Theodore (2 page)

Thirty minutes later, the procedure was reversed and
Theodore found himself at a large, elegant, but tastefully decorated house.  A
sprightly human lady quickly met them and dexterously and expertly helped Abby
out of the car.

“Theodore, this is my mom, Janice!” bubbled Anna.

Janice politely shook Theodore's hand and replied in an
excellent rendition of the Highland's Old Tongue, “We are delighted to have you
as guests this evening.”

Theodore was all but overjoyed to hear his native language
being spoken after such a rough day.  Even more amazing was to hear it come
from a human.  “We are honored, ma'am.  Honored and delighted!”

Janice beamed and returned her attention to Abby, who was
just starting to show signs of waking up, “Oh!  I recognize
that
face! 
Someone needs to go to the bathroom!”

Theodore suddenly cringed, “I'm sorry, ma'am.  I'll handle
that.  Taking care of that is... awkward for Taik infants.”   

Janice laughed and tutted Theodore away, “Oh you silly young
man!  I can handle it, I've been handling infants of
all
races and
species since before you were born!  You want awkward, try taking care of a
Shukurae infant: they are born with razor sharp teeth!  Come on Anna, get a
fresh washcloth and I'll show you how to handle this!”

Theodore watched in amazement as mother and daughter,
human
mother and daughter, trundled off to take care of his little sister.  “Sir, you
have an amazing family,” he finally blurted.

Dr. Westmore laughed an honest belly laugh, “Why thank you,
young man.  We do try to give back to society where we can.”

“But we’re not even
part
of your society...”

“All the more reason to reach out,” he grinned.  “Come on
in, food should be waiting.”

A fabulous dinner soon gave way to a long evening of stories
of all sorts and was finally graced by an offer to spend the night.  A
delightful room and cradle were arranged for Abby while little Rose was soon
fast asleep in a room of her own.  For the first time all day, Theodore finally
found he had time to relax: no duties or obligations bound him.  He sat with a
drink on the second floor balcony and casually enjoyed watching the dance of
fireflies in the distance.  Anna sat in a rocking chair beside him and enjoyed
the calm with him.

“Your whole family is amazing, you know that of course!”
blurted Theodore.  “I noticed your mother was eating vegetarian, yet she cooked
a fabulous meal for my family.  Vegetarian is
not
in my little sister's
vocabulary.  There is no reason she had to go through all that trouble, we
could have just eaten at the hotel.”

Anna laughed, “No, you don't understand, they were delighted
to have you over for company.  It's so rare to have off worlders over and your
family was delightful.”

“I take it they used to travel a bit?”

Anna nodded, “Yep, they both met off world doing volunteer
work.  I was born off world as well.  My parents didn't really settle down
until I was school aged.”

“Your mother is a pediatrician?”

“Yep, again!  She started off as an anthropologist and then
got into medicine later.  She has two PhDs.  She splits half her time at the
teaching hospital and half teaching at the university.”

“If your family was any more perfect, flowers would sprout
where they walked.”

Anna laughed hard at that, “They aren't perfect.  Everyone
has their own faults, but they try hard.”

Theodore replied with a soft chortle, “They try hard?  I get
tired just watching them!  They are machines!”

Anna laughed, but not as heartily, “Well, there you have
their first fault.  It is a rare,
rare
night that both of them are home. 
I love them dearly, I do!  I just wish they were around more.”

“Is that why you do volunteer work with Emergency Services? 
So you can see more of them?”

Anna laughed and smiled, “You are the first person to make
that connection!  Not that I don't enjoy helping people, but I also miss seeing
more of my parents.”

“I, on the other hand, was never free of my parents until I
went off to school...”

“What was that like?” asked a suddenly giddy Anna.  “Growing
up with a big family?  You have three mothers?”

Theodore laughed, it was always refreshing when someone was
curious of Highland culture rather than confused by it.  “Yes, my father and
three mothers.  That is a small family back in the Highlands; average is four
mothers.”

“Male to female ratio is one to four there in the Highlands,
so I guess that all makes sense...  Four being average and all.  But what was
it
like?”

Theodore smiled, it was nice talking to someone that was at
least superficially versed with his culture.  He was amazed at her education,
but after meeting her parents, he shouldn't have been.  “Well, on one hand it
is hard to find time alone.  On the other hand, there is always someone around
if you need help or just someone to talk to.  Second Mother... Second Mothers
take care of the kids rather than work the family business... anyway!  She
could be busy, busy, busy with Rose but she always could make time for me. 
Little Abby was born when I was off at school.  This trip was only the second
time I've seen her.”

Anna grinned, “As a teenager, I always like my privacy, but
I am so terribly envious at the thought of being able to talk to my mother,
any
mother
, whenever I... well...”

