Jill her thoughts in complete turmoil from everything being revealed to her, could only nod
“I was afraid that if I disappeared EBio would take over my shares and use them for even more evil. So I had Major Prescott set up a trust fund for you. I turned my stocks and holdings over to that trust fund in your name. It has been managed by your grandmother, and a good friend of mine, General Alphine. They have more financial savvy than I could ever hope to have. This was done so that you would be taken care of since I couldn’t be there, and to have a Hazelton still part of EBio. Now isn’t the time to tell you what you own, only that if you chose, you never have to work a day in your life. That you can’t spend your money fast enough to go broke in your lifetime. Because of this, your personal safety is very important. You have never been the subject of a kidnap plot that I know of. We have tried to make you an uninviting target by making sure you never knew you had the best security money could buy and not letting the press know you were the heir to such a big fortune. Using Dad’s name, not Mom’s, made it easier not to be associated with the Hazelton fortune. For your safety you must continue to act as if it doesn’t exist and not worry about the investing part of it. There is a staff of experts that your Grandmother and the General oversee to make sure you don’t have to.”
“Oh before we go on and before you interrupt me,” He held up his hand to silence her, “Jill, I did want you with me. Have ever since I left; but I felt that it was just too dangerous for you to be with us.”
“Was that this Lisa person’s idea.” Jill interrupted.
“Absolutely not,” her father chuckled remembering his wife’s reaction, “She reamed me out in a way that even my Beast DI would have taken notes on. No, Lisa would have shared the risk for you to be with us. It was my decision and it was done to keep you safe. There were many reasons for my decision; one of them is because of who you are. I left you at Mom’s because if I had come to grief, I didn’t want you harmed. At Mom’s they couldn’t use you to get to me and Lisa.”
“Is that why Aunt Mylea was so concerned about closers” Jill asked
This caused the Marshal to look at his daughter not sure what to say next. He hadn’t wanted to talk about the darker side of EBio. “So she let the cat out of the bag? Maybe she was right to tell you. I certainly am no judge of what a teen-age girl can handle. I may have given up the right five years ago.
“But yes,” he said “the closers want Lisa very badly, and because I married her; they want me too. Lisa was at one time worked in one of the company officer’s home and became privy to some stuff they don’t want to see the light of day. Lisa had been on the run for nearly twenty years. They are afraid she has shared what she knows with me. Even though as the major stock holder of EBio it is something that I am entitled to know!
Because of that EBio security wants both of us!”
“Dad what are you talking about?” Jill asked. “What do you mean entitled to the information?”
Mike suddenly realized that Jill didn’t understand. He took a deep breath. He had an unbelievable tale to tell. A tale he sometimes found it hard to believe. “Jill, my mother, your grandmother was the great, great, granddaughter of Thomas Hazelton. The founder of Earth Biological Engineering now called EBio.
Jill sat in stunned silence as she digested what her father had just told her. It was unbelievable. She didn’t know what to make of it. The way her father told the story she knew it had to be true. Her head was swimming. She knew who the Hazelton’s were. It was something she had learned in history class. They had created the bios and EBio. Were they truly heirs to that immense fortune? She couldn’t fathom what that meant.
“Dad,” She finally asked, “are you for real?”
“Very much so!” her father answered. “It is something that may take a while to get use to! I know it did for me!”
“And this company, that I own is trying to capture you and this Lisa,” Jill asked,
“Why?”
“It’s a very long story,” her father answered. “The short story is that Lisa, and now
I know things that the company doesn’t want the Imperial Bureau of Justice to know.”
“So you’ve been here all this time?” Jill asked, “And I couldn’t be with you?”
“Jill you had to stay on Mars with Mom,” her father said softly, “As much as I wanted you with me it just wasn’t safe for you. Lisa…”
“Is it this Lisa who convinced you leave me behind?” Jill cut him off.
“No,” her father said sharply, “That was my decision. And mine alone. Lisa gave me all types of grief for not having you with us! It almost caused us to separate. No it wasn’t Lisa. It was me. It was mostly because we didn’t know where we would end up. You don’t know how many times once we got settled on Trena that I almost sent for you. I knew the moment I did I would put all of us in danger.”
“Am I really in that much danger,” Jill asked. Her head was swimming with everything her father told her. The only thing she seemed to focus on was that a company she owned wanted to capture or kill her family.
“We are not certain,” her father replied, “but we are not going take any chances. So for the moment we’ll treat the situation as if you are in danger.”
“And it was you,” Jill asked suddenly, “not this Lisa person who left me on Mars with grand mom?”
“Yes,” Her father replied remembering one of the arguments he had with Lisa over not bringing the girl with them. “If one of us didn’t remain in the empire EBio would have declared us dead and take our fortune and do immense harm. Lisa gave me grief until she finally understood why you had to remain on Mars.”
“Dad why did…” she started to ask why she had to stay on Mars, when her father cut her off, “I know you have many questions but they’ll have to wait until things settle down.”
“A planet’s going to be destroyed; you have to evacuate the entire population! Just when are things going to settle down?” she asked.
