As Eternity landed, all Brendan and his men could see was debris being blown around and then several deep depressions appeared in the ground a couple hundred feet in front of them.
A hatch became visible eight feet above the ground, as a boarding ramp extended down to the dusty earth.
Harper was the first to exit followed closely by Trance. They were followed by Rommie, Gloria, and….
"Rick?" A woman shouted , as she ran towards him.
"Mom?" Rick replied. "Is that really you?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing. You look great! I see Gloria's been taking good care of you."
"Rick." Gloria said. "I have run several scans, and according to the results, she is your mother."
"But, How is that possible?" Rick asked. "You don't look a day older than the day the Ubers came to take you away."
"That's a long story." She said. "I'll explain everything once we're someplace safer."
Harper looked at Rick and cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry." Rick said. "Mom, this is a good friend of mine, and the captain of the Star ship Eternity, Seamus Harper. Harper, this is my mother, Shauna Styvers."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Styvers." Harper said.
"Please," She said, "Just call me Shauna."
"As you wish, Shauna." Harper said.
Harper looked over at his cousin, who had walked closer to the group. "Brendan." He said.
"Seamus."
"It's great to see you again cousin. Harper finally said, as he hugged the last living blood relative he had. "I would like to invite you and your men to come on board Eternity where we can all get something to eat and go over the mission. Then you can have your men take the supplies back to your base for the rest of the rebels."
When Brendan didn't reply, Harper assumed he had said something wrong.
"I'm sorry Brendan." Harper said. "I didn't mean to sound like I was ordering you and your men around. We can discuss how you want to do things."
"It's not that Seamus." Brendan said. "It's just that I'm having a hard time getting used to the fact that you have changed, and I'm not just talking about your appearance. What you suggested actually sounds like a good idea."
Brendan motioned for his men to approach and they followed him, Harper, and the others back inside Eternity, where they would go over their plans for, not only rescuing Rick's father, but freeing Boston, and eventually the entire planet.
As they were all walking up the ramp, they heard sirens going off in the distance.
Harper stopped and tried to determine where the sound was originating from.
"Do they know we're here?" Rommie asked.
"No." Brendan said. "That sort of thing has been happening ever since the Ubers lost the ability to use their communicators. That sounded like that was down at the spaceport."
The group continued to enter Eternity, and Harper led them to the Mess Hall. Harper walked up to the replicator and proceeded to press several buttons. A few minutes later everybody was setting at a long table covered with food.
The amount of food laid out before them shocked Brendan and his men. Their families could live for several weeks on this much food. They just sat there, staring at the food. One of the men looked at Brendan to see what he would do.
Harper noticed their reluctance to eat and remembered what it was like the first time Becka told him he could eat as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted. It just wasn't like that on Earth. Living on Earth you never knew when you would find something to eat again, so when you did find something edible, you rationed it.
"It's ok Brendan." Harper said. "There's plenty more for you to take to your families and friends."
Brendan looked at Harper, considering what he said. He then looked at his plate and all the food on the table. He then did something that Harper hadn't seen or heard since his mom and dad died…. Brendan bowed his head and asked blessing over the food.
As Brendan bowed his head, his men did the same. Harper motioned for Trance and the others to do likewise.
With his head bowed, Brendan began to speak. "Lord,… it's been a long time since I've thanked you for anything. I thought that there was nothing to be thankful for. I realize now that I was blessed more than I realized. I am alive, and for that I am thankful. I have friends that respect and look up to me as their leader. However, you could have chosen someone else for that particular task. You have returned to me my only living blood relative, Seamus. Father the task that we are about to undertake is not an easy one, but it would mean a lot, if you would see fit to watch over us and protect those we hold dear. And finally, I am thankful for the feast that has been laid before us. Bless it and sanctify it for our bodies use. Amen."
When Brendan had finished speaking, he and those with him filled their plates and began to eat like ravenous wolves. None used the silverware at the sides of their plates, except to stab another piece of meat and plop it onto their plate.
Rommie started to tell them about the eating utensils, but Harper, knowing what she was going to suggest, placed a hand on her shoulder.
Rommie gave Harper a curious look.
"There will be time to teach them proper etiquette later." Harper whispered.
Rommie nodded her head and smiled. "They will need a lot of teaching." Rommie thought to herself.
By the time they were finished eating, Rommie suggested that they clean up before the meeting. It took a long time to convince them that the water was clean and wouldn't harm them. It was Brendan that finally gave in and washed his face and hands in the fresh water. When his men saw that he wasn't harmed, they too washed themselves.
As everyone walked toward Eternity's conference hall, her hologram appeared in front of Harper.
"Harper, we're receiving a message from Andromeda."
