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Authors: Auburn Seal

Tags: #Post-Apocolyptic Sci-Fi

BOOK: First Watch: A Watcher Bay Adventure

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Once she was out of my reach, I did as she asked and implanted her memories of our mission into your cerebral cortex, along with the details about the coin. Doing so allowed you to continue to work with me, to know Levra was safe for you to reach out to and that, even if they took me, you would be able to keep going. Morgan would be able to keep going. It was selfish, but I needed help. I knew there was no way they would let me off the ship.”

Morgan looked at Levra. “Maybe he is telling the truth. I don’t know. I feel like me.”

“What if we wake the other Morgan?” Levra asked the man she’d begun to hope was really Gunnar. Nobody had dared to untie him, though. And he didn’t ask to be uncuffed.

Gunnar nodded. “Assuming she hasn’t been wakened since they put her in the cryo-chamber, one of her last memories will be saying goodbye to me and asking me to protect the mission. If it’s her, the original Morgan, she’ll remember that, but she won’t remember what the mission is. And she won’t remember anything after that.”

Levra and Morgan looked at each other again, and Levra recognized her own questions in Morgan's eyes.

Levra nodded and so did Morgan. “No time like the present, I guess.”

Morgan turned and pressed some buttons on the cry-chamber that held either her clone or the one she was cloned after. “We should be able to ask her in about thirty minutes.”

“Levra.” Gunnar broke the awkward silence. “Baby, talk to me. Are you okay? What’s happened since I, well, since we last spoke?”

Levra shook her head. “When was that exactly? You went silent in oh-eight, and I didn’t hear from you again until ten. Or that’s when the other guy showed up, I guess. Now it’s twelve after arrival.”

“Four years? Do you remember that conversation we had when I was in Altius? We were getting ready to descend to Tortia to check out that planet, remember?”

She nodded. “I remember.”

“That conversation was four days ago for me, Lev. Remember we talked about our song and how we were going to dance to it when I got back on-planet?”

Her eyes started to fill with tears. She remembered very well. “Frank Sinatra,” she whispered.

Gunnar smiled, the smile she knew, the smile she loved. “Yep. Ask me what song it was?”

“What song, Gunnar?” Her words were barely audible.

“Witchcraft.”

She walked tentatively toward his bed. It was him. She was pretty sure it was him. Gunnar had finally come home after all these years.

She took the key from the crewman and undid Gunnar’s cuffs, sitting next to him on the bed.

“I think there is only one way for me to know if it’s you.”

“And there’s only one thing I want to do right now, so we should be in luck.”

Levra leaned in and gently touched her lips to Gunnar’s, hoping for the familiar warmth and tenderness Gunnar always showed her. And there it was.

The moment their lips met, she knew it was him.

Gunnar was home. The nightmare was over.

CHAPTER 21

Watcher Bay Outpost, Rasia, New Eden

October 19, 12 AA

When the supply ship set down two days later, the crew had their stories straight.

Gunnar, the real Gunnar, spoke to the ship’s captain with Levra present.

“We suffered significant losses, Captain. After the ship left, lighting struck several of our cargo crates and also a nearby tree. Unfortunately, many of our crew did not survive the initial landing, including Ana Chekhov when a tree fell on her and killed her instantly. Doctor Sanchez did everything he could to save her and the other victims of the storm but to no avail.”

The captain looked shocked. “I’m so sorry we had to leave as quickly as we did. Maybe if we had stayed longer . . .”

Gunnar slapped him on the back. “I don’t believe it would have mattered, Don. And you were right to get the ship and the ship’s crew out of harm’s way. Fortunately, there were no other casualties. It could have been much worse.”

“I’d like to send one of my officers back with you to New Seattle. She’ll need to report our losses in person.”

“Of course, Commander.” He looked at his watch. “We’ll depart on the hour.”

“Very good. She’ll be ready.”

Once the ship was unloaded of all its supplies, it was time for Levra and Gunnar to say goodbye to Morgan. The clone version of her, anyway.

