Chapter 7
Conversations
I
Roberts sat at her desk, looking at the young girl across from her. She looked so much like her father; it almost brought a tear to her eyes. She thought it interesting the turns that life sometimes took. If she had chose differently, the girl sitting across from her would have been her daughter. Of course they would not be in the director’s office of the Milky Way Terminal, and there was a very real chance that she would be missing presumed dead like the girl’s father. All things considered, she did not regret her decision very often.
In the end, the universe unfolded, as it should. If she had not chosen the way she had, it is possible the free Scultura would have disappeared into slavery, or been wiped from the universe. She had dedicated a good portion of the last thousand years to looking after them from the shadows. Putting in recommendations, transfer orders, helping to find them homes, and jobs where she could. Melchiorre sacrificed everything for his people; she tried to honor his sacrifice by helping them where she could. That brought her train of thought back to the girl sitting across from her.
Amica had already changed out of her uniform. She sat before her in black jeans, and a long sleeved blue shirt that set off her alabaster skin. Her hair was pulled back into a single ponytail; a finely tailored black wool jacket lay on the chair next to her. A pair of glasses hung from the collar of her shirt. The long rounded rectangular lenses were tinted the same shade of blue as her gem stone eyes. She had to admit that with her hair in a ponytail, and the glasses she really could pass for human on the street.
“Thank you for coming in to see me Amica,” Roberts said.
Roberts had never spoken to the girl about her relationship with her father. Roberts believed if Amica’s mother wanted her to know about the women in her father’s life before they were bonded, then Alessia would tell her.
“I don’t understand, did I do something wrong?” Amica asked sounding nervous to Roberts ear. Although that was not surprising, she had never called the girl to her office for a talk before.
“No everything is fine, actually better than fine,” and they were. By all of Roberts reports Amica was great employee. She had been working here for about fifty earth years since she turned 18. She was always friendly, and pleasant with the travelers. She handled herself well moving quickly from the ticket counter to gate attendant. She wanted to be a keeper like her father. She was not a natural like Melchiorre, but according to the girl’s tests she had potential. That potential would not amount to anything without the training she needed, however. She had wanted the girl to be working here longer before she put her in the keeper program, but that was before Henry came along. She had so many plans that now needed to be revised, and put on a truncated timetable. Humans lived such short lives. All of her plans for the girl needed to be changed. She had a feeling that things were going to start moving quickly, and if she didn’t prepare them Amica, and Henry both would shortly be in over their head.
“Are you enjoying your time working here?” Roberts asked.
“Yes Ma’am.” The girl was nervous. If Roberts had an accurate read on the gossip her employees spread about her, the girl had every right to be nervous. According to gossip Roberts ran this station with an iron fist, and woe was the employee who crossed her. It was unfortunate that Harris had been killed on the docks shortly after having been called to her office.
The fact of the matter was she had called him to her office, because she had believed he was running black-market goods through the cargo gates. She was sure he had not been working alone. She called him to her office to discover who else was involved. She knew such things happened in the universe, but would not have them in her terminal. He had refused to answer her questions, instead demanding to see his union representative.
She had provided him with said representative; in fact she was pretty sure the Union Rep had been responsible for the accident that claimed his life. She believed they had gotten rid of him for becoming sloppy. She heard many of her employees believed she had caused him to have his accident. Oh well, she thought. In the end she her pragmatic nature always won out. Anything that helped keep her employees in line, and her station functioning on a high level of proficiency was fine.
“I understand that you had lunch with our newest keeper today.” Roberts said.
“You mean Henry? Yes, we had lunch together. He seems very nice,” Amica said cautiously.
“Henry is a natural, like your father,” Roberts said taking the direct approach.
“He mentioned it,” she replied still cautious.
“I would like you to spend more time with Henry. He is a very special young man. Emphasis on young, he could use someone to take him under their wing, and show him the ropes. If I schedule you together, do you think you could do that for me?” Roberts asked.
“Yeah, it will be nice to work with someone who is almost my age,” Amica said.
“Excellent, there was something else. I wanted to talk to you about your father,” Roberts said. This was going to be a delicate issue, and she would have to handle this very carefully.
“What about him, my mother told me that you and he went through keeper training together is that true?” Amica asked. Roberts was caught off guard, she wondered what else she knew.
“That is true, it was a long time ago now, we were just kids, not much older than you are now. What else has your mother told you?” Roberts asked genuinely interested. Melchiorre’s widow had never openly expressed any dislike for her, but she always got the impression that she secretly blamed her for not being able to save Melchiorre. She hoped that Alessia had not passed any dislike of her to her daughter.
