The Solar Flare (11 page)

     “Let’s go outside and see it!” Naomi suggested, grabbing Ava’s arm. They ran down the stairs into the hangar and out the nearest door, followed by several other people that were not needed in the flight tower.

     “It’s magnificent!” Ava observed, looking up at the massive ship. They watched as the beautiful new vessel circled the sky carefully. Applause and cheers were heard from the locals who had gathered outside the gates to watch. Then, the ship started to climb higher and higher in the sky until it disappeared.

     “Where are they going?” Ava asked Naomi.

     “They want to test the oxygen stability so they are leaving the atmosphere for a few minutes,” she said calmly.

     “Is that safe? I mean, they only just lifted off for the first time.” Ava suddenly wished she back in the observation deck so they could hear the transmissions from the flight deck.

    “Of course it’s safe. Wesley wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think that the ship couldn’t handle it,” she said reassuringly.

     “Can we go back to the tower?” Ava asked. Besides, there was nothing left to look at out here.

     “Don’t you want to be out here to see the landing?”

     “I’d rather hear the correspondence.”

     The two women made their way back to the tower. Ava felt relieved to hear Wesley’s voice over the transmission relaying how pleased he was that everything was going  well with only a few things that needed adjusting for the next test flight. Everyone waited patiently for another half hour until the Principia descended the sky and made an effortless landing back inside the hangar, much to Ava’s relief.

Chapter 9: The Promise

     The aftermath of the Orionis disaster left Capri’s hangar congested for weeks. Somehow, Bryant managed to convince the ITO that the Solstice had official business there and they were allowed to dock. Bryant had no ideas on what lay ahead of their search for Ava Amherst and suggested that, just in case, the crew of the Solstice store fuel, medical supplies, and stock the ship for a long voyage ahead.

    “Should I go with you?” Xavier asked Bryant as he prepared to exit the ship in search of information.

     “I don’t think that’s necessary. I work better alone anyhow,” Bryant flashed Xavier his most confident smile. “Do not worry, I will find her for you.” He nodded to Xavier and walked down the exit ramp. Being a member of the ITO investigations unit, he had no trouble clearing security. In fact, he was allowed admittance to their main office on the station in order to conduct his “business.” He wasted no time accessing the system and locating the information on Ava.

    He swore softly himself as he learned that she had escaped him once again. By now, Robinson must be being very careful, he thought to himself. He spent another half hour looking through the images of the deportations on the date Ava had apparently left
, looking for a photo of her. Capri took digital images of all persons entering and exiting the station. He looked puzzled as he found her image. She looked terrible. He observed that she was dressed in a lab coat with a flushed and tear stained face, appearing very distressed. This is odd, he thought. He put a small disk in the terminal and saved the image of her. Xavier would like to see this, he thought smugly. The image of her matched the story he had told him regarding Wesley’s alleged mistreatment of her. He removed his disk and went about searching the employment records to see where Ava had spent the first few days after her arrival on Capri. It did not take him long to learn that she had been sent to the temporary clinic a few levels below. He decided to go down there and pay some of her co-workers a visit. Perhaps they might have some ideas as to why she left Capri on such an unhappy note.

     Bryant located the clinic without difficulty and introduced himself to the receptionist as an ITO officer looking for information on Ava Amherst. The secretary promp
tly notified Dr. Tom of his arrival. He was shown back to Dr. Tom’s makeshift office within a matter of minutes.

     “Good afternoon
Dr. Grant, I’m looking for information on a former OMC employee, a Ms. Ava Amherst. I believe that you knew her,” Bryant announced formally in a friendly manner as he flashed his ITO ID badge to him.

     Dr. Tom inspected the ID and motioned for Bryant to have a seat. “Yes, I did know Ms. Amherst. She was one of our Nurse Practitioners.”

     “Do you know of Ms. Amherst’s whereabouts?” Bryant cut to the chase.

     “Unfortunately I do not
,” he answered briskly.

     “The records indicated that she worked here for a few days after the evacuation of Orionis. Then she suddenly le
ft? I wonder what the cause was,” Bryant mused, looking at Dr. Tom.

     “I’m sorry, I didn’t really know her that well. I’m not sure why
or how she left,” Dr. Tom stated plainly.

     That’s a lie, Bryant thought. He could smell traces of Ava’s scent on him and wondered what had transpired between the two of them.

     “Are you sure you don’t have any information to share with me?” Bryant asked again.

     “Ava had a boyfriend named Wesley Robinson. He’s the captain of the starship Andromeda.
I assume that she left with him,” Dr. Tom said dryly. Of course, this wasn’t news to Bryant.

     “Captain Robinson?” Bryant played dumb.

     “Yes, he and his crew of drifters were always around her. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up ruining her life someday,” Dr. Tom divulged. Bryant sensed a hint of jealousy in his statement.

     “I see. Do you have any idea where they might have
taken her? Did Ava say anything?”

     “No. I don’t have a clue. From what I understand, no one has been able to track where they went.”

     “I saw a picture of her at deportation. She looked frightened and upset. Do you know why that might have been?” Bryant persisted, looking for any clues.

     “She was probably upset over Orionis, I really don’t know
,” Dr. Tom lied.

     “Well, I thank you for your time.”
Bryant, sensing he would not get any further information here rose to get out of his chair.

     “Wait
.”

     “Yes?”
Bryant turned back to him hopefully.

     “What kind of trouble is Ava in? Something must have happened for someone like you to be looking for her.” Bryan
t could sense the concern in Dr. Tom’s voice.

