The Solar Wind (22 page)

Elaine went over the person who started the music and asked about the band. She came back over to Ava with the full report.

“They are called ‘Geodesic’ and they are pretty new on the music scene according to that guy,” Elaine pointed at the man she had just talked to. “He said no one seems to know much about them but that they are currently touring. Maybe if they come to Orionis we could go the concert.”

“That would be fun, I love concerts. Too bad there aren’t that many of them here. Capri hosts at least one a month.”

“When is your man taking you back there?”

“Probably not for a while. Capri has some security issues right now, and I’m not even sure I want to go back for a long time.”

After a few minutes Elaine excused herself to use the restroom, leaving Ava to talk with a few of the people around her. When Elaine returned one of single men at the party tapped her on the shoulder and began talking to her. A little after nine, Ava decided it was time to leave.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to get some people together to walk you home?” Elaine asked.

“It’s only one level up. I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Besides, it looks like that guy you were talking to wants to spend some more time with you,” Ava said with a smile.

“I like him, he seems like a good guy so far.”

“Have fun.”

“Be careful, and call me tomorrow okay.”

“Okay, good night.”

Elaine’s starting to be as protective as Naomi; Ava thought. Ava was the first one to leave the party. She had never been comfortable in large crowds of strangers. She preferred smaller, more intimate groups, like her friends from the Andromeda. As she walked home she kept thinking of the song she had heard that she liked, deciding she would download it later.

Ava was up and about early for a Saturday morning. She returned to Infinity to do more grocery shopping and was just putting away the last few items in her kitchen when her doorbell chimed. Ava wasn’t expecting anyone and it kind of startled her when she heard the sound. She walked over to the security camera and immediately opened the door when she saw who it was.

“Wesley!” She practically jumped on him.

“There’s my Ava.” He lifted her up and twirled her around in a big bear hug and kissed her.

“I can’t believe it, I wasn’t expecting you until next weekend at the earliest.”

“We got in about half an hour ago. How are you? Are you okay? I was so worried about you. I missed you so much.” He touched her face, her hair, then rested his hands on her shoulders.

“I worried about you and missed you too,” Ava laughed. “I’m so glad you are back in one piece.”

“Yes, we are all fine. No worries my love.”

“You look tired Wesley, did they work you hard on Earth II?”

“Very hard,” he smiled. Hating having to lie to her, however he could not disclose the truth to her yet.

“Did you have trouble with any space pirates?”

“Not this time.”

“Come, you must tell me all about your mission, I’d love to hear about it.”

“Of course, and I also want to hear about what you’ve been up to as well. I trust that you and your friend have stayed out of trouble,” He said mockingly.

“Ha ha ha. Yes, contrary to popular belief I can actually survive on my own without starving, fainting, or being victimized,” She joked back.

“I know you can. I just worry about you because I love you so much, . . . if you only knew.” He held her in a long embrace.

“Please tell me you are not leaving again tomorrow.”

“Not tomorrow, but on Monday.”

Ava looked up at him as if to protest then he spoke again. “It’s a quick mission, we’ll only be gone for a few days and we’ll be back again Friday evening.” Wesley wanted to collect a few more parts for the new starship being built on Kyanos. The sooner the ship is up and running, the safer it would be for the people there. At least then they would have a better chance at protecting themselves against Kaden.

Wesley and Ava continued to catch up with each other for a few hours and then Wesley headed back to the ship to check on things while Ava prepared to meet them all for dinner. He returned at six to escort her to the restaurant, a casual place where the group could catch up.

“Ava, we missed you!” Naomi exclaimed as she hugged her.

“I missed all of you too. It was really lonely here without you all.”

“I don’t think we’ll have any lengthy missions like that for a while.”

“That’s good to hear,” Ava replied as the group was lead to their table in the back.

After the group had settled down and placed their orders for dinner Wesley, holding Ava’s hand under the table, asked her more questions about what she had done in their time apart.

