by C B Williams
“I was surprised,” he told Wren. “Making those signs sounds more like something Spider or Mink would do, not Grale.”
“Hmmm,” Wren said, her brow creasing, “Perhaps there’s another side to Grale he keeps hidden. I’ve always felt he was going through some heavy mental stuff, considering his teasing and acting out and all. I figured the best way to deal with it was just allow Grale to be who he was.”
Eloch considered Wren with his deep, penetrating gaze. “You make getting along with people sound so easy. That’s one of the things I admire about you.”
Wren shrugged. “I think most people want to feel like they belong, and if they don’t feel like they fit, they act out to draw attention to themselves. That’s what I think Grale has been doing these past few years, you know? Of all of us, he’s the one who has never quite belonged. The rest of us have had either common ground or a common history.”
“Grale has history with us,” Eloch countered.
Wren chuckled. “Well, he does now, that’s for sure.” She pointed at the signs. “And it looks like he’s feeling like he fits in now, too. I’m sure you interacting with him these past few years helped. I’m glad.”
“Me, too.”
At the exit that led to the galley, they parted—Eloch and Little Wonder to welcome Genji and Kalea back from their Cryo sleep and Wren to search for Perin.
As she left the Solar Farm, Wren thought about her vids from Mouse and felt again the pang of loss.
Two weeks later, Wren was still wrestling with the feeling of loss. Spying Aiko when she went to the galley for a cup of tea, she paused and decided to visit with her. Perhaps Aiko had some deep wisdom that could lift her spirits. Or perhaps she’d like to spar with her to blow off some steam.
Tea in hand, Wren slumped down in the chair across from Aiko, sipped her tea, and then looked up at Aiko with a sigh and a half-smile.
Aiko lifted a brow. “You okay?”
Wren shrugged. “Thinking about the vids I got while I was in Cryo. So many of them, I couldn’t finish them all at once. Mouse and Max...they’re getting so old, Aiko.” She flashed a grin. “Max’s eyebrows are as white and bushy as when I first met him. And Mouse? It’s surreal seeing her face looking old, you know? And their kids are so big. It really hit me that most likely I will never see them again. Didn’t really sink in at first.” She took another sip. “We’re so far away now. It’s hard.”
Aiko nodded. “Just be glad we’re not flying light speed. They’d be long gone by now.” Aiko grimaced. “Speaking of which, Manabu died.”
Wren reached out a hand. “Oh, Aiko. I’m sorry.”
Aiko looked at her, allowing Wren to see the pain. “He’s gifted the Stardust to Max and Mouse’s oldest. She shows knack, he said.”
“Nice. That should make you feel happier, knowing she’s a wanted vessel.”
“It does.”
“Say, didn’t Manabu rename the ship?”
Aiko grimaced. “Could never think of her as the Aiko. She’ll always be the Stardust to me.”
Wren nodded and took a sip of her tea.
The two sat in silence.
“I suppose,” said Aiko after a while, “that’s why shipmates get so much closer the farther out they travel. So much time passes at their old home base that they don’t belong there anymore.”
“I’ve never heard of any ship traveling so far that they never see their friends again at all.”
“Neither have I, Wren. Neither have I.”
Wren stood up abruptly. “I’m going to get something a little stronger than tea,” she announced. “Want me to bring you some ferment?”
Aiko shook her head. “Can’t. We’re going through our first wormhole in a couple of hours. Unlike Manabu, I need a clear head to access my knack.”
“Well, since I’m not flying, I’m going to have a small glass. Be right back.”
When Wren returned, she held up her drink and clinked her glass against Aiko’s mug of tea. “To those we left behind,” she said.
“To the memories.”
They both took a drink.
“Ahhhh,” Wren smacked her lips. “Good stuff.” She leaned closer, confidingly. “Know what I think, Aiko? I think we should have some sort of gathering. Now. Tonight, even. While we’re all together before the next sequence of Cryo sleeps. Honor those who’ve died and those we’ll never see again. I’m sure we’re not the only ones who feel this way.”
