THE VROL TRILOGY (175 page)

Max started to again tell Krynos' story,
conveniently leaving out the part where the king had murdered
Jennie. The castle historian furiously scribbled away on parchment,
recording the events that emanated from the mouth of the
off-worlder.

A short while later, Max, Jennie and Michael
had joined Clarisa, and were looking out through the massive,
gaping hole that had been a wall in the quarters the woman shared
with her lover. Liliana was asleep on the couch, snoring lightly.
She had tried to stay awake for her parents' arrival, but nature
took its toll - she was bushed.

"Wow," said Michael, while trying to use some
English slang. "That's one big-ass hole."

Jennie looked at him with a quizzical
expression, while Max tried to suppress his laughter. However,
Clarisa had an opposite reaction.

"What? Big-ass hole? She could have killed
us!"

"Mom, you saw what she did on the ship. She
leveled half of beta deck. They haven't even begun to repair the
damage."

"That's just way too much power for a little
girl to have," said Jennie.

"I agree, my daughter. I shall create a cap
on young Liliana's abilities. It shall remain in place until she
reaches puberty."

"She's gonna be pissed off, you know," said
Max.

"Oh yeah, but it's all we can do, baby. She
already had control issues before."

"Wow, poor Kyle. He'd be dead by now," Max
nearly laughed, remembering the various times Liliana had
accidentally tortured the poor boy.

Michael waved his hand and the wall started
to reform itself, brick by brick. In moments it was as it was
before Liliana's demonstration. He then sat down next to his
granddaughter - a little girl who was brought into his life through
love and sacrifice - and touched her temple. A soft, orange glow
emanated from his fingertips while he worked his cantus - a
definite fix, but not a permanent one.

"It is done," he said, looking down at the
sleeping child.

"That's it? So, she'll be like normal until
she hits puberty? What happens then?" asked Jennie.

"When her hormonal changes happen, the cantus
shall lose its effectiveness, my daughter. I shall then be required
to create yet another. Well, unless Max wants to make one."

"Not me, no way," said Max, being afraid he
would do something disastrous.

He then picked his daughter up and carried
her off to her room, putting her into bed. Max was immensely
thankful his mother and Janice had ben caring for her, and felt
confident his mother's future influence would be a positive one.
Liliana had violent tendencies, but she was born into a violent
world, and all things being relative, she was just another Rhönen
kid - until she met Jennie.

Max brushed her bangs from her face, looking
down at her lovingly. Jennie sat next to him, leaning her head onto
his shoulder, trying to keep everything that had happened out of
her mind.

As she relaxed up against him he thought
about the past couple of days - she had been murdered by one of
their best friends, his grandfather had resurrected her, and she
was now a Primulus, albeit without a ghanlo, which she would have
to find on her own. King Krynos was dead, using his last breath to
trigger the massive antimatter bomb that destroyed the Vrol Brood
Carrier, along with the Grigori.

Draagh was right. It really was a
combination of magic and technology that won the war.

Liliana woke up, quietly going to the
bathroom and then brushing her teeth. She felt good, but a bit
different. Wanting to test her new abilities, she slipped out of
her bedroom, arriving in the field outside the castle. She turned
and waved to the soldiers guarding the castle, who all knew her and
were aware of her penchant for slipping around the grounds. One of
them waved back, shaking his head and managing to hide his smirk.
Everyone in the castle loved the little girl, and she was going to
miss them all when she finally moved to Azul.

She walked up to a tree she
didn't particularly care for (it was nearly dead, and never grew
leaves anymore), and concentrating, said, "
Graveincantatio potentia!
"

The tree trunk only moved slightly.

Confused, she tried her cantus again, getting
the same results. It should have been uprooted and decimated,
leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Nosy adults! They did something to me, the
bastards. Hmm, what about my non-destructive abilities?

