by C. C. Bolick
Was she a ghost? Her translucent form glittered with a silver beauty. Her golden hair fell almost to her waist, like a fairy from a bedtime story. She smiled a brilliant smile.
“Rosanna’s here, isn’t she?” Sylvia asked.
I nodded. “Can you give us a minute?”
Van approached from where he’d stood the entire time. He teleported Sylvia out of there and then reappeared. “Shout my name when you’re ready.”
He faded and I turned to Mama. “How can I see you?”
“Because of your power. You and I are just alike.”
She opened her arms and I stepped into her embrace. I felt pressure from her arms, light as a butterfly along my skin. Not cold or hot. Not even there, really. It was like a memory brushing against my mind. Mama was dead but this was her. She’d come back for me.
“You were beautiful up there. Powerful, perfect. I’m so proud of you.” Her form shimmered and I thought she might disappear.
“Do you still have your power to control the neutrons?”
“That power has strengthened since I died. It doesn’t drain me in the same way as when I had a physical body.” She put a hand to my cheek. “You’re tired. You must sleep so your mind can refresh itself for tomorrow.”
“The senator wants me to fly to the sun and stop the damage from the solar flares. Is it possible?”
She reached for my arm and her touch fluttered across my skin. “You must find a strong fear, Rena.”
“I once feared not being able to love Travis. Then I feared not being able to save the people I care about.”
“You grew out of those fears, didn’t you?”
“There’s only one thing I truly fear now.”
She stared across the water as the last of the sun’s light faded, her voice hollow. “The darkness.”
“How did you know?”
“Because I fear it too.”
“Do you want to fly with me?”
The pain on her face melted away. “I thought you’d never ask.”
For the next hour, we circled the planet while checking out the sights below. Places I’d always wanted to see like the pyramids and Stonehenge. The Great Wall of China stretched to infinity up close but flowed like a river from above. An hour for us meant a fraction of that time for everyone else.
I relished every moment she was with me.
Chapter Fourteen
Travis
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
My head pounded. Why was the room spinning? I was nine years old again, yanking the sheet over my head as Dad made fun of me for sleeping until noon after a night of video games. Then I remembered the nightmare of breaking out of a prison that orbited another planet. A deadly game compared to the Nintendo I’d inherited from Sylvia’s son.
Buzzing sounds filled the room, along with a high-pitched whistle that felt like a needle piercing my eardrums. I’d heard this sound before. I slapped my hands over my ears and opened my eyes.
The nightmare continued. On the screen before me was the same planet from my last trip, brown and yellow with a ring that cut across the screen diagonally.
We were approaching from the opposite direction, which meant we must be headed for Earth. After two trips into space, I was navigating our galaxy.
Back to Earth. I’d made Dad promise to take me back after showing me the reason for my trip to Golvern. So far, it seemed he would keep his promise. Unlike the first trip, I now knew why he left me alone for thirteen years. He owed a debt.
As with my first journey through the gateway, I touched my neck to ensure I had a pulse. Foolish to check since I wouldn’t be breathing otherwise. Feeling my heart beating against my fingers proved I was still alive.
The ship bounced like a single-engine prop I once rode to Alaska during a storm. I thought I’d die that night and I wasn’t so sure about today.
What about my conversation with the queen? When I asked about my death, she hesitated to answer. Maybe I would die on this trip, a mission I never signed up for. She said if I got another chance with Rena, I should make sure Rena knew how I felt. If, which meant I might never see Rena again.
The pain from that reality cut me deep, until I realized the most important lesson I’d learned as an agent. While on a mission, I couldn’t let my feelings for anyone distract me—family, friends, or the woman I loved. If I wanted to see her again, I’d have to stay alive.
Dad hit a few buttons and the insane whistling faded. For years I wanted to see him again. Now I wished he’d never come back. Traveling to Earth with a killer… Dad determined to do whatever it took to bring back my dead mother… me without my powers.
This was a dead-end mission like that night in Panama. Tyler and I went to a deserted resort to bring in a woman with the power to rip oxygen molecules from the air. As if that wasn’t enough, a Cat-four storm pummeled the resort, bringing walls crashing down around us. Before I could use my power to save us, she ambushed me and left the air around me unbreathable. My last vision was of Tyler kicking into power mode and attacking her.
When I woke up, Tyler had us safe on a plane back to Atlanta. He didn’t know about my powers then and I didn’t have to blow my cover. As if that mattered when I was unconscious.
Those were the days when a partner mattered most. He betrayed the agency during the gold heist and almost got me killed, but I owed him my life. Having Tyler as my partner meant we endured some of the most dangerous missions the agency could throw at us, but those days were filled with heart-pumping adrenaline rushes—addictive like a drug.
For months I’d hated Tyler. Now I wished he sat by my side, ready to stab his knife into Paleris’s heart. Too bad if the man took someone else’s life. It was either him or me. I wasn’t sure if I could count on Dad for this mission. The ship jerked again and I gripped the armrests.
This one might be up to me.
