Crow: The Fulcrum

Chapter 1

Desolation.

As far as the eye could see.

Steven looked into the sky at the malevolent swath of brilliance that had obliterated night. The Maelstrom was coming. Soon it would consume everything. The entire universe.

But Steven expected it. Welcomed it. The clean slate it brought. His antagonist was right. She told him he would reinvent reality. He was born for that purpose. For this universe, he was the Destroyer. For the next, the Savior. All he had to do was to accept it. Embrace it. Become it.

He returned his attention to the rubble around him. Cities blasted to dust and ashes. Now nothing more than little islands in a roiling ocean of magma. Their occupants had ruthlessly tested his compassion and tempted his wrath. He in turn had visited upon them the recompense for the torments he was forced to endure at their hands. Not just this world. All of them.

The throne belonged to him. The rights to existence was his. And he was claiming it.

He knelt down and plunged his hand into the lava that lapped on the shore of his little island, then pulled it back, letting the liquid pass through his chromed fingers. Justice.

They had hunted him like an animal. Chased him across the universe in their bloodlust. Now their ashes mingled with the molten remains of this planet, soon to be utterly obliterated by the unraveling of the fabric of space.

Steven was determined to witness the final moments of existence there. To see the Maelstrom wash over the planet, wiping away the devastation into oblivion. Time and space would cease to exist. Physics would be erased. The universe would be ripe for a phase change into a new reality, one according to his own design.

“Who is Asherah?”

Steven spun around, startled and ready to destroy again. But it was her. The goddess who had opened his eyes. Aliya. All life had forsaken him, betrayed him, but she never turned her back on him.

She sauntered over to him, walking across the lava as her hips swayed with each footstep, a stark contrast to the death and destruction around her. “Who is she?”

The question was irrelevant. Steven scowled and returned his attention to the results of his handiwork. His countenance chromed over briefly and he glanced at his hands. He was no longer beholden to the physics of this reality. He was beyond it. Like the Elder. Like the Younger. Of what importance was anything else? Anyone else?

“Steven?”

“An Elf.” Steven glanced at Aliya. “No one.”

Did he just lie to her? For what purpose? He was the Destroyer. He owed no one.

“I found her.” Aliya put her arm around his waist and pulled him close. “I was going to give her to you. Your Eve.”

Steven glanced at her. He could tell she was attempting to woo him. Lull him into complacency with her seductive presence. Her beauty and power were intoxicating. A luminescent goddess who glowed with the brilliance of a thousand stars, and yet he was still able to admire her, touch her, savor her touch.

However, there was only one thing he wanted from her. “Where are my parents?”

~ ~ ~

The scream seemed to penetrate his consciousness both from within and from without. Steven opened his eyes to see a frantic Asherah shaking him. He put his hands up to ward her off but she batted them away and lay on him, sobbing.

Blinking, he pushed her off and rolled over, retching. His head throbbed and the tree house shuddered under his knees. Asherah tried to grab him again and Steven intercepted her hand, holding her wrist as he glared at her. He rose to a crouch, lifting her arm up as he struggled to control an overwhelming rage.

“Steven,” Asherah whispered as she wept.

He was angry at her. He had lied to his goddess about her and he didn’t know why.

Asherah gasped, glancing at his grip on her wrist. “It’s a dream, Steven. Please.”

Dream? Steven let go of her wrist as he looked around. He was in the common room of Asherah’s family tree house. On Syagria. The Elves that had been asleep were now all awake and on their feet, staring at him and appearing more than a little terrified. He looked at Asherah and squinted. Then he shook his head. “No. It wasn’t a dream.”

“Steven,” Asherah cried, then she caught her breath, seeing his thoughts.

He sat back down on the floor heavily and put his head in his hands as reality flooded back in. He cried out loudly as he tried to fend off the tendrils of resentment and fury. The monster within that terrified him, that threatened to consume him. After a moment, he looked at his hands. Fur. Skin. Normal.

“She’s trying to reach me.” He took in a shuddering breath. The anger was real. His life had been pure agony at the hands of both Terrans and the Cooperative. His loved ones tormented. Innocents murdered. He shook his head as he tried to quell it. “She knows about what has happened to me. It’s like she’s trying to feed it. Magnify it.”

He looked up, alarmed. “She knows about you.”

Asherah nodded, wiping her nose. “I saw.”

“You saw? I didn’t see you.”

“I couldn’t dreamscape with you. But I watched.” Asherah shivered. “I thought, I thought…”

“She cannot inspire an incident from me, Asherah.” Steven put his hand on hers. “No more earthquakes. No more burning.”

“But, the Maelstrom?” Asherah turned her hand over and grabbed his.

Steven thought for a moment. “She doesn’t know about Vanessa.” He looked up. “Who else would be powerful enough but me?”

Asherah cried furiously. “You wouldn’t. Please tell me. You were so cold, so…”

Steven pursed his lips as he regarded her solemnly. “Am I cold now?”

Asherah shook her head, trying to stem the tears. “You scared me. What you did. The death. The…you, you enjoyed it.”

“I lied to her. I took over. Even in the deepest dreams she cannot overpower me.”

Steven looked around at the nervous Elves in the room and slumped. “I want to go home.”

Asherah followed his gaze around the room. “Steven. This is your home. Here. On Syagria.”

“Not yet.” Steven looked at her sadly as he reached up and wiped the moist fur on her cheeks. “Not even close.”

~ ~ ~

She opened her eyes and looked around. It seemed like she had just lain down to go to sleep.

It had been a long day of classes and teeth. But it was a fulfilling day. Her dental Guildmaster was extremely proud of her. Of course, Angela couldn’t tell if that was coming from a perspective of condescension, proud that a Terran could actually hold a drill correctly, or if it was genuine. The Ordan were notoriously difficult to read. But for her, any non-human was hard to read, especially since their context was still such a mystery to her.

Angela rubbed her eyes and sighed. Her mind was racing. She wasn’t surprised she was still awake.

As she rolled over, she realized that she was on Syagria. But she couldn’t remember going there. She thought she had returned to Endard. Tessa and Ryan had celebrated Lisa’s birthday, and it seemed like the whole village attended their private little party. Angela smiled, remembering the Williams’s exasperation since Tessa had prepared just enough dinner for them. But true to form in the Cooperative, no one lacked for food. They never do.

Angela looked around, confused. She was so sure she went to sleep on Endard. The party was dragging on and she had to get up early so she left them and lay down in the common room. Sleeping mats had already been laid out.

But she couldn’t deny that she was now in a common room of a treehouse on Syagria. She sometimes visited Ted’rel there. He was a bit immature for her tastes, but there was something about him that she found irresistible. Even so, he was still not eating out of her hand, though he continuously tried. While everyone’s plates were common to those at the table and eaten from by anyone, only lovers ate out of each other’s hands.

Angela sat up, not tired anymore. It was actually pretty bright outside. Double full moons. She stood up and walked out of the common room onto the deck. But, something didn’t seem to fit. Angela turned around and looked back into the common room. There were numerous sleeping mats on the floor, but she was the only one there.

Scratching her head, she walked around the deck, looking at the other tree houses in the Syagrian village. No one was out there that evening. Even the neighboring tree houses were silent.

“Hello?” Angela called out. Things were starting to feel creepy to her. She would often walk out in the cool of the night and even then there was always some activity happening. Elves were constantly coming and going. To them, night was just a slightly dimmer version of day. But now there was no activity at all.

“I used to imagine people. But, they just weren’t real,” a voice behind her said.

Angela spun around, startled, then gaped.

Vanessa stood on the deck looking at the Temple in the distance. “They looked real, and felt real. Like the tree we’re standing on. But they just had no soul.”

“Vanessa? Are you out?” Angela stopped. She slumped a little. “I’m in, aren’t I?”

She looked around again. It all felt so real. But it was the Maelstrom and she was in a vision again, visiting Steven and Asherah’s daughter who had been imprisoned there for eons. Angela sighed and looked back at her. Asherah had not even delivered her daughter yet. She was several months away even. But there she was, standing before her, a grown woman who was immensely ancient, far older even than her own parents, or anyone else in the Cooperative for that matter.

“You’re the first real person I’ve seen in a very long time,” Vanessa smiled.

“The Younger?” Angela looked around.

“She left about a thousand years ago. Perhaps longer,” Vanessa said sadly. “I loved her so much. She was like a child to me. My little Selkie daughter.”

Angela grimaced. Time was a bit wonky in the Maelstrom. Flexible even. But this was a vision. She wasn’t there. This was happening in real time for her. “Where did she go?” Angela asked looking around.

“The beginning,” Vanessa said. “She had no anchor for any other point.” She walked over to Angela and caressed her cheek in the traditional Elvish greeting, blessing her with memories of her days before the Maelstrom. Then she gently grabbed her hand and looked at it. Even with her extreme age, she still moved with all the determined grace of a young Elf, and her touch was soft and warm. Her fur tickled Angela’s hand a little and she looked down at it as Vanessa seemed to be transfixed by her fingers. She didn’t look old. But Elves never did. For that matter, no one in the Cooperative looked their age.

Still, a thousand years without someone to talk to and with no physical contact, it was torture to an Elf since they were characteristically extremely gregarious. Angela sighed, feeling sorry for Vanessa. Vanessa grinned, shaking her head. “Don’t feel sorry for me, Angela. I made a choice and I’m living with it.”

Angela nodded, then knitted her eyebrows, quizzical. “The beginning?”

“She witnessed the Cataclysm. When all of the gates died. And she rebuilt them as well as she could. Without her, there would be no Cooperative. But, it just wasn’t the same.” Vanessa glanced at Angela, remembering where she was from. “And she was excluded from Terra, too. The Forbidden Planet.”

Angela gulped. She never understood why Earth was considered the Forbidden Planet by the Cooperative. She suspected few if any of her new, exotic friends remembered why either.

Vanessa sighed. “We used to not need Gatekeepers or Temples before the Cataclysm. We would just go wherever we wanted to.” She hooked Angela’s arm and walked over to the edge of the deck and looked down at the ground far below. “At least, that’s what she told me.” She leaned forward closer to her. “Before then, everyone was a Gatekeeper. But more. Like me. There were no fractures.”

“How did she know? She’s been, she was here all of her life.” Angela looked around. There was no connection to the real universe there. Everything she saw and touched was a product of Vanessa’s memories and imagination, and perhaps some of her own too.

Vanessa looked at her blankly for a moment. “Oh, no. She told me before I got here.”

Angela frowned. Time was weird in the Maelstrom. “Steven and Asherah have only been back a few of days. I saw the Younger with you then, too. How can it be a thousand years already?”

