Encompassing

by Richard Lord

  “What if I had killed you?” Solstice catechizes.

  Renfield was instantly beside her, “Stop! That woman asleep in the other room loves you as much as I do. I know she’s why you’re here. Think what you will of me, but deep down I know you know what has to be done and that I’m right. It’s why you didn’t. I’m your father and I know you love me in your own way. I love you and I know you know that. Just let it go.” Renfield then turned because he felt Christina near.

  “Actually, I’m not asleep, but maybe I’m in the wrong room.” Christina said, moving a hand through her long and tangled hair.

  Solstice and Renfield, as one, began cleaning up after their breakfast. Crumbs were going into trashcans, cups were going into sinks, pans were being rinsed.

  “What’s going on between the two of you?” Christina asked.

  In unison they answered, “Nothing.”

  Christina grinned. Illumna hugged her from behind and whispered, “Good morning, Grandmother.”

  Christina turned and hugged her and said, “So you’re in this too?”

  Illumna responded, “What…sort of. Those two have a long history. I’ve watched it many times. Let’s get breakfast.” Then Illumna looks squarely at Solstice as she adds, “No coffee for me, please.”

  As Illumna began walking into the kitchen Christina grabbed her arm softly and pulled her back. She looked at her and quietly said, “I saw her try to kill him, but she knew he wouldn’t die. Why where you there?”

  “So that you would be here, grandmother.” responded Illumna and she continues into the kitchen. “What are you in the mood for?”

  CHAPTER 38

  “The old adage hide in plain sight works. Sometimes. When it doesn’t the old adage fight or flight comes into play.” -- from the book of Brady

  “Brady.”

  “Renfield? What the hell are you doing here! You need to stay gone! Are you insane? Wait, don’t answer that! I don’t want to know!” Brady looks around to be sure no one has noticed that Renfield is standing in his office doorway.

  “We need to get somewhere.” Renfield replied, ignoring the jab questioning his sanity.

  “Hell no! Do you know I’m in the middle of an inquest right now and I have no idea how to answer some of the questions? I’d call you trouble, but I’ve seen. I want to forget. Understand?” Brady began walking away quickly. He assumed that if he left the confines of his office, Renfield would feel exposed and leave him alone.

  Renfield leaned back against the wall and waited.

  Brady came back, “What? You do realize I have no resources to help you, anymore? So what do you want from me?” Brady waved a finger out at the rest of the officers all around them.

  Renfield grinned and hugged Brady, “My friend. Watching the news?”

  Brady looked at Renfield, “OK, you do realize I knew you were going to say that? Never mind, of course you know!” He grabs Adam by the shoulder and pull shim into his office and shuts the door. Quietly.

  Renfield puts a hand on Brady’s shoulder and expresses, “Thank you. I don’t have time…well, I suppose I do but we’re too far down this one with too much good to change again. Here’s the plan…”

  Suddenly Illumna was there with Sara. She stared at Brady and said, “I’m your ride.”

  At that Sara turned to Renfield and they met in a passionate kiss and ceased to be.

  Brady confused said to Illumna, “What was that about, I thought…”

  “That’s Mom. I think you’re wondering about Grandmother. That’s where we’re going Grandfather.”

  Illumna reaches out a hand, grabs Brady.

  Brady has a look on his face that clearly indicates no, however, Illumna ignores the look and almost instantly they both vanish.

  CHAPTER 39

  “True friendships last for no quantifiable reason.” -- from the book of Brady

  “What the hell just happened?” Brady, disoriented exclaims.

  Renfield walks over and helps Brady up. “It’s complicated. We moved a bit in time. Technically, we didn’t even have that conversation. Illumna is a short jumper in time but much better with space than her sister or I. Actually, her sister is teaching her time. She’s not good with long jumps in space either, but far more accurate than I or Solstice.” Renfield puts a hand to his chin to consider his commentary and then nods as he decides it is a fairly good description.

