Guerani Hills, Calabria
Shamara must have lost consciousness, because when she came to, the first moon lit bathed the hills with soft light. AT first she found it difficult to move because she was so weak, but her strength returned slowly. Turning, she saw that Dagan was lying near her and he was also waking.
"Are you all right?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Dagan slowly moved toward her. "Are you?"
She nodded. "I … I feel different."
He took her hand and she felt nothing more than the same human warmth she had felt in their last trance. "They are gone."
Shamara felt saddened and couldn't keep the tears from her eyes. "They sacrificed themselves for us."
Dagan pulled her close to him and folded her in his arms. "They were not part of this world, Shamara."
She knew he was right, but she couldn't help her sadness for the terrible mess Rahina had made of the lives she had touched and created. And with Ulfynaeus gone from within her, Shamara felt as if part of her was missing. She would have to learn to go on without her.
"We should get back down the hill," said Dagan as he gently helped her to her feet.
Shamara looked around. "Where…where is Quatre Winner?"
Dagan shrugged. "I don't know. He must have come around before we did."
Shamara sighed. "He must be very confused. I think Camrin had a strong hold on him."
On their way down the mountain, they were extra careful, not only because they were weak from their ordeal, but also because they no longer had the power of gods to rely on. Not gods, Shamara reminded herself. There was no sign of Quatre Winner, so Shamara wondered if he had been unable to cope with the things Camrin had done while using his body and had taken his own life. She half-expected them to find his remains on the way down, but they didn't. By the time they arrived in the foothills, both suns had risen. They continued on until they stumbled across an abandoned camp that must have belonged to Camrin. All that remained was a man who had been skewered to a tree with three spears. The man was Orhan. Shamara hated to admit to herself that it looked like Taeron's work.
At mid-afternoon, they came upon a village where they were praised as saviors. A messenger left immediately to inform the governor at the Wasteland Palace that they were alive, and Dagan and Shamara rested while they waited for her Apolo to arrive. The people viewed them as deities, and she guessed that all of Calabria was already worshipping Prince Dagan and Princess Shamara. She could do without that, especially now when she felt particularly frail and vulnerable. Dagan's arm around her was her only strength.
Apolo arrived accompanied by Amyr, but Taeron was in lapse of his duties as the crowned prince's imperial guard. A handful of soldiers escorted them instead.
Apolo hesitated in touching them at first, then he hugged Shamara. "I thought you were dead!"
"I figured so," said Shamara with a half-smile.
Apolo looked at them strangely, as if he were trying to determine their status. "Are you…are you …?"
Dagan chuckled and put his hand on his shoulder. "We are no more gods than you, my lord. And we are hungry and tired after our ordeal."
"Needless to say, we thought the world was going to come to an end." Apolo told them later on their way back to the palace. "But Trey informed us that Lady Virineia had predicted the eclipse many years ago while mapping the system."
"Mordraeus wanted to frighten you and us with his power, and he used his knowledge of the stars to do so." The palace was in view when Shamara asked, "Where is Taeron?"
Apolo sighed. "He is keeping the vigil at his father's side."
A tear slipped down Shamara's cheek. She didn't want to ask when they would hold the ceremony to lay his body to rest. "Is...is my father there?"
Apolo nodded. "He would have come out to greet you himself, but he is quite overwrought by Lord Duo's passing."
Dagan took Shamara into his arms and she was glad for the comfort that he gave her. But in his touch, she could no longer read his thoughts. Looking up and seeing his raised brows, she realized he could not read hers.
Dagan looked away from her to Apolo. "Quatre Winner left the mountain before we did, but we did not see him on the way down."
"That may explain the theft of the spaceship from the Cinq Kingdom from the Wasteland Fortress during the chaos," Apolo told them. "Do you think that he took Trynity with him? We could not find her body, and yet she must be gone as well. I warned her not to defy the gods in using her healing..."
"Quynn and Stryfe must be devastated," interrupted Shamara with a glance at Dagan. Trynity's attempt to use her healing power to save Duo must have angered the gods and that was why they had felt such a weakening of their own powers before they headed up the mountain.
