by Henry Vogel
“Michelle, stop calling me ma’am. You’re family now. I’m Angela. Or Mom, if you wish.” I felt Mom slip out of her seat to kneel before me. She took my head in her hands. “Look at me, son.”
It took all my willpower to turn away from Michelle and meet Mom’s gaze. Her eyes held the same love and concern I’d seen a thousand times before.
“Can you drop your filters and read me, son?”
“I don’t know. There’s so much pressure built up outside the filters, I might not be able to switch from Michelle to you fast enough.”
“Sure you can, Matt. You’ve read me thousands of times. This is no different. You just let go of one person and catch hold of another. You can do it, honey. Trust me. Trust yourself.”
I took a deep breath, released it, and dropped my filters at the same time. A flood of emotions swept over me. Instinctively, I flinched away from it all, away from Mom, but she held tight to my head and forced me to look into her eyes. I scrambled to catch her emotions and use them to pull myself from the flood from Pegasus Station. One by one, I caught her feelings—love, compassion, concern, and…shame? I almost lost our connection when shame surfaced, but kept hold of it.
“Good, Matt. Just hold on to all of that. Now, without letting go of our connection, blank your mind. Imagine a pure white sheet of paper or maybe pure darkness.”
I remembered the deep black of space I experienced twenty minutes and a lifetime ago. I drew the dark emptiness of space around me like a cloak. As the cloak of darkness settled over my mind, flashing emotions flickered and vanished, leaving a small starscape of lights I never wanted to lose—Michelle, Mom, Dad, and even a dim spark that was Jonas. Plus that other spark I’d seen before.
I felt my tension ebb and smiled at the two most important women in my life. And I realized my burned hand no longer hurt. Sometime during my struggle to block out the emotions, the rescue team’s medic numbed my hand and covered it with a Second Skin patch—manufactured by GenCo, of course.
“Mom, how did you know how to guide me through all of this?”
“I knew you had powerful potential, Matt. I felt it while you were still in my womb.” Mom looked down, unwilling to meet my eyes. “My range is only a few meters, but the principles are the same.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? And why didn’t you teach me?”
“Your father and I were afraid we’d lose you. Even with my minor powers, I came close to giving myself away half a dozen times during puberty. With your greater power…” Mom looked up, her eyes bright with tears. “We just hoped you’d never test yourself beyond what little you did by instinct.”
With a soft clump, the shuttle settled into a docking bay. The hatch cycled and Jonas charged in. He dropped to his knees and pulled his daughter into a tight hug.
Mom watched father and daughter, smiling. “I’m sorry. I should have given you what little training I could.”
“Yeah, it would have made finding you and Dad a lot easier. But when it really mattered, when Michelle’s life was on the line, you did train me.”
Suddenly, Jonas’s right arm wrapped around me and he pulled me into his hug with Michelle. “Sir…Matt…Thank you for saving my girl.”
“I love her, Jonas.”
“That’s nothing new, Matt. You’ve loved Michelle for years.”
Michelle pulled back from her father. “You knew and you never told me?”
“Pumpkin, what happens to fathers who meddle in their daughter’s love lives?” Michelle opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again. Jonas nodded. “Exactly. You just have to learn some things on your own.”
Dad motioned us all to exit the shuttle. “I’m sure we have a lot to discuss, but we can do that later. Let’s get off this shuttle and see about getting home to Draconis.”
“Jonas, did station traffic control stop all ship departures? I asked.
“With a battle going on around the station? Of course. Now that it’s moved toward the sun, though, they’ll probably open things up soon.”
“No, tell them to hold departures a while longer.”
“Oh, right,” Michelle said, “we’ve got to make sure Hector’s ship doesn’t get away.”
“Who is Hector?” Dad asked.
“He’s part of that long Rockville Station story,” I said. “But that’s not the only reason I want all ships held.”
That dim, unknown spark was no longer dim—and no longer unknown.
I looked over my shoulder at Michelle’s father. “Jonas, you and the team stay with my parents. Keep them safe and alert security about everything that’s happened.”
