"Physically you seem to be Jason Groveen, but you don't look like him. Are you really Jason?" Doctor Sino said, standing before him and looking at the space just in front of her face.
"You know I am, Doctor," he replied, sounding nervous.
"You can't be. The Jason I know never smiles, and I've seen you smile quite a bit recently."
Jason's grin returned. "I've got reasons to smile now."
"Uh-huh." The woman glanced at Kira. "I think I know what one of those reasons is. I'm Doctor Sino," she introduced herself to the others.
"Doctor of Sino?" Mari asked. "That is your home?"
"Uh…no. My name's Peggy Sino. I was born and raised on Horizons One Orbital Habitat, if that's what you're asking."
"Doctor is what people on Earth call healers," Jason explained to Kira's parents. "Doc Sino is, well, the closest thing to a friend I had on the ship. She's cool."
"I'm cool? Thanks. And you're in pretty good shape," Sino commented, her eyes still on that something before her. "Physically, really good. Much better than the last time I saw you. You've been exercising. What's this recent skin trauma?"
"That's probably from when the dragon hit me," Jason said.
"I see. I'll list it as an encounter with local wildlife. You need to eat more vegetables. Make sure you pay attention to that. Otherwise, you're good to go, Jason. Or good to stay, that is. You do want to stay here? That's for the official record."
"Yes, Doctor, I want to stay here."
Sino sighed, looking around. "I can see why. I'll miss you. Good luck."
"Doctor? Before you go, could I ask you a couple of things?" Jason said, nervous again. "Um, since I'm going to be here for I guess the rest of my life, I might, you know, someday want to, sort of, a family—"
"Yes," Sino said, smiling. "Your gene pacs are fully compatible with natural methods of reproduction. Your gene pacs are also still under license, but I seriously doubt that anybody from ULS is going to come here demanding sublicensing fees if you pass on some of those genes to offspring."
"The other thing was…" Jason leaned close and whispered to Sino.
The doctor looked at Mari. "Is it okay if I do a scan? Nothing physically invasive, no permanent record. Just a look."
Mari glanced at Jason. "It's all right this time?"
"From Doc Sino, yes."
"Go ahead," Kira's mother told the doctor.
"Oh." Sino nodded to herself. "I see. Yes, that's correctable. If you know what you're doing, and I'm guessing the surgeons here don't, know since it hasn't been fixed?"
"What are you talking about?" Mari asked.
Sino pointed toward Mari's abdomen. "The problems in there that interfere with a safe pregnancy. Jason, I could guide the local surgeons in fixing this. They understand antisepsis here, right? The only problem is that I can't stay to do it. Talese Groveen has made it clear that as soon as we're done here our ship is heading home."
"You can't stay a little longer?" Jason pleaded.
"I want to stay here long enough to handle this, Jason, but—"
Kira gasped as she saw the opening in the side of the Earth ship vanish. The ship jumped skyward.
Doctor Sino turned to look, startled. Her fingers moved rapidly. "My link is dead. No one's answering me." She paused, her expression worried. "Jason, what was the last thing I said before they took off?"
"You said…you wanted to stay here, but—"
"Oh." Sino exhaled heavily. "I should have realized that TG would seize on any opportunity to maroon me here."
"What happened?" Kira asked, guessing that TG was short for Talese Groveen but otherwise confused.
"What happened is that I said, while being monitored, I want to stay here. By using just that clip, TG can claim I decided to stay along with Jason. Oh, yeah. That's why she told me to repeat whatever Jason said about staying. I didn't, but I gave her what she wanted later."
"Why?" Mari looked dazed as she tried to take in everything the doctor had told her. "Why would she want to leave you?"
"Because," Sino said, pointing at Alain, "I was also out here when your husband tricked TG into admitting that she was to all intents and purposes selling her son. That made me another witness who could have testified against her on Earth. Now all I could do is rat her out using your Feynman Unit, but transmissions like that are not legally admissible evidence."
"I'm sorry," Jason said. "This is my fault."
"And ours," Alain said.
"Not entirely," Sino said, looking around. Her expression, angry at her abandonment by the ship, slowly shifted as she looked at the world around her, settling into a slight smile. "I left TG an opening for her to knife me, and she did. I'm not all torn up about not spending another two months cooped up with her inside that ship, and there isn't anybody left back on Earth that I'm particularly close to. That's why I accepted the mission assignment even though I was going to be gone for twenty years. And there are a lot worse places to be marooned. Hey, you're called Lady Mari, right? And you're in charge of this planet? Since I'm staying, do you think there's any chance I could have a pony? I've always wanted one."
"I'm not exactly in charge of the planet," Mari said. "I can promise you that if you come back to Tiae with us, Queen Sien will be only too happy to let you choose a horse from the royal herd. But, to be honest, every place on Dematr is going to want you and your knowledge. They'll all offer you whatever you want."
Doctor Sino looked at Jason. "I think to start off with I'll put my trust in the people who were smart enough to outfox TG, and who gave this guy reasons to smile. I like Jason, and it means a lot to me that you put yourselves on the line for him. Besides, I have to go where you do so we can get that surgery done. It's a good thing I've got my bag."
