by Frank Carey
The king nodded as he watched them wheel his son down the hallway toward the waiting ship. "What about his sister and mother?"
"Once we stabilize him, we will allow each to visit under controlled conditions to make sure the thing isn't keyed to kill them as well. I will contact you as soon it's clear."
"Thank you, Healer. Healer, do you have a name?"
"Yes, your highness. I respond to the name 'Parker.' Now, if you'll excuse me, your son and I have a long journey ahead of us.”
The king watched them leave before turning to Technician Valla. "Valla, I cannot express how thankful I am for your service to the crown, but I must task you once more."
"Sire, name it, and it shall be done," she replied, bowing deeply as she spoke.
"I want you to put together a crew and dismantle my son's ship down to the individual nuts and bolts. I need to know who owns it and where it has been. Can you do that for me?"
"Yes, sire! It will be done."
"Good. Ariel will see to it that you have anything you need," he said while glancing at his top guard. She nodded to the king and then took the technician back to the air field while Valla rattled off names of people and tools she would require."
The king turned around and found Chancellor Lhoris standing quietly. "Sir, I understand there was a problem. Something about an intruder?"
"Yes, Lhoris. It seems my son has escaped from his prison and returned to his home. You seem troubled, Chancellor. Is there a problem?"
"No, sire, no problems. What would you like me to do about your son?"
"Nothing. He is in good hands. Understand this, Lhoris," the king said to the tall elf, "If anything happens to him, I will be very unhappy, and you wouldn't like it when I'm unhappy, understand?"
"Yes, sire. Perfectly. Excuse me, sire, but I have duties to attend to," he said as he walked off down the corridor. Once the chancellor was out of sight, Ariel appeared from the shadows where she had stood unseen, watching. "Sire, do you want me to have the chancellor disappear?"
"No, I know he's mixed up in this, but I can't prove anything, and he has very powerful friends. Watch him for now but make no move against him."
"Yes, sire," she said as she walked off to make arrangements.
The king returned to his quarters and found his secretary, Raina waiting for him, wringing her hands with worry about the prince. "How is young Royce, Sire?"
"He lives, he's strong, and he is under the care of a Healer, so he has a fighting chance. That is all we can hope for at this moment."
"Should I tell the queen and the princess?"
"Yes. They should return immediately. Be discrete, Raina, for I fear our enemies are at the gate."
"Yes, sire," she said as she started making calls.
He walked over to the balcony which looked out over the city and wondered what the next few days would bring.
###
The Royal Flitter Alastia landed outside the hospital, disgorging a dozen heavily armed guards the moment the engines were shut down. Once the way was deemed clear, Queen Mistrial and her daughter, Gloria, walked down the ramp, past the guards, and into the building, the guards falling in close behind them.
"Where is he?" she demanded from the first physician she saw.
"He is resting, mistress. Come this way. I will escort you to a waiting area where you can rest while I find a healer."
"Where is he?" the queen asked, having no patience left after a long flight. Her son had been held captive by the Trogon for many months having gods only know what done to him.
Before the physician could answer, a calming voice said, "Alexa, you may attend to your duties. I will help the ladies."
The physician bowed to the tall healer before walking away. "My name is Parker, your majesties. May I be of assistance?" the healer asked calmly.
Gloria looked at her, amazed at her calming influence. Parker was the first healer she had ever met in person, and she was struck by her poise and dignity. "Healer, we are here to see my brother, Prince Royce. Please, if only for a moment."
"Of course, young princess. Please, follow me," she said as she led them down a quiet hallway.
"Daughter, you never cease to amaze me," the queen said as she visibly calmed.
"Ladies, a word of warning. The prince is under the influence of a rather malignant synthetic personality whose only purpose is to kill the king, then the prince. We have yet to determine if that purpose includes the two of you," she said quietly as she stopped in front of a door flanked by two heavily armed female guards.
"Why women?" the queen asked, pointing to the guards.
"The entity seems to be incapable of harming women, a prohibition we hope extends to the two of you. We are still determining whether it is a design flaw or your brother's doing. Be clear on this, your brother is the only reason the king is still alive. Now, steel yourselves. Royce is heavily drugged and restrained. For all our sakes, you must remain calm." She pushed against the door and led them inside.
Inside, the room was dark, illuminated only by a light tube on the wall above the bed. Standing around the young prince were two physicians and a nurse checking his vital signs and monitoring several pieces of machinery attached to Royce via wires and tubes. Mistrial carefully made her way to one side of the bed and gently took her son's hand while Gloria went to the opposite side and took the other. He stirred the moment his sister touched him. She looked up at the healer who reached down and put her fingertips gently on his forehead.
"He's fine. Even while in a coma, he recognizes his twin. Your link is strong, Princess."
"Why is he in a coma?" the queen asked in a whisper.
"It is the only way to stop him from fighting his restraints. Royce fears the thing inside him will harm the king, so he demands his own immediate termination. Your son can be rather insistent."
