by Frank Carey
###
"Happy birthday, Niall," his family yelled as he stepped into the room. He stopped when he saw them for he knew they were all dead along with almost half of Tennosh. God, he missed them, even after all these years. Tears welled up in his eyes as the scene slowly faded to gray.
###
"How is he?" a familiar voice asked. He recognized it as belonging to Ren.
"He's fine. He just fainted," another voice replied. He recognized this one. It was Joshua.
Niall slowly opened his eyes. He was on his back, facing the ceiling. Joshua was holding his wrist--probably taking his pulse-while Ren nervously watched. A crowd was gathered behind them. Niall blinked. The crowd was his family.
His father knelt beside him. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Confused." He sat up and looked around, then it dawned on him. "You came here the same way I did, didn't you?"
"Yep, only we kept our memories." He helped Niall get to his feet.
"Dad, this is Sheila. We found the wreckage. It's definitely a Cube module from our universe."
"Sheila? You let her out of the house?" Niall asked.
"I heard that, Bro!" She replied.
"Ren!" His father, Trygg Thorvald, said.
"Yes, Trygg?"
"Has anyone claimed the wreckage?"
"Not officially."
"Then I claim it in the name of my son, Niall. Tell the scavengers to be very careful."
"Yes, sir."
Niall looked at his father, the formidable Viking he remembered, then Ren. "Dad, what the hell is going on?"
"Niall!" a tall, crimson-haired woman yelled as she ran up and hugged him, nearly crushing him in the process. Fiona Thorvald is the quintessential Celtic warrior woman.
"Mom!" he squeaked out between gasps.
"Darling, try not to kill your son."
She smiled as she eased off on the hug.
"How... How many made it?" Niall asked.
"The whole family and about twenty thousand souls," Christin said as she and the other family members mob-hugged him.
"Unlike most things that land on Shit, our pieces of Tennosh materialized partly buried in the planet. That's why we're still alive."
"Alive! Dammit. Please tell me there's a way back to our universe."
His parents looked at each other. "Why would you want to do that. You have a life here, with us, Niall," his mother asked.
"Because the woman I am destined to marry thinks I'm dead. I need to contact her. I need to go back."
As one, the whole family looked at Ren.
"I'll see what I can do."
###
The communications room at the Cube was normally quiet this time of night--the cube was on a diurnal cycle for the sake of its inhabitants--when the call came in.
"You have reached the Cube. How may I direct your call?" Nayfar, the duty comm technician asked.
"This is Space Patrol Captain Niall Thorvald calling the Space Patrol Duty Officer. My ident code is as follows." He reeled-off a string of letters and numbers.
"One moment... Wait a minute. Where the hell are you calling from?"
"A very large junk yard. Identify yourself."
"Ensign Swage, sir."
"Ensign. Duty Officer. Now!"
"Yes, sir!"
Moments later, the duty officer came on line. "This is Captain Bracken... Niall!"
"Hey, Quinn. What the hell are you doing pulling night shift?"
"Niall, you're dead. I was at the funeral!"
"Quinn! Are you pregnant? That's wonderful. Pick a name yet?"
She looked down at her control panel and saw the link's point of origin. "Shit!"
"Exactly!" he replied with a grin. "Now, where the hell is Red?"
CHAPTER TEN
The pede quietly emerged from the tunnel and made its way to an out-of-the-way spot on the ceiling where it attached itself. After checking that the coast was clear, Red stepped out of the tube entrance and made her way to a ledge. Beyond and below was a large spherical room, perhaps a solidified bubble in the magma left over from the days when the volcano was active. Red could see Mother standing on the floor of the bubble surrounded by hundreds of bots. Frowning, she walked back to where the team had assembled while the sheriff's deputies took her place along the edge of the cliff. "Max, have the pede activate a privacy shield."
Max gave a thumbs-up, then pressed a button on her gauntlet. The area around them became devoid of external sound.
