Vai

I logged off the ansible to a metal finger tapping my shoulder. I was still on my bed - still had my okulus over my head.

My father spied on me again. It seemed to happen about once a week - usually in the evening. If he had checked earlier, he would have seen me on a restricted level sparring with the mystery girl security was after. We really needed to come up with a better system.

We could mock spar in the ansible, but it really wasn't the same, especially because the light couldn't be emulated in the ansible. The light was really what we were practicing to control - to discover.

I finally took off the okulus, mainly because Warpaint poked my shoulder with his metal finger in the exact same spot over and over and it was beginning to hurt. He stopped when I took off the okulus. I reshaped it to fit around my wrist. My volo hovered around my head.

My fingers lingered on my okulus. I had planned to call Shel immediately to try to talk him out of speaking with his mom. My father couldn't find out about any of this and I thought his mom would tell my father. I couldn't call and tell him all that with my father spying on me. Warpaint hadn't yet given me the signal that my father had stopped.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

"Are you hungry, sir?" Warpaint asked.

It was 19:34 Gathering standard time and I hadn't eaten since lunch. And I had just used a lot of energy in sparring with Esther and Owen. Luckily Warpaint didn't vocalize that part. I had convinced him that the sparring would help me protect myself if for some reason he wasn't able to. Warpaint couldn't fathom a circumstance where he couldn't guard me, but I had also convinced him if Owen died I would die of heartache. Warpaint didn't understand how that could happen either, but I had convinced him it was possible with my fine acting.

"Famished," I said.

"Is there something in particular you want from the food terminal? Mashed potatoes and steak maybe? Teriyaki chicken? Burritos?"

I tried not to roll my eyes. "It all has the aftertaste of algae anyway. It doesn't matter."

"But the initial taste is what the food is supposed to be," Warpaint offered helpfully.

He patted my shoulder. The signal my father stopped spying on me.

"Teriyaki chicken I guess," I said.

"That's a tasty choice, sir," Warpaint said. He moved towards the food terminal.

"You can't eat or taste," I said. "How do you know it's tasty?"

"Your father said, sir."

Of course he did. My okulus chirped. "Wait, Warpaint, my father is calling."

It was highly doubtful he was calling to take me out to dinner since we had only been once since I had woken up from my almost 80 years sleep, but that once wasn't that long ago. I was hopeful for real food.

Warpaint stopped where he was. I answered the call.

My father's image was projected through my volo. He was still in his lab. Not surprising. He always worked late.

"Hello, father," I said. There was a time I called him dad, but that was before my sixteenth birthday, before he stole my life away.

"Hello, son." He didn't seem to realize I called him father out of anger now. He never did. "I can take a little break from work. Want to meet me at the Starrise for dinner?"

I blinked. I had hoped the call would result in real food, but I hadn't really expected it to happen.

"Is your silence a yes or no, son."

"Yes."

"I'll meet you there." He hung up.

"Forget the algae food, Warpaint. I get real food."

"Very good, sir. I'm sure it will be even more tasty."

"Is that a new word for you or something? You've never used it before today."

"Since you enjoy being around the young ones, I thought I should research some slang, sir."

"I've never heard anyone use tasty so much," I said.

"Really, sir? Should I not use it then?"

I was probably imagining things because Warpaint was a mechatronic not a person, but I swear he felt bad.

"No, it's okay. You can keep saying it if you want to."

"Thank you, sir."

I went in the bathroom and rinsed off quickly. I hadn't taken a shower when we got through with sparring because of Shel's call and I wasn't about to meet my father when I smelled. Better to be late than stinky.

My father waited at the entrance of the Starrise when I arrived. He looked me over, but didn't say anything. We were seated by one of the large windows. The stars phased in and out, streaked as the ship continued its multiple jumps through FTL.

I saw Spencer towards the back arguing with his mom. He occasionally pointed to our table. So did she. She placed her hands on her hips. He shook his head, but headed our way. I assumed he hadn't wanted to wait on our table, but she made him.

"Good evening," he said with his eyes solely focused on my father. "Are you ready to order, Lieutenant Commander?"

"Vai first," my father said.

