Wolf Boy Returns from Space: Chapter 18

Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider arrived at Bamburgh Castle the next morning. Canon Lider was nearly corporeal and both Pan and Kaiden congratulated him. He shimmered at the edges, Pan noted, and approached certain stable objects carefully as if he didn’t quite trust how he and the object would interact.

The Congregation greeted Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider with friendly recognition, except Xavier who looked uncomfortable for once. Pan noted that Canon Lider took him aside. He heard Xavier say, “I tell Anthros what I am—it’s only polite. You know, so they don’t get confused by the smells.”

Canon Lider said, “Taya of Galloway vouched for you. Says Anthros should be flattered that a Cubus values the Anthros form so highly.” He added dryly, “Probably shouldn’t mention that Phillipe has certain preferences.”

Xavier bobbed his head and grinned.

Monseigneur Rhys said to Pan and Kaiden, “How’s Earth treating you?”

“It’s okay,” Kaiden said and shrugged. Pan echoed him.

“Diplomat Meke RaykJanes went with us to the Moon,” Monseigneur Rhys said. “He says Queen Artia’s Confederation asked for Junad. The Diplomatic Corps insisted on its own interrogation before they handed him over.”

“Can we trust Queen Artia to punish him?” Pan said.

He was pleased to see that Monseigneur Rhys took the question seriously. “I believe so. She’s linked to several human and Siphon institutions who would be, let’s say, displeased if Junad was merely lectured and allowed to roam free.”

Canon Lider joined them, and Pan reported Ana’s visit to both him and Monseigneur Rhys.

Canon Lider whistled. “The most strident protesters are often the most devout. During the investigation of the Amunites, Ana was unimpressed by Monseigneur Rhys’s authority,” he explained.

“She still is,” Pan said, dead-pan. Monseigneur Rhys laughed.

“Or says she is,” Kaiden said.

“Do you want to meet this Anthros group?” Monseigneur Rhys said. “The ones supposedly guarding various kings' bones?”

“Yes. As investigators,” Pan said quickly.

Not as my true self. Whoever that is.

“We could visit the place first,” he said.

Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider nodded. Pan noted that they were holding hands.

Monseigneur Rhys, Canon Lider, Pan and Kaiden left Bamburgh Castle that afternoon after bidding goodbye to the Congregation. They took the train through various checkpoints to the kingdom of Wessex. Within the British Isles, travel between kingdoms was smooth and relaxed. Pan assumed that Kaiden had gotten special papers for the weapon he was definitely carrying. He hoped that Kaiden didn’t shoot his foot off. He was trusting the instructor's trust in Kaiden.

Those bodyguards had scouted ahead but were keeping a low profile. 

I’m no longer merely a potential victim. I’m an ambassador—

Potentate.

—dignitary, visiting potential witnesses—

Followers.

—supporters. Best to make a good impression.

They left the train at Bath and took a caravan the rest of the way. They got off in Warminster and Pan noted a number of Anthros on the street and in shops. Anthros could live amongst humans. But they generally lived in confederations, like Queen Artia’s group. Different Anthros—a bear-type, a cat-type, a rabbit-type—in one place usually indicated a confederation, but Warminster was a human dwelling, and Pan spotted plenty of humans. No doubt recruited security were among them.

Kaiden nudged Pan and jerked his head at an elk-type. Pan nodded. The elk-type Anthros paused and bowed to Pan from the waist.

“Well, well,” Monseigneur Rhys said softly.

They rented two scooters for the remaining distance. Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider’s scooter led the way, Monseigneur Rhys driving, Canon Lider's hands lightly clutching his shirt.

The scooters had GPS and ended their run like tired ponies on the edge of a lane. They all dismounted and walked along the lane through a pasture of tangled weeds and white-tipped flowers. Kaiden kept motioning to rocks but when they came to a set of stones, they all nodded.

Two slab-like sandstones embraced each other to form a triangle with the ground. Phillipe had mentioned that originally the stones likely formed a doorway—two vertical, one across the top, like a door at Stonehenge, though not as tall. They topped Monseigneur Rhys by a few centimeters, and he was the tallest person there. He stood with Canon Lider and eyed the stones. Pan and Kaiden trooped around to the other side, their backs to a placid brook.

“Over a thousand years ago, someone buried bones here.”

“That's the idea.”

“And four hundred years later than that someone dug up those bones or some of those bones and sent them to the Moon lab.”

“Yes.”

“And I was made,” Pan said.

“Born,” Canon Lider corrected. “You weren’t grown like Allec. You were born from a machine, yes, but a machine that mimics a female’s reproductive process.”

“I have no limitations on my age, the way Allec does.”

“You don’t,” Monseigneur Rhys said. “As a baby, you were placed in the Moon’s care centers. They house a number for workers’ and visitors’ children.”

Canon Lider said, “We got the impression that you were moved around between the centers. And then—”

His brows knit, and he frowned. Ducking his head to glance between the stones, Pan could see his expression, could see the movement of his chest as he breathed. Canon Lider was almost entirely solid—was solid when he stood still. Only when he moved did he shimmer, as if parts of him had to catch up.

“I was taken to Earth,” Pan said.

“Abandoned,” Canon Lider said. “It shouldn’t have happened. The lack of oversight was a disgrace before Allec ever blew the whistle—”

Kaiden repeated, “Blew the whistle.” Monseigneur Rhys grinned. Canon Lider often used terms from a few centuries earlier.

“—exposed the fraud,” Canon Lider amended. “Mars Cloning Operations shut-down Grown Cloning. And Historical went back to testing bones. The department wasn’t supposed to be rejuvenating ancient people anyway.”

“Except here I am.”

“Yes,” Canon Lider agreed.

Monseigneur Rhys said, “Perhaps.”

“That’s the problem of belief,” Canon Lider said. “Junad believes you are a clone. Historical believes or claims to believe you are the product of DNA within a bone mixed in with others. Whoever sent the bone believes it came from a historical personage—

“But no thread connects every event.”

“What do you believe?” Canon Lider said gently, and Monseigneur Rhys smiled at Canon Lider, eyes crinkling with lines of humor.

So that’s how it is. Monseigneur Rhys handles the planning. Canon Lider handles the people—or the moral equation.

Pan said, “I don’t seem to fit into any kin group. I have markers that don’t fit either. A mutation? An aberration? The result of the extraction process?”

Both Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider glanced at Kaiden, but Kaiden had turned away from the stones to face the opposite side of the brook. Pan had heard what Kaiden heard. He wasn’t surprised when a group emerged from a row of trees on the other side of the brook. They stood quietly for a moment, facing forward, before they headed for a bridge of evenly placed, worn rocks.

They were Anthros. The elk-like Anthros Pan had seen in town caught the eye immediately, his horns lifting above silvered hair. The others included two bear-like Anthros with thick brown hair. A lynx-like Anthros—ears straight and alert—led the way.

Pan took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Wolf Boy Returns from Space with the final six chapters, including the identity of Pan's ancestor/original, is scheduled for publication this coming Fall 2024.