Sandoval's Quarters.
Aboard "Justice"
He leaned back on his bed, tired to the core even though he had slept plentifully during the night. His debilitating headache did nothing to help it either. He was starting to suspect, that his worst fears had come true, that his CVI was failing. And without the Taelons or Dr. Park around, it could not be replaced. The Taelons had taken that knowledge with them when they left. But there had been none of the other telltale signs yet, the bleeding from the ears or the hallucinations. Maybe it was just stress.
"Dad ?" Liam's low voice called from the entry portal. He didn't want to wake up his dad, but he had woken up, feeling a sudden urge to be with him, talk to him just because he could. Sandoval's face lit up in a genuine smile as he agile got up from his boneless sprawl on the bed.
"Liam !" he went over and gave him a warm hug, which Liam returned a little bit shyly.
"Dad, I wondered. I was going to see Mom's grave..." Liam hesitated, not really sure how to formulate it. " I was wondering if you wanted to go with me..." A serious expression showed on Sandoval's face.
"I would love to."
Liam's face split in an ear to ear grin. "Great, I'll get a shuttle online.."
"Eh, Liam ?"
"Yeah ?"
"You may want to get into some clothes first." Liam went beet red as he realised that he was still wearing his usual sleeping attire, tight sweats and no T-shirt. He groaned.
"Don't tell me, that I just went halfway through the ship looking like this ?"
Sandoval couldn't hide his amusement any longer. "You did."
Liam groaned again. Well, at least, Street hadn't been around to see.
"Hi Liam, cool sweats..."
What in the world had he done to the universe to deserve this? Liam quickly disappeared in the direction of his own chambers, his face flushed with an interesting colour of red, before Street could make a smart alec remark, never noticing the look of intense worry in her eyes or the forced quality of her greeting.
A Park
Washington DC
She had been here for hours, watching the children play, while the sky got darker. Time was running out. A small child approached her.
"Hey lady, why are you looking so sad ?"
She smiled a little. Such innocence.
"Well, " She crouched down to be on eye-level with the small 7-year-old girl. "You, I've got this problem. Some people, children really, have done something really, really bad, and now I need to find a way of punishing them."
"Can't you just ground them and take away their toys ?"
"No, little one, it's a little more complex than that."
"Jeannie, get away from the lady, don't bother her !" The child's mother rushed over, a little nervous about her offspring talking to a stranger. The kid was quickly whisked away in a nearby portal, one of her toys forgotten on the ground.
"Take away their toys..." Anr'el smirked. If it was only that simple. She stared at the portal. Then inspiration struck.
"From the mouth of children !" She quickly got up, leaving for the "Justice." This might just work, both for the Council and her human friends.
Strandhill
Ireland.
The grave was small, almost too small to harbour the woman within, Sandoval mused. Kneeling next to it, Liam carefully placed a bucket of wildflowers on his mother's grave. She had loved wildflowers, he remembered, drawing on his inherited memories. And all the stores had been closed since the sound of a Kimera shuttle had been heard. Everyone was hiding in their houses. Anr'els strategy of intimidation had worked a little too well. Then he got up, turning to his dad.
"You know, she.." That was as far as he got, as the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his life, got into his point of view. Sandoval saw the terror in Liam's face, as he stared intently at his dad's left ear.
"What? A bug or something ?" Then he felt it. A small tickle. He reached up. And when his hand came down again, it was stained with blood. Then the world went black. Liam managed to catch his dad before he hit the ground. His heart was beating wildly against his ribcage. No. Not again! He cursed every fate, every God in the universe, who were responsible for sending the Taelons in this direction. Sandoval's Implant was burning out. And Liam did not know what to do. All he could do as his dad's CVI created a major brain haemorrhage was screaming for help.
Council Chamber
Aboard "Justice"
Augur was surprised. There was still a little more than 10 hours to go, but Anr'el had called them all together. The Kimera couldn't be pushing up the schedule, could they? He exchanged worried looks with the rest, as Anr'el entered the room, throwing out orders left and right in Kimera.
"Ah, good." She sent them what she hoped was a reassuring look. "You are here. Where's Sandoval?"
"He and Liam went to Ireland to visit the grave of Liam's mother, Siobhan Beckett." Ca'el informed, looking much more relaxed than the last time, they had seen him.
