We kept going for a few minutes. Soon Magnus turned right and drove down a dirt road leading up to a cabin. It wasn’t big, and smoke poured out of a chimney on the left side of the structure.
“Home sweet home,” he said, his words adding to the aching feeling in my gut.
“This is amazing, Magnus,” Mary said, her voice cheerful. I hadn’t seen her so happy in months and tried to picture me and her living in a similar place, quietly farming, minding our own business. No more intergalactic strife to deal with. I wasn’t sure how we’d manage, but I was willing to try.
“It’s not much, but it’s home. I know I didn’t have much time to tell you anything, but we have a few surprises of our own.” He parked the vehicle and we got out. The ground felt soft under my feet, and it did feel alien for a moment. I quickly forgot all of that when I heard a bark. A dog barking, on this faraway planet, brought normalcy back to me in an instant. It woofed again, and my heart sped up. I knew that sound. It was from someone that had become my best friend during the Event.
“Carey!” I called. My hands were shaking as I looked for him. Another yap, and I spun to see him running at us from the house. Natalia was at the door, her hand covering her eyes, trying to see who was with Magnus. He’d wanted us to be a surprise. Carey bounded at us, and I ran toward him, so excited to be back with the little guy. His ears flopped up and down as he raced to me. “Carey!” I said again. He seemed to know it was me.
I fell to my knees, and the dog jumped on me, licking my face with fervor and love. I couldn’t recall a time I’d felt more relief or pure joy, and I sat there petting and talking to him, trying to explain why I’d left him. He didn’t seem to care at that moment, and we just shared that time together as equals on the ground. After everything we’d been through, this was exactly what I needed.
Once we’d both settled down, I noticed how different he looked. He’d aged well, but at eleven, he was heavier than he’d been, and his eyes didn’t have quite the same glow to them.
“Thank you for being there for him,” I said to Magnus, who I could tell was behind us by the large shadow. My voice was thick with emotion.
“Dean, we love that dog. It was our pleasure, really,” Magnus said, walking over and giving me his hand. I took it, and he pulled me up off the ground. Carey rubbed his head on my shins, and I heard more barking. Natalia was walking toward us, two other dogs in tow. They were cockers like Carey, one brown, and the other buff like the older dog.
“Magnus, who’s with you?” Natalia asked as she neared us. Our backs were to her, and Mary and I turned to her, tears already falling down Mary’s face.
“Nat,” Mary said, stepping over to our friend. It was then I noticed there was a small boy clutching on to Nat’s leg.
Natalia cried out in anguish. I almost reached for a gun before it clicked that she was just surprised by us.
“How? How are you here?” she asked, her eyes instantly red, puffy, and adorable at the same time. She embraced Mary, holding on tight.
“If you have a cup of coffee, we can tell you,” I said, and she turned to me, grabbing hold of my arms and pulling me into a big hug. She was so warm, and I hugged her back, telling her how glad I was to see her. “Who’s this?” I asked, crouching to be at eye level with the boy. The three dogs came over and played, rolling on the grass between us.
“These are Carey’s little ones,” Magnus said. “Charlie, the boy, and Maggie, the little troublemaker there.” He pointed to the brown one, who gave him a bark. They looked young, but they weren’t puppies any longer. “And that,” he nodded to the brown-haired hiding boy, “is Dean.” Magnus looked at me, a twinkle in his eye.
“We didn’t think we’d ever see you again. It had been four years. We wanted to… remember you,” Natalia said, sniffling as she held Mary’s hand.
It was quite the reunion, and I felt like I’d been through an emotional wringer. “Hi, Dean,” I said. He peeked out from behind her leg and looked at me, the perfect little combination of Magnus and Natalia. I was so happy for them. “Look at what you guys have accomplished out here. It’s amazing. It’s… kind of the dream.” I felt the loss hard. They’d had seven years together, building a family and taking care of Carey, and we’d just been on a journey across space for a few months. It was hard to wrap my brain around.
“It’s been nice,” Magnus said, and I hardly heard him.
