Punishment

by Guerin Zand

  The next day the Chinese made contact through the IOET. A team was sent to China to collect the Trogan agents and several items of Trogan technology that had been developed. The Chinese, of course, thought it would be ok to save the designs and having anticipated this, Gladys and Bart released a virus in their systems to erase all of the known copies of the data. We let this go without comment. The Chinese teams that Gladys had removed from the lunar and Martian bases, and Earth orbit, were returned to China, not where they were taken from. They had been held in some sort of temporal stasis and were unaware of how they ended up back on Earth. We had discussed what to do with these crews. Gladys and Roger convinced me that they could not be trusted and it was safer to return them to China.

  Gladys contacted the Chinese government and told them removing the Chinese presence from space was their punishment. The details of their collusion with the Trogan empire would not be made known to the IOET or other nations per my instructions. I believed that doing so would just inflame the situation and perhaps the Chinese might appreciate the gesture. It was foolish of me to believe anything I could do would make a difference.

  I was concerned more than ever about my family’s safety. Anna and I discussed sending her and Maria away again, and still she refused to leave without me. I pleaded with her, but she reminded me that we’d been through this before and nothing had happened. I tried to explain that things were much worse now, but she simply would not budge. I had never forced Anna to do anything and it just wasn’t an option, no matter how much I wanted to do it. I did go to Roger and we sent Steve to help Katie protect my daughter. We weren’t sure that the Chinese or anybody else outside our circle knew about my wife and daughter, but I had to assume they did.

  The Collective thought the situation was bad enough that they had Bart and Gladys stay until Sammy and his crew came to relieve them. It was decided that they would keep a shuttle in orbit for the foreseeable future.

  Chapter 18

  The Wang Chung Affair

  It was late May 2040, in Panguipulli, Chile, at Rancho De Zand. This meant it was the end of fall and winter was coming. The climate there was temperate most of the year without large variations over the seasons. In my opinion, it was always cold. I really missed Florida. The temperature was in the low 60’s that day, that’s Fahrenheit in case you are wondering. Anna and I were sitting outside by the fire and I was wearing a sweater. Maria had just graduated with a B.S. in Astrophysics and she had come home for a short visit. It was nice to have her around again.

  Maria came out to the fire dressed in her swimsuit. “Let’s go for a swim, Dad.”

  “You’re fucking kidding, right?” Yes, I no longer tried to filter out the bad words for my daughter. She was grown up now and she’d been hanging around Steve and Katie too much. My language was tame in comparison. “It’s like freezing out here, and the lake has got to be at least ten degrees colder.”

  “Come on. I need the practice.”

  Maria had continued swimming competitively since she was a small child. She was on the college swim team at Berkley and she held several school and national records. I knew she was capable of more since her talent was enhanced by her father’s mutant DNA. She had learned a long time ago to not show off too much to avoid raising suspicion. The summer Olympics were being held in Santiago, Chile, this year, and she had made the U.S. team. She had multiple citizenships, so she had decided to swim for Japan. She wanted to swim for Chile but the chance of the Chilean team qualifying for the swimming competitions was unlikely. “We’ve swum the lake when it’s been colder than this, Dad. Stop being such a wimp.”

  “I can’t help it if I’m a wimp. We’ll freeze to death just walking to the lake in our swimsuits.”

  Anna nudged me. “Go for a swim with your daughter and stop being such an asshole. She’s growing up, and one day she’ll be gone, out on her own. You may not get many other chances to go swimming with your little princess.”

  Maria looked at me with those sad little eyes she always used on me and her mother joined in. “Alright! If I freeze to death I’m never going to let you two forget it!” I walked off to the house with my best pretend look of exasperation and went in to get changed.

  I met the two back at the fire wearing my bathing suit, a towel, and a parka.

  “Whatever, Dad!”

  “You two have fun.” Anna gave me one of her smirks, the one she always gave me when she got her way. Maria and I started to walk down to the lake.

  “I really miss K2.” Anna had been away at college when K2 passed on. She had been so mad at me for not telling her that K2 was ill. “She used to love swimming the lake with us.”

  I put my arm around my daughter as a tear rolled down her cheek. “Well, K2 never actually swam the lake with you. She would just splash around and bark like crazy at the shore until you came back.” Maria and I laughed.

  “So, what’s the bet this time, Dad?”

  “Are you serious? You’ve never beat me except when you were a little girl and I’d let you win.”

  “If I win you buy me a new car for school, ok?”

  “And what do I get if I win?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Well, that’s not really a bet then, is it?”

  “Come on. A simple 5K, and if I lose I’ll do the dishes tomorrow.” The swim across the lake and back was approximately 5K and we always used that as the measure.

  “You have to do the dishes anyways. I’m not seeing any plus side for me in this little bet.”

