Magnus crouched low, his rifle in one hand, the other on the wooden door’s handle. He flung it open and didn’t hesitate. I saw him take the stairs, and I followed without question. It was musty here; it had the same scent as my house had held when I’d found the nest. This was it.
I heard the scream before I saw Patty. She was against a wall, and Amy’s form loomed over Magnus’ daughter, clutching her arm.
Magnus didn’t risk shooting the monster, not with his girl so close, so he lowered an elbow and charged the thing. It howled, a terrible noise, and let go of Patty as Magnus bowled it over.
Patty was already moving for me, and I grabbed her, passing her behind me to Karo, who rushed her up the steps.
It only took Amy a few moments to rebound to her feet, and already she was changing, shifting. Her face grew longer, the skin stretching out. Magnus kicked her in the side, and she howled again. Her arms grew thicker as her stomach shrank. It looked like the monster was storing spare parts inside its gut and using them to transform.
The monster, no longer resembling Amy, swung at Magnus and knocked his rifle to the ground. It kicked up dust from the dirt floor, and I grabbed the gun, tossing it behind me.
The room was dark, my flashlight giving the only illumination. Lightning flashed from outside, momentarily lighting the cramped space. I held the pistol in my hand, aiming toward the monster, but Magnus was too big, and he blocked my view.
Magnus punched it in the face, its snout shooting to the side, blood spilling from its face against the wall.
It lashed out, and I held the gun up, hoping for a clean shot. It struck Magnus in the head, then a quick shot to his stomach. He lurched over, his breath shooting out with a woof, and I had my chance.
Thunder boomed, and another flash of light coursed into the room. The monster’s eyes met mine for a second, slowing time. I almost understood it at that moment. It was an animal, doing what it had to do to survive.
Regardless, it had to die. I pulled the trigger, my pulse blast hitting it in the chest. I fired again, this one a head shot. The monster that had plagued New Spero for too long fell to the dirt floor, and Magnus didn’t scramble away. The monster let out a horrifying roar, then went silent, and Magnus pulled a knife from his boot and shoved it into the thing’s head.
“You okay?” I asked him. He took my outstretched hand, and I helped the big man to his feet. His head almost touched the ceiling.
“Where’s Patty?” he asked, his eyes wild. I hadn’t seen him so out of control before, and it was a terrifying sight.
“She’s fine. She’s outside. We did it, Mag. We did it,” I told him as he ran up the steps. When I emerged, three police officers went the opposite direction, and I stopped one of them. “This thing is dangerous, and we don’t know where it comes from. Don’t assume it’s dead. Contain it. And it can shapeshift, so don’t let it out of your sight.”
“Shapeshift?” The policeman’s eyes were wide.
“My suggestion… burn it.” I left them to it, and stepped outside to see Patty in her father’s big arms, crying into his neck. He was petting her wet hair, and softly whispering that she was okay.
Twenty-One
“Mary!” I said into the communicator.
“Dean, you didn’t answer. I always go to the worst place,” she said.
“You and me both. In this instance, you were almost right,” I told her.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice tense.
“You first. Where are you?” I asked.
“We found them. This world is amazing. I think if we ever figure this whole portal thing out, we have a new vacation spot,” she said, warmth in her tone.
I kicked my feet up on the coffee table. Jules was on my lap, sleeping soundly on my chest. “Vacation. I could use one of those. Tell me about it.” Maggie was on her side, snuggled up against my leg. Everyone had been through a rough day.
“Turquoise oceans, white sand beaches, it’s always eighty-five degrees, and the sun is just right. Mark my word, Parker, we’re coming here. How’s Jules?” she asked with a hint of concern.
“Sleeping on me as we speak,” I said.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Where are you?” I diverted.
“Shimmal. Dean, Ableen passed out during this last trip. I think the portals are at their end. Sarlun is coming with us to New Spero. He wants to talk to you, and fears the worst,” she said.
I thought about this. “If the portals go while he’s here, it will take him years to make it home,” I reminded her.
