THE VROL TRILOGY (100 page)

"This is where I did most of my work from
home," said Max as he went to a vid display, touching it and
activating some systems. Then looking over at a seemingly blank
wall, everyone saw it basically disappear, displaying a large cache
of weapons - all charge-style.

"Papi, what are these?" asked Liliana
inquisitively.

"My weapons stash, sweetie."

"Max, I'm so used to seeing all swords and
maces and stuff that this also looks weird to me," said Jennie as
she went to examine some of the more advanced, and expensive,
firearms.

"Master Max always liked to collect his
pistols. I remember his first pellet rifle. Master Max, one of the
trees on the property still has small holes burned into the bark
from your target practice when you were a child," Mrs. Wong
reminisced.

"Lili, do not touch anything on this wall.
They are dangerous. We'll get you training with firearms later on,"
said Jennie cautiously.

"They should all be unloaded, hun," said Max,
"but still, Liliana, please leave them be. I promise I'll show you
some of them later on."

Max and Jennie only had stingers and swords,
and he felt that they needed at least one heavy weapon, plus more
charge rounds for their stingers. Examining his arsenal closely, he
pulled a tornado blast rifle from the wall and eyed it
appraisingly.

"Tornado - nice, but they have a lot of
bloom. Charge rounds are basically all over the place. More of a
chaos tool, and definitely not a sniper rifle," Jennie commented as
Max handed her the impressive rifle.

"We have no idea what type of security my mom
is under, so we might as well be loaded for bear," said Max.

"Bear? Why would you want to shoot a bear?"
asked Jennie.

"It's a figure of speech from Old-Earth. It
means bringing heavy weaponry."

"I don't get it," said Jennie, who had never
seen a bear in her life, outside of a genetically-replicated one at
the zoo. She didn't make the connection between one in the wild
being incredibly dangerous, hence creating the need for
high-powered weapons.

"You don't have to, but we just need to be
prepared. First, we need to find mom," Max said while appearing to
concentrate on another vid display.

"Master Max, I have absolutely no idea where
they took your mother, and even if I did when they left with her
they could have moved her multiple times since then," Mrs. Wong
said with a tone of despair.

"Oh, no worries, Mrs. Wong. I can find her.
In fact, it'll only take a minute," responded the former Azul
Military commander.

"How can you do that?" asked Jennie.

"Are you going to use magic, Papi?" Liliana
asked innocently.

"Nope. It's something I invented a few years
ago, but always kept secret. I can locate someone via their DNA
signature."

"How can you do that? That's crazy! Why did
you keep it a secret? Missing persons, tracing criminals - there
would be so many great uses!" Jennie complained.

"Jenn, imagine a world where the military -
or the government - could track anyone at any time. While finding
someone could be a noble effort, I have never had a great deal of
trust in the bureaucracy. Somehow they always find a way to pervert
the intended purpose of new technology. Look what happened to the
leadership now - they've apparently dissolved the Constitution, and
a chairman and his cronies now rule this system, not a popularly
elected government. Can you imagine what they would do with this
device?"

Max's explanation caused Jennie to pause
momentarily. She had been raised in a very protected environment,
and from there went directly to the university, the military
academy and then to active duty, so she never really gave personal
freedoms a great deal of thought.

"Ok, I can see your point, especially now.
But how does the machine work?" she asked.

"It would take too long to explain fully, but
it basically tracks someone who is registered in the database. I
co-opted low-orbit satellites to maintain contact with designated
individuals. It's always on and has always tracked… hmm, Mrs. Wong,
you went to the Plaza de Armas in Córdoba yesterday, didn't
you?"

"Yes, I did. How did you know that? This
machine tells you this?"

"Yeah, I left it on, tracking you and mom.
Ah, here she is," he said with a sigh of relief as he brought up a
complex three-dimensional map on his vid display. "She's in New
Sydney, in what appears to be an apartment complex outside the main
detention center. We can slip right into her location, though I
want to get close by and examine the place first. Wait here," Max
commanded as he simply popped out of view.