When they’d awoken Morgan’s clone, it turned out it was the real Morgan, just as it had been the real Gunnar lying in that cryo-chamber. Gunnar and Levra had no problem dispensing with all the other clones, once they were verified to be clones, but Levra couldn’t bring herself to terminate the clone who had helped her. If it hadn’t been for Clone Morgan, she’d never have found the real Gunnar. The original Morgan, once awakened and briefed, had agreed with Gunnar’s plan. The clone Morgan would travel to New Seattle, continuing to pass for the real Morgan Moore. Once she’d reported that the clone ring had been broken up and all clones destroyed, she would return to Watcher Bay. Or at least that’s what Abramov would think. Instead of returning, she would head back to the SS
Northern Light
under Gunnar’s orders and travel on to Altius. She would investigate the clone operation there and report back to Gunnar via a pre-arranged schedule.

Commander Colton still needed to be found and brought to justice. If everyone at Abramov thought the cloning operation was done, it was possible Colton would surface again. That’s where they pinned their hopes today. Clone Morgan would leave for Altius and never return to New Eden. That’s the only way they could guarantee her safety. If it was discovered she was a clone, she’d be terminated, regardless of the role she’d played here at Watcher Bay.

Only the real Morgan, Gunnar, and Levra would know one clone was allowed to remain alive.

Levra hugged Clone Morgan and whispered in her ear, “You’ll always be Morgan to me. Thank you, my friend. I owe you everything.”

Levra swallowed her tears, refusing to give in to the sadness. She watched as Morgan boarded the
Horizon,
and then she watched the craft take off and shoot into the atmosphere.

CHAPTER 22

Watcher Bay Outpost, Rasia, New Eden

Founder’s Day, October 31, 12 AA

Levra Shield sat on the stage next to Gunnar and Enric at Watcher Bay Outpost. Officer Moore—the real Morgan—and Bria, Vildana’s mother, stood at the podium together and shook hands.

Now it was her turn.

Officer Moore spoke into the microphone and addressed the crowd. “It is with great pleasure I give you the founder of Watcher Bay, Levra Shield.”

Levra stood and shook the officer’s hand, and then Bria and Veld’s hands. Then everyone took a seat behind Levra, except Bria. Together, the two women turned and faced the crowd.

It was a mix of the original crew of Founders from New Seattle and Ddaerans from Glanmorr. Mera and Alena sat in the front row. Levra smiled at them warmly and Alena waved back. Levra noted the translator on the left side of the stage. There couldn’t be a language barrier today. It was too important.

Levra looked around and smiled warmly at the rest in attendance at today’s Founder’s Day celebration.

“Thank you for your warm welcome. To the Ddaerans from Glanmorr in attendance here today, I’d like to thank you for your kindness upon our arrival in your home. You welcomed my family into your community as though we were long lost relatives. My son is alive because of your boundless compassion. As we celebrate the establishment of a neighboring Founder community—Watcher Bay—it is with a bright hope for the future for the merging of our two worlds that we can forever remain
brothers
and sisters, unified in purpose.”

She raised a ceremonial wooden bowl and drank from it, then offered it to Bria who raised it to her lips as well. She set the bowl down on the platform, and the two women raised their joined hands. Levra spoke to both the Ddaerans and the Founders again, her voice rough with emotion.

“The Watch continues.”

Cheers went up among those in attendance. Levra spoke with pride and confidence.

“We will watch out for you, our new neighbors, as we embark on the journey of community together. We will aspire to be worthy of your friendship and to offer you the same shelter and protection you offered us in our time of need.”

More cheers, followed by a standing ovation.

“Welcome to Watcher Bay. May the Watch never cease.”

The crowd rose to their feet and applauded her words. She hugged Bria, and they waved to the audience together. The two matriarchs left the platform to sit on a skiff with Vildana, Alena, Mera, Enric and Gunnar. Together they would ride in the first transport in the inaugural Founder’s Day parade.

Levra looked out on the crowd of friendly faces and smiled. She saw Enric’s bright eyes, watched as he leaned against his father. They were reunited. Levra reached for the coin that hung from her neck and stroked it, feeling especially close to her sister in this moment. The people she loved most surrounded her and she felt whole.

She was finally home.

The End