THE VROL TRILOGY (101 page)

"
Draagh, do
you have a secure location yet?"
Max asked over the
comm.

"
Yes we do, my
son. We do. Why would you like to know?
" responded the
Primulus.

"
We are on our
way. We have my mother and her caretaker, as well as what are
basically the contents of my basement. How much room do you
have?
"

"
It is roughly
the size of the training field at my castle,"
Krynos
added.

"
Perfect. We
are coming now
," said Max as he finished typing his
data into the infoscreen.

Jennie, Mrs. Wong and Liliana watched in
amazement as they all were surrounded in a minor sphere of
influence. Max was using a more robust method of slipping for a
couple of reasons - first, because they were going to another
celestial body and not to a local destination, and second, because
he was moving the entire contents of his basement.

It was a matter of seconds before everyone
found themselves in a well-lit, excavated cave, and looking at some
very large individuals. Mrs. Wong immediately recognized Michael
and Gabriel, which calmed her considerably. Clarisa, however, was a
completely different story. Max found it necessary to calm her a
bit by manipulating some local salubots into a sedative.

"Greetings, Janice. It has been many years,"
said Michael, who was obviously pleased to see the woman he had
selected to be his son's caretaker. He looked away from her
momentarily to gaze upon the woman he had once loved. She had aged,
like all mortals, especially on a world where there was no healing
or regeneration, but had still had maintained her beauty. In any
case, he was glad that she was sedated while he discussed
particulars with Mrs. Wong, Max and Jennie.

"So, she was being held captive, Max?" asked
Michael.

"Yeah, and we had to escape. I made a mistake
and we were detected."

"We can return and destroy those who
discovered your presence, my boy," said Gabriel, causing Jessica to
roll her eyes as she went over to Jennie's position and helped move
bags of weapons and clothing off to the side.

"Naw, that's ok. I knocked them out and
fudged with the cameras, so it will look like they were standing
one moment, and then all fell down. Mrs. Wong won't even be in the
surveillance view."

"Still, there will be many questions. The
sudden disappearance of your mother and Janice will not easily be
forgotten," said Michael. Max was unused to hearing Mrs. Wong being
called Janice, as he had simply known her by her proper title all
his life.

"I am sorry if bringing me along caused
problems, Max. Perhaps if you left me back - well, where
exactly
are
we right now?"
Mrs. Wong was confused, and rightly so.

"We are in a cavern, deep below the surface
of the moon Vera. This is the start of what is going to be our base
of operations," replied Bagatelle. "If I may, please allow me to
introduce myself. I am Luigi Bagatelle, former Rear Admiral and now
part of the resistance."

"I am aware of who you are, sir.
Chairman Johnson has repeatedly put out holo-verts regarding your
disappearance over the past weeks. It is tragic what has happened,
but how are a few people, even though powerful, going to change the
fate of millions? And please, call me Janice. That goes for you
too, Max. Even your mother calls me that now, as I address her by
her first name. I am certain you will not mind my dropping
Master
from your title,
hmm?"

"All good for me… Janice. And to answer your
question, we are just the start. G is going to contact his
underground once we have created enough space down here," said
Max.

"G? Who is G, Max?" asked the former
caretaker.

Bagatelle raised his hand. "Janice, that's
what my friends call me, and-"

"What is the meaning of this?" cried
out Krynos. "Do you not consider me a friend, Bagatello? I demand
the right, as your king, to call you this
G
also!"

"King Krynos, you may call me anything you
like. In fact, I would prefer you call me G instead of by my many
surnames," responded Bagatelle comically, completely relieved that
the large lycan leader would no longer be mangling his last
name.

"Just a minute," said Janice, "King Krynos?
Like, a real king from somewhere?"

"My dear, welcome, please welcome. I
believe introductions are in order. I am Draagh, father of these
two fine archangels, Michael and Gabriel, both of whom you already
know. That makes me Max's grandfather. This is King Krynos of the
Rhönen Dominion, in what is known was Germany on Earth, but in the
43
^rd
century. Yes, yes, we
have also travelled through time, and it is there where we shall
bring you for your safety. Going on, you already know of Mr.
Bagatelle, but over here is our friend Jessica. She comes from an
alternate timeline on Old-Earth and is also lycan, as I am sure you
have detected."

Janice looked around and nodded to everyone.
Liliana was still over with her grandmother, worried for her, as
she had a difficult time with the whole escape and transport.
Draagh looked over and conjured a large bed, prompting Janice and
Jennie to virtually carry the sedated woman over and allow her to
rest.

"Grandfather, are we going to return home
soon? I can help care for Abuelita," said the little lycan.

"Yes my dear girl, very soon. I believe we
may stay here and do some more work before returning to the
Dominion. Max, would you care to take your family back while we
continue our work?"

"Sure. I'll get Socrates to help. It's a
complex trek," answered Max, who then stepped off to the side and
conjured his infopanel. He already had the coordinates for the
Rhönen Dominion in his ghanlo, but as they were inside an enclosed
space he would need to navigate first to the Hub, and then off to
his home in Krynos' castle, as a direct 4D slip would require a
massive sphere of influence.

Gathering himself, his wife and daughter,
Janice Wong and his semi-conscious mother together, Max called on
Socrates, who appeared in his typical fashion - glowing particles
gathering together, forming a golden visage.

"Ah, young Max. It is good to see you again.
I see we have some fellow travelers," said the computerized
assistant.

"Yeah, Socrates. We need to get to the castle
through the Hub. This place is too small for us to slip
directly."

"Very well then. Query: Shall we also be
taking this bed?"

"No, just us. Ok pops, we'll see you in a
while," said Max as he waved off to everyone.

Even though the group was going through the
Hub, no one but Max even realized they had been there as the
transition was so fast. It was a brief moment in local time and the
group was standing outside Krynos' castle in the same familiar open
place.