“There’s no time in the Maelstrom. No space. No points of reference. Our perceptions of time are vastly different,” Vanessa said absentmindedly as she looked down. “You’re new.”

“What?” Angela looked around then back at her.

Vanessa turned to look at her. “I don’t remember you. I remember everyone else. But not you. I have Mom and Dad’s memories from before. I was over a hundred years old before this. But in all that time, there was no you. Not in their memories and not…I never knew you. You’re new. And yet, you were in their memories when they were here, a couple of days ago.” Vanessa smiled sadly, wishing it had truly only been a couple of days.

Angela looked at her, confused. Vanessa sighed then looked back down at the ground far below. Angela followed her gaze. What she saw dazzled her. The ground had melted away, revealing a vast web made of light. She looked up and around, suddenly surrounded by it as the deck seemed to fade away. It was organic and seemed to be alive, pulsing and throbbing all around her. It reminded Angela of a vast cluster of neurons. She smiled. She had to learn that little tidbit of physiology for her work too, even though she was just carving on teeth.

It was different, however, and she finally recognized it. It was the fracture they were looking at, through which all gates were formed. Vanessa was a deviant Gatekeeper like her father, and that was how they saw the universe when they closed their eyes and reached out.

Vanessa nodded, confirming her musings, and Angela realized she was still holding her hand, still seeing her memories and thoughts. Vanessa reached up and poked one of the neurons and it went dark all of a sudden. Then those around it went dark and the effect cascaded. She cocked her head and looked at Angela curiously. “Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you had never been born?

~ ~ ~

“Sir. We have progress on Shawn’s team.”

Jacob pulled his head out of the hatch of a drone and looked at the technician expectantly.

“We’re still working out the details on their main language, but we are picking up mention of the prisoners in their communications.”

“Just what mention?” Jacob wiped his hands off with a rag and pulled himself out from under the drone, his interest piqued.

“Logistics. Sir, from what we’ve been able to gather, they never left Earth.”

“They’re still here?” Jacob raised his eyebrows, holding his hand out.

The technician handed him his tablet. “Requisition requests for food. But with a specific ration for a hundred and twenty men.” He pointed. “And here is a movement schedule. They seem to have been moving them every few weeks.”

“Where on Earth could they keep a contingent of soldiers captive?” Jacob scrolled through the report.

“We’re just getting bits and pieces sir. But we think they may be sequestered in a cargo ship.” The technician scrolled the report up a little. “Past movements seem to land on port cities.”

“What would an advanced alien civilization be doing using cargo ships?” Jacob gaped. He glanced at his drone. “They have spectacular technology that we’re just barely reverse engineering.”

“Did you get it to hover yet?”

Jacob nodded. “Way past that. We’re working on propulsion now.”

The technician nodded. “Closing the gap.”

Jacob sighed. “Has Laurence completed the concordance yet?”

“Yes, sir. We’re revising it now. Their language is interesting. But, without it, this would be useless.” He pointed at the tablet.

“They don’t even encrypt their data?”

“Some seems to be. Actually, most. This stuff appears to be like a laundry list or something. Non-critical.”

“Moving prisoners of war is non-critical?” Jacob blinked. “I’d hate to see what they deem critical.”

“Critical?”

Jacob looked over his shoulder, and sighed. A bouncy redhead was strolling towards them and Jacob immediately felt a flush of hormones as he watched her body move with her steps. Blinking, he held his arm up and looked at his dermal-patch. “This isn’t working.”

“You only thought you had it beat.” Katy giggled as she walked past him and put a hand on the fuselage of the drone. “You got news?”

“We’re narrowing down on Shawn’s team.” Jacob’s eyes watered. Katy was stunning to look at to begin with, but with her judicious and malicious use of pheromones, it was nearly impossible to keep his thoughts organized as her dress stretched seductively over her body while she bent over to inspect the underside of the drone. “I asked you to stop using that.”

“And I told you to beat it.” Katy stood up and adjusted her dress, making Jacob’s heart jump. “Your patch isn’t working, is it?”

Jacob shook his head, trying to keep his eyes away from her bodacious bosom.

“Have you tried picturing George Washington in a thong?” Katy smirked.

“Funny. Why?”

“You’re my favorite guinea pig.” Katy raised her eyebrows. “No one has control like you do.”

“Not working out so well right now. You do know constant exposure to that is hazardous, right?”

“Then beat it.” Katy smiled. “Shawn?”

“We’re cracking further into their communications. Laurence’s stolen technology has allowed us to jump forward spectacularly.” He handed the tablet to Katy, who pursed her lips as she perused the data. Jacob had to tear his eyes away from those succulent lips. He stared at wires hanging out of a hatch on the drone and tried to catalog the steps he had to complete.

“You might want to send your technician away before he has a cardiac arrest.”

Jacob glanced over. “Dismissed.” The technician was likewise doing his best to avoid looking at her and was sweating profusely. “I said, dismissed.”

“Of course, sir,” the technician croaked, then almost ran off.

“See? You have better control.” Katy winked at Jacob. He rolled his eyes.

“We have not figured out their cerebral stimulation user interface yet. Still depending on Laurence’s alien computer for everything. Nor have we figured out their distributed, quantum computing.” Jacob scowled, trying to geek his way through his throbbing hormones. “Their network appears to be based on quantum entanglement. Very advanced stuff.”

“Cerebral Stimulation. Sounds kinky,” Katy giggled.

Jacob scowled. “That’s what the white alien that visited us called it. We have figured out how to use it. But not replicate it.”

“I know you’ll figure it out. You always do.” Katy batted her eyes at him.

“I need more manpower to locate Shawn’s men.” Jacob wiped his brow. He was starting to sweat now. “Katy, this is too much. Please dial it back.”

Katy pouted. Instantly Jacob felt better and he almost fell over. Katy grabbed him and held him on his feet. “I am going to want to look at the tech you have managing that. It’s potent.”

“Of course it is.” Katy smirked. “I need you to at least narrow down the side of the globe where his team may be located.”

“You saw the cargo ship sequestration theory?” Jacob took his tablet back from her. Katy nodded. He shook his head. “I’ve seen the giant ships they have over there. Laurence brought back a treasure trove of intelligence, and it is just terrifying. Why would they limit themselves by keeping our men here, on a boat?”

“They probably feared contamination.” Katy looked at him, serious. “That is a question we will have to answer when we recover our men.”

Crow: The Fulcrum

Chapter 2

“Do you have any idea just how jarring this is?”

Aradia looked at Shawn through her virtual computer displays.

Shawn stood on the deck of a Cooperative cargo carrier, looking out at what appeared to be a perfectly normal ocean. Only, there was a ringed planet overhead, faded by the bright blue sky. He shook his head. “I’ve been here for months and still haven’t gotten used to it.”

“Understandable. Terrans have been hopelessly stranded on their planet.”

“Is it so hopeless?” Shawn looked at the Keratian woman. She was bordering on petite. Brilliant white hair and skin. Even her irises were white. But as slender and vulnerable as she appeared, he knew from experience how formidable she was. He sighed and returned his gaze to the planet overhead. “For six hundred years we were bred to resist you. And it was all a ruse. This is what we’ve missed out on.”

“Were there no conflict, you would not know we existed,” Aradia stated matter-of-factly. “Your world is still considered the Forbidden Planet.”

“You never answered why.”

“We do not exactly remember why. But legend has it that there is a guardian of Terra that is very jealous of our presence.”

“You’re there now. Your friends are there.”

“They are hardly our friends.” Aradia scowled, looking at him. “They murdered millions when they destroyed Rholling.”

“Millions. On one world. We’re pushing past seven billion.”

Aradia shook her head and returned her attention to her work. “Your men seem to have adjusted well.”

“That’s what they were bred to do.” Shawn looked down over the railing to watch dog-sized dragons dive into the water and surface with fish. It was a regular feeding frenzy as oceanic predators had forced a school of fish up close to the surface. “We were also bred to hate aliens.”

“And now you are the alien,” Aradia smirked. “Is self-loathing in your genetics?”

Shawn laughed and shook his head. He watched a shuttle pass overhead and land on the deck of the ship. “We’ll want to inspect the shipping containers before we relocate them. Don’t want to introduce any invasive species.”

“Of course not. There’s already one there.”

Shawn grinned. “I’ll miss your humor, Aradia.”

Aradia closed her displays down. “I will need you to update the profiles of the board members when you return. Knowing their psychological makeup will speed up the rehabilitation process.”

“Can you really do to them what you did for us? They run the Order.”

“Removing the implants is the hardest part. Each one will then receive custom care to introduce them to our culture and to the deception of their circumstances. When we are done, they will answer to you.” Aradia stood up and pressed her hand on a shipping container, trying to shift it to line up with the rest. It dented easily. She shook her head. “Your technology is amazingly flimsy.”

“I would much rather have a few of yours.” Shawn pointed to other massive containers on the ship’s deck. “Self-propelled? I hear the stuff you have in space is even more robust.”

“That would hardly fit in with the illusion we are attempting to create,” Aradia said as she opened the door of the container and removed the dent with her palm. “I am amazed that your species has become as prolific as it has with such crude technology.”

“We haven’t been around for a hundred thousand years yet. Give us time,” Shawn said. He sighed. “I don’t want us to be Forbidden anymore.”

“That is not our choice.” Aradia crossed her arms. A massive Teles’trike dragon landed on one of the shipping containers to consume one of the smaller dragons.

Shawn held his arms towards it. “We don’t have anything comparable.”

“Not anymore.” Aradia looked up at the massive creature. It eyed them warily as it finished off its meal, then took to the air with a massive gust that nearly knocked Shawn over.

“I want to see Steven before we leave.” Shawn stepped to the side as one of his men carried chains into one of the shipping containers.

Aradia scowled at him. “Such a meeting is not advisable.”

“Hey, if it wasn’t for him and his albino friend exposing Katy, we would not be having this discussion.” Shawn crossed his arms, obstinate.

“Indeed. You would still be at the mercy of a little Elf girl bringing you flowers.”

Shawn grinned. “She was cute.” He rubbed his temple. “We have been obsessed with him. As if he was the only way we could engineer ourselves to be able to fight you.”

“I trust you know that is futile, right?”

“My people are expertly resourceful. Our mantra is that nothing is futility,” Shawn grinned proudly. Aradia leveled a cool glare at him, but he stood his ground.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Aradia said, noncommittal.

“Hey, we’re going back to Terra to redirect the Order against the actual enemy. Humor me, at least.”

“I said I’ll see what I can do.” Aradia glared at him.

“Okay. At least stress on him the importance of not going after Jacob. Or Laurence. Just back off and leave them to me.” Shawn crossed his arms.

“I am aware of the mission parameters. He will be informed.” She looked past him. “She’s here. Get your men ready.”

