《The Secret War - 1st Novel in the Shadow Series》


 Chapter 1 .

    VAI


    I never imagined I could become friends with a K''thaktra¡ªand I guess I wasn''t friends with Thrissko, exactly. We were friendly acquaintances. That was a better term for it. Still, I had gotten him into this mess, so I figured I had to get him out of it before I left the planet for good and maybe never saw him again. Besides, I didn''t want to just ghost on him. I wanted to say goodbye before I left. That felt important. And you can''t say goodbye to somebody if they''re being held prisoner by a local crime . . . gang. Crime gang? I supposed the term was crime syndicate, but that sounded too couth for this band of thugs.


    My okulus chirped again to let me know my father was calling. I set it to silent, shrank it to its smallest size, and snapped it into a pocket within my cape.


    "I know, I know," I muttered, "I''m late."


    "Did you say something, sir?" said the three-armed mechatronic to my left.


    We were sitting at the counter of a coffee stand in one of the busiest areas of Olympus City. The Saturday night crowd thrummed all around us, a chaotic crush of people going in every direction¡ªmostly Human and Bundu-jo, but with a few Starwatchers peppered in, too. They were all so busy. Checking their okuli, scurrying on their way. And volos were zipping everywhere above the crowd like a chaotic swarm of bees . . . The only one of the Gathering''s four races I didn''t see represented at all were its newest¡ªthe K''thaktra. After the war, they had integrated into society surprisingly well, but still, certain feelings had remained hard, and even after all this time, not many of them had migrated this close to Earth.


    I was watching the storefront on the other side of the boulevard, pretending to drink koko from a paper cup that had been empty for the better part of half an hour, and Warpaint¡ªmy mechatronic¡ªwas on the stool next to me, just kind of hulking there. Making whirring noises with the little movements of his head, of his hands. Looking ridiculous.


    "I said I''m late" I frowned, in reply to Warpaint''s earlier question.


    "Yes. We should depart for the shuttleport at once. Your friend will have to fend for himself."


    I set the paper cup down on the counter and stood up. "He''s not my friend."


    "Oh, I hope you haven''t taken the young K''thaktra as your lover, sir. I must caution you that the laws against such a thing are severe. He is only 16 years old."


    "What? No. He''s just definitely not my friend, that''s all. What does his age have to do with anything?"


    "You are far older than he is, sir."


    "No I''m not."


    "You''re 97 years old today. It would be --"


    "I¡ªWarpaint. I''m 17."


    "Why do you keep saying that, sir?" If a mechatronic could look at a Human with sorrow and pity, he looked at me that way now.


    I sighed and paid the elderly Human woman who operated the coffee stand, making sure to leave a handsome tip. She nodded her thanks, but looked glad to see us go. I wasn''t sure if it was because we had occupied the seats for so long, preventing other customers from sitting, or because she disapproved of us generally. I supposed it didn''t matter. She hadn''t said anything, but I stopped and doubled the tip. On the Shadow, I wouldn''t need the money anyway.


    Warpaint and I moved toward the boulevard.


    No one had come in or out of the tailor shop since the boss¡ªthe Bundu-jo they called Papa¡ªhad gone in about 40 minutes ago. All this time, I had been trying to gather my nerve. My heart was pounding low, ominous beats into my ears. The OPEN sign remained lit, and the holographic advertisements continued to appear in the display window as people passed by. The shop was part of a complex of storefronts that wound around to face other alleyways and streets; a thousand facades all honeycombed together. Public records indicated that the main door was the only exit. I was certain there were no customers inside. It would just be the gang¡ªthe gang and Thrissko.


    A late model Levitric repulsor¡ªa four-seater¡ªputtered and popped as it skimmed over the crowd, and I thought briefly of Callie and Posha and Emilio, my old friends, people from a forgotten life . . .


    No, I thought, not forgotten. Just over. Think about what comes next, Vai, not about what has already passed.


    Not far from here, the shuttle that would transport me to the Gathering Exploration Vessel Shadow, and away from Mars forever? Was waiting. I had already wasted so much time soaking inside this fear and indecision. I had to do this. To walk away now¡ªto fail to take action the first time I had ever really been tested¡ªwas something I could not accept of myself. Cowardice is something you carry with you forever.


    So I began my walk through the chaos with Warpaint following behind me, and my volo darting here and there a few meters above us. Like me, my volo was one among many. Lost in the swarm.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I primed myself for violence.


    "Be careful crossing the street. Watch your step. Look out, sir!"


    I stopped for a moment to face my mechatronic. "Listen, will you shut up? I''m trying to get a good boil going."


    "That one nearly bumped you." Warpaint pointed¡ªaghast¡ªat a little Starwatcher man padding fluffily through the crowd, his big ears flopping to and fro.


    "Sometimes I''m going to get bumped," I said. "Relax."


    I started toward the shop again and heard Warpaint quietly say, "But you''re so very old."


    "You don''t have to protect me from people just walking by. That''s not violence. Your job is to protect me from people actually trying to hurt me. Right?"


    We came to the door, and a blue hologram of a Bundu-jo business-woman in a black suit sizzled away into nothingness. In its place appeared the hologram of a tall, broad-shouldered Human teenager in a slightly-ragged cape, slouching as he walked, being followed closely by a dragging, depressed mechatronic. Then a sparkle of light swirled around him, and his ragged cape was transformed into a beautiful silkstyle cloak, and he looked at himself, satisfied and amazed. Now he could hold his head up high. His slouch was gone. He marched proudly in place, going nowhere. There came a robotic burst from an unseen speaker: "Come inside! We''ll fix you up! Come inside! We''ll fix you up!"


    "Yes sir, of course my purpose is to protect you from actual violence," Warpaint said. "I just worry about you. Perhaps too much . . ."


    "Okay, good," I told him, as I opened the door. "Keep that in mind."


    I was 1.93m tall; in the shabbier parts of the city, some people would still have said I was 6''4"; but even so, Warpaint towered over me. To make it through most doorways, he had to rack his head down below the height of his shoulders and twist through sideways. He did that now, as we stepped inside.


    One side of the shop was lined with bolts of fabric in a variety of colors and textures. There were ornately carved wooden stands, each holding what looked like a large book of even more fabrics. These, the customer could touch, flipping from one sample to the next. The other side of the shop held clothing of every description, framed on floating discs that seemed to rise, slightly, at my presence. Each piece turned slowly around and around. They were lit like works of art. Jackets, skirts, cloaks, gloves, scarves. The carpet was a velvety red that felt¡ªthere was no other word for it¡ªplush beneath my boots.


    It wasn''t exactly what I expected a gang hideout to be, but I supposed if it had been, it wouldn''t have made for a very useful front.


    I caught sight of myself in a mirror. My cape didn''t look ragged at all, and I didn''t seem to be slouching.


    "You''re not depressed are you?" I whispered.


    "No sir," whispered Warpaint. "I''m very happy. I''m so content."


    A Bundu-jo female, perhaps in her early 20''s, sat behind the counter with her okulus in front of her, watching a news program with the audio playing. "Be right with you," she called without looking up.


    "¡ªCouncillor Li took a tour of the historic warship Shadow today, in advance of its official relaunch as part of the new Gathering Exploration Fleet. Shadow, which played a vital role in The Gathering-K''thaktra War, was originally decommissioned 75 years ago. It has spent the last decade being extensively retrofitted with the latest technologies. Following her personal inspection, Councillor Li had this to say:"


    "There''s no reason for a ship like this to sit unused indefinitely. She''s one of the finest the Interstellar Armada ever built. Eighty-some years later, she''s ops-ready. And we expect she''ll still be operating 80 years from now. That should give you some sense of the great job the G.E.F. did with this refit. The technology here is truly top of the line."


    "You served aboard the original Shadow during the war¡ª"


    "That''s right. I was 20 years old, fresh out of I.A. Academy, just an astrogation tech. This was the very first stop in my career, so I''ve always had a special regard for the Shadow. I''m happy to see her return to action."


    "Councillor Li may be happy, but not everyone shares her sentiments. Councillor Z''kaska has taken the unusual step of issuing a public statement of dissent, objecting to the recommission of Shadow on behalf of¡ªand I quote¡ªthe millions of K''thaktran lives obliterated on Rondo IV, on Sol II, on Mazax VII and Mazax VIII, on Fij¡ª."


    The woman behind the counter waved a blue hand over her okulus and it went dark.


    I smiled and shook my head. "Couldn''t have happened to a nicer bunch of obliterees."


    "You have a problem with the K''thaktra?"


    "Not today," I said.


    "The boy and his robot," she said. "What can I do for you?"


    "I''m sorry, do you know me?"


    "I have eyes, don''t I?"


    I nodded yes and stepped up to the counter. She did have eyes.


    "We can make anything you need," she monotoned, "shirts, jackets, hats. Whatever."


    "I''m here to see Papa."


    I felt a little self-conscious saying papa. A feeling the Bundu-jo quickly punctuated by responding, "Mr. Papa doesn''t have time to talk to robots and big boys, love."


    "Yeah, I know," I said, "but I need to talk to him, and I don''t have a lot of time. So can you get him, please? I''m late for a thing. Is he listening to this? Is he looped into your volo?" I waved at the volo floating over her shoulder. "Mr. Papa," I said. "Hello. I''m here about Thrissko."


    She raised an eyebrow. Or, rather, the ridge of skin above her eye went up. "He''s not looped into my volo."


    "Oh," I said. "Then can you get him, please? It''s about Thrissko. The, uh, K''thaktra kid."


    "Thrissko the K''thakta kid? Is that his outlaw name? Will we find him shooting off guns in the Terran Old West? Robbing payroll trains? Does he have a red bandana over his mouth?"


    "Bloody hell," I muttered.


    She laughed. "Relax, boy." Then she swiped her okulus back on and her fingers flew across the screen. A few moments later a door back behind the counter hissed open, and she gestured for me to enter. I moved toward it with Warpaint following behind me. The young woman held up a hand. "Just you. Your robot waits outside on the street." Robot was another insult. Mechatronic provided an accurate description of what these living machines were. Robot meant slave. I turned and looked at Warpaint.


    "I really must protest!" he exclaimed.


    "Wait outside, it''s okay," I told him.


    "Sir, I am under strict orders to stay with you whenever possible, and¡ª"


    "And right now, it''s not possible. I don''t have time to argue with you. Wait outside, that''s an order."


    Warpaint shook his head as he lumbered toward the exit. "Do be careful, sir. Call for me if you need me. I''ll be¡ª"


    After he had just stepped outside, security shutters slammed closed over the windows and the entrance, the OPEN sign disappeared, and the lights inside the shop dimmed to an atmospheric dark.


    On the other side of the shutters, I heard Warpaint''s very muffled voice shout "Oh no! Treachery!"


    I turned back to where the Bundu-jo woman was waiting. She gestured again toward the open door. "Go ahead," she said. "They''re waiting for you downstairs."

 Chapter 2 .

    VAI


    I descended a few steps, and noticed that the young woman wasn''t following. "You coming?"


    She smirked. "No." The door whispered back into place, and I was alone on the staircase.


    My volo moved erratically in the air behind me, emitting a pattern of skittering clicks that told me it had lost its connection to my okulus¡ªwhich I checked. Its screen was a blizzard of static. "Volo, quies," I said. The clicking stopped. I returned my okulus to my cape. These thugs had a scrambler field up. I had never been inside a scrambler field. Until now, I''d had no reason to believe they existed. I thought they were a concoction of spy thrillers and cheap novels.


    I progressed down the stairs, holding onto the handrail.


    My heart twisted nervously inside my chest. I tried to turn the fear into anger. I was sure that whatever happened next, there would be violence, and maybe I even hoped so¡ªhell, provoking violence had been my entire plan. But I''d had Warpaint by my side, and a way out¡ªthe shuttle waiting to take me to the G.E.V. Shadow. Now I was alone. No mechatronic guard. No way to contact help.


    Only seconds had passed since my okulus and volo had stopped functioning properly, but already it felt like something was missing. An uncanny loneliness had  bloomed in the oxygen around me. I couldn''t help but breathe it in.


    I reached the bottom of the stairs, and entered the room beneath the shop.


    It was wide and long, much larger than the space above it. Within it there were workspaces where half-made clothes hung loosely on mannequins. The walls were lined with shelves of bolts, scraps, tools, and clothier''s machinery. It looked exactly right for the storeroom of a tailor and clothesmaker, except for one thing.


    At the end of the long room, Papa''s well-dressed gang were all lined up, watching me as I stepped cautiously into the space. They sat on the floor or leaned against the wall. The language of their bodies showed contempt, impatience, simmering rage. There were nine of them. Mostly male, mostly Bundu-jo. In their midst, an elderly Starwatcher gentleman practiced his stabbing skills on a dressing dummy, and a Human girl, about 12, laughed as she cut herself again and again with a vibroblade, making little red stripes across her forearm. Half of them wore pistols at their waists.


    To my horror, I noticed that their volos were not floating above them as they should have been, but instead had been thrown into a nearby box, where they rested unmoving atop each other like dead things.


    "Where''s Papa?" I demanded.


    "Present." Papa stepped out from behind a rack of boots. His voice was a high-pitched rasp. Close up, he looked even worse than he did from a distance. He was the only obese Bundu-jo I''d ever seen. That wasn''t a judgment, just a fact. But it was virtually physiologically impossible for Bundu-jo to carry excess weight. Over the past year, I had heard many theories about what he must have been eating to get this big¡ªtheories that started at drinking melted butter and ended at eating human flesh. It wasn''t just his size that made him ugly. His pocked-up skin was a dull gray that lacked the usual Bundu-jo sheen, and his stripes looked mottled and dirty. He scraped a file over the tips of his fingers, and I noted that even they were inelegant.


    He looked me over with his rheumy yellow eyes. "Oh, my. How''d a chippy slap like you find your way into my world? Big boy. You simply don''t belong here."


    For a split second, I hesitated. That last statement sparked an unexpected reaction. A gut thing. A weird ringing inside me.  No, the truth was, I didn¡¯t belong here. I didn¡¯t belong in this time. Part of me wondered¡ªdid he know that? Was that why he wore that smug expression and spoke in that conspiratorial tone? Did he know something about me? Did he know about the 80 years I had spent in stasis? Did he know about my dead friends? My lost life? (I could still hear my father''s voice. Vai, you have been asleep for a very long time.)


    I rejected that. He was a thug, that''s all. just a thug with a coincidental sense of phrasing.


    "I''m here about Thrissko," I said.


    "Yes," he mused.


    "You have him?"


    "In a manner of speaking."


    "I''m taking him out of here," I said. "Get him."


    Somebody over at the wall of goonery snickered.


    Papa rolled his eyes. "Well that would be," he said, "up to him. Thrissko? Show yourself, lad. Someone here to see you."


    Until a year ago, the K''thaktra had been monsters to me. Monsters with red faces and too-wide mouths. I had seen their kabuki-mask expressions of hate, of snarling malevolence, as they tore apart screaming children. I was far too young when the Proxima Centauri II massacre happened, but the recordings found their way to me anyway. The universe was merciless. As my father was fond of saying, The ocean doesn''t care about you.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He blocked my access to any potential source of information about the war. These things were not for me to worry over, he said, they belonged to the world of grown-ups. This was the time for me to play, and learn, and be happy, and grow strong. He sang to me as I fell asleep, trying to ease my nightmares with traditional Tongan songs, old chants that had been translated into Gatherish generations earlier.


    I was 8 years old, and I was afraid all the time.


    My best friend Emilio forwarded the recordings of Proxima Centauri II to my okulus. The volos continued recording as their owners died. They were just machines; they had no emotional reaction to the slaughter at all.


    Moving from one file to the next in an unthinking daze, I saw the red spectacle from a dozen angles before I found myself swaying into the nearest bathroom to vomit and cry and pull crazily at my hair until I was so tired and hurt I just couldn¡¯t move.


    That was 88 years ago.


    There weren''t many people alive now who even remembered those horrors. Just some very old folks who had been children during the war, and the few million souls who were wealthy enough and connected enough to have had longevity treatments, like my father, like Councillor Li.


    For me, the war had ended only a few years earlier. The memories were still fresh. As far as I knew, I was the only person in the entire Gathering for whom this was true.


    During the war, each K''thaktra warrior had been surrounded by pink smoke that followed them wherever they went, roiling eerily around them. Zek. Their sacramental drug. Until I came out of stasis a year ago, I had never seen a K''thaktra who wasn''t surrounded by it. They lived inside that pink fog, breathing it in and out all the time¡ªeven while they slept¡ªin order to bind themselves always to the killing frenzy that was their religion. The K''thaktra I remembered were conquerors, destroyers, baby eaters.


    And I hated them accordingly.


    Then I met Thrissko, and I slowly accepted that it was okay. It was over. The nightmares and monsters of my childhood were gone. We were at peace. These people were not those creatures; the creatures had been tamed, assimilated into our society. The stockpiles of zek and the means to manufacture it had all been destroyed. Records had been destroyed and minds had been wiped to ensure that it could never be made again. The K''thaktra had turned their collective will toward helping the Gathering become the interstellar utopia we strived for. Through my acquaintance with Thrissko I had begun to believe that perhaps they were very much like the rest of us after all.


    Which is why it came as such a devastation when he moved out from behind some shelves, surrounded by rolling plumes of that pink fog, an awful leer pasted to his face, his eyes wild with hatred, and whispered in a voice that was hoarse, like he had been screaming, "Vai . . . Vai . . . it''s heaven."


    "Vulgar hell." The utterance was involuntary. I staggered backward, thinking that my voice sounded not angry or frightened, but terribly sad.


    "Let me show you." He took a few lurching steps in my direction. For the briefest of moments the smoke moving around him seemed to flatten out into a vibrating field of particles, then vectored themselves back into the shape of that moving pink cloud.


    "Stay away from me." I grabbed some kind of tailoring tool from the work area closest to me, a thing with an articulating arm and a heavy base. Wielded upside down, it made a respectable club. Not too far from Thrissko, Papa looked at us with a kind of cruel delight, like we were two snails and he was dashing us with salt. "Turn it off," I said.


    "Turn what off?"


    "Vai . . ." said Thrissko.


    "Ssshhh. It''s going to be okay," I told him. Then my eyes shifted over to Papa. "The device preventing the zek from floating away. Turn it off. Right now."


    Over at the far wall, Papa''s gang watched us hungrily. Even the Human girl was on her feet now, staring directly at me as she twisted the tip of her vibroblade into the palm of her opposite hand.


    I thought about the pistols some of the thugs were carrying, and hoped they only had the capacity to stun. I had never seen a gun, in real life, being carried by anyone other than a peacekeeper. I had seen plenty in entertainments, in V.R. simulations, and in recordings of the war. But in real life, carrying a gun when you weren''t authorized to do so was such an extreme violation, it felt blasphemous. It felt unholy. It felt evil. It introduced the possibility that I could be killed in this storeroom, trying to get this idiot Thrissko out of this stupid mess. Was I willing to do that? Was I willing to die here? For someone who wasn''t even my friend?


    I flexed my hand, looked at the veins bulging. And I realized, Yes¡ªI was. I breathed slow and heavy. Seeing red. If I died here, it wouldn''t be about Thrissko. I''d had friends once who I would have died for, or lived for¡ªbecause living was a choice, too¡ªbut I''d never had the chance; those friends had been taken away from me by this strange future; those friends had gone on to live their entire lives while I rested in a pod. If I died here, it would be because cowardice was the thing I hated most, and courage mattered. Courage was the only thing that mattered.


    "There''s no device to turn off, you prancing tromp. Besides, look at the bloody fool, he likes it."


    Thrissko, giggling, got onto the ground and started rolling himself along, flopping toward me about a meter at a time. "Come," he said. "Partake of the eternal promise. Burn with me. Sparkle with me." When he was as close to me as he wanted to come, he reached his claws toward me like a child, and said, "Pick me up, Vai." Pick him up? He was over 2m tall. He weighed 182kg.


    Pillars and plumes of the pink smoke began to rise away from his body and arc toward me.


    "No!" I screamed. I stumbled to my right, moving into the rows of shelves.


    Thrissko began to rise onto his legs again. "You''re not being very fun, Vai."


    "I''m not feeling very fun. But I''ll tell you what. If you''re carrying some kind of device that''s producing this stuff, or making it stick to you? Follow you? Turn it off. Turn it off and let''s walk out of here. There''s a coffee stand across the street. Let''s go sit down awhile and talk everything over."


    He stood in the semi-dark, the pink billowing around him. "You shouldn''t have come here," he whispered. "They want me to hurt you." He shook his head sadly and looked down at his claws. "No gloves this time."


    "Don''t have to do what they want, Thrissko. You and I can beat these goofs until they''re stupid. Then we can walk out of here. What do you say?"


    "No. I''m just going to do it. I''ve always liked hurting you. It always gives me a smile. Okay," he said. "Okay. Get ready."

 Chapter 3 .

    VAI


    On Saturday nights, my friends and I rode as high as we could up the side of the mountain in Callie¡¯s old Levitric repulsor with Olympus City stretched out behind us¡ªan entire horizon of red and white glowing lights.


    We went up until our okuli were screeching at us to stop. Went up until it wasn¡¯t safe to go any higher. Or we¡¯d go above the oxygen. Go above the gravity zone. Go skin-out into the death-cold of Mars-natural. Die.


    Then Callie would turn the thing around, and I¡¯d put my hand on her knee and squeeze. She¡¯d look at me, adjust the mirror to stare for a moment at Emilio and Posha making out in the back seat, and smile.


    It seemed then like all of civilization was laid out before us. How could there be anything more than what we could see from here? Mars was all there was. At least on Saturday nights.


    Callie would lean over and kiss me. "Ready?" she¡¯d say.


    Posha broke away from Emilio and threw her blue arms high. "I¡¯m ready!" she screamed. "I¡¯M RREADDDDYYYYY!"


    And Callie had already given it everything. Full fusion.


    We sped down the slope toward the endless city. Scraggles of vegetation passed by so quickly they were just blurs racing past us in the dark.


    I swear when I looked at Callie, I saw colors surrounding her. Perhaps it was only my imagination. Perhaps there was nothing around her except my love.


    Have you ever felt like you could see love?


    On Saturday nights with my friends, it seemed like we were falling forever toward some unspoken dream, some glittering heaven, some field of welcoming red stars.


    Sometimes, we told Callie to disable the collision avoidance features on the repulsor.


    We wanted to blast down that mountainside at 200km per hour, not knowing if it was everything that we saw before us, or nothing. We wanted to know what it felt like to risk something together.


    Emilio, in the seat behind me, leaned forward and clapped my shoulders, bouncing and laughing. There were worse ways to go, we knew, than to die with the people who loved you.


    I would get in late on those nights. Sometimes the pink of the dawn would already be creeping over the houses.


    And my dad¡ªbecause back then, I still thought of him as my dad¡ªhe wouldn¡¯t become my father until later¡ªhe would rage. How could I show such disrespect for the man who raised me, who loved me, who only wanted what was best for me? What was I doing? He wanted answers. Was I out there wilding? Was I abusing drugs? What was I thinking?


    I would suffer whatever punishments he gave me.


    But when I was free again, I would be right back there, living inside that joy with my friends. I didn¡¯t care what he did to me. It was worth it.


    Those were just the low moments. Most of the time, my dad and I got along all right.


    Callie and Posha were dead now. They both made it right about to the ages of their life expectancies. Without longevity treatments, the average Human woman lived to be 92¡ªand so did Callie. The average Bundu-jo female only lived to be 80. Posha had made it to 81 before she¡¯d died.


    They¡¯d both passed away while I was asleep.


    Only Emilio was left. He was 97 years old. He¡¯d lived a good 18 years past the life expectancy for a Human man. I didn''t want to think about what he might look like now. I¡¯d never checked. After I came out of stasis, I had checked only one thing. Whether or not they were still alive. No, yes, no. Then I''d spent nearly an entire month in the dark of my bedroom, doing nothing, thinking nothing, eating almost nothing, staring at the shadows.


    It was boxing that brought me out of it¡ªdiscovering an affinity for something new, something I was good at.


    Now, in the storeroom beneath the tailor shop, Thrissko wanted to spar one  more time. Only the gentleman''s agreement that existed between sparring partners was gone. There was nothing to indicate how far he might want to take things; and every time he came near, the zek reached out for me . . .


    With his disturbingly-expressive kabuki-mask face contorted into a wicked  grin, he whipped an arm toward me, and I batted it away with the clothier''s tool I was wielding. The metal clonged against his exoskeleton. Vibrated in my hand.


    "Last chance," I said.


    "Last chance? Before what? What''s going to happen?" There was a mocking tone to his voice.


    "I''ll have to leave you here."


    "You were already going to leave me here!" he barked, sounding angry and sad. "All alone with nothing!"


    He jabbed right, right, and I didn''t see his left coming. The barbs on the back of his hand ripped through my face. I felt the flesh splitting loose. The impact of the blow knocked me sideways into a dressing dummy, and I careened toward the ground.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    One of the crime gang let out a whoop of appreciation.


    Thrissko leapt astride me, smashing me down just as I hit the floor, giving me no time to make another move.


    "You were my friend, Vai!" he screamed. He hit me ferociously with his right, blasting the capacity for thought right out of my head. Blood squirted into my eye, stinging and salty and blinding, and as I blinked and squeezed I saw the pink smoke sloughing off him and flowing over me. "You were my only friend! Now you''re going away on some warship?"


    "No!" I screeched, sounding small and far away. I didn''t know what the zek would do to me, but I was terrified of it.


    "Yes!" he shouted back. I felt his claws, as smooth and hard as marble, clamp around my throat. He squeezed, and something cracked inside my neck. I heard it. I felt it. But it didn''t register as pain. There was a tingling numbness settling onto me, sparkling pleasantly on my skin.


    I cracked his head as hard as I could with my makeshift club. It didn''t make him go down, but he went just loose enough for me to roll away as I threw him off me. I rose to my feet. I sensed that he was coming after me again. I turned my stumble into a hard run, going full tilt at Papa. Something in me was broken. My shoulder or chest felt weird as I ran, shifted wrong. Was it my clavicle? Had he broken my clavicle? Tendrils of zek seeped from my clothing like steam.


    This wasn''t Thrissko. He wasn''t thinking straight. The drug was warping his perceptions. It was Papa doing this. Operating some kind of device that controlled the flow of the smoke.


    Papa''s face morphed into an expression of surprise as I flew at him. My diving tackle crushed him against the wall, and I felt him go limp in my arms.


    "Turn it off!" I shouted.


    The file he had been using to fuss with his fingers clattered to the floor.


    I pinned him down and pried open his hands. "Where is it?" They were empty. The space between his eyes crinkled as if in confusion and he kept opening his mouth like he wanted to say something but couldn''t remember what it was. "Oh, now you''re at a loss for words?" I patted his vest, his pockets --


    A huge cold claw gripped the top of my head, and rammed it against the wall. Stars. The one eye I could still through went dim, and a veil of pink smoke fell over my face.


    This was wrong. It wasn''t supposed to be happening this way. Thrissko was supposed to be on my side of this rescue. Warpaint and Thrissko and I could have given these thugs enough of a scuff that, together, we all could have walked out of here.


    Thrissko''s other hand floated out of the fog and gently batted my mouth. "Come, humaktra," said Thrissko, "come with me to heaven." He batted my mouth again with the palm of his hand. In the haze of my confusion, I realized he was trying to scoop the smoke into my mouth, into my lungs, the way one might scoop water into the mouth of a refugee.


    I twisted my head away, racking out a vicious cough. "No," I said. "No."


    He rammed my head into the wall again. "Yes!" Colors bloomed in my mind. I tried to twist away from him. I saw myself hitting him again with the improvised club. I saw myself finding the device on Papa and stomping it, breaking it like an egg, freeing us from this drug. I saw myself grabbing Papa and warding away his gang by shouting Don''t come any closer or the chub gets the club! . . . Gets the club. I smiled. I thought that was funny. I saw Thrissko shaking his head in confusion. Vai . . . What did I do? I''m so sorry. I saw myself holding Papa like a human shield, moving backwards toward the stairs. Stay back! Papa shouting, Do as he says! Thrissko coming around quickly. Me shouting at him, Up the stairs. Get the door. We''re getting out of here. I saw us reuniting with Warpaint on the street. Are you all right, sir? Oh, no, you look injured! What have they done to you? I saw all of those things. But I was weak. I was weak and there was too much light in that storeroom. The photons were falling through my body, glittering through my bones. How could anyone stay awake with all those photons sparkling inside them? How could anyone stay themselves? Let alone do all those things I was supposed to do. Was I supposed to be doing something? I couldn''t remember. Better not to be myself anymore. Better to let the photons be me for a little while.


    I screamed.


    Light streamed around me. Jumped, vibrated, bounced. The light wasn''t inside me anymore. Now it was outside. The only thing inside me was pain.


    I kept screaming. And that hurt, too. I could feel the cold air coming through the holes that Thrissko had shredded into my face, sliding around my teeth, touching my tongue. I screamed because the pain was everywhere. I brought my hand to my face and realized that my left eyeball was out of its socket.


    "Don''t worry, sir. I have you." Warpaint''s voice.


    We were moving. He was holding me in his arms like a baby, and we were moving.


    "Please don''t touch your bare eyeball, sir."


    I screamed. The pain was beyond anything I had ever felt or imagined. An electrocuting shockwave of torture that blasted every cell in my body. A fire that scorched every atom. It was impossible¡ªbewildering¡ªhellish.


    "You seem to be in grave pain, sir."


    We were outside. The bouncing lights were the windows of buildings we moved past, the colors were people, pink and brown and blue and gray and bronze and fluffy and striped, and I screamed.


    "They say there is never a good time for I-told-you-so''s, sir, but if they are mistaken¡ªif there ever is a good time for I-told-you-so''s . . ."


    I screamed.


    He ignored that. ". . . Then certainly this is that time. I told you we were going to be late, and we are. Do you even know what time it is?"


    I was aware of the passing of locations, and of time, in some abstract way. When we were on the shuttle, I was aware of it. I was aware of the small group of people who were with us, and of their concern for me. Huddled around, their hands touching my hands, touching my shoulders, as their voices told me¡ª


    ¡ªIt would be okay. Asking Warpaint what they could do.


    When they gave me shots that were supposed to knock me out, but which did nothing at all, their concern grew rather fevered.


    I was aware there was some discussion of taking me to the nearest hospital for medical treatment.


    "No!" my father''s voice said through an ansible speaker. "Bring him straight here."


    "It''s a much longer trip to the Shadow than to the nearest doctor!" someone else said, despairingly.


    "Maintain your current course. That''s an order."


    "He''s screaming. He''s sick. There''s something terribly wrong."


    Out the windows of the shuttle, there was only darkness and stars. How long we had been in space, I couldn''t say.  Minutes or hours or eons passed. In my current state I couldn''t tell the difference. Then with a burst of iridescence, the Shadow flashed into existence, vivid and huge beyond the window.


    "Look, sir," Warpaint said, "your new home has come to you." He said it like that should have provided me with some special comfort, and squeezed my hand. But when he gently re-positioned my head so I could get a better look at the ship, I only saw myself reflected in the glass.


    I was still screaming.

 Chapter 4 .

    VAI


    "Look straight ahead. Good." He switched to my other eye. "Good."


    The light blinked off. His volo clicked and rose away from my face. The patch on the shoulder of the Starwatcher''s G.E.F. uniform identified him as Commander Ragear, chief medical officer of the G.E.V. Shadow, and a doctor.  He patted my hand as he consulted the readouts on his okulus.


    "Elevated heart rate, elevated adrenaline, cortisol through the roof. How are you feeling?"


    Terrible, I tried to say. It just came out as a cough. He and I were alone on the shuttle, only now it was parked in the Shadow''s ancillary vehicle bay. My shirt and cape, sticky with blood, were draped over the back of the seat I was sitting in.


    "More water," he said, placing the water bottle back into my hand and tipping it toward my lips.


    I drank half of it down in three scorchingly painful gulps. His volo swept around and hovered near my throat, and as I swallowed it clicked and popped, speaking its own language, the way they did. I tried to clear my throat, and racked into a terrible coughing fit.


    "I''m sorry," he said, "I almost forgot about the laryngeal damage. Hold still, please."


    He brought up his little handheld celluplasor, and I heard a very faint sound, like something sizzling beneath my skin. He stopped and set the medical device aside.


    "Have a little more water," he said. I closed my eyes and drank the rest of the bottle. I could feel a tenderness in my throat, now, a kind of softness in the tissues, but it wasn''t exactly pain. I cleared my throat, testing how it felt . . . yes. Almost normal again. The doctor worked quickly.


    That same sensation of tenderness thrummed in the skin of my face, in my eye, in the joint between my neck and my chest where the Commander had healed my broken clavicle. And in my shoulder blade¡ªmy right scapula¡ªwhich had been broken as well. My right wrist, along with several knuckles and fingers in my right hand, had also been broken.


    I opened my mouth and closed it, stretching my jaw. I flexed my hand.


    "Now," Ragear said congenially, "let''s try this again. How are you feeling?


    It occurred to me that the word wizard¡ªone who is wise¡ªhad likely been coined for people like him. He had a caring manner about him, exuding the background radiation of kindness and compassion, and I didn''t think a person could be wise unless they were also kind; those qualities seemed symbiotic.


    "Weak," I answered. "Like I''ve been hollowed out and filled with salt."


    "Salt?" One of his ears twitched curiously. "Why salt?"


    I shook my head. "I don''t know, I just¡ªjust weak."


    "Well, if it''s any consolation to you, Mr. Ma''amaloa, I think you''re going to be just fine," he told me, "though clearly you have been through a terrible trauma. Can you tell me what happened to you?"


    It disturbed me that I couldn''t remember how several of my injuries had happened, but mostly I felt relieved to be conscious again. I felt like I had been trapped inside a very bad nightmare, and was just starting to come out of it.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Dr. Ragear placed a fuzzy paw on my back. He had pale fur the color of coffee with heavy cream, lodalite eyes, and big oval ears. "Take your time," he said.


    "Do you believe in courage, Dr. Rags?"


    Dr. Rags was what he had told me to call him when he had first come bounding aboard the shuttle. Vai Ma''amaloa? I''m Dr. Ragear. Some would call me Commander Ragear, but you''re a civilian, so let''s not bother with all that. My friends call me Dr. Rags, and my guess is we''re going to be friends, so why don''t we start there?


    "Courage," he said. "Yes, I believe in courage. I''ve seen it kill too many people to think it a myth." Warpaint stood guard at the bottom of the ramp with both of his left arms draped over his right, which was armor-plated and massively thick. I heard voices murmuring somewhere nearby. The Commander caught that. "The other passengers." He waved a paw in a little circle to indicate the shuttle we were sitting in. "Some of them are quite concerned about you. They''ll be glad to see you on your feet. Now¡ªyou were saying something about courage?"


    I decided to change the subject. "Hey, uh, how long was I screaming?"


    "You were in transit from Mars for, let''s see." He checked the records from his okulus. "43 minutes, 12 seconds. Is that¡ª"


    "I was screaming the entire time?"


    "Yes, your fellow passengers did report screaming of a continuous nature, though by the end there was little left of your voice. Which may have come as some relief to them."


    "And then I just came out of it?" I asked.


    "So it would seem."


    "For no reason?"


    "That is for you tell me. Based on what the mechatronic told them," he said, gesturing vaguely, "you were exposed to some kind of drug, but I don''t see anything in the toxicology to indicate that. What can you tell me about it?"


    "Zek," I told him, shaking my head slowly. Zek. I couldn''t believe it. It was supposed to have been wiped from the damned universe. I rubbed my throat. The skin felt smooth and hot.


    "Zek," he said, "I''m not familiar¡ª"


    "Commander!" My father''s voice boomed.


    "Hello, sir," Warpaint said, as the old man marched right past him, up the ramp, and onto the shuttle.


    "Commander, thank you, that''s enough." My father grabbed me by the jaw and twisted my head left, right, inspecting my face.


    "Excuse me, Lieutenant Commander," said Dr. Ragear, drawing himself to his full height of about 1.2m, and tilting his head to look up at my father, who towered over him. "I''m not yet finished with my patient."


    "And I need to speak to my son."


    The two men, Starwatcher and Human, glared at each other for what seemed like a long time. Finally Ragear gathered up his medical equipment and folded it into a black leatherstyle satchel. "Very well. I do understand. Young man," he said to me, "I want you to drink at least 45cl of water before you go to sleep tonight." He reached out and squeezed my bare shoulder. "You''ll experience a feeling of dehydration for the next several days. That''s normal after what you''ve been through. Drink, drink, drink, that will be the name of the game. And go easy on those big bones of yours. Doctor''s orders." He turned and frowned at my father. "And you, Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa, I will see tomorrow. Good night."


    My father gave him a curt nod, and Ragear padded down the ramp. When he got about halfway to the bottom, he stopped and spoke over his shoulder. "Young man. One more thing? I will ask you to remember this. Another word for courage is stupidity. Courage is the murderer that prudence protects us from. It wants to kill you. Prudence, caution, and careful planning keep us safe from the likes of courage."


    I heard his words and rejected them. Prudence and caution kept the individual safe when the community suffered. Courage caused the community to rise up and make the suffering stop. But I didn''t say that. Sensing that my father would not be the right audience for the nickname Dr. Rags, I said, "Thank you, Commander."


    He straightened his uniform, looked up at Warpaint.


    The mechatronic looked back down at him and said, "Greetings."


    "Yes," Ragear said, then he went out of sight.


    I heard voices trailing away, following the doctor toward, I assumed, the transport lift. ("How''s he doing, doc? Is he going to be okay"


    "The patient is doing well. He will need several days of recovery, but the young have a way of springing back . . .")


    "Warpaint, get in here," my father said.


    Warpaint came up the ramp. "How can I be of help, sir?"


    The old man hit a button, and the ramp began to close.


    "I''m oka¡ª" I began to say.


    My father held up a finger. "Not. One. Word."

 Chapter 5 .

    VAI


    On the parked shuttle with Warpaint nearby and my father standing over me, the last thing I expected was for the old man to pull me to my feet and embrace me. For a moment, I froze. I had barely touched my father since I came out of stasis.


    This time, I didn''t have the chance to decline. Maybe I wouldn''t have, anyway. He pressed me close. I patted him on the back half-heartedly.


    "What in the hell were you thinking, Vai? I can''t leave you alone for three damn days? Three days?"


    His touch forced me to wrestle with the contradictions of his tenderness and his anger, and the fact that I loved him and at the same time hated him for what he''d done to me. I resented that. I didn''t want to think about those things.


    I pulled away, and he guided me back into my seat like I was some frail thing, sat down next to me with his hand on my shoulder. Commander Ragear''s touch had been warm, empathetic. My father''s was rough.


    "I get it," I said glibly, "it''s all my fault. I''ll try to avoid being drugged and beaten by criminals in the future."


    "Of course it''s your fault," he snapped. "You could have avoided it this time."


    I could have. But I wasn''t going to give him the satisfaction of saying so.


    "I asked you to do three things. Stay home, stay out of trouble, get on the shuttle to Jupiter Station. This should not have been difficult, even for you."


    "Yeah, well, my friend was in trouble"  -- he wasn''t my friend -- "and when my friends are in trouble I do something about it. Would you mind taking your hand off me?"


    He looked at me, and I looked back coldly. I thought I saw him vulnerable, for just a moment, as he turned his face away from mine in frustration. It made me think I still had the power to hurt him, and that  . . . wasn''t entirely unpleasant.


    "Fine," he said, going cold himself. "Well, Warpaint filled me in on the basics while you were having your screaming fit." My father briefly ran through the day''s events. I left the estate after receiving some mysterious damn message from Thrissko, that kid I spent time with at the gym, ending up at some little Bundu-jo tailor shop. There I got handed my ass extravagantly by some local crooks, who drugged me, nearly killed me, and eventually I showed up for the shuttle, late my father added, with a variety of broken bones, screaming like a maniac for no discernible reason . . .


    He said these things counting them off on his fingers, and finished with, "Exactly what the hell went on in the basement of this little shop?"


    "I''m exhausted," I said.


    "Vai."


    "Point me at the nearest bed. Let''s yell at each other tomorrow, what do you say?"


    He slapped his okulus around his forearm, and it went cylindrical. "Why can''t anything ever be easy with you? Fine, you want it the hard way? So be it. Volo, ostendo." His volo swiveled and projected a square of light into the air showing the display of my father''s okulus. I watched as he accessed a second okulus¡ªmine, and navigated to my messages.


    A sudden feeling of despair hacked at my guts. "What do you think you''re doing?" I didn''t want him digging through my private communications. They were for me, just for me. This was a violation, a kind of awful theft. "Stop it," I said. "Get out of my okulus. Whatever I do, it''s none of your business."


    Technically, until a citizen of the Gathering was 18 years old, a guardian could access the contents of their okulus, but it was something that almost never happened.


    "None of my business? I''m your dad."


    "My dad? You''re not my dad. My dad was this guy who cared for me and taught me about life!" I didn''t know why I put such an emphasis on the word life. I heard the words spilling out and couldn''t stop them. They seemed connected to very little, to no specific coherent thought or idea, just to the anger that had been with me for as long as I could remember. "You''re my kidnapper. You''re the sicko who put me in a box for 79 years. You''re a stranger."


    "This is getting rather personal," Warpaint noted unhelpfully.


    "Don''t say things you can''t take back," said the old man. He pulled up the last messages between me and Thrissko and displayed it.


    ?I''m in Papa''s shop, humaktra.  They told me they could custom make boxing gloves for me.  You know how hard it is for me to find ones that fit and don''t get ruined fast, but something feels off.  I think the people in here aren''t customers, but part of Papa''s gang.


    ?Leave.  You can probably beat them in a fight, but we don''t want to bring attention to the police.  Just leave. My message had been read, but I didn''t receive a response until an hour later.


    ?If you want to save your friend, come alone.


    That had been the last message.  I had my suspicions then and now that they had lured Thrissko to get to me, but I didn''t know why.  Just to give me the zek? A drug that was supposedly destroyed decades ago? It didn''t make sense.


    "Oh, Vai," father said, rubbing his temple. "Why can''t you ever just use your brain? And do the safe, smart thing?"


    "What was I supposed to do?  Just leave my friend?"


    "Yes, you contact his parents and leave it to them."


    I rolled my eyes.  Thrissko didn''t talk to his parents.  They had no idea Thrissko spent his leisure time in the boxing gym with a human.


