Published: 17 Jan 2019

Prologue

Arriving at the end of the darkened alley, I slipped into one of the numerous shadows. Even from here the stench of urine, feces, trash and something which had been dead for a while assaulted my senses. My eyes burned and my stomach twisted unpleasantly. Bile rose in the back of my throat and made me want to retch.

With a conscious effort I forced the feeling back down and scanned the alley. The lighting was sporadic at best, which offered many dark areas to hide in. I didn’t have time to think about my stomach. The rest of the attack group needed a diversion and I was it.

I pushed ahead through the stench and filth, darting from one shadow to another. I had to reach the bunker before the rest of the team got to their positions. Glancing at my chronometer showed I had only ten minutes.

I was barely eighteen and scared. My hands were shaking and I could feel the trickle of sweat as it wormed its way down the middle of my back. I had signed on to the space freighter, Alabaster, at just sixteen. They had trained me for two years now, but I had never been on a solo mission before. Yet here I was, running down this alley, full of the refuse of a pirates’ spaceport, trying to find a hidden doorway into one of their armories. I was here now because these pirates had attacked our ship, killed over half the crew and abandoned the rest to float derelict in space. It had taken almost a month to be rescued and another six to track down this scum.

We had purchased maps of this space port from a trader with a highly suspicious reputation and I had questioned their reliability. My commander had the final say though and we had paid the exorbitant price the trader wanted. I still questioned the maps but it was all we had to go on now, so I followed the route the trader had marked out for us.

After another three hundred feet, I reached the small, dead end passage where the secret back door was supposedly hidden. With my back flattened to the wall just to the side of the passage, I reviewed the techniques I had learned for breaking the door code.

After a brief pause, I took a deep steadying breath and carefully took a glance around the corner. At the end of the passage was an extra-large door, heavily fortified. I could hardly believe my eyes though. The door stood wide open back against the wall, spilling light out onto the ground. A single guard stood alone casually leaning against the wall. He was wreathed in a cloud of yellow-orange smoke.

I recognized that smoke immediately as being from a powerful hallucinogen. I couldn’t believe my luck as I watched the guard take another draw on the pipe he was holding. “I could probably walk right past this guy and he wouldn’t even see me,” I thought. “Even if he did, he’s so high he wouldn’t care anyway. ”

I heard my commander’s voice in my head again though. How many times he had drilled it in, to take no chances, I couldn’t even count. The mission was too important to screw it up and I wasn’t about to disobey orders now.

Raising my Tergain rifle to my shoulder, I settled it into its accustomed place. Slowly and silently I rounded the corner, staying in a patch of black shadow. Quickly, I sighted in on the guard and closed the weapon’s contact.

It happened so fast and quiet that I saw the guy’s head explode. A crimson spray of blood, bone and brain splattering across the wall before I could even take my eye away from the scope. What was left of the body slumped to the ground in a heap without a sound, the yellow-orange cloud still mostly hanging there in the air.

I slipped quickly down the passage and ran to the open door. Peering inside, I saw nothing but an empty hallway ending some fifty feet away. There were several doors along the hall and a double door at the end but nothing else.

“Damn! What now?” I asked myself. All I could do was to try the doors, one at a time, since the map stopped at the outside door. Moving stealthily down the hall, I began trying doors. The first door was a maintenance closet and of no use. The second was locked. I pulled out my sonic pick and used it to open the door. This one was just an office and again of no use. The third had a biometric lock. This had to be the one but how to open it.

Just as I was pondering this question, a voice called softly from the other side of the door. “That you Gregor?”

Instinctively, I made a groan I hoped would sound like the guard, now lying dead outside. “Damn it Gregor, stop foolin’ around! You know if you get caught smokin’ that crap again the general’s goin’ t’ skin you alive. You’ll be transferred outworld. If that happens, where ‘m I supposed to go, huh?”