Spencer slowly turned to me. To his credit, his distaste for me didn't show on his face, but I saw it in his eyes.

"Teriyaki chicken," I said.

"Very good, something to drink?"

"Strawberry juice."

Spencer turned to my father. "And you, Lieutenant Commander?"

"The same."

Spencer left us, but not before I saw him roll his eyes behind my father's back. I really didn't like Spencer.

"Lieutenant Commander Ma'amaloa." I didn't have to look up to see who it was. Her presence was as forceful as her job title.

"Captain," my father greeted.

"It's good to see you out with your son," she said. She came around so she stood at the side of our table instead of behind me. She wore her captain's uniform. I had never seen her in anything but her captain's uniform. Warpaint shifted slightly as he stood at the other side of the table. He knew the Corruption was inside her just as I did, but she wasn't threatening me and he couldn't move against her. I didn't think he liked her so close to me though.

"Though I've often thought humans are a little too soft with their children," she said. "By the time I was his age I flew kill-missions over the most dangerous bandian uprising for generations."

"We're all part of the same Gathering," I mumbled.

"What? Speak up," she said.

My father frowned at me and gave me that look that I shouldn't continue.

I purposely turned away from him and looked the captain directly in the eyes. "Gathering education is all the same whether your Bundu-Jo, Starwatcher, Human or K'thaktra. How could you have been flying kill-missions at my age?"

She met my gaze easily. There was no sign of the pink I had seen weeks before. Nothing in her stance to indicate the Corruption that was inside her. "I was in the accelerated program. I graduated school when I was 15. What about you? Would you qualify for the accelerated program or have you been babied so much like other humans that you would crumble under the pressure."

That did not make my father happy. He stood to his full height. Taller than me. Much taller than Captain Axa. "Just because I chose to homeschool him doesn't mean he wasn't offered into the accelerated program." He lied so easily.

My father was an intimidating man. Captain Axa wasn't intimidated. She didn't move, didn't hunch, didn't look away from my father's gaze.

"I made the wrong assumptions then," she said. "Of course it is the parent's choice to keep their child instead of sending them to the accelerated program. Even if that is a choice I can't understand. Captain Svolun of the G.E.V. Armstar decided to keep his son with him when the offer came through from the accelerated program. I still don't understand why a Bundu-Jo in particular would decline such an offer."

Shel could have been in the accelerated program? I wondered if Minmin had also received an offer. As far as I could tell, they were on par with each other.

My father sat. "It is all right. Don't think too much of it. I've already forgotten that you almost insulted my son."

Her blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but other than that she gave no indication that my father's words bothered her.

"You'll be on the bridge tomorrow to oversee the readings of the Berian moons." It was a statement not a question from Captain Axa.

"Yes," my father said. He lowered his eyes slightly as if just realizing she was captain and he was a lieutenant commander.

"Captain Axa." Spencer's mother put two glasses of strawberry juice on our table. She greeted the captain with a smile and warmth in her voice.

Captain Axa smiled when she saw Spencer's mother. I didn't think the captain was capable of a smile.

"Hello, Adi," the captain greeted.

"Lieutenant Commander Ma'amaloa," she greeted my father with the same warmth.

He smiled like Captain Axa had and I suddenly wondered what it was about Spencer's mom that she could get people who rarely smiled to smile so easily.

"You must be Vai Ma'amaloa." She turned to face me and the captain. Her back was now facing my dad.

"Yes," I said. I smiled, but it felt all twisted and awkward on my face like my face had never smiled before. I wondered what evils Spencer had told her about me and my friends.

"Your father speaks highly of you," she said. That surprised me.

"He comes in everyday to eat," she said. "Usually at odd hours. He is proud of you, even if he won't admit it."

"I think that's enough, Adi," my father said.

She smiled as if my father amused her instead of being frightening.

"And of course, it is great to have you captain. Have you been seated yet? I could offer you a small table if you'd like."

And there it was. The pink glint in her eyes and my heart tumbled down. Spencer's mom - this nice woman who could make even my father and the captain smile - had the Corruption. We had to kill her. I couldn't pretend this one didn't have a family. I couldn't pretend this one was evil.