by AZ Kelvin
“Until we stirred the pot,” CJ said. He nodded as abstract things began to line up and make sense.
“Do you think the Blood Stars know we have the chambers already?” Gina asked.
“Only if they’ve been to the outpost on the Kang-held, burned-out cinder that used to be Century Four,” Boss answered sarcastically.
“Doesn’t really matter. They’ll know we’ve got our hands in it somehow,” CJ said.
“Do you think the message from Leland is authentic?” Cat asked.
“GABI?” CJ wanted her to answer that question.
“The message is authentic. It was Leland Stile in the message, and if he was under duress he did not show it.”
“Regardless, if the Blood Stars think Leland can lead them to us, they won’t be far off,” CJ said. “They certainly have gone to a great deal of trouble to get their hands on these sleep chambers.”
“And that level of trouble doesn’t usually just go away on its own,” Cal added with quiet intent.
“Quite right, Cal,” CJ agreed. “That’s why our mission is to draw out our adversaries with a little trick of our own. GABI, if we tied your holographic projectors into the Special Tactics burst emitters, how far could you project a hologram and to how big of an area?”
“With the power reserves of the Altered Moon? I could project an image sixty thousand meters in diameter to approximately ten kilometers away.”
“Excellent. Here’s what I want to do,” CJ said, and began to lay out his plan.
*~*~*
Chapter Thirty-Two
Normal duties were resumed after the meeting, and the remainder of the day was spent in preparation for the upcoming mission and the arrival of Nelson and his ship, Horizon’s Call. Early the next morning, sensor scans alerted them Nelson’s ship had just jumped into the sector and was on her way to her homeport, Outlook Station. Pene brought in a coffee service as the crew gathered on the bridge to watch as Horizon’s Call closed the distance and took position next to the Altered Moon.
“Oh, that has got to be the ugliest ship I have ever seen,” Gina said as the ship approached.
“Don’t forget she was built to withstand the extreme temperatures and high pressures of Keect,” Boss said.
“Don’t even get any ideas, Bernard Keltzer. I don’t care where it can go. I am not going to be the star pilot of a space-going turd.”
Pene giggled quietly at Gina’s reaction.
“Hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you two,” Boss scolded them.
“There is beauty in utility, yeah,” Katy agreed, laughing, “but then again…”
“Now, now, you guys, don’t judge,” CJ said. “Her beauty lies in what she can do, not in how pretty she is. Boss, give ’em a shout.”
“Aye, sir.” He opened a visual channel. “Horizon’s Call, this is the Altered Moon. How do you read?”
The view screen changed to Nelson, who responded to the hail. “Loud and clear, my friends, loud and clear. It is good to see you all safely together again.”
“Thank you, Nelson. It turned out a bit more exciting than we planned for,” CJ said, with a slight frown and raised eyebrows.
“Yes, yes, that I can see,” he said, in response to CJ’s new hairstyle. “Hopefully, your efforts will be rewarded. We are ready to dock at your leisure, Captain.”
“Very good, come ahead.”
The utilitarian research vessel rotated and advanced until she was belly to belly with the stealthy ‘merchant’ ship and lined up to dock. The universal docking port on the Altered Moon was located along the ventral hull just aft of where the dark matter collectors disappeared inside the fuselage. The anchor struts of both ships reached out and locked onto the other ship before the docking corridor extended from Horizon’s Call to seal against the Altered Moon’s hull.
“Well, finally we can bring this mystery to an end.” CJ got up to help move the chambers over to Nelson’s ship.
“Hmpf,” Gina scoffed.
“Oh, ye of little faith,” CJ added with a smug tone.
“Captain?” Boss spoke up. CJ stopped to look at him. “What if it is some kind of bio weapon or any kind of weapon for that matter?”
“We destroy it.”
Boss shifted his eyebrows toward the crew and looked at CJ until he caught onto Boss’s line of thought.
