Part Four
Koenig rested, even slept for a couple hours, but too many things weighed heavily on his mind to relax for long.
Still, there were feats to be grateful for. He was now laying in a comfortable bed, a cool sheet pulled up to his naked chest, and he was not alone. Helena lay beside him, her lovely head resting on his shoulder, hair tousled, and she was sleeping peacefully in the aftermath of gentle, profound yet passionate love-making.
Their time together truly was special, particularly since she knew he was trying - possibly a bit too hard - to please her, to hide his grief when he touched her body and felt another scar on her bare back, arms, legs, abdomen, and breasts. They covered Helena's body, the result of her time with Brount. Whenever John felt a raised wound it was a reminder of how she was brutalized, taken by a fiend, and he was not on Moonbase Alpha to protect her.
Now he knew, in part, why Helena felt the story had to be told. Her mistreatment by the alien held not just physical reminders of the event but the mental torture inflicted had also changed her, made her tentative to a man's touch; even if she loved him, bore his child, and they were wed. Could an unconventional life together, as intense and tight as theirs had been, born out of a closeness a post-apocalyptic experience formed, recover after yet another shattering life-changing trauma? It did not seem possible.
Yet the couple's reunion, having started off dubious, had been lovely – their bond intact - and soon they were loving one another like they had never been parted. Under the circumstances, it could not be better. Even so, there were other personal problems to address.
John Koenig's son rejected him.
The boy had come home to their quarters only minutes after Helena told John of her ordeal. While they were sitting on the sofa, as he was holding her, soothing her, the doors parted and there stood Arron James Koenig. He stared at John, unsurprised it seemed, but that made sense. Thanks to the announcement and guidance of his teacher, young Arron was made aware he would be meeting with his father. Yet, he may not have thought it would be so soon.
"A.J." Koenig said simply, and Helena looked up at him then over to where John's attention was directed.
"Oh," Helena sat straighter and lifted a hand to her son, urging him to come closer, "I have someone here you need to meet."
The boy stepped slowly forward, his hands clasped behind his back, face impassive.
John could see himself in Aaron, tall, slender, naturally tanned, with a dark head of hair and very blue eyes. Yet, his mouth, chin and nose belonged to Helena. His current demeanor, the way he had dropped a poker-face during a stressful situation, was reminiscent of his mother as well. He was a handsome young man with, it seemed, deep thoughts and John could not help being proud.
Helena spoke gently yet eagerly, "I know you have been told he and the crew of the lost Eagle Three have returned. How it happened is something our scientists can explain better than I, but he is here, Aaron. John Koenig, your father, has returned to us and we are so pleased."
"You are pleased." Aaron said, quietly, looking at his mother. "Good for you."
'A strong voice for a ten-year old.' John thought and tried to connect with his son, leaning forward, attempting to meet his gaze with his own. "And I'm pleased to meet you again, A.J. The last time I saw you, I was holding you and feeding you with a bottle. I know you've made your mother very happy while I've been away. I am incredibly grateful for that. You have no idea. But I want us to become friends … Eventually, I want to be the father you deserve."
The boy now looked at him, "My name is Aaron." He said, coolly.
There was a short pause.
"I am sorry, Aaron. My father's name was Aaron. Did you know that?"
"Yes, Mother told me."
Koenig could see that A.J. was sizing him up, unsure if he wanted to commit, but he could also sense there was resentment. The man sitting in front of him was a stranger, someone who left he and his mother when he was yet a baby. It did not seem to matter that it was an unintended absence. John knew he needed to show Aaron that his intentions were respectable. Smoothly, he reached out to touch his shoulder. "I care about you and your mother, Aaron, and I …."
The boy stepped back to avoid him, shrugging off the hand.
"Aaron!" Helena snapped, appalled by their son's bad manners. "That was rude."
"May I go to bed, Mother?"
"You haven't had supper yet." She pointed out.
"I'm not hungry."
"Then go. When you get up in the morning, I expect a different attitude, young man."
Aaron said nothing. He marched himself into his room, without a goodnight or a kiss, and the door slid shut behind him. They could hear the electronic lock slide in place but, honestly, if Helena really wanted to enter, and she would later, all she needed to do is use her own comlock to unlock the door. It was a mother and father's privilege.
John exhaled and looked at Helena, "That did not go so well."
"Give him some time to get a better grasp on the idea. He's usually open and kind. He really is, John."
