THE VROL TRILOGY (177 page)

"Certainly, Captain. Is there any other way I
can be of service?"

"No, sir. Just please - feel free to contact
me at any time. I'll be here in the blink of an eye."

"I'm sure you will, Captain," Bierle said
with a smile.

Chapter 42 - Real
Estate

Six Weeks Later

"It isn't very big, but I'm sure it will be
enough for you, your wife and your niece, Mr. Gatto," said Jose
Alvarado, a mousy real estate agent who was wearing a crumpled
tweed coat, looking less like a real estate agent and more like a
personal injury attorney.

"Groovy, it looks super cool," responded
Michael, causing the agent to give him a curious glance.

"
Love, you sound like a hippy
,"
Clarisa informed her life mate over their private comm.

Michael grinned, while everyone watched
Liliana run over to a large tree.

"Grandfa…
Tío
! I wish to build a tree domicile
in this location!" she bellowed.

"Wow, your niece speaks really formal,
doesn't she. Where did you guys say you're from?"

"Schweiz. We are from Schweiz, but want to
live here for the rest of our lives. Lili, our orphaned niece, is
going to attend St. Mary's Academy," said Clarisa, nervously
attempting to cover for the young girl's archaic vocabulary.

"Sure. Well, let's go inside I think you'll
really like some of the features in this home."

After acting like they really cared what the
house looked like they shook hands with the agent, who then hailed
an air car and left for his office, intent on writing up an offer
on the home. The structure was just a front anyway, as Michael
would create a permanent slip portal to the Gunnarsson family
property, their true home. Even though the three had managed to
stay off any sort of government list of enhanced subspecies, they
chose to use the surname Gatto. President Jorgen Bierle had created
fake Swiss identities and backgrounds for them so Liliana wouldn't
have the stigma of the Gunnarsson name, now fully identified as an
active lycan family.

Michael stood out front, watching Liliana
climb the lush, expansive tree, while he held Clarisa's hand. As
the fetching woman leaned her head onto his shoulder, she noticed
an adult male and two children walking up the rural road in their
direction. Focusing her enhanced vision, she saw it was Chief
Williams, accompanied by his twin grandchildren. Liliana also saw
them, and practically flew out of the tree (using a negative
gravity cantus to cushion her landing) and streaked toward her two
best friends.

"Tommy! Janie! What brings you here?" she
squealed.

"Lili, it's
what are you doing here
,
remember? You have to start talking like everyone else on this
world," cautioned Janie.

"Oh yeah, right. What's up? How is Buenos
Aires? Oh, and hello, Chief Williams. It is pleasing to gaze upon
your --"

"Lili, you say
it's good to see you
,"
added Tommy.

"It's good to see you, sir. But why have you
come?"

"Hello Lili. We just wanted to visit a bit.
The kids wouldn't let me spend the rest of my day off in peace, so
they dragged me over here."

"Well, Chief Williams,
we
are
best
friends, you know," said the newest little angel, putting her hands
on her hips.

"Hmm, yes, of course. Lili, would you excuse
me? I'd like to speak with your grandparents for a moment."

"Sure! Hey guys, come with me. This tree is
great!" said Liliana, as she ran over to her new tree with her two
best friends, also active lycans, in tow.

"Hello Chief Williams. I am pleased you are
safe," said Michael, getting a cautionary elbow in the ribs by his
lovely mate.

"Mike, Clarisa… I lost my job in Buenos
Aires."

The gorgeous woman gasped, clasping her hand
over her open mouth. "How did that happen?"

"Well, the Civil Liberties
Union came in with a court order, saying Chief Robinson had been
unfairly terminated. They called it a
speciest
act, because he had
inactive vampire DNA."

"I figured it wouldn't be long before they
tried to again turn the system in their favor," said Michael.
"Inactive ghouls are devious at best."

"So… what are you going to do?" asked
Clarisa.

"I already found another
job. In fact, it's here in
Córdoba
."

