Legacy: chapter 14

"It's great, isn't it?" Allie spoke softly from the end of the hall, just high enough for Charlie to hear. He looked up.

"What?"

Allie made her way past the couch where her mother and Ka'len slept and took a seat at the end of the table where Charlie sat grading papers.

"Ka'len," she said, raising her voice slightly, "Her change, I'm so happy for her."

"Oh… that." Charlie aimlessly shifted a stack of papers slightly askew before looking back up, "it's nice, I guess."

"She told me that she wanted to understand, to feel things the way I do. Now she's getting the chance."

"When you put it that way…" Charlie thought for a moment, "no, it's still creepy." he smiled.

"Aww, dad. You know it's cute!"

He shrugged, then promptly changed the subject: "why are you up so late?"

"I couldn't sleep," Allie said, her attention drifted to the papers he was working on, "need some help?"

"Yeah! If you want to..."

Allie smiled, "Sure, it looks like you got a lot to do." she indicated the thick bundle still in his brief case.

Charlie started digging through one of the inner pockets of the case lid, "I let things get a little behind after…" he let the insinuation hang. Allie caught it, nodded. "I thought I could get caught up tonight."

"Maybe."

"Here's the key," Charlie pointed to the top sheet of the stack as he handed it to her. "Just mark anything that's wrong and put the number at the top."

"What's the scale? I could put the final grade…"

"Don't worry about it, I'll… oh yeah, the human calculator thing…"

Allie nodded, Charlie was referring to one of the side effects of her abilities. Extremely quick analysis of anything involving numbers, real or complex, equation or expression, it didn't matter.

"Five points each, one hundred total."

"Okay," Allie picked up a pen and started working on the first paper; Charlie went back to work on his pile.

The peaceful quiet of Allie's thoughts would not last long though. By the time she had reached the sixth paper the troubling questions about her mission began assailing her again. Compounded by the invading thoughts of Tyler that had been a constant nuisance since that afternoon at the arcade.

She tried to ignore them, thinking about anything else. Her pen marking on the page brought some distraction. The way the ink flowed from the tip as she formed the checks and X's. The act of checking the answers was relegated to the sensory input/output areas of her brain freeing her higher reasoning centers for such thoughts. A practice she had grown dependant on in school, the ultimate daydream.

The ink grew boring rather quickly; she next found the sound of the ball tip running along the page entrancing. The closer she brought her face to the page, the more pronounced it got, she could see the tip scraping over the paper fibers creating the sound…

"Allie?" Charlie gently shook her arm. She bolted upright to find Charlie's quizzical expression staring back at her.

"What?"

"Are you okay?" he almost laughed.

Allie blushed, "yeah, I was just…"

Charlie let a small laugh escape, "really getting into it?"

"I was trying to…" Allie sighed.

Something in her tone didn't sit well with Charlie. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just have a lot on my mind,"

Charlie put down his pen, "like what?"

"Dad," she shook her head, "I, can't talk about it… and that's what's bothering me."

"Oh," Charlie sat back and stretched, "can you talk to Ka'len about it?"

"No."

"That is a problem then." he smiled a little, attempting to lighten her mood. Allie didn't notice. She was too busy running the countless scenarios she had come up with for the effects of her mission through her head once more. The important part that was missing in all of them was: the announcement itself.

How am I going to tell the world if I can tell no one? It has to be some sort of riddle, or a test…Allie thought. But the more permutations she ran the more distant the answer drifted out of her reach. She knew it was there! She could feel the answer getting farther and farther away. She just wasn't strong enough to get to it.

I can't do this… its way too much for me, alone… I wish John were here. He would know exactly what to do. He always knows what to do.

"I guess this 'big thing' that you cant tell us is pretty serious." Charlie said.

Allie nodded absently.

"We could 'talk' about it using other terms." Charlie offered.

Allie sat silently for a few more moments, then: "it's a riddle… and I can't figure it out."

"Well… I'm pretty good at…" Allie shifted her eyes up to meet his, "never mind." he said. Standard parenting tricks were far out classed in this situation, Charlie thought. He should have known better then to try it.

"How do you say something without saying it?" Allie asked.

Charlie stared at her for a moment, shocked by the forthrightness of the question, "I don't know… is that the riddle?"

"In essence, yes."

Charlie concentrated on it for a minute, "wow, that is a toughie." he said, and then grinned, "sign language?"

A smile spread across Allie's face, then she laughed, "That would be a good answer… but its not the one I need."

"Sometimes," Charlie said, "when I need to figure out a hard problem, I imagine that I already did it…"

"Remembering the answer…it's an old Zx'al memory trick."

Charlie looked puzzled, Allie clarified: "Zx'al is an ancient Xean religion. Strikingly similar to Buddhism, except there is no deity. It's simply a philosophy."

"Oh…"

"You 'remember' the answer to a problem that seems impossible because it removes the element if impossibility if the problem has already been solved."

