Tesla walked with us as we trudged through the waist deep snow, down to the docks and up a side street. This led us around the side of the mountain out of site of the town. Here I saw a huge building with two massive sliding doors that led to a ramp which angled gently down to the water's edge. We followed him to a side door that he opened and we walked inside.
The cavernous building had room for two boats to be built at the same time. One of the building bays had the wooden skeleton frame of a medium sized fishing boat. The Captain walked over to an open walled office that had a large drawing desk in it.
He sat down and pulled open a drawer and proceeded to sort through a bunch of rolled up blueprints. He removed one and unrolled it on the big desk clamping it down. Tesla plopped down on the side of the desk as we looked over the drawing.
It was a beautiful ship with some pretty ingenious design modifications in the hull, engine and steering and I believed with my Dad's help we could probably even improve on them a bit more.
"Sir" I asked, "would you mind if I had my Dad look at these plans?"
"Not at all young sir" he said, "any help or improvements would be welcome. Besides it's not like work will begin on it anytime soon as our carpenter either hasn't gotten back or didn't survive."
"Oh" I said, only half aware of what he said as I pondered the drawings. "I'm sorry to hear that."
We talked about his design and what his ideas were and how he wanted it to look. Eventually we ended up just chatting and getting to know each other better.
Katrina even asked some questions of her own as we all traded answers back and forth. Somehow though the conversation wound around and we ended up talking about Angela and her two kids.
"So" the big man said crossing his arms over his wide chest, "it seems as though your father has been captured by sweet Angela's beauty does it not?"
"Um, yeah I guess so." I said half blushing.
"He wouldn't be the first that's to be sure." He said laughing his huge echoing laugh, "Ever since we stumbled into this wonderful little town she has turned heads where ever she goes. That is to be expected I guess. She is definitely the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in all my travels, and I have visited many places let me tell you. But what I would like to know is what kind of man is your father? Is he worth of Angela's admiration?"
He said very seriously before continuing on, "Because I have not protected her all these years and chased many a unworthy or dishonest suitor away to have her fall for one just because he is from another world. After all you have done for us, I would hate to have to play the jealous father and toss your Pappy out on his keister, but for that dear sweet lady I would do more than that.
"Wow" Katrina said, "You must really Love her. Why have you not asked for her hand then?" she asked the gruff sailor.
"Hrrmph" he grumbled, "You sorely mistake my intentions child. Dear Angela is like my daughter! When I married my wife I took a vow that said till death do we part. Now she is dead because of those blood sucking bastards but I am not. I could never love someone like I loved my wife and I will not rest until this world is cleansed from their evil."
"You have helped my quest more than you will ever know but there are still more of them out there and I swore on my sweet wife's grave that I would see this through to the end. I swear by all that's holy," he said standing up and towering over both of us as he pulled out a wooden stake from a belt loop, "that I will be the one to drive a stake through the very last vampire's cold rotted chest."
"Well" I said clearing my throat a bit nervously, "Umm you seem to feel very strongly on the subject of Ms. Angela's safety." To which he merely smiled grimly at me, sat back down and crossed his arms once again over that enormously muscled chest. Geez I wasn't sure who would have won an arm wrestling match him or the Commander. "Right, umm, well let's see, oh yeah my Dad. Right, ok well he is a really great guy."
That just earned me a patient stare as he obviously waited for me to further elaborate.
"Ah, ok" I said and tried to come up with something else to say. Then talking more to myself I began to say, "Well, I have never had to defend my father before to anyone so I don't really know what to say. As I think about it now though, I realize that until all this happened I hadn't really known very much about my father."
"Oh sure I knew he was a brilliant scientist and a fairly cool guy as far as Dads went but that was about it. I don't think I even know what his favorite color is or what ice cream flavor he likes best or even if he likes ice cream at all for that matter. In fact the more I realize how little I know about my own father, the more I'm glad that I still have the chance to get to know him better and I'm even more grateful to understand how lucky I am that he wants to spend time with me too. I think I now understand how sad and lonely we both have been after Mom died."
"The hole she left in our lives was never really filled. My Dad tried to use his work to as a means to plug that emptiness and I guess I basically had lived in a make believe world so that I wouldn't have to face my fears or my grief about my Mom's death. But that doesn't mean my Dad was a bad guy just that he missed my Mom just as much or if not even more than I did. They were perfect for each other and I've only ever seen my Dad cry once and that was at the hospital when she, she, well when she left us for a better place."
"After she was gone he hardly ever smiled, much less laughed. I miss my Mom tons but I think my Dad misses her more and I guess he has a right to, he knew her longer and had more of a chance to learn how amazing she was." As though waking from sleep I shook myself, stood up straight, and squared my shoulders.
That same instance my best friend sprang to his feet and was by my side, teeth bared and growling in a low warning. Then with tears in my eyes, though not from sadness anymore, no these were tears of happiness, thankfulness, remembrance, love and hope, I walked right up the giant imposing man and said,
"Listen, my Dad might have not always been there for me but I knew he loved me and had I really needed him he would have been there no matter what. He is kind and honest and caring. He loved me and my mother with all his heart and soul. He taught me everything I know and I guess even some things I didn't know until just now."
"My Dad is the greatest man I have ever known, if anyone deserves to be happy it is him and anyone would be lucky to have him as a friend. I am probably the luckiest though because I can call him my Dad. He is my hero and I can only hope that one day I will be half the man he is and no one, and I mean no one will ever say otherwise or I will see they regret it to their dying day."