"He was always an impressive boy. Now, I am
completely without words," stammered Mrs. Wong, as she stood in the
basement with Jennie and Liliana.

Chapter 27 - Get Outta Town

New Sydney, Oz, Azul

Max slipped into a courtyard, an invisibility
cantus hiding him from the view of anyone or anything. Even though
Liliana insisted on accompanying him, he went alone, as it would be
much easier to do solitary recon. Walking towards to main complex,
he stopped outside, and while still invisible, brought up an
infoscreen which turned into what basically amounted to an X-ray
device, enabling him to see inside the building. It took him about
fifteen seconds to locate his mother, who was in her bed in a small
apartment. It had a little living area and a kitchenette, and all
of the windows were unbreakable security glass. Max zoomed in,
seeing that she was breathing normally and her vital signs seemed
good. Preparing to go in, he figured that there would be
surveillance, so he detected the devices and created a playback
loop, effectively disguising his entrance into her room.

"
Jennie, I
found Mom, but I'm just going to grab her and return to you guys.
You have twenty minutes to pack up Mrs. Wong's stuff, and have her
pack a bag for my mother too, please,"
Max called out
to Jennie via their comm.

Jennie looked at the Gunnarsson's longtime
servant and smiled.

"Max found his mother. He wants you to pack
bags for yourself and for her. We leave in twenty minutes," Jennie
stated with authority.

"Where are we going? I cannot leave this home
- I need to care for the grounds! Why can we not stay here?" Mrs.
Wong cried out.

"Mrs. Wong, I think things are really bad
around here, and Max has a good reason, usually, for what he does.
If he rescues his mother where do you think the military will go
first? Here, of course. We're taking you both somewhere where they
can't ever touch you, and once we've defeated whatever it is that's
coming here and restored order of course you can return home. But
please, go pack your bags. We leave in eighteen minutes. Don't
waste any more time. We'll wait here."

Mrs. Wong nodded and rushed out of the
basement, scrambling up the stairs much more rapidly than her
older-looking frame would appear capable. Her aged appearance was
all contrived anyway, as she really had the physical constitution
of a thirty year-old.

Max waited ten minutes before slipping into
his mother's room. Standing next to her bed he felt like a real
angel, being invisible, watching over a sleeping person. He
wondered how many times the angels had done this throughout
history. He figured that it was more than he could count, so he
pushed the out of his mind and reached out, brushing his mother's
hair from her face. Slowly, Clarisa Gunnarsson woke up, moving her
hand towards her face as she had felt Max's touch. Opening her eyes
she looked around, seeing nothing. Max watched for another moment,
and then gradually dissipated his invisibility cantus, slowly
coming into view.

"Max? Is that you? Honey, how did you get in?
I… are you a prisoner?" she whispered.

"Mom, shhh, relax. I snuck in here. Don't
worry. I'm here to rescue you. Mrs. Wong is packing your bags right
now," Max said quietly.

"You are safe, my love. That alone makes me
happy. But how are we going to escape this apartment?" she asked as
she went to sit up.

"Mom, I have a lot to tell you, but you just
have to trust me. Get dressed - we're leaving in two minutes."

Jennie and Liliana were packing a bag full of
charge rounds, and the lycan woman grabbed a couple more heavy
weapons. Even though Max simply went and slipped in to rescue his
mother (much to Jennie's dismay, as she was itching for some
action), she figured the arms could be of use later on, and stored
in the soon-to-be constructed base on Vera.

Mrs. Wong was packing her suitcase, after
having finished with Max's mom's items. She was about ready to
depart when she heard a voice behind her.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Wong. Planning a trip
are we?"

She turned around to see a female military
officer training a stinger on her.

Jennie detected some commotion outside and
ran up to the stairwell, sniffing the air. Suddenly alarmed, she
hit a button on the wall next to the stairs, causing the floor
above them to close, hiding them from outside view.

