by Peter David
“Yes. Yes, you would think that,” Xyon said, sounding somewhat distant.
He took several steps toward her, and suddenly Tiraud had his knife out and pointed threateningly. “No closer,” he warned.
“Put that away!” Calhoun said sharply and continued, “Xyon, back off. I mean it.”
“Oh no, Calhoun, let him come,” Fhermus challenged. “Let the boys have at it. It’ll do them both good, don’t you think?”
“Sheathe it, Tiraud,” Si Cwan warned him. “Right now. I’ll have none of this. He’s seen you with Kalinda. He sees she’s happy. That’s the end of it.”
Xyon was shaking his head, still staring at Kalinda.
“Apparently he disagrees!” Fhermus said, trying to stir things up.
“I don’t disagr—” Xyon sounded genuinely bewildered, and Robin was starting to wonder whether he had taken some severe blows to the head that they were only just now learning about. “I just…Kalinda? Are you sure it’s…?”
“Enough of this!” declared Fhermus. “Come. Let us adjourn to the main dining hall and speak of more pleasant things than this fellow here.”
With that pronouncement, Fhermus and his entourage headed away. Hanging back for a moment was Si Cwan, who exchanged an inscrutable look with Robin before heading off after Fhermus.
“You shouldn’t have let him do that to you, you know,” Calhoun told Xyon.
Xyon looked as if Calhoun’s words hadn’t registered on him. “Do that? Do what?”
“Get to you. Confuse you.”
“He didn’t get to me, Father, and he didn’t confuse me. She did. Something’s wrong with her. I don’t think that’s Kalinda.”
“What?”
“I don’t! Something seemed—I don’t know—off about her. The way she walked, maybe, or carried herself.”
“And you think you would notice such a thing when her brother himself didn’t?”
“Maybe,” Xyon protested. “A lover knows better than a brother about things, like the way a woman moves her body. It just…it didn’t seem like her. I think something’s wrong. I’m going after her….”
He got only two steps before Kebron was standing in front of him, blocking him, while Calhoun stood behind him and gripped him by the wrist.
“That’s enough, Xyon,” Calhoun said sharply. “Enough lies. Enough attempts to gain sympathy and play others.”
“But I wasn’t! She—”
“Xyon! After everything you’ve put all of us through, it’s time to stop! Do you hear me? It’s time to stop!”
Xyon made a noise that sounded like a frustrated choking, but then, looking small and defeated, he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. I swear, Father, I wasn’t trying to fool you…but…I guess maybe I was trying to fool myself.”
“You mean telling yourself that the only way she could possibly have no interest in you is if she was, in fact, not herself?” suggested Kebron.
“That’s right.” He laughed softly to himself. “Guess that’s a pretty stupid way for me to react to her, huh?”
Understandingly, Calhoun patted him on the back. “You’ve been through a lot, Xyon. You need to get yourself centered. You need some rest, and you need to be among friends.”
“I thought you and the entire crew hated my guts for letting you think I was dead.”
“We do,” Calhoun assured him. “But for now, we’re the closest thing to friends you’ve got.”
ii.
The Ten-Forward of the Trident was empty save for two people, both of them captains.
Mueller glanced with pleasure around the popular rest and recreation hangout. “I love this time,” she said to Mackenzie Calhoun. “There’s a time just between shifts, at night…just now…when this place is usually empty. I’m not quite sure how it happens that way, but it does. Always the same time, no matter which ship I’m on. I noticed it back in my night-shift days and it’s remained one of the few constants in my life. This is the time when I hit the bar.”
Calhoun was nursing the synthehol in his glass. “You know,” he observed, “some would say there’s a certain perversity to frequenting a place designed for socializing only when you know there’s no one there to socialize with.”
“Perversity and I are old friends,” replied Mueller, taking a shot from the schnapps she kept hidden away for such occasions.
