Heart of the Nebula

by Joe Vasicek

“James!” his father said sharply. The kitchen fell suddenly silent.

  Jessica took a deep breath and smiled, but there were tears in the corners of her eyes. “Well, it’s good to have a girl in the house again,” she said, reaching out to take Kyla’s hand warmly in her own.

  Is this what my mother would have been like? Kyla wondered. Her memories were dim, but she could feel them rising within her. Her father had been a lot like Adam, firm and austere, but loving in his own sort of way. He’d died when the Hameji had first taken over—Kyla couldn’t remember exactly how—and that had left her and her mother alone. That was when the hard times had come, and everything had fallen apart. But before that, she had a family where she felt safe and loved.

  Why are they opening their home to me like this? she thought, her hands shaking ever so slightly. I’m not in their family. They don’t owe me any of this. Why are they being so kind to me?

  “Is there anything else about you we should know?” Adam asked, a little gruffly. His expression was not unkind, though.

  Kyla bit her lip. “I-I don’t know,” she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

  “What was that?”

  “She said she doesn’t know, Dad,” James answered.

  “Well, we’ll take care of you as best we can,” said Jessica.

  “Why?” Kyla blurted.

  The others frowned and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

  Kyla’s arms started shaking, and she found it suddenly hard to breathe. “Why are you doing all this for me?”

  Instead of answering her with words, Jessica stood up and gave her a hug. The last of Kyla’s defenses broke down, and she began to quietly sob. It was as if her life before had been a nightmare, and only now was she finally waking up.

  I don’t deserve any of this, she thought to herself. I’ll never be able to pay them back. Somehow, though, none of that really mattered. What mattered was that she’d found a home.

  James’s wrist console beeped, and he set down his fork to check it. Instantly, he was on his feet.

  “Sorry, Mom and Dad. I have to go.”

  “Are you sure it can’t wait, son?” Adam asked. “We hardly ever see you these days.”

  “I’m sure, Dad. Sorry.”

  He gave each of his parents a hug before quite literally running out the door. Kyla watched it slowly shut behind him and wondered why he would ever want to leave this place.

  “James has so many duties,” Jessica told her, as if she could read her mind. “We’re very proud of him, even if we don’t get to see him very often.”

  “He’s the last one we have left,” Adam muttered.

  “Not anymore,” said Jessica, giving Kyla another hug.

  Kyla’s lip was quivering too much for her to answer, but she nodded and returned the hug. Thank you, she thought inwardly. Thank you for giving me a home.

  * * * * *

  James half-ran, half-walked down the narrow corridor towards the nearest elevator shaft. He hated to leave his parents in the middle of family dinner, especially when he was supposed to be introducing them to Kyla, but this was urgent.

  A Hameji outrider had arrived unexpectedly not half an hour ago. It was too small to be the advance force of a strike team, but too unusual to ignore. James’s contacts in the Defense Corps had notified him immediately, but he’d left it for them to handle.

  Until the outrider had docked, that was. The pilot was Jahan, and he’d requested a personal meeting with James at once.

  He tapped his feet impatiently as the elevator descended toward the spaceport at the lowest level of the station. Why did these things have to be so unbearably slow? Fortunately, no one stopped to get on.

  His wrist console chimed. It was Lars.

  “Hello, James?” Lars said as he answered the call. “Are you there?”

  James sighed. “What is it, Lars?”

  “Have you been following the discussion forums in the General Assembly? All the centralists have gone unusually silent, while the patrician’s office has been holding closed-channel discussions with them. It looks like the patrician is up to something.”

  “Lars, can we talk later? Now isn’t a good time.”

  “I know, you’ve got your family dinner, but I saw that you stepped out for a minute and thought that we could chat.”

  James frowned and checked the privacy settings on his console. Sure enough, he’d forgotten to turn them off.

  “You seem to have an in with them,” Lars continued. “The patrician’s inner circle, I mean. Remember how we talked about it on the Freedom’s Star?”

  “Yes, Lars, but now is really not a good time. Can we talk later?”

  Lars paused. “All right. How about we talk over lunch sometime?”

  “That would be great.”

  “Can you do tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, sure,” said James. The elevator slowed as it reached the lower level.

  “Tomorrow upshift at eleven?”

  “Of course. Bye, Lars.”

  He cut the connection and hurried onto the concourse. There weren’t many people on this side of the spaceport, but he still drew stares from some of the bar patrons as he broke into a run. If Jahan had come all this way to meet with him, it meant that the Hameji were up to something—and he doubted that that was good.

  Sterling was waiting for him by the spaceport entrance. His eyes widened as James all but barreled into him.

  “Hello, Lieu—I mean, Commander,” he said, stepping back as he gave a salute. “We have a visitor, sir—someone who wants to speak with you.”

  “Of course,” said James as he hastily returned the salute. “Where is he?”

  “We, ah, commandeered one of the vacant offices for a meeting space. He’s waiting there for you now.”

  “Take me to him.”

  “Right away, sir,” said Sterling. He turned and set off at an awkward half-run, James following close behind.

