by Kord Stone
Alise was still wrapped in Jason’s arms when he awoke and began nibbling and kissing the side of her neck.
“Morning, sleepy head,” he said with a smile.
She didn’t bother telling him that he was the only one who had slept. She was about to ask if he remembered the nightmare, and what it was about when he asked his question first.
“So what’s on the agenda for today?”
Figuring she would broach that topic later, she stroked his chest and said with a grin, “I have a few ideas.”
“I bet you do, but is there anything we need to do outside of the bedroom?”
To that question she chortled and said, “Oh I have plans for outside of the bedroom as well. However, we need to settle our guests in their new home first. I do not want an audience for what I am planning.”
“You, sweetness, are insatiable.” He gave her a lingering kiss.
When the kiss ended, Alise said, “Actually, we do have plans for the day. In about six hours we will be arriving at the new planet your family has chosen.”
Jason looked at her in disbelief. “I thought you said it would take months to get to the planet.”
“Actually, I said at our current speed it would take that long. We had depleted our power and were limping along. We have full power now and the speed we are currently at cut the travel time significantly.
“I know your brothers do not want to be separated from you, but for now I think it is the best plan to keep them safe. Once we have offloaded our passengers, I think we should start looking for who is hunting down your family, and once we have that settled, we can focus on the event that killed Elgon. Do you agree?”
“Yes, that sounds like a plan. I’ll have to speak with my brothers away from the rest of the family so they don’t make a fuss in front of the others. Do you think you could bring them up here?”
“When do you want to see them?”
“In an hour or two. I have a plan or two of my own I need to put into motion, and one of them involves the ion shower and your sweet body,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.
She considered broaching the subject of his nightmare but felt that the timing was not right, so she decided to wait until later, and she followed him into the bathroom to see what he had planned.
Chapter Twenty
Jason had to repress a laugh when he saw his brothers’ expressions at being led into the room by Alise, who had escorted Jerren and Justin to the bedroom in her robot guise. Partially for shock value but mostly as a sign of affection, Jason bent down and planted a nice smooch on her tin lips and gave her a smack on her tin-can of an ass. Then he said with a chuckle, “Wait ’til later.”
He watched in amusement as Alise set off for the lower level, mumbling in a robotic voice, “Promises…promises.”
With a chuckle Jason watched as she made it to the corner of the room and descended to level one. As soon as she was gone he looked to his brothers, who had their “Okay, what’s going on?” expressions plastered on their faces.
Jason smiled. “Oh, that. What can I say? She completes me.” Jason had chairs arranged so they could be face to face for this discussion. He sat them down and could see they wanted details. He sighed and pushing past their curiosity, he proceeded to explain in detail what had happened, and what needed to be done. Neither of the brothers was happy about being separated from him but in the end, they all decided it would probably be for the best to have them stay with the family until Jason could resolve the problems facing them.
They all stood up and Justin said, “It figures we would be separated today of all days.”
They each looked at one another, leaned in, their heads touching one another’s as a strange static arc seemed to pass through them.
Jason laughed. “A static charge and no carpet, go figure.”
They let out a laugh and simultaneously said, “Happy Birthday.”
Justin pulled back, “That’s funny. Do you remember? That same thing happened on our ninth birthday.”
“I remember,” Jerren said. “Our imaginary friend also sang us happy birthday. She was the one who told us to put our heads together and at the end of the song we never saw her again.”
Jason said, “I forgot all about that and her. What was her name?” He paused a moment. “Inola, wasn’t it? That was the last time I remember seeing her too.”
“We were silly kids with wild imaginations,” Jason said. “I’m surprised Father has any hair left after all the hell we put him through.”
“He did always say we put more gray on his head than time alone would have done,” Jerren said.
Justin looked to Jerren then back to Jason. “By the way, your appearance hasn’t gone unnoticed among the family. They feel uncomfortable broaching the topic with you but we have no qualms. What’s up?”
Jason sighed. He knew this moment was coming but didn’t feel right about telling them the whole of it yet. Which was an odd thing for him because they shared most of the events of their lives. Something kept telling him to hold off, that it wasn’t the right time. In the end he just told them it had something to do with the ship, which was correct in a way, and he would let them know more when he was able to.
* * * * *
Alise had a surprise in store for Jason and his brothers. She knew it was their birthday and had decided to have a birthday party for them so they would have something to remember while they were separated. When the triplets arrived at the second level, they were greeted by a round of Happy Birthday, followed by three cakes, each with its own numbered candles. The two younger brothers had thirty-four on their cakes while Jason’s had a thirty-five.
Justin and Jerren looked at Jason in apparent confusion for a second until he explained, “You both had been dead for a year when we went back to rescue you. The candles on the cakes are correct. I’m older than both of you…well even older than I used to be.” He lowered his voice and said, “Velois perut velnu deseka magsugra mamuda.”