They didn't discuss it any further as they had reached the palace and Shamara didn't waste any more time before hurrying to Duo's chamber. The lord was lying on his bed dressed in ceremonial robes. Taeron, Quynn and Stryfe stood nearby comforting each other with Dr. Stryfe and Lady Virineia. Larya, sitting by the bed, rose to go to Apolo who took her hand. Shamara saw her father and mother standing by the window, and she hurried to greet them, throwing herself against her father and giving vent to the tears that choked her. He held her tightly and whispered in her ear how happy he was that she was alive. She then went to her mother and hugged her as well. Shamara knew that her mother had many questions and she would answer all that she could. At least she could give her mother peace in knowing that Dax had loved both her and her brother, that he was guilty only of being unable to control a being with the powers of a god.
Dagan joined them, and after he received hugs, he and Shamara went Taeron who was standing now with his mother and Apolo. She hugged him in silence for several moments, then she asked quietly "Do you know what happened?"
Apolo spoke. "When we came to the camp, most of Camridaeus' followers had already scattered, but Macayl was still there. She told us that Orhan stabbed Duo from behind when he was helping Trynity escape and that Lord Camridaeus was enraged by what Orhan had done to Trynity. He was the one who killed the traitor."
"The bastard took my mother's body!" sobbed Quynn, and she buried her face in Amyr's chest to cry.
"Camridaeus is gone," Shamara said. "If anyone took your mother's body, it was Quatre Winner."
"Or whatever was left of him," commented Dr. Stryfe with a grunt.
"From what I understand, the creature's symbiotic grip on the host is quite consuming," added Lady Virineia. "I cannot imagine how that man is feeling now, especially if he was cognizant of all the things Camridaeus did while controlling him."
Stryfe chuckled hoarsely. "Mom would have loved to study that."
Shamara went to the bed and she stared for a moment at Duo's lifeless body. After all that he had suffered for making one terrible mistake, she prayed that the gods were merciful enough to give him peace in his new plane of existence. If the relaxed expression on his features were any guide, she would say that they had been. Sadly, she reached out to touch him, and she had expected not to feel anything, her powers having left with Ulfynaeus' essence. But feelings and memories came rushing through her so strongly that she stumbled back from the bed. Dagan hurried to her catch her in his arms, and she urged him to touch Duo. Dagan was skeptical at first, but he did as she asked and his reaction was the same.
She looked quickly at Apolo. "He is not dead!"
"What?!" Now everyone hurried to the bedside as Apolo touched Duo. "I don't feel anything."
"You felt it, didn't you?" Shamara asked Dagan.
Dagan nodded. "Lord Duo is alive, but he is in a trance."
"A trance!" exclaimed Trey in disbelief. "How can that be? I find it difficult enough to believe that Trynity could heal..."
"Her healing power was very weak, " said Apolo. "She could not have healed Duo from the wound he received from Orhan."
"It is possible that he is in a deep coma," pointed out Dr. Stryfe.
Shamara looked at her father. "A very powerful form of healing has put him in the trance, but I can't say that it is Guerani. If Dagan and I can detect it, but not Apolo..."
"You must have some residual power from Ulfynaeus and Dagmaeus left in you," finished Arora. "That would mean..."
"That Camridaeus must have healed him," finished Apolo with surprise.
Shamara understood now why Mordraeus had been angry with his son. Camridaeus had used his power to heal Duo and put him in this trance. Could that possibly mean that he had helped Trynity?
"He...he cared about my mother," spoke up Quynn hopefully. "Could he have...?" She didn't seem to want to give herself false hope by finishing her question.
Shamara didn't respond because she didn't know what had become of Trynity. Instead she said, "We don't know what is happening in his trance, but if we cannot draw him back, his body will soon wither and die. We do not have the technology that you do in your system to sustain his life."
"And that damn wormhole is closed!" snapped Quynn. "We couldn't even take him back to L12, and if Mom is alive, we wouldn't know that either!"
Shamara looked at Apolo and he nodded. Surely the gods had a reason for closing the passage between their systems. "We can't worry about that. We have to help Duo here. We have to get through to him," Shamara told them, looking to each of them. "We must call him back to us."
Cinq Kingdom Colony L12
"…And I really don't know what I am going to do with Chaz. His term of service in the space guard is coming to an end and all he wants to do is sit around the house eating cheese curls and drinking beer. I told Heero to have a talk with him and the next thing I know the two of them are puking drunk playing a virtual game."
The voice seemed so far away and yet so close. Trynity's head hurt even trying to figure out where it was coming from, so she tried to go back to sleep, but that droning voice kept going on and on.
