Branegate (40 page)

The results were not satisfying to Myra, who hoped for a battle without bloodshed. Fighters striking gates directly simply disappeared, an effect Myra herself had experienced without harm. One would hope those fighters could rendezvous with the major transports already given forced transit to the other side. Otherwise, this far from Grand Portal, the fighters’ environmental systems would give out before they could reach home.

The fighters, which didn’t strike a branegate directly, suffered horrible fates. Wings, tail sections, entire cockpits were sucked away, the rest tumbled wildly by the chaotic and flickering dimensionality of the spaces between gates. There were several explosions, and debris formed a kind of bow shock that rained metal and human bone on the Guppies. Only the strong, ionizing fields induced by their Sniffers kept them from serious damage.

“Drop!” commanded Trae. The rear of the fighters’ echelons had just had enough time to pull away. Some dozens of ships were now making great looping trajectories to come back down on them again. Trae had been saving missiles for use against the big ships, but suddenly changed his mind.

“Target missiles on the first pass of the fighters. Novas do the rest. Recharge plenums! We’ll eat the fleet up from front to back!”

The missiles went out in seconds, seeking heat and finding it raining down on the Guppies. Fire flashed in space like exploding stars, just as Novas raced past Trae’s window. The ensuing firefight lasted nearly half an hour, and their opponents weren’t amateurs, but the first barrage of missiles from the Guppies had taken a horrible toll. A dozen surviving fighters limped back to a single transport near the front of the fleet.

Trae had it targeted, and sent it away through a branegate.

Three others followed its fate.

But seven Nova crews and their ships would never see home again.

Quiet descended on the fleet and four Guppies hovering in front of it, their noses glowing green again. Trae waited patiently for communication, but heard nothing at first.

And then, quite suddenly, one ship broke off from the invading fleet, then another. The rest followed them in a line, making a great sweeping turn out from the shipping lane, a turn of a hundred-eighty degrees.

They were heading home.

An understanding between them was necessary, so Trae called again, using the same frequency he’d used before.

“Kratola Expeditionary Force, this is Anton Zylak. We will accompany you back to Grand Portal. This is for your own safety, since we also have a squadron of our ships there. Please respond, so we can coordinate our jumps.”

It was an hour before he received a reply. By necessity, command had been reshuffled again in the enemy fleet, and it was a Colonel Xavier Taller who replied. He was most cooperative, and set up a jump schedule back to Grand Portal with both dates and times. Trae pushed him to the maximum of a hundred thirty light years per day, something a Guppy could do in one jump. It would still be another month to follow the slow ships back to the core. Myra was determined not to sleep most of the way, since she had to anticipate an even longer trip home, and an additional wait for Trae’s family to begin arriving at Elderon. She was now hardened to battle, but was bitter about the loss of lives. It was not something she ever wanted to see repeated again, and she said so to Trae.

“I don’t want it, either, Myra, but this isn’t the end of it. We still have Azar Khalil to contend with when we get home, and that could be a ground war,” he said.

CHAPTER 44

T
he trip back to Grand Portal was broken up by the plethora of jumps they had to make, and the tension after each jump to make sure each ship of the invasion fleet had come through. In constant communication with the current commander, Trae got to know Colonel Taller better, and in the end decided he was just another soldier of The Church, sent on a mission he believed in. Petyr had been another such soldier, and now, perhaps, was John Haight, and there’d been others along the way, people Trae hadn’t known in person, but people who’d influenced the course of his lives.

On their seventy-fifth jump, a damaged
Guppy VII
finally caught up with them, its drop bay half shot away. Trae heard the story of what had happened at Grand Portal, and the money promised to the crews there. He relayed this on to his father, along with the news of his own triumph over the invasion fleet. Father insisted on a meeting in the minds, and also invited Myra. At the end of ship’s cycle, Trae and Myra went to their cell and snuggled together a while, had nearly fallen asleep when Mother called, and they were back on the rolling, flower-covered hillsides so familiar to them.