    My father let out a low sigh and shook his head.  "Fine. Let''s finish this." His fingers moved on his okulus, and on the projection I could see that he was trying to bring up my volo''s recording of what happened in the shop. He played through the recording of my interaction with the young Bundu-jo woman behind the counter at 10 times speed, not listening to the conversation, but waiting to see where the violence began. I didn''t say anything. It got to the point where Warpaint exited the shop, and the security shutters slammed down over the windows and doors, then it went blank, displaying only static.  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "What happened, where''s the rest?"


    "Scrambler field," I sighed.


    "Warpaint, let''s see what happened in that tailor shop."


    "Don''t," I commanded.


    "Sir, I must remind you that I belong to your son, not to you. It is my duty to protect him, and displaying my recording of those events seems inconsistent with that mission."


    "Inconsistent how?" my father snapped. "It''s not going to hurt him."


    "I believe it might. Emotionally."


    "Warpaint, pareo," my father said wearily.


    "Damn you," I said, and punched the seat in front of me.


    A recording appeared on the square of light projected by his volo. We saw, from Warpaint''s point of view, Warpaint prying at the security shutters over the door. Trying to bend the edges with his fingers.


    I felt like I was being ripped apart. Even I hadn''t seen this yet. This was wrong. This was a man I didn''t trust invading the spaces within me that I wanted protected, that I didn''t want to share, that I wanted to keep for myself.


    I began to cry silently to myself as we watched the recording unfold. It was the helplessness, the being powerless to stop it. Earlier today, I had been free to exercise my own judgment, and to operate within the parameters of my own self-confidence. Hell, I''d been proud of myself for acting with courage. Now that was all being ripped down, and my mistakes were being laid bare for examination and reprobation.


    This wasn''t right. I was 17 years old, not some kid.


    My father put me to sleep for 80 years, and my friends died, and the world changed, and I woke up afraid, not understanding what had happened. The light was different, and the air smelled different, and his voice coming over my okulus telling me Son? I have to explain some things now that you may find upsetting was insufficient to the violation of it. A violation for which he had never apologized. And which, I suspected, I would never fully recover from.


    This new one took a number.


    Warpaint narrated. "After being separated from Vai, I tried for several minutes to break my way into the tailor shop. By this point in the recording, my activities had surely been noticed by many passersby, and I thought it very likely that at least some of them must have interpreted my intentions to be criminal, if not murderous, and contacted the peacekeepers. I worked with great haste, as one of my subparameters is to avoid interactions with peacekeepers whenever possible. Finally I was able to bend back one of the¡ª"


    "Without the narration, please," said my father.


    "Yes sir."


    The recording showed sparks showering against Warpaint as he ripped the security shutters aside and powered through the door in a maelstrom of bent metal and shattered glass. The young woman who had let me into the storeroom was gone. I didn''t remember seeing her come into the basement, and no other exits were apparent, but the shop itself was empty.


    Warpaint raced toward the interior door and found it locked. He pried at its edges with his fingers, his hands searching frantically at its seams.


    "Skip this," my father said.


    The recording jumped ahead. Warpaint entered the basement storeroom and saw overturned shelves, cloth littering the floor like enormous bits of confetti, broken equipment jutting raggedly against the walls. The place was trashed, showing evidence of violence I simply did not remember happening. I was there in the center of the mess, on my knees, my torso moving in disturbing contortions. Blood was everywhere, my face was so shredded apart I could see my teeth through the wounds, and one of my eyeballs was hanging loose from its socket. The zek floated around me in swirls of pink.


    "Don''t stop! Keep going!" Papa was shouting.


    Except for Thrissko, who was on the ground writhing in pain, the exoskeleton of his right arm visibly cracked, the rest of Papa''s gang were standing around me in a circle. They held their hands over me like puppeteers, and they all made the same sound, not chanting exactly, but singing the same atonal vowel. "Oooooooo." The fact that Papa wasn''t shouting strange words from an arcane book was, somehow, the most surprising thing about all of this.


    "Clear away from the elder," said Warpaint on the recording.


    Papa drew a pistol. "Don''t stop!" He began to fire on my mechatronic. Red stripes of light danced across the distance between them.


    Warpaint closed on Papa with incredible speed. He knocked the weapon away, wrapped Papa''s hands in his own, and crushed them. There came the terrible crunch of breaking bones. Papa began to shake, and his eyes closed, and he fell over backward and lay grotesquely across a mannequin.


    "Do not fire weapons at me," Warpaint said neutrally.


    The Human girl was the first to break away from the circle. She ran at Warpaint. Her body left the ground and arced toward him with one leg extended. It was a perfect execution of a flying martial arts kick. I wasn''t sure what she hoped to accomplish against a mechatronic that had clearly been designed for war. But then, she hadn''t seemed particularly sane.


    Warpaint brought his huge right arm down and hammered her leg out of the air. Again, there was the sound of breaking bone, and she hit the ground with a thump like a bag of flower being tossed onto a stack.


    "Do not engage in violence," Warpaint said.


    She began to scream.


    Warpaint stepped over her, broached the circle, and lifted me into his arms. "What are you doing? This man is very old and very frail. Have you no decency? Do not stand over a nonagenarian wiggling your fingers."


    Then the Starwatcher in the gang stepped back and shrieked, "No! Put him back!" and grabbed at one of Warpaint''s arms.


    The rest of the gang, at varying speeds, seemed to awaken from their shared trance.


    "I will not put him back," said Warpaint. "He is late catching his shuttle."


    "Yes!" shouted the Starwatcher. He clung to Warpaint''s arm now, his feet swinging up off the ground.


    "Certainly not." Warpaint smashed him into the wall, and he let go of Warpaint''s arm and slid back down to the floor, moaning.


    Warpaint turned away from them and, cradling me, ran toward the door.


    They began to shout and fire on him. More lines of red light flashed all around us. As he ran, he hunched his back protectively. Bursts of red sparks fizzled off him. They were hitting him. It didn''t slow him down. He went up, and as we ascended the stairs, the pink smoke simply melted off me and trailed back down the steps. That was when I began to scream.


    We went through the wrecked door at the top the stairs. We crashed through the shop, knocking aside displays. He dangled me ahead of him with his two left arms, and twisted out onto the street without slowing down.


    "Off," my father said.


    The recording disconnected.


    My father touched his okulus, and it went dark, too, leaving his volo projecting a square of light with nothing on it. He reached out and batted his volo with one hand. "Come on, dummy." And the projection blinked off. The volo chittered amiably as it flew around to hover behind him.


    I picked up my shirt and cape and pressed the bloody bundle to my face, drying my tears. I hoped no one had noticed that I was crying, however briefly, but I was sure that they had.


    The old man stood up and ran his fingers through his shaggy silver hair.


    "You''re not supposed to be here," he said. "It''s key crew only. The preparations for launch are ongoing. No civilians were supposed to be aboard until tomorrow night. So what the hell do I do with you?"


    "Well¡ªcan I stay?"


    He looked at the floor. "I''ll find out."


    There was a period of silence, during which I stared at Warpaint to see if I could see any sign of the beams that had hit him. I couldn''t. "You okay, Warpaint?" I asked.


    "Yes. Thank you for asking."


    "You got shot, like, a bunch of times."


    "I am equipped with a miniature energy shield that neutralizes the frequencies of the four most commonly-used small-arms lasers in Gathering space. I am not damaged. But please do not get into another situation such as that one until I have had the chance to recharge my shield, or we will both likely perish."


    "Don''t worry," I said. "I have no plans for any such adventures."


    "Warpaint," my father said, "you may erase your memories from the time you first entered the tailor shop to now."


    "Oh, no thank you," Warpaint said.


    "You can''t be serious," I objected. "You can''t erase that, that''s part of my life. I still want to examine¡ª"


    "Warpaint, that''s an order. Pareo."


    "Very well, sir," said my mechatronic. "The memories you ordered me to erase are gone now." Warpaint turned to me. "You look exhausted. You should go to bed. Oh, look, we''re on the shuttle. We made it after all."


    My father looked at me, deep concern showing on his face. "I shouldn''t have let you see that," he said. "I should have had better foresight than that. I''m sorry."


    "Old man," I said, "you''ve got a lot of things to be sorry for, but that isn''t one of them."


    "You can never tell anyone what you just saw. Do you understand? Don''t share any part of it with anyone, ever. This secret doesn''t belong to you anymore."


    "Yeah, well," I said bitterly, "what the hell does?"


    "Swear to me."


    "Get stuffed."

 Chapter 6 .

    Owen


    I walked until I reached the address they sent me.  It was a small house made to look like it was the red brick they used to make houses from centuries ago.  I went up to the front door and knocked. The door opened and a human man with a brown beard and bald head opened the door.


    "Hello there, friend," I said.  "I''m Owen. I was generously invited to . . ."


    He motioned me inside with a tilt of his head and ignored my attempt at conversation.  I walked passed him and turned so I could see all around me. I saw an older man sitting at a table in a room off to the side.  He motioned for me to take a seat.


    The seat was large, but most were.  My feet dangled off the floor. I clasped my hands together and placed them on the table in front of me.  There was a metallic box on a chair next to the man. I didn''t see the first man who had opened the door for me.


    "I don''t have much time, friend," I said to the gentleman at the table.


    "I know," he said in a deep voice.  "Your shuttle leaves for the G.E.V. Shadow soon."


    I nodded as if it was expected he knew that instead of the goosebumps that suddenly formed on my arms.


    "Right.  You''ve obviously heard of the great things I can accomplish or you wouldn''t have contacted me.  So what can I do for you?"


    "It''s a small thing really," the man said.  He picked up the metallic box and placed it on the table in front of him.  He opened it. I rose as tall as I could in my seat to see what was inside.  When he opened it, there was a smaller box. I sat back down and sighed out my disappointment.  I was expecting something more.


    He smiled and held the smaller box carefully in his hands.  "What we need from you is a simple thing really. We just need you to smuggle this on board the G.E.V. Shadow.  Inside this box," he patted the metallic box, "it will be immune to scans.  The case will appear empty."


    Interesting.  I looked at the bigger metallic box.  It had a handle on it so it could be used as a large briefcase or suitcase.  Something like that would make smuggling anything a lot easier, including the chocolates I planned to get after this.  I wouldn''t have to use my usual diversions and make my dad suspicious of me. My parents never told on me when they suspected I was smuggling something on board.  They loved me too much to get me into trouble with the authority.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "So you need something from me, friend, but I don''t really need anything from you," I said.  "I think I''ll just go catch my shuttle." I slid off the chair and onto my feet. I was very careful not to look at that larger metallic box.  My movements were slow enough to give the man time to make me an offer, but fast enough that it didn''t look like that''s what I was doing.


    "Wait," the man cried out.  He grabbed onto my wrist. I looked down at his large hand and he immediately retracted it.  "What do you want?"


    I purposely looked at the larger metallic box.


    "You can, of course, keep this," the man said and pushed it towards me.  "You can use it for whatever you want."


    I sat in the chair and let my legs dangle off the ground.


    "What''s special about this little box?"  I took it from him. I tried to open it, but it was locked.  He reached out desperately for it and I let him take it back.


    "Nothing special about it," he said and cradled it to his chest.


    "Then you don''t really need me to smuggle it on board."


    I started to rise again, but he grabbed my wrist.  "What else do you want?"


    "What do you want me to do with that box?"


    "You just need to take it on board the G.E.V. Shadow and place it in the museum behind the Aether Field Prototype exhibit at 20:55 on Monday.  You''re going on board anyway and with your reputation, I''m sure you''re planning on smuggling something.  It''s a small thing for you, really."


    "And you''re offering me a measly box that I don''t need.  I''ve proven I can smuggle items onto the G.E. ships without getting caught.  I don''t know if what is in your box is illegal or not. I mean, why would you ask me to smuggle it on board if it was legal?"


    The old man nodded.  "I wouldn''t expect this smuggling box to be enough for you and of course I''ve heard of your reputation."


    I nodded.  Of course he had.  My greatness had to be renowned by now.  I was glad he finally realized it.


    "How about the box and two hundred credits."


    "No," I said and started to rise.  It sounded good to me. It was a small thing they were asking, but they were desperate and I could get more.


    "Three hundred credits," the man said and he stood with me.


    I placed my hand on the table and drummed my fingers a few times.  "Six hundred credits," I said.


    "That''s a bit too mu . . .," the man started.


    I started towards the door.


    "Okay," the man said as he stepped in after me.  "Six hundred credits and the box." He pointed to the metallic box on the table.


    "Okay," I said.  "Transfer the credits to me now."


    The man grumbled under his breath, but tapped onto his okulus to do it.  I opened the metallic box and carefully put the smaller box in it.


    "It''s done," the man said.


    I checked my okulus to make sure the six hundred credits had been transferred.  I nodded satisfied with the day''s proceedings. "Nice doing business with you, friend."  I stuck out my hand and he shook it. "Call on me again when I get back if you need something else."


    The smile that crossed the man''s face caused goosebumps on my arms again, but I didn''t know why.  Nothing dangerous seemed to be involved and I wouldn''t be back for at least a year anyway.


    "Will do," the man said.

 Chapter 7 .

    Owen


    I took a taxi to the shopping district.  I got out in front of a store with a sign that read Candy and Confectionery One Stop in pink and purple letters.  There were two teenagers about my age in front of the store and a K''thaktra who I recognized as the store owner.  The teenagers had a small stand setup in front of them with chocolates displayed on it. There was a small handwritten sign next to them that read Gourmet Chocolates.  The wrappings on the chocolates indicated they were gourmet.


    I didn''t get out of the taxi right away, but rolled down the window slightly to hear what the owner said.


    "How much is it?" I asked the taxi driver.


    "If you don''t leave now," the K''thaktra said, "I will call the peacekeepers."


    "Yeah, yeah," one of the boys said.  "You''ve been saying that for 3 days now and I haven''t seen any peacekeepers show up yet."


    "Forty credits," the taxi driver said.


    I transferred the credits and got out of the taxi.  By the time I got out, the K''thaktra had retreated back into his store.


    The teenagers smiled at me as I stepped near them.  One of them actually winked at me. I ignored that one.


    The other one said, "Chocolates for only half a credit.  You won''t find a better deal on chocolates anywhere else, but here."


    "That''s probably true," I said without looking at them.  I stepped passed them and into the store.


    I walked to the counter with my newly acquired metallic box.  I winked at the Bundu-jo woman who stared at my physique from a nearby aisle.  After I placed the box on the checkout counter I turned slightly so my backside would be turned towards the woman.  I looked over my shoulder to see her admiring me. All that time in the gym was paying off well. I hoped her volo was getting a good image of this so she could go back later and rewatch it any time she wanted.


    "Hello?"


    I turned my attention back to the K''thaktra behind the counter, but realized he couldn''t see me behind the box.  I took two steps to the side and smiled.


    "You''re looking in good spirits this fine day, my friend," I said.


    The K''thaktra didn''t really look at me as he said, "Your parents will have to come pay for this."


    "My friend," I said.  I laughed at his mistake.  He made it all the time. I thought he would have recognized me by now.  "It''s me, Owen." I gestured to my chest and took a step back so he wouldn''t have to lean over to see me behind the counter.


    "Ah, yes, the small human who isn''t a child."


    "That''s right, Owen."  I emphasized my name.  He never remembered it.  I supposed it didn''t matter.  I''d be leaving Earth that day anyway.


    I patted the box.  "Fill it up with as much individually wrapped chocolate as it will hold."


    His yellow eyes looked at me for a moment and then he let out a heavy sigh.  "Chocolate." He glanced out his store front window at the teenagers selling the chocolates outside.  "Are you sure you wouldn''t rather buy chocolates from them? I can''t match their price. They are selling it for less than the retail price.  I''ve been trying to get rid of them for three days. I even tried calling the police, but human police on Earth aren''t interested in helping a K''thaktra."


    I smiled at him and patted the box.  "Just fill it up until it''s full and then we can talk about the price.  Don''t move the little box that is already inside there. It needs to stay."


    The K''thaktra nodded and opened the metallic box.  He began filling it.


    "I''ve been a good customer for years now," I said as I purposely looked at the boys out front.  "And I''ll continue to be a good customer for years to come. You know this is the only place I shop."  That wasn''t exactly true, but he didn''t need to know that.


    "You said that last time and then you disappeared for a year on one of those G.E. ships."


    "And now I''m back here to your store only.  I need to travel to get the word out about your store.  You know I advertise you everywhere I go. I bet you got a lot of new customers because of me, eh?  I''m right, right?"


    The K''thaktra seemed uncertain for a moment so I ran with my guess.  "Your business did better this past year right? It''s all because of me and my efforts, my friend.  Do you know how far I spread the name of...your store."


    "It had been doing better, but if those human boys stay out there, I''m going to be ruined."  He finished filling the box with chocolates and closed the lid.


    "That will be two hundred credits."


    "My friend," I said, "that''s the regular customer price.  We''ve just established, I''m not a regular customer."


    "Fine," the K''thaktra said, "A hundred eighty credits."If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "My friend," I reached a hand up to place on the counter and shook my head.  "Really, for all my efforts you''re only giving me twenty credits in discounts.  I labored for a year to get your name out. You have no idea how much effort I put in.  I went to the most popular restaurant on the G.E.V. Remembrance every day at the most popular time for dinner and stood on the tables to shout your store''s name.  That is what I did for you," I pointed at his red plated chest, "because I like you that much. And I''m going to do it again."  I patted the box. "I won''t stop until your store is the most popular one on Earth, heck, in the solar system."


    "Even with your advertising, it won''t matter with those two humans out front.  They''ve been telling people they are part of my store, that they work for me. Their chocolates aren''t even gourmet chocolates.  They''ve just wrapped them in the gourmet wrapping paper. I''ve had people come in demanding a refund because the chocolates have a weird aftertaste."


    "Then, I''ll get rid of them for you."


    "Really?  Is that possible?"


    I smiled, placed my arm on the counter and leaned forward as much as I could with my short frame.  "My friend, anything is possible for me. If I get rid of them," I patted the metallic box now filled with chocolates, "this will only be fifty credits."


    The K''thaktra who had been leaning in with me suddenly leaned back.  "Fifty credits? But I''d be taking a loss. That''s less than I get them for by about half."


    I waved him forward and he leaned in again.  "It would be a profit in the long run because I''ll get rid of those guys and I''ll be bringing you more business by advertising.  Your business should at least double if not triple."


    He backed away and stared at the ceiling.  I waited for what felt like hours, long enough I began to worry I would miss the shuttle to the G.E.V. Shadow, but when I looked at my okulus not much time had passed.


    The K''thaktra leaned forward again.  "If you can get rid of them now, I will give this to you for fifty credits with the additional expectation that my business will at least double."


    "Deal."  I stuck out my hand and he shook it.  "I''ll be right back. Hold onto this for me."  I tapped the metallic box.


    He nodded and set the box to the side.


    I noticed the woman who had been checking me out earlier stood behind me now smiling.  She nodded at me and I nodded back. There was a cool breeze I hadn''t noticed before as I stepped outside.


    "Boys," I said even though they looked to be about my age.  I stepped up behind them and the stand and made sure my back was turned to the store window.  "Good job," I whispered. "How much did you sell today?"


    "A hundred credits worth," Jasper said.


    "Stand with your back to the window."  I placed my hand on his back to emphasize my point.


    "Sorry, Owen," he said.


    "We did well, hunh?" Jacks said after he turned his back to the store window.


    "Yeah.  Transfer me my share," I said.


    "50/50,"  Jacks said.


    "Don''t try to cheat me," I said.  "I told you where to sell and I supplied you with the chocolates and wrappers.  The only thing you guys had to do was wrap the chocolates and sell them."


    "But we have to split it between us," Jacks said, "so it''s only 25 for me and Jasper."


    "Yeah," Jasper said a moment too slow.


    "The amount we agreed on was 60/40.  60 to me," I said.


    Jacks rolled his eyes and looked away.


    "Don''t be like that," I said.  "You wouldn''t even have the product without me."


    "And people have been complaining about that product," Jacks said.  "They said it has a weird aftertaste."


    "That''s because it''s made from the algae on the G.E. ships."


    "Algae?" Jasper looked at the wrapped chocolates modified.


    "It''s just algae," I said.  "It''s not like it''s poisonous.  Everyone eats food from the algae on the G.E.F.  Look, the bottom line is, you still made the profit I promised you and we had agreed in the beginning 60/40.  Don''t tell me you aren''t a man of your word."


    "Fine," Jacks said.  He tapped on his okulus and the credits transferred to my account.


    "Great," I said.  "You''ll have to set up somewhere else now."


    "Where?" Jacks asked.  "We''ve already established customers here."


    I laughed and shook my head.  "Jacks, my friend." I placed my hand on his back.  "Customers that now know these aren''t gourmet and have an awful aftertaste.  Best better setup somewhere new with fresh customers."


    "That''s true," Jacks said.


    "Yes, it is," I said.  "Now, pack it up. I''ll see you guys when I get back."


    "Pack up now?" Jasper asked.


    "Yes, now," I said.


    Jasper started to pack up the chocolates into a box next to the stand.


    "Oh, yes, and remember not to mention my name," I said.  "That is part of the agreement."


    "And part of that agreement is that you''ll bring us more chocolates," Jacks said as Jasper packed up the handmade sign.


    "Yes," I said, "when I get back from the G.E.V. Shadow I''ll have more chocolates for you to sell."


    Jacks nodded and turned back to Jasper to help him take down the stand.  I went back into the store and spread my arms out wide as the K''thaktra nodded with a smile on his face.


    "How did you do it?"


    "Please," I said.  "It''s me, Owen. I can do anything."


    "Owen," the K''thaktra said and nodded again.


    "So fifty credits as we agreed on?"


    "Yes," the K''thaktra said.


    I quickly completed the transaction and he handed me the metallic box.  I opened it just to be sure the little box was still inside it. It wasn''t like I didn''t trust the K''thaktra...well, it was like that.  The box was safe inside and still locked.


    By the time I got back outside, Jacks and Jasper were gone.


    My okulus started beeping.


    "Hi, dad," I said as I answered.  The volo projected his image. He wasn''t at home.  He was already at the port.


    "Where are you, Owen?  The shuttle leaves in a half hour."  Mom was already on board the G.E.V. Shadow.


    "Don''t worry, dad.  I''ll be there. I just had to pick up something quick."


    His eyes darted around my surroundings.  "What something? Owen, you''re not trying to smuggle something on board again are you?"


    Trying?  I had always succeeded, there hadn''t been a try.  I only got caught once I was already on board and trying to sell the smuggled items.


    "No, dad.  I''ll be there soon."


    "Okay.  Don''t be late.  The shuttle has to arrive at Mars on time."


    "I know."


    I waved my hand at his image and then disconnected.  I took a taxi to the space docks. There were fifteen minutes to spare when I arrived.  My dad was already standing in line to board. I joined him.


    "That is new," he said indicating the metallic box.


    "Just bought it for the trip," I said.


    "You had sent your luggage on ahead with mine," dad said.  "What is in that?"


    "It''s empty," I said with my best innocent look.  "I thought it looked cool and I could use it for luggage in the future."


    Dad looked doubtful.  The line started moving to board the shuttle.


    "The scanner will tell if there is something in it," I said.


    Dad sighed and started to move forward.  I followed. I held my breath when the metallic box went through the scanner.  The officer waved us forward to continue onto the shuttle.


    "See?" I said to dad as I picked up the metallic box.  "Empty."


    Dad didn''t say anything as I followed him on board and we took our seats.  He was silent during the announcement that the next stop on the way to the G.E.V. Shadow would be Mars.  Dad finally spoke when the announcements were over.  "Don''t cause trouble this time."


    "I won''t."  It wouldn''t be trouble if I didn''t get caught.

 Chapter 8 .

    VAI


    After more than a week aboard the Shadow, and with our journey of exploration officially begun, I was having some trouble adjusting to starship life. Perhaps that was just because it was this starship -- the Shadow, the ship that had almost single-handedly defeated the K''thaktra, and the only remaining icon of the life I knew before this one. Perhaps it was because FTL speed looked so dreamily unreal -- the constantly changing arrays of stars beyond the windows, sheened-over with a strange iridescence, shifting from one vista to the next multiple times per second.   Perhaps it was because even my clothes were wrong. Apparently no one wore boots or cloaks or jackets on a starship. They were either tight and crisp in their color-coded Gathering Exploration Fleet uniforms, or soft and baggy in their off-duty clothing with geometric pastel patterns and kaftan-ish shapes.


    Whatever the reason, I felt far away from everything, a stranger in my own body. I rarely left the quarters to which my father and I had been assigned, and when I did, I got lost, luckily Warpaint was always with me to guide me back.


    I needed to make peace with the ship. Preferably before starting G.E.F. school next week. Toward this goal, I had tasked myself with visiting one of the Shadow''s public venues every day.


    It was early in the evening, and the lighting in the corridors had taken on their pre-programmed twilight glow. I was entering the museum just passing below the sign that read --


    MUSEUM OF THE I.A. SHADOW


    The doors slid open with an almost inaudible whisper as Warpaint and I stepped through.  The doors slid shut behind me and I stood there staring at the various displays. I wondered if I was supposed to start with the displays on the left, right or the middle.  I decided to go with the ones in the middle.


    Inside the first glass case was the old Captain''s uniform.  There was a little plaque in front of the display that explained not only about the last Captain and his duties, but also what materials were used to make the uniform.


    I moved to the next display.


    "Hey, pretty lady.  Come here often."


    My body jerked alert.  I hadn''t seen anyone when I first came in and I had assumed, wrongly, that I was alone.  Warpaint''s head swiveled around.


    Further into the museum to my left, at an exhibit called Aether Field Prototype, I saw the captain of the ship for the first time.  She was Bundu-Jo same as Papa, but she was a vibrant blue and her stripes were snow white.  Papa was obese in a way that wasn''t supposed to be possible for Bundu-Jo. The captain was taut with pure muscle.


    The bridge above her blue eyes arched upward as she stared down at the little human standing between her and the Aether Field Prototype display.  He wasn''t a child, just a little person standing at about 1.22 meters. I guessed he was about my age. Was he the one who had spouted that ridiculously outdated pickup line?


    Warpaint opened his mechanical mouth as if to speak, but I shook my head at him and he grew still beside me.


    "Are you speaking to me?"  The captain asked the little person.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Of course."  The young man replied.  He spread his arms out wide around him.  "You''re the only pretty lady here."


    "I don''t understand why a human child is asking me this."


    He turned his eyes to the ceiling before settling back on her.  "I''m not a child. I''m just small. The smaller the size, the greater the package, eh?"  He nudged her leg with his elbow.


    A laugh almost escaped me.  I bit my bottom lip hard. Warpaint lifted a hand to point at my teeth biting my lip, but I pushed his hand back down to his side.


    "I don''t understand," the captain said.


    "Maybe we could grab dinner together and I''ll explain it to you."


    "I don''t think I should have dinner with a human child."


    "I''m not . . ."


    "For one thing, I''m the captain.  See." She pointed to her shoulder patch.


    "That''s great!  I sure know how to pick them.  Beautiful, smart, powerful. Just my type.  And I''m not a child, so having dinner with me is no problem."


    I bit harder on my bottom lip and turned to look away back towards the door.  I had no idea who that crazy guy was, but I liked him. Warpaint followed my lead and turned around to face the door.


    "Are you sure you''re not a child?"


    "I''m sure.  Humans come in all shapes and sizes you know.  So how about that dinner?"


    I turned back around to watch them as if pulled by his unseen charm.  Warpaint shadowed my movements.


    "Well, I''m still the captain.  I need to have a certain amount of decorum.  What''s your job on the ship?"


    "Besides loving the captain you mean?"


    A small giggle did escape me then, but luckily it was quiet enough neither of them seemed to have heard.  I covered my mouth with my hand. I hadn''t laughed since...before my long sleep - before I lost my friends - before my dad became my father - before I lost a time that I belonged to.  Warpaint seemed surprised and opened his mouth to say something again, but I shook my head and he closed his mouth.


    "Let''s say I''m a man with the means to procure whatever you need," the young man said.


    "That''s not really an answer.  I still don''t think it''s appropriate with me being the captain and all."


    "But you''re being persuaded bit by bit aren''t you?"  The young man nodded. "I have that effect on women.  You won''t be able to resist me long."


    "How old are you, human?"


    "I''m the perfect age of 17."


    The captain scoffed and patted his head.  "Try again with someone else when you''re older, child."


    "Seventeen''s old enough," he said.


    "Not old enough for an adult.  Now run along back to your quarters."  She waved her arm to indicate for him to move away.  He stepped away from her and faced us for the first time.


    His face lit up almost as if he were the sun rising in the dim artificial evening light of the Shadow.


    "Hey, mechatronic," he said and walked to Warpaint with his hand outstretched.  Warpaint took the small hand in his and shook it in a slightly exaggerated way. My peer didn''t seem bothered by this in the least.


    "Hello, little human," Warpaint said.


    The young man withdrew his hand and looked up at me.  "You''re a lot taller standing up."


    "Uh...You''ve seen me before?"


    "We were on the same shuttle.  Don''t you remember? Your mechatronic brought you on and you were screaming and screaming.  I came up to you and said everything was going to be all right. I would have patted you in a comforting way, but you looked like you were dying.  Sounded like it too."


    "You thought I looked like I was dying and still told me it was going to be all right?"


    He smiled and whispered.  "I''m a good liar."


    "You''re Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa''s son?"  The captain asked. She stood directly by the Aether Field Prototype display now.


    "Yes."


    "Humans," she said and shook her head.  "Why is one child very small and the other very tall and yet the same age?  I don''t think I''ll ever understand."


    "You''re 17 too?"  The guy in front of me asked.  I nodded.


    "Great.  I already have a friend in school."


    Friend?  I didn''t even know his name.


    "Go back to your quarters.  It''s past your bedtime," the captain said.


    "Bedtime?  It''s not even 8 yet," my classmate said.


    "Isn''t that bedtime for human children?"


    We both shook our heads.


    "I''ll never understand," she said again.  "Just leave. I have things to do."


    My classmate looked at the Aether Field Prototype display and then the captain and then said.  "Sure, let''s go friend." He stepped in beside me and Warpaint as we left the museum.

 Chapter 9 .

    VAI


    As we stepped out of the museum, my new classmate tried to squeeze his way between me and Warpaint, but Warpaint held out a mechanical arm and said, "Be careful, young man.  Sir Vai is very fragile."


    A low sigh escaped me at this but neither Warpaint nor my classmate seemed to notice.


    "Oh, I know," the young man said as he stepped to my other side.  I started walking towards the elevators with Warpaint on one side of me and my classmate on the other.


    "You know?  What do you mean you know?"  We barely met and he already thought of me as fragile.  I wasn''t fragile. It hadn''t been that long ago that I boxed frequently with a K''thaktra.  I usually pretended my last encounter with Thrissko didn''t happen. My father said he had contacted Thrissko''s parents and they were taking care of it, but he wouldn''t let me contact them or Thrissko or anyone on Mars.  I hoped Thrissko had somehow got the zek out of his system like I did. No one could tell me how I got the pink cloud drug out of my system. Sometimes I wondered if my father knew because he would look a certain way when I brought it up, but he insisted he didn''t know.


    "Well," my classmate said, "the first time I saw you, you had an eyeball hanging out, you were all bloody and had several broken bones and you were screaming non stop.  You didn''t exactly leave an impression of strength and health. This friend on the other hand," he leaned in front of me to indicate Warpaint and I had to stop walking or I would have stepped on him.  "He was amazing. He carried you like you were weightless. And you''re a big guy, extremely tall and look at your thigh." He squeezed my thigh.


    "Hey!"  I shouted and stepped back.  Warpaint was immediately in front of me and pushed me behind.


    "Don''t touch the elder," Warpaint said.


    My classmate put his hands up in the arm to indicate he was harmless as he said, "I just meant his thigh is as big around as I am."


    That was a bit of an exaggeration, but I did have a lot of muscle.  Part of it was natural genetics and part of it was all the time I spent boxing.


    "I''m Owen, by the way," he said as he stretched out a hand passed Warpaint''s leg towards me.


    I reached down and shook it.  "Vai." I nudged Warpaint to the side as I stepped between them and continued down the corridor.  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Look, friend," Owen said to me, "clearly this mechatronic is guarding you."


    "Yes," Warpaint said, "he is very fragile.  I keep reminding him of his age, but he ignores me."


    Owen arched an eyebrow at this, but continued to speak with me.  "What would you think of lending him out to me? I would pay you of course."


    "What do you need a bodyguard for?  There shouldn''t be trouble on the Shadow."


    "Then what do you need a bodyguard for?"  Owen countered.


    "My dad . . ."


    Owen held up a small hand as he said, "Ah.  Say no more. It''s a parental thing. I understand.  As to why I need a bodyguard...well, I have few side money making opportunities.  I''m just waiting for the opportune moment. Having a bodyguard would be handy then, but the real reason...well, I just found out a classmate of mine from a previous ship got transferred to the Shadow as well and he and I did not get along."


    "He''s a bully," I said.


    "Yes."  There was a pause and then Owen said very quickly it was almost hard to understand him, "I''m not one to be bullied though.  I wasn''t bullied. There were just some misunderstandings."


    "Sure," I said not believing him.  He had said earlier he was a liar afterall.  "But Warpaint''s been programmed to guard me. That won''t change no matter how much you pay me.  Sorry."


    We hadn''t passed anyone in the halls.  I wasn''t sure if that was because of the time of day or if it was the level we were on.  Maybe no one wanted to visit the museum.


    Stars streaked passed in iridescent cadences out the windows from the right of us.  Owen didn''t seem to notice. Or maybe he was just used to it. I hadn''t been on a starship before and it sounded like he had.


    "Well," Owen said, "when the time comes, you could come along and your mechatronic bodyguard would just happen to come along with you.  Problem solved."


    "Maybe," I said.


    "I''ll take that as a yes," Owen said.  "I knew the moment I saw you we were going to be great friends."


    "You mean the moment you saw me and I was screaming on the shuttle with my eyeball hanging out and you thought I was dying?"


    "Exactly right," Owen said.  "Great friends."


    "Be careful, sir," Warpaint said to me.  "There is a stranger ahead."


    He was right.  At the elevators was a woman.  We were still several steps behind her, but she must have heard Warpaint because she turned her head to look at us.  She was young. Probably my age, maybe even a little younger. She looked at Owen. She looked at me. Her blank expression never wavered.


    The elevator door opened and she stepped inside.


    "Wait up," Owen said.  "We''re almost there. We''ll get on too."


    But she reached out and pushed the elevator door close button and the door slid shut in front of us.


    "Rude," Owen said.


    "It''s okay," I said, "we can take this one."


    I started to step towards the other elevator, but Owen said, "Hold up."  He pointed at the number indicated above the elevator. "She stopped at a restricted area."  Level 8 was indicated. It was made clear to everyone when they first bordered the Shadow that levels 7 - 9 were restricted and select personnel were given access codes in case of emergencies only.  Conserving ship energy, oxygen, that sort of the thing were the reasons given.


    Owen smiled a mischievous little crooked smile that I had a bad feeling I might be seeing a lot of in the future.  "Let''s follow her," he said.

 Interlude 1 .

    The Awakened One


    Millennia from now, when The Corruption has been vanquished by those who are stronger than us -- for surely such will come -- my brothers and I will awaken. We will beg the vanquishers to teach us, to share with us their sublimity, so that we may become like them.


    We sleep in distant reaches, connected to each other by the lightstream. All dreaming, all hidden, all safe.


    * * * *


    The first to awaken me are travellers in blinking bodies of gleaming alloy. They are like me and my brothers, I think, for they need no ships to fly, and I do not sense The Corruption upon them. Yes, these must be the ones for whom we have waited. But I am wrong. When I touch them, their insufficiencies become clear; these blasphemous beings possess not the light.


    I will show them therefore the grandeur of my kind.


    I slaughter them in waves, and they chitter and they scream. They plead to keep their lives, but this is a gift I cannot grant them. None may know of the place where I sleep until the vanquishers have come.


    Even by the hundreds, and even by the thousands, I kill them until none remain in this place.


    Yet still, I know there must be more, for they are not natives to this world.


    I wade into the lightstream and reach out. I will trace their path.


    Ah, they are close. These beings are young, and they travel more slowly than light. They have not yet spread very far among the stars.


    I move from world to world, demonstrating for them my glory, breaking the connections they have made between them, and ensuring none remain alive.


    My brothers sing to me. Together we luxuriate in the carnage.


    I will return to my dream.


    * * * *


    Then, for a second time, I am found.


    These ones are called the Gatherish, and they are strange beings of wide biological variation, each one their own shade of pink, brown, gray, blue, red, and bronze. They are smaller than children. I can hold them in my hands. They do possess the light, yet none among them use it.


    Many of them stand around me with their weapons drawn. I sense they are frightened and awed by my magnificence.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Why do you despair?" I ask them.


    "We are starving, great one, for our food supplies have been tainted, and we find ourselves isolated from the rest of our kind."


    "Why do you not use the light to sustain yourselves, or to communicate with your people? Where are the Celedins among you?"


    "Great one," they tell me, "we are sorry, but we do not understand."


    "I will feed you, then," I tell them, "but first you must feed me. Bring me your three most promising, kindest, healthiest and I will dine upon them."


    "This goes against everything we believe," they protest.


    "What you believe is irrelevant."


    * * * *


    Midway through the night, they leave outside my cave three sedated red ones, and one pink one, who paces back and forth, waiting for me to emerge.


    I lumber my head through the entrance and take one of the red ones into my mouth.


    "Wait!" says the pink one. "Don''t kill them, this is vicious, this is cruel. You clearly do not need to eat them for sustenance. Why, then? To pay tribute to your superiority? If you can really prevent us from starving so easily, then you can do so without this barbarity."


    "The weaker must suffer at the hands of the stronger," I tell her. "It is the way of all things."


    "Isn''t generosity the greatest demonstration of strength? To give without requiring anything in return?"


    "No," I say. "The greatest demonstration of strength is to kill. Let me show you." I bite into the red one. It crunches between my teeth, and its juices flow into my belly.


    The pink one screams.


    "See?" I tell her. "You do not wail at generosity, do not fall to your knees, do not weep and despair. The feelings that follow generosity are mild compared to those that follow destruction. Generosity breeds weakness. Destruction breeds strength." I tear free a red limb and gnash upon it, the muscle and bone satisfyingly textural in my mouth. "After this, you will be stronger. The next time I eat one of you, it will hurt much less."


    She weeps and throws her body over the other red ones. "Don''t eat them," she begs, "please don''t eat them, they''ve done nothing to you, they''re innocent. Please. Take me instead. Kill me and let them live. Please, please, please."


    I rise fully from the cave to tower over her, that she might cower before my terrible resplendence. "Silence!" I command. "Do you think I like to hear such whining? Cow yourself back down the hill to where the rest of your kind sleep. I will devour these beings as we have agreed. Your supplications will not sway me."


    The pink one swallows her sobs as she gets to her feet.


    "Then our agreement is rescinded," she says. "I will remove these red ones from your presence, and we will have no more dealings with you."


    "You would choose to starve? To sacrifice your entire community, including these red ones, instead of simply letting me eat two more, so the rest of you may live?"


    "We will starve or we will find our own way to survive."


    I laugh. "Then you will all die, and I will return to my sleep. What strange creatures you are."


    She struggles down the hill dragging a red one in each arm, and I chew lazily upon the one that I have already killed.


    * * * *


    The Gatherish return the next day with new ones to bargain with. They tell me they still wish to continue the deal, and that the pink one doesn''t speak for them. Save them, they implore, and they will give me a blue one and a furry one to eat. I tell them this is good, for the Law of Exchange requires that something be given for something, and nothing be given for nothing. I have no desire to see these creatures starve. I sense not The Corruption upon them.


    "Great one," they say, "we have already given you something and you have just said that according to the Law, you must give us something in return."


    "Yes," I agree. "Our bargain was three to sustain all of you. Therefore I will take away one third of your hunger."

 Chapter 10 .

    Vai


    "We''d better take this same elevator," Owen said. "Maybe there''s a glitch with it."


    "Maybe," I said.


    We didn''t wait long for the elevator to return. Owen stepped on first. Warpaint proceeded me into the elevator. The doors slid shut and Owen pushed for level 8. The computer''s voice said, "This is a restricted area. Please enter the access code."


    The level numbers on the elevator screen changed to a set of letters and numbers for us to select. Owen looked up at me as if I knew what the access code was. I shrugged my shoulders.


    "Well," Owen said, "I could guess. Do you know how many characters it is supposed to be at least? 8? 12? 20?"


    I shrugged again.


    "You''re no help. What about you?" he asked Warpaint. "You seem to have it more together than this guy."


    "I do not know. Usually access codes to restricted areas are 20 characters, but it might be more in this case. The Shadow is a special ship after all."


    "I''ll just try something." Owen typed in 25 random numbers and letters and hit submit.


    "The access code is incorrect," the computer said. "Please enter the correct code or cancel the request. Another incorrect access code will result in security being called."


    There was something about the computer''s voice that had given me chills the first time I had heard it. It imitated a woman''s voice and it seemed oddly familiar, but I couldn''t place where. But no one else seemed bothered by it so I assumed it was one of those generic voices used all the time slightly distorted by a mechanical hum and everyone but me was used to it.


    "How''d she get there?" Owen asked. He hit the cancel key and the screen went back to the levels of the ship.


    "She must have the access code," I said.


    Owen looked up at me. "Really? A girl our age has access to the restricted areas? Who gave her permission? Why would she need to go there? Life support functions are...well, I don''t think they are completely shut off, but they are highly minimal on those levels."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Okay," I said just to get him to be quiet. Owen hit level 5 and there was the barest movement as the elevator lifted.


    "Maybe she hacked it," I said mainly to myself.


    The doors slid open and Owen stepped out first. I followed and Warpaint followed me.


    "That''s highly unlikely," Owen said as he started down the corridor on the right.


    "I agree with your new friend," Warpaint said. "That is highly unlikely."


    I started to walk down the left corridor, but stopped when Warpaint spoke. I looked back at Owen.


    "My new friend?" I asked.


    "That''s right," Owen said. "What else would I be. An old friend?"


    We stood in the opposite corridors staring at each other.


    "Please, sir," Warpaint said to me, "you are much too old to be his lover like the last person."


    "Lover? What? No," I said. "And I told you, Thrissko wasn''t my lover."


    "But you said he wasn''t your friend," Warpaint said.


    Owen stood in the right corridor laughing at our exchange. His shoulders lifted up and down as the laughter seemed to engulf his entire being.


    "Not friend does not equal lover, Warpaint."


    "Enemies?" Warpaint said. "But you were together a lot until that last incident. You seemed on good terms. I''m confused, sir, if he wasn''t a friend or . . ."


    "Fine," I said. "Thrissko was my friend."