Calhoun laughed softly at that, then leaned forward, his attitude changing from convivial to businesslike. “So the Priatians didn’t give you any difficulties?”
“Not really, no. I’ll tell you, I exercised every caution in the book, and it was as if I’d wasted my time. Everything was strictly aboveboard. We retrieved her without so much as a shot being fired. Doc Villers checked her out head to toe and gave her a clean bill of health. In retrospect, it was the single dullest rescue mission I’ve ever undertaken. It’s almost as if it was too easy.”
That caught Calhoun’s attention. “What are you saying?”
“That I’m too suspicious. That sometimes you and I, who are so accustomed to the vessels we command, forget exactly how intimidating it can be to have one of these monsters orbiting your planet. The sight of us alone, with enough firepower to level half a planet, can be daunting to anyone with a guilty conscience.”
“But we’d never use our firepower to level half a planet.”
Kat shrugged. “They don’t have to know that.”
“Except it wouldn’t matter to them if they really did have that gigantic spaceship that Xyon says he saw.”
She shook her head. “They swear they don’t. That it was just an illusion. A mirage.”
“And you believe them?”
Once more she shrugged. “Pretty much. It makes more sense than anything else.”
“I suppose.” He took another sip, wished that there were something more potent within reach, and then said, “In any event…thank you for attending to our little problem. You did well. So what’s your next port of call?”
“Elias sector. Observing a developing world. You?”
“Border patrol around the Selelvian territory. There’s rumors of terrorists trying to cross over, and we’re to look for suspicious vessels.”
“Dangerous times we live in.”
“When aren’t they?” he said without humor. He got up from the table and she did as well. “Thanks for everything, Kat.”
“My pleasure,” she replied, coming around the side so that she was standing close to him, facing him. Calhoun was very aware of her, of the nearness of her, of her scent as his nostrils flared slightly.
Suddenly she draped her arms around him, drew him to her, and kissed him with barely repressed urgency. Calhoun was startled by the raw need that she was displaying, and he had a feeling it was catching her off guard as well.
For a heartbeat he felt as if he were swimming in her, and then he pulled away exactly the same time as she did.
They gazed at each other, and Calhoun’s breath felt heavy in his chest.
“Tell me, Calhoun,” Mueller said, “do you ever think about…you know…picking up where we…?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
She cleared her throat as she stepped back and smoothed her hair, but she did not seem the least bit sorry. She smiled and repeated, “Me neither,” as if to convince herself.
“Good-bye, Captain,” Calhoun said to her with a smile. “Give my love to Elizabeth.”
“I intend to,” she assured him. “In fact, I was so determined to do your love justice, that I was just engaging in a—”
“Refresher course?”
She nodded. “Exactly.”
“I hope it was enough to jog your memory.”
“Consider it jogged.”
iii.
Mueller waited until the transporter room sent word that Mackenzie Calhoun had returned to the Excalibur, and then ordered the Trident to be taken out of orbit and set course for the Elias sector, at warp six.
She couldn’t help but not
ice that, as the Excalibur dropped out of orbit about the same time her ship did, Calhoun’s vessel adopted a cruising speed of warp 1.5. She wondered why the hell he was dragging his heels. He had no more love of Thallonian space than she. So why wasn’t he moving as fast as he could to put the area behind him?
It was almost as if Calhoun thought there might be some sort of trouble that he hadn’t foreseen, and was taking his sweet time lest he was needed.
U.S.S. Excalibur
i.
There was something wrong with her….
As much as Xyon wanted to believe what his father had said…as much as he wanted to embrace that explanation since it was the simplest one… he still couldn’t help but feel that something was deeply wrong.