Aiko nodded. “Mink told me Kalea’s mother died.” She took another sip of her tea.
Wren nodded, the corners of her mouth drooping. “I know. Eloch told me. It’s why Kalea and Genji haven’t been around much since we all woke up.”
“I am ashamed to say I just found out. Felt it important to spend these past few days on my own, remembering Manabu.” She took another sip from her mug. “Just now feeling a little more social. Sad, but social.”
“You did right, Aiko. People should take the time they need to take care of themselves.”
“I agree.” Aiko pushed her hair off her forehead and sat back. “It’s a good idea, Wren, having the gathering tonight. It will help. We can comfort one another. Bring us all together, if anything.”
“And we can celebrate going through our first wormhole, too.”
Aiko set down her tea. “It’s a brilliant idea, but now I’d better head on up to the Bridge. Keep Grale company, begin the system check run-through.” She rose and reached for the mug.
“Leave it,” Wren said. “I’ll clean up, and then Eloch and I will meet you up there. Don’t want to miss the wormhole ride.”
Aiko smiled. With a nod, she left Wren to her thoughts.
“No,” Aiko cried. “No. No. No. No! Eloch, stop! You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I do, Aiko,” he said calmly while his power flowed from him in waves.
“You don’t. I’m sorry, but you do not. I’ve had nearly forty years’ experience with flying through wormholes.”
Grale’s head whipped around. “You’re that old, Kitten?”
She scowled at him, waved his comment away. “I’ve got the knack, Eloch. Your coordinates are off. Please. Trust my knack.”
“Eloch,” Wren said before he could say anything. She touched his hand and waited until she had his attention. “Give the controls back to the pilots. We’re a team on this ship. We take advantage of our individual strengths to make us stronger.”
“The ship is me,” Eloch said. “It’s a part of me. I know exactly where we are in relation to the wormhole.”
“But you’ve never taken her through a wormhole before, have you?” Aiko asked.
“Aiko makes a good point,” Grale said. “It’s one thing to know where you are in relation to that,” he pointed out the viewing panel at the mammoth vortex of energy, “but flying through it is a whole other kind of relating. One mess-up and we’re all just a memory...if that.”
“I need to learn and understand how to take myself...” he caught himself and paused. “Take the Valiant through one. How can I learn if I don’t try it?”
“By watching us, Eloch,” Aiko replied. “We’ve got knack, Grale and I. We were born to do this, Eloch. Were you?” she challenged, then sucked in a breath when she saw his expression.
“Eloch!” Wren said sharply.
He glanced at her, confused.
She tugged his hand. “Cool your temper. You may have some Longwei in you, but you are not Her. You don’t need to own that planet’s temper.” She waited for the fire to leave his eyes. “Give the pilots back their Bridge, Eloch,” she said quietly. “Learn from them.”
He took a deep breath and nodded, covering Wren’s hand with his own. “My apologies, Aiko. I overreacted.” He glanced at Aiko and Grale. “Take us through. Teach me how.”
Aiko nodded and took a deep breath to quiet her nerves, not wanting to show how much Eloch had unnerved her. She closed her eyes, opened to her knack, and looked at Grale. “Ready to hand over the control
s?” she asked, glad she won the coin toss for the first jump.
Grale smiled and flipped a switch. “All yours, Kitten. Make it clean and mean.”
Aiko shot him a fierce grin, already pulling her knack and lining up the coordinates. “This one’s for Manabu. Gonna be perfect.” She glanced at Grale. “Make the announcement to lock in.”
Grale pinged the crew. “Land and lock, people,” Grale said through the ship’s PA system. “We’re taking our jump. Get ready for a smooth one. Aiko’s promised perfection.”
And it was. As soon as Aiko locked the coordinates in place, she let go of her breath and allowed the vessel its head as the Valiant was pulled into the vast vortex.
“Now the light show!” Grale shouted as he fist-bumped with Aiko.
