Acacia scoffed. “See?”

  “But,” the doctor continued with a stern look for Acacia, “he needs far more mental stimulation than what he’s been getting.”

  “So what’s wrong with him? Why is he like this?” Juniper asked. His father was lying on his back on the hospital bed with wires attached to him all over, his expression blank.

  “I don’t really have an answer for you. When his son was lost, he suffered severe emotional and psychological trauma that left him like… this. There’s nothing physically wrong with him.”

  “It’s all in his head, you mean?” Juniper frowned.

  “Yes,” the doctor replied hesitantly, “though it’s not as simple as that.”

  “But, I’m his son, and I’m not dead—shouldn’t that have snapped him out of it when he saw me?”

  The doctor blinked rapidly a few times, looked down at the tablet in his hand, then back up at Juniper. “Ah… I’m sorry? I don’t understand. It says here his son was lost in 427, age twenty-two. You look…” He gestured at Juniper in confusion.

  “Twenty-two. Yeah, I know,” Juniper said. “I guess I’m technically almost forty.” He laughed at the look on the doctor’s face. “The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated,” he said, using the famous Twain misquote. “I was actually in stasis for the last seventeen years.”

  “That’s incredible,” the doctor said, his eyes wide. “I’ve never met anyone who’s been in stasis for so long. Did you have any side effects? How’s your general health?”

  “Um. Not that I’ve noticed, and I guess my health is ok?” Juniper thought about the brief scans he’d done on himself aboard the Stellerion. Had they been enough? The equipment was ancient… what if they didn’t pick up something that was wrong with him? “I’m not actually sure.”

  “Would you allow me to run a few tests? I’d like to see—”

  The comm-crystal hanging from Juniper’s neck gave a loud squawk and then hissed for a few seconds. “Juniper?”

  Juniper was incredibly relieved to hear the sound of Marrex’s voice, but he had things to sort out first. He turned his back to the others and lifted the crystal closer to his mouth. “Marrex, I’m here but I can’t talk right now. Bad timing. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”

  “…right?” There was another hiss and a crackle, then nothing at all.

  “Marrex?” Juniper said, but the comm was silent. He hoped the captain had heard what he’d said. Sighing, he turned back to the doctor.

  “Fine, you can run any test you want on me, but in return, you’re going to waive your fee for today,” he said.

  “Yes, of course. That’s fine,” said the doctor. Though the man’s face was young, his hair was silver, and the few lines at the corners of his eyes betrayed the truth of his age. He scrutinized Juniper for a few moments, his blue eyes narrowed, and Juniper thought he was handsome in a bland sort of way.

  “But, what’s your advice for treating my father?” Juniper asked.

  “Stimulus… it doesn’t have to be much—read to him, let him watch vids. I’m going suggest some injections of a stimulant to see if his catatonia responds.”

  “Thank you,” Juniper replied.

  “As long as you pay for the injections,” Acacia said.

  Juniper stared at her, irritated at her pettiness even after he’d saved them a few thousand credits by volunteering to guinea pig. After a moment, Acacia looked away, her lips pressed together, and didn’t say another word.

  “…can’t talk right n…w …ad timing. I’ll call you back as s…n as I can” came Juniper’s reply before a blast of deafening static filled the bridge.

  Wincing, Marrex asked, “Are you all right?” but the console had already fallen silent, the connection lost or closed.

  Marrex stared at the blinking lights, trying not to let his disappointment and dread show, but it was obvious he was doing a poor job because when S1N tilted his head to look up at Marrex his eyes were wide with uncharacteristic sympathy.

  “I’m sure he’ll call soon,” the AI said, the tip of his tail flicking. “He probably had a very good reason to end the call.”

  “Perhaps,” Marrex grumbled, standing. “I’ll be in my quarters. Let me know immediately when he calls.”

  “Sure thing, boss,” S1N replied.

  “Immediately,” VAL added, his face shimmering like a pale opal.

