Title: In Their Shadow - Chapter 12
Author: Robert Cox (smeghead_76@dodo.com.au)
Disclaimer: Buffy is owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy productions. The Night's Dawn trilogy is owned by Peter F. Hamilton. At least until the copyright runs out, anyway. Since that won't happen for a long time at the least, I've just gotta hope that no-one takes offence.
Summary: Xander has been transported to the 27th century. Can he adapt to life in the future? Can he ever return home? And, more to the point, can the guy stay out of trouble for once?
Rating: M-15+ (Australian system)
AN: Thanks to Grossclout, who volunteered for beta-ing duties in the later parts.
AN2: There are a couple of non-standard methods of communication used in this story, represented as follows: Affinity and {Datavises}
Cricklade Manor, Stoke County
Kesteven Island, Norfolk
9th June, 2614
After what was possibly the best night's sleep Xander had in a while and a hearty breakfast, he found himself perched on the stone steps of the manor house, idly chatting with Joshua, Louise and Gen while waiting for the arrival of Jay Hilton and her mother, Ruth. He was also taking the chance to have some more of the blanks about the time he was now in filled in. They weren't long in arriving, and Joshua wasted no time in introducing him to them. "Ruth, Jay, this is Xander Harris. Xander, this is Ruth Hilton, and her daughter, Jay."
"Hi," Jay chirped.
"Hello," Ruth added.
"Pleased to meet both of you," Xander said as he shook their hands.
"Are you a friend of Joshua and Ione?" Jay asked curiously.
Xander thought about it for a moment. "I guess so, even though I haven't known them for very long," he said determinedly not making comparisons between Jay and Buffy at the age of sixteen, even though there was the same sort of similarity as there was between Dawn and Gen.
Ruth gave him a speculative look, while Jay accepted his statement at face value. "Okay," Jay said, and Ruth remained silent. However, it didn't take long for Gen to engage both of them in an animated conversation.
Making the most of the opportunity, Ruth said quietly to Joshua, "What's his story?"
"Trust me, Ruth," Joshua replied equally quietly. "It's something that would take too long to tell, and it's a story best told over several drinks. For now, let's just say he's trustworthy, and leave it at that, okay?"
Ruth simply raised an eyebrow, and made no comment. She was a very practical woman, but she was also fiercely protective of Jay. However, in the four years since she'd moved to Norfolk in the aftermath of the possession crisis, she'd also come to trust Joshua's judgement, particularly when it came to people. Watching the interaction between Xander and the two girls, she was starting to agree - although it was probably too early to come to any sort of final decision regarding the young man.
In lieu of asking any more questions, she instead asked, "When's Haile going to arrive?"
"She should be here soon," Joshua replied, before grinning suddenly. "I wish I knew what to get her as a present, though. What do you get for someone who can get pretty much whatever they want?"
Ruth found herself smiling as well, remembering Jay's excitable stories about her visit to the Kiint home system. One of the things she'd been really enthused about were the 'providers' which, as the name suggested, were able to replicate just about anything. Of course, Jay had demanded proof, and insisted that the provider assigned to her produce a statue and a vac-train carriage. The provider had produced the statue, fortunately convincing Jay before the vac-train carriage had arrived.
Seizing the opportunity, Jay had immediately asked for a starship capable of getting her home. The provider had refused, though, claiming that it had been prevented from doing so. After that, Jay had decided to make the best of things and had actually enjoyed her time with the Kiint.
Looking at Jay, she discovered that her daughter was telling Xander about the time she'd gone with Haile to visit a Corpus locus - the Kiint version of a school - her meeting with Vyano, a member of an aquatic sub-species of Kiint, with her excitement peaking when she described the Congressions, a multi-species meeting point, where ideas and technology could be shared. "There was only one thing you had to do to be able to take part," Jay told Xander. "That was, to be able to travel there. If you could make it, you were allowed to join in."
"That sounds amazing," Xander told her, his expression turning slightly wistful as he imagined the splendours Jay was telling him about.
Ruth's suspicions about Xander dwindled, but didn't vanish entirely. He seemed trustworthy enough, and the fact that Joshua and Louise trusted him cut Xander a lot of slack... but before she passed final judgement on him, she'd have to have a talk with him herself.
Before she could say anything else though, a black dot appeared about fifty metres away, and expanded to a sphere about five metres in diameter in less than a second, its lower surface flush with the ground.
"What the..." Xander said softly.
"Don't worry about it, Xander," Jay said airily. "That's just Haile arriving."
As Jay finished her reassuring statement, the sphere vanished, to reveal...
They must be Kiint, Xander thought dazedly, as he looked at his first xenocs. They were pretty much as Joshua had described them, snow-white in colour, and two of them were the size that Joshua had said that adult Kiint were. The third was about half the size of the adults. Must be Haile. The presence of a human with the three Kiint went almost unnoticed.
"Why am I not surprised that he turned up?" Joshua muttered with a grin.
