The Gate Keeper

  Chapter 17

  Plans

  I

  Roberts sat at her desk with the office lights turned off, the only visible light from the streetlights outside her windows. She was leaned back in her chair, eyes closed. Her head throbbed. It had been a little over 4 hours since the Sculturians had come through that gate unannounced. They were currently hidden away in a couple spare bedrooms while she tried to gather the supplies on their list. She had people working on it, but many of the items would take time to gather, and if Albert was right she had no intention of sending them weapons. She had caught a break, and Nathan was still in London visiting a group a Scultarians who had settled in the area.

  It was nearly 8 o’clock, she would have to think of something soon to tell the boys parents. Henry would normally be returning home within the next couple of hours, and they would need to know where he was. She had no idea what to tell either of their parents when it came down to it.

  She had her eyes closed, and didn’t see her tablet begin blinking an alarm on her desk. She had taken the earpiece that allowed her tablet to provide verbal messages, and laid it on the desk. As comfortable as the technology really was to wear, when you had a headache it got irritating getting continual updates about the status of the terminal pumped directly into your brain. Objectively she knew that it was really just a voice coming through the ear piece, but even with the volume turned down low it had felt like someone screaming in her ear. The phone on her desk rang. She left her eyes closed reaching for the phone, and lifting it to her ear. She was expecting a status update from Uktu about the list of supplies for her new guests.

  Before she could give her customary phone greeting, Uktu’s voice was speaking nervously into her ear.

  “It is happening again, only this time at the Chicago Terminal, less than a minute ago the gate began charging, my computer says it is the same origin coordinates as before. This time though the opening is moving very fast, I put a hold on the power level. The gate is still charging, but now it is charging slowly to give us more time to react. If I hadn’t it would’ve been open before I could call you,” Uktu said.

  “Harold, and Justin are still on shift, I want them armed, and at that gate in the next 30 seconds, then allow the gate to open. I will be right there,” Roberts said. She grabbed her pad from the desk, and ran for the door, it had been many years since she had run anywhere, but on a treadmill. She could not run the quarter mile in 90 seconds like she could when she finished her keeper training, but she still ran several miles a day. She covered the distance between her office, and the gate in a minutes taking the stairs two at a time. When she arrived Harold, and Justin were armed with Sonic Pulse Disrupter Rifles. She did not want to delay the gate by much, but she needed to take precautions. She did not think the Angriff would come through into her terminal looking for two refugee, but it was possible that who ever was opening that gate could have someone pursuing them. It was a hard balance to find. The gate swung open, and she was pleased to see Henry standing there.

  She held her breath hopeful, but not really expecting them to have retrieved Melchiorre so quickly. They had not really been gone long enough. Henry walked towards her.

  “Ms. Roberts I have some people here who are very hungry, and one keeper who is very sick. They could use some food, and medical treatment; if it’s okay with you,” Henry said. He said it like it was almost a question, but not really. She was glad to see that his confidence level was really increasing.

  Henry walked back through the gate, and a steady stream of people dressed in rags, and tatters began flowing through the gate. Henry returned carrying woman.

  “This is Moglie, she is the sick keeper I was telling you about, she will need medication,” his tone was straightforward, and informative. She was proud to see that he seemed to be in charge. He was even telling her what to do. She smiled tiredly; he was coming along nicely.

  Henry, Amica, and a third man she did not know helped the people move in, and find a seat in the terminal, she was not sure what she was going to do with them all, but was please to see them sitting there safely. Harold, and Justin maintained their posts on either side of the gate watching Henry with appraising eyes; she was not sure what the two of them were thinking. They were so closed mouth about everything.

  When all of the refugees were settled, the third man went through the gate to look for stragglers, and she was left standing with Henry, and Amica.

  “So what is the plan, are you two coming home?” she asked already knowing the answer.

  “No, we understand there is a compound where the Angriff are holding the remaining keepers. They are planning to take them when they leave. Marito, and Elena think that we can sneak in, and free them. If that happens we will try to come through the gateway to Sir’s training ground,” Henry said.