"Seriously? That is excellent news, Chief,"
exclaimed Michael. "What is this new job?"

"Kinda sad, really. The Córdoba police chief
was killed when he accidentally ran into an activated vampire nest.
He was a normal, so they drained him. I filled the open position.
Having Chief of Police of Buenos Aires on my resume, even
temporarily, didn't hurt at all."

"Oh no! Are you also on that horrible list of
lycans, Chief?"

"Nope. Remember, I was born on Earth. Admiral
Bagatelle pulled some strings and got us Sienna identities," the
old Haida chief said with a smile.

"And what of the children? Are you to take
care of them?" asked Michael.

"As much as I can. I'll need to get a
housekeeper, and a --"

"And
a nothing
, Chief Williams! I'll be
more than happy to help," said Clarisa. "Where are Tommy and Janie
going to school?"

"Well… that's the nice part."

"St. Mary's? You are to attend the
prestigious St. Mary's Academy with me? That is great news!"
cheered Liliana.

"It should be fun. Lili. Besides, someone's
gonna have to correct your goofy phrasing every now and then," said
Janie.

Liliana gave her friend a wry grin. She was
just a bit lazy when it came to speaking more like a local, but
when the time came she knew she would do just fine.

"We just got back from registering. We got so
lucky, with grandpa getting the chief of police job here in town,"
said Tommy.

"This is so cool," said Liana. "We can make a
new Lycan Brigade!"

"Um, Lili, hold on. We're supposed to keep
our abilities secret, you know," said Janie.

"Who said anything about going public? It is
a secret club! Oh, this will be so exciting," she responded,
twiddling her little fingers together while wearing a devious
grin.

"Right, but we need to keep a low profile,
okay? We managed to stay off that congress list thingy, and Grandpa
says we need to keep our mouths shut and act like normals," added
Tommy.

"I am perfectly normal," said Liliana, having
created a ball of concentrated plasma that she was spinning on her
finger like a basketball.

"Oh yeah, sure - totally normal, Lili.
Anyway, classes start next week. So is this where you're gonna
live?" responded the Alaskan native girl.

Liliana looked over at the tiny home her
grandparents intended on buying, and snickered. "No way," she
giggled. "We're going to live on the Gunnarsson property, but use
this house as a crafty decoy."

"How's that?" asked Tommy.

"Grandfather shall create a cantus that hides
all activity from the outside world. To all spectators and
electronic sensors it shall appear as an abandoned farm. However,
we shall expand the compound even further. Papi even said I could
have an underground laboratory!"

"To do what? To experiment on small
creatures, probably," Tommy said with a cocky smile.

"I desire to be a scientist, like my father -
and a warrior, like my mother. Oh, did you hear I am now
immortal?"

"You mean you're gonna live longer than the
thousands of years we already have to look forward to?" asked
Janie.

"Yes. I shall be with my parents forever.
However, they have a long mission in which to undertake."

"What's that?" asked Tommy.

"As Mami is now a Primulus she shall need to
retrieve her ghanlo."

"Um, what's that, Lili?" said Janie.

"It is her Primulus thing than enables
her to do things like other Prīmulī," she said, causing the twins
to gain confused expressions. "They are to depart with utmost
haste, as they are on the government list of active lycans, even
though they are both very much more. They are to use Papi's ship to
find Mami's ghanlo before he is potentially relieved of his
command."

"Oh yeah. I heard your parents are on the
list. I'm sorry about that," said Janie.

"And
Tío
G also. It is quite sad, but
they have all assured me that things will turn out
well."

###

"Wow, this is impressive," said Jake
Williams, as he stood out in front of Clarisa's large ranch-style
home on the Gunnarsson property. Aside from the dozens of acres of
rolling, grassy hills, Michael had augmented the structure, and
would eventually create a permanent portal between the tiny house
they were purchasing and the larger property. "I'm renting a place
down the road from the school, so the children will be close. I
honestly thought St Mary's would be a boarding school."