Wishing to avoid tanking her magical skills,
the little lycan/angel walked into the castle instead of slipping
in. Once inside, she greeted numerous soldiers and servants in her
typical morning manner - with a huge smile, and bright, twinkling
now-hazel eyes. Bounding down into the kitchen, she found the
friend she had introduced to her parents some days earlier.

"Lucinda! Guten morgen!"

"Ah, guten morgen, Liliana. Did you sleep
well? I fear I did not, as our beloved King Krynos has passed on to
the afterworld."

"Yes, I know. That sucks quite harshly. I am
certain King Donus shall provide adequate leadership, in any
case."

"I must agree, my friend. So what brings you
to the kitchen this morning?"

"I come to request your assistance. You see,
I recently acquired new abilities, and would like to test them.
However, the tree outside should have been destroyed and -"

Lucinda gasped, not wanting to be Liliana's
personal punching bag. "Miss Liliana, please, with your experiments
comes a great deal of pain. Could you not test your skills on
something inanimate?"

The smallest Gunnarsson laughed and shook her
head. "The skills I wish to test are not of an explosive nature,
Lucinda. They are more along the lines of control."

"Will it pain me? Will I --"

The servant girl stomped on the kitchen
floor, performing the Rhönen line dance while she washed plates and
cups. She had no idea what she was doing – her body merely did what
it was commanded. Other servants watched with amazement as the
young woman cleaned with a fury and efficiency unmatched in all the
Dominion. Liliana grew a smirk, realizing that although her
destructive abilities had been throttled back, her power of
suggestion was many times stronger than it had been before.

Releasing Lucinda from her cantus, Liliana
then took the memory from the girl's mind and gauged her
reaction.

"-- feel anything? I do not desire to visit
the infirmary yet again, my little friend."

Liliana smiled and shook her head, saying,
"Oh, that is fine, Lucinda. I have decided to try my new skills
elsewhere. Thank you!"

The little angel bounded off, satisfied she
at least had some enhanced skills that could be put to good
use.

Lucinda looked down at her hands, wondering
why they were covered in dish soap.

"Good morning Mami and Papi!" yelped Liliana,
as she jumped onto Max and Jennie's bed, surprising both, with
Jennie quickly pulling the covers up over her nude figure. The
little girl gave her mother a knowing glance, but then appeared to
not care.

"Morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?" asked
Jennie.

"Oh yes, Mami. I already had my morning meal,
and am ready for classes."

"So, Lili, how are you feeling today?"
inquired Max, while trying to not be too obvious.

"I am fine, Papi. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just morning small talk, I
guess."

Liliana started to do cartwheels in the
bedroom, keeping her movements confined to a small space.

Wow, maybe we should put her in gymnastics
when we get back to Azul

Jennie smiled and reached down under the
covers, pulling out her panties and tank top, which she usually
kept conveniently stashed for Liliana's morning antics. Quickly
slipping them on while her daughter spun around the room like a
whirling dervish, she slid out of bed and walked over to the
bathroom to brush her teeth.

"Lili, whut time do clashes shtart?" she
asked, her mouth full of toothpaste.

"Oh! I believe I must go now. Are you to go
to Azul today?"

"I think that's the plan, sweetie," said
Max.

"Okay. Please feel free to contact me in case
you are in need of assistance and find any more putrid insects on
the planet. I have killed seven Vrol already, so my
battle-worthiness has been tested and verified. And that goes for
vampires also, Mami."

"Sure, hun. We'll let you know."

The little girl bounced out of the room,
slamming the door behind her.

"Where the hell does she get all that
energy?" asked Max.

"No idea, but she didn't say anything about
her power cap," said Jennie.

"Maybe she hasn't tried a cantus yet. Betcha
she's furious when she figures it out."

###

"Dad, Jen and I are heading off to Azul after
lunch," said Max, as he stood before his father while holding his
wife's hand. Michael had commandeered Draagh's castle office as his
own, now that the ancient Primulus was out of reach, and was seated
behind the massive mahogany desk that had so well served his father
for centuries.

