Hunter Legacy 11: Home Is Where the Hero Is (2 page)

I looked at Jane. She looked at me.

"Take two," I said.

She smiled. An eyebrow raised, I nodded.
She left ship and team coms open.

"Welcome to the Gaia system. I wish I
could tell you where it is, but I can't."

I grinned at those still on the Bridge, and
got confused looks back. I grinned wider.

"I don’t recognize the star
pattern," said Greer.

"Exactly," answered Jane.
"We are no longer in our galaxy."

The only thing worse than a deep shock, is
some idiot grinning at you while it's delivered.

"Which one?" asked Bigglesworth.

"No idea," said Jane.

When an AI tells you it has no idea, it's
time to be afraid. But when some idiot is grinning at you at the same time, who
knows this already, afraid becomes confused.

"Maa Meow" said Angel, from her
spot on the console.

I ignored her. Whatever the galaxy's name
was, it wasn’t Maa Meow.

Maa Meow is on the other side of the
universe.

I took Kali's word for it.

"Tell them about the system," I
said to Jane.

"Almost exactly the same sun as Earth
system. Nine planets. First one is a baked rock. Second has a methane
atmosphere. Third can only be described as a paradise planet by Earth
standards. Fourth, fifth and sixth are practically Earth, and share the same
orbit, equidistant from each other. Seventh is a small gas giant. Eighth is a
large gas giant. Ninth is an ice-ball."

"Four habitable planets?" asked
Walter. "What are the odds?"

"Do you really want a number?"
asked Jane.

"No," he replied rapidly.
"But think about it. We've never found a system with more than two
habitable planets before. Now we find one with four, behind a cyclic jump
point? The 'this is evidence of the existence of God' people are going to go
nuts over this."

"Already been done," I said. "Several
centuries ago. Except it was done behind a closed door, so to speak."

"No-one knows it's already been done,
and they won't care. As soon as the news breaks there's going to be some
serious short stroking over it."

Annabelle's expression hearing that was
priceless.

"Why hide it?" asked Miriam, with
the effect of side tracking the conversation back to safer ground.

"This system?"

"Yes. Out of all the planets we now
live on, very few of them are truly Earth standard or better. Why hide these
behind Outback?"

"I can only say what I was taught.
When Galactica reached this end of the spine, and found the other near Earth planets,
they let people believe that was all there was. At the time, the spiritual
groups which had ridden Galactica out here, settled on Outback, having long
sought a refuge they could hide in, where no-one would want to travel through,
or want anything there. When scouts returned to share what Galactica found
here, most people moved here instead. The leaders of the time decided this was
a much better refuge. They left a few people behind to keep up the pretense,
and keep the doorway hidden behind a visible lie. I can't say I blame them, but
then, I'm biased."

"So how many people actually live on
Outback today?" asked Walter.

"Not many. Mainly hermits. A few
thousand on the Orbital, who keep up the pretense and act as a trade base for
us."

"What about the threat to stop people
landing there?"

I could see he wasn’t happy. I shrugged.

"Big bluff mainly."

"And yet," said Amy, "ships
have gone missing, known to have been going to Outback. What happened to them?
Were they shot down to keep the secret of Gaia?"

"Everyone who leaves Gaia is carefully
schooled on what to say, so we all say the same things. Reality is though,
there are no missile launchers on Outback, no Militia force there, and no
defenses of any kind. It's been a necessary pretense. Ironic of course, asking
spiritual people to perpetuate a lie, but it was always considered a necessary
evil."

"And yet," persisted Amy,
"there have been ships lost trying to land there."

"Yes."

"How were they destroyed?"

I looked at her for a moment, before
sweeping my gaze across the rest.

"No-one knows. The ships vanish."
I paused for a moment. "Well most of them do. The first ship to try, after
Outback was declared to be a no landing zone, was found on the surface as a
large debris field. And a few since have been found the same. But most simply
vanished, and no-one knows how or why. Either disappearing or destruction. It
happens, it feeds the stories which put people off trying, but we have nothing
there to do it with. And never did."

"A mystery," muttered Amy.

"Yes. But one which those who go
looking to solve, also tend to disappear from."

"Bermuda triangle sort of thing?"
asked Miriam.

I shrugged with my hands palm upward.

There was silence for a while, Jane
distracting people with a monitor showing Custer re-docking.

"What's the plan here Jon?" asked
Patton.

"We'll dock with the Orbital. I'm
assuming from my father's comment a Keeper will be there waiting for us. I'll
meet with the Keeper immediately, see what I can learn, and schedule a meeting
for tomorrow so everyone can be briefed at the same time. I'll probably be
having dinner with my parents, so I suggest everyone does their own thing
tonight. There isn’t a lot on the Orbital station, since it's mainly used to
co-ordinate system movements. You can go down to Gaia Four, Five, or Six if you
want to, using one of the regular shuttles, but there's little in the way of
accommodation down there, since there are not that many people who travel
much."

"How many people are there?"
asked Walter.

"Several million each on four, five
and six."

"And three?" asked Greer.