I just groaned again, then on impulse, fumbled at the door handle like I couldn’t quite get it to work. It did the trick, the door opened slowly from the inside. I stayed quiet, just behind the door as it opened. Quickly I slung my rifle and pulled my field knife. A smallish hand wrapped the edge of the door, then a slender shoulder and head eased through hesitantly into the hall.

All at once, I slammed hard against the door, pinning the guy between the door and frame. Yanking the door open again the guy slid to his knees, dazed. I grabbed the guy by one shoulder and wrapped my arm around his neck, pressing my knife against the guy’s throat.

“One sound and you lose your head! Understood?”

The guy nodded, then unbelievably started to cry. I could feel his entire body shaking. It was then that I noticed I was holding a kid of only fourteen, maybe fifteen. His clothes were a mismatched jumble of filthy rags, obviously scrounged from the trash out in the alley. He was scrawny, nothing but skin and bones. Most likely he was either a runaway or a street urchin. Whichever it was, all he was now, was a terrified kid.

“I’ll tell you anything you want. ” He whimpered in between shuddering breaths.

“Fine with me. Where’s the armory?” I demanded. “And make it quick, I’m out of time. ”

“It’s at the bottom. ” he managed, pointing to the stairs inside the door he had come out of. I marched the kid back through the door and down three flights of stairs. There was another locked door at the bottom, but it was just a standard lock. As I pulled out my sonic pick, the kid saw what I was doing.

“It’s not locked. You won’t need that. ” he said, grabbing the door and opening it.

I stepped inside, pushing the kid in front of me. It was indeed an armory, if you could call it that. If I was 1500 years or so in the past it would have served well. Now, I just stood there, staring open mouthed at a room full of antique weapons. There were row after row of old projectile rifles, a few low yield explosives, boxes marked “Grenades”, something called a ‘Bazooka’ and various other items I couldn’t identify. There wasn’t a single blaster, zip bomb, sonic pulse gun or fusion anywhere.

“This ain’t no armory kid!” I growled, wrenching the kid around to face me. “Where are all the real weapons, the blasters, the sonics?” The kid just stared at me wide eyed for a moment. Then, of all the things the kid could have done, the kid started to laugh.

“They don’t keep that stuff here in the city. Jeez what a dope. It’d be stolen before anyone could blink. ” he said.

“There’s got to be something here. We paid a lot for the info and it said the armory was here. Now where’s it at?” I demanded, shaking the kid and pressing my knife against his throat until a trickle of blood began to ooze out.

“Boy did you get took!” he almost laughed. “There’s nothing here but offices and sleeping quarters. This is the place the big mucky mucks come to get it on with the hookers from out there. ” he said, gesturing up towards the city above us.

Now, I began to panic. I didn’t know what to do. My arms went limp and I let go of the kid. I stood there staring at all those old weapons in shock. Suddenly my commlink began to chime. I pulled it out and stared at it, not knowing what I was going to say to my commander. It continued to chime, there in my hand as everything began to blur.

Chapter 1 (Present Time)

The soft ping of the chime from the antique grandfather clock roused me from my memories. I found myself staring at the shelf of old projectile weapons that had come into the shop that morning. Again the clock chimed and drew my attention. From my work station in the office I could see the old clock at the far side of the shop. It was difficult to get a clear view though. I had to peer around and through the store’s clutter, consisting of a vast assortment of imported goods and trinkets. Here at Highlander Imports, my son Chip and I buy and sell a large collection of rare, antique and odd items, gleaned from almost every quadrant of the galaxy.

My name is Jared McFarlane. I’ve been sole proprietor at this store ever since my wife passed away. My son works hard to help out, at least as much as a ten year old boy can. We carry many things, including some exotic foods and beverages. One example being Delfin Wine. This is a product made only on one small planetoid in the Zeta sector. It’s aged exclusively in the deep swamps of Delphin 2 for over one thousand years before it’s ready to be sold. It pours thickly from the bottle to a specialized container, made with a sharp fluted edge that is use to scrape or cut across the top of the bottle. Rather than being a fermented fruit juice, it’s made from the bark of a tree and aged like cheese. Normally eaten with a dessert like cake, it’s highly intoxicating.

