Theodore

by Marcus LaGrone

  Anna grinned, “As a teenager, I always like my privacy, but I am so terribly envious at the thought of being able to talk to my mother, any mother, whenever I... well...”

  “Was lonely,” finished Theodore. “Would you like to sit here next to me?” he offered with a childish grin.

  “I was getting ready to offer you a spot next to my seat,” she replied with a sheepish grin.

  Theodore fired back an exaggerated frown, “Um, long tails and rocking chairs do not get along.”

  Anna laughed and moved to sit next to Theodore. “Oh, your fur is soft! You and Abby both kinda look like clouded leopards. Just an observation.”

  Theodore grinned, “I've heard that description before; it doesn't bother me.”

  A sudden flash of white light from behind them made Theodore's fur stand on end nervously, but Anna just turned and groused, “Mother!” She rolled her eyes and sat back next to Theodore, “She just took a picture of the two of us together. I'm never going to hear the end of this...”

  “Yet I noticed you returned to the seat next to me,” observed Theodore with a grin.

  “I didn't say I didn't like you... um, sitting next to you.”

  Theodore laughed to himself; there was multiculturalism and then there was this... Oh well, it was all simple harmless fun...

  Suddenly Dr. Westmore burst onto the landing, he looked over the pair and with a quick laugh kissed his daughter on the forehead, “Got to run! They had a nasty emergency over at the Frestner Hotel!”

  “Good luck, Dad!” beamed Anna. She playfully nudged Theodore, “See, aren't you glad you're spending the night here.”

  “I'll say,” murmured Theodore. “That was the hotel we were going to...”

  Dr. Westmore suddenly froze in his tracks and turned to face Theodore, “Say that again...”

  “Um, the people at the the space port had set us up for the Frestner Hotel. Room eleven-thirty...”

  “Eleven-thirty-four,” finished the good doctor. “A bomb went off outside that door five minutes ago. Someone was trying to kill you and your family!”

  3

  With the blinds drawn on the windows, Theodore stood in the living room with his human hosts as all parties nervously discussed what to do next.

  “I... I need to call them back and bail. They can find someone else this evening I'm certain,” stammered Dr. Westmore.

  “Dad, you never bail on any call, ever! If you don't show people will ask questions.”

  “Go, take the call, dear. We'll pack up our guests and move them to a secure location,” offered Janice.

  “But where? It's not like we have safe houses set up here!”

  “Don't worry about it, dear...”

  “Don't worry about it? We have three guests who escaped certain death by luck and good fortune! We need a better plan!”

  “Dad! Mom says don't worry because she doesn't want to tell you, not that she doesn't have a plan. If you don't know where we are, you can't let things slip!” interjected a remarkably calm Anna. “You do tend to be chatty...”

  Dr. Westmore stopped and carefully looked back and forth at his wife and daughter. Finally he permitted himself a feeble chortle, “Okay, you two are right. Again. Of course!” He hugged the two warmly and then headed for the door, “Kill the power to your phones. I'll leave mine on.... be careful.”

  With the click of the door behind the good doctor, Anna finally cut lose with a scream, “This isn't fair! They've already been through so much today!”

  Her mother carefully shushed Anna, “Don't wake the baby! My concern is these two events are related.”

  “Related?” asked Theodore incredulously. “You mean someone tried to kill my parents on the star ship and so now they are trying to finish the job? That is crazy! Who would want to kill my parents? I mean, First Mother and Third Mother are artists—they do portraits and things!”

  “We don't know and we won't find out here. First priority is to get you three out of this house and someplace safer. Second, we need to try to contact the other two rescue ports and find and warn your parents. Now is not the time to endure their petty bureaucracy, we need results, not excuses! Anna, go change into something better for the cold night air and get your body armor on.”

  “Body armor, Mom?”

  “You are coming with us, yes”

  Anna's eyes went wide, “Yes! Yes, ma'am!” She bolted from the room.

