[The Lone Gunslinger, Chapter 23, When gods play] [Part II] [Three years later] I can’t stop laughing, and that’s no easy thing when you can’t move your arms, legs, eyes, mouth. Actually, I’ve had a lot of time to think and wonder if I didn’t come out of the coma a long time ago. Maybe I’m just paralyzed. I don’t know. But I feel great. My skin is tanned and I don’t sleep all day, and Jaco’s exercises don’t make me cry from the pain anymore. I look forward to the exercises, and our walks on the beach. Every day Jaco pushes me up and down the beach in my wheelchair. He even sits me down on the sand and I can feel the ocean water on my foot. I think I love that the most. Jaco isn’t afraid of water anymore, in fact, he swims almost every day. And fishes. That’s what he’s doing today and why I’m laughing. He’s chasing a seagull that stole his fish. I have this mental image of a word bubble, like in the comics Jaco reads to me, over the seagull’s head that says “oh, sorry, it was just lying there, didn’t know you still wanted it.” I watch Jaco chasing the bird, and splashing. He's yelling at the bird, but I don't think he's really mad at it. I've seen him do this before, he has some kind of connection with the bird. I think they even like each other. Jaco runs out into the water waving his arms and then down the beach and I watch... wait? what? I watch... "I watch!! I watch!! Jaco, I'm watching!!" Normally I have to see things from the corner of my eyes, but I'm looking right at Jaco and he's way off to my right. I'll have to wait until Jaco is close and looking at me to see. I turn my eyes and look at everything. It's all so clear now, not that dream-like trance I usually see everything through. The surf chases up onto the beach and pushes sand forward and back, I see such clear detail. Little sand crabs run out between the waves and scurry about. I think I even hear better, the gulls don't sound so far away. Jaco is standing with his hands on his hips, staring at the bird eating his fish on the beach. What's that behind Jaco? I see something, in the water. A fin! Is that a shark? "Jaco, turn around, behind you!" Jaco says their are sharks but they never come in this close to the beach. The fin is getting closer. Jaco is just watching the bird. "Jaco, get out of the water, please, get out of the water... please... I'll die without you." Is that selfish? I am thinking of myself. I'm imagining myself sitting on this beach alone, slowly dyeing without food or my medicine. I'm afraid, Jaco is my whole world. I don't want Jaco to get hurt. I've never been so scared before. I'm so horrible, I'm only worried about me. No, that can't be right, I love Jaco. Yes, I've said it, I love Jaco. Why have I been such a fool? I love Jaco with all my heart. "Shark," I barely whisper the word. Jaco whips his head towards me and puts his hand over his ear. He can hear me on our ear-bug Com-link. "Did you speak?" asks Jaco. The effort has nearly exhausted me, but I repeat. "Shark." Jaco turns and looks. "Oh, that's just a dolphin, the sharks never come in this close to the islands, the dolphins keep them away." Jaco runs over to me and kneels in front of my wheelchair and holds up a finger. "Follow my finger," says Jaco and moves his finger back and forth and I follow with my eyes. "Scared," I whisper. Jaco looks at me for a long moment. "I'm sorry, I never told you because I didn't want you thinking about it. I had a life-chip implanted before you came here. If my heart stops a medical team will be dispatched in ten minutes to take care of you, it was Simon's idea." I think I start crying, I'm a horrible person. "I know how you think, Keal," says Jaco. "I can almost hear you thinking, and trust me, it's normal for paralysis patients to have an acute fear their care-taker might be injured and leave them alone to die. It's a very normal thing and doesn't make you a bad person." Jaco reaches around my wheelchair and retrieves a backpack with a Com-link in it. He carries that backpack everywhere we go. "QM Base...QM Base...this is Jaco, over." There is a moments pause before someone answers. "Jaco, this is QM Base, what's wrong?" "He's awake, QM Base, over." There is another pause and a different voice comes on. "Jaco, you've done a great job keeping him alive this long, but... Jaco." "Terry, his eyes are tracking on my finger and he spoke three times, I need a med-team now." "Seriously? Are you certain?" "He saw a dolphin behind me in the water and thought it was a shark and whispered a warning to me, twice." "Great Ancestors! I'm dispatching a med-ship, ETA three-minutes." "Thanks, Terry." [Six months later] Jaco took me to the hospital and they did a thousand tests on me. I'm officially awake, they said I was probably slowly waking up for months. Something about my Kitsune heritage has been putting my brain back together for years. But, I guess it's reached the end of what it can do. I'm ninety-percent paralyzed. I can move my head, my eyes, and I can even eat a little the normal way. I haven't been able to speak again, but the doctors say it's possible that I could gain the ability to speak a little in time. Grackle News Ships have been landing in droves on our little island. Jaco will only let two people in the house at a time to interview us. I know Jaco is just trying