by Ryk Brown
Connor stared at her, trying to remember a time when he recognized her as a friend. She certainly was easy to look at. And he could see the sincerity in her eyes. As much as he wanted not to believe her, he couldn’t. “I can’t promise you anything,” Connor finally said. “Not yet. But I am still willing to listen, on one condition.”
“What’s the condition?” Jessica wondered.
“You have to feed me first.”
* * *
“So, how’s he been doing?” Loki asked, as he and Josh watched the spaceport ground crew finish refueling the Seiiki.
“He’s been good.”
“Is he anything like the old Captain Scott?”
“Sometimes yes, sometimes no,” Josh admitted.
“Does he ever have any memory flashes?”
“He talks about them here and there, but nothing significant. What’s going on, Loki?”
“How’s Marcus?”
“Loki, enough with the small talk,” Josh insisted. “It’s me. What the hell is going on? Why did they come for us now? Does it have something to do with the Jung?”
“Sort of, yeah.”
Josh could see the concern on his friend’s face. “Come on, Lok.”
Loki looked at the ground. “It’s Lael,” he said, nearly losing his composure. He looked back at Josh, tears in his eyes. “And Ailsa. They’re still on Corinair.”
“What? Wait. Who’s Ailsa?”
“Our daughter.”
“Daughter? When did that happen?”
“She was born six months ago,” Loki told him, barely able to hold back his tears.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“How was I supposed to get in touch with you, Josh?”
“Through Jessica. How else?”
“It’s not like I have access to a jump comm-drone,” Loki said. “And the Sherma system isn’t exactly on the beaten path.”
“Oh, man,” Josh exclaimed. “How did this happen?”
“We were on our way back from a short business trip when the Jung invaded. Josh, I saw the Avendahl come apart. One moment, she was on my sensors, then… We tried to rescue them. We even had a few of the Avendahl’s fighters trying to cover us.”
Josh looked past his friend at the heavily damaged corporate shuttle near the hangar. “Is that…” he began, pointing at the damaged shuttle.
Loki glanced back over his shoulder. “The girl who took Lael’s place when she left to have Ailsa was in the back when we were hit. She didn’t make it. If they would’ve been in the back when…”
Josh reached out and grabbed his friend, pulling him in tight and wrapping his arms around him as Loki started sobbing. “We’ll get them out, buddy. You and me. We’ll find a way, I promise you. We’ll find a way.”
* * *
Jessica pulled the vehicle through the front gate and headed up the short, dirt path that led from the main road to the main house. It had taken them only ten minutes to travel here from the Lawrence Spaceport. The drive had been somewhat relaxing for Connor. Meandering roads dotted with similar properties. Fields of crops, small groves of fruit-bearing trees, all spotted with ponds of varying sizes. Lawrence itself had been nothing more than a small collection of shops, restaurants, and government buildings, along with a few apartments for those few people who wanted to live in the city itself. On Burgess, cities were for gathering and trading goods. People lived in the country, only traveling into town when they needed supplies. It was a life that Connor had often considered for himself. Simple and quiet, with nothing more to worry about than the crops you grew and traded for other goods. A wife, children, and a piece of land he could call his own.
What he couldn’t understand was why he found the idea of such a life so appealing. According to his record, or that of Connor Tuplo, he had no exposure to such a lifestyle. Rakuen, the world on which he was supposed to have been raised, was fully industrialized, and grew no crops of its own. If he had grown up there, it would be unlikely that he would even know what a farm was, let alone think it was a good place for him to live out his life.
The dirt road passed through a small grove of trees covered with blue-green leaves. Once they were through the grove, the path split out into several different roads, each leading to a separate house. They followed the center path, toward a two-story, wood-framed home, surrounded by trees and grass, as well as a few well-placed flower gardens. The air was clean and fresh, a stark contrast to the polluted air he normally found around spaceports and the congested cities.
“How many people live here?” Connor wondered as they pulled up to the main house.
“My parents and my daughter, Ania. I only stay here a few days a week. Most of the time, I live on base with the rest of the Ghatazhak.” Jessica climbed down out of the vehicle. “My brothers and their families live in these other houses. They all work this farm together.”
“Is this where you grew up?” Connor asked. “It’s nice.”
“No, we’ve only lived here for about six years now. We’re all from Earth, born and raised, just like you.”
Just like me, he thought. Connor had no memory of Earth. As far as he knew, he had never been there. Of course, he had no memory of Rakuen, either. Just bits and pieces. Images that occasionally flashed in and out of his mind. For all he knew, those images could have been from Earth, and not Rakuen.
“Why did you all move here?” Connor asked. “I thought Earth was supposed to be a great world. Some sort of magical paradise, with everything anyone could ever want.”
Jessica looked at him, puzzled. “Is that what people out here think of Earth?”
“I don’t know. That’s just the impression I got from all of Josh’s stories.”