“Right,” CJ said. “Boss, Gina, Katy, Cal, and Pene, you five will remain on the ship. Boss, break off from Horizon’s Call as soon as we’re aboard and get to a safe distance.”
Gina and Cal seemed to know what was coming as soon as Boss spoke up and accepted it stoically. Pene appeared confused about what was going on, so she simply did as she was ordered. Katy, though, looked pissed.
“CJ!” she said in protest.
“No.” He was calm and resolute. “No arguments on this one. If it’s good, then we hook back up and the party’s on. If it’s not, then I want you out of harm’s reach. We’ll keep a comms line open and you all can watch on remote. That’s an order.”
“Grrr,” she literally growled, but an order was an order and she gave in.
“Cat, GABI, let’s roll. Boss, you have the conn.”
“Copy that.”
The near-zero gravity of space between the two ships made the transport of the chambers quick and easy. Boss, as ordered, broke off from Horizon’s Call and both ships moved away from each other, as well as from Outlook Station.
CJ and Cat met with the medical personnel, the hazmat team, and the ordinance disposal unit to brief them all on the situation. A few hours later, the quantum sleep chambers were locked down inside a sterile laboratory surrounded by five biohazard containment and elimination levels. The medical personnel, as well as bomb technicians, took positions outside the first containment hatch. The hazmat team was in standby position outside the fifth and last containment level. Nelson, CJ, and GABI watched from the laboratory control room. The crew remaining onboard the Moon watched over the comms channel as the event unfolded. Cat, with two other technicians, moved into the room with full biohazard suits and individual air supplies.
“We’re in position, Captain.”
“Very well, Cat, proceed.”
Cat activated the reanimation sequence on the first chamber. The machine hummed and throbbed, as it ran through the process to find the precise moment that the biological energy was suspended and then to begin the bio-functions again from that exact point. The readout panel eventually began to display bodily functions and brain wave activity.
“Okay, the first one is definitely Human,” Cat reported. The reanimation process completed and the top of the chamber slowly slid open to reveal the Find of the Century. “Oh my!”
“It’s a—” CJ couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Boy!” Boss finished for him.
“What?” Gina asked in disbelief.
“Huh?” Cal grunted.
“What does that mean?” Pene asked. Nobody really had an answer for her.
“There are no contaminants or contagions present, Captain.” Cat ran biohazard tests. “No viruses or pathogens. All tests show negative.”
“GABI, run a facial recognition scan,” CJ said. Then he called over the comms, “Cat, take blood and DNA samples when you can.”
“Copy that.”
Cat had the technicians move the unconscious but alive boy out of the chamber and into a med-bed to diagnose his condition while she moved to the second chamber and activated the reanimation sequence. The second chamber followed the same process and when it opened a young Human girl was revealed, who looked almost identical to the boy from the first chamber.
“Captain, I think they’re twins,” Cat said ecstatically, as the chamber slid open. “Judging from their appearances, they’re preadolescent, maybe ten years, which would make these children almost two hundred years old, absolutely incredible!”
“Twins? Why would anyone put kids in suspension chambers?” CJ wondered aloud.
“M
aybe to protect them from something?” Boss speculated.
“Or someone,” Nelson added on.
“Captain,” GABI said.
“Yes, got something?”
“Perhaps, preliminary evidence indicates we may have just solved a one hundred and seventy-year-old kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping? What kidnapping?”
“One hundred and seventy years ago the Blood Stars crime organization did not exist. A group of criminals managed to gather several ships together under the command of one, Jackson Callan.”
“Callan’s Raiders,” Boss said with a nod.
“Yes, Callan’s Raiders, as they were called, specialized in raids on cargo ships traveling the Marlacuer shipping lanes and then sold the purloined goods on the black market. Callan’s Raiders expanded their repertoire to include extortion and kidnapping after their repeated successes at eluding the Marlacuer authorities.”
“So, it was Callan’s Raiders who kidnapped these kids?” Katy asked.