"And I found out today that Shaina quit her ballet lessons four months ago and she's been bribing the teacher to send me glowing reports!" There was a long, dejected sigh. "I just don't know what I am going to do."
Cut off her allowance, Trynity thought.
"Did you say something?" Relena's voice sounded excited. "You are awake!!"
Trynity realized that her eyes were open, and she saw Relena pressing the emergency code button near her bed. The light from the window was blinding and Trynity had to blink several times to accustom her eyes to it. The doors burst open and a team of emergency doctors and nurses rushed in, but when they saw that there really was no life-threatening emergency, most quickly left although a doctor and nurse stayed behind to attend her. By the looks on their faces, Trynity knew they were shocked to see her awake.
She tried to talk, but something was preventing her, and then she realized she was on a respirator. Trynity didn't know how she had come to be here. The last thing she remembered was Lars leaving for L12 to get…no, that wasn't right. Lars was dead. Duo had returned from Calabria, and then…no, that wasn't right either. Duo was dead too. She remembered everything now.
As the doctor listened to Relena's excited screeching, Trynity closed her eyes, and she saw Duo's face, so peaceful and calm.
"The gods are merciful."
Was this merciful, she wondered? Was this her punishment for having tried to defy them?
"Don't cry, Trynity!" Relena was dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
"I'll have to ask you to leave, Mrs. Yuy," she heard the doctor say and Trynity was relieved to have a return to some peace and quiet.
Although she argued vehemently, Relena finally did leave under threat of being carried out by security. For the next several hours, Trynity suffered through extensive medical testing, but when it came to an end, she had been disconnected from the machines that had kept her alive for six months. The doctor didn't need to tell her she had lost the baby. She had been fortunate, from his point of view, not to lose her own life. He could not find a definite physical injury to treat, and she could not explain to him how she had come to be in her condition, suffering a near fatal coma. Trynity wasn't sure she understood any of it.
When the doctor was satisfied that she was in stable condition, he told her that a psychologist would be in to see her, then he ordered the nurse to add a sedative to her intravenous line. Trynity watched the nurse, but she didn't say anything to either her or the doctor because she wasn't sure she could speak. Fortunately, she could nod or shake her head to answer his questions.
After the doctor left, Relena bustled back in, and Heero followed her. Relena looked happy enough to burst, but Heero seemed more somber.
"The doctor says you might be able to leave next week. I insist that you stay with Heero and me. You still have a long way to go before you recover fully, and I want you to do it with me. I will take care of you."
Trynity felt woozy from the sedative, but she forced herself to look at Heero. "Where are Quynn and Stryfe?" she managed to ask although she sounded as if she were speaking with cotton in her mouth and her voice came out sounding worse than a seventy year old smoker.
Relena and Heero looked at each other before Heero spoke. "I'm sorry, Trynity, but they haven't returned."
"They hate me," she whispered. She couldn't blame them after all that had happened because of her foolishness and insecurity.
"That's not true!" cried Relena. She gathered Trynity in her arms. "They haven't returned because they can't. The wormhole closed shortly after Winner brought you back. It hasn't opened since."
Trynity wanted to burst into tears, and she wanted to shout her curses at the cruel gods that Duo had been so fond to worship. But she couldn't. Oddly enough, she felt a strange sense of calm and she remembered Duo's last words to her.
"I'll always be with you."
She sighed, then said, "They'll be all right."
Relena held her close. "Quatre told us about Duo."
"I'm all right," Trynity told her, forcing a smile to her lips. "He'll always be with me in my heart."
Tears spiked Relena's lashes, and she turned away so that Trynity couldn't see her cry. Trynity looked at Heero because seeing Relena's grief was painful to her.
He took Relena's arm. "Let's let Trynity have some rest."
Relena wiped her cheeks. "You will stay with us."
Trynity nodded before falling asleep.
When the psychologist paid her a visit on the following day, Trynity didn't refuse the counseling she provided, and she decided to take Relena's offer to stay with her for a couple of months before she decided to return to Earth. When Noin called to offer her a job at the Royal Academy where she would take a position in the science department pending her father's return from Calabria, Trynity accepted. The Trynity she had once been would have been terrified of the new life that was now hers. That Trynity had a father to take care of her, children to nurture and friends to watch over her. Now she had no family and she was leaving her friends to strike out on her own. But Trynity now understood that the physical presence of the people she loved was not nearly as important as knowing that they did love about her and would be there for her if they could. The resentment she had carried within her so long for what Duo had done had disappeared with that realization. She wasn't afraid for herself, and she wasn't afraid for her father and children. If she never saw them again, she could be confident that they would make good lives for themselves. And the love she would always feel for Duo, would sustain her for the rest of her life.
