XXII.
When the proximity alarm sounded through the ship Hope awoke as exhausted as she was when she went into cryo sleep … cryo sleep did absolutely nothing for her recreation. Never again. She'd had a lot of weird dreams about a woman she didn't recognize warning her, Aereon ordering her to do something in time and Riddick walking away from her and never turning back. She definitely would give up space travel until she had another ship with warp drive.
"Here is space traffic control of Borean. You are approaching our planet. Please identify yourself."
"Here is space ship 'Chloe', ID 379421, Captain Huntington; I'm asking for permission to land." Changing name and ID code of the ship had been the first thing she did after leaving Furya.
"How many people are on board and what's the purpose of your visit?"
"It's just me and I'm here for some holidays; I need some fresh air and a planet beneath my feet before I get space sick." A blinking sign on the helm showed her that they were scanning the ship and after a minute of silence the polite voice spoke again.
"Request granted. You have permission to land at section X73, landing field C. The docking fee has to get paid at once at the automat in the main building. We've transmitted the coordinates that will lead you to your docking place; you have to follow them most accurately. Confirm as soon as you get the data. Have a nice stay on Borean."
"Yes, copy that. Thank you."
Hope was relieved when the hatch finally opened in front of her. A warm sun, fresh air and the inviting sounds of a well kept space port greeted her. It took a while until she had complied with the formalities but Hope didn't mind. All of a sudden she was pretty nervous about meeting her brother and his family. What if he didn't like her? What should she say to him? 'Hi, I'm your long lost sister, abandon everything and follow me to Furya!' Not likely. How much would he know about his heritage? About her? If anything at all.
She chuckled lightly … Riddick would have said something like 'Too much brain, babe. Just follow your instincts and go with the flow.' And that indeed was good advice.
She bought a map and after finding out where his house was situated she strolled through the streets of the town, heading in the right direction but not eager to arrive too fast at Taylor's.
She found Taylor's home in a quiet part of the city. Neatly kept gardens surrounding beautiful big houses; Taylor seemed to do pretty good. She had to draw a deep breath before she was able to ring the doorbell and wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed when nobody answered it. There was a big park across the street with a lot of inviting benches under big shady trees and so she sat down on one of them, the house in perfect sight and waited for him to come home. Hours went by until a vehicle stopped in front of the house. A tall, elderly man, a young woman and two kids exited it. The man wasn't Taylor but seemed to be a relative and not a driver given the way he swung the little girl around and then carried her on his shoulders into the house. Hope decided to wait for Taylor.
It was dark until a man with familiar features approached the house; she could see him clearly in the light of the lanterns … Taylor. To her surprise he stopped for a second before entering the house, gazing into her direction. She knew it was too dark under the tree to get seen by him … no, nothing but coincidence. Also Taylor was at home now she was like glued to that bench she was sitting on. She stared at the house, thinking of words she would say and discarding them again. From time to time she could see her brother looking out of the window. Did he sense her? She stood up when the door got opened. Taylor appeared in the light filled gap, peering again into her direction before making a beeline for her. What had seemed so difficult a moment ago was like a force now; her feet started to move automatically.
Finally standing face to face they stared at each other for minutes, taking in the sight of each other before Taylor broke the spell "Who are you? Are you … ? You are, aren't you?"
Tears were prickling in Hope's eyes, she wasn't able to get out a single word and so she just nodded and before she knew what was happening she nearly got squished in a tight embrace. None of them spoke, there were way too many emotions they had to deal with and so they just stood there relishing the feeling to finally have found each other.
A female voice finally put them out of their lightheadedness. "Taylor!! Should I worry about my husband embracing another woman in front of our house?"
Taylor hadn't released Hope completely, his arm was still wrapped around her shoulders. "Serenity, that's my sister! She's finally here, she's found us. That's Hope!"
Hope extended her hand to the baffled woman "Hi! I'm so sorry causing troubles. I've been looking for almost a year for you, since Aereon told me about Taylor's existence and all of a sudden I was afraid to knock and ..." She knew she was babbling and then she ran completely out of words.
The woman took Hope's hand hesitantly. She gave her an inquisitive stare before her face lit up in a smile. "I'm sorry; I should have seen the family likeness, but it's so dark out here. Now come in, what are we still doing outside?" She tugged at Hope's hand and in the blink of an eye she sat in a very homey kitchen. "Dinner is ready in then minutes. … Julie, Dylan, come down, we have a guest!"
It was apparent that Serenity was responsible for the talking in that family; as Taylor was tall, dark and calm Serenity was small, fair and lively.
A minute later she heard feet patter downstairs and the kids she had seen earlier stormed inside. Both of them had the same eyes like hers and Taylor's and by the looks of it they were twins too. "Julie, Dylan, I want you to meet your Aunt Hope."
Hope was a bit overwhelmed with all the hugs and questions that got shot at her. "Now, now, kids, leave your aunt some space to breath." A deep baritone resounded from the door. A tall man with enough likeness to Taylor to assure her that he also was family had watched the scene with a happy smile. "They have heard stories about their missing aunt since they were borne. They made up stories about your adventures themselves and with each year you and the stories got more dauntless. You are their hero."
