Quote Originally Posted by Ramil
11

They woke Kay up shortly before dawn. He went/had gone to bed at three o’clock and his awakening was far from being pleasant.
“Curtis Van Curtis is waiting for you” simply said the man that came. He was wearing a powered armor with activated protection and the holster of his “Bumblebee” was unfastened. Kay preferred not to argue with this kind of person. He dressed in silence and went out of the room. The man in armor followed Kay and directed him with slight touches of his hand. His helmet was closed so Kay didn’t/couldn't see his face. There were two corridors and three local hypertunnels. As they walked and passed the tunnels more armored guards were joining them and finally they had brought Kay to a study that was unfamiliar to him. The room resembled the cockpit of a medium cruiser judging both the design and the number of instruments. Curtis walked out to meet them.
“The situation has changed, Kay.”
“And so I became unnecessary?”
Curtis frowned.
“Why do you say so? Nick I didn’t order you to bring Kay under escort!”
“I’m sorry, Van Curtis. We’ve been providing protection.”
Curtis took Kay by the shoulder and nodded releasing the guards.
“Everybody is high-strung at the moment, Kay. A spy has been caught, one of my employees. It’s possible that he had managed to transmit something, I don’t know. We had to kill him.”
“Interrogate him…”
“He’s dead.”
“I thought all your men had the aThan.”
“Of course, but he was not human.”
“Pity.” Kay agreed.
“The operation must begin immediately. Have you checked your legends?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know, Curtis.” Kay fumed.
“Be quiet, mister…” Curtis’s gaze immediately stopped being friendly.
“I hired you for a very important mission… and I expect good work. You will deliver my son to Graal safe and sound. Not a single hair should fall from his head. If worst comes to worst you will kill him yourself. And remember, Kay. Immortality! Eternal pleasure or eternal torment. Remember that!”
“Dad?”
They both turned around. Kay had started to live by the legend.”
Arthur Van Curtis was no son of god anymore. They saw a boy wearing shabby jeans, a checkered oversized shirt and battered shoes. There were a dozen lapel pins with planetary coats of arms on his shirt: an undying fashion among the young. Kay remembered that when he had treated himself into a cruise onboard the “Southern Star” a year before, the boy steward attached such lapel pins after visiting each new planet.
“Are you sure/certain in/about Kay, son?”
“Well, yes.” Arthur went silent. “Yes, father. He will try hard.”
Kay thought ‘What a filthy son of a bitch.’ then stepped towards Arthur and patted his head. “It’s time, son.”
“It’s time dad.”
“You’re doing well.” said Curtis sourly. “It sounds convincing.”
“Everything will be all right, Mister Van Curtis” Arthur promised while taking Kay’s hand.
“Me, Arthur and Kay to the imitation room.” Van Curtis commanded without bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.
The world around them flickered and changed. They disappeared from a hall filled with control panels and appeared in a tiny empty room. The walls were tiled with pale blue stones and there was a single door there.
“Go now.” Curtis pushed Kay to the door. “I don’t know how much time you will have but everything will happen quite real (really quite fast ?).”
The door opened as soon as Kay had touched it. He entered the airlock – a tiny cylindrical cabin with two more hatches in it. So… the right one leads to the cargo hold and to the engine bay, the left one leads to the living (command ?) module. It was a small freighter, one hundred maybe one hundred and fifty tons of working load, one of several thousands that scurry across the galaxy. There were a couple of space suits in protective cases, a photograph attached with a sticky tape on the wall – a pretty woman was wagging a finger and on it the sprawling words ‘See if there is a planet before getting out!’.
Yes, it was a greeting from caring/concerned Mrs. Ovald to her scampish husband and naughty son. The buzzard (buzzer ?) Van Curtis worked thoroughly.
Kay looked at the opened ‘external’ hatch. Curtis Van Curtis put his hand on his son’s shoulder and was telling him something. The only words Kay heard were “… remember, I am always with you. Return immediately if the situation goes/gets out of control. I love you Arthur and I believe in you. Don’t hurry; we have an eternity at our disposal…”
An eternity of pain…
Kay turned away and checked the space suits. The small one was nearly new while the bigger one was well worn but still in rather good condition.
There was the noise of the closing hatch.
“I’m thinking about buying a new spacesuit. What do you think son?” asked Kay without turning around “If this flight proves profitable.”
“Of course, dad.”
Arthur’s eyes were dry, but Kay had seen a lot of tears that had been wept somewhere inside.
“You look sad, Arthur. What are we going to do?”
“Let’s go to sleep. We’ve already checked the cargo, so…”
Kay nodded. Many novices think that death in a sleep/that dying while asleep is the easiest one. They’re wrong. Usually you wake up anyway…