The Hannaria Series Book 1: Out of the Gray

Chapter 6--Rica Miller

“Excuse me—I’ll be right back,” Jernard said. He stood and walked away toward the front of the ship.

Mom waited until he was out of sight then turned toward me.

“You’ve heard your dad talk about a man named Jerry Reynolds before, right?” she asked. I nodded. “Well, that was him. I wonder how many times he’s changed his name…”

Jerry Reynolds was a guy Dad used to do undercover missions with to stop terrorist groups, which he’d retired from doing just before I was adopted. I knew Dad still kept in touch with a lot of his old friends, but in my mind I’d always pictured Jerry as Dad’s age. It took me a moment to reconcile that he and Jernard were the same person.

“He saved Dad’s life once, didn’t he?” I asked in a hopeful tone, knowing the basic story but not the full details. “He pulled him out of the way when a bomb went off on a transport, right?”

Mom nodded, but she still seemed concerned.

“When I was a nurse at the base with your dad in the 70s, I met dozens of Hannarians. Even the few that wore contacts and had training on acting human didn’t exactly blend in very well. Keep in mind it’s different with you because your dad and I didn’t know any better and raised you to be like us…but Jerry? I never had any indication he was one of them. For some reason, that kind of scares me—that and the fact Charlie never mentioned anything about him meeting us here. He didn’t even know our transport number.”

“But we can trust Jernard, right?” I asked. “I mean, he’s Dad’s friend, and you knew him, too.”

“I thought I knew him, Rica,” she replied. “Look, all I’m saying is we need to be careful. I know you’re curious about your birth parents, and I understand and won’t stop you from searching. I’m just worried about someone using that against you—maybe not Jerry, but other Hannarians may not like the idea of you being raised by humans and might attempt to take you away from us.”

She sighed, and it hurt to know this whole situation was causing her so much stress. Even though she’d tried to keep it from me, Mom hadn’t wanted to leave Earth but was doing it to protect me. Going to Destiny was a sacrifice, and I didn’t want her to worry any more than she already was—which was a lot.

“I’m not going anywhere, Mom,” I promised and put my hand on top of hers. “I just want to know who they were and what happened. That’s all. I still want to stay with you and Dad no matter what I find out.”

At that point, Jernard returned with a tray of sodas in one hand and three bags of fast food in the other.

“I was hungry and thought you two might be, too. I hope this is all right. I haven’t had the authentic stuff in quite awhile.”

“Thanks,” both of us said in surprise at almost the same time. Mom and I each grabbed a soda and a bag of food.

Jernard laid the recycled cardboard drink tray on his seat and then moved to the seat next to Mom again. I could hear Mom’s heart rate increase, and she was trying to hide the expression that she was somewhat uncomfortable with him sitting right next to her. He didn’t seem to notice.

“Kydena allowed the first McDonald’s franchises to open on the planet about five years ago,” he said, holding a fry like he was inspecting it before he put it in his mouth. “We have a plant grown all over our system called mevid that has a much broader flavor range than your vegetables, but we still don’t have good substitutes for beef and cheese yet. I can taste the differences. If we could just find a viable way to import some cows, I think we’d be all set. We’d buy them, of course—not abduct them off some farmer’s field like those thieving little gray jerks.”