  Janice growled out loud to no one in particular before turning her attention to Theodore, “I've dealt with drug dealers, smugglers and religious zealots. I'm not about to let a bunch of idiots hurt your family, not on my planet!”

  Theodore was amazed at Anna's mother; there was a fire and determination in her voice that spoke of mothers everywhere; do not mess with the cubs when momma is around! Yet these weren't her children... “It doesn't seem right that you would risk putting your daughter in harm's way on our account. You have already done so much already.”

  Janice laughed and beeped Theodore on the nose. “Silly cat, you don't know my daughter; if I didn't invite her along, she would have just followed us anyway. It is easier to keep an eye on her this way. She's a good girl, a tough and street smart girl.” She sighed proudly, “She was only twelve when she helped me perform an emergency caesarian in the bathroom above a meth-house. Mother and child both did well, and we got them out of there!” The last part was not a happy sound as Theodore could feel the lady's hatred of the situation. Yet, at the same time he could feel her pride for Anna. The situation seemed quite remarkable, but Theodore had no reason to doubt her. From what he had already seen of the family, there was not a trace of doubt in his mind.

  Anna soon rejoined them; her new attire was both practical and inconspicuous. Her movements were muted; Theodore guessed that the added stiffness in her body language was her armor. How strange it was to think of this loving family having body armor in their standard wardrobe. But that is the price of caution when dealing with people of all walks of life. Rather than fear those situations, this family embraced it as a professional challenge. Anna and Theodore just stood there in silence, unsure what to say or do while her mother slipped away to change her own attire.

  Janice soon rejoined them, looking quite different in fact. While Anna's outfit and mannerism were muted, Janice radiated calm and professionalism. No one would think twice that she was a doctor in her own right, she held herself high and proud. Proud, but with an air of practiced caution: Theodore noticed a small pistol tucked neatly away and she openly carried a stun gun.

  “Mom! What about Theodore, um... Dad's armor is way too big for him...”

  Janice gritted her teeth at the sudden observation, but Theodore just shook his head, “I'm fine. Thank you.”

  “Theodore! These people bombed your hotel room! They aren't to be trifled with!” retorted Anna.

  Theodore just smiled. Like most Highland Taik boys, he'd been playing with swords in formal practice since he was eight. As his age had marched on so had his training: wooden swords gave way to steel blades. Steel... in name only. One of the most practiced traditions in the Highlands dated back more than two thousand years. It involved moving things into and out of a pocket dimension on command. Live Steel was the common moniker, but it was far more complicated and useful than a simple steel. This Steel arose for one purpose: to defend the Highlands. Whether it was the product of the Ancients as many guessed, a side effect of the Guardians as some hypothesized, or was something entirely different made no mind to Theodore; it was a skill he knew well and invoked it for the sake of reassuring his human hosts.

  Anna shrieked and laughed, wide eyed and giddy as all around Theodore exploded a waterfall of blue sparks. The sparks quickly fell away revealing Theodore standing before them encased in an iridescent metal armor. He held a sinister looking poleaxe in his left hand. He held it out to the side and dropped it, only to have it disappear in a second wave of blue sparks, never to hit the floor. His armor disappeared a heartbeat
later in the same blue glow that had heralded its arrival. “Highlanders do manage to hold their own,” he grinned.

  For the first time that evening, Janice was caught flat footed. Her awestruck face and slack jaw spoke volumes, “Um... That was real Live Steel! I've heard of it. Seen it described often, but...”

  “That was awesome!” finished Anna with a giddy laugh. “Can it really stop a bullet?”

  Theodore grinned, “My first year at the university we played a bit with the linear accelerators in the undergraduate physics lab. It maxed out at 10k joules; couldn't feel a thing.”

  “10k joules or not, let's try not to find out,” replied a still thoroughly amazed Janice. “That was, however, both fantastic and beautiful!” She laughed lightly to herself as she quickly regained her form. “We need to get the two little girls loaded in the car. Anna, if you can, go take care of the car seats, Theodore and I will bring down the little girls. If we can get Abby to sleep the entire way, we are doing well.”

