The Lion's Roar Page 3

  "Then, the Emperor himself will judge you for your actions." The Captain's tone shut down any more remarks she could have said, and she knew the meeting was over.

  "By your leave, sir," Naomi said bowing her head again and getting up from the chair. The Captain did not respond as she walked awkwardly across the small office practically crumbling beneath the weight of his gaze. As the door closed behind her she let out a long sigh of relief and became aware that her heart was thudding like a jack hammer. She didn't drink often, but meetings with the Captain often left people a little shaken, to say the least. Too bad there isn't any aboard. She started walking down the hallway.

  "That went well," a silky voice whispered into her ear.

  Naomi shuddered, but started walking toward the elevator at the end of the hallway. There were no other rooms in the hallway, just the Captain's office, but people were still lingering about.

  "Hello, Dagor," she mumbled in reply. "Now is not the best time."

  "We just had a huge victory," his voice was positively bursting with joy. Naomi always imagined Dagor as an imp. A small man with a smooth tongue. She had no way to prove it, but she was almost certain it was true.

  "Well, we can talk as soon as I get to my room instead of while I am walking in a hallway," she grumbled, trying not to draw attention to herself. It didn't work, of course. Everyone knew by now what had happened to Terran. Another group of people walked by and began whispering once she had passed-- she began to think maybe getting off at the next stop would be a good idea.

  "Very well then, but don't forget about your little reward for this wonderful deed."

  Naomi's heart skipped a beat at the thought of talking to her son again. "I want to talk to him once I get to the room."

  "Of course," Dagor's voice whispered.

  With that he was gone, and Naomi felt the distinct need to shower. She hated talking with him. He seemed to be able to magnify every bad feeling she was experiencing and bring it to the forefront of her mind just by talking. He could have been asking her about her day, and she would have felt like a cold slime had been dripped down her back.

  It will all be worth it to see Nathaniel again. She couldn't forget the prize. It had been four years since she had seen his face or heard his voice. He would be sixteen now. He had taken after her, and she had loved seeing his dimples when he smiled. Her heart began to ache at the thought of her son. He will understand, they have surely told him what happened and why he was left behind. He would understand that it wasn't her fault. She repeated these thoughts to herself as she finally entered her room.

  It was a simple room. A bed sat in the corner, neat and orderly. There was a couch and some lounging chairs surrounding a small table in a small depression in the center, but it was bare of decorations. First things first, I need to take a shower. After she had washed away Dagor's voice and the worries of the day, she dressed and readied herself for her son.

  Sitting on the couch, she picked her up her tablet and input the code to open the underlying operating system on it. She no longer used the ship's OS as it could be traced too easily. Noticing an email notification, Naomi mindlessly clicked on it.

  Probably just some meeting or other useless notification. Naomi hated the meetings that accompanied the newcomers' training. Surely, they wouldn't ask her to speak to them again after what had happened. The email was not from a committee, however, but from Rictor. The subject said it was a brief from the planetside operations, but it was addressed solely to Naomi. Opening it, she read through the first few lines of pointless information, then stopped in her tracks. One line stood out to her from the rest.

  Just to be clear, Terran is expected to make a full recovery from his accident.

  Naomi couldn't help but stare at the words. Surely it was a lie. She had given him the precise amount that Dagor had told her. Terran should be dead. She read the sentence again, then again. Tears began filling her eyes. As she expected, another email notification appeared on her screen. With trembling fingers, she reached out and touched the symbol. A quick email from Dagor appeared with five words. Terran Alive means No Deal.

  Naomi set the tablet down and lay on the couch with her head on the pillow and began to cry. In a few moments, the email erased itself and the tablet shut off. The lights dimmed with a simple command between sobs, and in the darkness of her room Naomi cried herself to sleep.

  Chapter 5

  " Wake up, sleepy head," a sweet voice whispered.