"I can't really blame him. He's as in-shock as the rest of Alpha."
Helena smiled gently, "Let me order dinner and I will try to fill you in on what has been going on, and some of the things you will see tomorrow when Tony takes you and the rest on a tour."
He nodded and as Helena called into her comlock, ordering supper, he looked over to Aaron's room. The closed door seemed a near mockery, laughing at his deficiency, and John wished he had the words to make the boy see him as his father, not an interloper. Perhaps, he thought solemnly, it was the price he paid when so many years ago he was granted his dream of a wife, son, and happiness in deep space for all too brief a time. He thought he could have it all and maybe he could again - in time.
Helena had ordered a meal for Aaron and took it in to him. She told John that the boy pretended to be sleeping but she knew the tray, place on his bedside table, would be empty by morning. "He has a good appetite."
Later, Helena brought out an electronic pad with photos and films, and she showed John how the base had grown over the years. He also noted how the children, so many who were babies when he last saw them, had become school-aged and teens. He missed a great deal and John could not help allowing the regret show. He also saw how Aaron had grown through the years, various photos being taken with Alphan crew members and children that he knew very well. The video of Aaron meeting Tony and Sandra's baby girl for the first time was especially poignant.
Oddly, there was a single page with a few captures that Helena quickly flipped over and, although he was curious, John allowed her to be elusive. She had already told him so much and he did not want to press her. Besides, they would have plenty of time later to rediscover each other and, possibly, become reacquaint with their friends as a couple.
Finally, at the end of the night, when their food had been eaten and two glasses of wine, which tasted much better than John remembered, had been consumed, he found himself wondering where he should go next. He did not want to presume on Helena, yet he wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting. The indecision was quickly diminished when the woman leaned over and kissed him directly on the lips. It was not a mere peck but a long, soft, sweet kiss that promised more if he was wanting. But then she pulled back slightly, remembering something, and seemed a little uncertain, even disturbed.
"Helena?" He asked, his arm loosening around her.
"How badly do you want to stay with me tonight?" she asked, candidly.
Such an odd question. "Do you really need to ask?"
She inhaled and stood, pulling entirely free from his embrace.
John was more than a little confused when she started to pace in front of him. "Helena, what's wrong?"
"You know I am older than you now." She said. "You were about three, nearly four years older than me once but now, over the years, I've grown older …"
"Helena, you are beautiful. Besides," he teased, "I've always had a thing for older women." He hoped that lessened her fears.
"John, that's not the only …" She stopped, not quite looking at him. Slowly, making another decision Helena hoped she would not regret, she unclasped her belt and unfastened the zipper at her shoulder. She peeled off her tunic and turned around, giving John a good look at the mangled chaos that was once her smooth, unblemished back. It looked as if the alien, a beast of a lifeform, had tortured Helena with any number of sharp devices. She said she had been with him for twelve hours.
'Oh, my God.'
Koenig nearly shook at the sight, sickened and intensely appalled. It was not the display but what caused it. Was it any wonder she had to be hospitalized for a long period of time after? The act tormented Helena until this very day. She would not tell anyone, including John, what exactly had happened, but it left a mark on her, literally and figuratively. John lifted fingers to his mouth, horrified but hoping the motion would prevent an unwanted sound from between his lips. He quickly lowered them, his expression growing calm, when she turned about to look at him.
'I will make you forget.' He thought, 'I have to!'
He kissed her on the forehead as she slept.
That last thought had been emotional and probably a little self-indulgent on his part. She would never forget. How could she? But he would be there, holding Helena as he was doing now, making certain she knew that barbarism would never happen again. Not to her, their son, or anyone on Alpha if he had his way.
And, for now, Helena seemed well. She was brave and his return, John hoped, made all the difference in the world.
Again, he looked over at Aaron's bedroom door in the dim light of the room. They would make it work, one step at a time.
The tour was extraordinary.
Tunnels had been opened deep below the moons surface, expanding the moonbase, allowing for family play areas, internal power sources, a detailed medical and science lab, and an abundance of "nourish nooks", areas where hydroponics had upped their game, growing more curiously flavorful and plentiful fruits and vegetables.