"Be nice, Joshua," Louise rebuked him, swatting his arm. "You get along well enough with Richard, and besides..." she left the sentence unfinished, nudging him in the ribs and indicating Ruth, whose expression had softened - very slightly - as she smiled in Richard's direction.
A smirk began to spread across Joshua's face as the implications began to sink in.
{Joshua Calvert, you will stop grinning like that this instant!}
Joshua turned to look at his wife, who had datavised him in order to spare Ruth any embarrassment. {I have no idea what you're talking about, my dear. Would I do anything devious and underhanded to two of my friends?}
{If you thought you could get away with it; or if you thought it'd be good for a laugh... then, yes, you most definitely would.}
{Damn. Busted,} Joshua replied, trying not to grin or burst out laughing. Neural nanonic facial-expression override programs were so useful in that regard. Louise's expression was equally neutral, which meant that she had a similar program in primary mode.
The two adult Kiint began to move sedately away from where they'd arrived. The juvenile - Haile - by contrast, broke out into what can only be described as a 'gallop', all eight legs working in a furious rhythm as she ran headlong towards Jay.
"Erm..." Xander muttered, moving slightly so that he was in between Jay and the charging Kiint.
"Don't worry about it, Xander," Jay repeated. "That's Haile." Slipping around him, she ran to meet Haile, squealing, "Haile!" as she ran.
Xander didn't notice that Joshua was standing beside him until he spoke up. "Well, Haile's gotten better at running," he remarked. "The last time I saw her, it was even money that she'd trip herself up on her own legs whenever she got excited."
"Huh?" Turning to face Joshua, Xander noticed the smirk on his face. "You set me up for this, didn't you?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nope. Up until a couple of days ago, I didn't even know you were going to visit," Joshua pointed out.
"Fair enough. But that doesn't mean that you're not finding this amusing, though."
"I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't," Joshua admitted. "Look on the bright side, though. No harm done, right?"
Before Xander could reply, Jay and Haile had met, hugged - Haile using some sort of tentacle in place of arms - and were having an animated conversation. Well, Jay was talking, but it was obvious that Haile was replying somehow, since Jay was carrying her half of the conversation without too much difficulty.
Xander was about to ask Joshua what was going on, but he didn't get a chance before Jay led Haile over to him. "Haile, I'd like you to meet Xander. Xander, this is Haile."
Not knowing what else to do, Xander said, "Hi, Haile." He received a bit of a surprise, however, when Haile lifted a tentacle towards him. I guess that's how she shakes hands, he thought, and was about to give the tip a shake, when it suddenly writhed, and changed, so that Haile was no extending what, to all intents and purposes, was a hand. "Woah!" Xander exclaimed, startled.
"Hi Haile," Joshua said with a grin, before nudging Xander. "Go on, shake her hand," he prompted.
Greetings, Joshua Calvert. Greetings, Xander.
"She says 'hi', by the way," he added. Xander, of course, hadn't heard a word of this.
"Huh?" he said again, giving Joshua a blank look, before shaking Haile's hand. "I'm gonna get you for this, Calvert," he said mock-threateningly to Joshua.
"Yeah, yeah," Joshua said smugly. "It's been tried before, and I'm still here."
That's when Xander noticed that his palm was itching. Staring at his hand in amazement and not a little suspicion as the itch travelled along his arm and up his spine before seeming to settle somewhere in his skull. That was when his scalp started to tingle as well, causing him to absently scratch his head while still giving his hand an odd look.
Joshua had a fairly good idea of what Haile had done. Did you do what I think you just did?
Yes, Haile replied.
Not that I'm complaining, but why?
Wanting to be able to communicate with Xander. It was the right thing to do, query?
Yeah, it was the right thing to do.
Gladness!
It just came as a bit of a surprise, that's all.
Sorrow. Not understanding.
"There's nothing to be sorry about, Haile," Xander said, before he realised what was happening. "Hey! I... heard her," he continued in an amazed tone of voice, before turning to Joshua. "You told me that Kiint use something like affinity, right?" he asked, in a somewhat awed tone of voice.
"That's right," Joshua replied, grinning.
"But I don't have affinity," Xander continued, stating the blindingly obvious. "So how can I understand her?"
You have thoughts of strength, Xander. Much difficulty to achieve conversation, but possible. Not so with most humans. Feel hopelessness. Failure sorrow.
"Does that mean I have strong thoughts?" Xander asked, curious and interested. After all, this was the first truly unusual thing he'd experienced since his arrival, as opposed to merely being told about it, as he'd been in zero-tau during the voyage from Tranquillity to Norfolk.
"Something like that," Ione agreed, her tone amused, which caused Xander to send a suspicious look her way. Ione's expression was utterly innocent, but Xander wasn't entirely convinced.
Shrugging - he could ask her about it later - he turned to Haile and said, "I've been told that today is your birthday."
Yes. Today is the day of my birth. By human reckoning, I am four years old. Puzzlement remains, though; purpose of celebrating day, query?