Shawn looked over his shoulder. A young woman with colorful tattoos and straight, black hair looked around, appearing a little lost. She held a large satchel in front of her. “Over here. You’re the dentist?”

“That is Angela. One of Steven’s rescues from Terra.” Aradia said dryly.

“He does seem to collect people.” Shawn smirked.

Angela smiled, ignoring their conversation. “I’m here to make your teeth look bad.”

Shawn grinned. “Good luck.”

“Several months at sea with little hygienic care and a spotty diet. You know the purpose,” Aradia said as Shawn walked over to the closest shipping container.

“Blah, blah, blah. It’s not permanent, is it?” He glanced at Angela. She shook her head. He nodded. “We’ll set up shop in here then. How long do you think it will take?”

“A little less than a week to get all of your men,” Angela said as she put her bag down by the door of the container.

“Well. Let’s get the ball rolling. Make our pearly whites look muddy brown,” Shawn grinned as he sat on a box. He squinted. “That’s not a tattoo, is it?”

Angela looked at her arm. “No. That one is a birthmark. My twin brother has one too. Identical.”

Shawn looked at her thoughtfully. Angela fidgeted as she finished getting her gear ready. “What?”

“Oh, nothing. Angela Lee, right? Your brother is Dirk?”

Angela stood up, looking at him curiously.

Shawn nodded to her other tattoos. A change in topic might be in order. “Going native, much?”

“I like how the Selkies look. How did you know my full name? And my brother’s?”

Shawn shrugged. “Well, we’ve been here for a few months. Must have picked it up somewhere.”

Angela looked at Aradia then at Shawn, frowning. “Right. That must be it.” She pulled out a mouthpiece and looked at Shawn expectantly. He opened his mouth and she placed the device over his teeth. She leaned close to him as the device activated. “If you guys have been crapping on me and my brother all these years, you may lose more than your teeth.” Angela glared at Shawn angrily. Shawn tried to look innocent.

~ ~ ~

Lohet looked out of the limousine window as they passed through the gates of the meeting location. He glanced at the burly guard that served as his escort. The guard did not return his glance. Shaking his head, he looked forward as the car pulled into a garage that was flanked by a squad of heavily armed soldiers. Lohet deduced it was a military compound, but wasn’t sure what its purpose was.

“Sir.” The guard opened the door and stepped out, waiting for him. Lohet followed him out and stood up, appraising the scene. Another limousine was parked on the other side of the garage.

“This way, sir.” The guard curtly motioned him to follow.

Lohet glanced impassively at the heavy contingent of soldiers standing by the entrance into the adjoining office complex as they walked by. He could sense their nervousness.

The halls were immaculate. Floors that gleamed under Lohet’s feet, portraits on the wall of various commanders and politicians, and the smell of cleaning solution made for a crisp ambiance. Guards stood by each door as they walked by, all heavily armed and wearing body armor. Lohet got the impression that the guards were not the normal accouterment to this particular office complex, given how sorely they stood out from the overall decor.

They finally arrived at a large office, this time guarded by a pair of black-suited individuals. One mumbled something under his breath, then nodded. The other opened the door, allowing them to enter without breaking step.

A graying man stood up from his desk and circled it, smiling broadly. “It is a pleasure to meet you again, Lohet. Did I say that right?”

“Secretary Stern, I find the clandestine nature of this meeting perplexing,” Lohet said, ignoring the attempt at small talk.

“Well, when the President wants to meet someone in secret, certain measures have to be taken.” He held his hand out to a couch.

Lohet held his arms out and his black cloak unraveled and turned to vapor that seemed to seep back into his pores, and he adjusted his utilitarian clothing. The Secretary’s eyes opened wide when he witnessed that. Lohet smirked.

“I will never get used to that,” Stern said. He looked past Lohet. “Ah, he’s here.”

Lohet turned around to see a middle-aged man walking in, carrying an air of self-importance around him. As soon as the man beheld the alien, that air vanished.

“President Seibert, may I introduce you to Commander Lohet of the Terran Division of Cooperative Defense Forces?”

“Wow. Just, wow. A pleasure, I’m sure,” Seibert said holding a hand out.

Lohet took it, and the President almost flinched.

“Like shaking hands with a bronze statue.” He looked at his hand as he pulled it back.

“Our physiology does not produce surplus heat,” Lohet explained. He glanced at a photographer who was busy capturing images.

“Just ignore him. His job is to document pretty much everything I do.” Seibert leaned forward. “Sometimes I have to lock the door to the bathroom,” he grinned.

Lohet raised an eyebrow, then returned the grin politely. “I was informed that the Secretary wanted to discuss our mission in greater detail?”

“Down to business. I like that. Yes, we all wish to come to a greater understanding of the threat you have described to us,” Seibert nodded. “Given the sensitive nature of it, we decided to host the preliminary pre-discussion here.” He glanced at his photographer and nodded. The photographer captured one more image then left the room quietly.

Seibert and Stern went to neighboring chairs and looked at Lohet. He joined them, sitting down on a couch facing them.

Seibert pulled out a tablet. “I had hoped Aradia could have joined us today. Lovely gal. She’s your commander, right?”

“Yes. She is otherwise detained,” Lohet said coolly.

“No problem. This is just an informal meeting after all,” Seibert grinned. “Wow. When I was inaugurated last month, I would never have expected to actually meet…” He hesitated. “Is it okay to call you an alien? I don’t want to offend you.”

Lohet grinned. “Your terminology is sufficient.” He leaned forward. “We do not see each other as aliens, however. Just different expressions of life.”

“Profound. I’ll have to…I’m going to use that.” Seibert jotted something down on his tablet. “Different expressions of life.”

“You wished to discuss the parameters of our mission?” Lohet glanced at Stern.

“Yes. Well, more. You see, while you have kindly provided us with copious amounts of intelligence of a Sadari infiltration, the only infiltration we have actually been able to confirm is, well, yours.”

“By permission.”

“When you got caught.”

“We negotiated…”

“Yes, and what were we supposed to get in return?”

Lohet remained silent, eyeing both of them.

“Look. This doesn’t have to be an argument. We’re just discussing, right?” Seibert held his hands out. “We just want more. Something tangible. Something the people can trust.”

“What do you suggest?” Lohet asked dryly.

Seibert smiled widely. “I know you guys have frowned on it in the past, but what we are really interested in is a trade deal.”

“We do not desire…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Earth doesn’t have anything you’re really interested in.” Seibert leaned forward. “But our goodwill could go a long way, right?”

“The devastation the Sadari could bring to you…”

“Then let us be devastated. I mean, why is it your business anyway?” Seibert looked at Stern. “Right?”

“The business is that the Sadari are not interested in Terra either. You represent little more than a beachhead in their war against us.”

“And where is this invasion force?” Seibert raised his eyebrows. “Okay, listen,” he looked at his tablet, then turned it around, “this is the invasion force we have seen. Recognize it? Our F-22 pilots took a few pictures when you so graciously recovered their aircraft to… Endard? Is that what you call the planet?” He looked at the image. “Those are a lot of huge, mean looking spaceships. Just, a lot. I mean, if this got out, it would really scare the public.”

He looked up. “Oh, the images are still classified. And we didn’t mean to spy. Our aircraft take these automatically. And by the way, thank you for returning them and our pilots unharmed. We really do appreciate that.”

Lohet scowled.

“Okay, you’re not happy. I want you to be happy. I empathize with you.” Seibert held up his hands. “I want our people to empathize with you. I mean, if anything leaked out, it’s all you. We have zero to leak about the Sadari. This huge mothership you say is floating around out there. The armada of…golem ships? You can’t translate to a more creative name?” He crossed his legs and sat back. “We have invested a pretty penny auditing our own personnel and security. But, nada. We want an assurance that you are friendly.”

“We do not have an economy into which a trade deal could be inserted,” Lohet said.

“Oh, come now. Everyone has an economy. You have to eat, right? Someone grows it, someone ships it, someone cooks it, and you eat it.”

Lohet sighed. He was not interested in arguing economics with the U.S. President.

“Listen. This is just an informal talk. Normally we’d be out golfing or something. You golf?”

Lohet shook his head.

“Try it sometime. But no, really. I just wanted to get a feel for you. And wanted to share our concerns. I like you. I look at you and see someone I can respect.” The President pursed his lips. “You know what would really help? You know, get this discussion moving in a positive direction?”

Lohet looked at him expectantly.

“A good old fashioned field trip.” Seibert held his hands up. “A tour. You can do that, right? I’ll get some delegates together, send them with you and you show them around. Let them see your society, talk to your people.” He looked at the Secretary. “That’d be a good ice-breaker, right?”

The Secretary nodded.

Lohet looked down, thoughtful. The cooperation of the Terrans was preferable to antagonism. “Our mission is global, Mr. President,” Lohet said slowly. He looked back up. “It’s not a U.S. mission.”

“You guys are on U.S. soil. Right?” Seibert uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “But I get what you’re saying. I really do. And it just so happens that several of my global peers have expressed the same interest. What if I collected together an international party of delegates for the tour? Would you consider it then?”

Lohet sighed, leaning back. He knew the tour was nothing more than a pretense to gauge market opportunities. But conflict with Terrans would confound their mission against the Sadari. He rubbed his brow. He was a Chaser, not a politician. Hunting and killing deviants and golems was so much easier than this.

~ ~ ~

Steven ate his breakfast in silence. All of the other Elves at the table were subdued, barely whispering. It was a stark contrast to what Steven had been used to. Normally meals were noisy, even boisterous. Food often flew across the table. Someone normally played one of the dizzying number of musical instruments Elves were fond of.

But now, Steven felt like he was at a funeral wake. Only a handful of Elves took food from his plate, or left morsels he would like. He scowled and left the table, most of his food uneaten. Asherah grabbed a piece of fruit and chased after him.

“Here.” She held the fruit out stubbornly.

Steven stopped and sighed. Glancing at her, he took a nibble out of the fruit while she held it. She beamed and took a bigger bite. Steven shrugged. “I’m sorry. I’m just…” He shook his head. “I can’t blame them, you know?” He looked back at the common room entrance. A couple of Elves stood there looking at them. “Because of me, they lost their hero, Orin. They lost Penipe’s tree.”

“You healed the tree.”

“Lost a Temple.”

“Which you also healed.”

“Lorei almost died.” Steven thought of her injuries and wiped his eyes, his heart aching for her. “I never meant for her to get hurt. Not like that.”

Asherah put her arm around his waist as they approached the edge of the platform. Steven stopped, looking down at the forest floor far below. But his mind was elsewhere. “Your mother got shot.”

Asherah pushed him off the edge.

