Copyright 2024 – Daemon D. Hart
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The Human Bearer
"Kyle, I need help," Riordan said. He looked around the cell where he had seen his friend last, searching for clues. "Can you, sort of scan this room?"
"I can offer you certain information, Master Rio. There is no distinguishable lingering scent to speak of, which means that they must have been gone for at least two hours."
"Were we gone that long?" Riordan asked. "And you have a damn fine nose for not being a dog, Kyle." If he joked a little, there was a chance for him to keep his sanity intact for a while longer. The rising panic in his gut at not finding Cario and his boy where he left them was trying his damnedest to get the better of him.
"They left," Junior suddenly said.
Riordan turned on his heel. In his frenzy to examine the room for any signs that would give him a piece of information regarding their friends' disappearance, he had forgotten that his child was capable of communicating with his fellow Xenolite.
He knelt in front of Junior and hugged him shortly. "What do you mean, baby? Did they leave of their own accord? Did someone else make them leave?"
Junior shook his head. "Dario went with his father," he said gravely.
"Drato?" Riordan frowned slightly. "But he's guarded..." He shook his head. Making the wrong assumptions would lead them nowhere at the time being. And time was of the essence. "Baby, where is Dario now? Is his mommy with him, too?"
Again, Junior nodded with a serious expression on his face. He pointed vaguely at the wall. "He's getting away. With both of them."
"Away?" Riordan could tell that his son was making a lot of effort to maintain that communication he had to be sharing with his best friend now. "Do you mean, away from Tu'lek?"
"Yes, dada. They're running away." Junior stared at him. "Why do they have to do that?"
Riordan stood to his feet and took Junior's hand. "I have no idea. Can you still hear Dario?"
Junior shook his head and his face scrunched up in a frown. "No, not anymore. They're gone."
Riordan caressed his boy's head. It looked like Junior was trying to process something. So, what his child said next took him completely by surprise. "I hate Dario now."
Said with the force only a child experiencing injustice for the first time in his life would use.
"You don't mean that, honey bunny," Riordan tried to reason with him, but Junior turned his face away from him and pulled at his hand stubbornly to make him walk.
"You must inform His Royal Chancellor of this development right away, Master Rio," Kyle reminded him.
"Why would I hurry first to Marn—oh, shoot, that's Xana, just call him like always, Kyle. I'm way too confused as I am." He hurried after Junior, with Kyle wheeling in right behind them. "This means that Drato got out of his confinement. And he knew how to come here... Do you think Cario talked to his husband?"
"That is a natural guess," Kyle offered. "Counselor Menor must have conceived an escape plan."
"An escape plan that got them out of the ship and into the unknown?"
"I have too little information at the moment to offer a proper answer, Master Rio."
"Don't bother your pretty little metal head right now. I do have to talk to Xana and see what he knows."
There were other things he meant to say, such as that he hoped Drato hadn't gotten any strange ideas in his head and decided to commit suicide with the rest of his family. But he wouldn't say such things in front of his boy, who now suffered from being abandoned by someone just like Riordan had experienced before. During the time of his kidnapping, the chances were that he had been too small to understand everything. Never had Junior showed any sign that he suffered from those traumatizing events. But now, he was affected by it, by his friend taking off to some unknown destination, leaving him behind.
"We will see Dario again," he assured him, although he didn't know if that was true.
"You're lying," Junior accused him, using his most belligerent tone Riordan had ever heard him using. "And I don't want to see him ever again!"
Riordan took one deep breath. That was something he had to address, but he couldn't do it right while they were riding in the elevator from a place they weren't supposed to be in. He couldn't let his son experience such a thing without understanding it.
"Riordan Lei." A lizard guard stepped in front of him as soon as he was out of the elevator and into the hallway. "You must come with us."
"Where are we going?"
"We have been assigned as your security detail," the answer came promptly.
"But I don't need--" Riordan swallowed his words. To anyone around, lizard guards included, Kyle had to remain the same domestic bot everyone thought he was. "Fine. And where are we going? Yeah, I know, I tend to repeat myself."
"We have been instructed to accompany you to your quarters."
"Did something happen?" Only then did Riordan notice that the hallways were deserted and only guards could be seen around.
"A breach of security. Someone stole one of the scout ships."
"Oh," Riordan said as if that were news to him. That must have been how Drato had taken his family out. "Where is my husband?"
"He will be with you shortly. The new security concern had required his presence at the place where the theft had occurred."
Riordan pondered over his next question carefully. "Can you tell me if Drato Menor is still under surveillance?"
"Yes. He is confined in his quarters at the moment, for his own safety."