Xander managed to piece together enough of what Haile had just said to understand that she was now four, and that she was asking why humans celebrated birthdays. Shrugging, he replied, "I'm not sure, Haile. I guess we've been doing it for long enough that it's become traditional." He thought for a moment, and then added, "Well, you do get presents, and you get to spend time with your friends."
Presents, query? Purpose, query?
Xander rubbed at the back of his head as he thought. "Yeah, the person whose birthday it is gets given gifts," he said. "I don't know why; I guess that's part of the tradition." He was amazed that he was taking this so normally; after all, he was talking - sort of, anyway - with an alien, and doing so in English. Sure, it was broken English, and some of the words and phrases were somewhat confusing, but it was good enough English that he could understand it.
His thoughts on the subject were interrupted when Joshua led the two adult Kiint and the human who'd accompanied them over to him. "Xander, I'd like you to meet Nang and Lieria, Haile's parents, and Richard Keaton, who used to be a Kiint observer. What he is now is anyone's guess," Joshua said with a grin. "Dick, Nang, Lieria, this is Xander Harris."
Just go with it, Xander reminded himself. It'll stop you from going insane or having a stroke or something. With that decision made, he stuck out his hand. "Hi."
Richard grinned and shook his hand. "Hi, Xander. Feel free to call me Dick. Joshua seemed to have no trouble with that," he said, which caused some mild confusion until Xander figured it out, which caused him to snicker briefly.
"I will, but not like Joshua seemed to mean it," he said, still snickering, before turning to face the two adult Kiint. "Hi, Nang, Lieria."
Greetings, Xander Harris, the two Kiint 'said' together, then Nang continued, You are originator of Harris File, query?
"Harris File?" Xander asked, somewhat confused.
"Erm, that would be my fault," Ione admitted. "When Tranquillity and I realised the implications of the data from your debrief nanonics, I sent it to the Confederation assembly - think of it as the equivalent to the United Nations - and the governments of some of the more important planets, such as Earth, New California, Kulu, New Wasington, Petersberg and Oshanko."
The Confederation Assembly shared the information with Corpus, Lieria added. Corpus was most disturbed by the information. The supernatural is not something our race has encountered, except for possession.
"Really?" Xander asked. "I thought that with your long history, you would have run into something like that before."
Incorrect. Corpus theorises that that is because the creatures you have encountered are limited to Earth.
"Oh," Xander said. "Yeah, that would make sense, I guess, unless there are Hellmouths to be found on other planets."
Hellmouth, query?
"'Ruptures in the barriers between dimensions', as Giles said," Xander replied. "I guess they're called Hellmouths because what's on the other side... well, if it isn't Hell, it's close enough to be called Hell."
Understood.
"But there's one thing I'm curious about," Xander added. "If - what was it again? Corpus? - has only found out about this sort of thing recently, then how do you know about it?"
Corpus disseminates knowledge, makes it available for all who wish to know and learn, Nang replied. What we learn here today will be added to Corpus' knowledge.
"Okay," Xander said slowly. "This may be a slightly stupid question, but what is Corpus, exactly?"
Unknown to Xander, both Ione and Joshua had been filling Richard in on some of the most important details of Xander's story via affinity. Richard then stepped forward to field the question. "Corpus is the Kiint version of Consensus," he explained. Xander nodded - that was one of the things that Ione had explained to him earlier. "But in some ways, Corpus is more advanced than Consensus. Which is not surprising, really, given the fact that the Kiint have had Corpus for nearly two hundred thousand years, as opposed to just over five hundred for the Edenists and Consensus. Basically, they've had a lot more practise with it."
"That sounds reasonable," Xander admitted. "But if Corpus has seen the 'Harris File', what more do you expect to learn? After all, the information in that file was taken from my memories," he added. "What else is there that I can add?"
Unknown, but any new information will be accepted by Corpus and analysed, Lieria replied. Corpus also feels that you should be informed of events on Earth.
"Why? What's been happening on Earth?"
"Apparently, there's a Master Vampire causing trouble in the Sunnydale Dome of the Los Angeles arcology," Ione replied. "Both the LAPD and Govcentral are trying to figure out what he's up to, but no luck so far."
"Sunnydale Dome?" Xander asked in amazement.
"In the mid-twenty-fifth century, the Los Angeles arcology was hit by a massive earthquake, followed by an armada storm," Ione explained. "Five domes were destroyed, resulting in tens of millions of deaths - to this day, the exact number is unknown. In an effort to avoid anything like that happening ever again, it was decided to shift the arcology - by building replacement domes and any new domes to the north-east of the city. About twenty years ago, the slow but steady migration of the arcology had reached the site of Sunnydale, and a dome was erected there. Incidentally, the official name of the dome is Dome Thirteen."
"Unlucky number," Xander muttered, before continuing in a louder tone of voice. "There's a Hellmouth under Sunnydale," Xander said, "which I'm pretty sure you already know. This new Big Bad probably intends to open it, which really shouldn't come as a surprise."