“Well yes, settle down may not be quite the right words,” her father chuckled, “Let’s just say when things are less hectic! For the time being; leave questions about our heritage for later!”
“Okay, I guess,” Jill agreed; but she didn’t really agree; but knew the answers she wanted were just not going to be given to her at this time.
“But that brings us to now,” Michael said, “You will be getting a protective detail. I am sorry; but it is a fact of life from now on. It’s not totally because of your wealth! It is because of my job. I have been getting death threats. Not everyone thinks I am a good guy!” he chuckled, “They will go everywhere you go most of the time. One of them will be either in the back of your class room when you go back to school, or out in the hall. If you have a date they will drive you, and see to your safety.”
Jill didn’t know what to say. It was all too much for her to understand and take in at one time.
“Now as for your punishment,” He watched her expression “Jill I don’t really want to do this; but you have to learn what you did was not the brightest thing you could have done, and if it hadn’t been for imperial security, and some people on the railroad you might never have gotten here. So unfortunately I have to take notice of what you did.” “You’re going to send me back to grand mom aren’t you?” she asked.
“I should. I almost did,” her father answered, “but it would be just as dangerous and truthfully the Queen and I can’t afford the political fallout. Also Lisa and now that I think of it, Mylea, both had some err strong opinions of that also. Let’s just say I want some peace and quiet in the house that Lisa wouldn’t let me have if I sent you back.”
Jill felt suddenly relieved. She even smiled realizing her longtime dream of reuniting with her father was a reality.
“You may not want to smile after I tell you what’s going to happen,” Her father said softly, “you are restricted to the residence at the palace. There will be a tu
tor to continue your studies. I know a young lady needs to get her exercise and fresh air, so you’ll not be restricted to the residence all the time. The palace has some fine walking paths through the gardens and a universal class gym.”
“Palace,” Jill asked, “Like the palace on Earth or in the fairy tales?”
“Yes,” Michael replied, “And yes you will meet my boss, who insisted that we take up residence in the palace. Don’t you get any ideas! That just happens to be the safest place on the planet, and the Queen wanted to make sure that we were safe. Speaking of us, it’s time to meet the rest of us.”
“Lisa?” Jill asked, “Grand mom told me about her.”
Wilson nodded before speaking again, “Computer would you have Lisa and Abby come in please?”
The AI heard him and announced, when the door opened, “Lady Wilson, and
daughter sir,”
“Daddy!” the four year started to run to her father as the door opened, then seeing Jill, she stopped cold before asking, “Who are you?”
“I am your big sister Jill.” Jill realizing that this was the small child she had seen in the biography that she had read on the ship, Jill asked as she bent down to the child to greet her sister for the first time, “Are you Abby?”
The tow headed child nodded shyly and hugged her mother’s leg.
Jill stood up to meet her step mother for the first time. Jill saw a delta bioperson before her and like all the deltas she had ever seen it was personified in Lisa and then some. Her step mother stood about 5 foot 11. She had a perfect body. She was stunned to see that pictures she had seen of her father and this woman, when they were twenty years younger, that Lisa didn’t appear to have aged at all. The woman standing before her didn’t appear to be the nearly fifty years old she knew her step mom to be approaching. To say Lisa was beautiful was an understatement.
“Jill,” her father said softly, “this is Lisa, the lady I am married to.”
“I see,” Jill didn’t know what to say as she observed Lisa.
“Hello,” Lisa greeted her step daughter for the first time, “I guess you’ll be with us for a while.”
“I guess so too,” Jill answered. They awkwardly stared at each other both not knowing what to say or do until her father cleared his throat.
“Well let’s get your things,” Lisa looked down to her daughter and picked her up. Jill noticed that the child looked sleepy. Jill picked up her small bag.
When they left the office her father turned to a young maintenance trooper whose office they had borrowed, and thanked him.
As they walked through the hangar to where the cars were parked, Jill couldn’t help but feel self-conscience with the ten body guards surrounding them. Some of the men in the detail were nothing less than eye candy.
###
“General,” A young cadet in the back of the class asked when acknowledged, “Who was this Kellogg?”
“Kellogg was a closer from EBio,” the general said fondly remembering her now centuries dead friend, “He defected from EBio and became a station master on the Biopeople’s Underground Railroad. He was also associated with an association on Trena that ensured that the clones on Trena didn’t have to worry about closers and company personnel on Trena. His association made sure that the clones or more properly bioengineered people that immigrated to Trena were not working on closing a bioperson’s file. He was wanted by the Mounties for assassinating a closer on the court house steps in McDowell. The Mounties knew he did it and we later found out that some of the biopeople in the Mounties knew where he was, or how to bring him out; but they ignored the warrant that the Crown Attorney had issued. The bios felt he had rendered justice.” “Was Queen Jill in that much danger?” another cadet asked.
“To this day we don‘t know,” The general said, “But Marshal Wilson was always a little protective of his family. He didn’t over react but he certainly didn’t under react.”