They were flanked by four guards, and they were moving as a whole towards the quarters he was sharing with Xana and their boy.
"No, that's not--" Junior started.
"Baby, quiet," Riordan warned him and squeezed his hand harder than he'd been meaning to. He still couldn't take it out of his head that he had seen lizard guards on Gamni Gafilos's ship, and that didn't make him very trustful of these guys. Definitely not to the point to tell them something he wanted to tell Xana first.
"I hate you, too," Junior protested and pulled his hand away so hard that he almost made Riordan lose his balance. He slithered ahead, fast, and Riordan hurried after him. The guards followed suit.
"Do you need us to retain him?" the same guard asked.
"Don't you dare touch a hair on his head," Riordan warned them. "Kyle, make sure he gets home safe."
"The bot can be fast, but not as fast as us," the guard said, seeming unsure of this choice.
"Maybe, but he won't scare the boy like you would."
"Xenolites are never scared," the guard retorted.
"No shit," Riordan said as he continued to walk fast, his eyes trained on his son's long dark hair, wishing not to lose him out of his sight. "And you must have plenty of experience raising one, right?"
"I haven't been granted the honor," the guard replied.
Riordan saw how Kyle had already got to Junior, following closely but not intervening. He slowed down a smidge. "I keep forgetting you guys are gals. Okay, that was a low blow on my part. Sorry about it."
"You do not have to apologize, Riordan Lei. It is our duty to serve. Did you name your current bot after the last?"
"You noticed that? Yes, it's easier for me," Riordan said, schooling his face into the definition of calm.
"A human thing to do," the guard agreed without a hint of rudeness and fell in line.
A weird thing to comment on, though, Riordan thought but kept it to himself. He'd have to ask Xana just how much trust they placed in these guards. They must have looked to the outsider as a whole lot of similar beings, present there only to ensure their security. But they had their own minds, and Riordan wondered what they were thinking most of the time as they spent hours and hours by a door with nothing to do on their hands.
"Dario had no choice," Riordan made another attempt at communicating with his son, who appeared to have made up his mind about the whole thing.
"He didn't have to be scared. I would have protected him," Junior said stubbornly.
There were making some progress, in the sense that at least now his boy was talking to him instead of sulking in a corner. Or his water tank, which he loved so much.
"Dario is a just a kid," Riordan continued. "I'm sure he wants to be with his parents. Wouldn't you want to be with your dad and me if we were forced to leave the ship?"
"No one forced them," Junior replied, "they just left."
The boy had a point, Riordan thought and pinched the bridge of his nose. But for Drato to take such a drastic action... could it be that the Xeno had known more than the rest of them? Xana would have ensured his safety, but what limits were to that anyway? On this same ship, there had been attacks and traitors and all sorts of things that not even someone as experienced as Marn had been able to control. Not that he didn't trust Xana's abilities as the new Xeno in charge, but Tu'lek was a huge ship with many hidden corners.
Xana entered their quarters that very moment, and by the look on his face, the news of Drato leaving must have just reached him.
"Have you heard?" he asked nonetheless.
"He is not in his quarters, but he didn't leave through the door," Xana replied without even asking Riordan if they were talking about the same thing. They were in synch, and the short thought made Riordan feel a little better.
"I thought so. The guards only knew about the theft of a scout ship, not who was behind it. What do you think happened, Xana?"
He observed his husband getting lost in thought, most likely processing thousands of thoughts being sent to him while organizing his own.
"Drato must have known how to use the passages that cross the ship to ensure air ventilation. It is not something a lot of Xenos know since it is not essential knowledge."
Lakni had known at that time, Riordan remembered. He had known how to reach the commander's quarters so that they could save Kanto's life and the ship. But Lakni studied to become a navigator, and Kanto was one, too. For them, such knowledge was a must.
"Has Drato ever considered becoming something else than a politician?" he asked.
"We don't consider such things," Xana said. "We are born into them."
Riordan didn't have a comeback to that. Maybe he could point out that Xana proved to be just as great a warrior as he was a diplomat. But getting into the nitty-gritty of such aspects wasn't at the top of his list right now.
"You should question our dear high commander about it," he offered promptly. "Maybe he knows how Drato could have gotten into the vents and then reach... You know that he took Cario and Dario with him?" he asked in a softer voice.
"His running away would have made no sense otherwise. His bloodline matters to him as it does to any Xeno. What I can't understand," Xana continued and the frown on his face told Riordan that there weren't many things he didn't usually understand, "is how he could have known where his bearer and his son were."
"Is that part of the ship even accessible by the same system? I mean, there's breathable air, and still, it would be so easy for the security of a prison to be turned void by something like that."
