Migration: Beginnings (Migration Series Book 1) Read online

  Donning a pair of sweatpants, Rhys comes down the stairs and finds himself in the midst of what can only be called controlled chaos. Donna is doling out breakfast for the half dozen or so neighborhood kids who have shown up. Jason is pouring milk into a bowl of cereal, setting it in front of Ainslie.

  “Morning, sleepyhead,” Jason says as he leans in for a kiss. “I made a little fruit salad for breakfast.” He nods to the mixed fruit that sits in a bowl on the counter. “Oh, and give Ainslie some, too.”

  Rhys has learned to just nod and go with it; breakfast is usually the most chaotic part of their day, and the more he can help out, the easier it goes. He glances at the clock, noting that it’s still a good thirty minutes before he usually logs on to work. He puts a bagel in the toaster and is about to head to the coffeemaker when he’s beaten by fifteen-year-old Amy. “That’d better not be the last cup,” he jokingly warns.

  The young girl almost stops in her tracks, eyes wide as she looks down at the cup, and then up at Rhys. “Umm,” she starts.

  “I’ll make another pot,” Donna calls out, brushing her hand on the back of Rhys’ arm. “Jason, we should probably stop by and pick up a larger coffeemaker today. Either that or get a carafe and brew two pots in the morning.”

  “That’d be good,” Jason says as he puts a small glass of juice in front of Ainslie, and Rhys watches Amy scamper back into the living room, now armed with a bowl of oatmeal to go along with her cup of coffee. “Mom and I are gonna go down to Eugene today, and stop at Fred Meyer on the way back. Maybe we’ll stop at the outlets if there’s anything we need. Anything you want me to pick up?” And damned if Rhys isn’t appreciative of Jason’s level of multitasking and his ability to bring order to the chaos.

  Rhys does a quick survey of the room, then turns his attention to Jason, where he leans in and grabs a quick kiss, and gives his husband a headshake. “We should be out of your hair for most of the day, so that’ll give you plenty of time to…”

  Remembering his laptop and the edited documentation on the thumb drive upstairs, Rhys nods. He wonders if he can make a break for it, but Ainslie announces she’s done with her cereal. He grabs a few of the smaller pieces of fruit from the bowl and puts them on a plate in front of her, and sits down to help the child eat, smiling at and thanking his mother-in-law with a “Bless you,” when she simply slides a cup of coffee onto the table in front of him.

  After Ainslie is finished eating and has retreated to the living room to play, Donna sets a plate with eggs and sausage in front of Rhys. He takes a few bites as he watches Jason expertly deal with the neighborhood kids. Rhys finishes his breakfast, and announces his retreat with a wink before heading back to their bedroom for his laptop and the thumb drive. He contemplates grabbing a shower but decides against it; he can wait until the crowd downstairs disappears, and he has the house to himself.

  Rhys settles down into the comfortable chair at his desk and places the laptop down in front of him. He takes a deep pull of the rich, warm brew and sets his coffee mug down and grabs the thumb drive out of his personal laptop, plugging it into his work desktop system. He pulls up the document and gives it a once over. When he’s satisfied, he puts together an email to Harvey that simply says, “Call me when you get this,” and adds the attachment. After it’s sent, Rhys goes about checking the overnight reports, with nothing further from Utah team three, but there are other reports to read. He’s engrossed in a report about timber from Southern Idaho when his phone rings, bringing him back to the moment.

  “Doctor Rhys Tambor,” he answers, almost automatically.

  “Rhys? This is Harvey Littleton,” the voice from the line announces. “Care to tell me just what in the hell I’m looking at?”

  “I thought that might be your response,” Rhys says, smiling. Harvey hated confusion, and Rhys knew his email would do just that.

  “What if I told you that we may be looking at a piece of metal that is of extra-terrestrial origin, Harvey?” he asks.

  Harvey just grunts, but after a few seconds of Rhys not replying, he asks, “Wait a minute, you’re serious?”

