Starship Vengeance

Chapter 3

My mother screamed as she threw her arms around me. My father and my little sister ran to the front door with worried expressions on their faces. My dad recognized me first and joined my mother in her attempt to smother me. I finally managed to extract myself only to be barreled into by Katie. She squeezed me so hard I had trouble breathing. "We thought you were dead" she whispered to me. She took a step back and I could see her eyes tearing up. She reached her hand out towards my face and slapped me. "That's for not writing" she said and then smiled.

"Katie!" my mother scolded her. "Is that anyway to treat your brother?"

"It's fine mom" I said with a chuckle. "I'm getting used to it." I ignored the confused looks on their faces. Instead, I walked into the living room and sat down. Nothing had changed.

"Where have you been" my dad asked.

"I think a better question would be where haven't I been" I replied. "It's a long story, so you might as well get comfortable. I spent the better part of an hour recounting my many adventures. Their responses ranged from disbelief to absolute wonder. After I had finished, I sat back in the chair, giving them a few minutes to digest what I just told them. I suddenly felt very tired.

My dad was the first to talk. "Just how bad is it?" he asked.

"It's bad" I answered. "We're evacuating the planet. The first of the ships will be completed in a day or two."

"You can't possibly hope to evacuate everyone" Katie said skeptically. "There are almost a billion people on Earth."

"We don't have a choice" I said. "Earth is doomed no matter what. The only thing we can control is how many lives we save. It'll be close, but we can get everyone, that is if people cooperate." I leaned back and closed my eyes.

"You look tired Jack" my mom said. "When was the last time you had a good meal?"

"I had a protein bar several hours ago" I replied.

"You should be taking care of yourself" she said sternly. Leave it up to my mother to be concerned about my eating habits when so many other threats abound. "I'll go make you something."

I was about to object when my dad said, "Let her go. It's her way of coping with everything that is going on. In the space of a few days, we went from being alone in the universe to being enemy number one for the strongest alien race in the galaxy. Not only are you involved, you may be the only chance we have to survive. She may not be able to protect you anymore, but she can see you are taken care of."

"So, did you bring back a souvenir from space for me?" Katie asked.

"Yes I did. I brought back an alien ship bent on destroying us" I said sarcastically. I then had a thought. I grabbed my bag and pulled out a travel size nanites construction kit. I had grabbed it just before leaving the Unity, just in case. I set it up on the coffee table and inserted the battery pack. I pulled out my tablet and initiated construction. Katie's eyes were the size of apples as an object appeared in front of her. A few minutes later it was complete and I picked it up. Dangling from a delicate silver chain was an azure colored diamond the size of a blueberry.

I stood up and walked behind her so I could place it around her neck. "Is it real?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes it is" I answered.

"This must be worth a fortune" she said in awe. I clasped the two ends of the necklace together and returned to my seat. Katie immediately picked the diamond and stared at it. I made an identical necklace for my mother, but used ruby instead of diamond. It was her favorite. Once it was completed, I set it aside and looked at my dad.