by Tim Kaiver
The front door swung open. The door at the front porch kicked open and his dad exited with two large briefcases and a sagging duffel bag slung over his back. His mom followed him out with equal urgency. One of her two suitcases caught on the door frame and she kicked it free with the inside of her boot.
Cullen's eyes grew wet around the edges.
His dad looked up at the ship and lifted his chin, a signal to hurry, or help.
Cullen snorted and rose, fighting dizziness with a hand on the bulkhead. "Is something wrong?" he asked over his mic to his dad's channel.
"The VG told me to turn myself in," his dad replied. "I threw them off with a fake locater program. They sent their first group to Red Mountain, but they'll be here soon, I'm sure. There's a safehouse in Dayton Falls."
*Mission to reach the safe house– Activated.*
37
As Cullen staggered to the rear hatch, he spotted Hopper Brinoway on his knees, holding his son in a tight embrace.
Ocia was shining a light in the pilot's eye, examining him for space sickness. He turned to see Cullen. "How's your head?"
"It'll…." The ship spun and dimmed. Cullen lost his balance.
Ocia caught him. "Sit down. We're not going to pull again for at least three days."
The rear hatch opened, and his dad appeared. Cullen was shocked at how much his dad had aged. When he'd last seen him, he'd worn an immaculate silver and green-embroidered VG uniform, and his face was shaved. Now, as he walked in, he wore a three-day beard that matched the cropped white hair on top, and was dressed in civvies. His face and neck sagged with age and loose skin, but his eyes had kept their fierceness.
His dad popped a storage compartment open with his elbow. As he tossed his briefcases inside, Cullen found himself running as quickly as his space sickness would let him. He met his dad in a mighty one-armed hug. His scent erased the many years of separation. "Son," he coughed through a sob, and Cullen felt a warm tear welling. "You look terrible."
"Thanks, old man," Cullen said, remembering how his dad's war buddies had teased him for acting like the grandfather of the platoon even before the whiteness of age he now bore was there.
His mom waited behind his dad, as though needing Cullen to look her in the eye before she could proceed. When he did, her smile trembled. She dropped her briefcases to the floor and joined their hug on his good side. He succumbed to the moment as a new dam of emotion rolled out.
+10 XP to Cullen – relationship growth.
His eyelids grew heavy as he let his body sink into his dad's.
"He needs treatment," Ocia said, fitting a hand between them to pry him off.
His dad pulled back, letting his mom in for a tighter hug.
Cullen gasped. "Ow, Ma." He pulled down his collar to show the bandage. She paid more attention to his head.
"You should lock in here," his dad said. "I can fly."
His dad had logged more fighter jet hours than anyone else in the VG before he was forty, and had trained Cullen since he was old enough to buckle himself in a co-pilot chair. "Everybody, buckle back in."
Hopper Brinoway opened his eyes and lifted his head enough to see Cullen. There was a strength in his gaze that told Cullen he'd try to pull again if needed, but his frail posture said it would be dangerous.
"We're not taking a bubble. I'm sick, too. My dad'll fly us."
Brinoway nodded and moved to a chair. "Strap in, Son," he told Adi. "I'll be fine."
The engines hummed a louder growl as the flight engines transferred power from the pullspace engine.
His mom buckled in, watching as Cullen gingerly slipped his left arm under the strap and clicked in. Her smile could have broken down the hardest of men. He fought its power, for the battle was far from over, even as his body dragged toward sleep. Having thought he'd never see her or his father again, the strain to keep battle ready was real. She was only forty-nine years old, but the gray roots in her red curls hadn’t been there when he'd been exiled.
The Solvent lifted and banked in a quick maneuver that turned Cullen's stomach and squeezed his brain. He hated being a passenger, but had to trust his dad and Torek to handle the flight. Needing to take his mind off the sickness, he asked his mom, "Why are the VG after us?"
His mom's face shook from the speed. "Shortly after the mob broke out, you were identified as the pilot who brought the ship. Your father had plenty of enemies wanting his title without that. Charges of treason for letting you escape with your memories are all over the airwaves."