"OK, then someone will have to bring him up to speed when they get back." Anr'el quickly sat down. "I have found a suitable solution to the problem with the punishment of Earth's population. One that I hope, you too will find satisfactory as the Council have."
"As long as it doesn't involve genocide, sure," Augur said, suddenly feeling a little bit more light-hearted than before. A feeling, which was quenched in the next second, as Anr'el suddenly lost all control of her human facade, grasping her head with both hands.
"LIAM!"
Strandhill
Ireland
An old couple had braved out of their house when they heard the desperate cries for help. It came from the cemetery. As they got closer, they saw a tall man, on his knees, holding a smaller, Asian man unconsciously in his arms.
"Isn't that..."
"Yes, it's Sandoval. And that's Liam Kincaid." The elderly man grabbed his wife by the arm as she started to move towards them. "By the Fae, woman, stay here! He's alien!"
Fiona yanked her arm loose.
"He also needs help. And he's a friend of our Siobhan." Determinedly she trotted over to the unlikely pair. "Major Kincaid ?"
The hesitant voice of a woman yanked him out of the void, his mind had thrown him into. A pair of the most beautiful green-golden eyes, she had ever seen, turned to meet hers. There was so much pain in there.
"Please..." It came out a whisper. "Please help him! Please help my dad..."
Dad? Then she remembered all the tales from the news. About the Major only being a child really. And not a Major at all.
"I'll do what I can. Why don't we call an ambulance ?" She sent her husband a stern look, telling him, that he better get to a communications panel or else...
And with 40+ years of experience with Fiona's temper, he decided to comply immediately.
Liam felt something in his mind, a voice.
"Child..."
Anr'el.
"Please, he's dying.."
"Easy, child." She tried to dampen his panic. "I am here. This is what you must do.."
Fiona started to worry. Kincaids eyes had taken on a distant quality, so radically far from the desperate worry, which he had been in before. Was he going into shock? Slowly, like an automaton, he moved his hands, one to Sandovals head, and another one immediately over his heart.
"Good, now activate your shaqarava, use your inner eyes, your mind, to locate the damage and heal it." Anr'els voice soothed in his mind. He tried. And failed. Then tried again. And failed.
"WHY WON'T IT WORK ?" Liam's shout scared Fiona, so unexpected and loud. She backed up a few paces, just to be on the safe side.
"shhh, don't think, just do it.."
This time, Liam simply allowed his instincts to take charge... And this time, it worked. Fiona watched in astonishment as a blue-white light emanated from Kincaids hands, flowing into Sandoval's unconscious form. Liam could feel the damage in his father's brain. And slowly, oh so slowly, he knitted the damaged tissue, blood vessels and cells back together, not allowing himself to think about it, just doing it. The damage was terrifying, but he did it. There was only one thing left to do now.
The CVI. He found the foreign tissues and alloys, which the CVI was made from, and removed them molecule by molecule. This thing would never hurt his father again. He was shivering, as he returned to the real world, utterly exhausted as he was. Only to look into the worried eyes of his father.
"Liam ?" Sandoval sat up groggily. His headache was gone. Tears were streaking his unhappy sons face.
"What happened ?" he asked gently, carefully wrapping his arms around him.
"Your CVI, it burned out...And I couldn't do anything." More tears threatened to fall.
Sandoval hugged him tightly, slowly rubbing circles on his back.
"It's ok, I'm ok now.."
Fiona watched in amazement. Was this the dangerous alien, they had all been so scared of? A child. She kicked herself mentally for actually thinking twice about those stories in the tabloids. Then she noticed at who's grave, they were standing.
Siobhan.
Siobhan, who had been the last to see the alien Hag'el alive. Siobhan, who had disappeared for almost 2 days, when said alien had been killed.
An alien who had left a child, maturing to an adult within hours of birth, if those stories could be trusted. A child, which were right now sobbing his eyes out in the arms of his last surviving parent.
"God." Her legs gave out beneath her. The distant vail of the ambulance could already be heard, as Ambrose returned to the cemetery. He started to run, as he saw Fionas slumped body.
"What did ya do to her ?" He glared angrily at Liam and Sandoval.
"Oh, will you be quiet! Help me up instead !" Fiona managed to say with a hint of her old fire as she fought her way out of the shock. As she got up, so did Liam and his father, Sandoval still a bit wobbly. Sandoval thought that he should recognise the old couple from somewhere, but he couldn't remember.
Couldn't remember?
