Vai

"Wake up, son."

I opened my eyes slowly. One, because I was having a nice dream about Callie, Emilio and Posha and two, it was too early to deal with whatever it was my father was going to tell me.

My father sat on the edge of my bed dressed in his uniform and lab coat. Usually if he woke me up - which was rare - he stood tall over me. I sat up and looked at Warpaint. He stood in the corner where he recharged himself while I slept. He blinked at me.

"El tells me you are training with her and her son."

"And Owen and Minmin," I added just so my father didn't dismiss them so easily.

My father nodded. He looked at my wall. His face was expressionless.

"At least your new friends have purpose," he said.

"As opposed to Callie, Emilio and Posha?" I said angrily. Maybe he hadn't meant it that way, maybe it was because I had just dreamed of them. I thought he had meant it that way though. "You stole my life away."

"I saved your life." His body tightened as his voice grew louder.

"I was happy where I was."

My father opened his mouth to yell at me, but he closed it quickly and looked away from me. "I don't want to argue about this again. You would have died. There was no cure for your disease then."

He said that, but I wasn't sure I believed him. It was possible I had a disease, but he never mentioned it to me until I woke up 79 years after my 16th birthday. It might have been a lie. It was possible I was just something to experiment on while he furthered his scientific knowledge. Cryogenics existed, but in general it wasn't allowed except by special permission by the governing body of the Gathering. Longevity treatments were more standard and even those were rare and cost a lot and required permission. There was no dispute when my father paid for his.

I didn't know a lot about cryogenics, but I thought my father's process of putting me to sleep was different than the traditional cryogenics. I supposed that was one reason those strange people robbed us after we left Mars. They were hoping for clues on his technology, but my father had already moved everything out. I also thought there was more to it than that. The Corruption specifically targeted my father and me and there had to be more reasons than technology.

"Some people on the ship might have noticed a change in the scheduled constellations as we jump through F.T.L," my father said. He looked at me expectantly.

"I haven't paid much attention to the constellations," I said.

My father sighed. His jaw clenched and unclenched. "I know," he said.

"I don't have to be involved in the sciences to be successful in life," I bit out.

He frowned, but didn't say anything. He obviously thought there wasn't a higher field of success other than the sciences.

"Why do my conversations always end up like this with you?" my father asked.

I didn't think he really wanted an answer so I stayed quiet.

"The point of me coming in and starting this conversation was to tell you that the G.E.F. has changed our flight plan. We don't know why the Armstar and Fallfrost were attacked. We don't know why they disappeared, but we haven't had any communication with them and we can't take a chance that we will be attacked due to our original flight plan."

He paused as if he expected me to say something, but I didn't understand why he told me all this. The general people in the fleet might not know why the Armstar and Fallfrost were attacked, but my father certainly did. He didn't know I knew about the Corruption so I stayed quiet.

"There is a small Starwatcher mining colony on Doussix," my father said.

My heart jumped. That was the planet Esther said the Awakened One was on.

"Teacher Miller wants to schedule field trips to the mining colony and she has been given permission. I wasn't going to let you go, but El said she wants to do a separate excursion with you, Shel, Minmin and Owen. I think I will agree to that."

I wished Shel, Minmin and El had been involved with us earlier on. I shouldn't have been so opposed to Shel telling his mother about what we knew in the first place. She solved so many issues between me and my father. Not all the issues. I was still angry with him for putting me to sleep for so long instead of trying to find some other solution.

"Are you going to be watching through Warpaint again like on Brist?"

My father looked up at the ceiling. "I thought about it." He turned to me, but I don't think so. Not with El there. She is more capable than Teacher Miller. I trust her. And the captain of the Remembrance has asked that I go check on their ship's A.I."

"The A.I. is acting up?"

Using A.I.s for the ships' computers had been around since before I slept. Sometimes they acted up - went crazy. It was rare when I was young, but almost unheard of now. Shortly after I woke up, there was a report that a Gathering Exploration ship's A.I. went crazy. They couldn't fix it in time and it cut off the life support killing everyone on board.

"I'm sure it's nothing," my father said, "but I'll go look at it anyway."

"Are you the fleet's resident expert on A.I.s? Is that why you came early to the Shadow to work on it's computer?"

"Who told you I worked on the Shadow's computer?"

"No one. I'm putting two and two together. You came early and it talks to you differently than it talks to other people."

My father didn't say anything as he stared at me for a great while.

"Yes," he finally said. "I am the fleet's resident expert on A.I.s and yes I worked on this ship's computer. This computer is the most stable in the entire Gathering and will always be so."

"Thank you," the ship's computer interrupted our conversation.

Chills ran down my arms. She had spoken with me before - in the ansible - where I didn't think she was supposed to reach. She had said words I remembered my mother speaking. Since now I knew my father had worked on this computer, it was possible he programmed it with certain aspects of my mother.

I looked at him and wondered if I should say anything about my mother.

"I just came to tell you I give you permission to go with El. I've already made sure Lieutenant Tanpo will be your pilot."