  Terran's eyes snapped open, and he sat up ready to fight off the attack. A wave of nausea struck him, and he fell onto his back putting his palms to his eyes to fight against the light. Terran moaned and tried to gather his bearings. Something was different, the chair wasn't the firm material from before, but soft and bouncy. It reminded him of the plush couches his family had owned when they had lived in Inner Debe.

  "What are you doing Kelly?" Terran asked. There was an awkward silence as Terran realized who he was talking to. Once again, he sat straight up in the chair, this time fighting through the nausea and the brightness of the room. Kelly was sitting at the foot of the soft and narrow couch he had been resting on. Her eyes were bright and she was smiling at him, her hair washed and falling in soft waves below her shoulders. She was no longer in the mismatched clothes they had been wearing in the slums. Instead, she was in a blue tank top with a grey jacket and matching slacks. The lion insignia he had seen on the hull of the burning ship was on her jacket's shoulder. No, it wasn't burning, just glowing. That seemed odd to him the more he thought about it. Looking beyond his sister he surveyed his surroundings.

  They were in someone's office, several bookshelves lined the walls of the small room and a wooden desk sitting in front of a large window gave hint to its use. Terran's eyes almost skimmed over the window before his brain registered what he was seeing. Out of it, the whole of space spread out before him. He stood and walked unsteadily to the window until his forehead was resting on its thick glass, all else forgotten.

  "You're lucky," Kelly teased. "I didn't even fall asleep like a little baby through the hard part of leaving planetside. I was up the whole time."

  "I didn't fall asleep," Terran said absent mindedly, still looking at the beautiful scene before him. Shining stars, more than he could count, sparkled at him across a backdrop that tried to smother them in darkness. He could see the sides of the ship; they were dark grey and fell away from him in a gentle curve. The crimson must have been a trick of the light.

  "If you didn't fall asleep, then why did you just wake up?" Kelly asked, playfully nudging his arm.

  "I didn't say I wasn't asleep, just that I didn't fall asleep," Terran said, a little annoyed at his sister. "I was..." Quickly, Terran began to run his hands along his body. Looking down at himself, he noticed that his clothes had been changed as well and matched the style that Kelly was wearing.

  "They probably took care of all your fleas, bro," Kelly said laughing. "They made all of us take showers when we boarded. Get this, the water was hot the whole time. They told us to take as long as we wanted."

  "I was looking for stitch marks," Terran said with a frown. "Why the heck did they put me to sleep like some type of animal?" he snapped. "I thought they were going to harvest my organs or something."

  As soon as Terran finished, Kelly began laughing so hard that she fell over double, tears beginning to stream down her face.

  "How in the world is that so funny? Terran asked, "Maybe for you it would seem strange, but I was strapped down and drugged. What else was I supposed to think?"

  Finally, regaining her composure, Kelly didn't reply. Standing up, she walked over to him and hugged him as tightly as she could. Terran's anger disappeared instantly as he wrapped his arms around her in a fierce bear hug.

  "I am so glad you're here." She said. "It's nice having the family back together again."

  "Mom and Anna came too?" Terran asked hopefully.

  "Of course, silly," Kelly said as she headed back to the couch. "Why would anyone pass up the chance at paradise?"

  A smile began creeping to his lips as he walked across the room to plop on the couch by his sister. Staring out the window, he noticed two small streaks of light racing toward the ship. I wonder if those are comets. As they tore into the ship, however, he knew they were not. More beams of light came tearing through the black sky, piercing the vessel. Terran could see the hull boiling around the perimeter of each hole punched in the ship.

  "No" he screamed as a beam of light began heading towards the window.

  He jumped on top of Kelly as the beam of light crashed into their room. The force of the blast threw him into the wall and he crumpled to the floor. He watched as Kelly flew away from him, out of the small room. He reached out to her, somehow hoping he could draw her back in to him.