But that wont help me, Allie thought. She had already thought up an uncountable number of simulated scenarios, but all of them were incomplete. She could see everything, the groups people watching as she demonstrated her abilities, the looks on those peoples faces when they saw one of the larger ships for the first time, the endless swarms of reporters and cameras…

Wait a minute… Allie's mind cleared in an instant of inspired thought, Mary's idea! Television news media! Cameras… it's perfect!

"Wow!" Allie said, "I can't believe it was that simple… of course!"

"What, did you figure it out? Whatever 'it' is…"

"Yes! Thank you dad…" Allie reached over the table and gave him a tight hug.

"Was it sign language?" Charlie asked, Allie laughed.

"No… even simpler."

"I guess you still can't tell me what it is though…"

"Not yet, but soon," Allie sat back down, "how do you think people would react to learning what you and Mom know?"

"They would probably freak. Why?"

Allie shrugged, trying to play the question off as idle conversation, "I don't know, just thought of it all the sudden."

Charlie studied her suspiciously as she picked up her pen again and went back to work on the stack papers. Then he shrugged and started working on his pile again.

So, I know the 'how', Allie thought, now I just need the 'when'.

She couldn't do it too early or the populace would do exactly what her father had just predicted. But if she waited too long, it would still be a shock when the massive diplomatic vessels arrived in orbit. The point in time that Allie now had to calculate was razor thin.

I don't have to worry too much about it now, there's plenty of time to figure it out.

Far, far away from the Keys household, a brilliant flash of pure energy tore through the very fabric of space, revealing a lightless expanse of pure, deep black, ringed by the same energy that had formed it. As soon as the portal stabilized, a gigantic vessel emerged, followed by another, and another, until all six ships were back in real space.

John waited for the jump to complete. The longest leg of the trip was over. Systems onboard the ships would now begin calculating the safest and most efficient path through the cloud of debris surrounding the outermost reaches of the "sun's" gravitational influence. It would take some time, five days by the navigation systems calculation, but John could not wait that long.

With a simple act of will, his body dematerialized from the bridge and rematerialized in one of the Sally's launch bays. A Staris class ship has onboard a full complement of Varin. He willed himself inside one of the tiny, saucer shaped craft.

As the speck of a spacecraft emerged from the hulking underbelly of the Sally, John again felt the sense of awe Allie had imparted on him the first time she had seen it. It was incredible, once the facts and familiarity were put aside, that something this large could be a functional machine. It took Allie to show him that. The wonder of discovery in her eyes had taught him more in five and a half cycles then all his 207 cycles combined.

And he would be able to look into those eyes again very soon. The speed of the Varin craft would take him to the planet in approximately 49 hours.

Two days Allie…

The old bastard finally did it… resignation? HA! That son-of-a-bitch did this to screw me! Keith Sheppard paced the room in front of a select group of his best underlings. The only ones he could truly trust to carry out a task just as he would, and without many questions.

"He thinks he can get away!" Keith stopped in front of one of them, "what do you think Agent Smith? Are you going to let him get away?"

"No sir!"

"Yes… you're the best hit man I've got. Richards will die… very slowly and painfully I hope?"

"I'll try sir."

"No! Don't Try, do it!"

"Of course," Agent smith relaxed, "is there any special… personal touch you would like to add?"

Keith's lips tightened into a malicious smile, "yes, actually," he begin pacing the room again. Head tilted back, studying the ceiling, trying to phrase his next statement properly.

"I want you to catch him… and his little family, if you can… but concentrate on Richards. When you catch him, and I know you will, I want you to cut off his testicles and shove them down his throat, then, I want you to crack his spine just below the neck, not to kill, just to paralyze, then you will leave him to bleed to death in…" Keith made a gesture with his hand, "chose someplace remote… its up to you."

"I--I will try…"

"No!"

"I'll do it sir!"

"Good… and if you do catch his family… kill the kids, but bring the mother to me."

"I don't understand, leaving one alive will be dangerous…"

Keith grinned suggestively, "you will understand…"

"Right, sir."

"Now go, take only who you trust and need to get the job done."

Smith looked to the agent on his right, "only Agent Carlson." he announced.

"Bold, only taking one, but foolish…"

"One is all I need sir." Agent smith said. Keith heard the venom in his voice, thought: I have trained this one well…

"Very well, go!"

The two men hurriedly turned and ducked out the door. Keith resumed pacing with the two remaining agents looking on silently.

One of the other men spoke up: "what about the other operation?"

Keith glanced over at him, then reached with the other hand and flipped a switch, bringing a bank of computers along the wall to life. As the machines came online, Keith stood before one of the monitors, labeled "A". On the screen was a 4 quadrant split showing the live video feeds from the hidden cameras that had been installed inside secondary target A's house. One of the views showed Tyler in his room.

Keith stared at the flickering screen, said: "the operation will continue as scheduled. Thirty six hours from now," he tapped on Tyler's projected image, "our little Romeo here will become chum in the water. Luring our little Allie-shark close enough to the boat for us to spear."