Bethany Anne grinned. Got it in one. After all these long years, we’re finally almost ready to take the fight to them instead of running around the galaxy stamping out the wars they create after the fact. She sniffed, catching a rich aroma she hadn’t had the pleasure of smelling for a while. “Italian for lunch, ladies?”
Jean nodded.
“Oh, yes,” Gabrielle agreed.
Tabitha finished the last of her corndog and threw the wrapper in a nearby trashcan. “I could go for lasagna.”
They tracked down the source of the deliciousness. It was a tiny place almost hidden between two larger, much busier eating establishments, neither of which smelled half as good as the cozy bistro. Bethany Anne led them inside, where they were greeted warmly and seated by the owner.
“What’s good?” Tabitha asked without raising her head from the menu.
“All our food is cooked from scratch using fresh ingredients, so I tell my customers that if they want a culinary experience they’ve come to the right place.” He gave them a rueful smile. “However, I must tell you that food here takes a little while longer than the places on either side.”
Bethany Anne leaned back in her chair. “How much longer?” She didn’t mind waiting a little while if the food was worth it, but she didn’t have the whole day.
Tabitha put her menu down. “Never mind how long it takes. I’ve already got my heart set on lasagna. Can you smell that sauce?” She almost wished she could take some for Ryu and Hirotoshi.
But then again, maybe it was best that she didn’t. That way, she didn’t have to admit that she meant well but then ate her gift en route back to High Tortuga.
Chapter Fifteen
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Immersive Recreation and Training Scenario, Dinosaur Island
“So are you two good?” Alexis and Gabriel nodded. John stood and braced himself to return to his body. “Michael, I’m ready.”
Nothing happened.
He tried again, a little louder in case they had the volume down out there. “Michael? You can get me out of here now.”
The corner of Alexis’ mouth twitched, and Gabriel snickered.
John tried to activate his HUD, but nothing happened. His brow furrowed. “Very funny, Michael. You had no intention of letting me out of this da…rned game, did you?”
“Does that mean you’re going to play, too?” Alexis asked.
“Say yes, Uncle John!” Gabriel pleaded.
John sighed and tucked away his thoughts of revenge for later. “I guess your dad isn’t giving me much choice, although it’s always good to get some time with my favorite twins.”
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Michael’s Office, Vid-Doc Room
Eric threw a handful of popcorn at John on the screen. “I won’t tell his godsons that he said that.”
Scott laughed. “I think Stephen and JM could handle it. They’re not little kids.”
Darryl came back from the bathroom and grabbed the popcorn from Eric on his way to his seat. “What did I miss?”
Michael put his feet back up after Darryl had passed. “Just John realizing he’d been played. Want me to play it back?”
Darryl grinned as he sat down. “Oh, hell yeah!”
The three clambered up the side of the steep valley. The children were out of breath again. At the top, they came to a stop against a half-embedded boulder and rested with their hands on their knees while they sucked in grateful lungsful of virtual air.
John folded his arms and looked around. The path was gone, and there was no discernible route through the thickening jungle from where he was standing. “What’s the objective here?”
Alexis raised her eyebrows. “Uncle John, we didn’t review the game objectives before we started.”
Gabriel looked at his feet. “We were too excited to play the game.”
John’s shoulders dropped. He smiled at the twins and ruffled their heads. “Huh. Well, I guess I can’t be upset about it if I didn’t review them either. What did you learn from this?”
Gabriel gave the answer. “That we should always review the available information.”
John nodded. “Anything else?”
The twins looked at each other, then at John with butter-wouldn’t-melt expressions. “That sometimes the adults get it wrong too?” Alexis offered.
“You’re right,” John told her. He grinned at her incredulous expression and set off down the next slope into the trees. “Come on, we’ll work it out as we go.”
The children scrambled after him. “What if we go the wrong way?” Gabriel asked.
John looked back over his shoulder to make sure they were following. “Since your dad decided to mess with me, I think it’s only fair to share what he gave away before he trapped me in here. We’re heading for that mountain over there.”
“I could have told you that. This place has an order to it.”
“That’s because your dad and Eve designed this game to lead you through the tasks.”
Gabriel looked puzzled for a second, then dismissed any anxiety he may have had and plowed after John on the path he’d made.
Alexis stewed in consideration.
John noted the difference between the two, as he so often did. Gabriel was like a clear sky on a sunny day, where Alexis had depths even now that John couldn’t fathom.
They walked for a while, with John clearing the path ahead for the children. The jungle soon began to press in closer on all sides.
“Time for a break, children.” He paused a beat to let them catch up.
“Are we any closer to the mountain?” Alexis asked.
Alexis began to pace, tapping her lips with a finger in a way that gave John the shivers.
Nothing good ever came of that expression on her mother’s face.
“This game can’t be just about playing explorer. It’s too big, and I still haven’t worked out why we can feel everything.” She turned dark, assessing eyes on John. “What else did Dad let slip? I just know he wouldn’t be able to resist showing off a little.”