“That’s correct, Chief, according to official records Jackson Callan kidnapped Andrea and Malicai VerNeer and held them for a considerable ransom. The VerNeer Agro and Produce Company at that time was the third largest agricultural producer in the Marlacuer Empire. The security force hired to handle the ransom drop went against the family’s wishes at the last moment and tried to apprehend Callan’s ship. The ship, with all hands, was inadvertently destroyed during the firefight. The kidnappers never contacted the VerNeers again after that, and the children were never recovered. It was assumed the children were killed out of revenge or that there was no one left alive who knew where they were being held. The VerNeer family poured their sizeable fortune into a sector-wide manhunt for any of Callan’s forces or any word of the children.”
“That’s so sad,” Pene said.
“The facial recognition scan of these children matches the bulletin put out by the VerNeer family. I believe DNA tests will confirm that these children are, in fact, Andrea and Malicai VerNeer.”
“So, they never got their children back,” Nelson said in a sad voice.
“No, Father,” GABI smiled kindly at her own father-creator. “The remains of Callan’s Raiders were forced out of the Marlacuer Empire by the ferocity of the VerNeer family’s vendetta. They fled into Arzian territory where they grew in power once again, this time as the Blood Stars. The VerNeers and the Blood Stars have been fighting a cold war of sorts, at each other’s throats ever since.”
“A feud that’s lasted for nearly two centuries and neither side knew where the children were,” CJ said in amazement. “I guess anger and rage can be inherited just as easily as money and gold.”
“But the three bodies at the outpost all had Blood Star gear,” Katy pointed out. “The Blood Stars didn’t rise in power until after they discovered how to manufacture red plasma.”
“That’s why the carbon analysis of the crashed ship didn’t match the timeline,” CJ said. “Someone must have found the outpost twenty years after the kidnapping took place.”
“And what, then they just killed each other?” Katy asked.
“Greed and wrath, Chief,” Cal said. “If I can’t have it, then neither can you. One guy wants it all, shoots the other two, but one’s not dead all the way yet and pops a few rounds into the first guy before he dies the rest of the way.”
“But why the elaborate room with all the pillars?” Katy asked.
“That was Callan’s doin’, I’ll bet. So he could get away with the ransom maybe. That secret may have died with him, ‘less the VerNeers can shed some light on it,” Cal said.
“Jackson Callan did have a reputation for being overly dramatic,” GABI said.
Gina scoffed and scowled at that, “Must be related to Varrin.”
“Ha! Right there, G,” Cal said.
“How they doing in there, Doc?” CJ asked over the comms.
“Surprisingly well. They’re going to wake up just fine in an hour or so. They also will remember one hundred and seventy years ago like it was yesterday, and you know, they undoubtedly will want to see Mom and Dad.”
“Oh, shit,” CJ said in mild surprise, “that’s going to be tough on them.”
“Captain, with your permission,” Nelson spoke up, “perhaps Pene and myself would make a good team for that.”
“Me?” Pene asked over the comms.
“Yes, yes, a fatherly figure, in me if you will, and a young face, in you, which they might relate to, may help to ease their pain. It is going to be a terrible shock to them. We should contact the family immediately. The VerNeer family business is not what it used to be, but their agricultural holdings still include several planets in the Aequus Star System. I am sure we can contact them through their corporation.”
“Boss, let’s go ahead and dock back up,” CJ said.
“On the way,” he replied from the Altered Moon.
“Pene, if you’re up to it, I’d like you to work with Nelson to help these kids deal with what’s happened to them.”
“Roger dodger, Cap.”
“Good, come on over once we’ve locked up, then.”
“Aye-ffirmative.”
A short time later, the young boy, Malicai, came out of the quantum sleep to the faces of Nelson and Pene looking down at him, while CJ and Cat stood a little ways behind them.
“Hello, young man,” Nelson said, in a calm and warm voice.
“Hi,” Pene said, with a smile and a short wave.
