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.

 

Wolf Boy Returns from Space: Chapter 17, Part II

The next day, a messenger arrived at Bamburgh Castle and asked to speak to Pan.

Ears perked, Xaiver fetch him and Kaiden. “You want to meet up here?” he said, glancing around the study.

Xaiver, Pan bet, would choose a different venue.

Pan said, “The pilgrims are gone. Are there tourists in the Great Hall?”

“Not for another hour,” Xavier said.

He proceeded Pan and Kaiden to the hall, Phillipe slouching behind.

The Great Hall was not as old as other areas of the castle. A gap of eight-hundred years existed between its construction and the period it represented—like so much Nostalgic Architecture.

Whatever its origins, it suited a messenger (and a prince). It was a long, narrow room with a vaulted ceiling of swooping interconnected beams. Tall windows along one side let in soft sunlight. The wood floor glowed. The paintings of people in ancient dress shimmered.

The bodyguards were already present and turned as Xavier, then Pan and Kaiden entered. Phillipe slumped in the doorway, hands in pockets.

A person waited in the hall’s center: a female human, arms folded as she swiveled to study the paintings and beams and suits of armor. 

“Ana!” Kaiden said.

She fully turned, scowling, but then, Ana had always scowled. She was a slender woman with set shoulders and nearly black eyes under winged brows. If she was an Anthros, she would resemble an Indri lemur.

She was one of the Amunites who traveled to Mars at the same time as Pan and Kaiden. She returned with one of the sect’s leaders, Iris, almost five years ago. Kaiden’s parents returned at the same time. Kaiden moved into the dorms; he was eighteen by then.

Ana and Iris and Kaiden’s parents rejoined Amunite members on Earth. Kaiden may consider himself lapsed—though he held onto certain beliefs—but the Amunites were a still-operating sect. 

“You’re taller,” Ana said, crossing the remaining space to shake hands with Kaiden. She glanced sideways at Pan. “You too,” she said. “I guess I can see what all the fuss is about.”

For the first time since all this mishegoss started (one of Allec's terms), Pan felt utterly flummoxed though Xavier laughed and Kaiden shrugged agreement. 

“Thank you,” Pan said, deciding that any other response would take the conversation down an unnecessary path.

“Are you really going to attend Queen Artia’s court?” 

“Any reason he shouldn’t?” Kaiden said, and Pan picked up an approving murmur at the question from the bodyguards.

Ana considered. “Not exactly,” she said. “Lots of diplomats and such would stop her squirreling you off to some deep-forest retreat. But she’s going to ask you to stay with her here on Earth.”

Pan knew that. He inclined his head anyway. Nice to have my deductions confirmed.  

“But you didn’t go to Reforested Greenland first—despite your foster parents, Raine and Ruella being there?”

“I needed more information,” Panfilo said, and now Phillipe gave an approving murmur. 

“While Mr. Catholic and his lackey visit the Moon?”

Unlike Panfilo and Kaiden, Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider hadn’t disguised their destination after the ship. Pan imagined the forums must be brainstorming wild and implausible (and possibly correct) suppositions for their actions.

He said, “Canon Lider is visible now.”

Not a non sequitur. His investigators deserved respect.

“Is he? Cute? Enough to explain the priest’s devotion?”

“They seem to get along,” Pan said, not mentioning what Allec had told him about Lider and Monseigneur Rhys's struggles. Pan couldn’t fathom lack of touch in his own life.

Ana smiled suddenly, an unexpected lightening of her expression. “You were diplomatic as a kid. Reserved, at least. I remember that. Look, people know that your detectives are on the Moon. People know they visited Moon Cloning Operations, which isn't as shut down as everyone claims. The theory that you are some kind of replica is out there now. And the Amunites thought you should know what we know. Maybe you already do. Maybe you don't.”

“A briefing is always appreciated.”

