Okay, I have three excuses for taking the majority of the summer to get this done-- a) I had a job and was working like crazy. b) I had writer's block. c) I was lazy. Pick one and believe it, but they're all true.
I walked the halls of the Christa, treading the shadowy corridors deep in thought. It was
the middle of the afternoon, and the rest of the crew was on Arcatia. I would have been there as
well, but I found myself craving solitude, and this was the best I could do. My ever-present
guards marched along behind me, but I did my best to ignore them. The events of the past few
days swirled confusingly in my mind.
I had explained to anyone who would listen that I'd merely recognized the androids' lack
of heartbeat on a subconscious level and acted upon it. I hadn't predicted anything, and I'd only
been in the right place at the right time. But no one seem to care. They were all too concerned
with making some kind of hero out of me.
The android who had blown up had been on its way to destroy conference headquarters.
The bomb it had carried was much larger this time, though it was never used. When the it was
discovered, the droid had self-destructed. Security still wasn't sure why.
Every Andromedan at the conference had been told to keep an ear out for similar
occurrences, and many Earthers, Rigelians, and Spung had taken to carrying sensor devices
with them.
As for me, I was just trying to maintain my sanity. I now had four security guards to deal
with. If I couldn't be alone soon, I'd scream! And I couldn't stand never know who the enemy
was. Always wondering which of those smiling faces masked cold machinery, who among all of
those friendly diplomats was spy for an unknown alien. It was a nerve-racking way to live. At
least I didn't have to deal with it anymore. It was no longer my personal responsibility to protect
the conference; plenty of people could do the job now. Besides, it was almost over. Closing
ceremonies were tomorrow, and then we could hightail it out of here.
Truthfully, it was good to know that I didn't have some sort of supernatural power, even if
it may have been disappointing to Dad. I had reacted based on reasonable, verifiable
occurrences. First unconsciously, then consciously, I'd realized the androids were not alive
based on auditory input. A perfectly logical explanation. Perfectly.
I realized that I was nodding adamantly. To myself. I was alone (aside from my ever-
present escorts), walking the halls of the Christa, and I was deeply involved in a mental
conversation with myself. Great. In addition to everything else, I was going nuts!
"Hary."
I jumped, startled by a voice not my own. "Commander Wyn," I sighed with relief. I'd
been so wrapped up in my own thoughts, I hadn't heard her footsteps.
"Call me Kero. Boys," she called to the guards, "Take a hike." They were gone almost
before the she finished speaking.
"How did you do that?"
"With rank comes certain privileges. Besides, they know that I can protect you as well
as the four of them combined." Then, with a wry smile pulling at her lips, she added, "Although
they don't like to admit it."
Looking at her out of the corner of my eye, I had little doubt that she could live up to her
claim. "So what are you doing here?"
"I came to talk to you, actually. I like you, Hary."
"Well, um...thank you." By this point I was extremely confused. What did she
want?
"Hary, we caught another android today. It was masquerading as a member of my
security team."
"I thought you'd equipped sensors to identify--."
"The sensors saw a perfectly ordinary human. It was equipped with an extremely
advanced interface capable of fooling everything we had. If one of my officers hadn't seen it in a
restricted area, we'd never have known at all. Whoever our enemy is, they adapt quickly."
"You mean--?"
"We're back to square one. No way to identify the enemy or defend against them. My
forces have been compromised; I no longer have any idea who to trust."
"What does this have to do with me?"
"I trust you. And I think you can help me. Nothing complicated, I just want you to keep
your eyes open. Closing ceremonies are tomorrow; if they're going to do something, it'll be
then."
"I need to think about this..." I trailed off, realizing I already knew my answer. "Where do
we begin?"
I sat next to my father in the great hall, pulling at the itchy neck of my dress uniform. An
important dignitary was giving a speech, the same one he had started forty-five minutes ago. My
eyes darted back and forth, never remaining in one place for very long. A man across the aisle
shifted and coughed into his hand. I shot him a distrustful look. Commander Wyn's words ran
rampant through my mind, and I was becoming increasingly paranoid.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up and made my way to the back exit. My
escape did not go unnoticed; Suzan stood and followed me out. My paranoia kicked into
overtime. Undoubtedly she was just bored and looking for an excuse to leave, but what if... what
if it was more than that? Kero had said that androids could masquerade as an ordinary person,
but could they replace one?