Harper turned toward Rick, who was standing next to his mother.
"Rick, would mind showing everyone to the conference room, while Trance, Rommie, and I see what this message is about?"
"Not at all Harper." Rick replied. "It'll give me time to ask Mom a few questions."
"Don't interrogate her too hard Rick." Trance said.
"Yeah." Harper added. "Try not using the bright light this time."
Rick's mom smiled, as Harper, Rommie, and Trance left for the command deck.
It is a short walk to the conference room, and everybody quickly finds a seat.
"Well," Rick said, as he turned to look at his mother. "While we're waiting for the others, how about telling me why you haven't aged,… or do I already know the answer?" Rick looked at Gloria as she sit down across from him.
"Rick." Shauna, his mom, said. "This is going to be hard for you to believe, but,…" She looked down, unable to look him in the eyes. "I'm an android."
She waited for his reaction. She knew he'd flip out. She wondered if he would even accept her as his mom? What he asked next, she wasn't expecting.
"How did it happen?" He asked very calmly.
"What?" She asked, startled that he didn't freak out.
"How did you become an android, and when?"
"It was before the Ubers came and took us." She explained. "Your father and I were dying. Before we escaped, we were forced to develop chemical weapons for the Nietzcheans. They didn't provide us with the proper equipment to protect ourselves, so we were effected by many of the bio agents that we were made to create. We were both ashamed of what we were doing, but if we refused to continue our work, they would torture me or your father and make the other watch."
Tears fell from Shauna's eyes as she remembered the pain the Ubers inflicted on her husband. She hoped that he wasn't currently enduring such evil treatment,… but she knew better.
She wiped her tears away and continued.
"Eventually we formulated a plan to escape. The last thing we did was to set an incendiary bomb to destroy all projects and records of our work. We made our way to the spaceport where there was a ship waiting for us. We stayed on as their engineer and medical crew until we were able to pay the captain for rescuing us from Earth.
The captain dropped us off at Doran, where we discovered The Gates of Glory." Shauna gave Gloria a smile.
"But when did you get the body transplant?" Rick asked.
"Transplant?" Shauna asked.
"Yeah. Like me." Rick said, as he opened a small panel in his chest and quickly closed it."
"Rick!" His mom shouted. "What happened?"
"I had an accident with an explosive. There wasn't much left of me, but Gloria was able to keep me in stasis while she built this android body for me. She then removed my brain from what was left of my organic body and inserted it into a new android body. I assumed that you and dad went through a similar procedure."
Shauna relaxed a bit.
"The procedure we went through was slightly different Rick. One of the bio agents we created was designed to slowly eat away all living tissue. Our brains couldn't be saved Rick. Instead we developed a way to basically download our very essence into an AI matrix. After creating our new bodies and transferring our memories to our new android forms, we took care of our organic bodies until they died from the effects of the agent."
Rick was totally stunned.
"Did,… did I ever meet my organic parents?"
"I'm sorry Rick." Shauna said. "You were just a baby when they both died." She moved to put her arm around Rick, but he turned from her.
"Don't' touch me!"
"Rick!" Gloria said. "She's your mother."
"No." Rick said. "She's a liar! Every time she tucked me in bed and called me her little boy, it was a lie." Rick was trying very hard to keep the tears from falling.
"She may not have given birth to you Rick," Gloria said. "but she was a mother to you. She took care of you when you were sick, they both read you bedtime stories, and they protected you from harm. They are your parents Rick."
Rick raised his head and looked at Gloria and Shauna.
"I'm sorry. I need time to deal with this. I want you to know that I don't have anything against androids, heck I'm one. But I need to think about this…. I need some time alone"
"I'm sorry for shouting." Rick added as he turned toward the door and left the conference room.
On the command deck, Dylan informed Harper, Trance, and Rommie about the Nietzchean engineer they had rescued.
"You say he was running from the other Ubers?" Harper asked.
"That's correct Harper." Dylan answered. "He has told us that The Nietzchean general, in control of Boston, ordered him to fix the communications system or he would be killed at sunset."
"So," Harper said. "Since there was no way for him to fix their communications, he took off? Smart Uber."
"I believe that he may have some information that may aid us in our fight." Dylan said.
"Yes." Rommie said. "But will he help us willingly?"
"Who cares about willingly?" Harper said. "We'll make him talk."
"Harper, I won't condone torture for any reason." Dylan said. "I believe he will talk willingly. But we need to be careful. There's a possibility that he may give us false information."
"Let him know that if we find out he's lying to us," Harper said. "He will be jettisoned into the vacuum of space."
"Harper."
"You don't have to actually do it." Harper said. "Just make him believe that you'll do it."