They had left New Thallon far behind. To the best of Xyon’s knowledge, the wedding had already been held. He had no doubt it was a lavish affair. Lying on his bed in his guest quarters, staring up vacantly at the ceiling, he could see the entire thing playing out in his head. The solemn ceremony followed by the music, the dancing, the sheer joy over the uniting of the House of Cwan and the House of Fhermus. And he could practically hear Tiraud boasting to his friends, talking about that young idiot “space pirate” who thought that he could somehow interfere with what was obviously a destined match. Yes, yes. They would characterize him as a fool, a gnat at best. Someone who wasn’t worth the brain cells required to remember his name.
He wondered if Kalinda was going to be joining in the laughter.
With a moan, he yanked his pillow out from under his head and held it over his face.
“Are you trying to smother yourself?”
The voice caught Xyon completely unawares and he snapped upright, clutching the pillow to his chest in the darkness. “Who’s there?” he demanded. “How did you get in?”
“Morgan let me in,” said the newcomer from the dark. “She does that sometimes when I need her to. We have a relationship, y’see.”
“Morgan? You mean…Robin’s mother? What does she have to do with…where are you?” His eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness. He wasn’t anxious to bring the lights to full. It would both hurt his eyes and make him an easier target, just in case the intruder’s intention was to start shooting at him.
“Morgan’s the computer now.”
“The…computer…? I don’t…who the hell are you?”
“Lights to half.”
The lights obediently partly illuminated the interior of the cabin, and there was a young fellow there who appeared to be in his early teens. He was staring intently at Xyon.
“Who are you?” Xyon demanded again.
“My name’s Moke. I’m…well…I’m sort of Captain Calhoun’s son.”
Xyon didn’t know what to make of that. Calhoun hadn’t given him all that much of an update as to what was what aboard the Excalibur. Nor had Xyon provided an opportunity, for as soon as he had docked the Lyla in the shuttlebay and had emerged, he had pled total exhaustion. And that hadn’t been a lie. Despite the healing process he had undergone, he had felt so mentally and physically battered that it was a wonder he could even stand up. After ascertaining Xyon’s basic medical fitness, he had provided his son with guest quarters and sent him packing off to bed.
Since then, Xyon had lost track of the hours. He could have asked the computer what time it was, but at the moment he was more caught up with the intruder purporting to be his brother.
“You’re sort of his son?”
“Yes.”
“How did that come about?”
“He adopted me. Well…sort of adopted me. Because my mother was killed.”
“Okay,” said Xyon. “So…where’s your real father?”
“Oh, he’s a god.”
That one took Xyon a bit longer to process. “Okay,” he said again.
“People call him Woden. And sometimes Santa Claus.”
A longer pause. A longer “Ooookay.”
Xyon couldn’t help but feel that the boy was practically dissecting him with his eyes. “Look…Mook…?”
“Moke.”
“Right. Moke. Look, Moke…is there some reason you’re here, in the middle of the…of whatever time this is?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a reason?”
“Yes.”
“You want to share it with me?”
Moke contemplated this notion. “I was going to,” he announced, “but I’ve decided not to.”
“Outstanding. Lock up when you leave.” Xyon flopped back onto the bed and could already sense sleep overtaking him once more, when Moke abruptly spoke up again.
“Are you going to replace me?”
Slowly he forced himself to sitting once more, staring in bleary-eyed confusion through the dimness of the light. “Replace you? I’m not even sure what your current function is….”
“I told you: I’m Captain Calhoun’s son.”
“Yeah. Okay. Well…I am, too, and I guess the universe is big enough for two of us. All right? Now go to sleep.”
And suddenly Moke was seized with an almost thunderous rage as he advanced on a stunned Xyon. “Oh, sure. That’s what you say now. That the universe is big enough for the two of us. But I can just see it. I know what’s going to happen. Mac is going to spend more and more time focusing on you and worrying about you and telling everyone proudly about everything that you’ve accomplished—”
“My recent accomplishments weren’t exactly grounds for paternal boasting,” Xyon said.