"No-one lives there. It's off limits.
There is a tourism service which can take you there for a visit, but no-one is
allowed to live there."

"Government?" asked Bigglesworth.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. They may be waiting
for us as well, since the government reside on the station."

I saw some puzzled looks.

"Being elected to lead here has a
price tag. We don’t have normal politics as such. Each of the twelve major
spiritual or geographical groups elects a single representative each year, and
that person lives on the Orbital for that year, which orbits Gaia Three. In
this way, we keep government contained, and it limits the number of people who
actually want to be in the government, since it means leaving your planet for a
whole year. Most administration tasks remain on the planets. If anyone wants to
present credentials or something, you'll be welcome to. Gaia has no ties to
anyone else, so this will be something very new. They probably aren't expecting
anyone other than me though. But then again, it depends what the Keepers know,
or guess."

There were nodding heads.

"I'll ask first thing and let you all
know. The Keeper at least will know who to talk to. The conference room here is
most likely the best place to meet. I'll suggest it anyway."

"So you grew up on Galactica?"
asked Miriam.

"Yes."

"And your father is her current
Captain?" asked Walter.

"Yes."

Looks suggested I needed to say more.

"Most of the old prime shift crews of
Galactica still live on her. She's been maintained over the centuries, so she's
in much better condition than Enterprise and Prometheus, both of whom were
abandoned centuries ago. She was long ago modified to give each family a decent
sized suite."

Bob was giving me the look. The one which
said "You now have all three original Explorer ships, all of which are
still the largest hulls ever made. You know what I want to do!" I grinned
at him.

"No Bob, not yet. But I will be
asking."

His look became a grin.

Miriam was still looking at me intently.

"Birthday?" she suggested.

I managed to look sheepish.

"Yes. I turned nineteen today, by
standard time. Because of our time jump, it’s a bit off now. But we don’t
usually celebrate that event here, since up until now, very few people were
out-system when it occurred. I guess it's important back there, but not here.
The next major one here is eighteen local years, but I'm not yet seventeen
here."

"Happy Birthday," came at me from
nearly everyone.

"Thanks," I said, checking my
blush suppressor was still working, which it was.

The team starting filing back in at that
point, breaking up the conversation, and I turned back to watch the approach,
which rapidly caught everyone's attention. But I did intercept a few glances between
some of the girls and Jane.

The approach took us close by Gaia Four,
but not close enough for a good look. I told Melissa she was welcome to take
anyone for a Lightning tour if they wanted one, as long as she cleared it with
the Orbital first. She nodded with a grin on her face, and went blank,
presumably getting pings of interest.

The pilots landed in an orderly stream,
although Lacey left a squadron from 617 out as a CAP.

During this time, I also asked Jane to
bring Wanderer through, with her extra cargo, which had sat there on Outback
Orbital most of the year waiting. With the hurry to make the Door on time, and
the attack after, I’d forgotten about her. Jane also reminded me there were
other cargo loads waiting to be delivered here, already loaded into some of my local
freighters. I gave her the okay to bring them in as well.

At last, we approached the Orbital.

It looked radically different from when I’d
last seen it a year before. It had been a standard looking station, large
enough to dock Galactica, but not as large as Hunter's Haven. It looked like it
had been added to now. Strangely though, it looked like another smaller station
had been mated to it, using a set of standard docking locks.

The additional station looked like it had a
small central area, with four large spokes off it. One spoke joined to the
original station. I looked at Jane.

"It's called a Hub," she said to
my unspoken question. "Specs say it's specifically designed to join two
stations together, and provide a meeting place between them. Its large enough
for some retail space and accommodation, but in station size terms, it's pretty
small. We have docking at one of the Hub spokes."

"Dock away then."

She did.

There was a rapid exit from the Bridge once
docking was complete, with most of us catching trolleys to the main dock on the
front end of the Cargo Deck.

At the top of the ramp, we dismounted, and
everyone stood back as I walked slowly down.

There were four people waiting for us.

My parents were standing there on the left.

The Keeper I'd previously had an email vid
from, was standing by himself in the middle.

And on the right was Sarah.

I nearly lost my footing as my eyes focused
on her. She had something in her arms.

I came to a dead halt at the bottom of the
ramp, still a dozen steps away from them.

"Welcome home, Jon," said both my
parents together, with identical grins.

But my gaze was still on Sarah. She moved
slightly, and I saw what she was carrying better.

Who she was carrying. It was a baby in her
arms.

I opened my mouth to say something, and
suddenly I wasn’t there.

The line of giant combat suits was steadily
falling, vanishing into Darkness. I stood my ground, sword cutting through the
dark, until I was the last one standing.

The Darkness took me.

I woke up in a Care Unit, Carter standing
over me.

"Welcome back sunshine."

"What happened?"

"You fainted."

"Huh? The Darkness got me."

"Sure did!"

She seemed to be happy about it.

I gave her the "What are you talking
about?" look. Her smile faded.

"Jon, you fainted at the bottom of the
ramp."

"I wasn’t even here. I was somewhere
else. Combat suits were falling, and the Darkness took me."

"You had another one of your
visions?"

"Seems like it."