John bit back his laughter. “I’m afraid he resisted this time, sweetie. Apart from our direction he gave me nothing.”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “Great.”
They were surrounded on all sides by a wall of green. Gabriel turned a slow circle. “Where are we?”
“Let’s see.” John glanced around, looking for a tree that was thick enough to support him. They grew too close together to grow outward, so they were mostly too slender for him to climb to the top and get a clue about their location.
Alexis worked out what he was doing and scampered over to shinny up one of the tall, thin trunks.
“Be careful up there,” John called. “Remember, you can be hurt in here.”
“I will,” she replied. She dug her feet into the trunk and used her hands to pull herself up, just like on the ropes in physical training. She scrunched her eyes shut against the glare of the sun as her head broke through the canopy.
The rays were warm, and the wind danced around her. Alexis wondered how she could feel so refreshed by the sensation when she wasn’t really here. She knew Eve had something to do with it because the EI and her father had been secretly planning this for weeks.
They thought she didn’t know, but she’d caught a glimpse here and there when his mind was in one of its rare unguarded moments—which usually happened when her mother walked into the room.
“What can you see?” Uncle John’s voice reached her from below.
Alexis snapped her attention back to the task at hand and brought her hand up to her eyes to shade them from the strong afternoon sun. She located the mountain and scrambled back down the tree trunk.
John was waiting with outstretched arms when she got back near to the ground. He put her down gently, and she pointed in the direction they needed to take. “This way.”
Eric peered in at the windows in the Vid-Doc doors one at a time. John and the twins appeared to be sleeping peacefully, belyin
g the effort of the grueling trek they were making on the screen. He turned back to the room. “So they’re not being hurt physically?”
Eve shook her head. “No. The Vid-Doc is implanting the reality directly into their brains, playing their central nervous systems like a harp.”
Scott turned from the screen. “A harp?”
“A sufficient analogy.” She walked over to the empty Vid-Doc and gestured for Scott and Eric to come and take a look.
Darryl came over and stuck his head inside, leaving Michael alone to watch the children and John. “It looks like an ordinary Pod-doc.”
Eve inclined her head. “It’s pretty much the same as the Pod-doc setup. It was just a question of repurposing the machinery and recalibrating the programming to create an authentic sensory experience.”
“And the children need to feel pain, why?” Scott asked. “It’s a little intense for a game. Just sayin.’”
Michael chose not to answer.
Eve smiled. “Training. This method is superior, especially considering where the lessons are leading.”
She lifted a shoulder. “You know how it is. No pain, no gain.”
The forest eventually thinned out into grassland. John kept his eye on the children while they ran ahead, energized by the sudden freedom of movement that leaving the jungle behind provided.
They held out their hands to be tickled by the waist-high grass as they ran. John looked up as if there was a camera above him somewhere. “I hope you’re getting good video of this for Bethany Anne. She loves this stuff.” He caught himself looking up and shook his head. “Just keep that bit to yourselves.”
The grassland continued on for a ways. They passed the odd herd of grass-eating dinosaurs, but the crossing was otherwise uneventful until they reached the tree-lined bank of a fast-flowing river.
Alexis and Gabriel stood side by side in the shade of an overhanging tree, looking at the river between them and the mountain in the not-too-far distance. “I think we found the next challenge, Uncle John.”
Gabriel looked up at John. “Should we try to swim across it?”
Alexis paled. “No way. We don’t even know what’s in there. We might get eaten!”
“Don’t look at me. It’s your game, I’m just the muscle.” John sat on a boulder, folded his arms, and left them to work out a solution.
A short time later they had cobbled together a raft from an assortment of tree trunks and vines, combined with a fair amount of sweat and repressed cursing from John.
Alexis stood back, finally satisfied with the raft’s sturdiness. She eyed the river warily. “I’m still worried there might be something waiting in the water.”
Gabriel had similar concerns. “Well, we have to cross, or we can’t get to the mountain.” He pointed at a herd of small, feathery dinosaurs near the water’s edge. “They’re there. They look like ducks. What if we shoo them into the water and see what happens?”
Alexis nodded and they ran to the water’s edge, waving their arms. The duck-dinos took to the water, screeching their displeasure at the perceived threat.
The three watched the duck-dinos bobbing across the river. No creature from the deep rose to snatch them. Gabriel waited until they reached the other bank and made to give the raft a shove. “I think we can just go.”
Alexis looked up at John, who shrugged. “Now’s as good a time as any.”
They maneuvered the makeshift raft to the water’s edge, and John held it steady while Alexis and Gabriel climbed on. He pushed it out into the water and held onto the back while he kicked to propel them to the other side of the river.
Alexis wrapped her arms around her knees. “I’m so glad you’re super-strong, Uncle John.”
John chuckled through a faceful of water and kicked harder.
Gabriel kept one eye on the duck-dinos the whole time. They’d clambered out on the other side and were slipping and sliding through the mud churned up by a herd of large hairy, horned creatures a little way up the bank.
The twins observed the behavior of the herd with fascination. The older creatures formed a loose protective circle around the young and the elderly while they drank from the river. The smallest of them played in the mud at the water’s edge.