"No, it's a day school, and
I really feel it's better that way. You need to have constant
contact with children if you're going to correctly guide them
through their early years," said Clarisa. "That's why I put Max
there. The education they'll receive really
is
excellent."

"Yes, and as the small home is also close to
St. Mary's the children will go there after classes and then use
the gateway to come here. They shan't want for nothing."

Clarisa rolled her eyes. She knew it was
going to be a chore to get Michael to stop talking strangely.
"Janice is going to live here also, so we'll both tutor them, and
make sure they get top marks. If there's one thing about this
family it's that education comes first. Charles and I were both
university professors, and Max got his PhD before he was
twenty-four years old."

"That's outstanding," said the lycan chief.
"But what did he study?"

"Science, of course. But he has spent the
past few weeks brushing up on law."

###

"All rise for the honorable Judge Dickinson,"
pronounced the court bailiff, his voice booming throughout the Hall
of the House of Representatives of Nueva Argentina, which was being
used as a courtroom for the most important trial ever conducted on
Azul or her three moons.

"Please be seated," Angela Dickinson said
quietly, as she took her seat. "We are here for the sentencing of
Leonard Malcolm Johnson, who was found guilty of treason,
terroristic activities, crimes against humanity and genocide by a
jury of his peers. Mr. Johnson, do you have anything to say before
this court reveals your sentence?"

An orange jumpsuit-clad Leonard Johnson
slowly stood up, his nervous system still not quite right after
having suffered being violently disconnected from the Vrol hive
mind. He looked around, barely managing to grow a sneer on his thin
lips, and then spoke. "What I did was for the good of the human
race. We have grown weak, and a weak species needs to be culled. I
have no regrets and would gladly execute the same actions again,
given the same circumstances."

The full chambers filled with murmurs as
Judge Dickinson pounded her gavel on her desk. "Order! We will have
order in this court! You may discuss Mr. Johnson's reply after
these proceedings." She paused momentarily, and then said, "Your
response is truly disconcerting, Mr. Johnson. You have wreaked
havoc upon our worlds, and thanks to your manipulations over two
million Azulian citizens lost their lives in New Sydney, aside from
countless others throughout the system. In fact, we are increasing
the body count on a daily basis, but your response makes no
difference. As Azul has no death penalty, I cannot pronounce a
tougher sentence than has already been decided. Leonard Johnson,
you are hereby sentenced to life in prison, to be spent in solitary
confinement, without comfort or contact from any other human being,
neither directly nor indirectly, for the rest of your natural life.
If you manage to convert into one of these so-called immortal,
activated vampires, your sentence shall remain so - until the day
you die. Such is the will of this court."

Nearly the entire chamber filled with cheers,
people jumping out of their seats and hugging each other, while
Judge Dickinson repeatedly beat her gavel onto the wooden desk at
which she was seated.

Knowing she was fighting a losing battle, she
finally commanded, "Court dismissed!"

Leonard Johnson was led away in shackles by
abnormally large lycan soldiers from the Rhönen Dominion - soldiers
that had decided to stay on the strange, new world, despite the
fact they had to be registered with the government for merely being
who they were.

Max, Jennie and all of their extended family
walked down the expansive steps of the Nueva Argentina capitol
building, as reporters rushed to the sidewalk, their electronic
communication devices having been nullified while inside the
structure. News was fast on Azul, and within moments the entire
system rejoiced. Crowds partied in the streets, with parades
already being planned.

"All's well that ends well, eh?" mused
Max

"Son, you do realize that was a play by
William Shakespeare, do you not?" asked Michael.

"Of course I do. I read it last week. And
I'll bet he really did write it."

"That he did, son. That he did," said the
Taxiarch, while gaining a broad smile.

"It's not over, you know. The inactive vamp
politicians are ramping up to gain seats in the new elections,"
said Jennie.