Alexander caught a glimpse of a ring on Dorian’s left hand. A wedding ring.
“You’re married?” Alex asked as Dorian brushed by him.
Dorian reluctantly turned once more, his eyes half rolling as he did so. “What’s your point, Alex?”
“Don’t you think she’d like to meet me? I’d sure as hell like to meet her.”
“Why would she want to meet you? You’re not my father. My father’s dead and you’re the one who killed him.”
“That’s not fair, and you know it.”
“No, what’s not fair is I never got to meet him, and thanks to you I never will.”
Alexander felt his pride floating back up on a sea of fury, but he fought it. “I’m sorry about that, Dorian,” he said haltingly, as if each word were choking him on the way out.
Dorian smiled sardonically. “That must have taken a lot for you to say. Did Mom put you up to this?”
Alexander looked away, back to the fountain in the lobby.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Listen, you raised me, so I can’t be ungrateful about it…” Dorian’s gaze drifted out of focus and holograms flickered over his eyes.
Alexander frowned, wondering what he was up to.
“There. Now we’re even. Goodbye, Alex.” Dorian turned and walked away, leaving Alexander to wonder what he meant by that. A suspicion formed in his gut and he mentally checked his bank account. There was a fresh deposit for two hundred thousand sols. The description of the transaction read, For services rendered.
“Son of a…” Alexander sent it straight back with a note: No need for payment. PS I like the new name. De Leon was always a bad fit. I never had children, much less a son.
That done, Alex walked through the lobby to the parking lot. His shoes hit the marble floor like hammers pounding nails into a coffin. Echoes reverberated in the cavernous lobby.
His thoughts turned to McAdams, and he nodded to himself. Time for a fresh start.
* * *
Viviana McAdams grabbed Alexander’s hand across the candle-lit table. “I’m so sorry, Alex.”
He reached for his wine and took a big sip. “I don’t have a son anymore. Or a wife. Time to accept that and move on.” He gave Viviana a meaningful stare as he said that.
Her gaze softened, and a hopeful sparkle appeared in her eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”
Alexander’s brow furrowed. “I thought you wanted dessert?”
“I do.”
Alexander paid the bill and they left the restaurant. They walked down the street to the nearest hotel and booked a room for the night. Once they were inside and he’d shut the door, McAdams took his hand and led him over to the bed. As soon as they reached it, Viviana pushed him backward onto the bed and proceeded to undress herself while he watched.
His heart raced as she slowly unzipped her dress and let it fall in a puddle of red fabric at her feet.
She wasn’t wearing any underwear.
He stared at her naked body, savoring the moment. Then she crawled on top of him and kissed him. Her hands fumbled with his belt while his head spun.
Viviana unbuttoned his uniform, trailing kisses down his chest. By the time she got to his navel, she already had his belt off and his pants open. He felt a draft, and then watched as she took him into her mouth, stealing his breath away…
An hour later they lay exhausted and gasping in each other’s arms.
“That was…” Alexander paused to suck in another breath.
“Amazing?” Viviana suggested.
“How the hell did I ever let you go?” he countered.
Viviana rolled over to look him in the eye. “Because of the sex?”
“Because it means something with you.”
“And it didn’t with your wife?”
“Not for a long time.”
“You weren’t in love anymore.”
“No. I’m sorry I left you all those years ago, Vivie.”
“I think I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t. You made vows to her and you chose to honor them for as long as you could. That’s nothing to be sorry for.”
“It is. Look at us now. We’re back where we were more than thirty years ago. We could have just skipped all of the pain in between and by now we’d have a couple of kids—maybe even grandkids!”
Viviana smiled and stroked his cheek. “You want to have kids with me? Real ones?”
“Of course, don’t you?”
Viviana launched herself on top of him and showered him with kisses. “I love you, Alex,” she breathed.
With those words all the numbness and emptiness he’d felt upon saying goodbye to Catalina fell away, and he smiled against Viviana’s lips. “I love you, too, Vivie.”
I guess I found my happiness after all…
He hoped Caty would find hers.
Chapter 25
Alexander and his crew rode the space elevator to Freedom Station together. The view from the observation deck of the climber car was spectacular. Blue ocean curved away below them, growing more and more distant, until waves looked like wrinkles in a blue piece of cloth. The horizon shimmered with vermilion light as the rising sun soaked the sky with fire. They’d begun their journey up the elevator at dawn, but as they’d risen, the sun had, too.
Hours passed. Lunch and dinner were served, and Earth became a blue and white marble floating in a sea of stars. They reached the midpoint in their trip and the climber car stopped accelerating in order to rotate and apply one G of deceleration the rest of the way. A robotic voice warned about the momentary transition to zero-G and the seatbelt signs came on.
As soon as everyone was buckled in, weightlessness set in. Alexander noticed a petty officer coming back from the bathroom suddenly float free of the deck as she lunged for her seat. Using the maneuvering jets in her combat suit, she managed to get back down and activate the magnets in her boots.