“Was lonely,” finished Theodore.  “Would you like to sit
here next to me?” he offered with a childish grin.

“I was getting ready to offer you a spot next to my seat,”
she replied with a sheepish grin.

Theodore fired back an exaggerated frown, “Um, long tails
and rocking chairs do
not
get along.”

Anna laughed and moved to sit next to Theodore.  “Oh, your
fur is soft!  You and Abby both kinda look like clouded leopards.  Just an
observation.”

Theodore grinned, “I've heard that description before; it
doesn't bother me.”

A sudden flash of white light from behind them made
Theodore's fur stand on end nervously, but Anna just turned and groused,
“Mother!”  She rolled her eyes and sat back next to Theodore, “She just took a
picture of the two of us together.  I'm never going to hear the end of this...”

“Yet I noticed you returned to the seat next to me,”
observed Theodore with a grin.

“I didn't say I didn't like you... um, sitting next to you.”

Theodore laughed to himself; there was multiculturalism and
then there was
this
... Oh well, it was all simple harmless fun...

Suddenly Dr. Westmore burst onto the landing, he looked over
the pair and with a quick laugh kissed his daughter on the forehead, “Got to
run!  They had a nasty emergency over at the Frestner Hotel!”

“Good luck, Dad!” beamed Anna.  She playfully nudged
Theodore, “See, aren't you glad you're spending the night here.”

“I'll say,” murmured Theodore.  “That was the hotel we were
going to...”

Dr. Westmore suddenly froze in his tracks and turned to face
Theodore, “Say that again...”

“Um, the people at the the space port had set us up for the
Frestner Hotel.  Room eleven-thirty...”

“Eleven-thirty-four,” finished the good doctor.  “A bomb
went off outside that door five minutes ago.  Someone was trying to kill you
and your family!”

With the blinds drawn on the windows, Theodore stood in the
living room with his human hosts as all parties nervously discussed what to do
next.

“I... I need to call them back and bail.  They can find
someone else this evening I'm certain,” stammered Dr. Westmore.

“Dad, you never bail on any call
, ever
!  If you don't
show people will ask questions.”

“Go, take the call, dear.  We'll pack up our guests and move
them to a secure location,” offered Janice.

“But where?  It's not like we have safe houses set up here!”

“Don't worry about it, dear...”

“Don't worry about it?  We have three guests who escaped
certain death by luck and good fortune!  We need a better plan!”

“Dad!  Mom says don't worry because she doesn't want to tell
you, not that she doesn't have a plan.  If you don't know where we are, you
can't let things slip!” interjected a remarkably calm Anna.  “You do tend to be
chatty...”

Dr. Westmore stopped and carefully looked back and forth at
his wife and daughter.  Finally he permitted himself a feeble chortle, “Okay,
you two are right.  Again.  Of course!”  He hugged the two warmly and then
headed for the door, “Kill the power to your phones.  I'll leave mine on.... be
careful.”

With the click of the door behind the good doctor, Anna
finally cut lose with a scream, “This isn't fair!  They've already been through
so much today!”

Her mother carefully shushed Anna, “Don't wake the baby!  My
concern is these two events are related.”

“Related?” asked Theodore incredulously.  “You mean someone
tried to kill my parents on the star ship and so now they are trying to finish
the job?  That is crazy!  Who would want to kill my parents?   I mean, First
Mother and Third Mother are artists—they do portraits and things!”

“We don't know and we won't find out here.  First priority
is to get you three out of this house and someplace safer.  Second, we need to
try to contact the other two rescue ports and find and warn your parents.  Now
is not the time to endure their petty bureaucracy, we need results, not
excuses!  Anna, go change into something better for the cold night air and get
your body armor on.”

“Body armor, Mom?”

“You are coming with us, yes”

Anna's eyes went wide, “Yes!  Yes, ma'am!”  She bolted from
the room.

Janice growled out loud to no one in particular before
turning her attention to Theodore, “I've dealt with drug dealers, smugglers and
religious zealots.  I'm not about to let a bunch of idiots hurt your family,
not on
my
planet!” 

Theodore was amazed at Anna's mother; there was a fire and
determination in her voice that spoke of mothers everywhere; do not mess with
the cubs when momma is around!  Yet these weren't
her
children...  “It
doesn't seem right that you would risk putting your daughter in harm's way on
our account.  You have already done so much already.”

Janice laughed and beeped Theodore on the nose.  “Silly cat,
you don't know my daughter; if I didn't invite her along, she would have just
followed us anyway.  It is easier to keep an eye on her this way.  She's a good
girl, a tough and street smart girl.”  She sighed proudly, “She was only twelve
when she helped me perform an emergency caesarian in the bathroom above a
meth-house.  Mother and child both did well, and we
got them out of there!
” 
The last part was not a happy sound as Theodore could feel the lady's hatred of
the situation.  Yet, at the same time he could feel her pride for Anna.  The
situation seemed quite remarkable, but Theodore had no reason to doubt her. 
From what he had already seen of the family, there was not a trace of doubt in
his mind.