One special item we carry are the fluted glow worms from Braendalh. The worms live in a high mountain lake, which is thick and translucent like Jello. They’re about a foot long and about as big around as your thumb. The worms by-product is a gas that is mildly to strongly hallucinogenic, depending on which race you are. The best part about these worms is that in the dark, they emit a glowing light which pulses in a rainbow of color and ripples along their skin in varying shapes and patterns.

The store has a vast assortment of antique coins and paper bills which were used as monetary trade from a myriad of different planets and races. The collection includes a gold Double Eagle from Earth circa CE 1920 and a full set of quarters made around CE 2010 which were made to represent the then fifty United States of America.

There are also antique tables, chairs, desks, musical instruments, weapons, timepieces, vases, paintings, old books of all sorts and sizes and one of the last existing Fabergé eggs. One of the strangest items is a book that was found in a medieval crypt, which is made of and bound in, human skin. It contains a collection of Satanic verse written in human blood.

The rarest item in the store right now is a hand-woven tapestry brought out of the Orion system. It features several maps of a planet it calls ‘Gyro’. What makes it so rare is that the best research says that the planet Gyro exploded almost seven thousand years ago. All that’s left there now is a large debris field. No one knows how or why it happened.

The kids always want the Do-It-Yourself dinosaur cloning kits. They come in a choice of six different prehistoric creatures that have been genetically designed to produce a living replica that is only two feet tall. They still have to be kept in an enclosure and the parents are never thrilled to buy one.

The number one best seller in our shop are the Persian carpets. They are all hand-made back on Earth just as they have been for over three thousand years. Most of them take one to two years to complete. The largest and best can take up to three years. They’re rather expensive but in this manmade world, they sell quite well.

Through all that clutter, strewn about the store’s walls, shelves, cases, tables and floor, I could just make out the old clock’s single hand pointing at five o’clock. That’s seventeen hundred hours by Earth standard. Persephone, like all other human colonies in the ‘Sol’ system uses Earth standard date and time, even though there is no actual sunrise or sunset here.

Persephone is the fifteenth planet in the A-1 Sol, or Earth, solar system. It was discovered in CE 2565 after humans were fully mobile into space. It took that long because Persephone has such an extremely large orbit around the sun that it only comes past the rest of the planets once every 1280 years, giving rise, during some passes, to a mini ice age on Earth.

The name Persephone was taken from the Greek Goddess who was the wife of Pluto. The planet, or more appropriately, planetoid was found to be, in almost every way, an enlarged version of Pluto, as if they may once have been one planet. Even though Pluto was stripped of its status as a full-fledged planet a long time ago, it just seemed natural and obvious to go with the name.

All the facilities here on Persephone, except the spaceport and a few research platforms, were bored and cut deep beneath the surface, since the atmosphere is most definitely not conducive to human life. The Earth standard day / night and time / date cycle is used because it makes communications across the system much easier when everyone is on the same schedule.

Except for the clock’s chime, it was quiet in the store right now. As I listened to the chimes I marveled at the old clock. Some say that it’s a miracle the thing still works, while others shake their heads and can’t understand why I refuse to sell it.

The clock had been in my family for almost 1800 years now. It had been a wedding gift from some baron in Switzerland to my great, great. . . something grandfather when he married the baron’s daughter around CE 1650. I saw the old clock as a grand tribute to those ancient Swiss clock makers and I point it out to anyone who asks.

That old clock had stood in the front hall of the McFarlane castle in Scotland on Earth for several hundred years. The family had taken it with them when they left Earth and I inherited it when my father passed away in CE 3419, almost fifteen years ago.

