by J. E. Taylor
Matthew shook his head. “I’m with you there. I probably would have tagged every single one of them,” he said, voicing what he would never admit to his son.
Cal chuckled and nodded. He headed toward the situation room with Matthew.
André sat in a gray and blue nylon flight suit with a matching gray baseball cap on his head, waiting for them.
Matthew turned on the monitor and dimmed the lights. A satellite image came up on the screen, showing the path of the meteor through the galaxy. “The meteor will be passing by Saturn in a few hours. We’ll be intercepting it just beyond Jupiter.” He pushed another button, showing the projected path of the meteor. “We want to push this thing a few hundred kilometers off the current course.” He pushed the button and showed the new path of the meteor, missing Earth and eventually colliding with the sun. “That is our primary directive.” He looked at his son. “This must happen before we intercept our visitor.”
André nodded acknowledgment.
“We believe the explorer is following in the meteor’s wake, hidden from our satellites,” he explained. “When you shove this thing off course, he’ll be exposed.” Matthew looked at both men in the room. “That’s when I expect all hell to break loose.”
“What’s the plan?” André asked, looking at the path of the meteor replaying behind his father.
“Capture and detain,” Matthew said.
André laughed. “You’re shitting me?”
“No,” Matthew answered. “I’m not going out there with the intent to kill anyone, and neither are you.”
André looked at the floor.
“Wipe those thoughts out of your mind, André. That’s apt to get us killed,” Cal said. “If our visitor perceives us as a danger, then we’re already dead.”
Matthew nodded. “We’re going to act very surprised when we see the ship. Understand?”
André looked at his father. “Bluff?”
“Not exactly,” Matthew said.
André looked at him, his eyes widening, and he shook his head. “You’re out of your fucking mind, Dad.”
“You have to wipe all traces of knowledge of him out of your mind right now.” He looked at Cal. “And out of our minds.” He looked back at André. “Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“I understand, but I don’t know if I can do that,” André said.
“You have to wipe out everything from the point we left my office to go to the press conference and Cal’s memory from the point he entered my office this afternoon.”
André stood up in protest. “It screws with your brain,” he said.
“This is the only way this will work and if you need to grasp a bright side here, I won’t remember you and Katrina slept together under my roof today.”
André blushed and picked at another hangnail. Taking a deep breath, he gave his father a slight nod without raising his eyes.
“You can fill us in on why we are here, minus the visitor,” Cal piped in.
“You’re going to be disoriented,” André said.
“It’s all right.” Matthew approached André. “I trust you, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. Can you sit down?”
Matthew sat as André requested.
André focused on Cal first, his eyes transitioning to that neon blue Matthew had seen dozens of times, but he had never seen the full transition of power that turned André’s eyes into a laser red flash. “You remember coming to my father’s office and being told we’re going out into space, but that’s it. Next thing, you are here.”
Cal winced and blinked, glancing at André and Matthew, a puzzled crease appearing between his eyes.
André smiled. “Go change in to your flight suit, Cal,” André said and Cal nodded and headed to change.
“Damn.” Matthew watched Cal walk off. “It’s a complete blank,” he said and glanced back at André.
“Are you sure you want me to do this, Dad?”
“It’s the only way I can keep you safe,” Matthew said and inhaled, wondering if there were any nasty long-term side effects to the mind erase he was agreeing to.
“Besides a possible stroke?” André asked, worry painting his gaze.
“I will be fine, André. Just do what you have to do,” Matthew said.
ANDRÉ INHALED AND CONCENTRATED. “You fired me and I took off. You called me back for the press conference, the president announced what we were planning and explained who I am.” He paused and raked his palm over his face. “You have no other memories since I left the office outside of the meteor.” He pushed gently and his father reacted the same way as Cal. “Dad, we’re getting ready to go.”
Matthew looked around, blinking and confused.
“The meteor.” André pointed at the repeating trajectory on the screen behind him. “You said we need to knock it off base by a couple hundred kilometers?” André asked. “Does it matter which direction?”
Matthew shot his eyes between the screen and André. “No. Either direction will take it out of Earth’s path. Think you can do that?”
“Sure, Dad.” André kept his mind as blank as a new sheet of paper.
Matthew looked at his son, his brow furrowing. “What the hell happened to your eye?”
André shifted. “I told Kat about this morning. She was a little angry.”
Matthew barked laughter. “I’m surprised you’re still breathing.”
André smiled. “Yeah, well, she forgave me.”
Matthew shook his head. “You are one lucky son of a bitch.” He stood. “Linda would have shot me if I pulled what you have.”
André glanced at his father. “I don’t intend to screw up like that ever again.”
“I hope not because I’ll throttle you myself. She’s not someone you want to lose, André,” Matthew said and headed off to change.
André closed his eyes, collected all the memories relating to the visitor in space and jammed them in the room in the back of his mind, closed the imaginary door and locked it. He prayed that would be enough. When he opened his eyes, his gaze landed on the shuttle, studying it from a distance and remembering the last time he flew.