  He didn't know what exploded behind him, but he felt the explosion fling him out of the window. He rocketed past his sister, no longer moving, and began spinning wildly in the air. Then, fire exploded within him, and he screamed as the flames spread throughout his body. Whimpering, he curled into a ball, hugging his knees. With a final shudder his body gave out and a numbness spread all over. He glanced up and everything was gone. Instead, he was surrounded by darkness. Featureless and soundless, this darkness had a cold feel to it. It seemed immeasurably large, and yet it seemed to be rushing inward into him, as if to devour his very body and soul from the inside out. Suddenly, his body convulsed as lightning shot through it and the darkness burst away from him. The pain from the lightning was very real, and once again, Terran screamed.

  "Someone shut him up," an unfamiliar voice yelled through a wall of static.

  Terran opened his eyes again to a blurred world full of dull lights and slow noises. There seemed to be a disconnect between his eyes and ears. He would see something move, then hear it moving a second after. I wonder what those fuzzy things are? They seem so nice. He tried to reach out and touch one of the strange and twisted pieces of fuzz, but he was unable to move his arm.

  "How much longer does he have?" said another voice. This one had a rough edge to it and seemed very concerned about something.

  "You can't have my organs," Terran failed to say, slurring every word. One of the featureless fuzzes leaned toward him, and he began to fall away again. He watched the scene around him drift away until it was just a speck of light in the distance. His own personal star. Then, even that light was too far away to be seen. He drifted down for a million miles until he finally landed upon his old couch from Inner Debe. The darkness around him was a comfort this time, filled with the sweet warmth of rest.

  Chapter 6

  T erran awoke to the harsh smell of antiseptic. A sudden beep caused him to jerk away from the sound--which he immediately regretted as a sharp pain shot up from his hand. An IV had been stuck in him, and following the tube led back to the small, beeping machine beside him. I'm in a hospital? He turned to his left and jumped when he saw a large man in the chair next to him reading a rather small book. The book looked more like a pamphlet in his scarred hands. The man looked toward Terran and smiled. Scars almost completely covered his face, forming crags and valleys against the wrinkles that were already there. His gray hair was trimmed neatly, but his scalp bore several large scars that disrupted the orderly haircut. He stood, and Terran fought a sense of vertigo as he forced himself to look up at the man's face. This has to be the orderly sent to keep me in line, or to finish the job that Naomi started. That didn't make sense. If this man had wanted him dead, he would have killed him in his sleep. What is he here for then?

  "Wha..." a fit of coughing stopped Terran from finishing his word.

  The man tossed the book he had been reading onto the chair and stared at Terran. Unable to get away from the giant's gaze, Terran sat in silence and looked down at his hands.

  "Hello, Terran," the man said, finally breaking his silence. "My name is Glenn Denner, and I am the Captain of the Lion's Roar. Do you know where you are?"

  "I'm in a hospital," Terran whispered. He swallowed a few times to make talking less painful. "Where the hospital is, I don't know."

  "You had a very bad reaction to a sedative you received when you were onboard the Gungir. Do you remember boarding the ship?" Glenn asked, pulling the chair next to the bed and sitting back down.

  "Why was I given a sedative?" Terran rasped, wishing he didn't have to talk anymore. Every time he talked it felt like a piece of sandpaper was scraping inside his mouth.

  Glenn handed Terran a clear glass of what appeared to be water and sat down. Terran sniffed the liquid, then drank just enough to wet his mouth. He fought the urge to gulp the rest of the water for a few more seconds before downing the cup, spilling water down his chest. A contented sigh escaped from him as he set the cup down. Water had never tasted so good. Of course, the water I'm used to was never this clear anyway.

  Glenn gave Terran a few more moments before continuing, "You were given a sedative because a Voice had an over inflated sense of urgency. We have talked it over, and she has been reprimanded. How are you feeling?" Terran tried to look into the Captain's eyes, but turned away.

  "Truthfully?" he asked.

  "Truthfully." Glenn replied.

  "I'm already tired of this Capital nonsense. If your 'Voices' or whatever can't handle something as simple as boarding someone on a..." Terran paused mid rant. What did he call that ship? The Gungir is what the Captain had called it.