Alexander frowned. She should have activated her boots the instant the transition to zero-G was announced. “Fleet Command has a lot of work to do to turn everyone in the Navy into experienced bridge officers,” he muttered.
“Is that what you thought when you first met me?” McAdams asked, a wry smile on her lips.
“That’s different. At least you were already a lieutenant. We’re talking about millions of enlisted personnel becoming commissioned officers.”
“We won’t need as many crew as before. The Navy will weed through the candidates and pick the best ones for training.”
Alexander nodded. “I guess that means a lot of our people will be getting early retirement.”
“When the time comes. How did you manage to cancel our automation refits, anyway?” McAdams asked.
“Called in a favor with Admiral Anderson.”
“I didn’t know he owed you any favors.”
Alexander smiled. “Neither did he. I think he was just being nice. Pity it’s going to bite him in the ass.”
McAdams arched an eyebrow at him. Rather than say it aloud, Alexander sent her a text-only message via a private comms channel. It was unlikely anyone would be monitoring that channel. Even if they were, they’d probably just think the conversation was personal and leave it alone.
We’re going to testify to the President’s lies.
What? You can’t do that.
Why not?
It’s treason.
Since when is it treason to tell the truth? People deserve to know. We could stop a war, Viviana.
Or we could all get arrested and accomplish nothing.
The president will be impeached.
That doesn’t mean we’ll go back to being friends with the Solarians. We attacked them, and if you reveal that we did so without any real justification, you’ll give them even more reason for war.
Except that the Solarians can’t afford a war with us, so they’ll back down if we’re not gunning for them anymore.
Or they’ll sneak attack us with a few more missiles, McAdams pointed out.
> I don’t think it was them.
Then who? Our own government? That still doesn’t add up, Alex. Our government doesn’t gain anything from killing millions of its own people and spending itself into bankruptcy to rebuild and defend itself.
Then maybe it really was aliens.
If that’s the case, they better show up soon.
Alexander shook his head. I can’t hold myself responsible for everything that’s going to happen next. What people decide to do with the truth is up to them, but what I decide to do with it, is up to me, and I’ve already made up my mind.
What about us? You’re going to throw away a future with me just so that you can do the right thing? You got lucky last time, Alex. Officers in the fleet don’t get away with betraying their government every day.
I’m not betraying them every day. More like every thirty years.
That’s not funny.
So I get court-martialed. I can live with that.
You could get the death penalty.
Unlikely.
Life in a correctional mindscape then. What’s the difference? You do realize that all politicians lie. You won’t get a better president by impeaching this one.
Yes, they all lie, but not usually to start a war.
And what if you’re wrong? What if the Solarians really did attack us and all you accomplish is to compromise our defenses so they can cripple us completely with their next attack?
I’ve made up my mind, Commander. I understand if you don’t want to take a stand with me.
I don’t agree with you, but I’m not going to let you go down alone, either. Hold on—this is the reason you wanted the refits canceled, isn’t it?
Guilty as charged.
You’re planning to take the Adamantine and use it to avoid the authorities. Where does your plan go from there? Go down in a blaze of glory or defect to the Solarian Republic?
Neither.
So we’re going to stay in space forever, playing hide and seek with the Alliance?
Nope.
Then what? McAdams demanded.
The League is going to use this as an excuse to separate. We just have to hold out until then.
You want us to join the League?
Why not? You said you want real kids, not simulated ones, right? We’ll have more luck with that in a society where children are still wanted.
What if the rest of the crew doesn’t go along with this?
We don’t need everyone. Just the bridge crew. We’ll send the others to their G-tanks for maneuvers and lock them in.
Okay, and what if the bridge crew doesn’t all side with us? What do we do, hold the dissenters at gunpoint?
No guns. Hopefully I’ll be able to convince them to side with us. If not, don’t worry, I have a plan.
Alex, if this backfires…
It won’t.
I hope you’re right.
So do I.
Chapter 26
“You’re going to have to stay here, Ben,” Alexander said as he opened the door to his office aboard the Adamantine.
Ben turned to him with his cherubic face, blond eyebrows elevating until they touched a curtain of holographic hair. “What do you want me to do, master?”
“Call me Alex.”
“People who refer to each other by their first names are usually friends or acquaintances. Which are we?”
“I’d like to think we can be friends.”
Ben gave an ingenuous smile. “I’d like to think that, too. What do you want me to do in your office, friend Alex?”
Alexander shook his head and gestured to his desk. “Sit down, use the data terminal to learn about the ship and see how you can make yourself useful. I’ll let you know if I have anything more specific for you to do.”
“Of course, friend Alex,” Ben said, servos whirring in his newly restored body. He wore a shiny black ensign’s uniform without the insignia.
“Just Alex.”
Ben turned to him, looking crestfallen. “We are not friends?”
Alexander laughed. “Sure we are, but you don’t have to call attention to it all the time. You’re one odd cookie, Ben.”
