Across The Universe With A Giant Housecat (The Blue) (6 page)

I flung myself down in one of the waiting room chairs, completely immune to their relaxing charms today.
 

#

“Alan, we’re ready for you,” said a nurse with a perky expression. Getting to my feet, I followed her to a room where a padded table awaited me. Anxiety mounting, I climbed atop it.

“How long will this take?” I asked as the nurse began to do something with some medical equipment on a table nearby.
 

“A few hours, dear. This is surgery. We’ll have to patch you up after they remove the device.” She held out a cup. “Swallow this, dear, then take off your shirt.”

I took off my shirt, the air chilling my exposed skin. Then, taking the cup from her, I poured the blue liquid within down my throat.

This would be it. This would be the last day I’d look down at my chest and see a mass of metal, plastic, and circuits. After today, I’d know whether the vest had done its job.

I found that I was really,
really
looking forward to the first time I would get to take a shower and feel the water on my back.

“What happens if something goes wrong? How do you know if it has healed all the way? ” The question just popped out of my mouth. Why would I ask a question like that? I would be fine. I would.

She opened her mouth to answer.

But blackness, starting at the edges of my vision and growing, engulfed me instead. Against my will, I felt my body relax and I knew no more.

#

I was on Mitio, the former prison planet where Trilloque had nearly killed me one year ago. The horror was all around me: I could not move and I was going to die from the toxic air. Trilloque was going to destroy everything I loved.

The air tasted like bitter metal on my tongue. It was cold, the wind freezing my blood with every gust.

Trilloque was there, laughing as he stood before me.

“You’re going to die, Alan Michael Wolf.” He held a bloody shard of glass in his hand; Useia’s and Katelyn’s bodies lay lifeless at his feet, their throats slit.

“You are going to die, and then I will
destroy
those planets. Just like I destroyed yours.” He dropped the shard of glass, looking down at Useia. “I murdered her. She did that to others; it is only fitting that she should die this way. There are no second chances. She has left you, never to return. She never loved you to begin with.”

My eyes popped open.

It had been a dream, nothing more.

I lay in a bed in a room, crisp white sheets tucked around me.

“He’s awake,” said someone.

It was Katelyn. She sat next to me in a chair, a bouquet of flowers in her arms. Leo was next to her. She had tied a blue ribbon in a bow around his neck.

“You’re awake!” she exclaimed, dropping the flowers onto the bed next to me and throwing her arms around me—gently.

“Alan! You survived! How do you feel? I brought you flowers!”
 

“Thanks,” I said weakly. Honestly, I was afraid to move. What if Dr. Kassa had messed something up when she had removed all the tiny circuits and wires from inside my body?

I did feel much lighter. I hadn’t realized how heavy the vest had been on my body—breathing felt much easier now.

“How do you feel?” she repeated.

Slowly, I peeled the covers off my body. I saw my chest, my skin looking pale and sickly after its long confinement inside the vest. There were several small bandages stuck to it, probably from where hardware had been removed.

I felt the air move across my skin and a smile spread across my face.

I was healed!
 

Tossing the covers the rest of the way back, I leaped to my feet.

“I can move!” I shrieked.

“Yay!” Katelyn agreed.

Raising my hands above my head, I felt my back stretch out. There was no tug from the vest, because it was no longer there.

Katelyn bounded over to me. Grabbing her hands, I twirled her around, luxuriating in the easy way my body now moved. I moved back and forth, testing out every muscle and tendon.

It all felt so good! It was like waking up after a restful sleep.

Katelyn took me by the hands and spun me so we both spun opposite each other, our hands joined in the middle.

It felt like heaven!

“All right, time to settle down, Alan,” said another voice. A nurse had appeared in the doorway. “Take it a bit easy on your first day.”

I stopped my spin with Katelyn, but I still needed to spread my wings. “I want to run. Can I run? Just a little? I want to see how light it feels.”

The nurse nodded. I bolted for the door.

The hallway beyond was wide enough…

“Not right there. Go to the physical therapy wing. There’s a track there you can run on.”

