Vai

I opened the recording Owen sent me. It was night on Mars. The volo that had recorded this had filmed it in night vision so everything had a strange grayish tint. The volo hovered near the front of the house, behind a tree. It had a clear view of what was happening in front of my house.

Two Humans, one male, one female, were standing in front of the house, dressed in full combat armor, holding huge machine rifles at the ready. I looked for any kind of identifying insignia, but didn’t see any. Something seemed off about them. I couldn’t quite say what.

Behind them, more men and women, these in nondescript jumpsuits, were loading our belongings into four black vans that floated above the clover.

"What the hell…" I muttered.

I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know who those people were. There was a lot of weirdness going on here. I already knew that. It’s not normal to wake up with your father shaking your shoulder, telling you he’s just accepted a position with the Exploration Fleet and he bought a mechatronic bodyguard for you.

For that matter, it’s also not normal to go to sleep the night of your 16th birthday, and wake up 80 years later, locked in your room, and the light is different, and the air smells different, and your father’s voice is coming over your okulus telling you, Son? Try not to freak out. He has to explain some things now that you may find upsetting…

So. Was someone after him? Us?

Yet, that seemed strange. Why run? Why not report whatever was going on to the authorities? Obviously, these people outside my house were not the authorities. If they had been, their vans would have been marked—their uniforms would carry insignia. And if the authorities were after my father, we wouldn’t be able to set foot on an Exploration Fleet starship with the old man as the Chief Science Officer, happily using our own actual credentials.

So were these people who were after us beyond the grasp of the authorities? Somehow?

These people stomped in and out of my house. I zoomed in. Now they were carrying out some kind of electronic equipment that I didn’t recognize: beige boxes from which tangled messes of multicolored wires protruded. The wires were dragging carelessly across the yard.

The armored woman turned to look over her shoulder at the tree.

The video ended there.

I tried - and not for the first time - to connect to the news on Mars, but my father's reprogramming of my okulus was complete. I couldn't contact anyone on Mars or gather information about the happenings on Mars, not even if I tried to get it through news from Earth.

"Warpaint," I said. I rested on my bed and curled into my pillow.

"Yes, sir?"

He stirred from his usual place in the back right corner of my room and came to stand by my bed.

"Why did my father think I needed a bodyguard?"

"You're so very old and frail, sir."

"No," I sat up. "Something happened. I was awake on Mars for almost a year before he decided I needed a bodyguard. You're not programmed to watch out for anything specific? A specific group of people? A syndicate? A government?"

"No. Nothing like that, sir. Just your safety." Why did my father have to be so damn clever?

I picked at my pant leg until a small groove formed around my knee. I let out a sigh and straightened the pants.

"What about zek?"

"What about it, sir? It was all destroyed long ago."

"No. In the tailor shop...Nevermind." I had forgotten my father had commanded Warpaint to erase his memories.

I couldn't ask my father about the house. Then he'd know I'd been looking into Mars and would put even more restrictions on my okulus.

"Warpaint."

"Yes, sir."

"What if someone were to steal something important from our house back on Mars while we're gone? Shouldn't father have someone look out just in case?"

"There isn't anything there important to steal." Warpaint said it matter-of-factly. Like he knew something. I stood up and faced him. He was taller than me even though I was tall. He was painted white, which was rare for a mechatronic. And even more rare were the red lines that ran along his metal frame.

"But I saw it on the video that was sent to me. People were taking things out of the house. It looked like important equipment."

Warpaint shook his head. "You're father had everything that was classified and important moved from the house weeks before you came aboard the Shadow."

"He did?" I thought back to the few weeks before I left. Father had left earlier to come on board the Shadow. I hadn't seen him move out any equipment. The only thing he took with him was his suitcase. "But I didn't see him move anything. I didn't see any movers?"

"Of course not," Warpaint said. "You were asleep."

A surge of panic and anger washed through me. Asleep. Warpaint hadn't meant my 80 years sleep, but I guessed sleep was a sensitive topic for me since then. And my father knew that. Yet it seemed he still hid things from me while I slept.

"He had all the important things moved out of the house while I was asleep?"

Warpaint nodded. "He didn't want you to know."

"If he didn't want me to know, then why are you telling me?"

"He told me I couldn't bring it up. He didn't say I couldn't tell you if you asked."

A flaw. Finally. I guess that was how distressed my father had been at the moment that he hadn't thought of this scenario. So. My father had everything important, secret, removed from the house already. As if he had expected this to happen. What wasn't he telling me? And what about the zek? And Thrissko? Why was zek kept quiet when it was obviously out in some form? It was supposed to have been destroyed.

"What else did my father tell you to keep from me?"

"Nothing that I can think of sir," Warpaint said. But his programming would work that way. He wouldn't know until I brought it up, but I didn't know what he was keeping from me to bring it up.

*

I woke up with my father shaking my shoulder. He towered over my bed. Warpaint was beside him. Father was still in his uniform.

"Did you just get back?" I asked. I looked at my okulus and saw that it was just past 1 a.m.

"You're not going," he said.

"What do you mean? Not going where?"