"Ok, ok" he said, the huge man had an even bigger smile on his face as he raised his hands in surrender, "relax little warrior. You are among friends here. I see Angela has chosen well but pray tell young world walker, why have you not told your father how you feel?" he said that with an odd twinkle in his eye and I just missed the quick wink he sent Katrina's way.
"Well" I said taking a deep breath and letting out the built up tension, "I don't know, I guess it was just never the right time or there was someone else around or he had a meeting or something else would always come up. I think I've just been wrapped up in my own little world and never took the time to ask how he felt."
"Maybe all that has happened to us since we arrived on your world has helped me see beyond my own fears and doubts and let me understand there's much more to life than high school bullies, getting good grades, popularity, my social network status, or even finding a girlfriend." Adding quickly before she could slug my arm I said, "No offense Katrina. I only meant that sometimes we need to think about others before ourselves rather than the other way around. I guess this crazy adventure has helped me see 'the bigger picture' so to say."
"I sure hope it won't take a life threatening experience to get you to learn all of life's lessons" someone said from behind us and I spun around to see my Dad and Angela standing just inside the door to the office.
"Wha, how long have you guys?" I began to ask.
"Long enough son." My Dad said and walked over and gave me the greatest hug a Dad ever gave a son in the history of all father and son hugs.
Then Angela came over and joined in, crying as she hugged us both tightly but not before she pulled Katrina in with us. I'm not going to say I cried but there must have been a lot of saw dust flying around and something got in my eye, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
"Hmm I guess that settles it then" the Captain said after a respectful moment or two, "Angela, my love, I hereby give you permission for this man to officially court you." And turning to my father he said,
"William, you have the highest recommendation anyone can receive in their lifetime and that is the respect and honor of one's children. Do not do him, or her or her children wrong and you will all be fine. But harm one hair on my Angela's head or those precious little rugrats and you will answer to me, no matter what world you may be on. Do you understand?" this he said in a tone that made even Tesla whimper and get behind me.
I understood, I was thinking and I also understood that the remaining vampires on this world had better watch out because I don't think they quite knew what kind of force they were up against in this gentle giant of a man.
"Sir" my father said holding out his hand to the menacing hulk of a man, "you have my word of honor that no harm shall come to them as long as I draw breath. I would indeed like your permission to court her and I will protect your step daughter and your grandchildren with my life if need be and I will try to be a better father to my son."
He said looking at me, "He deserves it. I only hope he will give me the chance to make up for lost time. He is right though, in that I never really forgave myself for losing my wife. I always felt that I let her down and him too, that with all the technology at my disposal I should have been able to find a way to save her. But I have learned something from my son today,"
He said with a proud smile as he rested a hand on my shoulder, "and that is that sometimes we can't see what is right in front of us, and often it has to jump up and smack you in the face before you finally can. He also taught me that just because we can't see or understand the big picture doesn't mean there isn't one. God has a plan for us all, "
He said as he absently felt for where the bullet had pierced his chest, where now he had a scar in the shape of the symbol of an archangel, "we will never know what it is until we meet him but all we can do is to try and fulfill that plan and be the best person you can be along the way. Since everyone you chance upon meeting is all part of his plan in one way or another you can never know which person might just be the one that will save your life," he said looking at Katrina then turning to Angela he finished by saying, "or possibly change it for the better."
"Oh my big tough polar bear" Angela said and gave the Captain a big hug and a kiss on his cheek, which made the large man blush all over again, "you know I will always love you like a father just as my children love you as their grandpapa. Thank you for protecting me all this time but do not for a moment think that I have let you off the hook just yet, or ever for that matter. I will always need my big polar bear to be there for me and my kids so don't you go off and get yourself killed doing something stupid do you hear?"
She said pulling his ears so he looked at her eyes to see she was serious. When he didn't answer her she said even louder, "Do you hear me?" shaking his big scraggily head a little for emphasis.
"Oww" he said, rubbing his ears when she let go, "I hear you little lady, ok I promise to be careful."
"Good" she said smiling and turned to my dad, "Now you William, it is good that you have the approval of my protector. Otherwise I fear we would not be able to explore these new feelings I believe we are both experiencing for the first time in a long time. I too would appreciate the opportunity to get to know you better if that is your wish. I would also enjoy the chance at getting to know this handsome young man." She said ruffling my hair, "although just not in the way we had earlier." she said wagging her finger.
That caused my cheeks to burn bright red as she and Katrina both giggled at my embarrassment. The confused and questioning look my father gave us made them laugh even more and my cheeks even more red if that was even possible.
"What brought you kids out here anyway?" my father asked when it was apparent no explanations would be forthcoming.
"Dad, take a look at Captain Pturin's blueprint here." I said more than happy to change the subject. "I think with some modifications we could make this a ship that would serve him well for a long time to come, and probably make him the envy of all other ship captains around the world."
"That certainly sounds like the least we can do for the man that saved this amazing woman's life." He said looking over to Angela as he spoke.
She blushed, smiling and averted her eyes shyly while my dad took a closer look at the drawing.
"Hmm" he said, "this is amazing. You have some truly unique ideas regarding propulsion systems. I see you designed it to resemble the natural movement and functionality of a whale. That is fantastic." He said, "I've never seen anything like this before." Looking up to Captain Pturin he said, "How did you come up with this design?"
Looking almost ashamed the big man said,
"I have spent my entire life admiring the beauty and power of those kings of the sea and I figured that as large as they are, they move with surprising speed when they need to so why couldn't I build a ship that mimicked their movements."