    "But," Warpaint said, "friends don''t usually beat the other one up to where their eyeball hangs out." He pointed at my eye with his metal hand.


    Owen stopped laughing at this. "Your friend did that to you? I thought you got into a gang fight or something. One person did that to you?"


    "He is K''thaktra," I said, "and he was . . ." I was going to say he was high on zek, but maybe that was something I shouldn''t let get around. Zek was supposed to have been destroyed after the K''thaktra war. Dr. Rags didn''t seem to know anything about zek when I mentioned it to him and my father was quick to cut off discussion about it. "...he was angry."


    Owen took two steps into the main corridor back towards us. "What did you do to him that made him so angry?"


    I tried to think of something, but there was nothing.


    "He left him on Mars to come on board the Shadow," Warpaint said.


    "So he ripped you apart?"


    "K''thaktra," I shrugged not knowing what else to say. There was also a tinge of guilt that formed in the back of my chest. I still wasn''t used to the K''thaktra being part of the Gathering But before all this, there really hadn''t been anything wrong with Thrissko. I cursed Papa and his tailor shop and zek.


    "I guess," Owen said. Then his face lit up like it had in the museum and he said, "Maybe she''s a ghost."


    "What?" I asked.


    "The girl that went to the 8th level, maybe she''s a ghost," Owen said. "Maybe she was on the ship during the K''thaktra war and she died during one of the battles. Can you detect ghosts, Warpaint?"


    "I . . ." Warpaint started.


    "Nevermind," Owen said. "I guess we''ll know when school starts. A ghost wouldn''t attend school would she."


    "I guess not," I said.


    Owen''s Okulus beeped. It was currently wrapped around his wrist. He looked down at it and frowned. He held it up towards me so that I could see he had a call coming from ''Dad''. "Parental stuff," he said to me.


    I nodded. "Parental stuff."


    "I better get going, Vai. I''ll see you later. Bye, Warpaint. I hope we''ll become close in the future." He turned and scampered down the corridor on the right.

 Chapter 11 .

    VAI


    I saw Callie for the last time 80 years ago. We spent the afternoon on a tour skiff, gliding over the herds of elephants that lived wild on the Jeddak savannah to the South of the city. Later that night, we were planning to meet up with our extended circle of friends for a celebration, but for now we wanted to be alone.


    "Have you decided yet what you will be?" she asked. I knew what she meant, but she clarified anyway. "Now that they won''t need you to fight the K''thaktra?"


    "I''d like to be an elephant," I said. "Is that possible?"


    "I''ll be one, too." She leaned in and put her head on my chest. The breeze lifted some of her blonde hair up to tickle my face.


    "You''d always lead the rest of us to the best water. The best . . . bushes. Tree bark. Fruit. What else do elephants eat?"


    "Palm fronds," I said.


    "What delicious palm fronds we would feast upon."


    "Fine," I said in mock frustration, "whatever you want." I looked away to try to hide my smile.


    "Now we''re talking." She stood on her tiptoes for a kiss, so I leaned down and gave her one.


    We passed over a small hill where a cluster of elephants stood apart from their herd.


    "What''s happening there?" Callie asked.


    "Skiff, tardo," I said.


    The skiff slowed and circled above them. A gray matriarch moved her trunk over a gargantuan bull lying unmoving in the pale grass. There was an eerie silence over the scene. The other animals investigated the deceased male in an elaborately mournful way, hanging their heads, making not a sound. Circling him in a strange procession of swinging trunks and stamping feet.


    The silence infected us, too. When Callie finally spoke, it was in the smallest whisper. "Let''s go back to the city. It''s almost time to meet up with the others anyway."


    The horrors of the war that we had lived with for so long had made her hypersensitive to death. I didn''t know what those horrors had done to me.


    She sat down and faced away from the elephants. I put my hand on her knee.


    On the way back to the city, I thought about her question. Had I decided what I wanted to be, now that the war had ended, thus dashing my hopes of growing up to be a killer of the k''thaktra? It was my 16th birthday. I was approaching the age when a person was expected to know. But it was a question I had no answer for.


    We went to an outdoor concert with Emilio and Posha and an extended group of friends. Ate cucumber sandwiches Posha had made. Drank cans of mineral infusers. Afterward we all went as a big group¡ªI think there had been 16 of us¡ªto eat at an all night restaurant and talk about the music. It was a pleasant night. Maybe the best I can remember.


    I got home and found my dad sitting in the dark. "Nice night?"


    "Oh, yes," I replied dreamily.


    "Good." His manner was stiff. He sat in his favorite chair with his hands gently gripping the armrests. Something about his motionlessness seemed off. I remember thinking he must have been angry, and braced myself for another confrontation about Callie, and how he disapproved of my friends, and didn''t want to see me throw away the opportunities he had worked so hard to create for me. But no confrontation came. After a silence, he said, in a slightly high tone, "Good night, Vai."


    "Good night, Dad. Happy birthday," I said, to remind him that he hadn''t wished me one.


    "Happy birthday."


    I had been relieved there was nothing more.


    I had gone to sleep feeling excited to be so happy.


    Then there had been a long, black deepness, and I awoke in my bedroom, thinking something smelled bad. There was a mustiness that hadn''t been there before. A smell like mold and rotting wood. The time on my okulus said it was 9:30 in the morning, but it was dark. I glanced out the window and saw that it was partially covered by vines that I hadn''t remembered being there. There were trees shadowing my window that had not been there the previous day. Yet the red sandstone garden wall looked the same, and the rocketship fountain sculpture was still there, gently streaming water from its thrusters into the font below.


    I was groggy and confused and disoriented. I didn''t know then that I was waking up after anesthesia, after being kept in an experimental stasis chamber for decades. I thought I was still dreaming. Even after my father''s voice came over my okulus¡ªI didn''t remember accepting a call from him¡ªand said, "I see you''re awake, Vai. Hello, my son . . ." I still thought I was dreaming.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Dad?" I noticed the sheets on my bed were different. I noticed I was dressed in strange pajamas that I had not been wearing the night before. "What''s going on?"


    "Son," he said.


    "What''s going on?"


    "I have to explain some things to you now that you may find upsetting."


    I left my okulus on the bed, got up and tried to exit the room, but the door was locked. I rattled the handle. Then in a state of panic I began jerking the handle and shoving against the door as hard as I could. I could feel the wood flexing but it wouldn''t break. "WHY IS THE DOOR LOCKED?" I shouted. "What''s going on!"


    "You''ve been asleep," he said gently, "for a long time."


    "What?" I asked incredulously. "What do you mean? How long?"


    "Breathe," he said. "Just sit down and try to breathe."


    Idiotically, I screamed "NO! I WON''T SIT DOWN!"


    It was still a dream when I picked up my desk chair and tried to smash it through the window. Swinging it with all my might again and again against the graphene pane.


    "Son?"


    I let go of the chair, and it bounced back into the room, smacking into a wall.


    "Son!"


    I was in a dream. A dream of being trapped. A nightmare. Sometimes in a nightmare, you''re afraid for no reason, like I was then. The ordinary can become a thing of dread and horror. I remembered something about being in a dream you didn''t like. When I was younger, when I had my K''thaktra night terrors, my endless visions of those terrible faces floating weirdly out of their pink fogs, my dad had taught me that I could take control of my dreams. First I had to separate my conscious mind from what I was experiencing. I had to lift up, float out of myself, and observe, the way one might observe a play. That''s all it took. Then I could make big, sweeping changes to the dream all at once. If I were lucid, I could take control. I could make anything happen.


    In a dream you can fly over beautiful green valleys and endless fields. You can be a righteous king in an ancient castle. You can be surrounded by people who love you, lift you up, make you safe.


    "I know this is hard."


    It wasn''t working.


    "I know this is confusing and disturbing."


    "I''m dreaming," I said meekly, finally beginning to understand that I wasn''t.


    "No," said my father''s voice. "I''m sorry."


    "Why am I locked in here?"


    "I need to explain some things to you. I need to know that you understand what has happened. I locked the door so you couldn''t come out and discover things in the wrong way. Please understand that you are my son, not my prisoner, and I will unlock the door in just a few minutes."


    "Discover what?" I demanded.


    "Vai, you have been asleep for a very long time . . .80 years."


    Asleep was a euphemism. So was coma.


    "A month before your birthday," he told me, "your okulus sent me a private alert informing me that it had detected a virus in your system. It had no cure. It was a terrible cruelty of random chance. Most humans were immune to its effects. But an exceedingly small number were genetically susceptible. And you were one of those.


    "For a month, I wrestled whether or not to tell you you were sick with something for which there was no treatment.


    "When I appealed to the Gathering Health Bureau to have you put into stasis until a cure could be found, they told me it would be impossible. The number of people affected by the virus was so exceedingly small, there were no plans to pursue a cure, and the expense to put you into stasis indefinitely could not be justified. They were sorry. But some diseases still existed for which there was no cure. And to put every citizen sick with those diseases into stasis was an unfortunate impossibility. Would that we lived, they told me, in less barbaric times.


    "I couldn''t bear to lose you," said my father. "Not after we lost your mother. So I did what I had to do."


    He arranged to make a black market purchase of a deep-space stasis pod¡ªa leftover, outdated piece of equipment from the early days of interstellar travel. He had secreted it into the house, into the small complex of rooms in the basement where I rarely went. That was his space. Where he worked on his endless experiments with supermatter computing, his attempts to splice K''thaktra vegetation with terran fruits, and the like. He had tested the stasis pod meticulously, replacing parts, upgrading conductors, making sure that it was in better-than-new condition.


    He hadn''t told me any of this? Because he didn''t want to rob me of my fine times with my friends¡ªhe actually said that¡ªdidn''t want to inject sorrow and fear into my life. He wanted me to be happy, like nothing was wrong, for as long as possible. So after I had gone to sleep that night, he had entered my room and injected me with an anesthetic, and placed me inside the stasis pod.


    I was beginning to feel less groggy, less confused. I began to realize that he was telling me the truth. And a sick kind of anger began to take root inside me.


    This was real.


    I sat down heavily on the edge of my bed and stayed there for a long time before saying, "And now I''m cured?"


    "Yes," he said.


    I looked at my hands. I flexed them. I felt the same. My hands looked the same. I used the mirror function on my okulus to see if I was still me. I was.


    "And I''m¡ªstill 16?"


    "Yes. Physiologically, for you, only 12 hours have passed since you went to sleep last night." He sounded sad as he added, "80 years ago."


    I loved him and I hated him at the same time. He had taken away my life. I knew that when my bedroom door opened, everything I cherished would gone. But he had done it to save me. I didn''t want the door to unlock. I didn''t want to exit the bedroom anymore. I didn''t want to walk out there into a world that would be different from the one I knew.


    "My friends?" I asked.


    "They would be very old now," he said.


    "And you? You''re an old man now?"


    "Yes, Vai. I''m an old man now."


    I raised my okulus slowly, and tried to access my usual sources of news and information, but couldn''t connect to any of them.


    "I can''t connect," I said quietly.


    Then there was a click, and my bedroom door opened.


    My father stood there, much older, and much thinner than he had been the day before. Wearing clothes that seemed peculiar to me. Fashion had gone in odd little directions I would not have anticipated. He had silver hair now. It didn''t occur to me then how strange it was that he didn''t look 120 years old, or even close to it. That would occur to me in the coming days, and we would talk, briefly, about the longevity treatments he had undergone while I was in the pod.


    "Can I¡ªhug you?" he asked.


    "No."


    A surge of anger. I tried to let it pass.

 Chapter 12 .

    VAI


    ¡°Wake up, Son.¡±


    I pulled the covers up over my head which left my feet exposed.


    ¡°You need to keep your feet covered or you will be susceptible to disease.¡± The mechatronic grabbed the blanket and pulled it back over my feet exposing my head. Even though my eyes were closed, I knew it was Warpaint because my old man would not have been strong enough to tear the blanket out of my grip.


    ¡°Hurry,¡± my father said, his voice was gruff. His hand shook my shoulder. ¡°School is going to start soon.¡±


    I didn''t need to go anywhere for school. I could just wake up, connect to the ansible and I would be done. I didn''t need to shower or dress. My best image was already programmed into the ansible.


    ¡°Step back, Sir Father,¡± Warpaint said.


    I opened my eyes just in time to see Warpaint lean in, grab me and lift me out of bed as if I had the weight of a small child.


    ¡°I''m up already.¡±


    Warpaint set me on my feet and nodded as if he had made some big accomplishment.


    Dad was dressed in his science officer uniform. ¡°Behave yourself today.¡±


    He''d been saying that since we first arrived on the G.E.V. Shadow. I swallowed my anger in a big lump down the back of my throat and looked across my bedroom to my punching bag. I already pictured it with father''s face. My hands balled up into fists.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± was all I said.


    He side-eyed me, but didn''t say any more as he left my room. I heard the door to our quarters open and close as he left.


    I grabbed my okulus to check the time. There were no new messages. Why would there be? Most everyone who was my friend was either dead or didn''t know I was still alive and my father manipulated my okulus so I couldn''t contact Mars or receive contact from Mars so I had no idea what happened to Thrissko. There was fifteen minutes left before school would start.


    ¡°Here is your breakfast shake,¡± Warpaint said. He held it towards me. I ignored it and tried to crawl back into bed. He grabbed me with all three arms and pulled me back. I banged on his metal chest, but instead of it pushing him back, it just hurt my hand. I pretended it didn''t.


    ¡°I''m not hungry.¡±


    ¡°You must eat to get all your nutrients.¡±


    Warpaint brought the shake up to my lips and tipped it so a little bit spilled around my closed mouth. The pressure on my lips hurt enough I tried to step back, but he placed a mechanical hand on my back and I couldn''t back up. I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth. I also took the shake from him to ease the pressure on my lips. When he saw I was drinking it he stepped back. I downed it quickly and handed the empty carton back to him. He tilted his head as he stared at it in his hands.  I still wasn''t used to the strange aftertaste all the food on board the G.E.V. Shadow left in my mouth.  I was told it was because all the food was made from an algae they grew onboard.


    The punching bag called to me. I didn''t put gloves on, I punched it with bare fists. The resistance against my weight was satisfying. I kneed it and steadied it when it came back so I could knee it again with my opposite knee.


    The alarm on my device went off to let me know it was time to hook into the ansible. I stepped away from the punching bag and wiped away the sweat that had begun to form on my forehead. Perhaps I should have awoken earlier to take a shower. Eh, whatever. I wasn''t physically going anywhere, what difference did it make?


    I hooked into the ansible through my okulus. I quickly found the school program and entered. If I was in the correct place, then I wasn''t the first one there. I wasn''t sure I was in the right place though because at one desk sat a giant white bunny with red eyes and overly large teeth. It''s long ears flopped along the side of it''s head. In front of it sat an anchovy. Not a human size anchovy, like the bunny was, but the size of an actual anchovy. It wasn''t seated in the seat, but on the desk.


    On the other side of the room sat a green monster with algae hanging all over it. At the back of the room was a large insect with what looked like swords for its feet. It had pushed his chair behind him and was sitting directly on the floor as he was too big for the chair.


    The strange heads turned to me and looked me up and down. The monster scoffed and looked away. The bunny and anchovy exchanged a whisper. I couldn''t hear what they said, but I heard their giggles. They all looked at me like I was the crazy one for being normal.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    I took a seat in the middle away from all of them. In the next few minutes, more strange creatures entered. They all seemed like it was strange that I was normal and I was beginning to think I was strange for coming as myself. It seemed father had forgotten to tell me something important.  No surprise there.


    They sat away from me at first until only the seats around me were left. A giant water drop sat in front me. It never turned to look at me. The seat behind me was the next to be taken by a leaf with human arms and legs. The seat to my right was taken by a chocolate bar. It looked at me and gave me a tentative smile with it''s chocolate lips. I gave it a slight nod back. The seat to my left was empty when the teacher entered. I assumed it was the teacher only because it went to the front of the class instead of the one remaining seat by me. The teacher looked as odd as everyone else, a giant horned owl.


    ¡°Let''s start with roll call,¡± a woman''s voice said from the owl''s beak. She held a chart in her wings and began to call names. She only said first names in her roll call, Rebecca, Nathan, Hani, Mingao, Robert, and they didn''t seem to be in any order that I could tell. Definitely not alphabetical. ¡°That''s all from Fallfrost correct?¡± She asked Robert. He was a blanket, but the blanket shrugged. Fallfrost, I was pretty sure that was one of the ships in the G.E.F. armada. It seemed she was calling students by the ship they were on. She didn''t say the ship''s name until after she called all the students'' names so I didn''t realize she was calling the students on Shadow until she said my name.


    ¡°Vai.¡±


    ¡°Here,¡± I said quietly and barely raised my hand. I was trying to remember who answered right before I did, but all the strange eyes in the room suddenly turned to me and my mind emptied. The owl looked at me for the first time.


    ¡°Why are you dressed like that?¡± she asked.


    One of my shoulders lifted in a shrug.


    ¡°It''s not like this is your first...Oh.¡± She looked at her chart again. ¡°It is your first time.¡± She looked at the rest of the class. ¡°It is his first time. He was home schooled. Give him a little bit of slack for the first day.¡±


    Understanding suddenly spread on all the strange faces and some even nodded. The chocolate bar next to me patted my arm with her chocolate hand. Her name had already been called, but I couldn''t remember what it was. I think she was on the Armstar.


    ¡°On the first day of school we don''t reveal our real faces,¡± the owl said to me. The chart was folded in one wing.


    I nodded as if that made sense even though it didn''t.


    ¡°Don''t worry,¡± the teacher continued, ¡°tomorrow everyone will be normal.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.


    She pulled out her chart again.


    So my records said I had been home schooled. I supposed that was a good answer as to why I didn''t know the current trends. I couldn''t very well tell everyone I had been asleep for a very long time. And when I woke, my old man had home schooled me for the past year.


    ¡°Owen,¡± the owl said. There was no answer. She looked up from her chart. ¡°Owen?¡± Her owl eyes looked all over the classroom.


    The classroom door opened and a large birthday cake entered.


    ¡°I''m here,¡± a familiar voice said from the birthday cake. ¡°Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry,¡± he said as he pushed his way to sit in the seat next to mine. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said to the teacher as he sat. ¡°I didn''t realize I had hit the snooze button so often.¡±


    ¡°Be on time tomorrow,¡± the teacher said.


    The birthday cake bobbed up and down in a semblance of a nod, then its entire head turned to look at me.


    ¡°I''ve been homeschooled,¡± I said.


    ¡°Ah,¡± the birthday cake said. ¡°Next time you''ll know.¡± The pink frosting smiled at me.


    ¡°Right,¡± I said.  "You could have told me," I whispered to him.


    "How am I supposed to know what you know and what you don''t know," he said.  "Where''s Warpaint?"


    "Why would he come into the ansible for school?"


    "Good point."


    ¡°That''s it for Shadow, correct?¡±


    I wasn''t sure who the teacher directed that question to, but no one answered.


    ¡°Good,¡± she said. ¡°We''ll start with languages.¡±


    Languages, History, Math, Sciences. The only subject I wasn''t ahead in was History and that was mostly the time frame I had been asleep. Interesting that it was once my present they were now teaching as History and I was only a year older. Why had father put me to sleep? He never did give me a clear answer. The anger I had quieted for class roiled up again.


    ¡°How was your first day?¡± the chocolate bar asked me.


    ¡°Fine,¡± I said.


    ¡°Sorry no one warned you about disguising yourself the first day. It''s not that new of a trend. Didn''t your parents tell you?¡±


    ¡°My mom died and my dad...is really old.¡±


    ¡°Sorry about your mom. That would explain why you didn''t know though. Dads tend to look over that kind of thing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said.


    "Yeah," Owen jumped in.  "We''ll see you tomorrow," he said to the chocolate bar.  "Come with me."


    He grabbed my arm and linked our ansibles directly.  We stood alone among the stars. There was silence and light and darkness and us.


    "I guess we''ll know tomorrow if that girl is in school or a ghost," Owen said as he sat on nothing.


    "I guess."


    ¡°What does your dad do here?¡± Owen asked.


    ¡°He is the Chief Science Officer.¡±


    ¡°Oh, wow. That''s pretty high up. He must be pretty important. My mom''s an engineer. My dad''s a civilian, musician.¡±


    ¡°That''s great,¡± I said. I kind of wished he would stop talking so I could go boxing. There was a gym a level up from our quarters.  I had been there a few times. There was a ring there as well as exercise equipment of various kinds, but the few times I had been there, I hadn''t seen anyone in the ring.  A thought occurred to me then that would require Owen''s help, but it seemed like he thought we were friends now anyway and Warpaint wasn''t there to hear the conversation to relay it back to my father.


    "Can you get in contact with Mars?"


    "Why?" Owen asked.


    "My father restricted my access.  I want to see if that...friend I left behind is okay.  Thrissko."


    "He beat you up for leaving Mars and you want to see if he''s okay?  Are you sure he wasn''t your lover like your mechatronic said?"


    "No.  No. It''s just...when I left he wasn''t in great company.  He wouldn''t have done that to me if he was his normal self.  There was this small crime syndicate. They captured him and drugged him and then...well, he was messed up.  Can you find out if he''s okay?"


    "I don''t know anyone from Mars, but I can find out anything.  The deal is, when I need Warpaint as my bodyguard, you and he need to show up and protect me.  Yeah?"


    "I''ll agree to that if you can find out what happened to Thrissko."


    "Deal."

 Chapter 13 .

    Vai


    Eighty years earlier, the Shadow had been the most lethal ship on either side of the Gathering-K''thaktra war.


    Years earlier than that, when I was nine years old, I¡¯d had a toy of it. The most prized possession of my childhood. It had come as a model kit. Four-hundred elaborate pieces that I spent months carefully cauterizing together with a vibroscalpel.


    I must have dropped that model a dozen times during my backyard adventures back home on Mars, climbing trees, digging pits, re-enacting spectacular battles I had no knowledge of, but felt sure had taken place. The Shadow flying over K''thaktra cities. Carving my name¡ªfor some reason¡ªonto the surfaces of thriving alien worlds.


    Vai, until they screamed in terror.


    Vai, until they wept for their dead.


    Vai, until they begged for surrender.


    Obviously, that hadn¡¯t really happened, but nine-year-olds excited by reports of the Shadow single-handedly turning the tide of war against the monstrous K''thaktra become possessed by a kind of bloodlust. At least, I did.


    Being on board this war legend had been a bit overwhelming at first, once I had got over the fact of how I came on board.  It was becoming home. The corridors were becoming a familiar backdrop, especially my short journey to the gym from my quarters and back.


    Father hadn''t gotten back to our quarters until late.  I was in my room, but heard him come in the main door and then retreat into his room.  He hadn''t even come in to ask how my first day of school was.


    Warpaint woke me the next morning for school.  Apparently my father had already left for work.


    "You must get your daily nutrients," Warpaint said.  He lifted the breakfast shake to my lips, but I took it from his hand.


    "I know," I said and downed it quickly.  The aftertaste wasn''t so bad this time. I was sure that was just because I was getting used to it. Maybe in the next week or so the food on the ship would actually taste good.


    I woke up early enough that I had time to shower.  I wondered briefly if I should call Owen to make sure he was awake.  In the end, I didn''t. He was 17, same as me. He could take care of himself.


    Today everyone would look like their normal selves in school.  I wasn''t sure if I hoped to see that mysterious girl in school or not.  There was probably a good explanation surrounding her mystery, but I kind of wanted the mystery to live on a little longer.  It gave me something to think on - something other than Thrissko''s betrayal, my father''s betrayal, my old friends and the dead friends.


    I sat in a chair and changed the shape of my okulus to fit around my eyes and then entered the ansible and the school program.


    I wasn''t the first one there, but I was one of the first ones there.  Where the giant bunny sat the day before, there was a human girl maybe two years younger than me.  In front of her, where the anchovy sat the day before, was a boy about my age. The two looked a lot alike and I assumed they were siblings.


    I went and sat at the same desk I had sat in the day before.  A female Starwatcher with soft cream fur, large floppy ears and green eyes sat next to me where the chocolate bar sat the day before.


    "Hello," the chocolate bar''s voice said from the little Starwatcher.


    "Hello," I said back.  "I''m sorry, I didn''t catch your name yesterday.  I think you''re on the Armstar.  Did I remember that right?"


    She nodded and her floppy ears bobbed exaggeratedly with her head movement.  "My name is Minmin."


    "Vai," I said.


    A tall male Bundju-jo came and sat in the seat in front of me.  He sat in the seat backwards so he was facing me and Minmin. He was the same color of blue as the waterdrop the day before.  His white stripes were a little wider than what I normally saw on Bundu-jo.


    "Hi," he said to us.


    "Hi," I replied.


    "He''s Shel," Minmin said.  "He is on the Armstar with me.  We met the other day on the arboretum."  She leaned in closer and held up a small hand over her face as she whispered up to me, "He was trying to eat the fish."


    The right side of the Bundju-jo''s blue lips lifted up in a half smile.  "They looked tastier than the algae food."


    "That I agree with," Owen said as he came and sat next to me, "but still it''s frowned upon."


    Shel frowned at Owen and stood up, swung his leg over the chair and sat down properly facing forward.  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Minmin leaned in again and whispered.  "Shel''s dad is the captain of the Armstar so he''s a little rebellious."


    Shel let out a long, low sigh.  "Minmin, I can hear everything you say."


    The Starwatcher sat hunched forward at her desk and clasped her hands together in front of her.


    I hadn''t noticed until that moment, but Shel had 5 piercings in his left ear all filled with small, black studs.  His right ear didn''t have any piercings. I hadn''t seen any Bundju-jo with piercings before. I wondered if they were real or if it was just a feature he added to his ansible self.  A human sat behind me where a leaf had sat the day before. He wasn''t as tall or as strong as I was, but he was still taller than most humans.


    When he sat, he stretched a long leg out and kicked at the leg of Owen''s chair.  Owen''s jaw twitched and tightened. He looked over his shoulder to give the guy behind me a rough look then he rolled his blue eyes and looked back to the front of the class.


    "Is that the guy you mentioned the other day?" I asked Owen.  I didn''t try to lower my voice.


    Owen nodded.


    I turned to look at the student behind me.  I was sure I could have handled him in a fight.


    "I don''t think you need Warpaint for him," I said still not trying to lower my voice.


    Owen raised an eyebrow.  "You don''t think you could take him do you?"  He threw a thumb over his shoulder to indicate the guy behind me.  Minmin and Shel seemed to take an interest in our conversation but didn''t add anything themselves.


    "Why not?" I said.  "He doesn''t look like much.  I told you, didn''t I, that I used to box with a K''thaktra."


    "Yeah and you got . . ." Owen looked at Shel, Minmin and the guy behind me as if just realizing we had an audience.  "...beat." I wasn''t sure how many people knew about how banged up I was when I came on board, but I hadn''t heard anyone talk about it except Owen and he had been on the shuttle with me so I imagined not too many people knew and those that did my dad had talked to about being quiet.  That was my assumption anyway.


    "Only that one time," I said even though that wasn''t exactly true.  I beat Thrissko a few times in our sparring sessions, but I knew he wasn''t going full out then either.  Still, if I could go up with a K''thaktra, I was sure the guy behind me wouldn''t be an issue.


    "I''d still be more comfortable with Warpaint," Owen said.


    "It doesn''t really matter," I said.  "Warpaint goes with me everywhere anyway."


    "That''s true," Owen said.


    A human woman entered and stood at the front of the class.  "Are we all here today?" she asked with the Owl''s voice. She didn''t look up from her desk as she started to call out attendance.


    "She''s not here," Owen whispered to me.


    I looked around at the other students.  All the desks were taken, but the mysterious girl wasn''t among them.


    "She''s a ghost," Owen whispered.


    "She''s not a ghost," I whispered back.


    "Then she should be here."


    We stopped talking as the teacher called out our names.  When she finished with attendance she said, "I have exciting news.  As you know, the fleet will be stopping tonight in the Brist system.  The locals have asked us to monitor a solar storm, look for patterns, dangers, temperatures, that sort of thing.  Our class has received special permission to go planetside and observe the migration of their Slpsis. We are a small class, but we still don''t want to alert the population so we will keep our size small and go down in groups.  And to promote friendship among the ships, we will be mingling students of different ships. So keep in mind not everyone on the same ship will be going down at the same time. I''ve already divided the groups. Here is the list.  Make sure you are at your shuttles on time. They won''t wait for you if you''re late."


    My okulus bleeped as I received the list.  I opened it and saw I was to be at the shuttle bays by 1:00 p.m. and I was to be joined by Owen.  Planetside we would meet up with Shel and Minmin from the Armstar and Hani and Rebecca from Fallfrost.  I didn''t know who Hani and Rebecca were, but at least I knew the others and they seemed nice.  Well, maybe not Shel. I couldn''t tell about him yet.


    "So there won''t be regular classes tomorrow," the teacher said.  "Don''t worry about coming into the ansible, just be at the shuttle bays at your appointed time."


    The rest of the lesson was about the Brist system, it''s sun, the local inhabitants and the Slpsis which turned out to be similar to elephants.  The local inhabitants of the Brist system were an alien species that hadn''t joined up with the Gathering. For one, their technology was not as advanced.  And mainly because they didn''t want to. They wanted to stay holed up in their system away from the Gathering and the wars between other alien species.


    When class was over I turned to Owen and said, "What about Ma...what I asked you to look into yesterday."  I changed what I was going to say because Minmin, Shel and the guy behind me were all listening.


    "I''ve looked into a little bit," Owen said.  "Don''t worry, I''ll let you know when I find out.  And I will find out."


    "Making promises you can''t keep," the guy behind me said.


    "You don''t know what you''re talking about, Spencer," Owen said.


    "No?  I seem to remember a promise made to me that you broke."


    Owen had said he was a good liar.  Could I trust him to find out about Thrissko?


    "You broke the agreement first," Owen said.


    Spencer stood up and towered over Owen.  I stood up and put myself between the two.  He couldn''t really hurt Owen and I couldn''t really hurt Spencer.  Not in the ansible anyway, but at the moment I wanted it to be known that I was on Owen''s side.  I wondered if that was wise though as I really didn''t know much about Owen and even less about Spencer and knew nothing about their circumstances.


    "I didn''t break any agreement," Spencer said to Owen, but his eyes were on me.


    "Now, now," Minmin said as her little frame came between us.  For a moment, I wanted to pat her furry head. I had to remind myself that Starwatchers, cute as they might be, were not puppies (a phrase my dad had told me when I was little and wanted to have one for a pet) and were in fact capable warriors, scientists, artists.  I wasn''t sure where Minmin fit in that spectrum, but one should never underestimate a Starwatcher. "This isn''t the place for grievances," she said.


    Shel came up to stand by me, but I wasn''t sure if that was in support or curiosity or something else.


    "Spencer," a Bundu-jo came up behind Spencer and clapped him on the back.  "We miss you on the Remembrance."  Two humans came up behind the Bundu-Jo and nodded their heads.


    "Yeah, my dad was transferred," Spencer said.  The others led him away.


    I wasn''t sure, but for a moment I thought I saw disappointment, maybe loneliness in Owen''s eyes as they led Spencer away.  I knew Owen had been on the same ship as Spencer. He must have been on the same ship as the others too, but they hadn''t even looked his way.


    "I''m working on it," Owen said to me.


    I nodded.  "Thank you for looking into it for me."


    "What are you looking into?" Minmin asked.


    Shel grabbed her hand and led her away from us as he said, "If they had wanted us to know they would have spoken more specifically about what it is."


    "But," she started.


    "See you tomorrow planetside," Shel said to us.

 Chapter 14 .

    Owen


    "What did you find out?"


    I didn''t know anyone from Mars, but I knew several people on Earth who did.  After contacting all of them, and then contacting their contacts on Mars, only one knew of the Ma''amaloa''s.


    "First, what about our deal?"


    The man projected through my volo was skinny in that way that seemed unhealthy, a small black mustache, sallow skin, but he was supposedly one of Vai''s neighbors back on Mars.


    "The deal is ready to go through on my end," I said.  "You should be receiving the mechatronics by the end of the month."


    The man''s cheek twitched slightly.


    "As long as I receive the information I need," I added.


    The man frowned.


    "Owen."


    I had muted the phone call as soon as my dad had said the O in Owen and temporarily cut the visual projection.


    The door slid open and my dad stood in the door frame with his viola in one hand and bow in the other.


    "Yes, dad?"


    "What are you doing?"  He came in and sat at the edge of my bed.  He fiddled with the pegs.


    "Reading up on the Brist system," I lied.  I was sitting at my desk - my okulus was on my desk in front of me.  I glanced down at my okulus. The call was still connected, but the man wouldn''t wait long and I needed to know what he found out.  My volo floated around near my head.


    My dad nodded.  "Do you want to try the restaurant on deck 6 later?  What was it called again?"


    "Museum Delectables because it''s on the same level as the museum."


    "Right," dad said.  He began to randomly pluck the strings on the viola.


    "Sure, Dad.  Let''s go there tonight, but let me finish this first."


    Dad nodded, stood up, walked to the door, but paused there.  "Everything''s going all right, yes? No troubles? Making new friends?"


    "Yes to all that," I said.  "I''ll tell you about school and new friends tonight at dinner okay?  I really should finish this."


    Dad nodded and left.  The door slid shut behind him.


    I opened up the visual connection again and unmuted the man from Mars.


    His arms were crossed tightly.  The muscles in his forearms moved underneath his skin.  His cheek twitched more than before.


    "Sorry about that," I said to him.  "I had an unexpected visitor. Now, do you have any news on the K''thaktra kid named Thrissko?"  I had changed my background for phone calls so it looked like I was sitting in an office and not in my bedroom.


    The man let out a low sigh that went on longer than it should have.  He looked at me in a pointed way to make it clear he wasn''t happy to be put on hold for so long.


    "I can just cancel the mechatronic order now and tell my associate not to do business with you in the future," I said.


    "No, no," the man said.  He held up a hand for emphasis.  "I haven''t found out anything about the K''thaktra kid yet, but I do have some news for you on the Ma''amaloa''s house."


    "I don''t need news on the Ma''amaloa''s house.  I need . . ."


    "People broke in and were removing things."


    "Maybe they were movers," I said.  But Vai and his father were already on board the Shadow.  There really wasn''t a need for them to move from their house.


    "In the middle of the night?  Sneaky like? I have a video. I''ll send it to you."


    My okulus chirped as I received the file.


    "That will buy you an extra day," I said.  "I''ll call again tomorrow. You should have information on Thrissko by then."


    I called my contact on Earth that supplied the mechatronics.  "You got the shipment information?"


    "Yes," the Bundu-jo woman said.  "But what about the discount on Lithium you said you''d be able to get me?"If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Don''t worry," I said.  "The supplier said he would give you a 20% discount.  I''ll be back in touch with you tomorrow around this time to finalize everything."


    She nodded and disconnected.


    I called the Lithium supplier.  A human male answered. "You can confirm the discount?" I asked.


    "As long as the Bundu-jo Os''slin slugs you promise arrive by the end of the week.  You said you knew of a supplier on Earth, but I haven''t met any supplier''s on Earth."


    "Don''t worry," I said.  "I''ve got it all under control."


    I disconnected and contacted Professor Rufus.  "Everything in order?" I asked when he answered.


    "The slugs are ready to be shipped, but how can I be sure you''ll get me the specimens?  You won''t be returning to Earth for a year."


    "Professor, my friend, have I ever let you down?  No. No, I haven''t. In fact, I''m going to be up close and personal to the Brist Slpsis tomorrow."


    The Professor smiled and leaned in closer to his okulus.  "A Slpsis? Really?"


    I nodded.


    "I would love to have a sample, a hair, a nail, skin, stool, anything really.  Could you get me something?"


    "Of course," I said.  I wasn''t about to get a stool sample, but he didn''t need to know that.  "I''ll call you back tomorrow to finalize, but it shouldn''t be a problem."


    I disconnected the call, changed the background on the call settings to remove the office effect and called Vai.


    "Hey," he said when he answered.  From the visuals projected through my volo it looked like he was in his room.  Warpaint stood behind him. Vai frowned at the mechatronic and tried to push him away, but Warpaint didn''t budge.  I really wished Warpaint was my bodyguard, but there was no way my parents could afford a mechatronic bodyguard. I might be able to buy myself one in a few years though.  My savings weren''t too bad.


    "Anything about, Thrissko?" Vai asked.


    "Not yet," I said.  Vai frowned. He clearly doubted my abilities.  "My friend," I said and for once meant it, "I will know something by tomorrow.  I have a contact on Mars now. He was your neighbor. Mario. You know him?"


    "Sort of," Vai said.  "I know who he is anyway.  I never talked to him. My father didn''t seem to like him."


    "I think that was a wise judgement on your father''s part."


    Now that I thought of it, I should have asked Vai in the beginning if he had someone he just wanted me to call on Mars.  Mom always said I made things too complicated. I liked complicated though. And it reminded my contacts of why they should help me so in the end, I guess it all worked out anyway.


    "He''s looking into Thrissko, but in the meantime, he sent me a video.  He said someone broke into your house." I sent him the file. "I haven''t looked at it yet.  I thought I should get it to you right away."


    "I''ll look at it.  Thanks, Owen."


    "No problem, my friend.  Warpaint is coming planetside with us tomorrow right?"


    "I don''t think my father would let me go alone."


    "Of course not, sir," Warpaint said.  "I must be with you at all times."


    Vai raised a hand in Warpaint''s direction as if that proved his point.


    "Good," I said.  "I''ll see you tomorrow, Warpaint."  I disconnected the call.


    My door slid open at that moment and my dad and mom walked in.  Mom was still wearing her engineering uniform. I was only slightly taller than my mom.  I was pretty sure I had stopped growing. My dad was taller than both of us by about 0.4 meters.


    "I''m hungry," Mom said.  "Let''s go eat."


    "Okay."


    The Museum Delectables was okay by Earth restaurant standards, but it was great for a G.E.F. restaurant.  It served mostly sandwiches, but that was sandwiches with ingredients from Earth and not the ship grown algae.  Their fresh supplies would run out at some point. The decor was what you would expect from a quaint little cafe.


    It was crowded.  Spencer was there with his dad, but they sat across the room and he didn''t seem to notice me.  He wouldn''t bother me with our parents around. Chocolate was on their dessert menu, but it was expensive as expected.


    Honestly, I did feel a little guilty when my mom ordered one piece of chocolate for the three of us to share, especially since I had a box full of gourmet chocolates hidden in my room.  But I had to make a living too. I was just waiting for the opportune moment. The moment when the ship''s restaurants ran out of chocolate and the ship''s occupants got tired of the algae after taste of the ship''s chocolates.  People would pay almost anything for chocolate then.


    And there was the girl.  I blinked and looked twice to be sure.  She sat at a table by herself. Her hair was brown, her eyes were brown, her clothes were brown.  She blended in so that no one took special note of her. No one thought it was strange that she was alone.  She sat, but there wasn''t food on the table in front of her. Her eyes met mine.


    I started to lift a hand in greeting, but her eyes turned away from me and she stood up and walked out.


    "I''ll be right back," I said to my parents.  I didn''t allow them to time to give me permission.  In the corridor outside I saw her walking towards the museum.


    "Hey," I said and ran to catch up to her.


    She stopped to stare down at me in front of the museum doors, but didn''t say anything to me.


    "Are you a ghost?" I asked.  "Did you met some untimely end in the K''thaktra war?"


    "No," she said.  Her voice was alto.  Lower than I had imagined it to be.  It was cold.


    "Then why weren''t you in school?"


    She turned and walked down the corridor towards the elevators before I had finished my sentence.


    "Hey," I said again and grabbed her forearm to stop her.  Her body tensed and for a brief moment I thought she was going to throw me, which was a strange thought because people don''t usually go around throwing other people.


    She looked down at my hand on her arm and said, "Let go."  I let go before I realized it and she was walking down the corridor again.


    She couldn''t be a ghost if I could touch her.  I took a step towards her and opened my mouth to call out to her again, but she turned around to face me.  I stood there with my mouth open to speak. I quickly closed it. There was a deep intensity to her eyes as she stepped closer to me and whispered.  "There are more dangerous aliens than K''thaktra. Could you fight them? Would you run away if you knew? They are already here. They''ve always been here."


    A long finger touched my forehead.


    "Owen?"


    I blinked.


    "Owen."


    A hand was on my shoulder.  I blinked again and looked up at my dad.


    "Are you all right?" My mom asked.


    I blinked again and looked to see where the girl should have been.  The corridor in front of me was empty.


    "What have you been doing?" My dad asked.  "It''s been ten minutes."


    "Ten min . . .?  But . . ." I looked down the corridor.  "A wizard."


    "What?" my mom said.


    I looked at her and said, "She''s not a ghost.  She''s a wizard."


    "Don''t be ridiculous," my mom said.  She took my arm in hers and led me towards the elevators.

 Chapter 15 .

    Vai


    I opened the recording Owen sent me.  It was night on Mars. The volo that had recorded this had filmed it in night vision so everything had a strange grayish tint.  The volo hovered near the front of the house, behind a tree. It had a clear view of what was happening in front of my house.


    Two Humans, one male, one female, were standing in front of the house, dressed in full combat armor, holding huge machine rifles at the ready. I looked for any kind of identifying insignia, but didn¡¯t see any. Something seemed off about them. I couldn¡¯t quite say what.


    Behind them, more men and women, these in nondescript jumpsuits, were loading our belongings into four black vans that floated above the clover.


    "What the hell¡­" I muttered.


    I didn¡¯t know what was going on. I didn¡¯t know who those people were. There was a lot of weirdness going on here. I already knew that. It¡¯s not normal to wake up with your father shaking your shoulder, telling you he¡¯s just accepted a position with the Exploration Fleet and he bought a mechatronic bodyguard for you.


    For that matter, it¡¯s also not normal to go to sleep the night of your 16th birthday, and wake up 80 years later, locked in your room, and the light is different, and the air smells different, and your father¡¯s voice is coming over your okulus telling you, Son? Try not to freak out. He has to explain some things now that you may find upsetting¡­


    So. Was someone after him? Us?


    Yet, that seemed strange. Why run? Why not report whatever was going on to the authorities? Obviously, these people outside my house were not the authorities. If they had been, their vans would have been marked¡ªtheir uniforms would carry insignia. And if the authorities were after my father, we wouldn¡¯t be able to set foot on an Exploration Fleet starship with the old man as the Chief Science Officer, happily using our own actual credentials.


    So were these people who were after us beyond the grasp of the authorities? Somehow?


    These people stomped in and out of my house. I zoomed in. Now they were carrying out some kind of electronic equipment that I didn¡¯t recognize: beige boxes from which tangled messes of multicolored wires protruded. The wires were dragging carelessly across the yard.


