Demicore

Chapter 23

The three of them laughed together, each knowing somewhere deep inside that she was right somehow. Elizabeth’s sense of faith was stronger than Erik’s need for science. Almost as strong as her physical presence sitting there with them. It was Elizabeth, not the girls, whom Andrea had been sent to. If Elizabeth was so inspired by whatever was going on with Erik, then there was definitely more to it than met the eye – which was considerable in and of itself.

“You can’t tell me that neither of you felt it,” she said to the grass in front of her, “I saw it on your faces as you looked at him. If you hadn’t felt the same way, you’d have been horrified.”

“Yes, I suppose we would have,” came Katlin’s reply. Evaluating the facts…

“I think I would have done just fine, thank you,” Sonya broke in to Katlin’s thoughts, “I am a scientist first and foremost and this is something I would like to study extensively.”

“You are in shock.”

“As I’m sure you all are,” Erik’s voice broke in as the craft did its equivalent to a screeching halt in front of them. Sonya grimaced. The things that could do to the mechanisms and they were so very far from the lab… Then she noticed the dents and scratch marks all over the sides.

“What did you do?!”

“I… um…” Erik managed to look regal and sheepish at the same time, which was an even greater feat for him than it would have been for any other person, “I had to wrest it from the grasp of the trees and am not yet accustomed to my own strength again. Sadly, one of the trees took significant damage in the process. I did get most of the dents out.”

She glared at him. “This is a Class A prototype hovercraft with extensive communications, GPS, auto pilot, weapons and cloaking technologies incorporating many of the ideas that we have been honing for years including being a low-level submarine. And you got out most of the dents?”

“There are a couple that are going to need the craft to be slightly dismantled before they can be removed, but the majority of them are no longer in the craft. By definition, I removed most – not all – of the dents.”

Sonya was livid. “And you are sad, not that you banged up something I have dedicated time and energy to, but that you damaged a tree in the process?!”

He pulled himself up to his full height of almost seven feet, flexed his wings, and still felt inferior to this five-foot-two young human female. “I apologize for damaging your craft. It is superficial, nothing I cannot fix as soon as we return to the lab – something I give you my word I will work on as soon as we return.”

“You will do no such thing!” Sonya responded emotionally, then started to see an opportunity slipping past, “You can’t even fit into some of the places that will need to be checked, but if you want to make it up to me, you can allow Steve and I to run some diagnostic tests on you.”

“You want me to willingly allow you to turn me into a guinea pig?” he asked incredulously.

“I want you to eagerly assist me in giving some major advances to the scientific and hopefully medical communities. With two of the people who care the most about you there running the tests, learning right beside you.” She wanted him to agree to this, it would be proof that he was still her father in there somewhere. Erik had always been willing to use himself to further a project…

The silence in the air seemed to last forever. The jaguar-falcon-man composite held an expressionless face. Sonya alone was nervous. Katlin was intrigued, observing the interactions between the two. Elizabeth watched with superficial interest. She knew that he always ran experiments on himself first. She knew what Sonya was looking for and she knew that no matter the self preservation instincts that he now had, he would agree to her terms. He never could stand to cause his little girl pain.

A slow, deliberate smile spread across his unique features. “As long as your tests are done on my terms and only so that a few may understand. You have to know this information is not for everyone, it would scare most half to death.”

“You remember who, why and what you are?” Katlin asked.

“I remember much, but not all. I need a good place to meditate for a while before my memory will return in it’s entirety…” his voice trailed off, “but I will tell you what I know when it is safe to do so.”

“Might I suggest, then,” Elizabeth broke in, “that we go home?” She was already climbing aboard the craft as she spoke.

Sonya and Katlin followed, both intently checking all the gauges before starting it and after. Erik climbed in after them.

“Not going to fly home?” Katlin asked.

“I will fly a great deal of the journey,” he replied, “but not all of it as it has been a long time and my wing muscles must again grow accustomed to the weight they now carry again.”

Sonya let that comment go for a few minutes, then asked, “And just how long has it been since you have had your wings?”

“Um…” he paused and put on his most contemplative face, which looked particularly funny now, “several hundred years. I cannot be exact right now, millennia, I think… but it’s been too long for me to count each one.”

“No wonder you have to get used to them again,” Elizabeth muttered. He smirked. His memories threatened to try to resurface and he had to fight to suppress them, it was not yet time. Slowly, they began the journey home. Sonya insisted that they take it easy until they knew how much damage had actually been done to the craft.

The ride seemed both longer and shorter than it had originally. Now, they were not tracking someone they were worried about losing. They weren’t rushing to a destination unknown. They were not preparing to trek into a completely unfamiliar environment in hopes of discovering what just happened.

Instead, they were carting home the unknown they had been chasing down. Still completely unsure of what just happened, knowing that whatever it was, it just changed their lives forever. They all wondered what would be different… There was just no way to hide this and everyone would want to know what was going on. They took turns looking at each other and their surroundings, actually appreciating the beauty around them since they had nothing much to say to each other just yet. They observed the whales and dolphins jumping and dancing, watched the many varieties of fish swim, and even took a couple of brief dives under the surface. Anything to distract themselves from the ride home and what might happen when they got there.

As they approached the airspace of the United States, Sonya turned on her cloaking devices. She had no doubts that they would be cleared as needed by anyone who happened to see or contact them, but she had no desire to have any of her many associates asking questions… or finding out what had happened to Erik. Eventually people would know, but not until they figured out what had happened.

The solar voltaic cells Erik had used for energy at the old house were now being used to reflect light in such a way that the craft was almost invisible even to the naked eye. To Elizabeth looking out they appeared to be inside a bubble. The scenery was distorted by the ‘bubble’ but the rolling hills and mountains were beautiful anyway. As they came onto their own lands near Mimi’s house, they turned off the cloaking and slowed to enjoy the thought of being home.

“Go straight to the house,” Erik instructed. “I need to meditate.”

“And your need to meditate is greater than our need to know what’s going on? You can’t do it at the lab?” Sonya asked.

“No, I cannot do this at the lab…” he said thoughtfully, but with conviction, “I need the privacy and safety of our own dojo. It could take days, weeks. And I cannot be interrupted.”