"Yes" my dad said going over the blueprint again, "this is ingenious. This design would revolutionize the boating industry back home. Allow me to contribute a few minor changes, here and here and, there." He said marking the drawing.
My Dad began making notations and sketched what he had in mind using the drafting tools on the desk to measure and accurately scale his changes. He showed me every change and function of what he had in mind while he worked and the Captain pointed out the function of his unique innovations.
Katrina held my hand tightly as though she couldn't trust me out of her sight, and Tesla snoozed beside me as we went over the entire ship inch by scaled down inch. When I was satisfied that I understood the ships design and had it thoroughly memorized as I knew my father did also, I asked the Captain if he had all the necessary supplies to build it.
"I believe so" he said scratching his beard as he thought, "If it isn't here it can be scavenged from my sunken ship."
"Oh yeah" I said, "Sorry about that. Umm, Sir?" I asked him.
"Yes?" he said to me with a raised bushy eyebrow.
"Could you possibly open the bay doors there for me, I have an idea." I asked him
He looked at me curiously a while before shrugging his shoulders and pressing a button that made the large metal doors trundle open to either side letting the snow swirl inside and some of the piled drifts fall into the warehouse.
I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do but something almost compelled me to help this man. It just felt right, was all I could say about the strange feeling that I needed to do this for him.
With the hand of the young exotic twin resting comfortably in mine I raised my other hand palm out toward the now visible waterfront. The softly singing ghostly numbers vortex appeared overhead as did all the identifying ones around every object in the universe.
I let all others drift out of focus except the ones I needed right now. Making sure I didn't miss anything I formed the equations I needed and closed my hand activating the changes.
"SPLASH" was what we all heard as the Captain's sunk ship suddenly appeared inside the warehouse off to the side of the current ship being built.
"Oops" I said, "Sorry"
I forgot to not include the water around and in the ship in my calculations. Katrina gave me a look that said she wasn't so sure I knew what I was doing as the icy water washed and splashed over everything before running down the ramp and back to the sea. Well heck I didn't know what I was doing, I was still learning as I went.
"How did you?" the Captain started to say pointing at his dripping property, then understanding entered his eyes, "that was you who made that wall and dropped all those stones on the remaining vampires during the battle, wasn't it?"
"Uh, yeah" I said blushing slightly again, "Um you can probably close the doors now, thanks."
Katrina squeezed my hand for support and I turned back to the task at hand as the bay doors rumbled and squealed shut. We walked over to where the empty ship bay was and I raised my free hand once again, palm toward the glowing numbers of the universe.
"Boy" I said, more to myself, "I sure hope this works."
"You can do this" she said and gave me such a trusting and open smile that it made me believe I might actually be able to pull this off, maybe.
"Whew" I blew out a breath of nervous energy, "well here goes nothing."
I closed my eyes for a while and brought the blueprint plans into focus in my mind scanning over them one final time making sure I didn't miss anything. Confident I had it all fixed in my mind I opened my eyes and began moving numbers and symbols around the room. It seemed to take forever as the equations began forming and taking the correct sequences.
But I took my time because I really didn't want to mess anything else up. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I poured my entire attention into every minute detail and made triple sure I didn't have any numbers out of place.
As most of the required building material was right here I didn't have to do much searching, just some of the metallic parts and a few pieces of the engine I had to 'dig' deeper into the billions of glowing symbols around me to find what I needed. As it slowly came together I suddenly became more aware of my surroundings and I noticed that the haunting music of the vortex had changed. Now it was more like a beautiful song with millions of orchestras playing at the same time and from every point of the compass.
Talk about 3D sound, man the guys at THX would kill to get quality like this. I noticed also that the ghostly numbers hummed too and were more of a golden hue then before. The equations I had formed danced and spun in sync with the vortex. I couldn't remember that happening before either. It was incredibly beautiful I realized as I gazed upon my finished work, watching it float and sing in the air before me.
"I wish you could see what I see right now" I breathed in awe to Katrina, "It's amazing."
I didn't even need to wonder if I had done it right as I could tell just by the tone and feeling of the vortex tugging on my soul that it was perfect. Wishing I could stare upon this forever I almost regretted it as I closed my hand, activating the golden equations and thereby changing the makeup of this world, but hopefully it was in a good way.
I heard amazed gasps and cries of shock as the spectacular ship suddenly materialized out of thin air, settling onto suddenly groaning support struts. I thought by the shocked voices of everybody that I had screwed it up again but as I looked up and up and up at the massive ship, I couldn't see anything obviously wrong with it. It was a beautiful ship though that was for sure.
The bottom of the hull was sea green merging to sky blue on the top of the captain's cabin. But it wasn't painted, it just 'was' that color. The color scheme would make it blend so completely with the ocean and sky that it would be virtually invisible to anyone that wasn't right next to it. The 'skin' of the ship wasn't hard like the wooden floor we were standing on I noticed as I walked up the marvelous creation and rested a hand on its side.
Although it was made from mostly wood and lightweight metal, it resembled some kind of perfectly balanced type of rib cage design with each 'rib' interacting with the one next to it. It was done so in such a way that the hull was able to flex and move allowing it to mimic the motions of a giant fish.
It kind of looked like a large sleek whale complete with a tail and fins that had another whale growing out of its back, the top one without a tail or fins though.
"That, its, wow" the Captain tried to say as he gazed in utter amazement at his dream quite literally come true, "It's exactly how I saw envisioned it."
He walked around his creation touching and caressing its shiny hull stopping when he reached the rear or aft of the ship and stood staring up in wonder.