  “Why not just come through here?” she asked.

  “When we came through here you had to slow the power feed till you could put armed guards on the door, even if you posted a guard here, and didn’t slow the power feed we may have the Angriff on our tale. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Sir had built a special gate, to hide his location I think, but if we exit through that gate we can take the gate down when we arrive preventing the Angriff from pursuing us, then we can come here,” Henry said. Amica was nodding; they had obviously given this some thought. They were both coming along nicely.

  “What should I do about your parents, they will be expecting you soon?” Roberts said. A cloud passed over Henry’s face, and for the first time she saw Henry’s new confidence crumble a little.

  “Everything happened so fast, I didn’t think about them,” Henry said.

  “It’s okay Henry, you have done so much already. Just open the gate for us to near the distribution hub, and then go home to your family before this goes to far, and you get hurt,” Amica said. Roberts was proud to see she meant every word. Henry’s resolve only faltered for a moment.

  “Tell them I went to help a friend in trouble, and I love them. Please,” Henry said.

  “Tell her, I went to get dad. Mom will be upset I’m sorry,” Amica said. Roberts figured that was probably the understatement of the year. Then the man Henry had called Marito came through the gate.

  “Every one is out Henry, it should be okay to close the gate now,” Marito said.

  “Take these with you,” Harold said unslinging his rifle, and passing it to Henry. Justin was doing the same with his rifle handing it to Amica. Objectively she knew the two men were capable of speech, but they talked so little it always surprised her. She was even more surprised to see them hand over their weapons. She watched as the two men each took one person, and walked them through the operation of the weapon, only stopping when they were certain they could operate the weapons without hurting themselves.

  “Be safe,” Harold said, sticking his hand out for Henry to shake. Justin echoed the sentiment, and gesture shortly after. It was amazing to her that Henry was bullied at school, he had even managed to become friends with Harold and Justin, she wasn’t even sure they liked her. When he let his personality shine through he really was a great kid. He stood watching Amica, and Marito walk through the gate.

  “Henry,” she said calling to him before he could leave. “I will arrange for some men with weapons to be standing by at Sir’s gate just in case. I know you are concerned for their safety, but I can think of at least two who would be willing to take the risk, possible two more” she said looking over to where Harold, and Justin stood.

  “As long as they are volunteers, I won’t command anyone to risk their life for us,” Henry said forcefully. She hoped this new level of confidence would last it was nice to see.

  Henry stepped through the gate closing it behind them, and then they were gone again. It had been a busy day, and it was not over yet. She went up to her office to make some phone calls.

  II

  Amica hid under a bush holding b
ack her tears, and hopping the soldiers moving through the village would not find her. She had not expected things to go so wrong so fast. They had gated into the nearby village of Fout, it was supposed to be a local orchard that had been abandoned. The Angriff had not liked the Kopar fruit that had grown there, and had let the orchard run wild redistributing their forces elsewhere. They had chosen Fout, because it was a short walk to the Hub, but far enough away that according to Elena was usually left unguarded.

  Henry found an old gate map tucked away in his backpack when they had inventoried the packs that had been packed for them by Sir. It took some work on Henry’s part trying each of the 8 gates located in the village. They found one that was still operational. It had been partially damaged, but with Henry’s natural talent for making connections he was able to make it work. The power feed had been damaged so it took a while to charge the gate with enough power to open, but in the end they were in business.

  Everything was going really well, and they made it through the gate. The transportation center for Fout was set a little way back, and to the north of the orchard from the village. The village had mostly been left untouched, the only damage looking many years old, probably in the initial invasion. The sun was just starting to come up on this side of the planet, which was an added bonus. The Angriff were a nocturnal people. They figured their best bet of moving across the open ground was to hide in the glare of the sunrise. The group was hungry, and decided they would get some fresh fruit instead of digging through their packs. Amica was starting to feel the lateness of the hour. Although the sun was just coming up on this planet it was the very end of the day on Earth on a normal day, and today was not a normal day. The only thing that kept her moving was that her nerves were wound tighter than a violin string. They went to the orchard to grab a fruit snack while they waited for the sun to position itself right.