"Suzan," I began as soon as we reached the courtyard behind the Hall, "do you
remember what we always call my father?"
"What kinda question is that to ask? Of course I do!"
"Just answer me."
"Dadu. We call him Dadu."
"Why?"
"Hary!" She rolled her eyes. "Fine. When I was little I got confused about how both of
our fathers could be named 'Dad'. I started calling him Dadu, and the adults thought it was cute.
We've been calling him that ever since. Satisfied?"
I let out the breath I'd been holding. All doubt was gone from my mind. Only Suzan or
another member of the crew would have known that, and only she could manage to look that
irritated and yet amused at the same time. "I'm sorry, Suz."
She rolled her eyes. "I suppose I can forgive you this time. I can see how all of
this could make you a little suspicious. Now, let's find those androids!"
Since Kero wanted every available security detail protecting the Hall, my guards had
been re-assigned. Their reasoning was, I was in the Great Hall, so I'd be protected too.
Suzan and I stole through side passages, keeping an eye on the proceedings in the Hall.
Oddly enough, I was beginning to enjoy myself. We played at being spies, pantomiming peering
around corners, tiptoeing up staircases, and running from pillar to pillar so as not to be seen. By
the time we crept up to the balcony, giggling into our hands, I was practically giddy. I should
have been paying attention, I know, but it felt good to laugh, to really laugh. The kind of laughter
that comes all the way up from the pit of your stomach, explodes out of you, fills you up and
leaves you helpless in its wake. It had been far to long since I'd felt it.
There were other people who could protect the Hall, people who were trained for that
sort of thing. It was their job for Yon's sake! For once on this trip, I was having fun.
As if summoned by the thought, I felt a hand suddenly clamp on my shoulder. "Hary."
I jumped, startled. "Kero," I recognized with relief. How did she keep doing that?!
"We were just...patrolling the perimeter." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Suzan attempt to
smother a snicker. She failed, and it came out as an odd half-snort. I barely managed to hold
back my own amusement.
"It's admirable of you to take such initiative, Hary, but we'll handle it from here."
"Are you sure? I mean, couldn't you use any help?" I emphasized the last word,
leaning close to look her questioningly in the eye. It seemed strange for her to ask for my
assistance one day, then keep me from assisting the next.
"No, we're quite capable by ourselves, thank you. But I'll contact you if I need
anything."
"If you change your mind, we'll be at the bottom of the stair. Right at the bottom." For
some reason I didn't want to go, lingering until the last possible moment.
"Great." She paused, waiting for us to leave, then added, "Gunter will show you
down."
Gunter stepped forward, clamped one hand on my shoulder and one on Suzan's, and
'showed us down'. When we were safely at the foot of the stair and he was nowhere to be seen,
Suzan questioned, "Was it just me, or was there something really weird about that?"
"Something's going on here. Last night Commander Wyn asked me to help out, and now
she's forcibly removing us? That's not right. Unless--"
"Unless that's not Commander Wyn!"
"Fraggit! If we survive this, remind me to kick myself." I quickly assessed the situation.
"You should go for hel--" I broke off as I saw Suzan halfway up the stairs.
"C'mon! We don't have much time!" she shouted after me.
I took off after her, muttering about impulsive females. Gunter tried to stop us at the top
of the stairs, but she used a sonic scream to blow him off his feet. This brought us to the
attention of other androids, and suddenly we found ourselves extremely outmatched. This barely
phased Suzan, who let loose another, larger scream, then judo-chopped the nearest droid.
Two of them inched towards me and attempted an attack. The first rushed me, the
second edging around back. I grabbed one and threw him at the other, then went back to
clamping my hands around my ears. Fully Andromedan or no, sonic screams were not a good
feeling.