  “I seriously regret ever meeting you. I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I have a job!” Brady gets up looking extremely angry and on the verge of losing his temper, which was not previously so even keeled.

  “What you’re about to accomplish will secure that, or you and I die.” Renfield says, cup in hand as he walks casually around Brady.

  “I seem to remember you’re pretty hard to kill.” At that moment Christina walks in. She stares at Brady for a few moments and then looks away.

  Brady yells out, “Christina, what’s going on?”

  Christina turns back and says, “Ask him, it’s complicated.” She then gazes at the floor. She looks over at Renfield for a moment, careful not to say another word. Then she turns and leaves the room.

  Renfield sighs and says, “So, we have to move.”

  Brady looks at Renfield quizzically, “Move, I just got here and this is…”

  Renfield interrupts, “Odd, I know, but we have very little time to do our part while Solstice does hers. It will take Solstice years to finish, we have to put things in place NOW!

  “Solstice? What? The thing we went to kill?” Brady stats scanning for exits.

  “She’s my daughter. Did you really think I would kill her? She is the hero, not me.” Renfield is stern in his reply.

  “OK, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’ll listen. Do I have a choice?” Brady inquires. He looks at Renfield and then to Illumna. Then he speaks directly to her, “What did you mean?” Illumna ignores the question although she is very aware of what he is referring to.

  Renfield walks closer to Brady, “Yes, you do know what I am talking about. Hence Illumna doing what she does. It was meant to give you time to decide. Her clicks are short, so we don’t have forever for you to decide. Sara already put something in place to give you more time, but not enough for you to sit around all day.” Renfield explains.

  “I’ve seen. I believe you, Adam. So if I’m in, what’s the plan?” Brady states while being dismissive.

  “Nice! By the way, you’ll get promoted if you live.” Renfield mentions. “However, that is questionable for both of us, despite my regeneration thing. Follow me, you’re going to need more than that sidepiece, a LOT more! By the way, good on you for watching the news, if we succeed you’ll be on it and I will not have been there. Got it?”

  “Yeah, I’m getting used to the drill, what are we going after now?” Brady follows Renfield to a room and then watches as the floor opens. His eyes grow slightly, but he finds it hard to be surprised at anything anymore.

  Solstice, surrounded by monitors, turns and addresses Brady, “How’s life?”

  Brady fights back his shock and asks Renfield, “Who’s that?”

  Renfield laughs and explains, “That is Solstice, she” raising his tone “should be done with the first part of what she is working on that we need.” He turns to Solstice and raises an eyebrow.

  “I’m not slow unless you drug me. Here’s what I have.” She points at one of her screens and Renfield grins.

  “That’ll work!” He rubs her back in approval. Brady looks at the room and all of the gear in it and turns to Renfield.

  “How did you get caught if you had all of this available to you?” Brady’s face goes into a confused look.

  “I had to be. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here and neither would she.” He gestures to Solstice.

  “That’s Solstice? She looks, ummm.” Brady searches for the words, but how does one ask how the creature he saw in that cave is the same as the pretty girl now sitting in front of him typing
away at a keyboard.

  Renfield hears the thought and replies to it, “Brady, that was not her, her.” He thinks about that response and considers a way to correct it. “She had created that thing and took over it.” He considers that response and realizes that doesn’t really explain either.” Renfield waves a hand in dismissal and then says, “Okay, here’s the plan…”

  “STOP! I have a few questions. What is that?” Brady asks while pointing at one of the monitors.

  “That’s for you. I was getting to that.” Renfield replied.

  “Why did Illumna call me Grandfather?” Brady looks at Renfield thinking, of there is any damned question he wants an answer to, it’s certainly that one.

  “Don’t poke wounds.” Renfield responded. “You and Sara can talk before we go. I am fairly certain she wants to talk to you. I know that the two of them, in your mind are older, but they remember.”

