THE VROL TRILOGY (124 page)

"Mami, I believe in Grandfather. Do you not?"
asked Liliana.

"Yes, yes I do, honey. You know, you are such
an amazing little girl. Come over here and snuggle with us," said
Jennie, as she opened her arms out wide. Liliana sauntered over and
gently climbed onto the couch in between her adoptive parents, and
the three took a timeless little nap before heading on to Azul.

###

The Gunnarssons slipped into Josh Mannheim's
room in the New Sydney military hospital. Initially, they were
hidden from view by an invisibility cantus, keeping them from
tripping any alarms or startling the occupants of the room, but to
their dismay no one was there.

"Oh crap, the bed's gone. That means he's
been taken somewhere," exclaimed Max, obviously concerned.

"Sweetie, someone's coming. It smells
like….Becky. Oh wow, I never really smelled her before, but I can
tell it's her. This is bizarre."

"
Everyone on
the comms, right now. We don't want to give the poor girl a heart
attack
," commanded Max. "
Jennie, I'm going to make you visible once she's in the room.
I'm also going to create a sound shield and run a recursive loop of
some footage on the surveillance cams
."

Becky Branson entered the room, wearing a
tired, preoccupied face. She had apparently left a personal item in
the quarters, and once she picked it up and turned around she
became alarmed - the door was shut, but she hadn't shut it when she
entered the room. Then, as if by magic (which it was), she was
staring at an extremely healthy looking Jennie Escalante, albeit
with longer hair and a bit more tan to her complexion.

"Jennie!" she gasped, not knowing what else
to say while nearly falling down. Jennie ran over to her best
friend and helped her to sit in a chair.

"Becky, I promise I will explain everything
to you, but first I have to know - where is Josh? We came to get
you guys. We may be able to cure him."

"Jennie - the feds came and questioned us.
They actually hurt Josh. They were looking for you, and now you
show up out of nowhere and --"

"Becky, stop. Where is Josh? Tell me
now!"

"You said
we
- who are you talking about?"

Max figured that the woman wouldn't answer
any questions until she got her own answered, so he made himself
and Liliana visible, startling the woman even more.

"Who are you? And… where did you come from?"
she hesitated.

"My name is… unimportant. Do you want your
boyfriend to live?" demanded Max, behaving more like his uncle
Gabriel, as he needed this information immediately.

"My husband. We… were… married a while
back."

"Congratulations… now, where is he?"

Jennie felt a rush of electricity course
through her body, caused by Max's monotone, down-to-business
mannerism.

"Papi, perhaps the nice lady needs someone to
be kind to her," said the newly visible Liliana, as she approached
Becky and began to gently stroke the woman's forearm. While Max and
Jennie watched, they could barely detect a beautiful, blue glow
around Becky's arm, as the young girl manipulated magic particles
into a soothing stream that acted as a natural sedative. The little
lycan/mage was putting her nascent power of suggestion to good use,
and it was an amazing sight to see.

"Hello. My name is Liliana. I know you are
Becky and a very good friend of Jennie's. We want to help Mr. Josh,
so please tell us where we can find him, ok? Then we will all go
have a nice dinner together."

Liliana was so smooth and sweet that Becky
almost seemed hypnotized. She nodded her head slowly, and taking
Liliana's free hand into hers, she said, "He's in OR-3578. The
doctors are going to attempt some radical surgery, but I think it
is more of an experi… hey, where did the man go to?"

Max had slipped out as soon as he heard the
room number. It was in the same hospital wing, and he was
immediately by Josh's side. Luckily, he arrived before any of the
barbaric procedure had been performed. Looking over at the fire
alarm, Max blinked and caused it to activate, which in turn forced
the doctors to evacuate the operating room.

"
Fire alarm?
Good diversion, babe
."

"
Got him. Stay
there. I'm taking him to the Hub and then I'll be back for you.
Lili, please make an invisibility cantus like I showed you,
ok?
"

"
I already
have done so, Papi. Please hurry."