“He knows this. But he doesn’t want to risk us coming there with the Modifier, then using it again to bring you here. The fewer uses, the better at this point,” she said, and I couldn’t argue with the logic.
“Good. You’re coming home, then?” I asked, my heart fluttering a bit. I was nervous to tell her what had happened, but didn’t want it to be a surprise.
“Yes. We should be at Terran Five in a few hours,” Mary said. She knew something serious had happened. “Dean, tell me.”
“Slate’s in the hospital,” I told her.
“What? Is he all right?” she asked.
I hesitated, and she didn’t wait for me to answer. “What happened to him?”
“You remember the killer Leonard told us about?” I asked her. I wanted to do this in person, but I could give her part of the story. It wasn’t my place to worry Natalia about Patty being abducted.
“Of course.”
“It came to Terran One. It…” I didn’t know how to say this part. “It was living in our house while we were gone.”
A pause. I checked the device to make sure we hadn’t lost the connection. “It…was living in our home? How? Why?”
“I don’t know. It stole a lander from outside Terran Five and made for here. We think because we’re north of the city, straight from Five as the crow flies, that it landed and came to our house, seeing it was empty. We aren’t sure,” I said.
“And Slate?”
“He was stabbed.”
“What kind of creature was it? Was it Soloma?” she asked.
“Some kind of shapeshifter. I saw it transform.” Jules stirred on me, and I wrapped my arm around her, pulling the blanket up.
“Transform. Slate’s going to be fine?” she asked.
“He should be. The doctors are confident he’ll be good to go. We can visit him tomorrow,” I said. He’d lost a lot of blood, and it had taken some real next-level medical attention to revive him. I was so grateful for all the new technology we’d uncovered over the last decade.
“Don’t come for us. We’ll come home, and everyone can gather at the hospital tomorrow,” Mary said. It wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
“Don’t get smart with me, Dean,” Mary said with a laugh. “This shifter. It is dead, right?”
“It’s dead,” I admitted.
“Were you the one to kill it?” Her voice was soft, hopeful.
“I was. Well, Magnus did stab it, but I think it was dying.”
“Good. I’m glad it was you,” she told me. I wasn’t sure why, but likely because I’d avenged Slate, our good friend and ever-loyal guardian. Sometimes the strongest around us needed to be protected as well.
“Me too.” And in truth, I was glad I’d shot the monster.
“See you at home.”
“In a few hours,” I said. “Mary. Good work out there. When this portal business is resolved, let’s stop going on solo missions for a while, okay?”
“Haven’t I been saying that for ages?” she asked, and I agreed she had been.
“Maybe this exploration ship isn’t such a bad idea. What do you think?” I asked, knowing this wasn’t necessarily the time for that particular discussion.
“I think it’s a good idea too, as long as we’re all together. See you soon.”
She’d actually agreed with the concept of setting sail into the great unknown on an explorat
ory vessel. “Love you, Mary.”
“Same.”
The communication ended, and I stroked Jules’ hair softly, and in minutes, I was sleeping, dreaming of watching space through the viewscreen of our newest venture.
I awoke hours later. Light seeped through the windows, the start of another day. The doors were broken, propped shut with boxes, and I set Jules aside. She came to, green eyes sparkling as they blinked away the sleep. I sat up, my back cracking from the uncomfortable position I’d slept in. My legs were sore, and my hip ached as I stretched.
“Papa,” Jules said. She rubbed her eyes and stood up, tottering over toward the bathroom.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Potty,” she said, and I laughed. I was so happy she could do that herself already. She was truly a quick learner.
“What do you want to eat?” I asked her.
“Fluffy eggs!” she shouted from the bathroom.
“I want fluffy eggs too,” Karo said from the hallway. He’d slept on a cot, instead of trying to fit on Jules’ tiny mattress.
I heard the lander lowering to the ground and rushed to the front of the house. Maggie barked, and I kicked aside the box keeping my door shut and let her out. She ran at full speed toward Mary. The full entourage emerged from the lander. Sarlun waved, Suma beside him. Ableen was there, with Loweck walking behind her. Seeing them all lifted my spirits. I glanced at the hardwood beside the door, and even though I’d worked for half an hour to scrub Slate’s blood out, it was still stained dark brown, the color of rust.