"We're outnumbered ten-to-one," she reported. "Mother is just sitting down there while her bots are milling about. Samson, any recollection of what you and Mother used to do?'
The big bot leaned against a rock outcropping. "Nothing. May I make a suggestion?"
"Sure,"
"Send in Ariel to look around."
"In where?" Ariel asked.
Samson tapped the side of his head. "In here."
"I don't do that anymore," Ariel said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Send Max."
"Max can't enter a sapient mind, only a necrue or a wraith can do that. Since we're fresh out of wraiths, that leaves you," Samson reminded him.
"What are you talking about?" Red demanded.
"Didn't you know? All necrue can merge with sapient beings, but are forbidden to by Murphy, our leader. Some of us chose to ignore those proscriptions," Ariel explained. "Max can take over one of the bots, but only I can go into Samson's noggin and extract data, assuming there is data to extract."
"You're talking about all sapient beings, correct?"
Ariel nodded. "Try not to worry. I haven't performed a sapient merge in over a half-million years. I find the experience unnerving."
"Why haven't we heard of this before?" Joslyn demanded.
"There was an incident... Murph had the whole thing classified for the sake of the necrue. We've all behaved since then."
"Ariel, you and I are really going to have to have one of those talks. Samson, are you sure about this? Ariel can be a klutz at times..."
"Hey! I'm standing right here!"
Samson raised a hand. "I'll be fine. Right, Ariel."
The necrue gave a crooked smile. "Yeah, you'll be fine."
"One last question," Max said.
"Shoot."
"Does this ability to merge with sapients have anything to do with the necrue hiding out in the InterWeb and pretending to be AIs?"
"It has everything to do with that decision. Long ago, Murph thought we were getting a little big for our britches, so he gave the entire necrue race a timeout. Any other questions?"
"No."
"Good. On three. Three!" Ariel disappeared into thin air as Samson went to one knee and rested his fists on the ground as if he were preparing for a sprint.
"I hate when he does that," Red said.
"I wonder how long this will take?" Max asked.
As if to answer her, Ariel appeared in mid-air. He fell to the ground and scuttled backwards until he was stopped by a wall. Meanwhile, Samson stood up and stared at the Necrue. "Do you want to tell them, or do you want me to do it."
"You go right ahead," the necrue said with a shaky voice.
"What the hell is going on?" Red demanded.
"Ariel eliminated the blockage. I now remember everything," Samson said ominously.
"Care to share, Big Guy?"
"My name is Father. I helped Mother destroy a civilization."
"Whose civilization?" Joslyn said as a weapon appeared in her hand. It was pointed at the center of Samson's chest.
"Our creators'. Two factions locked in combat. Fearing mutually assured destruction, they each created a vast war fleet with the intention to have the fleets decide who won and who lost. Mother and I fought, but the battles spilled over to the very planets we were tasked to protect. Billions died. We pleaded with our creators to stop, but they were only interested in destruction, so we gave it to them. Vengeance is truly a bitch. This planet was once the home to billions. Now, they ar
e long dead and only Mother and I remain."
Red looked at Ariel who, despite Max's attempts to comfort him, was shaking. "I saw what they did. The images are beyond horrible. Samson's programming couldn't handle the conflict between orders to destroy and orders to protect, so his safety interlocks sequestered his memories. I released them..."
Before anyone could react, Samson walked over and knelt next to the necrue. "You did nothing wrong for I have no right to hide from what I did, what we did, so pull yourself together." He stood, then offered Ariel his hand. Ariel took it and got off the ground. Samson turned to Red. "Mother is locked into some kind of vengeance loop. We need to stop her long enough for me to place both of us into the state I was in. It’s either that, or we'll have to destroy her and the thousands of bots she controls both on this planet and in the belt."
"What about you??" Red asked.
"Either fate works for me. At least with my memories sequestered, I can contribute to the life of the people on this planet and not their deaths."
Red looked at him with her jaw set. "What do we have to do?"