"Oh my" He said and I saw this giant man reach up to touch something and tears began streaming out of his eyes.
Now I was sure I had screwed it up and hurried over to see what I did wrong.
"Listen" I said coming around to where he was, "I'm sorry I can try to fix it if it's not too..." and stopped talking as I too stood in awe of what was there.
In brilliant golden letters that almost seemed to be lit from within was the word, SEAFLOWER. I had no idea where it had come from as I hadn't put it there.
"I'm sorry sir," I said dumbstruck thinking he was upset at me.
"But how is this possible?" he said turning to look at me with tear filled eyes. "I have never told anyone that name."
"Umm, you know what this is?" I asked.
He took a deep shuddering breath and said,
"It is the name I used to call my wife when we were, well alone" he said, and then he turned to me with sudden anger in his face. "No one other than her knew that name, how is it possible that you know this? How! Who told you! Is this some kind of sick joke?" He took a step toward me but before he could set his foot down Tesla was before him, hackles raised, growling a low warning.
"Captain, please" my Dad said resting a hand on the big man's arm, "I am sure there is an explanation let's just calm down and see what we can find out." Then turning to me my dad said, "Son, how did you know about this?"
"I, I didn't" I said shaking my head in confusion, "I don't know where it came from. I didn't put it there. I didn't even think about adding a name to it, I figured that was something the captain does later on. Sir, I would never, I mean, I certainly didn't want to hurt your feelings. I swear I don't know how it got there."
The giant Captain Pturin stepped back shakily and suddenly went to his knees pressing his calloused hands to his face as he began crying in great racking sobs. Angela rushed to his side and held the tough man who had been reduced to tears by a simple word on the side of a boat.
She began telling him it was ok and everything happens for a reason as she rocked him back and forth. We let the proud hero release his sorrow and pent up emotions that had probably been locked away since his wife's death.
As he slowly took hold of himself and dried his eyes, he thanked Angela and with her help slowly stood up on only slightly wobbly legs.
"I must apologize for my outburst" he said putting a hand forward and as I grasped it he pulled me in for a huge bear hug that nearly crushed my ribs as he said still sniffling,
"I am sorry. It was just a shock to see that word after all these years, it just brought all my memories of her rushing back. They were all good memories and most of them I had nearly forgotten but thanks to this wonderful gift," he said caressing the golden letters, "I will always remember her and her lovely face. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
He said and squeezed the air out of my lungs again. "I can never repay you for your kindness but know this" he said, straightening up to his full imposing height, "Wherever I sail with this beautiful ship, Evil will learn to fear the name Seaflower as much as I will love her."
Then he shook all of our hands laughing with joy and scratched Tesla's ears before inspecting the rest of the unique sea vessel. We joined him as he explained what everything did and we tested it all thoroughly.
Then when he was happy with how everything performed we went back to the drafting table in the office and my Dad and with the Captain's permission, used a small micro camera to take a few pictures of the blueprints and some other drawings the Captain had made including one for a strange submarine type vessel.
"Well" my Dad said clapping a hand to my shoulder as he looked back at the strange ship, "you did good son. You did real good, I'm proud of you."
"Yes" Angela said as she came up beside him and took his hand in hers, "thank you so very much for this wondrously amazing gift you have given my Polar Bear. How did you do it, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Umm" I said shrugging my shoulders, "I'm not exactly sure I just kinda move some numbers around and arrange certain equations to form the desired effect or change that I need. Or at least that's what I think I'm doing."
"You mean you don't know what you are doing?" she asked incredulously.
"Well," I said shrugging my shoulders again in apology, "I only realized I could do anything like this yesterday so I'm still pretty new to the whole time travel and altering the physical universe thing."
"I think you are doing just fine Zach" she said smiling at me and she rested a hand on my cheek. I felt grateful for her thanks and right then she reminded me of my mother in a way. "After all" she said, "you did save my life so all things considered you've done far more than anybody could have ever done and you're just one young man, but don't worry," she added ruffling my hair, "you will always be my little hero."
I blushed again at that and Katrina squeezed my hand a little too hard as I did so. Looking at her I wasn't sure why she was giving me the death stare but what could I do? Here was this woman thanking me for saving her life and helping the man that has been protecting her all these years. I couldn't help the fact that she happened to be drop dead gorgeous. I only did what I thought was right, I didn't do anything wrong, at least not this time.
Well ok maybe I kissed her or technically she kissed me but that was merely a misunderstanding, totally innocent. She couldn't be mad about that was she? What would she possibly have to be mad about? Katrina was more beautiful than any other girl I had ever seen including Angela.
Man this was complicated and we hadn't even gone out on a date yet. I wonder what Mindie would say about this whole situation. Would she would be mad at me or would she even realize I was alive. I suddenly thought of something.
"Oh no!" I said more to myself.
"What is it?" my Dad asked with concern written on his face.
"I just realized that nobody back home is going to believe what happened to us." I said, "We probably can't even tell anyone about any of this can we?"
"Well, no probably not" he said, "for one, this technology has to remain secret, at least for now and two, can you imagine what the government would do if they ever found out about your abilities?"
"They would lock you up and run experiments on you day and night for years until they finally terminated you and examined your remains in an autopsy. But they would never let you free that is certain as you would pose too much of a security risk."
"Think about it, a boy that can go anywhere or any when and who has the ability to stop time and all with just the power of his mind. Can you imagine the kind of weapon you would be in the wrong hands?"
