My team was funneling out, following the porter, and Magnus grabbed my arm, urging me to stay behind.
“I’ll help them get settled,” Nat said as she hugged me again, whispering in my ear, “It’s good to see you.”
Seconds later, Magnus and I were alone in the room with the dogs. His brow furrowed, and he stood inches from me. “Dean, what were you thinking?!” he yelled, and I stepped away from him, startled by the sudden occurrence. Carey let out a bark.
“What do you mean? I was thinking about helping you home.”
“You had a grasp of what was going on, didn’t you? Don’t you think I would have come through if there was a way? Are you really that egotistical that you figured you’d be able to come save us? That you alone would have the ability to bring us back from the other side or whatever godforsaken dimension we’re in now?”
Thick cords stuck out on his neck, but I stood my ground. “You can insult me all you want, Mag, but you know damned well that you’d have done the exact same thing. Are you saying you’re that egotistical, then?” I stepped forward, and we were chest to chest.
Something deflated in him, and he shook his head, lowering his voice. “No, but I might be that stupid.”
We stared at each other for a second before Magnus let out a bark of a laugh, making me join him. We both relaxed, and sat heavily on our chairs. “What are we going to do?” I asked.
“Honestly? I don’t know.” Magnus stood and headed for a cabinet at the far end of the room. He pulled out two bottles, and I instantly recognized them: a micro-brewed beer from his favorite place on New Spero. He took a sip and passed me one.
I winked at him. “I can’t believe you have any left.”
“I do, but that’s only because I brought a lot of Scotch.” Magnus leaned forward and clinked his bottle against mine.
“Cheers.” I tasted it, and instantly, it felt like we were back on his porch on New Spero.
“Dean, I may be upset that you’re here, but you want to know something?”
“What?” I asked.
“I’m more upset with myself.” He took a drink from the bottle and fiddled with the label.
“Why’s that?”
“Because I actually believe you’re going to find a way for us to get home.” Magnus laughed again, but this time, I didn’t join him.
“Cheers to that, because you know what?”
It was his turn. “What?”
“I am going to find a way. Mark my word.”
Twenty-One
“These are the sections of the world with mountains, hills, underground caverns, or any other attributes similar to the locations of the portal stones we know about. Earth’s was under a monument, but we don’t know what the terrain looked like before the Egyptians built Giza. New Spero’s is in the mountains, Haven’s is in a hilly region underneath the surface, and the ice world’s was in a frozen cavern on a cold snow-covered peak. We’re using the same mapping here.” Magnus was operating a console on his desk to highlight the five regions on the nearby world that fit these descriptions.
“These are pretty big areas to cover. What’s the plan?” Slate asked.
Karo stood and walked over to the screen, hovering a hand over its surface. “If there is a portal, I can find it. They are, after all, powered by the Theos. I spent some time with J-NAK by the stone, and I might be able to track it.”
“But you’re not sure?” Magnus asked.
“I would have to be close, but I would feel or sense their vibrations,” Karo said, as if that explained anything.
“Why didn’t I think of this sooner? I have something in my pack on our ship, Magnus. Do you remember the device Clare made to help me find Mary?” I asked.
He made a methodical exaggerated nod.
“We could find a way to program it to Theos DNA, right? Then maybe we’d be able to track a portal stone, if there is one.” I was on my feet, ready to go grab it. When it came to contraptions, I preferred to bring everything I had when I traveled on missions. You never knew when something was going to come in handy.
“That might do it,” Suma said. Rulo wasn’t with us, and W had stayed on our ship. The Keppe warrior had been spending a lot of time with one of Magnus’ crew members, a male she’d mentioned to me a few times on our journey here. “I think I could rework it to operate successfully.”
“What do you think, Karo? Willing to give a sample?” Suma’s snout twitched toward him.
“Yes. Will you require stool?” he asked, straight-faced. Magnus stared hard at me, his expression threatening to make me laugh.
Suma’s gaze darted away from the Theos. “Uhm, I think blood would work just fine, Karo.”
If I didn’t know better, Karo was making a joke at her expense. It was good to see his spirits return.
“Then it’s a plan. Let’s move on this. Suma, how long do you think?” Magnus asked.
“No idea. I’ll have to take it apart and see. Could be a day, could be a week,” she answered.
“We’ll leave you to it. Magnus, how about we finally go see my little niece and nephew?” I suggested. I was excited to see the kids. It was only our second day here, and it had been too late last night to wake them.
Magnus led me down the corridors, and we talked along the way.
“Other than the obvious, how was the rest of the three years?” I asked him.
“I loved it. Captaining a real exploration vessel, with a full crew, resources, food, schools… what more can you ask for?” Magnus greeted dozens of Keppe by name as we walked, and I was proud of him in this role. Today, he was in full Keppe uniform, which consisted of a gray robe with black stripes along the sides, and short pants that only went halfway down his shins. It looked a little amusing on a human, but on the warrior race, it was natural and classy. Magnus was lucky he was almost as large as them, because it helped him pull it off. I suspected I wouldn’t look quite as comfortable in the outfit.