to protect me, but I've been enjoying the attention. I also know it won't last, I'll be yesterday's news soon enough, better enjoy it while it lasts. "Keal, do you regret making the decision to ram that cargo container and save the Crystal Rain?" asks the reporter holding a microphone in front of my face. "I'm sorry, Keal can't speak yet," says Jaco. "But I know him best, he can shake or nod his head if what I tell you is correct. Keal would say he does not regret his decision, and would do it again." I nod my head. "Keal, are you aware a trajectory analysis of the containers path was later conducted and it was determined it would have impacted between Deck 9 and 10 at over forty-thousand miles per hour?" asks the reporter. I shake my head. "It is very likely your decision and Jaco's unusual glancing maneuver against the container to deflect it away saved all the hatchlings and countless others. Is there anything you would like to tell those hatchlings today?" asks the reporter. I nod my head. "I think Keal would very much like it if anyone from the Crystal Rain back then could drop him a letter, or postcard, and let him know how they are doing," says Jaco. I nod my head. "Keal, we have a little surprise for you," says the reporter. "Jaco, if you will take Keal out onto the porch." I can see from Jaco's expression that he is just as clueless as I am. But he pushes me outside and what's out there is... is... how? There are dozens, no... hundreds of people on the beach, and more arriving. A Daraian woman walks up to the porch and smiles at me. I know her, she's older, but I would know her in a second, it's Laenai, the first Daraian teacher I met and took me into her classroom. Laenai walks up the stairs of the porch and kneels next to me. She hugs me and looks me in the eye. "Thank you, Keal." Another Daraian woman, young and very lovely comes up next. There is a human man with her. "Hello, Keal, do you remember me?" asks the woman. "I was the hatchling that helped you build your radio." Oh ancestors, she's the little hatchling with the adorable wings. She has grown and is so beautiful now. "This is my mate, Thomas. We met on the Crystal Rain when he came to train to be a Communications Officer. There are seventy-five humans serving on the Crystal Rain now because of you, and fifteen of them are human children in school on Deck 9." Others come up and hug me. The satellite technician, the Com-Officer that was on the Com-link that day so long ago, many more of the hatchlings I knew, and even the cook that slipped me human palatable food while I was there. The last person to come up to me is Lady Jackdaw, she stands in front of me, and then kneels and bows her head. "I was wrong about you, and about humans," says Lady Jackdaw. "Forgive me." I smile and nod my head, and Lady Jackdaw hugs me tight. Everyone leaves gifts for me, and Lady Jackdaw's gift is the biggest. I have mixed feelings about it, but maybe it's okay. I haven't let Jaco take me into it yet, I'm just not ready, but Lady Jackdaw gave me a duplicate of the Dart Ship that we crashed in that day. I'll have to put my fear of that ship aside someday. I will. Just not today, I'm not ready. [Ten years later] "Happy Birthday, my love," says Jaco. "You're thirty-eight today." "Hard...imagine...thirty-eight," I whisper. I'm able to speak better now, and I have twenty-percent mobility in my right arm. To think the doctors once said I only had three months left, and thirteen years later I'm healthier than ever, I can talk, and move a bit. Much has happened in the last ten years. Jaco and I have come to a new point in our relationship. It happened, or began, when I was thirty-two. The day started out normal, we were sitting at our work table and Jaco was showing me the antiques he was considering putting up for the next auction at our gallery on Cettise Island. "This one?" asks Jaco I shake my head. "Oh come on, this is a vase from the Motonai Dynasty," says Jaco. "Chip," I whisper. "Hmm... yea, you're right, there is a chip, we'll save this for the online auction," agrees Jaco. "How about this, it's an almost perfect condition painting of Lady Grackle from before the Owl Wars." I shake my head. "Is this one of those days that we argue about everything?" asks Jaco. I grin. I like the way Jaco has included me in the running of the business. I have a very real job too, I'm in charge of sorting the artifacts in the warehouse. The warehouse is a building Jaco built next to the house. I have an assistant that does all my manual work, of course, but it forces me to use my voice, and that is good for me. The artifacts come into the warehouse, I sort them into categories that Jaco will later determine value and find customers for. I like doing it, and I feel useful. "What do you say we take a break and go swimming," suggests Jaco. I enjoy going down to the beach and watching Jaco swim, I always have. The day is warm and a gentle breeze is coming off the ocean. Jaco finishes his swim and heads back towards me. He is so handsome, and fit, and there is a gray patch of hair at both his temples in the typical Jackdaw way of males his age. And then I realize something is very different today, but I can't just turn away like anyone else would. Jaco doesn't even so much as bat an eye or show shock at the