“Sure. Anyway, there are lots of Anthros groups that push against the established doctrine. Far more Anthros don’t buy into the idea that Anthros arrived on Earth 200 years ago. The Amunites have missionaries with several of those groups. Not on Reforested Greenland, of course. But in other places.”

“Lots of Anthros don't care when they arrived.”

Ana seemed to struggle with the idea that people could ignore religious dogma. She made a “shooing” gesture with her hands.

She said, “But some of them do care, and they care a lot. There are groups that believe Anthros arrived here eons ago, that they became part of human history. And when that Cubus attached to the Devil's Advocate recognized you—”

“Will’s observations are common knowledge?”

Ana said almost loftily, “Our leaders have Cubi too, you know. Not that Cubi communicate much. Iris thinks dealing with Cubi is a matter of meditation and self-sacrifice. I think they like to keep secrets. But yeah, everything gets out.”

Kaiden said suddenly, “No such thing as a conspiracy when sentient beings are involved.”

One of Allec's beliefs. And not true in the short run—nobody on the station had guessed Junad’s agenda in the months before he attacked Pan—but true in the long-run. Everything leaked, seeped into being-to-being discourse, ideas and thoughts. 

Which means I need to figure out what I believe about my own story before other people start doing it for me.

Ana said, “Groups of Anthros in the British kingdoms connect themselves to the past, medieval times.”

Pan said, “Do any of those groups connect themselves to kings?”

Xavier whistled softly. Ana produced another unexpected smile, and her eyes held a gleam of appreciation.

“Yes. They guard or protect or worship—I think it is a more about guardianship—the graves of ancient kings.”

Maybe it’s time to accept my mother's stories.

Wolf Boy Returns from Space: Chapter 17, Part I

Pan sent a formal letter to Queen Artia. He used his seal. He added Kaiden’s name. He had at least one dedicated follower.

Panfilo of the Alands and the Tates, within the protection of Raine and Ruella, with fealty from Kaiden Akuma, welcomes the good wishes of Queen Artia of the Confederated kin groups in Reforested Greenland.

“Yeah,” Kaiden said. “That sounds right.”

They went wading in the nearby ocean’s surprisingly chilly water while their bodyguards trailed them. The bodyguards, Vanessa and Ray, had taken to Kaiden. Pan spotted the three now and again on the walkways near the outside walls, forming shapes with their hands as they discussed—

Battle tactics.

—training maneuvers. Pan suspected that they’d gotten Kaiden a weapon. 

He and Kaiden went through medieval portraits that Phillipe dug up of wolves. “Does Phillipe know what Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider suspect about my origins?” Pan asked Francesca, who laughed and said, “No. Phillipe thinks that everyone should know everything about a particular topic. You’re an Anthros. You are here asking questions about medieval animals. You get a history lesson.”

Which proved that Phillipe was another person for Pan to keep in his potentially useful file.

“Wolves are a big part of medieval lore,” Phillipe said as they leaned over an image of the Beast of Gevaudan, a skinny wolf-like creature with a huge jaw and long tail, though not as long as Pan’s. “Some folklorists—the ones that try to get history out of story—think the tale about the little girl and her grandmother came from Gevaudan history. A whole bunch of Frenchmen tried to track down a potentially rabid wolf.”

“Little Red Riding Hood,” Pan said. “My mother raised me on folk tales,” he elucidated when Xavier raised a brow.  

Xavier nodded. He said to Phillipe’s frown, “Sometimes oral tradition is the only proof left from the past.”

“Oral tales get changed a hundred times before they are written down—changed, moreover, to meet their audience’s needs.”

“The historical hints linger.”

“Imposed wishful thinking.”

“Says the guy who works on a Congregation.”

“Documents—we look for documents.”

“Within context.”

Political know-how 101: History requires documentation but a good story is remembered.

“Anyway,” Phillipe said to Pan and Kaiden after a final scowl at Xavier, “People worried a lot about wolves. Rabies was a major fear. No way to cure it. Wild animals were sports, food, and threat.”

