THE VROL TRILOGY (111 page)

"Aw, c'mon, hun. She can't stay a little girl
forever, you know," added Max.

"What? Max! You don't realize what will
happen. She'll not only be changing every few weeks, but then the
hormone thing starts. She'll be sneaking off, making out with boys
in dark recesses of the castle, and for all we know, kidnapping
them - she
is
a bit
edgy."

"Well, that is assuming she likes boys,
Jennie," stated Alicia.

"Oh, she likes boys alright. You should have
seen her exchange with your nephew," Jennie shot back, getting a
bit of a grin on her face.

"Exchange? What kind of exchange?" asked
Alicia, looking totally surprised.

"Oh god, it was classic. Kyle saw her
and blushed. Then Lili stared him down - you know, the
typical
I like you so I'll act
antagonistic towards you
type of behavior?" Max
contributed. "Now Kyle is a few years older than Lili, but when
lycan girls come of age they mature quickly and basically look like
young women by age fourteen"

"Well, that's nothing new. I was pretty much
that way," responded Alicia.

"Yup, me too," added Jennie. "I was barely in
high school and had university boys hitting on me.

"Well, you are gorgeous," responded Alicia.
"Were your boobs that perfect in high school?"

"Yeah, pretty much. You don't know how many
guys I slapped because they couldn't look me in the face while
talking to me," she laughed.

I wish mine were like Jennie's. Damn, she's
lucky. How can they be so perfect?

"And, of course, you two fine, lovely ladies
are both lycan," interrupted Draagh, "even though your genes were
recessive on the world of your birth. Think about it - did you ever
notice that girls who tended to be angular and pale would not
mature as rapidly as others?"

"Come to think of it, yes. That is true.
There was this girl, Rebecca Norton, and she would totally be
pegged for a vampire if she were here. She looked like she was
twelve when she was sixteen. Totally underdeveloped, and her skin
was like alabaster," said Jennie.

"But then by the time you went to university
what did she look like?" asked Max.

"She was even more angular, and kinda pretty
in her own, gothic sort of way. She ended up being a real bitch,
too."

"Vampire. Definitely a vampire," said
Max.

"And by the way, Draagh, that was totally
mean what you did to Liliana - calling her out as having a crush on
Kyle," Jennie scolded the old mage.

"My dear girl, you, more than anyone,
are aware of the damage your child can inflict with her nascent
magical experimentations. I did what I felt was necessary to make
the girl aware that Kyle was a boy, and not merely some toy to be
played with. And she does indeed have what you would call a
crush
on him. He is a handsome
lad."

"So how is Kyle doing? I'd like to see him
quickly before you return me to my stall. I'm afraid my office will
become suspicious," said Alicia, who was becoming a bit
anxious.

"Stall? What stall are you talking about?"
asked Jennie.

"I grabbed her from a toilet stall where
there were no surveillance cameras. Max, you will really need to
get rid of all of the lack of privacy on your world once we have
solved this little dilemma," Michael said.

"Actually, that was a pretty smart idea, if
you think about it. And if they start putting cameras in toilet
stalls it will certainly signal the end of the Universe," joked
Jennie.

"Ali, I know where he's at. Hey guys, we'll
be back in a bit," said Bagatelle as he stood and helped Alicia up
from her seat, not intending to go directly to see her nephew right
away.

Michael picked up on Bagatelle's vibe and
grinned, telling them that she didn't need to worry about getting
back right away. He had placed a humaniform dummy with her likeness
on the toilet seat in her stall, and it was letting out a series of
painful groans and sounds of flatulence, much like some suffering
from diarrhea. The archangel had developed a rather odd sense of
humor over the eons.

As Bagatelle and Alicia made a beeline
in the exact opposite direction of where Kyle was being housed
(causing everyone to lightly snicker), Max stood up, gave his wife
a lingering kiss, and then looked over at his father, ready to go
to Luna and do a little
archangel
reconnoitering
. He had actually been looking forward
to flying around with Michael, and hoped he would learn a trick or
two about using his wings, which he had only generated a few times,
and those being mostly for show.

"Brother, worry not for Miss Vasquez. I shall
place her back into her toilet facility and remove the monstrosity
that you had created in her stead," Gabriel said with a bit of
amusement to his voice.

"Ok, I'll be right back - I need to change
into something more suitable for a recon mission," said Max, fully
intending on not only retrieving his katana, but also his personal
console and his stinger.

After he ran off, Jennie went up to Michael
and asked, "Would you please do the slips, that is, until Max gets
really good at them? I… just get so nervous."

Michael looked into his daughter-in-law's
beautiful brown eyes and said, "He is becoming quite proficient, my
dear. But do not worry. I'll be with him. He needs to practice, and
besides that, we all wear trackers embedded in our comms now. There
is absolutely no way any of us can become lost."

Then, kissing her on the forehead, he set out
for his own chambers in order to change his clothes.

Chapter 32 - Sonic

Max got his gear ready and was out the door
of his sleep chambers in a matter of minutes. He was excited to go
somewhere with Michael, even though he had been totally sarcastic
with the archangel just minutes earlier. He remembered his real
father, the man who had raised him, Charles Gunnarsson, and he
could not detect one single unpleasant memory. The man was amazing,
and Max would always call him his father. But he was in a whole
different situation at the moment. Mija-El was his biological dad,
and through him the young man had amazing abilities for which he
would be eternally grateful. Besides all of that, Max had a lot to
still learn, and so he was prepared to, in metaphorical terms, soak
it all up like a sponge.

