“That was really hard,” she told Will when the lean-to was well behind them.
“It always is,” Will replied.
“It’s a suitable punishment, though,” Rhea said. “A reminder of why I can’t ever let something like this happen again.”
Horatio wrapped his polycarbonate fingers around hers. “Sometimes, I’m very glad I’m not human.”
She smiled at the robot.
The three of them reached the walls of Aradne. A crowd of Wardenites and other fans had gathered at the gates to see her off. She interspersed among them, shaking hands, posing for selfies. And then, finally, she was passing through the gates. The sentry robots allowed her, Horatio and Will to enter without issue, just as the mayor had promised.
The paved streets beyond were relatively empty. Though she did find a few Aradne fans gathered outside the launch terminal, and when she arrived, she paused for a final few selfies.
Inside the terminal, a space shuttle awaited, its nose pointed skyward. It was aerodynamic, and somewhat airplane-like, with a pair of wings curving outward from the rear portion of the fuselage. It was attached to a large, cylindrical booster rocket that would fall away once the vehicle attained orbit.
Other passengers queued to board the vessel, and robots loaded crates into the hold: the latter held goods that would be conveyed to the various space stations and other vessels waiting in orbit, which the shuttle would visit in turn. The transport that Rhea and her companions would be joining was last on that list.
Their weapons had been conveyed to the craft ahead of time by security forces and had already been loaded into the designated storage compartments. Rhea checked the manifest when she arrived and confirmed her X2-59 was aboard.
While she waited in line, she received a call from Renaldo, Miles and Brinks.
“So, this is it, huh?” Renaldo’s hologram said. “I can’t say I won’t miss you.”
“We all will,” Miles agreed.
“I’m sure you’ll all be fine without me,” Rhea reassured them.
“It’s been an honor, Warden,” Renaldo said. “I hope to fight by your side again someday.”
“I think my fighting days are behind me,” she said, not really believing it.
“Well, either way, we all knew you’d leave someday,” Renaldo said. “When you had solved all of our problems, we expected you’d move on, to help solve the problems of other cities and peoples. Like the true hero you are. We didn’t dare think we could keep you all to ourselves.”
She smiled. “Well, I’m not sure I’m actually going to continue solving the problems of other people. I’ve got my own to work on. I’d like to think I’m retired, to be honest.”
“Oh, the Warden can never retire,” Renaldo said. “Even we know that.”
“Maybe,” Rhea said. “I guess we’ll see.”
“Enjoy your ‘vacation,’” Renaldo said.
Because of the way he emphasized “vacation,” she wondered if Miles and Brinks had told him the real reason she was going to Ganymede. She decided that most likely, they had not. They were loyal to her, those two.
The trio loaded into the vessel, donned the prerequisite spacesuits, and sat with the other passengers in the designated section. Their seats were all oriented vertically, so that they sat with their backs to the ground while waiting for launch.
When the shuttle reached orbit, and the trio finally loaded into their transport, after that it would be a few weeks to Ganymede.
She wasn’t particularly looking forward to the flight. She thought of an old proverb that went something along the lines of: “It’s the journey that counts, not the destination.” Well, in this case the reverse was entirely true.
She couldn’t wait to get to Ganymede.
She couldn’t wait to go home.
The shuttle that carried Rhea and her companions departed on time. It entered orbit, and moved among the space stations and waiting vessels, distributing its cargo of passengers and goods.
Nearby, a diamond-shaped craft kept close tabs on that shuttle. The craft was small, only capable of holding a single passenger. Designed for maximum stealth, it was equipped with specially designed fins that vented all heat in a single direction: the occupant kept those fins pointing out into deep space, masking his position from most in orbit.
After a few hours, the shuttle transferred Rhea to her waiting transport, and then the latter vessel left orbit.
The stealth craft gave the transport a good head start, and then pursued.
Soon, very soon, the occupant would be introducing himself.
Or rather, his sophisticated weaponry would.
BOOK 3: Rhea, Will and Horatio return to fight another day in Warden 3, available on Amazon at https://readerlinks.com/l/1054296
Or discover how Will and Horatio first met in the prequel novella, Salvage, available for free here: https://bookhip.com/WBMXLC
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Isaac Hooke holds a degree in engineering physics, though his more unusual inventions remain fictive at this time. He is an avid hiker, cyclist, and photographer who sometimes resides in Edmonton, Alberta.
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Copyright © 2020 by Isaac Hooke
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