“One reason Anthros insist they arrived two hundred years ago,” Xavier muttered.

Pan said, “Sentience requires embracing the negative as well as the positive.”

Phillipe and Xavier eyed him. “Just a guess: you were raised by a priest,” Xavier said.

“By an adult clone who says, ‘Reality is the only reality that counts,’” Pan said.

Allec had started his life-extension procedure two days earlier. He and Pan talked beforehand. On the screen, Quin lurked behind Allec, looking worried.

“The procedure is still newish,” Allec confessed. “Extensions for clones who have already received life-extensions. I could wait. But I was the pioneer for the first procedure. I figure I should be the pioneer for this one.”

That’s why Allec was the best parent for me.

Quin said, “Are you okay? You and Kaiden?”

“Yeah. We spotted your bodyguards.”

Allec laughed. Quin grimaced. “Never hurts to take precautions.”

And why Quin was the second best parent.

In the tale of how Pan came to be raised, Samantha and Greg deserved a mention as did Meke RaykJanes—with Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider as Pan’s investigators.

Monseigneur Rhys had sent a private communication to Pan that morning, encrypted for the plastic sheets that bore Pan’s thumbmark. Monseigneur Rhys and Canon Lider would join Pan and Kaiden in another two days. In the meantime, Monseigneur Rhys attested that he and Canon Lider had spoken to Moon Cloning. The technicians connected Panfilo to a bone that was sent for testing forty years earlier.

The next day, a messenger arrived at Bamburgh Castle and asked to speak to Pan about "his purpose on Earth."

Wolf Boy in Space: Chapter 16, Part II

A few workers in white coats stood over flat desk computers. A harried man looked round from a table bearing a gene map highlighted from below.

“Only authorized personnel,” he called.

“We qualify,” Meke said calmly and held out an ID. “Meke RaykJanes, Diplomatic Corps. Rhys De Santos. Canon Lider.”

Rhys said, “We’re here about Panfilo Aland.”

“From the Mars Space Station? Right.” The harried man twisted his torso without moving his feet. “Gem, you should deal with these people.”

Gem was a compact person with tilted brows and a perpetual smirk. “From Mars, huh? How is Allec?”

“Were you working here when Allec arrived?” Lider said.

Lider Corporeal

Gem focused on him, puckish brows drawing together. In the lab’s steady dimness, Lider appeared a solid slim man of thirty, hands in pockets, head slightly cocked, reddish-brown hair falling into gleaming, green eyes, a slight smile creasing his cheeks while crow’s feet radiated from those eyes. Lider aged himself. Rhys never tired of his appearance.

“You’re the priest’s Cubus?” Gem said.

“Yes. And this is the priest.”

“Cubi go in for religious stuff, huh?”

“And technicians avoid answering direct questions.”

Gem chuckled. “Yeah, I worked on Allec. He’s something, isn’t he? We don’t do that anymore, you know. Grown cloning was shut down. Ethical violations and false advertising.”

They all knew that grown cloning was shut down. Gem was reciting a kind of catechism.   

“What about historical cloning?” Rhys said.

“I never worked in that division. Anyway, it was also shut down.”

“Not entirely,” Lider said. “Saint Margaret’s bone was recently tested on the Moon. A section anyway.”

“Regular testing. Nothing outside the box. Nobody wants to grow another Napoleon.” Gem spread innocent-seeming hands.

“But tempting,” Rhys said. “For the experimenters.”

Gem shrugged. The harried man who had not entirely disengaged from the conversation said, “We never dealt with historical bones. We aren’t responsible for—”

He stopped as they turned to him, and Gem grimaced.

“For Napoleon?” Meke said easily.

Gem said, “Historical focused on populations—DNA migrations. But sure, they wanted to try things, resurrect people, observe the result.”

“Can’t resurrect a mindset,” Lider said.   

“No. And I never understood the incentive. But when beings refuse to share what they've seen of the past—” Again, those innocent-seeming hands.