  "It is called a jumping vessel," Glenn said, noting Terran's confused expression. "It makes the jump from the ship to planetside and back again. Luckily, the jumps don't take any large amount of time, and Rictor made sure that everything was right on schedule. We were able to get you into the O.R. quickly and pump some life back into you." After a brief silence, he added, "You were gone for a little bit there."

  Terran shuddered, thinking back to the darkness that had almost smothered him.

  "How long have I been out?" he asked.

  "Two days," said Glenn. "Everyone else has been assigned their duties and cleaned up. After another day or two you will be assigned your duties, and we can get you briefed on the details of what exactly we do and what is expected of you. Unfortunately, even if you are tired of this 'Capital business', you can't leave until we reach the next assigned planet. It will take us three months to get there. If you do decide you don't want to be a part of our mission, you can stay in the room we have prepared for you."

  Terran struggled to keep his emotions in check. I'm really gone? No more Sisera to haunt me? "Sir," he said, unsure of protocol on a space ship, "I have a lot of questions about all this."

  "I understand," Glenn said as he got up from his chair. "However, we will have to continue this talk at a later time. I made a promise to some...persistent girls that when you woke up, I would let them know. There will be plenty of time for Q&A before we reach Torga." Glenn left the door open as he left. The bed's position made it impossible to see out of the room, but Terran was able to see the blue carpet that stopped in the doorway. He wondered who his visitors would be. His sisters? His mother? All of them? Maybe it was just Naomi, coming to explain why she had almost killed him. The last possibility caused a knot in his stomach and he hoped it wouldn't be her.

  Minutes passed, and Terran began inspecting his room to pass the time. It was small and white with two uncomfortable looking chairs sitting neatly in front of his bed. There was a small side table to his left and a number of bright monitors to his right showing his vitals. As he began to read the monitors, he heard footsteps pounding down the hallway. He looked to the doorway just as two breathless girls entered the room. They both wore grey sweatpants and a blue shirt with the lion emblem emblazoned on the chest. Panting and leaning on one another, they looked at him and smiled. Even with shaved heads it was easy to see the resemblance.

  "You have no idea how happy I am to see you two. Where's mother? What happened to your hair?"

  The two girls straightened, their breathing softer now though obviously still winded. Kelly held up a finger to silence Terran, and the girls took another moment to catch their breath. Anna spoke first, "Mother stayed behind to wait in case dad ever came home. She has been waiting this long and didn't see any reason to stop. Before you get mad, know that it was her choice and nothing we could have said would have changed her mind. I guess we can figure out where you get your stubborn side."

  Kelly started in before Terran could respond, "You are the reason we lost our hair. We both had positively massive amounts of lice and bugs and unmentionables in it. At first, they tried to save it, but by the time they had cut out the split ends, combed out the bugs, and tried to wash it, it had practically all been cut or fallen out. Besides, you have no reason to laugh."

  Terran reached up and rubbed his head. Rough stubble covered it. "How do I look?" he asked with a grin.

  "Horrid!" Kelly replied at once. "Of course, losing your hair didn't change much." His sisters rushed the bed and they wrapped their arms around him.

  "I had the most terrible dream," Terran whispered. "I thought I had lost both of you."

  "Well, unfortunately for you we are still here to pester you," Anna said giving him a faint smile. "We can't stay long, we have duties to attend to, and you need your rest."

  "Very well," Terran said, already feeling worn out. "I love you, don't forget that."

  They pulled away slowly. Kelly wiped her eyes, and they both backed away from the bed "This is going to be a grand adventure, Terran. Wait until you actually hear about the Capital."

  Terran, still unsure of whether he wanted anything at all to do with the Capital, smiled and waved as they left the room. Laying back on the reclined bed, Terran began to sort through the questions he had.

  Chapter 7

  R ictor sat across from his Captain with his legs propped on the spotless desk. He rather liked the Captain's office. It was a sanctuary where he and Glenn could look out for the rest of the ship.