  When they reached the vacant office—behind a customs booth that had been gathering dust for some time—James stepped over the DO NOT ENTER tape and went straight for the office. The door was propped open by a metal beam, and the display monitors on the computer terminal had been removed, leaving the wiring exposed. There was still a desk, though, with a smooth basalt finish, and an overstuffed couch beneath the window. Jahan sat in the center of it.

  I remember you, James thought as the young boy stood up. You were the one who took me to see my sister back at Gaia Nova. He was dressed in the typical Hameji officer’s uniform, a flat gray canvas shirt with a green sash cutting diagonally across his chest. As James entered, he stood up to his full height, which barely came up to the middle of James’s chest. The austere expression on his boyish face would have been comical, except for the unusual circumstances of their meeting.

  “Master Jahan,” said James, bowing. Sterling did the same.

  Jahan scowled at Sterling and flicked his wrist at him. “Send servant away,” he said in his thick Hameji accent. It was clear that he didn’t speak the language of the conquered territories very well.

  He’s not my servant, he’s my wingman, James wanted to retort. Even so, he nodded to Sterling, who stepped out.

  “Good,” said Jahan. “I bring message for you.”

  “What sort of message?”

  “From Sholpan,” Jahan continued, as if James hadn’t spoken. “You will take family and come my ship. You will do now.”

  James frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  The scowl on Master Jahan’s boyish face widened—apparently, his limited vocabulary included profanity. “Is no time for argue. You will do as say and take family my ship.”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  “Is Sholpan’s orders,” said Jahan. “I go, I save you from Tagatai. Is coming big fleet, come very soon for war.”

  James’s legs stiffened, and his cheeks began to pale. “You said a Hameji battle fleet is coming?”

  “Is coming,
yes. Is killing you all, is reason Sholpan command me come. You take family my ship, you come now.”

  Stars of Earth, James thought. A sudden wave of dizziness came over him, and he steadied himself against the desk.

  “Why you wait? You come, you take—”

  “I can’t do that, Master Jahan. I have to stay.”

  Jahan frowned. “You stupid? If stay, will die.

  Not if I have anything to do with it.

  “I appreciate the offer, Master Jahan, but I have to stay with my people. I’m sure you can understand.”

  “No. Not understand.”

  James put a hand on his shoulder and gently herded him toward the door. Jahan tried to fight back, but he was too small to shrug off James’s grasp.

  “Stop!” he shouted. “What you do?”

  “I’m sending you back to your ship,” said James. “Go back and get out of here, before Tagatai’s men find out what you were up to.”

  “But what tell Sholpan? She give orders!”

  “Tell her that I’m going to be okay. Tell her that I’ll take care of the family.”

  “Unacceptable. She say take family and go!”

  That’s because she’s just as stubborn as I am, James thought, smiling in spite of himself. Stars, I’m going to miss her.

  “I am taking the family, Jahan. I’m just not taking them with you.”

  They stepped through the door and out into the terminal, gathering some strange looks from a couple of nearby guards.

  “Unacceptable! You—”

  “Get back to your ship,” said James. “I’m not coming with you—not if you force me at gunpoint.”

  Master Jahan’s face went red, and he stood up straight as if to size up his opponent. For a hair’s breadth of a moment, James thought the kid would actually pull a gun and try him at his word. Instead, he turned and left in a huff.

  “What was that about?” asked Sterling, his face darkened in concern. “It sounded as if—”

  “Double the watch, Sterling. Put everything we’ve got on those scanners—if anything shows up, let me know.”

  Sterling frowned. “What? Sir, what’s going on?”

  But James was already running back to the elevator.

  * * * * *

  Sara didn’t think she could stand any more meetings. Her father had scheduled her to meet with virtually every centralist think tank in order to drum up support for their PR campaign, but hadn’t authorized her to reveal anything. As a result, she felt like an overdressed cheerleader in front of a crowd of skeptics. Fortunately, the dayshift was over, and she didn’t have to endure another political event until the next one.

  “Incoming call,” Nina said as Sara collapsed on her apartment’s couch. She groaned and resisted the urge to bury her face in a pillow.

  “Tell them I’m busy, Nina.”

  “The caller is Commander McCoy, mistress. Shall I tell him to try later?”

  James? Sara thought, perking up at once.

  “Never mind, Nina. I’ll take the call.”

  The apartment speakers chimed, and James’s voice came through. “Hello? Sara?”

  “Hi, James,” said Sara, sitting up and leaning forward. “What’s up?”

  “We’ve got a problem, Sara. The Hameji are coming and could be here any moment. We need to get ready to jump out—now.”

  Sara covered her face and groaned—quietly, though, so that James couldn’t hear. For the briefest of moments, she’d thought that he was making a personal call. But no, it was only another crisis that had driven him to her.

  “What makes you say that, James?”

  “A Hameji outrider just arrived from my sister to take me and my family away. The pilot said that an attack was imminent, and if we stayed, we’d all die.”

  “Okay,” said Sara, her hands beginning to shake. “What should we do?”

