"Then who created you? Well? I'm waiting."
"Clever man. I knew there was a reason I married you other than those sparkly eyes of yours." Vance popped the cork out of the bottle then filled the paper cups with the wine. "Drink."
"When did you get this?"
"I stopped along the way. Where do you think I got that sandwich I fed to you this morning? Sorry about you going all day yesterday without any food. I didn't have any either. I forgot there were no civilized outposts between that sector and the Tlishiness Galaxy."
Ben glared at him and crossed his arms on his bare chest that was still dripping with water. "You think you can tie me up, gag me, blindfold me, then kidnap me and I'm just going to play along like everything is okay?"
"No. Not at all, mate. I know you're upset, but I couldn't have you trying to turn the escape pod around. I was out of options."
"What's so important that you have to show me here?" Ben asked.
"It's a long story."
"Get talking."
"Sit down, have some wine and cheese, and let me start from the beginning." Vance held out his hand. "Please. Please just give me a chance. If you don't like what you hear or if you still feel angry at me for anything I have ever done, you can kill me."
"What?"
Vance reached into his leather jacket to retrieve a .44 magnum revolver. "Here. It's Rav's. I stole it along with my clothes and a few belongings they had on Sandra's ship. I'll let you hold onto it. I'm dead serious, Benjamin. I'm not planning on living for very much longer. Go on. Take it."
Setting his paper cup of wine to the side, Ben took the heavy revolver that glittered in the light from the bright blue sky through the canopy.
Vance sat across from Ben and picked up a cracker with a smear of white cheese on it. "I know how to end this war. I can do it, but not by myself, and not sitting on my throne on Star-World Zero Alpha."
"You know how to end the war? How?"
"With the key. We have to take the key to the right place at the right time with everything else working in unison to get this to work."
"What's the key?"
Vance stuffed the cracker into his mouth and shrugged his shoulders. "Me."
"I don't understand."
"Get comfortable and start drinking that wine, mate. We're going back to the beginning."
"The beginning?" Ben's eyebrows furrowed behind his pink-rimmed glasses. "The beginning of what?"
"The beginning of my time away from Odyssia, from the moment Slayven saved me from death at the hands of those soldiers on Odyssia. It was then that I began devising my plan. It has been over two years since I first started planning everything and setting it into motion. I know you don't understand why I've done some of the things I've done, but know that every single action I've taken has been to bring us to where we are now. When Slayven took me to Star-World Zero Alpha for the first time, I found something about Odyssia that I haven't told anyone about. I discovered myself, I discovered my purpose, and I discovered why I need to die."
* * *
Rav slid down the side of the Galaxy Glider in the fading light of the Elysian sunset and held out his arms to his son who was peeking out from the hatch on top. "Come on down, Nemo. It's okay. I'm right here. It's like one big slide."
Nemo's mint green eyes grew wide as he crawled up then slid down the side, giggling as he went, with his plushy spaceship held tightly in his hand. As soon as he was secure in his father's arms, the boy instantly fell asleep. His weak body slightly quivered as he drew every shallow breath.
With his son in his arms, Rav carried him and his flight bag across the tarmac where other ships were landing and taking off around him. He could not keep his eyes off of his son. While he still had not said a single word, Nemo began responding to things. He had sipped his apple juice, pointed at enemy fighters on the screens inside the Galaxy Glider, and even nibbled on the animal crackers. It was promising, but as the time went on, Nemo began to decline once again. Sure, it had been a long flight for a young boy to sit through, but this was more than sheer exhaustion.
Rav knew Nemo's body was failing. This was no time to let his guard down or foolishly believe that Nemo was all better.
After the walk from the tarmac, back through the security terminal where he was waved through, and towards the barracks on the far side of the empty field, Rav stopped at the door to his secluded private cabin. Balancing Nemo on one hip, keeping his duffel bag on his shoulder, and digging the identification card out of his pocket, Rav managed to open the door and step inside without dropping anything.