Lider said dryly, "The past is rarely as interesting as human imagine."

"Says the ex-Cubus."

Rhys thought, We should get Gem together with Will. They can argue about responsibility towards the truth.  

Meke said, “What about a worker named Targi? What did Targi work on?”

“Is Targi the one that stole Historical's data?” Gem apparently had decided that discretion was no longer possible.

At the moment, anyway. Rhys didn’t doubt that in a venue where Gem’s words could be formally recorded, the affable helpfulness would fade away—or become entirely cryptic.

“Yes,” Meke said. “So we’ve been told. Targi supposedly discovered information about Panfilo. Was he created on the Moon?”

“Nobody has direct knowledge of that wolf boy,” the harried man said. “Just rumors.”

“What type of rumors?” Lider said.

Rhys turned his head. Lider didn’t seem aware that he had hitched his hip against a desk. A relaxed pose. A man prepared for a long conversation. And he was more solid. Perhaps with his mind on the investigation, Lider found corporeality easier, less fraught with if-then-or questions.

Let that be a lesson to both of us. Embrace the relationship. Move forward. Stop calculating costs and uncertainties.

Gem said, “A cache of bones was delivered to the station. They ended up with Historical. And someone decided, Why shouldn’t we see what a bone produces?”

“The result was a baby,” the harried man said. “Not grown, like Allec. Nine months in a vat.”

Gem said, “I heard the baby looked human at first. And then the Anthros characteristics began to come in. They thought it was a mistake. A bone from an Anthros got mixed in with the others.”

“Do you think so?”

Gem shrugged. The harried man shrugged. Rhys suspected everyone in the lab who was listening gave a collective shrug.

“They didn’t alter the DNA,” Gem said suddenly. “They would have needed our help to do that, and they didn’t get it. Different specialties. They didn’t make him. The baby came out that way.”

“And was left on Earth.”

Nobody shrugged this time—out of prudence, Rhys suspected, not moral outrage. In truth, he doubted Gem or the harried man saw anything to do with Panfilo as their problem.

But they were interested. Gem said, “Panfilo’s existence challenges claims that Anthros recently arrival on Earth, huh?”

“Unless the bone was mixed in with the rest.”

“No one truly believes that.”

 No. Moon Cloning could have withstood a controversy over human-history-come-to-life. It was the current-day political ramifications that resulted in Panfilo's abandonment.

Meke sighed. “Where did the cache of bones come from?”

Nobody remembered, but the harried man went to the computer and spent several minutes skipping through folders. Another worker joined him. She ran a hand through the holographic projection, snagged an icon and opened it.  

“The bone was sent by 'Cervos.' That’s an Anthros name. The package didn’t supply the location of the bone. But the package came from England.”

Lider straightened from his easy slouch and came to stand beside Rhys. “We should tell the Mars Council that Pan is part of Earth’s history. His exile should be lifted.”

“Give them time to do the right thing, welcome their son home.”

“All beings need to be where they are supposed to be.”

Rhys found that Lider was holding his hand.

Wolf Boy in Space: Chapter 16, Part I

The shuttle descended into an open dome. An accordion-like passage allowed passengers to enter the Moon’s extensive city without donning EVA suits.

Embarkation was uninspiring. Both space stations dumped arrivals into loud, bustling concourses where nearby businesses advertised food and entertainment and souvenirs. Moon embarkation, however, let out on a warren of drab corridors that finally opened onto a wide cavernous space of escalators and trains.

The Intersection, Rhys remembered. Signs pointed to amusement parks, restaurants, Moon jaunts, arboretums, casinos, and brothels, including Cubi-Human Clubs.

“You visit the Moon before?” Lider said to Rhys.

“When I was nineteen. I saved up. It didn’t live up to my probably Ancient Rome-inspired expectations. Neither did the Clubs.”

“You were still trying out relationships.”

“And now I’m in one.”

“You went back to Clubs once you became a priest.”

“Exactly.”