“Mommy!” Jules was running past me, arms outstretched as she hit the grass. She was barefoot, her hair a mess of brown curls, and she had on her space ship pajamas.
Mary scooped her up and spun her around, kissing her repeatedly on the cheek. Jules giggled, and Maggie sprinted around the group in excited circles. It was quite the homecoming.
“We dropped Nat off at home first,” Mary told me.
I waved to them all as they neared the porch. I hugged Mary, and Karo was wrapping Ableen in his long arms. He whispered to her, things I couldn’t hear, but she smiled widely and embraced him in return.
“Sarlun, good to see you,” I said to the Shimmali man. He stared at me with black eyes, and his slender snout twitched from side to side.
“You as well, Dean Parker,” he said in English.
I stepped down, hugging Suma. “How are you doing? Keeping busy?”
She grinned. “I’m doing okay. How’s Slate?”
Everyone was watching me, collectively holding their breath. “I haven’t heard anything so far. There were no messages from the doctors.” I set a hand on Suma’s arm. “I think he’ll be fine. It would take something more than a maniacal shapeshifting alien to take down our friend.”
“Anyone hungry?” I asked, taking Mary’s pack from her shoulder.
“I could eat,” Sarlun said.
Loweck was the last to enter, and she was the first to notice the horrible stain on the floor. “Is that his?”
I nodded. “He’ll be all right. He was worried about you, you know.”
“He was?” Loweck met my gaze, her orange skin looking a little flushed.
“Yep. He’s going to be so glad to see you at the hospital,” I told her, and she nodded her thanks, entering our small house.
Mary sat with Jules at the kitchen table, chatting with our daughter as she drew on paper with crayons. Sarlun joined me by the stove as I prepared breakfast for our group.
“I’m worried about things, Dean,” Sarlun said quietly.
“When are we ever not worried?” I asked him.
“You know what I mean. Ableen said they’re in pain, they need to be released. What are we going to do? The Gatekeepers are old, established. Can we remain Gatekeepers without a gate to keep?”
I wasn’t sure if his question was rhetorical, so I answered it. “We can be anything we have to be. Planet keepers, peacekeepers, unity makers, I don’t know. A label is sometimes meant to be torn off,” I told him as I turned the gas burner off. “Eggs are done!” I slid the hash browns into a bowl and dropped a large serving spoon into them, setting it in the middle of the table.
“But how will we move around?” he asked.
“I have the portals from Fontem. We’ll figure out how to duplicate them. Clare will find a solution. At the very least, we can use one end from Shimmal to New Spero,” I told him.
He shook his head. “That’s too much to ask. You must have one from New Spero to Haven. That’s the only way. Haven needs to have the Heroes of Earth around. You, Dean Parker, are special. A Recaster, an inspiration, and, I hate to say it, a figurehead,” he said.
“You mean a guy they make statues of, even though he never does anything himself?” I asked, not loving the term figurehead.
“You misunderstand me. A symbol, then, of something more than wars and mistrust. You are the linchpin on the success of the Alliance of Worlds. Shimmal will survive without contact. We all need Haven to be the center of it all,” he said.
“Earth will be on its own then too,” Mary said from the table. Apparently, we’d raised our voices enough for the others to hear us.
“Earth is fine. They’re thriving there,” I said.
“Until the Empress decides to dissolve our deal,” Karo said.
“She won’t,” I said. I honestly believed that.
“Then it’s settled. Until you duplicate the portal sticks from Fontem, we link New Spero with Haven,” Sarlun said.
I wanted to tell them I had another set, that I had it locked away under my farmhouse on Earth. It led to the ship I’d fought Lom of Pleva on, the same ship that held my time-travel device.
“I want to stay on Haven,” Suma said from the table.
Sarlun’s dark eyes went wide. “Suma… we’ve talked about this.”
“But they’re building a Gatekeepers’ Academy there. I want to be part of it,” she said.