  Rhys opens the report and starts to walk Harvey through the different aspects of the Utah team three’s original findings, how the story correlates to the pictures of Jason’s necklace, and how Jason had been given the necklace, along with a very telling story from his grandfather. After a few minutes of explanation, Rhys asks, “So what do you think?”

  There’s a heavy sigh that comes through the phone, and Rhys isn’t sure if Harvey is intrigued or disturbed. “So, you’re seriously not pulling my leg? Are you, Rhys?”

  “Sorry, Harvey,” Rhys manages, shaking his head, even though the other man can’t see him. “I know this sounds crazy, but honestly, it’s eerie how well the legend ties together with what we found in Utah. And you know, they say that legend usually has some sort of basis in fact. We’ve seen it throughout history…”

  “I’m the one who told you that,” Harvey grunts back, and Rhys has to smile. He’d known that before he said it—but he also knew that using it on Harvey would garner him more traction. “So what you’re saying is you think we should look into this thing?”

  Considering it a minute from the scientific aspects, Rhys replies, “What I’d like to do is to get a good look at this thing myself, but out of the way of prying eyes. You know what I mean?” Before he can get a response, he adds, “And I’d like to bring Jason with me.”

  “Rhys, Jason’s a civilian,” Harvey warns.

  “Yeah, Harvey, but without him and his grandfather’s story, where would we be in the first place? It would just be a weird piece of metal that we found, with no idea what it was or what historical references it had.”

  There’s a considerable silence on the line, followed up by a heaving sigh. “I dunno, Rhys,” Harvey balks. “We’re dealing with a classified report, something that may attract a lot of attention outside of our department, and a civilian who has no governmental clearance.”

  “Well, he has some clearance,” Rhys replies. “Remember, he worked as an intern for our Klamath Falls project a few years back.”

  The statement actually gets a laugh out of Harvey, and Rhys can tell he’s whittling away at his friend’s reserve. “A two week trip to assess the damage of what the mountain pine beetle has done to the Klamath old growth forest is hardly comparable to a finding like this,” Harvey balks, though his tone is more jovial than not.

  It takes several minutes of debate before Rhys finally convinces Harvey to go along with his idea. “Okay, fine,” Harvey says, and Rhys can’t help but smile to himself. “But he’s got to come on board as a civilian contractor, after he passes a thorough background check. I’ll email you a packet for him to fill out, and he’ll have to be in the system before we can do anything. Besides,” he offers, “it’ll take a few days to get this thing to one of our facilities.”

  A rustling of papers comes through the phone, and Harvey finally comes back with, “I’m gonna have this thing shipped to one of our warehouses in Sacramento. That way it’s still in our possession, and it’ll be close enough for you two to study it. I just need to figure out the logistics.”

  “Thanks, Harvey.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” Harvey sighs. “Military might want to get in on this; just a warning.”

  Rhys figures that the military might be interested, but he never let the thought gain all that much traction in his head. Still, it comes as a bit of a surprise since the military has been busy since the start of the crisis; years of living on bases when he was growing up told him that in times of need, the military was nimble to try and restore order to chaos. “Yeah, figures. Anyway, thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it,” Harvey manages. With another sigh, he adds, “I’ll be in touch with all the details once I have them.”

  “Cool,” Rhys manages. “Thanks again, Harvey,” he says and hangs up the phone.

  Though there are more new messages in his inbox, Rhys ignore
s them for the moment. He bounds down the stairs, finding two of the neighborhood kids sitting on the couch watching Ainslie. “Where’s…” he starts, looking around for Donna and Jason.

  “Mrs. F. is next door talking to Mrs. G., and Jason’s upstairs taking a shower,” Amy announces. “Mrs. G. and my mom got back last night, so I should be able to stay home more often,” she adds.

  “You’re welcome here as long as you want,” Rhys says. And then he hears Leslie, Ainslie’s mother, laughing raucously from outside, and can’t help but chuckle himself. There are some people with infectious laughs, and Leslie happens to be one of those people. “You two okay?” he asks, glancing down at the kids, watching Dillon reading to Ainslie from a book.