  Anna nodded and was gone in a flash. Her mother flashed a proud grin and then quickly moved into the kitchen, pulling several items and adding them to a simple courier bag. “I'll carry Abby on the stairs if you can get Rose safely down them. Poor dears, they both just went to sleep...”

  “Then I'll get Rose,” smiled Theodore has he turned from the room. Things were a mess, a horrible chaotic mess, but at least he was with caring people that made a living dealing with the worst. He gently knocked on the door to Rose's room before letting himself in. Rose barely stirred even when he clicked the light on overhead. “Come on, Rose. We're going to find our parents tonight rather than waiting until morning.” That was true; it gave lie to the reasons, but last thing he wanted was for Rose to be sacred again.

  Rose finally stirred and offered a simple grin, “Tonight? Cool! If Second Momma yells at me for how late I'm up...”

  “I'll cover for you, little one!” laughed Theodore. “Get up, get dressed, hit the bathroom and then meet me in the living room. Got it?”

  Rose nodded enthusiastically and shot off towards the bathroom, shedding a borrowed nightgown as she went. Theodore laughed and excused himself to the hallway. He had just barely made it back to the living room when Rose, tussled and fur out of sorts, but dressed, caught up with him.

  “I don't think you've ever gotten dressed that fast in your life,” grinned Theodore. “Come on, let's get to the car.”

  Rose took his hand and the pair started for the stairs. Janice smiled as she quickly caught up with the pair. She had her courier bag over one shoulder and little Abby over the other. She flashed a quick grin to the now hyper Rose and the quartet quickly made their way to the waiting car. Anna had just finished setting Rose's booster seat and seemed somewhat surprised at how quickly everyone had arrived. With practiced form, the youth were quickly buckled in and the rest soon piled into the car just as its engine purred to life.

  “Where to, Mom?” asked Anna.

  “City Center Transport Hub,” replied Janice as she carefully pulled the vehicle out of the garage and out onto the dark city streets. “Will figure out 'where,' where, once we have a better idea what is going on. But there we will have lots of options, and if someone ends up tracing a call to your father, they will have an annoyingly exhaustive number of options to pursue.”

  Theodore just sat in silence thinking as the car gracefully moved along. Why would anyone want to kill his family? His father was friendly and non-confrontational, there were no feuds floating around back home. His First and Third Mothers were just simple artists, painters... had they botched a portrait of someone stupidly petty? That seemed beyond ridiculous. Second Mother? She was a delightful dream! She could crack a joke and make a rock laugh... who would ever want to hurt her? The harder Theodore thought the more perplexed he became. Why would anyone want to hurt his family? But there it was, someone had bombed their hotel room. He gritted his teeth and just had to hope his parents were okay. If Dad knew an attack was coming, Theodore was sure he could stand it down. He was quite skilled with Live Steel. But what would happen if something happened while they were asleep? Would father's instincts, heightened by the Live Steel, be strong enough or fast enough to protect them? Theodore just sighed and let it go; he had no way of knowing now, and fretting was just making his stomach roll.

  He suddenly snorted as he realized he was clutching Anna's hand. “Sorry about that!” he sheepishly offered as he started to let go.

  Anna just giggled and grinned, holding on tighter, “Sorry about what?”

  “Do you two kids need a chaperone back there?” teased Janice from up front.

  Anna just rolled her eyes and laughed, “Do you think I'd tell you if we did?”

  Janice just laughed, “Okay, fair enough. Well, we're here. Don't unbuckle yet; let's contact Father first.” She activated her phone and tied it in to the car's audio system. Two quick chirps later and they were connected, “We're clear of the house. Please tell me you have good news...”

  Dr. Westmore's voice came over the link remarkably cheerful, “Good news on two accounts. No one here was injured in the slightest... scared! But safe.”

  “That is excellent indeed! And two?”

  “Detective Valdez is handling the case.”

