A Paladin-class spaceship…
Gehenna had brought this alien being here to help him. To help get Jace to her. And then he collapsed. So much pain. It had drained the last of his strength. He’d fallen into the alien’s arms and begged him to take Jace to Gehenna.
And that was how he had found himself here. In this place between consciousness and unconsciousness. Listening to his parents talk about him as if he weren’t there.
“Do you think…” His mother’s voice was so low and filled with guilt and shame and dread, “that it has anything to do with--”
“Yes,” his father answered her.
“But there was nothing before! It was just--”
“Yes, I know. But it has to be, Diane,” his father’s voice was insistent.
“I want to interview Sami and Walter. I want to interview everyone who was there,” his mother’s voice was filled with the determination of command. “I will understand this. And, Jack… if anyone else asks--”
“I’ll make sure no one does and that they get no answers,” his father said gruffly.
“Because if anyone else even so much as guesses what he can do…” His mother let the sentence hang.
“I know, Diane. It’s going to be all right,” his father’s voice was soft. “We’ll keep him safe.”
“Will we?” His mother’s voice quavered, but then she was the colonel again, “Yes, we will.”
And then he fell into darkness again. He surfaced again to hear his father speaking to someone else. That someone else sounded male, cultured and powerful. He also sounded stubborn as all Hell.
“Tell me about your son,” the someone else said.
“Commander Voor,” his father began patiently, but firmly. “There is nothing that I can tell you at this--”
“How did he cause--you call the ship Osiris, yes Osiris--to function against the Khul?” Commander Voor asked.
Commander Voor…
Jace was able to just crack his eyelids open. He recognized where he was. The institutional green walls with the paint peeling, the fluorescent lights that buzzed above him, the smell of age… he was in Area 67 in its hospital wing where he’d spent too much of his life already. The lights were too bright and he immediately shut his eyes again.
“Who says my son did anything of the sort? We have no idea why the Osiris reacted that way. Perhaps it was simply because the Khul attacked and triggered--”
“The majority of the Khul were headed towards this base,” Commander Voor’s voice was crisp. “I just spent the greater part of five of your hours destroying them. No, the Osiris did not attack those Khul who were heading straight towards it. If the Osiris was protecting itself, it would have attacked the nearest group of Khul, but instead, it went over to one home where your son was.”
His father was silent for a moment then said, “Many people were there.”
Commander Voor didn’t think that this lie was even worth acknowledging. “Who is Gehenna?”
“Gehenna? I don’t--”
“Your son wanted me to take him to this person. Who are they? Where are they? Why would he need or want to see them?” Commander Voor inexorably continued on.
Why isn’t Dad telling him the truth? Why doesn’t Mom want anyone to know what I did?
“I think we’re done here. My son is quite ill. You can see that with your own eyes, can’t you?” His father’s tone was brusque.
Jace cracked his eyelids again and turned his head slightly to the right where the voices were coming from. He caught sight of the blue alien who Gehenna had brought to him to help. His father’s back was to him so he didn’t see Jace was awake, but this Commander Voor did. Yet he did not tell Jace’s father.
Instead, Commander Voor stated simply, “Your son stated he needed this person, Captain Parker, and he wanted me to assist him. It would be best for you to tell me what you know so that I can assist. Perhaps this Gehenna can help him.”
His father grabbed the door to Jace’s room and opened it. He gestured to Khoth to leave. “I don’t answer to you. And the Illumen Alliance has made it quite clear that it doesn’t want us to. So… I suggest you take your questions elsewhere, because you’re not getting answers here.”
Commander Voor’s gaze slid to Jace for just a moment. He didn’t say anything about Jace being conscious, not that it lasted long. Just as he left the room, Jace sank back into darkness again.