"Liam, what did you do to my CVI ?" He asked gently, trying very hard not to scare the kid even more. Liam had had enough upheavals for one day.
"I..I removed it..." His voice trailed off. Had he done something wrong? Sandoval, sensing, that Liam uneasiness, gave a huge sigh.
"Thank God! I was really starting to get tired of that thing constantly reminding me of things better forgotten." A genuine smile was plastered all over his face. And it soon infected Liam as well. Sandoval turned to the old woman.
"Sorry, Ma'am, but I can't help thinking I should know you from somewhere." He stretched out his hand.
"I am Ronald Sandoval and this is Liam Hag'el-Sandoval.." He trailed off. That Siobhan had been Liam's mother was not common knowledge.
"Beckett." Fiona finished for him. At Sandoval and Liam's stunned expressions, she grinned. "Well, I assume, that since our Siobhan was not married, you, young man, took her last name as your own." She smiled, then gently placed her hand on Liam's chin.
"Funny. I never realised you have her eyes..." Ambrose looked like he had been sucker punched. Kincaid ? Siobhan's son? Not possible. And yet, the look on Kincaids face, like someone backed into a corner, told him, that it was all truth.
"Ambrose, pick up your jaw, you are looking silly." Fiona gave her husband a glare. "Now, why don't we all go to our place for a cup of coffee and talk this over."
Liam looked warily at the old woman. He wanted to, but what if they didn't want him. Fiona didn't look like someone, who would hurt him, though. And she was his grandmother. At that moment, a Kimeran Shuttlecraft boomed out of ID-space right above their heads and landed just outside the cemetery.
Anr'el jumped out of the craft almost before the virtual glass shield had been deactivated.
"Liam, are you OK ?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. And so is Sandoval." In a surprise gesture, he gave her a warm hug.
"Thanks."
"It wasn't me. THAT was all you." She put in a little distance between them and tapped him gently on his chest. "It all came from in here." Then she turned her attention to the strangers.
"I am Anr'el of the Kimera. "
"Fiona Beckett. And this is Ambrose."
Anr'el quirked an eyebrow. Beckett ?
"I'm Liam's grandmother."
"ah, I see...Liam, we need to get back to the ship. Some things are about to go down, which could get nasty and I don't want you down here when it hits." Sandoval looked at her sharply, an action, which did not go unnoticed. Anr'el gave an almost invisible shake with her head. Not now. Liam shifted his eyes between Fiona and Anr'el.
"Well...I would really like to stay here for a while...Talk to Fiona and find out about my mom, not from inherited memories, but from people who knew her..."
"Why don't I go pick up some things, then we go to this ship of yours and we'll talk there ?" Fiona temporised, as she noticed, that Anr'el was about to protest. She, too, wanted to talk to this new grandson of hers. And this spaceship of theirs would be as good a place as anywhere. Liam looked questioning at Anr'el.
"yes, why don't we do that." She caved in, no fight. Liam would be safe enough aboard the ship and this woman did not seem like someone who would hurt him.
"Give me 5 minutes to pick up my stuff and I'll.." The medics burst in, looking very confused.
"Dispatch told us, that there was a medical emergency ?"
Sandoval, wearing his best companion agent mask, simply looked at them blankly.
"Emergency? Does any of us look like we may need help ?" And the day ended in a cascade of laughter.
"Justice"
Hovering above the White House
Liam had a great time with his grandparents, even Ambrose had thawn after a while. Ambrose wasn't evil, just misinformed. Anr'el had a tender smile on her face. Liam was finally getting to know some of the things normal human children would do. Like getting terribly spoiled by his grandmother. Fiona had picked up a couple of photo albums at her house and had spent hours talking to the Child in his quarters about his mother, her childhood and all that stuff.
The briefing with the humans on how to punish Earth had also gone quiet OK. They weren't completely satisfied, off cause, but they had agreed, that against mass destruction, this was the better option.
Augur had even said yes to helping to implement the plan. It turned out, that one of his old tricks from the resistance could be used in the plan fairly easy. His little trick needed to be modified since it had backfired the last time, but still.
"Commander ?"
It was Ca'el.
"There is a woman here, a ms. Renee Palmer who wishes to meet with you." Anr'el's eyes grew cold. Of cause. From everything she had heard about this woman, Palmer would try to make the best of this, somehow turn it into profit for herself. And the announcement hadn't been made yet, so Palmer had no way of knowing, that the Kimera would be leaving soon.