  Elena led them to where the fruit trees where. The orchard was very overgrown; bushes, and small trees had begun to spring up from where the fruit left unpicked had fallen to the ground. It made for long walls of green leaves that were hard to see through. When the fruit on the trees were close enough to see clearly Henry became very excited. Henry began giggling he was so excited; he took off at a run to see them.

  “These are the same trees that are outside Roberts house,” he said calling back over his shoulder. “I have wanted to taste one ever since I saw them in her garden,” he said laughing, he was so happy he was giddy. He was so silly Amica couldn’t help but laugh a little herself. She was so lucky to have a friend like Henry. For a minute when Roberts had asked about his family she thought he would change his mind. She would have understood if he had gone back to his family, this was going to be dangerous, and all of the arguments he had given her against going had not changed. Amica could see Henry was thinking about his family, how they would react if he never came home, and for a minute she thought he was not going to go, but in the end he was risking his life for her. Sir had said she would die if she went with out him, and so he would help her father, and a bunch of keepers he had never met, because he wanted to protect her safety.

  “Henry, wait for us I don’t want us to get so spread out,” Amica said. That was when all hell broke loose. Henry walked around a row of trees, froze for a moment, and then grabbed quickly for his rifle pointing it at something, or someone. Amica noticed the flurry of motion, and her heart started beating a mile a minute in her chest. She could feel it beating at the back of her throat. She was about to run to him with the other rifle when he made a motion with the hand closest to her. It was an open palm pushing toward her meaning to stop. Maybe he hadn’t been seen, but then why wasn’t he backing away.

  She froze. There was something really wrong; she was not sure what to do. Elena, and Marito were still walking towards Henry. She put her hand on their shoulders, and motioned for them to stop, and be quiet. They froze looking at her, then to Henry not sure what was happening. Then they all heard what she was desperately afraid of. She could hear the sound of men shouting.

  Henry took his weapon off his shoulder, and slowly lowered it to the ground. He held up his hands, and put them on the back of his head in a gesture she had seen in a thousand cops shows. He turned his face to them. His mouth was moving, but she could not hear any words, and realized he was mouthing words to her behind his arm. He was mouthing the word run. He took a couple of steps forward, and he was out of view, his body being blocked by the edge of the row of trees. The men who were yelling were coming closer; they were almost on top of them.

  The men were shielded from her sight at the moment, and she could not see how many of them there were. She remembered the rifle slung over her shoulder, and ran for Henry. Maybe she could create a distraction so he could get away. She had promised to look after him; she had to save him. Marito, and Elena each grabbed her under an arm, forced her under a bush, and held her down. She couldn’t really hear clearly what was going on, but then heard something that sounded like a diesel truck start. It was not a sound she expected to hear on this planet, but as it drove away it sounded very much like a thousand smoke belching trucks she had seen every day on Earth.

  They were still hiding under the bushes when a pair of black booted feet walked by. Another pair followed, and stood in front of the bush. They were speaking in their own language. She had tried studying it over the years, trying to learn how to speak it, but it was not a language she understood very well.

  “I will be glad when we are through with this planet,” the first voice said, she thought. The language was much harder to understand when spoken by a native speaker then it was by her tablet.

  “Me two,” The second said. The men talked for while about things she could not always understand, from what she could figure out they had come with a high-ranking official to pick fruit. She was the only one who liked them, and they had run into Henry. Henry said he was alone, but the two of them had been left behind just to be sure. The one thing Amica was certain of, because she had listened very carefully, was there was only the two of them. They were complaining about having to walk back to the base in the sun after having searched the orchard.

  She waited for the two of them to wander to a different part of the kopar grove, and then crawled out from under the bush.

  “Where are you going,” Elena whispered to her as she was crawling past. “You are going to get us caught,” Elena said scared.