The darkness of the main room that consisted of the kitchen, open area with a table and chairs, and beds against the back wall with dividers greeted him with a cool stillness. Rav flipped the light switch on then jumped as he gasped. After gaining his bearings once again, he did his best to salute his superior. "Sir!"
General of Flight Cunningham grinned at him from where he was sitting cross-legged on the dining table in his white wool dress uniform. "At ease, Tillman. Put your son to bed, then come back over here and we'll talk."
"Have I done something wrong, sir?"
"Nothing like that. Hurry, now. I don't have much time before I have to be back at Command Headquarters to meet with Military Director Tolstoy."
Rav closed the door behind him then dropped his bag in the chair beside it. He carried Nemo over to one of the beds and tucked him in before returning to stand at attention in front of Cunningham. "I am ready and listening, sir."
Cunningham jumped off of the table then pulled out two chairs. He sat in one and held out his hand towards the other. "Have a seat. I need to discuss a few things that do not leave this room. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir." Rav sat and removed his flight goggles. What was this about?
"Before we begin, I want you to be assured that you are not in trouble and that whichever side you take will not have any repercussions on you. This is a private matter. In this conversation, we are equals. Our ranks do not matter. If you feel the need to stop me at any time, you are more than welcome to tell me to leave, and I won't bring it up again."
"Go on."
"I have been in contact with the leader of the Red Sand Rebels, Prince Benjamin Trainor. He assured me that he was fully compliant with my demands in exchange for an alliance."
"An alliance with who?" Rav asked.
"With me. I have a force of two hundred ships and one thousand sworn pilots with their gunner partners who have agreed to join me and the Red Sand Rebels. We will be joining Prince Benjamin and his allies to bring down the Elysian Flight Force, the rest of the military, then the government itself. I want you to command my rebel pilots."
"We're going against the Flight Force?"
Cunningham took off his golden beret and turned it over in his hands as he spoke. "It has to be destroyed. The entire Elysian Government has to be destroyed. Those greedy bastards in Congress are ripping families apart. They don't want to end this war. They want power. To get that power, they will stop at nothing. Don't you see that? They kidnap children and kill them by forcing them to fight. Once they exhaust that plan, who's next? I'll tell you. No one. There won't be anyone left for them to conscript. Humanity won't be able to rebuild itself. Even now, entire planets are being forced into service. Men, women, children, the disabled, it doesn't matter. They're being loaded onto transport ships and sent off to fight with minimal training. They're not expected to come back alive. We have to stop this while we have the ability to stop this. My niece and nephew were taken. I received word two hours ago that they were already gone. They were killed in Southern Elysia by friendly fire."
"I'm so sorry, sir."
"It's this that is fueling my decision now. What do you say to my proposal, Tillman? You help me bring down the Flight Force and the military, then you help me destroy the Elysian government. After that, I become president. In exchange for your help in this, I will ensure that you and your son will be fully provided for afte
r the end of the war. You will have a house, education, food, everything. You will never have to work another day in your life. Nemo will go to college, we will bring in the best doctors and robotics experts in the universe to work on him and get him back to pristine condition. What is your answer? Will you join me?"
"I already have ties to the Red Sand Rebels. Even without that taken into account, I feel the same way. If the military has its way, there will be no humans left to repopulate. We will fall apart and disappear. We have to do all we can to keep the human race alive."
"I knew you would say that, Tillman. Then if I have your sworn allegiance, I have an assignment for you. How good are you with explosives?"
"Uh . . ."
Cunningham threw his head back in laughter. "I have everything in the bag underneath this table for you. Twenty bricks of C-4 and a portable detonator. You are to go to the tarmac at midnight. There should not be anyone out there at that time. You will sabotage every ship and every fighter plane there. Bring them down. With that amount of destruction from someone on the inside, Tolstoy and Congress will be running around like a headless chicken. That's what we want. We want them to panic. Then we start on the next phase of our plan."
