The Loctorian Chronicles- Awakening

by Andi J Feron

  “On a more positive note, the Loctorian council has agreed to let your sister return to Earth. She will be protected until her eighteenth birthday, then all bets are off. They have granted this as an apology for what happened to her, as well as to make sure you stay in line.”

  “What if I want to kick myself out of the program?” I asked.

  “Then the protection offered to your sister is forfeit. When she is twelve, the Loctorians will come for her, and you will not be in the position to do anything about it.”

  I locked my jaw in defiance but said nothing. They had me. The best place I could be to keep Allie from this war was by staying right in the middle of it.

  Jacobson focused on Seraphine. “I’m not sure what your stakes in all of this have been, Seraphine. Can you tell me why you helped Talon?”

  Seraphine remained silent for a few seconds before saying, “Sir, there are times when doing the right thing means not doing what everyone else tells you to do, and then willingly accepting the consequences. This was one of those times.”

  “Even so, you ignored a direct order and assisted in an attack on a Loctorian base. This cannot be overlooked. As noble as the intentions were, your actions can’t slide. You will receive a formal reprimand and be unable to rise above the rank of captain. Dismissed.”

  We left, and Lucius caught me in the hall. “Talon, I won’t forget this. I won’t forget the limitations you caused to be put on my service record. There will be a day you will lose your sister anyway, and when that day comes it will be me you have to thank for that.”

  For Allie’s sake, I resisted the urge to shove him out an airlock. I had to keep the protections Admiral Jacobson put in place. That would give me eight years not having to worry about her being shoved into the middle of any of this. I clenched my fists.

  Seraphine grabbed my hand. “Talon, you know you can’t.”

  The distraction was enough for Lucius to disappear down the corridor. I pushed Seraphine’s hand away, and my fist plowed into the wall, leaving my knuckles on their way to gaining a nice bruise. I waited about twenty minutes before making my way back to the temporary quarters. Allie was perceptive for ten, and I didn’t want her to pick up on my anger.

  “Hey, sis!” I said.

  “Jerap is showing me how to play a Loctorian game called starteyce.”

  “You ready to get back home?” I asked her, trying to make it sound like the best idea ever.

  “Do we have to?”

  “Yes, you have to get back to school. You’re already behind.”

  “Can’t I do school here?”

  “Wouldn’t you miss John?”

  “Why can’t John do school here too? We would have a blast. I can’t wait to tell him he wins our debate about aliens.”

  “Allie, you can’t. John can’t know about any of this. It’s a secret.”

  Allie frowned and looked back at the game board. There was a TV in our temporary quarters so I put on a movie for Allie to distract her. I asked Jerap to follow me into the other room to talk. I told him what Jacobson and the council decided.

  “I’m not sure why Jacobson didn’t call you too. Maybe he doesn’t know you were a part of it. So maybe don’t say anything,” I said.

  “I don’t answer to Jacobson, only the council.”

  “That must be nice. Will you be able to wipe my sister’s mind? Will it hurt her in any way?”

  “Yes, my friend, I can erase your sister’s memory of all of this. There should be no issues for her with the process. I will give her a pleasant memory in its place.”

  The plan was to have Jerap alter Allie’s memory after we boarded the craft. It would cause Allie to sleep as the new memories were consolidated. Allie would awake back on Earth as if never leaving.

  Before Jerap left to prepare he said, “Talon, fate has a way of catching us. The more we flee from it, the more we are pursued by it. You may not be able to shatter Althea’s destiny forever, but today I will help you stave it off a little longer.”

  His words were haunting. His people were the ones who manipulated humanity’s fate. They had the advantage of Clairvoyant pathways. While the images weren’t full of total clarity, they were indicators of the choices that should be made. If they viewed Allie as a large pawn to complete their final endgame, Jerap was right. There could be a day I failed, but for today I couldn’t let that stop me from giving it everything I had.