She casually finished off the fruit, and licked her fingers, then jumped off after him.

“What? Where are we going?” Steven hung from a branch.

“Our tree.” Asherah swung past him without another word.

Steven had to push it to keep up as she all but flew through the trees, propelled along by compliant branches as well as her climbing expertise. “Are you angry?”

Asherah didn’t respond. They quickly passed to the outskirts of the treehouse village and arrived at a clearing created by the demise of a giant tree. In the center, a sapling grew. She dropped to the ground and circled the sapling, then sat down, facing it.

Steven dropped to the ground and walked up behind her. He looked up at the sapling, amazed at how fast it was growing.

“You’re giving me a list of all the bad things that have happened.” Asherah looked up at him. “My mother was shot because of me. I was exiled because I saved her. And I gave up hope when everything,” she stopped, wiping her eyes. “You know what that reminds me of?” She pointed at the tree.

Steven sat down next to her and folded his hands in his lap.

“You never gave up. You never stopped believing in me. You were so certain that we would be together again that you planted our seed. Our seed, Steven. You made it grow. That is hope.” She wiped her cheeks and looked at the tree. “We were so happy when we collected the seed and when we were Blessed. We were confident in the future we had.” She put her hand on her tummy. “The three of us.”

“Asherah.”

“You made this happen. Against all odds. Against all challenges. You endured because you saw us. You saw our future.” She shook her head. “You even braved the Maelstrom to find me because of that hope.”

Steven looked at his hands.

“Steven. I need you to find your hope again. Please. For us.”

“I know all that here.” Steven pointed to his head. “But this,” he put his hand over his chest, “it’s broken.” He chewed his lip as he returned his attention to the tree. “How can we raise our daughter, and give her the life she deserves, when…” He shook his head. “They’re all still afraid of me. People were hurt. Lives destroyed. Because of that fear.”

“They need time, Steven.” Asherah leaned against him. “Just keep being yourself.”

Steven laughed sadly. “When I’m myself, things get broken. Big things.”

“Yeah, but you fix them, too.” She grabbed Steven’s hand. “Don’t forget Senin. You fixed a planet, Steven. The Faeries have their home back now.”

Steven shrugged. “It didn’t…”

“Don’t you dare say it didn’t seem that hard.” Asherah squinted at him, wiping her cheek again as she shook her head. “That’s just…” She put her head on his shoulder. “It was a big thing to the Faeries.”

“I would have thought the Cooperative would have, you know, seen that and realized I’m not a monster.”

“Old prejudices take time to die, Steven,” Asherah said softly.

Crow: The Fulcrum

Chapter 3

The crate seemed to appear from nowhere in the quiet, nighttime meadow, hovering noiselessly. What appeared to be a young girl sat on it, as if piloting it, while a brilliantly white man pushed carefully from behind the crate. She pointed, and the course was corrected.

They approached what appeared like a tree with a massively bloated trunk. There was an entrance in the trunk, exposing a modest cavity large enough for them to enter. A man leaned on the entrance, moving out of the way as the crate was pushed into the cavity. The girl gave the man a coquettish glance as they passed by.

“Antigrav module malfunctioning?” The voice seemed to emanate from the shadows within the tree. A cloaked figure stepped into the bright moonlight and held his arms out. The blackness around him seemed to evaporate into a thick vapor that exposed another brilliantly white man.

“I didn’t wait for the module to be attached.” The girl giggled and jumped off, keeping her hand on the crate.

“Sirel, another Faerie could have brought this.” He leaned over and looked at the crate as it settled to the ground. With a wave of the hand, the cover retracted, exposing several rows of black orbs hovering within.

Sirel patted the crate as she smiled sweetly at him. “I know, Lohet. I did not want to wait. These are the latest developments.”

Lohet waved his hand over the crate. A glowing interface seemed to appear around it. “They’re already powered up.”

Sirel walked by Lohet, poking him as she did. Electric sparks danced over his skin and he scowled at her as she moved one of the glowing displays.

“I had them pre-initialized.” She glanced at the entrance as the other man shifted and approached the crate.

“We really need this here,” he said pointing at the crate. “Those probes. Antigrav. Other…stuff.”

Sirel grinned. “It is only a matter of time, Bob. If you guys would just stop quibbling over,” she furrowed her eyebrows, “intellectual rights?” She looked at Lohet but he just shrugged.

“You do know that Eyes Open has gone out of its way to ensure you guys can work without interference, right?” Bob put his hands in his pockets. “A little quid pro quo wouldn’t hurt.”

“You may want to have a discussion with your new president, then,” Lohet grumbled as he pulled up displays to examine diagnostic information about the probes resting in the crate.

“Well, it is a continuing job.” Bob grinned. “Someone new to break in every four years. We have a guy in there. But, humoring Seibert with a tour wouldn’t be all that hard, right?”

“You know about that?” Lohet raised an eyebrow, glancing at him.

Bob shrugged. “We have people. Actually, I sent Roland to work the White House. You know, since you guys didn’t end up killing him.”

“He was perfectly safe, Bob,” Lohet said. “As were Lynda and Melissa.”

“Yeah, Melissa is still recovering. Lynda is pining for Steven and is next to useless. We had to send them both back to Sanctuary for more treatment,” Bob scowled.

“Steven did everything he could to help them, and you know it.” Sirel shot him an angry look. Little sparks of lightning shot off her skin into the tree around her, leaving tiny, smoking black spots. “And while we are casting blame, you did have a Venda working for you, who had access to Steven.”

Bob held his hands up. “He’s gone. Missing. And we’ll let you know if we find him.”

“The diagnostics check out.” Lohet waved his hands in the air to close the displays and pulled up a control display. Sirel pulled up a mission parameter display and readied the sensors.

“So, just how do these get up there?” Bob walked around the crate, looking at the probes. They were elongated, black orbs with no distinguishing marks on the exterior. He put his hand on one, then pulled it back sharply. “It’s cold. And vibrating.”

Lohet squinted at where he touched and wiped it with a cloth. “The skin serves as the camera, which includes infrared.” He stood back up. “The vibrating you felt is not from the probe, but from space around it.”

Bob raised his eyebrows as he looked at his hand. He shined his flashlight on it to make sure there was no frostbite. “I have people who would love to spend some time with your engineers.”

Lohet grinned. “As Sirel pointed out, we would be peers if…”

“Oh don’t give me that. You guys have had, what, a hundred thousand years to develop this?”

“Be that as it may…”

“Can we launch these please?” Sirel looked at them through their holographic display. “Lohet wants proof to appease your president.”

Lohet scowled at her, but returned his attention to his work. Sirel had programmed the search vectors while Lohet finished his inspection. “The sensors have been upgraded to detect the cloaking?” Lohet looked at Sirel.

Sirel nodded. “It’s not perfect, but much better than what you had in the gunship.”

Lohet looked at her sourly. “We still managed to destroy the golem-ships we were chasing.”

The Faerie just giggled as she returned to her screens. All of the probes levitated out of the crate and took up equidistant positions in the hanger. Bob moved out of the way as one bumped him.

A huge wolfman walked in and put a pack on the ground. He looked at them, giving them a toothy grunt.

Lohet glanced at him. “Migalo. We’re ready for a perimeter check.”

From the pack Migalo removed several scanners and walked outside to place them around the perimeter of the launch site. Lohet followed him out to supervise. Launching at night made it easier for them to see wayward intruders. Though they could already sense any life form in the forest for miles around, golems were notoriously difficult to detect even without their cloaking. At night it was easier to isolate their energy signature. Another Keratian grabbed the rest out of the pack and followed them out out to finish securing the launch site.

Migalo returned to stand in the entrance, and looked at the probes. He looked around as Lohet followed him back in “The area is clear,” Migalo grumbled. He grunted. “Steven is not helping?”

Lohet looked at him. “It is better that he stay away from Terra as much as possible for a while. Especially when we are sending probes up into Sadari occupied space.”

“He is not going to like that, Lohet,” Migalo snarled.

Lohet looked at him. “The longer I can keep him and the other Elves away, the better it will be for all of us. He’s just too vulnerable.”

Migalo growled. “I don’t want to be around when he finds out.” He looked at Lohet. “I really don’t want to be around when Penipe finds out.”

“I can’t tell them everything because of their connection to Steven. But I know they would understand. Aradia has tasks to keep him busy and away from here.” He looked up at the sky. “I just hope the change happens quickly.”

Migalo followed his gaze. The sky was clear, and out there in the mountains the stars were brilliant. “I hope you’re right, Lohet. It’s a big gamble putting everything on the shoulders of that kid.”

“Change?” Bob walked over to them. He looked up at Migalo who stood up straight, towering over him. He tried his best not to show his fear of the massive wolfman.

“We are expecting a sort of metamorphosis with the kid that will render him infinitely more powerful and…” Lohet hesitated.

“So he’ll be an even bigger problem to deal with?”

“Has he been a problem?” Migalo grumbled as he slouched back down. “Last I saw, it was others that were being the problem.”

Bob looked down, shaking his head. “It is one thing having people with guns and bombs. But he can already do…” He sighed and looked up. “He even moved the Moon. Its orbit is a mile closer now.”

“You have lived with the threat of global destruction from your nuclear weapons just fine. I think you’ll be okay,” Sirel giggled. “We need to get this started.”

Lohet nodded. He looked into the tree-hanger. “Status?”

“Vectors are programmed in,” Sirel said. She moved a graphical representation of the solar system around until they were looking at just Terra. “There’s a lot of junk out there, however. The Terrans have been very messy.” She shook her head as she reset the planned trajectory for a couple of the probes. “You almost have to do that on purpose.”

“I would suspect the Sadari, except the Terrans haven’t been any better on the ground,” Lohet said, looking at Bob sideways. Sirel nodded as she stepped back. The drones silently departed the dwelling and she followed them outside and watched as they disappeared into the darkness. She pulled up displays for each of them and observed as they rapidly ascended into space. Bob leaned over to see them better.

Suddenly, with a bright flash, each of the displays went dark two or three at a time. In seconds, the entire flock of drones was out of contact. Lohet shook his head as he tried to pull up telemetry on each one. “They’re gone. We don’t have anything.”

“They didn’t have time to collect much data. But we do have this.” Sirel pointed to a replay of a video, slowed down significantly. Just before the flash they saw a Sadari golem-ship. That class of spacecraft looked like a large flying crab that had no pilots, but rather were golems in their own right.

“Send the rest of the stream back to Endard for analysis. Perhaps one captured a look at the mothership before it was destroyed,” Lohet said, frowning. He looked up at the night sky. “We need eyes up there before we send up our gunships.”

“The Terrans send spacecraft up there routinely,” Sirel said, grinning as she winked at Bob.