  Brady looks at Renfield completely confused. He considers a response, but decides it’s better to remain silent. He sees the look on Renfield’s face and realizes that there are things that can injure Adam deeply and apparently he was or is going to be the facilitator of one of those things. Then he corrects his thoughts as he looks at the two young women. He thinks, “OK, was, but why do I not remember?” Then he turns back to Renfield, “Ok, last question and then you can explain your plan. Can I speak to Christina? I need to know some things and I trust her assessment of the situation more than yours. No offense, but…”

  “That’s obvious, Brady! That’s why when you called for support in that hell you called for her.” Anger flashes on Renfield’s face, but he calms himself as fast as it comes and continues, “Illumna is your Granddaughter and my daughter. I love my daughter. The timeline is changeable. I could insured that you never cross me. However, had I done that, I wouldn’t have Sara or Illumna. Tread lightly. I consider you a friend, but there are times I consider killing you.”

  Brady, still confused looks at Renfield trying to understand what he could be referring to. Renfield snaps around quickly and calmly states, “Time is a confusing thing Brady. Let’s just leave it at that and get this job done.”

  Brady, still looking confused, wondering how he angered Adam to such an extent. He knows Renfield to be a fairly calm person, even under pressure. Brady does wonder what this whole thing is about, so he puts the thoughts about the dynamics of the social interaction aside and takes a deep breath. Then he asks, “OK, so what’s the plan?”

  CHAPTER 40

  “It’s probably best not to tell those you love how they die.” -- from the book of Illumna

  At that Illumna walks in and says dryly, “Actually, Grandfather, you try to kill Father first but he kills you.”

  Renfield turns and in a slightly scolding voice says, “Nice, Illumna! I’m sure that bit of information is perfect just before he and I put our lives in each other’s hands and try hard not to think of what could go wrong.” Adam wonders and thinks to her, “What would motivate you to bring up that tidbit of information at the exact wrong time.”

  Illumna thinks back, rapidly, as usual. Without words she responds to her father, “If he’s truly your friend, he already knows you won’t kill him until I exist and that is a long time from now.”

  Renfield thinks back to her, “Keep time right. To you it’s the future, to me it’s still the past!” He unconsciously takes a deep breath and turns to Brady who’s face is slight contorted. He can tell Brady is considering all that is going on around him, but he can tell he is adjusting to what he just heard from Illumna, when she spoke out loud.

  Brady turns to Renfield and says, “I suppose there’s time for that. For now you have a plan and…”

  Solstice interrupts, “He always has a plan and time is a confusing thing. It doesn’t mean that because it happened in Illumna’s memory of the future that it’s going to happen.”

  Sara was listening outside the door and goes to find her mother. She’s quite aware. She understands Renfield well, but Illumna, her own daughter is someone she can’t always wrap her head around. As usual she keeps it to herself, but she knows her mother needs to be ready. She is concerned that what Illumna just did may usurp Renfield’s plans and she wonders why. Talking to her mother might explain things to her, but she had to keep in mind that in this timeline her mother didn’t raise her. As she walks into the room she sees her mother holstering a gun and several weapons on the table. Sara’s eyes open wide and she runs over to stop her mother’s hand. “No, mother!”

  Christina gives her an angry stare of determination. “I’m going! How can I let Renfield go alone? I know Brady is with him. I know Renfield is fast, but I almost watched him die. If he can take Brady than Illumna can take me!”

  Sara holds Christina’s arm to stop her from finishing holstering the weapon and looks at her pleading. “If you die, my sister dies. I die and Illumna dies. We won’t ever exist. Don’t you understand that?” Tears form in Sara’s eyes. “Not to mention Illumna can’t take you there. She doesn’t know how.”

  “Of course, she does. We still have that plane and she did it once!” Christina retorts.

  “Once, mother! Do you have any idea how much that took out of her? We can’t understand how painful it is for them to do what they do, but they do it because they believe in what they are doing!” Sara lets go of Christina’s arm but then adds, “This isn’t easy for them. We can’t see all that they have, but they have their reasons. Even my sister! More than anyone Renfield, he’s determined to fix something.”

