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Chapter 13 - Chapter 13 - Advice from Arles

Tony and Arcite sat inside of the odd ship that Lewis had pulled aboard that had belonged to the bounty hunter.

Arcite read out a screen. "This is the navigation here."

Tony nodded. "Is there anything in there that our computers don't know?"

Arcite shook his head. "It appears to be outdated."

"Running on outdated information." Tony groaned as he looked at a device he had in his hand. "That's how those freaky aliens first landed on Earth."

The Doctor quietly walked up the gangplank, eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Aliens with bad navigation?" Arcite asked.

Tony didn't look up. "Yeah. Little, odd, brown looking guys with skinny, long necks. Chest glowed when they were together. Weird."

Arcite sat back and rubbed his chin. "I'm not familiar with his species."

"Hell, I can't remember what they were called, either. Well, I said crashed, and that's not really true." He looked up at him. "Do you really want to know about this?"

Arcite nodded. "Yes. Continue."

"See, they landed in the forest there in Northern California. And accidently left one of their people, behind. Poor guy hung out in the woods for a while, until he was befriended by a boy. Around the same age as Soli. He had wild hair like my son's. He fed him candy, to gain his trust. They became connected. Joined. What one of them felt, the other felt."

The Doctor laughed under his breath. He knew Tony was talking about the movie E.T.

Arcite was still processing this information. "Interesting. I am not familiar with a species that can do this. What happened?"

Tony went back to his work. "Well, the boy and the odd alien, made a transmitter out of toys, to send a signal to tell the alien's family that he was left behind. They arrived the next evening, and picked him up. Simple."

Arcite nodded. "Interesting. I've never heard of this. Maybe because the situation was resolved so easily?"

Tony grinned. "Most likely."

The Doctor stepped into the ship. "Find anything?"

Arcite shook his head. "Nothing more than I've already reported, Primus. We really need you to look through all of these transmissions and such. I have it on the screen there."

The Doctor rubbed his chin. "Lovely. I'll take over. Thank you, Arcite. Go have something to eat. Take a rest."

Arcite bowed his head. "Yes, Primus. I stand relieved."

Arcite walked away.

Tony continued to work on the device. "This is showing everywhere he's been. I think."

The Doctor sat down and put on his glasses to better see a screen. "You forgot about the flying bicycles."

Tony grinned. "Well, keep it simple, right?"

The Doctor smiled. "That's my favorite part of that story."

Tony laughed, "Mine, too."

Lewis stepped into the ship. "Find anything useful?"

"Still reading." The Doctor rubbed his chin as he looked through the logs.

Lewis nodded. "So, you can read this language?"

The Doctor replied slowly as he read. "I know….every language. This is nothing important."

Lewis looked back at Tony. "Soli and Pepper alright?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah. I just spoke with them. She was a bit pissed I was gone, but, hell. It's not like I planned this."

Lewis sighed. "Yeah. I should have checked to see who was onboard before we left. John said Plentitude, and I thought it was something to do with Samuel. My apologies-"

"Ah. Don't worry about it. Lance is there. I know they are safe."

Lewis grinned, "That's who I trust my son with. They will be fine."

Tony sat back and turned off his device he had been using. "Anything John?"

The Doctor pointed at the screen. "This here says that Queen Kazimir of Cromia has offered a reward for the return of her beloved son, Soler, who is being held against his will by a gangster named Tony."

Tony grinned. "Gangster! I've never been called that before."

The Doctor continued to read. "This vicious gangster has been known to take children for his own enjoyment-"

"Well, that sounds terrible." Tony groaned.

"…and for the well being of the Prince of Cromia, the Queen has issued this reward to return him to the palace….dead or alive."

"Dead or alive?" Lewis asked.

Tony groaned. "Very loving. Great. I was enjoying this up to the 'take children for his own enjoyment' part."

The Doctor turned off the screen. "Don't worry about it. She's going to say anything to get someone do her dirty work for her."

