The Dark Between The Stars

ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR
GARRISON REEVES

When the job-transfer approval came in from his LOC supervisor, Milli Torino, Garrison wasn’t surprised. His skill set qualified him for much more than debris-survey flights along the Moon’s old orbit. He had decided it was time to do more than just “run around in circles”—and all the damaged CDF warships crowding the repair docks now fundamentally changed the orbital complex. There was work to do.

With the unexpected threat of the allied Shana Rei and black robots, the Confederation was in a tense state, gearing up for a possible, yet incomprehensible, war. Everyone at the Lunar Orbital Complex, both civilian and military, had seen General Keah’s report about the devastating shadow cloud at Plumas—stunning destruction inflicted upon the CDF, the Solar Navy, and Roamers alike.

But for Garrison, the shock and sadness struck closer to home. The deaths of clan Reeves had hit him hard—Dale, Sendra, even his father—and made him think of lost possibilities and diverging courses in life. He should have tried harder to find common ground, to talk his father out of his impetuous decision to fly to a space city in the middle of nowhere… but changing Olaf Reeves’s mind would have been like altering the course of stars, and that had never been within Garrison’s ability.

Even so, the knowledge made him assess his own situation. Elisa always had enough ambitions for both of them, while Garrison remained content with his job at Sheol so he could be with his wife and son, choosing family success over career or financial success. For years he had focused on escaping his backward clan, running away from rather than toward something. After losing his wife in the bloater explosion and sending his son off to Academ, he had withdrawn, convincing himself he was just recovering.

But he was taking too damn long, and it was time he opened his eyes and looked for his Guiding Star again. So he applied for a transfer and a promotion at the LOC. Even though his prickly supervisor had never given him particular kudos, barely even noticed his performance among the LOC crew workers, she approved his transfer within a day.

After Plumas, numerous battered battleships now overloaded the orbiting shipyards, industrial processing facilities, and the military training yard. The damage was extensive on the battleships, particularly to Admiral Haroun’s Juggernaut.

Scientists combed over the marks left by Klikiss robot weapons as well as the bizarre shadow creatures that no one seemed to understand. They hoped to find clues that would allow them to develop new defenses or weapons. King Peter and Queen Estarra were heading to meet with the Mage-Imperator to retrieve plans for ancient Ildiran weapons that might prove effective. Garrison thought they might be better off turning the Roamer genius Kotto Okiah loose on the problem in Fireheart Station.

Now that the Confederation was facing a new enemy, the CDF’s operational mission dramatically changed. Even if he had not asked for a new assignment, Garrison would have found himself doing other work, since mapping and shepherding lunar rubble was no longer going to be a high priority.

Torino assigned him to a metals-processing station where he supervised a crew that manufactured spare parts needed for the repair work. It was a typical Roamer operation, run mostly by experienced clan members. He had no trouble overseeing their operations because they were Roamers and knew what they were doing.

Thanks to his efficient coworkers, Garrison easily did his job, and the station produced the needed Manta spare parts faster than they could be installed. Now that the routine ran smoothly, he was surprised when Milli Torino pulled him from his duties one day and assigned him to escort Deputy Eldred Cain on a tour of the LOC shipyards and industrial facilities.

“I can certainly show him around, ma’am, and give him all the details he needs, but I don’t have any protocol background.” Cain was possibly the most important man on Earth. “Perhaps you’d be more suited—”

“I couldn’t agree more, but I have many duties that keep me busy,” she said in a clipped voice. “Besides, Deputy Cain requested someone with hands-on experience, preferably a Roamer.”

Garrison understood. Torino very much wanted the job, but Cain had turned her down, which put him in an awkward position. Elisa would have agonized over the politics of it all, but Garrison just said, “I’ll do my best.”

His supervisor looked intense, as if blaming him for something. He knew that Milli Torino was recently divorced, and apparently it had not been pleasant. From his few meetings with her, Garrison couldn’t imagine that the marriage itself had been pleasant either…

She said, “Emphasize how dramatically we’ve stepped up production in only a week. I want him to know that we’re ready for full-scale ship assembly, should the CDF need to go into emergency operations. And as soon as we receive the Ildiran sun bomb plans, our weapons engineers are ready to duplicate them.”

“I’ll do that, ma’am.”

During the day-long tour around the sprawling orbital complex, he found Deputy Cain to be an intelligent, soft-spoken, and interesting individual. In the Prodigal Son, they flew from facility to facility visiting the various operations. Garrison briefed Cain on how the metals were extracted from the lunar rubble field, how the Roamer operations (particularly his own team) produced components that the military ships needed for repair. Cain seemed comfortable with Garrison’s knowledge and his apparent disinterest in politics.