  I heard the door buzz and found Seraphine on the other side. I motioned for her to follow me down the hall and told her Jerap’s plan. She said she wasn’t surprised since memory wipe was standard protocol for people not joining the program. It would eliminate having to worry about Allie telling someone and forfeiting her protection. It would also give her the chance to fully return to normal. We went back to the living room.

  Seraphine walked over to where Allie was drawing. “I wanted to tell you goodbye.”

  Allie hugged Seraphine. “Will I get to see you again?”

  “You never know.”

  On our way to the docking bay, Allie went on about how she wished she could tell John how cool Saturn’s rings were close up. When we made it to our craft, Jerap was waiting. He nodded, and I moved behind Allie to catch her after he was done.

  “You be safe little one,” he said as Allie moved in to hug him.

  He put his hand on the back of her head, and she went limp. About five minutes passed, and he indicated he was finished. I carried Allie to the medical bed, strapped her in, and placed a blanket over her. As predicted, she slept the entire way back. A car from the medical base drove us home. I tucked her in bed for the night. In the morning I fixed breakfast.

  Allie bounded down the stairs. “I can’t wait to tell John about the beach and the sandcastle we built. I’m sorry I was upset with you on Halloween. I wanted to spend time with you. I miss you when you work all the time.” She climbed onto a bar stool in front of the kitchen island.

  I handed her a plate of pancakes and eggs. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you or said what I did. I know you wanted time with me. I’m glad we could go on that trip.”

  “Me too.”

  I felt a twinge of guilt and sadness that the memories weren’t real. I was comforted by the fact Allie thought I took the time to show her she was important. She gobbled down her pancakes, and I watched as she walked out the door to school. I would have eight years where I wouldn’t have to worry about her losing her normal life. I could get her through her childhood and teen years with only the typical scary things in play.

  I went back to the recruiting team and was forced to see Lucius every day. Things were tense between us. We both did our jobs with limited interaction. We carried on this avoidance for over four months.

  Seraphine, Jerap, and I were getting along fine. Seraphine and Lucius seemed cold to each other and the affection they used to display began to dwindle. It was like we were all doing our best not to lose our jobs. I wondered at some point if a wrong word would cause all of us to snap and unravel any semblance of a team we had left. In April, I came into work ready for our daily routine of finding high-tier recruits. We were working at the medical base because our offices in Mr. Fausto’s building were being upgraded.

  I heard Seraphine yelling right outside my office. “Lucius! Back off! I’m done. The minute you decided to use a child for personal gain was the minute you decided our relationship was over.”

  “This is about Talon, isn’t it? You’re in love with him.”

  “What?! Are you kidding me! You don’t even get it. Lucius, stop! I don’t want to kiss you. Stop!”

  I bolted for the door and saw Lucius had Seraphine backed against a wall, trying to kiss her. She was pushing him back with her hands. He grabbed her arms, pinning them against the wall.

  “Lucius, back off!” I yelled.

  “Stay out of it Talon!” Seraphine sent me a glare.

  Lucius let go of Seraphine and launched towards me, knockin
g me on the ground. He punched me twice in the jaw. I threw him back and made contact with his nasal bridge. Blood gushed from his nose, and I went for another punch but was pulled back. Before resisting, I realized it was Admiral Jacobson. Another soldier grabbed Lucius. Dread seeped into my chest as I feared I erased the eight-year protection placed on Allie.

  “My office!” Jacobson roared.

  The three of us sat across from Admiral Jacobson in trouble for the second time in less than six months. He didn’t wait for us to explain.

  Jacobson’s brow furrowed. “It would seem your reprimands were not enough. And it is clear now that you are no longer able to work as a team. I am dissolving your recruiting team, as I should have months ago. Lucius, you will be given a new undetermined assignment. Seraphine and Talon, I have another assignment we will discuss later. For now, Talon and Lucius, go to the infirmary. I will meet Talon and Seraphine at fourteen hundred hours back in my office. Lucius, once medical clears, you report to processing. In the morning you’ll be sent back to Saturn base to await new orders.”