  “They have Henry!” she whispered fiercely, but determined. “He is the only friend I’ve got, and I’ll be dammed if I’m going to hide under a bush. I’m going to get him back, if you want to run then do it,” Amica said rising to a crouch behind the bush, she checked her pulse rifle, it had a setting designed to knock people out for a short time. The twins had warned it would only put people out for a very short time. It was designed for use in the terminal when they needed to disable, but not kill a client who had become belligerent. She slipped her pack off her back.

  “Get the rope out of the back pouch,” she whispered to Marito. She was not sure about Elena, but when she saw Marito’s hand reach out from under the bush, and drag the pack to the bush, that he was with her. She took a second to calm her mind; focusing her thoughts the way she had been taught by Sir, and began moving as quietly as she could toward the men. She had a good idea of the direction they were in because they were talking up a storm. She got close, and could see them clearly for the first time.

  She had never seen the Angriff when she was a child. She had seen pictures before, but this was the first time she had ever seen them in person. They were short standing only five feet tall. Their skin was translucent allowing her to see all the way through to the skeletal system with in, if she looked closely enough. The skeleton she knew was bioluminescent. She had read it let off a purple light that made them easier to see on their dark home world, but here in the rising sun it was hard to see. They had very little indentation where the neck of a
human would have been, their head was more tube like with a round skull buried with in the flesh, the skull was set atop a group of semi circular vertebrae. As a species the Angriff were not very frightening. Their bodies made from soft jelly like muscles, and thin bones.

  They did not have nearly the same amount of muscle mass as the people from her home world, but their weapons were impressive, especially on a planet that had nothing but shovels, and axes that required you to get in close to defeat them. They wore black trousers pulled down over a laced boot made of a material that looked like black leather. Tucked into the trousers they wore a white long sleeved dress shirt with a banded collar. Over the whole uniform, they wore long black jackets that reminded her of the Nehru jackets that had been popular in the 60’s, in fact she had gotten one once. Her mother had freaked out on her. That afternoon was the first time her mother had shown her a picture of the Angriff. She had been naturally curious before, but her mother had always prevented it. She had thrown the jacket away herself. Barely even wanting to touch it even to throw it away. The long coats were single button with steel colored buttons to the waist where the jacket hung open ending between the knee, and ankle. On the shoulder was a black epaulette. The two men in front of her had one silver bar on the epaulette to mark their rank. She knew the bar was to designate rank, but what the rank was she was not actually sure. She could hear their conversation.

  They were frightened of the woman who was in charge; at least that was what Amica thought they were saying it was hard to tell. As she stalked them she listened carefully to their conversation, listening for information on the woman who had captured Henry. Apparently she was a member of the royal family, and she was not as scary as her mother, but only by a slight margin. She became frightened for Henry, and hesitated to shoot them, trying to learn as much as she could.

  “I heard she found Lieutenant Colonel Brikel taking food that was supposed to go to the men in his battalion for himself,” the first man said.

  “I heard about that, I hear she forced every man in the battalion to strike him as hard as they could with the but of their rifle in a place of their choosing, then stood there to make sure it was done,” the second man said.

  “He’s lucky it was a small battalion,” the first man said.

  “Small battalion, or not 300 blows with the but of a rifle does a lot of damage, afterwards she had him chained, and thrown into a cell, I hear he died of his wounds three weeks later from lack of medical treatment,” The second man said.

  “Serves him right for taking from his men,” the first man said. They went on to talk about something else unrelated to the woman. Amica had to admit at least to herself she agreed with the men. The guy got what was coming to him, but the woman was pretty frightening. She saw an opportunity, and took her shot. Amica shot them in the back from the bushes. Marito, and Elena ran over, and tied them up with rope from her pack.

  III

  Henry woke slowly not entirely sure where he was, or how long he had been asleep. He opened his eyes, and the light hit his brain causing his head to swim for a moment. He closed his eyes. He realized that he was being carried, and his hands were tied behind his back. He had a hard time focusing his thoughts, trying to remember what had happened. He turned his head, and a sharp pain shot across his skull. He was having a hard time making coherent thoughts, and his head hurt. He realized that he must have been struck.