“And when we get home?” I asked.
“One thing at a time there, Parker. The kids have been great, though. They speak Keppe now, which is impressive. I do okay with it myself, but I prefer to use the translators anyway, in case I say the wrong thing and cause an explosion as a result.” Magnus stopped at a doorway on the third floor. The ship’s features were quite similar to Lord Crul’s home base on Oliter. The walls and floors were shiny white, though they were made of some composite material here, not the marble-like stone that Crul favored.
“You still think you’ll solve this, do you?” he asked before opening the door.
I had to tell him the truth. “I do.”
His face broke out in a smile. “Good. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He tapped a code in a control panel on the edge of the wide white door, and it slid open to reveal thirty or so Keppe children sitting at desks. “The Keppe try to only allow a certain number of married couples with children on each vessel, because of the additional costs. Plus, it’s dangerous work, so there’s always the added risk,” Magnus whispered to me. “This is the entire juvenile population on Fortune.”
They ranged from small Keppe, with sprouts of armor growing under their dark skin, to big ones, almost fully grown. I was sure a boy and girl at the front of the class were at least as big as me. Then I spotted their heads: a mess of short dirty-blond hair and the darker long hair of a human girl. I cleared my throat, and the entire room turned to look at the doorway.
“Dean!” Magnus’ son yelled and ran across the room, jumping into my arms. He hugged me tightly around the neck, and I returned the hug, laughing as I held him.
“I wasn’t sure you’d remember me.” It had been almost three years, and he wasn’t even five when they’d left.
“Mom and Dad named me after you. How could I forget you?” I set him on the floor and was astonished at how big he was.
“You’re so tall. I guess you take after your dad.” I rubbed his naturally messy hair, and he stepped to the side, attempting to fix it.
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My gaze drifted over to Patty, who’d walked over but hadn’t said anything. She stood a good five feet away, her dark brown eyes assessing me.
“Hi, Patty. I’m Dean Parker. You wouldn’t remember me, since you were only just walking when you left home.” I crouched, and she came closer.
“What do you mean? I am home,” she said defiantly. I glanced up at Magnus, who rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
“Her mother through and through. I haven’t won an argument with her yet,” Magnus said, and Patty stood up taller.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it here, then, Miss Patty. My little girl is going to love spending time with you,” I said.
“Is she here?” Patty asked, her head cocked slightly to the side.
“No.”
“Then I’ll probably never meet her.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because Tipo told me we’re stuck, and we aren’t ever going to leave, and that we’re going to die here.” She said the words in one breath, fast, so I had a hard time keeping up.
“Is that so?” I asked, and glanced around the room, wondering which one was Tipo.
Patty nodded firmly.
“We’ll have to see about that. Patty, it’s been nice to see you. Dean, are you doing well in school?” I asked the boy.
He glanced at his dad before answering, “I think so.”
“Would you guys mind if I came over for dinner tonight? We could talk more that way, instead of interrupting your class.” The teacher was waiting at the front, hesitant to break up the reunion. I waved an apologetic hand in his direction, and he nodded his understanding.
“Yeah, come for dinner!” Dean said with excitement.
“I guess that’s okay.” Patty turned away and stalked to her seat.
“See you later, Dean,” Magnus’s son said to me, and we left the schoolroom.
The door closed, and Magnus and I were alone in the hallway once again. “That was intense.”
“I don’t know where she gets the attitude,” Magnus said, and I laughed.
“Right. As if the offspring of Magnus and Natalia could be any other way,” I accused him.
“What about Dean? He’s so outgoing.”
“It’s the name.” We kept moving through the corridor. “Every Dean is meant for big things. I hope you don’t mind me inviting myself over for dinner.”
“Not at all. We were going to anyway. Tonight, we eat like a family, and tomorrow, if Suma’s done her modifications, we head to the surface,” Magnus said.
“Perfect. I hope you don’t mind, but I invited the others to dinner as well,” I said. I really hadn’t, but I was feeling him out.
“Even Slate?” Magnus asked with mocking disgust.
“Even Zeke,” I replied.
“The more the merrier. Dean, I really hope we can climb out of this mess. I admit I’m angry that you’re here, but if I’m going to be stuck in another dimension with no way home, part of me is glad you’re by my side,” Magnus said.
“I won’t tell Mary that part when we get home.”
“Good idea.”
____________
Karo rubbed his arm as we walked in, and Suma was inserting the blood sample into the Locator device Clare had given me.
“Good work, Suma. I knew you could do it. Karo, how do you feel?” I asked the Theos.
“I’m fine.” He turned around and picked up a slice of pizza, admiring it before he took a bite.
“I don’t know how you stay in shape,” I told the ancient being.
“Something Suma calls ‘metabolism’,” he answered in between bites.
“I’ll have to find one of those.” We were in an office inside Fortune’s engineering room. The ship’s hyperdrive was massive, and the core energy tubes ran vertically for two stories inside. It was warm in here, and I undid a button on my borrowed shirt as I sat beside Suma.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked as she fiddled with the device.