Distantly, I realized that audience in the Great Hall was evacuating. They were going as
fast as they could, but somehow I knew it wouldn't be enough. "They'll never make it," I
whispered.
Suddenly, through the haze of sonic noise and the chaotic battle raging all around me, I
focused on a solitary figure standing behind the rest, doing nothing but gaze over the railing.
Commander Kero Wyn. Or at least a very good likeness. Without conscious thought, I began to
move towards her. An android moved to intercept, but with one blow he was down. Another
tried the same and met a similar end, though I barely realized what I had done. All that mattered
was reaching Kero. She was guarding something carefully, seemingly in the palm of her hand.
Upon closer examination, however, I realized that it was the hand itself. There was a small panel
where the skin had been removed to reveal a keypad. It had to be a trigger device, and
instinctively, I knew what she was doing. Android bombers were getting into place to destroy the
building. She was the puppetmaster, controller and detonator. I didn't have much time.
Finally, I was only a few feet from her. "Kero," I shouted.
I received a small amount of pleasure at seeing her jump, for once. "What are you doing
here!?"
"Stopping you," I returned, as I leapt for her arm. Breathing a quick prayer, I pulled and
twisted as hard as I could. I heard a 'snap', and the sound of twisting metal, then with a final tug
the hand was mine. For a few seconds. She caught my fists as they withdrew. Surprised, I
slipped and the detonator went flying. We both launched ourselves at it and came up short,
crawling over each other to get to it. She caught the arm I reached out for it and threw me behind her.
I yanked her leg back and attempted to pin her down. Though she now had only one hand, she
was crafty. She kicked me off and then moved forward again. She was far stronger the the
Earther she pretended to be, equal to me in strength.
We both reached the detonator at the same moment. We grappled, rising to our feet. Neither willing to
release it, we came close to the end of the balcony. She beat my hand against the rail,
trying to force me to let go. I pushed her backwards, and at last she released the detonator. As
soon as she realized the was no longer in possesion of it, she let out an angry yell and lifted me up.
Without ceremony, she flung me over the rail, then with lightning speed snatched the detonator from my hands.
I hung precariously over the edge, hundreds of meters from the ground. Yet I kept my hold on
the detonator. In fact, it was the only thing I could hold on to. My grip on that
disembodied hand was the only thing preventing me from an untimely demise. Kero shook me
viciously, trying to make me release it.
"Although I sympathize with your situation, halfling, I think it best to put you out of your
misery."
"No thanks, I'd prefer to keep my misery if you don't mind." She shook me again,
slamming me into the smooth marble side of the bacony. Who are you?" I managed to gasp.
"This android body is but an extension of my will, a pawn. I, my dear boy...am your
doom. That is all you need to know." She smiled the cool smugness of one who knows they have won.
"Maybe," I growled, "maybe not." I started to climb up her arm.
She attempted to shake me off, but I wasn't about to let her. When I neared the railing, I
grabbed it in one hand, then gave a hard yank on the other. Unbalanced, the android flew past me and
kept going, plummeting to the floor. I winced, hearing a dull thump as she hit the ground. Pulling myself up and over the
railing, I lay where I'd collapsed. After a few seconds, I managed to raise my head, and was
relieved to see a healthy, if slightly battered Suzan victoriously kicking a downed android. In
fact, all of the androids were down. They'd been wired through Kero, and when she was
destroyed they couldn't function.
Suzan noticed me and limped to my side, leaning heavily on her left leg. "Hary, are you
all right?"
"I'm just wonderful. But if you don't mind, I think I'll have a little nap right here."
"If you don't mind, I think I'll join you." Lowering herself gingerly to the ground beside
me, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "Hary?"
"Wha--?" I yawned.
"If I want to do that again, shoot me."
"Ditto."
The next few days passed in a confusing blur. Eventually we were awakened and taken
to the medlab, where our bruises and sprains were cared for by an ever-compassionate Aunt Rosie.
By the time she released us, closing ceremonies had been rescheduled and the real Commander
Wyn, as well as the rest of her security force, had been found.