Anna soon rejoined them; her new attire was both practical
and inconspicuous.  Her movements were muted; Theodore guessed that the added
stiffness in her body language was her armor.  How strange it was to think of
this loving family having body armor in their standard wardrobe.  But that is
the price of caution when dealing with people of all walks of life.  Rather
than fear those situations, this family embraced it as a professional
challenge.  Anna and Theodore just stood there in silence, unsure what to say
or do while her mother slipped away to change her own attire.

Janice soon rejoined them, looking quite different in fact. 
While Anna's outfit and mannerism were muted, Janice radiated calm and
professionalism.  No one would think twice that she was a doctor in her own
right, she held herself high and proud.   Proud, but with an air of practiced
caution: Theodore noticed a small pistol tucked neatly away and she openly
carried a stun gun.

“Mom!  What about Theodore, um... Dad's armor is way too big
for him...”

Janice gritted her teeth at the sudden observation, but Theodore
just shook his head, “I'm fine.  Thank you.”

“Theodore!  These people bombed your hotel room!  They
aren't to be trifled with!” retorted Anna.

Theodore just smiled.  Like most Highland Taik boys, he'd
been playing with swords in formal practice since he was eight.  As his age had
marched on so had his training: wooden swords gave way to steel blades. 
Steel... in name only.  One of the most practiced traditions in the Highlands
dated back more than two thousand years.  It involved moving things into and
out of a pocket dimension on command.  Live Steel was the common moniker, but
it was far more complicated and useful than a simple steel.  This Steel arose
for one purpose: to defend the Highlands.  Whether it was the product of the
Ancients as many guessed, a side effect of the Guardians as some hypothesized,
or was something entirely different made no mind to Theodore; it was a skill he
knew well and invoked it for the sake of reassuring his human hosts.

Anna shrieked and laughed, wide eyed and giddy as all around
Theodore exploded a waterfall of blue sparks.  The sparks quickly fell away
revealing Theodore standing before them encased in an iridescent metal armor. 
He held a sinister looking poleaxe in his left hand.  He held it out to the
side and dropped it, only to have it disappear in a second wave of blue sparks,
never to hit the floor.   His armor disappeared a heartbeat later in the same
blue glow that had heralded its arrival.  “Highlanders do manage to hold their
own,” he grinned.

For the first time that evening, Janice was caught flat
footed.  Her awestruck face and slack jaw spoke volumes, “Um... That was real
Live Steel!  I've heard of it.  Seen it described often, but...”

“That was awesome!” finished Anna with a giddy laugh.  “Can
it really stop a bullet?”

Theodore grinned, “My first year at the university we played
a bit with the linear accelerators in the undergraduate physics lab.  It maxed
out at 10k joules; couldn't feel a thing.”

“10k joules or not, let's try not to find out,” replied a still
thoroughly amazed Janice.  “That was, however, both fantastic and beautiful!” 
She laughed lightly to herself as she quickly regained her form.  “We need to
get the two little girls loaded in the car.  Anna, if you can, go take care of
the car seats, Theodore and I will bring down the little girls.  If we can get
Abby to sleep the entire way, we are doing well.”

Anna nodded and was gone in a flash.  Her mother flashed a
proud grin and then quickly moved into the kitchen, pulling several items and
adding them to a simple courier bag.  “I'll carry Abby on the stairs if you can
get Rose safely down them.  Poor dears, they both just went to sleep...”

“Then I'll get Rose,” smiled Theodore has he turned from the
room.  Things were a mess, a horrible chaotic mess, but at least he was with
caring people that made a living dealing with the worst.  He gently knocked on the
door to Rose's room before letting himself in.  Rose barely stirred even when
he clicked the light on overhead.  “Come on, Rose.  We're going to find our
parents tonight rather than waiting until morning.”  That was true; it gave lie
to the reasons, but last thing he wanted was for Rose to be sacred again.

Rose finally stirred and offered a simple grin, “Tonight? 
Cool!  If Second Momma yells at me for how late I'm up...”

“I'll cover for you, little one!” laughed Theodore.  “Get
up, get dressed, hit the bathroom and then meet me in the living room.  Got
it?”

Rose nodded enthusiastically and shot off towards the
bathroom, shedding a borrowed nightgown as she went.  Theodore laughed and
excused himself to the hallway.  He had just barely made it back to the living
room when Rose, tussled and fur out of sorts, but dressed, caught up with him. 