Lider muttered, “I never needed this much reassurance before.”

“I don’t mind,” Rhys told him.

He didn’t. Something was holding Lider back from full corporeality. Maybe it was the distance of Mars from the sun. Maybe it was the dangerous investigations he and Lider had undertaken in the past ten years, the strain on Lider’s being. Maybe none of Rhys’s reassurances would make any difference.

Rhys kept making them. His doubts about the relationship had vanished when Lider started his last furlough towards corporeality. Rhys was Lider’s, no matter what.

Meke had stepped away to flag down a passing cart, driven by a human. When Rhys visited at age nineteen, the driver would have been a grown clone, a worker with a lifespan of a year. Grown clones were no longer produced, not since Allec unveiled truths about those clones.

The surrounding signage didn’t include mentions of cloning operations but it hadn’t when Rhys visited either. The signs didn’t mention finances or mining either. People who visited the Moon for business reasons presumably already knew where to go—or they carried out their dealings over vigilantly shielded communications from Earth.

Meke waved Rhys and Lider into the cart’s back seat and sat beside the driver. They drove from The Intersection down more utilitarian corridors.

Lider said to Rhys, “You didn’t consider getting yourself a grown clone?”

“Made to order? Which turned out to be a scam, by the way.”

“Except for Allec,” Meke said with a quick smile from the front seat.

“Except for Allec. Sure, I thought about it. Talked about it. Everybody talked about it. But I was opposed to grown cloning by the time I hit my teens. I had some moral sense.”

Lider’s voice was fond, amused, more like usual: “The incipient priest.”

The cart halted before an office door with a rippled glass window labeled Laboratory. They thanked the driver, who drove away. Meke opened the door onto an empty waiting room with faded furniture and décor. They glanced at each other; Meke crossed to a further, non-windowed door.

This one opened into a warehouse-like room. Sounds echoed off the gray tiles underfoot and the high rafters of beams. In closer proximity, walls filled with deep containers extended into the room. Transparent plastic drawers revealed organs: a heart, an eye, something that could be a liver. Nearest the door stood large and small machines that Rhys recognized from the station infirmary. The machines here were sleeker with far more attachments. To the side stood a few tanks—originally for human-sized clones but currently split by slats.

A few workers in white coats stood over flat wall and desk computers. A harried man looked round from a table bearing a gene map highlighted from below.

“Only authorized personnel,” he called.

“We qualify,” Meke said calmly and held out an electronic ID. “Meke RaykJanes, Diplomatic Corps. Monseigneur Rhys De Santos. Canon Lider.”

Rhys said, “We’re here about Panfilo Aland.”

“From the Mars Space Station? Right.” The harried man twisted his torso without moving his feet. “Gem, you should deal with these people.”

Wolf Boy in Space: Chapter 15, Part II

Siobhan accompanied Rhys and Lider to Shuttle Embarkation for the Moon. She chattered about her sons and her husband, asked questions about the trip, commented on Rhys’s role as a “detective-priest.” She didn’t comment on the current investigation though she frowned when they reached their destination.

“You’ll be safe. Both of you? This investigation is kind of scary. An assassin went all the way to the station.”

“We’re nobodies,” Rhys assured her.

She slapped his arm and grimaced in Lider’s direction. He was in motion, so harder to pinpoint.

“We’re being met by a member of the General Diplomatic Corps,” Lider told her.

That diplomat, Meke RaykJanes, couldn’t protect Rhys and Lider with an arsenal but he had the authority of a very large and recognized institution. Good people, socialized people, respected such a body, and Siobhan relaxed. Lider didn’t mention that assassins were not socialized people. He thought Rhys flicked him a warning glance.

Siobhan hugged her brother. She waved to Lider. She called, “Goodbye” as they boarded.

“Congratulations,” Rhys said. “You’re officially a person Siobhan now worries about.”

That particular role Lider had never considered.