situation. He takes my blanket and covers me, thank the ancestors for that small favor, the situation is embarrassing. I don't know what to say and just wait for him to say something. "Am I responsible for this?" asks Jaco plainly. I nod. "I... was... foolish," I say. "No, not foolish. You were the product of a prejudice culture," says Jaco placing my blood pressure sensor against my neck. "You do me great honor that you have shown me that you desire me, it certainly took you long enough." "I... am... sorry." Jaco reads the blood pressure sensor. "We will make the appropriate changes necessary, but I can not allow you to be in this condition, it has driven up your blood pressure far too high, and I can not allow that." I have to grin at that, when did Jaco become so responsible and noble? I guess that is a silly question, he brought me back from the brink of death and cares for my every need. He is truly the most perfect mate anyone could have ever had. "There is medicine that can suppress such physical response, I will add it to your daily medication." That night when it came time to sleep, Jaco pushed my hospital bed in the living room against the wall. I was curious what he was up to and got the greatest gift he could give me. Jaco picked me up and carried me into his room and laid me on his bed. Nothing happens, of course, that would be sick and twisted, but since that day eight years ago we have slept next to each other every night. I have to grin at his obvious alternate purpose. Jaco sleeps on his side, Daraians always do, their wing blades won't allow them to sleep on their back like humans, his hand rests lightly on my chest and I can feel his breath on my shoulder. Jaco can monitor my breathing easier now and is able to respond quicker on those occasions I have breathing distress at night. I am content. I sleep deeper and better than I have ever slept before having Jaco next to me. My life may not have gone the direction I had hoped when I was young, but I may never have discovered Jaco was my true soul mate if this had not happened to me. It is strange how life can change so quickly. I was young, and strong, and had so many options before me, and then in a single moment everything was taken away. I cherish each moment now, these are things I would have never have known before. But even so, I am also glad I will never have children, I would not want to pass on the defective gene that has done this to me. "Hey, where you at?" Jaco waves his hand in front of me. "Remembering." "Don't spend too much time in the past, it's not good for you," scolds Jaco. "Blow out your candles." Jaco helps me blow out my candles and as the last candle extinguishes, their is a blinding flash of light. The entire house is bathed in the unnatural light, and then there is another flash of light, and another. Jaco shoves the cake out of the way and it falls to the floor, ruined, and then he pulls me out of my wheelchair and lowers me to the ground and lays across me. ...And then the world explodes and I'm frightened. The windows and doors and one of the walls of the house are blown inward, glass rains down on us and there is a hot wind blowing like the hurricane that hit our islands a few years ago. "Jaco, what's happening?" The wind stops and Jaco rises up to one knee. There are several more of the blinding lights, and Jaco looks around at the devastation of our house. I start to have trouble breathing, I always do when something startles me or I'm scared. Jaco grabs the oxygen bottle from my wheelchair that is now lying on it's side. He puts the mask over my face and I immediately start breathing easier. "That first one was a ground detonation, the others are atmospheric detonations," says Jaco. "We have to get out of here before the shock waves reach us." Jaco picks me up, which isn't really hard, I don't weight that much and Jaco is such a strong and well muscled Jackdaw after years of swimming in the ocean. Jaco runs outside with me and stops for a moment when he sees Vaistte, my assistant from the warehouse running towards us. "Those were nuclear explosions," yells Jaco. "Someone is attacking the planet, get in the ocean and go as deep as you can." Vais changes direction and runs for the beach, he's an amphibian and will be okay once he is deep enough. But, who's attacking us? Jaco, carrying me, runs for the Dart Ship Lady Jackdaw gave me as a gift. I have been back in it, for two days, when the hurricane hit. The ship is armored and a perfect shelter, I think it is going to save our lives for the second time now. I'm not as afraid of the ship as I once was. Jaco made the last time fun and we played games and he read to me when we weathered out the hurricane. Jaco lowers the ramp and carries me inside and straps me in the bunk. He is being a little rough, on account he knows there isn't long before the blast waves from the atmospheric detonations arrive. Everything is going to be destroyed. I hear the armored canopy seal shut, but then the engines start up. What's Jaco doing? I can feel the ship vertical launching. "NO NO! We aren't supposed to actually fly this thing! Stop... Stop... Jaco, don't make me fly in this..." The stress is too much for me and I black out. "You awake?" I hear Jaco's voice and open my eyes. The ship is cold and leaking