“I don't think you've ever gotten dressed that fast in your
life,” grinned Theodore.  “Come on, let's get to the car.” 

Rose took his hand and the pair started for the stairs. 
Janice smiled as she quickly caught up with the pair.  She had her courier bag
over one shoulder and little Abby over the other.  She flashed a quick grin to
the now hyper Rose and the quartet quickly made their way to the waiting car. 
Anna had just finished setting Rose's booster seat and seemed somewhat
surprised at how quickly everyone had arrived.  With practiced form, the youth
were quickly buckled in and the rest soon piled into the car just as its engine
purred to life.

“Where to, Mom?” asked Anna.

“City Center Transport Hub,” replied Janice as she carefully
pulled the vehicle out of the garage and out onto the dark city streets.  “Will
figure out
'where,'
where, once we have a better idea what is going on. 
But there we will have lots of options, and if someone ends up tracing a call
to your father, they will have an annoyingly exhaustive number of options to
pursue.”

Theodore just sat in silence thinking as the car gracefully
moved along.  Why would anyone want to kill his family?  His father was
friendly and non-confrontational, there were no feuds floating around back
home.  His First and Third Mothers were just simple artists, painters... had
they botched a portrait of someone stupidly petty?  That seemed beyond
ridiculous.  Second Mother?  She was a delightful dream!  She could crack a
joke and make a rock laugh... who would ever want to hurt her?  The harder
Theodore thought the more perplexed he became.  Why would anyone want to hurt
his family?  But there it was, someone had bombed their hotel room.  He gritted
his teeth and just had to hope his parents were okay.  If Dad knew an attack
was coming, Theodore was sure he could stand it down.  He was quite skilled
with Live Steel.  But what would happen if something happened while they were
asleep?  Would father's instincts, heightened by the Live Steel, be strong
enough or fast enough to protect them?  Theodore just sighed and let it go; he
had no way of knowing now, and fretting was just making his stomach roll. 

He suddenly snorted as he realized he was clutching Anna's
hand.  “Sorry about that!” he sheepishly offered as he started to let go.

Anna just giggled and grinned, holding on tighter, “Sorry
about what?”

“Do you two kids need a chaperone back there?” teased Janice
from up front.

Anna just rolled her eyes and laughed, “Do you think I'd
tell you if we did?”

Janice just laughed, “Okay, fair enough.  Well, we're here. 
Don't unbuckle yet; let's contact Father first.”  She activated her phone and
tied it in to the car's audio system.  Two quick chirps later and they were
connected, “We're clear of the house.  Please tell me you have good news...”

Dr. Westmore's voice came over the link remarkably cheerful,
“Good news on two accounts.  No one here was injured in the slightest...
scared!  But safe.”

“That is excellent indeed!  And two?”

“Detective Valdez is handling the case.”

Janice visibly relaxed and sighed happily.

“I take it you guys know him,” asked Theodore.

Anna nodded and grinned, “Old friend of the family.  He's
also my godfather.”

“So, can he discretely inquire about the Foxdale family?”

“Already has; they are over at VerDemire.  Their family has
been alerted.  He is sending you a contact link now.  Don't read it out loud.”

Janice grinned as she looked at the text message on phone,
“Dear, unlike you, I can keep a secret!”

A good belly laugh filled the speakers, “Yes, dear.  Roberto
has a mercy flight pass set in your name, so you should be able to make any
connection you want.”

“Give him a big hug for me and I'll see you... um...
probably late tomorrow at this rate!”

He laughed again, “I'll let you do the hugging!  Take care. 
Bye!”

Janice clicked off the phone and sat back in the chair,
granting herself a small peaceful break before addressing the tasks at hand. 
“Okay, we are all going to pack up and take high speed monorail to Krystal and
from there, we'll get a flight over to VerDemire.”

Theodore just nodded, “I'm just following you, ma'am!”

She fired a toothy grin back at him, “How about 'Janice'
rather than 'ma'am'?”

Theodore grinned as he helped Rose out of the car, “I can do
that.”

Anna helped her mother with Abby, but they just left the car
seats in place; they were on the move and weren't looking back.  The five of
them quickly made it up the ramps and through the maze of kiosks before finally
taking their place in a private coach on the monorail.  In less than ten
minutes they were on the move.  Theodore was surprised at how quickly the train
was in motion, apparently Janice knew the departure times forwards and
backwards.  She was an extremely organized lady.

High speed rail or not, it was midnight when it finally
pulled into station.  Theodore found himself being woken by a still grinning
Janice who had already shouldered little Abby.  “Come on you three, we have a
flight to catch!”  Theodore gently woke up Rose and Anna, who were both leaning
on him and, after a quick call of nature from Rose, they followed Janice out
across the vast lobby.  Midnight or not, this was still a busy place!