Bob opened his mouth to respond, but shut it. He shook his head after a moment. “If you try to use our launches, you could make them targets.” He looked up. “We’d be blind.”

“You realize that the only reason why they are allowed up there is that they’re using commodity chips. Not your own.”

“We don’t have radiation shielded chips in our fab yet. We’re supposed to produce prototypes this year.” He looked up. “They’d suffer the same fate?”

“The Sadari will not tolerate anything up there that they cannot control or hide from,” Lohet sighed as he looked down. “We need a list of pending launches. The sooner, the better.”

Bob nodded. “We actually keep a global list. I’ll get that forwarded to you. What do you plan on doing?”

“They’ll have an additional passenger.” He looked at Sirel. “Get with the Ordan and develop micro-probes we can attach to their launch vehicles.” Lohet looked back up at the sky. He suspected the Ordan already had something they could use.

Sirel giggled. “They’re already preparing a package for us.” She liked anticipating the next step and pleasing Lohet. She flew out across the meadow and disappeared as the gate transported her to Endard.

Lohet looked back into the sky. “No reprisals. They are very confident in their position.”

“That could work to our advantage,” Migalo grumbled as he followed Lohet’s gaze.

“Reprisals?” Bob looked up nervously. He had not considered that.

Lohet looked sideways at him then returned his gaze to the heavens. “They have enough arsenal to reduce the surface of this planet to lifeless dust and rubble. I was expecting a strike on our position.”

“And we’re just standing here?” Bob looked around.

“We have a pair of gunships cloaked overhead,” Lohet grinned.

“We’re inviting war with them,” Bob said, exasperated.

“There is already war, Bob,” Migalo grumbled.

“Sirel will need to bring in a team to deploy the new probes,” Lohet said, thinking out loud. Migalo nodded.

“More Faeries here. Great. You know they like to zap me just to watch my fur puff out,” Migalo growled.

“I think the look becomes you, Migalo.” Lohet looked at him sideways.

“Makes me look like a Broman before shearing,” Migalo snarled, but he couldn’t help but grin, too.

Bob looked at the two of them, incredulous.

~ ~ ~

“Is this really necessary?” Steven held up an arm.

Enos’rel looked up at him then continued his scans. “We have extensive scans of you before the genetic transition and after the…” He hesitated.

“The golems got ahold of me and finished your job.”

“They were able to speed up the treatment significantly faster than we have found safe to do.” Enos’rel looked at the display that hung by his head then resumed his detailed scan, slowly moving a metallic wand over Steven’s body. “Now we want extensive scans to compare to that to see how months in the Maelstrom has affected you.”

“I don’t feel any different.” Steven scratched his head.

“You also had no wounds when you found yourself in the Maelstrom. However, by all indications you had severe scorching before you want in.”

“Well. Yeah. I mean, yeah. But this thing is still in my head.” Steven knocked on his skull. “The Sadari mesh. Just followed along, as if nothing changed.”

“We are well aware of that,” Enos’rel said absentmindedly as he examined his readings. He looked up, noticing Steven’s curious look. “It is integrated into your physiology. I can only surmise it returned with you because your physiology expected it to.” Enos’rel frowned as he sat back and manipulated the data, rotating the scan around to see it from different angles.

“Asherah’s scans are remarkable,” Renee said from the other side of the room. Steven looked over at the depiction of their infant, hanging in the air as both she and Asherah seemed transfixed by it. “Vanessa is impeccably healthy.”

Steven smiled as he looked at the scan of their daughter. “She’s like me, too. You know that, right?” He glanced at Enos’rel.

“There’s no genetic comparison that we have to determine that for her,” Enos’rel said as he looked at his own scans. “Like you, she’s truly unique.” He looked at Steven. “To know that she is now keeping the Maelstrom from expanding and consuming the universe.” He shook his head.

“What what? Come again?” Renee asked, perking up.

“Have you ever put a droplet of soap in a dish of greasy water?” Enos’rel continued scanning Steven. He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Even Steven’s college classes hinted at the possibility of a…what’d you call it? A cosmic phase change?”

“Really? Just how far into my nugget are you digging?” Steven scowled at him.

“We have a Librarian coming today to archive the two of you again.” Enos’rel lifted Steven’s foot to scan under his leg. “We want to gather every aspect of your experience in the Maelstrom.”

“Every?” Steven grimaced, glancing at Asherah. “You know, parts of it was like, you know. Our honeymoon.”

Enos’rel grinned. “I find that custom most curious. And the name. Honey moon.” He shook his head. “Your experience in the Maelstrom is the only thing we know about it from within.”

“Greasy water?” Renee insisted.

“Oh. Well, the Maelstrom is that droplet of soap,” Enos’rel said. “It is like part of the Fracture has come unglued.”

“We’ll get her out,” Steven said resolutely. “Vanessa has been in there for so long.” He lay back.

“You’re telling me.” Enos’rel rotated his latest scan around. “I’m getting indications that physiologically, you are many thousands of years old, Steven. As are you, Asherah.”

“Is that what that is?” Renee looked at her own scans, raising her eyebrows.

“But, I’m only four months pregnant,” Asherah protested, sitting up on her elbows.

“The quantum markers never lie, Asherah,” Enos’rel said as he spread his hands to zoom in on his scans. “This is incredible.”

“But, that means I won’t go through the change?” Steven looked at his hand. It still appeared and felt like regular flesh and fur.

“We’re having trouble nailing down just what is going to happen and when with regards to your metamorphosis.” Enos’rel sat back on his haunches. “The Elder had already gone through the change when we first discovered his deviency, but he had hid it well. I actually have seen samples from him that are regular Keratian physiology.”

“The Younger? What about her?” Steven sat up more.

“We have no personal experience with her.” Enos’rel looked at Steven thoughtfully. “I’m still…” He shook his head.

“Yeah. Kinda like if we discovered Santa Claus was real.” Steven grinned. “I would have never guessed she exists because of me.” He lay back down. “So, maybe the change has already happened? Or won’t happen?”

Enos’rel looked at him silently.

Steven glanced at him. “The last time, when it was happening, I nearly became a monster.” He remembered his latest nightmare and shuddered. “Aliya…I was the Destroyer. She said that I would…” he took in a breath and looked up at the woven ceiling of the tree house, “just wipe all of this away and make my own reality.”

“Kinda like Vanessa did in the Maelstrom,” Enos’rel said, nodding.

Steven glanced at him and noticed that he was still touching him. There was no privacy around Elves. “I think it’s even more than that. I get that Aliya is desperate for this to happen.”

“I have no answers for you, Steven. We are in discovery mode at the moment and have nothing to compare you to.”

Steven sighed. “Why are they avoiding us?” Steven looked at Enos’rel. “I haven’t seen Lorei all day yesterday or today. Or Asherah’s parents.”

Enos’rel fidgeted. “At the moment, they are indisposed.”

“We just got back from the dead. After months of being away. You would think they’d want to spend some time with us,” Steven scowled.

“I can personally attest that they earnestly want to. But they cannot. Hopefully soon.”

“What are they doing? It feels like they are muted.” Steven closed his eyes and reached out to his bond-mates.

Enos’rel opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted.

“Are you finished with the deviant?”

Steven looked around and flinched. A massive creature crouched, looking at him venomously. He appeared to be a bipedal cross between a horned lizard and a porcupine.

Enos’rel glanced up then returned to his examination. “Not quite yet, Roth’kel.”

“I have orders to bring him to the Gatekeeper Guildmaster.” He kept his glare on Steven.

“You’re, you…” Steven started then stopped. Recognition was dawning on him. “Your life-mate perished.”

“That she did, deviant,” Roth’kel grumbled menacingly.

“You’re the Or’uk that…” Steven licked his lips, glancing at Enos’rel. “Suicide by deviant.”

Roth’kel leaned forward. “The Chasers have failed in their duties. You should not be alive.”

“Back up there, Roth’kel.” Enos’rel shifted his position, as he pretended to scan part of Steven he had already scanned. “Please try not to disturb my patients while I’m working, okay?”

Roth’kel glowered as he reluctantly stepped back. He stood up and glared at Asherah. “I am not pleased you survived.”

“Pleasure to meet you, too,” Asherah quipped. “You think life-mate for life-mate is a fair result?”

“You are a Gatekeeper and have mated with this abomination,” Roth’kel nearly growled, his spines quivering noisily.

“She has been cleared, Roth’kel,” Enos’rel corrected as he continued staying between Steven and the grumpy Or’uk. “I would hope you’d trust Cooperative labs to maintain their integrity.”

Roth’kel looked out the window of the tree house, scowling. “Just finish your job, physician.”

Steven looked at Enos’rel. “What’s going on?” he thought to him.

Enos’rel shook his head. “I’m not sure even the Guild knows. Much less the Council.”

“But, it’s been four months.” Steven squinted at the Or’uk. “Last time I met him he wanted me to kill him. He wanted the Chasers to have a reason to execute me.”

His Elvish physician nodded, maintaining contact with him. Steven looked at the physician’s hand on his arm. “You know Lorei and I are bonded. You don’t have to touch me to think to me.”

Enos’rel grinned. “Yeah, but it annoys Roth´kel.” He patted Steven’s arms. “Besides, your thoughts are clearer through touch, since we are not bonded.”

Steven sobered. “What’s going to happen to us?”

Enos’rel sighed and started putting his equipment away. “Steven, your home on Syagria is secure. Senin and Endard are solidly behind you. Mor’ite is also favoring you.” He put his hand on Steven’s chest. “When you left, our discussion stopped. Now that you’re back, there are more who favor you than are against you. Please be patient.”

Steven looked at the Or’uk who returned his gaze with unveiled contempt. “Patience may not be the challenge, Enos’rel.”

Crow: The Fulcrum

Chapter 4

“Dirk?” Angela peeked into the common room of a smaller tree house. It was cluttered and filled with art and art supplies.

“Angela!” Sarah peeked out from behind a painting. She grinned as she waved her brush. “You haven’t visited with Steven yet, have you?”

Angela raised her eyebrows. “Well, I’ve been busy.” Not entirely true. She was hesitant to face him just yet.

Sarah seemed to divine that little fact. “It would be good for him to reconnect with all of his friends. I know he’s fond of you.”

“Then why did he leave?” Angela retorted sharply. She sighed and looked down. “I’m just looking for Dirk.

Sarah looked at her for a moment, then nodded towards a corner of the room. Dirk was standing with his back to them while half dancing and preparing artwork for the next show.

“He’s playing his music again?” Angela tried not to smirk. Using Cooperative technology to funnel music directly into the brain rather than using headphones or speakers has been an obsession of Dirk for the past several months. She poked him in the back and he jumped, looking around.