Nodding in apparent understanding they bowed their heads and repeated in unison, “Velois perut velnu deseka magsugra mamuda.”
Their father said, “There they go with their secret language again. Go on make a wish and blow out your candles.”
Alise was stunned. She had personally never heard that language spoken aloud. No one had in almost four hundred thousand years. She only vaguely recognized it from the memories of her first host Andel. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and noticed everyone staring at her. She figured most of them were thinking the stupid robot is defective, but Jason had concern etched on his face.
Jason went to her side and whispered, “Is everything okay?”
She looked up into his eyes. “Yes, it is okay. Just an old memory popping into my head. I will explain it to you later.”
Apparently mollified, Jason signaled it was time. He explained to her that it was their tradition to let the youngest go first, and gestured to Justin. Alise watched as Justin, blew out his candles first, then Jerren blew out his. Jason looked into her eyes and mouthed thank you. Then she watched as he closed his eyes, made a wish then blew out the candles. Everyone clapped, and she figured it was time for her surprise.
She caused a blur of swirling lights to surround her and she began spinning in midair, then transformed into her humanoid form. With an astounded cry she said, “Your wish came true, Jason! Look! I am a real girl now!” and proceeded to laugh herself silly.
Everyone except Jason had stunned expressions plastered on their faces. A moment later Justin and Jerren’s shocked expressions changed to amused as they cracked identical smiles. They walked over to her, each of them crouching to one of her ears and whispered at the same time, “Welcome to the family.” They each gave her a kiss on the cheek and were about to return to Jason’s side when she halted them and gave them their presents. They opened the boxes to reveal identical life monitors that looked like simple wristwatches one would find on Earth. She forced a dire expression and said, “
You are to wear those at all times. If you do not, I will know, and you will regret it.” After which she let out a sinister-sounding laugh.
Jason, Jerren and Justin laughed, apparently sensing the humor in her tone, but the rest of the family just stared at them as if they had all gone mad.
After an hour of birthday reminiscing, Alise got the family’s attention. “We have arrived at the planet Gloran and I have contacted its leaders to request asylum for you. They have agreed and you are scheduled for admittance interviews in one hour.”
The family looked relieved to be getting off the ship. The preacher on the other hand, looked very nervous but did not say anything. In the end, they said their goodbyes to Alise with what seemed to be forced politeness and were transported to the surface.
* * * * *
Jason accompanied his family to the planet they had chosen. It was a lot more advanced than Earth. It had flying personal vehicles, advanced medical technology, and the people were very friendly toward refugees. The family was told that all citizens had to contribute for the betterment of the society and that they would be expected to find jobs and fit in. There was no monetary system on this planet and everyone looked out for one another. These statements didn’t seem to go over very well with Jason’s half brother, but Jason knew the family would be okay here. He informed them he had to be on his way but would be back to see them after they had settled in.
He signaled for Alise to transport him back to the ship and a second later he was standing in the decon room, followed suddenly by the blurring that indicated the time displacement field had engaged. A moment later the ship took off for Earth.
The decon scan was completed and Jason made his way to Alise. He had just wrapped his arms around her when he felt a bit of a bump. Jason looked at her. “What was that?”
Alise shrugged. “It happens from time to time. I have no idea what it is though. The computer only ever shows it as a temporal anomaly.”
Satisfied with her explanation, Jason looked deep into Alise’s eyes, then proceeded to kiss her soundly. When he broke the kiss a while later, he asked, “Okay, what was with the watches?”
“It is sort of an insurance policy. Those are life monitors. If anything happens to them, their monitors will activate a beacon and send a signal to us so we can rectify it. If Elgon had given them to you before, we would have known something was up earlier.”
Jason gave her a firm hug and said, “I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done. I’ll have to think of a suitable reward.” He eyed her from head to toe. “As a matter of fact I think I know right where to start.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jason arrived on the second floor and was surprised to see that all the items created for his family were still present. It had been almost a week since he and Alise had dropped the family off and set off to investigate who was out to destroy his family, and he was taking in the condition of the room. He thought the ship would have reset the room as it had for him when he arrived. He asked Alise in his mind, Why are all the items made for my family still here? I would have expected them to reset once they were gone.
Alise replied, Sorry, I just have not gotten around to it.
With a brilliant flash, all of the furnishings and walls disappeared and Jason looked in awe at the large empty room.
Oh, I thought it was an automatic function. You didn’t have to bother. For the future though, how do I do it?
Just tell the computer to send the items to void storage.
Jason shook his head in amazement and thanked her, then he thought to himself, I wonder what happens to all the stuff when it vanishes.
As the thought entered his mind, a new archway appeared on the far wall. He walked over and looked inside. He stepped farther in and felt nauseated as a blurring similar to the one he associated with time displacement occurred. There is no way this is possible.