"They couldn't make me do anything bad." I said with the bravado of youth and ignorance.
"Really" my Dad said giving me his lecturing look, "and what would you do if someone kidnapped myself or Tesla or Leo or even your Aunt Eve for that matter and threatened their life if you didn't do exactly what they wanted. If they began to cut off your Aunt's fingers one at a time and mailed them to you what would you do then?"
"Well..., I wouldn't..., but they..," I began to say several times then gave up understanding his meaning.
"Yes" he said with a sad smile on his face, "You would do whatever it took to make sure the ones you loved were safe even if it meant doing something bad. As would I son so don't feel bad." He said hugging my shoulder,
"That is exactly why Leo and I have kept this technology secret for so long. It's why we formed Quantech in the first place so that we wouldn't have to report to anybody about what we were working on. We understood the danger this would put us and our loved ones in if it were to fall into the wrong hands. Or even into the hands of our own government. Fear is a great tool but it works both ways. Do you understand son?"
"Yes" I answered simply after thinking about what he had said.
"Good" he said sadly, "I am sorry son that all this has been thrust upon you. It is not fair to expect so much responsibility from any one person much less someone so young. But you aren't just anyone. You are my son and you are your mother's son, you are a McKnight and believe it or not that actually meant something once upon a time."
"What was that you just said?" Captain Pturin said suddenly grabbing my Dad's arm and spinning him around to face him.
"Um which part?" my Dad asked puzzled.
"Did you say McKnight?" the big man asked.
"Well yes, that is our name why is it you ask?"
"Why I haven't heard that name in years." He said with a faraway look, "my great grandfather used to talk about the McKnights of old. He used to say they were the first ones to form a group of resistance fighters to oppose the vampires way back when. I remember him telling us that the McKnights were believed to be descendants from one of the knights of the Arthurian Court."
"I can't remember right now which one but I thought it was either Gawain or Lancelot. Ah, I'm just not sure anymore that was a long time ago. For all I know it might have been King Arthur himself. But apparently they became so good at fighting and killing the vampires that the Vampire Lord finally put a price on all the McKnights so that should anyone bring him the head of one of their clan they would be safe and so would their families from any vampires."
"Well at first no one took up the offer and the McKnights continued their reign of terror and sabotage on the blood sucking bastards. Then the Vampire Lord had enough and put forth the law that should someone bring a McKnight dead or alive to him they would not only be safe from harm but they would be offered a section of land to rule over with money and power to go with it."
"Well that did it" he said continuing his story, "since most people are greedy by nature and soon somebody showed up with one of the clan's young boys in tow and offered him to the Red Court. They were given land and money and power sure enough but what no one else found out until later was that they were also turned into vampires."
"After that there was a rush to bring the rest of the McKnights in before all the Vampire Lord's offers of money and land would be taken. Soon there were all slain and the Red Court ruled almost unopposed after that save for a few rebels here and there. Had it not been for the Lunar Tribe we would all have been vamp food sooner or later."
"General Alexander and your Tribe" he said speaking to Katrina, "were all that kept them from spreading across the world like locusts. My grandparents used to say that had it not been for the McKnights the vampires would have been too much for the Lunar Tribe to handle when they began their own rebellion. And here you are now, come back to finish the job your ancestors started so long ago."
"Wow" I said in amazement, "was that really true?"
"I swear on my beloved wife's grave every word was true." He said crossing his heart.
"Dad did you know about any of this?" I asked him.
"Well the story is a bit different on our world but there are many similarities." He said, "I knew about the connection to one of the Knights of King Arthurs court but the records have been lost and we were unable to trace it to any one of them in particular. They were also said to have been a primary force in keeping Britain free from Roman rule fighting alongside the Celts. I even found a reference once that mentioned a pact between Merlin and the McKnight Clan but I could find no other information on that."
"Wow that's cool" I said, "how come you never told me this before?" I asked.
"I guess you were too young and then your mother died and, well I kind of got distracted." He said apologetically. "I'm sorry son, I guess there are a lot of things I should have talked to you about but never did. If you give me a chance I'd like another chance to be a better father."
"Aww heck" I said scuffing my feet on the ground, "I hear it's pretty hard to trade in used parents these days anyways so I might as well keep the one I have."
He laughed at that and then we all laughed and hugged each other all over again. Tesla was running around us barking so I picked him up and let him join the group hug too.
"So" Katrina said after what was probably an uncomfortable display of affection for her, "It seems your family comes from a long line of heroes. Vell zhat vould explain vhy you are so good at being one yourself." She said and gave me a quick kiss on my cheek.
It seemed like her accent got stronger when her emotions were worked up.
"I don't know about all that" I said blushing with embarrassment.
Everyone laughed goodhearted at my discomfort and we joked and talked all the way back to the Blue Swan tavern and through the rest of the day. Each and every one of the villagers made a point to come up to me and further embarrass me by thanking me and offer me everything from their last gold coin to their name to the family's priceless heirlooms.
One older lady even tried to offer her teenage daughter's hand in marriage in order to repay me for saving their lives. I earned another death stare from Katrina just by asking what her name was. Sheesh the poor girl looked as mortified as I felt for crying out loud, I was just trying to be nice. Another older man attempted to give me his only surviving cow as payment. What was wrong with these people?
"My friends," I said standing up and raising my hands for attention after one little girl wanted to me to take her favorite doll to thank me for saving her mommies life. It had blue buttons for eyes, a torn arm and a tiny leather shoe that looked like she chewed on it when she was worried as it had lots of little teeth marks on it.