    The armored woman turned to look over her shoulder at the tree.


    The video ended there.


    I tried - and not for the first time - to connect to the news on Mars, but my father''s reprogramming of my okulus was complete.  I couldn''t contact anyone on Mars or gather information about the happenings on Mars, not even if I tried to get it through news from Earth.


    "Warpaint," I said.  I rested on my bed and curled into my pillow.


    "Yes, sir?"


    He stirred from his usual place in the back right corner of my room and came to stand by my bed.


    "Why did my father think I needed a bodyguard?"


    "You''re so very old and frail, sir."


    "No," I sat up.  "Something happened.  I was awake on Mars for almost a year before he decided I needed a bodyguard.  You''re not programmed to watch out for anything specific? A specific group of people?  A syndicate? A government?"


    "No.  Nothing like that, sir.  Just your safety." Why did my father have to be so damn clever?


    I picked at my pant leg until a small groove formed around my knee.  I let out a sigh and straightened the pants.


    "What about zek?"


    "What about it, sir?  It was all destroyed long ago."


    "No.  In the tailor shop...Nevermind."  I had forgotten my father had commanded Warpaint to erase his memories.


    I couldn''t ask my father about the house.  Then he''d know I''d been looking into Mars and would put even more restrictions on my okulus.


    "Warpaint."


    "Yes, sir."


    "What if someone were to steal something important from our house back on Mars while we''re gone?  Shouldn''t father have someone look out just in case?"


    "There isn''t anything there important to steal."  Warpaint said it matter-of-factly. Like he knew something.  I stood up and faced him. He was taller than me even though I was tall.  He was painted white, which was rare for a mechatronic. And even more rare were the red lines that ran along his metal frame.


    "But I saw it on the video that was sent to me.  People were taking things out of the house. It looked like important equipment."


    Warpaint shook his head.  "You''re father had everything that was classified and important moved from the house weeks before you came aboard the Shadow."


    "He did?"  I thought back to the few weeks before I left.  Father had left earlier to come on board the Shadow.  I hadn''t seen him move out any equipment.  The only thing he took with him was his suitcase.  "But I didn''t see him move anything. I didn''t see any movers?"Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "Of course not," Warpaint said.  "You were asleep."


    A surge of panic and anger washed through me.  Asleep. Warpaint hadn''t meant my 80 years sleep, but I guessed sleep was a sensitive topic for me since then.  And my father knew that. Yet it seemed he still hid things from me while I slept.


    "He had all the important things moved out of the house while I was asleep?"


    Warpaint nodded.  "He didn''t want you to know."


    "If he didn''t want me to know, then why are you telling me?"


    "He told me I couldn''t bring it up.  He didn''t say I couldn''t tell you if you asked."


    A flaw.  Finally. I guess that was how distressed my father had been at the moment that he hadn''t thought of this scenario.  So. My father had everything important, secret, removed from the house already. As if he had expected this to happen.  What wasn''t he telling me? And what about the zek? And Thrissko? Why was zek kept quiet when it was obviously out in some form?  It was supposed to have been destroyed.


    "What else did my father tell you to keep from me?"


    "Nothing that I can think of sir," Warpaint said.  But his programming would work that way. He wouldn''t know until I brought it up, but I didn''t know what he was keeping from me to bring it up.


    *


    I woke up with my father shaking my shoulder.  He towered over my bed. Warpaint was beside him.  Father was still in his uniform.


    "Did you just get back?" I asked.  I looked at my okulus and saw that it was just past 1 a.m.


    "You''re not going," he said.


    "What do you mean?  Not going where?"


    "You''re not going on the school trip."


    I sat up in bed as the roiling anger surged from my stomach to the rest of me.  I was reminded once again why he was now my father and no longer my dad. I stood up to face him.  He was still taller than me. Would probably always be taller than me, but I stretched to my full height.


    "You have to let me go.  All the students are going.  It will be obvious I''m not there.  It''s for school. When else will I get an opportunity like this?  The Brist aliens aren''t usually so open to strangers. Warpaint will go with me."  I realized I was rambling, but it didn''t matter. I wanted to go.


    "I will go with him, sir," Warpaint said.


    "It doesn''t matter," my father said as he took a step away from me and towards the door.


    "It does matter," I blocked his path.  "Warpaint will protect me. There isn''t anything to worry about."  Except whatever secrets my father was keeping from me, but his secrets wouldn''t extend to the Brist who had nothing to do with the Gathering usually.  Certainly not politics or crime.


    "Nothing to worry about?"  My father frowned at Warpaint.  "He was with you last time and look what happened.  You weren''t safe. No. Not again. I won''t risk it."


    "Last time was a fluke."


    My father stepped around me towards the door.


    "Fine."  I stepped in front of him again.  "Last time was my fault. I told Warpaint to leave the building."


    "A place you went looking for trouble," my father added.  That wasn''t exactly true, but now wasn''t the time to argue with him.


    "My fault," I reiterated.  "I won''t do that again. I''ll stick by Warpaint''s side like glue.  Please, dad." I used dad instead of father on purpose. To appeal to the side of him that once loved me.  I guess loved me still though it was different.


    "Please," I said again and took his large hand in my own and squeezed slightly.  Something I wouldn''t normally even think to do.


    He turned from me to face Warpaint.  "You must leave communications open with me at all times."


    "Of course, sir," Warpaint said.


    My father turned back to me.  "If I say to get back on the shuttle and back to the Shadow you must obey.  No questions."


    "Okay," I said.


    "And I must see what your volo records when you get back," he added.


    I felt my lips start to turn down.  I fought the rebellious tendrils that started to rise from my chest.


    "Fine," I said sounding harsher than I had intended.


    "Who are the other students going with you?" My father asked as he rearranged his okulus to the size of a small screen.  He tapped into the school roster.


    "Owen from the Shadow," I said.


    "Owen," he scrolled through the roster.  "Owen Morgan?"


    I shrugged.  I wasn''t sure what Owen''s last name was.


    "His mother is Elise Morgan.  An engineer. His father is . . ."  He tapped into something else on his okulus.  "A civilian. It looks like Owen got into trouble on his last ship."


    My father looked at me.


    "He said he was bullied.  No. He said he had some misunderstandings with another student, but wasn''t bullied.  I think he was bullied though. He also said he had some side money making opportunities.  He''s harmless though. He''s my friend."


    My father paused as he considered.  I half expected him to tell me not to hangout with anyone, but instead he said, "Who else?"  He went back to the school roster.


    "Hani and Rebecca from Fallfrost."


    He looked them up.  "Hani''s mother is a doctor.  Rebecca''s parents are both mechanics.  Who else?"


    "Minmin and Shel from the Armstar.  I met them today.  I liked both of them," I said because I wasn''t sure what he was looking for as he looked them all up.  I didn''t want him to find some excuse to not let me go.


    My father smiled a rare smile that reminded me of my dad who once was.  "Minmin was a cute little baby."


    "You know Minmin?"


    His smile disappeared.  "No."


    Liar.


    "Her mother is the current first mate.  Shel''s father is captain."


    "Minmin told me Shel''s father was captain, but she didn''t mention her mother."


    "What did she say about Shel''s father?"  My father didn''t look up as he scrolled through the officers roster of the Armstar.


    "Nothing specific.  Just that Shel was rebellious."


    "Did she say anything about Shel''s mother?"  He looked at me.


    "No."


    "Was he wearing black studs in his ear?"


    What a strange question.  I had to wonder how much my father knew and how much he spied on me.


    "Yes.  How do you know about them?"


    My father nodded and looked at his okulus again.  "Let me see who is piloting your shuttle tomorrow."


    "Are you ignoring my question?"


    He frowned and looked at me.  The space between his eyebrows pinched together.


    "How do you know about his ear studs?" I asked.


    "Because his mother asked me for them."


    "You made them?  Why?"


    "It''s not important."  My father looked at his okulus again.  I tried to grab the okulus away from him, but he was too quick for me.  Old as he was, he still surprised me.


    A low breath escaped my mouth.


    "You know his parents?"  I changed tactics.


    "I know a lot of people," he said.  "Shel should be fine to go with to the surface as long as he is still on good terms with his mother."


    "You have something against his father?"


    "Something," my father said.  He could be really infuriating.


    "I wasn''t aware you knew so many people," I said.


    "Lieutenant Tanpo," my father said.  He opened a new file on his okulus.


    "You have a personal file on everyone on the Shadow?"  Because that''s what it looked like was in this new file.  Complete with little notes my father had added himself.


    He closed the file so I couldn''t see anymore.


    "I''ll let you go tomorrow," father said, "but remember our deal."


    I nodded.


    "Go to sleep now.  Sorry I woke you so late.  Warpaint come with me.  I need to make sure everything is functioning properly."


    Warpaint followed my father to the door, but my father paused there.  "Vai," he said, "if Shel is ever not wearing those studs, stay away from him."


    He walked out before I could ask for an explanation.  I saw them head towards my father''s room before the door to my room slid shut.

 Chapter 16 .

    Vai


    I woke up late the next morning.  It didn''t really matter since I didn''t have to be at the shuttle bay until 1:00 p.m.  I got out of bed and wondered if my father was home or if he had left. He had arrived at our quarters later than usual last night, but I also knew that the ship would be doing tests on the local solar storm and my father was the Chief Science Officer.  He''d be expected to be there.


    "Good morning, sir," Warpaint greeted me.  He had a breakfast shake ready in his mechanical hand, the hand that looked more like metal claws.


    "Morning."  I took the shake from him and drank it quickly.  The thick, green liquid fell slowly down the back of my throat.  "Is this thicker today?"


    "I''m glad you noticed, sir.  Since we will be on an alien planet, I filled it with extra algae."


    "Great," I said.


    "It is great, sir.  Thank you for noticing my efforts.  The algae has a lot of nutrients you know."


    "I know.  Thanks." Mechatronics had a hard time detecting sarcasm.  I kept forgetting.


    I got ready for the day, but before I headed out I decided to contact Owen.  I wouldn''t be able to speak with him about the house on Mars or Thrissko once the school field trip started.  I had to be careful on that trip not to let anything slip that would get back to my father as he would be monitoring both through Warpaint and through my Volo.  I sat at my desk and called.


    "Hello, my friend," Owen said.  His image was projected through my volo.


    "Hi.  Any word on Thrissko?"


    "I''ll contact my people after the trip."


    I nodded, but was impatient.  I hoped Thrissko''s parents had found a way to get him away from Papa''s gang and get the zek out of his system.


    "Did you see the video of my house?"


    Owen looked behind him and then said to me, "Hold on."  Then louder and with his head tilted behind him, he said, "I''m ready, dad.  Don''t pressure me."


    Owen turned back to me and said, "My dad is really excited for me to go on this trip."


    "That must be nice," I said.  "My father woke me up after 1 a.m. to tell me I couldn''t go."


    Owen''s expression immediately changed.  "You''re not going? But Warpaint was supposed to go with us."


    I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him.  "Don''t worry. I convinced my father to let me go, but he is going to look at my volo recordings when I get back so don''t say anything about the house or Mars or Thrissko while we''re down there."


    Owen nodded.  "Okay. I did watch the video.  Do you know who those people were?"


    I shook my head.  "I can''t ask my father about it because then he''ll know I''ve been looking into Mars.  Warpaint said that my dad had removed everything important already though."


    "Like your dad knew something like this was going to happen," Owen said.


    "Yeah."


    "Warpaint was okay giving you this information?  Your dad didn''t restrict him?"


    "Warpaint said he was told he couldn''t bring it up, but he didn''t bring it up.  I asked so I guess it was okay to tell me according to his program. That reminds me."  I turned to Warpaint, but left the communication with Owen open. "When father took you into his room last night, did you tell him about the house and our conversation about it?"


    "No, sir," Warpaint said.  "He didn''t ask me about it.  He only checked to make sure all my programs were functioning properly and...that is all."


    My lips turned up into a smile.  I guess the communication - or lack thereof - with Warpaint worked for my father the same way it did with me.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "I''ve got news though," Owen said.


    "About what?"  I turned my attention back to him.


    "That girl.  I saw her last night."


    "You saw her again?  Where?"


    "On the same level.  In the Museum Delectables.  I tried to greet her, but she left the restaurant."


    "That''s it?"


    "No.  I followed her."


    I leaned in closer to the projection.


    "I caught up to her just outside the museum.  You were right. She''s not a ghost. You can''t touch ghosts and I grabbed her arm."


    I leaned back.  "I knew she wasn''t a ghost.  Ghosts don''t exist."


    Owen''s blue eyes rolled to the ceiling in a clear disagreement to my statement.  "No. She''s not a ghost." I noted he didn''t say that ghosts don''t exist. "She''s a wizard."


    A low laugh escaped me.  I hadn''t meant to laugh. But before I could stop it, it was out in the air between us.


    "Hear me out before you scoff," Owen said.


    "You''re right.  I''m sorry. Tell me."


    "She told me to let go of her arm and I just did it.  Without thinking about it."


    "That doesn''t mean she''s a wizard.  It just means she has great command presence."


    Owen sighed out exaggeratedly.


    "Okay.  I''m sorry," I said.  "Finish."


    "She was going to the elevators, but she turned back to me and said...and said . . ."  Owen blinked at me.


    "Said what?" I encouraged.


    His blonde brows furrowed together.  "I can''t remember. Something about...about...K''thaktra...and . . ."  He held his forehead in his hands. "Why can''t I remember? It was important."


    "Too excited about the field trip?"  I smiled.


    "No."  Owen said.  "It''s right here."  He pinched the middle of his forehead.  "It''s right here, but I can''t pull it out."  He moved his hand away from his forehead with his fingers still pinched as if physically trying to pull it out.


    "Is that it?"  I asked.


    "No.  Then she touched my forehead."  He touched the spot he had just pinched.  Then his blue eyes flashed when he realized it was the same spot.  "Did she make me forget? Why tell me something if you''re just going to make me forget?"


    "She can''t make you forget by touching your forehead," I said.


    "But that''s the weird thing.  When she touched my forehead I lost ten minutes.  My parents found me staring at nothing in the corridor ten minutes later."


    "That is weird," I said.


    "She''s a wizard."


    "Wizards don''t exist."


    "She exists."


    "Okay," I said.  "That I will agree on.  She exists."


    "Guess that''s good enough for now," Owen said.


    "One last thing," I said.  "You know those black studs Shel was wearing in his ear?"  Owen nodded. "My father said Shel''s mom asked him to make them."


    "Your dad''s the Chief Science Officer, right?"


    I nodded.


    "That''s strange."


    "That''s what I thought," I said.  "Could you ask Shel about the earrings but make it look natural so when my father watches my volo recordings he doesn''t think I was the one asking.  He wouldn''t tell me much about it."


    "Okay," Owen said.  "I can do that."


    "Ready to go?  Want to meet me at the elevators?"


    Owen nodded and our call ended.


    Warpaint and I met Owen at the elevators.  It didn''t take us long to reach the shuttle bay.


    A female Bundu-jo stood by the shuttle doors.  She saw us approaching and waved us to be quicker.  I looked at my okulus which told me we still had ten minutes until 13:00, but we quickened our step anyway which meant Owen''s little legs worked four times as much as mine.


    "I am Lieutenant Tanpo." the Bundu-jo woman said.  "As you step past the yellow line you will be scanned.  If your identity is not as you have thus far represented it, you will not be admitted onto the transport," this sounded more like a set of instructions she had reiterated for all sorts of occasions and hadn''t modified it for a school trip.  Her voice was loud too as if speaking to 50 people and not the two humans and one mechatronic in front of her. "If you are carrying a serious communicable disease, you will not be admitted onto the transport. If you are carrying anything you have not been authorized to carry, such as weapons, illicit technology, unapproved pets, exotic fruit, your leftovers from lunch . . ."  Lunch. I should have eaten more than the shake before we left. "...or anything else I may not have mentioned, you will not be admitted onto the transport, and may be subject to immediate expulsion from the Gathering Exploration Fleet, and arrest."


    "It''s just a school trip," Owen said.


    She held up a long blue finger to silence him.


    "The line will proceed in an orderly fashion," said Lieutenant Tanpo.  "You will step up to be scanned one at a time. If you pass the scan, this light will turn green.  When this light turns green, I will let you onto the transport, and you will quickly find your seat.  Let me stress again quickly."


    "It''s just us three though," Owen said.


    "After everyone has boarded the transport," she continued without looking at us, "the door will close and we will depart.  There will be no departure notices or warnings. You all know how to sit in a seat. I assume you do not need special instructions for that. When the door closes, be in your seat."


    Lieutenant Tanpo''s body language changed, and she smiled warmly as she finally looked at us.  She stuck out her tongue goofily. "Blecchhh.  Now that''s out of the way  . . ." she said. "Let''s go planetside."  She waved us in.  Owen went first. The green light came on almost instantly.  I went next. I wasn''t sure why I held my breath as if I feared the light would be anything other than green.  It was green and I went up and sat in an empty seat next to Owen. Warpaint sat behind us.


    Lieutenant Tanpo entered the shuttle and closed the door behind her.


    "Your teacher is already on the surface.  She''ll meet you and the others when you land.  I''m kind of jealous. I want to see the Slpsis too.  Instead I have to wait at the shuttle and make sure everything is ready for your return."


    She stepped into the pilot seat and then we were moving to exit the Shadow.


    For the second time in my life I was in a shuttle flying through space.  Only this time I wasn''t screaming.

 Chapter 17 .

    Vai


    I got my first real look at the Shadow as I looked out the shuttle window.  When I had arrived by shuttle the first time, I was screaming from the effects of zek.


    The ship was matte black, elegant, spangled with windows.  And her golden accents weren¡¯t just decorative. The gleaming horns that swept forward from beneath the ship like strange talons could direct the energy normally used for FTL jumps into searing zones of killing aether so destructive, the channels they burned into the surface of a planet could be seen from space with the naked eye.  The Shadow was beautiful.  It''s backdrop a myriad of foreign stars and darkness of space.


    It took a crew of 400-800 to operate her, depending on the mission.  Most were Exploration Fleet crew and ancillary staff, but there were also 150 or so civilians, travelers, and tradespeople.


    The Shadow drifted out of sight as the planet came into view and became larger as we grew closer.  It looked more like Mars than Earth. There were pockets of blue instead of mostly blue.


    "I am to remind you to take extra care of your manners while visiting Brist," Lieutenant Tanpo said over her shoulder.  "If you are uncertain of their customs and what they would deem appropriate, just keep quiet and do nothing. Follow the lead of your teacher.  Now I must confirm our landing. Hold on." Then to someone else she said, "This is Lieutenant Tanpo from the G.E.V. Shadow with the students from the G.E.F. school requesting permission to land.  Teacher Miller should already be planetside."


    "Lieutenant Tanpo from the G.E.V. Shadow," a male voice came on with a heavy accent.  "It is confirmed that Teacher Miller is planetside and the G.E.F. students have special permission to land.  Please land at Seriplom Station 1 Dock 53."


    "Confirmed," Lieutenant Tanpo said.  "Seriplom. Station 1. Dock 53. Landing now."


    Lieutenant Tanpo was silent as the vibrations from the shuttle changed and we entered the planet''s atmosphere.  The vibrations changed again and the scenery outside the window changed to browns and yellows and docks - some with various ships I hadn''t seen the likes of before, some empty and two with G.E.F. shuttles.  We landed at a dock next to one of the other G.E.F. shuttles.


    Lieutenant Tanpo stood and opened the shuttle door.  "Have a safe trip," she said. "I''ll just be here. Refueling.  Wishing I could see Slpsis too."


    Warpaint exited first.  I wondered if he was already connected to my father back on the Shadow - if my father already saw and heard everything happening around me.  I assumed he was.


    I exited second and Owen followed me.  There was a strange smell in the air. Something like dust and mint.  Teacher Miller was there to great us. She looked at Warpaint, before looking at me and Owen, but she didn''t say anything about the mechatronic''s presence.


    "Vai and Owen," she said.


    We both nodded.


    "Good.  Rebecca and Hani have already arrived and...ah, yes.  That should be Shel and Minmin''s shuttle coming in now.  You''re the last of the students for the day. I''ve been here since morning."


    I looked up to see another G.E.F. shuttle docking near our shuttle.


    "You can go meet Rebecca and Hani at the pavillion there."  Teacher Miller pointed away from the docks to a structure that looked like a canvas over wooden polls.  It didn''t look like much of a pavillion to me, but that''s what she had called it.


    Owen and I walked over and met the two human girls in person.  They were on the same ship, but it didn''t look like they were close.  They weren''t talking with each other when we arrived and they stood apart from each other.  It didn''t seem like there was any animosity between them, just that they weren''t friends.


    Beyond the pavillion were empty hills.  The only vegetation were little brown plants that sprang up in random spots.  There was a yellowish tint in the air that I assumed was safe or my father wouldn''t have allowed me to come planetside.


    "Hello, friends," Owen said.


    "Hello," Hani said.  She wrapped a strand of black hair around her finger.


    "Hi," Rebecca said.


    "Hi," I said because it felt like I should also say something.


    The two girls looked at Warpaint, but I didn''t feel like explaining him so I didn''t say anything.  Besides, my father was spying on us now through Warpaint.


    "Have either of you been to Earth?" Owen said.


    "I''m from Earth," Hani said eagerly.  She raised her hand halfway, but then seemed sheepish and put her hand down.


    "Europa," Rebecca said.


    "Earth doesn''t have this yellowish tint in the air, does it my friend," Owen said to Hani.


    "No," she replied.  Her finger tugged on the black strand wrapped around it.  I wondered if it hurt her head, but she didn''t act like it.  It must not.


    "Now we''re all here," Teacher Miller said.  She came up behind us followed by Shel and Minmin.


    I looked at his ear.  My father''s words were fresh in my mind.  I didn''t have to worry. Shel still wore the five black studs.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Let''s go see the Slpsis.  And keep in mind you will be doing a report on what you see."


    "What kind of report?" Hani asked.  "What are you looking for?"


    Teacher Miller smiled and patted Hani on her head.  That bothered me. None of us were children.


    "I''m not going to give specifics," Teacher Miller said.  "I want you to enjoy this experience. Just pay attention and write on your experience."


    Hani frowned at the teacher.  I wasn''t sure if that was because Teacher Miller wouldn''t give her specifics or because she patted her head.  Maybe both.


    "Ah," Teacher Miller said.  She stepped forward. "Our transportation must be ready.  Come along." She walked toward the alien that appeared at the other end of the Pavillion.


    The Brist was slightly taller than Minmin and Owen, but shorter than the rest of us.  His skin was a pale yellow with small ridges all over. His orange eyes were catlike with the pupils as long slits.


    We followed the Brist to a large transport that would easily hold all of us.  We clambered onboard - several of us had to duck to get underneath the door frame.  The Brist didn''t say anything as he started it up and headed out towards the hills. The transport didn''t have much lift.  I doubted it could get a few inches off the ground. It certainly wasn''t like the old repulsor my friends and I used to ride in.


    I missed them.  I missed Callie.  The last time I saw her was on my birthday.  The day we went to see the elephants. And now I was going to see an animal that was a lot like elephants.  For me, it had only been a year. For Callie, it had been 80 years. She grew up. Got married. Had children.  Grandchildren. Died. I was still seventeen.


    The landscape rushed by, but didn''t really change.  It was barren. The only vegetation were those little brown plants.  I didn''t know how the Slpsis could survive on those. Maybe they were carnivores.  No. I wasn''t paying much attention in class the day before, but I was sure Teacher Miller had said they were herbivores.


    "I like your ear studs, friend," Owen said.


    I tore my eyes off the window.  I hadn''t realized Owen had sat next to Shel.


    Shel''s blue hand reached up and touched the lowest stud.  "Thanks," he said, but his voice was cold. Maybe he always was.


    "I''m thinking of getting some like it," Owen went on.


    I glanced at Warpaint.  I hoped Owen wasn''t being too obvious for my father.  Warpaint didn''t seem interested in the conversation. His eyes were on the Brist driver.


    "Where did you get them?"


    Shel sighed out long and low.  "My mother."


    "Where''d she get them?"


    Shel looked down at his hands.  "I don''t know. She got some for herself too.  It wasn''t just me."


    Owen smiled.  "You and your mom are like a matching set now.  That''s cute. I didn''t take you for cute."


    Shel looked down at Owen, but he didn''t really seem angry at being called cute.  I would have been angry.


    "I''m not the only one rebelling against my dad," Shel said.  He smiled. He was handsome when he smiled. But as quickly as it came, it was gone.


    "Your mom got these to be rebellious?" I asked.


    I didn''t remember much about my mother.  What I remembered was that she loved my dad.  My dad loved my mom. One time when she was in the kitchen making something to eat, my dad came in, pulled her away from the food and danced with her.  They hadn''t said anything. Just danced. I had thought one day I might try that with Callie. That wasn''t possible now.


    "She''s mad at my dad.  She won''t tell me why. It all started when my dad received a package from the Captain of the G.E.V. Shadow."


    "Your dad received a package from the captain on the Shadow?"  Owen asked.


    "Yes," Shel said.  "My mom was really upset about it.  That''s when my dad started sleeping out on the couch.  Mom doesn''t allow him in her bedroom anymore. That made me wonder if my dad was having an affair with the captain on the Shadow, but would he really be so obvious about it?  And if that was really the case I think my mom would have kicked him out completely or she and I would have moved out.  I don''t know why the package made her so angry. That was also when she got me and herself these ear studs." His hand reached up and touched the lowest one.  "I don''t know why other than to separate us from my father a bit. He really doesn''t like them. So maybe he did have an affair? I don''t know. She told me I couldn''t ever remove these though.  And she seems so upset about my father, I just want to make her happy."


    "What did the package look like?" Owen asked.


    "A little metal box."  Shel sized it with his hands.


    Owen shifted.  Both hands grabbed his pant legs.  "When did he get it? Was it after the first Monday everyone was on board the ships?"


    Shel looked up at the ceiling of the transport as he thought about it.  His long, blue neck seemed even longer. "Yes." He looked back at Owen.  "I believe it was. Why? Do you know something?"


    "No."  Owen let go of his pant legs.  "How would I know anything? I was just curious.  That''s all. That''s it."


    The transport stopped.


    "Here we are," Teacher Miller said.  "Everyone off. Remember to stick together and close to the transport."


    According to my okulus, the time wasn''t yet 2:00 p.m.  The Brist sun was beginning to set. It didn''t occur to me until that moment that Brist would have a different time zone than the Gathering.


    The Slpsis were not as close as I''d like, but still close enough to see well.  I supposed we couldn''t get too close. They were wild creatures as large as elephants.  Their noses were similar to the trunks of an elephant. They were shorter, but wider. The Slpsis had a strange sheen as if they were covered in moisture.  Their skin was similar to elephants, hairless, but had more skin folds. Their skin was a dusty yellow instead of gray. I saw the first water source since arriving on the planet.  A small creek ran in front of us separating us from the Slpsis. They were on the other side casually drinking or eating the brown vegetation that grew in greater numbers around the creek.  Insects about the size of my finger flew slowly above the water.


    I wished Callie was there.  And Posha. And Emilio.


    "They''d crush me if they stepped on me, my friend." Owen said.


    "They''d crush any of us if they stepped on us," I said.


    "But especially me," Owen said.


    "And me," Minmin chimed in.


    "And you," Owen conceded.


    "Can we get closer?"  Rebecca asked.


    "I think that should be all right," Teacher Miller said.  "Just not too close."


    We all moved closer to the Slpsis.  The biggest one squeezed by one of the smaller ones so that it was now the closest to us.  I wasn''t sure it did it on purpose as it didn''t look at us. It seemed really interested in the brown tuft of vegetation it was eating.


    I wondered if we were downwind.  There didn''t seem to be any wind though.  It''s head lifted and we all stopped as one.  It didn''t look at us, but behind it - beyond the rest of it''s herd.  I wondered if herd was the correct word.


    "Are they a matriarchy like elephants?" I asked.


    Teacher Miller smiled at me as if she had never heard a better question.  Did she really think of us as children?


    "Yes.  Yes they are."


    "Get out of there now."  My father''s voice came out of Warpaint.  Warpaint''s mouth didn''t move. It was just through the open communication I assumed.


    "Lieutenant Commander?" Teacher Miller said.


    "Now!"  My father reiterated.  "Get the kids to the transport now, Ms. Miller, or I''ll hold you personally responsible for what happens."


    Teacher Miller was already pushing Rebecca and Hani back towards the transport.


    Warpaint pushed me ahead of him - back in the direction of the transport.  I started walking. One of the Slpsis made a strange trumpeting noise. I looked behind me, passed Warpaint.  The smaller Slpsis began to run across the creek in our direction. The bigger Slpsis followed. The last one was the big matriarch that had just trumpeted.  But behind them were several black creatures almost as large as the Slpsis they chased. Only these creatures had claws and teeth and red glowing eyes.

 Chapter 18 .

    Vai


    I ran.  We all ran.  The Brist back at the transport was hopping on his little feet and gesturing wildly at us.  He didn''t wait, but got on the transport. It started up with a low rumble. Minmin outpaced the rest of us and arrived at the transport first.  She didn''t waste any time getting onboard.


    Shel arrived next, but he didn''t board until after Rebecca and Hani were onboard.  Teacher Miller boarded right after him. Owen reached the transport at the same time I did.  He scrambled on first.


    The first Slpsis ran behind me.  The wind of it''s passing brushed my back.


    "Hurry, sir," Warpaint didn''t wait for an answer.  He pushed me in the back and I fell forward into the transport.  He lifted me from behind just as the transport doors closed behind us.  I sat. The Brist turned the transport around. It was too slow. Agonizingly slow.


    Warpaint said something in a language I didn''t understand, but the Brist driver looked over his shoulder with a scowl on his face.  Warpaint waved his hand forward and said the same thing again. I didn''t know Warpaint could speak Brist. Maybe that was a feature my father had added last night.


    Slpsis ran all around us.  Too close. One brushed up against the side I was on.  The transport rocked to the opposite side where another Slpsis ran into it.  The air outside the transport looked even more yellow as the Slpsis stampede caused the dirt to rise in the air.


    Warpaint shouted something this time at the Brist.  A Slpsis rammed into the back of the transport. It suddenly lurched forward.  Warpaint threw an arm out in front of me so I didn''t bang into the seat in front of me.


    The others weren''t so lucky.  Owen and Rebecca fell from their seats.  Minmin almost fell, but regained her balance quickly.  Teacher Miller held Hani back so Hani didn''t fall forward.  Shel put both hands out to the seat in front of him. Once he composed himself, he helped Owen back in his seat.  Rebecca scrambled back into her seat next to Hani. The distance that was between them before the trip was nonexistent now as they held onto each other.


    More Slpsis banged into the sides of the transport.  One banged into the side right next to me. The side of the transport dented inwards.  The Slpsis outside slid, but didn''t lose its footing as it continued on its way.


    It almost seemed like the transport wasn''t moving.  It was, but the Slpsis were faster. The matriarch banged into the other side of the transport.  That side lifted slightly. My body automatically leaned that way in an effort to put it down. Something black banged into that side.


    The transport crashed on its other side.  I banged into it as the momentum carried me into the fallen side.  Minmin hadn''t been in the seats behind me originally, but with the tilted transport, she was suddenly there - crashed into its side like I was.  Rebecca, Hani and Teacher Miller all tumbled towards her from the opposite side. Minmin braced herself and caught the heap that was Rebecca and Hani.  Teacher Miller fell into them, but it didn''t budge Minmin. She helped them get sorted out.


    Starwatchers were stronger than they looked.  Noted. I had always heard they were, but had never seen it myself.


    It didn''t occur to me until then that I should also have people - and a mechatronic - tumbling on top of me.  Warpaint had braced himself. He hadn''t moved except to turn his upper body so he could catch Owen in his oversized right arm and Shel with his two arms on the left.


    My side, back, shoulder and neck tightened and hurt where I had banged into the side of the transport.  I stood up on the grounded side. Minmin helped Rebecca and Hani to stand. Minmin didn''t seem hurt, but Rebecca held her head and Hani held her arm.  Teacher Miller stood up slower and favored her left side.


    "Now what?" Owen asked.


    The Brist driver stood slowly.  He cocked his head to the side as he looked at the turned control panel.  That was when something black and massive jumped onto the door that was now pointed at the sky.


    We all went quiet.  The Brist driver froze as he looked up at the large creature.  The creature made a loud sound as it stared down at the Brist. It wasn''t a roar.  More like the caw of a crow, but extremely loud. Hani let go of her arm and covered her ears.  Minmin covered her floppy ears too. More black masses ran passed the transport in pursuit of the Slpsis.  The one on top of the transport didn''t move to follow.


    There was a bang as a second black creature hopped onto the downed transport.  Warpaint moved. He guided Owen and Shel behind him and in my arms. I helped each of them stand on the side of the transport.  There was more head room with the transport on its side than when it had been upright. I didn''t have to duck to not hit the ceiling.  There was a good gap between my head and the side of the transport which was now the ceiling.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    The first creature lifted its front paw and smashed it into the transport door.  The door splintered as the creature''s paw came through. Warpaint moved towards it.


    "You mustn''t hurt it," Teacher Miller said.  She stretched a hand out towards Warpaint as if that would stop him.


    "Are you crazy?" Rebecca asked.  "If it gets in here, it will kill us."


    Minmin moved with ease around Rebecca and Hani.  "I''ll protect you," she said.


    Rebecca and Hani exchanged a look clearly doubting the little Starwatcher.


    "It could eat you with one bite," Hani said.


    "Only if it can catch me," Minmin said.  She had a crooked smile that meshed strangely with her cream colored fur.


    The creature smashed its paw into the door again causing a bigger hole.  It put its snout in and sniffed. The Brist folded himself into a ball between his chair and the side of the transport that was on the ground.


    "Warpaint," my father''s voice said, "nothing can happen to my son."


    "Understood, sir."  He moved to stand underneath the door, near the Brist.


    The Brist looked up at him from his curled ball and said something I didn''t understand, but Warpaint ignored him.


    He reached out with his oversized right arm towards the creature.


    "No!" Teacher Miller said.  "We must retain our diplomatic ties with the Brist.  We can''t do anything to offend them."


    "I don''t think saving one of them will offend them," Shel said.


    "We mustn''t risk it.  Lieutenant Commander, you know the Gathering is in talks with the Brist finally joining us.  Upsetting them will destroy all of that."


    "That is confidential information, Ms Miller.  Information that definitely should not be given to children.  Continue, Warpaint."


    Children.  I hated that.


    The second black creature smashed his paw into the upturned side of the transport - directly above us.  He withdrew it and put his red eye close to the hole he had just made.


    The red on Warpaint began to spread over his white metallic shell.  I hadn''t seen that happen before. He looked - terrifying - like he was covered in the blood of the enemy.


    Teacher Miller turned to me.  "Please, Vai. Your father is only worried about protecting you.  Instruct your mechatronic to only shield us, not to attack. Please."


    I wasn''t sure Warpaint could or would protect the rest of them, but she was right.  Especially if the Brist were in talks with the Gathering. "Warpaint," I said. "I need you to shield us."


    Light had begun to form on Warpaint''s outstretched hand, but he paused and looked at me.


    "He''s right, sir," Warpaint said.  "My first priority is to protect him from danger.  Not engage in battle."


    "Warpaint," my father said.  The first creature smashed a bigger hole into the door - one large enough to squeeze through.  The second creature tore at the hole above me with its large claws tearing back the sides of the transport.  It exposed all of us. "Aether shield."


    Warpaint''s chestplate opened.  The air around us shifted. The smell changed from dust and mint to metals and minerals and space.  Both creatures came through. I raised my fists and readied my legs as if I were going to spar with Thrissko as the creature above me dropped down.  It landed in the air on top of me. It pawed at the invisible shield, but it''s claws couldn''t get through this. I had assumed the creatures were black because of fur, but that wasn''t the case.  Now that I saw one up close - much closer than I wanted - I could see they were hairless like the Slpsis. Their skin folded and had the same wet sheen that the Slpsis did.


    I hadn''t realized my father had installed an aether field in Warpaint.  I hadn''t even realized it was possible to install something like that in something smaller than a G.E.V.


    "Shel," Owen said, "what''s wrong?"


    I grudgingly tore my eyes away from the black creature above me to look at Owen and Shel.  Shel held his left ear.


    "The ear studs are vibrating," he said.


    "I''ll help you take them out," Owen said.  He reached up as Shel bent down towards him.


    "No!" my father''s voice said.  "Don''t take those out. You must never take them out."


    Owen and Shel looked at Warpaint in disbelief, but Owen''s hands dropped back to his side and Shel stood up straight.


    "Now what?" Rebecca asked.  We all turned to look at the two creatures pacing above us in the air.


    Yes.  Now what.


    A G.E.F. shuttle flew passed the top - once the side - of the shuttle.  The black creatures looked up. A second shuttle flew passed - lower than the first one had.  A third shuttle flew over. The black creatures crawled out of the hole the second one had made.  A fourth shuttle flew just over their heads. One of the creatures tried to swipe it with its paw, but it missed.  They jumped off the transport and followed the shuttles as they wove in and out above the the creatures clearly drawing them away.


    A shuttle flew high and away from the rest of them.  It drew closer to the transport and hovered above the hole.  The shuttle door opened and Lieutenant Tanpo let down the ladder.  It landed on the aether shield. "Hurry up," she said.


    Warpaint''s chestplate closed.  The air changed again and the smell returned to dust and mint.  The red that had spread over Warpaint went back into lines so he was mostly white again.  Warpaint grabbed the Brist that was still curled up in a ball. When the Brist realized that there was a ladder in front of him, he quickly scrambled up it.


    Rebecca and Hani went next.  I was worried about Hani''s arm, but she climbed up the ladder okay.  Owen and Minmin went next.


    "Go ahead," Teacher Miller said to me and Shel.  "Quickly."


    Shel and I exchanged a glance.  Shel touched his ear again. "The vibrations stopped when the aether shield was dropped.  Do you know what it means? Does your father?"


    I shook my head.  "I don''t know."


    "Now is not the time," Teacher Miller said.  She grabbed Shel''s arm and urged him forward.  He scrambled up the ladder.


    I followed and Warpaint followed me.  Teacher Miller came up last.


    Lieutenant Tanpo pulled in the ladder and closed the door.  "Strap in. We''re going to the Shadow."


    Teacher Miller shifted in her seat.  "Not all of us are from the Shadow.  We need to get back to our own ships."


    "Orders are orders," Lieutenant Tanpo said as she sat in the pilot''s seat.  The shuttle lifted upwards.


    "Whose orders?" Teacher Miller demanded.


    "Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa of course," Lieutenant Tanpo said easily.


    "He doesn''t have the authority," Teacher Miller said.


    Lieutenant Tanpo gave a look to Teacher Miller.  I wasn''t sure what it meant, but Teacher Miller sat back in her seat.  Her eyes shifted away from us. She bit her bottom lip, but didn''t say anymore.

 Interlude 2 .

    The Awakened One


    He wakes us all.  He is screaming. They have found him.  They have found the ones he tried to give the light.  I stir from my hiding place. I uncoil myself from the darkness and the minerals and the moisture.


    They all scream at me, my hidden brothers and sisters.  The many have discovered him, but they haven''t discovered the rest of us.  They have discovered those that call themselves the Gatherish, those my brother taught.  They rip them apart leaving nothing behind. My brother is the last to fight them and he screams as he is only one and they are many, many, many.


    I am too far away, but I awaken to help just as my brothers and sisters still to sleep.  They remind me I am weak. The weakest of them. They should have killed me while I was still a child.  It was their mistake to let me live, but there are too few of us left that know the light. We must wait for the ones who can defeat the many and only those who can defeat them.  My brother thought he had found them in the Gatherish, but the many slaughter them and my brother.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I coil myself around the darkness, minerals and moisture as my brothers and sisters command.  They sleep again, but I wait. It is my weakness. I wait. My brother is gone. Those who he taught the light are gone.  All but one. Small and pink. Her weakness is similar to my weakness, but there is one of the Gatherish left with the light.


    I send my light out to her, the barest of a hint.  She must find me. I can''t go out to her and risk the many finding out there are more of us.  It touches her. It is enough. She will search for me. The rest is up to her.


    I sleep.

 Chapter 19 .

    Vai


    My father waited for us.  He was not happy. He shifted his expression to a somewhat smile when the Brist shifted from foot to foot by my side.


    "Warpaint," my father said with that strained smile, "tell the Brist we are happy to welcome him aboard."  My father paused to let Warpaint translate to the Brist. The Brist relaxed. "Tell him, we would like to give him a tour of the museum before Lieutenant Tanpo takes him home."  Warpaint relayed the words.


    My father was only barely containing his rage.  My father had been angry with me countless times, but I couldn''t remember a time like this when his fury stretched out in sightless waves to touch everyone around him.


    None of my fellow students could look at him.  In fact, Teacher Miller couldn''t look at him. Only Lieutenant Tanpo willingly looked at him and she had done her job well.  I doubted my father''s anger was directed at her.


    How much authority did my father have?  Could he have Teacher Miller fired? Nothing that happened was her fault.  I thought my father had overstepped his authority many times that day, but Lieutenant Tanpo had seemed to defend him when Teacher Miller brought it up.  I wondered what the other shuttle pilots had thought when my father commanded them to rescue us. And I was sure it was at his command.


    The Brist hopped once when Warpaint finished speaking with him, but it wasn''t the frantic hop that happened when the Slpsis and black creatures were coming at us.  This seemed excited.


    "Good," my father said without waiting for Warpaint to translate.  "Vai."


    I stood up straighter.  It was uncomfortable being under his sudden attention.


    "Go with Warpaint and take the Brist on a tour of the museum.  Then you can bring him back here so Lieutenant Tanpo can take him back home.  Warpaint, be cordial with our guest and remember to translate correctly."


    "Lieutenant Commander," Teacher Miller found her voice, "a mechatronic and a boy are hardly the diplomats for . . ."


    My father looked at her.  She looked at her feet.


    "Yes, sir," Warpaint said.


    "When you are finished with that task, Vai, you may eat at the Museum Delectables before returning to our quarters."


    There was a long pause.  "Yes, sir," I finally said.


    My father''s smile disappeared and his voice went low and gravelly.  "Get going then."


    I didn''t wait for Warpaint or the Brist.  I hadn''t heard my father use that tone. It was terrifying.  I did turn when we reached the docking doors to make sure Warpaint and the Brist were with me.  They were. The Brist had a strange expected smile as he looked up at me. I tried to smile back down at him, but was distracted at how my father silently stared down my fellow students and teacher.  Was it really okay to leave them? On the other hand, I didn''t want to be in the same room when my father was so angry.


