Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four)) (5 page)

Wes was stunned. Then he realized that he did have a special family that had played a key role in the history of all that had happened. He felt ten feet tall and Tommy watching his best friend felt a moment of sheer happiness. He knew Wes was special but Wes didn’t know it or believe it. Now he did. He was thankful for Linda Kay and what she had said to Wes. Suddenly the door opened and Rose walked in followed by Tag and Danielle.

Rose ran forward and said, “I’ve missed you most of all. You are a very important part of me, Tommy.”

Tommy was stunned. Rose opened her mind to him and he could see she meant what she said. Rose loved him deeply. They had shared each other’s life since before Tommy was born. He had felt her even when he was still in his mother’s womb. A funny thing happened at that moment; Tommy discovered that he had also missed his sister. It was like a part of him had come home. He held on to Rose and said, “I love you, bunny.”

Rose broke down in tears and didn’t care who saw her. She needed her family and now all of them could see just how important they all were to each other. Tommy looked at his parents over Rose’s shoulder and said, “It’s time to go home.” Tag and Danielle nodded and hugged each other.

Danielle and Rose went out and met a news reporter to address the huge crowd. Danielle told them how Tommy had been brought to Earth eight years earlier to be educated in a normal school. They thanked everyone for the great treatment he had received.”

While Rose and Danielle were outside addressing the crowd, Wes looked at Linda Kay and said, “Would you mind if I come back to see you.”

Linda Kay smiled at him and said, “My heart will break if you don’t.”

Wes’ face broke into a huge smile and Tommy saw that his best friend had found the one for him. “Time to go, Wes.”

Wes hugged Linda Kay and they left to board Rose’s ship.

T
ommy saw the castle below him and focused on the present. He saw the crowds outside the castle and wondered why there were so many gathered. He was used to the attention that all members of the Gardner family received whenever they went out into public but this was just more than he would have ever anticipated for this ceremony. He shook his head and thought, “Rose, I’m coming in on the speeder and I’ll be landing on the pad at the central spire.”

Tommy could hear Rose’s laugh in her thought, “Oh Tommy, you’ll never like being the center of attention will you?”

Tommy smiled and said, “No, I guess not.”

“I’ll get Mom and Dad to meet you,” Rose said.

“That would be great, Rose.”

Tommy brought the speeder in and landed it in the center of the pad. He opened the small port and saw Tag and Danielle walking toward him. Tommy got out and his mother embraced him. “Welcome home stranger,” Danielle said. “We expected you an hour ago. Did Atlas slow you up?”

Tommy smiled and said, “You know better. If you look up compulsive punctual in the dictionary you’ll see Atlas’ picture. I just didn’t want to get here too early. You know I don’t want this title.”

Tag looked at his son and said, “Sometimes the time chooses the servant. The very fact you don’t want it makes you the best choice.”

Tommy looked at his father and said, “I’m going to have to ponder what you just said. However, I obviously don’t have the time to do it now.”

Danielle smiled and said, “No, you don’t. Why don’t we go and get this over with. By the way, you are rather handsome tonight in your uniform.”

Tommy thought at Danielle, “Aww Mom, now you’re embarrassing me.” Danielle laughed and took Tommy’s hand and led him down to the main ball room.

The coronation ceremony was really quite simple. Rose touched Tommy on his shoulders with three swords, a Glod long sword, a Cainth short sword, and an Earth fencing sword. He was declared Duke of the Starts Realm and Defender of the Realm. Tommy swore to protect the Realm against all enemies and then stood and turned for the guests to come forward and bow. Tommy suffered the entire time. After the last guest had bowed he was led to the top of the central tower and stood where the gathered crowds could see him. He was announced as Duke Thomas Anglo Gardner, protector of the Realm and the crowd erupted into cheering and celebration.

Tommy stood there mystified at the crowd’s reaction. He felt someone standing next to him and he glanced to his right and saw Tgon-Gee. The huge Glod Prince towered over him and Tommy heard him say, “You wonder why they love you?”

Tommy looked quickly at Tgon-gee and said, “What do you mean love?”

“Tommy, when you left Castle Gardner and went to earth to be educated as an ordinary citizen, you became one of them. You spent eight years and no one knew you were a Gardner. The Realm knows that you have their heart. You’ve lived their life and shared their experiences. They know that your decisions will be wise because of what you did. The Realm loves you and they trust you.”

Tommy looked at the old Glod and thought about what he was saying. He knew in his heart he only wanted the realm to be safe, prosperous, and happy. For himself, he only wanted to help Atlas end his anguish. Then he really looked at the crowds and could tell they were really happy in their celebrations; he could mentally feel their happiness. Just like Wes learned his value when Linda Kay pointed it out to him, he now felt his value to the realm. He looked up at Tgon-gee and said, “Thank you.” Tgon-gee nodded and Tommy turned to the crowd and raised both his arms over his head. The crowd went crazy.

Standing in front of the Castle inside the garden wall, Wes and Linda Kay watched the crowd cheering Tommy. Wes looked at her and said, “Tommy really doesn’t understand how much he means to the citizens of the Realm.”

Linda Kay snuggled under Wes’ arm and said, “He needs a woman to tell him.”

Wes laughed and said, “Like a fourteen year old I knew.”

Linda Kay smiled, leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, and said, “Exactly like that.”

Wes looked out at the crowd and thought, “I truly hope Tommy finds his love. If anyone deserves it, he does.” Then the fireworks started and he lost himself as he held her close.”

Danielle and Leila were standing on the balcony observing the crowd and they saw Wes and Linda Kay standing close in the garden below them. Danielle smiled and said, “It seems your son has found the one.”