  “We’ll be fine,” Amy says. Rhys nods, and heads up the stairs and into their bedroom, closing the door behind him. He hears Jason singing some power ballad from the bathroom, so he makes quick work of his clothes and heads right for the shower, opening the door and getting a quick once-over of his husband before he gives himself away.

  “Room for one more?” he asks. Jason just smiles, stepping to the side as Rhys gets in beside him and enjoys the warm spray as it starts to cover his entire body.

  Once out of the shower, they stand hip to hip at the twin sinks, Rhys shaving as Jason brushes his teeth.

  “So, I talked to Harvey,” Rhys says, though he stops after that; he doesn’t want to show his whole hand at the moment, especially since he’s not sure how Jason is going to handle the news.

  “And…” Jason says, voice sounding anxious to keep Rhys going. It’s clear that Jason is more than a little eager to hear the verdict. “What did he say?”

  Rinsing the stray shaving cream from his face, Rhys asks, “How would you feel about being a civilian contractor?” He stands with his hands braced on the sink, closely watching Jason’s face for some sort of reaction.

  But instead of saying anything, Jason slowly raises his hand to the metal pendant that hangs around his neck. “Wow…” he manages, and then his expression shows that he’s lost in thought.

  Rhys finally asks, “Well?” after a good thirty seconds have passed without a response.

  “Definitely,” Jason responds, plopping his toothbrush back in the holder. Then he reaches out and grabs the bottle of mouthwash, and takes a swig from the bottle to swish around in his mouth.

  Rhys releases the breath he doesn’t realize he was holding and leans over to kiss Jason’s cheek. “Good,” he says, and picks up his toothbrush. As he’s putting toothpaste on it, he says, “Harvey’s going to find a warehouse in Sacramento and have the beam sent there. Once it’s situated, we’ll both head down to investigate it.”

  Jason looks like he’s considering it, then spits out the mouthwash. “Cool,” is all he says. His expression turns somber, and he lets out a sigh. “This is kinda heavy,” he says.

  Reaching out, Rhys grabs Jason’s hand and pulls the man to him, securing his hands around Jason’s waist as Jason turns his head and puts it on Rhys’ shoulder. “I mean, with all the crazy stuff going on in the world, it turns out that something like this,” he says as he reaches up and touches the necklace, “might be true. I mean, I’m already lucky enough to have you…” Jason continues. He sighs, and Rhys feels the hot breath as it escapes Jason’s mouth and tickles at the sparse hair on his muscular chest.

  “Hey, I’m the lucky one,” Rhys says, giving Jason a squeeze.

  “You know,” Jason says as he lifts his head and looks into Rhys’ eyes, “Leslie’s back from Seattle.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Rhys counters. “Actually, I think the whole neighborhood knows,” he says, and as if on cue, they hear Leslie’s boisterous laughter from somewhere outside, and each man chuffs out a snicker.

  Going back to getting ready, Jason offers, “With her back, I bet she’d be able to help Mom manage all her strays.”

  Rhys considers it and makes a mental note to ask Donna when he heads back downstairs. “So are we really doing this?”

  Jason goes back to considering his reflection in the mirror and the pendant that hangs around his neck. “I know how important this is, so…” He holds Rhys’ gaze in the mirror. “Absolutely,” he responds, and Rhys smiles. “But boo,” Jason adds, not taking his eyes off the image of the reflection, “what happens when we figure out that this is real, and they decide to send us out gallivanting across the globe, looking for the other two pieces?”

  Considering it for half a beat, Rhys almost automatically replies, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  “That’s gonna be a pretty big bridge,” Jason says with a wink, and then bumps shoulders with his husband.

  The couple finishes getting dressed and ready for the day. Jason disappears out the door with Ainslie in front of him and Donna following. It doesn’t take long for them to get settled into the car, and Rhys waves goodbye as Jason pulls his SUV out of the driveway. Rhys watches as the car disappears down the end of the street, and he turns to walk back into the house.

  Entering the house, Rhys notices that the neighborhood kids are still milling around the living room, even though they have homes of their own that they can be in. Rhys considers that their home has become the place to be in their neighborhood, and it makes him smile. “You kids need anything?” he asks, but is distracted by a knock at the door, the familiar voice announcing her arrival with a “Knock, knock!”