That is true. Consequences of opening Hellmouth, query?
"Demons overrunning the planet, Hell on Earth, return of the Old Ones... that sort of thing," Xander replied, wondering where this was going.
"Old Ones?" Joshua asked.
"The 'original' demons," Xander replied. "Y'know, the ones that would probably shrug off a direct hit from a nuke."
Joshua and Ione shuddered slightly at that, as did Richard and the two adult Kiint a moment later - which, in the case of the Kiint, was fairly impressive to see, as the shudder rippled along their bodies, carrying on to the thin tentacles of shape-shifting flesh. Xander wondered about that for a moment, before he saw the slightly preoccupied expressions that both Joshua and Ione wore. They're using affinity to explain what the 'original' demons are, he realised. For a moment, he felt slightly offended that they hadn't asked him, but then he realised that affinity was probably a better was to describe the concept. He made a note to pry more details about affinity from either Ione or Joshua, or any Edenist he got the chance to meet.
This is disturbing information, Nang said. Recent developments on Earth add to our unease.
"Really?" Xander asked, curious. "What's happened?"
Ione quickly summarised the Henderson Report, with particular reference to the nasty three-way firefight between Jonsson and his minions, the local Light Bringer coven and Los Angeles Police Department Armed Tactical teams. Xander winced at that, but when Ione described the message she'd received from the 'Slayerettes', his eyes widened with amazement and he started stammering, "Slayerettes? But that's... I mean... what the hell?"
"Apparently, ever since your time, there's been a group of people who fight vampires in the Sunnydale/Los Angeles area called Slayerettes," Ione explained. "Sometimes, they've been joined by a Slayer - on rare occasions, by both Slayers - but more often than not, they've worked without the support of a Slayer."
"You mean that there's still two Slayers?" Xander asked. "I thought the thing with Buffy and Kendra - later, Faith - was a one-time deal only."
"Well, assuming that you were telling the truth about how the first Slayers were called," Ione theorised aloud - ignoring the vaguely insulted look on Xander's face - "maybe there was a perceived need for more than one Slayer. In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if there were more Slayers on Earth, or even if they didn't know what they were."
"What do you mean?" Xander asked, still looking hurt that his integrity had been doubted.
"Well, let's assume for the sake of argument, that the supernatural - vampires, demons, and the like - population of Earth is about one ten-thousandth of the human population. Given that Earth's population is about forty billion, that would mean..." Ione left the sentence unfinished, and looked at Xander expectantly.
She wants me to work it out, he realised, grimacing slightly. Maths had never been his strong point, but this was simply a case of taking a number that was mostly zeroes, and lopping a few of the said zeroes from the end. Let's see... forty billion is a four, followed by ten zeros. A ten-thousandth of that means that four zeroes are removed, leaving... holy shit!
"Four million," Xander said in a near whisper. Something nagged at his mind, which led him to perform the same calculation for Earth's early twenty-first century population. "But that would mean that there were six hundred thousand vampires, demons and other supernatural critters on Earth in my time. If that's the case, how come we weren't overrun back then?"
"Probably a few reasons," Ione answered, and began ticking points off on her fingers. "Firstly, apart from a thankfully rare number of cases, the vampires and demons were unorganised and lacked leadership. Secondly, at the start of the twenty-first century, Earth's population was spread out over the planet's surface, as opposed to being concentrated in the arcologies. Thirdly, a large number of demons wanted little more than to be allowed to live in peace. And fourthly, there were probably vampire and demon hunting groups in other nations as well."
Xander nodded at that, conceding the point. "And now?" he prompted.
"The vampires in the Sunnydale Dome are starting to become more organised, probably in the rest of the Los Angeles arcology as well," Ione replied. "Sure, it looks like it's only in the one place, but it's in what is quite possibly the worst possible place. Also, Earth's population is more concentrated, although people are starting to move to the other planets sharing Earth's orbit. Although there is the potential that some of the more resourceful vampires will manage to slip onto one of the population transfer ships. And although modern weapons have become more effective against vampires, there's still no small-arms weapons capable of killing a vampire with a single shot, and a worrying development is that reports from the Los Angeles arcology indicate that vampires are starting to use modern weaponry themselves."
That raised a number of points in Xander's mind, which he had no hesitation in voicing. "Would vampires be able to survive on another planet?" he asked. "And would they be able to create more vampires?"
There is no reason why not, Lieria replied. From available information, it would seem that the demon which inhabits a human body would be able to be summoned on other worlds, although it would probably be more difficult. Also, vampires who travel away from Earth would probably be weaker, although still stronger than unaugmented humans. It is impossible to say, however, what the effect would be on vampires created on other worlds.
"Fair enough," Xander agreed. "The fact that they're starting to use weapons is a worry, though."
"True," Joshua agreed. "Then again, your group was reluctant to use the weapons available to you, too," he pointed out.
