Lanterns hung from beams across the vaulted ceiling of sparkling mosaic tiles depicting elephants, whales, and tigers.
“Hey, that’s you, Dad,” Phyl said, pointing to a giraffe.
Katherine almost grinned. Les reached down to grab their hands. To his surprise, Katherine didn’t resist.
They entered the public seating area side by side—another change.
People sat at wooden tables, eating dinner as mouthwatering scents of spices and sizzling fish drifted out of the open kitchen.
Adrian was one of the cooks. The young man slaved over a grill with his dad, Dom, the chef famous for his noodles on the Hive.
The aroma of their orange noodles, a favorite of King Xavier’s, drifted through the room.
“What are you having tonight, kiddo?” Les asked Phyl.
“I really like lobsta,” she said. “Can I?”
He glanced at Katherine.
“You can have whatever you want, sweetie,” she said.
They queued up behind six other people. It reminded Les of some of the destroyed places he had seen in the wastes. Places called restaurants, where people once waited in long lines to order flat, round bread with tomato sauce and cheese, or meat sandwiches and string potatoes.
“What can I get for you tonight?” said the young Cazador boy behind the counter, in almost unaccented English.
“I want a lobsta and some potatoes,” Phyl said.
“One langosta, coming right up.”
The boy wrote it down and looked to Katherine.
“Whatever the fresh catch of the day is,” she said.
“Sea bass?”
“Lovely.”
The boy nodded and looked to Les.
“Orange noodles with sea bass, please.”
Dom looked up from the grill, his wrinkled face forming a near-toothless grin.
“Hey, Dom,” Les said, raising a hand.
“Ah, Captain, good to see you!”
Dom hovered behind his son.
“No, not like that,” he said. Grabbing a skillet, he tossed the contents into the air and swished it around. “Like this…”
Les looked for an empty table. Familiar faces nodded and said hello as they crossed the room.
Magnolia had just sat down with Rodger and his parents. They shared a plate of shrimp and two whole fish, eyeballs and fins included.
“Hey, Cap,” Magnolia said.
Cole and Bernie nodded out of respect.
Phyl shied away from Rodger, who made funny faces.
“She’s not three years old, man,” Les said.
Cole shook his head and nudged Rodger gently in the shoulder. “You ever gonna grow up, Rodge?”
“Not likely,” said Magnolia, gesturing with a shrimp tail. “We’re stuck with this man-child.”
“Have a good dinner,” Les said, heading for an empty table.
The other Hell Divers, fresh from training, waited in another line with trays. Arlo and Ted were clowning around, apparently vying for who got to stand next to Lena. The shy young woman seemed to have caught both young men’s attention. Sofia, the one diver Les didn’t see, was likely off on her own again, grieving for Rhino.
“So how is school?” Les asked Phyl.
She shrugged a bony shoulder. “I like it, but I wish I could just play outside all the time.”
“You already do,” Katherine said.
They both had some color to their normally pale skin. Phyl even had more freckles than Les remembered. Being gone so much, he had missed some things, including what she had learned recently.
“I don’t want to go to class,” Phyl said. “I just want to fish. Why can’t we have classes on how to fish?”
“Your father took classes to become an engineer,” Katherine said. “From engineer to Hell Diver, to captain and Hell Diver.”
She sounded resentful, and he didn’t blame her. He was failing as a husband and a father.
“I don’t want to be an engineer,” Phyl said. “I want to be a fisherwoman. Dad, when are you going to take me…”
A man with long hair pulled back in a ponytail walked toward their table with three steaming dishes balanced on one arm, and two on the other. He set their plates down in front of them, then moved on to another table.
“Yum,” Phyl said, eyeing the succulent white lobster meat.
Les was glad she had forgotten her question, since he wouldn’t be able to take her fishing anytime soon.
He checked the time on his wrist computer. That brought a glare from Katherine, and he lowered his hand.
“Don’t worry, it’s not because of work,” he said. “In a few minutes, you guys are going to see something pretty cool.”
The reason Trey gave his life…
Phyl stuffed a pile of potatoes into her mouth.
“Chew with your mouth closed, honey,” Katherine said. She seemed to be enjoying her meal as well.
And for that fleeting instant, it was just like old times—aside from not having Trey.
The voices in the room hushed, and Katherine stared over Les’s shoulder. He looked to the front entrance, where Lieutenant Sloan was standing with Pedro. He held the hand of the orphan girl, who clung to his side.
“Who are those people?” Phyl asked.
“This is your second surprise,” Les said. He got up from the bench. “These are survivors from the wastelands—people your brother gave his life to save.”
“He died for these people?” Phyl asked. “What makes them so special?”
When Katherine didn’t try to explain, he said, “These are good people who used to live underground like we used to live in the sky. Now they’re going to live here, with us.”
“But why did Trey have to die for them?” Phyl asked.
Katherine looked to Les for an answer, but instead of trying to explain, he walked over to greet Pedro.
The other refugees followed Pedro into the room and were led to a group of empty tables where bowls of fruit and vegetables were being set out.
“They’re hungry, that’s for sure,” Sloan said.
“No kidding,” Les said, “after that gunk we fed them till the immune boosters kicked in. Now they get to experience real food.”
Pedro gestured for the girl to go eat, but she stuck like a limpet to his side.
Les crouched in front of her and then pointed back at Phyl. “That’s my daughter,” he said.
Phyl waved and smiled.
Katherine also waved, and the girl gave a tentative smile.
“Phyl, will you bring our new friend some fruit?” Les asked. “Their bananas don’t look ripe.”
Phyl hurried over with an apple and a banana, Katherine trailing behind.
The girl looked up at Pedro, who nodded. Moving away from his side, she took the apple.
“Now you have a new friend,” Katherine said to Phyl.
Looking around the room, Les felt that he was witnessing the good that was in humanity before technology got out of control and ruined the world.
The mess hall wasn’t advanced like those old automated restaurants. People were talking and laughing as they enjoyed their meals.
This place, the Vanguard Islands, was the home his family deserved, the home these people from the bunker deserved, and the home Trey had died to protect.
It was on Les to finish the job.
As soon as Moreto’s head was lopped off and the skinwalkers dealt with, he would request permission to take Discovery to Africa and destroy the final threat to their new home.
THIRTEEN
Ton and Victor guided X through the passages of the capitol tower. He took a nip from his flask when they weren’t looking.
The stainless-steel flask was as old as the Hive. Handed down from generation to generation, it had ended up in his Hell Diver locker after he won it in a poker game twenty years ago.