by T. R. Harris
Angus frowned, wondering if he knew what he and Ashley had planned or if he was just taunting him. Cross had to still believe the idea of rescuing Zac to be a fantasy.
“They’re going fine, thank you for asking. Is there anything important you wish to discuss? This is a priority line you’re tying up.”
“Indeed! I was hoping you’d permit me to board the Taipei. I will be there in six hours.”
“You’re coming here? Why?”
“To help, what else?”
“To help with what?”
“Rescuing Zac.”
Angus’s jaw locked, and he glared at the smiling eyes on the screen.
“I don’t need your help. I have plenty already. You’ve come a long way for nothing.”
Cross frowned. “Help? I hope you haven’t enlisted some naïve young Zetas to go on the quest with you. I come bearing gifts, including a buzz ship. I figure time is of the essence. And you might also need a little extra muscle.”
“Ninety-year-old muscle? I’ll take the buzz ship, but I’m sure they’ll miss you back at the old folk’s home.”
“Play nice, Colonel. I’m here to help.”
“Why the change of heart?”
“You’ll see. Do I have permission to dock my ship?”
“You don’t need my permission. You’re the fair-haired wonder boy these days. I guess you always have been. You do what you bloody well please.”
“Now that we understand each other, I’ll see you in a bit. Cross out.”
When the screen went blank, Angus cursed under his breath. Cross out. I wish…
Angus didn’t tell Ashley that Cross was coming to the battle-carrier. She, more than most, had reason to despise the man. Getting her all worked up would only slow down the preparations for launching the rescue mission. And if Cross really did have a buzz ship to lend, he’d take it. Or would he? Ashley’s ship came with an organic disguise. The buzz ship was of Human design. It would be fast but impossible to disguise beyond transponder codes. It would never get them to the surface of Voris.
David will be pissed when we refuse his gift, Angus thought with a grin. Good.
The buzz ship was directed to another side shuttle bay. The craft was a little bigger than Ashley’s vessel, looking more like a bulldog on steroids. The gravity generators were massive and bulged out both sides, running the full length of the hull. Once the atmosphere was back in the chamber, Angus met Cross, hoping to condition him for the reception he would get when he saw Ashley for the first time in twelve years.
The tall, slender, extremely good-looking man with longish grey hair stepped from the spacecraft followed by a pair of stunning-looking REVs, a man and a woman, both appearing to be normal Zeta age of around twenty. Angus locked his attention on the man. He had short, ginger hair and intense blue eyes that stared laser-like at Angus. It made him uncomfortable. He neither blink nor looked away, singularly focused on Angus.
“I don’t know why you’re here,” Angus said to Cross. They didn’t shake hands. “We have things under control. We don’t need your help.”
“You may not need it, but I’m sure you’ll take it once I show you what I have.”
“Did you bring me a stealth jump-ship?” He looked past the scientist at the buzz ship. “It doesn’t look like it.” Angus knew buzzards—as the fleet called them—were fast, but he already had the time factor worked out. He and Ashley would get to Voris in plenty of time without one.
Cross shrugged. “I brought you the next best thing. I brought you the two REVs who developed the method for building the modules.”
He stepped aside as the pair of young REVs stepped forward, the man taking the lead. There was something odd about Cross’s demeanor. His words were confident, but his eyes were clouded.
“Let me introduce you to Anton and Monica.”
Angus had met a lot of REVs in his life and he never saw David Cross give any of them any special attention, with the exception of the Deltas. The girl stepped around the man and extended her hand in greeting.
“Monica,” she said, taking his hand. “Monica Murphy.”
Angus frowned. A coincidence? Then the man extended his hand.
“Anton. Anton Price.”
Angus wasn’t stupid by any means, but even smart people can appear dumb when faced with something completely out of context. One part of his mind screamed with revelation, while the others said, No bloody way!
“That’s right, Angus,” said David Cross, reading the blank look on Angus’s face. “This is the daughter of Zac, along with your son, Anton.”
Angus racked his brain for some fleeting interlude he’d had with any number of women that would make the statement true. Neither Zac nor he was celibate by any measure. They were red-blooded males as much as anyone and devilishly handsome to boot. They got their share, even before turning into Deltas. That had to be the answer to the question he refused to ask.
He looked at Cross. The doctor nodded, a nervous smirk stretching from his lips.
That confirmed it.
The hit came with lightning speed, catching Cross under the chin and sending him flying eight feet into the air. He crashed against the hull of the buzz ship before slumping down to the deck. As a Delta REV himself, he wasn’t hurt; he didn’t even feel the pain. For an average person, the blow would have ripped the head from the body. But Cross simply propped himself up on one elbow and dabbed the blood from his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his khaki uniform.
Angus wasn’t through with the lying bastard, but as he stepped forward, Anton moved to stop him. A firm hand gripped his arm and pressed, holding Angus in place. And why not? Angus thought. After all, the kid’s a bloody super-REV.
“You have a lot of explaining to do, Cross!” Angus growled over the shoulder of his son.
The woman known as Monica Murphy came up to him, placing a more soothing hand on Angus’s shoulder. “We’ll explain everything, as long as you promise not to break anything in the process.”