      “I’m afraid that’s none of your concern. I bid you good day
,” he said curtly, nodding at the doctor and left without looking back.

     Bryant made his way back to the Solstic
e. Where could they be? He pondered over Ava’s upset condition at deportation. It was unexpected, he thought. If something had happened here, they would be lying low, Bryant thought, especially if Robinson was avoiding Kaden. Then, they would not be on any of the stations. But where? Bryant let these thoughts circle in his mind, trying to figure out where they could have gone. Xavier was waiting for him when he returned.

     “Is she still here?” He asked hopefully.

     “No, Robinson took her. Have a look at the image,” he inserted his disk into one of the onboard terminals and Xavier got his first glance at Ava. He looked almost awe struck.

     “Why was
she crying?” His blue eyes were large with worry.

     “Probably because Robinson forced her to leave her position. I to
ld you he didn’t treat her well,” Bryant said as he watched Xavier carefully.

     “This is terrible.
I never would have thought
he
would be capable of such behavior. We have to find her. Where would he have taken her?” Xavier asked.

     “Let me do some research. I have a few ideas.” Bryant removed the disk and sat down at the terminal. He took a deep breath and thought back to his past with Robinson. There had to some clue there. He sat alone for a few hours, replaying
long past conversations in his head with Robinson and his crew. Finally, he remembered something.

∞

     The afternoon passed quickly at the hangar. Everyone hung around after the successful test flight of the Principia to discuss plans for the next trial run. Wesley seemed pleased with the ship’s performance and the accuracy of the computers, especially since he wrote most of the software and programmed it himself.  Ava stood back watching him converse with Andre, Ash, and some of the engineers. She loved seeing him so happy and excited. Rowan and Justin made polite conversation with her, maybe because they sensed that she felt left out of the day’s events. Finally, the crowd began to thin as everyone started to call it a day. Ava saw Naomi approach Wesley and whisper something in his ear. He abruptly turned and looked at her. She knew Naomi must have told him about her questions. He said something softly to Naomi and then turned and started coming towards Ava.

     “Congratulations, it seems like you have done very well
,” Ava spoke encouragingly to him.

     “Thank you. We are very pleased with how everything went today.”

     “When is the next flight?”

     “We aren’t s
ure yet. Possibly in a few days,” he hesitated. “Are you hungry?”

     “Famished.” Ava gave him a smile.

     “Let’s find some dinner and then maybe you and I can talk more about Kyanos.”

     “I’d like that.”

      The others watched as Wesley circled his arm gently around Ava’s shoulders and they turned to leave.

     “Is he going to tell her about Xavier?” Mia asked.

     “Not tonight. I think he’ll explain Kaden, but I don’t think Ava’s ready to hear about Xavier yet. But, she needs to be told soon. Everything needs to come out if he expects her to trust him completely,” Naomi replied.

     Back at Wesley’s beautiful home Ava settled into a comfortable couch in the living room. Wesley followed behind with two wine glasses and a bottle of some type of red wine. He set them down on the table and sat beside Ava, beginning to work on removing the cork.

     “Wesley, if you have some powers of telekinesis, why don’t you use your mind to do small things like that?” Ava asked, wondering.

     “Telekinesis is draining. Believe it or not, I’ve spent so much time being non-human that I actually enjoy doing things with my own hands. Besides, it’s better for me to s
ave my energy in case I need it,” he gave Ava a sly smile.

     Once the wine was poured he handed Ava a glass. “I understand that Rochelle mentioned to you that we sometimes have raids on Kyanos
,” he said calmly.

      “Yes
, she did,” Ava took a sip.

     “I wouldn’t really describe them as raids
, they are more like attacks,” Wesley said matter-of-factly as he set his glass down.

     “What do you mean?” Ava asked gently, pleased that he was finally being open with her.

     “Ava, my crew and I are not the only Asterions that know about Kyanos,” he began. She stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. “There is another Asterion named Kaden that knows of this place. He found us by chance a number of years ago when he accidentally crossed paths with us on a return flight and followed us back here without our knowledge.”

     “He has a starship?”

     “Yes, and a small crew. They have been trying to kill us ever since. We believe that they have seen what we have accomplished here and want to take Kyanos for themselves. It’s increasingly complicated to travel from station to station and constantly change your identity when you live as long as we do. You see, here we can live our lives out in the open. We don’t have to hide who we are. The people on Kyanos have no connection with the rest of the galaxy. They accept us for what we are and we all live peacefully together, humanly.”

     “So this Kaden is bad news. Is he powerful?”

     “Yes, he is strong, and persistent. My crew and I suspect that he might have been the terrorist behind the explosion on Orionis.”

    
Ava gasped. “Why would he want to destroy Orionis?”

     “I think it was because he noticed we docked there so frequently that he felt he had a good chance of catching us there. I’m sure he was quite angry over the damage we did to his ship in his last attempt to attack our people here.”

     “It’s my fault then.” Ava looked down at the ground solemnly.

     “What do you mean?”

     “You were docked at Orionis so frequently because of me Wesley. So many people died and a massive space station was destroyed because of me.”

     “Ava, it wasn’t your fault. If it’s anyone’s fault it’s mine. I should have dealt with him
long ago. Now that we have the Principia, the next time he comes around here we will hopefully be able to detect him early and blast him out of the sky. Ash has been decoding the cloaking technique he used on his ship to evade us in the past. We will have better odds next time.”

     Ava suddenly remembered something about some people she felt strange about
riding in the lift on Orionis just before the explosion. “Wesley, this Kaden, what does he look like?”