Chapter seventeen:
Nathan sighed with frustration. In only two days they would be leaving Earth to head for the next system. He had already finished preparing the program to hunt for a hidden resistance base. Once again he was impressed by how smart Celestia was as her contributions to the program looked like they would increase how effectively it screened for higher-level energy signatures. Nathan was also surprised by Jason’s contribution as well. He was obviously studying quite hard to understand their technology and it was paying off. Nathan made sure to include his observations of Jason’s progress in his daily report to the Commander. If nothing else it would help guarantee that Jared wouldn’t kill him. Though he was beginning to wonder about that, as Jared hadn’t killed anyone in over a year now.
Usually once Jared was bored he got rid of who ever had caught his interest. Nathan remembered it all to well as twice Jared had taken an interest in one of his assistants. The first one had lasted all of a month before Jared got tired of him and killed him. But the second one he had left alive. At first Nathan was confused, but then it happened again and again with other guys. It seemed to him that Jared enjoyed the fact that they were powerless to stop him if he decided to bother them again. Before Jason was captured Jared had been taking an interest in his assistant that he had left alive. He would leave him alone for a few months and then go back to doing what ever he pleased to him. It was a vicious cycle that pained him, as he was powerless to stop it.
Nathan finished the report and sent it off to the Commander. Now the real problem was getting Celestia and Jason off the ship in the next system. He had received confirmation that there would be a ship waiting to take them when they arrived. Now the trouble would be the timing. He would have to find the right moment to take both Celestia and Jason to the bay in order to escape. Nathan already had clearance to take out a shuttle with the new scanner he had built with Celestia’s help. But he didn’t have clearance for Celestia and Jason to accompany him in the shuttle. He wasn’t even sure if he should ask. Even he knew that the Commander would be suspicious if he wanted to take them off the ship. Especially since he could easily set up a relay to the computer room where he could be in direct contact with Celestia. The Commander would definitely wonder what his motivation for wanting to take them would be.
Nathan sighed, somehow he had to take them there and make sure he took off without them knowing they were on board for a few minutes. He only needed a few minutes to run, as the ship waiting for them would be waiting for him to perform an emergency landing. If he could manage to get just 3 minutes it would be enough time for them to escape into hyper drive. Nathan sighed again. Unfortunately the only advantage the resistance had was their hyper drive systems. They were faster than the military’s. So far the military hadn’t been able to catch a ship intact in order to copy the improvements. And the resistance members they had caught and tortured didn’t have the information they wanted.
It was also one of the reasons Nathan would commit suicide if he was ever revealed. He was one of the programmers who helped build it. So far he had been able to avoid having Celestia work on understanding how it worked, but at her rate of learning he wouldn’t be able to put it off for long. Nathan felt torn. If he couldn’t escape with her, could he bring himself to kill her? Could he also kill Jason and himself? He had known when he joined the resistance that this day might come, but deep down inside he had hoped it never would. It would only take two days of hyperspace travel to reach the next system, which meant he had only four days to decide. Perhaps he would have Celestia and Jason help him calibrate the equipment in the shuttle. If he made it seem like they had left by using her holographic program it would give the illusion that they had left. The real question was could he prepare the program in time.
Nathan shut down the computers, and left for his quarters as he was finished for the day. Besides there was no way he could write the program here in the ships lab. It went without saying that anything he did was accessible to Jared and the commander. No if he was going to prepare a program he would have to use the hand held device in his quarters. He could encrypt the program to erase itself if someone other than him used his or her access code to turn it on. Using something connected to the ships main computers would be foolish and irresponsible. Even doing this would be dangerous. It was a good thing that he had made sure nothing was in any of the ships computers. If he was discovered, he had long ago made sure absolutely nothing regarding the resistance was in any of the systems. Everything he knew was committed to memory and not some secret file. It was another reason why he had been so successful. If anyone did a search on him, there literally was nothing to be found.
Nathan entered his quarters and sat down on the small sofa. He put his feet up laid down and closed his eyes. Only four more days until the moment of truth, although it pained him to lose his position as an insider he knew there was no other answer. What truly pained him is he wouldn’t have a chance to warn Anna of his decision. Although she didn’t know he was a member of the resistance, it was possible she would be interrogated if anyone remembered that they had been seeing one another. It had pained him to cut off contact with her. Especially since they had decided to have a child together.
The necessary arrangements had been made and once the genetics had been completed the completed egg had been put in her womb to finish the process. A few of the Versilans thought that reproduction through genetics was deplorable, but Nathan disagreed. By abandoning the practice of sexual reproduction they had increased their lifespan and virtually done away with many of the diseases and genetic imperfections like the people on Earth had. Besides they hadn’t gotten rid of sex, they just no longer used it as a method of reproducing.
Nathan sighed, when he had realized that he had decided to join the resistance that he couldn’t afford to drag Anna into it. With no explanation other than he no longer desired to see her and that he didn’t want their son to know who he was, he had left to serve under the military. Although it had hurt him to do that to her he knew it was the only way to keep her safe. Even if she was interrogated she knew nothing. He had run into her briefly as their son Daniel had been assigned to his team when he was sent to Earth.
Although Anna had respected his wishes and Daniel didn’t know he was his father, somehow he had found out that Anna had loved him and that he had hurt her by leaving without any explanation. Daniel had made it quite clear that he considered Nathan scum. And that if wasn’t for his mother’s wish for him to leave him alone and the fact that it was his sworn duty to serve the Versilan Empire and gather the necessary information to prepare for the invasion of Earth, that he would kill him for what ever it was he did to his mother. Nathan had just kept quiet and said nothing.
He was just glad that no one had discovered that he had erased the files and made it look like someone else was Daniel’s father. He had taken the file of an officer who knew Anna who had died during a skirmish between the military and the resistance and placed his information in the files indicating he had been the genetic donor and was therefore Daniel’s father. Nathan was pretty sure Anna knew, but she had never disputed the records and kept the fact that Daniel was his son a secret. His only regret if he should die was that he wouldn’t get the chance to tell Anna how sorry he was for lying to her all these years.