“What is your plan, sir?” Jonas asked, his eyes hard upon me.
“I’ve got one more thing to do before we can wrap up this whole affair.” I flashed a quick smile at Jonas and caught Michelle’s hand. “I’ll even take one of my bodyguards with me.”
Jonas and my parents watched me lead Michelle away and none of them tried to stop us.
Once we rounded a corner and were out of sight of our parents, Michelle put a soft hand against my cheek and turned my head to face her. “What’s going on, Matt?”
“I’m going to confront the person behind my parents’ kidnapping.”
“Cummings is on his ship, so you can’t mean him. And you’ve already confronted Hector—help me remember to send a security team to pick him up.” Michelle bit her lip. “Is it Arthur Jewel, the guy in traffic control?”
“No. Please just let me handle this my way.”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that.” Michelle pulled me to a stop. “We’re not just rich kid Matt and bodyguard Michelle any more. In the eyes of God and the law, we are one. If you lie to me, you lie to yourself. If you hide something from me, you hide it from yourself.”
“All right, I’ll tell you.” I resumed walking and Michelle slipped her hand free and wrapped it around my waist. Drawing support from her touch, I said, “I picked up someone besides my parents when we entered the pirate docking bay.”
“Maybe it was someone having a big emotional spike?”
“That’s what I thought at the time, but the spark was there again when my powers broke free. This time, it didn’t go away and was still there after Mom helped me control things.” I sighed. “And that’s when I managed to identify who was behind that dim spark.”
I walked in silence for a few seconds. Michelle quietly watched me, giving me time to find the right words. In the end, I found no words and just blurted it out.
“It’s Aunt Tess.” My voice cracked as I said it.
Michelle’s arm tightened around me as her surprise and concern washed over me. “You’re sure?”
I nodded, my eyes filling with tears. “She’s been like a mother to me since my parents disappeared. Her emotions were always vague, much harder to read than my parents, but I know she loves me. And I simply cannot reconcile that love with the pain she caused.”
“Could her presence here just be a coincidence? She could simply be here for business.”
I shook my head. “The first time I picked her up, after we left that elevator room, she was on the floor of the pirate docking bay, somewhere between us and my parents.”
“Oh.”
After that, we walked in silence to the docking bay reserved for small ships. Crew and passengers of the ships milled about, speculating nervously about pirates and raging space battles. Seeing our maintenance coveralls, a few people tried to pump us for information. Michelle and I always shrugged and feigned ignorance.
Before long, we stood outside the airlock to a private ship. Unlike all the others, no crew or passengers stood outside.
I turned to face Michelle and gazed into her eyes. “Can you give me a few minutes alone with her? I have to give her a chance to explain herself—just her and me.”
Once again biting her lip, Michelle nodded. “You’ve got five minutes, then I’m calling security and coming in after you.”
I kissed her on the forehead, turned and o
pened the airlock, then entered Aunt Tess’s ship. No one met me. No crew bustled about performing prelaunch checks. The ship was so silent my footsteps echoed through the corridors.
I felt the familiar spark to my left and turned that way. Ten seconds later, I entered a small, well-appointed ship’s lounge. Aunt Tess reclined in a chair against the far wall.
She smiled sadly, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. “Hello, Matt. I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you safe. How did you escape from those kidnappers?”
“Hello Aunt Tess.” I returned her sad smile. “We both know there were never any kidnappers. That was just a story to cover my search for my parents.” I couldn’t keep bitter recrimination out of my voice. “You know, your brother and sister-in-law?”
“Don’t you take that tone with me, young man.” Aunt Tess tried for the same tone Mom used on me when I was little. “I know very well who your parents are.”
“Just as you knew exactly where my parents were all the time I lived with you.” I released the emotions I’d held in check and anger blazed forth. “So don’t you dare take a maternal tone with me. You no longer have that right.”
My aunt sprang to her feet, her hand swinging to slap me. “Ungrateful boy! I did what had to be done to save our company, our family, and our position in society.”