  He tried to remember everything that Sir had taught him. Focus his thoughts, and manage the pain he felt in his head. He needed to remember what had happened. He remembered arriving at the orchard, and seeing the fruit. He had run ahead like an idiot. When he came around the corner, and practically ran right into a purple woman? That didn’t feel right, he was pretty sure it was a woman, and the color purple was involved some how, but that part was a little hazy. He remember pointing his rifle at the purple woman, but remembered her being as surprised to see him as he was to see her. He just didn’t have it in him to kill her in cold blood. Everything after that was even fuzzier, and he couldn’t make out anything coherent.

  Henry heard voices coming through the earpiece on his glasses. They were askew on his face but the earpiece had kept them from falling.

  “Put him down over there, I don’t know how you expect me to question him after slamming the but of your riffle against the back of his head,” said a female voice. It was a harsh voice, it was like listening to glass being ground together, and it sent a shiver up his spine.

  “Yes ma’am. I’m sorry ma’am. I was only concerned for your safety ma’am,” The voice of the person carrying him said. The voice was male, and obviously not only very apologetic, but seemed genuinely scared. Henry could not blame him, her voice sounded scary. He tried to push the pain from his head, and focus his thoughts. He wanted to be ready for what ever was about to happen.

  “Should we put him in the chair, Ma’am?” A second voice asked. They were probably the people carrying him.

  “Yes, then leave us,” The woman said.

  “Are you sure you want to be left alone with him, ma’am?” the second male voice asked. Henry winced inwardly for the man, he obviously was only concerned for her safety, but he did not think the female voice was the type of person who would appreciate having her orders questioned.

  “Are you questioning my orders staff Sergeant?” the voice asked.

  “Of course not ma’am,” the staff sergeant said; the nervousness clearly evident in his voice. They set Henry down gently in a chair.

  “Staff Sergeant, you will go from this room directly to your Lieutenant, you are to be put on a diet of supplements, and water until further notice is that clear?” she said.

  “Yes ma’am thank you ma’am,” the staff sergeant said.

  “I will be following up with your Lieutenant this afternoon, if you have not spoken with him, then you can be sure the next punishment will not be as lenient,” she said. Henry resisted the urge to shudder, because he did not want this woman to know he was awake yet.

  “Yes ma’am, thank you ma’am. It will not happen again,” the staff sergeant said. Henry heard the door close.

  “You are quite a mess aren’t you,” a female voice said more to herself then really to Henry. Henry could clearly hear the concern for his health in the voice of the speaker. Henry had not heard another person enter the room, so assuming that the room had been empty when they had entered, it was the same woman, but the voice he heard now was so different from the one he had heard earlier that he almost began to doubt himself. The voice was warm, clear and pleasant.

  “You are leaking some type of fluid all over your shirt, that just won’t do,” the voice said slightly sarcastically. Henry thought about opening his eyes, but the voice seemed so different when she was alone, that he hoped he could learn more about her before revealing that he was awake.

  Henry felt the bonds that were holding him let go. Then he felt hands unbutton the shirt he was wearing, and remove it. He felt what he assumed were her hands gently exploring his chest, arms, and shoulders. Her hands were warm, and soft; it was like running a piece of warm silk over his skin. Her hands hesitated a moment on the bruises covering his chest, and Henry had to fight the urge to wince when she pushed on one of the newer bruises. Her hands hesitated more than a moment when they caressed his arms, and shoulders. His muscles were sore from having his arms bound. Her hands found the wound on his head. She examined it gently, but thoroughly. She made a tisking sound.

  “I am sorry they struck you, it was not my intention to repay your kindness with hurt,” the female voice said.

  He felt something warm touch the back of his head, it hurt immensely for a brief second, then he began to feel the pain receding leaving his mind, and thoughts clear, and refreshed. The cloth on the back of his head was wet, and warm feeling; almost like warm honey, but it did not feel sticky. After a few moments he began to feel the effects spreading to the rest of his body fro
m the spot on the back of his head. The fatigue he felt washed away. As well as the residual muscle fatigue, and soreness from the past months of physical abuse he hadn’t even realized he carried. He felt better than he had in years. He felt the hands touching his skin, examining the places where the bruises had marked his body. He decided to open his eyes.