Nodding, I raced off in search of it, Katelyn following.
 

I was able to contain myself long enough to reach the track, but once there, I took off running. What had felt bulky and awkward before—but doable—was now easy and as light as air. Of course, I got winded pretty easily. That was the price I paid for a life of adventure in the cramped quarters of a spaceship. But I was willing to pay it.

If only I could have Useia by my side for that spacefaring life…

Suddenly I remembered my dream and went cold all over. I stopped running, my zest for it gone.

What if Useia had really left me? It had seemed like love to me, but perhaps it hadn’t been for her. She had broken free of the assassins, had them turn on her, been tortured by them, escaped them, and met her parents for the first time in years. It was a lot for anyone to go through. Perhaps after having time to think it all over, she had changed her mind about me.
 

Or maybe it was something else. Maybe, as I had pondered before, one of Trilloque’s old disciples had caught up with her the way Randew Larsen had caught up with me. She could be a corpse on a dead world or floating in space somewhere, her body a piece of frozen debris. I’d never find out; she’d be lost forever. Should I stop hoping? How long should I wait for her? Useia had never given me a time frame for her return.

Perhaps I could contact her parents, the Mongarusa family. There had to be a way to find them. Perhaps I could find something out through the Stellar Intrepid’s database—there had to be something there. Maybe there was information on where they had gone.

Chapter 9

“Alan, I don’t know what to tell you.” Useia’s mother, Mrs. Mongarusa, peered at me through the monitor. “She left four months ago.” Three boys played in the background behind her in what looked like luxurious living quarters. The sun shone in through windows behind the boys and it looked like there was a small waterfall outside.
 

“So you have no idea where Useia could be?” I sat in front of the monitor in mine and Katelyn’s quarters, in the middle of a video call with Useia’s mother. After mind-numbing hours scanning through records, I had discovered that the Mongarusa family had never returned to Avalon Colony, instead settling on a tropical moon closer to the central worlds. I had wasted no time calling them.

She shook her head. “After you rescued us on Mitio, none of us ever went back to Avalon Colony. We started a new life here on this beautiful moon. It’s so much nicer. Things actually
grow
here. Easily, even. It’s a tropical paradise. Anyway, Useia helped us set up the farm, then left just after the first harvest. I thought she was coming to find you, Alan. At least, that’s what she told me.”

“She told you that?” My stomach twisted. Useia still wanted me!

She nodded. “That’s what she told us. She hasn’t come to find you?” Mrs. Mongarusa turned to yell something at two of the boys behind her, who had begun to quarrel loudly about something.

“No. I haven’t heard from her at all.”

She turned back to face me at the monitor. “Well, maybe you can check transport logs. Perhaps her name is on one of them. You have access to that kind of thing, right? Perhaps it is just taking her a bit longer to find you. You aren’t exactly an easy person to locate, with that ship of yours, flitting from place to place as you do.”

“Yes, but she could have—”

 
One of the quarreling boys punched the other, who started wailing. Mrs. Mongarusa grimaced. “Sorry, Alan, but I’ve got to go. They always get restless around this time of year. The harvest is over and they don’t have much to do. Why don’t you check the transport logs for Useia? I’m sure you will be able to find her. My daughter is a very resilient girl. And Alan, we will always be grateful to you for what you’ve done. Our home is always open to you. Good bye, and good luck.” She switched off her monitor.

I clicked off the monitor and frowned. Useia’s family didn’t know where she was.
 
Transport logs? I pounded my thigh in frustration.
 

A door slammed behind me. Turning, I saw Katelyn had returned.

“What were you up to?” I asked.

“Just more exploring. This place is massive!”

“Yep. I know. The school is even bigger.”

“I know! I went there. Just to tour it. Ms. Bridgewater said I could move into the dorms in a few days.”

“Katelyn, I’m trying to find Useia.”

“And? Any luck?”

“No. Her mother says she left home four months ago. She suggested looking over the transport logs. Any chance you could help me with that?”