The queen went white as she started to faint, but the healer touched her arm and the spell immediately passed. "There will be none of that, My Queen. As they say, this is where the ass kicking starts. He’s connected to a state of the art dialysis machine which is working to cleanse his system of the poisons and drugs. Two of my sisters are working telepathically to purge the thing from his mind. Finally, his body is being healed by five teams of nano surgeon robots coursing through his bloodstream. We are doing everything medically possible to return him to normal. You have my word as a healer."
"Who did this to him?" Gloria asked with her tail arched behind her as if about to strike. "I would like to carve their hearts out and serve them for dinner."
The healer smiled, knowing too well that the young princess meant every word she said. "We have narrowed it down to a Trogan splinter group led by one Cmdr. Rathstok, deceased. My sources tell me the camp your son was being held in was burned to the ground shortly after Royce escaped."
"How?" Gloria asked as she continued to hold her brother's hand.
"We think whoever hired the commander was cleaning up the mess your brother left behind."
"Any idea who hired the commander and his group?"
"None. Your brother never saw this mysterious employer. At least we have not found any trace of them in your brother's memories. I will admit, though, there are blocks in place we have yet to break through. I am confident that given time he will remember who did this to him. For now, he will sleep a deep sleep while the machines do their work. You both have traveled far under distressing circumstances. May I offer you some refreshments?”
"By the holies, that sounds like a fine idea," the queen said.
"I think I will stay a while if that is permissible," Gloria said.
"Do that, child," the healer said. "Talk to him. It will help him stay anchored here in the now."
The healer led the queen out of the room, leaving Gloria to watch her brother lay there and quietly breathe. Remembering something, Gloria reached into her bag and pulled out a worn book, one that brought her much comfort over the years. She opened it and read from it in a hushed v
oice as the stars slowly wheeled overhead while her brother slept and healed.
CHAPTER FOUR
I hear someone snoring. Not power-saw-cutting-down-tree snoring, but light, quiet, barely-there snoring. I notice a weight on my arm, not heavy, not light, just there. Now more sounds fill my senses: little beeps, clicks, and hisses. I listen closer, and I can hear the whisper of cloth and the sound of footsteps. I'm startled when someone gently takes my wrist and puts warm pressure against it. Ah, someone is taking my pulse. In the age of electronic everything, someone still takes a pulse the old-fashioned way—using their fingers. I'm curious. Who is this person taking my pulse? I open my eyes and look up.
"Welcome back to the world of the living," the person whispers as she places my arm back under the covers. "How do you feel?"
"Weak," I say truthfully. I feel like all of the strength has been drained from my body.”
"That's to be expected. Tell me, what is your name?"
What an odd question. "Royce Aymar," I answer while watching her reaction. She smiles at me, as if telling me I got it right...this time. I think she asked the question before, and I had given a different answer.
The weight on my arm shifts. I look and see Gloria leaning against me. "Hey, sleepy head," I say as she looks up at me and smiles. Bed head was never a good look for her. "How long have I been out?" I ask.
"A while," the tall woman said as she adjusts a device next to my bed. "My name is Parker, and I'm your healer. What is the last thing you remember?"
Remember... I remember getting off the troop transport in the middle of a dense jungle. Anna was in the lead while the others took flanking positions. We heard the transport take fire and explode. Anna led us deeper into the jungle, away from the ambush. We came to a clearing and started to take fire. Anna...
"Anna's dead, isn't she? They're all dead."
I felt Gloria tighten her grip on my hand.
"Yes, you're the only survivor of what was supposed to be a routine recon training mission," Parker said. "Do you remember being captured?"
"Captured? No. I remember seeing Anna die and then waking up a few minutes ago. How long was I gone?"
"You were captured seven months ago. Two months ago, your body landed a ship at the castle and tried to kill the king, but you were able to stop it. You've been in a drug-induced coma since then."
I sat up with Gloria's help. "Did I hurt anyone?"
"No. Someone implanted a synthetic personality in your mind—an assassin—but we think they botched the job," Parker explained. "We have spent the last two months dealing with it. Think of it as mind malware."
"So, it's gone, this malware I mean?"
"No, it's sequestered in a secure part of your mind. It can't harm you or anyone else."
"What's next?" I asked. I found the idea of a malignant mind taking up residence in my brain a little off-putting.
"We bring you back to physical health and return you to normal life while we study this thing with the hope of removing it from your psyche once and for all," Parker explained. "I have some errands to attend to, and I know your sister wants to talk to you about some things, so I'll take my leave. It's good to finally meet you, My Prince," the healer said with a smile. With that, she got up and left the room.
"Parker? What an odd name for an elf," I said as I leaned back against the pillows.
"That's because she's not an elf, silly," Gloria said. "She's an AI in a synth body."
Artificial Intelligences had been around for as long as I can remember, but I never met one. I thought they were recluses and the stuff of legend. "Really? She's not elf?"
"Nope. God, I wish I could figure out how she does it, live without a body that is."
"I thought you could go out of body on a whim?"
"Of course, silly, but I have a body to go back to. If the body dies so does the non-corporeal part. I've heard the AIs are immortal. That they can go into a person's mind and change things, which is why they make the best healers."