Leila smiled and said, “She certainly is a remarkable woman.”

Danielle laughed. “The old Special Forces Team said the same thing about you.”

Leila smiled and looked at Danielle, “We’ve had a wonderful life so far, haven’t we?”

Danielle embraced Leila and said, “Yes we have.”

Tommy was sitting in Castle Gardner’s map room the next morning thinking about the previous day when Atlas broke his train of thought, “Tommy the two Algean adolescents have arrived and are looking for you.”

“Thanks, Atlas.” Tommy then pushed a button on the table com and said, “I’m expecting two Algeans. Please bring them to the map room when they arrive.”

The system operator said, “They are here now; I’m sending them up.”

Tommy stared at the maps and thought about the aliens holding Atlas’ brothers captive. The door opened to the map room and two Algeans walked in. They were not tall but Tommy knew that the two had decided not to reach their full height. He had seen adolescents in the sun reach twelve feet in height. They could also assume many different forms. Today they actually assumed the form of a human with two legs and two arms. Where a face would be was a large bloom like a sunflower. The two Algeans walked up to Tommy and the smaller of the two thought, “Good morning, Your Highness. We are pleased to be here for our education.”

Tommy looked at the two and said, “Good morning. Have either of you been given names yet?”

The shorter one again answered, “As you probably know, we don’t receive our names until we return home at the end of our education.”

Tommy knew the answer to what he was about to ask but he was curious to see if they did, “Why is that?”

The taller Algean thought, “Because so many of us are killed during our education that it doesn’t make good sense to waste a good name.”

Tommy smiled and said, “Why do so many die?”

The shorter one said, “Because we let our curiosity put us in circumstances that are often quite dangerous.”

Tommy looked at them and said, “Is that what happened when you destroyed a megaship?”

The two looked at each other and the taller one thought, “Well, sort of, I tried to understand the workings of a black hole reactor and the black hole fell out onto the ship’s deck.” Tommy just stared at the Algean and the obviously nervous plant said, “It took forty five minutes for the ship to be consumed, so everyone escaped successfully.”

Tommy shook his head, “You couldn’t resist taking that reactor apart, could you?”

The poor Algean said, “I promise, I tried my hardest not to do it but I gave in to the temptation.”

“Did you learn anything?”

“I actually did but it’s going to take a few months for the information to work its way through my mental storage.”

“Well I hope whatever you learned is worth a billion credit starship.” Tommy looked at the two adolescents, “Well, let’s get our rules straight. First thing, I need a name to call you even if your own people don’t grant you one.” He looked at the shorter Algean and said, “Your name is Twig.”

The shorter one seemed to contemplate the name for a moment and thought. “Ok, I will answer to that name.”

Tommy then looked at the taller adolescent and said, “Your name is Sprig.”

The taller one said immediately, “You can name me whatever you choose. I’m just happy I’ve been given another chance.”

Tommy leaned back in his chair and said, “I know that ultimately your mentor will be Atlas. However, before you will be safe enough to take on board Atlas we must fill some of your mental storage to reduce the power your curiosity has over you. I know that you are powerless to really stop your studies. This is how we will try to make it safe while you learn. A crewman on the ship will be assigned to be your companion at all times. If they say no to what you want to study, then that means no. There will be hours during the night shifts where you will not have a crewman assigned. That is when you will process what you learned that day.”

Sprig looked at Tommy and said, “Captain Dodd has already told us that we will have a crewman assigned to us.”

Tommy froze. Then he said, “Who told you that?”

Sprig seeing Tommy’s reaction said, “The Captain of the Dorg-Ross.”

“What is the Captain’s name,” Tommy asked?

The two Algeans looked at each other and Twig said, “Captain Cassandra Dodd.”

Tommy stood up and thought, “Atlas! You didn’t tell me Cassandra Dodd was the captain of the ship I’ve been assigned with these adolescents.”

Atlas thought, “Oh, crap!” Then he thought to Tommy, “Tommy, you have been assigned to the highest rated ship available at this time. The high ranking of the two adolescents and you made fleet control choose our best ship.”

“Well I’m not going to do it. I’ll make them choose another.”

Tommy, you might want to think that through.”

“Why!”

“Tommy. Do you have any idea of the power of your opinion? If you reject this ship then it will be given a black mark and the probability of any of the crew’s chances of future advancement will be totally jeopardized. All fleet command will see is that one of the Gardners doesn’t like that ship.”

“Atlas, I don’t really care. She deserves to rot in…”

Atlas interrupted by saying, “Wes is the sensor officer on that ship and Colonel Ortiz’s son is the communications officer.”

Tommy stopped. “How did they draw that ship Atlas; the Captain is a tyrant.”

Atlas gave a mental sigh and thought back, “Even though you don’t like Captain Dodd, she had the highest graduating score in the history of Fleet Academy. She has earned her way to the rank she now holds and her ship is considered the best in the fleet. That’s why it was assigned to you.”

“Atlas, I don’t want to hurt the crew because of my feelings about her but I don’t honestly know if I can work with her.”

Atlas gave a mental smile that Tommy felt in his mind and said something that changed Tommy’s mind, “Tommy, she no longer outranks you; she reports to you.”

The two Algeans had been listening to the back and forth between Tommy and Atlas and they both saw a huge smile split Tommy’s face. Twig looked at Sprig and thought, “This may be more fun than we thought.”

Sprig was moving slightly in the room’s ventilation and thought back, “Uh huh, we’re gonna have a good time.”

Captain Cassandra Dodd was on the com with Fleet Admiral Mikado. She had been arguing with him for fifteen minutes and she was not making progress. “Admiral, you just can’t assign me to report to Tommy Gardner.”