For a long time I thought of this story just having its current readers who were with it from the start, but I just noticed others are starting from the beginning and working their way through; neat! Hello to you all and welcome. Thanks as well to all you patient guys and girls waiting for the next chapter, like Stripesicles222, Vim and Draco38; it's good to know you are there :)

Chapter 85

New Enemies and Sneaky Sisters

"Anybody got any complaints?" Sage asked sarcastically as everyone continued to stare at the body of Prime Governor Redding.

A few of the guards raised their rifles in an attempt to protect themselves from the assassin of their fallen leader, but it soon became apparent there was really no point when Sage put the gun away in his belt.

"Okay listen up; I think it should be clear to everyone that I have just done you all a great favour. Redding clearly had given up trying to build something positive here and now only intended to go off on a deadly vendetta" Sage declared.

Even the guards who had been loyal to their leader for many years could see the truth in what Sage was saying. Redding's recent declaration that he wanted the Railgun in Sumatra destroyed, followed by his order to murder all the other residents of the bunker, clearly showed that following his orders would lead them nowhere.

"I have recently arrived back on Earth, after a relatively safe and comfortable life on Mars" Sage continued. "Returning here and one day being killed by a rogue meteor was never part of my long term plan, so I intend to do whatever it takes to get off this doomed rock and return to Mars as soon as humanly possible. If any of you want to go on waiting here for the end to come, you can for all I care but as for the rest of you, if you want a better future I know how to get off this planet and where the means to do so is located. I killed Redding because wanted to destroy it, but I intend to use it to save my own life, along with the lives of anyone who will fight with me."

Reed Branson knew he would have to do something to help protect his friends on the other side of the Pacific, but he could not work out what to do, how to do it and when to start. As he considered his options, one of the other guards brought up something Reed wished had been left unsaid for now.

"Excuse me sir, but Redding told us that when he died, Adisa and Dias were to be released; should we still follow this order?"

"Hell no because we'll be able to... hey... where is Adisa?"

The guards looked to each other, then around the corridor until Colonel Cook asked the obvious question.

"Did anyone take him back to his house?"

Again they all just stared at each other.

"I'm surrounded by idiots" Sage shrugged "WHERE DID YOU LAST SEE HIM."

Without answering, they all just turned and looked at the door to Redding's garden, so Sage stormed over and threw it open. Reed followed close behind; he wasn't sure if he could protect the Professor, but he was damn well going to try. With most of the guards in tow, Sage discovered he did not have to go very far because Professor Linton Adisa was sitting on a nearby park bench waiting patiently.

"What are you doing here?" Sage asked.

"I'm not doing anything here" Linton stated "Redding didn't tell me I could go, so I thought I'd better stay. He gets very angry if I do anything he hasn't given approval for."

"Well you don't have to worry about Redding anymore because I'm in charge now."

"Oh... does that mean I can go home now?" Linton asked innocently.

"If you mean Sumatra, you'll be going there alright... eventually" Sage said threateningly.

"Actually I meant to my little house down the corridor."

"I think I'd better lock you up for now" Sage declared and turned to the nearest guard who just happened to be Reed Branson "What do you use for a prison in here?"

"Adisa's house is his prison sir" Reed answered.

Colonel Joshua Cook stepped forward and confirmed this to be true.

"Yes sir; Redding did not like it when Adisa would go wandering at night, sticking his nose in everywhere, so he had lockable gates fitted to his house."

"Good; lock him up and send all those other fossils back to their houses too; I'll deal with them later. On my way in I saw a lot of people working in what looked like factories; what's the deal with them?"

"The first ones you would have seen when you entered from outside, are from the local farming settlement and they come and go once a week. The others beyond the inner checkpoint are... shall we say... permanent employees?" Cook smirked.

"So... basically slave labour" Sage noted.

"Yes sir" Cook replied "The people on the outside believe them to be deceased."

