Stolen Son

Lynx didn’t answer, avoiding his grandfather’s eyes. He’d never spoken of his very early days. That was the past, old and dead and buried. He was with his family now and what had gone before didn’t matter. As soon as the shock of his existence wore off, Sin told him that, and he knew his grandfather meant it.

Instead, he asked, “What did you want to talk to us about?”

That got the Old Man back on track. He fixed both of them with that brilliant green gaze, slitted pupils wide in the garden’s dim light.

“Are you happy?”

That was all he asked. Then he sat there. Waiting.

Mal and Lynx looked at each other and back at Sin.

“What exactly do you mean?” Mal’s hesitant question was delivered with a frown.

“I meant exactly what I said. Am I speaking Severani or some language neither of you understands? Are you two happy? In living here? In what you’re doing?” When they still looked at him, shaking their heads, he went on a little sharply, “Mal, I know you never wanted to be a ship’s captain. You’re like Adam in that respect, so I allowed you to take over the company’s accounts. Lynx, you’re one of the finest captains in my fleet, but I know sailing a shipping route, even between fourteen planets, is dull compared to the life you used to lead. So, what I want to know is…are you two happy in what you’re doing? Are you satisfied?”

“Does it matter?” Mal responded. “I mean, we do good jobs, fulfill our duties…”

“Not a good answer,” Sin interrupted. “Adam’s my heir and head of everything, but as far as he’s concerned, he’s out of the business and into farming full time. The others seem satisfied with their desk jobs or sailing their routes and coming back to their mates and cubs, but you two…”

He paused.

Still waiting.

Still no answer.

“Damn it, answer me, both of you.” Sin raised his hands, making an exasperated gesture. “It’s not like I’m going to drive you out and horsewhip you in the town square or something if you say what I don’t want to hear. Just tell me the truth. Are…you…happy?”

“Well…” Mal drew in a deep breath, held it, let it out slowly.

“Now that you mention it, Grandpa…” Lynx beat him to it. “There is something I’ve been wanting to speak to you about.”

“Go on,” Sin encouraged.

At last. Getting these two to talk is like pulling fangs. He felt himself tense slightly, wondering what his grandson was going to say.

“You’ve been good to me, Grandpa.” Lynx was the one taking a deep breath now, as if steeling himself for an outburst. “I mean, I walk in here, declare myself your grandson, and you and my father accept me without an argument. Even with his having a very clear memory of how I came into being, you could’ve found half a dozen reasons not to take me into your family, but you didn’t. You and Grandma welcomed me with open arms.”

He looked at Mal and smiled.

“As did all my uncles and aunts and cousins.”

“But…?” Sin prompted.

“But… Right.” Now Lynx looked a little anxious. “Well…it’s… Since Elena and I went our separate ways and my son’s being so well-cared for by his aunts and all the nannies they have, I feel…” Lynx stared at Sin a moment, then burst out, “I’m bored, damn it. It’s all become routine. At least when I was a pirate, everything was unexpected. I never knew what was going to happen, and I felt…alive. Now? I feel as if I’m…just…existing…”

He stopped, averting his gaze, staring at the pebbles in the dirt beneath his boots.

“God, I’m glad you said that.” Mal spoke into the silence.

Lynx looked at him. “You are?”

“Yes. Because that’s exactly the way I feel.”

He turned to Sin with the most earnest expression he’d ever seen on this quietest of his sons.

“I’m bored sick, Dad. I know you want all your sons to be Abiders and if Mom were alive, she’d probably grab me by the ear and haul me to my room and lock me inside until I apologized and said it wasn’t so. Frankly, I’m surprised to hear myself admit this, but…” Mal paused, inhaled deeply, and blurted, “I wish I could’ve known you before you two met. I know I’m going to shock you with this, but…I wish I could’ve been a smuggler, too.”

Sin didn’t answer, staring at them. The silence lasted so long Mal began to fidget and Lynx shuffled his feet, gently kicking the pebbles back and forth with the toes of his boots.

“So that’s the way you feel? Both of you?”

Together, they nodded, and waited.

“In that case, I suppose there’s only one thing for me to say…”

Mal and Lynx exchanged glances, then looked back at Sin, each waiting for him to denounce them, perhaps even order them out of the Pride House, and disown them. Mal straightened, throwing back his shoulders and Lynx copied the gesture. They were both startled when he laughed.

“Thank God! Finally, someone with my blood doesn’t want to be hemmed in by laws and customs. Oh, if Andi could see you two.” The look he bestowed on them held more love than they’ve ever seen. “She’d be exasperated, shocked, and proud of both of you.”