"Yeah," Xander said with a shrug. "Then again, we weren't given any real chance to research which weapons would be effective against vampires, so we pretty much stuck to what we knew would work," he added.
Both Joshua and Ione nodded. That point of view made sense to them.
There was one more major concern on Xander's mind, though. "If the situation on Earth is starting to look grim, maybe I should-"
"No," Ione and Louise said firmly and simultaneously.
"But-"
"NO," the two women repeated. "Besides," Ione added, "there's a near-frightening amount of military resources now being focused on the Los Angeles arcology. To be honest, there's no real rush, and you badly need a real vacation. Which you will have, understood?"
Xander opened his mouth to protest once more, but Joshua cut him off before he could speak. "Don't bother trying to argue, Xander," he said. "When Ione and Louise get like this, there's no budging them."
"I'm not going to get out of this, am I?" Xander asked.
"Nope."
"So I'd better make the best of it, then?"
"Yep."
"Thought so."
Their attention was drawn by a loud, "A-hem" from behind Xander. Turning around, he saw Jay and Gen, with determined expressions, their arms folded across their chests... and both of them were tapping a foot, indicating displeasure. "Stop talking about bad things happening on Earth, and enjoy Haile's birthday party," Jay said in an annoyed tone of voice, indicating the young xenoc who stood between them.
"I'm guessing that this is something else I'm not going to get away with, am I?" Xander asked, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"I'd say so," Ione replied, grinning.
"Fine," Xander said, surrendering gracefully for what was almost the first time in his life. He caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see...
"Well, well, well," he said with a smirk. "What do we have here?"
Richard and Ruth had decided to leave everyone else to their own devices, and were now sitting quite close together on the steps of the manor house, talking quietly. Seeing this, Xander's smirk began to blossom into a full-blown grin. He and Joshua exchanged glances, and he saw that a similar grin was adorning Joshua's face.
"You think..." Xander began.
"I wonder if..." Joshua said.
Whatever plot they were hatching was aborted when they heard, from behind them -
"Joshua Calvert..."
"Alexander Harris..."
Turning around, they saw Ione and Louise both levelling semi-hostile glares at them. "Uh-oh," Xander said. "We're in trouble, aren't we?"
"Yep," Joshua replied.
"Thought so. But why is Ione looking at me like that? Why should I be in the same trouble with her as you seem to be in with Louise?"
"Dunno. But it'd probably be interesting finding out."
"I'm not so sure if I want to find out."
"Wuss."
"Hey, after what you've both told me about Dominique, I'm not going to take any chances."
"Like I said; wuss."
"Shut up."
Joshua immediately went to Plan G - G for Grovel, that is. Making florid apologies, he went on for a couple of minutes before he noticed that Louise was looking more amused than anything. "What do you think, Ione? Has he grovelled enough?"
Ione pretended to think about it. "Nice use of the English language," she commented. "His sincerity is somewhat dubious, but then again, this is Joshua we're talking about here, so that's always in some doubt. On a scale of one to ten? About a seven, I'd say."
"I'll give him an eight," Louise replied.
"Then again, you're hardly an impartial observer."
"Come now, Ione. If that was true, I'd give him a steady string of 'ten's and you know it."
"Good point."
Joshua, by this time, had stopped apologising. "You see what I have to put up with every time those two get together?" he complained to Xander.
"Quit whining," Xander replied. "You love it, and you know it."
"All right, I don't find it entirely annoying. But you'd think they'd take my attempts to make amends just a little more seriously, though."
"Yeah, you'd think - unless, of course, you've had to apologise to them so many times that they're starting to grade your apologies... oh, wait, that's what they just did."
The women's stern visages cracked for a moment as they fought grins, then the stern looks returned as they turned their gazes on Xander. "And what do you have to say for yourself?" Ione demanded.
"Er... I'm really sorry?" Xander replied.
"And?" Louise prompted.
"And it won't happen again - at least, not on purpose, anyway."
Ione appeared to consider this. "What do you think, Louise? Is he really sorry?"
Louise thought about it for a moment. "Hmm. Not as florid as Joshua's apologies, but he seemed to be more sincere. But he did weaken it with that last qualifier. I'd have to say... yes, he really meant it."
"Out of ten?"
"Eight to eight-and-a-half."
"Perhaps a nine?"
"I think that's going a bit far, Ione."
While Ione and Louise were discussing their attempts at apologising, Xander muttered to Joshua, "Do they do this every time?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Joshua replied.
"That's what I was afraid you'd say."
Joshua raised his voice slightly. "Ladies, if you've finished critiquing our apologies, I think we should join the party before two very determined young ladies decide to lynch us."
****
Strangely enough - or perhaps not so strangely - Xander enjoyed the day immensely. Maybe it was because he simply let himself relax and enjoy himself, or maybe it was the company; pretty much everyone seemed determined to make sure he enjoyed himself.
Whatever the reason, though, when it came time to pack everything away and bid farewell to Haile, her parents and Richard, Xander found himself feeling just a little unhappy. "You'll write, yeah?" he said to Haile, just before she teleported back to Riynine.