“Let’s go inside,” Natalia said, her accent still thick, but her voice softer than it had been.
We started the walk to their cabin, the dogs sauntering along. Carey stuck close to Magnus but looked back to make sure I was coming. I knew whose dog he was now, and to say it didn’t hurt would be a lie. I was glad he was a happy dog who’d had the opportunity to lead a safe and healthy life. I wasn’t sure if I could have given him that security.
The smaller brown cocker followed along behind me, playfully romping through the grass, her bark trying to get me to play along. I knelt and scratched her ears, which she rolled over for, kicking her back legs out for a stretch. “Well, Maggie, it’s nice to meet you. I think there might be some treats inside the house with your name on them.” At that word, she perked up and ran ahead into the house as Magnus held the door open.
Mary stayed behind after the other three entered the home. “Are you okay?”
“I think so. It’s just… a lot. How about you?” I asked.
She smiled. “I’m happy to see them. It’s just so weird. With the snap of a finger, we missed years of our friends’ lives. It’ll just take some time. Let’s go share stories and have a night where we don’t have to think about the next thing.”
We did have a lot of explaining to do to the powers that be; Andrews, the suit Clare had shot, was just the beginning. Our friends inside were high-ranking officers, and they were able to pull some strings to get us acclimated to their world before we got grilled the following day. I was grateful for it, but as I entered their house, I hoped the other crew were being taken care of.
“Any word on Slate and Nick?” I asked, taking in the cozy décor of their small home. It was sparsely furnished with homemade wooden furniture, a dichotomy to the futuristic screens on the walls and counters. Lights came on automatically; a clear screen above the mantel acted as a television. I recognized signs of Kraski technology everywhere.
Magnus keyed something into a screen in the kitchen, and a face appeared. He asked the man a few questions and was told the two men from the station were on New Spero, and that Clare was with them. We’d left her at the complex to wait for the rest of our team.
“We’ve built hotels for visitors from other cities to stay. Your friends are in the suites saved for city leaders. Much better than being cramped up on a ship for months, I tell you,” Magnus said after he ended the call.
“Thank you, Magnus,” Mary said. “Your home is perfect.” She walked around the living room and back to the kitchen. “Dean, maybe we can have something like this.” Her words were soft, hopeful. Little Dean came over to me, and I saw he was holding a wooden train.
“Of course you can,” Magnus said. “We’ll get right on it. I don’t want to speak out of turn, but there’s house a couple acres over if you want it. Share the land, so to speak. We built it…back then, hoping you would come claim it.”
It was all happening so fast, and I didn’t know how to reply. On one hand, it sounded amazing, but we had just arrived and had no idea what New Spero was really about. “I think we might like that.” I smiled at Mary, and she returned it. I knew Mary loved the idea right now, but her taste for adventure might kick in after a few weeks of feeding chickens and weeding a garden.
“Time for your nap, malen’kiy.” Natalia took her son’s hand, and he let her lead him into another room without complaint.
“What a cute kid. I can’t believe you have a son. The last night we saw you, you were just getting married,” I said, seeing his shoulders slump all of a sudden, like my words took the air out of him.
We sat in the living room, the smell of coffee flowing through the air toward us. I realized how tired I was then; sitting on the soft cushions, I had the desire to lie down and sleep.
“Dean… Mary,” Magnus said quietly, “we thought you were dead. Patty kept asking for word from you, from Earth, and eventually she stopped talking to us about you. I don’t think she stopped asking, but she could tell it was getting too hard for us to hear about you after those first few years.”
Carey looked up at me from the floor, his head turning sideways. “Come here, boy.” I patted my lap, and he jumped up, setting his head on my leg, letting out a sigh that he must have been holding for me for seven years. Soon his breath slowed, and I just rested my hand on his back, letting him know I was there.
“He’s yours, by the way,” Magnus said, looking at Carey from the other couch. Mary sat beside me, petting Maggie. Charlie was at Magnus’ feet.
I shook my head. “I can’t take him now; it’s been too long. He has his home now, his pack.” It hurt to say, but it was true.