"Listen please" I said standing on the chair so everyone could see me. "Look, I know you are all happy to be alive and free and I am truly glad that I was able to help out at least a little in your fight but I definitely wasn't the only one and as much as I appreciate all your kind offers", I said smiling down at the little girl before me, "I think instead, we should all be talking about how to get your town back in working order before this snowstorm gets much worse."
"He's right" Angela said from behind me, "Young Zach here might have played a large part in our freedom but every one of you" she said pointing to everybody in the room, "was there and were it not for all of us working together we would not have survived."
"Thank the good Lord for the Lunar Tribe for arriving when they did and the help of Zach, his father William and most certainly for the aid of Katrina and Alexei. Who, from what I have gathered are the only surviving members of their Uncle's ancient yet honored race called the Slayers and without whom we would have been facing many more demons and vampires than we did."
"Just look at everybody around you. All these people from different towns, different continents, different races and even different planets coming together to fight for our survival, this is how we should always act towards one another. Every one of us needs each other now more than ever to survive and rebuild our world."
"Now that we are finally free we need to be very careful in how we organize and restructure whatever kind of government we decide upon. But regardless of that the one thing that we have learned after all these hundreds of years more than anything else is that we are all equal. No one is better than the person you stand next to, we all live, die, breathe, love, and cry just like everyone else."
"You say we were saved by a strange little boy from another planet and this is the same young man that you all apparently wanted to burn for witchcraft right after you pulled him out their escape pod along with the last two Slayers from your own legends. Well my friends, that just proves my point. We have to be kind and fair to everyone no matter whom or what they are. Everyone deserves the right to live and yes sometimes even vampires."
She said looking kindly over to Captain Pturin, "For by what William tells me, were it not for Katrina and Alexei's own vampire father turning his back on his father the Vampire Lord's wishes and running away with the woman he loved. These two wondrous young children would never have been born and wouldn't have been here to help save us all. The world is a mysterious place as we have all recently found out and who know what it has in store for us but we must all try to live life as the creator wanted us to, and that is in peace and harmony with all of creation was it not?"
Everybody nodded agreement to that and soon there was a bustle of activity as new friends and old neighbors began making plans for rebuilding the town and making preparation to survive until the storm passed. Tables were pushed together and large sheets of paper were found and a rough sketch of the town was drawn.
"Nice speech counselor" my dad said as he took her hand in his.
"Why thank you kind sir" she said back and gave him a mock curtsey.
Lucy and Lucas both giggled at that. Then Lucy took my dad's hand and Lucas grabbed his mother's and they went to see what help they could lend. Captain Pturin was unanimously voted as the official architect and was sat at the main table with all the papers while everyone around him began discussing the best ways to design the new village.
The Commander and his remaining soldiers helped too, pointing out ways to better fortify the town and what was needed to make it through the rest of the blizzard. My dad redesigned the town's power grid and drew up a blueprint for a new hydro power plant that would supply more than enough electricity for the entire town.
Small groups of other townsfolk were formed to look for any remaining homes or buildings that could be used for temporary living quarters. Other teams were sent to find food, water and any other supplies that would be needed to survive the storm.
Luckily this part of the town had not sustained too much damage and between a couple homes and shops near the docks they were able to organize enough beds and sleeping areas for all the surviving people. One of the warehouses also happened to be a meat packing and shipping business so there was plenty of meat to feed everyone.
But after a hard evening of searching and shoveling snow for pathways which we all took turns doing there was enough food and accommodations for everyone.
After that we all collapsed in exhaustion and slept for a few hours. Katrina barely left my side and neither did Tesla almost like they expected me to vanish at any second into the past or the future. Haha like that was going to happen.
Wait a minute, that couldn't happen could it? Oh boy, add one more thing to my worry list. Why didn't I ask my future self that question? Man there was so much I didn't know.
Alexei worked tirelessly through the night and only stopped to gobble down six full plates of food before going back out and helping where he could. When I got up again it was still dark and I saw most of the villagers had gone to get some much needed sleep.
My dad and Angela were seated near one of the fireplaces quietly talking while Lucas and Lucy slept peacefully nearby wrapped up in some blankets. Alexei had just came in with the rest of the teams and they had all gone and collapsed where ever they found an empty spot and went immediately to sleep.
So without much else to do Katrina and I sat down by one of the other fireplaces and just talked. I've never really just talked to a girl before and it was a little strange at first because I didn't know what I should say or talk about. But to my surprise she was really easy to have a conversation with and we soon found out there were quite a few things we were both interested in and before I knew it, several hours had passed.
I found out she loved astronomy and all science in general unlike her brother. But what she was really thrilled to hear about were roller coasters and she begged me to take her on one when or more precisely if we got back to my world. She talked about her mom and dad and the things she learned growing up.
All the fighting and training her uncle made her do and about how her dad taught her to control the urge to drink blood and how too her mom showed her to control her anger when the moon was full. Which she admitted she had yet to master that one, no kidding, I said joking to her. She laughed at that and after we talked a while longer Alexei woke up and came over to sit with us as he stretched sore muscles.
"What's up guys?" he said sitting down and leaning back against the wall near the fireplace.
Then all three of us talked back and forth sharing bits of how we each grew up and what we liked doing. Alexei I learned actually enjoyed writing poetry and was an amazing artist too.
"But I swear bro if you ever tell anyone I'll rip off your head and use it for a soccer ball." He said and for emphasis made his fingernails grow out three or four inches until they resembled kitchen knives.