The ship surged forward, and Wren clung to Eloch. “I forgot to strap in!” she squeaked.
Eloch wrapped an arm around her. “I’ve got you,” he said calmly, while his eyes lit with power as he watched the viewing screen.
Wren was about to say more, but the words died as she watched Eloch. He stood like a pillar, rooted as he was to the floor. The arm wrapped around her felt more machine than flesh. His eyes, bright and burning, were flickering back and forth, gathering data while he observed.
In that moment, she understood what Eloch was. He was more than just a Champion, yet he wasn’t what the Sisters were. Those things she had acknowledged and understood. But what she hadn’t truly understood was that Eloch was the Valiant and the Valiant was Eloch. She had thought Eloch understood the ship, could create, recreate, and transform parts of the ship because of the power bequeathed to him by the creative Sisters. But he could do that only because he had become the ship, just like the Sisters were both the spirit of their planets and their planets.
Just like the Sisters.
Pain squeezed her chest when complete understanding smacked into her. Her breath hitched.
Entean’s spirit could never leave her planet. Neither could Spur or Longwei, or any of the planets’ spirits. Eloch would never be able to set foot on another planet again. Eloch could never be separated from the ship.
She bit her hand to stifle the sob and looked to see if anyone heard. She needn’t have worried. All three were riveted on the viewing screen as they hurtled through the wormhole.
While the three concentrated on the viewing screen, she focused on Eloch, all the way through the wormhole.
“Show’s over,” Grale announced. “Well done, Kitten. Next time, it’ll be my turn to strut my stuff.”
“Doubt you could do as well, Cowboy,” Aiko grinned.
He sobered. “Perhaps not,” he said. “Perhaps not.”
Eloch grinned at Wren, but his smile quickly faded when he saw her expression. “You understand,” he said.
Wren wiped her eyes with the heel of her palm. “What did They do to you?” she whispered.
His arm, once again warm and pliant, held her close as he brushed her hair off her face. “It’s not too bad,” he said. “Come, let’s talk.”
Aiko watched the pair exit the Bridge.
“What was that about?” Grale asked.
“I have no idea,” she answered, shaking her head. “But it sure scared the crap out of me.”
“Me too, Kitten.” He ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand up straight, then pinged the ship’s intercom “The Kitten’s pulled us through, gang. Time to unbuckle. See you all at the party.” Grale glanced at Aiko. “You up to scanning the stars for the next jump?”
He had to say her name twice to get her attention.
“Yeah. I’m up for it.” Her eyes sparkled when she grinned at him. “We’re officially in uncharted territory, Cowboy. Think we’re the first people to see these stars?”
Eloch took Wren to the Solar Farm, to their grassy hill overlooking the lake. “We should name this Eloch’s Domain,” Wren said.
Eloch shook his head. “I like Solar Farm. It’s amusing, don’t you think?”
“Because it’s so much more than a few rows of greenhouses? Yeah, it’s amusing. We all think so.”
“I know you have things to say, Wren,” he told her. “I tried to tell you what I have become, but Perin said you would have to understand at your own pace. She said this would be difficult for you at first. So take your time. I’ll wait.”
She looked at him and tried to gauge her emotions, feeling a flash of annoyance that Perin and Eloch had discussed her. But then, as Eloch’s Seer, wasn’t that Perin’s role to be his confidante? “I’m feeling a little jealous of Perin right now,” she told him.
Eloch put an arm around her. “Perin said you’d feel that as well,” he said, looking down at her. “But then she said you’d soon see that you have no reason to be jealous, without me saying a thing. So I’m not saying a thing.”
Wren laughed and settled herself against him so she could look up and study his face. He had returned his attention to the vista, his creation.
She loved his profile, the straight nose, the firm full mouth, and the square jaw ending in his pointed chin. His features aligned so beautifully. She could see his strength, his intelligence, his compassion, his playfulness, and tenderness. Within his features, she could read all the qualities that set him apart from other men, that made him the leader—the Champion—and now would make him become something more.
