Revelations

<Snip>

I was absolutely incandescent, firing shot after shot into him until he finally fizzed out of existence and Jay quietly pulled me away, gently removing the rifle from my hands
Still shaking with anger, I took a couple of ragged breaths as I gazed into his eyes
“I'm going for a very long shower” I eventually managed “You're welcome to join me, but after that: You and I need to talk”
I stalked off towards our quarters, the Malodorians mutely parting to let me past, many falling to their knees and prostrating themselves on the ground, wailing and moaning about the true gods!
<end snip>

I watched for a second as Cass stormed off, I guess she must have felt as though she hadn't had the last word just yet, as she stopped halfway up the corridor to open a random door, only to slam it, then looked back at me with a glare before storming back up the corridor.

A few others in the group had also stormed off to shower as well. I bent down and picked up Pancake's light-bee off the floor where it had fallen and hit the reset switch. The digital man-goo that had coated us all so thoroughly soon phased out of existence.

I considered going after Cass for a moment, but decided against it. I had more important things going on at the moment than worrying about her bullshit. She was over-thinking everything again, and sure, I get that she wanted answers about what Kat's return meant for our burgeoning relationship, but honestly, I couldn't give her any answers, because I simply didn't know.

You've gotta understand, I liked Cassandra sure, but we'd been together only a few weeks. I still didn't like to refer to her as a 'girlfriend'. Truth be told, if we weren't among the last humans on the planet, I didn't know if we'd even have looked twice at each other. We were very different people, and yeah, that made things interesting, she certainly made things a challenge...but...was there anything beyond that?

Katrina on the other hand, had been my wife. We'd been together for years and were about to become parents. She was everything I ever wanted, and I'd spent 6 centuries trying to find her.
Over the years, the more you search for something that keeps eluding you, the more you want it.
I'd become obsessed with finding her. And I'd gotten so close! I found the Dwarf, all I'd need to do was get aboard, get Phil here and use the time fridge to go back and stop the 'bug attack before everything went to shit.

But then, the Cadmium leak happened, before I'd even had chance to come aboard, I had to make my last time-jump 3,000,000 years into the future before I could even go aboard safely.

In that time, whole civilisations had evolved, the Huzards, the Vermin, the Aquanauts, others that we probably haven't even encountered yet...if I was to go back in time and change what happened now, I'd be erasing them all from existence. I'd be no better than the bugs who took everything from me.

It took 600 years, but finally, I was forced to accept that Kat was gone forever. Now, she was back.
That kind of thing takes a lot to ignore. Could I really give up the opportunity to finally have what I'd wanted more than anything else for all this time for the sake of a woman I barely knew?

I stared at Katrina across the promenade, she must have sensed me looking at her because she immediately met my gaze. The hatred she held for me burning into me, and I felt my heart breaking a million times over.

Forget Cass, first, I needed to talk to Kat.

She was still cuffed, though her fellow Enforcers weren't, most were happily taking the opportunity for a little down time in Parrotts, and Davie seemed to have the situation under control, so I took Katrina by the arm and led her over to a quiet corner and sat her down at a table, taking the seat opposite myself, her asian friend watching intently from across the room.

Neither of us said anything for a few minutes, before she finally said, almost in a whisper.
“...how can you live with yourself...”
I had no idea what she meant.
“Kitty, I....”
“Don't call me Kitty!” she snapped “You don't get to do that anymore!”
To be fair, using my pet-name for her was probably a little inappropriate.
“Sorry..” I said not really knowing what else to say. “But....what is it exactly that you think I've done?”
She stared at me in silence for a few long minutes before saying anything.
“How can you even THINK ABOUT ASKING THAT QUESTION?”
Whoops. Guess I upset the apple cart...
The asian girl, who's named I'd learned was Ishani came running over and threw an arm over Katrina.
“Leave her alone Chrysler....just lock us up or whatever you want to do with us and leave us be...”
“No!” I snapped “I don't know who the smeg you are, but this is between me and my wife....”
….”don't talk to her like that” Katrina said weakly.
“Then tell me what I've done...”
It was actually Ishani who spoke next.
“It's because of you..” she said “That Enforcers can't even go to bed at night without being monitored. Because of you, that our every thought is scanned for traces of dissent. We're no longer just enforcers, we're slave labour...did you not stop to think about what your defection would do to the rest of us?”
I thought about this for a moment, but I knew that there was more to it than that.
“That's not it at all....” Katrina said “I'm sorry Ishani, but I've never told you this before...because it was just too painful.”
It was Ishanis turn now to fall silent.
“My son....Max...the reason he's in stasis isn't simply because of illness...”

Her....son? I thought, going over previous conversations in my mind I guess I did hear the word bandied about here and there, but must have glossed over it in all the confusion.

Katrina continued. “It's because of what HE did to him!” Katrina was pointing at me now.
“After he defected, he and Phil found a way to break into STCP HQ to try and take Max away from me, while I was on a mission. Max raised the alarm, and our comrades surrounded them. Chrysler used Max as a human shield, holding a gun to his head until Phil could hack a console and get them out of there. Who DOES that to a three year old?

Max, bit him...making him let go...and ran back to the enforcers, FeBuggure was ready to go, but Jay decided that if he couldn't have his son, then no-one could...and he shot him.”

I couldn't believe I was hearing this, my son...so they must have recruited her, like me, seconds before she died, while she was pregnant...but why? Why her? She was an engineer, what would they want with her?

And oh yeah, did I mention THAT NEVER HAPPENED!

She was still talking.

“I don't know if you thought you were doing him a favour by trying to spare him a life in the STCP or if if was just plain selfishness, but you shot him right through the heart. He was put into stasis to save his life until a cloned organ could be generated, but for reasons that doctors don't understand his body has rejected every clone heart that they've tried to transplant...he WILL NEVER be able to come out of stasis unless they can find a way to force his body to accept a replacement heart...and it's ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!”

I didn't know what to say. This never happened! I had no idea that Katrina had been brought back, let alone that I had a son....

“THATS CRAP!” I blurted out, unthinking.
“You're denying it?” Katrina squeaked. “How can you be so callous?...I...”

She was interuppted by Hoshi, who had been sat behind me listening. I'd had no idea he was even there.

“Mr Chrysler, speaks the truth Miss Salter....”
Woah....he was defending me?
“He is guilty of nothing more than defecting,..”
“How can you say that Hoshi? You've seen my son!”
“Yes, indeed, but he is not there because of Mr Chrysler....”
“but...”
“As a senior enforcer, who previously worked with Jay, and was assigned to apprehend him since long before you joined the agency, do you not think I would have known about it, had he infiltrated HQ and committed such a barbarous act?”

It was becoming clear. The STCP knew that Katrina could get to me. They brought her back for one reason alone, to bring me in. And they were using her son....OUR son....to persuade her to do it.

They'd lied to her, and if she was ever successful in her mission, they'd probably kill us all....Hoshi continued.

“Mr Chrysler showed the rest of us, that we didn't have to remain cut off from our real lives...case a seed of doubt in the loyalties of the STCP forces. They fear others may defect too...so they've made it as difficult as possible. But that wasn't enough, they wanted Chrysler and FeBuggure captured to be made an example of. To prove that it is redundant to attempt escape. It seems to me that they have concoted the story regarding your son to ensure not only your loyalty, but that you would kill Mr Chrysler on sight....”

Katrina didn't seem to know what to say. Ishani stared at the floor, it was impossible to know what she was thinking.

“The real question is...” Hoshi continued “....how do we rescue, your son...”

<tag / tbc....>