"And if I get caught?"
"If you get caught, talk your way out of it. But you won't get caught. I will issue an order to the entire Flight Force that pilots, gunners, and engineers are to stay in their bunkers until morning bell. You'll be fine. And you have my word that I'm not trying to get you into trouble. If anything does happen to you, I will take the fall, not you." Cunningham motioned to the sleeping boy on the bed against the wall. "You have your son to care for. That's your number one priority right now. Keep him safe. I'll do what I can to help."
Rav did not have much of a choice in the matter. If this was the way Cunningham wanted to do this and if it would help save lives, then who was he to say no? "Then I'm your man. I'll get out there at midnight and do it."
"I knew I could count on you, Tillman. Good luck."
* * *
Ben's mouth had fallen open twenty minutes before, but it still remained that way. He had just spent over an hour sitting there in absolute astonishment as he listened to Vance's plan that had been in the works for years. The funny, quirky man he married was instead a master manipulator with a hidden agenda. "You're smart, Vance, but you're not that smart. You can't be that smart. I . . . I don't know what to say."
"So?" Vance grinned as he leaned back on his hands. "How do you feel about me now?"
"You're . . . a genius. You're . . ." Ben stared at those mismatched eyes with endless wonder in his own. "I am so sorry for ever doubting you. Please forgive me. I had no idea. Truly, I . . . I'm at a loss for words."
Vance finished off the rest of the wine then spun the bottle in his fingers. "Do you see why I've done the things I've done? It wasn't to harm anyone. It was to save them. I had to get to this point before anyone would listen to me. Now I have all the pieces on my side in play. All I have to do now is wait for Rav to set his on the board. Then we make our moves."
"He won't. He never will, not as long as Nemo is with him."
"He will if I ensure Nemo's safety. My son will live through this."
"But what if Olonictu gets its way?" Ben asked.
"I will make sure that never happens. For the sake of the universe, we have to keep Nemo alive."
"But this plan could destroy him. He's a child, Vance."
"I know. My plan has the possibility of destroying everyone, but that's a risk we have to take."
Ben stared down at his left hand were his wedding band used to be. "And who have I been to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you were working on this plan for these two years, then you were working on it when we met. Have I just been one of your pawns in your game?"
"You've been my queen." Vance reached across the rock to take Ben's hand in his. "You are powerful and always by my side. You can do things I can't even dream about doing. You are so resilient, Benjamin. At first, I only saw you as a pawn, but then you became so much more to me than that. You became an integral part in my plan. I wouldn't have gotten this far . . . no . . . I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. It is for that reason that I will make sure you live through this as well."
Ben sighed and looked around at the lively jungle surrounding them. "So why are we here? What is this place, anyway?"
"The planet Ivsliss. It is the smallest planet in the Tlishiness Galaxy. It is also the rumored birthplace of the Great Horned Mother. Legend has it that she gave birth to all Azimandians. But it's more complicated than that. There are also connections to Olonictu here. The Great Horned Mother is . . . the Olonictic Hive Queen. They are one in the same."
"What? How?"
"The original race of aliens broke off into two factions. Over hundreds of thousands of years in different environments and conditions, the two factions evolved. One, the Olonictians, maintained their connection to the Hive Queen while the other, the Azimandians, turned instead to violence to drown out the voices of the hive. After so long conditioning themselves to not hear it anymore, they became lost to the hive mind."
"That's why the Azimandians don't come here. They're afraid of the Hive Queen."
Vance nodded his head. "Yes, but I'm about to make a deal with her."
"A deal?"
"Do you know what a Faustian contract is?"
No. He couldn't. "Evil. Don't. You can't do this."
Vance sighed in frustration, but relaxed his muscles to calm himself. "But do you know what it is, mate?"
"It's where someone sells their soul to the devil in exchange for something."