They had just about reached the halfway point the river when out of nowhere a massive scaled beast rose jaws-first out of the water, latched onto one of the hairy creatures, and dragged it under.
Alexis screamed.
John looked to see where the danger was coming from. Gabriel pointed at the ruckus on the riverbank, and John kicked to alter their course a little. They finally reached the bank, and the children scrambled onto solid ground while John waded through the shallows.
The mud pulled at their legs, and Alexis became mired until John stomped through and scooped her onto his shoulder.
Gabriel found a path of sorts. He hopped from one grassy tussock to another until the protrusions joined together and his feet landed without a squelch. He stood watching the carnage unfold farther upriver while he waited for John and Alexis. The hairy creature was being torn to pieces in the shallows by a number of the giant predators as the rest of the herd bellowed and stamped helplessly at the water’s edge.
John reached dry ground and deposited Alexis beside her brother.
Alexis grabbed a handful of grass and tried to brush some of the mud off. “Next time, we build a bridge or go around or learn how to fly!”
Gabriel grinned. “That was a close one!”
Michael and Scott sat back on the couch, and Eric and Darryl relaxed. They had all been on the edge of their seats when the enormous reptile had attacked the pachyderm with the children so close by.
“Gabriel wasn’t at all afraid,” Darryl noted. “Kid’s got balls already.”
Michael smirked.
Scott let out a low whistle. “That was too close. Bethany Anne is going to kill you when she finds out they could have been eaten.”
Michael shrugged, not taking his eyes from the screen. “Eve, what are the chances of the children dying?”
“Zero, Michael,” she replied. “You don’t want them to die at this stage.”
Scott didn’t try to hide his disbelief. He turned to Michael. “You’re really going to let them die? I thought you were kidding about that.”
Michael frowned. “I would never joke about something so serious as my children’s lives.”
Eric and Darryl looked between Michael and the screen with utter shock.
Scott gaped. “Really?”
Michael nodded. “Yes, really. Just not right now. They are not ready for that lesson yet.”
Eyebrows went up at “yet.”
“What about John?” Darryl asked.
Michael shrugged again and tuned out.
Eve sniffed. “Well, John owes me money from a bet he lost last week. Things are very iffy for him.”
Chapter Sixteen
Independent Trading Vessel Maiden’s Rage, Meeting Room
The captain of the Maiden slammed his fist on the table to silence the squabbling. “Quiet, all of you! We lost too much time on the last drop-off, not to mention the loss of profit because we were late on delivery.”
The officers stared at the captain, muted by his show of violence. The first mate, Brakely, who had been with him for more years than Einoch could count, scrutinized him. “You okay, Einoch?”
Einoch waved to indicate he was. “It’s just the time constraint on this load. We need to make it to the next drop-off before we forfeit the next payment as well.” He straightened. “So I want your suggestions on how we cross this part of space without getting stopped by pirates or customs, not endless bitching about whose fault it was we were late.”
“The ship has Gate tech,” Brakely offered. “I wasn’t going to ask, but we’ve all been wondering why you haven’t used it to get us out of this mess already.”
The captain shook his head. “Gating into unknown space is fucking dangerous. I don’t want to use th
e Gate drive unless it’s an emergency.”
“This is an emergency,” Brakely argued. “We’re going to be stuck out here in a dead ship if we don’t get paid.”
Einoch wasn’t quite convinced. “That’s another factor none of you are considering. With the size of the ship, it’s just too expensive to Gate. Besides, we haven’t had this ship long enough to have figured out the systems. We have no idea how to fix it if the drives fail. Every jump we take is a risk.”
The crew didn’t quite break out in an argument. However, Einoch could see from the looks that passed around the table that they were skating on the edge of mutiny. Nothing like a failed job or two to foment discontent in a crew who hadn’t been through the shit together.
Einoch sighed. He missed piracy, where subordinates did as they were damn well told or faced the penalty of his wrath.
Of course, he hadn’t liked facing the penalty himself, so here he was on a stolen Leath ship herding a crew of almost-legitimate traders.
Einoch gave his first mate a sour look. “Stow it, Brakely. If I’d wanted your opinion, I’d have thrown you a biscuit. Give me solutions.”
The line of stumpy ganglia that ran front to back along the center of Brakely’s skull rippled. “You have my recommendation, Captain. This is a Leath ship, and outside of Empire technology, you won’t find anything stronger or sturdier. We can defend ourselves if necessary.”
“Yeah,” someone piped up from the far end of the table. “Fuck the expense. We’ll more than recover the cost with this payday. That’s if you pull your heads out of your asses and take the risk to gain the profit.”
Einoch shrugged. He couldn’t argue with that logic. He stood and placed his hands on the table. “Profit is the priority, right?” The faces of his officers showed him he’d made the right choice. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get us shipshape and ready to jump.”
Brakely grinned. “That’s more like it. Right, you heard the captain. I want every station and every area of the ship to sparkle. We’re not going to jinx this by running dirty.”
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