"You will help Mari?" Alain asked as he moved to stand beside her. Kira was surprised to hear how clear the hope sounded in her father's voice.
"I am a doctor. That's what we do. And she's already sort of my patient."
Kira watched in shock as her mother sagged, having to be supported by her father. "Are you all right?"
Mari got her feet under her again, giving Kira a smile. "I'm fine. I just never thought there'd be a chance that you could have another brother or a sister."
"A brother or a sister?" It finally hit Kira. "After the doctor works on you, you'll be able to have another child! But…"
"But what?" her mother asked.
"Aren't you a little old for that?"
Mari stared at her. "I am going to make you pay for that, young lady. You'll never know where or when. Oh, uh, Doc-tor? Kira was hurt. Can you do anything for her?"
"Hurt?" Sino frowned as Kira took off her coat. "If there are modesty issues here, everybody else turn while I take care of this." Kira opened her shirt, wincing as parts of the fabric stuck to the cuts pulled free, while Alain and Jason quickly faced in other directions. Sino whistled softly. "What did this?"
"A dragon," Kira said, uncomfortable.
"A dragon. What a cool planet." Kira felt a chilly sensation on the cuts as Sino sprayed something, the stinging and itching disappearing. "Was this the same one that hit Jason? What happened to the dragon? Did you slay it?"
"Yes," Kira said.
"Wicked! You had a nasty bruise developing on your chest as well, but the spray will also help bring that down quickly. There. You'll be fine. Next time you want to fight a dragon, wear some armor or something."
As Kira buttoned up her shirt, Sino pointed to the cavalry waiting not far away. "Do we get to go back with them?"
"Yes, we do," Mari said. "You can ride with us."
"Cool. Oh, you might not know that the crew collected some skin flakes so they'd have a head start on genetic material from you guys." Sino grinned, patting her bag. "Which were all stored here. When TG took off, she left those, too."
"I knew I could count on you, Doc." Jason started laughing. "I finally get it! Lady Mari, you told me that I needed to trust in people. You didn't mean my m
om! You meant I should trust in you, and in people like Doc Sino."
"That's right," Mari told him. "Alain and I figured that Talese Groveen would be eager enough, greedy enough, and in a rush enough not to think through what she was agreeing to. She did flinch when you threatened to testify about other things. That may have been what caused her to give in."
Jason laughed again. "I made that up. I figured my mom must have a lot of bodies buried somewhere…uh, that's a metaphor for lots of stuff that she doesn't want anybody to find out about, because I don't think she's actually in person murdered anybody…and her guilty conscience made her worry that I'd found out about some of it."
Kira's mother grinned. "I'm beginning to understand more why Kira likes you now, Jason. That reminds me. What do we call you? Do you want to hold on to the name Groveen, or—?"
"No! Can I be, uh, Jason of Pacta Servanda?"
Mari shook her head. "You're not from Pacta. Isn't there any place on Urth you called home?"
It was Jason's turn to shake his head. "No. I never really had a place. Just, Earth, I guess."
"Jason of Urth? That can work."
They rejoined the cavalry, one of the troopers dismounting and double-riding with a companion so that a delighted Doctor Sino could take her horse.
"How are we going to handle this?" Mari asked Alain as they all rode back to the city. "We just acquired a sixteen-year-old boy."
"Do we want him living with us?" Kira's father asked.
"Yes," Kira said.
"No," Kira's mother said. "We'll find a good place. I wonder if Alli and Calu would take him for a while? Calu would love to pick Jason's brains, and their boys would be great companions. He could ride the train—"
"The train?" Jason said, looking alarmed.
"You are wise to be worried," Alain commented.
"The train," Mari said. "It's an easy ride between Pacta and Danalee."
"Danalee?" Kira demanded. "You want Jason to live in Danalee? That's almost as far from Pacta Servanda as Urth is!"
"Give or take a bunch of light years," Jason muttered.
"See? Jason agrees with me!"
"We could ask Asha and Dav to take him," Mari said with mock seriousness. "I'm sure that their girls Ashira and Devi would love to have a boy near their age staying with them."
Kira made a face at her mother. "Very funny. What is wrong with him staying with us?"
"You want him living with you as a brother?"
"No! Maybe. No. I don't know."
Mari spread her hands as if helpless. "If you'd rather he'd gone back to Urth…"
"I didn't say that! I just want a chance to know him better!"
Her mother smiled reassuringly. "We're not keeping you apart. We'll give you that chance."
Kira exhaled heavily, gazing morosely ahead. "All right."
"All right?" Mari said. "Are you serious? That's it?"
"I don't feel like arguing," Kira said.
Her mother made an exaggerated reaction of surprise. "You don't feel like arguing? Who are you? And what have you done with Kira?"
"She's still here." Kira rolled her eyes at her mother. "See? But Kira knows a little bit more about herself now. And she knows a little bit more about her mother, and maybe even understands her mother a little more."
Her father managed a look of interest. "You must tell me what you have learned. I have spent twenty years trying to understand your mother and am still far from knowing what I should."
