The Arrival (5 page)

Evaran returned Greecho’s intense gaze. “I did not.”

“You didn’t hear a chain breaking or the door opening? I find that hard to believe.”

Evaran shook his head. “I am sorry, but no. I was enjoying my meal in peace and browsing the local news.”

Greecho stared at Evaran. “Where’s your robot?”

“On my ship.”

Greecho snorted and raised a finger toward Evaran. “If I find out you had anything to do with this, you’re dead.”

“Noted.”

Greecho snapped his head toward Jells and Jake, who had followed Greecho over. “I want to see the video feeds of this room.”

Jells shook his head. “There are none. You had us take them out.”

“Damn it, I don’t have time for this shit!” said Greecho. He turned toward Jake. “Don’t get any ideas about trying to run away or anything else foolish. I’m bringing your real dad back with me this time.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “What?”

Greecho chuckled. “Insurance. You try anything, he goes to Karakuus, just like your mother. You do what you’re told, I’ll take him back. Think of it as a present. You get to see him before you enter the system. You should be thankful.”

Jake sighed and looked down and then nodded. At least he would get to see his real dad.

“Get the final shipments on board,” said Greecho, whipping a finger in the air.

Jells glanced at Jake with narrowed eyes and then exited the room.

Greecho stormed out of the room, talking into a communications device.

Jake walked up to Evaran and whispered, “You did it. She’s safe?”

“Yes. She is on my ship. Appease Greecho until he is gone. Then we can talk more in detail.”

Jake nodded and then took off after Jells. He could not believe what just happened. The confidence to pull something like that off was inspirational to him. Evaran had stood up to Greecho and taken control of the situation again. Jake smiled. Definitely not something he could ever do. He knew Greecho would easily dismantle the station, looking for Kathy if he had the time, but missing the Kreagan transport and a slave run would have severe repercussions from the higher-ups. Greecho could be forced back into slavery or even killed. Jake remembered Greecho telling him long ago that when it came to money and slaves, you do not mess around. At all.

Jake entered a room and saw Jells doing everything he could to calm Greecho down. Jake felt bad not telling Jells, but it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and he believed that he did the right thing. Greecho took his anger out on them over the next ten minutes by physically hitting both of them. It was not like they could stop Greecho. Helping Kathy was costly.

After another ten minutes, Jake and Jells came back to the empty dining hall. They walked behind the counter and watched the embedded console.

Jake massaged his swollen eye as he watched Greecho’s ship leave on the screen.

Evaran walked into the dining room with U4 and took a seat at the bar. “Kathy is being treated for some minor wounds while she sleeps.”

“Yeah … thanks for the heads-up. I’m happy that Kathy is free, but now I’ll suffer the consequences of that decision,” said Jells with a scowl.

Evaran tilted his head at Jells. “I apologize. You were with Greecho, and I felt that was the safest place for you to be. Did Greecho do anything else other than hit you?”

Jells waved a hand in the air. “Uhh … yeah. Greecho took an additional fifteen percent of our matter replicator element storage. We’re down to roughly ten percent now, and this is typically a slow period. Guess I’ll need to find supplementary work somehow.”

Evaran studied Jells for a moment. “I will rectify the situation by filling your element storage to capacity.”

Jells laughed. “How? That stuff isn’t cheap. It’s also hard to find some of the rarer elements.”

“I looked at your setup already. Your element storage has an external outlet. I can hook up to that.”

Jells eyed Evaran. “That’s a very specific outlet.”

“That is correct,” said Evaran. He scanned Jells with his ring. “If you require treatment, U4 can administer it to you as well.”

Jells extended a hand out. “Filling my storage tanks will be all we need. Just next time, if you’re gonna do something crazy, please let me know. Anyways … are you headed to Earth now?”

“Yes. However, U4 is going to upgrade your ship before we go.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Jells. “Hopefully when Greecho comes back, he won’t do it again.”