"Speaking of non-corporeal, how's work?" It was good to talk shop with my sister. She was the smarter side of our pair and I could listen to her for hours. Many times, I had no idea what she was talking about, but I loved listening to it anyway.
"Work is good. John is coming up with hundreds of new designs, and Serena and I have a backlog of prototypes to test. It's wonderful.”
Hmmm, the way she said "John" has my elven twin-sense tingling. "So, you and John an item yet?" I asked innocently.
"What? No! John Taggart is a friend and colleague. I would never..." she stopped when she saw my grin. "You're such a gossip and a scalawag!"
It was good to see her laugh. With all the time she spent away studying and all, I found I missed her. A wave of fatigue washed over me as the healer returned.
"I apologize, but Royce is fatigued." the healer said.
Gloria kissed me on the head and said goodbye. After she was gone, I looked at the healer and noticed she was frowning. "Healer, you look...worried. Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing is wrong, Royce. You're doing far better than we expected. Now, get some rest.”
###
Gloria and my parent's lives returned to normal as my body was worked and conditioned to restore it to its pre-capture form. It felt good to move about and exercise long-dormant muscles.
One month later, I found myself wakened from a deep sleep by Parker. I opened my eyes to find her standing over me while holding her index finger over my lips to signal silence. I was going to whisper something when I heard blaster fire from the hallway—single weapon, medium power, single-shot mode. How the hell did I know that?
She motioned for me to get out of bed. I quickly dressed and followed her out an access panel at the back of the room. After much twisting and turning, we entered another room, this time a lab. Standing on either side of an exam table were two physicians while at the door four guards waited with weapons drawn.
"You may speak now, Royce. We're safe for the moment," the healer said as she picked up a small device. It was about the size and shape of an ornate writing stylus. She pressed one of the jewels on its side before holding it between the palms of her hands.
"What's happening?" I asked as the physicians checked me over and gave me several injections.
"An assassin has entered the building. She is doing a room by room search for her mark."
Damn. "I assume I'm her target."
"Correct. We knew this would happen eventually, so we've made contingency plans," she said as she handed me the stylus.
"What's this?" I asked as I carefully took the stylus from her and examined it.
"That is a subset of my primary personality stored in a quantum computer. She responds to the name Parker just as I do. She will monitor you and your passenger, and protect you from it if the need arises, but she's much more than a simple AI. Think of her as a muse, companion, seer, and confidant, as I hope I have been."
I placed Parker into a pocket as more gunfire erupted outside. Parker Prime reached over and hugged me. I could feel her immense strength in that hug.
Before I could say anything, she signaled one of the guards to come over to where I was standing. "Sheila will take you to the airfield where a ship is waiting to take you to safety. Do not try to contact us or your family. We'll contact you when it is safe for you to return. Good journey, young prince," she said as Sheila took my arm and walked me to a door leading outside. I turned for one last look and saw Parker turn into a creature from the darkest of myths. She had jewel-tipped horns and a bifurcated tail. She was both beautiful and frightening. My condolences to the assassin.
Sheila led me out to the landing field where over a dozen ships sat, all identical and all prepped for immediate liftoff. "Pick one at random, sire. Fair winds and calm seas," she said as she headed back into the castle. As I walked to a ship, I could hear a woman screaming. The assassin had met Parker. Moments later, a dozen ships took off on a dozen different vectors before silence
returned to the facility.
CHAPTER FIVE
Two years later...
I sat in the command chair of the League Transport Vessel Arachnid and kept watch while working my way through another romance novel I picked up at our last stop. I must have read a hundred of these things, and I still can't understand why humans make courtship and reproduction so complicated.
Like many league transport vessels, the Arachnid was built with multiple mission profiles in mind. Its current job was hauling freight from Minos to Tennosh. So far, it had been an easy haul—knock on wood. We were an hour out from Tennosh, and I should finish my book by the time we land. I'm glad they publish like a gazillion of these a year. I'd hate to run out.
The ship lurched as if God had swatted it. Alarms sounded as various pieces of the ship's structure loosened up. I pressed the alarm button and tightened my harness in case another swat was in the offing. One problem with maintaining a human form was not having a prehensile tail to steady oneself.
"Status report," Capt. Josiah Smith ordered as he and our First Officer, Cmdr. Kirillian "Kiran" Dobbs sat down and buckled in, him behind us, and her next to me.
"Massive other-space ripple just passed through the ship, sir. Computers are trying to identify, but no joy yet."
A light started flashing on the control board. It was a League-wide distress call. Kiran put it up on the speakers.
"...repeat, the western hemisphere of Tennosh has been obliterated. All ships contact LWS Hermes on Starguard channel zero for instructions..." Kiran killed the feed when the message repeated.
"Oh my God," the captain whispered. I could see the shock on their faces. Our hangar was on the western hemisphere and both their families lived there.
"I'll take care of this, sirs. Go, find your people," I said as I put on the headphones and powered up the transmitters.