I caught Aunt Tess’s hand and held it firm. “Strange how you saved your family by sacrificing mine.”
Aunt Tess tugged her arm back, but I tightened my grip. “You’re hurting me, Matt.”
“It’s nothing like the pain you’ve inflicted on me for the last seven years.”
“Do you think I enjoyed doing what I did? It nearly broke me having your parents taken from you.” Tears streamed down my aunt’s face. “I made a horrible choice, but all the other choices were worse.”
I released Aunt Tess’s arm and gently pushed her back into her chair. “Short of killing my parents, how could any choice be worse than having them kidnapped and held prisoner for years?”
“You know so little of the situation, Matt. Do you have any idea what revealing the Pegasus Station pirate base would do to GenCo?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care.”
“According to Cummings, that’s exactly what your father said when he discovered the base all those years ago. Damn the man and his quest for efficiency. In a hundred years, no one ever bothered to analyze Pegasus Station’s power usage—until Richard paid a visit seven years ago.” Aunt Tess blew out an exasperated breath. “He turned up power usage he couldn’t explain and set out to discover what happened to the excess power. If Richard had simply talked to Gunther and me, we could have steered him away from this.”
“Uncle Gunther is in on this, too?”
“In on it? My dear boy, Gunther was one of the pirates when I met him. You know how it is with good girls and bad boys. I was smitten and the pirates liked the idea of putting one of their own on the board of GenCo.”
I tried to keep the surprise off of my face and failed completely. Aunt Tess noted my expression and kept going.
“But because of your meddling-”
“Rescuing my parents from pirates is not meddling.”
“We’re just going to have to agree to disagree on that one, Matt. But that’s neither here nor there. You’ve forced our hand. Gunther and I must start new lives somewhere else in the galaxy. If you wanted to cause me pain, son, you’ve succeeded.”
“You’re breaking my heart, Aunt Tess. And you’re not getting away so easily. Security is on their way to arrest you even as we speak.”
“How amusing. Do you think something as simple as a hold on departures will stop me from leaving? Docking clamps and station tractor beams aren’t strong enough to hold a ship. We’ll just ignore the hold and leave.”
“We?”
A gruff, male voice spoke behind me. “Yes, we.”
I spun to find Hector standing behind me, a blaster trained on my chest.
“Tess. Me.” A fierce, predatory grin spread across his face. “And you.”
Why was I surprised to find Hector backing up my aunt? As high ranking members of the gang, they had to know each other. But somehow, I never expected Aunt Tess to sink so low and to associate with someone like Hector. What was she thinking?
And then I realized I’d asked the wrong question of myself. I had to know what she was feeling. Pretending I was shocked into inaction, I concentrated on Aunt Tess’s emotions. I had trouble letting her emotions in while keeping everybody on Pegasus Station out. Making the connection took such concentration, I lost track of everyone else—even my parents and Michelle. In the end, my emotional world shrank to Tess and me.
My aunt’s emotions were like a thin sheet of glass—brittle—and I was a little boy with a handful of stones.
“You’ve certainly lowered your standards, Aunt Tess. I can see the value of a thug like Hector, but I can’t believe you tracked him down and freed the man after I tazed him.” It was time to give her an emotional smack down. I turned a look of scorn on her. “Or is your relationship with Hector more than just business? Are you bored with Gunther? Did you find Hector’s uncouth swagger appealing? Tell me, Aunt Tess, did you run to his rescue, heart all aflutter? Is he your-”
Aunt Tess surged back to her feet and this time I didn’t block her hand as it slapped my cheek. “How dare you make such insinuations! If your uncle was here he’d beat you within an inch of your life.”
“Well, good old Uncle Gunther isn’t here—but you’ve got the next best thing. Hector over there is just chomping at the bit to beat me to death.” I glanced over my shoulder at the man. “Isn’t that right, Hector?”
An inarticulate growl rose in Hector’s throat. He kept the blaster leveled at my chest, but took a step in my direction.