“You’re not angry?” Mal was stunned by his father’s reaction.

“Not a bit. Glad is more like it. To prove it, I’ll free you of your duties and let you go your own ways…though we can’t let it be known I’m encouraging a couple of Breakers in their nefarious endeavors.” Sin stood, all business now, more enthusiastic than he’d been in some time. “I’ll defranchise the Ray—wouldn’t do to take your ship away from you, Lynx—and you two can sail her out of here. If you want to go back to your former occupation, I recommend taking her to Terra, and having your membership in the Brotherhood reinstated. It shouldn’t be too difficult to get Mal accepted, too. Think you’ll like having a tattoo, son?”

“Grandpa…” Lynx was overwhelmed. “I don’t know what to say.”

“‘Thank you’ will do nicely for starters.”

“Wait a minute.” Sudden euphoria took a nose-dive as common sense kicked in. “I can’t go shooting off to the stars again. I’m a father now. I’ve a cub and responsibilities.”

“Sorry, can’t let you back out now, though you’re right,” Sin agreed. “I wouldn’t think you’d want to take the boy with you. Pirating can be a bit dangerous, as you already know. He can stay here and you can see him anytime you want to anchor at the docking station and come on-planet.”

“What do you think?” Lynx turned his attention to Mal, who’d fallen silent. “Suppose we could work the same ship without killing each other? Me as captain and you as First Mate?”

“What makes you think I want to be First Mate?”

“Well…” Lynx looked a little startled.

“You’ve already got a First Mate, and I don’t think Josh is going to step down, even for a relative. Besides, I’ve always said I wasn’t captain material,” Mal went on, answering his nephew’s question. “I imagine I could fill some kind of ‘advisory’ capacity fairly well, though.”

“Then it’s settled.” Without a tremor, Sin got to his feet. The excitement of what had just happened chased all the alcohol from his system. “Tomorrow, we’ll do the paperwork.” He sighed. “Going to miss you kids. Damn, I envy you.”

“Why’s that, Dad?”

“Why? Because you’re going to have the same adventures I once did, the adventures I wish I could have now, since I’ve no feisty little Terran to keep me settled down. No offense meant, Andi.” He directed that last remark in the direction of the stone.

“Why don’t you?” Lynx’s expression changed. He looked like someone who’d had the most brilliant idea, the thought of a lifetime.

“Why don’t I what?”

“Have some more adventures? Come with us, Grandpa.”

“I’m an old man, now, Lynx. Isn’t that what you call me behind my back? The Old Man? In capital letters? Don’t deny it,” Sin said as his grandson started to speak. “The last thing you need is some old codger slowing you down and cramping your style.”

“Old codger?” Lynx laughed. “I don’t think so. Besides, who’s to stop you? Who’d dare?”

“Yeah, why not?” Mal chimed in. “As you said, you’ve no one to keep you here, and...like you’ve been moaning and groaning when you thought no one was listening, you’re as bored as we are.”

He looked from his nephew to his father, nodding as if agreeing with himself.

“I’m thinking the three of us are pretty much alike, and I think we all need to escape Felida and its law-abiding citizens once and for all.”

“Right.” Lynx took up his uncle’s argument. “How about it, Grandpa? Come with us. I won’t guarantee we’ll break any Federation laws, but....”

Apparently, being an Abider had rubbed off on him. A little, anyway.

“We don’t necessarily have to, you know, to have a helluva lot of fun. We could be...”

“...adventurers, explorers, soldiers of fortune,” Mal finished for him. “That’d probably be better. Keep some people from worrying about us, anyway.”

He glanced hopefully at Sin as he spoke.

“Sailor of fortune, you mean,” Lynx corrected. “Yeah, I like that.”

“What would be my rank on this totally hare-brained expedition?” Sin demanded.

Both of them were startled to see a light in his eyes they’d never seen before.

“If I were crazy enough to accept, I mean?”

“Captain emeritus,” Lynx replied without hesitation. “Kh’ta-in-residence. Onboard to advise us young starbucks on the protocol and proper way to act when in port on other worlds.”

He was going to accept, they could see it. The eagerness, the desire, flamed in Sin’s face. In a moment, he was going to burst out laughing…

He did, with that loud guffaw of sheer delight they hadn’t heard since the day Andi got sick.

“Damn it, yes.” He got to his feet, clicking his heels, and giving Lynx a sharp salute. “Kh’ta sh’en Singh, reporting for duty, sir. Where do I sign in?”