by SK Benton
"Yeah, I'll bet. Like no sound at all, eh?" said Jennie.
Sound does not travel in the vacuum of space because there is no atmosphere, liquid or solid molecules to carry the sound waves, am I not right, Papi?"
"Yes, Lili. That's pretty much the idea. And Michael and I were out there using our familial connection to communicate, not the comm. So that's why you didn't hear us."
"Oh, ok, and so… hey! Just a minute! How did you happen to discover that you could withstand the vacuum of space anyway, Mr. Gunnarsson?" Jennie demanded angrily, but only because she loved him more than life itself.
"Aw baby, don't worry. My dad was with me. Right by my side, ready to yank me over to Vera Base in case anything went wrong. You know ebullism and hypoxia aren't quite instantaneous, so we were ok. It will be useful later on, trust me."
Max wrapped his arms around his wife and nuzzled her as she softened up a bit. Jennie then gave him a sweet smile and, without warning, punched him in the arm while yelling, "No more stupid shit, Max! Ok?"
"Ok, sweetie," he promised while smiling.
"Yeah Papi, no more stupid mierda. We need you to be safe," Liliana said, attempting to disguise her swearing within the confines of another language.
"Lili! It doesn't matter if it's in Castellano! Don't swear!"
"Sorry, Mami," she said sheepishly, as she dug into her dinner and Max plopped down and kissed his daughter on the cheek.
"So Max, what do you have in mind for an overall strategy?" asked Bagatelle.
"Well, we get the military on our side, then we go in and quickly slip the families out of the Exodus barges. Then we destroy the barges. Once we have done that, and we've made sure that Johnson can't flee out of the system we do the whole revolution thingy, restore Constitutional rule of law, and then prepare to vaporize those cockroaches before they even hit the system border."
"Ok Max, good overall plan, but completely without any sort of details. How do you get the military on our side?"
"I don't, G. That's your job," he said with a cool smile.
"I believe that we need an outing tomorrow. A day of rest," Gabriel interjected.
"I agree," said Max.
"A day of rest? Like, where do you want to go?" asked Jennie.
Machu Picchu
Liliana howled in delight as she flew out of the makeshift tire swing at the apex of its curve, soaring through the air and finally landing with a splash in the icy Urubamba River. Coming up for air, she gasped from the cold water, while still wearing a huge smile. Jennie, Jessica, Pandy, Clarisa and Janice were all lying out in the sun, as women typically did on sunny days at the river or the beach. Max was next in the tire swing, landing in the water with a tremendous cannonball. Even Michael and Gabriel tried the swing, which they found amusing. While most were relaxing and enjoying themselves, Bagatelle and Draagh were reading the instructions for assembling a BBQ so they could cook the elk chorizo sausages they brought along. Draagh wanted to simply conjure a grill, but Bagatelle insisted on doing it old-school. After roughly an hour they were all eating delicious sausages on sourdough rolls, traditionally referred to as choripan (a portmanteau of chorizo and pan) in Buenos Aires.
They weren't even finished with their sandwiches when Alicia called out on the comm.
"G, I have the manifests. I am currently waiting in a toilet stall, as ordered - "
Alicia didn't even realize she had been slipped over, and was finishing her sentence while standing in front of everyone, the scents wafting through the air subconsciously changing her words.
"and I'm waiting for… some… del…icious… chorizo? Oh, hello!"
Everyone waved and mumbled greetings with full mouths, as Draagh handed Alicia a choripan.
"Um, so, where are we? It kinda looks like Sienna, but there's no… oh wow. Are we on Earth?" gasped Alicia.
"Yeah, hun. We're in Peru, near where this whole thing started. Max's makeshift FTL craft is about half a kilometer upstream," Bagatelle informed his girlfriend and best confidant. "The river has a slow current here, so we can use the tire swing. Would you like to see Max's craft that gave us so much trouble?"
"Gave you so much trouble? How about brought us all together to save the galaxy, G?" chided Max.