"Have her wait on the Command bridge. I'll need to talk to Augur and the others first."
"Yes, Commander."
"And Ca'el ?"
"Yes ?"
"No need to be polite." Ca'el grinned. They had all heard what had happened when Augur went to Palmer for help. This was going to be fun. Anr'el picked up the spill over of Ca'els emotions. She would need to keep tabs on that one. Ca'el was starting to enjoy this way to much. Then she went to talk to Augur. It was payback time.
The Bridge.
"Justice"
"Where is that Commander of yours? I've been waiting for 30 minutes! Doesn't she realise, who I am?" Renee was furious. Her reception on the ship, when she had finally been allowed to portal up here, had been less than polite. She had only been spoken to when absolutely necessary and that Ca'el character had given her the cold shoulder. Even the Taelons had treated her with the respect, her position in society warranted. But not here. Ca'el was going to be in so much trouble when she told his Commander about this.
"Palmer." A cold female voice said from right behind her. Renee jumped a bit, an expression of fear shortly visible on her face before she plastered a big, fake smile on it.
"You must be the Commander." Renee stretched out her hand to a handshake, but Anr'el simply ignored it.
"You wished to speak with me ?" Anr'el moved over to sit in her command chair, trying hard not to show her disgust openly.
"Yes. Since you are undoubtedly going to be here for a very long time, I felt, that maybe we could find some common ground to work from. With we, I mean Doors International and the Kimera." Renee forced herself to look sincere. "I believe, that such a venture could prove beneficial for us both and would serve to bring our two people together." She changed her face into one of grief. "And now that my dear friend Liam is dead, perhaps I can also honour his memory by helping his people."
"I am touched that you are so concerned about my memory, but I can assure you, that I'm quite alive." Renee spun around, then turned completely white. The entire gang was there. And so was a very much alive Liam.
"But..But.."
"Renee, you really should have listened to me." Augur couldn't hide his grin. Oh, this was sweet indeed.
"Palmer." Anr'el spoke again and her voice was not pleasant. "I do not know, what you hoped to gain by coming here. But you will not get it. You refused to help one of our children, you are a xenophobe and a self-righteous bitch. I advise you to go home, throw one of your little parties and forget you ever heard the word "Kimera", for if you ever cross my path again, you will live to regret it. And that is a promise."
Renee got angry.
"I won't tolerate being threatened! You will see, I have more power than anything you could imagine! You will bitterly regret this! I got rid of the Taelons and the Jaridians! I will get rid of you to!"
"You? Got rid of the Taelons and the Jaridians? That's rich !" Lilly said from a doorway. She, her Jaridian mate and their child had just arrived on a summons from the Kimera. "As far as I remember it, there was more than one person involved in kicking the Taelons out and the Jaridians? The only reason they left was because of the old treaty with the Kimera and Liam being part Kimera. That was the reason they left. Not your half-baked attempt to seduce the commander of the Jaridian Fleet." She moved over and bowed to Anr'el. "Commander, it is an honour to once more have the Kimera amongst us."
"Do not bow to me. You have treated one of ours kindly and it will not be forgotten. It is the hope of the Council that you and your family will join us as ambassadors of the Jaridians when we reconnect our old ties."
Lilly simply nodded, then moved over to Liam.
"Well, how about giving an old friend a hug ?" Renee had had it and stormed over to the nearest portal. These bastards! Didn't they realise, who she was? They would pay! In a flash of white-hot fury, she left the ship.
Lilly's quarters
aboard the "Justice"
She could still remember the shock, which went through the Jaridian community when the Kimera repository had appeared at Jaridia. A smile appeared on her face with the Jaridian ridges, but still human features. The Jaridians had a long memory, and the help, which the Kimera had once served by saving them from a terrible disease, which had threatened to extinct them, had earned them the never-dying gratitude of the Jaridians through generations. If nothing else, they had honour.
That the cure had also caused the split in the race which had created the Taelons, had only been a minor annoyance. But the Taelon hunt on the Kimera had not been. From what she had understood on the crash course in Jaridian history Vorjak had given her before departing for Earth, the Jaridians saw it as a failure on their part, that they hadn't been able to help the Kimera as they needed it. The plague, which had only just stopped haunting them back then, had left them weak and unable to stop the Taelons, almost not capable of keeping themselves safe either. That the Kimera had survived, was a miracle and a possibility for correcting their old mistakes, and thus a chance for restoring their honour was now available.