Transporting the completely sedated Josh was
easy. Max slipped to the Hub, where he had a room prepared. The Hub
was an excellent place to perform the surgery, being a timeless
realm, and Josh would basically be in a moving state of suspended
animation. Left alone, his state would not worsen nor improve while
there.

"
Draagh, I
have him. Are you ready
?" asked Max over the
comm.

"We are already here, my boy," stated the old
mage, who was standing in the makeshift operating room along with
Michael and Gabriel - Max's father and uncle, respectively.

"Cool. Ok, I'm going back for the girls. See
y'all in a sec."

Max slipped out and into the hospital room.
Liliana's cantus was completely effective (and quite impressive),
so it was easy to gather them all together. But first, he wanted to
give Becky the chance to grab anything from her home.

"Becky, we'll explain as we go, but you can't
stay here. We'll return after a while, but it's totally dangerous
right now. So, before we go, is there anything you'd like to get
from your home?"

"Where did you go? Who
are
you?" she asked, nearly
delirious from confusion.

"Baby, can't you just conjure anything she
needs, like supplies and stuff? She's not taking this well. I know
her like a book. She won't shut up."

"
Baby
? Huh? Jen, are you with this guy? I mean,
he's hot, but where's Ryder?"

"Dead. I'll explain later. Max, get us out of
here."

"You got it,
amorcita
."

Becky Branson-Mannheim found herself in am
exceptionally-bright, but normal-looking apartment, aside from the
fact that it lacked an outside view or windows of any sort. She
looked at the young man and the little girl who were with her best
friend, trying to piece things from her last few moments together.
Before she could say anything, Draagh came into the room, wearing
long, flowing white robes, which in itself caused Becky to gasp
slightly. Even in robes he was impressive, with his long, gray hair
and thick mustache braided into his beard - not a common sight on
Azul or any of the moons.

"Hello! You must be the female companion of
this fine young man. I am Draagh, and it is my pleasure to make
your acquaintance," said the old mage, as he gently put his hand
forward.

Taking his hand and shaking it lightly, Becky
looked around and blurted out, "Where are we? Is this the hospital?
Jennie, where were you? Who's this little girl? Who's the hot guy?
Who's the old guy?"

Before Becky could ask another question, Josh
walked into the room, looking more fit than he had in months.

"Heya love of my life. I think this fellow
cured me."

"Oh yes I did, yes I did, indeed. You are now
quite cured; you are welcome," added Draagh, with a comical wiggle
of his brow.

Becky ran into her husband's arms and started
to sob, holding him tight. After a few moments, Jennie gently led
the two over to a plush, orange couch and prompted them to sit
down. Once the woman had calmed down, and Jennie had her attention,
she began explaining things.

"Becks, I went on a mission to capture a
missing military figure. The guy who invented the SSCC technology,
Max Gunnarsson."

"He's the bastard who turned Josh down for
that division. I'd love to get all up in his face…and … uh-oh," she
said as she slowly turned with an awkward expression and looked at
Max, "you're… Gunnarsson, aren't you?"

Max found himself in the very
uncomfortable position of having to admit to being that very
same
bastard
.

"Um yeah, that's me. Hello. And
contrary to popular belief, I do
not
tear up plush unicorn dolls or steal candy
from little children. That's just vicious."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. Where
are we?"

Becks, we are someplace outside space and
time, and it would take a long time to explain, but I think Josh
has been cured, am I right? Like, we can leave now and go to
Krynos' castle?" asked Jennie as she turned to Draagh for an
answer.

"Yes my dear. This nice young man is quite
cured, and we can now go eat a proper dinner," responded
Draagh.

"Pops, where are Michael and Gabriel?" asked
Max.

"They went directly back to Vera, my boy.
They are quite busy these days, and are hell-bent on victory. I
believe that this whole situation has brought our family much
closer together."