I will endeavour to communicate if that is possible, Xander, Haile replied.
"Good to hear." He found that he had to wait a moment before making his farewells to Richard, as he and Ruth were exchanging brief hugs, while Jay was rolling her eyes. So he said goodbye to Nang and Lieria, instead.
Farewell, Xander Harris, Lieria said. Meeting you has proven to be an interesting and rewarding experience.
"Same here," Xander replied. He saw that Richard and Ruth's hug wasn't as brief as he first thought. He shared a grin with Joshua, but both refrained from making any comment, as both Ione and Louise had extracted a promise from them that they wouldn't, on pain of... well, pain, to be honest.
Eventually, Xander was able to say goodbye to Richard, and the four of them teleported back to Riynine. "Well, now what?" Xander asked.
"Unfortunately, I have to get back to Tranquillity," Ione replied. "I told the Alkazzor's crew that I'd be back sometime today, and I have to get back to Tranquillity as soon as possible."
"Damn shame, that," Xander said with a hint of regret.
"Oh, I'm reasonably confident that you'll get another chance to visit Tranquillity before all this is over," she reassured him, which seemed to cause him to brighten somewhat.
"Well, in that case, we'd better get you to Colsterworth," Joshua said, as a couple of the domestic staff began loading her luggage onto a farm ranger. "There should be just enough time to get there before the next train leaves for Boston."
****
Colsterworth Station, Stoke County
Kesteven Island, Norfolk
9th June, 2614
They made it with a few minutes to spare and, as Ione's luggage was being loaded into the baggage compartment of the train, they made their farewells. "It's your turn to visit me next time," Ione said as she hugged Joshua, then Louise, and then Genevieve. "You know that, don't you?"
"Of course," Joshua said with a grin.
Ione then turned to Xander, who'd hung back slightly during all of this. "And you'd better visit Tranquillity before you head back to where and when you belong, you got that?" she said mock-severely.
"Yes, Ione," Xander said with a grin, before his expression turned more serious. "Also, thanks. For... everything."
"You're welcome," she replied, giving Xander a hug. Before anything else could be said, though, the station master announced that the train was due to depart. Giving them one last hug each, Ione boarded the train, turning at the door to wave at them before she went to find her compartment.
"Back to Cricklade, I suppose," Joshua said, as he turned to head back to the farm ranger.
****
Cricklade Manor, Stoke County
Kesteven Island, Norfolk
9th June, 2614
Duke had just set, and there was still about half an hour until Duchess rose, which meant that Xander could quite clearly see the bright dot that was the Alkazzor's spaceplane as it headed for orbit and rendezvous with the blackhawk.
For some strange reason, Xander felt... melancholy. After all, Ione had been the first person to try to help him adjust to his strange new surroundings, and now she was leaving, heading back to the responsibilities she'd left behind to bring him here, where he would hopefully find someone else to help him. From brief acquaintance, it would seem that Joshua, Louise and Genevieve would provide that help.
Sitting comfortably on the steps leading up to the main entrance of Cricklade, Xander considered his situation. For the first time in a few years, he'd been offered the chance at a real vacation, along with the reason why he was being held back from the action. He'd do his best to enjoy the rest, although knowing that the vampires and demons that he'd fought at Buffy's side in Sunnydale were still active might temper that enjoyment. His contemplation was interrupted when Joshua sat down next to him, with a bottle of Norfolk Tears in one hand, and a couple of glasses in another. Sitting down next to Xander, he opened the bottle and poured a drink, which he handed to Xander before pouring one for himself.
"Nice night," Joshua remarked, to open the conversation.
"Yeah, it is, actually," Xander replied.
"So, what's on your mind?"
"A few things, actually. Starting with wondering how the gang back home are doing, sort-of wishing I was on Earth... that sort of thing."
"I know the feeling," Joshua replied with a chuckle. "When Ione asked me to go look for the Sleeping God, part of the reason I accepted so quickly was a desire to make a contribution, find a solution, the usual." He took a sip of the Tears before continuing, slightly more seriously, "But you do* realise that you've been given the chance to have a proper vacation, don't you?"
Xander took a sip of his own drink, gasping slightly as it warmed his stomach. "Yeah, and I fully intend to make the most of it," he said. "But I just can't shake the feeling that I should be helping, y'know?"
"Yeah," Joshua said.
There was a brief moment of silence, before Joshua spoke up again. "So, tell me more about your friends back home."
Xander looked at him, slightly surprised. "Didn't Ione share the information from my debrief nanonics with you?"
"Yes, but you telling me about them yourself helps me to get a better understanding of them," Joshua replied.
"Sounds reasonable," Xander admitted, taking another sip of his drink to give him to decide where to start.
"Well, first up, there's the Slayers. Buffy Summers and Faith Williams..."
****
Belvior Palace, Tranquillity
Tarron orbit, Kulu system
12th June, 2614
Tranquillity watched on as the massive transport operation continued, with the counter-rotating spaceport stretched to its full capacity - if not a little further - to accommodate the huge numbers of vessels using it.