  “Hey, Leslie,” Rhys says as their blonde, slightly crazy neighbor walks through the door, her bubbly, positive energy preceding her into the room.

  “Hi, honey,” Leslie replies and comes to Rhys’ side where she pulls him into a hug. “I can’t thank you boys and Donna enough for watching over my little girl while I was away. Scott said she was barely home, and that she spent most of her time over here.”

  “Things go okay?” Rhys asks but doesn’t press it when Leslie gives him a quick shake of the head with a dark, morose look in response.

  “Later, okay?” she finally responds. “After the kids are asleep, and we have a ginormous bottle of rum.”

  Rhys doesn’t have to push further; he knows that Leslie’s parents had been vacationing in Europe when everything went down and has come to recognize the dark look he was given, like that of loss.

  “Oh, uhh…There’s a chance that Jase and I might have an overnight trip to California coming up. You think you could make sure Donna’s okay while we’re gone?”

  “Pfft,” Leslie responds, moving her hand in a familiar gesture. “Like you even have to ask.”

  The pair makes small talk for a few more minutes until Rhys hikes his thumb at his shoulder. “I’ve got to get back to work,” he says.

  Leslie sits down on the sofa next to her daughter with a nod. “I’ll come get you at lunchtime,” she says. When Rhys looks at her curiously, she adds, “I know your boo and Donna are out for the day, so lunch is at my house.”

  Rhys can’t help but smile. “You’re a lifesaver. Thanks,” he says, and heads to the stairs.

  He sits at his desk, and buries himself in work.

  Chapter 7

  It’s two days before Harvey reports back to Rhys about the status of the project, and by then the beam has been crated up and is on its way to Sacramento. He gets an email later that evening and prints it out to give a copy to Jason—their passage on the train—again—back down to Sacramento.

  The tickets come with an apology from someone above Harvey; they’d tried to get Rhys and Jason a flight on a commercial airline, but most airliners were still being used by world governments to ferry people out of harm’s way, with most of the remaining flights being used for necessary supplies and emergency workers. It’s tough to believe that after almost three full months, there were still people getting out of Europe; to listen to the evening news, one would think that the crisis was mostly over and that life was approaching normality again. But it was a new normal the world was experiencing.

  Dinner that night is a light-hearted affai
r, everyone piling into the small backyard, with Jason at the grill and Donna manning the stove. Some of the smaller kids play a few loud games, and laughter flows like a stream flooding its banks. The scene is enough of a distraction to keep the morose thoughts of terrorism and violence away, at least for a little while.

  Later, after bellies are full, and the little ones are tucked into bed, it’s just Rhys, Jason, Donna, Leslie, and Scott (Leslie’s husband and Ainslie’s father), sacked out on the overstuffed couches in the living room. There’s an action-adventure DVD playing, though it’s mostly for background noise.

  “Oh hey—we got our tickets to Sacramento today,” Rhys says at a lull in the conversation. “We head out Friday.”

  Leslie munches on a piece of ice from her glass of rum & Coke and says, “Good! That way Scott will be home so we can both help you out,” looking at Donna. “How exciting for you boys!” she adds.

  “We’ll see,” Jason says, and then looks around. “Anybody need anything?”

  There’s a murmur from the group, and soon everyone is back to watching the movie or having side conversations. It doesn’t take long for the group to peter out, with Leslie and Scott heading home, and Donna heading up to the guest room to get her first full night’s sleep in a while.

  Rhys and Jason are upstairs after cleaning up a few items in the living room and take turns in the bathroom. Rhys climbs under the sheets and is reading a report on his tablet when Jason appears from the bathroom and slides under the sheets with him. He watches as Jason picks up one of his grandfather’s journals and pulls out the bookmark, placing it on the bedside table next to him.

  “Are you sure I should be reading these and not you?” Jason asks. “I mean, how do I know what I should be looking for? They all appear to be different stories that Grandpa wrote down. But only the first one seems to be pertinent, really.”