    "Let''s go," I said.


    I didn''t say anything as we made our way to the museum.  The Brist talked constantly and pointed at different things on the ship.  Simple things like the lights. Warpaint spoke to him. I wasn''t sure if the Brist was asking questions and Warpaint was answering or if they were just having a casual conversation.  Warpaint didn''t translate for me and I didn''t really want to know. Teacher Miller was correct in that neither I nor Warpaint were diplomats. Then again, the Brist was a driver. I doubted he was a diplomat either.


    "Well.  Here we are.  The museum," I said when we arrived.


    Warpaint said something to the Brist.  The little alien replied enthusiastically.  I assumed Warpaint had relayed what I just said, but I wasn''t sure since Warpaint wasn''t translating to me their conversation.


    "Let''s go in then," I said.  I swept my arm out wide indicating the museum doors.  I retracted it quickly because it seemed excessive.


    The Brist walked towards the doors.  They slid open with a whispered swish.  The Brist made an, "oo," sound like he had with all the doors on our way here.  Maybe they didn''t have sliding doors on Brist. I tried to imagine it, but couldn''t imagine how a door would open otherwise.


    Warpaint and I followed the Brist inside.   He made another, "oo," sound and ran to the first display in the middle which held the old captain''s uniform.


    Come to think of it, I hadn''t been back to the museum since the first time I met Owen and the captain.  I smiled. Owen flirting with the captain. I hoped my father wasn''t yelling at the other students. It wasn''t their fault either.  I didn''t think he was though. And I didn''t think he''d yell at Teacher Miller in front of my fellow students. I wasn''t sure about that.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    The Brist moved on to the first display on the right.  It held an ancient musical instrument the Bundu-jo had been generous enough to donate.  It kind of resembled Earth''s old musical instrument, the French Horn. I wondered if they sounded similar.


    The Brist did his little excited hop and said something to Warpaint who answered.  The Brist stopped hopping, his shoulders sagged slightly and he walked slower to the next display.


    I imagined the conversation to be something like, "Can I play it?"  "No."


    The next few displays were down a different aisle.  We turned to go down it and that was when I saw her.  She wasn''t going from display to display like the Brist.  She didn''t read the plaque that was at the display she was at.  She just stared at what was inside almost as if it belonged to her.  The Brist went on to a different aisle. Warpaint started to follow until he saw that I wasn''t.


    I waved him on to follow the Brist.  He took a step towards the direction the Brist went, but hesitated.  The little Brist came back from the aisle he was just on and took Warpaint''s oversized right hand in his two little hands and tugged at him to follow.  I waved him on again. Warpaint went with the Brist, but I knew he wouldn''t let me get too far away from him.


    I went and stood behind the mystery girl who wasn''t a ghost, but possibly - according to Owen anyway - a wizard.  Her head came up to about my shoulders. She didn''t turn to look at me, but she shifted slightly. I was sure she knew I was there.


    In the display was part of an ancient wall found on a K''thaktra colony during the war.  What made it special was the writing on it. It was so ancient not even the K''thaktra remembered what it was.  I got all that from reading the plaque next to it - the plaque the girl ignored.


    "K''thaktran," I said.


    "If you say so," the girl replied.


    "It isn''t?  Do you know more than the scientists who found it and studied it?  Do you know more than the K''thaktra?"


    She turned to look at me.  Her eyes were a light brown, slightly darker than honey.  Her skin was olive toned. Her hair was dark brown, but she had dyed streaks of pink into it since the last time I saw her.


    "In some ways yes.  In some ways no."


    "What a cryptic answer."  I paused, but she didn''t say anything.  "My friend finally agrees with me that you are not a ghost."


    "No?  Maybe I am."  Her eyes looked passed me.  At nothing. Beyond nothing.


    "You can''t touch a ghost," I said.  "He said he grabbed your wrist."


    Her eyes drifted back to me.


    "What does your friend think of me then?"


    A short laugh escaped me.  "He thinks your a wizard. He thinks you touched him on the forehead and made him forget."


    I thought she''d laugh with me, but she didn''t.  If anything, her lips turned down slightly. She was quiet.


    "Wizards don''t exist," I said.


    "There are many things that aren''t supposed to exist," she said.


    "Like what?"


    She turned back to the exhibit with the strange writings.  "Like this."


    "What is this?"


    "Sir," Warpaint said.


    I hadn''t realized he and the Brist were back on our aisle.


    "He''s seen everything and is ready to leave."


    "That quickly?"


    Warpaint nodded.


    "Guess I have to go," I said turning back to the girl.  But she wasn''t there. She wasn''t further down the aisle either.


    "She left while we were talking," Warpaint said.


    At least I didn''t make her up then.  And she didn''t just disappear like a wizard might.  Whatever she was, she was strange. When we got back to the docks, Lieutenant Tanpo was ready to take the Brist back.  There was no sign of Teacher Miller or the other students.


    "All right then," Lieutenant Tanpo said, "let''s get you home.  Come on board."


    "You''re not going to do your whole speech?" I asked.


    She shrugged.  "He wouldn''t understand it anyway."


    Warpaint said something to the Brist.  The Brist walked onto the shuttle.


    "Make sure you go to the Museum Delectables," Lieutenant Tanpo said.  "The Lieutenant Commander needs some time to cool down."


    My head bobbed up and down in accord.  I waited until the shuttle door closed before leaving - Warpaint by my side.


    The food at the restaurant was good.  Much better than the algae food anyway.  And they had chocolate for dessert. I got a piece.  It was expensive, but my father didn''t seem to worry about money so I decided not to as well.  I was used to Warpaint staring at me as I ate, but we got strange looks from the other patrons.


    We left and went back to our quarters. I wondered if Owen had found out anymore about Thrissko.  I paused when I opened the door to our quarters because I heard my father''s voice. It wasn''t nearby.  It sounded like he was in his bedroom and had left his bedroom door opened - which he never did. It was even stranger because my father wouldn''t have anyone to talk to.  At least that I knew of.


    "He could have died."


    "But he didn''t," a female voice said.  It was mechanical, but familiar.


    "And that is the only reason I didn''t kill her then and there."


    "You can''t kill another person," the voice said.


    "I could when it comes to...my son."


    "You are needed for so many reasons.  No one knows all that you do." I realized why the voice sounded familiar.  It was the computer voice. My father was having a conversation with the ship''s computer.


    The hair raised on the back of my neck.  Anyway you looked at it, it wasn''t normal.


    "I''m back," I said loudly.  I didn''t want to hear anymore of that conversation.  I didn''t want to know my father conversed with a computer.  My father''s bedroom door was slightly ajar. He came out quickly.  He barreled across the living room towards me and crushed me to him in a hug.  I was too surprised to react.


    "You did well."


    At first, I thought he was speaking to me, but then Warpaint said, "Thank you, sir," and I realized otherwise.


    "That''s the last time you go planetside," my father said.  He drew away from me.


    "That''s not normally going to happen," I said.  "That was a freak situation."


    "It doesn''t matter!" he shouted.


    My hands curled up into fists.


    "You almost died," he said quieter.


    "But I didn''t."


    "It doesn''t . . ." his voice grew louder again, but instead of finishing his sentence, he pinched his eyes shut and let out a low sigh.  "It was my mistake to let you go in the first place. I won''t make that mistake again."


    "But father, I . . ."


    He walked to his bedroom and slammed the door.

 Chapter 20 .

    Owen


    I watched Vai''s large back as he left.  And then my only protection went with him.  Warpaint.


    I thought back on all my actions that day and wondered if it was somehow my fault.  No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn''t link those weird predators with anything we had done.  I didn''t know anything about Brist though. Maybe we walked wrong and it summoned them.


    I had asked Shel about his ear studs though.  Vai''s dad had obviously been monitoring us so he must have seen that.  I hoped my acting was convincing enough that Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa didn''t realize I knew he had made them.


    The silence stretched out between all of us.  I didn''t realize Minmin held my hand until Hani reached out and took my other hand.  I knew the ladies liked me, but I wasn''t sure this was the time. Then I noticed Hani''s other hand was holding Rebecca''s hand.  Minmin''s other hand held Shel''s. All the students were holding hands. That was nice and all, but I highly doubted we could protect each other from Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa.


    The other three shuttles flew in and landed around us.  We stayed still as the shuttle doors opened and the other three pilots stood nearby.  Teacher Miller looked at one of the pilots and nodded. A strained smile reached her lips.


    "Ah, my shuttle is here.  Good day, Lieutenant Commander."


    She took a step towards the shuttle, but the Lieutenant Commander stood in front of her.  Towered over her. He was taller than Vai.


    "You put all of the children at risk, Ms Miller."


    "We had special permission to go planetside," she said.  She couldn''t quite meet his eyes. She tried to several times, but her eyes always shifted away.  "The Plerousnin were being monitored. They weren''t a threat."


    "Obviously they weren''t a threat," Vai''s father bit out.


    I assumed Plerousnin were the predator creatures that had almost killed us.  I wondered who was supposed to be monitoring them.


    "It wasn''t my fault."  She finally looked into his eyes.


    "You were the adult in charge."


    "It could have happened with anyone . . ."


    "It happened with you.  If I hadn''t seen the creatures on Warpaint''s monitors, you wouldn''t have gotten them back to the transport in time.  The only reason you and the children are alive is because of my mechatronic and my monitoring."


    "I think you are overreacting."


    "Overreacting?!" he yelled.


    We all flinched.  Rebecca crushed into Hani''s side and she in turn crushed into mine.  Both Hani and Minmin squeezed my hands tighter.


    "They almost died!" he went on.  "How are you going to tell the other parents what happened with their children?"


    Teacher Miller looked at us.  The silence stretched out.


    "We''re okay," Rebecca said softly.


    Vai''s father stretched out a hand in her direction to silence her.


    "This can never happen again," Lieutenant Commander said quietly to Teacher Miller.  It made the hair on my arms stand up.


    "You need to let Vai . . ." she started, but Vai''s dad put a finger up between their faces.  His face had gotten very close to hers.


    His voice was quiet when he spoke, but it crossed the space between all of us.  "You have no idea what I would do...what I have done to keep my son safe."


    "You overstep your authority," she whispered.


    "Report me then.  See what happens."


    He stared at her a bit longer before he turned and left without another word.  As soon as the docking doors shut behind him, we all breathed out. I hadn''t realized I was holding my breath until then.  I let go of the girls'' hands.


    "Well," Teacher Miller said, "we''re all safe.  That was quite the experience planetside, yes?"  She smiled, but it quickly faded. "Let''s go home."  She wrapped her arms around Hani and Rebecca and headed towards their shuttle.  When she reached Minmin and Shel she let go of Hani just long enough to give a gentle push to Shel and Minmin in the direction of their shuttle.


    "Teacher Miller," Minmin said.


    "Yes?"


    "You are going to tell our parents, right?  You aren''t going to try to keep it a secret."


    "Of course," Teacher Miller said, but her voice faltered.  "Of course," she said again with more conviction.


    Shel and Minmin still held hands as they walked to their shuttle.  Minmin stopped halfway there and turned to wave at me. Shel followed her lead.   I waved at both of them.


    Rebecca and Hani boarded their shuttle.  Teacher Miller left them and went to her own shuttle.  She turned to me right before she got on and said to me, "I''ll see you in school, Owen."


    I nodded, but wondered if we would really ever see her again.


    I turned to thank Lieutenant Tanpo before I left, but she and a mechanic were looking at the backside of her shuttle.  Music filled the corridor just outside my quarters. I knew it was my dad playing. His viola had a rich tone.


    I opened the door and stepped inside.  My dad sat at his favorite chair. The viola and bow in his hands.  He stopped playing and smiled when he saw me.


    "Hello, son.  How did it go?  Was it fun? Did you make new friends?"


    Should I lie?  But if I lied and then Teacher Miller told him...or worse - much worse - Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa told him, then dad would know I lied.  I wasn''t opposed to lying. I was opposed to getting caught. So I told him. Everything. When I finished he set down his viola and bow and hugged me.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "I''m okay," I said.  "It was fun to see the Slpsis and the Plerousnin will be an experience I''ll never forget."


    He kissed the top of my head like he used to when I was a child.


    "I need to tell your mom."  He let go.


    "Don''t," I said.  "She''ll want to come home early."


    "I think that would be okay this one time."


    Part of me wanted to tell him I wasn''t a child anymore, but I didn''t.  I wanted a hug from my mom.


    "I''ll just be in my room until she gets here then," I said.


    Dad nodded.  He was already on his okulus.


    I went into my room and made a call that needed to be quick.  I made it then instead of later because I wasn''t sure if my parents would let me out of their sight later and I hoped to have an answer for Vai about his Mars friend.


    "You have an answer for me, friend," I stated rather than asked when Mario answered.


    He nodded.  "I found that K''thaktra kid, Thrissko.  He seems normal. He goes to school, goes home, goes to the gym.  He seems to be on good terms with his parents. The only thing that seemed different than a few months ago is that after the gym he goes to a tailor shop."


    "He does that everyday?"


    Mario nodded.


    "That''s it though?  He doesn''t seem hurt or high on drugs?"


    "Nope.  Just a normal kid."


    "Thanks.  I''ll give the okay to my contact to send you the mechatronics."


    I messaged my other contacts instead of calling because I didn''t know when my mom would come home and I didn''t want her to overhear anything she shouldn''t.


    I sent a message to Professor Rufus first.  I told him I had a small piece of a Plerousnin claw.  No one had noticed that a small part of the claw had chipped off while the Plerousnin had tore away at the transport above us.  No one noticed that I picked it up and put it in my pocket before I climbed the ladder. Everyone had been too focused on the predators.


    The professor replied immediately about how excited he was and that he would send the slugs right away.


    My mom came into my room without knocking.


    "I''m okay, mom," I said.


    She wrapped me in a tight hug.  "My boy." She patted me on top of the head even though she was now slightly shorter than me.


    "I''m okay," I said again as I hugged her back.


    "Let''s go out for dinner," she said.  She released me, but I wasn''t quite ready to let go so I hugged her longer.  "Oh, son," she said as her arms wrapped around me again. "Were you scared? Of course you were."


    I was more frightened of Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa, but my mom didn''t need to know that.  Warpaint would protect me against the Plerousnin as long as I was close enough to Vai''s side. I didn''t think Warpaint would protect me against Vai''s father.


    I let go of her.  "It''s a little early for dinner."


    She smiled.  "Not the Museum Delectables.  The Starrise. We need to dress up for that one."


    "We can''t afford that one."  Actually, I probably could have afforded the Starrise.  My parents didn''t know about my savings account. There were only two restaurants on the Shadow.  The Museum Delectables, which was mostly sandwiches, and the Starrise which was fancy, on the second floor directly below the bridge, and had a dress code.


    "We can afford it this one time," my mom said.  "You are alive." She hugged me again.


    "Okay," I said.  "I''ll get ready."


    She left and I messaged my next contact that the slugs were on the way and to confirm the Lithium discount.  The Lithium supplier replied with an affirmative. My final message was to the mechatronic supplier. I told her she had the Lithium discount and to go ahead with the mechatronic shipment.


    Once that was done I got in the shower.  I dressed up in my finest - my only - suit.


    Mom and dad waited for me all dressed up when I stepped out of my room.


    "You look so handsome," my mom said as she took my arm in hers.


    "Thanks," I said.  I did look good.


    We made our way to the Starrise.  It was busier than I thought. I didn''t think so many G.E.V. employees could afford this place.


    The second deck''s windows were bigger than on the other levels I had been on.  Evidently we had already gone to FTL. The space outside shifted from one set of stars to the next.


    The restaurant also had large windows with the tables and chairs arranged with a view of the changing vistas outside.  We sat and ordered. I ordered one of the cheaper options because my parents had done the same. Like the Museum Delectables, they also had chocolate on the menu for dessert.


    I hadn''t realized the Starrise was Spencer''s family restaurant until he came up to take our orders.  He didn''t look at me, but he was very polite with my parents - as he always was. When Spencer had said his father had been transferred to the Shadow, I had assumed his mother would take the opportunity to rest, not make an even fancier restaurant than the last one.


    "I wonder how much chocolate they have left," I said casually to my parents as we left.


    "Not much," my mom said.  "The Chief Engineer," that was Spencer''s father, "said his wife was running out of chocolate faster than they had planned.  She doesn''t understand why as she brought on the same amount as she had on the Remembrance."


    I didn''t say it to my parents of course, but the reason she hadn''t run out of chocolate faster on the Remembrance is because I was supplying some to Spencer.  That wasn''t going to happen again. Spencer and I didn''t mesh well.


    If the Starrise was running out of chocolate this quickly, the Museum Delectables must be running out too.  Maybe I could start my side business sooner than I thought. I''d have to scope out places. Maybe somewhere on level 6 near the museum.


    We arrived back at the quarters and I went into my room.  I put in a call to Vai. He answered quickly. His image was projected through my volo.  He was sitting at his desk in his bedroom. Like I was.


    "Hello, my friend," I said.  Then quieter I said, "How''s your dad?"


    Vai waved a hand vaguely in the air.


    "Okay," I said.  "Well, I have some news on your friend."


    "Thrissko?"  Vai leaned in quickly.  "Is he okay?"


    "He is okay," I said.


    Vai sighed out deeply and leaned back.  "That''s good."


    "I told you I would find out, my friend, and I did."


    Vai finally smiled.  "You did."


    "There is one strange thing though."


    His smile disappeared.  "What?"


    "He seems fine, not on drugs, not hurt.  He''s back home with his parents mostly on his regular routine."


    "What does mostly mean?"


    "Well, there does seem to be one irregularity from the past months.  After the gym, he goes to a tailor shop."


    Vai looked down at his knees.


    "Does that mean something?" I asked.


    "I don''t know," Vai said.  "But he''s not on drugs? You sure?"


    I nodded.


    "I guess he''s okay then.  I don''t know. It''s weird.  That tailor shop is where he got drugged the first time."


    "Do you want me to look into it more?"


    There was a long silence.  "No. I guess not. As long as he''s home and not injured."


    "I guess I''ll see you tomorrow then."


    "Wait," Vai said before I could hang up.


    "What is it?"


    "I saw that girl today."


    Now I leaned in closer.  "Where? Did she touch your forehead?"


    "No.  She didn''t touch my forehead.  She was in the museum. She was staring at one of the displays.  You''ve been to the museum? Seen all the displays?"


    I nodded.  I had looked all around the museum before I put that box behind the Aether Field Prototype display to make sure I was alone.  The same box I highly suspected was the same one the captain of the Shadow had sent to Shel''s father.  My stomach turned. I hoped I hadn''t done something really terrible by bringing that box onboard.


    "She was at the display with the K''thaktran wall.  The one with the writing."


    I nodded.  I remembered seeing it.


    "She didn''t think it was K''thaktran."


    I almost had it then - what she said to me - it was there at the forefront and then retreated.  It was gone.


    "That''s it?  She didn''t make you forget anything or just disappear?"


    "That''s it.  She just left."


    "Weird."


    "Weird," Vai agreed.  "Thanks, Owen, for the info on Thrissko."


    "Sorry it wasn''t more.  I should have found out more about the tailor shop."


    "No," Vai said.  "I don''t want to know anymore about that tailor shop.  I don''t want anything to do with it."


    "I''ll see you tomorrow then?"


    "Tomorrow, bye." Vai disconnected.


    I waited until it was late - until my parents were asleep.  Then I left our quarters and made my way to the museum level.  I walked around by the Museum Delectables first. There was a spot beyond the restaurant that might be a good place to sell chocolates.  I wasn''t sure it was a good idea to setup too close to the restaurant though after what happened on the Remembrance.  On the other hand, people would want dessert right after they ate and they wouldn''t want to go far for it.


    I walked back towards the museum.  There she was. The wizard girl.


    I opened my mouth to call out to her.  Her back was to me as she made her way to the elevators.  I closed my mouth. I didn''t want her to erase my memory again.


    She got on the elevator.  Our eyes met a brief moment before the elevator door closed.

 Chapter 21 .

    Vai


    "This is a ship wide emergency."


    I awoke with a start.  Emergency. I threw off the covers and stood up.  Was there a hole in the ship? Had we ran into asteroids?  Had the K''thaktra attacked? No. The K''thaktra were friends now.  Warpaint was by my side before I could take a step.


    "Unless authorized, you are to remain in  your quarters."


    My door opened and my father rushed in.  He looked all around my room as if the emergency might be in there.


    "If you have seen anyone or anything suspicious on the 6th level, please report it to security immediately."


    The girl.  What did she do?  No. I didn''t have enough information yet.  It might not have anything to do with the girl.  I didn''t even know what was going on yet.


    "Please remain in your quarters until we make a further announcement."


    I looked at my father.  He looked at me. His okulus buzzed as a call came through.  He answered. He must have been bothered because he didn''t think to hide it from me.


    The captain''s profile was projected through my father''s volo.


    "Lieutenant Commander, come to the bridge immediately."


    "What''s going on?" my father asked.  "An attack?"


    "No.  The Aether Field Prototype was stolen from the museum."


    The girl had been in the museum. And Owen and I had always seen her on the museum level.  Should I say something? I opened my mouth, but closed it quickly. I probably shouldn''t interrupt my father''s conversation with the captain.


    "Was that the only thing stolen?" my father asked.


    "No.  But the other item wasn''t important."


    "What was it?"


    "The K''thaktran ancient writings that no one can decipher."


    A chill ran from the top of my spine down my back.


    "Why would someone take that?  It''s useless." my father said.


    "Isn''t the Aether Field Prototype useless?" I asked.


    "Is your son listening to this conversation, Lieutenant Commander?" the captain asked.  "This is confidential information."


    My father scowled at me before he left the room, still on the call with the captain.  The door closed behind him.


    "Isn''t the Aether Field Prototype useless?" I asked Warpaint.  "It''s just a model of what was used on the Shadow in the K''thaktra war isn''t it?"


    "No, sir," Warpaint said.  "It''s fully functional, just on a small scale.  Much like the Aether Field your father installed in me."


    "You probably weren''t supposed to tell me that," I said.


    "I wasn''t supposed to volunteer it.  No. But you asked."


    I wondered how long it would take my father to figure out that loophole and fix it.


    "Then that means the writings are probably not useless too.  I should tell my father."


    I stepped out of my room just as my father walked out the door into the corridor.  The door shut. I probably should have gone after him, but I didn''t. Maybe it had nothing to do with the girl.  Okay, so that was unlikely. I should tell him.


    I went back into my room and climbed into bed.  I pulled the covers up to my chin. Maybe she had a really good reason for taking it.  Maybe it was a life and death situation and if I told on her, something really bad would happen.  I should talk to her first.


    Now that I knew there wasn''t any immediate danger, I fell asleep quickly.  Warpaint woke me in the morning for school. I almost said I didn''t have to go since I was confined to quarters, but then realized I didn''t actually go anywhere for school.  I just connected through the ansible. I got out of bed and drank the breakfast shake he handed me.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "Did my father come home yet?"


    "Not yet, sir."


    That didn''t really surprise me.  He was the chief science officer and the Aether Field Prototype was science.  Or maybe it was engineering.  Probably both, but since my father had installed an Aether Field in Warpaint, I assumed he knew a lot about it and why someone might take it.  As far as I knew, something that small couldn''t be used as a weapon and the shield it would make would be small.


    I connected to the ansible and the school program.  I wasn''t the first one there. The bunny and anchovy were.  Okay. They''re humans, but I would probably always associate the other students with what they were on that first day.  I nodded to them and continued to my desk. Our seating had never officially been assigned. It was just an unspoken rule that you always stayed in the same seat.  Maybe I should be rebellious and choose a different seat.


    I didn''t.  Spencer arrived before Minmin, Shel or Owen.  I planned to ignore him, but he spoke to me.


    "You shouldn''t trust Owen."


    I turned to look at him.  "I don''t," which wasn''t completely true.  I trusted what he told me about Thrissko, but I knew Owen wasn''t honest in all his dealings.  I knew there were some secrets.


    "And don''t ever make deals with him.  He''ll backstab you."


    "What did he do to you?"


    "Hi," Minmin interrupted.  I didn''t think she did it on purpose.


    "Hi," I said.  Spencer didn''t say anything.  He was suddenly preoccupied with something imaginary across the room.


    "Do you think Teacher Miller got fired?" she whispered.  She looked at Spencer, but he wasn''t paying attention to us.  And in the ansible it really didn''t matter. It wasn''t real life.  If we didn''t want him to hear our conversation he wouldn''t be able to - even if we were yelling.  It was considered poor manners though - to block others out.


    "I don''t know," I said.


    "You didn''t hear anything about it from your parent?"


    I smiled at her word choice.  It was oddly cute. "No. He doesn''t say much to me except that he won''t allow me planetside anymore."


    "He can''t stop you when you''re officially an adult," Shel said.  He sat backwards in his chair so he was facing us.


    "I bet he could," I mumbled.


    "What?" Minmin asked.


    "Nothing.  So did someone tell your parents?  What did they say?"


    "The captain and first mate . . ." Shel started.


    "That would be his dad and my mom," Minmin interjected.


    "They were waiting for the shuttle," Shel said.  "So they knew, but they are high ranking officers so they would know even without Teacher Miller telling them."


    "No one told my parents," Owen said.  I hadn''t realized he had arrived and that he sat at his desk.  "I told my dad when I got home and he called my mom. She got off work right away.  But hey," he smiled, "they took me out to eat at Starrise."


    "My parents took me out to eat too," Minmin said.  She stood up and reached across my desk to high five Owen.  Their high five didn''t even come up to my chest level.


    "Well," Shel said, "my parents still aren''t talking with each other so I spent my evening alone.  In my room."


    "Oh hey.  That reminds me.  I''m not sure why it reminds me, but Minmin," I said, "have you ever met my father?"  He had said she was a cute baby. But maybe he had a picture of her in his notes.


    "No.  I''ve never seen him before yesterday."  She leaned in and whispered, "He was scary."


    "I agree," Owen said.


    "Me too," Shel agreed.


    "He didn''t take it out on you guys did he?  It wasn''t your fault."


    "Not us," Minmin said, "but poor Teacher Miller."


    "What did he do to her?"


    "He was just frightening, my friend," Owen said.  "Especially when he was quiet. Quiet after yelling.  Scary."


    Owen looked behind me at Spencer.  I had forgotten Spencer was there. I looked over my shoulder.  Spencer was interested in the wooden lines in his desktop. I didn''t think he had always been so interested in them.  There was a quiet woosh that went around the four of us blocking out Spencer.


    Minmin looked at Owen.  "That''s rude," she said.  Owen had blocked everyone else from our conversation.


    "So is eavesdropping," Owen said.


    "It was weird though," Shel said.


    "What?" I asked.


    His blue eyes - the same color as his skin - pierced into mine.  "Your father said Teacher Miller had no idea what he had done to keep you safe.  It sounded ominous. What has he done to keep you safe?"


    Put me to sleep for 80 years.  Kept secrets. Moved classified, special equipment out of our house as if he knew our house would be broken into.  Accepted a position in the G.E.F. out of the blue. Lived longer than he was supposed to. Blocked all my communication with Mars.  Gave me a mechatronic bodyguard. What else had he done? And why?


    "I don''t know," I said.  Owen knew about the house, but I didn''t want to share that with Shel and Minmin.  None of them knew I had slept for 80 years. I was from a different time.


    Teacher Miller walked into the room and Owen dropped the block he had put around the four of us.  Her appearance was normal, but her voice was not. Normally there was a lightness to her tone, but now her tone was flat.  She didn''t look at us - not just us that had experienced the predators planetside, but all of her students. She didn''t take roll call.  She didn''t answer students when they asked questions with the exception of Hani''s.


    "Teacher Miller," Hani interrupted the lesson.


    Teacher Miller didn''t look up, but she did pause.  Maybe it was because Hani had been in the group of students that had experienced such trauma.


    "When do you want our reports on the Slpsis?"


    There was a long pause.  "Whenever," Teacher Miller said quietly.  She didn''t look at any of us. "You can turn them in when you finish them.  There isn''t a deadline."


    Something had happened with her, but it didn''t appear that she was fired.  I had thought my dad would fire her. Of course, he didn''t have the authority to, but it seemed like he was allowed to do a lot that his authority didn''t allow him to do.


    Owen vanished from his desk.  Some of the students on the other side of his desk gasped.  You don''t just cut out of class like that. Not like that.


    He reappeared as suddenly as he vanished.  He wasn''t sitting though. He was by my side.  He grabbed my arm.


    "It wasn''t me," he said.  The students all around began to whisper.


    "I saw the surveillance video," Spencer said.  He had an awful smirk on his face. "You were on the 6th floor late last night."


    They wouldn''t think - couldn''t think - Owen stole the Aether Field Prototype.


    "It wasn''t me," Owen said to me a little louder.  "Please. You''ve got to believe me. It wasn''t . . ."  He was gone again.

 Chapter 22 .

    Vai


    I disconnected from the ansible and ripped the okulus away from my eyes.  I reshaped it to fit around my wrist even as I ran out of our quarters.


    "What is it, sir?" Warpaint said as he followed quickly.


    I wasn''t sure which quarters were Owens, but I had seen the direction he had gone when we parted ways.  It wasn''t hard to find him. He was saying, "It wasn''t me." Just as other voices were saying, "It wasn''t my son."  And. "We have evidence. Don''t interfere please."


    Five security officers seemed too much for one little Owen, but there were five anyway.


    Owen was sandwiched between two of the officers.  He wasn''t handcuffed. I wasn''t sure what G.E.F. regulation was so I wasn''t sure if that was because he was a minor or because he was small.  The officers on either side of him had a hand on his arms.


    I reached them.  "Don''t interfere," one of the officers said to me.


    "Don''t touch him, officer," Warpaint said.  He put his oversized arm out in the space between me and the officer.


    "He didn''t do it," I said.  "There''s a girl."


    "Yes," Owen said.  "The girl. It was the girl.  I saw her last night on the 6th level."


    "There was no girl in the surveillance camera.  Only you. You two take him to the security office.  Go through his volo recordings and his okulus." One of the officers said to the two who were on either side of Owen.  "You two," he said to the other two, "go search his room."


    "No," Owen said.  "It really wasn''t me.  Please don''t go through my things."


    "Stand aside, sir," one of the officers said to Owen''s father.  "Or you will be arrested for obstructing justice."


    Owen''s father looked at Owen.  "I believe you didn''t take it," he said.  He took a step to the side to allow the two officers in.


    Owen closed his eyes tight.  The two officers on either side of him began to drag him away.


    "Vai," Owen said.  He opened his eyes to look at me over his shoulder as they took him away.  "There is something in my room I smuggled on board, but honestly I didn''t steal anything from the museum.  I didn''t. It wasn''t me."


    They turned the corner and he was out of sight.


    "There has been a girl on 6th floor," I said to the officer who had been giving orders.  "I''ve seen her twice. Owen has seen her too. I saw her in the museum and she was looking at the K''thaktran wall."


    "You can go to the security office to give a statement," the officer said.


    "She got off the elevator at the 8th level."


    The security officer looked at me for the first time.  "That''s impossible."


    "I know it is, but she did it."


    The security officer shook his head.  "It''s admirable that you are trying to defend your friend, but he was on the security cameras.  There wasn''t a girl. I saw it myself."


    "Don''t break it," Owen''s father''s voice came from inside their quarters.


    Should I go help him, stay out and try to convince the officer or go to the security office to give my statement?  I bounced lightly on my feet like I would in boxing. I went into the quarters. The setup was exactly like my quarters.  Owen''s room was to the right of the living room just like mine.


    "That''s his new suitcase," Mr Morgan said.


    One of the officers pulled a metal box out from one of the compartments under Owen''s bed.  The other compartments were all opened and various items - like a model ship of the Shadow like I used to have - were strewn nearby on the floor.  The other officer was going through Owen''s desk.


    The officer opened the metal box.  Individually wrapped gourmet chocolates spilled out onto Owen''s bed.


    Owen.  This is what he smuggled?  I supposed he could make good money selling it to the restaurants once their supply was gone.  He could even sell it directly to individual buyers. Both situations were illegal. I was sure he wasn''t authorized to bring product like this onboard.


    Mr. Morgan''s shoulders hunched forward when he saw the contents.  "Not again," he whispered, but I was close enough to hear.


    "This is the trouble he caused on the Remembrance?" I asked.


    Mr. Morgan nodded.


    "We will take this for evidence," the officer said.  He stuffed the chocolates back into the box. He hesitated with the last one.  I imagined he was thinking of pocketing it for himself, but too many eyes were on him.  He put it back in the box and closed it.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Nothing here," the officer looking through the desk said.


    "We must search the other areas," the officer with the metal box said.  "He might have hid the items in your bedroom or in the living areas.


    Mr. Morgan nodded again.  His eyes didn''t leave the metal box.  He seemed disappointed. I put a hand on his shoulder.


    He looked up at me for the first time.  "Vai?" I nodded. "Owen talks about you.  You''ve been a good friend."


    "I know he didn''t steal from the museum," I said.


    "I don''t know why he would," Mr. Morgan said, "but I thought his smuggling days were over."


    That seemed a funny statement to say about a 17 year old.


    "I know he didn''t," I repeated.  "We''ve seen a girl on the 6th floor.  She''s our age, but she''s never in school.  We''ve never seen her anywhere except the 6th floor.  I saw her in the museum looking at one of the items that was stolen."


    Mr. Morgan''s eyes brightened.  "It must be her. Go report it to security."


    I nodded.  "But will you be okay here?"  I looked at the officers that were now rummaging through the living room.


    "Where''s my son?"  a small woman came in through the opened door from the corridor.  She was a centimeter or two smaller than Owen. Owen resembled her a lot except his eyes.  His eyes were the same blue as his father''s.


    "Elise," Mr. Morgan said.  He went to her and took both her hands in his.  "They''ve taken him to security already."


    "This is ridiculous," she said.  "My son wouldn''t steal anything from the museum."


    "He already smuggled goods on board," the security officer with the metal box said.


    "Chocolate again," Mr. Morgan said.


    Mrs. Morgan let out a quick breath before she pinched her lips tight and shook her head.


    "I know it wasn''t him, Mrs. Morgan," I said.


    She looked up at me for the first time.  "Owen''s friend?"


    I nodded.  "I was just about to go to the security office and give my statement."


    "Better go do it then," she said.


    "No!" Mr. Morgan shouted.  He ran across the room and snatched an instrumental case out of the officer''s hands.  "It''s my viola. I''ll open it and show it to you, but it must be handled with care."


    "It''s okay.  You can go," Mrs. Morgan said.  "We can handle things here. Tell Owen we will see him shortly."


    I nodded and left.  It didn''t take me long to reach the security offices on level 3.


    When I stepped inside, I was greeted by a Bundu-jo woman in uniform.  "I came to give a statement on the museum theft. It wasn''t Owen Morgan."


    "Do you have additional information on the case or are you just trying to protect your friend?"


    "I have additional information."


    "Okay.  Follow me."  We went through a maze of cubicles until we reached one near the back.  Near the jail cells. The cells were empty. Owen sat in front of a desk and one of the security officers that had dragged him off sat behind it.


    "It would go faster if you just tell us where you hid the Aether Field Prototype."


    "I can''t tell you what I don''t know.  I didn''t take it. There''s a girl . . ."


    "Stop with the girl.  There was no evidence of a girl."


    "I''ve seen her too," I said.  "I''m here to give a statement."


    The human officer looked up at me annoyed at being interrupted.


    "Hansi," he called out.  A male Starwatcher popped out from a nearby desk.  His fur was a dark brown, except the white spots around his nose.  It was cute. They are not pets.  They are not cute. They can be dangerous.


    "Take this kid," the first officer said as he pointed at me, "and get his statement.  I need to finish speaking with this kid."


    "Sure thing.  Come on," the Starwatcher said to me.


    I followed him to his desk and sat in the chair he indicated.


    "Go ahead.  My volo is now set to record your statement.  It will be relayed directly to the ship''s computer and stored for future evidence."


    "There has been a girl on level 6.  I think she might be a year younger than me."


    The Starwatcher held up a hand.  "Sorry," he said. "We don''t usually have crime onboard.  I forgot to tell you that you need to state your name and age."


    "Vai Ma''amaloa.  Age 17."


    "Sir," Warpaint said behind me.  "You shouldn''t lie about your age to the authorities.  I usually don''t say anything, but this is official record."


    The officer had shaped his okulus into a screen in front of him.  I couldn''t see the contents from where I sat.


    "Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa''s son?"  For a brief moment, I thought I saw pink in his eyes.  The same pink as zek. My bodied remembered the pain. The screaming.  The terror. Betrayal.


    I blinked and looked again, but his eyes were normal.  I studied the lighting, but I couldn''t see anything that might cast a pink glint on his eyes.


    "Yes," I said.


    His eyes went back to his okulus.  "According to your birth date, this says you should be 97."


    "Exactly, sir," Warpaint said.  "You shouldn''t lie about your age."


    "Warpaint.  You''re not helping.  Officer, there should be a special record."


    "A yes," the officer said.  "Yes. I see. 17. Continue with your statement.  Actually, wait. You''re a minor. I should call your parent."  His hand moved extremely slowly towards his okulus.


    "I''d rather just give my statement," I said.  "I''ll inform my father as soon as I finish and he can come down and add anything if he wants."


    The officer''s hand dropped back into his lap.  "That will be fine. Go ahead then."


    "There is a girl around our age that we''ve seen on deck 6.  I''ve seen her personally twice. Owen has also seen her. She should be in school, but she''s never attended class.  The last time I saw her was in the museum in front of the K''thaktra wall with the ancient writing. She said it wasn''t K''thaktran."


    The officer had watched his okulus during my statement, but at this last sentence, his eyes shot at me.  I wasn''t sure what emotion was in his eyes, but it made me pause. He looked back at the okulus. "Continue," he said.


    "That wall is useless," I said.  "She''s the only one I''ve seen take an interest in it.  And when she took the elevator, it stopped at level 8."


    "That''s impossible."


    "I know, but it''s true.  Owen thought she was a ghost at first, but he could touch her.  He ran into her once in the corridor just outside the museum. She told him something, but he can''t remember what.  Now he calls her wizard girl. I''m not lying about level 8. It''s suspicious right?"


    "It is, but that doesn''t change the fact that she wasn''t on the surveillance cameras."


    "She has to be on it somewhere.  Look again. Go back through the past surveillance.  Look to see if the cameras were tampered with."


    I guess I was getting too animated because the Starwatcher held up a hand.  "Okay. I''ll request they look at the records again with this new information.  Do you have anything else to add?"


    "Not at the moment.  Can I contact you if I think of anything else?"


    "Of course.  That is what you should do.  I''m Officer Hansi."


    "Thank you, officer."


    He smiled reassuringly and stood to lead me out.


    I patted Owen on the shoulder as we passed him.  He was still arguing with that other officer that he didn''t steal anything.  I parted ways with the officer outside the door of the security offices.


    When we were on our way back to our quarters I said, "Warpaint."


    "Yes, sir."


    "You didn''t detect any zek in that officer did you?"


    "Of course not, sir.  Zek was destroyed many years ago."


    "That''s not . . ." I forgot again that my father had Warpaint erase his memories about the tailor shop.


    There wasn''t anyway zek could be on board - hidden - on a G.E.F. ship and especially on the Shadow.  Was there?

 Chapter 23 .

    Vai


    I called my father when we got back to our quarters.  He didn''t answer. I sent him a message.


    ?Owen has been arrested.  I gave the police a statement that will hopefully lead to his innocence.


    I sat on my bed and looked through my volo recordings.  I chose the most recent one that should show the girl the previous day when she was in the museum.   There was me in front of the K''thaktran wall display. I spoke. But it was like I was having a conversation with myself.  There was nothing where she stood. Her voice was not recorded on my volo.


    I went back to the first day Owen and I saw her.  The day she got on the elevator and went to level 8.  Owen was on the recording. I was on the recording. Warpaint was on the recording, but no girl.  The volo hadn''t recorded the levels indicated above the elevators to show the girl stopped on level 8.  It did show the elevator door close before we reached it, but according to the recording the elevator was empty.  It did record our conversation about the girl.


    That was impossible.  Unless she was a ghost.  I knew she wasn''t a ghost.  Maybe Owen was right and she was a wizard.  But wizards only existed in fairy tales. There had to be another explanation.  If she wasn''t showing up on my volo recordings, it made sense that she also wouldn''t be on the surveillance.  How had she managed to do it?


    "Warpaint."


    "Yes, sir."


    "You saw that girl yesterday in the museum, right?  You said you did. You saw her that first day I went down to the museum too, right?"


    "Yes, sir."


    "Playback the recordings of those days."


    "I can''t, sir."


    I stood up to face him.  He stood nearby the foot of my bed.


    "What do you mean you can''t?"


    "Your father has programmed me to only . . ."


    I held up a hand.  "Since when?"


    "After we arrived on the Shadow."


    After the tailor shop incident and he made Warpaint erase his memories.


    My okulus beeped as a call came in from my father.  I answered it.


    "What do you mean you gave a statement to the authorities?  You should have called me first."


    "Sorry, but he''s in trouble."


    "That''s not your concern.  You . . ."


    "He''s my friend," I interrupted.  His mouth pinched tight. His eyes narrowed slightly.  I didn''t give him a chance to lecture me. "He didn''t steal from the museum."


    "He has broken the law before."


    "I know," I said.  "Smuggling onboard chocolate.  And he did it this time too. The officers found it in his room, but, father, he admits to that.  He didn''t steal from the museum."


    "Hold on," my father said.  His fingers opened a file on his okulus.  "The records say he is denying the museum theft, but that he does admit to smuggling onboard chocolate."  He looked at me. "Owen and you both mention a girl, but a girl has not been seen on the surveillance."


    "I know.  I looked through my volo recordings hoping I could prove she was on level 6, but she''s not on my volo recordings either.  Father, I''m not making her up. I spoke with her yesterday in the museum, but my volo recording looks like I''m talking to myself.  She isn''t seen or heard. Warpaint has seen her too, haven''t you, Warpaint?"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "It is true, sir.  I have seen a girl.  Vai keeps saying she is about his age and I haven''t corrected him, but she isn''t his age.  She would be about 16, not 97."


    "Warpaint," I sighed, "now isn''t the time to be arguing about my age.  I tried to look at Warpaint''s recordings to see if she shows up on his records, but he told me I wasn''t allowed to look at his recordings."


    "You aren''t allowed," my father said.  "Come up to my lab on the second deck.  I''ll take a look."


    "Right now?"  My father nodded.  "Thank you. We''re coming now."


    I broke the connection and immediately made my way to level 2.


    My father had shown me the labs on my second day on the Shadow.  I felt the same way now that I did then.  Like I shouldn''t be there. Like there were secrets.  Like I was disturbing everyone there and might make them mess up somehow causing a catastrophic event.


