Star Missions - Book One - Part III

Chapter 22 - Sweet Dreams

Belter could still feel the uncomfortable pressure of the hospital bed against his back when the scent of lilac bushes washed over him. Without opening his eyes, he knew where he was, or rather, where his dream had taken him.

There were no lilac bushes on Hydra, of course. Though similar in many ways to Terra, the planet had alien flora of its own. Many of those specimens had delightful scents, but Beatrice wanted to have a little bit of Terra with them on Hydra. The lilacs she'd planted around their home on Hydra had taken to its pristine environment and temperate climate remarkably well and spread more every year until their fragrance hung over the house like a blanket. When Belter opened his eyes, the hospital bed fell out of his realm of sensation and everything connected with that world—the bugs, the bombs, his injuries—no longer existed.

He was standing on the lawn in the back yard of his home. His two youngest children, Jonny and Amy, in front of him playing. Without turning, he knew that Beatrice was on the porch behind him, smiling at them and reading on her datapad.

A deep sense of joy and contentment welled up in Victor. He wished he could freeze this moment in time to savor it forever. There were no concerns, no worries—just the pure pleasure of spending time with his family. In moments like this, he wasn't Victor Belter, discoverer of Angel's Gate, and the Strolla System. He wasn't Mr. Belter, the savior of Terra. He wasn't Governor Belter, leader of Terran society on the Strolla side of the Gate.

He was just Dad, a family man.

Now, more than ever, he realized that that was all he wanted to be. He'd never been looking for all of those other titles, anyway. They had quite literally fallen into his lap, and he ran with it because he seemed to have no other choice. Besides, he was good at it. Not that he would have made different choices if he could do it over again, he just would have made sure his family would never be in danger. He just wanted his family.

"Dad, catch!" Jonny's cry pulled his attention back to what was happening around him just in time to see a bright red ball come soaring toward him.

The ball was high, and Belter jumped to catch it, but it still sailed over his head. "Woah! Good toss!"

Jonny was beaming with pride at his accomplishment.

Belter turned around to see that Beatrice had caught the ball and was holding it out for him to take. "Here you go, honey," she said, her face glowing with love. "We miss you."

Belter was about to thank her when her last words hit home. Why would she say that? They were all right here, safe and together.

As his hands closed on the ball, Beatrice vanished from sight. He twisted back toward Jonny and Amy, but they were gone, too. "Jonny?" he asked, and the view of a rocky wasteland absorbed his words.

"Mr. Belter, were you talking to us?"

Belter turned again, back to where his wife should have been, and saw two men wearing the brown and rust-colored uniforms of early Terran exploration on Nova. They wore construction helmets fitted with infrared visors that one lowers to protect the eyes and provide some visibility in the dust storms that plagued the desolate planet.

Behind them was a massive drilling machine and a small cluster of drab green tents that made up the command outpost for the exploratory mission.

It took Belter only a moment to transition to his new surroundings. A small part of him protested that the switch from being with his family to being at work on Nova shouldn't have been so easy, but he silenced it and stayed focused on the task at hand.

"It's nothing," he told the workers. "What did you find?"

"Well, we've been back here, what, three times?" the one to Belter's right began. "And every time we find more elements and minerals. It's literally a gold mine out here."