First Watch: A Watcher Bay Adventure

by Auburn Seal

  She turned away from him and whispered under breath, “This can’t be happening.”

  “This is my career, Levra. You have no right to tell me what I can do with it. I love my job. This is what I do. How I support our family. I’m sorry if you can’t live with the nature of my job.”

  She stood frozen, staring at this stranger in front of her. Who was he? Where had Gunnar gone? The man she loved. The man who’d been such a great father to Enric for his first three years. Before he left. What happened in space that had changed all of his priorities? What turned her sweetheart into a liar?

  “When? When did you agree to another contract?”

  His eyes dropped to the floor, making him look guilty. Then he went back to unpacking his suitcase, turning his back on her.

  “This afternoon. After we disembarked,” he mumbled.

  “Oh. My. God. You aren’t serious. Today? After you got back? While your wife and your son waited for you, desperate to see you again. Missing you after five years—five years, Gunnar—and, and you. . .”

  She tried to gather her thoughts, to think of something to say to this man who was breaking her heart . . . who would break her son’s heart.

  “I. Hate. You. Do you hear me? I will never forgive you for this.” She pulled the blanket off the bed and threw it at him. “You sleep on the couch. Never touch me again, Gunnar. Do you understand? Never again. This is over.”

  She climbed back in bed and stared at his back. He hadn’t moved since she’d started screaming. “Get some sleep, Gunnar,” she said, her voice deathly calm, “because tomorrow you break Enric’s heart. You’ll need your rest, you bastard. Now get out. Get out of my room.”

  She rolled over, turning her back to him, and covered herself with the sheet that remained on the bed. She squeezed her eyes shut when the bedroom door clicked shut. His footsteps faded as he walked down the hall, and when she was sure he was gone, she opened the floodgates and sobbed into her pillow.

  For Enric. For her life. For Gunnar. Everything was ruined now.

  Ruined. And she would never forgive him.

  CHAPTER 6

  New Seattle, New Eden

  October 2, 12 AA

  Levra woke after a restless night’s sleep to find Gunnar sleeping on the floor next to her bed. She nearly stepped on him but saw his makeshift pallet at the last second. Her heart squeezed in her chest at the sight of him, finally back home, and she reached down to smooth back his hair. She stopped short when her next thought slammed into her like a fully loaded elevator lifter. He was leaving again. Levra clenched her fist, resisting the impulse to slug him, and then stepped over him and moved quietly to the bathroom.

  Her eyes were red and puffy from crying all night. She stared into the mirror contemplating last night’s fight and the wonderful reunion the family had enjoyed yesterday. She resolved to try and work this out with her husband. He still was her husband after all. There had to be something he could do—maybe he could get out of it. She splashed her face with water, straightened her shoulders, and approached her bedroom with diplomatic intentions.

  When she came out of the bathroom she found him standing over his makeshift bed, watching her walk back into the room.

  Before he had a chance to speak, she spoke first, trying to keep her voice civil and calm. “Where are you going, Gunnar? And how long will you be gone this time? You owe me at least that much.”

  He sighed. “I don’t know how long. And I can’t tell you where. It’s classified. But I can tell you it’s here on New Eden. Not another space mission. Levra, what can I do to make this up to you? I’m sorry. I finished my debriefing yesterday, and I felt a little lost without a plan for the future. I guess I needed to feel productive. But you are right. We agreed and then I went back on our agreement. I’m sorry,” he repeated.

  She crossed her hands over her chest. Her icy heart began to thaw a little bit. She wanted to forgive him, wanted things to go back the way they were. She was having a hard time remembering what her marriage had looked like five years ago. And she couldn’t put his betrayal out of her mind. “Nothing. There is nothing you can do. You agreed to leave us again without the decency of consulting me.”