The man had approached her slowly and took now her hand in his. "I'm your Uncle Geoffrey, but please call me Jeff like they all do. Your mother was my sister. We didn't know where Aereon had taken you or we would have looked for you. Didn't you know anything about us?"
Hope shook her head. "About a year ago we met that Elemental…" and she started to tell them about her life on Aurelius, how they kept her believing that she was a native there, about her studies, her work, Aereon and Furya. And she told them about Riddick although they got the short and sugarcoated version of the story; if they'd decide to come with her there was time enough to go into detail. She got pelt with questions about Furya, the other Furyans and her adventures until it was bedtime for the twins and then the adults sat down in the living room and it was Hope's turn to ask questions. She wanted to know everything about her parents and everything else and it got 3 o'clock in the morning when they decided to call it a day.
She learned that Taylor was a chemist with engineering as his favorite hobby. Serenity was a gifted surgeon and Jeff biologist. They had always known about her from him; he had been there when her mother gave birth to them and when Aereon appeared, telling them about the threat and convincing them to leave Hope to her and save her life thereby.
Hope was surprised that Taylor and Serenity knew nothing about their heritage but Jeff had the explanation thereto: "I had to swear to keep it a secret. She told me that the life of my family depends on my discretion, that everybody in my family would die if the secret was revealed too soon; that didn't leave me any options. In telling you about your sister I stretched it but I thought if something happened to me you'd look for her someday on your own."
She got just a few hours of finally peaceful sleep until the kids got her awake at 7 again. They continued to ask 1001 questions until Serenity put her foot down and ended the question-and-answer game. "Get ready for school now, she'll still be here when you return this afternoon."
After finishing breakfast they sat down on the porch. They had decided to take off some days; getting to know each other was the most important thing at the moment. They chatted for hours, shared childhood memories, talked about their lives, their jobs, and mused about Elementals in general and Aereon in particular. When they told her the stories the children had come up with about her adventures Hope was surprised how near some of them hit home.
Taylor finally asked the pivotal question. "Hope, would you mind telling us why Aereon had to separate you from us or is that still a secret?"
Hope sighed deeply. "I don't know everything myself. She told us about a 'menace' we'd have to fight 'one day' but not which and when; she told us we'd be important for the whole universe but not why and she made us look for all Furyans spread over the galaxy to reunite the race and to repopulate Furya." She had a close look at them before she continued. "Would you possibly consider coming with me?" she asked a bit uncertain.
Taylor and Serenity looked at each other, talking without words like only long married couples were able to.
Jeff however didn't need to think about it. "I can't speak for Taylor and Serenity but I'll come with you; nevertheless first I want to hear the whole story; I know you are holding back with something."
Taylor and Serenity seemed to have come to a decision too. "Hope, we have to think of our children. Can you assure us that it's safe for them on Furya? I don't want to be rude but you are so thin and pale, don't you have enough to eat on Furya?" Serenity was too much mom to not comment on Hope's condition.
"Furya is safe. As far as you can say that from a sparsely populated planet like ours. There are already children there, even a newborn baby. Everything is still very frugal and simple, but there is more than enough to eat there; my not so good condition is my own fault …. I was avoiding cryo sleep way too long and I really hate those space rations.
Uncle Jeff, you are right, there is something I didn't tell you. It wouldn't have mattered if you'd have decided to stay but you have to know before you pack up everything." And so she told them the whole story … about the bounty on her head and how it came about, Riddick and everything else.
They sat there in utter silence for a long time until Jeff cleared his throat. "Wow, what a story. You had to go through a lot of crap for fate. I didn't like that Elemental then and I definitely don't like her better now. I'm with you." He stood up and pulled her into a tight embrace. "You have to tell me what you need on Furya and I have to close business here. I have a ship and I'll be damned if I don't get it stuffed with all the things we could possibly need." He released her with a kiss on her forehead. "We've got a lot of things to do, let's get started."
Hope had an anxious look at her brother and her sister in law; they hadn't spoken a word since she had ended and she was afraid they had changed their minds. Serenity had tears in her eyes when she stood up. "I'm so sorry Hope. But from now on everything will get better; you have your family by your side now. Of course we are still with you." She and Taylor hugged her simultaneously.
"I'm quite curious about your Riddick; I know how company often works and have tried to avoid them my whole life. Did you ever think about cleaning his and your record?" Taylor's brows were furrowed, he was already thinking about hacking into court data.
Hope nodded. "Yes, but I don't have the equipment for a stunt like that; and apart from that it wouldn't do any good. Riddick is known across the whole universe. Maybe it would help if we'd fake his and my death."
They were interrupted by an incoming call Serenity took in the kitchen. She reappeared a moment later, white as a sheet and a horrified look in her eyes. "They have kidnapped Julie, they want to talk to you, Hope."