Angus glared at her. “I can’t do that.”
“Please try. This fighting is counter-productive … if we’re to rescue my father.”
The words struck Angus like a freight train. He turned to look into the face of the young REV with the ginger hair. His lips moved, but no words came out.
“It’s okay, Dad,” Anton said, a sad smile on his face. “It takes some getting used to. We only learned the truth a couple of weeks ago.” He looked down at Doctor Cross. “We’re mad, but we understand why he did it. Hopefully, you will, too.”
“I know why he did it; because he’s a backstabbing, selfish, egotistical arse!”
“That he is, but he did raise the two of us.”
“Because he didn’t give the rest of us a chance.”
Anton shrugged. “Either way, what’s done is done. Now, we have work to do. Is there a place where we can talk?”
Ashley! Angus’s mouth fell open. How the hell was she going to take the news? How would Anton, learning that his mother was aboard the battle-carrier, as well?
“Yeah, let’s get out of the shuttle bay and behind closed doors.” He looked at Cross. “Just keep him out of arm’s reach. I can’t promise I won’t try to knock his head off again.”
They had only been in Angus’s away cabin for a couple of minutes when Ashley burst through the door.
“What the hell happened?” she demanded. “Someone said Cross is aboard—”
She stopped when she saw the man seated on a couch, rubbing a heavily swollen jaw. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He stood up as Ashley came closer.
“He’s here to help,” said a young man from beside her. Ashley turned to look at him. Definitely a Zeta REV. He had the look.
Angus watched the exchange; he hadn’t had time to tell anyone that Ashley was on board.
“Angus told me what you did with the Zanzibar. How it’s all your fault that I got pregnant.”
“Well, it wasn’t al
l my fault,” Cross corrected.
“Don’t play games with me, you bastard.”
Chapter 12
“Mom?”
The word took a moment to filter through Ashley’s anger, but when it did, she turned to an equally-stunned Anton.
“What?”
Angus stepped up to the pair. “Ashley, this is Anton, Anton Price,” he said softly. “The son we both thought was dead, thanks to that bastard over there.”
Over there turned out to be not far enough to avoid the right hook delivered by the Alpha REV, Ashley Hunter. Cross was standing passively next to her, his arms at his side, expecting the hit. Although delivered with less force than Angus’s, it was still enough to send David tumbling over the back of the couch. Then, as he’d done with Angus, Anton held her back from a second round.
“What’s going on here!” she screamed. “Is this some kind of joke? This can’t be true.”
Angus wrapped her in his arms and pulled her back until she was far enough away to take in the two young REVs and David Cross as he struggled to his feet. Angus noticed that the doctor wasn’t angry, having come to the Taipei expecting such a reception. He should be glad Zac wasn’t here to join in the festivities.
Ashley locked her eyes on the beautiful blonde REV standing off to one side, tears in her eyes. REVs didn’t feel physical pain, but they were creatures of emotion.
“Zac?” Ashley asked.
The girl nodded. “He’s my father, so I’ve learned.”
Terrible grief swept over Ashley. Within a split second, she took in the dynamics of the room. Anton had just met his mother and father, while the young woman was without a mother and had a father on alien death row. It didn’t seem fair.
Then she looked at Anton. The man also had tears in his eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell us my mother was aboard?” he snapped at Angus.
“I didn’t get the chance.”
“Is it true?” Ashley asked.
Anton nodded. “From what we now understand, David faked the emergency so he could take us for his experiments.” He held up his hand to stop Ashley from charging Cross again. “It’s okay. We know why he did it. The goal he was after was more important. Even so, he deceived us as much as he deceived you. He said he was our father.”
“What did he say about me?” Ashley stammered.
Anton grimaced. “He said you were just part of the testing panel. Afterward, you left with no ties to the child. He said that was what was agreed upon. Monica’s mother was also part of the experiment. He said she died within a month of the birth, some kind of car accident.”
Ashley was fully activated, as was everyone else in the room. The temperature was well over a hundred degrees, heated by their REV bodies. The ship’s air conditioning system struggled to cool things down. Now it was Angus’s turn.
“I think we all have a pretty good picture of what happened twelve years ago. The question is what happens now?”
Ashley turned to him angrily. “What are we supposed to do? We just learned that we have a full-grown son. How are we supposed to react to this?”
“Just as you’re doing,” Anton said soothingly. “It has taken Monica and me a couple of weeks to adjust. Of course, I didn’t imagine in my wildest dreams that I would also be meeting my mother.”
Ashley stepped up to him, awkwardly reaching her arms out for a hug. The man stepped back.
“That isn’t necessary, not now, anyway. We don’t know each other. Right now, all we are is a concept of son and mother … and father. For twelve years, we thought David was our father and that we were step-brother and -sister. That’s a lot to cope with.”
“Why are you here?” Ashley asked, the tears now flowing.
Anton was relieved by the change of subject. In all honesty, Angus knew he wasn’t here for a family reunion.
“We have come to help rescue Zac Murphy.”
“Really?” Ashley looked at Monica. For a super-REV, she was an emotional basket case at the moment.