"Michael, I have a question. I'm really kinda
surprised I never thought of it before, but can we survive in the
vacuum of space? I mean, is there a cantus that provides protection
and atmosphere?" Max asked.

"That is an interesting question, son.
Actually, we archangels are automatically protected from
potentially damaging environments. I guess the only thing we could
do would be to test you out there."

Max seemed to think about it for a
minute. The vacuum of space was deadly to humans, and also to
lycans. Their bodies couldn't handle the lack of pressure and
atmosphere, which would cause ebullism (
bubbles in
body fluids due to reduced ambient pressure below
6.3kPa)
, near-instantaneous hypoxia (the loss of
oxygen in the bloodstream) and the freezing of bodily secretions
due to evaporative cooling. In short, space meant near-instant
death. But Max was more than human, so he was willing to give it a
shot.

"Well, I want to see what happens. If I have
any adverse effects throw a protective cantus with oxygen and air
pressure around me, ok?"

"Very well, my son. Let us try outside Vera,
first. That way I can easily and quickly get you to the infirmary
in case anything goes wrong."

"Cool. And no word of this to my wife, all
right? She'd kick my ass if she knew what we were trying."

Michael grinned, liking Max's penchant for
adventure and risk.

The two started from Vera's underground base,
where Draagh and Gabriel were improving the ventilation systems.
Not even bothering to see what they were doing, Michael looked at
Max and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Anything wrong just say so via your comm,
son."

"Okie-dokie. Let's do this."

Michael brought them out into vacuum, outside
of the range of Vera's satellite surveillance. Watching carefully,
Max seemed perfectly normal. He opened his mouth; at first
expecting the rush of air out from his collapsing lungs, but no
such thing happened.

"
Hey, this
isn't bad. You didn't say we didn't have to breathe
,"
Max stated via his comm.

"
I should
really analyze this. I believe it is the ghanlo that makes it
possible
," Michael responded.

"
Hey look! I
can fly around too
!"

"
Of course.
But that is a waste of time, unless you are looking at something
close by. Let's slip back to the base and then go directly to Luna
under camouflage, my son
."

The two then basically bounced out of the
underground base and found themselves on the outskirts of a massive
ship graveyard on Luna, finding it unusually busy with activity. As
they stayed hidden behind some trees and foliage they decided what
to look for. Actually, Max was in charge on the ground, being as he
knew where to go.

"
Ok, first of
all, we go dark. Let's get inside, over to the other side of the
complex where all of the lighting is
," he
said.

"
Shall we walk
through and take a look at the entrance
?" asked
Michael.

"
Oh hell no!
I'm flying. Follow me
."

Max generated his impressive span of
obsidian-black wings and shot up into the air, taking care not to
create a detectable concussion wave on the ground or any
atmospheric disturbance that could be detected by surveillance
sensors. Michael followed him, as Max passed the far side of the
graveyard, flying around the entire perimeter, and obviously
enjoying being airborne more than anything. Stopping in mid-air
above the graveyard, he looked down at the dozens of dilapidated
craft that had provided sanctuary for his ancestors many centuries
prior. They were boxy-looking, much like giant cargo tubs, and in
essence that is what they were - they had carried frozen human
cargo, along with animal and plant life from Old-Earth.

"
Can you
believe we came over on those things and it took almost 300
years
?" he asked his father.

"
Yes, Max. I
can. In fact I occasionally checked up on the fleet as it lumbered
across the galaxy. Despite being in its technological infancy,
relatively speaking, humanity did quite well. Did you know that
only one barge was lost during the entire
trip
?"

"
Really? We
were taught that they all made it. What
happened
?"

"
Unfortunately
it encountered a Vrol Brood Carrier. That is how the insects found
Earth
."

"
Oh wow! I was
wondering if they had just stumbled upon the planet or
something
."

"
One does not
simply stumble upon a planet that harbors life and has natural
resources, Max. While there are over 300 billion stars in the Milky
Way alone, leading to trillions of planets, there are many more
worlds that do NOT harbor life than there are that live. For the
most part, planets are either gas giants or inhospitable barren
rocks, with some variations in-between. So it was no coincidence
that the Vrol happened upon Earth. They acquired the planetary
coordinates from the captured barge.
"

"
Then what did
they do
?"

"
They woke
everyone onboard and then ate them… alive
."

"
Now I really,
really want to kill them all.
"

The two lowered themselves down to the one
barge that had the most activity and lighting. Setting down onto
the ground, Max retracted his wings, absorbing the living material
back into his body (which oddly always added a bit back to his
reserves), and while maintaining invisibility, walked up the rear
access ramp where a number of scientists were discussing a
particular quandary with trying to fit a mass of piping required
for the hook into the already-existing hull. They were realizing
that it would have been easier to build completely new ships than
to retrofit the barges, but they wouldn't be able to build the
required number of new ships before Chairman Johnson's deadline,
which was non-negotiable. And no one in the system but Johnson knew
why, aside from Max and his odd family of eternals.

Max and Michael went to the next closest
barge and walked inside, using their naturally occurring HUDs to
scan for life forms. Barge after barge they entered, and they
encountered the same number of people inside each - three families
of four.

"
Ok, we know
this much - Johnson needs to clear out within four years. He's got
retrofitting issues and he doesn't have time to build new ships. We
have to get these families out and destroy the barges. But first we
need to wrest control of the military away from him. In my mind
that's the only way we can get our act together and get a handle on
everything before the insects arrive.
"

"
Yes my son,
but we will need to first confer with the team and organize before
acting
."