"That is something I need to figure out, as well. I will visit Kanto and have him show me the schematics."
"You mean, he just needs to send them to your brain, right?"
Xana nodded. "If we are in close proximity, me and the high commander, that will help us keep our exchange private."
"I didn't know that."
"It may be an unnecessary precaution, but with everything happening on Tu'lek ever since we left Xeno, I opt for all the precautions possible."
"That makes sense. Do you think I could come along? Unless it's some protocol breach for your bearer to be present when you're talking to other Xenos about serious things such as this."
Xana's worried look softened. "I would like to have you with me all the time. Bring our boy along?" Only then Xana appeared to notice the deep frown on his son's face. "What happened?"
"So, he's not crazy about talking to you either, I guess," Riordan said with a sigh. "He's taking it hard," he said and let his voice drop to a whisper. "This thing with Dario. His first best friend taking off like this."
Xana took Junior in his arms and pressed their foreheads together. Although the boy seemed to continue being the same stubborn self that he had been for the last half hour, Xana's face remained serene, which had to mean that he was patient in dealing with his son.
They needed someone with a good head on his shoulders around. The fact that Kanto had chosen Xana as their leader until either of their seniors became fit for duty made more and more sense.
As he let his husband and their boy have their heart-to-heart talk, he moved closer to Kyle. "You do realize, my friend," he said, "that there's going to be a lot of bribing involved to get back into Junior's graces. I hope you can secure all the ingredients you need because you'll have a lot of ice cream to make."
"That is not a problem, Master Rio."
"You're the man. Tell me, Kyle, what do you think of our security detail?"
"You should ask His Royal Chancellor about it. According to my calculations, it must have been his decision to have the guards outside the door follow you."
"Right. And I guess I should get used to you calling Xana that. Still, in general, do you think the guards on this ship can be trusted? I'm grasping at straws here, but I feel like there's something I'm not getting. And they might seem loyal, but--"
"But they ask questions," Kyle completed his thought. "That can't be in their job description."
"Exactly. Still, don't let me infect you with my paranoia. Since Xana is barely putting his ass on the throne, so to speak, it feels a little weird not to worry about every little thing. And all this affair with Drato and Cario taking off with their little one, it just doesn't sit well with me. It happened way too fast."
"I will call off the search," Xana announced, interrupting his conversation with Kyle. "Since we know who stole the scout ship and who's on board, there's no reason for us to waste resources."
"What does that mean? Are we doing nothing to bring the guys home? What are they going to do out there?" Riordan shot his question at rapid fire.
Xana blinked once in understanding. "I will immediately dispatch the necessary force to get them back. Even if they might spend some time confined in their quarters while the situation stabilizes, they would still be better off here than out there. Drato hasn't answered any of my attempts to contact him. Such an irrational decision is out of character for him."
"He must have gotten scared," Riordan offered his two cents. "I mean, he got house arrest, while his bearer and his son had to hide from a bunch of scary Xenos. I can't say I blame him entirely. Only that I worry about them. A scout ship? How long is the fuel going to last them? I don't know the details, but I suppose not much. Am I right?"
Xana squeezed Riordan's shoulders in sympathy. "You are not far from the truth. Scout ships are not meant for long trips. The fuel and whatever other supplies they must have taken with them will last them for three months, but nothing beyond that."
"It's more than I thought," Riordan said. "But since we're in space, they might march towards their certain--" He swallowed the word that came to him and stole a glance around the room, to see where Junior was.
The boy was in his tank, seemingly too bothered to play. He had his back at his parents, upset as he was over losing his friend. Riordan sighed. "I still need to make amends with him. I don't want him to think that I don't care about his feelings."
"I understand that you don't wish to speak freely in front of him," Xana said softly. "I will see if Ferix doesn't mind a bit of babysitting while we're paying the high commander a visit."
"He could stay here, under Kyle's supervision."
"I understand your trust in Kyle, but everything we do right now, you and I, is going to be held under close surveillance. And your bot will be with our boy, as well. It doesn't get more secure than that."
"Okay. I see your point," Riordan agreed. "Now we only have to convince him."
He walked over to the water tank and put his hand into the water to draw Junior's attention. "Would you like to see grandpa and the good doc, Junior?" he called out.
At first, there was no sign that his message had reached the Xenolite, but after he begged two more times, Junior finally moved. He refused Riordan's offer to take him in his arms and went straight to Kyle, hanging on his robotic arm to show that he had chosen his ally.
"Let's go," Xana said and took Riordan's shoulder under his arm. "Ferix is already waiting for us."
tbc
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