  “You feel better?” the woman asked when she noticed his eyes were open.

  The owner of the voice came into his field of vision, and he recognized her as the person he had seen in the orchard. He understood the kindness she must be referring to was his choosing not to kill her. He saw her clearly for the first time. She was short, maybe only five feet tall, she had a tube like neck that expanded out to her head. There was very little indentation where the neck of a human would have been increasing the impression of a domed tube. One of the first things Henry noticed was that he could see through her skin, and tissues to the skeletal structure beneath. He could see the delineation of different muscle groups, and vessels within the tissues of her face. Especially because they all seemed backlit by a violet colored light being given off by the skeletal structure at the heart of her.

  The only things that were not transparent were the eyes, and the bones. The eyes were catlike. They were the same purple color emitted by the skeleton with a vertical black pupil. The eyes emitted the same light as the skeleton. As for the skeleton, there was a round skull buried deep within the flesh. Her head seemed close in size to that of a human of her height, but the bones within were smaller with a thicker layer of flesh over the top of them. The skull was set atop a group of semi circular vertebrae that made up a neck heading down into the shirt.

  Her face was laid out similar to his with the eyes set where his were, between them where Henry’s nose protruded from his face were two thin oval shaped openings, the openings were about an inch long each, set at an angle towards each other. The mouth was near where his was, but there was a curved opening about two to three inches across set flush with her face unless she was talking.

  She wore a long jacket that came down to her ankles. The material was similar in color, and pattern to the cobalt stone vase his mother owned. It was a deep blue with black flecks woven into the fabric creating an over all stone look. The collar was similar to a Nehru jacket, but the length was obviously much longer. He realized pleasantly the time with his sister, and Amica shopping for clothes had elevated his sense of style some. The jacket was open, lined in a scarlet silk. She wore black trousers tucked into polished black leather looking knee high boots with a small heel. She wore a scarlet vest over a white long sleeve dress shirt with a banded collar, with two pins that looked like scarlet roses about the size of his thumbnail where on either side of the center of the collar about an inch from where it was fastened at the neck. An inch of the cuffs of her dress shirt were just visible at the sleeve, they were fastened with cuff links adorned with a single scarlet rose. Her hands were similar looking to his with four fingers, and a thumb. They were longer than Henry’s hands even though she was a good eight inches shorter. The bones within her hand were as visible as the bones in her face. They were thinner than Henry would expect to find in such long fingers. The shoulders of her coat were decorated with black epaulettes with a scarlet rose the color of her vest, and four silver bars, two on either side of the rose.

  She was by far one of the most interesting species he had met so far. She was very alien, and yet oddly beautiful in the way the light reflected, and bounced off the different types of tissues in her face. It was hard to believe these creatures had done the horrible things he had heard from Marito, and Moglie to the Scultarians. Certainly the uniforms were very intimidating, but the creatures themselves looked so harmless.

  “Do you understand me?” she asked when Henry did not answer. He had been so amazed by her appearance that he had not answered. He felt embarrassed.

  “I do, I’m sorry. I have never met anyone like you before I was a bit distracted. I apologize for being rude, my name is Henry,” he said.

  “I am Mariele, are you feeling better?” she said.

  “Yes, thank you. What did you do to me?” Henry asked.

  “I used a substance called royal jelly; on my planet members of the royal family use it for various purposes. My mother would be more than enraged at the idea that an outsider was exposed to the jelly. I hope you will use discretion in this matter. I do not think that she would have me executed, she needs an heir, and I am the last of her children. Oh, I have no doubt that given time she could replace me if she wanted, but by then she probably would have calmed down. Still it is better not to tempt her anger, ” Mariele said.

  “Who is your mother?” Henry asked.