“Well, I mostly just worked a lot.”

“Sounds like what we did,” Andre joked.

“Oh, Elaine and I went to a party last night and we heard some music from a great new band.”

“I love finding out about new music, what was the band called?” Naomi chimed in.

“Geodesic. The lead singer has a great voice.”

“I’ll have to check them out.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you,” Ava said turning back to Wesley. “I ran into your former crewmember the other night.”

The entire group fell silent, the smiles fading off of their faces. “What?” Wesley asked suddenly very serious.

“You know, Bryant, the man you were talking to on Capri.”

Wesley and the others exchanged surprised glances at each other. “Ava, when did this happen?” he asked, concerned.

“Thursday night. I was in the Square heading home from work and he came up to me and introduced himself.”

“He just came up to you out of the blue?” Naomi asked, puzzled.

“Yes, he said that he recognized me from that time we were on Capri and wanted to say hello.”

“Tell us everything that he said Ava.” Wesley instructed.

“Is something wrong?”

“No Ava, we are just not on the best of terms with him that’s all,” Naomi remarked.

Everyone at the table listened intently, occasionally glancing at each other, as Ava re-told her encounter with Bryant, including mentioning that she shook his hand.

“I think I spoke with him for less than two minutes, it really was very brief.”

“And he didn’t ask you any other personal questions, or about your relationship with me?”

“No, he just wanted to know if I was a crewmember or not. He seems like a pleasant man. I thought it was weird though; that he was hoping to run into you, but not willing to leave an address for you to contact him.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about this. However, if you should ever see him again and I’m not around, don’t talk to him. Just get yourself to a safe place,” Wesley advised.

“Why? Is he dangerous?”

“That’s just it, we don’t know. It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Naomi added.

Ava sensed her friends disapproval over her random encounter with Bryant. Her appetite practically disappeared as she began to feel uneasy about the stranger.

Dinner arrived and Wesley changed the subject. He did not want Ava to worry about Bryant and spoil the evening. Bryant was now his problem to worry about. After dinner the group split up. Ava and Wesley went back to his place to spend some time alone together while the crew went back to the ship. Although they did not let Ava see it, they were extremely alarmed about this visit from Bryant. They sensed that time was running out. They now knew they needed to ensure Kyanos’ safety by destroying Kaden as soon as possible. Only then could they bring Ava there, and they needed to do that before Bryant could complete whatever it was that he was up to.

The next morning Wesley went back to the ship to talk and discuss the next step with the others. They were already waiting for him in the common room when he arrived.

“Good morning,” he greeted the crew. Everyone returned the salutation. Andre spoke next.

“Well that was an interesting turn of events last night.”

“I think it’s pretty clear what Bryant intends to do,” Wesley remarked.

“You don’t know that for sure Wesley, maybe he’s just messing with you,” Naomi suggested.

“Come on, the man hates me with a fiery vengeance because of what happened to his wife. He blamed me for her death, remember?”

“It wasn’t your fault, somewhere deep down inside he knows that,” she responded.

“Bryant is the most skilled bounty hunter in the galaxy. Now that he’s touched Ava, felt her energy, smelled her, heard her voice . . . he’ll be able to find her anywhere.” Wesley sighed deeply and shook his head, his voice reflected his aggravation.

“Ava’s going to be all right Wesley. Clearly he had no intentions to harm her, otherwise he would have done it. He knew we weren’t here,” Andre added.

“Precisely! Now he has the means to track her. That’s all he wanted and he got it. It’s me that he wants to suffer and he knows that there is no deeper pain than to be separated from the one you love. He’s figured out that Ava is mine. Sooner or later he’s going to find Xavier and lead him to her, or if he has trouble convincing him, he’ll find a way to take her to him, most likely by whatever means necessary.”