He took the Deputy to the LOC civilian complex for a final debrief. Milli Torino provided summaries of the different operations, as well as repair estimates for the damaged Mantas in the spacedocks, while the largest ships remained parked or tethered to nearby rubble, awaiting their turn.

Cain frowned. “Shouldn’t priority be given to the Juggernauts? They’re our most powerful warships.”

The question jarred her train of thought, and she visibly worked to control her annoyed expression. “There’s a bottleneck, Mr. Deputy. A Juggernaut is so big, only one of our spacedocks is adequate to accommodate the repairs. Six of our docks can work on Mantas. We’re repairing Admiral Harvard’s ship now, because it can be placed back into service the quickest.”

Garrison spoke up. “Also, sir, Juggernaut components are more specialized, and my team is manufacturing them as swiftly as possible. Even if we had all three Juggernauts in the dock, we wouldn’t have enough replacement parts. Yet. Trust me, this schedule allows the greatest number of battleships to be repaired in the shortest possible time.”

Deputy Cain tapped his fingers on the desktop. “I’ll accept that, Mr. Reeves.”

They were interrupted when the green priest Lubai came to Torino’s office and insisted on speaking with Garrison. Now his supervisor looked particularly upset. “We are in an important meeting here. Mr. Reeves can take care of personal matters on his own time.”

The green priest would not be budged. “I have urgent news, a message just received through the worldforest network from Academ. It’s about his son.”

Garrison was on his feet immediately. “Is he all right?”

“A woman claiming to be the boy’s mother withdrew him from the Roamer school. Jess Tamblyn and Cesca Peroni were unable to stop her.”

Garrison tried to wrap his mind around the revelation. “His mother? But she’s dead.”

“Her identity was confirmed as Elisa Reeves, although she called herself Elisa Enturi.”

Her unmarried name? “Elisa’s… alive.” He had to say it aloud to help himself believe it. He turned quickly. “And she took Seth?”

“They departed from Academ. Jess and Cesca insisted that you be informed right away.”

Garrison was already moving toward the door of the conference room, casting his apologies to Deputy Cain and the supervisor. “I have to go. Right now.”

Milli Torino was indignant. “You can’t just leave! You’re responsible for important shipyard operations here—”

“I said I have to go.” He understood that the Roamers at the fabrication complex could do their work just fine without him, and he had to get to Academ right away.

Deputy Cain’s expression was more understanding. “Go, Mr. Reeves. No need to worry about having your job back when you return to Earth.”

Rushing into the corridor, Garrison paused, surprised by the comment. “Thank you, Mr. Deputy.” But in his mind, that was the last thing in the universe he was worried about.

He flew the Prodigal Son directly to Academ without stopping at the main inhabited ring of Newstation. He passed through the access zone and rushed to the school offices in the walls of the hollowed-out comet.

When Jess and Cesca joined him, their expressions showed concern. Jess said, “There was nothing we could do. Legally, any parent has the right—”

Garrison held up his hand. “I’m not blaming you. I… I just can’t believe Elisa’s still alive.”

“Apparently, she didn’t know that you and Seth had survived, either,” Cesca said. “She was rather upset when she learned it.”

“Do you know where she took my son? I heard Lee Iswander has some massive secret ekti operations—no doubt Elisa’s gone back to him.” He clenched his fist. “That’s no place for a boy. Seth should be here at Academ with other Roamer students.”

“She wouldn’t tell us where she was going,” Cesca said. “In fact, she made a point of refusing.”

He had hardly been able to think during the swift flight from Earth to Newstation, and now he knew his next step would be to track down Iswander’s ekti operations. Even after the industrialist’s disgrace at Sheol, Garrison knew that Elisa would stick with him. She might ignore her son and resent her husband, but she would never, ever abandon Lee Iswander.

Still, he had no idea where to look.

“We have a way to track him down,” Jess said with a smile. “I gave your son a vial of wental water as a souvenir—on purpose. We hoped you would come.”

Garrison was confused. “What good will a vial of wental water do? They can’t protect him… can they?”

“The wentals are mostly dormant. But, even though they rarely communicate with us anymore, we can still sense them,” Jess said.

Cesca smiled. “That means we know where that vial of wental water is. We’ve already gathered the coordinates for you. But it’s very strange…”

Garrison was not concerned about esoteric details. He was ready to rush off. “Strange how?”

“The wentals can sense something huge and slumbering there,” Jess added. “We think Iswander is awakening it… or harming it. We don’t know.”