  Marrex trudged slowly down the hall to his room. Juniper was among his own kin and kind again… it was probably for the best. He punched the button to open the door and stepped into his darkened quarters. Eyes closed, he breathed in deep, smelling the air. There was Juniper… his warm, smooth skin, the shampoo he used in his hair, the subtle salt of the helpless tears he cried during their mating, the slight acrid smell of his seed… Heaving a long sigh, Marrex sank down onto the mattress, his shoulders hunched forward and face in his hands. The ache in his chest like nothing he’d ever felt before.

  “Juniper,” he whispered. “Where are you?”

  With Peggy’s help, Juniper cleaned out his father’s room and set up the hospital bed he’d rented. It had high sides with special openings where he could pass a soft restraint across his father’s middle, tied beneath the bed where his father couldn’t reach. The sheets were new and crisp and so were the pajamas they’d purchased on the way home. Slowly, Juniper wheeled his father to his bed, and then carefully lifted him onto it. He smiled as he tucked him in.

  “There you go, Dad. Isn’t this better?”

  His father’s eyes wandered in their sockets, never settling on one thing for more than an instant, and his hand was limp when Juniper squeezed it. His face contorted for an instant, as if in pain, but the doctor had told him it was just part of his catatonia and didn’t mean he was in any discomfort. However, Juniper found it hard to look at. “I’ll be right back with some food. I just need to make a quick call first.”

  Juniper escaped to the guest room and shut the door, rubbing his face. He was thoroughly exhausted and emotionally drained, and he had no idea how long he’d been awake—Terran days were longer than the Imperial Standard they kept aboard the Stellerion, and he was suffering from space-lag. Now that he had five minutes to himself, all he wanted to do was hear Marrex’s voice and talk about absolutely nothing before he had to go make food for his dad.

  Lying back on his bed, Juniper lifted the blue comm-crystal. “Marrex? Come in?”

  For a few seconds, there was nothing but a quiet hum layered over the hiss of static, then, “Juniper! How are you?”

  “Hi, VAL, I’m ok. Can I please talk to Marrex?”

  “Uh. Hm. It looks like he’s asleep… it’s very late here. Shall I go wake him?”

  “Crap…” Juniper pinched the bridge of his nose, grimacing. He felt so crummy and miserable that he was nearly in tears.

  “Juniper?”

  “I’ve only got a few minutes to talk—it’s not worth waking him up. Can you just give him a message when he gets up?”

  “Of course, Juniper.” VAL’s voice was faint and crackly over the connection.

  “Tell him I’ll call the next time I have a few minutes. Oh… and tell him I miss him? I’m sure he’d like to hear that. It’s just been a mess here… I don’t even know where to start.”

  There was a loud crackle, and the hiss of white noise got louder. Juniper tapped on the crystal to adjust the squelch.

  “VAL? Did you hear me?”

  A stream of garbled noises came from the crystal and then silence. Juniper cursed to himself, trying to restore the connection.

  The door banged open, and Willow poked her head into the room. “There you are, Juny. I’ve been looking all over. If you want to use the stove, now’s your chance. Oh… and while you’re in the kitchen, could you take a look at the garburator, please? It started to do this thing”—Willow made a harsh growling sound while twirling one finger slowly in the air—“and I remember you fixed it that one time.”

  Taking a deep breath, Juniper sat up, nodding wearily. “Sure. Whatever. I’ll take a look.”

  Marrex snorted and tossed his head, his fists balled so hard that his blunt claws pressed painfully into his palms, cutting his flesh.

  “Why…didn’t…you…wake…me?” he said very slowly, his voice a low growl.

  VAL’s holoprojection was nearly transparent, his eyes huge in his tiny face. “I’m sorry, sir. Juniper said not to.”

  “I said immediately. I didn’t say ‘maybe later.’ I didn’t say ‘whenever you get around to it.’ I said to let me know immediately when he called.” Marrex was so furious he could barely see. Had the AI a neck, he would have wrapped his hands around it.

  “Captain,” S1N said, floating up to face him. “Juniper said he had only a few minutes to talk. You know how hard it is to wake you up sometimes… you sleep like a corpse. I’m sure you would have missed each other.”