  He stepped toward her, and she took a step back, allowing him to get no closer to her. She knew she would melt if he touched her. But she wanted to be mad right now. She wasn’t ready to gloss over this. “Don’t touch me, Gunnar. I meant what I said last night.”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay. I won’t touch you, but listen to me. Just hear me out? Let me fix this. I screwed up. I know it. There must be something I can do to make this right?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh, now you want to talk? I don’t think so. The time for talking is passed. You should have thought of these sorts of details before you signed up again and sentenced our family to more lonely years without you.”

  She continued her tirade. “If we are here when you return from whatever this next mission is, it will only be because of Enric. But honestly, he barely knows you anyway. There is no real reason to wait for you. Not now. You’ve taken our hope. There is nothing you can do to give back our life together.”

  She took a deep breath, not liking where her words were taking them. Is this what she wanted? She was hurting and angry, but was she prepared to leave him?

  Levra took a shallow, shaky breath and plunged into deeper water.

  “If you want to fix it, then you need to stay here. With us. I can’t think of another way. I can’t go on this way, married to a ghost.”

  “You know the rules, Lev. I can’t get out of it.”

  And then she made up her mind, convinced she really had no options.

  “Goodbye, Gunnar. You don’t need to spend your two weeks’ leave with us. We’ve been fine for five years. I think we can manage without you. I’m going to Dwyr for the day and taking Enric. I don’t want you to be here when we get back. He doesn’t need to see you. It will break his heart so much more when you leave again. I don’t even know why you bothered coming back.”

  “That’s not fair, Levra. What can I do? There has to be something? Please.”

  “There is nothing. When you say goodbye this time, it will be for the last time.”

  She turned to leave, and he reached out and grabbed her arm. “Wait. What if we don’t have to say goodbye?”

  She stopped, her mouth open. “But you already committed. How can you get out of it now? You said you couldn’t.” Still, she dared to hope. “Do you really think you can get out of it?”

  He shook his head, and her hopes crash-landed again. “I can’t. But what if you and Enric can come with me? This mission is on-planet. There’s a chance I can get a green light on bringing the family. When I agreed to lead the mission, I pushed strongly for permission for my family to come along. Both of you.”

  They stared at each other for a few moments, wordlessly communicating grief, anger, hope, and reticence across the canyon of silence stretching between them. Then Levra nodded abruptly but refused to smile.

  “You find out where it is and get approval for us to go with you, and I’ll think about it. But I’m not working in uncertainties here anymore, Gunnar. You find out. Today. Either we go with you, or you leave forever. I’m through waiting on you. I can’t put us through this again. I won’t.”

  She resisted the urge to run into his arms. She missed him so much but stormed out of the room and left him standing there. She felt the smallest glimmer of hope and tried not to vomit as she made her way to wake up Enric.

  Today, she needed to take care of Mera and Alena. She’d get the list of their abilities and submit it to the Bureau of Ddaeran Affairs for the villagers so the Founding Families would leave them alone. For the moment, she was grateful she had a task to focus on.

  Taking on all of the Founders in defense of the Ddaerans seemed light years easier than resolving this conflict with her husband.

  CHAPTER 7

  Abramov Command headquarters
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  October 3, 12 AA

  Gunnar rode Levra’s hover bike to Abramov’s headquarters in the military district of New Seattle to meet with Ana. After he parked in the staff garage, he rode the express elevator to the top floor of the Abramov Securities Building.

  He strode into her office and sat across from her, placing his silver synthetic leather boots on her desk with a dramatic thud.

  “We’ve got a problem, Ana. She lost it when I told her I’d signed up again.”

  “Why did you tell her? You knew she would object.”

  “She sort of pinned me down, metaphorically. At any rate, I told her I’d find a way to bring her. What should I do? I really don’t want her to come, but Blake Colton will have my ass if I jeopardize the mission at this stage. I think she’ll be suspicious about everything if I can’t smooth this over.”

  Gunnar watched Ana's face as she took in the information he brought and then calculated a response on-point with the mission parameters. She was hot when she was being devious.