“Don’t listen to Josh,” Jessica laughed. “He compares everything to Haven. I left because I wanted to stay with the Ghatazhak and continue my training. My parents came because they were helping to raise Ania, and they didn’t want me to be separated from her by such vast distances. My brothers came along because it just made sense to keep the entire family together. Besides, at the time, the Earth was still pretty screwed up from the Jung attacks. It still is, in a lot of ways.”
“So, not so much the magical paradise that Josh made it out to be, huh?” Connor said as he followed her onto the front porch.
“Don’t get me wrong, Earth is an amazing planet. Of all the worlds I’ve seen, it has the greatest variation of climates, cultures, geography… You name it, Earth’s got it.” Jessica stepped through the front door. “Ania!” A squeal of delight echoed from somewhere in the home, followed by the sound of tiny bare feet running on the hardwood floors. A moment later, a little girl, wearing light blue overalls with her hair in blond pigtails, bolted through one of the nearby doors, ran across the room, and leapt into Jessica’s open arms. “How have you been, kiddo?” she asked as she squeezed her tight and kissed the side of her face repeatedly. “Have you been behaving?”
“No,” little Ania squealed in delight.
“Don’t believe her,” Jessica’s mother said as she entered the room.
“Mom, this is, uh… Connor. Connor Tuplo. Connor, this is my mother, Laura.”
Laura reached out to shake Connor’s hand, looking at him with a curious expression. “Have we met before?”
“No, ma’am,” Connor replied as he shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s mine, Mister Tuplo. You do look familiar, though. Are you staying for dinner?”
Connor looked at Jessica.
“Yes, he’s staying for dinner.”
“Are you sleepin’ here tonight, Jess?” Ania asked.
“Sorry, sweetie, but I’ve got to take Mister Tuplo back to his ship after dinner,” Jessica explained. “But I’ll come home
for a few days soon, I promise.”
“Come along Ania,” Laura said. “Help me set the table.”
Jessica and Connor watched them leave the room, then Connor spoke. “She doesn’t call you mom?” he wondered.
“She’s not my biological daughter. Her mother was a friend of mine. She and her husband were killed when the Jung glassed their world. Ania’s twin sister, as well. I couldn’t let her become an orphan. There were already so many of them, both from Tanna and on Earth. So I took her in, and my parents and I have raised her ever since. I think of her as my daughter, but truth is, I’m more like a big sister. The main thing is that she’s happy, and safe.”
“Seems like she is.”
“Come on,” Jessica said, gesturing for him to follow her. She led him through the house and out into the backyard. Stretched out before them was a valley of rolling hills, bordered by mountains on the far side. The setting sun was about to dip down behind the mountains, casting an odd, orange shadow across the land. Above them, Burgess’s moon, Anthon, filled a quarter of the sky, casting its own bluish glow wherever the light of Sherma did not reach. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“It’s beautiful,” Connor agreed. After staring at the sunset for a moment, he asked. “Have I met your mother before? I mean, did he?”
“Actually, no,” Jessica said, as she sat down on the back porch steps. “Nathan never actually met my mother. He was on the news a lot, though. When they first thought the Aurora was lost, Nathan’s picture was on the news because his father was running for president. A lot of people say the sympathy vote is what got his father elected.”
“Here, everyone seems to think of him as Na-Tan,” Connor commented, one eyebrow raised.
“I take it you don’t?”
“A mythical savior foretold in the legends of a cult religion? Interesting bedtime stories for children, and placebos for the oppressed masses.”
“Maybe,” Jessica agreed. “But you have to admit, you did save the cluster from oppression.”
“He saved them, for all the good it did. If you ask me, saving them only weakened the entire sector, making them a soft target for the Jung.”
“You’d rather have Caius still in power?”
“I don’t know,” Connor replied honestly. “I have no memory of him. Only what I’ve been told. At the very least, he would have made a more formidable opponent for the Jung.”
“I disagree,” Jessica replied. “We took him down with one jump ship, a band of rebels, and the Corinari. The Jung attacked with a fleet of jump ships. The old empire wouldn’t have lasted any longer.”
“Perhaps. Like I said, I don’t remember the empire. I don’t remember much of anything prior to the crash.”
“What do you remember about the crash?” Jessica wondered.
“Only what I read,” Connor replied. “A faulty thruster caused the transport I was flying to crash. I was the only survivor. I was in a coma for two years, and woke up not knowing who I was, or what had happened. I was offered the Seiiki as part of my settlement by the company that made the faulty thruster. I think it was the owner’s personal shuttle, or something.”
“Dinner is ready!” Jessica’s mother called from inside.
“Let’s eat,” Jessica said, rising to her feet.
* * *
Connor followed Jessica from the vehicle to the office at the Ghatazhak hangar at the Lawrence Spaceport. It was late, and most of the Ghatazhak personnel had left for the evening. Only a small security detachment remained, along with the mechanics working on the Seiiki.
“Are they going to work all night?” Connor asked.
“If that’s what it takes, sure,” Jessica replied.
“You still haven’t told me what you want from me and my ship,” he reminded her.
“That’s not my place,” Jessica explained, as they entered the office.