One corner of her mouth slid upward in a half smile. “Of course. We both know I was born to use technology.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She never missed an opportunity to brag about her superiority when it came to using technology.
 

“Good. That’s settled, then. Now move off, I need to use that monitor.”

I backed away and she promptly settled herself down in front of the monitor. Her fingers flew over the screen as she accessed the records.

“She could have gone to Avalon Colony, her old homeworld,” I suggested.
 

“I’ll check there. Now quit looking over my shoulder and let me work my magic.”

I was more than happy to do as she asked. Technology didn’t fascinate me as it did her; I was more interested in exploring and living, not sitting in front of a screen.

I left our quarters, headed nowhere in particular, but happy for a chance to walk around again. Movement felt so much better now that I was free of the medical vest.
 

Since I had little else to do, I spent the next several hours wandering the base. I considered stopping by the military school section of it to see if I could find some of my old school friends, but realized that the school would be all but deserted until next week: it was summer break, or an approximation of it. There were no seasons in space.

Instead, I simply walked about, taking things in and more importantly, enjoying my newly released spine. I’d forgotten how much of a range of motion I used to have.

At one point I stopped and bought a sack of oranges, my favorite fruit. Sitting down at a table at the food court, I devoured several and saved the rest for later.

By the time I returned to my quarters, I felt relaxed and refreshed. My worries had vanished, pushed into the background by the pleasures of the present.
 

Katelyn wasn’t in our quarters, but there was a call request from Standing Admiral Northe blinking on the monitor.

I contacted him via the monitor.

“Alan! I’ve been trying to contact you for hours!” Standing Admiral Northe was sitting in his office, a glass of amber beverage in his hand. “I had Cartus running all over the place to look for you. We really need to get you a wrist communicator.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“I wanted to tell you that your ship will be arriving early. We just received word she will be here within the hour. Debriefing will take place one hour after that, in the conference room on the green floor of the executive wing. Be there.”

“Oh. Oh! Yes, sir! Where will they be docking?”

“Docking Bay Ninety-Four.”

I took a quick shower, then after toweling off and dressing, I took off in search of the bay. I wanted to see my new ship.

Upon reaching the spaceport wing, I found, happily, that it was equipped with a massive picture window that looked out into space, towards the docking area.

Ships milled about, entering and leaving, their hulls bright gray against the black of space. Which one was the
Indomitable
?

I could see the docking bays. The numbers were painted huge on each one… Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five… no, wrong level. I looked down a few levels until I found the nineties.

Bay Ninety-Four. It was unoccupied.
 

I went over to a chair and settled down to wait for the ship to arrive.

I didn’t have to wait long—I spotted the ship the moment it came into view.

The sheer size of the ship was impressive. It had to be ten times the size, at least, of my little
Dragontooth
.

I watched the ship move like a swan, sliding perfectly into the parking slot. The pilot was a master; his piloting was nothing like the jerky way Katelyn drove.

This ship would be my home for the next ten weeks. Maybe longer. Northe hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about how long the mission was supposed to take once we got to our destination.

What exactly was our mission, anyway?

#

When I arrived at the conference room for debriefing, everyone else was already there. A sea of Stellar Intrepid uniforms greeted me.
 

Cartus was also there. Probably Standing Admiral Northe had sent him to keep an eye on me. He introduced me to the officers of the
Indomitable
.

“I’m Captain Reginald Keene,” said the man who I knew to be the captain before he even opened his mouth. His facial expression did not change as he spoke. He resembled one of the old nautical captains I had often read about, with a face that was all angles. A shock of white-gray hair was gathered into a low ponytail at his neck. His mouth was a firm line of decisiveness, and his eyes burned brightly beneath bushy gray brows.

He looked like the kind of captain I had always imagined myself serving under—the sort of captain who inspired legends and mystery to swirl around him like ghosts. I would bet ten to one that Captain Keene had killed an enemy with his bare hands or had bit a drinking glass in half on purpose. He seemed like that kind of captain.