The transport on which she traveled made a scheduled stop at L11, so Trynity paid a visit to Sally Po and Wufei. They were delighted to see her, and they talked for a long time about their adventures in the past. At the end of the conversation, Trynity broached the subject that was uppermost in her mind.
"Heero told me that Quatre is on L11."
Wufei and Sally looked at each other as if they didn't trust her with the information, then Wufei said, "Do you want to see him? Heero must have told you that he is not really himself."
"He goes through the motions of living," Sally told Trynity, "but I get the feeling that he isn't really alive."
Trynity knew that Quatre hadn't been alive for many years. "I would still like to see him. I have something to say to him."
They took Trynity out to the beachfront property where Quatre lived attended to by one old and trusted Winner family servant. As far as anyone was concerned, Quatre Winner was dead. Many people had suffered under the reign of terror that had been orchestrated by Camridaeus while in control of Quatre's body. They wouldn't be able to understand what had really happened, that the man they would punish had been as much a victim as they had. The man who sat on the verandah overlooking the artificial sea was a drained shell who didn't really seem alive. As Trynity sat on a chair across a table from him, he didn't even look at her, although she wouldn't be able to see even if he did because he was wearing darkly tinted sunglasses.
At first she didn't say anything, and she waited until the servant left behind a tall glass of cold lemonade and she drank some before she finally did speak. "Heero told me that you were here." He didn't respond. Trynity took another sip of her drink. She looked out at the water and watched the waves. They were computer generated so while they looked real, the random program repeated so often that they could not be mistaken for anything but artificial. Yet she found the sight somewhat mesmerizing and knew why Quatre spent his days like this.
She didn't know how long they sat like this, in silence, watching the calming waves, but when the shadows began to lengthen over the tiles of the patio, Trynity realized she had to return to Wufei's home soon to say goodbye. The transport would be leaving in a matter of hours.
The servant came out with a blanket, but Trynity took it from him and she draped it over Quatre's lap. Then she dropped to a knee beside his chair, and very gently she slipped the sunglasses down from his eyes. They had been open, but he quickly closed them. She set the glasses on the table.
"I came here to say something to you, Quatre. Actually, I have a couple of things to say." A breeze ruffled his long blond hair, so she pushed it back from his face. He flinched when her fingers brushed his skin. She knew exactly how painful this was for him, but Trynity couldn't leave with loose ends dangling. "I want to thank you for bringing me back. I think I would have died on Calabria, and I want to live."
He opened his eyes, and when he looked down at her, she saw the deep sorrow and regret, but he didn't seem to be able to speak.
Trynity touched his hands, which were clasped on his lap. "I would forgive you, Quatre, if I thought you had done anything that needed to be forgiven. I know the truth, and perhaps some day you will realize that you were not responsible for anything that happened."
He didn't respond. Trynity straightened, then leaned to whisper in his ear. "Stop blaming yourself."
She started to walk away but she stopped when he heard his voice. "I think it would have been kinder to leave you as you were on Calabria, but he left me with that last imperative, to return you to your own people. Even after he was gone, I didn't have the will to disobey him."
Trynity didn't turn around. "I am sorry, Quatre."
Then she left him behind. Trynity hoped he could find some peace as she had.
Ulfynaeus, second moon of Calabria
"I'm glad that Amyr is paying another visit so that you have the opportunity to learn more about running this government."
Taeron chuckled. "Amyr is not paying you a visit, father."
Duo laughed. "Yes, I do know that, but whatever the reason, you are here." The window was open and both suns were shining. He could hear the sound of Quynn's teasing voice floating on the wind. Duo had no reason to fear any impropriety because she knew the rules: Lady Virineia was in the garden with her to avoid any temptation. Although in the last few weeks Duo had caught the emperor's mother in very compromising situations with Ivan Stryfe senior. Perhaps she wasn't the best chaperon after all when Quynn was entertaining the crowned prince of the empire.
He smiled to himself. It was good to be alive!
Taeron was looking at him with a raised brow. "You are in a good mood."