The bell rang, and the General concluded the class, “Read chapter 4. Dismissed!”
Chapter 4: Getting Settled
“Jill didn’t know what to expect." The general began her next class after the cadets had assembled, “Serenity, as the palace was called on Trena, was not opulent, or what you would think a palace would be.”
“I was reviewing the holos in the book,” T’harla spoke, “The architect who designed the palace was outstanding.”
“He was at that,” Alice replied remembering her own first impressions. “We could spend all day talking about Serenity, and we will at a later date in another class, so let’s get back to what your grandmother thought of the palace.”
###
Although she had been told by her Aunt Mylea and her father that she would be staying at the palace she didn't know what to expect. She expected a palace out of the fairy tales of her childhood, or possibly like some of the old castles she had toured with her classmates on field trips to Earth. She expected walls several stories high, with battlements across the walls, and turrets every so often. What she didn’t expect was a low wall not much taller than two people standing on top of each other tall. The wall was made of brick, and on top of it were some sort of art work. She couldn’t see what it was. She couldn’t see the palace grounds from street level as the wall hid them quite well from the ground level. She noticed that most of the buildings near the palace were no higher than one story. In fact as she looked out of the limo’s windows she noticed that most of the buildings in Trenaport were not any higher than a couple of stories.
The limo pulled into an open gate which was flanked by a quartet of guards who were in the same type of uniform she had seen her grandmother, and father wear when they were working in the field and not in the office. After they went through the gate it was closed behind them. They were in a long corridor that went on for a couple of hundred feet with a gate at the other end. The gate at the other end was closed blocking their way. Jill didn’t understand what she was seeing; but she did notice the guards on top of the wall tracking the limo with their guns. That sent a shiver down her spine. She realized then that things were tenser than her father had let on and the situation on the space station demonstrated.
Once out of the corridor, they entered onto the palace grounds proper and Jill was confused for a moment. She thought there would be a huge imposing building that was made out of marble and other heavy stones to impress visitors to the kingdom. Instead she saw a collection of buildings near the center of the grounds with several other buildings spread out among the grounds. All of the buildings were low to the ground and spread out. With the exception of the central buildings which were two stories tall and spread out a bit more than the others.
As the limo drove through grounds, Jill couldn’t help but feel she was driving through an arboretum, rather than the grounds of a palace. The trees blocked the view of some the palace buildings from each other; giving the grounds a level of privacy from its inhabitants. The limo left the gardens and pulled under an overhang that spanned two low rambling buildings. Jill noticed that two cars were parked under the overhang with room for two more cars the size of the limo she was in. The overhang would prevent prying eyes from seeing how many got out of the cars and what cars. The limo parked by the building on the right. They got out of the limo and went into the building on the right.
“This must be Miss Jill,” a middle aged woman with coal black waist length hair greeted the party as they walked into the house. Most of the protective detail didn’t enter the building. Of the remaining agents, two took up positions on either side of the door, the red head who escorted them at the hanger stood a few feet behind her step mother. An older man seemed to stay a few steps behind her father. Jill saw movement out of the corner of her eye and saw the woman from the landing craft move into a position behind her.
“Maggie,” Lisa turned to the woman who had spoken, “Yes, this is my step
daughter Jill.”
“Welcome to Serenity, Miss Jill,” The woman greeted Jill with a slight bow.
“Thank you,” Jill replied.
A lieutenant came up to her father and spoke into his ear. He nodded and turned to her, “Got to go Jill, I’ll catch up with you.” He hugged Lisa and left. The older man who was shadowing her father left with him.
“Let me show you to your room,” Lisa offered.
Lisa led them through the spacious house that was bigger than the house Jill had lived in on Mars. It had a formal and informal dining room, a formal sitting room and a smaller casual room that the family could lounge in. There was a small study with book shelves lining the walls and two desks at opposite sides of the room. There were five bedrooms. A very large master bedroom suite with a private bath, with a small nursery sandwiched between the master bed room and a smaller third bedroom. The fourth bedroom at the end of the hall was more of a dorm room than a bed room, with two bunk beds at either end. Jill thought that was to be her room that she would share with her halfsister; but Lisa led her to a fifth bedroom that seemed almost as big as the master suite. It didn’t have a private bath; but it had a small sitting area with a sofa and desk. It was bigger than any bedroom than she had ever slept in.
“Miss Jill is there anything you want?” Maggie who had helped her step mother on the tour asked.
“No I’m fine,” Jill replied.
“By your leave Lady Wilson?” the woman asked.
Lisa nodded after the woman left Jill asked, “How do you want me to address you?”
Lisa said, “Abby calls me Mom, your father calls me Lisa or the Boss. Either one is okay.”
Jill looked at the delta clone. Considering how her father’s wife had answered her. She reflected what some of her friend had called their step parents some had called them mom others by their first name. It didn’t seem right for her to call her step mother Lisa. Yet she wasn’t her mother either. But she was her father’s wife so she thought it was more appropriate that she call Lisa mom and asked, “How does Mom sound?”