  “You are going to have to bring her with. Levra can’t suspect anything is different. Bring the kid too. We can’t have her become suspicious about you this late in the game. It might actually work out in our favor. If we bring spouses and children along, the family feel of the mission will help our cover with the Ddaerans. In fact, it’s perfect. If I didn’t know you were a complete jackass, I’d congratulate you for adding this element of camouflage to the mission. In fact, you should encourage her to bring her friends from Dwyr—the one who helps Enric communicate. If we include other Ddaerans, it will help us create inroads with their kind in Rasia. And her abilities may help turn the conversation quickly to whatever abilities they may have.”

  “You are cute when you are devious.” He pinched her ass as he passed by.

  She rolled her eyes, but then he felt her respond to his rough kiss. With thoughts of what he’d like to do to Ana if only he had the time, he headed back to tell Levra the good news. He would be happy when the charade was up, so he could finally kick his whiny bitch of a wife and the kid to the curb.

  CHAPTER 8

  New Seattle, New Eden

  October 3, 12 AA

  Levra braced herself for bad news. Having allowed herself to hope while Gunnar was at Abramov Headquarters, now she regretted making room for optimism. She’d picked up the list from Alena and, with Enric in tow, had delivered it to the BDA’s main office. When she returned home, Gunnar was there waiting for her in the kitchen.

  He strode across the room and pulled her to him. She tensed but returned his embrace.

  “It’s set,” Gunnar whispered in her ear. “I spoke to command. They are sending me east—to Rasia—to explore a new village of Ddaeran. To investigate their abilities. There are rumors they have some exceptional skills. Got the go-ahead from the boss. You and Enric can come with me. I’ll be the mission commander.”

  He pulled back and looked at Levra. On the inside, she was ecstatic. He worked it out. They could stay together.

  “How wonderful, Gunnar.”

  He leaned in again, nuzzling her ear, and whispered, “We leave in two weeks. Sound good?”

  Levra turned away from him and opened a cabinet, removed a glass and then slammed the cupboard door shut. A little harder than she intended. She wasn’t exactly angry. More like frustrated. She felt like she’d been riding a rollercoaster for too long now. So much of her life wasn’t her own. The last twenty-four hours felt like a whirlwind. He was home, then he was leaving again, then she was leaving the marriage, now they would leave together. In only two weeks.

  Her mind spun as she contemplated his announcement.

  Deep breath, Levra. Think of Enric. He needs a father. And I need a husband. Maybe they really could reconnect and capture—even partially—the magic they’d enjoyed at the beginning of their marriage.

  Levra looked at Gunnar, who looked anxious as he waited for her answer. So she did matter to him. As quickly as she’d determined it was time for her to say goodbye, she reversed course.

  “Okay. We’ll come with you.”

  She would be able to keep her marriage together, a detail not very likely last night. The reminder of the disrespect he’d shown by signing up without talking to her wriggled into her mind, but she forced it out. She would let go of it. She had too.

  As long as they were together. Together was everything. Now she had to figure out how to solve the problems with the Ddaerans at Dwyr in the next two weeks. She couldn’t leave knowing Alena and Mera were in danger of being arrested or worse.

  “I need to know Alena and her family are safe. We took the paperwork listing the abilities to the BDA offices today like you recommended, but Mera’s family has been such a support for me while you were gone. I worry about leaving them in a potentially hostile situation.”

  “Actually, I had a thought while I was out that might solve your problem,” Gunnar said. “I know how attached you got to Alena and Mera while I was gone. Would you consider bringing them with us? It would be great help to us as we interact with the Ddaerans on the east coast of Rasia, near Watcher Bay Outpost. I confirmed a plan with my contacts at the BDA. They will “lose” the registry, after officially acknowledging receipt and approving the list, which will make it look like the villagers at Dwyr have registered but won’t show their actual abilities. Your friends will be in the clear, but you might as well bring them with. It would be good for Enric, right?”

  Just like that, the stars aligned. And both moons.

  Gunnar, who only hours before had been at the top of her people-to-hate list, was now solving all of her problems.

  She was beginning to get whiplash from his constant mood swings, but she supposed it was normal for there to be some adjustments upon his reentry to a normal life.