Cullen forced his eyes on the clouds straight ahead to ease his stomach. He’d suspected Willo would alert the authorities, and that'd now been confirmed. He wanted to rejoice to be home, but the trouble his arrival had created was long in the making. Shephka help us.
The Solvent dipped, lifting Cullen's stomach in a freefall. No more, he prayed. An explosion outside shook through the ship. The ship's engines coughed and sputtered from what he knew was low fuel. He was sure his dad and Torek did too, but they were busy, and there was nothing he could do. They'd already tapped into and exhausted the reserve tank if this was how the ship reacted.
"VG spotted us," his dad com'd into Cullen's earpiece. "Cul, link to flightcom."
Cullen could barely focus, but swiped the screen on his wristcom and tapped into flightcom on his third attempt. A holographic window rose from the eye on his wristcom. Looking at him was an old friend from flight school.
"Hey, Squid," Jerome said, invoking the nickname he'd given Cullen after he'd crashed in the ocean and come up with a squid stuck to his back. "Why don't you tell your dad to land so we can have a more cordial welcome party?"
"Was that your shot?" Cullen asked.
"It was. I have shoot to kill orders. They won't believe me if I miss twice."
Cullen remembered Jerome's flight training grades. "We aren't the threat here, Jerome, but we also can't surrender."
"You don't look good, Squid."
"I'm fine." A sharp bank dropped the ship. He couldn't help wincing at the pain in his head.
"Woooo. Your dad hasn't lost a step. Listen up, General, you have three seconds to hand over controls and surrender or I'm taking you down by fire."
Cullen added a window to his com so he could see their stern view. The Solvent was headed for a train yard with active cranes delivering cargo to the waiting trains. "Ehli?" he shouted. The volume hurt his brain.
"Yeah?"
See this pilot? He forced his eyes open to see Jerome's cold glare.
"Yeah."
Can you make him think we are going right so he can chase us while we land here?
"I'll try… got it."
Cullen flicked the screen to a private channel with his dad. "Land here. Trust me."
The Solvent cut left into a half spin to fly through the narrow gap between two cables, then dipped under a bridge, soared over a wide two-story building, and bottomed out on the other side. They anchored in a stomach-twisting one-eighty turn and sank to land in the cover between the building and a trailer. The wings retracted with a hum.
The flightcom blinked out, letting the outside view fill his hologram.
+10 XP to Ehli and Cullen – Evaded VG ship.
Ehli gained a level! Now Level 4 Ultra. XP 0/230.
Level-up bonus: Salin ineofon. "Beloved Mother" of the Rucien. Shephka will reward a mother's love.
"Everyone out," his dad said.
Cullen's brain spun on a different axis to his stomach, but he unbuckled and started to stand. His mom swiftly caught him and helped him out of the cabin. In the passageway, their passengers, the Orsons and Brinoways, slowly collected the cargo while Torek shouted for them to run. Cullen grabbed his rifle, more just to have it than trusting in his accuracy any time soon. His mom popped the hatch and they streamed out onto the dirt between their ship and the back of the building, where a closed garage had windows to see inside.
She took the stairs up to a door and peeked in the window. "I don't see any
body." She turned the knob, and the door opened.
Cullen glanced back. Torek lead the tail end of their group out of the ship. Jerome's ship soared by at full speed, firing tracers at a target that wasn't there. He found Ehli in the group, weary but steady in her steps. "Great job."
"Thank you."
His dad also watched as the VG ship continued farther along the skyline. "How'd you do that, Son?"
He smiled. "Long story." An extended-cab utility vehicle was parked on the far side of the garage. He ignored the self-consciousness of showing his dad he knew how to break in and hotwire it, hoping he wouldn't ask.
"What's the plan here?" his dad asked.
"I think we can all fit in here," Cullen said, and raised his wristcom to the door handle. He activated a magnet and drew the lock free. It clicked on the inside and he proceeded to work while his dad waited, a sly grin on his face. He'd softened some in the years since Cullen had left. He liked that.
"I'll drive," his dad said after hearing the roar of the engine.