“Only that you knew each other before my father returned home to work the gates, and that you helped our people to escape to Earth during the invasion, because you were friends. I know that you have tried to open the gate to look for him, but because you are not a natural it won’t open for you,” Amica said.
“You have inadvertently brought us back to the reason I asked you here today. Henry is a natural. There is a very good chance that with some training, and practice he will be able to open your father’s gate. Have you considered this?” Roberts asked.
“Only a little, but honestly I don’t know what to think about the whole situation. I hear that Nathan is looking for a natural to try to lead some kind of invasion, but all I really want is to find my dad,” Amica said.
“Nathan has played his hand poorly, there are few people in this universe that are unaware of his plan. It is quite frankly remarkable that your father’s gate is partially operational at all. The Angriff have had a thousand years to locate, and destroy that gate; the fact that it is operational feels like a trap to me”. The gate was still operational however; she had tried to open it when Henry’s ability presented itself. Even though it was a probably a trap she hoped that one day that gate could be the key to finding Melchiorre. “What about Henry, how does he fit into this whole situation what does he want? Did anyone ask him?” Roberts said.
“I don’t know, he seems like a really good guy, but I don’t really know anything about him, or how his presence changes my father’s situation. You are right, about the gate. The Angriff are keeping that gate the way it is in the hope that one day Nathan will find some one to open it for him, and get himself captured, ” Amica said. Roberts was surprised the girl had opened up so easily to her, but was happy that the conversation was headed in the direction she wanted.
“I have a proposal for you, if I may,” Roberts paused. Amica nodded her head yes.
“I want you to go through keeper training with Henry, help him to understand his place in this universe as a keeper, and how to use his abilities. While at the same time starting your program. Henry will not need nearly as much training as you do, but I will continue to sponsor your training until you are finished on one condition,” Roberts said.
&nbs
p; “That sounds amazing, but what’s the condition,” she asked her tone suddenly turning wary
“I would like you to refrain from asking Henry to help you look for your father,” she paused holding up her hand, “at least until after he has done his training. That boy has an enormous heart, and there is little doubt in my mind that he will try to help a friend in need, but he is young, and inexperienced. In time Henry could be the key to getting Melchiorre back assuming that he is still alive. It would be a shame to lose such a person because we moved to soon, if your father is out there, than the only hope we have of finding him is to have a fully trained natural on our side,” Roberts stopped speaking allowing her words to sink in for a moment. She had no doubt that eventually Amica would be unable to resist the temptation to go looking for her father. Deep down she hoped the girl would grow attached to Henry, and think twice before risking his life. She hoped, that the girl would take after her father’s compassion.
“So if I help Henry with his training, you will not only pay for me to train as well, but when he is ready give me your blessing to go look for my father?” Amica asked.
“Yes, that’s the deal,” Roberts said.
“How do we get started?” Amica asked. They talked for another twenty minutes. After she had been gone a few minutes there was another knock on her door. It opened before she could give permission, and Nathan entered. She hated when he did that.
“I have spoken to you about coming into my office with out permission Nathan,” She said. For a wonder he apologized. That made her very wary.
“How is the boy doing?” he asked.
“He did okay for his first day, but he has a long way to go,” she said.
“I have some business that I need to attend to, a problem with some of my people abroad, if you could arrange for the transport tomorrow I would greatly appreciate it,” he said.
“Sure,” she said. She had not heard about any problems among the Scultura, and she usually listened to information concerning them very carefully, but she was glad to get Nathan out of her hair for a while.
II
Amica walked to get her car. The conversation she had just finished with Roberts had been surreal, and the time in the cold would help clear her head. She enjoyed the winter in Chicago; she stood on the sidewalk looking into the garden at the tree that lived there. Nathan was not in the garden this evening having gone off to somewhere, or another. She had spoken to him off, and on over the years. There were so few of her people they could not afford to not stay in contact with each other. She thought about what Roberts had said about him. Roberts was right, he had not played things as close to the vest as he should. Amica heard from her mother, there had been a period when Nathan asked every new keeper that came through the station to try that gate. It seemed unlikely the Angriff were unaware of his plan. Especially if the Keepers Union had been involved as many of her people believed. He was not half the leader that his father had been. Maybe if the royal family had raised him instead of tutors, and nannies he would have turned out better, but she doubted it. In Nathan’s case it was probably the raw materials as opposed to the teachers that were the source of the defects in the final product. She wondered why her father had risked his life to protect the life of Nathan. Thinking of her father made her think of Henry
She was not sure what to make of him. She felt this instant connection to him, sought him out on her lunch break. It had been a happy coincidence that she had returned to the Milky Way Terminal through a gate next to where he was working, and he happened to have a break at the same time. Although, after meeting Roberts there was always the possibility that it had not been a coincidence at all. There was something about him that reminded him of her father. When he had told her he was a natural it had clicked. She blushed a little inwardly as she pictured him in her mind. He was handsome for a human. She was unsure of how she felt about him; humans’ life spans were so short.