“It should work. We’ll have to test it out first.” Suma clicked it shut, and I saw the screen go blank, then reset, glowing yellow and then orange. It was just the three of us; the others were aboard our ship, waiting to go to the surface when this was ready.
“Should I move farther away?” Karo asked, holding another slice of pizza.
“I don’t think it matters.” Suma tapped a command, and it began searching. I’d kept it probing for Mary the entire time I was looking for her. The light on the screen blinked, identifying Karo in the room with us, which was expected, but what really excited us was the second blinking light.
“There’s a stone!” I shouted.
“This reading is strong,” Suma whispered, and I didn’t quite take her meaning.
“When do we go?” Karo asked.
“Right now.” I moved for the door, but Suma grabbed my arm, holding me back as Karo headed toward the hangar where the others waited. “What is it?”
“I’m surprised by the strength of the signal, that’s all. This stone must have a lot of Theos powering it.” Her voice was quiet, cautious.
I led Suma down the hall. “Maybe it’s been affected by its interaction with the Cloud.”
“That could be it.” That ended our conversation, and a minute later, we were climbing into our Kraski ship, giving the crew the news.
“Where’s Rulo?” I asked.
“She headed to the surface with her boyfriend,” Slate said.
“I would have preferred that she come with us.” I didn’t want to go in with no firepower. I really had no clue what to expect at the portal stone.
Footsteps clanged out behind me, and when I turned, Magnus was there, holding a pulse rifle and giving me a sideways grin. “Then I guess you have room for one more.”
“Always. Get on board.” I waited for him to enter into our cargo bay and shut the ramp.
“I haven’t been in one of these for a while. I sure prefer our modified versions.” Magnus’ gaze moved around the room, nostalgia clouding his eyes for a moment. “Enough of that. Let’s find this stone and see what’s what.”
W lifted us up and out of the hangar while we entered the bridge, and he headed for the nearby planet. It was a beautiful sight: water, red clay ground, and the lights of a few bustling metropolises brightened the view from out here.
“All of these people were brought here against their will through the Cloud, and they formed a city.” It was still hard to believe.
“An old race of Panthera people was the first to arrive, or so the tales say. After a generation searching for something else beyond this world, their ship came back, and they settled the land. It wasn’t long before the next interstellar vessel was thrown here, and then another. Soon the cities were expanding, a melting pot of castaways. It’s pretty amazing if you think about it.” Magnus told the story, and we all listened intently.
“Except now we’re castaways too,” Slate said.
We flew in orbit as W circled the planet, heading toward our final destination. “Unless this portal stone works and we can offer everyone a way home.” I really hoped the stone would function from here.
Magnus shook his head. “I have a feeling a lot of these people will stay even if we have a way home.”
Slate looked surprised. “Seriously?”
“Think about it, pup. Some of them have been here for fifty generations. They don’t know anything but this life. Imagine the inhabitants of Haven in a thousand years. It’s going to be something like that.”
“They can stay. We’re leaving,” I told them firmly.
We broke through the atmosphere with hardly more than a bump, and moved toward the hard clay mountains in the distance below. There was no body of water near our destination, only dark red clay and sparse vegetation. “Where’s the nearest city?” I asked Magnus.
“Not close. This ground is terrible to grow anything in, and the water supply is meager. That’s why most of the population lives in the other hemisphere.�
�� Magnus leaned against Dubs’ seat as we lowered the ship toward the base of the mountain.
Suma held up her device, and it showed the blinking Theos light roughly a kilometer away. “Guess we’re walking,” she said.
“It appears so. W, stay with the ship and be ready to pick us up if necessary. We’ll keep you posted on our progress. With any luck, we’re going to find an active portal stone, and judging by the intensity of the readout, it will be very active.” I glanced at Karo, who was moving for the cargo bay. He was obviously eager to find out if there actually was a stone. He really didn’t seem to want to be on this side of the Cloud, and I couldn’t blame him. I was of the same mindset.
“You’re sure we don’t need the EVAs?” I asked Magnus. He was in a jumpsuit, not wearing armor or a helmet, and certainly not an EVA.
“Air’s fine. I don’t know what these geniuses did, or how they managed it, but eighty percent of the races here are breathing the same air successfully. Looks like we aren’t all so different after all, hey? Makes you wonder,” he said.
“Wonder what?” Suma asked.
“How we can all be so similar.” Magnus shrugged as he spoke. He slung his rifle on his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Should we expect trouble?” I asked.
“Doubt it. This world has a few predators, but they’re mostly in the water. We should be safe here. I don’t expect any surprises,” Magnus said.
Slate was pushing a pistol into a holster on his chest. “I’m not taking any chances.”
I agreed with Slate. “Whenever someone says they don’t expect anything out of the ordinary, that’s when things go awry.”
“Not this time.” Magnus led the charge, and the ramp lowered, letting us off the ship and onto the hard clay surface. The air was crisp, cool; refreshing. I took a deep breath and noticed the unique scent of the world. It reminded me of my mom’s garden after the spring thaw.
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