  Marrex bared his teeth, flaring his nostrils as he glared at the AI.

  “Th-that’s not to say we shouldn’t have tried waking you,” S1N continued, retreating a few steps. “It won’t happen again.”

  “It won’t, sir,” agreed VAL. “And he left you a message.”

  “He did? What is it?”

  “I… I’m afraid I don’t know,” VAL replied nervously. “There was too much interference… but”—VAL’s face shrunk even further as Marrex let out a deep growl, stepping forward—“I’m certain he had something nice to say.”

  Marrex threw back his head, roaring out of frustration, and S1N leapt back, his fur standing on end. VAL just disappeared completely.

  “I’m… going to try him now,” S1N said quickly. “Stand by, Captain.”

  Juniper wiggled the wrench back and forth, trying to free the bottommost nut. Finally, after struggling with it for a few minutes, it turned. He sat up, wiping his forehead, and looked over at Peggy who’d just come into the kitchen.

  “Everything ok?” he asked.

  “Grandpa ate almost everything, and then I read a little to him,” she said, setting down the tray with dirty dishes. “He fell asleep almost right away. I think the trip to the hospital tired him out.”

  “Probably,” Juniper replied. “When was the last time he was out of that room?”

  “I can’t remember,” Peggy said. She cleared her throat and looked down, her blonde brows drawn together. “Uncle Juniper… I should have done something and I’m sorry.”

  Juniper smiled at Peggy. “You’re just a kid… you’re what? Fifteen?”

  “That’s no excuse. I could have read to him every day after school. I could have gotten a job on the weekends… maybe at the market. You know, to help out a bit.”

  “Well, you’re doing something now,” Juniper said, lying down to tackle the next rusted nut. “That’s what counts. And I appreciate it.”

  The comm-crystal let out a burst of static. “Juniper?”

  “There you are!” he said, sitting back up. He misjudged the distance to the counter in his excitement and cracked his forehead on the rim of it. “Ow, fuck.”

  “Juniper? What happened?” Marrex’s voice was hoarse and words abrupt as though he were beside himself with worry.

  “Nothing. I just hit my head on the counter. I’m doing some repairs. How did you sleep?”

  “Those idiots were supposed to wake me,” Marrex growled. The connection hissed and crackled, eradicating the next words.

  “I can barely hear you,” Juniper said.

  “…is better?”

  “There’s only so much you can do on your end,” he said quickly. “Listen, first thing tomorrow morning, I’m going to go clean the crud off the relays on the roof. I don’t think anyone’s done that in a long time, and it’ll definitely help.”

  “…niper?”

  Juniper groaned in frustration. “Marrex?” He shook the blue jewel even though he knew that wouldn’t make a difference. The comm-crystal crackled again, and the line went silent.

  “Shit.”

  “Juniper, are you still there?” Marrex sounded far away, like he was at the bottom of a well, but his voice was clear.

  “I am. I just said I’ll try to improve the connection on my end tomorrow after I get some sleep.”

  “All right.” Marrex was silent for a few seconds. “How… are you?”

  “I’m ok. Just dead tired,” Juniper said, then yawned as though proving his point. “I have a bunch of things to take care of here, but when I’m done… Marrex, would it be ok if I brought my father aboard the Stellerion?”

  The connection hissed and snapped, obscuring any reply. Juniper heard a noise to his right and glanced over. Acacia was staring at him with an odd expression on her thin face, and he scowled at her. “What?”

  “What what?” Marrex replied, his voice tinny.

  “Sorry, I was talking to my sister.” He looked down at the crystal in his hand. “Listen, I have to go. We’ll talk later.” Juniper felt his sister’s eyes on him and hunched his shoulders, feeling uncomfortable under her scrutiny. “I… uh… miss you,” he said quietly and looked back up as his sister scoffed and walked away. “Marrex?” He tapped and shook the crystal some more, but it was obvious that the connection was lost. Juniper let out a long sigh of defeat and sagged back against the counter, pressing his palms against his eyelids.