It didn’t seem as if Moke even heard him. “And he’ll spend even less time with me than he does right now, and he won’t care at all. But if I complain about it, he’ll just send me to other people to talk to about it, and probably he’ll just pack me off to some school or something on Earthside to make way for you in his life—”
“I didn’t want to be in his life! I’ve got my own life, thanks.”
“And why couldn’t you have stayed dead?!”
Xyon gaped at him and then said, “Well, excuse the hell out of me for living.”
And there was something of consummate menace in the boy’s voice as he replied, “You know…I don’t think I will.” With that, he turned on his heel and stormed out. As he did so, Xyon wondered if he’d imagined that the very air around him seemed to crackle.
Then, just as the doors almost shut, they slid open once more and someone else walked in. Xyon stared at the newest arrival, tall and elegant, with Vulcan-like tapered ears, but an air of amusement about him that belied any Vulcan heritage.
“Hello,” he said. “I was passing by and would have let you sleep, but I heard shouting and figured you might be awake.”
“Okay,” said Xyon. “And you are…?”
“Xy.”
“Okay. Interesting name. Similar to mine.”
“Actually, it is yours. My name is Xyon.”
“Really. You have a Xenexian name?”
“Well, technically, I suppose I do.” Xy smiled. “The fact is, I have your name.”
“Okay. You do realize I’m still using it, right?”
Xy strolled across the room and carelessly sat on the edge of the bed. Xyon backed up, making sure to keep the sheets around him, watching Xy suspiciously. He was starting to wonder if Xy was making overtures to him. “You don’t understand. I was named after you.”
“You were…?”
“Named after you, yes.”
“Okay. Just for the record, before I was just mildly bemused. Now I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“The part about being named after me. You’re as old as me…maybe even a little older.”
“Oh! Of course,” and Xy laughed softly. “Everyone here is so used to my personal situation, I tend to forget when encountering someone new. I actually look much older than I am.”
“Okay. Because, you know, you don’t look bad or anything, just…”
“Actually, chronologically, I’m four years, eight mon
ths, nine days old.”
This time the silence was more extended than any that had preceded it.
“Four years?”
“Eight months. Nine days.”
“Well, then I take it back. You look terrible.”
Xy laughed again. “Thank you. I appreciate your candor.” He tilted his head and looked in confusion at Xyon, who was now leaning back and thumping his skull against the wall. “You know, you really shouldn’t be doing that. A concussion could result.”
“Oh, you’re a doctor now?”
“Yes, actually.”
That stopped Xyon. He stared at Xy and said, “So you’re a doctor named after me who’s actually four and a half years old. And just before this I was visited by an envious adopted brother whose father is a god. Have I got that right?”
“More or less. Anyway, I just wanted to meet my namesake and get to know you better. See how the stories I’ve heard compare to the actuality.”
“The stories never compare well to anyone’s actuality. Could you go away now?”
“All right,” said Xy, never losing his air of calm. He got up, headed for the door, paused, and said, “If there’s any way I can be of service…”
“No, thanks,” Xyon said quickly. “I don’t need you to service me…I mean, I don’t need any service…of any kind.”
“All right,” Xy said again, and he walked out of the room.
Xyon sat there in the half-darkness for some time. Then he muttered, “I wish they’d left me in the damned torture chamber,” flopped down, pulled his pillow over his head, and fell into a very fitful sleep, filled with terrifying dreams that all involved Kalinda.
New Thallon
i.
Robin Lefler stood there for a long time in her nightgown as she watched Si Cwan in bed, his back rising and falling steadily in what was a clear simulation of sleep. “The wedding went well, don’t you think?” she ventured. “Everyone seemed to have a good time.” No response. “I’ve never seen Fhermus drink that much. For that matter, I’ve never seen anyone drink that much.” Still no response. “I don’t think Kalinda’s ever looked more radiant. The vows they spoke…they were very touching. It’s nice that they’re spending their wedding night here at the manor tonight. So tell me more about this ‘vacation world’ they’ll be leaving for tomorrow.”