“If you mean that my figurative batter did not cohere to its figurative cookie-cutter shape, thus making me unique from other figurative cookies, I will take that as a compliment, Alex.”
Alexander pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think you just gave me a headache.”
“I’m sorry. Am I speaking too loudly?”
“Never mind. Have fun. You can use the holocomm on the desk to contact me, but only if it’s an emergency.”
“Understood, Alex.”
Alexander turned and left his office with a wry smile. The bot was beginning to grow on him—Ben was something between a pet and a child. A protégé, perhaps.
He stopped himself there, suddenly realizing the one part of his plan that he hadn’t thought through. He was about to defect to the Human League—assuming that they managed to separate from the Alliance—and he was taking a bot with him. A frown stole across his face. He and Ben were going to have to part ways before then.
When Alexander reached the bridge, he walked up to his control station and climbed into the acceleration couch beside McAdams.
“Sir,” she said stiffly, nodding to him as he buckled in. “We’re ready for launch.”
“Good. Let’s have the crew report to their G-tanks before we set out. We’ll need to perform some high-G maneuvers to negate our initial launch velocity and join the fleet in orbit.”
“Yes, sir… Should we prep the bridge, too?”
“May as well.”
He’d just bought himself fifteen minutes or so before launch. Hopefully that would be enough time. He needed an excuse not to join the fleet in orbit around Earth. He could think of any number of hypothetical systems malfunctions that would do the trick, but getting his crew to go along with those excuses was another matter.
Harnesses dropped down above their heads and crew began unbuckling from their acceleration couches in preparation for the switch from physical to virtual command.
Alexander followed suit and stood up from his acceleration couch to reach the harness dangling above his head. Grabbing the straps, he buckled them around his chest and under his crotch. Next he attached his life support tubes and inserted the tracheal tube of his liquid ventilator. The harness lifted him above the deck as soon as he finished buckling it. As soon as everyone else was ready, the inertial compensation emulsion gushed into the room, roaring like a waterfall. The sound echoed from the walls, amplifying the noise. While he waited, Alexander made a mental connection to the holocomm in his office. Ben?
Alex! I was hoping I would hear from you.
I need your help. What have you managed to learn about the Adamantine so far?
Oh, almost everything there is to know—at least, everything that I could access from here. I was just about to ask what else you would like me to do.
Good. I need you to help me perform some repairs to the ship’s drive system.
The ship reports all systems nominal, Alex.
Alexander grimaced. Yes, that’s right, he replied, thinking fast. But I want you to optimize the drive system so it will be more efficient.
Oh, I see. I didn’t find anything about optimizing the drive system in the ship’s databanks.
That’s all right. I’ll tell you what to do. Get down to the engine room, and let me know when you’re there.
Aye aye, Admiral!
Alexander broke the connection. If everything went according to plan, Ben would give him the perfect excuse to put some distance between him and the Alliance fleet.
The best kind of lie is the truth, he thought.
Chapter 27
“Bridge submersion successful,” McAdams announced. “All G-tanks report filled and all one hundred and twenty crew are present and accounted for in the Adamantine’s mindscape. Switch over to virtual complete.”
Alexander nodded. Good timin
g, he thought. Ben had just finished sabotaging the ship’s drive system a couple of minutes ago.
“Bishop, release docking clamps.”
“Aye, sir.”
The Adamantine released its hold on Freedom Station, and the main forward viewscreen showed the glinting, solar cell-encrusted disk of Freedom Station drifting away. Ships always docked bow first with the station, allowing them to share the microgravity imparted by the station’s tethered orbit around Earth.
“Set course for the fleet. Ten Gs”
“Aye, sir.”
Freedom Station swept away as the ship rotated, allowing a crescent-shaped glimpse of the shining white and blue marble at the other end of the space elevator.
Alexander watched Bishop and Rodriguez carefully for their reaction to what happened next. As soon as their rotation stopped, Bishop fired up the mains, quickly ramping up to ten Gs. Inside the Mindscape they barely felt that force pressing them into their acceleration couches—just enough to remind them the ship was accelerating, but not enough to be distracting.
“Course set,” Bishop reported.
Alexander nodded. Wait for it… he thought.
“Woah, hold up—” Rodriguez said. The sensation of acceleration abruptly disappeared.
“What’s going on?” Bishop asked. “I just lost all forward thrust.”
“I had to shut the engines down. They were redlining. Looks like we have a coolant leak.”
“How long to fix it?”
“Depends on the extent of the leak. Ten minutes maybe. I’m deploying repair drones so our engineers can get to work.”
“Keep me posted. Hayes—update fleet command with our status. Explain the situation.”
“Yes, sir.”
Opening a private comms channel with Ben, Alexander said, Are you back in my office yet?
I am.
Good. I need you to create a lockout protocol to cut off all access to the ship’s controls except from my control station.
You want to be the only one in control of the ship?
Yes.
Fleet regulations state that a minimum of two people must be in command of a warship at any one time.
New Frontiers- The Complete Series Page 56