Bagatelle gave Max a deservedly awkward look and nodded in his direction, where Max merely smiled.
Alicia gave Bagatelle a thumbs-up, having a mouthful of choripan, while Max threw his key fob to his brother-in-law, allowing the rear admiral to open the small transport. The two took off, hand in hand, with the lt. commander happily munching on her sandwich.
"I hope they don't forget the ship manifests," Michael commented.
"I hope they don't trash the ship," said Max laughingly.
The five ladies sat on a large, flat rock, quietly munching away on their lunches, with Liliana finishing hers quickly and going for seconds, her great grandfather providing her with the delicious sandwich. They were all wearing two-piece swimwear of different colors, while the men were in board shorts - except for Draagh, who insisted on wearing his traditional undergarment, which most thought resembled a diaper.
Max went for another sandwich, and then turned and looked at the girls. His wife was the most striking out of them all, and could have easily walked the runway at a swimwear show, as she filled out her suit so perfectly (rather, the suit barely covered her perfect curves). Jessica and Pandy were also quite cute, but were built slimmer, most probably because they grew up scrounging for food, while Jennie had a modern, nutritious diet near every day of her life (plus, she was simply smoking hot). Liliana was still a little girl and hadn't yet started to grow a more feminine shape, but what was truly disconcerting to Max was seeing his mother and Janice Wong. He had always viewed the two as old women, with wrinkles in their skin, slightly misshapen from age and hair that was either colored over or had gone completely gray. This was no longer the case, as Janice was no longer disguised and Max's mom had completely regenerated and appeared to be a dega of around thirty years of age. She was a truly gorgeous woman, with a Mediterranean complexion, dark, near-black hair and striking green eyes. Max had gained handsomely from both of his parents, being no slouch himself. Looking over the group again, Max found it funny that Jessica was the oldest of the five women.
"So mom, how are you feeling these days? Are you getting into the whole training thing and having fun?"
"Yes, sweetie, I really am. You know I was never into sports, but it is good to learn. I am confident that once this is all done I'll be able to go back to teaching."
"Oh, that would be great. You know, I'm sorry for getting you into all this trouble."
"My goodness, Max, don't even think of it - this is quite an adventure. And I can wear a bikini again. I never dreamed of that," she said with a girlish giggle, which unnerved Max slightly. He knew he would get used to it - eventually.
"And what about you, Mrs. Wong… erm, Janice? What do you plan on doing once we are done making things right?"
"I don't know, my boy. I'm taking it a day at a time. I rather like Krynos' castle, and Ohiro has been helpful."
"And he's giving Janice private kendo lessons too. She says he's cute," added Clarisa, giggling some more.
"Shhhh, quiet, Clarisa. It's nothing, really," whispered Janice as she blushed brightly.
###
"I don't see anything. You say the ship is in here?" asked Alicia, as she entered into a naturally occurring tunnel made of vegetative overgrowth.
"It's right in front of us. Ok, how does this work? Max did something to the fob… and… bingo!" Bagatelle hit the correct button and the Machu Picchu slowly appeared, wavering out of nothingness, as if it came from a mirage. In reality, it was the dissipation of the particles that had hidden it that were making that effect.
"Oh wow!" exclaimed Alicia.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
"No, actually it's a total piece of crap. I can't believe he made it all the way to Earth in that thing," she said as t
hey both broke out in laughter.
"I was referring more to the invisibility cloak. It's super cool. Max said that if we have to go up against the Vrol out of atmo he'll work with the old guy and whip up something similar for our ships."
"Now that would be useful. You know, he really is a good fellow, isn't he?"
"Yeah, he is. I knew something was wrong. It's a shame I was bamboozled like everyone else. Now Johnson is playing king and near everyone has fallen for it."
"Not everyone, my love. Here, look at the manifests - we know every one of these captains and not one is on board with Johnson - as far as we know. They just lack decisive, strong leadership. They need you, Luigi. You can lead the military rebellion. Max can handle the magic and all that stuff."