  Janice visibly relaxed and sighed happily.

  “I take it you guys know him,” asked Theodore.

  Anna nodded and grinned, “Old friend of the family. He's also my godfather.”

  “So, can he discretely inquire about the Foxdale family?”

  “Already has; they are over at VerDemire. Their family has been alerted. He is sending you a contact link now. Don't read it out loud.”

  Janice grinned as she looked at the text message on phone, “Dear, unlike you, I can keep a secret!”

  A good belly laugh filled the speakers, “Yes, dear. Roberto has a mercy flight pass set in your name, so you should be able to make any connection you want.”

  “Give him a big hug for me and I'll see you... um... probably late tomorrow at this rate!”

  He laughed again, “I'll let you do the hugging! Take care. Bye!”

  Janice clicked off the phone and sat back in the chair, granting herself a small peaceful break before addressing the tasks at hand. “Okay, we are all going to pack up and take high speed monorail to Krystal and from there, we'll get a flight over to VerDemire.”

  Theodore just nodded, “I'm just following you, ma'am!”

  She fired a toothy grin back at him, “How about 'Janice' rather than 'ma'am'?”

  Theodore grinned as he helped Rose out of the car, “I can do that.”

  Anna helped her mother with Abby, but they just left the car seats in place; they were on the move and weren't looking back. The five of them quickly made it up the ramps and through the maze of kiosks before finally taking their place in a private coach on the monorail. In less than ten minutes they were on the move. Theodore was surprised at how quickly the train was in motion, apparently Janice knew the departure times forwards and backwards. She was an extremely organized lady.

  High speed rail or not, it was midnight when it finally pulled into station. Theodore found himself being woken by a still grinning Janice who had already shouldered little Abby. “Come on you three, we have a flight to catch!” Theodore gently woke up Rose and Anna, who were both leaning on him and, after a quick call of nature from Rose, they followed Janice out across the vast lobby. Midnight or not, this was still a busy place!

  Janice quickly found an attendant, “I'm Dr. Janice Westmore. I have a domestic mercy flight transfer. Can you help me with that, please?”

  The attendant smiled as he looked up, “But of course, I'll need to see your ID and who...” His expression went wide with astonishment as he looked Theodore and his sisters up and down. “Oh. These three I assume?”

  Janice kept her smile up, “Yes indeed. We need to get them over to VerDemire as soon as is reasonably possible.”

  The attendant quickly regain
ed his composure, “Yes, ma'am. There are three flights that might work. Please follow me.” He cued his com link as they walked, “Mercy Flight booking to VerDemire... Head count is five, four plus infant, if we have to squeeze. Flight 1327? That's over two hours out, can you find something sooner? They are off-worlders. Tell them to tack the bill to the Foreign Office, they are always looking for good PR. Flight 505? Perfect! Thank you very much!” He grinned at Janice, “I was pretty sure we could catch that flight, just have to stroke the right egos.”

  Janice smiled and nodded, “If that's what it takes, we'll just smile broadly and run with it.”

  The attendant smiled as he stopped at a kiosk and quickly produced a series of passes, “Follow me and we'll bypass the lines.”

  Janice smiled again, thanking the attendant and began a protracted round of small talk. Theodore wasn't really paying attention to them, he was lost in his own thoughts as the audacity of the entire situation started creeping back up on him. A gently wayward tug from Rose re-centered his attention as he grinned at his younger sister and steered her back toward the group.

  In very short order they were all seated in the first class section of a skimmer. The skimmers got their name as they fluttered along on the upper edge of the atmosphere at very high speeds. Most of the time was actually spent accelerating and decelerating. They were not as smooth as repuslar craft nor could they completely leave the atmosphere, but they were far more efficient. Whatever the ride, Theodore was grateful for it. Rose had asked for the window, but was already asleep by the time they took off. Theodore chuckled to himself, they all could use some sleep. A protracted series of 'mews' from Abby reminded Theodore that his infant sister was free of the normal concepts of sleep time.