"Sounds like the kind of thing Redding would do. Continue to keep both groups separate for now; and until further notice, nobody goes in or out without my permission."

"Understood sir" Cook saluted.

"You seem to be the leader of these men" Sage noted "What's your name?"

"Joshua Cook sir but the men call me the Colonel."

"Then you can call me General" Sage gave a self satisfied grin.

"Why is everyone taking orders from you Sage?" Professor Adisa wondered.

"There's been a hostile takeover" he declared.

Reed led the Professor out into the corridor and told him about Redding's strange empirical rant that led to his death. Back in the garden, Sage had already started making plans but Cook sought answers to questions he was not sure if he should ask.

"Sir, can I be frank with you?"

"You want to know why you and your men should trust me" Sage guessed.

"That is part of it sir" Cook admitted "For a long time now I've been considering exactly what I should do when the Prime Governor finally passed on, because it's been clear to me for a good many years, that he's been simply monitoring everything he'd put in place while entertaining himself. He kept a lot of what he was doing a secret from me, so it wasn't clear if we should keep the status quo when he was gone, or make some changes. We have enjoyed a life of relative safety and privilege here, but it seemed Redding was the only one here who was not concerned about the Earth being suddenly destroyed with no warning."

"And you like the idea of going off planet with me?" Sage grinned.

"Yes but you can be sure that my men are already wondering if letting you take over is a good idea. No one is going to miss Redding, but you can't expect anyone to follow you at the point of a gun."

As if to prove a point, Sage removed the pistol from his belt and pointed it at Cook's head. The Colonel flinched slightly but stood his ground as Sage started to laugh, before he turned the gun around and offered it to the relieved Guard Leader.

"You're right of course, so let me tell you why I am just what you need at this time" Sage declared smugly "On Mars I followed the orders of the Mars Base Overseer, while she took her orders from the Mars Deep Council. What none of them knew though, was that I had standing orders from the Prime Governor himself, to eliminate anyone outside the council who should chance to discover the ship Redding was so worried about."

"This is the ship that would allow Adisa to launch people into space?" Cook asked.

"Exactly; without it the Railgun could only launch cargo but with the equipment on board, it could be extended and modified to launch humans. Don't ask me why, but Redding did not want that to happen; not back then, not now and not ever. I was okay with that when I was safely up in space but now I'm down here, I want that Railgun up and running as soon as possible."

"How did you end up back here Sir?"

"Two ordinary citizens of Mars saw the offending ship from orbit, so I followed Redding's orders and blew them out into space. One of the Mars Deep Council members got upset and tried to take me down as well, but I was too quick for him. I abandoned ship and took refuge in an emergency capsule for a few days, intending to go back to the interplanetary ship when the heat was off. But to my surprise when I got back, there was a small ship from Earth docked to it, proving the Railgun could now launch a human cargo. So with my supplies running low, I decided to return to Earth and head here with the express purpose of raising a strike force, taking the Railgun Complex by force and then going home to Mars."

"But Redding wanted the Railgun destroyed" Cook noted.

"And that was when he signed his own death warrant; as far as I was concerned" Sage nodded.

"So do you have a limit as to how many people should be permitted to leave Earth?" Cook asked.

"I don't care if everyone goes as long as me and my army are the first to go. There is an old German man on Mars who is going to pay for what he did to me" Sage growled, not knowing the Mars Deep Council had already done the job for him.

"You intend to take over the Mars Base?" Cook was surprised.

"I certainly don't intend to be double crossed again, and I think being in charge is the best way to ensure it never happens; if you can think of a better way, I'm all ears."

The Colonel thought about everything Sage had said, and the offer sounded much better to him than just sitting in the bunker and trusting to luck.

"I'll have to talk to my men but I feel quite confident in saying, I think you have the beginnings of the army you want."

"I thought I might" Sage grinned.

"You'll be interested to know, there is a settlement north of here near Sacramento, where I believe you will find more willing volunteers."