"So these are the only ships with hook drives - you are certain?"
"These are the only military vessels with hook drives, baby. I have no idea if Johnson made something else, but we have agents investigating. So, what's the master plan?"
Bagatelle started telling Alicia his plans as the two sat in the ship's captain's quarters, which turned into kicking back in the captain's quarters, which then resulted in them saying nothing at all as they enjoyed their time alone.
The five women and one little girl relaxed in the warm sunshine of the Peruvian high jungle, as Draagh conferred with Socrates, whom he had called over. Max, Michael and Gabriel had gone up to the ruins of Machu Picchu and were exploring around, when the two archangels showed Max something he really liked - a lot. Michael conjured an infoscreen and used it to create a 360-degree display bubble around them, made of electromagnetic particles. Typing some data into his keyboard they suddenly saw their surroundings change, showing vid activity of the year 1490 CE. People were carrying water, packages, meats and vegetables, while children ran through the corridors created by the city's architects. As the three moved together, the display bubble followed, enabling them to virtually move among the local population, even peering into domiciles to watch domestic activities.
"Wow, this is amazing - much better than my HUD I used when I first came to this planet," Max said, referring to this dynamic display of activity at Larco Mar in Lima the very first day he had arrived at Earth, over a year before.
"Yes, but do you want to know something really neat, Max?" asked Michael.
"Yeah, what's that?"
"This is live. We are looking into a concurrent timeline."
"No way! Can they see us? They can't see us, can they?"
"No, Max, they cannot. We only have the view, but we could go there any time you like. However, we would need to remain camouflaged, as this society must not have knowledge of our kind," added Gabriel.
"You mean your kind, Gabe," responded Max.
"No Max," the younger archangel replied, "our kind. You are one of us, my nephew, and perhaps something more."
Gabriel's comment made Max feel really special, but also remind him that he had a lot to learn.
"Hey guys, can we go and fly around a bit? I'd like a few more pointers and the girls are just sunbathing, while Bagatelle is having some private time with Alicia. What you just showed me proves that I have a lot to learn in order to be effective in our upcoming tasks."
The brothers smiled at Max, stood up and spread their wings out wide, inviting the youth to do the same. Then the three took off into the air, creating a sonic boom as they screamed over the campsite and on their way to Buenos Aires, Old Argentina.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be back in an hour or so. Max wants to see if the Obelisco in Buenos Aires is still standing," Michael informed everyone as the three streaked over the Amazon rainforest.
###
One of the things about the Vrol invasion was that the hive mind didn't care much for water of any kind. Their amoeba contaminated fresh water sources, but salt water was mostly immune - most probably due to the deuterium, which ironically powered fusion-ion drives in spacecraft. Consequently, inland cities tended to have a lot more battle damage from the war than coastal cities, such a Lima, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. It was a given that American cities such as Kansas City, Dallas and Nashville were decimated, as well as Iquitos, La Paz, Paris and Moscow, but the beaches were nearly pristine - they simply lacked human life.
The three flew straight out east, over the Brazilian Amazon plains, and then down southeasterly, where they found the formerly shining city of Rio. Nearly untouched, they cruised between the vine-covered skyscrapers, detecting no sentient life at all. It made Max sad that his human brothers (half-human as he was, although carrying lycan genes) were massacred so mercilessly by a race of bugs. It was almost as if they were eliminated by the ancient neutron bomb - having been basically destroyed with massive radiation and leaving infrastructure intact, but the Cleansing Strain not only killed, it dissolved organic tissues - down to nothing, leaving no remains. Not even bones.
Satisfied with their city tour of Rio, they headed to the southwest until they approached the great Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Crossing over the Rio de la Plata, they arrived at Belgrano from the coastline, and then went due south until they were over Avenida 9 de Julio, which was, at one time, the widest street on that world. Then seeing the Obelisco, Max landed at its base. Looking up, he felt a bit of nostalgia, as he had frequently visited the replica which resided in the plaza de armas of Buenos Aires in Nueva Argentina - on Azul, of course.