  Christina looks deeply at Sara realizing that is the most she has ever said. She searches her face to try to understand. Her daughter. Grown and with a daughter of her own. Her mind reels back to the first time she saw them. Sara looked the same but Illumna was a child. She still wonders how the universe could be so odd.

  “Sara?” Christina pauses, “Was I a good mother to you?”

  Sara stares at her mother, “You will be, it’s why I am a good mother to Illumna, and that is certainly not easy when she can hear all of my thoughts.” Sara’s face changed, “I suppose when I met Renfield that is why I loved him. He understood. He did the same thing, but he is honest when he says he didn’t know. He was gone, doing something else in a different place, he came back home, you were angry he was gone, we met. I did not have any intention of hurting you or him. I suppose I saw the same things in him you did. By then he assumed you had grown tired of waiting for him and he moved on and we met. Does that answer your question, Mother?” Sara exhaled, “You’re not picking up that gun to go help him. You’re angry and you want something to take it out on. Anything else, but me or him or Brady. That I am familiar with. You did it before, I went out, got a job, but stayed close to you. He came back looking for you and found me. I even know now that it is because I reminded him of you. It makes him angry that he loves us both, but how could he help it. Before you ask, YES, I love him too. He thought it was a mistake not to teach you how to recognize the resets so he taught me. He didn’t teach Illumna because he still wasn’t sure and he didn’t want to affect her. Your granddaughter is like him, so yes, she figured it out. You know how much it pained him to teach Solstice and have her suffer. I do understand him. You should try doing the same.”

  “Sara, he does things that…” Christina began.

  “That are hard to understand. Trust in him. You and I aren’t like him, my sister or my daughter, but they know what he is doing and why. I believe in him and I believe in Illumna. You should too. You’ve heard he won’t teach Illumna, but do you know why?”

  Christina looks at Sara, “Not really, he taught Solstice.”

  “That’s why.” Sara responded. “He can’t keep doing it, that time thing. And Solstice knows she will soon be like her father. He’s done it too many times and he gets lost in his ‘clicking’ as he calls it.”

  “So that’s why he got lost the last time?” Christina asks.

  “Yes, it happens to him more than he lets on.” Sara
explains.

  “He said you and Solstice were somewhere, for a long time. What happened?” Christina presses.

  “Solstice took us someplace...” Sara looks away in thought for a moment, “She can regenerate like Renfield can. Not as fast, but that’s also killing him. I can’t, but in some ways I am glad at that. I’ve watched both of them push it knowing it would end up causing them to…” Again, her mind wanders, but she walk over to Christina and speaks, “Solstice has never been bad. She gets upset and she has the ability to show that more than most. We talked.”

  Christina looks back at her daughter, “I saw you when you came back. You were in bad shape, Sara. Why did you let her take you there?”

  “Solstice is my sister. I know her. She stops what is going on right now. That’s the real danger, Mom.”

  Christina looks at her and asks, “Who is your father and why would I ever…”

  Just then Illumna walks in the room and says, “They left. How about you two stop doing the mother daughter thing and let’s go down and help Solstice so she can finish her work?”

  Christina finishes putting her sidearm in her holster. She leaves the rest and looks at Sara. “She’s an interesting girl.”

  Sara replies, “She had an interesting Dad and a Grandmother willing to do whatever it took.” Christina started to follow Illumna but turns and gives Sara a huge hug.

  “So where they are now? They both live, right?” Christina looks pensive as she asks.

  Sara begins to answer but Illumna stops and turns and says, “If they don’t it will just be you and Solstice in this house. We will never have been.”

  Christina looks to Sara for an explanation, but Sara simply states, “Illumna’s direct, but she does feel deeply. She too is like her father.”

  CHAPTER 41

  “Ours is not to reason why. Ours is but to do and be ready for the next assignment.” -- from the book of Brady

  “You’re going to plant that Brady. I’m going to cause a hellatious distraction!” Renfield points at the device he handed to Brady.