“It’s true, isn’t it?” she said. “Now you and the Valiant are one in the same, you can never leave the ship.”
Eloch looked away from his creation and down at her. In the depths of his dark, forest-colored eyes, she saw his love for her. It emanated from him. Nobody had ever looked at her the way he did. Nobody ever would.
“Yes, love, it’s true.”
“Are you okay with that?”
He snorted. “Does it matter?”
She shifted so she could take his face in her hands. “Of course it matters.” She searched his face and waited.
Eloch covered one of her hands and kissed her palm before replacing it on his face. “I mourned the idea of never stepping foot on Entean again,” he said. “I mourned that loss before, as you know. But it was like an old wound had been reopened and hope was lost.”
Wren felt her eyes filling. “I am so, so sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
He smiled at her. “It was something I needed to do on my own. I shut myself away from everyone, even the Seer, and I reached out to Her. To Entean.”
Wren stroked his face.
“It was difficult. We are so far now, and I have not learned to master the range like the Sisters. Not sure if I have that much power.” He swallowed. “She called me Brother and not Champion, and I knew then.”
Wren pulled him to her, held him, stroked his back as he buried his face in her hair. “You must know this is not a prison, Eloch,” she whispered softly. “This is a home. Our home. And our home is very beautiful. I love it only a little less than I love you.”
Eloch sighed. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Grale slouched down beside Aiko. “Not much of a joiner, are you?”
She glanced up at him and took a sip from her glass before answering. “My years of piloting, I suppose. Captain has to be a little standoffish to command.”
“True, but you’re really not the captain here, Kitten.”
She shot him a glance. “Neither are you.”
“Hey, no need to get your panties in a bunch. I just mean that he’s in command here,” Grale said, pointing his drink toward Eloch. “So you can relax. Socialize more.”
“Not really feeling like socializing much tonight, Cowboy.” Aiko sighed. “Sorry to lash out.”
“Ahh. I hear ya. Me neither, come to think of it.” He held his glass toward her. “Truce?”
She looked at him, returned his smile. “Sure, why not?”
They clinked glasses.
“Look, Kitten,” Grale said after a few moments. “I know I can come off...” he hesitated.
“Rude and harsh?”
<
br /> He snorted. “Yeah, that. I haven’t been too happy about being forced to be here, and I suppose I’ve taken it out on you. You know, to distract myself from being out of control.”
Aiko raised an eyebrow. “You starting to be nice to me now?”
“Let’s just say I’m beginning to not be not-nice.”
She laughed at that. “Good. Don’t want you getting soft or anything.” She took a sip of her drink and then looked at him. “What do you mean about being out of control?”
He held up his forearm, exposing the black handprint on it. “Well, Longwei didn’t give me much choice about coming with you all on this crazy...what do you even call what we’re doing?”
Aiko shrugged. “I like to call it a quest. Following the Knack Man.”
“Knack Man?”
“Yeah, Eloch.”
Grale barked out a laugh. “Knack Man,” he repeated, shaking his head.
“So Longwei didn’t give you a choice?”
“Not much of one. I could remain on Her planet or,” he paused, “follow the Knack Man. Probably just as well. Would have gambled all that beautiful crystal money away by now.”
“Or have gotten killed blowing up some asteroid while mining for more.”
“Or that,” he agreed, thinking about Jocko and hoping his friend had had a long, fruitful life. He raised his glass. “To old friends and new ones.”
“To old and new friends.”
Wren leaned against Eloch and threaded her arm through his. “What are you thinking?”
He smiled at her, and she basked in the warmth of that green gaze, happy that they were on the other side of mourning what Eloch had become. “My double on Entean. I was wondering if he is aging by now.”
“Do you suppose he’s still Champion?”
Eloch shook his head. “No. Entean has had two other Champions since him.”
“You don’t say?” she said. “How long do Champions remain Champions?”
“Depends upon the planet. Spur is enjoying Flick, and he seems content to be Her Champion for the remainder of his days.”