“Tell us everything,” Natalia said, bringing a tray with coffee and cups from the kitchen.
“Where do we begin?” Mary asked.
“At the start.”
“You were married, and Mae arrived, beaten up. The hybrids escaped.” I said Mae’s name, and I could see they were aching to ask after her, but they knew she was dead. It was all over their faces.
We told our tale to them over the next few hours. The sunlight dimmed in the room, and soft lights automatically came on as we spoke. Natalia got snacks and we drank coffee, them on the edge of their seats at times, while at other moments, tears flowed freely from their eyes.
They learned about the Deltra still living on another planet. Magnus nearly stood as I talked about getting the smaller version of the Shield, and about Mary almost dying by the Bhlat warriors on that lone station far out in the universe. They sank into the couch and held hands as I told them about killing everyone at a Bhlat outpost. Natalia let out a cry as I told them the gut-punch of Mae really being Janine, the woman I’d fallen in love with. It hurt to bring it up and relive the story. Hearing that Slate had shot her took the wind out of their sails, and neither of them spoke for a few minutes.
When we got to the part about World President Naidoo communicating with the Bhlat, and how we thought she was going to kill us, Magnus turned red. “That bitch! We’re going to straighten all of this out tonight.”
“I think that Andrews guy is in her pocket,” Mary said.
“He has to be. If anyone ever shows up in our system, the station’s supposed to relay it to us and await instructions. Evidently, Naidoo asked Andrews to ignore our protocol and take you himself. I’m glad the slimy little slug got shot.” Magnus was still red, but Nat’s calming hand on his arm seemed to be working.
“That’s quite the story,” Natalia said. “Mag, I think its our turn.”
He nodded. “First, I need something.” He left the room, coming back with a bottle and four small glasses. He set them down on the large coffee table. I recognized the brand of Scotch as Magnus’ favorite from back on Earth.
“Is that…?” I started to ask.
“The one and the same. I’ve been saving this for something special. I’d say this constitutes something special, wouldn’t you?” The sparkle of my old friend was back in his eye. “Do you remember that day? We got the rings from that guy with the German shepherd.”
“And half a truckload of booze. Don’t you have distilleries here?” I asked, vividly recalling the day. It was only six months ago to me.
“We do, but there’s nothing like a bottle of twenty-year-old Scotch, aged a few more for good measure. God, I wish things had worked out differently that wedding night. I’m going to miss Mae.” He poured the liquid into the four glasses, passing one to each of us. “Even though she screwed us over a few ways to Friday, she was something.” He raised his glass. “To Mae.”
“To Mae,” we all said in unison, raising our own glasses in the air. I sipped the Scotch, letting the familiar burn ease down my throat.
“Our trip didn’t go so smoothly,” Magnus said, starting to tell us about their journey after we left. “That ship left with a thousand people, and we lost a hundred on the way from an illness we couldn’t cure. Now it’s nothing more than a common cold to us, but at the start, before we understood the way alien viruses worked, it was deadly. That was the least of it, but I won’t bore you with the details. The fact was, we arrived a month late, and our morale was low when we lowered to the surface.”
“My sister Isabelle?” I asked, fearful at what the answer would be.
Natalia’s face softened. “She’s fine, Dean. She lives out in Terran Five.”
I relaxed, nervous and excited to see the sister I hardly knew any longer. “What happened then?”
“They knew the layout of the planet from their first trip, but we didn’t know everything. The weather patterns surprised us, and the wildlife was so unique,” Magnus said, pausing for a drink, “but it was paradise to us. Free from the bull of Earth politics, we did what needed to be done. We started at ground zero here and built everything you’ve seen.”
“How did you end up being farmers?” Mary asked, a hint of laughter in her voice.
“I still work for the colony, obviously, but we wanted more. When Dean was born, we left the house we’d built in the city and gave it to a younger couple just starting out. We wanted to be away from the noise and people for once.” Magnus set his hand on Nat’s, squeezing it lightly. “She deserves a quiet place to raise a family.”