“That’s enough, both of you.”
As Aunt Tess spoke, I felt something hard and dark slide over her emotions. I’d never felt anything like it, but recognized it immediately. It was a mental fortress, a wall to guard her emotions while she did unspeakable things.
“Matthew, you have one chance to stop acting like a spoiled child. You cannot provoke me into doing something foolish.” Her eyes narrowed. “But you can convince me that saving you isn’t worth my time and trouble. In which case I’ll let Hector have his way with you.”
Some of my surprise must have leaked through my expression, because Aunt Tess smiled sharply and said, “Of course I love you, child, but this is a harsh business. I must weigh the benefits of my love against the benefits of sacrificing that love. I did the same thing with your parents. Cooperate with me and I can promise you’ll be comfortable. You may even come to enjoy our life.”
“I could never enjoy such a life.”
“Really? I think two or three beautiful young women at your beck and call, ready to satisfy your every desire—and young men have so many desires—might change your mind.” My aunt regarded me thoughtfully. “If you behave yourself, we might even let you go along on raids and claim any young woman who catches your fancy.”
I didn’t even try to keep the revulsion off my face. “You’re trying to bribe me with slave girls? Are there no depths to which you won’t sink? Why would any sane man want a harem of terrified, unwilling women when he could find his soulmate and spend his life with her?”
“Oh dear, have you become infatuated with that little blonde girl you ran off with?” Aunt Tess tutted and shook her head in disapproval. “She’s not good enough for you, Matt. After all, you’re a Connaught. She’s just a bodyguard, hardly better than a servant.”
It was my turn to smile sharply. “No, Aunt Tess, she’s my wife.”
Aunt Tess’s eyes widened. “Your wife? What-”
As if on cue, Michelle’s voice echoed down the hallway, interrupting my aunt. “Matt, turn on Nancy’s gift to you.”
Nancy’s gift? What did Michelle mean? Then I remember Flight Commander Nancy Martin tossing two vacuum harnesses to us. I’d complet
ely forgotten I still wore the thing. Once on board the shuttle, I turned it off but was too busy holding Michelle to take it off.
Aunt Tess frowned at Hector. “I told you to lock the hatch after Matt came aboard.”
Hector growled, “I had other stuff to do. Don’t sweat it, though. I’ll go get the girl.”
The deck beneath our feet gave a lurch. All three of us recognized it as a docking tractor beam reversing to push a ship free of its berth. Immediately, a klaxon sounded, followed by a dispassionate voice.
“Warning. Airlock open. Warning. Vacuum conditions imminent.”
Hector spat a curse and started down the corridor toward the airlock. I flipped on my vacuum harness. Aunt Tess, eyes wide, stared at me. I expected her to ask for help, for me to hold her and let my harness’s atmosphere shield extend to envelope her, too.
“What do you mean, that girl is your wife?” She spoke sharply, disbelief warring with surprise as she voiced the comment Michelle interrupted. Her rising voice carried, even over the klaxon. “Matthew Bernard Connaught, how could you do something so stupid?”
I wrapped my right arm around a permanent wall fixture. “Oh, that’s not the half of it, auntie dear.” I leaned toward her, my face mere centimeters from hers. “We did not sign a prenuptial agreement.”
Aunt Tess’s hand flew to her mouth as a truly shocked expression settled over her face. “You young idiot-”
Then the ship drifted clear of the docking bay’s atmosphere shield. With the roar of wind, the ship’s air supply rushed out of the airlock. The rushing wind caught Aunt Tess in mid-protest and swept her toward the airlock. She flailed for a handhold, bounced off the far wall, and was sucked into the corridor. Pulled horizontal by the depressurization, I wrapped my left hand around the fixture and held on.
In seconds, the roaring eased and then vanished entirely. I dropped from horizontal back to the deck, banging my knees against the bulkhead. I rose to my feet slowly and turned toward the exit—just in time to catch Michelle as she ran into my arms.
“I was so afraid Hector would just shoot you!” Her lips pressed against mine before I could answer.