The four of them embraced. Father wore a white bodysuit, and Mother was in her flower-print dress without sleeves.
So nice to get away from low lighting and grease-smell,
she said.
Only a few months, now, and we’ll be with you on Elderon. Myra, you look lovely.

Myra had clothed herself in long pants and a yellow, short-sleeved blouse. Even in the group mind, she looked radiant.
I’m glad it’s all over. I hope our history never has to record anything like it again.

Agreed,
said Father Leonid.

There’s still Azar Khalil to deal with,
said Trae.

Father and Mother were strangely silent when he said that, but then,
John Haight will tell you about that. The money isn’t a problem. A Guppy can deliver the gold as soon as we arrive on Elderon, and Janus will have his stock. We might even persuade him to invest more with us. On the other hand, I might invest in some of his enterprises on what he calls The Wheel.

We don’t invest in brothels, dear,
said Mother.

Diversify, diversify,
said Father, and grinned.
Now, you two, can you wait until we reach Elderon so we can take part in your wedding?

Of course,
said Myra.
We’ll only get there a few months ahead of you.

We want something small, with a few close friends and family,
said Trae.

What a shame Grandma Nat can’t be there. She’s such a romantic,
said Mother.

We can’t wait twenty years, dear.

Maybe fifteen, if she pushes it hard. At her age, the jumps aren’t so easy to take.

Not easy to take at any age,
quipped Myra,
especially when you’re pregnant.

They were suddenly lying in each other’s arms, and her face was close. “Really?” he asked.

“Yes, really. I just found out.”

What incredible news! Come back, come back!

They were standing in flowers again. Mother embraced them both, while Father pounded Trae on the back.
Multiple lifetimes together, and finally we’ll be grandparents. How wonderful!

Mother and Father were still giddy when they left them. Back in real space and time they were warm in each other’s arms, and the ship’s hull vibrated softly around them, a second home. “I want this to be the start of a dynasty,” he murmured into Myra’s ear, “one we can watch grow over our lifetimes together.”

She touched his face. The look in her eyes made his heart ache. “I lived my previous lifetime to old age, and I was totally alone. It wasn’t exactly by choice, but I hadn’t found you yet.”

“I love you,” he said, and kissed her. Their lips remained touching as they fell asleep. Dreams were not remembered, and the next cycle was the same, herding the Bishops’ ships back to them.

Great-grandma Nat didn’t call. Trae hadn’t expected her to, but Mother did, and gradually became worried when she didn’t hear from her. They hoped some word would come when the family fleet finally reached the frontier.

The day finally came when they pinched spacetime and found Grand Portal in their viewscreens. They were immediately hailed by Simon, who’d impatiently awaited their arrival. He missed his family, and wanted to go home. A secondary invasion force had been turned away when he’d destabilized Grand Portal, but was still hovering on the other side in a kind of uneasy truce. Trae’s hope was that when they heard about the colonial power used against the main invasion force the truce would not be so uneasy.

It was a grand show when the surviving military ships sent by The Bishops formed a long line and one by one made transit to the other side. Seven Guppies lined up on either side of the transit lane in a kind of salute. Four would be left behind to police Grand Portal, the crews to be cycled every six months. What happened on the other side was the concern of others, but the colony worlds would never again allow military ships to invade their universe, for either war or religious infection.

They said goodbye to a very drunk Janus after a grand party at one of his clubs. Myra bought some souvenir trinkets at a shop he had part interest in. He made her laugh, but privately she thought he was a crazy rogue.

Simon came on-board
Guppy I
with them for the trip home. Another three months of jump, jump, jump. Myra survived it surprisingly well, and her appetite for food became vast. They ate, read, talked, played interactive games on computer, and formulated possible strategies to use against Gan if war came. Father and Mother were now past the frontier, and had not heard a word from great-grandmother Nat. They talked about putting a small group of Guppies together to look for her.

