Hunter Legacy 11: Home Is Where the Hero Is (3 page)

I had my Long Gun up and sighted along the
pulse's trajectory before I was at the top of the hop. But there was no-one
there to shoot at. The pulse had hit me in the back, and whoever it had been,
it was a one shot hit and run.

I came down, gun still raised, but all I
could do was holster it. Immediately I did, it vanished. I'd long ago learned
my lesson about walking around unarmed, and given the missiles earlier, I
wasn’t going to ignore such an obvious hint. All the same, walking around where
I’d once lived, fully armed, seemed excessive, since no-one else did, so I’d
opted for using the suit to hide the guns. Guns were not a normal thing here.
No-one needed one, and few owned them.

Where I’d once lived. The thought brought
me up short. It had only been a year, but already, the home I’d known wasn’t
home any longer. I knew this station like the back of my hand, but my heart
wasn’t here anymore.

"You okay Jon?" asked Amanda, as
both twins rushed up to me.

"I'm fine. Whoever it was hit me and
ran really fast. Any signs?"

"None," answered Aleesha.
"We were too far in front of you, and BA was a few seconds too late behind
you. Whoever it was is now long gone. Or had a good hiding spot ready."

"Jane?"

"Yes Jon?" she answered through
our PC's.

"Can you tap into station security and
find any vid of the shooter?"

"I can try."

There was a brief pause, during which the
three of us started walking towards Galactica's dock.

"Sorry Jon. There are not very many
cams on this station, and the area you're in isn’t covered."

"Figures. Keep monitoring."

"Confirmed."

We were half way there when a ping came in
from my mother, advising me dinner was going to be in the family suite on
Galactica. The twins were momentarily blank as well, so I assumed they had an
invitation as well. I looked at Amanda without breaking stride, and she nodded.

Aline and Miriam met us at the bottom of
Galactica's ramp, and we all entered together. I led the way towards where used
to be home. Galactica was actually docked side on, so the ramp led up onto a
deck above one of her flight decks. We had to cross the width of the flight pod,
and then make our way into the accommodation areas of the central section of
the ship.

Mum and Dad were waiting at the door of
their, our, their, suite. Emotion swirled in me I hadn't expected. This wasn't
my home any more. The others waited as we hugged.

My mother studied me intensely. Probably to
see if I was eating right or not.

"Nice beard dear," she said,
unexpectedly. "Your Grandfather had one, and I think it looks better on
you than it did on him. All the same, how long did you intend keeping it?"

Thankyou mother. Not seen each other for a
year, and the first comment is about facial hair. Typical.

"It's an optional extra, mother. When
someone close to me complains about it, and offers to shave me every day, it
can come off."

She laughed. But what was worrying to me,
was the scrutiny I suddenly got from Aline and Miriam. The twins were quietly
laughing. I didn't blame them. Dad wisely said nothing and kept his face
neutral. He was of course, clean shaven. Shaving as such was something you only
saw on the really old square and flat screens. Everyone knew, or I assumed they
did, facial hair could be controlled by the PC, or the application of a face
rub. It was still referred to as shaving, even though blades had nothing to do
with it. You could even do it by sticking your head in a badly turned fresher.
Of course the latter resulted in the bald look, but at least your face was kept
smooth. I’d been joking anyway. I liked my beard, and it was going to take a
lot of persuading to get me to remove it. I was pretty sure Aline and Miriam
knew this, but just in case, I had no intention of finding out for sure.

We moved into the family living room.

I made the introductions, but was quickly mobbed
by close relatives, who all wanted a hug. The last was Grandma Violet, looking
older and frailer than I remembered. She pointed down the passageway to the
bedrooms.

"Sarah's in the guest room," she
said.

The room went quiet, everyone looking at
me, so I turned and walked that way. Conversation started up behind me, but
only one sentence came through clearly.

"Aline dear, we need to talk. You too
Miriam dear."

My mother. I wondered what that was about,
but not for long, as I reached the door to the guest room, and walked in.

"Hi Jonny," said Sarah.

She came forward and hugged me. I hugged
her back.

I felt strange. This was the only girl
who'd ever paid me any attention before I left a year ago, and yet, she now
felt like a stranger. Had I changed during the last year? Or had the me she'd
known died during the war?

She pulled back from me, her eyes going
wide.

"Jon? What's wrong? Don’t you remember
me?"

I tried to smile at her, but it didn’t
work.

"Hi Sarah. I'm sorry. Sure I remember
you. But it's been a long year, and I'm not the same person I was when I left."

"What? Of course you are. Except for
that ridiculous beard, you look the same as the day you left."

I didn’t. And she should have seen that.
I’d spent a year doing serious training with people who took it seriously. My
body didn’t look anything like it had when I left Gaia. I'd filled out across
the shoulders and chest, and I had muscles where they counted. You don’t get
muscles by spending all day and most of the night sitting at a computer rig.
But I don’t think she could see any of this.

An odd look crossed her face, as if she was
suddenly scared of something.

"Are you joining us for dinner?"
I asked her.

"Yes, of course."

"Well you'll hear the speeded up
version of the last year then. You best hear that before I try to explain how
I've changed."

"They told me you were a Duke and an
Admiral. I couldn’t tell if they were joking or not."

"That’s part of it. And it's not a
joke. Prophesy is real, and I'm the one."

She started crying.

I held her for a short while, until she
managed to get control again.

She pushed me off, and pointed to one
corner of the room, where I saw a crib. The baby I'd seen earlier was sleeping
in it.