  “Sir, yes sir,” all our responses were in a near robotic manner.

  Seraphine left first, and Lucius followed after her.

  “Stay out of that one Talon.” Jacobson nodded toward the door Seraphine and Lucius left through.

  “Lucius was assaulting Seraphine, that’s why I fought him. I couldn’t sit by and let him hurt her.”

  “Why do you think I’m finally separating them? I’m not blind to the way he treats her, or the bruises she covers up.” Jacobson sat back in his chair and looked at me as though he was waiting for his words to soak into my brain.

  “What are you saying?” I turned my head slightly and felt the heat rising in my face, wondering how I had missed the signs. Seraphine always explained away her injuries by telling me that she pushed herself in the training sims.

  “I think you know what I’m saying. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to separate them. Lucius always manipulates me into keeping them together. I didn’t catch on for a while, but Jerap was the one to let me know. He doesn’t like Lucius either. Loctorians are kind of like you Talon, not easy to manipulate. We finally put in some precautions so he can’t do it again. Jerap helped me make a video to myself.”

  I clenched my jaw. “I think it’s good you’re sending him away, because I’m pretty close to killing him.”

  “I would have done it sooner if I’d caught on to his tactics before now. But you have to control yourself. Going after Lucius will put Allie at risk if you’re in the brig or worse. Now go to the infirmary and cool off. Seraphine needs someone to have her back, even if she doesn’t know it yet.”

  I walked to the infirmary, avoiding a glance at the weapon’s locker. I wouldn’t kill Lucius; not yet, anyway. My desire to protect those I cared about overwhelmed my anger, and I let that desire control my actions. I was taken to a room when I walked into medical and figured that Lucius must be in one of the other rooms. I wouldn’t complain about not seeing him. An ice pack and anti-inflammatory soothed my swelling jaw, and I was discharged. I went to the gym to blow off some steam. At fourteen hundred hours, Seraphine and I returned to Jacobson’s office.

  “There have been reports of an underground Khalbytian force in Siberia. They are believed to be staking out Earth from bases in ancient catacombs. I want you two to go there and see what you can find out. You will be held up for an extended amount of time for training, so I’m going to give you two days to get your affairs in order and then I want you to head out. You two think you can be partners?” Jacobson asked.

  “Sir, yes sir,” Seraphine and I responded at the same time.

  Seraphine exited, and I followed after her.

  “Seraphine, wait up,” I called as she hurried down the long hallway to the elevators.

  “Talon, go spend your two days preparing to leave your sister for a while.” Seraphine kept walking.

  “I wanted to say I’m sorry tha…”

  “You should have minded your own business. But you didn’t and now look where we are.”

  “He already tried to hurt my sister. I didn’t want him to hurt you too.”

  “I can handle myself, Talon. I don’t need a knight in shining armor to come rescue me. I’ve handled things myself for a long time.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t have to.”

  “It doesn’t matter if I shouldn’t have to. What should be isn’t always reality. You have to improve on what is, not sit and wallow in it. I know you were trying to help, but for now, I need some space.”

  I sighed. “Fair enough. See you in two days.”

  She gave me a slight nod as she disappeared into the elevator. The ride home was full of contemplation on how I could leave my sister for a lengthy amount of time. Allie had been volunteering for a lady who owned the local bookstore in our town. Her name was Lilly Lawrence, and she paid Allie in books, a payment that Allie loved being the avid reader she was.

  I asked Ms. Lilly if she could watch Allie for six months while I went on a student exchange program. Ms. Lilly adored Allie, so she quickly agreed, saying that she’d love to have Allie around more. Her daughter recently left for college in Arizona, and she said having Allie around would help with the transition. I offered to pay her, but she refused to take anything. I told her Allie would have access to a bank account for anything she needed.