"The best tofu this side of the universe." Kurt Venge, their kitchen dietician and supervisor announced with a jolly smile. He came out and spoke with the Alphans, shaking Koenig's hand repeatedly, happy to see their old Commander home again. He presented their refrigeration units, freeze-drying components, twenty-five ovens, various microwaves, and a massive stand mixture exclusively for bread and yeast products. He appeared to be most proud of his bean and mushroom vats.
"You've done well." Koenig said again to Verdeschi and reminded himself he did not need to reiterate something the Commander of the base already knew. Still, he hoped Tony understood that, as a friend, he truly was impressed.
Alan Carter, as a juxtaposition, had been disappointed in the lack of growth to their Eagle hanger. Nevertheless, even that was understandable. They were in the middle of nowhere. No amount of deep space exploration was going to change what they already knew. Millions of miles, and they had nowhere to go. Downsizing in that respect was inevitable.
"We did over-haul security on Moonbase Alpha." Verdeschi said, rightly thinking Koenig would wonder about this aspect of their living condition. If he suspected Helena and John had spoken, that they had spent the night together, he would have to know that their lack of security in those first few years in the void did not serve them well. "We have, thanks to alien technology, a powerful defense shield and some impressive high-powered laser cannons at our disposal. No outside force will ever reach us unless we want them to." he assured.
Maya could only look at Tony, admiring but sad. She stayed to the back of the crowd, speaking only when spoken to. It was too hard to pretend to be interested when she felt, for the first time since being assured by John and Helena after Psychon exploded, that she did have a life on the moonbase.
Alan stood beside her, sensing her pain, and draped a gentle arm around her shoulders.
By the time Aaron awoke, dressed, and carefully made his way out of his bedroom, John Koenig was gone. He looked at his mother, who was sitting quietly in the living area, thumbing through some worksheets, drinking her morning coffee.
"Didn't he stay?" the boy asked, approaching her, an electronic learner in his small hands.
"Would it please you if he hadn't?" Helena asked, looking up and at her son, still unhappy with his attitude the night before.
"I don't know." He said, honestly.
Helena put her papers on their coffee table and motioned for the boy to sit next to her.
He did, a little down and perplexed.
"Aaron, this is a wonderful event. Something that never could have happened but, miraculously, did. When your father was lost so was I for the longest time. I put him behind us – but now he is back and – it's amazing. We have a second chance to live together as a family."
"I know." He said, sounding like a child who got a good, if a little introspective, night sleep and might be having second thoughts. "I'm sorry, Mother. I know I wasn't very nice to him."
"No, you weren't." Helena agreed without coddling, "He was reaching out to you, trying to connect to the son he loved the first moment he saw him, and you pushed him away."
"You think I should go find him and apologize?"
Helena nearly smiled. Aaron really was a good child, despite a rebellious streak. "No, you need to go to breakfast then class. But the next time you see him you might want to give him a chance. He's a good man."
"I will." Aaron said, still a little down, looking at his hands as they rested on his lap.
"Hey," Helena gently put a couple fingers under the boy's chin and made him look at her. "Are you worried about something?"
"I just don't want him to …" he hesitated, fearful for a moment.
"Hurt me?" she asked, confused. "He would never do that, Aaron."
"No, I don't think he would do that either." The boy was again introspective, "I can see he cares about you."
"Then what?"
"I don't want him to take you away … from me." He confessed.
Helena's eyes widened. Why had she not thought of that. A stranger to Aaron had suddenly come into their home, a man he only knew from photos, short videos and Alpha history, and started up where he had left off with his mother. He walked in on them embracing. That had to be threatening to a ten-year old, the only true love of Helena's life, since he had known her. "He could never do that, Aaron." She pledged, "I am your Mother and I love you more than anything in the universe." She softly cupped his cheek, "And if you give him the opportunity, your father will show you he feels the same way about you as I do."
Smiling, Aaron put his arms around Helena and hugged her. "Yes," he said, "I'll give him a chance." But then he pulled gently away, his expression turning slightly solemn, "But what about Uncle Dave?"
Helena felt a sudden jolt to her system but covered it by saying, "He can still be your friend." She then quickly added, "Now, get along before you are late. And drink all of your milk at breakfast."
"Okay." With the exuberance of a healthy child, Aaron jump up, kissed his mother, then grabbed his electronic learner, and trotted out of their quarters.
Helena watch the door slide shut behind her son and gently sighed. 'Uncle Dave' was another little thing she would eventually have to discuss with John.
END OF PART FOUR.