She took my hand, and pulled me over to the
crib. All I could really see was a face, smiling happily, eyes closed.

"Jon, this is your son. His name is
Michael."

"Well say something!" said Sarah,
after I’d stood there unmoving for what felt like several hours, but was
probably only a minute.

I felt numb. It seemed like it was the day
for shocks. In no way had I anticipated two major shocks immediately I returned
home. Actually it was four now, with the Keepers announcement they knew nothing
more than I did, and being shot at where I thought I should be safe.

I was looking down on a perfect baby boy,
but I felt no sort of attachment to him at all. And I had no idea why not. Granted
this was sprung on me without any warning. I hadn't known Sarah was pregnant. I
hadn't even known she'd let herself be pregnant. But all the same, I should
have been feeling something.

I looked up at Sarah, and she looked like
she wanted to hit me.

I wanted to ask the "Are you sure he's
mine?" question, but I was pretty sure the answer was yes, spoken after I
had a black eye. Truth to tell, I saw no recognition of me in the baby's face,
as he looked more like his mother than me. Probably better for him anyway.

I also wanted to ask her why she hadn't
turned her medical monitor setting to prevent pregnancy, but I wasn’t sure I
wanted to hear that answer. It was all too likely to have been "If you
didn’t come back, I wanted something of you to survive", or something
along those lines. I knew she knew about it, as we'd been in the same class the
day it was taught in school.

I…

I sighed. Too many I's. I this. I that. Why
had I made it all about me?

Wondering about how other men handled this
situation wasn’t going to get me anywhere. It didn’t happen all too often these
days, medical monitors and options working efficiently in the background. True,
the tech here was somewhat out of date, but PC pregnancy prevention had been
around a long time. The body overrides had come with PC disease transmission
detection and neutralization, and these were included in teen PC models, which
we were all taught how to use in school.

My mouth opened, me hoping something would
come out which didn’t upset her, and she quickly put a finger over my lips.

"No, don’t say anything. The Keeper
warned me you'd react like this, but I chose not to believe him."

"How would the Keeper know something
like that?"

"I don’t know. But he knows a lot
about too much, it seems sometimes. He turned up here yesterday, and told me
you'd be arriving today, and how you'd react."

"I'm sorry about my reaction. I truly
am. But too much has happened since I left. I'm not sure the boy who left is
the one who returned."

"While you were in the medical
facility, the Keeper told me you died. Did you?"

"Yes. I was dead for fifteen
minutes."

"How can that be?"

I looked at her for a moment, deciding if I
should say more.

"Kali brought me back. I couldn’t walk
for a week after."

"Oh."

Her eyes were wide.

"Only now I'm beginning to think not
all of me came back. I seem to have lost my connections to home."

"Oh Jonny," she said, and hugged
me again.

"What do you want of me?" I asked
her a few minutes later.

"I'd hoped once you came back, we
could marry, and raise our son together."

She looked me in the eyes, and her face
dropped.

"But," she went on, "I guess
it can't happen, can it?"

"I'm leaving here in four days."
I held her eyes with mine. "I don’t think I'm coming back."

"Can we come with you?"

"Are you crazy? Being with me is
dangerous. You'll hear that over dinner. But what's worse, the Darkness is
coming, whatever it is, and I'll be there. I have no illusions about surviving
it. I won't take you and our baby into that sort of danger. Which reminds
me."

"Of what?"

"Jane?"

"Yes Jon?" she answered through
room coms.

"Protection for the family
please."

"Already on the way."

"Bodyguards too."

"Confirmed."

"Who was that?" asked Sarah.

"Jane. My ship AI. You'll meet her
avatar shortly. We better be getting to dinner, or they'll be wondering what
we're doing."

She smiled at that. But my mind had gone
off on a tangent, given who was waiting out there.

"Oh, there's something I need to tell
you."

"You have a girlfriend."

She said it deadpan, obviously trying hard
not to let any emotion show.

"Yes. I've had several. Sort of. But
you need to understand something."

Her eyebrows went up.

"I'm a Mercenary now. We never know
what tomorrow will bring, and today might be the last one we have."

"That is such a cliché."

"No, not really. I've been dead once,
near dead several other times, and most of my team have been on the edge of
death as well. We don’t do relationships. We live life as if each day was our
last. I'm very close to some of the women around me. We do 'lovers' rather than
relationships, and things change as situations change. It's complicated."

"Yes, I can see that on your social
setting."

"Well, it is. Just so you know, Amanda
and Aleesha are the twins you'll meet in a minute. We have a connection we
don’t understand yet. They share all my dreams and visions. Aline could be
called my girlfriend, and Miriam wants to be."

"And they're all here now?"

"Yes. I'm not sure why. My mother
seems to know more than she should have. Keeper again most likely. Jane sent
him the year's highlights, and it probably included my social life. But I guess
we'll find out when we get back out there."

"I can't say I'm happy to find out you
became a womanizer."

"I'm not. They all came on to me, same
as you did. I've never initiated anything more than a reiki session in my life."

She blushed.

"Do you have Michael linked to your
PC?"

"Yes, but the room sensors don’t tell
me much."

"Jane?"

"Yes boss?"

"Can you monitor the baby fully at all
times?"

"For as long as we are here. If you
want a permanent arrangement, I'll need to leave a clone behind."

"Start working on ways to do
that."

"Confirmed."

I took Sarah by the hand, and led her out.