Voidhawks, blackhawks, and Adamist starships, all arriving and departing for one purpose - to transport serjeants to the Jovian habitats, where they would be imbued with a personality pattern from the multiplicity consciousness and conduct final training before being deployed to the O'Neill Halo and from there, to Los Angeles.
The reason for the final period of training was simple - the personalities taking control of the serjeant bodies would require time to adjust to the fact that they had bodies once more, after years without one. After all, the personalities were those of Edenists who had died and transferred their memories to their habitat's neural structure.
A similar thing had been necessary prior to the commencement of the Mortonridge Liberation, but Tranquillity knew that the training would, by necessity, be a more rushed affair. Another point of concern was the even more limited time available for the controlling personalities of the serjeants to familiarise themselves with the weapons they would be equipped with.
Tranquillity also knew for a fact that Jupiter's geneticists were constructing as many serjeants as possible in the time frame available, and that Tranquillity's own birthing chambers were working overtime.
Fortunately, there was a pre-existing supply of ready-made serjeants. Ever since the possession crisis - and the Mortonridge Liberation - a full brigade of five thousand serjeants had been created and stored in zero-tau, ready for such a contingency. It might not be necessary, but preparation was always a good thing.
Ione had not yet returned from Norfolk, but that did not worry Tranquillity unduly, as it was capable of supervising the transport efforts.
Just then, another blackhawk swallowed in to one of Tranquillity's emergence zones. An affinity hail identified it as the Alkazzor, the blackhawk that Ione had travelled to Norfolk on.
Welcome back, Alkazzor, Tranquillity said.
Thank you, Tranquillity, was the reply.
May I speak to Ione Saldana, please?
Of course, the blackhawk replied.
Trying to usurp me, are you? a new affinity 'voice' said as it entered the affinity band. Tranquillity knew immediately that it was Ione.
I am more than capable of supervising the loading of zero-tau pods into starships, Tranquillity replied, somewhat miffed, even though it knew that Ione had been teasing.
Temper, temper, Ione chided gently, with the affinity equivalent of a smile.
Tranquillity 'sighed'. Ione seemed to derive an almost perverse pleasure from teasing it, knowing full well that it couldn't stay upset at her for any length of time. How could it? After all, Ione had been almost a part of the habitat for many years, waiting to inherit her role as the Lord of Ruin.
How are things going? Ione asked, all seriousness now.
There have been no major problems, Tranquillity replied. This was basically true, although there had been a few near-misses between Adamist starships and voidhawks/blackhawks, only averted by the incredible agility of the bitek starships.
That was almost to be expected, given the massive volume of traffic using Tranquillity's spaceport. The traffic controllers had been performing exceptionally well, and Tranquillity made a note to get Ione to publicly praise them for their work.
How much longer until the last of the serjeants are loaded? Ione asked.
Another day or two, Tranquillity replied. After that, the next batch of two hundred should be ready in approximately a week or so.
Tranquillity could feel Ione's raised eyebrow through the affinity band. That's an interesting bit of initiative you took there, she said.
I deemed it necessary, Tranquillity responded. It seems likely that the campaign against the vampires will be long and drawn-out.
I wasn't criticising, Ione assured the habitat. It's a good idea, and one I was about to propose myself when I got back. But since you took it upon yourself, that's one thing I don't have to do. Speaking of which, how huge is the pile of datawork waiting for me?
Not as mountainous as you might suspect, Tranquillity said. The greater part of it only required an acknowledgement, which I was able to handle. The social invitations were able to be handled with the cover story we concocted to explain your absence. As for the remainder, which requires a decision from you, I have prepared a series of proposed solutions for you, and you only need to select one to implement.
My, my, Ione chuckled. You *have* been a busy little habitat, haven't you?
I was only fulfilling a duty to the population, as you well know. There was a slight amount of censure in the affinity 'voice', and Ione winced slightly.
I know, I know. But I couldn't just load Xander on to a blackhawk - still in his zero-tau pod, no less! - and ship him off to Norfolk to dump on Joshua like a mystery parcel. I had to explain to the both of them the reasons for my actions. And a message flek simply would not have cut it.
I understand. How was the visit to Norfolk?
How was seeing Joshua again, you mean? Ione thought, knowing that that was what the habitat had really been asking, but was too tactful to say straight out.
It was... strange.
I understand.
Ione knew that Tranquillity understood her conflicting emotions perfectly. After all, she had had two children with Joshua, and those sort of feelings tend to linger. Thinking about Joshua was enough to bring up thoughts of the children.
Marcus, who was still an embryo in zero-tau, waiting for when he would be 'born', in time to take up his role as the fourth Lord of Ruin, and Katlyn, now in the care of her best friend, Dominique Vasilkovsky - and probably being given an advanced course in 'How to manipulate people to get what you want', Ione thought with a chuckle.