"Thank you," I said. I would get to see the Awakened One - learn from him.

My father nodded and left without another word.

I went through my morning routine and entered the ansible for school. None of my friends were there yet, but Spencer was. Some of his friends from the Remembrance were there, but they clustered around each other and not Spencer. I wasn't sure if that was something Spencer had requested of them or if they avoided him because they didn't know what to say. I didn't realize I was staring, until Spencer stared back. I gave him a slight nod. He looked down at his hands on top of his wood desk.

I went to my seat. My stomach had a sick pit in it that opened wider and deeper. I knew what it was like to live without your mother.

Shel and Minmin showed up almost at the same time. Neither of them looked at Spencer as they came and sat next to me.

"You're coming over today to train?" Shel said. It was sort of a question, but really more of a command. I didn't think he meant it as a command though, he sometimes just had that way of talking. It was understandable considering his dad was a captain and his mother a former Jo-Dinun.

"Yes," I said.

Hani entered the school program. She looked at Rebecca's and Mingao's empty seats. Nathan entered next. He sat next to Robert who we found out was relocated to the Northstar.

Brak'stin was the only K'thaktra in our class. I hadn't realized it until those from the Armstar and the Fallfrost were relocated, but Brak'stin had been on the Armstar with Shel and Minmin. They said he seemed shy and rarely came out of his quarters so they didn't know much about him. He had been relocated to the Nova. The only other student from the Armstar - a human named Michelle - didn't ever show up to class and there was no record of her being relocated to another ship. We didn't think she got off the Armstar. She'd be infected now by the Corruption like Rebecca and Mingao. If we ever saw any of them again, they'd be enemies.

A human from the Nova - Dhruv - came in and clapped Brak'stin on the shoulder affectionately. I hadn't seen them interact before Brak'stin relocated. I thought I saw a hint of a smile on Brak'stin's orange lips which made his kabuki mask like face a little more personable. It was good he was finally making a friend.

I suddenly missed Thrissko. My first and only K'thaktran friend. I knew he had the Corruption inside him now and that made him my enemy, but in making him my enemy, the Corruption also made me realize once and for all that Thrissko had once been my friend. I could stop saying he wasn't quite a friend. We had spent almost all our time together, laughed at school together, went boxing together. He had been my friend. Maybe I had been his first real friend too. Looking at Brak'stin now who had once been so solitary open up - even if it was a tiny bit - to someone, maybe Thrissko also had a hard time before I came along.

Teacher Miller came in and started class. "I have exciting news," she said. "We have been given permission to go to the Doussix mining colony. There will be rules you must strictly adhere to. The mines can be dangerous. I have paired you up again." Student's okulus's chirped or buzzed all around us.

"And you," Teacher Miller turned pointedly to me, Minmin and Shel. Owen hadn't come into the program yet, "have special permission to go with Shel's mother. It's up to her where she will take you and what you will do."

"Why?" Spencer asked. I couldn't tell if he thought we were getting special treatment or if he was genuinely curious.

Owen signed in and sat at his desk.

"I want special permission to go with Shel's mom too." I missed who said it, but I was pretty sure it was one of Spencer's friends from the Remembrance. It might have been Mark.

"Sure," Owen said, "if you want a former Jo-Dinun to boss you around and train you until your muscles feel like they are tearing apart and your joints are being ripped from your sockets." He rubbed his left shoulder for emphasis. "What are we talking about?"

"Field trip to Doussix," Teacher Miller said. "Please stop being late."

"Will do, friend." Owen said easily. None of us believed him.

The lesson for the day was all about the different minerals on Doussix, the mining process and the history of the mining colony.

When class ended and everyone began to exit, Hani lingered a moment, her eyes on me. Then she quickly signed out.

"Maybe you should go see how she's doing before you come to the training session," Owen said to me.

I was about to ask why me, but remembered the way she looked at me and the way she hugged me when she first boarded.

"Okay," I said.

I signed out of the ansible. Warpaint greeted me with an algae bar.

"Time for training?" he asked. "I quite like that El. It's too bad she's too young for you."

I had got off the bed and started to walk to the door, but I stopped and stared at him. Was he seriously thinking Shel's mom would be suitable for me? The thought kind of made me sick to my stomach.

"And," he went on as if I wasn't staring at him like he was crazy, "too bad she already has a mate. Even though he is filled with the Corruption, she'll never have anyone else. Even if he dies."

"Warpaint."

"What, sir?"

"Please don't try to pair me up with anyone in the future."

"Okay, sir. I'll leave that to your father."

I had started walking, but paused again at these new words. I sighed out my frustration and decided to let it go. Warpaint wouldn't understand if I tried to explain it to him.

We stepped out into the corridor and I started to the elevators, but instead of getting on them, my feet took me down a different corridor.

"Where are we going, sir? We haven't been this way before."

I hadn't been down this way, but I knew who had. My heart pounded and my brain seemed to pulse as it told me to turn back to the elevators. I stopped in front of a door and knocked.

The door opened. Spencer greeted me from the other side.