"It will take us a long time to get to Sacramento unless you have some fast vehicles available" Sage noted.

"We have something better" Cook answered. "We have a Hyperloop."

Life in the MTV slowly settled down as the excitement over the families first meeting drifted into recent memory. Luis set up a three shift schedule for piloting the ship while April commandeered Saffron and anyone who wasn't currently flying the ship to start work on clearing out some of the unused rooms in the two large artificial gravity wheels. As soon as she could get her hands on some new equipment from Doctor Spencer, she intended to fit out every last inch with some hydroponic food plant production and algae based water filtration units.

Abigail was please to see her father had put her down as co-pilot to Ruth Kinderman, because she had always gotten on well with Ruth during training back on Mars. Blue was placed with Jarred and the two soon became good friends as they worked together. Everyone was surprised when Luis assigned Calla as his own co-pilot, saying he was most impressed by how much she had learnt in such a short time and how he looked forward to teaching her more about the subtleties of deep space ship management and monitoring.

"Deep space what and who?" Calla had said when she was told.

"It means not hitting anything or blowing up the ship" Blue explained.

"Well why didn't he just say that?" she huffed.

April waited a few days until Luis finally started to relax into routine before she really started to talk about seriously things during their evenings together. It would not be easy, but she knew the time had come to tell him some news.

"We need to talk."

It was not always the best way to start a conversation, and hearing those words did make Luis feel a little anxious as he put his toothbrush away.

"Is everything alright?" he started jumping to conclusions "Is it the baby?"

"The baby is fine as far as I can tell" April said comfortingly "but I must admit though, pregnancy feels different now the gravity is higher."

"We're only at forty two percent" Luis noted.

"Believe me, I can feel it" April smile "But sit down because I've got something important to tell you."

The term 'Something Important' set Luis's mind racing; especially after talking about pregnancy.

"Is it twins?" he asked.

"It's not twins" April stated.

"Triplets?"

"Will you shut up and listen?" April snapped.

"Sorry dearest."

"It's about your father."

Luis looked confused; he was so young when he had lost his father, he could hardly remember anything much about him.

"Olive Roux told me some very interesting things before I left Mars, and one of them was that your father is still alive."

"No... it can't be true" Luis gasped.

"There's more" April continued "Apparently he changed his name to Henry Deming."

She stopped to let her words sink in.

"Deming... but you knew this man" Luis realised. "I remember you telling me of your friends on the ship, Willow, Sidney and the others; he was one of them."

"Yes and he was one of the people who raised our son; Blue didn't know it at the time, but he was with his grandfather while was growing up in the Railgun Complex."

Luis sat silently and tried to remember something about his father, but very little came to mind.

"We'll have to tell Blue" April said as she rested her head on Luis's shoulder.

'Yes... yes; lets us go and speak to the children about it" he replied as he took her hand.

Like many people, when Blue had something on his mind, he would just sit and stare out of the window while he pondered life. Staring out the window was no problem in the central core of the ship, but sitting was another matter completely as he floated a few inches above the chair. He considered strapping himself in, but it seemed like a silly thing to do. Hearing about his grandfather had helped him to make a very important decision, but was now having trouble gathering the courage to talk to anyone about it; in the end he knew he would just have to try.

Climbing back down to the gravity ring, he steeled himself as he strode over to Calla's quarters and knocked on the door.

"Come in" she called out but when Blue opened the door, he was surprised to see she was not alone.

"Aren't you supposed to be running the ship?" he asked Abigail.

"Saffy wanted to learn a bit about piloting so Ruth agreed to let her have an hour on the flight deck every now and then."

"Do you mind if I interrupt?" Blue asked "I need to talk to Calla."

"Should I leave?" Abigail checked.

"I think I'd be safer if you stayed" Blue gave a sheepish grin "Less chance she'll hit me with a witness nearby."

"Don't count on it" Calla grinned "I assume this is about Earth."