"Next time you do something like this,
I'm doing the whole battery of tests on you. Just in case."

"How long was I out?"

"Ten minutes or so. I let you come out
of it naturally, since there wasn’t any pressing reason to do otherwise."

I sat up, and eased myself out of the Care
Unit. I didn’t recognize the room.

"Station medical?"

"Yes. Everyone is waiting for you in
the next room."

I sighed.

Everyone wasn’t waiting for me in the next
room, but it was still full of people. They all did looked concerned. I grinned
at them. No-one grinned back.

"What did you see Jon?" asked
Aline. "Combat suits in Darkness again?"

"Yes," answered the twins for me.

I nodded to her. My parents looked at me as
if seeing me for the first time.

"He's fine," said Carter.
"Seems to have had another of his visions."

"Likely story," muttered someone.

Hostile eyes turned to the speaker, who I
now saw was Sarah.

"What?" she demanded. She fired a
look at me. "We need to talk." She turned and stormed out.

The Keeper stepped forward, forestalling
anything else happening.

"We need to talk first," he said.
"Follow."

He turned and walked out. I nodded to my
parents and the team, and followed him. He led me to an office in the main
administration area of the station, and waved me to a chair. I sat. He sat. We
sat there looking at each other.

I suddenly found myself not wanting to know
anything, as if the vision I'd just had was predicated on what he might tell
me. I waited for him to break the silence.

"The council of twelve want to see
you," he said at last.

"The council? You lead with the
council? I expected to have to see them sometime, but I see no point until you
explain Prophesy to me."

For some reason I was angry. I made an
effort to calm down.

"Jon, we don’t know anything you
don’t."

"What?"

"Prophesy told us a Jonathon Hunter,
spelt with an O instead of an A, will suffer a life threatening injury within
hours of leaving Outback, but survives and thrives. He goes on to become a
leader in a war started by another Prophecy. It mentions something called the
Darkness, references the dreams you have and share with two others, and must be
taken seriously once the red arrow arrives at Gaia."

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"It’s the truth."

"But not the whole truth?"

I was reminded of the old joke. 'I swear to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing.' It sounded like I was getting
nothing.

"What about the emails and commands
you've sent David and me?"

"Prophesy is a little large to quote
verbatim, and yes, it did have instructions for when certain things happened,
such as you being made a Duke. That side of things has been a closely guarded
secret. Until the signs occurred, no-one who has not actually read Prophesy
could be told anything other than the basics. You becoming a Duke was one of
the major signs."

"How many people have read Prophesy?"

"You mean how many who are alive now,
have read Prophesy?"

I nodded.

"One."

"What?"

"Since the day Galactica arrived in
Nexus, only the head Keeper has been allowed to read Prophesy. There are only
five Keepers now, and they are spread out so no one event can kill them all at
once. When the head Keeper dies, the next in line gets access. For me, it was
fifteen years ago. Unlike most Keepers before me, I knew we already had the
first sign among us, so all I had to do was observe you. I've been watching you
closely since you turned eight."

"Messing with my life you mean?"

"Why would you say that? Until today,
we’ve never met."

"Can you deny I was trained from an
early age so I could be sent out to fight a war?"

"Of course I can. You may feel that
way, but that doesn’t make it so."

He held up a hand against my once again
rising anger.

"Of course you feel like that. I did
influence your parents. I admit to encouraging them to let you pursue your own
interests rather than sending you out to play with other kids. As you got
older, I made suggestions, and opened doors for you. How do you think you made
it out-system at only sixteen?"

"That much was obvious. But explain
'Hunter's Run' to me. You knew before I did. In fact, you forced me to accept
it as a name, even when I didn’t like it."

"Hunter's Run is mentioned explicitly.
The Keepers have been waiting for it to come into being for centuries
now."

"I want to read it."

"Prophesy?"

"No, 1984. Of course Prophesy."

"You won't like it."

"Ya think?"

I made an effort to calm down again. This
wasn’t going the way I'd thought it would.

I glared at him while he thought.

"Jon, you have the right. I have some
idea of what you've been through this last year. On your way in, I requested
your AI upload the important recordings over the last year. I've scanned
through them quickly, picking out the main events. You've been through hell.
No-one could have asked you to do what you've had to. But you are the Hunter Legacy,
the end product of over six hundred years of a family bred in space. The prophecy
is about you."

"When can I see it?"

"I'll fetch it for you."

"Fetch it? You couldn’t foresee I’d
want to read it?"

"Sure I could. But you're not ready to
read it yet. Take the rest of today for catching up with your family. Relax a
bit. The council will want to see you first thing in the morning. I'll see you
after. You can schedule a meeting with your people for the afternoon. The day
after, when everyone has had time to think, we can all meet to talk about what
happens next."

"We are on the clock you know. Five
day window and all that."

"Jon, you of all people know it's not
a good idea to go off half-cocked."

He had me there.

"See you tomorrow."

He rose, and extended his hand. I rose and
took it. There was a slight tingle as we touched. He shook, and let go, smiled
at me, and left.

A minute later, a corridor away, someone
shot me.