"According to your mother I shall also have a
need to go. Liliana must be registered in the local educational
institution."

"St. Mary's - yeah, where I went. Great
school. Hey, can you start trying to speak in a less-archaic form
of English? If we're going to live on Azul you're going to need to
fit in. Talking like William Shakespeare isn't gonna cut it."

"Ah, William. He was a good man, though a
fraud."

"Huh?" both Max and Jennie cried out.

"Oh yes. Someone else wrote most of his
plays. He operated more on the lines of editor and producer."

"But he was a good man?"

"He had a penchant for the brew, that much is
certain."

"Dad, in normal English please."

"Um… he liked to pound beers?"

"Better," laughed Max.

"Michael, did you ever visit Earth during the
1960's" asked Jennie, remembering the world where she had first met
the Taxiarch - a vegan/hippie society where animal flesh was
inconsumable and everyone sat around smoking herb all day.

"I did a couple of times," he said, trying to
use a more modern form of English.

"What did you see?"

"The assassination of President Kennedy, for
one" the archangel stated bluntly.

"Oh wow! No way! So, who did it? Was is that
Oswald guy?"

Michael smirked and shook his head, saying,
"Oswald wasn't the only one to fire upon the poor, unfortunate
soul. His own people also discharged their firearms at him, but
they were all being controlled."

"By who or what?" asked Max.

"Kennedy had recently unearthed
knowledge of the true nature of the universe. He knew of the
Prīmulī, enhanced subspecies and had even met with
extraterrestrials living on Earth."

"So? What’s so bad about that?" asked
Jennie.

"He was going to reveal his knowledge
to the world, which would have resulted in society collapsing into
chaos. Some of us were assigned to silence him. We tried many
non-lethal methods, including having him being caught in
compromising situations, but nothing worked. His elimination was
the last resort."

"Sucked for him, eh?" said Max.

"Yup. It sucked."

"Who did it?" asked Jennie.

"It wasn't me, daughter. I rather liked the
man."

"Hey! Just a minute! There were aliens on
Earth? Who were they?"

"Their names do not matter,
Max, but I believe they were identified in certain conspiracy
circles as
Greys
."

"Greys. They were little, skinny,
grey-skinned aliens with huge, black eyes and no hair. Giant heads,
too," said Jennie.

"How did they get to Earth? Were they from
far away?" asked Max.

"They used what you call side space, Max.
Their home world, I believe, resides in the Perseus Arm of the
Milky Way. Their trips took them many years, so they maintained
bases of operation on Earth. Their method of entering into side
space was quite different than the one you devised. In fact, theirs
would have been so toxic to humans that any Earthling attempting to
ride in their ship would have died within hours. For this reason
they never even bothered sharing any of their technology for
transit through the void."

"So Max really did invent Mankind's
technology for travel in side space," stated Jennie.

"Yes, he did, Jennie."

Max was slightly relieved no one on Earth had
beaten him to the development of a viable FTL drive. He was aware
of the vast distances in the Milky Way. It was a seven-day trip
from Azul to Earth in side space, and the planets were relatively
close, both being in the Orion Arm. "Um, so what were they on Earth
for?"

"Water, mostly. Unlike Mankind, they were
created to evolve from a lesser species."

"What kind of species?" asked Jennie.

"Similar to your dolphins, air-breathing, but
not quite qualifying as mammal, according to your definition, as
the females did not nurse their young. Their neocortexes were,
however, massive, hence their unusually large skulls. They also
studied humans, as their own race had been genetically modified so
frequently that their base code was all but permanently
corrupted."

"Base… code?" asked Jennie.

"DNA is like a computer application, but
much, much more complex. If you start playing with the code you'll
eventually wreck the application, or at least parts of it. They had
gone beyond the point of no return, and wanted to join human DNA
with their own genome. It was survival, pure and simple."

"So, they knew about the Prīmulī then,
right?" said Max.