Now it stands there in its nook, still looking as impressive as it ever did back in the old castle. However, it now has an invisible energy field around it which maintains the proper temperature and humidity levels for the old clock to function at peak performance. There’s also a high-level security field since the clock is after all, an antique and would be worth a small fortune.

To me, the monetary value of the clock made no difference though. That isn’t what keeps me from selling it. I am fiercely proud of my Scottish heritage. I have my genealogy documented all the way back to CE 947. That was as far back as reliable records could be found. Oh sure, there were a few bits and pieces beyond that but nothing that could be proven or verified.

Now I and my son Chip are the last two heirs to the McFarlane family estate. Calling it an estate is quite a stretch though. All that is left is a handful of items, the old clock being one. The rest consisted of an antique set of bagpipes and a suit of medieval armor which includes a sword, dagger, lance and shield.

The most important item though is the parchment scroll authenticating the McFarlane family title, crest, coat of arms, tartan and rights of ascension. It was signed and sealed by both the King of Scotland and the King of England in CE 1052.

The last bits of the estate we keep in a display in the front entry behind a security field, just like the old clock. The remainder of the family estate, including the castle, was deeded to the Scottish National Historical Society centuries ago. It has since become something of a popular museum and tourist site. They even hold a renaissance fair there each summer.

I officially still hold the title of ‘Lord’ but never used it, since it means nothing way out here. The title will pass to my son Chip when he comes of age but is now only a piece of family history and heritage. I’ve always found it a bit sad to know that a once great family has dwindled to just two now.

I am suddenly yanked out of my reverie by the hiss and whine of the overload mechanisms on the front door. A minor storm is blowing in, pushing the door open faster than it could handle. Typhoon Chip by name, my son burst through the front door, in too much of a hurry as usual. A glance at the clock confirmed that it was time for Chip’s return home. I knew I should scold Chip for pushing too hard on the doors but just couldn’t do so. I loved my son very much and always looked forward to his arrival each evening. I know that most fathers love their children but there has always seemed to be a special relationship and bond between Chip and myself that is stronger than normal.

Raising Chip on my own had its challenges, especially when balancing it with running the store. Modern technology has been of great help in doing so. It couldn’t do everything though. Chip was born CE September 10, 3422. Unfortunately, his mother had died of complications just ten hours later. In spite of all our advanced medical abilities, it seems there are just some things that we still can’t cure. Apparently when it’s someone’s time, no amount of medication or fancy machines can keep them here.

Even though I was devastated by the loss of my wife, I couldn’t allow it to drag me down. I had a new baby son who needed me and I needed him. Perhaps we have the bond and relationship we do because since then it has just been the two of us, and I’m happy to say that it seems we are doing just fine.

Chip was born a healthy baby boy at 5 pounds, 10 ounces and 21 inches long, and yes, as any proud papa would, I checked to see that he had all his fingers, toes, and other proper parts. From day one he proved to be bright and inquisitive and could draw you in with one look from a pair of deep sapphire blue eyes. His peach fuzz hair was a golden blond like ripened wheat in a field. Although thin and fine at first, it grew in quickly to a thick crop of flowing waviness.

Perhaps his most noticeable feature though, which nobody missed, and literally everyone commented about, were his powerful lungs. Some people used to worry about my ability to get up in the night when he needed me, but as it turned out, there was nothing to worry about. Chip was better than any alarm clock money could buy and could always make his presence known. This time was no exception as he burst into my office shouting in excitement.

“DAD. . DAD!”

“Good grief Chip, are you trying to outdo your bagpipes again? I’ve told you before, there’s no need to yell when I’m right here in the same room. Now quiet down and tell me what’s got you all worked up. ”

The first thing I saw was that Chip was still wearing his Multi-Grav uniform from his practice session he’d had right after school. This is the game for Chip, and perhaps other boys his age as well. Of course, Chip thinks he has a reputation to uphold since he is now the captain of his primary school team. Chip has been playing Multi-Grav since he was six and seems destined for great things. This is evidenced by his having already garnered the attention of several scouts from the pro team level, even though he still has both his middle and senior school years ahead of him. At this rate he can do nothing but get better, barring any unforeseen accident that is.