The Jaridian government had not been pleased, that the Kimera had asked for her presence, they would have preferred to send one of their own, but the message had been clear: The presence of Lilly Marquette, formerly of Earth now of Jaridia, was requested in important matters.
The letter, which had been addressed to her personally, had only one sentence:
Liam needs you.
That had been enough for her. A slight sound from the crib with her daughter caught her attention. There was also the possibility, that the Kimera would be able to help with the problem concerning the metabolism and childbearing, that the Jaridians were having. She hoped so. The door chimed. It was Ca'el.
"Forgive me the intrusion, Ambassador, but the Commander have called for a meeting and have requested your presence."
"Lead the way."
The Council Chamber
"Justice"
Again they were all there. Again it was about the punishment of Earth. But this time, there was a slight hope in the face of everyone, as Anr'el stopped speaking. This might work.
"Does anyone have anything to say about this approach ?"
Vorjak spoke up.
"The Jaridians will be most happy in helping the Kimera monitor the planet. We too, see no reason in destroying this planet, even though they have brought this upon themselves after the ancient ways of the Kimera."
Liam was still pale after the revelation of just how close the people of Earth had been to getting themselves killed. Because of him. All because of him. The dark void in his own mind, filled with demons and accusations, threatened to swallow him again.
"Sh.." As usual, Anr'el had mentally picked up, that something was wrong and tried to soothe him. He closed his eyes and leaned back, listening in his mind.
"I'm not worth that kind of destruction."
"Yes. Children are precious. YOU are precious. And if the Powers that Be in this world does not appreciate that, then they have no right to exist."
A mental touch, feeling like a hand gently brushing away his hair from his forehead.
"But I am but one person."
"And thus also unique. There will be no one else like you. And that makes you worth the effort. Rest now, child. Everything will be well."
"Ca'el, open the comm channels for Earth. Override any form of communication, these people utilise. Use this room as a source."
"Yes, Commander."
As the Data stream opened, signifying, that the connection was made, Anr'el dropped her human facade.
"People of Earth, you have broken one of our most sacred laws. For this, you must be punished. People of Earth, this is what the Kimeran High Council have decreed..."
A Doors International Warehouse
"We cannot allow these freaking ALIENS to control our lives !" Renee had worked herself up to a full-blown rant. Things were not going as anticipated. The former resistance members, she had rallied here, for some reason couldn't forget, that Liam had been one of them. Or maybe it was just battle fatigue.
"Palmer, they haven't DONE anything yet !" Erik spoke up, tired of listening to this woman's constant tirade.
"And what did you call what they did at Pentagon? A peace offering ?" Renee was starting to hate the Dane. Why didn't he understand, that these freaks of nature were a threat?
"I call it a rescue attempt. And a very successful one at that." Erik flexed his arms to stay awake, eyeing the coffee- pot on the table greedily. Portals or no portals, there was still one hell of a time difference between Washington DC and Copenhagen. He should, by all means, be in bed by now. No, better not touch the coffee. One never knew, what Renee had done with it. He had never really liked her and suspected her capable of everything if things didn't go her way.
"We better switch on the news !" A German woman said, after having received a message on her global. Each and every one flicked their globals open. A stunning beautiful being was speaking.
"People of Earth, you have broken one of our most sacred laws. For this, you must be punished. People of Earth, this is what the Kimeran High Council have decreed:
Your natural development as a species was hampered by the untimely arrival of the Taelons and their attempts to control your species. Your actions towards the Kimeran Child Liam can therefore partially be explained, but not excused. According to the old laws, laws older than the human species, there is only one punishment: Death. But since you are still, in many ways, children and still growing as a species, an alternative punishment have been found:
You will be brought back to the technological level, you had BEFORE the Taelons interfered with your lives.
Since we cannot erase the imprint of their presence, and your memories thereof, we will start by erasing the technological improvements, improvements you have not earned and are not mature enough to handle properly. This will be done by launching a variant of a virus once used by your own resistance. The virus, soon to be uploaded to the Washington DC Taelon Embassy, will infect every piece of equipment using taelon technology, from the smallest chip all the way up to the moonbase, and will subsequently destroy it.
You are given 24 hours to evacuate your personnel from the moonbase and move the people dependent on life- support to alternate systems, before the final collapse of the Taelon technology.