Mari rolled her eyes at both of them. "I always treasure these family moments when my husband and daughter gang up on me. However, at the moment nothing can bother me. We were so worried, Kira, especially after your father had that vision of you being chased along the side of a mountain."
"I was what?" Kira asked.
"Being chased along the side of a mountain. You and Jason. You had your pistol in your hand. When did that happen?"
Kira turned a puzzled gaze on Jason. "When did that happen? Did that happen?"
"I don't remember anything like that," Jason said. "As far as I can remember you holstered your pistol after we got out of Kelsi and didn't draw it again until we were in Ihris."
"I checked it and reloaded the night before we got to Ihris, but I was sitting down near the fire."
Her mother grew suddenly intent and serious. "Are you certain? You were never running along the side of a mountain with your pistol in your hand? Not even once for even a very short time?"
"No," Kira said. "I would have remembered that."
"Alain!" her mother said to her father.
He shook his head. "It has not yet happened."
"You're looking at Kira now. How much older was she in your vision?"
Her father studied Kira. "Not much older. It will happen within a few years at the most. Perhaps much sooner."
"What will happen?" Kira demanded.
Her mother answered in a weary voice. "Whatever will lead to that vision. Your adventures are not over, young lady. The vision your father saw still has to happen. At some point, before you're much older, you're going to be getting chased through mountains somewhere."
Kira realized that her mouth had fallen open and snapped it shut. "Jason was with me? You said that, didn't you?"
"Yes, Jason was with you," Alain said.
"Why is someone going to be chasing us through the mountains?" Kira demanded. "What have I done? Or is it something Jason did?"
"It may be what you will do at some point in the future," her father replied.
"What is that? Don't I deserve to know?"
'We'll all find out when we find out," Mari said. "Can you imagine how I felt when soon after meeting your father he saw the two of us fighting in a battle together at Dorcastle someday? And married? All we know now is that if our daughter will be in that situation, it's because she will have a good reason, is trying to do the right thing, and will be able to handle whatever happens. Even if she meets a dragon or two along the way."
Kira gave her mother a worried look. "I've heard some things in the last few weeks. Do you think whatever happens will be about…about people thinking or hoping that I would take over the daughter's responsibilities some day?"
Mari sighed. "I've never encouraged that kind of talk. I've discouraged it. But people cling to it. I'm sorry. I don't expect that, and I will never pressure you to do it. Though…you did good, Kira. If that happened, I think you'd be fine. But my goal is still to get things set up so this world doesn't need the daughter to resolve disputes. And making the position hereditary would carry all kinds of risks."
"I know about Queen Sien and Prince Tien," Kira said.
Her mother studied Kira. "You don't seem overwhelmed. The Kira I know would have curled up into a whimpering ball at the idea of taking on my job."
"The Kira you knew almost did just that the first time she heard it," Kira told her mother. "This Kira is…still well aware of how little she is suited for that role, but she's not going to freak out."
"That's my girl. You always seemed to think that having me as your mother was a curse."
"I did," Kira admitted. "There was a lot I wasn't seeing, or understanding. I am so proud and happy to be your daughter. The daughter of the daughter."
"Thank you, Lady Kira," her mother said, blinking away tears.
"Oh, don't you dare do the lady thing to me!" Kira reached across to grasp her mother's hand. "When we get home, can we talk? I need to tell you a lot more about the last few weeks, and I hope you can tell me more about…things that are hard to talk about."
"I'll try. Oh, Alli is going to want to talk to you, too."
Kira felt her blood chill, remembering events at the railyard. "About Gari?"
"Yeah. She's kind of upset. Don't worry. We'll face that lecture together."
"Let's not tell Aunt Alli about you and me aiming at each other."
"Stars above, no!" Mari said. "We'd never hear the end of it."
"Mother," Kira said, still holding onto he
r mother's hand, "we're plotting together!"
She heard her father speaking to Jason. "I hope you realize what you are getting into."
ALSO BY JACK CAMPBELL
THE PILLARS OF REALITY
The Dragons of Dorcastle*
The Hidden Masters of Marandur*
The Assassins of Altis*
The Pirates of Pacta Servanda*
The Servants of the Storm*
The Wrath of the Great Guilds*
THE LEGACY OF DRAGONS
Daughter of Dragons*
THE LOST FLEET
Dauntless
Fearless
Courageous
Valiant
Relentless
Victorious
THE LOST FLEET: BEYOND THE FRONTIER
Dreadnaught
Invincible
Guardian
Steadfast
Leviathan
THE LOST STARS
Tarnished Knight
Perilous Shield
Imperfect Sword
THE GENESIS FLEET
Vanguard
PAUL SINCLAIR/JAG IN SPACE
written as John G. Hemry
A Just Determination
Burden of Proof
Rule of Evidence
Against All Enemies
ETHAN STARK
written as John G. Hemry
Stark’s War
Stark’s Command
Stark’s Crusade
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
Ad Astra*
Borrowed Time*
Swords and Saddles*
STANDALONE NOVELS
The Last Full Measure
* available as a JABberwocky ebook
THANK YOU FOR READING
This ebook has been brought to you by JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
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