"Threaten her. Both of us get overwhelmed when we try to control too many bots. Max needs to shut down the hacker ball when I give the signal. I can then take over her system long enough to initiate a sequester. Once that happens, neither of us will remember what we were." He put his hand on her shoulder. "If you feel that the two of us are too big a threat for the League, then you can destroy us by vaporizing our skulls the moment either of us says 'What the hell is going on?'"
"We can't..." Ariel blurted out but stopped when Red raised her palm.
"Understood," Red said as she turned and leapt over the side of the cliff with Samson following close behind.
"What the hell is she doing?" Joslyn yelled. "Deputies, prepare to repel bots!"
"I knew this gig was going to go to shit," Ariel yelled as he and Max joined the deputies.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Red and Samson slid down the side of the spherical room and came to a stop at the bottom whence they were surrounded by multi-limbed bots. "Mother! We need to talk!" Red said as she stood there while Samson remained silent.
The sea of bots parted to allow Mother to pass. She strode up to stand in front of the pair. "Why should I bother speaking to you, inferior creature?"
Red reached into her vest with her left hand and withdrew a nucleonic grenade which she activated, then held out between her and Mother. "This grenade will destroy everything around me including you, me, Samson, and a whole lot of your bots."
Bots swarmed around them, jockeying to take position between Mother and Red, but Red would have nothing to do with that. "I let go of this, and we all die, so face me, bitch."
"How dare you..."
"Why did you prevent Niall from escaping the Cube module?"
"Because he dared interfere with my remote unit. Your Cube is filled with useful data, and I wanted it."
Using her right hand, Red grabbed the crowbar on her back and swung it at Mother, denting her shoulder. More bots streamed into the area, all of them seemingly on the verge of attacking.
"Let me tell you something, bitch. Because of you, one of the finest officers in the Space Patrol is dead, but more importantly, the only man I ever loved is dead. You may have not pulled the trigger, but you are the cause!" She swung again, hitting Mother on the other arm, forcing her to step backwards. "You know, I think I'm going to end both our suffering. Samson, get the plark out of here!"
Suddenly, as even more bots swarmed in, they and the ones already in the room collapsed to the ground while both Mother and Samson went to one knee. Red deactivated the grenade and placed it back in her vest before dropping the crowbar and grabbing her pistol. Setting it to kill, she pressed it against Mother's head.
"Where am I," the female leader asked in a frightened voice.
"Red! Stand down!" Max ordered. "Killing Mother will not bring Niall back."
"She killed him."
"No, she didn't," Ariel said as he popped into existence next to the marshal. "Mother is dead. I looked and both Mother and Father are gone. Not sequestered. Not stored in a backup drive. They are gone without a trace. It's over."
"But Niall..."
"He died doing what he did best. Don't ruin that by committing murder in his name."
“Who the hell is Mother?” Mother asked. “My name is Delilah.”
With tears streaming down her cheeks, Red lowered her weapon, then leaned over, put her head on Ariel's chest, and cried her heart out.
"What... What just happened?" Delilah asked as Ariel and Max led the sobbing Red out of the cave. "What are all these bots doing here?"
"I think Samson and I can explain," Joslyn said as she took Delilah by the arm, and with Samson's help, led her out of the cave.
###
Joslyn, Max, and Ariel stood next to the APC and watched the controlled chaos that raged around them while Samson and Delilah talked nearby. Above them, the SWAT team led Jessie and his crew to the cave to salvage the comatose bots.
"Quite a day," the sheriff said as she took a drink from a flask before handing it to Max. "Delilah remembers nothing prior to waking up and seeing Red's pistol pointed at her head."
"What did you tell her?" Max asked.
"We told her it was a case of mistaken identity, which is was, kinda..."
"Sort of..." Ariel added
"Whatever. She accepted it. It looks like her and Samson will do OK helping the salvagers. Hell, they've already made a ton of money by selling the bots in the cave. How's Red doing?"
"She's finally dealing with all the grief she had pent-up inside. She'll be fine in a few days," Ariel said.
"She's healing," Max added.