"Oh quit showing off you jerk." Katrina said and slugged him so hard it would have broken my arm had it been me on the receiving end of that 'playful' punch, yowch!
"He hasn't stopped doing that since he learned how yesterday." She said shaking her head but still smiling at her brother.
We all joked and talked more and before I knew it I was telling them about what happened to me on my last day of school.
"Why didn't you kick their teeth in and rip out their throats?" Alexei said, "gotta go for the throat next time dude." He said and flashed his long sharp canine teeth in a wicked grin.
Katrina smacked him in the back of the head.
"He's not a shifter fool" she said shaking her head at her brother, "and besides he was outnumbered with his back to the wall" she said this with a dangerous growl, "not a good place to find yourself even if you're not part wolf and besides he didn't have any pack mates there to back him up. These, so called boys" she said with derision "are obviously cowards or they wouldn't need to attack in such a large group or desire an audience to cheer them on either."
"You need to show them you are not afraid and that no matter what they do to you, you'll keep getting up and coming back for more. Never give up, never surrender, uncle used to say during our training and don't ever let them know you are afraid because if your enemy smells your fear they will use it against you."
"You need to use your fear as a tool. It is good to be afraid just don't let it control you. Fear makes you cautious and keeps you alive, once you learn to control your fear there is nothing anyone can do to break you."
"She's right" Alexei agreed, "sometimes you just have to show your teeth but sometimes you have to use them." He said yawning and sniffing the air as some of the ladies got up and began cooking breakfast while others found some coffee to brew up.
"Mmm speaking of using my teeth, I smell food." He said hungrily. "Right now the only thing I'm afraid of is if there will be enough for you guys after I get done."
We both laughed at him as his stomach growled loudly. Soon other townspeople began sitting at the tables in small groups and talking together jovially. Some of the soldiers joined them and I noticed they were welcomed with warm smiles and even quite a few hugs which caused them to raise their thick bushy eyebrows in pleasant surprise before hugging just as warmly back.
Even the gruff Commander was greeted with hugs. That made some of his men poke fun at him as he was obviously not used to that kind of treatment as he stood there looking at his hugger with a confused and wary look. Then he was handed a steaming cup of coffee and they all began laughing and sharing stories.
After we ate, Alexei more than anyone else of course, we joined my dad, Angela and her two kids at their table.
"Well it looks like they have everything under control here son" my dad said to me, "what do you say we try to get hold of Leo and see what's going on back home?"
"Ok, sure" I said and noticed a look of sadness cross Angela's face.
He pressed a button on his metallic bracelet and a small holographic screen appeared above it. Making sure no one around them was watching or could see what we were doing he spoke into the communicator.
"Hello?" he said into the bracelet, "Leo?"
"Boss?" a deep voice said from somewhere off screen, "Is that you boss?" and then superman stepped into the screen complete with red cape and everything. "Boy am I glad to hear from you boss, where have you been?"
Lucy and Lucas gasped and clapped their hands pointing at the tiny man floating above my dad's wrist.
"Ahh, what's going on Q?" my dad said hesitantly.
"Don't worry sir" Q/superman said quickly, "everything is under control now. I'm just finishing repairs and we'll be up and running in moments."
"What do you mean repairs? What happened and where is Leo?" my dad said a little too loudly as a few heads turned our way but thankfully none of them could see the floating screen.
"Well" Q/superman began to say cautiously, "ahh, how should I put this?"
"Q!" my dad said trying to control his anxiousness.
"Well sir," Q said quickly, "we had a security breach but have no fear for I am here." He said puffing out his digitally enhanced chest. "Dr. Roshtokov was slightly injured in the altercation but don't worry sir he is fine, he is at South Suburban Hospital and Ms. Eveta is with him."
"A breach? An altercation?" my dad said, "but how is that possible we took every type of possible precaution."
"Yes sir we did except one," he said, "you see the breach came from the teleportation pad."
"What?" my dad shouted standing up then quickly sat down doing his best to hide the talking hologram. "No one is even close to building a working model much less using one. Where you able to trace the location back to its source?"
"Actually, yes I was." The pseudo superman said.
"Well?" my dad said impatiently when Q didn't continue speaking quickly enough.
"Sir it was an emergency recall request." Q said with a serious look.
"A what? But who initiated that?" dad asked the miniature hologram.
"The security identifier was from Zach, sir" Q said to a suddenly quiet group.
"Son?" my dad said as everyone looked at me, "Did you ... wait a minute" he said, then in a flash he reached across the table and grabbed my arm holding it up, "where is your bracelet?"
"I, I don't..." I began to say while everyone looked at me, then I froze as a memory appeared from somewhere out of the depths of my mind almost like it had been hidden from me. Count Dragul shot my dad, then as I went to run to help him Dragul grabbed my wrist. Something about my wrist, but when I focused on the memory it went grey and fuzzy and a sharp ringing sound echoed through my skull sending me sliding off my chair to my knees clutching my head in pain.
"Zach!" my dad shouted and grabbed me before I collapsed to the floor.
My vision blurred and I almost blacked out from the intense pain that felt like my head would explode at any minute. I was only barely able to hold on to consciousness and slowly, ever so slowly the ringing diminished and I was able to stop holding my head together in fear that it would burst like an m-eighty in a watermelon.
"What happened dude" Alexei asked as he knelt down next to me, "you're as white as the snowman the children are building outside and you're sweating like a fat man taking a shi.." Katrina hit him before he finished saying the S word in front of Angela's children.