"
Max, we've
been compromised. There is activity up above, and I think the
military is here,"
Jennie sent out from her
comm.
"Lili, stay by that back wall and be
perfectly quiet - only use the comm."

"
I'll be there
right away. Mom's almost dressed. What do you think happened… oh
shit. We went to the basement under an invisibility cantus, and I
sent Mrs. Wong back to the house in plain view. Surveillance
probably noticed her suddenly appearing outside the shed. Did you
close the entrance?
"

"
Yes, as soon
as I detected visitors.
"

"
Ok. We'll be
there in a second.
"

"Mom, we need to go now. Don't take anything
with you. Just stand next to me," said Max, with a bit of authority
in his voice.

"But how are we leaving? I don't understand,"
she said.

Before she could even say anything more she
was in Max's basement looking at two strange, and very beautiful
girls. One, a stunning adult dega, and the other a very cute girl,
both with black hair pulled back into almost identical ponytails.
They were wearing black leather clothing and seemed to have all
sorts of sword and knives attached to holsters and scabbards.

"Mom, meet Jennie and Liliana… Gunnarsson. My
wife and daughter," Max said proudly.

Both the girls smiled and waved innocently,
noting that Max's mother, although older, still maintained her
beauty throughout the years. Her medium-length near-black hair was
thick and lustrous, while her green eyes were almost hypnotically
penetrating. It was obvious that Max more resembled his mother, who
was obviously also dega.

"Wife? Daughter? Oh my! I am so happy for
you, Max! But…" Clarisa looked confused, seeing an eleven-year-old
Liliana standing next to her mother. Fortunately, Liliana greeted
her grandmother with her typical curtsey.

"Abuelita, it is my pleasure to meet you, and
you are every bit as beautiful as Papi has described you. However,
I can see your confusion. I am adopted, although I am a lycan just
like my parents."

"Lycan? What does that mean, my dear? I mean…
oh, Max, what are we doing?" Clarisa was near passing out, so
Jennie grabbed a chair and helped her to sit down.

"Please, sit here for a moment. We need to
see what is happening up top," said Jennie.

Bringing up an infoscreen, he used the same
manner of X-ray to see a small military group up top, surrounding
Mrs. Wong.

"Max, is that another one of your inventions?
And where were you? You left and… oh my," she said as she nearly
lost consciousness.

"Mom, just relax and don't worry - please. I
need to get Mrs. Wong really quick. Jen, wait here and be ready to
go," he said right before he basically popped out of existence.

"What is going on, young lady? Where did Max
go off to?" asked Clarisa breathlessly, completely confused.

"Shhh, just relax. We'll be out of here
really soon," said Jennie.

Liliana went over and wrapped her arms around
her grandmother's neck and comforted her as Jennie quietly moved
their gear bags into a small circle. She was mildly surprised as
two suitcases appeared off to the side, obviously sent by Max.

Max was standing in the living room of his
family home, watching as an unattractive female lieutenant with a
bony, gaunt face from Military Intelligence was questioning Mrs.
Wong. It appeared that his nanny was doing well and not revealing
any information, but he would need to spirit her away without
having himself detected. He figured that the military would
probably bring in heavy construction equipment and dig out his
previously undiscovered basement, so he would need to move quickly
and also relocate his equipment. The last thing he wanted was for
his inventions to be in the hands of a dictatorship.

"Mrs. Wong - how is it that you suddenly
appeared outside? You have been under satellite surveillance. We
have detected no issues with our equipment," demanded the
lieutenant.

Performing a cantus that caused the military
and her subordinates to lose consciousness, Max watched as they
dropped to the ground, while mischievously moving an end table over
in perfect position for the officer to soundly hit her face on the
sharp, angled edge, before dropping to the floor. Before becoming
visible, Max messed with the home's internal surveillance, much
like he did in his mother's prison apartment. As he came into view
Mrs. Wong grew a wide smile and jumped up and over to him. After he
slipped them back to the basement, Mrs. Wong quickly ran over to
Clarisa to care for her, while Max pulled out his infoscreen and
typed in some data.