Page 36 of DaR (Darverius, House of DaR #1)
“ Father , if I may interrupt. I have already found the small planet and its primary location. The unfortunate part is that the Earth is unstable. I cannot give you an exact date or time, but this world is on its last years. I have been trying to gather information as to the cause, but we are too far from its location. And I am sorry to say this, but unfortunately, we only have a few ships that have the capability to make it there and back successfully. Also , we do not have a crew trained to staff it properly.”
“ Comm and get RaZ up here. He is the best pilot we have and I need his input.”
As I stand back away from everyone watching, I can tell by SoL’s face how concerned he is about the flight and DaR’s determination to make it happen.
“ Father , there is only a seventy percent chance we can get there before the planet destroys itself. Our cryo tanks do not have the capacity to sustain life for the amount of time it would take to get there and back.”
“ There must be a way! Can we send the ship unmanned?”
A man or I should say part-man, joins in on the conversation.
From the sound of his voice, I believe this is Tordan .
“ I already thought of that, DaR . I can only control the craft to a point until it is too far out of range. I could put it on autopilot, but not without an exact location. The best scenario is if we were closer, we could lock onto ANDI’s signal and land the ship accordingly.
But if he is out of commission, we would have to search for him.
The ship would not know where to land and we would be wasting more valuable time, that we may not have. ” Tordan turns away abruptly.
SoL puts a comforting hand on his father’s shoulder.
“ I cannot believe ANDI was able to continue operating all this time with his limited power banks. Then we have another potential problem, in that grandfather simply will not know how to operate the craft. All of the ships capable of long-range rescue were developed after his departure. He would have no knowledge on how to fly the ship if something went wrong … We cannot take that chance.”
“ Commander , I believe I have a lock on a live signal. I am connecting now.”
Beings are running all over the place from one screen to another. DaR is yelling out commands as people scramble around, trying to do what they’re told .
The large screen in the middle of the room starts to fade in and out.
Then what looks like a cave or a basement comes into view.
I see a girl walk by and then she jerks to a stop, looking back at us.
I can see she’s trying to yell or call for someone.
She waves her hand back and forth across the screen.
Then the screen becomes fuzzy once again before another face appears. DaR’s dad, Tyberius , is looking at the screen, but you can tell he isn’t receiving a picture on his end. His voice comes through first. I hear him ask the girl we just saw a question, “ Katherine , what was it doing again?”
“ I didn’t notice it at first, but that little screen started flickering on and off. I started to yell, ‘ Beldar it’s the big phone,’ but I knew your old ass wouldn’t get the joke.”
I can’t help but laugh, since I’m the only person in this room who actually knows what she’s talking about.
DaR’s dad keeps messing with the screen and just as we hear him ask ANDI if he’s receiving a signal, his face appears.
The moment DaR’s dad sees his son’s face for the first time is priceless. The tears flow freely down my cheeks as DaR and his dad stare at each other.
“ Son ! Oh , please, Lord of Light , do not tease me so, let it be him!”
I walk over and grasp DaR’s hand in mine. I can feel him trembling all over .
“ Father ! Please let this not be a dream,” DaR says softly.
“ I never thought I would see your face again but look at you.” Tyberius has tears in his eyes.
The young girl and the woman I saw him with in the garden walk up behind him.
I see the older one rubbing his arm affectionately.
The young girl is staring at the screen, but she isn’t looking at DaR or even at me.
She’s looking behind me. I turn to see RaZ standing there, his eyes fixed upon her lovely face.
“ DaR , besides the moment you were born, this is one of the happiest moments in my life. I never dreamed I would get to see your face again. We have so much to get caught up on, but ANDI’s power banks are drained, and I know you will lose my signal shortly.
The Earth has become unstable. I have no idea how long we will make it, but I can go peacefully now that I have finally seen you one last time. ”
The words were coming in slowly and somewhat broken up; it seems that if DaR said anything at all, it took minutes for his father to hear them.
“ Father , we will find a way to get to you, so try to keep ANDI active. If he fails, then leave what information you can on this channel. We will monitor it constantly. I will contact you within the rotation with our plan. The Lord of Light would not give you back to me just for me to lose you all over again. Keep the faith, Father . ”
The screen starts to flicker, and I watch Tyberius reach out like he’s trying to grab on to DaR from a distance. DaR is trying to be strong, but I know he’s falling apart inside.
“ I’ll go!”
We all turn around, looking at RaZ . His eyes are jet black and his wings are stretched out wide.
DaR reacts immediately when he says this to us. “ RaZ , you heard SoL’s probabilities for success. I will not give up my son even to save my father.”
SoL looks at his father then at RaZ . “ Actually Father , I believe if anyone has a chance to make it there and back, it is RaZ .
He can slow down his own body functions and this will put him in a type of cryo-sleep.
I believe I can equip a ship to get him there and back.
I just wish I had more information about the length of time to and from.
“ I am going one way or another, little brother, so make it work.”
I hear DaR cuss under his breath. “ Frack RaZ , why? You need to give us some time to do a few simulations at least, son.”
“ Would you wait Father , if that was your mate? That little beauty standing behind grandfather … she is MINE … nothing this side of eternity will stop me from getting to her! So once again, little brother, I will give you two rotations to figure it out. ”
I watch RaZ turn and DaR starts to go after him. I put my hand on his arm, stopping him.
“ Kira , stay here on the bridge. I need to talk to him.”
“ It won’t do you any good, DaR . He’s already made up his mind.
He’s telling you he’s going after her, but what he’s doing is for all of you.
Love is putting the needs and wants of everyone else in front of your own.
He’s extremely brave. The best thing you can do at this moment is find a way to make it happen.
Don’t give him a reason to doubt your love or the mission. ”
“ When did you become so wise?”
“ I got kidnapped!”