  I bought Allie a cell phone so we could keep in touch, and told her to call me whenever she wanted. I thought back to how a few months ago I struggled to even get her a coat, now I could buy her nearly anything she asked for.

  Anything but more time with me. I tried to console this with the fact she would have Ms. Lilly, and all the adventures the books contained for her. She would also have John and his family. She would eat dinner with them once a week when Ms. Lilly went to her knitting club meeting.

  I didn’t know what Siberia would hold for me. I had been to outer space before I had been anywhere else on Earth, besides Maine. As soon as Allie got on the bus, I grabbed my backpack—which contained a few personal items—and called a car to take me to the processing base.

  Chapter Five

  Seraphine - April 24, 2005

  I was nervous, but I was pretty sure no one could tell. I figured out long ago how to hide my emotions. This would be my first real mission—if you subtracted the one Talon and I sent ourselves on. I was told we would be training for a few months before we started the actual mission. The only previous training I had received was a one-day seminar on the rules and how to focus my ability.

  I saw Talon walk in and report to the processing room to get his final health checks. I didn’t know what to think of him. He angered me by trying to interfere with Lucius and me. He acted as though I needed a boy to swoop in and save the day when I was perfectly capable of knocking Lucius on his ass on my own. At the same time, it was nice that he had my back. Lucius was the only other one to care for me in any way. The fact that Talon took care of his little sister made me think he took care of his own consistently.

  Lucius was on Saturn base and tried to contact me a few times, but communication to Earth was often scratchy. There was no desire on my part to talk to him. The night before he left for Saturn base, he knocked on my quarters. He was trying to patch things up, but I had already made up my mind. I stood in the doorway not letting him in my room.

  “Come on Seraphine. Forgive me,” Lucius pleaded.

  “It’s not about forgiveness Lucius. It’s about what you’re willing to do to make gains in this world.”

  “I was doing it for us. Think about the bonus I would have gotten if we’d proven that we could activate children by adding just one extra element to the capsulization gas. We could indoctrinate them to our cause when they were fully vulnerable.”

  I shook my head. “Do you even hear yourself Lucius?”

  I didn’t know him anymore. He wasn’t the boy I had lived on the streets with. He was an entirely different person. It seemed that
when power was offered, you discovered the most hidden parts of a person.

  “You know we need soldiers. There will be a time all humans have to fight, so what’s wrong with starting them young?” I glared at him and he continued, “But let’s forget about it tonight. Let me in. I love you and I promise I’ll do better.”

  He leaned in to kiss me, and I kissed him back. I gave him a shove.

  “Goodbye Lucius.” I shut the door and locked it.

  He beat the door. “Come on Seraphine!”

  I turned around and climbed into bed ignoring his pleas. Tears fell as I knew I would miss him, but he was headed somewhere that I couldn’t be.

  My mind came back to watching Talon as he entered the processing center. We would be partners now. I hoped that Talon would not try to rescue me every step of the way. I would have to make sure he stayed in his place.

  *

  A military transport plane dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. Large snowflakes fell around us, and I was grateful for the full parkas and snow gear that kept us warm. We sat in the snow and waited for about half an hour. Talon laid back in the snow and made a snow angel.

  Off to the west, I saw a large Jeep driving our direction. We both jumped up and grabbed our packs. The vehicle stopped about ten feet from us, and the driver motioned us to get inside. The vehicle was toasty, and I removed my hood. We drove out to a mountain with a large steel door on the side of it. With a push of a button, the large door ascended revealing a massive garage with concrete flooring. We were taken to our quarters, and told we would be briefed in the morning. Talon gave me a slight wave as he disappeared down the hall to his room.

  I opened the grey door and looked around my room. I noticed there wasn’t much to my surroundings. The room left about three feet of open floor before the bed took the rest of the space. There was a large shelf carved into the far wall where I assumed I could store my personal items.