Fifteen minutes later, they took an on-ramp to A-line Highway.
"I picked this route because they'll have to block three roads to ensure a trap," his dad said, "and if we make it to Angle Point before they do, it expands to seven to ten roads. I haven't used this escape before, but I've had it planned for long enough."
"What's your plan at Dayton Falls?" Cullen asked.
"Stay safe while you tell me what exactly 'the Cipher brought us' means."
Ehli leaned forward in her seat to eye Cullen. She, Schaefer, and Emmit sat to his left, while the rest of their group took the row behind him, save for his dad driving and his mom beside him. "Can we have an open conversation now?" Ehli 'pathed.
Cullen smiled. "So, Dad," he started, then paused while he absorbed the realization that of all the missions, briefings, and meetings that his father's career comprised, the words to come from his mouth would be the most surprising and world-changing he'd ever heard.
"Yes, Son?"
Cullen swallowed and prepared to reveal a weight of truth that would change his father's life. "Me, Ehli, and Emmit have been blessed by the Cipher with provisional giftings." He stopped there as the words settled in the silence of their car. His dad looked at him through the rearview mirror, waiting.
"Is that so?" his dad asked, delight in his tone.
"I have…" Cullen started, then frowned, trying to pull together the words to describe it. "The Cipher appeared like writing… more ingrained in my mind than a hologram. Like, if I close my eyes, I can still see it. I have a download of five blocks of texts from Cusaugh. One section I read had a vision of when the Ancients saw these Cipher writings, back when Hilayniia was a thriving city."
"You… see them?" Schaefer asked, looking first at Cullen, then at his wife and son in turn. They all nodded.
"I'm a Level Three Ultra," Emmit said. "I learned the Telescope ability when I read a memory of your travel to Fel Or'an, put it in a blue bird, followed it to you, then sent it back to help Mom."
Schaefer pulled his son in and kissed his head. "I've been following a calling to make the ultras the scriptures speak about, but I haven't seen anything like that."
"It just appeared," Emmit said. "After I read your message in the beacon. I got on the wolverine and then the Cipher wrote:
'Welcome to the path of light, Emmit.
Quest to unlock the Cipher – Activated.'"
"Wow," Schaefer said. He turned to General Re. "Ocia, the doctor who helped them on Setuk, implanted videos into their neuronet. One was how to ride a wolverine we trained." He shrugged. "I had no idea the Cipher would respond like that."
"Mine said about the same," Ehli said. "It showed up when Nassib let me out of my exam room. Nassib…" Ehli glanced at Schaefer, and past him to Cullen. "We left him with Willo's rejects."
Schaefer shook his head. "No you didn't. I got him out. He might still be in the jungle on his way back to Sae, but I made sure he got out of their little outpost. Willo and one of her rejects used their ultra-like ability to sneak onto our ship and steal my serum to make more ultras before they set the city into a frenzy."
"How much are you two like them?" Brinoway asked from the back seat, looking at Ehli and Emmit."
"Her serum," Schaefer said, "was an earlier strain in my research. An imperfect mixture, the side effects are... aggressive. I'm to blame. I was impatient. I've been an angry, short-sighted man."
He found Ehli's hand and squeezed it. "Without my wife and son's permission, I used a different dosage and timeline through the help of my partner Ocia, an Esune doctor. He helped rescue other Esune from Osuna imprisonment, and worked with me developing the ultra-power. Taking a long-term approach to Ehli and Emmit's treatments, mostly out of my fear for their safety and sanity, allowed their bodies to adapt to the power more naturally than Willo. Though ultimately, it sounds like our Father blessed them in spite of my shortfalls."
Brinoway leaned past the seat. "And you're... okay with being treated without permission? How did that work?"
Cullen wanted to ask Brinoway how he liked picking up slaves like cargo for the Osuna, but he'd seen the emotion in the reconnection with his son, Adi and the remorse. We've all had to make it work, Cullen thought, considering the hard path of bounty hunting that had trained him in the meantime.
"I wasn't happy," Ehli admitted. "But we talked through it."