Even the shuttles and portals will self-destruct at this point in time.
The second part of your punishment will include seclusion.
Earth will be put into quarantine until you have proven yourself worthy of access to the outer reaches of space. Any attempts to space travel before this will result in the crafts in question being shot down. The Jaridians have agreed to leave part of their fleet together with a couple of Kimeran motherships to monitor your planet.
You will be allowed to launch satellites only if they are not manned and carries no weapons. You are not allowed to attempt communication with the Jaridian or Kimeran ships of any kind, neither as data streams or person to person. These ships will also serve to protect you from any further interference from the Taelons, should this protection be necessary.
As soon as the final arrangements for this punishment have been made, the remainder of the Kimeran Warfleet will take its leave.
I am Anr'el of the Kimera and you can consider yourself grounded." The connection flickered out.
For the longest of times, there was a deathly silence in the warehouse, then an inhuman vail could be heard coming from Renee.
"THOSE BASTARDS!" Her life, as she knew it with parties, fast cars, designer clothes and all the riches in the world, was over. Doors International was not geared to survive the downfall of Taelon-based technology. All their research had been centred around it. "THEY'LL PAY FOR THIS!"
Erik decided right there and then, after seeing the seething, slow-burning hatred slowly spreading across some of the faces of his "fellow" resistance fighters, to contact some of his old cellmembers, those he could trust 100%, and keep a sharp eye on things.
The last thing they needed right now was a bunch of vigilantes going berserk.
Council Chamber
"Justice"
Anr'el was so tired right now. But no wonder. Since the first cry of help from Liam, she had barely had any rest, and eventhough the Kimera did not need as much rest as a human, she still preferred to get just a couple of hours of "sleep" in the energyshower every day. She rubbed her eyes, sighed and looked up again at the rest of the inhabitants of the room.
"Ca'el, Augur. Is the virus finished ?"
"Almost. We should be ready to upload it within an hour. The onboard computer is currently running a debug sequence so that we can be certain that the Taelon structures simply withers away instead of blowing up."
"Good. Now, there is another subject to be approached." She turned to Liam.
"Liam, I would like you to return to Kimera Prime with me. We can help you there and you'll be safe." She made a small motion of dismissal as Liam attempted to answer her. "Do not answer me right now, you'll have a couple of days. Sandoval.." She turned her attention to the former implant. "I've managed to convince the council not to pursue any further ideas of punishing you. For what we know, the implant you carried could have left a remnant of its original motivational imperative in your brain, causing you to be more susceptible for the orders of your superiors than normally. Besides" A corner of her mouth started to curl upwards. "You already died once in that cemetery, there's no real need to kill you again."
"Sorry, died ?" Sandoval was at a loss. Anr'el laughed.
"Yes, died. Since the Taelon CVI's kill their carriers on burn out, so did yours when it burned out in Strandhill."
Liam looked stunned, then he started to smile when he caught her train of thoughts mentally.
"ehh. Hallo ? I'm still here ?" Sandoval didn't particularly like not being let in on the joke.
"Well, Liam could have brought you back from the dead. It's been known to happen. And there was no doctor present to tell if you were alive or dead, so the Council and I decided, that the biggest chance were in favour of Liam bringing you back from the dead. " She couldn't help but laughing as she saw the stunned expression on Sandoval's face.
The machiavellian schemer Ronald Sandoval, master of deception and in finding the door with the exit sign, had finally been outsmarted.
"The devil's in the details, Sandoval." Anr'el choked out, then continued to laugh, soon to be joined by Liam and the rest. Even Sandoval could, after a couple of dark stares directed at his son who was laughing his head off at the sight of his father stymied, see the funny aspect of it. Wiping tears from his face, he finally caught enough breath to say:
"Anr'el, a small favour? Call me Ron."
"Agreed."