  “What an excellent idea. Thank you for thinking of it.” She touched his hand gently. “Now I don’t have to worry. Then it’s settled. Let your boss know we’ll be ready to leave in two weeks.”

  He smiled at her response, but it didn't reach his eyes.

  “I’ll go first thing in the morning and give them the good news.”

  Levra swallowed the suspicions that continued to plague her about Gunnar. What choice did she have?

  Going with Gunnar seemed like the only option.

  CHAPTER 9

  Horizon Transport Ship

  October 15, 12 AA

  The last two weeks had passed in a whirlwind of preparations. New Seattle lay in the past. At least for now. Levra had said her goodbyes to her Ddaeran students and helped Mera and Alena prepare to accompany her and Gunnar’s crew to the Ddaeran village of Glanmorr that would be their home away from home for at least a couple of months. Gunnar made a phone call to Abramov, who in turn managed to get the BDA to agree to leave the villagers at Dwyr alone since they’d turned in their registry paperwork. It was a tentative peace for now, but peace was peace, and Levra added it to the plus column when she thought of the changes seen in Gunnar.

  Alena and Mera were both thrilled at the prospect of seeing other Ddaerans, not to mention the excitement of seeing another area of New Eden. Neither of them had ever traveled farther from their home than New Seattle.

  Now Gunnar and Levra, along with Enric, the two Ddaeran guests, and a small crew of 26 people, including Doctor Sanchez who'd already treated Enric for motion sickness, rode aboard the mid-sized spacecraft toward their remote destination at nearly a thousand miles an hour. The SS Horizon was a high-flying spacecraft that flew in the thinnest portion of the atmosphere high above New Eden. The ship would only need a few hours to get to the other side of the continent of Iantha, which separated New Seattle in Anthemia from the country of Rasia, specifically the village of Glanmorr. Waiting for them was Watcher Bay Outpost where Abramov built in preparation for this mission. They’d already been in the air for hours, and Levra expected they would be landing soon.

  They flew high above the clouds, so there wasn’t much to see. Levra passed the ti
me replaying events from the last two weeks since Gunnar had returned home.

  She had plenty of time to think. Maybe too much time.

  She recalled Gunnar’s explanation of their mission.

  “The purpose,” he’d explained to her, “is to build a lasting bridge between the crew at Watcher Bay Outpost and the villagers at Glanmorr, and foster the beginnings of community between the local clan and the crew at Watcher Bay Outpost. We’ll also survey the neighboring lands for a site suitable to build a satellite city, similar to the proximity of New Seattle and the village of Dwyr. Abramov is committed to establishing strong ties with the Ddaeran community.”

  As they flew across the expanses of New Eden she held high hopes for this mission and any part she might be able to play in it. She knew the Founders had much to learn from the Ddaeran natives and their simple way of life. Beyond their incredible psychic abilities, the villagers at Dwyr lived in harmony with the land and its natural resources.

  Her thoughts turned to the nature of the relationship between her own people, the Founders, and the Ddaerans.

  The Ddaerans could certainly benefit from some of the technology the Founders had to offer. The relationship between the two cultures had been a mostly positive one in New Seattle, and Levra looked forward to being instrumental in creating a similar relationship in this new area. She and Gunnar had decided not long after they’d arrived on New Eden that they wanted to spend their lives among the Ddaerans. They admired their simple yet rich lifestyle and had always planned to raise their children among them. It seemed that, in a strange twist of circumstances, she was nearer than she’d imagined possible to living among them.

  She remembered her history classes back on Earth when she’d learned about the adversarial relationship between the European settlers and the Native Americans. One story that had always captivated her was the mysterious disappearance of the English colony at the island of Roanoke. As she traveled to uncharted territory with her own children, she had a surreal moment where she thought she might be able to relate to the feelings of those European settlers as they made their way to what would become America. She couldn’t imagine those immigrants had held ill-will toward the natives, and she knew she held New Eden’s native population in high regard.