“You both deserve it,” I said.
We sat in the living room for hours, talking about all the stuff between their landing and now. We drank to old times, we picked away at a light dinner, and before we knew it, we were all tipsy and exhausted. I asked Magnus to pass word to the crew that we would see them in the morning, and Mary and I headed to the guest room Natalia demanded we stay in.
Mary was already breathing deeply as I pulled the blankets over my shoulders. I heard the light pitter-patter of footsteps approach our room, the door squeaked as it pushed open, and I recognized the sound of Carey jumping onto the bed. He came over to me, sniffed my face, licked it, and curled up between my legs.
I slept like I hadn’t in months.
FOUR
From the helicopter, we got a much better view of the settlement. We’d been so distracted when we’d lowered in our Kraski ship that none of us had caught a good look at Terran One. Now, flying over at a low altitude, I could make out all the different farms, then neighborhoods, as we headed for the base. Fields of varying colors stretched out beyond the horizon, a grid of sustenance and prosperity.
Magnus pointed landmarks out to us. He also described how each neighborhood had all the necessary supply stores, hospitals, and schools, so the locals didn’t need transportation to other areas. It reminded me of old city planning for lower-income areas. They wanted everything necessary along a bus route or within walking distance. For a colony, it made a lot of sense.
It blew my mind to see how far they’d come in just seven years. The amount of work that must have gone into creating what we were looking at had to come at a price. Magnus assured us that they owned worker robots for much of the labor.
In the distance, I spotted a large mountain, pristine lakes mottling the landscape near it, and I knew where I wanted to visit first. I wondered if there was anything resembling fish in that water.
We neared the base, a large structure near the landing pad we were at the day before. As we settled toward the ground, I spotted my friends near a bay door. Clare, Nick, and Slate stood looking no worse for wear, and I silently thanked whoever was listening for bringing them back in one piece.
“Time to make history,” Magnus said, opening the heli door. Mary got down, I ran out after her, and we jogged toward the building. The copter lifted and left us in silence after a few minutes.
We greeted our crew, Mary going for hugs with the two men we’d left in space, me following suit with what started as a manly back pat but escalated into a ‘thank God you’re alive’ embrace. “Everyone okay?” I asked, getting assurances that they were.
Slate grinned at us. “I was having fun up there. I think someone needs to train those pilots better.”
“Speak for yourself. Those guards were ready to rip my head off,” Nick said. Now that we were just a few feet apart, I noticed the red lines in his eyes and a bruise on his cheek.
“Did they hurt you?” I asked, anger boiling under my skin.
He shook his head. “No worse than I’d expect. I’ll be fine. I’m just glad the call came in when it did. I think they were ready to push me out an airlock.”
“I heard the news but wasn’t going to believe it unless I saw it,” a new voice said, coming from the doorway. “If I live to be a hundred, I doubt you’ll find me more surprised again.”
“President Dalhousie!” I called, happy to see the woman who made all of this happen.
She fluttered my comment away with a flick of her wrist. “No more ‘President’ for me. Just call me Patty, please.”
Patty had been a fit, healthy fifty when we’d last seen her, but the woman before us had been through a lot. She looked like she’d aged twice as much as Magnus. She was now a small gray-haired woman, but the fire in her eyes was still burning bright. Her once long hair was cut shorter, giving her a grandmotherly look.
“I’ve been filled in by the others, but come on in. We need to talk.” Patty hugged us tightly and turned, leading us into the large base through a steel door with guards at it.
“Still need guards?” Mary asked.
“This is a colony, not Utopia. Humans will always be humans, and yes, we do still need policing, and a military for space and New Spero,” Magnus answered for her.
We were led down a wide hallway, which ended eventually, and we turned left past a door that required Patty’s thumbprint to open. We found ourselves in a metal corridor, and I had flashbacks to climbing the tube on the Deltra station, Bhlat clomping around trying to kill us. Mary seemed to notice a change in me, and she grabbed my hand.
New World (The Survivors Book Three) Page 3