On the other side of the coin, Chip’s mind is as sharp as they come. He now has his eye set on applying for admittance to the Delta Vee Space Academy (∆VSA) with high hopes of continuing his sports as well. His grades are at the top of his class in every subject, so I see no problems there. Besides, he loves space and is adamantly dedicated to Earth, even though he’s only been there twice. I just haven’t had the heart to tell him that once accepted into the academy there won’t be much time or room for Multi-Grav. I once again got a reprieve as it was something to do with space he had on his mind right now.

“Okay, Okay!” he said as he quieted a little then went on. “My class at school is going on a field trip tomorrow. We’re actually going to fly right into the rings of Saturn and see the black eye storm vortex. If I want to go you have to okay this permission disk for me to take with me tomorrow. So, can I go. . . huh. . . huh. . . can I pleeeeaaasse?” he said shoving the disk into my hand.

“Weeellll. . . I don’t know. ” I said as I rolled the disk around and around on the back of my knuckles. “Tell me, are you fully up on all your studies and homework?”

“Dad! You KNOW I’m already ten points ahead of my entire class, and that I get straight A’s too!”

“What about your chores?” I asked with all the seriousness I could put into my voice and face.

With a sigh of exasperation that only a child can perfect, he replied; “Aggghh! All I’ve got left is to finish my room!”

It was all I could do just to keep a straight face and keep my voice from giving me away as I pressed on. “How about your part of the inventory logs you promised to keep up on?”

Chip just stood there staring at me in disbelief for a moment then said, “But I just did those two days ago!”

“I’m well aware of that, but we just got a new shipment in today. What about that?”

He threw up his arms, rolled his eyes, and responded, “I just barely got home! How’m I supposed to do an inventory on it when I didn’t even know the shipment was here?”

I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer, as the smile was already starting to make the corners of my mouth twitch. Summoning up the last bit of my self-control I put in one last jab. “Chip, your eleventh birthday is in ten days. You’re old enough now to be taking on more responsibility. You should have looked at the inbound log before you left for school this morning. ”

Chip fell into one of the other office chairs and groaned as any boy his age would do. I knew I had him right where I wanted him and couldn’t contain myself any longer. “If you had, you’d have seen it was all stuff on my part of the inventory anyway!” I said as a huge smile split my face from ear to ear and I laughed right out loud.

Chip looked at me in total surprise and shock as he suddenly realized I had been playing around the whole time. His face got red and he launched himself out of his chair and dove at me, nearly knocking us both to the floor. We laughed and wrestled around together for several minutes and then I finally agreed that he could go on the field trip. We shared a quick hug and as he moved back I was once again surprised by how quickly he was growing now. I also realized that my little boy was old enough to be at the beginning of the change into manhood. I had noticed the slight musky odor coming from him and his sweaty Multi-Grav uniform that he was still wearing.

“Chip, why don’t you go take a shower and toss that uniform in the sanitizer too. Oh, and by the way, I think it’s about time for you to start using a deodorizer kiddo. Okay?”

“Okay. ” He said with a small blush in his cheeks, smiling mischievously as he turned to go.

“I’ll start dinner. ” I called after him as he walked out of the office. I noticed then that my voice had suddenly become rather husky with emotion. As I hurried out to close up the store for the evening I couldn’t help but think about the realization that I was losing my little boy. I was cheered somewhat though because I could already see the fine young man he was becoming and I couldn’t have been prouder.

Later that night I stepped quietly into Chip’s room to check on him before turning in myself. He was laying there, half covered, snoring softly, with his head drooping onto his chest and the bed light still on. I saw that once again, as he has a habit of doing, my son had fallen asleep while reading and he was still clutching his data pad as it too, rested upon his chest.