“This ship is a little bigger than the last one you were on,” Cal said as he stepped next to André, wearing the same flight suit.
“Seems like a lifetime ago,” André whispered and let the silence fill the space between them.
“How’s Sam doing?” Cal asked after a few moments lost in thought.
André smiled. “He’s finally sleeping through the night now.” He turned toward Cal. “It’s been a long ass summer.”
“Just look at it this way, you’ll be under forty when your boy is out of college.”
Forty. André couldn’t comprehend being that old and let out a laugh. “There’s something to look forward to.”
Cal smiled. “It’s not that old.”
André smirked and huffed.
“Hey, I’m not that far from forty,” Cal pointed out.
“You’re over thirty?” André asked.
“Yes.”
“I thought you were younger,” André said.
“I’ve got a medical degree through the service, André. That means eight years of school, followed by two years as a resident. I was in my second year as a resident when you first arrived,” Cal explained. “You do the math.”
“Thirty-four?” André answered.
Cal smiled. “Not bad.”
“You’re twice my age,” he marveled.
“Okay, now you’re pushing it.”
“Sorry, Cal,” André said. “It’s just that I thought you were, like, twenty-five.”
Cal laughed. “Your dad isn’t even forty yet.”
André turned and watched as Matthew crossed the floor. “Yeah, but he turns forty this year,” he said before his father was at their side.
“Commander.” Cal saluted.
“At ease, Captain.”
Cal relaxed and smiled. “Your son thinks forty�
�s old.”
Matthew shrugged with a small smile on his lips. “What does he know?”
Cal laughed and followed Matthew onto the ship.
André looked around the hangar and then followed them on board, trying to lock the trepidation out of his mind.
Matthew glanced back at his son. “You all right?” he asked, sensing his son’s unease.
André nodded. “I’m just a little nervous to go back up there.”
Cal turned in the co-pilot’s chair, his brow furrowed as he caught the lie. He glanced at Matthew, and then back at André.
“Let it go,” André said to Cal.
Matthew looked between the two of them. He went to speak and closed his mouth, turning to the controls. He glanced at Cal as he turned the ignition over, rolled the ship to the exit gates, and waited for the hangar door behind them to close so the vacuum seal could take hold before he opened the outer gate.
Rolling down the runway, he revved the turbo engines and accelerated. As soon as they were airborne, he took the ship up at a seventy-degree angle through the atmospheric layers. Once in space, he set the jets to maximum speed, hitting close to ninety thousand miles per second. He programmed the course into the computer and turned to his passengers.
André watched the stars trace by in bright lines, awed by the view. He had been so sick when Matthew found him that this was lost on him the first time around. Time passed in silence as both Cal and André stared at the celestial visions filling the windshield of the spacecraft.
“You did your thing to Cal,” Matthew stated, breaking the silence after they approached Mars and Jupiter loomed in the distance.
André’s gaze shot to his father’s. “Yes.” He didn’t hesitate to answer. He glanced back out the window. “How much longer?” he asked, feeling the dread wrap around his heart.
“An hour or so,” he answered. “When?”
“Hmmm?” André asked, not taking his eyes from the awe-inspiring sight.
“When did you do it?”
“Early this summer,” Cal answered. “I asked him to.”
Matthew focused his attention on Cal. “What did you hope to gain?”
Cal smiled. “Knowledge.”
Matthew leaned back. “So what can you do?”
“Cal already had a touch of ESP before I opened the gate,” André said.
Matthew looked back at André. “While you are on this mission, you will refer to him as Captain Grey, understand?”
André snorted at his father. “What the hell are you babbling about?”
Matthew swung the chair full around and stared down his son. “This is not a game, son. It is a military mission and while you are under my command, you will act accordingly.”
“Yes, sir,” André mumbled.
Matthew turned back to the controls. “So, Captain, what can you do?”
“I can move things and read minds,” Cal said and turned, studying André, a crease appeared between his eyes. “What’s eating you?” he asked.
André shook his head. “Nothing.” He looked up through the window as they passed the red blur of Mars.
Matthew and Cal exchanged a look.
“Just let it go. All right?” André said.
Matthew turned toward André. “What is wrong?”
André looked out the window. “I just had a bad day,” he answered, trying to find something other than the truth to focus on. The door in the back of his mind was straining against the pressure. “The thing this morning, the fight with Katrina.” He shrugged and looked at his father. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
“What happened this morning?” Cal asked.
“Georgia happened this morning,” André said.
After a moment, the crease between Cal’s eyes faded and he said, “Damn, no wonder your wife slugged you.”
André shrugged. “Yeah, I screwed things up royally.” He looked down at his wedding band. “If things had gone differently today, she would have never forgiven me.” He looked back out the window.
“I’m amazed she forgave you at all,” Matthew remarked.
“I saved her life today,” André said, gaining the attention of both men. “And inadvertently, she saved mine.”