“Angela!” Dirk yelled.

Angela just crossed her arms.

Dirk blinked and looked up in the air in front of him and adjusted a control only he could see. “Sorry.” He grinned.

“You know, overstimulating your neurons can be as bad as playing your headphones too loud.”

“Not. Fa’rin said it was fine.” He pointed to the Elf artist who was stacking the paintings near the entrance. “Gonna have a big show on Tannis Keep. Coming?”

Angela shrugged. She looked around, suddenly unsure how to broach the subject that was bothering her.

“You haven’t seen them yet?” Dirk crossed his arms, nodding. “It was kinda messy, how they left things.”

“They shipped you away too. Internment camps in the Cooperative? Tried to round the rest of us up,” Angela scowled, looking down.

“Yeah, but that was Orin’s crowd. Maran got us back and smoothed things over for us,” Dirk said. He looked down. It was still scary for him, having entire worlds not trusting him because he was Terran. “I’ve still been keeping to the friendly worlds, but I’m sure the rest will come around.”

Angela shrugged. “I’ve been working on several of those that voted for internment. They’ve been polite enough.” She pursed her lips, considering abandoning her question.

“Sis, you’re my twin. Something else is bothering you and I know it.” Dirk squinted at her.

“Do you remember when Daddy died, how he died?”

Dirk looked at her for a long moment. “I thought you were better.”

Angela shook her head. “No. I just, he died of cardiac arrest. Right?”

“There was nothing we could have done, Angela. The EMT’s were not even able to…” He sighed. “He’s gone. But he wouldn’t want us beating ourselves up over it.”

“No. That’s not it.” Angela lifted Dirk’s arm. “Our birthmark isn’t real.”

“What?” Dirk looked at it and held his arm up in the light streaming through the window. “You of all people should be able to tell the difference between this and a tattoo, Angela.” He squinted at it, then looked at hers.

“I had a scan done. It is a tattoo. Sort of.” She looked at hers. “It’s actually like the new tattoos I got on Endard. The pigment in the cells and the genetics were altered.”

“No way!” Dirk rubbed his birthmark. “You mean we weren’t born with these?”

Angela looked at his birthmark thoughtfully then sighed. “I met someone.”

“Someone Ted’rel has to worry about?” Dirk smirked. Angela just glared at him.

“One of the Order agents. Soldiers. I don’t know what they’re called.”

Dirk raised his eyebrows, curious.

“He was their commander. But Dirk, he took one look at my birthmark and knew my name. Yours too.”

“Sure you haven’t worked on his teeth before?” Dirk grinned.

“You know I don’t forget a tooth, Dirk.” Angela looked out the window at the forests as she thought about the ramifications. “Did they tell you how Steven and Asherah got together?”

Dirk nodded. “Should be a romance action novel.”

Angela gave him a look then shook her head. “He was shot by something that gave him a heart attack.”

“Um,” Dirk stopped, not sure what else to say. “Sis, Dad was just a Wushu teacher. He and his brother were our sifus all our lives. Nick is still around.”

Angela shrugged as she looked at Dirk. “What if he didn’t just die?”

“Angela, even his best competitors loved him. Who would want to kill him?” Dirk held his hands out, exasperated.

“The Order?”

“For what? Did one of their agents lose a bet on his fight or something?” Dirk shook his head. “Please, you need to move on. This isn’t healthy.”

“But…”

“Do you have any idea how much it hurt when you left?” Dirk put his hands on his hips. “That you’d rather live on the streets than with your own brother?”

Angela looked down. “Sorry.”

“I took his loss hard too. Don’t you realize that? It wasn’t all just you. I could have really used having you around. Instead, I was all alone in his house trying to settle his estate. Even his brother dropped out.”

“Dirk.” Angela wiped her eyes. “You know I didn’t mean to. I just,” she shook her head, “if I stayed, I would have ended up joining him.”

Dirk sighed and grabbed Angela in a big embrace. “I know we all grieve differently, but don’t leave me alone again, okay? You’re all I have now.”

Angela nodded as she returned his embrace.

Dirk pulled back and wiped his nose. “Okay, I have an art show to prepare for. If you are staying, you’re helping. Grab that painting.” He pointed.

Angela wiped an eye and grinned at him. “Sure. Anything for the great Dirk.”

~ ~ ~

“Okay, bring up targeting telemetry again.” Chad focused on the paper target across the room. He poked at one of the sensor’s connected to Laurence’s skull then returned his attention to the target. “Okay, I can see it now. Sort of.” He adjusted his own helmet and squinted. “Now, activate target acquisition.”

“What power level?”

“Doesn’t make a difference for acquisition,” Chad said absentmindedly as he adjusted a control setting on his tablet and looked intently at the target. “I think mirroring is complete. I can see what you see now.”

“Yay?” Laurence glanced at him. “Can I go shoot something now?”

“I need to test the control mechanism next.” Chad looked at Laurence’s head and adjusted another sensor. “Reverse engineering this has been a real headache.”

“Literally,” Laurence sighed.

“We could always just cut it out, you know,” Chad smirked.

“I’m beginning to think that is the preferable option,” Laurence snarked. “I need to be out there trying to find Steven.”

“You know as well as I do that we’ve had eyes on the homestead for months. Not a peep.”

“He’s bailed. He’s over there now.” Laurence looked at Chad.

Chad aimed his head back at the target. “Then it is even more important to figure this out. Going over there with what we currently have would be an act of abject futility.”

“You’re making me wish I was back with the linguists,” Laurence grumbled.

“At least I let you take breaks.” Chad looked at the target.

“Only because you have to reset the equipment and examine your test results.”

Chad shrugged. “You know we’re already benefiting from this, so stop whining.”

“But I haven’t killed anyone in months.”

Chad grinned. “I’ll have someone bring you a bunny to shoot.”

“I could demonstrate the power of this weapon personally if you want.” Laurence glared at Chad.

“You’re about to,” Chad said as he focused at the target again. “Okay, I’m pulling up targeting now.”

“I see it,” Laurence said. “Bring up power level and spread controls.”

“Getting there, okay. I have that up,” Chad nodded.

“Low power burst,” Laurence said.

Chad squinted at the target. There was a brief bright flash and it poofed into smoke. Chad hit a control on his tablet and a replacement target dropped in its place. “I call that a successful test!”

Laurence grinned. “Can I go now?”

“I’m still working from your circuitry. But,” he looked at his diagnostic readouts, “at least we know what control centers are being used. Just a matter of time before we have our own circuitry.”

“Excellent. Tomorrow?”

Chad laughed as he pulled up telemetry and examined target details. “We’re starting to make some real progress finally.” He glanced at Laurence. “This will go a long way to giving us our own cerebral stimulation user interface.”

“I love it when you talk geek. Just makes my spine tingle,” Laurence smirked.

“Whispering sweet nothings in my ear again?” Chad grinned.

“What about my inability to acquire certain targets?” Laurence pulled up the administrative interface.

Chad shook his head. “We’re going to have to cross that bridge when we actually get a subject to test that on.”

“I tried to acquire Steven and it would not lock on. I had to use indirect methods to affect him.” Laurence frowned as he worked his way through the interface.

“We’ve already been over those controls. There’s not any target exclusion mechanism in any of them,” Chad said, squinting at what Laurence was working through. “There’s probably a lower level we’ve not been able to crack into yet.”

“I don’t like it. I want complete control over who I shoot,” Laurence said. “Anyone with this thing in their head is also excluded too.” Laurence patted his skull. Chad inspected and adjusted a couple of the sensor pads.

“That’s actually a very useful option. I know my team is looking into that,” Chad said thoughtfully.

“What about their computer?” Laurence scratched at one of the sensors. Chad readjusted it.

“Another team is heading that up. That is…” Chad shook his head. “Scans show it’s far more sophisticated than we have ever imagined. None of our scientists want to crack it open, so we’re trying to reverse engineer it from the outside in.”

“I could always go get another one.” Laurence nodded.

“And hunt Steven while you’re at it.” Chad grinned. “Have you seen the security of that place lately?”

Laurence looked at him. “Every day.”

“Their tech is all over that property. And they can sniff us out. We lost two plants assigned there by the military already.” Chad scowled as he played with a loose sensor.

“It was simpler when no one knew about them,” Laurence sighed. “Even the apartment in Seattle is compromised.”

“Gonna have to find a way to draw him out. Make him come to you.” Chad placed a dab of goo on the stubborn sensor and put it back on Laurence’s skull.

“I tried that. Kid nearly killed me,” Laurence said, shaking his head. “These new weapons may give us an edge, however.”

“Katy is focusing on developing them to fight the aliens. Not sure she’ll let loose of any to go after Steven,” Chad mumbled as he looked at his tablet. “Give me telemetry of the target now.”

Laurence rolled his eyes and focused on the target. Chad grinned. “I love the amount of information it provides. Even density of fibers in the paper.”

“I just need to find a weakness on that kid. Something to yank his chain.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “He seems to be partial to collecting people.”

~ ~ ~

“This is a joke, right?” Steven stomped into Orin’s old office. Maran sat at the desk looking over reports that hung in the air around him.

“Hello. Nice to see you again. You know, after you plunged into the Maelstrom,” Maran replied sarcastically as he closed down some of his screens. He looked at Steven. “You are aware that a lot of people risked their lives and well-being for you, right?”

Steven held his hands out. “Is everyone going to throw that in my face? I’ve only been back for what, three days, and,” he sighed, “you have no idea what I went through. And there was no way I wasn’t going to try. Period.”

“Diving headfirst into the Maelstrom…”

“Did you have a better idea of how to retrieve Asherah?” Steven interrupted him angrily.

Maran opened his mouth, then shut it, glaring at Steven for a long, awkward moment. “The Council was happy you left. Most of our work to get you accepted just vaporized. Now you’re suddenly back and it’s like we’re having to start over from scratch.”

“Stuff your Council!” Steven put his hands on the desk. The wood smoked where he touched it. “You can tell them that!”

“Steven.” Asherah pulled on Steven’s shirt.

“What!?” Steven turned around, fuming. He saw Sherry and Ra’esha standing at the entrance of the Temple chamber, appearing less than pleased. “Great. This day just keeps getting better.”

Steven rubbed his temples, then glared at Maran. “What was so important that you sent the one guy who hates me more than Orin to collect me?” He waved at the Or’uk who stood smugly by one of the massive skylights.

“What is so important is to have a discussion on logistics and limitations. Perhaps you need more time to cool off?” Aradia said as she entered the chamber.

“What is this? Some sort of intervention?” Steven waved at the two Councilwomen who stood by the entrance and Aradia. “Who else did you invite?”

“Steven. Please,” Asherah said quietly, putting her hand on his arm.