  “You’ll be back home soon.”

  Home… Juniper lifted his head, having forgotten about his niece. He sighed again and nodded. “I know. I’m just”—he rubbed his forehead, blinking to dry his weary tears—“tired.”

  Peggy sat down cross-legged on the floor in front of him, her forehead wrinkled in sympathy. For the first time, Juniper noticed that she had the same eyes as him, and for some reason that endeared her to him even more. He gave her a sad smile. “I’ll be all right.”

  “Tell me about your captain,” Peggy said, resting her cheek on her hand. “What’s he like?”

  Juniper thought for a moment, then chuckled. “Well, he’s bossy, but at the same time, he’s seriously lacking in self-confidence, so he takes everything as an insult and blows his top easily. And he can be cold and distant, but I think that’s because he’s Ghelyxian. Oh, and he snores something awful.”

  Peggy made a face. “He sounds wonderful.”

  Laughing, Juniper held out his hand. “Pass me the pliers.” He took them from Peggy and resumed his work on the broken garburator. “I don’t know him all that well, to be honest. He was alone for such a long time. Getting him to talk sometimes feels like chipping away at a boulder… but when he does relax, he’s just really… great. He can be funny, sometimes without meaning to be, and he’s smart. Did I mention he was a prince?” He looked over at Peggy and she shook her head. “He can dance and speak a bunch of languages, and he’s got these manners that just… I don’t know.” Juniper let out another laugh. “I like how proper he can be. And he’s attentive and really concerned about making me happy, like I’m someone really special…” He swallowed, frowning through the tears that had sprung up in his eyes, and the motor assembly swam in his vision.

  “It sounds like you love him very much,” Peggy said quietly.

  Juniper snorted, shaking his head. “Love? I don’t know…” he replied. “I like him. I don’t know if I’d call that love.” He smirked self-consciously and reached out to gently swat at his niece’s knee. “You’re fifteen… what do you know about love? Hm?” However, he sobered when he saw the look on her face.

  “What is it?”

  “Promise not to tell my mother?” she said in a low voice.

  Juniper mimed locking his lips. “Of course.”

  “I’ve been secretly seeing a boy from my class.”

  “Oh?” Juniper grinned.

  “And… he’s Cebari,” she whispered.

  Juniper blinked at her. The Cebari were a hyperintelligent insectoid species native to Terra Deux—seemed it wasn’t only Juniper’s eyes she inherited.

  “Oh my,” he said, amused.

  Peggy grinned back at him.

  Chapter 14

  Sabotage

  After the rooftop relays had been scraped clean, communication was vastly improved, but Juniper was kept so busy with repairs and hospital tests and getting his father’s affairs in order that there was barely time to talk to Marrex. For some reason, every time he settled down to call the captain, one of his sisters would demand he fix yet another thing or head to the market to trade the items he brought for credits they could use. As such, the conversations he managed to have with Marrex were always too short and he could tell from the Ghelyxian’s curt responses that it wasn’t sitting well with him.

  Frustrated by the lack of change in his father’s condition, his sisters’ constant demands, and by Marrex’s growing diffidence, Juniper’s fuse was getting shorter by the day. It had been two weeks, and it would be at least one more before he could return to the Stellerion. Scowling to himself as he stood under the stinging particle shower, Juniper thought about what needed to be accomplished before he could leave. Part of him knew it was stupid… why was he bothering with these repairs? Why should he care? It’s not as if the relationship with his sisters had improved.

  I should just leave them to fix everything, he thought as he turned off the shower. However, he knew he would feel guilty if he just left them in the lurch. At least this way, he could part ways with them with a clear conscience. He quickly brushed the fine dust off his skin and went back to his room, ready to start the day. Juniper pushed open the door to his room and froze.

  Willow stood next to the fibrometal case, and from the guilty look on her face, Juniper guessed she’d been trying to open the compartments.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, glaring at her.

  Wincing, his sister gestured helplessly towards the case. “I was going to the market. I just thought…”