Lewis agreed. "Yeah. What was the price of the reward?"

The Doctor looked back at Tony. "Do you want to know?"

"Sure, I do. How vicious of a gangster am I?"

The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "You could probably buy a small planet with it-"

Lewis whistled.

Tony groaned. "This isn't going to be the last one we see."

"Not for a while." The Doctor agreed.

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Samuel and Karen had gone back to their suite on the ship. Samuel was still reeling from Lewis' words and was trying not to show how angry he was at his Papa's lack of understanding to Genie's present situation. What was worse, Karen was also very quiet, which led him to think she was proper cross with him.

If only he had Arles' charm.

Karen had excused herself to take a quick shower to get ready to go to the surface. Samuel didn't invite himself, and noticed that she hadn't extended an invitation to him, either.

Less than a week, and he had already screwed this up. Maybe Denise had been right. She had told him that no one would ever want to stay with him after they truly discovered how he was.

He decided to make himself a cup of tea. After a couple of sips, he also decided to get a plate of cannolis.

"Perfect." He mumbled.

He sat down at the table and enjoyed his tea. He felt comfortable in the clothing that Karen had brought him. He wore a pair of trousers, a black shirt long sleeved shirt that fit him rather tightly, with a grey t-shirt over the top. She had also brought his favorite trainers.

His thoughts turned to Genie and Legate as he ate a cannoli. Legate had always managed to get out of any scrap he had found himself in. Just his survival of the ship wreck was amazing, let alone his recovery.

Friday spoke. "Doctor Bennett. There is a transmission for you."

Samuel snapped out of his thoughts. "Right. You can put it on the telly in here."

He stood up and left the remaining cannolis on the table. His tea in his hand, he sat on the arm of the sofa. His face spread into a smile as soon as he saw Arles on the screen. "Arles!"

Arles returned the smile. "Good to see you awake."

"Yeah, I need to work on my landing-"

"You need to work on your attack." Arles told him. "So, anyway. Dad said you were awake. Any pain?"

"Nah. Seems like everything is back together. I'm in one piece."

Arles nodded and blew smoke. He was sitting on the back deck of his flat. It was night, and the lights on the deck illuminated Arles and the chair he sat in. He brought up a drink and sipped it.

"So, Legate and Genie landed safely. They are on Photoria." Arles told him.

"Yeah, Papa mentioned they had went there. Why?"

"Ah. They were just out for a quick flight. Translation. Privacy."

"Translation. Avoidance of Papa and Dad."

Arles pointed at him and sat down his drink. "I agree. And then there was the attack, so Legate used the excuse to haul ass to Photoria. If you ask me, he was headed there anyway."

"Lenox?"

"And Poltious."

Samuel nodded. "Well, it makes sense. He would want to tell them. And he should. And you wouldn't believe the chat I had with Papa."

"I bet I would. What did he say?"

Samuel grit his teeth. "Oh. Bloody….shit."

"Bloody shit, huh? Sounds like you may need to go back to the med bay." He laughed.

Samuel rolled his eyes. "Oh, I don't even want to get into it at the moment."

"I agree. Let me be more sober." Arles sipped his drink and nodded. "So, the headmistress has left me in charge!"

"Oh boy-"

"Ah. We're fine. She'll return tomorrow. I need to figure out something to do to wind her up before she arrives. I am taking suggestions."

Samuel sipped his tea. "Well, let her speak to me. I seem to be good at winding people up today."

Arles took another hit off of a joint he was smoking and grunted. "What are you on about?"

Samuel turned and made sure he still heard the shower running. He looked back at the screen. "I think Karen is cross. Because of the….fight."

Arles sat back and relaxed. "Did she say something?"

"No. But, she's been quiet."

Arles nodded. "Let me think on this. Umm. Dad told me about the Commander showing up at the Lieutenant's home."

"Yeah. Has anyone heard from him?"