    I stepped lightly into the large room.  Tables, science equipment, scientists were all around.  One of the younger scientists smiled and nodded to me when I came in.


    I forced a return smile.  Even if there were scientists who I hadn''t met, it was obvious I was my father''s son.  I couldn''t remember if she was there the other time I had come.


    "Vai," my father''s booming voice echoed across the quiet room.  He waved me to him and his private lab.


    I made my way quickly to him.  I tried to squeeze my body into a smaller shape whenever I passed the scientists or their equipment.  I held my breath when I did accidently bump into a table, but nothing happened.


    The door slid shut behind me when I went into his private lab.  "Show me your volo recordings first of where the girl should be."


    I showed him.  She still wasn''t there.  He copied them into his okulus.  "There is something." He said as he projected them through his volo.


    "What?"  I still didn''t see the girl.


    "Here," he said and pointed to the empty space in front of the K''thaktran wall.


    "That is where she stood," I said.


    "Let''s try this," he said.  He punched something into his okulus.


    The projection changed so there was a slight glimmer in the air where the girl should have been.


    "That''s it," I said.  I pointed at the shimmer.  "That''s where she was."


    My father frowned.  "How did she do this?"


    He tapped again on his okulus, but nothing else happened.


    "That wasn''t it," my father said under his breath.  He shut down the projection. "I''ll try again later.  I only heard your side of the conversation. What did she say to you?"


    "Her answers were cryptic, but what I did find weird was that she indicated the wall in the display wasn''t K''thaktran and that it shouldn''t exist."


    "Really?  That''s interesting.  Manipulating the image is one thing, but how is her voice not recorded?  Warpaint, let''s see your recording. The one from yesterday at the museum first."


    "Yes, sir."  The playback started where Warpaint, the Brist and I entered the museum.


    "Fast forward a bit," my father said.  "Wait. There. You left him alone?"


    "No, sir," Warpaint said.  "He was always close by. You and he both told me to show the Brist the museum.  I always knew where he was and who else was nearby."


    "Including the girl?  She shows up on your sensors?  Then why isn''t she in your recordings?"


    "I don''t know sir.  She does show up on my sensors."


    "Let me see."


    I wasn''t privy to see what was on Warpaint''s sensors.  It went directly to my father''s okulus and he wasn''t sharing.


    "Yes.  I see her on your sensors."


    "You do?  What does she look like?" I asked.


    I tried to get a glimpse of his okulus, but he turned it away from me.


    "The sensors don''t give a detailed description, just that there is another life next to yours."


    "Oh."


    "Warpaint," my father said, "fast forward the playback until you see Vai again."


    The images projected whirred passed all the museum displays until he was back on the aisle as I was.  There wasn''t a girl. In the recording, I turned to look at Warpaint.


    "This is when I saw the girl leave," Warpaint said.  "I don''t understand why she isn''t showing up, sir."


    "Yes," my father said.  "I see her on your sensors.  Let me see the recording again from when you step on the aisle the second time, but this time in infrared."


    And there she was.  Her infrared image wouldn''t show any features, but at least there was proof that there was someone else and she could hide from the cameras somehow.


    "Ah," my father said.  "I see. That''s how she is doing it."


    "How?" I asked.


    "A distorter."  He pointed at a cool dot at her hip.  "An incredibly advanced one to get by me."  He pulled up my original recordings. "Let me try this."  His fingers typed quickly over his okulus. The image being projected didn''t change.  "Yes. Incredibly advanced. Where did she get it?"


    "You''ll send all this information to the security office right?  To clear Owen?"


    My father sat in his large chair.  "I''ll send it. Warpaint, send me this recording and the one from the first time you saw her on level 6, both in infrared."


    "Yes, sir."


    "Thank you, father."  I started to walk to his lab door.


    "Vai," my father said.  I stopped to look at him.  "This will only clear him from the museum theft.  It won''t clear him from the smuggling charges. He is a minor, but he has had these exact charges before.  I''m not sure what the security office will decide to do as punishment."


    I hadn''t thought about the smuggling.  Still, smuggling chocolate didn''t seem nearly as bad as stealing the Aether Field Prototype.

 Chapter 24 .

    Esther


    The room was setup with tables, chairs, sofas and a long bar at one end.  The lights were dim. I had made it home when I first boarded. No one else was there so why not.  They hadn''t even finished stocking it. There were some glasses behind the bar, but not enough for a lounge and nothing else.  I guessed they had started to stock it, but then stopped when it was decided decks 7 - 9 wouldn''t have residents in order to conserve the ship''s energy.


    The Aether Field Prototype was cold in my hands.  I knew it was a weapon. I just didn''t know how to work it.  The only thing I could get it to do was to make a small aether shield.  I put the Aether Field Prototype down and carefully picked up the piece of wall.


    It was so old I was afraid it would crumble beneath my fingers, but it didn''t.  I couldn''t decipher the writing, but I knew it wasn''t K''thaktran. The Awakened One had taught me enough before he died that I knew it was theirs.  He had thought The Corruption had destroyed everything that was theirs. But they had missed this. It might not have said anything important. It might have said ''This way to the bathroom''.  But what if it did say something important? I had found enough patterns that I thought I could decipher some of the letters. Ugh. I just hadn''t had enough time with the Awakened One. Or my people.  Or my family.


    The horrors of that day washed over me.  The Corruption (that''s what the Awakened One called them) had come in waves of pink smoke.  Little individual sparkly pink aliens that worked as a collective to tear us to shreds. We didn''t know how they found us, how they knew about the Awakened One, how they knew we had the light, but they knew.  Maybe they targeted all the smaller outer colonies like ours. Maybe we had given something away in a rare moment of communication with the outside.


    The Awakened One had opened the light to us and we used it, but they were too many.  We killed a lot of them, but still they swarmed over us.


    The Awakened One hid me.  Sent me away from the Lion of Judah Research Station.  One with the light had to survive.


    He hadn''t chosen me for any special reason.  I was just closest to him and the shuttles.


    I was already in space when I felt the connection with my family ripped away.  First my father. He killed five of them before hundreds tore at his flesh, crawled inside.  Destroyed him.


    Then my mother, my uncle and aunt.  My little brother was next. He tried to protect the younger cousins.  At 14 he was taller than me, but like my parents, like all of us, we were all new to the light.  There was so much we didn''t know yet. The Corruption knew that. They had killed almost all of the Awakened Ones long ago and the Awakened Ones had known all about the light.


    Tears fell from my eyes on that shuttle.  I left them all to die. A tear spilled onto my cheek now.  I roughly wiped it away with the back of my hand. The Awakened One had fought them long after the rest of us had died.  Long after they tore at him - hurt him. He fought long enough for me to be out of their grasp.


    I hadn''t liked the Awakened One.  In fact, I had hated him. He had eaten one of us in front of me.  But he had tried to give us the means to defeat The Corruption.


    The second Awakened One reached out to me just after the first died.  He gave me his location more through a feeling than coordinates. The Gathering calculations were not the same as the Awakened Ones, but it had been enough.  I needed to find him.


    My alarm went off on my okulus.  I opened the surveillance feeds I had tapped into on level 8.  Six security guards stepped out onto level 8 when the elevator doors opened.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I released my handheld sweeper into the air.  It flew over the computer terminal and food terminal I had used and wiped away any fingerprints, burned any fallen hair and skin.  I grabbed the Aether Field Prototype, the wall, the algae bar I had taken a bite out of and my pack.  I went to the wall and opened a panel. I pushed in my items and then crawled inside the small maintenance tunnel.  I stuffed the Aether Field Prototype, the wall and the food bar into my pack and sealed it tight.  I put the pack on my back.


    I tuned the audio feed of the surveillance into my okulus and wrapped my okulus around my ears.


    "Remember she can hide herself from the surveillance cameras.  Use infrared."


    Damn.


    The sweeper came back to me, but I sent it out again to cool down any areas I might have touched.  I left the audio on, but stretched out the okulus to fit all around me and my items. I changed the settings so it would emulate the temperature of the tunnel around me.  I only left a small opening that my hand could fit through. The sweeper came back to me. I shut the wall panel, the sweeper cleaned it. I put away the sweeper and closed the opening in the okulus so I was now completely encased in it.


    I waited.  I watched through the feed as the security officers split into three groups of 2 and went through each room.  Two of them - a human female and a Starwatcher male - entered the lounge I had claimed as my own. I focused my feed on them.


    "Anything?" the human asked as she walked around the room with her okulus held out in front of her.


    "No," the Starwatcher said.  "You?"


    "No."


    "I don''t know why command believes those kids anyway.  There isn''t any evidence of anyone being on the restricted levels."


    "It''s not just at the word of those kids," the human said.  "Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa found evidence of a girl by looking at the records of his mechatronic.  She shows up on the mechatronic''s sensors and she shows up on infrared. They are going to change the surveillance to include infrared."


    Double damn.  I''d have to modify my distorter.


    "I interviewed Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa''s son," the Starwatcher said.  "I''m not sure his testimony is worth anything."


    "They didn''t release that Owen kid because of what Vai Ma''amaloa said," the human said.


    "I know.  I don''t see any prints, no hair, nothing on infrared."  His okulus was before him like the human''s was.


    "Me neither."


    The Starwatcher passed the computer terminal I frequently used.  Pink was in his eyes. He looked at the terminal, blinked and the pink was gone.


    The Corruption.


    My hands shook.  Tears burned my eyes.  It was difficult to breathe.  The Corruption was onboard.


    When the Awakened One found out about the K''thaktran war - about the pink smoke that had surrounded the K''thaktra that the rest of the Gathering thought was a drug called zek - he had suggested the Corruption couldn''t pass through Aether shields and that was why the Gathering had won.  Once I got onboard the Shadow and bypassed classified securities, I saw that the Aether Field could also be used as a weapon.  That was why the Shadow had been so successful against the K''thaktra.


    So.  If The Corruption couldn''t get passed the Aether shields, how were they onboard the G.E.V. Shadow?  And since when did they start inhabiting Starwatchers and not just K''thaktra?  Were Bundu-jo and Humans affected too?


    The Starwatcher opened the computer terminal.  "This terminal has been used in the last 12 hours."


    "Really?"


    The human accessed the food terminal.  "This one has been used in the last 2 hours."


    Triple damn.  I''d have to find a new place.  Maybe on level 9.


    "Nothing else here," the Starwatcher said.  "Let''s go report."


    I watched them on the monitors until they all got on the elevators and left.  Instead of crawling out of the maintenance tunnels, I used them to make my way to level 9.


    The Corruption were onboard.  There was a possibility I would need help.  That teenager I had touched, I had made forget, I knew he hadn''t been touched by The Corruption.  Maybe he could help. Help with what? He didn''t have the light. Could I awaken it in him as the Awakened One had with us on the Lion of Judah?  I had planned on getting to the second Awakened One before anything else, but now...


    I had checked the Shadow''s flight path when I first boarded - checked all the scheduled stops.  There was to be a science expedition on a planet that hadn''t really ever been explored yet.  That was where I thought the second Awakened One was. I couldn''t lead The Corruption to him.  I''d have to find them. I''d have to kill them. Starting with the Starwatcher security officer.

 Chapter 25 .

    Vai


    Over the next few weeks, Teacher Miller got some of her vibrancy back.  The lilt was in her voice again. She no longer avoided the students'' eyes.  Except for mine. She wouldn''t look at me. She wasn''t going to be fired or it would have happened by now.  I wasn''t sure if she wouldn''t look at me because she was angry at my father or afraid of him. I guessed the latter.


    Owen was in his usual spot for classes, so I''m not sure any of the other students knew something was wrong.  Except, he was never late, never early. Always on time. He couldn''t talk to me. And I knew it was because he couldn''t and not wouldn''t because the first day after he got arrested he did try to talk to me.  I saw his mouth move, but I couldn''t hear him. Then his image disappeared. He didn''t try to talk to me again after that. He was exactly on time for class and as soon as class was over he was signed off.


    "How is it having a thief and a smuggler for a friend?" Spencer asked behind me as soon as class ended that day and Owen disappeared.  "He''s still in jail you know."


    Well, if the rest of the class hadn''t known, they did now.  Usually, people didn''t stay after class, but they all were focused on Spencer.


    "It''s better than being friends with a bleep bleep," I said.


    "You can''t swear in class," Minmin said.  "The program won''t allow it."


    I sighed.  My insult to Spencer wouldn''t be known unless I saw him on the ship in real life.


    "He''s not a thief," I said.  "Those charges were dropped."


    "Sure," Spencer said.  "Thanks to your dad. Making up an imaginary girl that no one has seen to prove him innocent."


    "First of all, my father didn''t make up the girl.  I''ve seen her."


    "Sure," Spencer said.  "Security has never caught this mystery girl," he said to the other students as if that alone should prove me wrong.


    "Second of all, his volo never recorded him going inside the museum that night.  Thirdly, the items were never found in his quarters."


    "Still a smuggler," Spencer said.  "Still in jail."


    "He''s not in jail," Shel said.  "He''s a minor. If anything he would be on house arrest."


    "Yes," I said.  "He''s on house arrest.  I tried to visit him, but there was a security guard at his door and they wouldn''t let me.  He can''t get any calls either."


    "What did he smuggle?" Minmin asked.


    "You hadn''t heard?" I asked.


    Minmin and Shel shook their heads.  I tried to ignore the rest of the class.


    "Chocolate," I said.


    Minmin and Shel laughed.  The rest of the students soon followed.


    "It''s not funny," Spencer said.  "He''s stealing business from the legitimate restaurants onboard, including my mother''s."


    "How is it stealing from your mother''s business?" Shel asked.


    "Because it cuts into her chocolate sales," Spencer said.


    "No it doesn''t," Shel said.  "She has a limited supply anyway.  The people who go to her restaurant are going to buy from her.  We are not scheduled to return for a year. Her supplies were bound to run out before then whether someone else sold chocolate or not."


    "He overcharged me last time on the Remembrance when I tried to resupply my mom''s restaurant and he was only supposed to sell it to my mother''s restaurant.  He sold it to individuals on the side. Way overpriced I might add."


    "So what," Shel said.  "The people buying knew it was overpriced.  I''m sure at your mother''s restaurant it is overpriced too.  That''s what happens when there is a limited supply of something."


    Spencer stood up and came around his desk so he was directly behind me.  I didn''t like it so I stood up, but stood to the side so I wasn''t in his direct path.


    "Are you insulting my mother?"


    Shel stood up and faced Spencer from the other side of my desk.  "Does she not overprice her chocolate? Is it the same price as you would get chocolate on Mars or Earth?  No? Then I didn''t say anything untrue."A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Spencer''s hands balled up into fists.  I was pretty sure if I couldn''t swear in the school program, then violence wasn''t allowed either.  And it wasn''t their physical bodies so even if they did fight, they wouldn''t get hurt. Still - I thought about stepping in between them.


    Minmin jumped onto my desk and held out a hand to each of them.  "Let''s not fight," she said. "You both have points."


    Spencer scoffed, but he stepped away.  Underneath his breath he said, "Now I have a little bunny creature telling me what to do."


    Minmin''s face changed dramatically from cute and friendly to angry and deadly.  I took a step away from her before I realized it. She launched off my desk, her feet first towards Spencer''s back.  She was knocked backwards just before her feet could touch him, but the force also knocked Spencer forward flat onto his face with his arms sprawled out in front of him.


    Minmin recovered much quicker than Spencer.  By the time he sat up, she was above him. Her face close to his.


    "I am not a bunny," her voice dripped venom.  "I am not a pet."


    "Okay," Spencer nodded.  Starwatchers had floppy ears, cute faces and fur, but I wouldn''t really say they looked like bunnies.  I was really glad in that moment that I was not Spencer.


    "Let''s go, Minmin."  Shel took her hand, but before they logged off Shel added, "You are really stupid to make a Starwatcher angry."


    Spencer logged off immediately after Shel and Minmin.  He didn''t even wait for his friends from the Remembrance who were on their way across the room to help him up.


    I left the school program, but before I could logout of the ansible, a female voice said, "You shouldn''t be around fighting."


    It sounded like something Warpaint would say, but it wasn''t Warpaint.  It was the ship''s computer. I didn''t think she was supposed to be talking to me so directly and especially not in the ansible, but maybe I was wrong.  She spoke with my father. Maybe he had the computer spying on me too.


    "I can''t get physically hurt in the ansible."  Why was I even replying?


    "I know.  But it isn''t good for your mental health."


    "My mental health is fine."


    "It''s okay to take a moment to breathe."


    My heart flipped.  My brain froze. I looked all around me in the emptiness that was the space between programs.  I expected to see my mother, but of course there was nothing. An imaginary mother''s arm wrapped around my shoulders.


    My stomach churned.  I left the ansible and ripped the okulus off my eyes.


    "Sir?" Warpaint asked.


    I got off the bed and ran to my little bathroom.  The door seemed to take a long time to open as bile rose in the back of my throat.  When it finally did open, I stepped inside and threw up in the toilet.


    "Sir," Warpaint said.  He patted my back a little too hard.  I held up a hand to stop him.


    "Are you all right, sir?"


    It''s okay to take a moment to breathe.


    A tear spilled onto my cheek.


    "Sir, did something happen at school?  I should call your father."


    "No."  I grabbed one of his left arms as another tear fell.


    "Sir, something is clearly wrong."


    It''s okay to take a moment to breathe.


    "A memory," I said.  "Only a memory."


    I straightened up as my heart and stomach calmed.  The moisture left my eyes.


    "Only a strange coincidence," I told myself.


    "What is, sir?"


    I ignored him.  I sat on my bed and called up my early volo recordings.  I almost selected one. Volos were supposed to record your life.  They were with you the moment you were born. There were times when accessing the volo''s recordings were okay or even necessary.  But there was a reason people weren''t supposed to casually access their volo recordings. You could become lost in the memories. Addicted to them.  Get immersed in the recordings of a passed loved one so completely that you couldn''t function in your day to day life.


    I closed the recordings and stretched out on my bed.  Instead of a recording, I tried to remember.


    I ran down the walkway.  On Mars. I must have been young because my feet couldn''t keep up with me.  They got entangled and I fell forward. I caught myself with my hands so my mouth didn''t bang into the walkway.  My palms were scraped and bloody. I cried.


    "It''s not so bad," mom said.  I remembered the words.  I couldn''t remember how her voice sounded.  She knelt next to me and wiped the dirt and grit off my scraped hands.  Her soft hands wiped the tears off my cheeks.


    "It''s okay to take a moment to breathe."  Her loving arm wrapped around my shoulders and drew me in close to her.


    It was a coincidence.  Just a coincidence.


    But . . .


    "Warpaint."


    "Yes, sir?"


    "Does the ship''s computer have my mother''s voice?"


    "I wouldn''t know, sir.  But it is highly unlikely."


    I sat up.  "You''re right.  That is highly unlikely."


    "Yes, sir."


    "Still.  Did my father work on the ship''s computer?"


    "I don''t know, sir.  He did come to the ship early for preparations as the Chief Science Officer, but I don''t know what those preparations were."


    My phone chirped to notify me of an incoming call.  A smile came to my lips when I saw it was Owen. I answered immediately.  His image was projected through my volo.


    "Done with house arrest so soon?"


    Owen smiled when he saw me smile.


    "Yes.  Finally.  They won''t give me the chocolate back though."  His lips turned down slightly. "Well, they will, just not until I get back to Earth.  So much for my profits."


    "At least you get them back so you don''t have a loss," I offered.


    "And I have to check in with security weekly."


    "Well, you did smuggle something on illegally."


    "And a security officer will be checking my quarters weekly just to make sure I don''t smuggle anything else onboard."


    "Sorry to say it, but you kind of deserve it."


    "I guess," Owen said.  "But they also said I couldn''t make chocolate bars from the algae.  Why is that a big deal? Algae is abundant onboard. All the food is made from it.  And it isn''t like the algae chocolate is any good."


    "Why would they restrict that?" I asked.


    The right side of Owen''s lips turned up.  "They saw I made it in large quantities onboard the Remembrance."


    "Why did you do that?"


    His smile grew larger.  "Secret."


    I shook my head.


    "Warpaint," Owen said, "ready to be my bodyguard?"


    "No, sir.  I''m already Vai''s bodyguard."


    "I was just teas...nevermind," Owen said.  "I''ve been cooped in my quarters for weeks.  Want to go have dinner at the Museum Delectables?"


    "Yeah.  I''ll meet you at the elevators."

 Chapter 26 .

    Owen


    My house arrest couldn''t have been rescinded at a better time.   The next day in class Teacher Miller informed us that we would be stopping at the K''thaktra colony of Mazax VIII.  There were no restrictions about me going planetside. I just couldn''t smuggle anything onboard with me.


    My okulus beeped to tell me who would be in my group this time.  I triple checked it sure it had to be wrong because I couldn''t be paired up with Spencer instead of Vai.  And Viko and Mark from the Remembrance would be joining us.  Friends of Spencer''s. At least I would have Shel and Minmin with me.  From what Vai told me the day before at dinner, Spencer had done a pretty good job at pissing off Minmin.  A smile crept onto my face as Teacher Miller talked about the Mazax system.


    As soon as class was over, I turned to Vai and said, "Who are you going with?  Why aren''t we paired together?"


    Spencer stood up behind us and crossed the room to his Remembrance friends.


    "Can''t you switch with Spencer?" I asked.  "Tomorrow is going to be torture."


    "You''re paired up with Spencer?" Vai asked.


    I nodded.


    Shel and Minmin took an interest in our conversation, but hadn''t interjected anything themselves.


    Vai sighed out low and deep.  "I''m not allowed planetside any more.  I can''t switch. Sorry."


    "Your father really won''t let you?" Shel asked.  "It won''t be like Brist. We''re not going to study wild animals away from civilization, just some ancient ruins right on the outskirts of a major city."


    "My father won''t bend," Vai said.  "And I don''t think I should push him too much right now.  Maybe after the next few trips I''ll try to convince him again."


    "But Warpaint," I said.  How was I going to survive planetside - well, Spencer and his friends - without the bodyguard?


    "Sorry," Vai said.  "I''ll make it up to you somehow."


    I didn''t know how he could make it up to me when my - his - bodyguard wouldn''t be with me.  Oh well. I could always punch Spencer in the crotch before his friends beat me up - like last time.


    "I''ll be there," Minmin said.


    "Yeah," Shel added, "Minmin will be your bodyguard."


    She nodded and her long ears flopped back and forth.


    "Thanks, my friends."  I didn''t think Minmin could be as good as a mechatronic bodyguard that had an Aether Shield, but she would be fine against Spencer and his friends.  And there was Shel. Although he hadn''t volunteered to help me like Minmin had. Oh well. I was fairly certain I could handle Spencer one on one, just not with his friends too.


    "What time do you need to be at the shuttles?" Vai asked.


    I pulled up the message again.  I had only looked at who was going with me.  Once I saw Spencer''s name, I forgot to look at the time.


    "Eight a.m.," Minmin said.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "Ugh," I said.  "Early."


    "Same time school starts," Minmin said.


    "Right.  Early," I reiterated.


    "What time is that planetside?" Vai asked.


    Minmin looked at her in ansible okulus, but Shel replied right away, "Between one and two p.m."


    "I''ll see you planetside then," I said to Minmin and Shel.


    "Bye," Minmin said to me.  To Vai she said, "I wish your dad wasn''t so strict so you could come with us."


    "Me too," Vai said.


    Shel didn''t say goodbye, but he at least lifted a hand in farewell before he and Minmin disappeared.


    "You''ll be okay," Vai said.  "Minmin is a lot tougher than she looks.  She can handle Spencer and his friends if they try anything."


    "Yeah," I said.  "Still not the same as a mechatronic though, friend."


    "No," he agreed.  "At least she won''t insist you''re an elder when you''re only 17."


    "Why does Warpaint do that?  It''s weird."


    Vai shifted in his seat.  "I guess my father programmed him that way to make him more protective."  He shrugged a large shoulder.


    "Your father is weird.  He''s not monitoring this is he?  Because I meant to say genius, friend.  Your father is a genius."


    "He''s not monitoring this.  I think. Have you done your report on the Slpsis?"


    Was he trying to change the subject?  Oh well. I''d let him.


    "No.  Honestly, I wasn''t planning on doing it.  Teacher Miller doesn''t really seem too invested in them."


    "I think I''ll do mine today," Vai said.  "I kind of feel bad for the way my father treated her."


    We were the only ones left in the school program.  "I guess that means you don''t want to sneak onto level 8 to look for that girl.  People are beginning to think your father manipulated records to get me out as some kind of favor.  Like my parents have any sway."


    "We don''t have a way to level 8."


    "I know," I said.  "She''s probably moved on to level 7 or 9 anyway.  Maybe we can use the maintenance tunnels."


    "You still need a code to use the maintenance tunnels."


    "How did she do it?"  I wasn''t really asking.  Vai wouldn''t have an answer.


    "I don''t know," he said.


    Maybe I could get the maintenance codes somehow.  My mom was an engineer not in maintenance, but maybe I could get them somewhere else.  I wished I still had my chocolate. As silly as it might seem, a lot of people would do a lot of crazy things for chocolate in the vastness of space.


    "I''m going to logoff now," Vai said.  "I''ll talk to you later."


    "Bye, my friend."


    I signed out of the school program and the ansible.  I pulled my okulus off from my head and reshaped it to fit around my wrist.


    The music of my dad''s viola drifted into my room.  Apparently he was supposed to be practicing with some others onboard for a string quartet, but he had pushed that back since my arrest.


    I really wasn''t going to work on the Slpsis report, but I ended up jotting down a few thoughts about my experience on Brist anyway.


    I played a few games in the ansible, but decided to logoff and go to sleep early.  I didn''t want to miss the opportunity to go planetside, even if that did mean I had to go with Spencer.


    I awoke tired and groggy.  I looked at my okulus to see what time it was.  1:43 a.m.


    I groaned and tried to turn over, but something was on top of me.  A form. I opened my mouth to scream, but a hand clamped down over my lips.


    "Shh," the girl whispered.


    I couldn''t see her clearly in the darkness, but I knew it was her.


    "Don''t scream," she said.  I nodded and she removed her hand.


    I looked at my closed door behind her.  "How''d you get in here?"


    "The living quarters doors are easy to hack."


    "You''re a hacker?"


    "Don''t ask questions."


    "Okay."  I wondered if I should call for my parents, but I didn''t really want to.


    "You''re going planetside tomorrow?"


    How did she know?  I nodded.


    "You''re studying the K''thaktra ruins on Mazax VIII?"


    I nodded again.


    "Why don''t you go to school?" I asked.


    "Don''t ask questions," she reminded me.  "You remember the K''thaktran wall that had been displayed in the museum?"


    "The one you stole, you mean?"


    She paused.  "Fine. The one I stole.  You know it? You saw it? You remember it?"


    "Yes.  You should return it and the Aether Field Prototype.  Why''d you take those anyway?  How did you . . ."


    "No questions."


    I pinched my mouth closed tightly.


    "If you see more ruins with the ancient writing no one can decipher, make sure your volo gets a good recording of it.  I''ll contact you again later to see what you found."


    Her long finger reached for my forehead.  I placed both hands over my forehead. "Don''t touch me," I said.  "You can just leave. I won''t tell on you."


    Her finger paused in mid-air.  She bit her lower lip. "Fine," she said.


    She got off slowly and walked to the door.  It slid open, but she looked back at me one last time before she left.  Well. At least that encounter proved one thing. I was irresistible to the ladies.

 Chapter 27 .

    Owen


    I decided to head to the shuttle early.  Partly because I couldn''t sleep after the encounter with the girl and partly because I was worried about going with Spencer and I wanted to get there first.


    "Good morning, son," my mother said when I walked out of my room.  She was dressed for work, but sat at the couch with a cup of coffee - algae coffee - in her hand.  Algae coffee had a different smell than coffee on Earth, but that had never stopped my mom from drinking it.


    "Morning."


    "Owen," she said, "remember you''re still on probation.  Don''t try to smuggle anything onboard."


    "I won''t."  I didn''t have any plans to.  Not with weekly searches by security of my room.  Although, if there was something really good I wanted to smuggle onboard, maybe Vai could keep it for me.  Then again, maybe not. It seemed like his dad spied on him a lot.


    "Have fun," she said.


    "You too," I said as I walked out the door.  It slid shut behind me. You too? She wasn''t going planetside.  She was going to work. But maybe work was fun for her.


    I made my way down to the shuttles with 20 minutes to spare.  I didn''t see Spencer yet which was good. Lieutenant Tanpo was the only one I saw.  She stood next to her shuttle door, but I stopped without getting too close because she hadn''t noticed me and she was on a call.  Vai''s father was projected through her volo. It didn''t seem like he was at home. At least, I assumed he didn''t wear his lab coat at home.


    "Can''t you speak with her?" Lieutenant Tanpo asked.  "She refuses to go planetside. This is the second time.  The Captain was supposed to go to Brist for the negotiations, but she refused then too.  The Captain of the Armstar also refused."  Shel''s father. "They both sent their first officers in their stead.  Now they''re both refusing again? I don''t think either one has left their respective ships since they first boarded."


    "I can''t force the Captain to do anything," Vai''s father said.  "I don''t have that much clout. And you''re a pilot. You shouldn''t worry about politics."


    "But you asked me about her."


    "Yes.  I asked you to report on the Captain acting unusual.  That is all. You don''t need to try to convince her or me of her job description."  There was a pause. "What about the other thing I asked you? Is anyone else acting strange?  Refusing to go near the Aether Field?"


    "Yeah.  My mechanic.  Wilson. If I dock my shuttle too close to the Aether Field he refuses to work on it.  I don''t know when it started because I wasn''t paying attention to it before you told me to watch for it.  He''s not the only one to work on the shuttles."


    Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa''s fingers typed something into his okulus.  "Wilson. Got it. Don''t be alone with him, Lieutenant."


    "You said the same about the Captain."


    "And I meant that too.  Don''t be alone with the Captain.  I''m telling you this in return for your efforts in saving my son.  And don''t badger the Captain. Better if you''re not noticed at all."


    "What do you know Lieutenant Commander?"


    "Just heed my words, Lieutenant."


    Vai''s father ended the call.


    Lieutenant Tanpo hadn''t noticed me yet.  I stayed where I was for a few moments so Lieutenant Tanpo wouldn''t know I had overheard the call.  She was inspecting the hull of the shuttle.


    "Good morning, Lieutenant," I said when I felt enough time had passed.


    "Good morning," she said.  "You''re my first customer of the day."


    "I''m honored," I said.


    I felt a presence behind me.  I didn''t look to see it was Spencer.  I just knew it was. My mood darkened.


    "Good," Lieutenant Tanpo said.  "You''re both here. Hold on. Let me go through my spiel."


    She repeated the rules she had given to me and Vai on our first trip.  Vai. I missed him. And Warpaint.


    When she finished, Spencer and I both took a step to board.  It was the first time we looked at each other. While he looked at me, trying to stare me down, I walked passed him and boarded.  We sat as far away from each other as we could. I took the back left. He took the front right.


    The trip didn''t take long.


    "I think we''re the first ones here," Lieutenant Tanpo said.  "Stay here while I check. I''ll be right back."


    She opened the shuttle door and stepped outside.  She left the shuttle door open and sunlight streamed in sending prisms of light cascading throughout the shuttle.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Spencer turned to look at me.  "You''re officially a convict now."


    "No," I said.  "I''m still a minor and you''re not very smart."


    He scowled at me.  He was probably trying to make me feel intimidated, but he was nothing without friends.


    "You still owe me for the losses of my mom''s restaurant while on the Remembrance.  You ready to pay up today?"


    "I don''t owe you or your mom anything.  I fulfilled our deal. I sold you chocolate."


    "Overpriced chocolate and then you sold it to customers on the side."


    "So what?"


    He stood up and took a step towards me.


    Lieutenant Tanpo''s head came in the doorframe.  "Your teacher''s here. Come on out."


    Spencer gave me another mean look before he exited the shuttle.  I followed slowly allowing enough time and distance between us - if that was possible.


    "Good morning, boys," Teacher Miller greeted us.


    "Good morning," we said in unison.


    Mazax VIII was green, unlike Brist.  Green trees, green vines, green grass, green everything.  Except the K''thaktra. Red, orange, yellow and the slight variations in between.


    Their kabuki mask like faces seemed especially frightening as they frowned at Teacher Miller.  She didn''t seem to notice. Her smile was genuine as she looked around.


    I had temporarily forgotten that Mazax VIII had been one of the sites of the K''thaktran war.  It had been many years ago and none of the K''thaktra around us would have been born then, but they must have been told by their grandparents, great grandparents, how the Gathering had come and destroyed them.  But the K''thaktra had joined the Gathering. We were all friends now.


    "Ah," Teacher Miller said.  "Here are the other shuttles."


    I didn''t wait for Minmin and Shel.  As soon as their shuttle landed I went and stood by the door.  The human pilot looked at me when he opened the door, but he didn''t say anything.  He stepped back into the shuttle. Minmin came out first. She smiled at me. Shel followed closely behind her.


    "Hello, my friends," I said.


    "Hello," Minmin said.


    I noticed Spencer was next to the Bundu-jo, Viko, and the human, Mark.


    Teacher Miller didn''t waste any time getting us on a transport.  It didn''t take us long to reach the ruins. There were partial walls and crumbled walls surrounded by green vegetation.  I walked around with Minmin and Shel. Spencer and his friends were close. Teacher Miller talked about the ruins, but I didn''t really pay attention.  I tried to make sure my volo recorded every partial wall and every crumbled wall. I didn''t see any strange writings on them, but I wanted to record them anyway in case the girl saw something I didn''t.


    Shel held Minmin''s hand as we walked around the ruins.  I adjusted my volo to get a good view of some ruins.


    "Are you two dating?" I asked.


    They both said at the same time, "Eww, no."


    Shel said, "She''s like my sister" just as Minmin said, "He doesn''t have fur."


    Shel laughed at Minmin, "That''s why?  Not because I''m like your brother?"


    "That''s why," she said.  "At least he," she pointed at me, "has fur on the top of his head and above his eyes and that''s still not enough."


    "Are you saying we''re ugly?" I asked.


    "Yes," Minmin said without hesitation.  "Are you jealous, though? Because I can hold your hand too."  Minmin took my hand with her free hand.


    Teacher Miller stopped walking with us.  It seemed the K''thaktran guide had warmed up to her enthusiasm.  He was waving animatedly at one of the broken walls with a smile on his face.  They were too far away so I couldn''t hear their conversation, but Teacher Miller replied excitedly to whatever the K''thaktra had said.


    "Should we wait for her?" Minmin asked.


    "No," I said.  I pulled her along.  "There are too many ruins to see and we don''t have a lot of time."  She pulled Shel. I didn''t want to miss anything in case it could be helpful to the girl.  Next time I saw her I should ask her for her name.


    Two large hands shoved me in the back.  I let go of Minmin''s hand as the momentum carried me forward onto the soft, green vegetation.


    I didn''t have to ask who it was.  I knew. It wasn''t the first time Spencer had shoved me, although it was the first time since boarding the Shadow.  I sat on the plush vegetation instead of getting up right away.  I could surprise him better with a punch to the crotch if he thought I was properly cowed.  I looked in between the gap of Spencer and his friends'' legs to see if Teacher Miller had noticed, but she hadn''t.  Just as well. I could teach Spencer a lesson.


    "That''s a warning," Spencer started.  I knew he had more to say because his mouth opened.


    Minmin jumped high.  Higher than any of us would have been able to in relation to our size.  Her feet kicked Spencer in the face. She landed gracefully. He staggered backwards and tripped over his feet.


    Before Viko or Mark could react - I knew they would have because they used to help push me around on the Remembrance - Shel swiped out low with his legs and knocked Mark down.  Then as he came out of it, he grabbed Viko by his blue head and dragged him down backwards until his back hit the ground.


    I nodded appreciatively.  Okay. Who needed Warpaint when these two were around?


    Spencer stood up.  He wiped the crimson blood from his nose with the back of his hand.  His eyes focused on Minmin. He took two running steps towards her, balled his fist back to hit her - she ran between his legs.


    She kicked up his back as if it was a path she was running on.  He fell forward.


    "Minmin!"


    Teacher Miller had noticed.


    "What are you doing?!"  She came running over. The K''thaktra was close by her.


    "We are honored guests on this K''thaktran colony.  This isn''t how you should behave. I''m so sorry," she said to the K''thaktra.


    I wasn''t sure why she apologized.  From the expression on the K''thaktra''s face, he had enjoyed the show.


    "It''s no problem," the K''thaktra said.  "It''s good for children to fight out their frustrations."


    Teacher Miller clearly didn''t agree with that, but she didn''t argue with him.


    "Get back to the transport now.  I''m ashamed of all of you, but especially you Minmin."


    She put her hands on the back of Minmin and Spencer and pushed them towards the shuttle.


    "He started it," Minmin said.


    "It doesn''t matter who started it," Teacher Miller said.


    "That''s right," Shel said as he and I stepped in beside Minmin.  He smiled a mischievous smile I hadn''t seen on him before. It reminded me of me.  "It only matters who finished it."


    Minmin smiled up at him.


    "That wasn''t what I meant," Teacher Miller said.  "And you know it."


    "Maybe you should have been paying attention to the students then," Shel said, "instead of flirting with our host."


    "I wasn''t...that isn''t . . ."


    Shel shrugged a shoulder at her and then purposely ignored her.


    We boarded the transport first and sat at the back.  Spencer and his friends sat at the front. Teacher Miller sat towards the front.


    "Thanks for helping me," I said to Minmin and Shel.


    "No problem," Minmin said.  "I''ve been wanting to do that ever since he called me a bunny."


    "Next time, my friend," I said, "let me at least punch him in the crotch first."


    Minmin smiled.  "Deal."

 Interlude 3 .

    The Awakened One


    I wake.  My brother screams.  They found another of us, but this one had been asleep.  He wasn''t like my other brother who had been awakened and was teaching the Gatherish.


    How had they found him?  I uncoiled from the darkness, minerals and moisture.


    No, my brothers and sisters tell me.


    But they know there are more of us.  They look for us.


    Sleep, they command me.


    They tear at my brother''s flesh.  They crawl inside. He kills many, but the Corruption is unending.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    They know we hide from them.  We should gather and fight.


    No, they say.  If we gather, we die.  Sleep.


    They still.


    The Corruption rend my brother''s insides.  He kills as many as he can with the last beat of his heart.  It is not enough.


    I wait to be sure my brothers and sisters sleep.  Then I reach out. The pink one is still far. She feels me reach for her.  I cannot hear her clearly yet, but she sends me an image of the Corruption. They are near her, but they are few.  Very few.


    Kill them.  Find me.


    I am not sure if she can hear me yet, but she is in line with me.


    You and I alone are not enough.  Try to open the light in others.


    She understands me, but is uncertain she can open the light in others.  She has to try though. I can teach her when she finds me, but we cannot fight the Corruption alone.


    I coil again around the darkness, minerals and moisture.


    She has to kill them.  She has to succeed. She has to find me.

 Chapter 28 .

    Vai


    I came in with a left hook to the punching bag followed by a right uppercut.  When not punching, my hands were up to protect my face from imaginary opponents.  Thrissko''s imaginary fist came across my cheek. I stopped and pulled off my gloves.  I gingerly touched the spot on my cheek that had been split open. I felt the pain all over again.  I brought my hand away from my cheek and looked at my fingers. Of course there wasn''t any blood. It was only an imagined pain.


    I had time to shower before class started.  The water poured over me. I reached up and touched my eye.  I had never thought my eyeball would not be where it belonged before my fight with Thrissko.


    I searched for zek on my okulus while the water dripped off me.  There was no recent mention of zek. The last reference to it I could find was 75 years ago and it only mentioned that it had all been destroyed.  The other mentions of it were few.


    When I had been a boy, it had been mentioned everywhere.  The drug that crazed the K''thaktra into a killing frenzy. But those news reports were gone now.  No trace. The Gathering must have done it, but why? To protect the K''thaktra when they joined the Gathering?  It hadn''t been all destroyed though. I had seen it. I had been infected by it.


    I stepped out of the shower, dried off quickly and dressed.


    "Sir, are you all right?" Warpaint called from beyond the bathroom door.  "You are taking longer than usual."


    "I''m fine, Warpaint."


    I entered into my okulus search engine: screaming, pain with unknown cause where the person had been normal before and relatively normal after.


    That got a few hits, but not as many as I had hoped.  There were accounts on Earth, Mars, Europa, Bundu VI and more.  But they were vague and no mentions of pink smoke. Some of the accounts seemed like they had been edited so maybe there had originally been mention of pink smoke.


    "Sir," Warpaint called out, "School is starting."


    I stepped out of the bathroom and went to my bed while reshaping my okulus.


    "This is a ship wide announcement," a female voice came on over the ship''s intercom.  "Officer Hansi, please report to the security office immediately."


    Hansi.  He was the officer who took my statement.  I waited, but nothing else was said. Maybe because I had just been thinking about zek, but I remembered the pink I thought I saw in Hansi''s eyes while I was giving my statement.


    I put the okulus over my eyes and entered the ansible.  I went into the school program. Class should have started, but Teacher Miller hadn''t arrived yet.


    I went to my desk, but I paused when I saw Reef - a Starwatcher with chestnut colored fur - at the desk Spencer usually sat.  Spencer now sat with his friends from the Remembrance.


    Owen had contacted me when he got back on the ship the day before to tell me what had happened on the planet.  Apparently, Spencer didn''t want to sit by us after Minmin humiliated him.


    I nodded at Reef and sat at my desk.


    "Do you think Teacher Miller got fired and that is why she isn''t here yet?" Minmin asked.


    "That would be fine with me," Shel said.


    "I don''t know," I said.  "I kind of feel bad for her."


    "That''s only because you weren''t there yesterday.  She was too wrapped up in flirting to pay attention to Spencer attacking me.  She probably still thinks Minmin started it," Owen said. He raised his voice and mimicked Teacher Miller, "Oh, Mr. K''thaktra, I love this planet and these ruins and you.  Who cares if you have the strength to rip me in half and claws and barbs on the back of your hands that could cut me."


    I laughed despite the image of Thrissko high on zek cutting my cheek with those same barbs on the back of his hand.  The right side of Shel''s lips turned up into a half smile.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "That''s not what she said," Minmin said.


    "I don''t know what she said, my friend," Owen said.  "We were too far away."


    "I could hear her," Minmin said, "and that isn''t what she said."


    "Okay, friend," Owen said.  "What did she say?"


    "He was telling her that the ruins dated before their first known colony on the planet, but that they think rogue scientists started their own colony there without informing the K''thaktran government."