Inside, Connor found General Telles, and the rest of the Seiiki’s crew, all waiting for him. “Shouldn’t you guys be out there, helping them fix the ship?”
“Are you kidding?” Dalen replied. “Those guys are so far over my head… We’d only be in the way, Cap’n. Trust me.”
Connor looked at Marcus, who nodded his agreement.
“Captain,” General Telles began, “I trust you were well fed?”
“Yes, thank you.” Connor looked at his crew.
“Don’t worry, Cap’n,” Marcus assured him. “They took us into Lawrence and treated us. This city’s got some fine eats, let me tell you.”
“Since the mission we are proposing affects all of you, I thought it would be best if all your crew were present when we shared the details of how you got to be known as Connor Tuplo. Assuming, of course, that you have no objections.”
Connor thought for a moment, looking at the faces of his crew.
“Come on, Cap’n,” Dalen begged. Neli said nothing, still looking as undecided as Connor.
“Well, apparently, Marcus and Josh already know more than I do, so I don’t suppose it will hurt for Dalen and Neli to know, as well. After all, crew is family, right Marcus?”
“Damn straight, Cap’n.”
“Very well,” General Telles replied. “Please,” he added, gesturing for Connor to sit. “This will take some time, I’m afraid.”
Connor sighed, as if facing his own execution. He took his seat, then looked at the general.
“You must all understand that everything we are about to tell you must be kept in the strictest of confidence. Your very lives, and possibly the lives of billions more, may depend on your secrecy.”
“Then why even tell us?” Neli wondered.
“Because you have a right to know. Not only what we are asking you to do, but why,” the general explained.
“Plus, what he said about billions of lives depending on it, probably doesn’t really apply, now,” Jessica added.
“It still might,” General Telles disagreed.
“Oh, come on,” Jessica argued. “The Jung have already broken the cease-fire, and they have jump drives. I doubt they’re going to care that Nathan is still alive. For all we know, they might not even consider a clone to be the same as the original. A lot of people don’t, you know.”
“Arguments aside, it would be best if none of this was repeated outside of present company,” the general insisted. “Do you understand?”
Neli and Dalen both nodded.
“Very well,” the general said. He looked at Jessica. “Lieutenant?”
“Seven years ago,” Jessica began, “you, Captain Nathan Scott, surrendered to the Jung as a war criminal. He knew that by taking full responsibility for the KKV strike against the military base on Zhu-Anok, which resulted in collateral damage costing millions of civilian lives on the Jung homeworld, Nor-Patri, he could put a stop to the war between the Jung and the Alliance. He knew that by sacrificing himself, billions would be saved, on both sides. That is the kind of man Nathan Scott was, and that is the kind of man you are.”
Connor stared at Jessica. “So, if the Jung found out that I……he, was still alive?”
“They would not be happy,” Jessica replied.
“Prior to the Jung invasion of the Pentaurus cluster, it is logical to assume that an all-out war would follow such a discovery,” General Telles added. “Now, there is some debate over what their reaction might be, and if it even matters at this point.”
“So that’s why you’re telling me all this now?” Connor wondered. “Because you think it’s safe for the truth to get out? A bit of an unnecessary risk, don’t you think?”
“I don’t get it,” Neli interrupted. “If the Jung finding out that Nathan Scott is still alive is so risky to begin with, why did you even rescue him in the first place?”
“Because it was Nathan,” Jessi
ca replied. “And because he didn’t deserve to die.”
CHAPTER TWO
Jessica walked into the admiral’s office located deep inside the Karuzara asteroid base in orbit high above the Earth. “Lieutenant Commander Nash, reporting as ordered,” she announced, standing at attention and offering a salute.
“At ease, Lieutenant Commander,” Admiral Dumar said, returning her salute. He nodded at the aide who had led her in, who quickly left the admiral’s office and closed the door behind him. “Take a seat.”
“Beg the admiral’s pardon, but I’d like to know what we’re going to do about rescuing Captain Scott.”
“Take a seat, Lieutenant Commander,” the admiral repeated, more firmly this time. When she did not immediately take her seat, he looked up from his data pad. Her eyes were full of anger and determination, neither expression unusual to see on the young spec-ops trained lieutenant commander. But he also saw frustration and panic, both of which he had never witnessed in those eyes. She had been through a lot in the last two years, more specifically in the last three weeks. The rescue of Doctor Sorenson and her family, the destruction of Tanna, the loss of her friend… Had it not been for the infant Ania, who had miraculously survived the devastating attack, the lieutenant commander might have completely lost herself. And now, the loss of one of her closest friends…her captain, who had surrendered himself to the Jung only a day ago. “I won’t ask again,” the admiral added, still staring at her.
Jessica begrudgingly took a seat across the desk from the admiral. “You asked to see me, sir?”
“Yes, I did,” the admiral replied. “I’m reassigning you.”
“You’re what?”
Admiral Dumar looked at Jessica, one eyebrow raised in disapproval at her tone. “You are to report to Porto Santo tomorrow morning.”
“Why?”
Admiral Dumar looked at her again. “Your skills are required there.”