“There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ there Wesley. While it does seem that is what Bryant intends, he still has to find Xavier. That’s a monumental task in and of itself. It’s a miracle we found him when we needed him ten years ago, remember? Bryant doesn’t know Xavier like we do. Xavier likes to be left alone. He’s like you.” Naomi smiled. “He only trusts his ‘family’ circle and we know he always uses different aliases when he does surface in public. Even you can’t track him. I’ll bet we’ve crossed paths with him several times over the last ten years and not have even known it,” Naomi suggested.

“That’s right. Besides, since we know what Bryant’s trying to do we can take precautions to see that it doesn’t happen.  He doesn’t know about Kyanos. I think you should just take Ava there now and then worry about Kaden,” Justin advised.

“No, it’s still too dangerous. I need more time. I can’t just take Ava away from her home and her job. I know I have to tell her the truth soon, but I’m just not ready yet.”

“We could split up. A few of us could attempt to track Bryant and stop him before he finds Xavier. Some of us could go back to Kyanos and concentrate on locating Kaden. The Principia is almost complete. She’ll be up and running soon. Finally, one of us could stay here with Ava, to make sure she’s safe,” Andre recommended.

“As good as that plan sounds, I think we should stay together. Bryant is long gone by now, we don’t want to add credibility to his story to Xavier by creating a sense of urgency. However, I do think we should get the parts we need and get back to Kyanos as soon as possible to make the Principia operational. Two ships are definitely better odds at defeating Kaden than one.”

“I can stay on Orionis with Ava. She doesn’t need to know about it. I could monitor the comings and goings of the starships and their crew and passenger rosters while keeping tabs on Ava,” Naomi volunteered. “If anything appears suspicious, I could hack into the system and get us on the next flight out somewhere.”

“Agreed. Thank you Naomi, I think that’s a good idea.”

The next day a new work week started. Ava went back to work at the OMC and the Andromeda departed, minus one crewmember. Ava, believing her friends were on an assignment had dinner with Elaine on Wednesday.

“So have you had any dates with that guy from the party yet?” Ava asked coyly.

“We’ve talked on the telephone once. He seems a bit shy, but very nice. Maybe he and I will go out. We’ll see,” Elaine said smiling brightly.

“I downloaded that song we heard at the party from the new band. I love it!” Ava mentioned.

“Me too, that reminds me. I saw on The Labyrinth’s schedule online that Geodesic will be playing on Saturday.  Would you like to go?”

“The Labyrinth? I hate that place.” Ava made a face.

“I know, but you wouldn’t be alone this time. I would be there, and your boyfriend and your other friends could come, it’s on Saturday night. They aren’t offering a presale or reservations. We would have to be in line a few hours beforehand I’m sure, but it would be fun!”

“I’d like to see the band, but I don’t know. I’ll ask Wesley on Friday night when he gets in and see what he wants to do. He likes music, but I’m not sure he would want to go to something like this.”

“Okay, well, let me know on Saturday morning what you decide.”

“I will.”

During the week in Wesley’s absence Naomi monitored things on Orionis. Life seemed to progress normally. Nothing unusual occurred and no suspicious flights arrived. On Thursday night Naomi decided to check out the new band Ava had mentioned at their dinner the previous Saturday. Naomi loved all types of music and especially liked finding out about new bands. She typed the band’s name ‘Geodesic’ into the system. Hardly any information seemed to exist on the band. One link to an intergalactic website popped up and one link to ‘The Labyrinth’ appeared. Naomi clicked on the band’s site and was surprised to see how bare-bones it was. That’s odd, she thought. Usually new bands load their websites with tons of information, photos, and links to connect with people to gain loyal fans. The page contained no list of band members or the lead singer himself, no photos, and no touring information. Although simple, the design of the page seemed elegant and meticulous, as if the common information was purposefully left off. The page plainly stated the band’s name, when it was last updated; apparently fairly recently, samples of their songs, and a few links to where their songs could be purchased and downloaded. Naomi clicked on the song samples one by one and listened. She instantly liked it, and she too became absorbed in how creative it was. Then she listened more intently and gasped. She knew that voice, there was no mistaking it.