  We reached the lake, and while I was taking off my parka, my sweet little daughter dove in. Yes, she was going to cheat. I knew that was an alien trait. I dove in after her and it was freezing just like I knew it would be. I caught up with her before we reached the other side of the lake. Our rules were that you had to get out and clear the water’s edge before you could dive in and swim back to the other side. I was out of the water before her. When I turned around to dive back in she had already turned around. She had cheated again. This time I caught up with her in the middle of the lake and passed her with ease. I just stayed slightly ahead of her, changing strokes and even doing the backstroke at one point to taunt her. We reached the shore and I ran out for my towel.

  Maria got out of the lake and grabbed her towel. “I win.”

  We started walking back to the main house. “How’s that? I easily beat you to the shore.”

  “You used illegal strokes. It was supposed to be a freestyle race and you did the breaststroke and backstroke.”

  “Bullshit. We never agreed to that. Besides, you were the one who was cheating.”

  “I didn’t cheat, you did.”

  This argument went on all the way back to the house. Anna was still out in front sitting by the fire.

  “Who won?” Anna asked.

  “I did. Dad cheated.”

  “I didn’t cheat. You cheated.”

  “Did not.”

  “Ok, you two. That’s enough. What’s wrong with you, Guerin? Arguing with your daughter like a little child. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only grown up in this family.” Maria stuck her tongue out at me and I responded in kind.

  “You owe me a new car, Dad.”

  “I do not.”

  “She needs a new car, Guerin. It’s not like you can’t afford it.”

  “That’s not the point. She’s supposed to be all grown up. Shouldn’t she get a job and buy her own car?”

  “She asked me and I said we’d get her a new car. End of discussion.”

  “So, you make me go swimming in that freezing lake, my daughter cheats, and you already decided to buy her the car? You couldn’t have just said so and let me stay here by the fire and keep warm?”

  “No. That wouldn’t have been any fun.” Maria stuck her tongue out at me again and ran off to the house. “The new Porsche is really nice.”

  I sat next to Anna, took her hand and shuddered. It was that same old shudder that I got when my daughter played me lik
e that. A son would have been so much easier I thought.

  Maria popped her head out of the bathroom window. “Would it be too much trouble to put the seat down, Dad?”

  “I don’t know? You tell me.”

  “ARGGGGHHH!”

  “Why do you tease her so?”

  “Me, tease her? She goes out of her way to annoy me every chance she gets. Ever since her vegan conversion she’s been unbearable.”

  Anna laughed. “As she grows older, and you don’t change, you two look more like brother and sister than father and daughter. And you act like it too.”

  “You’ve changed though. You're more beautiful than ever.”

  “Please, Guerin. I’m getting old and you know it.”

  “I haven’t asked our friends about doing something about that. We haven’t talked about that in ages and maybe it’s time we do. What do you think?”

  “I’m not sure it’s such a good thing. Maybe we're not meant to live that long. You don’t complain about it, Guerin, but I can tell you’re tired. Would we actually be happy?”

  “I don’t know, Anna. I just can’t imagine being without you. I know that’s selfish, but you’re right. I don’t know that it’s such a good thing.”

  “Let’s not worry about that now. It’s such a beautiful night.”

  Ok, I knew what that meant. In exchange for me dropping the subject my wife was offering me sex. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but it was what it was. This tactic, of course, worked most of the time, well, thinking about it, I can’t remember it ever not working.

  Maria came booming out of the house. “I’m heading into town for the evening. Don’t wait up for me.”

  My daughter knew it drove me crazy to think of her, a young woman, heading out for a night on the town. It was the “Don’t wait up for me.” part that was her way of twisting the knife. She was nineteen, going on twenty, and she’d been living on her own, I didn’t count living with Katie as having adult supervision, so I knew she’d probably had some experience with men. I say probably because a father likes to hold out hope. The drinking age in Chile was eighteen, so going out for the night didn’t just mean boys. It meant there would be drinking, and boys. Having once been one of those drinking boys I knew what that meant. It was easy to just not think about it when she was away at college, but here it was another thing altogether, especially with her rubbing it in whenever she got the chance.

  I looked at Anna and sighed. Anna looked at me and nodded her head towards the house. This was the signal that the house was empty and we could have that alone time she promised earlier for changing the subject. Maybe that would help me to stop worrying about Maria.

  The next morning Anna and I were sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying our breakfast, when my darling daughter stumbled out looking for coffee. She had inherited the addiction from me. She fumbled around in the kitchen cabinet trying to find her favorite mug. She finally found it and poured herself a cup. She took a long sip from the mug and sighed.

  “So what time did you get home last night young lady?”

  “I don’t know. It was late I think.”

  “You think?”

  “Oh, Dad. I’m not a child anymore, and yes, I’ve had sex with men before.”

  “Whatever. I don’t need to hear about that.”

  “You’re such a prude.”

  “Maria, stop taunting your father.”

  “But Mom?”

  “Maria.”

  “Ok. I mean, I’ve only had sex with five different men. That’s not a lot.”

  “MARIA!”

