Edward (22 page)

“What’s
to prevent the Deacons from disappearing, as it were?” asked Trevor.

“Ah,
good question.  The Deacons have to vote that the Rector stays.  A
missing vote is a ‘no’ vote.  If there are no Deacons there can be no
‘yes’ vote and the Rector is torn limb from limb.  Actually that has never
happened historically, but you get the idea.”

“Quasi-religious;
so what’s their thing?” asked Trevor.

Zoë
had to think a bit on that one, “You know, it’s more than a little messed
up. 
Father
always said I kept letting rational thought get in the
way of enlightenment.  From a political agenda they were ‘working class
will inherit the land from rich non-pious’.  Sort of ‘the land will swell
up and reclaim her due’ and may or may not include ‘in a ball of fire.’”

“So,
would you classify them as a doomsday cult?” asked Captain Tobias
plainly.  “We have conflicting interpretations.”

Zoë
nodded, “The reason you have conflicting interpretations is different tribes
view it different ways.  Some of the tribes are doom and gloom while
others are ‘out of the darkness, is life.’  There is a tribe for any
flavor of idiot you want.  Oh, my bad, ‘righteous believer.’”

“I’m
cool with ‘idiot’ at this point,” offered Trevor with a broad grin.  “Is
there rivalry between the various tribes?”

“Always.  That
is how he keeps them in line.  But whenever there is a ‘calling,’ they all
snap into neat little lines… at least until the drugs and alcohol wear
thin.  If they are all blockaded down by the old docks, in about five days
you could drive a beer truck by them and they would all follow like the pied
piper.”

“Interesting
observation, but I doubt we have five days,” mused Trevor.

 “That help for now?”

“That
explains some of our confusion about the gang.  We’ll call back after we
have retrieved and read the copy of her brother’s report,” replied Captain
Tobias.

“Understood.  Out.”

Everyone
let out a sigh of relief.

“You
are aware that harm may very well come to your father, Zoë,” said a fatherly
Trevor.

Zoë
closed her eyes and nodded, “It’s been a long time coming.  But it’s
due.  Besides, I thought we were going to be calling you and Gillian ‘Mom
and Dad.’”

Gillian
and Trevor both beamed at that.

“Ethan
is at the door; you might want to go let him in,” replied Trevor.

Edward
sat next to Tatiana as they watched Ethan and Zoë gab over dinner.

“You
really put on a brave face in there.  Zoë really needed it.  Thank
you,” whispered Edward as he kissed her on the forehead.

“I
don’t know how much of a façade that was.  I was raised by my mother; my
father just happened to be in the same building, occasionally.  When he wasn’t chasing another skirt.”

“Ouch!”

“Yeah,
the thought that I had a sibling didn’t strike me as that far-fetched.”

“You
don’t hold that against Gillian, do you?  I mean, I heard she and your
father had a thing for a bit.”

Tatiana
laughed, “Never!  Not in a million years.  I love Gillian
dearly.  She showed up well after my mother had died.  I had
hoped
dad was going to marry her.  I’m glad she didn’t; it turns out she found a
better man.  I’m going to get a father out of this yet!”  Tatiana sat
in silence for a bit, “If that had been Gillian who had been kidnapped, then I
would have been a nervous wreck.  Now, I’m just nervous.”

“Just
stay close, and everything will be fine.”

Tatiana
smiled and motioned to Zoë, “You catch that about her sister?  No wonder
she is upset at her dad.  Did you know about that?”

“She
had told me about the drug overdose part.”

“Ick…
Enough of that, I have something to talk to all of you about. Come on!” 
Tatiana got up and beckoned Edward over to the table with Zoë and Ethan. 
“Gillian, can you join us please?  I’d like to talk about something
unrelated.”

Gillian
smiled as she sat down, “Something unrelated sounds good.  What’s up?”

Suddenly
Zoë frowned, “Crap, another reason to shave my father and paint him blue: they
spoiled your date with Trevor!”