Elderon’s brown plains and dark green forests were on the viewscreens when they assembled for a final breakfast on
Guppy I.
A shuttle took them down to the surface, and they landed at the port of Zylak Industries without public fanfare. Meza and Wallace were there to greet them, and so was John Haight. And when the congratulations and back pounding were finished, it was John who stepped forward and told them what had happened to Azar Khalil and his government on Gan.

CHAPTER 45

F
or those who live multiple lifetimes there are few endings, but many beginnings. People come and go in their lives, and the absence of loved ones, while not permanent as in death, can last for hundreds of years.

Within a few months after returning from Grand Portal, and shortly before Misha was born, Trae gained a father and mother, and then lost a father again.

Leonid and Tatjana arrived to great public fanfare by the press, though the crowd present to applaud their arrival was mostly handpicked political dignitaries and executives of Zylak Industries. Trae and Myra stood with John Haight at the bottom of the ramp leading up to the open maw of the shuttle when Leonid and Tatjana appeared and saw them. Tatjana fairly flew down the ramp and threw herself into Trae’s open arms, and the crowd cheered behind them. In a blink, Tatjana also had Myra in her grasp.

“Finally! I don’t care if I ever spend another minute in space. Look at you! You’re ready to burst! Oh, we got here in time ...”

On and on, the two women in tears. Leonid walked down the ramp laughing, extended a hand. It was the first face of the father Trae had seen two lifetimes ago, with the chiseled features and neatly trimmed beard. He pumped Trae’s hand vigorously, then a fierce hug that went on and on. “I thought the time would never come,” he murmured.

It was then that Leonid saw John Haight standing there. He released Trae, reached out a hand, and John shook it.

“Petyr,” said Leonid. “I see him in your eyes. Thank you so much for taking care of our son. If it hadn’t been for your efforts, we wouldn’t be together today.”

“Thank you, sir,” said John.

“I wish I could have been here to help you.”

“I understand, sir. It was my pleasure.”

“Not sir, John. You’re not a servant. I said
our
son; I meant you and I. You’ve been a wonderful father. I hope to make up for the time I’ve been absent.”

“I’m sure you will, sir,” said John.

There was a formality there, a coldness they all felt at the moment. Perhaps it was some anger at a long absent father, or even some jealousy. In time it would likely go away, but at the moment there was no more conversation between Trae’s two fathers.

Trae held a welcome party in his apartment that night. John Haight was invited, but didn’t come, was out of sight for over a month. And then one day he called both Trae and Myra, and invited them for a light lunch and tea in the cafeteria below their offices.

John seemed distracted when he greeted them. His mood was gloomy. They filled their trays at the buffet, and a waiter served them tea at a secluded table in the corner of the room. Myra tried to make polite conversation for a while, but gave up when John only responded with faint smiles.

Finally, Trae said, “What’s wrong? You invited us here, but haven’t said a word.”

John nodded, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and took a sip of tea.

“Well, it’s not easy to say, but I guess I have to say it anyway. I’m going away.”

“Away? Where’s away?”

“Kratola. I’m going back.”

Myra gasped. “Oh no, you can’t, not now. At least wait until our baby’s here!” Her eyes suddenly brimmed with tears.

“Why, John? There’s nothing for you there,” said Trae. “Your family is here.”

“Leonid will be a fine grandfather.”

“I
knew
that was it,” said Myra. “What nonsense!”

“Our child will have two grandfathers. You can’t run away from that. You, Petyr, whoever, were the only father I ever knew after the caverns and until I first met Leonid. I’m not going to throw that away.”

“That’s not the point. I have to go back to Kratola. The people there are slaves to The Church, and now is the time to stop it. Leonid has things to do here; I’ve talked to him about this, and he understands. I want you two to understand.”

“Well, I
don’t
,” said Myra.

John reached over and put a hand on top of hers. “Look, Myra, what we are is more than genetics, it’s experiences. I was someone else before being joined with Leonid Zylak. My first life was different from his. My life was The Church, before it was corrupted. The corruption is still there—on Kratola. I have to do what I’m compelled to do. My duties for Zylak are finished; it’s time for the young priest in me to do his work again.”