"I'd like to think so, yes," said Max.

"Jennie, so you are with Max Gunnarsson? And
how did Ryder die? His father runs the entire system now. You could
have been rich!"

Becky was always one to ask many, many
questions and this day was no different, but Jennie always had a
way of putting things into perspective.

"I'm married to Max. Ryder was a tool, so I
killed him, and now we're going to where Max and I live. Oh, and
this is our daughter, Liliana."

"Huh?" they both squelched
simultaneously.

Liliana curtseyed, as she usually always did
when making a proper introduction of herself.

"Greetings best friend of my mother… and her
epidermically-challenged mate. I am Liliana Gunnarsson, lycan, mage
and adopted daughter of Max and Jennie Gunnarsson. I do hope that
we can become very good friends. And you can help me feed my pets
on occasion, which is quite fun."

"Oh my god, you are so adorable! Jennie, you
adopted? And you got married. Wow. To the biggest traitor Mankind
has ever known, even! And what's a lyco, and a… huh?"

"Baby, Commander Gunnarsson is no traitor.
You know all that Johnson stuff is a bunch of crap," added Josh
while looking at Max appreciatively, and then pulling his wife up
from the couch.

"Ok, I can buy into that. So, tell me,
Liliana, what kind of pets do you have?" asked Becky, apparently
having forgotten her question regarding Liliana's claim of
subspecies and skills.

"Oh they are so wonderful. Hermes is my
favorite. They are genetically-modified, ultra-intelligent, fresh
water great white sharks that live in the moat and guard our
castle."

"Wow, for reals? And you live in a castle?"
asked Becky.

"Yes we do, Bestie, and so shall you, at
least for a while. Now let's go. It's dinnertime."

"Sharks. This is gonna be fun," mused Josh,
as Draagh tamped his staff onto the floor

Chapter
3 - Welcome to the Castle

"Well, here we are," said Jennie, as Becky
and Josh stood outside the castle's main gate, their jaws agape in
awe.

"This is like a holo-game, but real. Wow, so
where are we, and how the hell did we get here?" asked Josh.

"I brought us here via what is called a
four-dimensional slip, my good friends. We have travelled through
space and time, and are currently on what you call Old-Earth, but
in the future - the 43
^rd
century, to be precise. This is the castle of my very good
friend Krynos, the king of all you survey. Well, right around here.
He is not king of Azul, and certainly not of Vera, but here… yes,
he is king."

Jennie gave Draagh a sharp look, hoping he
hadn't been sneaking off to get loaded, as he usually did when
there wasn't much going on.

"43
^rd
century. Like, how is that possible?" asked Becky.

"Time travel, babe. Now, everyone we ever
knew is dead. Isn't that right?" Josh was willing to accept their
place in space/time, but didn't quite understand the mechanics of
it.

"No, no, Josh. Time is more like a bicycle
wheel - a hub - that's where we were, and then there are the spokes
- those are the timelines, and they all run concurrently," said
Max.

"Oh, so what you mean to say is everyone back
home is still alive? And dinosaurs still roam the earth, just in a
different timeline?" asked Josh.

"
I told you he
was smart
," thought Max, over the comm.

"Yes, Josh, that's basically how it is. Now
let's get inside. We'll brief you on everything that's happened,
what we're doing and how you can help. I hope you like elk. It's on
the menu tonight."

"Oh, we're both vegans now, so we'll be fine
with a simple salad," said Becky, which caused everyone else to
burst out in laughter, making the newly-arrived couple look
slightly hurt.

"
Oh, this is
gonna be great - vegan lycans. How long you think that'll
last?"
asked Max.

"
Honey,
they're normals - they don't carry the recessive lycan
gene,"
responded Jennie.

"
I know! We're
gonna turn them!
"

"
Oh, it is my
turn! I want to be the one to bestow the gift upon your friends,
Mami
," added Liliana, quite excited.