Gillian
laughed, “I was well aware of the risks, don’t worry.  I’m certain he’ll
make it up to me.  Now what is on your mind, Tatiana?”

“I’ve
been debating the pros and cons of being a studio artist rather than a
performing artist,” Tatiana announced plainly.

“Whoa,
that’s a big change.  On the down side, fewer fans…”

“That
might be a plus!” interjected Tatiana.   That got a laugh.

Gillian
smiled and continued, “The pay is about a fourth.  On the plus side, the
hours are much more sane and the stress is about one
tenth!  What brings this up?”   Gillian had a broad grin; she
had a good guess.

“Well,
after meeting Ivy and her family, I was thinking… not right away of course… I
want kids.”

In
the back of Edward’s mind he had to have known that was coming at some
point.  That didn’t mean he was any more prepared for it.  That was
obvious to all as his fur cycled in color in seemingly random patterns.

“Breathe,
Edward,” admonished Gillian.  “Don’t swift over something like this.”

Zoë
smiled and stared at them both while Edward slowly and deliberately started
breathing again.

“How’s
this for a plan: we hang around here until Zoë finishes college and then we
play it by ear, as it were,” offered Tatiana.

“You
sure you still want me around?” asked Zoë.

“Wouldn’t
trade you for the world,” beamed Tatiana.

Morning
sky was a beautiful red glow.  Bad for sailors, went the rhyme, but Edward
wasn’t a sailor.  But something was ruffling his fur.  Maybe he
should ‘be warned.’  He kissed the still sleeping Zoë and Tatiana and made
his way to the command room across the hall.

“You
look terrible, Trevor!” remarked Edward as he entered.

“Glad
to see you too!  This is what happens when morons keep you up past your
bedtime…”

“Did
you get any sleep last night?”

“About two hours… going to crash again here in a bit.  Kadu is holding this station when I’m out cold, for
the record.”

“Figured as much.”
Edward looked Trevor up and down; there was more going on than lack of
sleep.  “What’s got your tail in a knot?”

Trevor
smiled, “Too tired to bluff, eh?  Tobias wasn’t telling us everything that
went down last night.   Our own connections, and um…”

“Spies?”

“That’s
gauche! But close enough! Anyway, what struck you odd last night?”

“Doomsday cult or not.”

“Comb
his fur and send him home!  Excellent!”

“Okay,
that is all nice and good, but why are they worried?”

Trevor
cued the map of the city and brought up the hijacking in replay.  “Well,
as the hijacking was happening here, there was also a theft at the PDFs arsenal
in the adjacent prefecture.”

“Oh,
that is a crap way to start.  Was the hijacking and kidnapping just a
cover then?”

“Nope.”

“’Nope…’ 
I hate you, Trevor.  What was it for then?”

Trevor
blinked, “Oh sorry, didn’t mean to be pithy.  I’m just tired.  Four
Korsovar implosive warheads have gone missing.”

 
“'And the land reclaim her due in a ball of fire,'” echoed Edward.  “I
mean, seriously, those things have a lot of safeties.”

“You
mean like the authorization codes…”

Suddenly
Edward understood, “That only the head of the PDF and the Governor would
know.  They didn’t kidnap him for political reasons,
they kidnapped him for those control codes!”

Trevor
nodded with a feeble grin, “Yep.  On the plus side, they can’t get those
things close enough to the nest to use them against us without us being able to
detect and evacuate in time.  The downside is, if they set one off in
downtown…”

“They
can kill a couple of hundred thousand people.”

“At
the very least…”

Edward
looked at Trevor, sleepy or not there was a plan brewing in his head. 
“I’m not going to like what you are thinking, am I?”

Trevor
smirked and laughed, “It only matters if one, they ask for help and, two, all
parties on this side volunteer.”

“So,
it is hurry up and wait.”

“Not exactly. 
There is always room for you to practice.”

“Practice
what?”

Trevor
smiled, “Have you ever tried to fold Live Steel of something mechanically
complicated, like a submachine gun?”