Anr'el pulled herself together, then addressed the rest of the room. "The rest of you also have a choice: To stay on Earth or come with us. If you choose to stay, you will be left with ways of communication so that, in case you should ever need our help either the Jaridian or the Kimeran orbiting Earth can be contacted. You are Liam's family and friends and I would prefer to see you join him on Kimera Prime, but the choice must be yours. Fiona, Ambrose, I know, that it is hard to pull up one's roots and leave when you have lived all your life here, so another alternative will be given to you. In order to allow Liam to visit you, a portal connecting your house with the commanding Kimeran ship in orbit will be produced. Due to the fact, that our ID-drives are considerably faster than those of the Taelons, the travel between Kimera Prime and Earth are counted in days, not years. Liam should be able to visit quite often." A small frown of worry appeared on her forehead. "But let me warn you, all of you: The Kimera and anyone connected with the Kimera, are not particularly popular right now, so you may want to lay low for a while and not show off the technology we put at your disposal should you choose to stay. Liam, that is also something I want you to take into consideration." She got up, moved over to Liam and crouched next to him. "You are a very known person on Earth and most people know of your heritage. There is no telling what the mob down there " She made a motion towards the Virtual Glasswindow with her head "are going to do with you. Please, think it over."
"I will."
Liam's apartment at the Flat Planet
Several hours later
He had come here to think. This was the only home, he had known in a long time. Thank God, no one had thought of looking for him here. The faint roar of the rampaging crowds in the street reached him through the open skylight. People were in a panic. But it was only to be expected. It wasn't every day, that one's world got turned upside-down. He picked up the Taelon puzzle and ran a finger over it. Only one choice, but so many implications. Give up the things he knew here on Earth to go to a strange planet to start over. Stay here on Earth, live with his grandparents and maybe be in danger for the rest of his life. On one side, he could still visit should he chose to leave. On the other, he knew, that if things ever got dicey for him here on Earth, the Kimera would come for him.
A puzzle.
A crossroad.
His eyes fell on the picture of his mother. She would have wanted him to do what was right for HIM. And right now, it meant being himself for once, not what everyone else wanted to make him. The Kimera would allow him to do just that. Would the humans? should he stay to find out? God, he was so tired, in need of a break. Right then. Determined, his mind set on a course, he started to pack.
Epilogue
A mountain range
5 days later.
He was lying on his back, staring into the azure sky, trying to figure out exactly WHAT animal that cloud to the left resembled. A strange, birdlike song was filling the air. This place had so much resemblance to Earth, that it was uncanny.
But there was also so many differences. He had been surprised at how many of his "family" had chosen to go with him. Augur, Juliana, Street and Sandoval. Augur had mumbled something about him being broke anyway and since his computers no longer functioned, what was there left for him on Earth? Juliana had made no secret of her doing it for Liam's sake. Sandoval as well. As for Street, well every time he tried to get her to talk, all she would do was blush, then tell him roughly to mind his own business.
But she had been spending quite a lot of time around Ca'el lately. The image of those two as a pair was mindboggling. How did that happen? Lilly and her family were here as ambassadors for the Jaridian, so he didn't get to see her as much as he wanted to, but she was HERE.
And Anr'el had promised to find some sort of solution to that problem. The rest of the small band, Zeke and his men, had chosen to stay behind to do their part in fighting the xenophobia on Earth. Last communications had shown them to have found some surprising support from a Danish cell of former resistance fighters. But like during the Taelon occupation, they had to be careful and quiet about it. Otherwise, they would get themselves lynched.
His grandparents had returned to their village. The thought of moving to a completely different planet had been too much. But true to their word, the Kimera had installed a hidden portal in the basement of the small cottage in Strandhill, allowing Liam to visit once in a while. He was already looking forward to his first visit.
Out of security reasons, the first visit had been scheduled to take place in a couple of months in order for the massive unrest on Earth to calm down, but there was no reason why he shouldn't visit more often in the future.
As his eyes drifted shut, he mentally felt for the mental signature belonging to his mentor. Yup, still there. He was safe. Soon after a soft snore could be heard. A short distance away, a green glowing creature appeared with a blanket, a soft smile on her lips. The Child was safe again.
Critically assessing the sky, she saw no signs of rain. After having covered Liam with the blanket to keep him warm, Anr'el sat down, keeping a silent vigil. Everything was going to be all right now.
Thousands of light-years away.
A mothership
"We have now identified the signature of the disturbance. It was as we feared." The scientist was extremely nervous. The Leader had been highly volatile since his return from that small planet Earth. No one knew, what he would do face with this news. The scientist was dismissed with an arrogant hand movement.
Zo'or leaned back in his chair. So the Kimera was back. No need for worry. They would be dealt with. Soon. And then the Taelons alone would rule. An insane laughter echoed through the bridge. Then HE would rule! And this time, there would be no Da'an to stop him!
THE END
To be continued in the sequels "Nightmares" and "Birds of War"