Steven glared at her for a brief moment, then sighed, shaking his head as he slumped. “I thought we were done with this, Asherah.” He pointed angrily at Maran. “It’s like they expected me to just leave you in there.”

“There were no easy choices…” Aradia started.

“It was easy for me!” Steven pounded his chest. “I didn’t have time to sit there and wonder if I was going to hurt someone’s feelings. Bring in a delegation to brainstorm on the different possible outcomes.” He leaned towards her, his fur steaming. “I would do it again.”

Aradia pursed her lips and glanced at Maran. “Perhaps this started wrong.”

“You think? Sending that,” Steven pointed angrily at Roth’kel, “to collect me was definitely not the best move.”

“That is your chaperone,” Maran said, crossing his arms. He glanced at Aradia.

Steven gaped, unable to process that. He looked at Asherah, then back at Maran. “My what?”

“You have a waiver on Syagria, Endard, and Senin. Legracia and Mor’ite are still voting on it.” Maran glanced at the two Councilwomen. They both nodded. “Okay, you have waivers there.” He glanced at Roth’kel. “But the conditions of that waiver requires checking in with an unbiased chaperone, and being escorted by him when you leave those worlds.”

“Unbiased? Really?” Steven was incredulous. “You’re assigning me a babysitter?”

“He was voted in. Roth’kel is actually a very fair choice.”

“He tried to commit suicide by deviant!” Steven yelled. “He wants me dead!”

“At one time I wanted you dead,” Maran said carefully. “Penipe, too. Sherry put an ax to your neck. Ra’esha voted to have Chasers execute you. Miryam nearly accomplished that, even.” Maran paused for effect. “Roth’kel was mourning the loss of his life-mate. Surely you can empathize with that?”

Steven tried to formulate a suitable response but everything he thought of fell flat. “I’m not a monster, Maran. How much more am I to suffer?”

“I would hardly consider this suffering, Steven. Our other guests all have chaperones.”

“Yeah, but their’s love them,” Steven grumbled, glaring at Roth’kel. “Mine wants to hold a magnifying glass over me like an ant in the sun.”

“A what?” Maran asked, perplexed.

“A Terran thing,” Steven sighed. “This isn’t fair, Maran. I’ve tried to do everything right and it just keeps failing. Like I’m some colossal loser.”

“Steven, please have patience. The Council will come to their senses, unless you give them reason not to. Like telling us to stuff it,” Sherry said. “We have to recover some lost ground, but it’s not as bad as it seems. You healed this Temple, after all. Every branch and leaf is alive because of what you did.”

Ra’esha approached Steven and put her arm around his waist as she tried to catch his eyes. He looked down, but she dipped down to look at him. “We suffered together, Steven. We were hunted together. We were tortured together. Both of us. Don’t think we’re not empathetic to your circumstances.”

Steven shrugged. Ra’esha grabbed his chin and pulled his face up. He finally met her gaze. Her eyes were striking. They were completely black, set on an albino face with almost translucent skin and flesh. Steven chewed his cheek as he looked at her again. “I had to try. After all I went through. We went through. I couldn’t lose her.” He wiped his nose and looked away.

“I’m not mad at you, Steven,” Raesha stated firmly. “The setback is what it is. Just something we need to deal with.”

Steven nodded, looking down. “Sorry.”

Ra’esha cocked her head.

“You know. You don’t have to stuff it.” Steven shrugged.

“Well, thank you,” Ra’esha grinned.

Steven glanced around the room then at Maran. “So, you wanted witnesses to my tantrum? Was this just something to embarrass me into submission?”

“It was determined that having some familiar and supportive people would be helpful when you were given news we forecast may not be taken well,” Aradia said.

“Chuckles over there didn’t have to come,” Steven grumbled, glancing furtively at Roth’kel.

“Introductions were necessary,” Aradia countered carefully. “He was chosen because he is not partial to you or your circumstances. The lack of bias allows him to observe you critically and provide unbiased reports.”

“You guys must really think little of me,” Steven sighed, looking down. He scratched his arm as he slumped a little.

“You are still raw and healing, Steven,” Sherry said.

“Now, you have more examinations this afternoon,” Maran interjected. “I’ll be covering the gatekeeping side of things. Then I want you to visit with Soretha.”

“Tomorrow,” Steven said, shaking his head. “Really, I need a day. Okay?”

“We want to see what changes the Maelstrom has had on your abilities. The sooner we can start, the better the results will be,” Aradia said.

“I wasn’t asking permission.” Steven scowled at her. “Tomorrow.” He looked at Roth’kel. “Is he allowed on Terra?”

Maran shook his head.

“Good. See ya.” Steven grabbed Asherah and the two of them vanished.

Crow: The Fulcrum

Chapter 5

“She could use a change of scenery,” Ryan said, gazing at Lisa who sat on her usual perch as she threw berries at the aquatic lizards down in the water far below. She had taken a liking to that particular spot on the living mangrove catwalk for some inexplicable reason.

He picked at the bark of the branch that framed their big window as he looked out at her. There was no glass in the window. The cross-breeze flowing through their woven structure felt good. He glanced over at Tessa who sat with her arms crossed, clearly not happy, and sighed. “Really. She’s been like that ever since returning from…” He hesitated.

From the dead. Tessa knew what he refused to say. Their daughter had been consumed by a plant on Legracia when she had run away trying to avoid the threatened internment of all Terrans in the Cooperative. According to her controversial benefactor, she lost her skin, eyes and other soft tissues. The Sadari had rescued her and restored her with their remarkable technology. More than restored. Lisa was closer to Cooperative human than Terran now, with all their enhanced benefits.

Why the sworn enemy of the Cooperative had rescued her was still a mystery, but Tessa was beyond thankful to have her daughter back. She could tell that Lisa was still getting used to her new eyes, skin and ears, and her new senses of taste and smell. Tessa sighed. “She’s still adjusting. If she goes back…” She shook her head. “Ryan, you know how different things are there. And now, for her.”

“Still familiar enough, I think.” Ryan pursed his lips.

“She’s still suffering from PTSD Ryan. No one gets digested by a plant, and comes out okay.” She looked at the mug on the woven table. “I’ve been giving her the tea Enos’rel prescribed and it has helped a lot. No more nightmares.”

“She’s still not quite there, honey. I don’t think the tea alone is going to do it.” He watched as a colorful Selkie guy sat down next to her. “I feel bad for him. Ker’nal hasn’t been able to pull her out of her funk yet.”

“We have the entire Cooperative, Ryan. Thousands of planets. Why does it have to be Terra?” Tessa asked uncrossing her arms. “Ker’nal can escort her anywhere in the Cooperative. A tour.”

“She keeps talking about our old home.” Ryan fiddled with the bark of the window again. “I think she wants to be somewhere familiar, Tessa. I agree. Just to give herself a chance to regain her equilibrium,” Ryan surmised. “Everything is so different here.”

“She’s got real friends here. No bodyguards. No cartels hunting us. She can go out and live life. Why go back to that?” Tessa shuddered. “For once we have a little peace. Brandon is working for the biological engineering guild, you’re working for Sherry on Legracia, I’m working for Aradia and no one is shooting at us.”

Ryan nodded. “Lisa still hasn’t found her place yet.”

“She will. Please, just a little more time.”

“I am terrified she’ll run off again, Tessa. She’ll have a bad episode and just, what if she isn’t rescued next time?”

Tessa looked at Lisa. “Please don’t go there, Ryan. We have her back. Can’t that be good enough?”

“It’s not like she’ll be far away.” Ryan crossed his arms.

“Sure. Only like a hundred galaxies away. More even,” Tessa retorted.

“No, the gating platform is right there.” He nodded to a deck in the mangrove forest that served as a mini-Temple for that village, complete with Gatekeeper monitors. “She’s just a short walk away.”

“Ryan, I’m scared, too. There are some really bad guys there.”

“And there are a lot more good guys there. Especially with the military and Eyes Open involved.”

Tessa wrapped her arms around herself as she stared at Lisa, shivering a little. Ryan sighed. “It’s not your fault, Tessa.”

Tessa looked at him, chewing her lip. He could tell she was still recovering too.

“She’ll be working on the homestead, Tessa. She’ll be safe. Plus we have our own friendly neighborhood deviant too.” He grinned. To him, Steven was still that shy but extremely intelligent boy who had befriended their son and who even tolerated a short period of time when Lisa had a crush on him. That he had powers that were beyond comprehension, the ability to cool a molten planet so that the Faeries could reoccupy their home, or create gates across the universe, just boggled his mind when he thought about it. Steven still didn’t act as if he was powerful.

“I almost lost her twice, Ryan,” Tessa said, trembling a little when she remembered how traumatized she was. “I don’t want there to be a third time.”

“We could lose her again if we don’t give her a chance to heal,” Ryan said calmly. Tessa looked down and wiped her eyes. “Just for a little while. She loves it here now. I know it. But seeing something familiar, I think that will be key to bringing her around.”

Tessa nodded. She hated it and railed against it, but Ryan was correct. Lisa needed her old home at least for a little while. “She’ll always be protected, right?”

Ryan nodded. “The best of the best are there. The Order is on the run and the Sadari really haven’t done anything.”

Tessa shrugged. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m not worried about the Sadari. They saved her after all.”

“Yeah, I’ll be sure not to spread that around,” Ryan grinned. The Cooperative was almost fanatically venomous about anything Sadari.

“We’ll never see her.” Tessa looked longingly at her daughter.

“We can see her nearly as much as now.”

“Really? Just look out the window and…”

“Do you really consider that as seeing her?” Ryan crossed his arms, glancing out at their daughter and her Selkie companion. “She can come eat with us anytime. That’s about as much as we see her anyway.” He pursed his lips. “Maybe come spend the weekends here.”

“There are no weekends here, Ryan,” Tessa said quietly as she looked down.

“You know what I mean.”

Tessa sighed, shaking her head. Ryan put his arm around Tessa’s waist and pulled her close. “We can visit her often, too. Our jobs don’t take up that much of our time.”

Tessa nodded. “I haven’t been to Terra in months. It would be nice to see what has changed.”

Ryan smiled. He pulled her closer and gave her a lingering kiss. “Don’t get any funny ideas, though. I kinda like it here.”

Tessa laughed. “It’s like a whole planet of Hawaii. No, I’m not leaving Endard for anything.”

~ ~ ~

“Sir. You need to check in with me to get a badge. Do you have clearance from Aradia?”

Steven raised his eyebrows and looked around, dumbfounded. “This is my home. I grew up here.”

The officer did not look convinced. Steven shook his head and held up his furry hand. “This is recent.” He pointed to a photograph on the mantle. “That’s me.”