“Greecho is never coming back here.”

Jake perked his head up. “What do you mean?”

“I have decided to interfere, and Greecho is one of my priorities now.”

Jake circled a hand. “And that means …”

“He will never threaten you or Jells again.”

Jells glanced at Jake, then at Evaran. “I have a request then.”

Evaran tilted his head toward Jells.

Jells walked out of the inner bar and looked at Jake. He swallowed hard and turned his head toward Evaran. “Take Jake with you to Earth.”

Jake parted his lips as he stared at Jells. “What?”

Jells shook a hand at Jake as his voice cracked. “Hear me out. You’re human, and your home world is Earth. That’s where you belong. Not out here with a bitter old Crustican. If Greecho is no longer a threat, you can live out your life there and reunite with your biological father.”

Jake shook his head as his eyes misted. “This
is
my home.
You’re
my dad. I can’t leave you. If I left, I’d never see you again.” He ran up to Jells and hugged him.

Jells hugged Jake back while shooting a look at Evaran.

Evaran nodded.

Jells stepped back with both arms on Jake’s shoulders. “Look. You’re an adult human and have been for a while. Even with Greecho gone, there would be issues. On Earth, you would be safe.”

Jake wiped a tear from his eye and sniffled. “I can’t just leave you.”

Evaran raised a hand. “If I may.”

Jells nodded.

“Jake, I can bring you back to visit from time to time as long as I am on Earth.”

Jake cleared his throat. “That’s a lot of traveling.”

“Not with my ship,” said Evaran. “U4 will make the cargo ship repairs. We will then fill the storage tanks and go.”

Jake’s mind spun at the rapid pace of events. While he fantasized about going to Earth and escaping all of this, he did not want to leave Jells behind. If he could come back and see him again, it might not be too bad. He had a new goal: find his real dad before Greecho did.

04

It did not take Jake long to pack, and after U4 upgraded the ship and Evaran filled Jells’s storage tank, he approached Evaran’s ship. He did not pack much, just some clothes and items he had picked up from various worlds during his cargo runs. Saying good-bye to Jells was hard. He knew that he could come back after this was all over to visit, but Jells had been good to him and a big part of his life.

Approaching Evaran’s ship, he noticed that the black panels appeared to be almost pure black. A fiberglass-like black mesh ran around the middle of the ship, and it looked like a disc sitting on an upside-down squashed cone only a few feet high. Given its size, he wondered how it could sustain long-distance travel. He walked to the light-blue ramp that led up to a hexagonal semitransparent shield and paused. With a look back at Jells, who was standing outside the dining room and waving at him, he waved back and then stepped into Evaran’s ship.

Evaran stood just inside the entrance with U4 by his side. “Welcome to my ship, the Torvatta. U4 will take your things.”

Jake handed U4 his backpack and the container he carried and then looked around. The area he was in had three doors along curved walls to his left and right. In front of him was a table and, behind that, a door that looked like a lift of some type. He noticed that one-third of the ceiling above him was standard ship panels, but the other two-thirds were that glass-like substance he saw when the Torvatta initially came in. His eyes popped when he saw U4 walk into the door on his immediate left and enter a room that should not be the size it was. He ran over to the edge of the door and peered in. “Whoa … a dimensional room.” He looked at Evaran. “Right?”

Evaran half grinned. “Yes. Have you seen them before?”

“Nah. Just theoretical from what I heard. No one has actually been able to do it, but it looks like you have,” said Jake. It was apparent that the Torvatta was far more advanced than he had originally thought. If a cargo ship had that, it would revolutionize shipping.

Evaran gestured to a ramp on his left that led up the side of the curved walls.

Jake walked onto the ramp and up to a middle walkway. He ran his hand along the guardrail, feeling the cool metal. The middle walkway he was on separated the ship into two parts: the entrance he was just at and a command area. He recognized the command chair immediately, as well as the front console and U-shaped seating areas. U4 hustled past him to the front console as he walked up to the command chair. He took a seat in the right U-shaped area.