  “We should get everything ready and jump out as soon as we can.”

  Bypass the General Assembly with no sign of danger? We might as well hand the opposition my father’s head on a platter.

  “Hold on, James. Let’s take some time and think about this.”

  “We don’t have time,” he told her. “If we’re still here when the Hameji show up, they’ll blow the Colony to pieces.”

  “But we haven’t launched the PR campaign yet. If we bypass the General Assembly without any sign of danger, the opposition will rip us to shreds.”

  “But if we don’t, we’ll all be dead.”

  “Just—just calm down for a second,” she said, scrambling to come up with a reason that would satisfy him. “There’s still a shift of workers out in the smelters and asteroid mines. If we leave before they get back, they’ll all be killed.”

  James paused. “Dammit, you’re right. How soon can we have them back?”

  As long as it takes to keep you from committing political suicide.

  “I’ll call up Ståle and get on that right away. And James—please, don’t do anything crazy without letting me know first.”

  “I’m not crazy, Sara. This is real.”

  “I know. Keep me posted.”

  The call ended. Exasperated, Sara fell back against the couch. At least you won’t have all those meetings tomorrow, she tried to console herself.

  It was poor comfort.

  “Nina, put me on the line with Ståle Anderson. Tell him it’s urgent.”

  “Of course,” said Nina. “Right away, mistress.”

  Perhaps this is for the best, she thought. It would be a lot easier to galvanize the people in the face of impending disaster than it would without an external threat. Of course, that meant that she had to keep James occupied until the Hameji actually showed up.

  Then again, what if James was right? What if by waiting, they all got killed? She was risking the lives of everyone in the Colony with every moment they waited. But if that was the only way to put the exodus plan into motion, then that was what needed to be done.

  You’re becoming just like your father, a nagging voice whispered in the back of her head. This is exactly the sort of calculation that he would make.

  Before she could address that, the chime sounded, indicating that Ståle was on the line. “Mister Anderson?” she said.

  “Here,” said Ståle. “What’s wrong, Sara?”

  “I just heard from Commander McCoy that we’re at high risk for an imminent Hameji attack. If that happens, the men who are currently in the asteroid mines are in danger of being stranded.”

  “I understand, Sara. I’ll see to it that they’re recalled right away.”

  “About how much time do you need?” she asked.

  “Not very long. They should all be back within forty-five minutes.”

  I hope that gives us enough time to stall James. The thought made her feel guilty as soon as it popped into her head.

  “Thank you, Ståle. Hopefully, this is just a false alarm.”

  “If it is, there could be political consequences for us. Are you sure we should do this?”

  “Yes,” she answered immediately. “Better to risk our careers than the lives of those men.” Of course, that last part was mostly for herself.

  “Understood, Sara. I’ll see to it right away.”

  The connection ended, leaving her alone with her thoughts once again. Her mind raced as she tried to think what else she had to do—and all she could think of was how she was manipulating everyone around her, just like her father.

  I have to let James know, she decided. Father would keep him in the dark, so I have to be honest and let him know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. She ordered Nina to make the call and began to pace her cozy apartment.

  “Sara?” James asked.

  “James,” she answered, her heart beating a little harder. “I talked with Ståle—the asteroid miners and smelter operators are on their way back to the station now.”

  “How long until they get here?”

  “About forty-five minutes. But James, we can’t
jump out until the Hameji actually get here.”

  Pause. “Why not?”

  Sara swallowed. Full disclosure—here goes nothing.

  “We can’t because if the people don’t know there’s a threat, they’ll turn on us as traitors and the exodus will completely fall apart. They need to know that they’re in danger, so that when we jump out, they’ll see that we saved them.”

  Her explanation was met by silence. She folded one arm across her chest and covered her mouth with her hand.

  “James?”

  “I hear you, Sara. I don’t like it, but it makes sense. Stars, though—that’s cutting it awful close.”

  “It is,” said Sara, a wave of relief washing over her. “Can we do it?”

  “When the Hameji jump in, they’ll hit us as hard and as fast as they can to make sure that no one escapes. Our window of opportunity will only be a couple of minutes, so there’s no room for error. If we’re going to do this, I need to be the one who pulls the switch.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. “The operating room for the jump drive is next to the spaceport, disguised as an abandoned office space. I’ll have Nina give you the exact address.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Tell the operator that I sent you, and he should let you take over.”

  “Will do,” said James. “And Sara, how are you taking all this?”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “You sound a little like—well, like you’re taking it hard. Just take care of yourself, all right? I can take over from here.”

  Her frowned turned into a smile as she realized that he was concerned for her. “Thanks, James,” she told him. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Great. I’ll see you when all this is over.”

  The line went silent, leaving her alone once again. She ordered Nina to send James the address and paced her tiny apartment, more to burn off her nervous energy than anything.

  So it was done—everything had been taken care of. The asteroid miners were on their way home, and James would handle their escape once the Hameji showed up. There was nothing left to do except wait.

  No, she realized with a start. Mom. She froze in mid-stride, chills running down her spine as she realized she’d never see her again.