“What happened?” Matthew asked, concern replacing some of his irritation.
“Anna tried to kill her,” he explained. “She tried to run Kat over with her hovercraft.”
Matthew raised his eyebrows, remembering Anna as one of the many girls André had dated his sophomore year. “Why?”
André sighed. “The vibe made her a little psycho.”
“What’d you do?” Matthew asked.
“I blew up the hovercraft before it got to Kat,” André answered.
“You killed Anna?”
He shook his head. “No. But only because Katrina saved her ass.” He took a deep breath. “I reacted.” He studied the control panel, not meeting his father’s eyes. “Badly,” he added. “So, I’ve got a little bit on my mind right now.”
“Jesus,” Matthew said, turning back to the controls.
André felt Matthew’s disappointment pressing down on his chest. He closed his eyes, succumbing to the gravity of what he did.
“You lost control?”
“No. I knew exactly what I was doing,” he answered. “She was gonna kill Kat.”
The silence fell over the three of them, no one knowing quite what to say.
“Let’s go move a meteor,” Cal said, breaking the awkward silence that settled on the cabin.
Jupiter was now within sight and Matthew eased back on the controls, changing the direction of the ship so the meteor was now in full view. “Do you need to be closer than this?” he asked, looking back at André.
“Probably,” he answered, “and more to the side as opposed to head-on.” André considered the situation. “Do you have the exact coordinates of where it is so I know which way to push it, Dad?” Nerves jumbled in his stomach.
Matthew pushed a button on the control panel and a monitor slid down to the right of André. After a moment, the screen came to life with the data of the current projected path of the meteor and then the projected corrected path required to launch it into the sun’s orbit. It showed the distance differentials between the original path and the changed path as well as probable margin for error.
André digested the information while his father navigated the craft where André requested. He glanced out the window, feeling the first tentacles of thought scans by the intruder. He shut down his mind, concentrating on the task at hand. “That should be good enough,” he said.
Matthew slowed the craft, turning it toward the meteor. “What do you need from us?”
André bit his lower lip and looked between the window and his father. “I need the co-pilot seat,” he said, glancing at Cal.
Cal stared out the window. A deep crease appeared between his eyes as he studied the meteor and André knew he felt the mind scan as well.
“Captain, do you mind?” Matthew asked.
Cal looked at Matthew. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“André needs your seat.”
He nodded, glancing back through the window as he unbuckled and relinquished his seat.
André settled into the co-pilot’s seat and took a deep breath, settling his nerves and concentrating on gathering the energy within him into a tight ball in his chest. His skin tingled with the power and his pulse pounded, tingeing everything in front of him with a pink hue. His eyes burned with the effort. He clamped his eyes closed, focusing the explosive energy.
When the tingling sensation transitioned into scorching pain, he opened his eyes, letting the power beast loose, aiming it at the meteor. Space rippled in a straight line from their shuttle, closing the distance to the meteor in a blink of an eye.
The meteor vaporized, leaving a billion dust particles floating in space and shock registered in André, dropping his jaw just before the world went black.
MATTHEW STARE
D AT THE dust particles in awe and turned to witness André slump in the co-pilot’s seat, with only the whites of his eyes visible and his skin as pale as the day Katrina’s father stabbed him.
“Jesus,” Matthew shouted, ripping his seatbelt off and jumping to André’s side. He lifted his son’s limp head. “Oh sweet Jesus,” he whispered at the slackness in André’s face.
Cal shoved Matthew aside and felt André’s neck for a pulse. “He’s alive,” he said over his shoulder to Matthew.
He closed his eyes in a silent prayer until a heavily accented voice filled his head and both he and Cal spun to the windshield and the approaching spacecraft.
“Holy crap,” Cal said, his eyes going wide. He forgot about his unconscious ward for the moment.
Matthew took a step, blocking André behind him in a protective reflex before he picked up the transmitter. Trading a glance with Cal, he pressed the button and said, “State your intentions.” The only other spacecraft Matthew ever came in contact with was André’s and he wondered if this ship was from the same origin.
“Peace.” The voice barreled through the cabin in a low baritone that shook the interior of the spaceship.
Matthew had no tangible reason to doubt the alien’s motive, but his internal alarms sounded anyway and an unspeakable apprehension gripped him. “Permission to board?” Matthew asked, glancing at Cal and swallowing the sudden onset of nerves.
“State your intentions?” the voice boomed.
“Same as yours,” Matthew replied.
“Permission granted.” The craft dipped below and out of sight, followed by the familiar sound of the airlock whistle signaling a successful docking.
“Think he’ll be all right?” Matthew asked, looking at André.
“His heart rate is strong and his breathing is regular,” Cal said. “I think he just expended more energy than any of us expected. I’m sure he’ll come to in a few.” He looked at the docking cabin. “I thought I felt something out there,” he said.
Matthew studied the docking cabin as well, debating as he met the captain’s gaze. “You coming?”
Cal smiled. “Hell, yeah.”