  “I’m sorry, Mom.” Maria stuck her tongue out at me from behind her mother’s back. I didn’t respond. “I have to go back to school for a few days to take care of some things. I need to get with my advisor and work out my schedule for starting grad school. I also have an interview for the research assistant position as well. I’m going to leave tomorrow. I’ll leave for Japan from there.”

  This upset Anna. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

  “I forgot to.”

  Anna looked at me. Oh sure, now that she was the one Maria was screwing with I should help her? I didn’t think so. I just looked back down at the screen on my laptop and continued to ignore them both.

  “I thought we were going to leave together for Japan. What happened.”

  Maria was going to Japan for a few months before the start of the summer Olympics to train with the Japanese team. Anna had planned on the two of them spending some time together and showing her the sights before training started. Anna never complained about not getting to raise Maria in Japan. That had been our plan before things first started to fall apart at the IOET. Even though she never complained, I knew Anna missed Japan. While Maria was growing up we only went back to our Tokyo home a total of four times, and the last time Maria was only thirteen.

  “Will you still have time to spend with me before the training starts?”

  “Yes. I’ll get there a few days after you arrive and besides, the training is in Tokyo, so we’ll have plenty of time to spend together when I’m not training.”

  “Which will be most of the time. Do you need me to change your reservations?”

  “No, Mom. I’m a big girl you know. I’ve already taken care of all of that.”

  “Did you arrange everything with Steve and Katie?”

  “Yes, Dad. They are on the same flights with me.”

  “I can change my flights and we can go together?”

  “No. Really, Mom. You can use those two days to catch up with old friends without having me tag along. Besides, I won’t have time to spend with you in San Francisco and you’ll just be bored.”

  “Ok, if that’s what you want to do.”

  “Are you coming, Dad?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ll try and meet you out there if I can get away. You and your mother could probably use some alone time anyways. A prude like me would just spoil all your fun.”

  “That’s true.” Maria leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. She rushed back into the kitchen and put her empty mug in the sink. “I’m heading over to the Cerda’s for a while. K2’s daughter just had a litter and I wanted to go check them out. I’ll be back for dinner.”

  “Have fun.” Anna barely got the words out before Maria was out the door.

  After Maria left Anna started to clean up the kitchen table and she gave me one of her looks. I did something wrong, obviously, but what it was, I had no clue. I decided it was best to ignore the look. There was a slim chance that strategy would work. Then Anna started to slam things in the kitchen to get my attention.

  “WHAT!”

  “Your daughter just decides to change all of our plans at the last minute and you just sat there and didn’t say anything?”

  “First off, love of my life, she’s your daughter and possibly mine. We never ran any tests that definitively proved that I’m the father and I am starting to have my doubts. I mean, she’s a vegan after all.”

  A large soaking wet sponge flew from the kitchen heading directly for my face. My mutant reflexes allowed me to catch it before it hit its mark, but the explosion of water afterward still took its toll. My wife was no dummy.

  I pretended to ignore the assault, placed the sponge down on the table, and continued. “And secondly. You just gave me shit because I picked on her too much.”

  “You can be such an ass at times, Guerin.”

  “Oh, I haven’t heard that in a while.”

  “So?”

  “WHAT!”

  “Why do you think she waited until the last minute to tell us?”

  “Seriously? You want me to explain why your nineteen-year-old daughter does what she does?”

  “Yes!”

  “Well, if you’d actually been listening to her, you might have heard a few clues. Like her talking about having sex with men and being all grown up?”

  Anna shrugged and raised her hands, indicating that I hadn’t made it clear enough for her.


  “Dear God, Anna, even a moron could figure out she’s going back to college to be with some man, boy, or whatever before she leaves for Japan. I may enjoy thinking our daughter is a virgin but I’m not stupid!”

  Anna looked a bit shocked, why I’ll never know. “You really think that’s it?”

  “Yes, but if you want to know for sure why don’t you grill Katie and Steve? I’m sure they’re covering for her.”

  “Did you talk to them about it? Is that how you know?”

  “No. When it comes to our daughter’s relationships I like the old ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach.”

  “Well, I think we should talk to her about this. It’s not that I mind her seeing someone, but she could have been more considerate and just told us.”

  “No. We are not going to talk to her about it. She probably didn’t want to tell us because she didn’t want to have to explain herself. If you bring it up you’re just going to do exactly what she wanted to avoid which means she was right. Let her think she got away with it. It’s the best revenge, trust me. One day, when you really need it, you can always throw it in her face.”

  “And you doubt she’s your daughter?” Anna huffed off towards the bedroom. I smiled. The victories didn’t come often, but when they did, they were best enjoyed alone.

  Four days later I took Anna to the airport. We had enjoyed the time together with Maria out of the house. Of course, we loved spending time with our daughter, but it was like living with a hurricane. I didn’t have any work for those four days so we just got to enjoy being together. I promised her I would do everything I could to make it out to Tokyo.

  I was relaxing in the house which, for the first time I remembered in a long time, I had all to myself. I was binge watching episodes of Bullwinkle when Roger contacted me over the comm network.