“Analysis. We are ready for departure.”

Evaran sat in his command chair. “Excellent. Take us out.”

“Affirmative.”

Jake watched as the Torvatta pulled away from the space station.

Evaran tapped at the console on his chair. The space station appeared on the front right screen.

Jake’s throat tightened as he thought about Jells. He hoped Jells would be okay, but Jells was probably hurting as much as he was.

Evaran tilted his head at Jake. “Do not worry. You will see Jells again. You have my word.”

Jake exhaled slowly while nodding. He looked around and then focused on Evaran. “Where’s Kathy?”

“Statement. Kathy is recharging.”

“Gotcha.”

“We will need to wake her to figure out where we are going, however,” said Evaran.

“Affirmative,” said U4. She spun around and headed off to the first door on the right from the entrance.

After a few minutes, U4 returned with Kathy at her side. Kathy had on jeans, a shirt, and a pair of boots. She wiped her eyes and yawned as she took a seat next to Jake.

“Hey. You okay?” asked Jake.

Kathy nodded. “Yeah. U4 said I was asleep for less than an hour, but I feel awake.” She looked around and then outside through the front semitransparent window. “Is Greecho …”

“He is headed to Earth,” said Evaran. “It will take him three months, but we will be there in a few moments. Once we arrive at Earth, I will need you to point out where we need to go. I do not know Earth’s geography, but you can interact with that screen when Earth appears on it. Circling your finger clockwise on an area zooms in, counterclockwise zooms out. We should be able to narrow it down from there.”

Kathy sat up straight and looked at the front screen. “No problem.”

Jake noticed the subtle black bags under Kathy’s eyes. He was surprised Kathy was so calm, considering just a few hours ago, she was with Greecho. Maybe she was still in shock somehow, or maybe whatever she slept in did something to her mind. Hearing her talk was also unusual.

Evaran tapped at his chair console. “U4, take us to Earth.”

“Affirmative.”

The Torvatta shot out a gold beam, forming a silver-lined portal with a light-blue surface that rippled. Jake’s and Kathy’s eyes widened and their lips parted as they watched the Torvatta fly through the portal and exit above Earth. The front right screen showed Earth, with the continents outlined in red.

Evaran gestured at Kathy. “Proceed.”

Jake was not sure what just happened, but they did a three-month trip in just a few seconds. He thought the dimensional rooms were advanced, but this, this was on another level. It had been theorized by the Seceltor scientific community that portal traveling was possible, maybe through wormholes, but he never expected to see what he just saw. He could see Kathy was trying to figure out what just happened as well. His eyes followed her as she walked up to the front right screen.

“Analysis,” said U4, looking at Jake. “Are you scanning Kathy?”

Jake’s face turned red as he looked down. “What? No …”

Kathy raised her eyebrows and then interacted with the map. She zoomed into North America, then the state of Nebraska. She searched it for a moment, then pressed on the city of Lincoln. After a few more moments of dragging the map around, and several zooms in and out, she had located a house. She pointed at it. “That’s it.”

“What’s that?” asked Jake.

“My parents’ house.”

Jake nodded.

Evaran scrutinized the display. “U4, take us down in stealth mode.”

“Affirmative,” said U4. She interacted with the front console. “Torvatta stealth mode engaged.”

The Torvatta descended toward Kathy’s parents’ rural house. After a few moments, it landed in their large backyard. The front right screen faded, and the full screen showed the back of the house. A dog barked and jumped around behind glass doors.

“Sally!” said Kathy. She wheeled around with a big grin and then pivoted back and stared at the screen.

Evaran stood and extended a hand toward the Torvatta’s entrance. “Let us go.”

Kathy turned and bounded up the middle walkway. She hustled down the side ramps and exited the Torvatta, with Evaran and Jake in tow.