As I lifted the pad gently from my son’s hand I could see that he had once again been reading ‘The Academy’, a sort of ‘who, what, where, why, and how’ all about the military Delta Vee Space Academy, which covers the last 500 years of its history. It lists all kinds of facts, stats, and figures like; best pilots, engineers, scientists, linguists, historians, medics, etc. , along with famous alumni, records set, academy staff and professors, and so forth. It also includes a list of all current entrance standards and requirements, a checklist to track one’s progress, and a complete application ready to be filled in and submitted for consideration.

It was the checklist that I now saw on the screen and Chip had been marking off his own progress. As I scanned down the list with his check marked items, I found three or four places where I placed a checkmark of my own on things I knew Chip had always been too hard on himself about.

Looking down the list once more I had to shake my head. With my additions, Chip’s list was now a full third complete. Most kids couldn’t claim that much, even at the end of their middle school years and Chip wouldn’t start his middle school until next term.

I gently pulled the covers up over Chip’s shoulders then moved over and sat in the chair at his desk. I don’t understand why, but I loved to watch him sleep. I guess in a way it’s like meditation and as I sat there in the still room my thoughts began to wander. Both thoughts and feelings chased each other around my brain as I pondered just what I will do, and what it will mean, when he does leave for the academy. I could already feel the tendrils of boredom and loneliness creeping their way into my heart, even though I knew it was still several years away.

Just then all of the swirling thoughts and feelings were driven out by the soft sound of Chips sleepy voice. “Dad? You Okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I’ve just got a lot on my mind. Go on back to sleep. ”

“I’ll stay and run the store with you if you really want me to. ”

“Don’t be silly. You go on your field trip and have lots of fun. I’ll be fine for one day. ”

“No, I don’t mean tomorrow! I mean instead of Delta Vee! I’ll give that up if you really want me to. ”

I tried to respond but for a minute no sound left my mouth as it flapped up and down looking like a fish out of water. I could hardly believe my ears and I didn’t know quite what to say. Had he somehow read my mind as I sat there deep in thought, or had I given some type of clue about how much I would really miss him when he left?

Finally I forced out a shaky whisper with the only thing I could come up with at the moment. “What in the world would make you say a thing like that?”

“Well. . . It’s just you and me here and if I leave you’ll have no one. Besides, I know you kinda hoped to turn the store over to me someday. I guess I just don’t want you to be all alone here. ”

“Now you really are being silly! No Chip, seriously, you are the most important thing in my life and I will miss you, but I would never dream of standing in your way by keeping you here. I know you’ve got your heart set on the academy and nothing would make me prouder. Do you understand that? NOTHING!

“You’ve got a brilliant future ahead of you but we’ve got seven more years together, you and I, before then. Besides you can always come back to the store when you retire from service. Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be fine! You go on back to sleep now. You’ve got a big day tomorrow. “Standing, I stepped over and placed the data pad on his night table, leaned down and kissed his cheek, then turned out the light and moved out the door.

“Night dad. ” Chip called as I left.

“Goodnight my little man. ” I returned.

Later, I lay in my own bed pondering the miracle that is my ten-year-old son. Out of the trillions of ways the genetic code could have been assembled, I had been gifted with the combination that is Chip. I knew now that there was no way it could all be just random chance, and I couldn’t even imagine what I would do, or what I would have been, without him. The Mother Goddess had truly smiled on my wife and I when Chip was created. I sorely wished his mother could have lived to see him now.

I dozed off with these thoughts flying through my heart and mind. Sometime in the night I awoke with a jerk, having dreamed of seeing Chip standing with his mother, while a radiant female form wrapped her arms about the shoulders of them both and walked away from me, leaving me in a void of blackness like obsidian through which I couldn’t see, move, or even breath.

There ya go! A New Author with a New Story. We hope that you enjoy this story. You may wish to let Jared know by emailing him at: Jared at CastleRoland dot Net