“A lot of use a Gatekeepers’ Academy will be without the portals,” her dad said.
“Sarlun, we’ll build an institution regardless. A place for any member of the Alliance of Worlds to send their children. We’ll unify through our children, building stronger bonds than us old guys could ever do,” I told him, getting a nod.
Sarlun sat with humility. “Very well. Suma, I won’t hold you back.”
Karo passed Ableen a plate and cleared his throat. “Dean, have you told them where we have to go?”
I realized I hadn’t yet. “No.” All eyes met mine as I stood there, about to tell Mary I was going to leave her side once again, one last time. “Bear in mind, we’ll have the portal device to transport home when I tell you this.”
Mary grabbed for Jules’ hand. “Go ahead,” she urged me.
“Karo said the main portal power source is on their home world.” I stopped when Ableen gasped. “We have to shut it off there. We’ll use the methods we utilized on Sterona when I pulled them out to help me fight the Iskios. It should disable the entire series of portals, freeing the Theos once and for all.”
“When? When will you go?” Sarlun asked.
“As soon as we’re done with the hospital. We’ll bring everyone to their final destinations first, so no one is stranded here when the portals are deactivated,” I said.
“If you bring the portal device with you, how will we link it to Haven?” Suma asked. She was a smart one. “One end will be anchored to New Spero, the other to the Theos world.”
She had a good point. I couldn’t disable the one where the Theos lived. Tough choices. “Then Karo and I will await a vessel to pick us up.”
Mary stood up, nearly knocking her plate over. “No way. You are not waiting out there for a space ship to come get you. Do you have any idea how far away their planet is?”
Truthfully, I didn’t. Karo answered, “The wormhole drives could move there quickly.”
“But then you risk the time dilation on the way home. No. No way.” Mary’s arms were crossed. �
��What about Dubs? Can we send him through to release the Theos?”
“Someone organic has to bring him across, plus I don’t think it would work with a robot anyway. I promised I’d do this, and I have to stick to my word,” I said.
Ableen spoke up for the first time. “Karo and I can do it. We can go, and fulfill your promise.”
“But you’ll be stranded there,” I said.
She shrugged. “Maybe that’s our purpose. Karo waited for you to show up for centuries. I was frozen in time aboard the Collector’s ship. We were meant to be here together to release our people. Perhaps we can start again.” She slipped her hand into Karo’s, and he smiled dotingly at her.
“I don’t like it,” I said, poking at my eggs.
Mary glared at me. “You don’t have to, Dean.”
“Ableen is right. It’s up to us to make this right,” he said.
“Well, let’s eat and meet Magnus and Nat at the hospital. Slate needs to see us.” I changed the subject. I hated to think about Karo leaving our lives for good. He’d become a great friend: someone to rely on, and I’d miss our late-night discussions over cold pizza.
Jules ate a few bites of her breakfast and continued drawing a picture. I tried to understand what I was seeing, but couldn’t. It looked like blue squiggles coming from a planet, or maybe a rock. Mary glanced at the paper and smiled at our daughter. She still didn’t know about Patty. I had to tell them, knowing Magnus would have told Nat by now.
“There’s something else I need to tell you about last night,” I said, and everyone stopped their quiet chatter and eating. All eyes focused on me standing at the kitchen island. “Slate was stabbed by the monster, but we didn’t catch it here. It took Patty and escaped.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me this already?” Mary asked.
“Because you were with Nat and I didn’t want to freak her out. It wasn’t going to help anyone,” I told her.
“Is Patty okay?” Sarlun asked.
I nodded. “She’s going to be fine. She’s shaken up, as you can expect.”
“I assume this means our friend and fellow Gatekeeper Soloma is no longer alive?” Sarlun asked.
“No. They’re doing the autopsy today, but we think this creature eats his victims, and then shifts into them. It’s really quite amazing…” I stopped. It was an interesting biological trait, but this wasn’t the time or the place to discuss it. “Anyway, we killed it, and Patty is safe.”
The Gatekeepers (The Survivors Book Eight) Page 18