"I haven't been presented with any problems yet today." Duo looked back at Taeron with a smile. Had it not been for this young man, he might be dead, because it had been Taeron's voice that had drawn him away from the world his mind had created. He hadn't heard Quynn and Stryfe because they were a part of that world, but the more he heard Taeron urging him to return, the more he realized what was missing from that perfect life he had created with Trynity in his mind. As painful as it had been to leave, Duo forced himself back to the conscious world, and the first face he had seen was that of his Calabrian son.
"Do you wish to train today?" Taeron now asked him.
Duo didn't want to admit to his son that he was starting to feel a little old to be swinging around his sword. "Perhaps later."
Taeron nodded. "I understand."
Taeron probably did understand, but he didn't seem disappointed. "Why don't you put Amyr through his paces," suggested Duo. "I haven't seen him with a sword in his hand in a long time."
"He is only interested in watching my sister," lamented Taeron with a sigh.
That was the truth of the matter. Amyr was a talented fighter, but lately Quynn distracted him from training. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was in love, and if Quynn returned the affection, she didn't betray her feelings about the crowned prince. Any Calabrian woman would be honored to have Prince Amyr doting on her, but Quynn wasn't so easily swayed. Amyr would have to prove to her that he could be steadfast and loyal, something Duo was having serious doubts about. Duo was just glad that Trynity and Lars had raised her to have a level head on her shoulders. He was proud to claim her.
A knock at the door drew their attention, and a servant announced the emperor. Duo frowned as Trey walked in followed by Dagan and Shamara. "I wasn't expecting you, Trey. Are you really here, or is this another of your hologram communications?"
Trey half-smiled at him. "Which do you think?"
Duo raised a brow and glanced at Dagan and Shamara. Shamara was holding a squirming baby, and by the less than pleasant odor, he knew they were real unless Trey had amused himself by devising a technology to transport smell. Thinking that he was going to have the last laugh by walking straight through Trey's hologram, Duo was somewhat embarrassed when he knocked down a very real emperor.
"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Trey with annoyance as Taeron hurried to help him up from the floor.
Shamara giggled behind her father and Duo heard Dagan chuckle.
The look on Trey's face made Duo laugh too. "Well, you can't blame me. You know I hate those holograms."
Trey managed to find the humor in the situation, and he snorted with laughter. "As you can see, I am real this time. On a whim, I decided to accompany my daughter, her husband and my grandson to the moon to say good-bye, and possibly find out what my son is up to here. Arora wanted to come, but she wasn't feeling well."
Pregnant again, thought Duo with a sigh.
Trey frowned at him. "I know that look! You'd be better off if you got yourself a woman and concerned yourself with those matters."
"I don't need fifty children around my ankles," replied Duo.
Trey smiled and put his hand on Duo's shoulder. "The children are merely a pleasant consequence."
Turning his attention to Shamara, he went to hug her, then took her three-week-old baby son from her. "I think he looks a little like Dagan."
"He looks a lot like Zeno," grunted Trey.
Shamara laughed and took her baby back. "Right now he needs to be changed. I think I heard you volunteer to do the honors, father."
Trey frowned at her, but he took the baby and walked out the door grumbling, "I'm the only one who knows how to properly change a diaper anyway."
Duo was chuckling about that when Dagan spoke. "We would be honored, my lord, if you would accompany us back to Bayman."
"I promise it will be the last time!" said Shamara quickly when she saw that he wasn't interested in leaving. She joined hands with Dagan. "We will be remaining on Bayman. Dagan and I are eager to begin our new life there."
"Is Seighen eager to have you back?" asked Duo with a glance at Dagan. He remembered the difficulty Dagan had in proving himself to his people. What Dagan didn't need was a rejuvenated Seighen undermining his authority.
Dagan nodded. "Oxana has made his golden years the best of his life. He wants us to return as soon as possible so that he can retire to some grand villa with her."
Duo put his hands on Shamara's shoulders and he looked into her eyes. "I can see that you are happy."
She smiled up at him. "I couldn't be any more so."
"You are not worried about me?" Duo feared that she didn't understand that he was feeling satisfied with his life. What happened in the past, he could not change. As simple a solution it now seemed, it had suddenly hit him head on when he had been on his retreat in the hills. He could and did forgive Trynity in his heart for the mistrust she had felt when she did not tell him about their children. No one was to blame. They had made the same silly mistakes other teenagers made, and that was all they had been. Circumstances beyond their control had blown them out of proportion. Too bad they couldn't have resolved that issue before they were separated again.