Paleris said words I couldn’t understand. Dad answered. He’d sat next to me while entering the gateway, but now he sat at the control panel next to Paleris. “I’ve initialized a sequence to deal with the turbulence.”
Finally, something I understood. If only I knew what he was talking about.
Paleris stared at the screen. “I don’t remember the trip to Earth tossing my ship around before. What changed?”
“Magnetic flares from Earth’s sun,” Dad said. “These flares are affecting any ships traveling through this system.”
Paleris laughed. “The humans must think the end of the universe is upon them. I doubt their communication grids are robust enough to deal with changes to Earth’s magnetic field.”
“They’re more advanced than you remember. The humans are dealing with the flares.”
“How?” Paleris asked. “They can’t control their weather yet. How can they control the energy output of a star?”
“I’m sure they’ll think of something,” Dad said.
“Maybe humans aren’t as feeble minded as I thought.”
Maybe we weren’t, but I’d keep that thought to myself. As long as Paleris believed humans, including me, to be inferior, it was an advantage.
The ship spiraled twice as all the blood rushed to my head. I held my breath and tried not to puke. Gripping the armrests, I’d never felt this thankful for a seatbelt. Tyler was right about me hating this ride.
When the ship calmed, a picture of Earth came on the screen. Paleris turned and I closed my eyes, motionless until his conversation with Dad began again. I opened my eyes as they discussed various changes to Earth’s landscape over the last twenty years.
I didn’t care what they discussed or why their conversation kept flipping from English to the other language. It seemed as if Dad tried to drive the conversation with words I understood. Paleris would change things up, but Dad would eventually drift back to speaking words I knew.
All I cared about was how soon we could land on Earth. While they focused on an island where Dad planned for us to land, I watched Earth’s dark surface for t
he familiar shape of Florida. As soon as I saw lights along the edge where the sunshine state jutted against the Atlantic Ocean, I followed the dots of light until I found what had to be Atlanta.
Somewhere to the east of the U.S., our ship landed on an island. Dad relinquished controls for Paleris to put us down without a scratch in a small bald spot on the island. The screen was dark, showing only the faint lights of a building or house in the distance.
“Well done,” Dad said. “I know it’s been years, but your flying skills have only sharpened over time.”
“I hope this is the last time I have to land on this planet.” Paleris teleported himself off the ship, but I couldn’t shake the hostility in his voice. As if he’d make sure this never happened again.
Dad turned and I closed my eyes. “While we’re here, do what he says. Don’t argue and don’t give him any more information than necessary.”
I imagined myself in Atlanta. When nothing changed with the seat beneath me, I opened my eyes. “You knew I was awake?”
“We don’t have time for games. He expects us to follow.”
“Where are we?”
“An island that’s not on the agency’s radar. No one will look for us here.”
“That’s not an answer. At least tell me what we’re doing here.”
“You’re here to keep your eyes open and your mouth shut. I’m here to get the waveform we need. I think I’ve figured out a way.”
I unhooked the seatbelt. “Since you can see the future, you would know. My powers aren’t working.”
He checked his watch. “You’ve probably got another twenty-four hours. Tyler didn’t give you the full-strength version of the serum.”
“I want to go home.”
“If you mean back to the base, consider what Sylvia will do to you.”
I stood and immediately grabbed the seat to keep from falling. Nothing would stop the spinning in my head. “I’ll deal with Sylvia after I find Rena. I’m going back to Atlanta if I have to crawl there.”
“You sound sure of yourself. I wish I had your confidence.” He stood and grabbed my arm. The ship disappeared and we stood in a sandy area between the ship and the lighted structure. Dad turned on a flashlight with a super-bright green L.E.D. “Stay close and keep your mouth shut.”
He walked down a narrow path through palm trees and thick underbrush. The air was hot and so thick with humidity I struggled to catch my breath. A breeze blew against the sweat dripping down my face, more of a tease than anything. I focused on the ground but couldn’t see beyond the halo of green light. Sand, rocks, and grass surrounded us. Dad held out an arm seconds before I stumbled and grabbed me before I hit the ground.
“My power was never that good,” I said.
“It’s better than you think,” Dad said. “You’ve never been trained to use it properly.”
“Maybe you should have stayed around.”
His laugh sounded sad. “I saw great things in your future, Travis, but not yet. It was never your time.”
“And now is? When I have no powers?”
“Almost.”
The house came into view, a two-story structure with the first floor mostly an open frame. Every window in the house was lit.
“Is this some kind of alien base?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “It’s the only house on an island I won in a poker game.”
I grabbed his arm. “Are you kidding me?”
He turned, the green light making his face look like something out of a horror movie. “Don’t ever play cards with someone who can see the future.” Dad pulled away and continued up the path, leading me to wooden steps that circled the house. This close, I realized the house was octagon shaped. On the second floor, he opened a door into a simple kitchen. Normal appliances and gadgets surrounded us except for the drone that hovered near the open fridge. Chrome like the remote-controlled ones we tested when I was a kid, it used all six arms to load groceries from brown bags into the fridge.
“I call him Old Yeller.”
“That isn’t a dog and it’s not yellow.”
