Cloverleaf Station: Chapter Twenty-Eight, Part Two

 Notes: We're moving, we're going, we're getting up and out of here...slowly, but it's happening!

Title: Cloverleaf Station: Chapter Twenty-Eight, Part Two

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Chapter Twenty-Eight, Part Two

 

Flying back in the disguised skimmer was tense, made worse by the roaming patrols that got thicker and thicker the closer they got to the port. Nobody, and nobody, wanted people watching this vicious deportation. Kieron finally had to hand the controls over to Lizzie, because there were just too many ways for him to screw up—especially with a five-year-old boy hanging onto his arm as he cried hopelessly into Kieron’s shoulder.

Telling Pol to sit down and buckle up had met with a tantrum of epic proportions, so Kieron had settled on asking him to be quiet and hang on while Kieron took care of getting them where they needed to be. He’d even had the gall to be irritated by it at first—if he’d thrown a tantrum like this when he was a child, he would have been made to sleep outside overnight with no blanket, after he was whipped so hard he couldn’t sit down. Why was Pol so upset? Wasn’t he happy he was going to see his mother again?

It wasn’t until Kieron finally took the time to really look at Pol that he finally understood. This boy, this sweet, happy little boy who ought to be at home with all of his parents right now, with his siblings too, ensconced in the comfortable world he’d always know, had been ripped straight out of that comfort zone. Kieron could only guess when Pol had stopped feeling happy, but he’d clearly stopped trusting Laina by the time Kieron first visited with Zak’s remains. He’d lost faith in his own home, in the family unit that was supposed to be on his side, to support him in an uncertain world.

Instead his mother had been stolen away from him, his other parents were already moving on, his sister had thrown the lies she’d been told about their mother right into his face, and now he knew that Mama Laina didn’t believe his intentions to go into the forest enough to come after him. She was willing to risk him being eaten alive because she thought she knew him better than he knew himself. And to top it all off, when the one person who was on his side, who had promised to get him back to his mama, was a stone-faced son of a bitch like Kieron…

Shit, he would cry too.

“Hey,” he said, awkwardly setting his hands on Pol’s shoulders. “It’s going to be all right.”

“No.”

“Okay, no,” Kieron agreed with a sigh. “It’s not going to be all right—not the way it was before. I wish it could be, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. But I promise that I’m not going to let you down. I’m not going to leave you behind, I’m not going to let anyone take you away from me. We’re going to make it to my ship, and we’re going to make it to your mama’s ship, and we’re all going to leave together.

Pol sniffled and wiped his snotty nose on one already-damp sleeve. After a moment’s consideration, Kieron stripped off his camouflage coat and draped it around Pol’s shoulders. There. Now he could get his snot on that.

Serves me right for not thinking to bring a shammy.

Kieron felt them begin to move again, Lizzie creeping the skimmer forward whenever she computed that it was safe enough. He checked the control panel to make sure there were no warning lights or issues popping up—but of course there weren’t. Lizzie knew what she was doing, and she knew she could come to him if it got hard.

Pol needed to know that too.

Kieron sat on the floor and put his back to the nearest wall. This skimmer was a small one, not really equipped for more than two passengers, especially not if they weren’t sitting up front. It had accessibility options that made it possible for people in mobility chairs to remote-drive it from the back, but he didn’t need that either. He needed to make Pol comfortable. He patted the floor next to him, and Pol slumped down and against his side, leaning heavily against Kieron.

“I miss Szusza,” he wailed before Kieron could even say anything. “And Filip and Ophred! And I miss Mama Laina and Papa Kriev and my pet tree crab Sparky! I miss my room and my toys! I miss my tab and my shows!”

Now wasn’t the time to remind Pol that he’d brought the tab along in his little backpack. Kieron stayed quiet and let the boy talk. “I want it to be like it used to,” Pol cried. “I want my family, I want all of them together, I want to be happy with them. I miss them. I miss them!” He turned his face and wept a fresh set of tears into Kieron’s side. Kieron, his own throat tight, put his arm around the little boy’s shoulders and held him close as he let his fears and his hopeless dreams out.

“I know,” he said after a moment. “I know you miss them. I wish you could have stayed with them, stayed all together. I know that being with me isn’t the same. Things change, and it’s all right to hate those changes for a while.” Shit, what else could he say? “But things will get better, too. I promise. Your mama loves you so much. Once you’re together again, you’ll feel better.”

“I want them all!”

“I wish I could make that happen for you,” Kieron said helplessly. “I—”

“Kee?”

He turned his focus to Lizzie. “What is it?”

“You are two berths away from me. I’m afraid this is as close as I’ll be able to get you in the skimmer, though. You’ll need to make the rest of it on foot.”

On foot… “How many people and cameras are between us and you?” The camo skins he’d made up should protect them from being easily spotted by people, but cameras were more challenging.

“Only one person, but numerous cameras. I won’t be able to shield you until you’re on board.”

Shit. He should have planned for this. “How quickly can we leave once we get there?” he asked.

“If I begin initialization procedures now, we can leave two-point-four minutes after sealing the hatch door.”

Two-point-four minutes? They could survive whatever these people threw at them for that long. It was possible they wouldn’t even notice, given how focused they all were on the launch. Speaking of… “When is the other ship heading up?”

“Unclear. Technicians appear to be finished with their work, but there are still people being transferred on board.”

Too bad. If they could have used the big ship’s launch as a distraction…but no. It was better to get off-planet before someone wised up to what Kieron was doing. “All right, we’ll head to you on foot. Start initialization procedures immediately, and make sure you stay in my head, okay?”

“Yes, Kee.” Lizzie sounded very earnest. “I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t, baby.”

Pol looked up at Kieron, apparently over his tears for the moment. “You have a baby?” he asked.

“Um.” Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie. “I do, yeah. I’ll introduce you once we’re on board my ship, okay?”

“Babies can’t fly ships,” Pol told him very seriously.

Kieron grinned. “This one can,” he said as he grabbed for the other, smaller camouflage suit he’d made just in case. “Take off that jacket and I’ll help you into this, okay?”

It was time to get out of here.