"Well, in this case, I am selling myself to the Hive Queen for an alliance. Once you're done being in a state of shock from my story, get up and we'll head over to that temple. And don't try to talk me out of doing this. We need the Hive Queen's help or we will be fighting against Olonictu as well. Her daughter was the one keeping Rav in that alternate reality. We can't take the chance of her doing that, or worse, to someone else. Come on, Ben. You like religious things. We have an alien goddess to go pray to."
Chapter 4
Red, yellow, and blue crayon was scribbled across the walls, candy-shelled chocolates and popcorn covered the floor like colorful snow, and soda dripped down from the ceiling into puddles on the unmade bed. Fourteen seven-year-old boys ran around the room, some of them wrestling, some of them bouncing on the bed, and others jumping impatiently in front of the cyborg who sat in the corner. The only boy who was not making a ton of noise and destroying the bedroom was sitting in the back between the bed and the wall, wrapped from head to toe in toilet paper like a mummy.
The boys all gasped with wide green eyes as Derek's metal and computerized face plates blinked from red to green with rows of numbers. He then held up his hands where a container of bubbles materialized out of his creation ports on his palms. The boys grabbed the plastic tube and began filling the air with multitudes of bubbles.
Slayven could only watch the chaos unfolding as he stood with his back against the door. Every feeling of ever wanting to be a father vanished. There was no way he could clean up that mess. There was no way he could make the boys go to sleep. It was nearly midnight, but they were screaming and singing at the top of their lungs. Overwhelmed by the scene playing out in front of him, he sneaked over to the quietest corner of the room, but he tripped and fall face-first onto the floor in a mass of unrolled toilet paper.
He looked up through his feathered black hair to see the boy bound in toilet paper with tears soaking through the sheets on his cheeks. Slayven picked himself up then held out his hand to the kid. "Are you okay? I didn't see you over here. Don't be scared of me. I'm one of the good Azimandians."
The boy cowered away from him and his tiny voice cried out from the mass of toilet paper. "Where's Daddy? I want my daddy!"
"Oh, wait. You must be the one we were all told about. You're the one who always wants
to be right there with Ben. Are you Isaac?"
He nodded his head and whimpered.
"Okay. It's all right. Come here and I'll get this toilet paper off of you. Did your brothers wrap you in all this? I won't let them bully you." As Slayven unwrapped the sniffling boy, he weighed his options. When the other boys broke out a can of shaving cream and began spraying it at each other, Slayven's untapped paternal instincts kicked in. He lifted Isaac up and held him on one of his slender hips. "You know what? You're coming with me. Let's get you out of here and away from this craziness. You and I are going to have a talk."
"Am I in trouble?"
"No, not at all." Slayven went to the door, held up a thumbs-up sign to Derek, then hurried down the hallway as quickly as he could to escape the chaos. Once the door slid open to his room, he stepped inside and set the boy on the small bed that was covered in red plaid throw pillows. "Wanna watch cartoons?"
"Okay."
Slayven found the remote control then dove onto the bed next to the boy and flipped through the channels until Isaac pointed at a cartoon with talking animals in a zoo. He smiled while the boy propped his head up in his hands and kicked his feet behind him as he watched the show. "You can stay in here with Uncle Slayven until your daddy gets home."
"Is Daddy coming home? Why did he leave us?"
"Your daddy will come back as soon as he can. And he didn't leave you. He loves you. He loves all of your brothers too. Don't worry about that. Are you hungry?"
"Yeah. The others ate all the sandwiches."
"They didn't leave you one?"
Isaac shook his head and began sucking on the blanket.
"Well, I don't know what human younglings eat, exactly, but I'll see what I have over here." Slayven reached over to the bedside table and pulled the drawer open. He took out a plastic spoon and a jar of peanut butter. "Do you eat this?"
"Yeah. With bread."
"I don't have any bread. Can you eat it by itself?"
The Genesis Sequence Books 6-10 Page 41