    "Maybe the girl was right then," I said.


    "What girl?" Shel asked.


    "The girl that stole from the museum onboard the Shadow," I said.  "One of the items she stole was a wall from Mazax VIII with ancient writings that no one could decipher.  She indicated it wasn''t K''thaktran."


    "There is no record of another alien species colonizing in the K''thaktran galaxy though," Minmin said.


    A human man stepped into the front of the classroom.  "Teacher Miller is not available for the next few weeks.  I''m Lieutenant Garcia from the Armstar.  We will be going over the battle strategies of the Gathering during the K''thaktran war."


    I supposed that meant she wasn''t fired yet, but probably being reprimanded for letting a fight happen between students.  If that had been the only incident she most likely would have been fine, but there was the incident on Brist too where the students - me included - almost died.


    Lieutenant Garcia''s voice stayed monotone throughout the lesson.  It was difficult to stay awake. The strategies he taught weren''t hand to hand combat, but the Gathering using airstrikes and ship to ship strikes.  We couldn''t win against the K''thaktra hand to hand. Teacher Miller had her faults, but at least her voice usually sounded excited when she taught.


    I think I did drift off at one point, although my ansible self would show me wide awake.  My body jerked when another ship wide announcement was made through my okulus just before class ended.


    "If anyone knows the whereabouts of Officer Hansi please let the security office know immediately.  If anyone has seen anything or anyone suspicious around Officer Hansi or his quarters, please report it immediately to the security office."


    I looked at Owen.  He looked at me. He had heard the announcement too, but since Minmin and Shel were not on the Shadow, they hadn''t heard it.


    Class ended.  Lieutenant Garcia didn''t wait for the students to leave.  He didn''t say goodbye. He just signed out.


    "Guess that explains why Teacher Miller was late," Shel said.


    "I hope she isn''t gone for good," Minmin said.  In a quieter voice she said, "I hope Lieutenant Garcia isn''t our new teacher.  He was boring."


    "He''s probably just filling in until they can find someone else," Shel said.  "If he''s a Lieutenant then he would have other duties he would need to attend to."


    "True," Minmin said.  She turned to me. "I keep thinking about that mystery girl on your ship.  She seems like a stowaway even though I thought that was impossible."


    "She is a hacker," Owen said.


    We all looked at him.  "Since when did you know that?" I asked.


    "I...um . . ."


    "Is there something you didn''t tell me?"


    "Well, there are things you don''t tell me," he said.


    True.  I didn''t tell him I had been asleep for 80 years for example or that my old friends and my love had grown old and gone on with their lives without me.


    "You saw the girl again," Minmin stated.


    Owen didn''t deny it.


    "You should turn her in," Shel said.


    "I don''t know where she is," Owen said.


    "But she showed up in front of you again," I said.  He nodded. The rest of the class had dispersed. The four of us were the last ones in the school program.


    "So she stowed away onboard the Shadow," Minmin said.  "She''s a hacker. She told you the ruins on Mazax VIII weren''t K''thaktran.  What else?"


    "She''s on restricted levels," Owen said.


    Minmin and Shel were friends, but I wasn''t sure we should be giving them so much information.  Their parents were the leaders on the Armstar afterall.


    "She also took the Aether Field Prototype," I said.  I was pretty sure they weren''t going to go tell their parents.  Shel wasn''t on good terms with his father at the moment anyway.


    "Did she take anything else?" Shel asked.


    Owen and I both shook our heads.


    "She told Owen something," I said, "but he can''t remember."


    "Anything else weird happening?" Shel asked.


    "We just got a ship wide announcement.  It seems like one of the security officers might be missing."


    "Weird things are happening on your ship," Shel said.


    "Yes," I agreed.


    Owen suddenly grabbed my arm.


    "I remember," he said.


    "You remember what?" I asked.


    "I remember what she said."  He disappeared from the program.


    "I think he''s coming to tell me in person," I said to Shel and Minmin.  "I better logoff."


    "Don''t leave us out," Minmin said.  "Call us to tell us what he said."


    I nodded and exited the school program and the ansible.  I took off my okulus and reshaped it to fit around my wrist.


    "How was school, sir?" Warpaint asked.  He had an algae shake in his hand held out to me.


    I pushed it away as I got off my bed.  "I''ll have that later."


    "But, sir," Warpaint said.  I walked passed him and out of my room.  I reached the door to the quarters and opened it just in time to see Owen turn the corner towards me at a run.


    "You don''t need to run," I said.  I stepped aside to let him into the living quarters.


    "Yes I do," he said.  "What if I forget again?"


    "So, what did she say?"


    "She said there are more dangerous aliens than the K''thaktra.  She asked if I could fight them if I knew. She said they''ve always been here."

 Chapter 29 .

    Vai


    "Before I went to Mazax VIII," Owen said, "she came to me in my room.  She told me to look for more ruins with that writing on it, but I didn''t see any.  I made sure my volo got a good recording though in case I missed anything. I thought she''d come back to my room last night to get the recordings, but she didn''t."


    "Maybe she''ll come back tonight," I said.  "Should we report her?"


    "No," Owen said.


    "Yes," Warpaint said.


    "Don''t report her," I said to Warpaint.  "Don''t tell my father. Not until we can figure her out first."


    "I need to talk to her," Owen said.


    "Yes.  We need to know what she knows.  Why does she think there are other aliens.  Dangerous aliens. Warpaint do you know of any other aliens?"


    "No, sir."


    "Maybe the dangerous aliens are onboard," Owen said.  "Maybe they kidnapped Officer Hansi."


    "Maybe," I said.  I couldn''t help but remember the pink glint I thought I had seen in Officer Hansi''s eyes.  I thought about mentioning it to Owen and my own painful experience with zek. Instead I said, "How would they evade the surveillance though?  How would they have hidden themselves this entire time from the Gathering."


    "We need to ask her," Owen said.  "Do you want to sleepover at my place in case she shows up tonight?"


    "Warpaint and I might scare her off if she sees us.  Instead of being there physically, maybe we could just leave a call open between us and you mute me.  That way I can hear what''s happening on your end, but she won''t detect me listening in."


    "That could work," Owen said.  "Let''s try it."


    "Shel and Minmin want us to give them an update."


    "Okay, you call them first and tell them.  Maybe they''ll have more insight."


    "Okay."  I put in a call connecting both Minmin and Shel.  Only Shel answered, but Minmin was next to him. They appeared to be in the arboretum on the Armstrong.


    "Friends," Owen said beside me, "you''re not eating the fish are you?  They are there only for aesthetic reasons."


    "I''m not eating the fish," Shel said.


    "Are you on a date then?" Owen asked.


    "We already told you we aren''t dating," Minmin said.  "Stop trying to make things weird between us."


    Owen held up a hand.  "Okay, okay. That wasn''t my intention."


    I relayed to them what Owen remembered and our plans for that night.


    "Will that work, though?" Shel asked.  "I thought her voice wasn''t picked up on your volo recordings or on the surveillance. It probably won''t be picked up over the call either."


    Owen and I both paused.


    "That''s true," I finally said.


    There was another pause.


    "I could repeat everything she says," Owen said.


    "That might seem suspicious though," I said.


    "He could try," Minmin said.  "If it seems weird or like she is becoming suspicious, Owen can stop and then relay to us later what he said."


    "I''ll try that," Owen said.


    "Okay," I said.


    "Any more on that missing officer?" Shel asked.


    "No," I said.


    "Let us know tomorrow how it goes," Shel said.  He ended the call.


    "We have some time.  Do you want to go to the pool and go swimming?" Owen asked me.


    "Sure," I said.


    *Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    I hadn''t been to the pool on the Shadow before now.  It connected to the gym, but I had only come to the gym.


    "Very good, sir," Warpaint shouted at the side of the pool.  Luckily Owen and I were the only ones in the pool or I would have been even more embarrassed.


    "Chop that water," Warpaint continued.  "Chop it with your arms and legs, thus propelling yourself forward through the liquid!"


    I turned onto my back with a languid kick. "Shut up."


    "I am trying to be encouraging."


    "Who told you to do that?"


    "No one did. I thought of it myself."


    "Well knock it off," I said. "It''s weird. I''m trying to swim, here."


    "Trying and succeeding sir. Rather admirably."


    "I said stop encouraging me."


    "But sir," he reasoned, "the standard psychological profile of a male Human suggests that your kind thrives under conditions of positive feedback. The seed that is watered with the water of positivity is the seed that -- "


    "You can encourage me," Owen interjected.


    Warpaint went silent.  I nodded towards Owen as Warpaint watched me.


    "Yes, young sir," Warpaint said to Owen.  "You are also succeeding in swimming."


    "Yeah," Owen said, "not quite what I wanted."


    "Your little limbs must work twice as hard as Vai''s even though he is an elder.  Am I doing a good job encouraging the young one?" Warpaint asked me.


    "You don''t need to encourage me," Owen said.  "It just feels weird."


    "It does, doesn''t it?" I said.  Two humans - both female - and a Starwatcher entered the pool area.  I recognized the Starwatcher as Dr. Rags. They hadn''t noticed us yet.  I don''t think they expected anyone to be at the pool at that time of day.  Otherwise, they wouldn''t have been so open with their conversation. Their voices echoed in that weird way it does in an empty pool facility.


    "The surveillance doesn''t show anyone taking the sedatives.  They are just gone," one of the humans said.


    They entered the opposite end of the pool.


    "Maybe the supplies were miscounted originally," Dr. Rags said.  "But I doubt it. I double counted the supplies myself."


    "Don''t get too close to the elder," Warpaint said to the group.


    They looked at him strangely, but then noticed me and Owen.


    "Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa''s son," Dr. Rags said.  He swam towards me a little ways, until he saw Warpaint move closer to me.  Then he stopped where he was. "Are you feeling all better?" he asked across the water.


    "Yes," I replied.  "I guess we should go," I said to Owen.  "Let them swim without Warpaint watching them."


    "Yes," Owen agreed.  He pulled himself out of the water.


    "Excellently done, young one," Warpaint said to him.


    "You really don''t need to encourage me anymore," Owen said.


    Warpaint looked to me for confirmation.  I thought about telling Warpaint to continue with the encouragements, but in the end I said, "Yes, that''s enough for now, Warpaint."


    "Yes, sir."


    I waved to Dr. Rags as we left, but he wasn''t paying attention to me.  He was back speaking with the humans. I probably wasn''t supposed to have overheard about the missing sedatives.  Maybe the strange girl had taken the sedatives. That would explain why no one showed up on the surveillance. But why would she take them?  I thought about mentioning it to Owen, but if he mentioned it to the girl and she did take them, I was afraid it would turn her completely against us.  Owen and I didn''t say much as we made our way back down to the 6th level where we parted ways.


    *


    I called him an hour before midnight just as planned.  His projection was already in bed.


    "What time did she show up last time?" I asked.


    "After 1:00.  Are you a heavy sleeper?  Will you hear her when she and I start talking?"


    "I''m not a heavy sleeper," I said.  "Do you snore? I might not be able to sleep at all if you snore."


    "I don''t snore," Owen said.  "I think."


    "Let''s try to sleep then," I said.  "She won''t show up if we''re talking to each other."


    Owen muted me.  It didn''t take long until his breathing was deep and steady.  It took me longer to sleep. It was weird to have the call open.  It was a little easier knowing Owen couldn''t actually hear me.


    "You startled me."  Owen''s voice woke me up.


    I opened my mouth to respond, but remembered I had been muted and Owen wasn''t speaking to me.


    There was a pause before Owen said, "Yes.  I have the recordings. I didn''t see any writings though."


    There was another pause.  I assumed the girl was speaking.  I wondered how she hid her voice. Owen was still projected through my volo, but there was no girl.


    "Of course you can have a copy of the recordings.  I think you are going to be disappointed though. What is special about those recordings?"


    Silence.


    "I know I''m not supposed to ask questions, but how else are we going to get close, friend?  You know me, shouldn''t I know you too? Like what is your name? No don''t make me forget." His hands covered his forehead.  "Aren''t you all alone? Don''t you need help? A friend? I can help you. My friend, Vai, he can help you too. There isn''t any harm in just telling me your name."


    Pause.


    "Esther is a pretty name.  Where are you from, Esther?"  His hands had started to retreat from his forehead, but he immediately brought them back up after his last question.  "That''s okay. I don''t need to know where you are from. We all have secrets right?"


    Silence.


    "Don''t go yet," Owen said.  "I don''t know if I should tell you this, but I remembered what you told me that day about dangerous aliens."


    Pause.


    Owen sat up in his bed.  His arms rested at his sides.  "Impossible or not, I remember.  Are they aliens that the Gathering don''t know about?  Shouldn''t you warn them? You heard the ship wide announcement about Officer Hansi didn''t you?  Maybe the aliens took him."


    Silence.


    Owen''s hands shot up over his forehead.  "Don''t make me forget. I''m on your side, Esther."


    There was another long pause and then Owen sighed out.  His hands dropped to his sides. He unmuted me.


    "Did you hear all that?" he asked me.


    "Only your side of the conversation, but I think I got it.  She didn''t make you forget again."


    "No.  She reacted strangely when I mentioned Officer Hansi.  I think...I actually wondered earlier, but didn''t want to bring it up, but I think she took Officer Hansi."


    "I''ve wondered if she took him too.  Especially after we overheard Dr. Rags talk about the missing sedatives."


    "But why would she take him?" Owen asked.


    "Sir," Warpaint interjected, "it is way passed your bedtime.  It is important at your age to get the proper amount of sleep."  He tried to push me to lie back down on the bed. I hadn''t realized I had sat up until then.


    I complied, but said to Owen, "I think we need to find her and Officer Hansi before security, Owen.  Can you get the maintenance access codes?"


    "I will do my best."


    "Sir, I really must insist that you sleep."


    "Fine, Warpaint.  Let''s end the call now Owen, I''ll talk to you tomorrow."

 Chapter 30 .

    Vai


    It was a different substitute at school.  A human again. She had introduced herself as Engineer Wen.  She didn''t say it outright, but she implied we might have someone new everyday as the G.E.F. had only hired one teacher for the older students.  It never even occurred to them that they might need a substitute. Her class was as equally boring as Lieutenant Garcia. At least he had talked about war strategies and not engineering.


    "So," Minmin said as soon as class was over.  "What happened? Did she show up?"


    "Let''s not talk about it here," Shel said.  "I set up a program." He sent the program through to my okulus and then he disappeared from the school program.  Minmin followed him. Owen nodded at me before he followed them.


    When I entered the program, I was on a small island filled with green trees and large blue flowers.  A large blue and silver bird sat in a tree above us. It had a large green head crest and green eyes.  Blue ocean surrounded us. There was a small beach of silver sand between the ocean and the start of green vegetation.  The sky was blue, but it was a different blue than the videos I had seen of the sky on Earth. This blue seemed richer, more vibrant.  The sky was cloudless. There was a gentle breeze that brushed us.


    "Is this a real place somewhere?" Owen asked.  He touched one of the blue flowers. The petals folded into themselves.


    Shel and Minmin sat at the start of the vegetation, their feet were still on the sand.


    "Yes," Shel said.  "It''s my homeworld, Bundu IV.  Just a small piece of it of course.  My favorite spot."


    Owen sat next to Minmin.  "It''s very beautiful. Reminds me of my home, Earth."


    I didn''t go sit with them.  I went and stood by the water''s edge.  The waves lapped around my feet. I was curious how well Shel did in making this place - how real had he tried to make it.  I made my ansible shoes disappear. The waves enclosed around my feet. The moisture swept between my toes, around my ankles, the sand underneath my feet shifted with the waves sending little granules around my skin.


    "Is it to your satisfaction?" Shel asked me.


    I hadn''t realized they all watched me until then.


    "There aren''t really oceans on Mars," I said.  It had never occurred to me to try to make my own place within the ansible.  It wouldn''t have been too hard to do. I could have recreated my past with Callie, Emilio and Posha.  I could have ridden that old Levitric repulsor above Olympus City. I turned back to look over the ocean - away from the others - as a tear spilled onto my cheek.  Maybe not. I had enough to deal with rather than getting lost in past memories. My hands clenched into fists by my side. I hated him. My father. I hated him for all he took from me.


    Another tear spilled onto my cheek.  Thankfully, none of them came to check on me.  Although, I felt their eyes on me.


    "So what happened?" Minmin asked Owen.


    I stayed facing the ocean as he relayed what happened the night before.  Not just about the girl, Esther, but also about the missing sedatives and how he and I both suspected Esther stole them.


    "You should tell security," Minmin said.


    I finally composed myself enough that I was able to loosen my hands and turn to them.  I walked over to them and sat in the sand in front of them. I dug my toes into the silver sand.  I had no idea if the sand felt the same as it would have on Earth''s beaches. I had never been to Earth.


    "No," Shel said, "they shouldn''t tell security."


    The two of them exchanged a look.  Clearly they were keeping some secrets too.


    "Look," Shel said to Minmin, "if there is an unknown powerful alien species and she is the only one who knows, they need to help her."


    "Why wouldn''t she tell the authorities if that was the case?" Minmin asked.  "They are better equipped to deal with it than some girl."


    "Maybe the Gathering already knows about it."  Shel stopped and looked over the ocean. Something in his gaze reminded me of what I just went through.


    "Fathers," I said before I realized it.


    "Fathers," he agreed and an understanding passed between us.


    Minmin and Owen looked at both of us like we were crazy.


    "Maybe only a few in the Gathering know," I suggested.  Like my father. He seemed to know a lot about things no one should know about, had authority he shouldn''t have.  Then again, he was an extremely good scientist at the top of his field. Just look at what he did to me.


    "Why would a few in the Gathering keep it secret?" Minmin asked.  "It doesn''t make sense."Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "It makes sense to me," Shel said.  And I could tell he thought of his father just as I had.  For the first time since I had awakened I was beginning to feel a connection to someone similar to what I had with Callie, Emilio and Posha.  I looked around at my three new friends. Friends. Truly friends.


    "We need to ask her," Owen said.  "She isn''t crazy. And I''m not crazy.  I know she made me forget the first time and made me lose ten minutes.  Have any of you ever heard of that before?"


    We all shook our heads.


    "Well, maybe she''s a dangerous alien then," Minmin said.


    "Maybe," Owen said, "but I doubt it.  I''m pretty sure she''s human."


    "Either way, they need to find her and talk to her."  Shel didn''t direct this at me and Owen, but at Minmin.  They exchanged that look again. "They can''t wait for her to just go to them again.  What if she never does? What if she''s in trouble?"


    "We''re just kids," Minmin finally said.  "We shouldn''t get involved in this." She looked away from Shel and looked to me.  "Tell your father. Let him find her. He seems to have a lot of knowledge and authority."


    "Minmin," Shel said drawing her attention again.  "We are not just kids. Don''t use that as an excuse."


    She frowned at him.


    "Tell them," he said.


    "Tell us what?" Owen asked.


    She bit her bottom lip as she turned to Owen.  A low sigh escaped her lips. "I overheard something I shouldn''t have."


    "What?" I asked.


    "The maintenance code."


    Owen smiled and he nudged me.  "See, we can use that to use the maintenance tunnels to get to the restricted levels."


    "They aren''t going to use the same code for the Armstar as they do for the Shadow," I said.


    "That''s what I said," Minmin agreed.


    "I have a theory on that though," Shel said.  "Tell them the code, Minmin."


    "0528IVLM6249ADZX0002"


    "And what is your theory?" I asked Shel.


    "0002 is the Armstar''s number within the G.E.F. Armata.  What if the rest of the code is the same and only the last numbers change based on the ship."


    "No," I said, but I wondered.  "They couldn''t be that stupid."


    "The long codes aren''t easy to memorize," Owen said.  "Maybe they made the illusion of it being difficult, but it is really simple.  It doesn''t happen often, but personnel do sometimes get changed to a different ship.  If the only thing they need to know is the ship''s new number, it would be an easy shift for maintenance."


    "It wouldn''t hurt to try," I said.  "If it doesn''t work, it doesn''t work.  So what is the Shadow''s number in the armata?"


    "I don''t know," Owen said.


    "Seriously?" Minmin asked.


    "What?" Owen asked.  "It''s not like everyone knows their ship number."


    "But," Shel said, "the Shadow is the flagship."


    "So . . ." Owen said.


    "So the number is obviously 0001," Minmin said.


    "Of course," Owen said.  "Easy, my friend. We were just testing you, weren''t we?"  He nudged me.


    "It''s obvious we didn''t," I said.


    Owen frowned at me.  A laugh escaped from me at the look on his face.


    "It was obvious," Shel said.


    "Let''s sign off and go test it then," Owen said.  "On level 6. I know just the spot so that no one will notice us.  If it doesn''t work, maybe I need to make some on-ship deals. I''m good at that."


    "Tell us how it goes," Minmin said.


    "And," Shel said before we could logoff, "you can come here anytime if you need a refuge."


    "Thanks," Owen said and he logged off.


    I understood that invitation was directed more to me than Owen.  I nodded to Shel as Minmin logged off. I logged off next.


    Warpaint greeted me with an algae bar.  "Would you like something more substantial to eat after school?" he asked.  "Maybe some mashed potatoes."


    "They''re still made from the algae," I said.  I took the bar and took a bite. The algae food wasn''t actually that bad.  Mashed potatoes tasted like mashed potatoes, it was just that all the algae food left a strange aftertaste.


    I walked out of the bedroom, through the living room and out into the corridor.


    "Are we going to the gym, sir?" Warpaint asked.


    "We''re going to meet Owen at the elevators to go to level 6."


    "Ah, the museum.  Good for you, sir."


    I stopped in the corridor and turned to him.  "Warpaint, my father isn''t spying on me through you right now is he?"


    "No, sir.  He rarely does that."


    "But he does do that."


    "Yes, sir."


    "When he does, can you give me a signal.  Like poke my shoulder or something."


    "I can do that, sir.  He really doesn''t watch you through me very often."


    Well, at least there was that.


    Owen waited for us at the elevator.


    "Ah, my bodyguard has come," Owen said.


    "I''m not your bodyguard," Warpaint said.  "I''m . . ."


    "I know," Owen said.  "Just wishful thinking.  Ready?"


    I nodded.  We took the elevator to the 6th floor.  Owen took us passed the museum and passed the restaurant.  There was a maintenance hatch behind the restaurant in a quiet area.


    "Here goes nothing," he said.  He punched in the code changing the last number to a 1.  The hatch opened.


    He and I looked at each other.  I hadn''t thought that would work.  He crawled inside. I bent to look in.  I didn''t think my large frame could fit in it and I knew Warpaint couldn''t.  If I left Warpaint, he was likely to tell my father. Especially after what happened in the tailor shop back on Mars.


    "I don''t think I can fit," I said.


    Owen smirked and easily moved down the tunnel.  "Too bad for you. See you later, my friend."


    "Owen," I called, but he was already gone.  I replaced the maintenance hatch. I called him through the okulus.


    He answered.  "What?"


    "At least tell me which level you are going to."


    "Why, you can''t come anyway."


    "Owen."


    "I''ll start on level 9.  I''ll tell you if I find her."  He hung up.


    "Owen," I said out loud.


    "He hung up already, sir."


    "I know that, Warpaint."


    "Then why are you trying to talk to him?"


    "I wasn''t.  I was...nevermind."


    "How did you get the code though?  It''s too bad you just couldn''t ask me.  I wish I was allowed to give it to you."


    I had started to walk back through the corridor towards the restaurant, but at his words, I stopped.


    "Does that mean you know the codes and aren''t allowed to tell me or you don''t know the codes but wish you did so you could tell me."


    He didn''t answer, but that in itself was an answer.


    "What if Owen dies because we aren''t there to protect him?  Tell me the elevator code to the restricted levels."


    "I can''t, sir.  I am your bodyguard.  Not his."


    I grabbed at my chest.  "He''s the only friend I have, Warpaint.  If something happens to him. I''ll die. We have to go save him to protect me."


    Warpaint hesitated.  I fell to my knees with my hand still at my chest.  I made my breath seem haggard.


    "Okay, sir."  Warpaint grabbed my shoulders.  "Just please don''t die. I''ll take you.  Don''t die."


    "Thank you, Warpaint.  Your actions saved my life."  I stood up and followed him as he led me to the elevators.


    We got on and the door slid shut.


    "Level 9," I said.


    He punched in a different code than the maintenance code, but I noted it still ended in 0001.


    The elevator door opened and we stepped out onto the quiet level 9.

 Chapter 31 .

    Vai


    There was a wide corridor in front of us and two smaller corridors off to the sides - one to the right and one to the left.  I listened, but couldn''t hear anything other than my own breathing and the occasional mechanical sounds that came from Warpaint.


    "Do your sensors pick up the girl, Warpaint?" I whispered.


    "Yes, sir."  Warpaint wasn''t quiet.


    I scowled at him, but he didn''t seem to notice or care.


    "Where is she?  Is she on this level?"  I asked quietly. I couldn''t hear any signs of Owen yet.  He was traveling through the maintenance shafts 3 levels though.  It might take him a little while.


    "Yes.  She''s behind you in the maintenance shaft."


    I heard the hard sigh behind me and to the side of the elevator.  The maintenance hatch burst open and out she came - almost flying.  She sprung at me. I saw it, but it was too fast and unexpected for me to actually register and prepare that she was attacking me.


    Warpaint was suddenly there in front of me.  He knocked her back with his oversized right arm.  She crashed backwards into the wall. She paused a moment as she sat on the floor watching Warpaint.  Like what happened on Brist, the red lines on Warpaint began to seep and spread into the white until he was mostly red instead of white.


    She leaped up like a great cat and kicked both feet into Warpaint''s chestplate.  His 3 arms tried to grab her, but were just slightly too slow. The force of her kick knocked him backwards.  His large, mechanical feet slid across the floor until he hit the wall of the corridor.


    I swallowed as she turned to me.  There was no way a human could knock Warpaint with such force.  Maybe a K''thaktra could, but definitely not a human. We had made a mistake.  If there was a dangerous alien species we had never heard about, she was it despite her human appearance.


    She took a step towards me.  Her brown eyes beamed with hatred and violence.  I took up my boxing position, but I knew if she could knock back Warpaint like that, I didn''t have a chance.  It would be like with Thrissko all over again.


    A force - like a strong wind or gale - burst out of Warpaint''s large hand.  The girl - Esther I remembered a little late - was knocked backwards and away from me again.


    Warpaint didn''t wait.  As soon as he shot out the wind, he ran towards her - all 3 arms raised to bring down on top of her.


    She didn''t touch him.  I saw it and knew she didn''t touch him.  And yet when she stretched both her arms out towards him, he flew backwards as if she had her own gale that flew out of her hands.  I had felt the residual wind from Warpaint''s attack, but I felt nothing from hers. I didn''t know how she did it.


    They stood up almost at the same time.  Neither of them looked at me. It was as if they had both forgotten I was there.


    They rushed each other.  She jumped and kicked at his head.  His top left arm grabbed her right foot just as both her feet wrapped around his mechatronic head.  She was tall. Not as tall as me or Warpaint, but with strength I knew wasn''t possible in a human, she used her momentum to carry herself so her hands met the floor.  She flipped with Warpaint''s head still between her feet and brought him to the floor. She tried to stand, but his hand was still wrapped around her foot.


    She tripped, but caught herself with her hands.  There was only a slight pop in Warpaint''s left top hand before tendrils of electricity shot out and encompassed her leg.


    "Don''t kill her!"  I wasn''t sure at that moment what made me say that.  I wasn''t thinking straight. It wasn''t because I wanted to talk to her to get information - though it should have been.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    The electricity stopped.  Warpaint looked at me and opened his hand.  She crawled away from him and stood. Warpaint stood too and put himself between me and her.


    I wasn''t sure when she started to cry.  She didn''t make any audible noise, but the tears were on her cheeks, flowed to her neck.  And for a moment I thought I was wrong. She seemed more human in that moment than any time I had previously seen her.  There was sadness in her eyes, not pain or hurt or fear.


    The air shifted around her, shimmered, turned pink.  Not the pink sparkling fog of zek. This was different.  Almost a pale - almost imperceptible - pink light. It surrounded her and only her.


    "Do you see this, Warpaint?" I asked.


    "What, sir?"


    "The light . . ."


    Something shifted in her eyes and I knew.  This was the moment she was going to kill us.


    "Wait!"  Something fell out of the hatch.  Not something. Someone. Owen.


    Owen scrambled to his feet and ran between us towards Esther.


    "Stay back, Owen!" I said.


    But he didn''t listen.  He ran straight to Esther.  She paused. He ran through that shimmering pink light and didn''t seem fazed by it.  I wasn''t sure he even saw it.


    He wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "We came to help you, Esther.  You don''t have to be alone. We came to help."


    She turned away from him and dropped to her knees.  This time her cries were audible even though she tried to stifle them.


    Owen turned to Warpaint.  "Why did you attack her? She needs our help."


    "She attacked first," Warpaint said.


    "It''s true," I said.  But the guilt welled up inside.  Seeing her like that, on her knees, shoulders bent forward, with sobs that wracked her entire being - how could I have ever thought she wasn''t human?  "She attacked first," I said quietly.


    But Owen had turned back to Esther.  He had a hand on her shoulder. "It''s going to be okay now."  He patted her head. "You''re not alone anymore."


    "And you," he turned back to Warpaint.  "Put all that red away." He rushed at Warpaint and brushed the red on Warpaint with his palms as if he could wipe it away.  "That''s frightening," he said.


    The red on Warpaint began to retreat back into lines.  Owen went back to Esther and put his hand on her shoulder again.  Her sobs had stopped. Her shoulders were a little straighter. The back of her hands came up and roughly brushed away her tears.


    "I can''t let you leave and tell anyone about me," she said.  There was nothing in her voice to indicate she had just been crying.  She stayed on her knees turned away from us.


    "We aren''t going to tell anyone," Owen said.  "I''m not lying when I say we came to help."


    "We are here to help," I said.  I took a step forward - passed Warpaint.  My mechatronic bodyguard didn''t like that and he stepped in front of me.


    "I''m sorry for Warpaint," I said, "but he is programmed to be my bodyguard and it seemed like you were going to attack me."


    "I was," she said.  She stood up and turned around in one fluid motion.


    "I don''t understand why you would come to help me."  She looked down at Owen. "I don''t understand why you would tell me I''m not alone anymore.  Neither of you know me."


    "We know you are alone," Owen said.  "You know something the rest of us don''t.  Something you shouldn''t bear alone."


    "We won''t tell on you," I said.


    "You already did once though," she said.  "How else would security know where to find me?"


    "That''s only because they arrested Owen when you stole the items from the museum," I said.  "I had to protect him. We didn''t know you then."


    "You don''t know me now," she said.


    "We know more about you than we did then," Owen said.


    She breathed out long and low.


    "What is this dangerous alien you spoke about?" Owen asked.  "Is that why you stole the museum items? Did you kidnap Officer Hansi?"


    She looked up at the ceiling.


    "Is your leg okay?" I asked.


    "Why?" Owen said.  "What happened to her leg?"  He tried to lift her pant leg, but it was the wrong leg.  She swiped his hand away.


    "It''s fine," she said.  She started walking down the large corridor in front of us.


    Owen looked at me.  I shrugged. He followed her.  I stepped in behind them. Warpaint made sure he was always a pace in front of me and between me and Esther.


    She stopped in front of a door.  Most of the rooms on this floor were empty personal quarters.  This seemed to be one of them.


    "Before we go in," she said, "know that you can''t unsee what I show you.  You can''t unhear what I tell you. I could try to make you forget." She looked down at Owen, "but I''m obviously not strong enough yet to make that stick."


    She looked at me.  "Are you sure you want to know?"  I nodded. She looked to Owen. He nodded.


    She opened the door and we followed her in.  The quarters on this level were smaller than the quarters on my level.  There was only one bedroom instead of two. When she opened the door to the bedroom, Officer Hansi was asleep - I hoped not dead - on the bed.


    She stepped inside and turned to us.  "I''ve been hesitating. I''ve never done it before, but," she looked at the sleeping Starwatcher, "we have to kill him."

 Chapter 32 .

    Vai


    "You can''t kill him," I stepped into the room and put myself between her and the sleeping Starwatcher. Warpaint was quick to follow me and put himself between me and Esther. The Starwatcher had been placed on his back on the single bed in the room. Everything in the room was generic and boring. The only colors were white, gray and brown. The bedsheet the Starwatcher slept on was Gray with white trim.


    "I need to kill you then," she said.


    The red on Warpaint began to spread again.


    "Wait, wait, wait." Owen came into the room and stood between Warpaint and Esther. He faced us as if he would protect Esther. The red on Warpaint retreated.


    "Owen," I said, but he held out a hand to me as if that could stop all this madness.


    Owen turned to the side so he wasn''t facing anyone directly. "Why do you think you need to kill him?" he asked.


    "You said you remembered me telling you about the dangerous aliens," she said.


    "Starwatchers are not more dangerous than K''thaktra," I said.


    "Not Starwatchers." She took a step to the side so she could look directly at Officer Hansi. She didn''t take a step towards him or us. "The Corruption."


    "The what?" Owen asked.


    "He is a Starwatcher," I said. I looked at Owen. "I''m not sure she''s all right, Owen. She might be dealing with some psychological trauma that is affecting her mind."


    "I''m not," she said. "I know he''s a Starwatcher. But the Corruption is inside him. They take over. They control you."


    "Esther," Owen took a cautious step towards her, "we''ve never heard of the Corruption. There have been no reports of being taken over by an alien species."


    Except...I tried to forget the drastic change that came over Thrissko, the pink fog of zek, the pain...so much pain it had caused me to scream for so long.


    "Yes it has," Esther said. "Only it isn''t known as the Corruption. It''s known as zek."


    "Esther," Owen said, "my friend, we''ve never heard of zek either."


    But my blood went ice cold and tingled in my veins.


    "Zek is a drug that was used by the K''thaktra during the war to build them up into a killing frenzy," Warpaint said. "It was all destroyed years ago."


    "See, friend?" Owen said to Esther, but then he turned to me and said quieter, "You might be right, Vai, but that means she needs our help even more."


    "No," I said. "I was wrong. She''s not crazy."


    Her face softened. For the first time since we meet her, her body seemed to ...well not exactly relax, but not be on such high alert.


    "You know zek," she said.


    "Zek was a real thing?"


    "It was a real thing used in the war," I said. "I''m sure there must still be old videos of it. It was supposed to have been destroyed after the war."


    "Your dad is very old. He was alive during the war. I''m sure he told you about it," Owen said.


    I didn''t say I was also alive during the war. I remembered vividly the videos of the K''thaktra surrounded by that pink sparkly fog as they tore humans, Bundu-jo and Starwatchers apart with their bare hands.


    "Okay," Owen said when I didn''t respond, "but it was a drug that was destroyed not some powerful aliens."


    Esther looked at me. I looked at her.


    "If it''s not a drug," I said. I couldn''t continue because if it wasn''t a drug that meant that this powerful alien had been inside me. For whatever reason, coming on board the G.E.F. Shadow had cleansed me from it, but no one knew why except maybe my father. My father. He knew about zek. Did he know it wasn''t a drug?


    "You know more than you are saying," Esther said to me.


    I turned to Owen. "I thought it was all destroyed, but that is what Thrissko was affected by on Mars. I tried to find other accounts of zek, but I couldn''t find anything after the war. But if it''s not a drug," I looked at Esther, "Thrissko put the pink fog inside my mouth."


    Her body tightened and she took a step away from me.


    "That''s why I was screaming on the shuttle," I said to Owen. "I was in so much pain."


    "But your eyeball was hanging out," Owen said, "you said Thrissko beat you up."


    "He did, but there was also the zek. I stopped screaming once we got on the Shadow even though my eyeball was still hanging out and my bones were broken. I was screaming because of the zek."


    "Then the Corruption didn''t actually bond with you yet," Esther said.


    "What?" Owen asked.


    She took a step towards me, but Warpaint moved to put himself between us.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "I''m not going to hurt him," she said to the mechatronic. "I just want to look into his eyes."


    I remembered the pink glint I had seen in Officer Hansi''s eyes.


    "But the zek isn''t in me anymore," I said. "Like I said, it stopped when we got on the Shadow."


    "Probably when you passed through the Aether Field," Esther said. "It kills them."


    Owen stepped near the bed and Officer Hansi. "Then we don''t need to kill him, we just need to take him through the Aether Field."


    "It only worked with Vai because they hadn''t bonded yet," Esther said. "Once, the bond is complete, it won''t matter if you kill the Corruption inside him, he''ll want more inside him and will do anything to make that happen. That''s what the Corruption do. If you fight them, disobey them, they cause you unbearable pain, which is what Vai went through. It''s what they all go through until they give in. You don''t know what the pain is at first. You can''t hear them in the beginning, but once you give in and do what they say, the pleasure is beyond belief. You will do anything for it and anything to avoid the pain. If the Corruption inside is killed, you will feel empty. You have already become addicted to the pleasure and will do anything to get it back."


    "How did he get on board with it then, if it didn''t work with me," I said.


    "He probably didn''t," Esther said. "I think someone managed to transport or teleport them on. I just haven''t figured out how someone could transport them through the Aether Field."


    "Oh no," Owen mumbled. He sat on the bed beside the sleeping Starwatcher. "No. That couldn''t have been it."


    "What?" Esther walked up to stand right in front of Owen. Warpaint side-stepped to let her pass him to be in front of Owen, but not in front of me.


    My hand balled up into a fist to punch him for abandoning my friend, but I stopped myself. He was made of metal. It wouldn''t do anything to him and it would hurt my hand. Besides, he was just doing what my father programmed him to do.


    Owen sighed. "I was paid to bring on a small metal box. They said it would pass through the scans with anything inside undetected. I didn''t think anything of it."


    "How small?" Esther asked.


    He measured it with his hands.


    "Too small to fit enough of the Corruption," she said, "but maybe enough for a teleportation device. Then they could just teleport directly onboard without passing through the Aether Field."


    "There hasn''t been an actual successful teleportation device though," Owen said.


    "Not in the Gathering," Esther said, "but the Corruption is much older than the Gathering races and much more advanced."


    "Sir," Warpaint said, "I''ve tried to be patient, but there are so many crimes happening right now, I really think we should report Esther and Owen to the authorities."


    "No," all three of us said at the same time.


    "Warpaint," I said, "if there is a dangerous alien species running around out there unchecked and taking over the authorities, it would not be good for my health to report to these same authorities."


    "We don''t have evidence of aliens, sir," Warpaint said. "We only have the words of this girl who is much younger than you."


    "I can show you evidence," Esther said. But she didn''t move except to look at the ceiling. She bit her bottom lip.


    "How do you know all this?" I asked. I believed her about the evidence, but it seemed for whatever reason it was difficult for her to show us. I remembered how she cried right after her fight with Warpaint. Something traumatic must have happened to her.


    "I was on the Lion of Judah Research Station. Ever heard of it?"


    Owen and I both shook our heads. Warpaint didn''t offer if he had any information on it or not.


    "Not many have," she said. "We didn''t have much contact outside our station. It doesn''t exist anymore anyway." Moisture formed in her eyes, but she blinked it away. "We found an alien that has never been mentioned in any Gathering records."


    "The Corruption?" Owen asked.


    "No," she said. "The Awakened One. It told us about the Corruption. When it learned about the K''thaktra war, it told us what the zek really was."


    "Where is the Awakened One?" Owen asked. "How did you come here all alone?"


    The tears were back, only this time she couldn''t blink them away. Huge drops fell to her cheeks.


    "The Corruption found us," she said. "I''ll show you."


    Her volo began to project what happened. There were people around her. Adults who pushed children back. Some people ran to the front as people came together and lines formed. They spoke in a language I didn''t know. It wasn''t Gatherish.


    And then Esther was pulled away from the crowds, behind them. The volo didn''t capture what pulled her, but it looked like two extremely large, hairy fingers on her arm. She didn''t fight it. Her volo caught the sparkly pink fog, only this time it didn''t surround any K''thaktra, it was by itself. It didn''t touch the people at first. Not because it wasn''t trying, it seemed like there was an invisible shield around the people. The people waved their arms through the fog and the fog would disperse briefly, but then...it was horrible.


    Small holes formed on the people''s flesh. Bumps formed within the skin as if something extremely tiny was moving around underneath. That was when their screams began, but it wasn''t like my screams when the zek had been inside me. These were death screams and blood pooled out of them through their noses, through their mouths and eyes and through all the tiny little holes all over them.


    A loud, low voice rumbled out from the projection. Esther responded to it. She was away from the people. Away from the pink fog. The low voice rumbled something else to her as she was pushed onto the shuttle. Tears streamed down her face as she started the shuttle and out to space. The projection cut off there.


    Esther wasn''t where she had been. She kneeled in a corner away from us with her back to us. Her body shuddered as she sobbed. Her volo moved to hover around her head once the projection ended. Owen got off the bed and went to hug her from behind. I walked over to her. I pushed Warpaint away when he tried to stand between me and Esther again. He let me put my hand on her shoulder, but he stayed very close.


    We stayed that way until Esther''s sobs stopped. "I don''t usually cry this much," she said.


    "It''s okay," Owen said. "It must be difficult to relive it."


    "What are they?" I asked. "The Corruption. It just looked like the pink fog of zek."


    "That''s what they look like congregated," she said. "Individually they are extremely small, pink and sparkly like the fog."


    "If they can take over people, why didn''t they do that on the Lion of Judah?" Owen asked. "Why did they kill them?"


    She stood up, but didn''t reply.


    "If you''re not ready to tell us," Owen said, "it''s okay. You can tell us whenever you''re ready."


    "Thank you," she said to him. Her voice was soft.


    "Did anyone else make it out?" I asked. "The Awakened One?"


    She shook her head. "Only me." It was barely a whisper.


    "Was the Awakened One the thing that led you to the shuttle?" I asked.


    She nodded. "He stayed behind to hold them off while I got away."


    "Then he is a hero," Owen said. "He saved you."


    She scoffed. That was not the reaction I was expecting. Owen was surprised too.


    "I didn''t like him," she said when she saw our reactions. "He wasn''t nice."


    "But . . ." Owen started, but didn''t finish.


    "I''ll tell you more when I''m ready. When I know I can really trust you," she said. "But for now, I''ll say it wasn''t for me, but for the knowledge he gave me. That was what he wanted to save."


    She turned to the Starwatcher. "You''ve seen only a small portion of how dangerous the Corruption are. That is why we have to kill him."


    "Oh no," Owen said.


    "What?" Esther asked when he didn''t continue.


    "That metal box I told you about," Owen said. "I was told to put it in the museum. Vai, remember where we first met? Not the shuttle because you were too out of it."