Meke

He sat beside Rhys on the shuttle. A few passengers gave Lider more than one glance, then dismissed him. Citizens on the ESS and the Moon were used to Cubi in transition.

Someday, I won’t draw anyone’s eyes. I’ll be one more person trekking from Point A to Point B.

Meke, at least, was gratifying impressed by Lider’s progress when he boarded the shuttle. He’d left the station shortly after Lider became barely visible.

“You’re looking quite solid,” he said, which sounded like a learned phrase—Meke was like that—but also sincere—which Meke was also like.

Lider said, “How’s Rill?”

“On the planet putting the family’s consumer research in order.”

Meke was a Siphon. His mate, Rill, was also a Siphon and being inducted into the family business. Rill was as taciturn as Meke was affable but Lider supposed Rill would feel at home amongst the company’s other enumerators as they toted up numbers. On Mars Space Station, Rill worked in Demographics.

Meke and Rill intended to return to the station—Rill was what Rhys called a “space-bound sentient,” one who passionately wanted to be in space for its own sake. Rhys wasn’t one, though he had adapted.

Does he want to go back?

Time enough to worry about that once I gain a fully functional body.

If I do—

Of course, I will.

But nothing went as planned. Rill, for instance, was back on Earth because Meke offered him family ties in a clan, what Anthros called a “kin group.” Would those family ties keep Rill and Meke on Earth? As a member of the Diplomatic Corps, Meke could work anywhere.

His family’s business was in food stuffs. It also had contacts with Moon Cloning Operations. Meke was officially assigned to Rhys and Lider as an ambassador but the choice was no error. Meke knew them. Meke knew Panfilo. Meke knew the Moon.  

Meke flipped through plastic sheets. “Queen Artia shared information with us. Apparently, the Confederation at Reforested Greenland is doing its own investigation. The Anthros who worked for Moon Cloning, the one who supposedly took away records on Panfilo, was Targi. I don’t know if Targi was questioned or if Targi was the name that emerged. The Corps wasn’t given access to the Confederation’s files.”

“What about Queen Artia?” Rhys said. “Is she sincere about disavowing Junad's act, do you think?”

“I do. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her own priorities.”

Her own agenda. But it was like Meke to use the less loaded phrase.

Meke said, “I suspect she knew more about Panfilo than we did before the assassination attempt. A lot of people are playing catch-up right now.”

“Assuaging their guilt.”

“Hey,” Meke said with a smile, “guilt is yours and Lider’s specialty.”

Crime and guilt.

Aliens, Mystery, and Romance in Space: Latest Series Published!

This week, I published The Serpentine History of the Saint alongside revised versions of the current Myths Endure on Mars books:

The books follow a chronological order but can be read separately:

• Anubis on Mars: expanded with new cover! 
• Saint of Mars: expanded with new short story, "Lider's Exorcism"  
• Ithax's Offspring in Space 
• Nerites Among the Stars
• Wolf Boy Returns from Space (Fall 2024)
  

The Serpentine History of the Saint: new publication! 

With the help of her investigators, Francesca Paraclete, a devil's advocate, researches the possible canonization of a medieval saint: Lady Margaret.

If canonized, Lady Margaret will be the first Siphon or mermaid saint. Frankie must consequently deal not only with difficult-to-access and interpret historical records, she must also handle political issues--those who support a Siphon becoming a saint; those who don't.

Her duties are complicated by a possible spy from the College of Cardinals, a cat-like being who insists on accompanying her everywhere, and her personal invisible consultant, a Cubus named Will who is possibly over 2,000 years old.

To  keep things simple, Frankie focuses on locating Lady Margaret's relics. Frankie, her spy, and her consultant start the search in Bamburgh Castle in Northern England. Their investigation will take them to the Faroe Islands, the Isle of Man, King Arthur's Carlisle, a holy well, several shrines, and Norton Priory. At each location, they encounter lore connected to the sea and possibly, hopefully, the true story of Lady Margaret.

The entire series is available on Amazon.