While she had been thinking, the Alkazzor had reached its designated docking pedestal and landed, radiating a subliminal feeling of gratitude as the nutrient tubes found the correct orifices in the bitek starship, which began to feed.
A few minutes later, Ione and the crew were standing in the arrival area of the spaceport, having been waved through Customs pretty quickly. Being the undisputed ruler of the habitat did have its advantages.
Just then, a loud cry grabbed Ione's attention. "MUMMY!"
Whipping her head around towards the source of the shout, Ione saw her three-year-old daughter barge through the people between her and her mother, moving as gracefully in the free-fall environment as someone geneered for the space industry.
Grabbing Katlyn and sweeping her up into a huge hug. Looking over Katlyn's shoulder, Ione saw the robust figure of Dominique following more sedately.
Smiling at her daughter, who was energetically telling her about the fun she had had with 'Aunty Dominique', and 'Uncle Clement', and 'Granpa Parris', and 'Granma Simone', and swimming almost every day in the small salt-water sea that was at the southern end of the biosphere cavern, Ione reflected that the brief separation hadn't seemed to cause too many problems.
"Was she any trouble, Dom?" Ione asked Dominique.
"Heavens, no," Dominique replied in her slightly husky voice, shaking her head so that her blonde hair waved from side to side in the reduced gravity. "She was a perfect little angel."
Ione glanced suspiciously at Dominique, before deciding to take her word for it. I can always find out later from Tranquillity if she'd caused any trouble, she decided.
"How was Joshua?" Dominique asked.
Same old Dominique, Ione reflected with a small smile. She never changes.
"He's settling in to the role of a landowner surprisingly well," she replied. "He even gave me a present to bring back with me."
"Really?" Dominique asked with a sly grin.
"Nothing like that, so get your mind out of the gutter!" Ione exclaimed with a laugh. "Just some cases of Norfolk Tears, that's all."
"Ooohh, you lucky girl you!" Dominique exclaimed enviously, and with good reason. Norfolk Tears was the most expensive and sought-after alcoholic drink in the entire Confederation, and the value of the gift that Joshua had given her was probably in the tens of thousands of fuseodollars.
Hearing Joshua's name mentioned, Katlyn decided that she had to make a contribution. "Daddy!"
Ione smiled at her. "Yes, that's right. I was seeing your Daddy. Here, he gave me this to give to you." Setting Katlyn down, she reached into one of the cargo containers that was being pushed by a servitor behind her and pulled out a large stuffed doll, which she gave to Katlyn, who stared at it, entranced, before seizing it and hugging it to her chest.
Joshua and Louise visited as often as the duties of running their estate would allow them, determined to play what roles they could in Katlyn's upbringing, and it hadn't taken too long for Katlyn and Fletcher to become fast friends.
One of the first presents that Joshua had given Katlyn had been a small stuffed Kiint-doll which, Ione reflected, had been a perfect gift, given that young Kiint were just so damned cute.
"What's going on?" Dominique asked, waving a hand to indicate the activity going on all around them.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you," Ione replied. "But it's nothing as bad as when Capone attacked, that I can promise you."
"That's a relief," Dominique said with feeling.
Although Capone's attack had been seen off - evaded by swallowing to the Sol system, more accurately - that had still been quite a nasty moment for the residents, watching the antimatter-powered combat wasps bore in on the defenceless habitat. Which was probably why the parties celebrating their survival had been so... boisterous and exuberant.
That hadn't been the only swallow manoeuvre the habitat had made, though, although the second swallow manoeuvre had been somewhat more gentle.
Once the crisis had been resolved, Ione had decided to make another swallow manoeuvre, not back to Mirchusko, but to Kulu, where she offered Tranquillity's services as a base of operations for Kulu's Helium-3 mining operations. With some trepidation, but remembering Tranquillity's role in the Mortonridge Liberation, King Alistair II had accepted, and some deft media work had ensured that the rests of the population had accepted the habitat as well. Interestingly enough, Tranquillity had become something of a tourist attraction.
"Enough serious talk," Ione said, taking Katlyn by the hand and looping her other arm through Dominique's elbow. "What good stuff did I miss while I was on Norfolk? I want all the dirt, girl!" she added with a laugh.
As Dominique filled her in on the latest social gossip, she wondered if she should mention Xander to Dominique. Nope, she decided. I think I'll wait until he pays his return visit, and spring him on Dominique as a surprise. I wonder how he'll react? For that matter, I wonder how she'll react.
Listening to Dominique's gossip with most of her attention, she asked Tranquillity, Can you prepare a message to send to Saturn? More specifically, the habitat Romulus?
Certainly. Who is it to be addressed to?
Syrinx, captain of the Oenone.
I'll have the wording ready in a few minutes, Tranquillity assured her, subject to your approval, of course. Do you wish me to charter a blackhawk specifically for the task, or would you prefer that the message be sent with one of the blackhawks carrying serjeants to the Jovian habitats?
Charter, I think.
As you wish.