{Enki}

“I’m sure Ross is fine. Tumu will be back any minute. We can ask him then,” John assured Jack for the third time in the last hour. The uncertainty left him equally nervous. Between Karter’s procedure and the changing of Rayne’s guard, Ross disappeared. John accompanied Jack on his diplomatic responsibilities through the upcoming war efforts while everyone around them lost their shorts.

Except the Tritans. They seemed to like the King Regent.

Jack rushed down the corridors of the glass and stone colony established in one of several oceans in Enki. The teenager and his sister shared a certain air in these situations. Severe, strained, and focused. Tackle the problem and solve it. Now that problem was a missing girl. Kyle’s sister. There was nothing to physically tackle.

At the bungalow they all shared, John popped his face in front of the scanner. It dropped a nacre-resistant barrier and let them inside. He heard sounds coming from the kitchen, “Tameka, you back?”

“Yea, in here.”

Pax echoed his mommy, “Here! Here!”

As they rounded a corner, Sagan stomped her foot in a mock-tantrum. “All right. That’s it. I want one.”

They all turned to her, confused. Even Jack frowned at her.

“Pax, you’re the most adorable critter I’ve ever seen. And now I want one just like you.”

The boy responded with a bashful smile that he hid behind brown fingers. He fled from the room, leaving Tameka gaping and wide-eyed at Sagan. “Are you serious? I mean… that would explain the weight loss and why you turned your nose up at dinner. You love my cooking—”

“You are looking a little thin in the face,” John pointed out.

The Seamswalker laughed incredulously and threw her hands up in frustration. Those axes, a symbol for her relationship with Korac, gleamed on her hips like a proud reminder. “For the last time, people. I. Am. Not. Pregnant. Although, now I’d like to be—”

Jack whistled loud with his fingers in his teeth. After everyone gave him their undivided attention, he pressed, “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I don’t have much time before I’m needed elsewhere. Tameka, have you seen Ross?”

John crossed the kitchen for an apple as the redheaded Progeny frowned. “No. Not since Caedes finished at the infirmary. She was in the waiting room with Chris and Tumu.”

“Thanks. I’d like to see Caedes before I go.”

The apple crunched wonderfully as John took a bite. “Me, too.”

“Is something wrong? Have you not seen Ross?” Sagan hugged herself in that armored coat. Concern drawn in the features of her face.

John shook his head. “No. But there’s only two people left to ask now. Chris and Tumu. Did you bring the Officer back with you?”

Tameka nodded with all those red curls in a foaming wave. “He took Para to the infirmary.”

“We’ll visit Caedes, first. Then we’ll head there,” Jack announced as he pointed up the stairs questioningly.

At Tameka’s nod, he climbed up to the next floor. John followed with an extra apple. Assuming the Icarus had any teeth, he’d appreciate it. He knocked, not on the bedroom door, but on the door to “the room.” A hidden closet Tumu kitted out with Enki tech for Caedes to keep them connected. If he could breathe, he’d be in this space.

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A pale imitation of John’s favorite Icarus answered the door. No obvious injuries, but he moved so stiffly. He squinted at the light in the hall. The dark circles under his eyes implied a lack of sleep, or worse. He needed to feed. As the only volunteer in the house, John needed to pencil in some time to feed him. Straight and asexual, he got nothing out of the typically intimate experience. But Caedes’ gratitude went a long way in Pax diaper duty or potty training instruction.

“Thank you for saving Tameka and Pax.” Jack said as severe as if he were Rayne.

Caedes planted a fist to his nacre and half-bowed with a wince.

John knew the right thing to say to mark this moment. “I’m so relieved your head is harder than bedrock.” At the humorous slip in the Icarus’ formal mask, John slapped Caedes on the back. Hard.

The bald man hissed on a groan, all the while glaring at John with “I’ll remember this when it’s your turn” in his deep green eyes. In a tight voice more gravelly than usual, Caedes said, “If you’re done being an asshole, I want to show you the map I’ve compiled of all the known routes in Enki so far.”

They stepped inside the cramped space and took a peek at the screen. John pointed at the circle on the far left. “So this is us?”

“Right.” Caedes swept his hands over the touch-sensitive device, and it expanded into a three-dimensional visual of the Dyson’s Sphere. “I’m not sure when the design came to me, but the lines represent the conduits we enter.”

The young King frowned. “This looks familiar.”

“I thought so, too, your majesty. But I can’t place where I saw it before.”

A small knock came from the door.

Caedes tried twice to call out, “Come in, Pax.”

The two-year-old entered with wonder on his face. “How?” As in, how did Caedes know it was Pax.

John broke into a grin, and Jack’s anxious frown softened.

“It’s my super power, kiddo.”

“Hee!” Pax toddled under the desk and resumed the storytelling of various deities throughout human and Icarean history. With disturbing accuracy.

Back to the screen, John nodded at the center. “Primary Bol is the closest conduit to the Pantheon on the northernmost point of the sphere.”

Tameka called from below, “Jack, Tumu is here!”

The teenager bolted from the room while John stayed behind to review likely points of exploration. He handed the Icarus an apple and quietly offered a donation. “I can make time in an hour. Jack’s schedule is busy, and I don’t want to leave him unattended. But I’ll make time.”

Gruff and dry, the Icarus grumbled, “Thank you.”

“You did what?!” Jack’s voice thundered through the bungalow.

Severe.

John burst down the stairs to find the King Regent red in the face, glaring at a thirteen-foot alien.

“How could you abandon her like that? I’ve never thought of you as reckless. Tumu, you’ll get her killed!”

Tameka and Sagan moved behind him, ready to reach for the kid at the first sign of aggression.

The membranes over Tumu’s eyes blinked. “I left Ross with a trusted associate and plenty of funds. She’s as safe as any interplanetary traveler. Safer. Iuo won’t let any harm befall her. This way she stands a better chance of finding her sister.”

The bungalow was crowded. Tameka always left the glass partitions open to let the salty air breeze inside. Angry and shocked breaths stifled the otherwise airy space. Sagan’s voice cut through the tension. “I’ll check on Ross. She’s staying with Iuo on Reipon, right? I’m visiting there in two days. Give me that long, and we’ll pop here for a quick check-in. Tumu’s right, Jack. She can’t wait around on us to find her sister. I’d do the same.”

Tameka stared at her. She searched the girl’s face with frantic glances, as if soaking in her features. “I wouldn’t wait around either. I’d find you. And don’t you ever put me in that position.”

“Jack, think. If someone took Rayne, again, but you could do something about it this time. Wouldn’t you?” John offered cautiously. “We know Rayne would do exactly what Ross did. For you. For the Shadow. Hell, for Bethany.”

The young King’s muscles uncoiled by millimeters, then inches. Until finally he relaxed from the spring he coiled into as if ready to attack Tumu. Eventually, he shoved his fingers in his hair and folded onto the sofa. Tameka rushed to his side and knelt to check on him. When Jack’s face reemerged from his hands, it was red. His hazel eyes blotchy with unshed tears. In a broken voice, he confessed, “I only want everyone safe.”

“The young ask for so much,” Tumu said as he gripped Jack’s shoulder.

John blew out a sigh of relief when Jack let the alien comfort him. “We’re all tired.” He nodded over to Sagan, who all but withered on the spot. “Let’s cancel the rest of today’s schedule and rest up because we all know. This isn’t it. Not by half.”

Their enemies always waited with more.