"You can read me like a book" Blue admitted.

"You're so easy to read, you're like a picture book full of two syllable words" Calla smirked.

"What about the Earth?" Abigail suddenly paid close attention.

"Your idiot brother wants to go back there as soon as we make orbit" Calla shrugged.

"You do?" Abigail said, wide eyed "Is this about that dragon thing you were telling me about?"

"No!" Blue protested "well... not entirely."

"What are you going to tell Mom and Dad?" Abigail wondered.

"I'm gonna tell them the truth; I think I can do more good on Earth and my departure will free up a space here for one of the more experienced engineers, so the 16 Psyche operation will go quicker and more people will be able to leave Earth sooner if I go back."

"So why are you telling us first?" Abigail wondered.

"He promised to give me plenty of warning so I could decide if I wanted to return to Earth as well, or stay here" Calla admitted.

"And what do you want to do?" Abigail asked.

"I don't know; I haven't thought about it yet" Calla answered "I'll probably stay though."

"I had a feeling you'd say that" Blue looked down at his feet "Time to tell my parents I suppose."

As Blue walked away down the corridor, he did not get far before Abigail hurried after him.

"Hey... leave it for half an hour before you go to see Mom and Dad" she told him.

"Why?"

"Don't ask questions, just do it" Abigail demanded "Hmm... I like having an older brother to boss around; it's so much more satisfying than arguing with Saffy."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself" Blue said sarcastically as his sister went back to Calla's room.

After she had entered, Abigail closed the door and spoke softly even though no one could hear them.

"I get the feeling you want to go back with Blue, but don't want to admit it" Abigail smiled knowingly at her friend from Earth.

Calla thought about objecting, but she could see quite clearly that there was no point.

"I've really painted myself into a corner, haven't I?"

"Paint yourself... into a corner?" Abigail pondered the odd saying.

"You know; if you're painting the floor and you start at the door, when you're finished you'll have nowhere to go and you can only get out by walking on wet paint."

"Why would you paint the floor?" Abigail looked confused.

"Yeah I suppose there are a lot of Earth things you'd never do on Mars."

"So you have painted a floor?" Abigail checked.

"Well no, but if the floor was made of wood, and you wanted to be sure it lasted for many... why the hell are we talking about floors?" Calla suddenly realised.

"Don't blame me, you started it" Abigail shrugged.

"I mean I've talked myself into a position I just can't back out of."

Abigail head tilted slightly to the left and Calla thought she looked like a confused puppy.

"Ah... painted yourself into a corner; I get it now."

"WILL YOU FORGET ABOUT THE PAINT?" Calla snapped.

"So you do want to go back?" Abigail stated.

"I don't know" Calla's head sank into her hands.

"Then it must be my brother; you don't want to be separated from him" Abigail's knowing smile returned.

The dirty look Calla gave to Abigail could have peeled the paint off the floor.

"SHUT UP ABOUT THE PAINT ALREADY!"

...sorry...

"It's... a lot of things" Calla admitted.

"Such as?" Abigail prompted.

"Well... I know my mother wants me to come home... and Blue is right about the engineers from the Railgun Complex. I mean yeah, I've learnt a lot about those machines when we worked on them, but I'm really just a glorified assistant, passing tools, turning screws and fastening bolts. Another qualified expert could join the crew if I went back to Earth" Calla pointed out.

"Is that all?"

Calla looked away; she wished what she had already said would have been enough to satisfy Blue's inquisitive sister.

"Okay I am curious about this dragon thing too. I mean... I don't really believe they exist, or ever did, but it is kind of weird that Blue should be mentioned in that old book. If he does go looking for the ruins of this Berk place, I'd like to be there if he should ever find it."

"I think I can help you" Abigail nodded "Come on; let's go see Mom and Dad.

Good news Vin; could see you were right so I came up with a different idea to end this story with an epilogue, but without touching on the next story. It should answer a question asked by a few readers from the start of the story as well.