"What was that for ..." he said rubbing his arm. Then he saw her tilt her head toward the kids, "Oh, ah I meant taking a shiny bike for a ride. Yeah that was it." He said quickly.
The two kids giggled a little bit as Alexei stuck his tongue out at his sister while I tried to get back on my feet and sit down again.
"What's going on sir, is Zach ok?" Q, who now looked like George Clooney dressed as a doctor was asking.
"Yes, yes" my dad said after helping me to my seat, "he is fine. I believe he just feinted from all the stress he's been under lately."
"Oww" I said shaking my head to clear the dull throbbing I still heard in my eardrums, "I don't think it was stress Dad. A memory about something silver flashed in my head and when I tried to think about it I got a terrible ringing in my head and everything went all blurry and dark."
"What was the memory about?" my Dad asked.
"Something about Count Dragul, when he shot you and then he, he grabbed my wrist and he.. AH!" the ringing shot through my head again and I think I really did blackout this time because when I opened my eyes everyone was standing around my prone body looking all worried.
They helped me back to my seat and when I could hear and talk again I heard Q speaking to Dad.
"It must be some kind of very powerful post hypnotic suggestion blocking his access to that memory but that usually requires a long time and the use of drugs to build that level of control over someone's memories." Q said.
"No it doesn't" Katrina said bluntly
"What do you mean?" my Dad asked as he turned to face her.
"Full vampires are able to manipulate people's minds quite easily if they can get you to look into their eyes. They alter the tone of their voice, dilate their pupils and even change their eye color." She said, "Our father showed us how he did it and tried teaching us too in case we ever needed to use it. It is only one of their many abilities and the Vampire Lord was a master at it. If he was able to get you to look into his eyes even for a moment you wouldn't have stood a chance."
"Great!" I said shaking my head, "what the heck did he do to me and how do I remember it without passing out."
"Umm dude" Alexei said carefully, "passing out is the least of your worries. If he really didn't want you to remember and if you keep trying you could easily trigger the suggestion's self defense."
"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"Well there have been many stories about the Vampire Lord's spies being captured and during interrogation they, they, well..." he shrugged his shoulders looking sadly at me.
"What?" I said, "Do they go blind, deaf, crazy, what?"
"No Zach" Katrina said putting her warm hand on mine, "they die."
"Oh" I said stunned, "well that really bites! Um, no pun intended."
"Yeah it does and I was just starting to like you man" Alexei said jokingly.
Katrina glared at her brother while my Dad and Q began going over options.
"Is there any way to break a post hypnotic suggestion?" I asked no one in particular.
"Sure" Q said from the small hologram, "it can be done but it certainly can be difficult and without knowing how much damage has been done to your psyche it might be impossible without a professional hypnotherapist."
I looked to Alexei and his sister for hope but they just shook their heads in unison.
"Sorry buddy but our father only taught us the basics and we've never had the chance to practice it on anyone before." Alexei said.
"Well" Q said thinking for a bit, "if you can calm yourself and focus your mind on something else so completely that everything else goes away you might be able to partially shield yourself from whatever command or suggestion the memory will trigger. In essence you need to self hypnotize yourself in a way."
"Would that work?" I asked.
"I believe it is your only chance without the assistance of a skilled therapist." Q/Clooney said to me.
"Son you don't need to do this." My Dad said.
"Yes I do dad or I might never be sure what he put in my head. For all I know he told me to kill all you guys when we get home and destroy Q too." I said worried.
"Oh" Q said, "I never thought about that. He has a point there sir, perhaps we should let him try."
"I don't know, it sounds much too dangerous." Dad said to me.
"I'll be ok Dad, I promise." I said and I gave him a hug.
"Dude if you don't make it can I keep Tesla?" Alexei said only half joking as he gave me a quick wink and ruffled my dog's hair, and then Katrina slugged him again.
"Owww, geez I'm kidding! Man sis you need to control that temper." he said rubbing his arm.
"Mmhhmm, sure you were." she said not believing a word he said.
"Ok just give me some peace and quiet for a bit" I said and closed my eyes.
"Oohhmmm" Alexei said and his sister tried hitting him again but he dodged it this time as I opened an eye and glared at him, "Oh sorry, shh. Got it." He said smiling and gave me the thumbs up.
I closed my eyes again and concentrated on the one thing I knew I was good at. That was the numbers vortex. It wavered in and out a bit as I fought to clear my head of the ringing and focus my foggy thoughts.
Then as I began breathing in slow rhythmic even breaths and the chaos in my mind settled the spinning numbers of the universe snapped into focus all around me. I knew this was more than just important, it was absolutely critical that I took control of my own mind and memories and learned how to stop this from happening again.
But the problem was how to go about doing it. I didn't have a clue as to how to control someone else's thoughts much less my own. I was pretty sure I couldn't just change some numbers around and give myself Jedi mind powers. That didn't stop me from looking around to see if it was a possibility though, but nope there seemed to be no way to change a person like that, oh well.
I began concentrating my thoughts on the swirling, pulsing tornado of infinite numbers that disappeared into space. I tried to focus on one number but that was nearly impossible as they moved around so much unless I was attempting to change something and I really didn't want to do anything like that right now.
So I just looked at all the numbers together and watched it like a movie as it spun and changed and grew and shrank. Soon everything around me kind of went blurry and the only thing I saw was the whirlpool of the multiverse.
I tried to keep a fraction of my brain separated and when I could see or think of nothing else except the glowing numbers above and around me I used that tiny essence of myself to recall the memory of that previous night.