“It’s a pet,” he said. “Almost. You used to like that movie. Cried every time.”
“I also used to think my life was normal. Now I know my dad’s an alien who thinks a drone is his pet.”
He laughed. “You thought growing up in a government base was normal? Maybe I’m not the weird one here.”
We walked through a living room with a couch, two recliners, and a glass coffee table with intricate wood etchings beneath the glass. On the wall behind the couch hung a painting of Napoleon on a horse with his red cape flared. On the opposite wall was a collage of drawings of early flying machines. Dad showed me similar drawings years before, all made by Leonardo da Vinci.
The next room was filled with guns—lasers like Dad carried, not guns with bullets. Also, computers with the same paper-thin monitors that hung at the prison.
“A.I.,” Dad said. “These computers can model war simulations and determine who on this planet will fire their nuclear weapons first.”
“Sounds like a movie,” I said.
“It’s more advanced than anything the agency has.”
If only I could get a sample of this technology. It would be useless, though, unless I could escape.
* * * * *
Dad left me on the couch in the living room while he made drinks in the kitchen. The house was completely silent. There wasn’t even noise from the open window. I closed my eyes and tried not to think of the silence from my coma. I scratched the rough threads of the couch and hummed, determined to end the silence.
When Dad returned with four glasses of bourbon and coke, heavy on the bourbon, he sat each on the coffee table.
Four drinks meant it would be more than just us. I moved to one of the recliners so there’d be no chance of me sitting next to Dad or Paleris. Dad took the other recliner and lifted a glass.
Paleris appeared and grabbed a glass from the table. He dropped onto the couch and gulped a third of the liquid. “Excellent. You know how I like my drinks.”
“Strong.” Dad motioned for me to take a drink. The fact he knew enough to make Paleris an ‘excellent’ drink bothered me. I lifted the glass while wondering who the fourth glass could be for.
Motioning to the glass, Paleris asked, “Where is he?”
“I left him in the kitchen,” Dad said. “He hasn’t eaten in a day and a half.”
“Traitorous humans.” Paleris leaned back on the couch, his blue eyes trained on me. “I want to know everything about your agency.”
I kept my mouth shut.
“Still want to defend them?” He looked at Dad. “Maybe if we erase your son’s memories, he’ll be more supportive of our plans.”
If I lost my memory, how could I find Rena and protect her? I might not even know her. “What do you want?”
“I want to know your agency’s power source and how they maintain life systems underground. I want to know their strengths and weaknesses. What weapons are at their disposal and everything you know about whose finger is pressed against the trigger.” He leaned closer to me. “When you’ve provided detailed answers, you’ll tell me about the powers humans have. Start with a list of the most powerful. Then tell me the most useful.”
“What if they’re the same?”
“Powerful and useful are rarely the same,” he said.
I took a sip of the drink. The last thing I needed was to get drunk and spill any details I didn’t want him to know. But drinking was expected. “Why do you hate humans?”
His stone-cold face slackened with surprise. “This planet stinks like a sewer; people build their homes atop mountains of rotting trash. They don’t see the potential in the resources this planet has. Hundreds of years ago, we found ways to strip those resources and use them for the good of Golvern.”
“If Golvern’s so great, why would you need Earth’s resources?” I asked.
“We make ships that can achieve space
travel,” he said patiently. “Electronics that humans can only dream of. The black glass is made from melting minerals not found on Golvern.”
An entire planet was stealing from us. I fought to keep the anger from my voice. “How do you justify stealing from people who can’t even fight you? Who have no idea what you’re taking?”
“Humans have no use for those minerals. Their space travel consists of visiting a moon. It’s pathetic.”
“What happens when those resources are gone?”
“This planet has an abundance of the minerals we need. If the queen would only let us continue to collect these resources.”
Continue to collect… “What do you mean?”
“She put a stop to taking resources from Earth,” Dad said.
“I don’t understand.”
“She’s opted for a trade agreement.” Paleris groaned. “She wants to reimburse humans for their resources. The people here can’t agree on how to share the resources they need. How can this planet possibly unite to form a trade agreement?”
“It could work,” I said. “If everyone knew what’s at stake.”
Paleris laughed. “They’ll never have the chance.”
I watched Paleris as I took another sip. Dad had yet to say a bad word about humans. Did he feel the same way about stealing from Earth?
“Sorry I’m late.”
My drink slipped from my hand. Dad waved and my glass disappeared before it reached the wood floor. In the doorway stood Louis Castillo.
I glared up at him, but he paid me no attention. His eyes were fixed on the painting above the couch. “Must you?” he asked.
“A man I’m sure you admire,” Dad said. “Like you, he wanted to take over the world.”
Paleris shot him a humorous glance and Dad waved Louis into the room. Louis sat on the couch next to Paleris and reached for the last glass.
“Glad you could make it,” Dad said.
“I had to lose a pair of stubborn agents. Thanks for the help.” Louis raised his glass in my direction, as if in a toast. “I wondered when we’d meet again, Agent Payne. At our last meeting, you left my house without saying goodbye. Why the hurry?”