  “She is Rache bearer of the Rose Crown, Queen of the Angriff,” Mariele said casually.

  “Then why did you do it, risk your safety to heal me, I mean?” Henry asked.

  “You found me defenseless, unarmed, and yet you spared my life. You interest me Henry. You are not a Scultarian; your skin is much to soft, yet you have much muscle on your body. A person from my world could not have taken a blow like that to the head with out dying, and yet you lived, even with out the aid of the royal jelly you would have lived,” Mariele said.

  “I appreciate you risking your mother’s anger, but if I would have lived with out it then why did?” Henry his voice trailed off, as Mariele’s pupils narrowed giving a dangerous look to her features.

  “I repay my debts Henry, you spared my health, and I returned yours to you,” Mariele explained. “Besides I wanted you awake so I could talk with you, as I said you interest me. For example you were covered in spots, and colors before, and now they are gone. Where did they go?” Mariel asked. Henry looked down at his chest, and found that she was right. The bruises that had become an almost permanent part of his body were gone. He tried to think about how to explain not just a bruise, but also their origin.

  “Those were what we call bruises on my planet, a by-product of someone causing physical damage to the skin of my body,” Henry said.

  “Who did that to your body Henry?” Mariele asked with interest in her voice. Henry was not sure how to answer this question, how to explain the concept of school bullies. He tried to boil it down into the simplest of terms.

  “Boys who were stronger than me, did this,” Henry said.

  “Why?” she asked. Henry was getting tired of her questions.

  “Because they disliked me,” he said shortly.

  “Why did they dislike you? Did you do something wrong? Are you a criminal?” she asked confused

  “No, of course I’m not a criminal, why would you think that?” Henry asked becoming upset and embarrassed.

  “It is simple you were bad and were punished, and of course they did not like you because you had done wrong. Maybe I should not have healed you.” She said giving him a considering look. Henry felt shame burn his face. For many months he had thought that maybe he had deserved the bullying because he was weird or different, had thought it to himself on more than one occasion, but hearing it out of the mouth of a total stranger made him angry.

  “I did nothing wrong, they did it because they could, because I was too weak to stop them,” he said raising his voice. He felt absurd and angry trying to explain this situation to a stranger

  “I understand,” she said. “That is why you grew these muscles,” she said touching the muscles in his chest, and arms. There was an appreciative quality to the tone of her voice, and the way she moved around his body touching him. There was something unnerving about her touch. “Now you can attack them, and make them sorry for hurting you,” she said knowingly. “Such a shame,” she said. Henry looked over to the arm she was touching, and saw she was right. Henry had not paid much attention to his body. During training he had noticed his ability to perform the exercises had improved dramatically. He had not noticed that his body had shifted significantly as well. His arms were not huge but they wer
e finely defined. The same for the muscles of his chest, and abdomen, he had never been over weight, but what had been shapeless before was now clearly defined muscle groups.

  “Your vengeance would have been magnificent,” she said sadly. Henry’s head was spinning from that last statement, there were so many things to process. The thing that jumped out at him first was the fact she was discussing his future in the past tense. That could not be good. “Maybe, if you are well behaved I will reward you by allowing you to return to your home world, and taking your revenge,” she said sweetly. She took a seat in a chair across from Henry facing him.

  “What do you mean, if I behave?” Henry asked nervously. He was beginning to feel frightened again; he remembered the fear in the voice of the guard. There was much to this woman he had clearly not seen.

  “You belong to me now. You will be my personal keeper,” she said.

  “How do you know that I am a keeper?” Henry asked.

  “I found the keeper union card in that piece of folded material in your pants,” she said. “You look sad, is it because you will not take your vengeance on the boys who hurt you?” she asked. This was at least the third time she had mentioned the idea of vengeance.

  “You’ve mentioned vengeance a lot, is that important to your people?” Henry asked.

  “It is our purpose, the thing that gives our existence meaning,” Mariele said in a matter of fact voice.

  “Against who?” Henry asked.

  “The universe,” she said matter-of-factly. Her answer chilled Henry to his bones.