“Mmm hmm. And I assume she’s her?” The officer pointed to a picture of Sally and looked at Asherah who was peeking timidly from behind Steven.

“Of course not!” Steven tried not to laugh. His adoptive mother was Terran. No fur. No big eyes, or canines. He sighed and rooted around in his pocket. “Wallet. Asherah?”

Asherah shook her head. Steven sighed and closed his eyes. The wallet was in his old bedroom. He opened his hand and gated the wallet to it, then opened it to show the officer. “See?” Steven held it up next to his face.

“Oh, what was I thinking? Spitting image.” The officer crossed his arms. “You’ll need clearance from Aradia. Only that will get you a badge.”

Steven opened his mouth, then shut it. His home was full of hustle and bustle as members of the military went about their business turning it into an office. “Who did this? This is my home.” Steven looked around, crestfallen.

“Syagria’s your home,” Asherah said quietly.

Steven looked back at her then slumped. “I just didn’t expect, I mean.” Steven looked around the house. “I grew up here. Ate at that table. Argued with Mom and Dad over whether I could go to Brandon’s. It’s…” Steven shook his head and sighed. “Badge. Sure. Let’s go get a badge.”

“Steven?”

Steven turned around and spied his favorite vampire-guy. A Keratian who had been his friend, antagonist, and trainer all wrapped up in one. “Lohet!”

“What are you doing here?” Lohet nodded to the officer, who walked back to sit on his desk, still waiting for that badge.

“He says we need a badge. I don’t need no stinking badge!” Steven pointed, trying not to grin.

The joke was lost on Lohet who shook his head. “Part of our agreement to be able to operate here on Terra is to maintain accountability for all our members.”

“This is my home!” Steven held his arms out. He glanced furtively at Asherah. “Was.”

“Was is accurate. Eyes Open has expanded from their mobile office and are now sharing the accommodations we have here. There was a vacancy here anyway.”

“We were only gone for four months. How long did it take? A week? I mean, even my bedroom? Was my bed still warm when you moved these people in? All my stuff is in there.”

“Stuff you were going to leave behind anyway,” Asherah said softly, looking down.

“Well, yeah. But, still. I have drawings of Lelana and Meruk in there. Of you. And even of this joker here.” Steven pointed at Lohet. Lohet looked at him coolly.

“First Contact happened a month after you entered the Maelstrom.” Lohet pursed his lips thoughtfully. “No one knew if you would be able to exit the Maelstrom, and the mission…”

“Always about the mission.” Steven crossed his arms glumly.

“You two should still be in processing.” Lohet pulled up a holographic computer screen that hung in the air in front of his face.

Steven moved it with his hand so he could see Lohet better. “You might call it processing, but it feels like interrogation.”

“The two of you entered and exited the Maelstrom. That makes you even more of a curiosity than before.” Lohet moved the screen back and opened another. “You were expected this morning.”

“Did you know they’ve assigned me a chaperone? A babysitter?” Steven held his arms out. “It’s like they don’t trust me or something. Or her! They exiled her, and now she needs a babysitter to make sure she behaves?”

Lohet sighed. “Steven, that is only temporary. We had to make certain agreements…”

“Yeah, with the majority of the Cooperative that still think I’m a monster,” Steven interrupted while crossing his arms. He glanced at Asherah. “So yeah, Syagria is supposed to be our new home. But it sure doesn’t feel like it anymore. And now…” He looked around the house. “I could just cry. This is pathetic.”

Lohet crossed his arms, looking at Steven impassively. Steven sulked. “I just want to be somewhere where no one is thinking I’m going to pop my lid or something.”

Asherah yanked on his shirt sleeve timidly. “Syagria doesn’t.”

Steven looked at his life-mate. He was now as furry as she was. Had the same large eyes. Same canines that he still kept biting his tongue with. While he had always been an Elf, he now looked it. He should feel perfectly at home on her world.

“Our world,” Asherah corrected. “Our home.”

Steven nodded. “Maybe, but it will take some time. They don’t trust me any more than G.I. Joe over there.”

“At least they’re not shooting at you anymore.” Asherah cocked her head as she played with the fur on Steven’s cheek.

Steven laughed, then covered his mouth to hide his teeth. He was still not used to people seeing his canines, much less seeing them himself. “Yeah. At least they’re not shooting at me. Everything’s just peachy now.” He looked at the door. “Mom! Can you tell these dorks that I’m really Steven?”

Sally looked around Steven at the officer then at him. “Where’s your badge?”

“Really?” Steven squinted at her.

Sally shrugged. “You’re not done back home anyway.”

“This is home!” Steven held his arms out, exasperated.

Something tweaked his senses and Steven looked at the door and saw a slight, colorful figure standing there quietly with her hands clasped over her chest. His heart jumped at the sight of her. Asherah saw her too, and she screamed as she jumped over the couch and ran to her, stopping just short of grabbing her up.

Moringa looked at Asherah while avoiding her eyes, trembling and still clearly shocked that Asherah was truly back from the dead. She reached out hesitantly and touched Asherah’s arm. Asherah sobered a little, trying to catch Moringa’s eyes. Moringa looked over at Steven and licked her lips. She was crying silently and refused to meet Asherah’s eyes. Losing her nerve, Moringa turned and ran away, leaving Asherah standing there in stunned silence.

Steven felt Asherah’s confused anguish and walked over to his life-mate to put his arm around her waist. He watched as Moringa disappeared through the gate. “It would appear that Moringa took it pretty hard.”

Asherah looked at him with moist eyes. “She wouldn’t even look at me.”

Sally shook her head and walked up next to her, putting her arm around her waist too. She looked across her at Steven, then at Asherah. “She would have followed you in and dragged you out if she could have. You know that. She is your very best friend. From what I’ve seen, she’s your soulmate. Your sister. You may need to give her time to come to grips with your death again, now that you’re back.” Sally brushed Asherah’s bangs out of her eyes.

“But, she was right here. She touched me.” Asherah put her hand on her arm where Moringa had touched. She started crying. “I felt her pain.”

Steven sighed. He had felt it through Asherah. He looked at Sally, feeling hopeless. Sally squeezed Asherah’s shoulder. “She spent a lot of time taking care of you and suffering with you, Asherah.”

Asherah looked down. “But I thought I was doomed. I thought I was hurting everyone. Surely she knew that.”

“I know she hoped for the best. She hoped for what I was trying to accomplish. I’m sorry, but you kinda took that hope away,” Steven said gently.

“Oh, Steven. What have I done?” Asherah wrung her hands as she sobbed. “I’ve hurt everyone.”

Embracing her, Steven pulled Asherah to him as she continued wringing her hands, looking off into the distance, but not seeing anything. Steven shook his head. “We’ll work it out, Asherah.”

“But you did everything you could to help me. You tried to convince me and I didn’t believe you,” Asherah said, wiping her eyes. “We’re life-mates and I didn’t believe you.”

Steven nodded. “The situation was pretty extreme, Asherah. And I’m here for you. For us. Always.”

Asherah chewed her cheek, resisting as Steven attempted to remove her guilt through their bond but knowing it was wrong of her to do so. She had yelled at Steven for not letting her help him through their bond. She continuously reminded him that they were truly one. But she was so ashamed. How could she share that with him? Let him shoulder that burden?

“Because that’s what we do,” Steven answered her thoughts. “That’s who we are. Life-mates.” He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “We share our burdens with each other and we take each other’s burdens. No matter what.”

Asherah looked down again but Steven stubbornly pulled her chin back up and she met his gaze. “No matter what,” he said firmly.

“Steven!”

Steven turned around, startled. “Bob?”

“A word.” Bob pointed towards Sarah’s old room.

“Um.” Steven glanced at Lohet. “I don’t have a badge yet.”

Bob just gave him a withering stare.

~ ~ ~

Angela looked over Ted’rel’s shoulder as he manipulated the computer interface hanging around them. He bumped her, grinning. “That one?”

“No. It’s Andrew Lee. I know that’s how they spelled it.”

“Andy Lee is pretty close.” Ted’rel kept searching through the hospital database.

“I’m pretty sure they spelled it Andrew.” She sat back, wondering why it was so hard for an advanced alien civilization to find one simple name in a barely secured hospital database.

Ted’rel shook his head. “There. But…”

Angela squinted. “It’s just a reference. Where is the entry?”

“It is like it was deleted.” Ted’rel said, looking for more references. “But, here, nothing is truly deleted.”

“It’s been over a year.” Angela scowled, frustrated at being so close and yet experiencing more futility.

“Well, we are an advanced alien civilization. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” Ted’rel looked sideways at Angela.

Only then did she realize she had her hand on his shoulder. She blushed madly, shaking her head. “Sure you don’t want me to hold your hand?”

“You can hold my hand anytime,” Ted’rel flirted as he went about recreating the database journal. “There. It points to a file.” He furrowed his furry eyebrows. “Using a binary system is very crude.”

“You’re crude,” Angela grunted.

“Only for you,” Ted’rel said as he pulled up another interface. “Oh, that was easy. The database kept its own journal log.” He raised an eyebrow. “Now, how to parse the file.”

Angela squinted. “That’s a postscript file. No, there. That’s a pdf.” She sat back. “Can you run software on those systems?”

“Can I run software, listen to you.” Ted’rel opened another data block and suddenly what looked like a version of the server interface popped up on it. Angela pointed. “Parse the file with that.”

“Hmm. Let’s see.” Ted’rel thought for a moment. Then he deftly manipulated the program so it opened the file. Quite abruptly they were looking at a report. “You guys are too easy.”

“You’re using methods your Watchers have developed.”

“Yeah. But I opened that file without any help.” Ted’rel pointed, proud.

“Yep. Click on File, Open. Big accomplishment,” Angela snarked sarcastically as she squinted.

“I’m going to please you. You just wait.” Ted’rel crossed his arms, trying to glare at her. It came off as a funny face and Angela giggled. She returned her attention to the display.

“That wasn’t what they told me.” Angela scowled as she read.

Ted’rel stared at the document. “Even with the Teacher giving me your language, that is still hard to read.”

“Takes practice,” Angela mumbled. “But half of it is, they autopsied him. Why would they autopsy him?”

Ted’rel shrugged.

Angela covered her mouth as she read the descriptions. “Oh, Daddy. What happened to you?”

Ted’rel followed her gaze. “His heart was ruptured?”

Angela sat back and wiped her eyes. “That wasn’t a heart attack. They told me it was a heart attack.”

“Oh, Angela. I feel so bad for you.” Ted’rel put his arm around her. She leaned on him as she stared at the report. “What does this mean?”

“It means I need to return to Terra. His brother needs to know.” She covered her face as she remembered that horrible day.