Shamara answered his question. "I know that the gods have finally given you peace, Duo."
"Have you given up hope of seeing Trynity again?" asked Dagan warily.
Duo smiled and put his hand to his chest. "She is here." None of them had any proof that Trynity was still alive, but Duo knew that she was. If they were never able to be together again, he could still be grateful that he had once known such love.
"I would be honored to accompany you, father," said Taeron. "I never did get a chance to make the first trip."
"What is this I hear about trips?" Quynn sauntered into the room followed by Amyr, Lady Virineia and Stryfe.
"I have been asked to accompany Shamara and Dagan back to Bayman."
Quynn laced her fingers and cracked her knuckles. "I'd love to go on that trip. I haven't been on a flight for months."
"If Taeron is going, then I suppose I should go with him," pointed out Amyr.
Quynn rolled her eyes. "Who is in charge, anyway? Is he your guard or is it the other way around?"
"I've wondered the same thing myself," grumbled Trey who had returned with the baby, which he slipped into Shamara's arms. She, in turn, passed him to Dagan who was obviously proud of the child they had created. Duo was glad that the gods had granted them love after what they had been through.
In the end, Duo and Taeron left with Quynn, Stryfe, Prince Zieben and several honor guards while Amyr remained behind to administer to the moon at the insistence of his father. The trip through space had been uneventful, and arriving on Bayman, cheering crowds greeted Prince Dagan and his Calabrian bride. Shamara and Dagan no longer possessed any special powers except for those that were inherent from their Guerani ancestry, but they did not need them. Shortly after Seighen welcomed back his son, he abdicated his throne, and the people were happy to welcome their new king.
Duo and his entourage stayed on Bayman a couple of weeks before returning to Ulfynaeus, the moon now named in honor of the Guerani wolf-girl who had won the heart of a 'god'. The first moon was now referred to as Dagmaeus, and the name of the highest peak in the Guerani hills, the now dormant volcano had been named Camridaeus. The tale Dagan and Shamara had told them of what happened in the sacred hills was nothing short of incredible. The cults that had popped up in the Calabrian and Bayman system quickly dispersed as news spread that none of the beings were actually gods, but parasitic entities using innocent people to carry out their vengeance.
When Duo finally arrived back at his home, he was immediately set upon by Stryfe and his grandfather as well as Lady Virineia. He hadn't heard anything about the wormhole opening up again, so he couldn't imagine what had them so excited.
Dr. Stryfe spoke first even before Duo could sit down behind the desk in his office. "I've found it!"
"Were you missing something?" Fortunately Dr. Stryfe hadn't spent the last few months trying to blame Duo for Trynity's disappearance. They had been living quite peacefully together.
"He has found it," repeated Lady Virineia, stressing the last word.
Duo was about to pick up a paper, but he hesitated and looked up at the older woman. She was smiling. He quickly looked at Dr. Stryfe. "You have found the route back to our solar system?"
"It's unbelievable, but true!" exclaimed his son.
Dr. Stryfe was so excited he could hardly get out the words to explain that in comparing the charts Lady Virineia had made and those that he had brought with him from Earth, they were able to discover that while there were some inconsistencies, they could identify some common threads.
"But we couldn't get them to fit together perfectly. The pieces of the puzzle just didn't make a picture," said Virineia.
"Then we realized that there was a colossal mistake in miscalculation on the maps from Earth," explained Dr. Stryfe. He shoved everything on Duo's desk on the floor and he spread out his map. "We are in the same galaxy!" As he moved his finger from point to point, explaining his theory, Duo could only get one thing out of it. They no longer needed the wormhole to travel back to Earth!
"It isn't a short jaunt," said Virineia, "especially with the technology of the craft of Calabria. But once we are able to purchase ships from Earth with the travel capabilities of the ship Ivan arrived on, the trip would only take a couple of weeks."
"You see," said Ivan, "Our maps were incomplete in this part of space and so the cartographers made educated guesses that happened to be way off the mark. Virineia and I discovered it by chance."
Nothing was by chance, thought Duo. The gods had sent him a sign. "How long would it take for us to reach L12?" he asked. He tried not to allow his hopes to rise.
"I would estimate three months," Stryfe answered him. "Gramps has already been working on synthesizing his fuel and drawing up plans to refit a Calabrian ship to use the hyper speed drive."
Three months would only seem like days when Duo knew that at the end of that time he would see Trynity. He put his trust in the gods for that.