“Oh, heck! 
That is a pain in the tail!  Trying to keep it focused in your mind!”

“Your
brothers seemed to have little problems doing it…”

“My
brothers can walk on water!  I mean seriously!  Their tails won’t
even get wet!”

“Is
that a no?”

Edward
sighed, “Okay, I assume this is because of taking someone in under cover.”

“Yep.  Do you
think you can do it?  I mean like this morning?”

Edward
bit his lip.  There was hard, there was impossible, and then there was
just darn annoying and having to try harder.  “I think I can.  It’s
going to suck.”

“Cascade
implosive Korsovar chain reactions suck…”

“I
can do it,” replied Edward firmly.

“Good. 
I’ll see if you’re coherent at noon, and then we’ll try for the bigger
project…”

“And
that is?”

“A
secret… go practice… I need sleeeeeeep.”

Noon
came and Edward was exhausted.  He finally had it down; he could make a
standard submachine gun come and go at will in the normal cascade of blue
sparks that was Live Steel.  With some concentration he could produce an
almost endless number of magazines to go with it.  He couldn’t do it like
his brothers.  They could basically fire the weapons without ever having
to fold them all the way into existence.  They hardly ever did that. 
They both thought ranged weapons were too impersonal; you should have to look
into the face of the person you killed.  Right Hand of
Kali.  That was what Llewellyn had been called on several
planets.  When you walk down a street and just strike down everyone and
everything dead in your path, it does tend to leave an impression.  Not
one that Llewellyn ever wanted to think about ever again.  Edward was
starting to understand more and more his brother’s concerns and apprehensions,
but first things first: lunch, Zoë and Tatiana.

 
Edward devoured lunch while Zoë and Tatiana looked on nervously.

“Are
you okay?” asked Zoë.

“I’ve
been working out with Live Steel all morning,” he replied evenly.

“Okay,
so something weird went down last night,” ventured Tatiana.

“More
of, they left out some details that are distressing,” he offered.

“Kadu
said she wanted me to come by and play ‘what if,’ providing I had a strong
stomach,” ventured Zoë.  “Do you know what that is about?”

“Yes,”
he replied with a deep sigh.  “My understanding is they are going to want
you to guess where they may try to do a terrorist type strike that would be
consistent with what they view as targets considering their religious
background.  If you don’t have the stomach for it, just tell her.”

“They
have more planned?” asked Zoë exasperated.

“Trevor
fears so.  We don’t know it for a fact, but he likes to be prepared.”

“Will
you come with me?” Zoë asked Tatiana.

“I
doubt I will be of any help, but if you need the moral support, sure thing!”
she replied spiritedly.

They
turned their attention to happier thoughts for the rest of lunch, and then
Edward went and had a long shower.  As he was getting dressed again, there
came a knock at the door.

“Be
there in a second!”

He
opened the door to find a much more awake, and freshly showered himself,
Trevor. “You ready for a rough afternoon?”

“Ugh. 
They ask for help yet?”

“Nope, more training. 
Follow me.”

Edward
finished straightening himself out and then followed him out of the room and
down the far hall to a new room.  Edward’s heart fluttered as he looked
inside.  “Trevor, I officially hate,
hate
you.”

“Yeah,
I know.  Practice.  See if you can learn how
to fold that.  Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

It
was an extended family dinner; Gillian, Trevor, Kadu, Tazo, Edward, Tatiana,
Zoë, and Ethan all sat down together for dinner.  It was solemn and
everyone was tired: mentally, physically and emotionally.

“Are
you okay, Zoë?” asked Ethan as he picked at his food.

“I
sat down and played, ‘who would dad kill’ all afternoon.  Kinda unsettling
at the very least,” replied Zoë evenly.

“Ethan,”
interrupted Gillian, “Trevor and I have been talking, not that it would be a
big difference really from day to day…”

“Spit
it out,” blurted Trevor.