Jason looked around to find a cavern large enough to fit several football stadiums in. He took another few steps in to investigate and found furniture, clothing, knick-knacks and quite a few other items that he had no clue how to describe. And that was just within the first ten feet.
“Alise, you’ve got to see this!” he called out.
There was no response and he tried again. “Alise, can you hear me?”
Still nothing. This made him a little nervous. He turned around and headed back toward the archway. He was dumbfounded to find a smooth blank wall where he had just entered. He mumbled to himself, “Great now how do I get out of here?” A second later, the archway reappeared and he let out a sigh.
Once again he stepped through experiencing a shimmering blur. Upon reentering the ship, he said with relief, “That was easy.”
Alise replied, “Yes it is. A lot of the functions on the ship are the same way.”
Confused at her response he said, “No, I meant about reentering the ship.”
What are you talking about?
He just realized she didn’t know and said, “Oh, I just opened an archway into a massive room and it was full of all sorts of things. It was strange. I went in to have a look and when I tried to talk to you there was no response.”
That is odd. I should have still been able to communicate with you anywhere on the ship. Let me check something really fast.
Jason just looked back and saw that the archway had disappeared.
This is strange, she said. The sensors show you were not onboard the ship for almost one second and I could not find telemetry on your bio signs either. How long were you away and what did this room look like?
Well I’d say I was only there a few minutes at most, and it looked like a massive cavern with an arched ceiling. It was well lit but I couldn’t see any lights and when I went in, I got that blurring sensation like the time displacement field was activated. When I stepped back the blurring happened again.
You might want to avoid that room for now. I have never encountered that room before, and I did not even know you were off the ship. This is disconcerting.
The archway just appeared when I was wondering what happened to the stuff on the second floor, and when I thought about how I was going to get back, the archway reappeared. Apparently the void storage is not a virtual location, and it seems as if I can control it.
Whether you can control it or not, I would still feel better if we are extra cautious.
Jason could tell she was concerned and decided not to pursue the matter any further but added, Okay, I think I’ll want to explore it at some time in the future though. There was a lot of stuff in there. It would be fascinating to poke around.
Deciding to change the subject he asked, Where are we on the probes we have out?
The one I sent out to discover what happened to your brothers is still in place. We should be in range to control it again in a few minutes. The data from the second probe will only take another minute.
Okay, I’ll be right down. With his curiosity set aside for now, he set off to join Alise.
* * * * *
“Do we know who he is yet?” Jason asked when he arrived.
“This is the man inside the church about an hour before the services.”
“What’s he doing?”
“It looks as if he is setting up the explosive. We need to get a DNA tracker on him so we can backtrack his movement and with any luck see who is giving him his orders.
Jason had said, “Why didn’t we put a tracker on him before? Damn…I’m having the oddest feeling of déjà vu.”
Alise looked at him peculiarly then said, “This is odd. I had the same feeling, strange… I have experienced that feeling quite a lot over the time I have been activated. It is probably just remnants of old memories.”
She turned her focus back to her task and said, “We need to move our ship out of here before our earlier selves get here to rescue the family and come back to save your brothers.”
“Why is that?”
“It is a simple matter of physics; the same matter ca
nnot occupy the same space.”
“Ahh okay, well let’s tag him and get moving.”
“One more second…there! Okay we are out of here. I will take our ship back in time to a point before your brothers were attacked. We can do our tracking safely from there.”
“Okay, how do we track him to see what he’s doing?”
“Watch this,” she said with a smile.
Alise fiddled with her control panel, and a second later they saw the man phase out and back into a ship identical to theirs. Alise drew in a quick breath and began adjusting something on her console. The man faded a moment then came back into view and they proceeded to track him. Alise paled and began adjusting her console. They experienced a minor shimmering bump as he passed by them.
Alise looked at Jason and nervously said, “Now we know what that feeling was. It would happen on rare occasions but we could never figure out why. When he got close to us in time, we reacted like a magnetic field and caused a little push-back effect. “It would appear we were wrong in thinking it was your government or DARPA who was responsible for the cloaking. That blurred figure must actually be a person in a time dilation suit. My best guess would be unless you’re in the exact same time phase as him, you’ll only see a blur. Most people wouldn’t be able to see him at all, but in the past my commanders have said people would swear they could see them in their peripheral vision. They attribute it to ghosts or figments of their imaginations. As for why I’ve never seen it, the dilation suits must be in the same phase as their ships, and I have never been this close to scan another TDS ship or its commander.”
Alise and Justin had followed the commander of the other TDS ship for about three months into the past when they saw him standing over a dead animal in the snow. It looked like an extra furry ape of sorts. Time crept backwards and the ape was back to standing as the man’s hand moved away from its head. Walking backwards, they separated and a few seconds later the man vanished back into his ship.