"I just came from Anne's. Dinner. I love your mother in law." Arles grinned. "She's an excellent cook."

"She's heard from him?"

"Yeah. She got a few texts while I was there. Something about an inspection. I don't know. A bunch of acronyms. She didn't seem to think it was anything to worry about."

"I'm just not comfortable with this. Could you go to Florida? Do your phase thing and see if you can put eyes on him?"

"I'll have to sober up a bit to be able to do that-"

"I thought your phase worked better when you were high?"

"I need a clearer head to completely disappear."

"Oh, right. Thanks."

"And about Karen. You're a moron."

Samuel nodded. "I accept this as fact."

"Everything isn't about you. Anne told Karen about the Commander. She could be worried about that and her husband who is a clot."

Samuel groaned. "A clot?"

Arles continued, "She's pregnant. She's hormonal. I'm surprised she hasn't…busted up in tears over nothing yet."

Samuel looked surprised. "Yeah?"

"How are you a Doctor?"

"I question that myself."

Arles blew smoke and sat down his joint. "Look brother. This is how it works. You need to catch this woman, off guard. This is the perfect time to do that. Just because you have won her, doesn't mean the work stops."

Samuel nodded. "Okay."

"Do I have to spell it out for you?"

Samuel sat down his tea. "Could you?"

Arles laughed. "Sad, man. Where is she?"

Samuel pointed with his thumb. "Shower. We're going down to the surface for dinner and shopping-"

"Perfect. This is what you do." Arles proceeded to explain.

Samuel grinned. "Seriously? How are you single?"

Arles pointed at him. "Because, coaches never play. Man up, Sammy."

Arles ended the transmission.

Samuel shook his head and grinned. "He's right."

He stood up and walked into the bedroom. He looked in the closet and surprisingly found only his clothing. Well, he wasn't sure why that surprised him. This was only Karen's second trip into space, and both times had been unexpected.

He went back into the sitting room to the general replicator and quickly got to work finding a dress that he thought Karen may like. He spoke to himself. "Brown. She likes brown."

The items he selected appeared in a mist of yellow light. He took the items with him.

He knocked on the bathroom door and waited until she asked him to come in. He slowly put his head through the opened door. She was still in the shower.

"Samuel, you can come in." She told him.

He stepped inside and sat down his burden on the cabinet. "Umm. I realized that you probably didn't have anything to wear, so I got you something."

She opened the door to the shower to look at him. He stood there, holding a rose out to her.

She smiled, "Samuel."

He tapped the rose to his chest and smiled. "Do you need anything?"

"A toothbrush would be nice."

He nodded. "I have a yellow one for you. I guessed you would want to go with the one you know."

She turned off the shower. "Samuel. That was thoughtful."

He sat down the rose on the cabinet and quickly fetched her towel. As she stepped out of the shower, he wrapped it around her.

"Right then. And you need one for your hair. I remember you telling me that."

She giggled as he handed her another towel. "Thank you, Samuel."

He turned and pointed. "Right. So, hmm. Everything, I think you might need, is just there on the cabinet. If you find that you need something else, let me know."

She smiled as she dried herself off, and held up a hairbrush. "I believe you may have thought of everything."

He grinned. "Umm. I'm sure I've forgotten something. I'll be out here. Privacy. Yeah."

He closed the door back as he left the bathroom.

Karen picked up the rose and held it to her nose. She smiled.

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The Doctor and Lewis transported together to another ship, and were met by Queen Ashena.

"John! Lewis! It's so wonderful to see you both." She smiled.

The transporter room was full of Quauhtin with their Queen. The Doctor and Lewis both kissed her in greeting.

The Doctor looked around. "Where is Logan?"

"Logan is training, and regrets not meeting us. If you would like, I can send for him."

"It's not necessary. I'm sure there will be time for that a bit later." Lewis smiled.

"Indeed. Come then." She turned and walked with them out of the room.

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