"Wait here. I'm taking mom to our
sub-chambers," said Max, who then put his arm around his mother and
picked her up, followed by their immediate disappearance. He
returned moments later and escorted Janice into the massive castle
they called home. Liliana ran over to tend to her shark pets, while
the three adults entered into the castle's courtyard where Donus
greeted them.

"Commander. It is good to see you yet again.
And whom do we have here? A new face, and a confused one at
that."

Max turned to look at Janice and noticed she
was looking around in all directions, sniffing the air, as if she
were lost.

"Max, something is wrong. I can't smell
anything. My hearing is degraded also," exclaimed Janice, noticing
that her enhanced lycan sensibilities were not functioning.

"Oh wow, I totally forgot. Sorry. You see,
when my father changed you it was to function on Azul. The
frequencies here are different, but we can fix that because Draagh
came up with a special serum that enables the bypassing of certain
protein synthesis blockers. In short, your abilities will work
anywhere. We, as humans, were originally intended to be able to
access nature on any world, but we were genetically modified
centuries ago when the Prīmulī stripped mankind of all enhanced
abilities. Oh, and Donus, this is Janice Wong. She practically
raised me. My own mother is on our sub-chambers sleeping due to the
fact that she had a difficult journey."

Donus smiled and looked Janice over
carefully. He had seen many types of people, but those of Asiatic
descent were extremely rare in his part of the planet.

"It is my pleasure to meet you, young lady.
Welcome to the Rhönen Dominion. I am Master Commander Donus, at
your service. It is good to see you again, Jennie Gunnarsson."

Janice bowed out of respect, but still
uncomfortable with her lack of sensory input.

"
Draagh, can
you hear me? Does this thing work through space/time?"
Max asked over his comm.

"
Yes, my son.
It most certainly can. We have quite a communications system set
up, do we not?
" responded the ancient mage, conveying
amusement in his mental voice.

"
Janice is
kinda having a meltdown here. Here senses are all pretty much like
those of a normal. Will the serum you concocted work on
her?"

"
Oh yes, it
should work just fine. There are some vials of it in my study. One
injection should suffice."

"Janice, let's go take care of your bad
sniffer," said Max, as he went to lead her out of the courtyard and
to Draagh's office along with Jennie.

"Donus, I'll be back shortly to check on the
recon battle group. Shall we meet for dinner? All of us?" asked
Jennie as they walked away.

"Dinner it shall be, Jennie Gunnarsson. We
shall meet then."

###

The three entered Draagh's study, with
Janice looking around in amazement. She had never been in an
ancient castle, and didn't even understand how she could be in the
future, but she was there and would make the best of it. Looking
around, she saw arcane looking candles and manuscripts all over the
place, adding to the
old castle
effect
. Draagh wasn't exactly a tidy immortal, but at
least
he
knew where
everything was.

"Max, what is it exactly that you are going
to do?" she asked.

"I'm going to inject you with a serum that
will make everything ok. Don't worry. You'll slowly begin to regain
your senses within minutes."

Max took a sterile needle and near-painlessly
injected the serum into Janice's arm while Jennie used the comm to
call Liliana back from the moat, instructing her to meet them in
her parents' sub-chambers.

"Come with us, Janice. Let's go check on
Mom," said Max as he went to exit Draagh's study.

Going up numerous corridors, they arrived at
he and Jennie's chambers. Entering, they went off to a side room,
usually reserved for Liliana when she wanted to sleep near her
parents. Entering, they saw Clarisa Gunnarsson sleeping peacefully.
But Janice seemed alarmed. Running up to the woman she had served
for so many years, she started to analyze her face. Pulling the
covers down off Clarisa, Janice took the woman's hands into hers
and looked at them carefully.

"Max, she looks amazing! It is almost as if
she has… oh. She's healing, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is. It's a pretty profound effect
and happens rather quickly. You should have seen G before we
brought him here. He looked like an old man. Within days he was in
his prime again, as will be my mother."

"But how does this happen to her, while I
needed a serum?" asked Janice.

"Janice, it's that you were already changed
by Michael so long ago. This world is different - it is attuned to
the specific frequency of all humans - a frequency that was changed
in our ancestors centuries ago. So while you didn't gel with it
right away, it is perfect for mom. However, she'll also need a
treatment if she wishes to retain her enhanced abilities when off
this world."

Janice nodded her head with understanding, as
Liliana went bursting into the room.

"Is Abuelita awake yet?" cried out the little
girl, extremely preoccupied for the grandmother she had recently
met for the first time.

"No, not yet, sweetie, but we'll probably
wake her soon. She will have a lot of questions, so you need to be
calm and patient, ok?" said Jennie as she fixed the young girl's
hair, pulling her ponytail back properly.

"Of course, Mami. And I am sure that Mrs.
Wong shall also want to help care for Abuelita," the little girl
said sweetly.

Draagh, Bagatelle, Krynos, the brothers and
Jessica had wrapped up some walls in the third massive chamber they
had created and decided to return to the castle. Things were going
to become a whole lot more complex. The now had multiple worlds and
timelines to navigate through, but between them all they had four
who were capable of trans-dimensional 4D slipping, including Max.
They were going to need to dig out a massive slip chamber for
transporting large quantities of people directly between worlds.
While it was easy to use the Hub as a transit point, Draagh's study
there could only facilitate a few people. However, they decided to
return to the castle and join everyone for dinner. Plus, Draagh
wanted to assist with Max's mom in any way he could.

"Ah, I am indeed suffering from the gnawing
hunger that grows within my belly!" bellowed Krynos, holding his
stomach. It was true - everyone was hungry, and while Draagh or his
sons could have simply conjured food, they all chose to go
back.