"Ocia and I risked and suffered heavy losses in freeing Osuna prisoners," Schaefer said, "but those were smaller, less-defended camps. Not like the prison on Setuk. For a number of reasons, they were safer there. It was their development of telepathy that gave me the confidence they could safely reach a cave under the prison from their cells."
He thumbed at Cullen and Torek, and nodded at Jolnes. "That was where these three came in."
Cullen considered the narrow escape, and how that had only been the beginning. He laughed, and the mara gashes in his chest ached. "You really know how to take the risk out of an adventure."
"Yeah," Torek added from the back seat. "But we made it work. And we will again, Hopper. Schaefer hired well. And Cullen’s dad raised a fine soldier."
Torek set his hand on Cullen's shoulder with a brother's affection. "I didn't think he had this kind of Adger Face to hide that he was following Cipher writing this whole time, but we made it here alive, so I'm not complaining."
"We couldn't say anything," Cullen said. "When I told Dad when we landed here, that was the first time it let me speak about it. Even Willo and her rejects couldn't read our thoughts about it." He shrugged. "In the end, it worked out, so I can't say why. But it wasn't personal."
Emmit stretched to look at Adi behind him. "See? It wasn't just me. "
Brinoway frowned. "And how does what Willo stole from your ship, and what she's doing spreading her crazy into the minds of civilians, impact our plans now? Not to mention—" His attention returned to General Re. "—you being on the run—for what, exactly, I don't get?"
Schaefer adjusted in his seat. "Willo stole an advanced serum strain that has so far been successful in developing ultras without the berserker side effects."
"Well, that's not great," Brinoway said.
"For now, we will train who we have." His dad clicked a turn signal and drifted into a lane connecting to an offramp. He was a mad enthusiast for training, and the same for the odds of making two ultras their only hope.
Cullen felt a little bad for Emmit and Ehli. If the training to come was anything like what he’d gone through as the son of the Star General, then they'd need more than rest and replenishment—they'd need prayers and maybe a miracle. "Good luck with that," he said.
"Thanks," Ehli said. "Aren't you going to be there to help us? I'm sure we'll be fine."
"All the way."
A rumble of a motorcycle approached. "There's Chester." His dad glanced at him, then the traffic as he merged into the turn lane. "You mentioned writings of Cusaugh?"
"Yes, sir."
> "Still have 'em?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I want to read what you have."
"Me—"
"And I," Brinoway interrupted Schaefer. "I've spent years studying the Ancients' texts. I'd love to see what you have. I hate the Osuna as much as you. They took my son from me. I'm here to fight."
"Yes," his dad said, slowing for an intersection. "Good. We can look over those when we get to the safehouse and out of this traffic."
"And..." Cullen inhaled. "…help me out with our quest. The Cipher pulled ten key phrases out of the Cusaugh texts I downloaded. I think we need to translate them and put them in order to unlock the Cipher. I did my best to translate them, but without context… I'm having trouble."
As the vehicle straightened, Cullen kept his eyes forward, fighting against the space sickness by counting cars. His head throbbed and he wanted to close his eyes, but the sickness wouldn't let him until they stopped moving.
Something told him they wouldn't stop moving for a long time.
38
Cullen's dad parked the vehicle inside the garage of a house a few minutes off the freeway. The hum of Chester's motorcycle pulled in next to them. Lights turned on inside the garage as the door shut behind him.
As Cullen climbed out, Chester hung his helmet on the bike and shook Cullen's hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Son."
Chester's physique was wiry with scrawny muscle, fitting the grease on his hands and clothes. His white beard grew like an unkempt bush in opposition to the tight, dirty blond ponytail.
After near-nonstop interaction with people wanting to kill him, meeting someone so genuinely friendly put Cullen on his heels a bit. "Nice to meet you too."
Chester rubbed his hands in nervous energy. "You look like you need some refreshments on your way to a bed."
"Did you or Shirley stock 'er up for us?" His dad gave Chester's cheek a friendly double tap.
Chester mocked offense. "Must I always prove myself for the mighty General?"