She had first hand experience of that fact. She had worked as a nanny for a time when that was the only job available to a young woman on earth. Time was measured differently on her home planet, but after so long living on Earth it was hard not to measure the years the way they did. She had moved from family to family for a while. When the children no longer needed her, she would move to a new family. She had not consciously known, or thought about the lifespan of humans then, she was young, only sixteen by her race’s judge of maturity, but she had wanted to be a part of the lives of the beautiful creatures she saw outside her windows.
She had already helped raise 3 children, staying with them for 7-8 years before the parents began to wonder about her unchanging age. She was with her fourth Francis when he became violently ill. He was only a year old and he still took most of his meals sitting on her lap. She wanted so desperately to take the child through the gates to reach a more medically advanced race. She knew that he could be cured. She had cried desperately when her mother stopped her. Her mother argued that they could not interfere. She was right, even though it pained her to admit it. The Europeans had been determined to find witchcraft in their neighbor’s closet at the time, burning women at the stake left, and right. If Francis had been miraculously saved the repercussions could have been severe for her, and her mother. In the end he had died.
She was unable to do it anymore, after his death. After a few decades when medicine had began to improve she thought about trying again. She had loved her children, took great joy watching as they grew into fine upstanding adults. She followed them from a distance watching them get married, have families and children of their own. She longed to become a nanny for the babies she thought of as her grandchildren. She was trying to talk her mother into letting her try when it happened again.
The first, Francis had been a baby, she had hardly had time to get attached to him, but Thomas was an adult. He was in his late fifties when he died of a heart attack. Finally, she began to understand why her mother had been so against the idea of talking care of human children. A few years later, another passed. A baby girl named Emily; she died birthing her third child.
She had been nearly inconsolable. Everything was good for a few years, but eventually time took its course as it did with all creatures even herself. Her last baby girl was named Eveylyn. She lived to be 85. Amica had gone to see her at the very end, her mother had tried to talk her out of it, but she wanted desperately to say good-bye.
She pretended to be a nurse, and found herself alone in Eveylyn’s room. Eveylyn had been sleeping at first. Amica took a seat next to the bed. Eveylyn was having difficulty breathing, and Amica opened the window to get some fresh air. Eveylyn opened her eyes, and looked at her. She smiled.
“You look like the woman who cared for me as a child, are you an angel come to take me home,” Eveylyn asked a tear running down her cheek. Amica felt the tears begin to run down her own cheeks. She had hoped, but never expected the woman to have remembered her face. She had been 7 when Amica moved on. Amica placed her hand on Eveylyn’s cheek wiping the tears away.
“I have loved you, your whole life,” Amica said. “I have come here to be with you at the end. Do you mind if we sit for awhile?” Amica asked.
“I would like that, is it a good place, where we go when we leave here?” Eveylyn asked? Amica had given much thought to what happened after you left this life, what child, who has ever lost a parent doesn’t. She believed in her heart that there was a life after this one for those people who did good things. She had watched Eveylyn her whole life, and knew she was a good person.
“I think it is Eveylyn, but you will have a chance to judge that for yourself very soon” Amica said.
“I am ready,” Eveylyn said with a smile on her face. Amica sat with her, holding her hand.
“Will you wait for me on the other side, when my time finally comes?” Amica asked, but no answer ever came. Eveylyn had moved on.
Amica sat in her car feeling the tears
run down her face, as the memories of her lost children receded. She longed to have a friend again; she had felt so alone since that night so many years ago. She liked Henry, maybe already too much for her own good.
III
After dinner Henry led his family towards Ms. Roberts’s office.
“Can we explore the terminal, and look around before we go?” Shelly asked. Henry looked at his watch it was getting late.
“I will talk to my boss about finding a time when I can bring you back, and just let you explore. I will ask, and try to arrange it really soon. How does that sound?” Henry asked. His sister stopped walking, and looked at him for a minute. Henry noticed that she had stopped, and he turned to check on her.