"You're not going on the school trip."

I sat up in bed as the roiling anger surged from my stomach to the rest of me. I was reminded once again why he was now my father and no longer my dad. I stood up to face him. He was still taller than me. Would probably always be taller than me, but I stretched to my full height.

"You have to let me go. All the students are going. It will be obvious I'm not there. It's for school. When else will I get an opportunity like this? The Brist aliens aren't usually so open to strangers. Warpaint will go with me." I realized I was rambling, but it didn't matter. I wanted to go.

"I will go with him, sir," Warpaint said.

"It doesn't matter," my father said as he took a step away from me and towards the door.

"It does matter," I blocked his path. "Warpaint will protect me. There isn't anything to worry about." Except whatever secrets my father was keeping from me, but his secrets wouldn't extend to the Brist who had nothing to do with the Gathering usually. Certainly not politics or crime.

"Nothing to worry about?" My father frowned at Warpaint. "He was with you last time and look what happened. You weren't safe. No. Not again. I won't risk it."

"Last time was a fluke."

My father stepped around me towards the door.

"Fine." I stepped in front of him again. "Last time was my fault. I told Warpaint to leave the building."

"A place you went looking for trouble," my father added. That wasn't exactly true, but now wasn't the time to argue with him.

"My fault," I reiterated. "I won't do that again. I'll stick by Warpaint's side like glue. Please, dad." I used dad instead of father on purpose. To appeal to the side of him that once loved me. I guess loved me still though it was different.

"Please," I said again and took his large hand in my own and squeezed slightly. Something I wouldn't normally even think to do.

He turned from me to face Warpaint. "You must leave communications open with me at all times."

"Of course, sir," Warpaint said.

My father turned back to me. "If I say to get back on the shuttle and back to the Shadow you must obey. No questions."

"Okay," I said.

"And I must see what your volo records when you get back," he added.

I felt my lips start to turn down. I fought the rebellious tendrils that started to rise from my chest.

"Fine," I said sounding harsher than I had intended.

"Who are the other students going with you?" My father asked as he rearranged his okulus to the size of a small screen. He tapped into the school roster.

"Owen from the Shadow," I said.

"Owen," he scrolled through the roster. "Owen Morgan?"

I shrugged. I wasn't sure what Owen's last name was.

"His mother is Elise Morgan. An engineer. His father is . . ." He tapped into something else on his okulus. "A civilian. It looks like Owen got into trouble on his last ship."

My father looked at me.

"He said he was bullied. No. He said he had some misunderstandings with another student, but wasn't bullied. I think he was bullied though. He also said he had some side money making opportunities. He's harmless though. He's my friend."

My father paused as he considered. I half expected him to tell me not to hangout with anyone, but instead he said, "Who else?" He went back to the school roster.

"Hani and Rebecca from Fallfrost."

He looked them up. "Hani's mother is a doctor. Rebecca's parents are both mechanics. Who else?"

"Minmin and Shel from the Armstar. I met them today. I liked both of them," I said because I wasn't sure what he was looking for as he looked them all up. I didn't want him to find some excuse to not let me go.

My father smiled a rare smile that reminded me of my dad who once was. "Minmin was a cute little baby."

"You know Minmin?"

His smile disappeared. "No."

Liar.

"Her mother is the current first mate. Shel's father is captain."

"Minmin told me Shel's father was captain, but she didn't mention her mother."

"What did she say about Shel's father?" My father didn't look up as he scrolled through the officers roster of the Armstar.

"Nothing specific. Just that Shel was rebellious."

"Did she say anything about Shel's mother?" He looked at me.

"No."

"Was he wearing black studs in his ear?"

What a strange question. I had to wonder how much my father knew and how much he spied on me.

"Yes. How do you know about them?"

My father nodded and looked at his okulus again. "Let me see who is piloting your shuttle tomorrow."

"Are you ignoring my question?"

He frowned and looked at me. The space between his eyebrows pinched together.

"How do you know about his ear studs?" I asked.

"Because his mother asked me for them."

"You made them? Why?"

"It's not important." My father looked at his okulus again. I tried to grab the okulus away from him, but he was too quick for me. Old as he was, he still surprised me.

A low breath escaped my mouth.

"You know his parents?" I changed tactics.

"I know a lot of people," he said. "Shel should be fine to go with to the surface as long as he is still on good terms with his mother."

"You have something against his father?"

"Something," my father said. He could be really infuriating.

"I wasn't aware you knew so many people," I said.

"Lieutenant Tanpo," my father said. He opened a new file on his okulus.

"You have a personal file on everyone on the Shadow?" Because that's what it looked like was in this new file. Complete with little notes my father had added himself.

He closed the file so I couldn't see anymore.

"I'll let you go tomorrow," father said, "but remember our deal."

I nodded.

"Go to sleep now. Sorry I woke you so late. Warpaint come with me. I need to make sure everything is functioning properly."

Warpaint followed my father to the door, but my father paused there. "Vai," he said, "if Shel is ever not wearing those studs, stay away from him."

He walked out before I could ask for an explanation. I saw them head towards my father's room before the door to my room slid shut.