An unfamiliar shuttle sporting the royal crest of Ventos Prime circled the area before landing next to the APC. With engines idling, the hatch opened and a person wearing a Space Patrol uniform ran down the ramp, then over to where everyone was standing. He was humanoid with long white hair and translucent white skin. He reminded the others of a carved stone lampshade.
He came to attention and saluted. "Lieutenant Gregory Alabaster. I need to speak to Deputy Marshal Maxine Wabash and Marshal Melinda McKee about a matter of utmost urgency."
"I'm Maxine. I'll take you to Red, LT. This way," Maxine said as she headed to the APC.
"LT?" Ariel asked.
"Yes, sir?"
"What the hell are you?"
"I'm human, sir, from Earth."
"Right. Carry on."
The Lieutenant saluted, then hurried into the APC where Maxine waited for him.
"Joslyn, you're human. Did you ever see anyone like the LT?"
"No, and I know a couple of people who are albino. Their skin is tinged with pink from the blood circulating through their capillaries. His skin is translucent. It was as if his blood was clear. Is that possible?"
"Only if he's using something other than hemoglobin to transport oxygen."
The hatch opened followed by Max, Gregory, and Red walking out. While Lieutenant Alabaster led Max to the ship, Red ran over to Ariel and Joslyn. "Ariel, can you deal with all this?" Red asked as she dried her eyes.
"Sure. What's happening?" he asked with a nod toward the shuttle.
"Something impossible. I'll explain everything when I get back."
"Where are you going?" Joslyn asked.
"To a reunion of sorts," she yelled over her shoulder. Moments later, the shuttle was airborne, leaving two mystified officers of the law behind.
"Now what the hell was that all about?" Joslyn asked.
"I don't rightly know," Ariel said with a shrug.
CHAPTER TWELVE
With the shuttle safely in other-space, the LT walked into the lounge to see to his quests. "Our travel time is about an hour. Is there anything I can get you?"
"An hour? It takes at least a day to get from Maeve to the nearest station," Max said in shock.
"We're not going to a station, Deputy."
"Then where the hell are we going, LT?" Red demanded. "You land and tell us that we've have been ordered by General Spent herself to accompany you to a meeting with a group of people to discuss an urgent matter concerning Captain Thorvald. Now, listen up, youngster, I've had a really bad day, and I want some answers."
"I'll take it from here, Greg," Ambassador Irithyl said as he walked into the lounge.
"Yes, sir," Greg replied. He returned to the cockpit leaving Lucien to deal with Red and Max."
"With all due respect, Ambassador, what the hell is going on?" an annoyed Red asked.
"Do you want the long answer or the short answer?"
"Short," the two ladies said in unison.
"We found Niall's family and about twenty thousand other survivors of the Tennosh disaster."
"What?" the two space patrol officers whispered.
"As you know, just prior to the start of the Martok incident, a damaged Erdexi portal generator malfunctioned on the surface of the Planet Tennosh. Almost half the planet was instantly transported to an unknown location, killing millions of people including Niall's entire family. I was there. I watched from orbit as the planet was cleaved in half. Niall missed dying by shear minutes. Right after you went off to save the League from a robot menace, Space Patrol Command aboard the Cube received a message that twenty-thousand people had survived the destruction of Tennosh. Niall's entire family is part of that group."
"That's impossible. No one could survive..."
"I've spoken with them. They are alive, well, and waiting for you at our destination."
Red started to shake. Lucien got up and joined her and Max on their couch. "I thought you'd be happy. Why are you terrified?" he calmly asked.
"What do I tell them? That their son is dead? That they missed him by six months?"
"I told them everything to spare them, and you, unnecessary pain. They all want to meet you, It’s as simple as that."
"Then why all the secrecy?" Max demanded. "And why tell only the two of us? Why not bring Ariel?"
"Their location is an ultra-top-secret location used for witness protection. This ship is one of only three ships capable of traveling there, and the LT is one of only a handful of pilots authorized to make the trip."