“It seems right,” Monica managed to say. “I cannot let him die without at least trying to meet my father … my real father.”
“Well, you’re welcome to come along. We launch tomorrow.”
“Launch?” Cross questioned.
“You stay out of this! You’re not going.”
“What’s she talking about?” Anton asked. “I thought your only chance was with a jump-ship.”
“Ashley has an alien spacecraft from the Federation. It can get us to Voris, and then we’ll go in disguised as one of the other Federation species that work with the Azloreans.”
“How long will that take?”
“Seventeen days,” Ashley said. “We think the Seken and Azlorean fleet will launch in less than a month. We have to get to Voris before it does. Zac is going with it.”
“Our ship can get you there in seven days.”
Ashley shook her head. Her eyes were red, her mind a jumble of confused thoughts. Focusing on the mission was helping.
“You’ll be seen. And Voris is where the main alien fleet is being assembled. The place will be crawling with enemy ships.”
Anton grinned. “They won’t see us if we’re in stealth mode.”
“The ship has one of the stealth units?”
“Not yet, but we can build one, along with a jump module. Monica and I are the ones who invented them. We’re ready to convert the buzz ship.”
“We still need to get to the surface. How do you plan on doing that?”
“The jump feature will get us there. It just takes exceptional skill to do so.” Anton grinned. “I can do it.”
“And what about Amber?” Ashley asked.
“Amber?” Cross said, shocked.
“Yeah, she’s with me.”
“Who is Amber?” Monica asked, calm enough now to join the conversation.
“An advanced AI,” Angus answered. “She’s quite an asset. There’s not much she can’t do.”
“That does increase our chances,” Cross said.
Ashley glared at him. “I said you aren’t going.”
Cross rubbed his jaw. “If you hadn’t figured it out by now, I’m a Delta REV; otherwise, I’d be dead. I can come in handy in a fight.”
“Angus told me. Another lie you’ve perpetrated for over ninety years.”
“I haven’t been a REV all that time.”
“As if it matters! You’re not going.”
Angus took her arm. “Ashley, let him come. We could use an extra gun hand. We ain’t going on a pleasure cruise. We can’t be picky about the company we keep.”
Ashley snorted. “Just keep him away from me. You may have come to grips with all this, but you weren’t the one laying on an operating table having your child ripped out of you.”
Angus shrugged; she had a point. He turned to his son.
“How long do you need to convert the buzzard?”
“Two days, three at the most.”
“Okay, we’ll get the supplies transferred over. Ashley, get Amber tied into the controls—”
“She can do that herself.”
He frowned. Is she mad at me? What for?
“Whatever, let’s just get to work. The clock is ticking. I’d hate to go through all this and then have the fleet launch early.”
No one moved; they didn’t know what to do with each other.
“Ashley, show Anton and Monica to the work bays. Have the crew get them anything they need. David and I will start transferring the supplies over. Seeing that none of us have to sleep, it’s around the clock until we’re ready. Now, get to work.”
He didn’t know if the decisiveness in his voice came off as genuine, but it did get people moving. And no one died in the process.
Chapter 13
As it turned out, Monica and Anton were beyond efficient in their construction of the dual modules that would make the buzz ship nearly invisible and impossible to hit. They had the units completed within a day and then set about
installing them aboard the starship. The jump module was attached to the focusing rings, helping to manipulate the creation of millions of tiny blackholes during a transit. It would only come into play during sub-light speeds, where it would create a microscopic singularity of intense density, of a level that was impossible for Human technology to accomplish—until now. And although each standard singularity was measured in milliseconds, this one would last only a nano-second. It would be enough to compress surrounding space and cause it to rebound in what appeared to be an instantaneous transaction.
The stealth module was part of the diffusion screen system. It worked by modulating the frequency of surrounding space to fold over selected sections, hiding the starship within these folds. This folding left a traceable disturbance with the Seken technology. Monica and Anton had found a way to wrap that effect into the cloaking field as well, making the ship completely invisible.
To Angus, it was all Greek, and just like so many other technological wonders, he accepted that it worked and moved on. Besides, he had more important things on his mind.
He had a son!
Coming to grips with that reality was nearly all-consuming, which wasn’t a good thing when planning a rescue mission to take place hundreds of light-years behind enemy lines. But it was something he couldn’t ignore. And on top of that, he was concerned about Ashley. She’d gone eerily quiet over the past two days. She still worked with the children—a serious misnomer at this point—yet she didn’t talk to Angus about what this meant for them. He had to shrug. It didn’t mean anything. Anton was no longer a child. He was a REV adult, stronger and more capable than either of his parents. He could take care of himself.
But it was the knowing that muddled up his mind. It was too late to go back and try to form a bond, to be the father he never was. And that wasn’t his fault. He would have been there if he’d known. Ashley? He wasn’t so sure. She had always been a free spirit, whereas Angus was anything but. For most of his adult life, he was a prisoner of the Rev drug NT-4, with no time or ability to think of a future beyond his next maintenance boost. That habit took a long time to break, and even after, he was still cautious about making any long-term plans.