"Ok Max, are you satisfied now that you have seen this spike in the ground?" mused Gabriel.
"I am! Thanks! I just want to see one more thing. Follow me!"
Shooting up into the air, and then leveling out while inverted, Max started to spin as he made a direct line to Mendoza. Arriving in Lujan de Cuyo, an ancient wine making region, Max scanned the ground carefully. Passing over numerous abandoned bodegas (wineries), he finally arrived at one called Pulenta, which had, according to historical texts, produced some of the finest malbec varietals in the area. He could always figure out winemaking, but what he really needed more than anything else was to get a large sampling of live vines to take back to the Rhönen, and from there perhaps Mendoza of the 43rd century, and eventually to Azul.
Landing with his father and uncle at his side, he went to phase 2, and used his enhanced claws to help dig out entire vines, roots and all. Once he had extracted roughly fifty kilos of excellent stock, he looked at his load while shaking his head.
"Could you guys help me get this stuff back? I mean, we could just slip it, right?" he asked.
"Max, there is another trick of which I am totally surprised you never asked," said Michael.
"And what would that be?"
"Did you ever notice how you usually do not see our swords, or my new staff? That is, until we need them?" Gabriel asked.
"Come to think of it, yeah, that's right! And I'm always running around with my katana flopping around on my back."
"Max, we use what is called a personal pocket dimension. It is like a super big sack that goes with you everywhere, but the bottom of it is an opening to a particular point in the Hub that never moves on the Hub end. You see, I basically set my staff on the dining room table in my apartment in the Hub, Max, and by reaching into my PPD I can grab my staff out of nothing and make it appear. The entrance to the PPD is an invisible slit in the back of my jacket," said Gabriel.
"Um, we're only in swim shorts right now," said Max, with an odd expression.
"You can create a new access point to a PPD anytime you like, Max."
"Well, that's assuming that Max has a spot in the Hub, which he should by now. We'll have to confer with Father about that, and quite soon," said Michael.
"And this pocket dimension - I can put anything there? Anything I like, such as my lunch, a yo-yo, a gun, sword, or even my personal console?"
"That is correct, my son. Here, allow us to teach you - we'll use a table in Father's office for now. He will not mind."
The three angels arrived just in time to see the sun dropping behind the mountain to the
southwest of Huayna Picchu. Everyone had gathered together, and Draagh had already gotten Alicia back to her building, where he bent the rules slightly and turned her entire afternoon at the river into a mere 15 minute restroom break. But he was Draagh, and he could do those things. The girls were putting on light jackets, as the temperatures were quickly lowering, and they all looked very beautiful in their coordinated outfits - even Liliana. Max thought he detected the girl wearing a bit of makeup, but decided it best to not say anything until later,
"So, what did you all do while we were gone?" asked Max.
"Hi love! Welcome back. Um, we went up to the ruins, mostly for Lili. She wanted to see them, but Jess and Pandy liked them too. G had already been up there, plus he was busy spending time with Alicia."
"Duh!" said Liliana.
"Lili! Come on, now!"
"Sorry, Mami, but they are soooo obvious. But anyway, Grandfather made a very cool display bubble around us and we were watching the Inkas and their indigenous slaves going about their daily lives!"
"Ok, ok, change of subject. Do you all wanna see something cool?" asked Max.
"Ooo, ooo! I do, Papi," yelped the little lycan. "But, may I have a slave?"
"What? Liliana! No! We don't have slaves. That was a barbaric practice of the ancient past," exclaimed Jennie.
"But the servants in the castle - are they not like slaves?"
"They are paid for their services and are free to find employment elsewhere whenever they like."
"Girls, come on - I have something to show you."
Max stood sideways and rubbed his hands together and showed his empty, open palms. Then, he put his right hand into his pocket. He kept reaching down until his entire forearm was in his pocket. But that was not the strange part - as he pulled his arm out, it was followed by a massive malbec-strain grape vine.