Alarm crossed over Malicai’s face. “Are you with the pirates?” The mannerisms he used and his speech patterns marked him immediately as being born into an aristocratic family.
“No, no, my boy, no. My name is Nelson and I am a research scientist, and this is my friend, Pene.”
Pene smiled and waved again.
“Is your name Malicai VerNeer?”
“Yes—where am I?” Malicai asked, in an anxious tone. “And where is my sister?”
“She’s right here.” Pene pointed to the other med-bed, “She’s okay. See?”
“Did our parents send you to rescue us?”
“Well, no, my boy, you see—you and your sister were lost for a very long time,” Nelson said, as gently as possible.
“What? What do you mean? Where’s my mother?” Malicai tried to rise from the bed and then swooned.
“Easy—easy does it,” Cat said, as she came in to calm him down and check his vital signs.
“Who are you?” he asked weakly.
“My name is Zhu Katsu and I am a doctor, and you, young man, need to stay calm. Your body is still adjusting to being awake after such a long sleep.”
“What? Please, someone tell me—” Malicai said, as he became agitated and began to wriggle around.
“Easy, it’s okay,” Cat tried to reassure him.
“Malicai, everything will be fine.” Nelson kept his own voice calm and reasonable, which didn’t have the same effect on Malicai.
“No!” The boy continued to resist.
“A hundred and seventy years!” Pene blurted out, which startled everyone else, but calmed Malicai down instantly. “You’ve been—asleep for a hundred—and seventy years,” Pene said apologetically while she shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head.
“What?” Malicai said in shock, as he settled back in the bed with a sad frown on his young face. The hollow look on his face showed he realized that his mother and father must certainly be dead by now.
Pene moved up and took the boy’s hand in hers. “I’m sorry.” She tried to think of something profound to say that would make everything better, but she had nothing. “Take it from me, being left behind by your family really sucks, but yours looked for you for a super long time. You were just hidden really well, and nobody could find you.”
“But, how did you find us?” the boy asked through his tears.
“Well, you see, this is CJ—I mean, Captain Evermore,” she began to explain as CJ moved closer to the med-bed.
“Hello, Malicai,�
� CJ said, as Malicai took CJ’s outstretched hand and shook it. “Can I call you Mal?”
“No, I hate that name.” His voice was heavy with nostalgia. “My mom always called me Cai.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Cai. Is there any—”
CJ was cut off by a moan from the next med-bed, as Andrea began to awaken from the quantum sleep.
“Captain, help me slide this over,” Cat said, as she moved over to Andrea’s med-bed. The two of them slid the beds together so Andrea would awaken next to her brother.
“Andi?” Cai asked when Andrea’s eyes opened and she saw the strangers around her bed.
“Cai?” she said weakly.
“Yeah.” He looked over at her with a smile.
Andrea’s anxiety during her awakening appeared to be less because of Malicai’s presence, but she seemed to take the news of how much time had passed and that their parents were dead much harder than Malicai had.
“What’s going to happen to us now?” she asked CJ after she recovered some from the initial shock of the news.
“We’re going to take you home,” CJ said simply, with a kind smile. “We’ll be contacting your family shortly.”
“Our family?” Cai asked.
“Yes, they’ve been waiting a long time,” CJ told them both. “You’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Nelson has some material that will help you to do just that. Doctor Katsu will be on hand and so will Pene. If there’s anything you need, just let them know.”
Idle conversation filled the few minutes before the youngsters fell into a normal sleep and CJ met with the others on his way out the door.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can and we’ll send word sooner than that. For now, keep any word of these two out of any messages. Let’s not contact the family yet. Hold off until we get back. We don’t know who’s listening in. Copy?” He looked at everyone for questions and found none. “Good, see you soon.”
“Good hunting, Captain,” Nelson said when the two men shook hands.
“Thank you, Nelson, I’ll make sure they see us coming,” CJ said with a wink, and then he headed back to the Altered Moon.
*~*~*
Chapter Thirty-Three