“Ethan,
once we are married, we would be more than happy to legally adopt you.  If you would like that.”

Ethan
just stared at her blankly and his fur slowly stood on end.  “I’m just a
kid from the wrong side of town…”

“You
are a wonderful young man full of life and hope.  You have great academic
potential and someone needs to make sure you live up to that.  That isn’t
your sister’s responsibility; that is your
family’s
responsibility.  We are offering you a new place to call home.  What
that also means is you also have other options.  You can still go to the
prep school if you like.  Or you can give up the scholarship to another
student at your school and go to public school here, but actually have a full
family to come home to.  You could have the chance to
just
be a
teenager without the constant fear of losing your scholarship or what that
might mean for college.  So long as you try your best, we’ll do our best
for you.  No one is asking you to be a hero.”

“What
of Aunt Filus…?” Ethan asked blankly.

“You
were taking care of her more than she was taking care of you,” observed Zoë
tearfully.  “Say ‘yes, thank you’ or I’m going to have to shave you
bald!”  Zoë’s threat was hollow; it’s hard to be vicious when you are on
the edge of bawling like a baby.

“Yes,
thank you.  Thank you both,” he replied tearfully.

Zoë
hugged Ethan and just started bawling.

“You
going to adopt Zoë, too?” asked Tatiana as she fought back her own tears.

“Well,
someone has to give her away at the wedding,” mused Trevor.

That
set off a chain reaction of bawling in the room.  But it felt good. 
Everyone needed to let it out.

Edward
stared at the clock.  He had slept late, very late!  Well, if Trevor
needed him, he knew where to find him.  The girls had already gotten up,
so he made quick work of the shower, got dressed and ventured out into the
living room.

Zoë
waved him over as soon as she saw him; they were all huddled together watching
part of a newscast on the wall.

“What
happened?” whispered Edward.

“Um,
they tried a raid last night.  It went poorly.  They walked into a
trap and were cut down.  Those that survived…  well,
yuck… they didn’t in the long run..”

“Anything on the governor?”

“They’ve
shown him off and then started running at the mouth with their standard
propaganda.  He appears to be alive.  Roughed up a bit, but alive and
in one piece.”

Edward
nodded and started to address Tatiana when Trevor knocked on the door frame.

“Okay, everyone. 
May we talk?”

Tatiana
about jumped out of her fur but quickly recovered and turned off the news,
“What’s up?”

“The
locals didn’t do so well.  So I have a question.  Does the Deacon’s
daughter think she can talk her father into avoiding mass murder?”

“Go
shave your own fur off, Trevor!  You aren’t going to ask Zoë to go talk to
him
.”

“Yes,
he is,” replied Zoë heavily, “because he is trying to save the lives of half a
million people.”

“There
is no reason you should have to put her in harm’s way!”

“I
have the best chance to get close to them.  It is a given I can get in to
see
father
.  I just don’t know if I can get out afterwards.”

“That
is why I’ll be going with you,” interjected Edward.

Tatiana
was livid, “This is about the bombs, not my father.  You don’t risk two
hair lashes between you over him.  You stop those bombs and get out! 
Let the local idiots rescue my dad!”

Edward
nodded, “We don’t even have to touch the warheads, we just have to get close
enough to broadcast the failsafe codes and then they are giant paperweights.”

Trevor
looked back to Zoë, “This is your call.  No one can make you and no one
will think any less of you if you say no.  It is darn risky, but Edward
will be right there.”

Zoë
nodded, “I’m in.  So I take it I’m riding my bike in.  I assume you
have transponders and things added to it.”

“And
smoke dispensers, oil, caltrops and a lot of other things.  How are you
with small arms?  You seemed to handle that grenade launcher pretty well.”

Zoë
nodded, “I can hold my own.”

With
no small amount of concentration, Edward invoked his Live Steel and pulled a
submachine gun out of the cloud of blue sparks.

Zoë
smiled as Edward handed her the weapon.  “Let them search for weapons; they
won’t find ‘m!”