She'd been abducted on her way back from the Christa. Her double had spent the rest
of the night calling every member of the security team into her office one by one, supposedly to
make sure they weren't droids. However, regardless of how they'd walked in, they'd all walked
out on mechanical limbs. The real security teams had been knocked unconscious and
transported to the brig, where they'd been heavily guarded by their own incarceration
mechanisms.
When Kero heard my part in the whole thing, she'd slapped me on the back and offered me a job. I'd simply smiled and told her I'd consider it, attempting to hide the blush that her commendation had produced. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it.
During closing ceremonies, Suzan and I had to go onstage and receive medals, then listen to
half the diplomats in the Hall tell us how brave we were and how clever and that we were
"following in our parents' footsteps". I, of course, hated it. I mean, who really likes receiving
praise and attention from several hundred important and dignified people? Not me, that's for
sure. No siree. Well, maybe just a little...
Still the most important praise of all came from a far different source.
I was recalibrating a protomix subsystem in Engineering, a duty assigned by Aunt Cat as
part of my training. It was actually pretty easy, repetitive, and it gave me time to think.
We'd created and gone through a white circle this morning. The Christa was the only
known ship in the galaxy which possessed the power to actually create one, so the
UPP utilized this ability to it's fullest advantage. Our ship charted new portions of the galaxy,
never before seen by any of the known races. Pretty cool, huh?
We'd left Arcatia yesterday, and I hadn't shed any tears over it. I could finally breathe
easy now, we were safely into unknown and unexplored territory. Which meant that the parents
took care of all big problems that came up. I could go back to worrying about homework and
winning holo-games now.
The androids had been destroyed, Arcatia was now back to normal, the peace treaty had
been saved, and all was well in our little portion of the galaxy. Still, I couldn't help feeling a bit
uneasy. Whoever had masterminded this was still out there, and I had a feeling this wasn't the
last we'd hear from them...
I heard the doors open behind me and a single person entered the room. I knew who it
was long before he spoke. My father was the only one on the ship who could walk without
making a sound. At least one that most people could hear.
"Hey, Hary. Recalibrating the protomix, eh?" He sat down next to me, then grabbed a
nearby tool and joined me. We worked for several minutes without another word, enjoying a
companionable silence.
Finally, I broke the silence. Something had been bothering me since the beginning of
this mission, and I wanted to get it off my chest. "Am I-- am I a disappointment, Dad?"
"A what?" Surprise registered clearly on his face.
My words ooured out in a rush. "I didn't inherit anything from Mom. I'm not psychic, I can't foretell the future, I can't project mental images--"
"Hary," Dad began, then broke off, lowering his head. His hair fell forward to cover his
face, and I lost his expression. I thought was angry, or at least hiding frustration, but when he
looked up again he was smiling. I realized that he'd actually been covering laughter. "A
disappointment?! Harlan 781, who ever, ever gave you that impression?"
"Well, I--"
"I am so proud of you, Hary. Not just for what you did at the conference, though that was
pretty amazing. I'm proud of you because you're kind, because you're intelligent, and because
you've got more common sense that most of the adults I know. I'm proud of you because you are my son and no matter what you do or how much you screw up I will still be proud of you."
I bit my lip, tears of relief and joy filling my eyes. "Thank you," I whispered.
"And as for not inheriting anything from your mother, now that's just absurd. I see Elmira
every time I look at you. You have her eyes, you know."
No, I hadn't known. "Her eyes were the same color as mine?"
"It's more than that. Elly's eyes...they could look straight through to a person's soul. Yours do the same thing."
"They do?"
"They do. Your mother would have been very proud of you, Hary." He smiled through his tears, then pulled me in for a long hug. I held on, not wanting to let go, and murmured into
his shoulder, "I miss her, Dad."
"I miss her too." We stayed frozen in that position for a few moments longer, silently
grieving and loving her together. Finally, Dadu pulled back and held me at arm's length. "Now,
c'mon. Let's finish this up and go find something to eat."
Half an hour later we went back to our quarters, laughing and talking. I was plain old
me--reliable, shy, un-psychic Hary. And it was enough.