“You okay?” Henry asked
“You would let me just hang out, and explore this place while you worked. You wouldn’t be worried I would embarrass you?” she asked surprised. Henry wondered if she felt he embarrassed her. He had never thought about this idea. They went to the same high school. He could not ever remember her speaking to him in the hallways; Henry never spoke to anyone so the fact that he, and his sister never spoke in public had never really occurred to him before. He wondered if she knew more about the state his life was currently in.
For the first time he tried to consciously focus his ability to see the connections around him. He put his hand on Shelly, he concentrated the way he looked into a gateway to see the orb. Like a flash he started to see a jumble of scenes in his head. They were hard to focus at first coming, and going so quickly. He thought harder, and the images coalesced into a steady, but fast stream of visions. He saw her standing on a street corner, and looking the other way as Paul, and Victor walked towards him. He saw her step towards him stop, and turn away. He heard her crying in her room, and he saw that she was never in the living room on days when she saw something; she always tried to let him get cleaned up before letting him use the computer. The more closely he examined his memories; the more places he saw his sister watching him wanting to say something, but waiting for him to make the first move. She was trying to respect his privacy, because they were both ashamed of their behavior. His shame came from not defending himself, and hers for not knowing how to help him. He decided they would have a talk real soon.
“I trust you,” Henry said letting go of his sister’s arm, meaning it more than he ever realized.
“Really,” she said. She gave Henry a big hug, ”Thanks,” she said.
“Come on, I want to change, and head home. I’m exhausted,” Henry said. The three of them continued their walk to Ms. Roberts’s office.
IV
They had been home a little more than half an hour when Henry knocked on his sister’s door. She opened the door.
“Hey what’s up, you look exhausted. I thought you would be asleep by now,” Shelly said. She was right. He was exhausted, but he had worked up the nerve for this conversation, and was afraid he would chicken out, if he didn’t do it tonight.
“Soon, but I thought that we should talk a little before I went to bed, do you have a minute?” Henry asked.
“Sure, come on in,” She moved back from the door, and went to sit on her bed. Shelly’s room was rectangular in shape with the head of the bed on the short wall of the rectangle. It was not big but she had done nice things with the space. There was a large window on the long wall facing a large closet. He closed the door to the bedroom, and leaned against the desk that sat on the short wall opposite her bed.
“I know what happened tonight was really out there. How’re you doing?” Henry asked. He thought he would start small. It was not a good sign that a small start to this conversation was the existence of life outside this solar system.
“I was a little thrown at first, but when it comes down to it, it’s pretty cool,” she said.
“Are you going to be able to handle not being able to talk about what you learned, ‘cause if you tell people I am not sure what the consequences will be? When I dropped my uniform off Roberts implied that the consequences could be quite severe,” Henry said.
“Enough said, that woman strikes me as very pragmatic when it comes to enforcing policy. Just the idea of her smiling that mouth full of teeth at me gives me the willies,” Shelly said. Henry took a deep breath, and steeled himself for what he needed to say.
“I’m sorry I embarrass you,” he said quickly.
“What?” she asked surprised.
“At school, I’m sorry I embarrass you at school. I want to stand up for myself, I do. I just don’t know how.” Henry said miserably. He could feel his shame burning in his cheeks.
“I’m sorry I have not helped you. I wanted to so many times. I was always afraid having a girl stand up for you, especially one as short as me would only make it worse,” Shelly said.
“It’s okay, I understand,” Henry said.
“I’ve got to say something, and I don’t think you’re going to like it, but I need to say it. I know you like this Britney girl; I saw you when you got home last night, but she’s Paul’s girl. I know they broke up, but do you really think that’s going to matter to him. I know he was out of town this weekend, but you have to know he is going to hear about your date at the mall. I got 3 text messages from people I know because they saw my brother on a date. How many do you think he got. I don’t know what her deal is, if she is trying to make him angry, or she’s just dumb, but she is going to get you seriously hurt. I don’t trust her. There, I said my piece that is all I have to say. Do you have a plan for tomorrow, because you know that lunatic is going to be furious you took his girl to the movies?” Shelly said.
“I’m just not sure, so much has happened today that I haven’t had a chance to think about it, any ideas?” Henry asked.
“I don’t…wait I got it. You could use that obscene amount of money you have in Switzerland to hire a bodyguard,” she said laughing a little nervous laugh.
“Very funny, but not really helpful. Good night” Henry said walking towards the door.
“Good night Henry, I love you,”
“Love you too” he said pulling the door closed behind him.