll be locked up for quite some time. We’ll process him on Earth then probably send him to the Starlight Max prison.”

  “Thank you.” I sigh. I’m glad Cam will be safe, but there’s still so many more answers I need. “Can I have another minute with him?”

  The commander looks between my father, who has slumped into his restraints, and me. “Do you mind if Kai joins you? He’s got a few answers after doing some research while you were talking.”

  “Of course.”

  Kai walks in and wraps me in a hug. I bury my face into his shoulder, looking away from my father.

  “I got you,” he whispers in my ear.

  I grin as I let go. “Same.”

  “Who’s he?”

  “My boyfriend. And Cam’s brother.” I grin as his face dissolves into confusion. “The people whose house you tried to break into. Who Cam lives with? They’re his parents now.”

  Confusion turns to anger, his face morphing into that stranger again. “Not if I have anything to do with it. I’ll push the courts to recognize my parental rights. You won’t ever see him again.”

  The life drains out of me. I look to Kai, who doesn’t look fazed. That gives me a bit of hope.

  “You won’t be able to do that, Mr. Toland.” Kai wraps an arm around me, and I lean in to steady myself. “We’ve drawn up adoption papers for Cam. Once Anja signs them, my parents will be his official parents. Even if you get out of jail someday, you’ll never have parental rights over him. Under space law you forfeited your rights when you abandoned and then later threatened him.”