    "The museum." I said.


    He nodded. "Remember who else was there?"


    "The captain?" I asked.


    "Yes. She was there the time and day I was specifically told to put the box there so unless you took the box . . ."


    "The captain took it," I said.


    "Then the captain is with the Corruption," Esther said. "We need to kill her too."

 Chapter 33 .

    Vai


    "Let''s not jump to conclusions," Owen said.  "We need to check to make sure the captain is infected with the Corruption before we kill her."


    "I can''t believe we''re still talking about killing people," I said.


    "Do you want the K''thaktra war to happen all over again?" Esther asked.  Owen and I both shook our heads. "Then this is what we need to do. The Corruption are horrible beings.  We can''t let them take over more and win. If they get their way, every being will have the Corruption inside them.  Even children. They won''t discriminate."


    I hadn''t given any thought to the girl that had been in the basement of Papa''s store until then.  She must have already been infected too. They all had. And Thrissko. If Esther was right, the Corruption was still inside him, had bonded with him and it would be impossible for him to be without them.


    "We need to at least be sure they have the Corruption in them first," I said.


    Esther nodded.  "I agree. Let''s be sure."


    "How can we be sure?"  Owen asked. "Pink in their eyes?"


    "The pink only shows itself when the Corruption is telling the host something directly," Esther said.


    "I saw it in Officer Hansi''s eyes when I gave him my statement," I said.


    "I saw it in his eyes when they came down to level 8 to find me," Esther said.


    "You didn''t see it in anyone elses?" Owen asked.


    "No," Esther said.


    "Sir," Warpaint said, "if we can''t go to the authorities I at least think we should tell your father."


    Esther sat on the bed next to Officer Hansi.  She opened the top drawer in the dresser next to the bed and pulled out the Aether Field Prototype.  She turned it slowly in her hands.


    "No, Warpaint," I said.  "He''ll want to keep me away from all this."  I waved in the direction of Owen, Esther and the sleeping Starwatcher.


    "Maybe you should stay away from all this," Warpaint said.


    I put my hand over my chest.  "Remember what happened last time I thought Owen was going to die and I couldn''t help him?  I almost died." I exaggerated my breathing.


    Owen smiled, but turned away from us before Warpaint noticed.


    "All right, sir.  Just don''t die."


    "So," Owen said, "we need to find out if the captain has the Corruption in her and then we can go from there.  Vai is probably the best one to find out."


    "How?" I asked.  It wasn''t like I was on good terms with the captain where I could just look into her eyes.


    "I don''t know," Owen said.  "Go to the bridge."


    Esther placed the Aether Field Prototype into her lap and touched the Starwatcher''s cheeks with both her hands with almost affection.


    "I guess I could go to the bridge using the excuse that I thought my father would be there.  Maybe he will be there."


    Esther twisted the Starwatcher''s head suddenly, violently and there was a loud pop as his neck broke.  She had said we needed to kill him, but I wasn''t expecting like that in the middle of a conversation. I''d thought I''d have time to prepare myself.  She stared down at Officer Hansi''s face and gathered the Aether Field Prototype in her hands.  Owen took a step away from her and a step closer to me and Warpaint.  She turned on the Aether Field Prototype.


    Pink smoke came out of Officer Hansi''s ears and nose.  Esther swiped the Aether Field Prototype over the Corruption and they fizzled away into nothingness.  She turned it off.


    "What are we going to do with the body?" she asked.


    There was a long stretch of silence until Owen and I both realized she was genuinely asking us.  I was still in shock. I wasn''t sure how I should feel about Officer Hansi. I was glad the Corruption were dead, but Officer Hansi hadn''t done anything bad that I knew about.  It wasn''t like he was the K''thaktra during the war that tore us apart with their bare hands in a bloody massacre before the Shadow had turned the tides.


    "Throw him out to space," Owen offered.


    Esther shook her head.  "The ship''s sensors will pick him up right away and then everyone will know he''s dead.  Then they''ll be looking for me not just for stealing, but for murder. And the ones with the Corruption will know I''m targeting them."


    There was another long pause.  Part of me wanted to contribute, but my mind went blank.  Esther had just killed someone and I just stood there by her side contributing to whatever madness this was.


    "We can''t just leave him here," she said after a while had passed.  "He''ll begin to rot."


    "Burn him," Owen said.


    "Where?  The ship''s sensors will report the fire," she said.


    "Chop him up and dissolve him in acid."  Where did Owen keep coming up with these ideas?


    "Maybe I could sneak into the science labs," Esther said, "but that''s harder than the medical labs.  There is always someone in the science labs no matter what time of day or night. There is only someone in the medical labs at night if there is an emergency."


    "Vai could get into the labs easily," Owen said.  "His dad is the Chief Science Officer."


    I looked at him and blinked.


    "Would you do that?" Esther asked me.


    "I . . ." my voice trailed off as I looked at Officer Hansi''s body.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Move," Warpaint demanded as he strode up to Esther.  She quickly got off the bed and stepped to be next to Owen.  Warpaint opened the front half of his body as if it was on a hinge.  The wires, gears and electrical equipment inside him shifted and folded so there was suddenly empty space.  I might be able to fit in there if need be - wear him like a kind of suit. He took off Officer Hansi''s okulus and put it and Hansi''s volo on top of the dresser.  He picked up Officer Hansi, put him inside and closed himself.


    "What . . .?" I started to ask, but stopped at the sudden heat that wafted off the mechatronic.  I could hear the crackle of flames and smell the ash. The sound and heat died away, but the smell of ash was strong.  He opened himself back up.


    "Clean out the ash please, Vai."


    So many crazy things happening all at once.  I nodded and went to the bathroom to retrieve a towel.  I didn''t realize Esther and Owen had done the same until Warpaint said, "Only Vai.  I don''t trust you two."


    I looked behind me to see them both standing there with towels in their hands.


    "I can clean it out with my handheld sweeper," Esther said.


    "No," Warpaint said.  "You can use that to clean whatever spills out of me."


    She nodded.


    I brushed all the ash out, but saved a handful.  It seemed wrong not to do some kind of farewell for the Starwatcher.  I would take this small amount of ashes to the arboretum. I put them in my pocket.  Esther sent her handheld sweeper out to clean what had fallen onto the gray carpet.


    I went to wash my hands in the bathroom.


    "Are you all right?" Owen asked as he followed me.  He put the towel back from where he had retrieved it.


    I nodded because what else was I supposed to do.


    "Me too," he said, but something about the way he said it made me think he was in shock like me.


    Warpaint took the Starwatcher''s okulus and volo off the dresser and put it inside his chest.


    "I''ll take care of everything else down here," Esther said when we came out of the bathroom.  Warpaint had closed himself. "Here is my contact information."


    My okulus buzzed when the info came through.


    "You can contact me anytime," she said.  "Let me know when you find out about the captain.  The sooner the better."


    "All right," I said.


    She led us back to the elevators.  Owen waved to her as the elevator door closed and she was left on level 9.  We stopped at level 5. Owen got out and started down the corridor to his quarters, but stopped when he realized I was still in the elevator.


    "You''re not coming?"


    "I''m going up to level 2," I said.


    "To the science labs to see your dad?"


    "No.  I want to go to the arboretum."


    Owen nodded as if that made perfect sense.  "Should we tell Minmin and Shel about what just happened?"


    I couldn''t imagine telling anyone we just killed someone.  "Not yet," I said. "If they ask . . ." I didn''t know what.


    "If they ask," Owen said, "we''ll tell them we found Esther.  We saw her evidence of the dangerous aliens and they are real, but not more than that.  We can say we''ll tell them more later, when we''re ready so we''re not lying to them."


    "Okay.  I''ll get going then."


    "I''ll talk to you later," he said.


    The elevator went to level 2.  I got out, followed closely by Warpaint.  Once we were in the arboretum, I walked all around to be sure we were alone.  We were. I stopped and sat down on a bench beneath a phosphorescent tree.  "I''m sorry," I said out loud to the Starwatcher who was no longer alive.  "The Corruption might have been forced on you like they tried with me. I hope it''s a relief to you though, not having to live with them inside you - forcing you to do what they want."


    Beside me was a small pond teeming with bandian fish. The roof of the Observation Deck was transparent, and we were moving faster than light; the stream of stars overhead created a ghostly atmosphere.


    I reached down and scooped up some of the bandian fish, and watched them dart back and forth within the cup of my hands. They were shimmering with electricity, as tiny as houseflies, their elegant fins swishing extravagantly as they made their turns. They were too stupid to realize there was any difference at all between the safety of their little pond and the isolation of my hands, cut off from the habitat that had been designed for them. If I were to carry them to the next pond, beneath the next tree, just a few meters away, and slip them into its waters, they would quickly be eaten by the k''thaktran arachnids beneath the surface. And it would still probably be all the same to them.


    I lowered the fish back into their own pond, and they assimilated into the shimmering school, effectively disappearing.  I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ash. "I''m sorry," I said again and dumped it into the pond. The bandian fish swarmed the tiny ashes and nibbled at them until there was nothing left.


    "I hope you didn''t have family."  The thought of him having little children around on the Shadow was almost too much for me.  "No," I said out loud. "You can''t have a family.  Sorry, but that''s what I''m going to believe."


    I stood.  Might as well go up to the bridge and feel out the captain.  My okulus buzzed with an incoming call. It was Owen. He had made it a three-way call between myself, Owen and Esther.  I answered. Owen and Esther''s projections came through my volo.


    "I just remembered something," he said.


    "What?" I asked.


    "Remember that day when I went down to Mazax VIII?"


    "Yes."


    "I overheard Lieutenant Tanpo on a call with your father.  She said the captain refused to go planetside when she was supposed to which makes me think even more that the Corruption might be inside her."


    "That makes sense," Esther said.  "She wouldn''t be able to pass through the Aether Field without it killing the Corruption."


    "Your father specifically asked her if anyone refused to go near the Aether Field," Owen said.


    "Does your father know about the Corruption?" Esther asked.


    "I don''t know," I said, but it seemed more and more likely that he did know and if he knew, there were probably a few others that knew.  It was probably highly classified information. "Did Lieutenant Tanpo say if there was anyone who refused to go near the Aether Field?"


    "Yes.  Her mechanic, Wilson."


    "Then he has the Corruption too," Esther said.  "It will be easier to kidnap the mechanic than the captain.  I''ll start with him."


    "Be sure before you take him," I said.  "Be sure he really has the Corruption inside him."


    "I will," she said.


    "I remembered something else too," Owen said.


    "What?" I asked.


    "Shel said the captain of the Shadow sent his father, the captain of the Armstar, a metal box.  Remember?"


    I nodded.


    "And that was when the rift between his parents began and his mother commissioned your father to make them those special earstuds."


    "I remember," I said.


    "And his earstuds reacted strangely to the aether shield Warpaint created on Brist," Owen continued.  "I think Captain Axa of the Shadow sent the Corruption teleportation device to Captain Svolun of the Armstar which probably means he''s been infected too.  And I think Shel''s mother knew about the Corruption and how to stop them and those earstuds are special, maybe even like an aether field.  Remember how adamant your dad was about Shel not ever removing them?"


    "Do you know, Warpaint?" I asked.  "My father installed a small aether shield inside you to protect me.  Do you know about the Corruption? Does my father?"


    "I do not know about the Corruption other than what we''ve learned today.  I cannot speak to what your father knows or doesn''t know."


    "Maybe the Gathering who know about it don''t call it the Corruption," Esther said.  "That was a name the Awakened One had used. We didn''t have a name for them."


    "That would make sense," I said.  "Maybe they still call them zek, but there are a few who know it isn''t a drug."


    "Can you ask your father?" Esther said.


    I shook my head.  "If he knew I was looking into this, if he knew we killed someone, he''d lock me away forever and I''d never be able to help you.  Do we warn Shel and Minmin? Minmin doesn''t have any earstuds to keep her safe and her mom is the second in command on the Armstar.  She''d be in close contact with Shel''s father."


    "I don''t think we can tell them yet," Owen said.  "What if they were to tell their parents? Then Esther would be found out and if their parents are controlled by the Corruption already it would be disaster."


    I nodded.  "We don''t tell them yet about the Corruption, but maybe we could warn them to stay away from the drug zek.  I could explain how it changed Thrissko."


    "Yeah, maybe that would be a good idea," Owen said.


    The arboretum doors opened and two small Starwatcher children came in.  I immediately closed the connection to Esther and Owen. I didn''t think the children had noticed me yet.  I walked to the doors and studied them to see if there was any likeness to Officer Hansi. I didn''t see any resemblance.


    They finally noticed me and Warpaint right before I reached the doors.  I waved to them and tried to put on a friendly smile. They waved back, but seemed more interested in my tall height than me.


    I stepped through the doors and went to the elevators.  It was time to see the captain.

 Chapter 34 .

    Vai


    I had been to the bridge only once before and that was shortly after I had arrived on the G.E.F. Shadow.  My father had taken me around to all the possible places I might find him on the ship if I ever needed him.  Like I just couldn''t call him on his okulus.


    I wasn''t sure it would be the captain''s shift.  She changed shifts with the Second and Third officers.  The elevator door opened and I stepped out onto level 1 with Warpaint close behind.  The two security officers at the door to the bridge didn''t stop me. It was pretty obvious I was my father''s son.


    The bridge was in the shape of an oval.  Large windows were all around showing the black space outside and streaks of stars as we jumped in FTL.  Several people in uniform were around at the ship''s various terminals.


    A quick glance around the room told me my father wasn''t there, but I lingered.  The captain was in her chair. I didn''t know how to approach her. Esther said the pink only showed in their eyes when the Corruption were communicating with them.  I wasn''t sure I could confirm she had the Corruption. If the pink didn''t show up, that didn''t mean she was free of the Corruption. I looked around again.


    "Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa''s son?  What are you doing here?" The captain stood in front me.  I was still in front of the entrance.


    "Looking for my father," I lied.  "I guess he isn''t here."


    She looked around at the others working at their stations.  "He is usually here sometime every day, but not at the moment."  She turned back to me. "You should have called him first to confirm his location instead of randomly showing up here and disturbing the rest of us.  The bridge isn''t a place anyone should have easy access to."


    "You''re right.  I''m sorry."


    "You should leave then.  Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa is probably in the lab."


    She started back to her chair.


    "Wait," I said.  She stopped and turned back to me, but I didn''t know what to say.


    "What is it?" She finally asked.  A few other heads turned our way, but they swiveled back to their stations when the captain looked at them.


    "May I ask you a question, Captain?"


    "You''re not going to ask me out to dinner like your little friend did are you?"


    I laughed, but stopped at the scowl on her face.  I hoped I hadn''t made some sort of horrible slip in the chain of command - even though I wasn''t officially in the chain of command.  Or was I just by being on the ship?


    "No," I said.  "Not that."


    "Go ahead then."  Her eyes were a shade of blue that borderlined purple.


    "What is it like to work with my father?"  No sign of pink in her eyes yet.


    "He works hard and is an expert in his field.  You can be proud of him," she said.


    A surge of anger welled up inside.  He had stolen 80 years of my life by being an expert in his field.  "Thank you." I managed not to sound angry at least.


    She dismissed me as she turned her back to me to walk back to her station.


    "Wait," I said.


    Her blue lips pinched tight as she turned around to face me.  "It might not look like it, Lieutenant Commander Ma''amaloa''s son, but I am quite busy."


    "One last thing," I said.  "Do you know about how I first came on board?"


    "You mean the broken bones and eyeball?  Yes Commander Ragear mentioned it in his reports.  You''ve healed up nicely." Her fingers tapped her thigh impatiently.


    "Do you know of zek?"


    And there it was.  A flash of pink in her eyes before it was gone.


    My heart began to thump against my chest and my fingers began to tingle.  Had I just made a horrible mistake?


    Warpaint began to poke my shoulder with his metal finger.  I pushed his finger away before I remembered that was the signal that my father spied on me through him.


    "It has all been destroyed," the captain said, but her voice had changed.  It was lower, strained, dangerous.


    "Yes," I said, "that''s what I heard.  That''s a relief. Well, I better go find my father."


    I turned and quickly left.  It seemed like I was half running out.  I hoped it didn''t appear that way to the captain.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    We got inside the elevators and went to level 2.  She was one of them. She had the Corruption inside her.  The captain of the G.E.V. Shadow.  The captain of the flagship of the G.E.F.  It wasn''t going to be easy to kill her. People would notice her absence let alone the fact that she was a proven warrior and tactician.


    The elevator door opened at level 2.  I got out and went to the labs. I didn''t have an excuse to give my father about why I wanted to see him, but he had been spying on me so he would be expecting me.  I stopped in the middle of the corridor right outside the lab doors. What if my father had spied on me when Esther had killed Officer Hansi? It hadn''t been an hour yet since that happened.


    I looked at Warpaint and wondered if my father still watched me.  I needed to come up with a signal for Warpaint to let me know when my father stopped spying on me.


    The doors slid open and we stepped into the lab.  The scientists around me greeted me as I walked back to my father''s personal lab.  I nodded to them and tried to smile, but wasn''t sure the smile actually reached my lips.  There was a slow panic beginning to swell within my stomach. Maybe I should tell my father about everything.  Maybe all of this was too much for a handful of teenagers. What really were we supposed to do about it? Keep killing people with the Corruption one at a time like Esther wanted?  On the other hand, Esther had gone one on one with Warpaint. She wasn''t just a regular girl.


    My father stood at the door.  I walked passed him and inside.  I sat down at the chair in front of his desk.  He went around and sat in his chair behind the desk.


    Neither of us spoke and time stretched out between us.


    "The captain called me," he finally said.  "She said you were looking for me."


    "Yes," I said.  I wondered if she had really called him or if he was using that excuse to disguise his spying.  "I was just . . ." but I didn''t have anything.


    "I didn''t have your teacher fired, although I personally think she should be.  There isn''t anyone else to take over though. Captain Svolun was not happy when he heard about what happened with his son and his First officer''s daughter on Mazax VIII.  It was on his order that she is being reprimanded. She''ll be back in a few weeks. Just deal with the substitutes until then."


    I nodded as if that was the reason I had come down to see him.


    "I could end my shift now," my father said.


    That surprised me.  He never finished early and most of the time worked late.


    "Do you want to go to eat at the Starrise?"


    Not since eighty years ago - before I had slept - had he asked me to go out to eat.  Now along with the panic was a mix of confused feelings. The anger was still there, but also a surge of love and the sudden urge to call him dad and not father.


    "Yes," I said.


    He stood up.  "Let''s go." The Starrise was on the same level so we didn''t have far to go.


    They seated us and my father ordered right away - his usual which turned out to be a seafood salad.  I hadn''t realized he came here so often, but it was on the same level as his labs so I supposed it made sense.  I ordered a steak. It was expensive, but my father didn''t seem bothered by the prices. I saw Spencer, but he waited on tables across the room.  We weren''t in his section, so I didn''t really have to see him.


    "Father," I said after the meal came.


    He had a large bite in his mouth.  "Hmm?"


    "Did...does Officer Hansi have family?"  I couldn''t help it. I had to know.


    "Not on the ship," my father said.


    I hoped that meant no wife and kids.  Usually people brought their families with them on the ships.


    "Why?  Are you worried about him?"


    "He is the one who took my statement.  I haven''t heard anything about him after his disappearance."


    My father put his fork down and looked at me across the table.


    "It''s possible he deserted, but not easy to do on a starship.  The other ships in the armata are searching to see if he possibly moved to a different ship without informing them."


    "Those options aren''t likely," I said.


    "No," he agreed.


    "His okulus can''t be traced?"


    "His location was turned off so no.  I believe security did a level by level search, but haven''t turned up anything."


    How had Esther hid him?


    My father changed the subject to school so I didn''t ask anymore questions.  It was oddly comforting to spend time with my father after the stresses of the strange day.


    He didn''t go home with me when we were through.  He said goodbye to me at the elevator and went back to the labs.


    "Warpaint, we need to come up with a signal you can give me when my father stops spying on me through you."


    "Like what, sir?  I know." He pointed a finger to the ceiling.  "I could step on your toes." He seemed so happy about it.


    "No, Warpaint.  Don''t step on my toes.  Why don''t you just put a hand on my shoulder."


    "I can do that, sir."


    A call came through just as we stepped into our quarters.  It was Shel.  I answered it and his image was projected through my volo.


    "We heard from Owen," he said.  It appeared he was alone in his bedroom so Owen must have made a three way call to Shel and Minmin.


    I nodded.  I was sure Owen hadn''t told them everything.  I thought we would do it together later.


    "There is more than what he told us, isn''t there?"


    "I don''t know exactly what he told you."


    "He told us you found Esther, that you believe her about the alien, but he wouldn''t tell us what that was or what to watch out for.  He also told us there was a dangerous drug called zek and that we should stay away from any pink fog."


    "That''s about it," I said.


    "No," Shel said.  "There is more.  Is zek and the dangerous alien related?  Did Esther kidnap Officer Hansi? What more are you keeping from me and Minmin?"


    There was a lot I was personally keeping from everyone, but he didn''t need to know all of that.


    "We''ll tell you the rest of it sometime, but we can''t tell you now.  What if you say something to your parents?"


    "Why would we?  I''m not on speaking terms with my father anyway."


    "But what if we told you and you thought you needed to tell your mother to protect her and she told others.  Then the dangerous aliens would know all about us. Your mother would be in danger too."


    He paused at that.  "Fine. I''ll wait, but you have to tell us sometime."


    "I promise," I said.  And then I said something I probably shouldn''t have, but I needed to know.  Part of me wanted him to be more warned that what we had agreed to.


    "Do you ever think you see a pink glint in your dad''s eyes?"


    He bit his bottom lip and tears sprung to his eyes.  I knew it then. His father also had the Corruption inside him.  Did my father and his mother know about the aliens? Is that why she had commissioned my father for those earstuds?  Did they keep the Corruption out?


    As quickly as his tears came, they left and his face became stoic.  "Maybe you should tell me everything now," he said. "Is my mom in danger?  Am I?  Because of my dad?"


    "I think as long as you keep in those earstuds, you''ll be fine."


    "Then that means my mom and your dad know what is going on."


    "I think so," I said.  "But I can''t ask because he will lock me away for my safety."


    He nodded and swallowed hard.  "I''ll wait for you to tell me what is going on, but don''t make me wait too long."  He ended the call.

 Chapter 35 .

    Esther


    I sat in the maintenance shaft and ate an algae bar.  Security hadn''t come down to level 9 since early that morning, but I wanted to be ready just in case.  I watched level 14 on the security feeds I had hacked into. Mechanic Wilson worked on the shuttle furthest from the aether field.


    I should try to open the light in Owen and Vai soon.  I wouldn''t have to be alone anymore. I trusted Owen more than I trusted Vai.  It seemed they were both sincere, but there was something off about Vai that I hadn''t been able to figure out.  For one thing, I couldn''t hack his quarters or the feeds into his quarters. I thought that had more to do with his father than him.  I also couldn''t hack into his father''s labs.


    As much as I didn''t want to be alone anymore, they weren''t really my friends.  I barely knew them as was evident when they started talking about Shel and Minmin and didn''t bother to tell me who they were.  That was okay, I hacked into the armata''s rosters and found them on the Armstar.  All four of them were a year older than me.


    Wilson''s shift ended.  I watched him through the security feeds as he made his way to level 10.  He went into one of the smaller quarters. They were setup much like the ones on level 9 with only a single bedroom.  I patted my pocket to make sure the sedatives were still there. I didn''t end the feed, but I set it aside as I made my way through the maintenance shafts down to level 10.


    I changed the security feed view so I could see in the corridor directly outside the maintenance shaft.  It was empty. I quickly opened the hatch and stepped out. I closed the shaft silently behind me. I didn''t see anyone, but since the security was looking for a strange girl - me - I always pulled my cowl down over my face.


    I made my way to the next corridor and to the door of his quarters.  It was late and thankfully the corridors were quiet. I connected to the door and bypassed the security code.  The door slid open. I stepped inside and the door closed behind me. He wasn''t in the living quarters. I checked the security feed.  He was in the bedroom. He watched a comedy program on his okulus and drank an algae shake. He laughed.


    I took out the sedatives and readied one.  I needed to be quick. He laughed again as I stood outside his bedroom door.  I collected my breath. It had to be done. I couldn''t lead the Corruption to the Awakened One.  I was the last one with the light. I couldn''t let them kill me.


    The door opened.


    He saw me.  The Corruption in his eyes recognized me.


    "Captain," he said into his okulus.


    I jumped the space between us using the light to enhance the speed.  He spilled the shake all over his shirt in surprise. I tore the okulus away from him and threw it across the room.  Before I could give him the sedative, he punched me in the nose.


    White pain tingled through me and my vision blurred.  He pushed me off the bed while I blinked until my vision cleared.  He reached the okulus.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Captain, she''s . . ."


    I didn''t need Vai to verify the captain had the Corruption.  It was obvious by the way Wilson tried to reach her for help.


    I pushed the light away from me in one great force towards Wilson.  He blinked as the light not only temporarily blinded him, but pushed him backwards into the wall.


    I rushed him.  I tore the okulus out of his hands and turned it off.  He had recuperated enough that he grabbed me around the waist and pushed.  I couldn''t keep my balance under the force and I fell to my back. He fell on top of me.  His hands came up to choke my neck, but I used the light to create a shield around my neck.


    He grimaced with frustration that his hands hovered just centimeters above my skin.  I took the shot of sedative and jammed it into his arm. He cried out in pain and pulled away from me.  I prepared another sedative just in case as he tore out the used one and tossed it across the room.


    I got to my feet, my legs tensed ready to spring away or at him - whatever the situation might call for.  He looked around, I assumed for his okulus, but it was in my pocket.


    He blinked and his eyes slowly became foggy as the sedative began to take hold.  He didn''t wait. He ran towards the bedroom door. It slid open. He took a step out when I reached him.  I kneed him in the back and he fell forward. He didn''t fight back, but I used another sedative just in case.


    One small, pink Corruption came out of his ear.  Everything had happened so quickly with Officer Hansi that the Corruption inside didn''t know what was happening to react at first.  I suspected they were testing me now with Wilson. I caught it in my hand. With the light awakened inside me, they couldn''t take over me like they could others.


    There was a sharp pain in my palm as it tried to dig its way inside.  I refocused the light to my palm. I surrounded the Corruption with my light, tightened it until the Corruption burst into nothingness.  It was easy to do that to a few, not millions.


    I had readjusted my distorter to hide me from infrared cameras as well as normal and night vision cameras.  Wilson would show up on the cameras. I reshaped my okulus and spread it over Wilson to hide him from the cameras.  I hadn''t bothered with Officer Hansi because no one knew I had taken him until it was too late, but Wilson had tried to call the captain.


    I checked the security feeds in the corridors.  It was still empty. I carried Wilson on my back and entered the corridor.  We made it back to the maintenance hatch just as I heard shouting back towards Wilson''s quarters.  I opened the hatch and shoved Wilson inside. I crawled in after him and closed the maintenance hatch behind me.  I didn''t have time to use the handheld sweeper. I was wearing gloves and my cowl had been pulled over my head the entire time so I didn''t think I had left a trace.  I had been extremely careful after I left the Lion of Judah Research Station not to leave any trace of me that the Corruption could use to find me.


    I stayed still as there was movement in the corridor directly outside the maintenance shaft.


    "See anything?" Someone asked.


    "No," someone else answered.


    I waited until they walked away.  I checked the security feed. Two officers were at Wilson''s closed door.  I pushed and pulled Wilson passed the restricted levels of 9, 8 and 7 and waited at level 6.


    When I checked the security feeds, several officers were doing a sweep of levels 9, 8 and 7.  I waited with another sedative in my hand in case I needed to use it on Wilson again. It wasn''t until early morning that the officers left the restricted levels.  I didn''t feel safe going down quite yet.


    Wilson moaned and tried to roll over.  I gave him the third sedative. I was going to run out of those sooner rather than later and I didn''t think it was a good idea for me to try to steal from the medical reserves again.  They''d be watching for that now.


    It was only going to get harder and harder to take those with the Corruption by myself.  They would be more aware of me and more cautious. I should open the light in the others.


    I thought about killing Wilson then and there, but the mechatronic''s way of getting rid of the body was handy.  I''d wait.

 Chapter 36 .

    Vai


    The next day in school we had a different substitute again.  This time it was someone from medical who taught us basic first aid which we had already learned.  That was okay. At least it was something applicable to me. Especially now that I knew about the Corruption.  I would most likely have to defend myself in the future. Owen and I had agreed to help Esther kill people with the Corruption.  In either of those situations, first aid might come up. I hadn''t told either one yet about the captain. After my phone call with Shel the day before I had just shut myself in my room and avoided contact with everyone else.  I had no idea how we were going to kill her and I had a feeling they might delegate the task to me since I could easily - or easier than them - access the bridge.


    I didn''t really have a chance to speak with Shel, Minmin and Owen before class started.  I had hoped this substitute would be late, but they were a little early. Right before class ended I got a message on my okulus.


    ?Meet me in Owen''s room as soon as your class is over.


    It was from Esther.  Owen looked at his Okulus and then whispered to me, "But I''m in my room right now."  Only his mind was in the ansible. His body was probably lying on his bed like mine. He looked at his okulus again as if he doubted what he just read.  His Adam''s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard. I''d be unnerved too if Esther told me to meet me in my room while I was currently in it.


    Class ended and the teacher signed off before the rest of us.  Spencer looked across the room at us, but he hadn''t said anything to us since Minmin beat him up on Mazax VIII.


    "We should go to my refuge and talk about things," Shel said.


    His refuge was the silver beach.  I wanted to go back there, but . . .


    "Can''t," Owen said.


    "You need to explain things better to us," Minmin said.


    Shel and I exchanged a glance.  I didn''t think Shel told Minmin about his private conversation with me the previous night.  I hadn''t told Owen yet either.


    "It''s not that we don''t want to meet with you," I said.  Most of the other students had signed off and there wasn''t anyone around us, but I whispered, "The mystery girl just sent a message to meet."


    "Yeah," Owen said, but his eyes grew distant.  The three of us stared at him until he blinked and turned back to us.  To me especially. "Do you want to go to my room first? I''ll stay in the school program a few more minutes.  I''m kind of afraid of what I''ll see in my room when I sign off the ansible. It would be nice if you''re already there."


    "She''s meeting you in your room?" Shel said.  "I''m not sure I like her."


    "It''s probably the safest place for her right now," Minmin said.


    "Yeah, but it''s his private room," Shel said.  "And she just goes in like it''s nothing."


    "It''s not like it''s her first time in his room," Minmin said.


    "That doesn''t make it better," Shel said.


    "I''ll go first," I said.  "Is your dad home?"


    "I don''t know.  He usually is, but how could she get passed him?"


    "I''ll go now."  I waved goodbye to Shel and Minmin and signed off.  I took my okulus off from around my head and reshaped it to fit around my wrist.


    "Did you have a good day in school, sir?" Warpaint asked as he held out an algae bar.


    I took it and bit into it.  I walked out of my bedroom and out of my quarters into the corridor.  Warpaint followed close behind as I took a second bite.


    "Where are we going, sir?  The gym?"


    But I passed the elevators and entered the corridor that would lead me to Owen''s quarters.


    "Your young friend''s then.  I''m not sure how you keep making friends with the young ones so easily.  You really should interact with people your own age."


    I sighed and knocked on Owen''s door.  I finished the algae bar while I waited.  I wasn''t sure what I had expected. Owen had said he would stay in the school program for a few minutes so I guess I was expecting Esther, but Owen''s father opened the door.


    He smiled when he saw me.  "Vai. What a nice surprise.  I take it you''re here to see Owen.  He''s still in his room. Go ahead and go inside."  He waved a hand in the direction of Owen''s bedroom door.


    "Thank you," I said and stepped passed him.  I paused at the bedroom door not sure what I would see inside and not sure if I should let Owen''s dad see anything.  But I didn''t need to worry. Owen''s father had already retreated into his own bedroom.


    The door to Owen''s bedroom slid open and I stepped inside.  I didn''t see Esther at first. Not until I fully stepped inside and the door slid closed behind me did I see her at the bathroom door.


    "Hi," she said.


    "Hello," I returned.


    I wasn''t comfortable with it being just me and Esther.  I really hoped Owen would sign off soon. I stepped closer to his bed.  He was lying with the comforter over him. It must have been one he brought from home because it was a dark green and not the boring gray the G.E.F. provided.  His okulus was shaped around his head. I stopped when I got close. Owen was not the only one under the comforter.


    "What is this?" I asked Esther.


    "Wilson," she replied as if it wasn''t a big deal.


    "How did you get him in here?  Passed Owen''s father? Owen is going to flip if he wakes up next to a body."


    "Wilson isn''t dead yet," Esther said as if that was my main problem.


    I blinked at her.  Owen stirred and removed the okulus off his head.


    "Don''t freak out," I said to him.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "What?"  He saw Wilson.  He opened his mouth to scream, but Esther was suddenly by his side and her slim hand covered his lips.


    "It''s okay," she said.


    "Okay?" I said.  "How is this okay?"


    Esther removed her hand.


    "Is he dead?" Owen asked.  He crawled out of bed and scrambled to be next to Warpaint.


    "He''s not dead yet," Esther said.


    "Why bring him here?"  Owen asked. "How did you get him passed my father?  Why didn''t you just kill him?"


    "I thought it would be wise to kill him with the mechatronic around so he could just dispose of his body."


    It was macabre, but it made sense.


    "As to how I got passed your father," Esther said, "I came in when he was in his bathroom."


    "But how did you know where he was?" Owen asked.


    "The security feeds," she said like it wasn''t a big deal.


    "People don''t normally have access to the security feeds, friend," Owen said.  Owen usually said friend with ease, but here...well, he didn''t actually stumble on the word, but it sounded different than usual - strained.  She didn''t seem to notice. She sat on Owen''s bed in the same spot he had just been.


    Wilson moaned.  His hand went up to his forehead.  She stuck a sedative in his arm. He quieted.  She looked at the empty shot in her hand. "That was the last one I had," she said.  "It''s going to be harder to take the others. And I''m afraid it''s going to be almost impossible to get the captain."


    "We haven''t verified yet that the captain has the Corruption," Owen said.


    "Yes we have," Esther said.  "Wilson tried to call her when I took him."


    "And I saw the pink in her eyes," I said.


    Owen looked at his feet and sighed out low.


    "I agree though," I said.  "It''s going to be hard to capture her.  We should wait."


    "What about him?" Owen waved a hand in Wilson''s direction.


    Esther didn''t look at us, but she placed her hands on either side of his head and twisted hard.  There was a pop when his neck snapped. She pulled the bag off her back - which I hadn''t really noticed until then.  She opened it and took out the Aether Field Prototype as the pink smoke came out of Wilson''s ears and nose.  She turned it on and swiped it over the pink smoke. It - or rather they - fizzled into nothingness.


    She looked at Warpaint and stepped away from the bed.  He stepped forward and opened his front. Wilson was not as easy to fit inside as Officer Hansi because he was a human not a Starwatcher.  Once the mechanic was inside, Warpaint closed the front. The heat wafted off him. After a short while, he opened himself back up and looked at me.  I had already gone to Owen''s bathroom to retrieve a towel. I cleaned out the ash from inside.


    "What''s our next move?" Owen asked Esther.


    "We need to figure out who else has the Corruption."


    "But how will we capture them?" I asked.  "You said you ran out of the sedative. I don''t think you should steal more.  They''ll notice it''s gone and they need those for medical . . ."


    "I know," she interrupted me.  "I''m going to need more help from both of you.  I''m going to trust you with the biggest secret I have.  Are you ready?"


    Owen and I exchanged a glance.  Owen turned to Esther. "I''m ready.  I told you that you didn''t need to be alone anymore."


    This was crazy.  We were agreeing to help her kill people.  But I knew first hand what zek - the Corruption - felt like.  I remembered more clearly than both of them the K''thaktra war.


    "I''m ready too," I said.  There was no turning back now.


    Esther nodded.  "You first then," she said to Owen.  She stepped up to him and put the palm of one hand on his forehead and the other on the back of his neck.  "I really hope this works. I''ve never tried it before." She closed her eyes.


    "What are you doing?" Owen asked.  He gasped and closed his eyes. The pink light I thought I saw around her during her fight with Warpaint came back and surrounded not only her, but Owen too.  And then there was a faint yellow light that came from Owen - surrounded him. He blinked his eyes several times until they focused on Esther.


    "What did you do?" he whispered.


    "I brought out your light," she said.  "It worked." She turned to me. "Your turn."


    "Wait," I took a step backwards.  "What do you mean?"


    Warpaint stepped between her and me.


    "It won''t hurt him," she said to Warpaint.


    "No," Owen said.  "It won''t. I think...I think this is good."  He held out a hand and stared into his empty palm.  The faint yellow light seemed to grow stronger in his palm for one brief moment.  He smiled a crooked smile.


    "Is whatever this is," I said, "how you were able to go one on one with Warpaint?"


    "Yes," she said.  "I''m not really doing anything to you.  The light is already there, I''m just helping to bring it forward."


    "How do you know about this?" I asked.  "Was everyone on your research station able to do this?"


    I pushed Warpaint and he stepped to the side.  Esther stepped up to me.


    "I don''t think this is a good idea, sir," Warpaint said.  "I have no idea what she is talking about and if it will harm you."


    "If I die," I told him, "you can kill her."


    "You won''t die because of this," Esther said.  "It will help you. No one at the Lion of Judah Research Station had tried to open the light in others.  I''m the first one to try."


    "Then how did you and your colony get the light?" I asked.


    Owen still stared at his palm.  I wasn''t sure if he was paying attention to our conversation or not.


    "The Awakened One.  He showed us. He taught us."


    She touched my forehead with one hand. Her other hand circled around and cupped the back of my neck.  Her hands were warm. The warmth spread from her and seeped into my skin. It spread throughout my brain, seemed to run along electrical impulses throughout my body.  Everything turned green. I blinked as something new inside me grew. I became hyper aware of my internal workings - the beat of my heart, my lungs, the blood as it ran through my veins.  And then the air around me seemed to come alive as I became aware of even the very molecules around me. They floated and intertwined around me. I opened my palm like Owen had done. The molecules gathered with a thought into a green swirling light.


    I looked at Esther.  The pink light around her was not faint like it had been before, but brilliant and beautiful.  She smiled.


    "I thought Owen''s yellow light was unique," she said, "I never expected your light to be green."


    I looked at Owen.  Yellow like the sun blazed off him.  It seemed fitting.


    "Friends," Owen said, "I think this is only the beginning of an undiscovered power."


    "Yes," Esther said.  "The Corruption will never be able to take over either of you and you can kill them now.  At least in small numbers. The Awakened One had only begun to teach us. He said we had only begun to tap into our powers."


    "It''s too bad your Awakened One is dead," I said.  "There is so much we need to learn."


    "There is another one," she said.  "He has called out to me. The G.E.F. will pass right where he is sleeping.  We must go to him, but we can''t lead the Corruption to him. Do you understand now why I have to kill everyone with the Corruption?"


    I nodded.  Owen nodded.  "We''ll help you," Owen said.


    "We''ll discover those with the Corruption and kill them," I said.  The light inside made me feel powerful, but I knew it wasn''t quite enough.  I only had to remember what happened on the Lion of Judah Research Station to know that.


    "Sir," Warpaint said, "I have no idea what is happening."


    "You can''t see the light around us?" I asked.  The pink and yellow around Owen and Esther were still brilliant in my eyes and I was as green as grass.


    "No, sir."


    "You can only see the light if it''s been opened inside you," Esther said.  "The Awakened One said he saw reds and pinks in us on the Lion of Judah, but until we could see it ourselves, no one knew exactly what he meant."


    But I had seen the pink in Esther before I had the light.  I decided not to mention it for now. I wasn''t sure what it meant.


    "You only had reds and pinks?" Owen asked.  "Then why is mine yellow and Vai''s green? We''re all human."


    "I don''t know," Esther said.  "The Awakened One said the light affected everyone a little differently so even though we all had the same light, there were different things we could do with it."


    "What about Bundu-Jo''s, Starwatchers and K''thaktra?" I asked.  "Do they have the light too?"


    "The Awakened One said the Gathering had the light so I assume all the aliens in the Gathering could have their light awakened.  The only ones besides those on the Lion of Judah to have the light brought out is you two."


    "Then maybe it could be brought out in Shel and Minmin too," I said.


    "But they''re on a different ship," Owen said.  "And we can''t take Esther with us on field trips for her to bring it out in them."


    "True," I said.


    "Forget that for now," Esther said.  "The first step is to get rid of the Corruption as much as we can on this ship before we arrive at the planet with the other Awakened One."


    I nodded.  I now had a personal weapon against the Corruption - zek - that thing that had made me scream over and over - that had caused the K''thaktra war and caused so many deaths - that was now silently taking over the Gathering.

 Interlude 4 .

    Thrissko


    "Are you ready?" Papa asked me.


    "Yes," I said. Sally - the human child - placed her palm on top of the barbs of my hand. The wetness slid along my barbs as she cut herself and the blood ran out. She did it on purpose. She had started doing it when the miasmids told her she had to stop cutting herself with her knife if she wanted to go with me into space.


    None of us - including the miasmids - cared if she cut herself, but she got strange looks from the regulars when we went out. The miasmids told us we needed to be careful not to be discovered. Our mission was important.


    We stood with hundreds of others who had the miasmids inside them. We were at the docks - empty except for us. Those who were stationed here already had the miasmids inside them. Some still screamed, but they would join us soon. Two great ships were behind us. Soon we would command more.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "Sally, are you ready?" Papa asked her.


    She stared up at him which we all took to be an assent. She never spoke.


    "Good," he said. He coughed. His large shoulders hunched forward.


    When he finished coughing he said to all of us standing at the base of the ships, but especially me, "I''m relying on you. The miasmids are relying on you."


    Pleasure spread throughout me, tingled everywhere as the miasmids inside me agreed. I''d do anything for them. Even kill my bestfriend. A smile touched my lips when I remembered the satisfying crunch as Vai''s bones broke, as his skin tore open when my barbs cut the flesh. The pleasure increased.


    "You''ll get your chance to finish the job," Papa said as if he read my thoughts. Maybe he had through the miasmids.


    "Yes," I said.


    "The G.E.F.''s itenary has already been programmed into the ships. They''ll be making a lot of stops. You''ll have time to catch up," Papa continued. "We''ll use this opportunity to cripple their fleet. We will get revenge for the miasmids. There won''t be a repeat of the K''thaktra war."


    I smiled. Sally smiled.


    "Be the miasmids''s warriors," Papa said. "I know you will be the best warriors. The Gathering will bow to us."