Authors: Timothy Ellis

Tags: #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Science Fiction, #Exploration, #Military, #Space Fleet, #Space Marine, #Space Opera, #Time Travel, #Teen & Young Adult, #Metaphysical & Visionary, #Space Exploration

The Long Road to Gaia (20 page)

2615

We went back in time about ten months, and
found ourselves standing outside a freighter, watching Jon and Jane walking
away from it with a cat cage.

As soon as Jon was out of sight, One pulled
me solid, so we both appeared to be normal people dressed as an executive
couple, and pushed me along to the entrance of the ship, where we met Richard
Hurndall.

One introduced us, using fake names, which
he already knew us by apparently, and he sent us inside. We met Suzy and her
mum there, and the kittens were still playing on their kitty castle, around
their long suffering mum. They were seemingly unaware they were one fewer than
they had been.

We sat, and one of the seal point males
came up to me and rubbed himself against me.

"He likes you," said One.

I tickled him under the chin, and he
purred, smooging against me, and wanting more. I ruffed him up the wrong way,
and smoothed his fur back, and he demanded more.

"We like each other," I said.

Suzy and her mum were happy one of them
liked us. As happy as anyone can be when they know they need to find kittens
good homes, even though they really don’t want to.

I picked up the kitten, and cuddled him,
and we went through the motions of seeing the kitty litter box and food
preferences, and when we returned to the kitty castle, Twelve was there with a
butler droid, which was controlling a grav chest, with a carry cage on top.

I placed the kitten in the cage.

"What are you going to call him?"
asked Suzy.

One looked at me.

"Max," I said.

I'd known a Max once before. It had
belonged to the original Jon. And now Jon had once read about one when he was
little. The cat in the story was Burmese, but the original Jon's cat had been
Siamese. It didn’t matter.

"Why Max?" asked Alice.

"He reminds me of a Max."

They looked confused.

"From the book?"

Still confused.

"Max and the Gang of Five?"

None of them seemed to know about it.

"Tell you what, I'll get a copy sent
to Suzy when we get home. I'm sure she'll love it. It's really old, but it's
really good."

Everyone smiled, and Suzy thanked me in
advance.

The five of us left.

Once out into the hubbub of the station, I
turned to One.

"Why do we need a kitten?"

"We don’t. You will. Come."

She led us to a temporarily rented office.
Inside, Twelve vanished. The butler droid plugged himself into the office
computer, and I watched it order a copy of Max and the Gang of Five, and send
it to Suzy.

"What are we doing here?" I asked
One.

Kali appeared before us.

"Oh," I said.

She took the kitten cage, and vanished.

"Huh?" I said, now totally
confused.

"Come," said One, again.

She laid her hand on my arm again, and we
shifted.

2605

"Where are we?" I asked One.

"Gaia."

I blinked rapidly for a moment, catching
up.

"When?"

"Ten years back from where we
were."

"Why?"

"You need to complete the rest of this
phase of Jon's journey."

"Please tell me I don’t have to live
here as one of them."

"I won't tell you anything then."

She grinned at me, and led me out of the
room we'd appeared in, to find a living room with a single occupant.

I looked myself in the face.

"Huh?"

The man before me changed appearance.

"What?"

They were laughing at me, and it took a
moment to understand the joke.

"Hi Fourteen. Why are you
impersonating me?"

One interrupted.

"Your part is done Fourteen. Thank
you."

"Where did you say that beach
was?" asked Fourteen.

"Gold Coast. Just go ten years into
the future, and follow Gunbus."

"I will."

And he was gone.

One turned to me. She was still grinning.

I was past the ability to speak, and just
stood there with my mouth open.

"Oh come on Thirteen. He was
kidding."

"Yeah, right."

I knew Fourteen. He hadn't been kidding.
He'd already be on a beach somewhere scoping out beach babes. And I was stuck
here, doing… What was I doing here?

"What am I doing here?" I asked.

"There is one last task to do,
concerning Jon. But it will take ten years to do, and then another year spent
preparing the system in general, and the parents in particular, for his return.
Fourteen has been here a long time pretending to be you, so you wouldn’t have
to be born and do the whole lifetime here."

"He did the whole being born
thing?"

She nodded. Okay, now I didn’t begrudge him
the beach and the babes. He'd had a worse assignment than I had.

"And the kitten?"

"Kali has already delivered the kitten
to you, at the same time she took it. All you have to do is catch up and take
delivery when she arrives."

"And Jon?"

She told me.

I should have guessed.

Jonathon Hunter

returns

Home is where the Hero is.

Acknowledgements

Once again, a big thank you for Helen Ellis,
sounding board, ear that listens, and experience which talks.

Thanks goes to
Elliott Webber for
the cover design for this book.

A Message to my Readers

I’ve had a lot of fun writing this book.
There is still a lot of story to come, and I invite you to come along for the
full journey with me.

If you have enjoyed this book, I hope you
will take the time to leave a review on the Amazon site. All reviews are
greatly appreciated, as they help assist purchasing decisions by other readers.
Sales and reviews will help me to focus on the next book in the series, which
impacts how fast the next installment is released.

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