water. "Where...are...we," I whisper. "Bottom of the ocean, more nukes were coming and this was the only place I could think to hide," explains Jaco. "A Dart Ship isn't made to do this, and we can't stay long, it's not a submarine and nobody ever thought to put a bilge pump in. We will have to go back to the surface in an hour or maybe less, depends how much water leaks in." "What...happened?" "Not sure, I picked up a little on the Com-link before we submerged, the nuke that hit the ground...it...hit one of the Quartermaster Islands. There was one island between us and the nuke, that's what saved us." "Did...anyone...get...out...?" I whisper breathlessly. "From what I heard, there was a twelve minute warning of attack that came from Prince Mischief's Palace on Demonia, so maybe some people escaped." "Who...attacked?" "Don't know, all I heard was aliens." "Which...aliens...what...world?" "I don't know, we'll go up to the surface soon and see if we can't get a news transmission." The water continues to rise inside the ship until it's almost to Jaco's knees. Jaco is worried if we wait any longer we might be too heavy, so we push for the surface. Jaco lowers the ramp and drains the water, and then we listen for any news. An hour later an emergency signal broadcasts instructions to survivors to come to Cettise Island. Thousands of ships are arriving when we get there, we have to land on a side street downtown, there isn't any more room left at the airfield, or almost anywhere else. Jaco leaves me for a half-hour to try and find out what's happening. He seals the ship so that I'll be safe. I can hear people outside shouting and when Jaco gets back he tells me we are leaving for Raunu. I don't want to, I'm scared, but Jaco says the Marshal General has already launched with the entire Gunslinger Order to join with all the Fleets of every world that are now in route to Kitsune to form one massive Imperial Fleet. The Empire has been attacked from an unknown alien species from outside our Galaxy. "We have to leave now," says Jaco. "There is no law left on this planet, these people are in a panic and riots will start soon." Jaco puts me into slow sleep and when I wake I'm confused, I'm in my bed in Simon's Cabin, and Jaco is kneeling on the ground weeping violently. "Jaco?" I whisper. Jaco looks at me, tears streaming down his face. "It's gone, it's all gone." "What?" "I will show you, but if you start to get upset, I'm putting you back to sleep," warns Jaco. Jaco moves the Vid-Screen so I can see it and plays a recording. The recording is fifty-five minutes long and I weep. Jaco stops the recording six times to give me a chance to calm down. The aliens attacked and destroyed Darai in fifty-five minutes. The Daraians didn't go down without a fight, their Fleets performed acts of heroism unseen by any species in all of known history to give cargo ships, transports, and even garbage barges a chance to evacuate as many hatchlings as possible. I had always thought the Daraians didn't care about their hatchlings, but what I watched proved we never understood the Daraian culture. I watch endless waves of unarmed Dart ships never intended for combat ram the alien fleet. The Daraians held one Battle Carrier back to lead the evacuees away from the planet. The initial estimate is that of a population of twelve billion Daraians, perhaps between two to four million escaped, and most of those were hatchlings. "I...don't...feel...good," I whisper, and Jaco immediately sedates me. I don't know how long I slept, but when I wake it's quite inside the cabin and Jaco is nowhere around. I look around at the warm comfortable cabin I spent so many wonderful days as a boy. I miss those days, and I feel old now. Josh's little bed in the corner, mine here, Simon asleep in his room, and Jaco snoring lightly up in his nest. I'm lying on my back, so the easiest thing to see is the rafters. Jaco's little loft is gone. Of course, it has been a long time. "Jaco?" I whisper. "I'm here, my love," whispers Jaco. "I'm out searching the Base Hospital for your medicine and other supplies, the base is almost completely abandoned except for a few of the most elderly Gunslingers. I'll be back soon, I left the Vid-Screen on for you to watch." I watch the Vid-Screen, the Grackle News Network is still operating. There were many Daraians living on other worlds and the Grackles were able to put their remaining satellites back into operation on other worlds. The news says the Kitsune have refused to accept any refugees, and that House Raven, based on Kitsune as part of the post-war Kitsune-Demonian Treaty, are furious and planning to leave Kitsune. The Grackle reporters are speculating whether it is Emperor Sionnach that ordered no refugees, or whether his weakened position after the Kitsune-Demonian war has left him a powerless puppet Emperor. The news says Prince Mischief has opened Demonia to all Daraian refugees, but there are problems with that as well. The Demonians haven't recovered enough from the war with the Kitsune to care for the refugees. I watch and listen to Jaco occasionally telling me where he is and what he's stealing for us. A red-flashing banner scrolls across the screen and reads 'Emergency Broadcast.' The emergency broadcast begins and... "Holy...frozen...ancestors..." I whisper. [End part II]