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son.”
     

Chapter Four
     
    Tangled webs, indeed. It all came clear in a flash.
By giving Theos’s DNA to Alex, they had created a potentially huge
problem for the ruling line of jit’suku emperors. Theos had
abdicated his throne in favor of his brother, Thadios, after
Theos’s wife was killed. He’d had no children.
    Now all of a sudden, he had a son. What a mess.
    “ I assume you have no desire to
try to claim my brother’s throne?” Theos regarded him with a hard
stare.
    “ None whatsoever, your highness,”
Alex answered honestly.
    “ Good.” Theos nodded. “And you can
drop the title. I am simply Father Theos now, though many still
insist on calling me other things.” Amusement twinkled in his eyes
for a short moment. “I will meditate more on it, but I believe you
must come to Solarus Prime with us. There you will take part in a
renunciation ceremony in front of the High Priest. I abdicated on
my own behalf, not knowing I had progeny anywhere. You must
renounce any claim to the throne for yourself and all others who
might have been created like you, as well as your progeny. I will
not have this coming back to haunt Tren’s children a century from
now.”
    Tren. The young man they’d saved on the station. He
was heir to the jit’suku empire. No wonder Della had been so
adamant about saving his life. If the heir had been murdered in
human space… Well, the consequences of such an act didn’t bear
thinking about.
    “ I’ll do whatever you wish, to set
your mind at ease about Tren’s future and his descendants,” Alex
readily agreed. “However, I would beg a promise of safe passage to
and from Solarus Prime for myself and Della. We started this
journey in good faith, trying to save a life. We would rather not
forfeit our own.”
    “ Well said and I concur. For what
you did to save Tren, we owe you thanks. Safe passage is the least
we can give you. As long as you perform the renunciation ceremony,
you will leave our galaxy with my blessings.”
    “ Thank you, Father Theos.” Alex
knew he’d just won a major concession though the man had tried to
make it sound trivial. Few humans who entered jit’suku space ever
returned to tell the tale.
     
    Father Theos left them a short while later. The
doctor came back to check Della’s progress.
    “ How is she?” Alex heard the hint
of desperation in his own voice.
    “ Statistically, her condition
continues to improve. She should wake soon. We’ll know more when
she can talk to us.” The doctor moved to check the readings on the
side of Alex’s bed, where a small console displayed all the
information the bed collected on his condition. “You, on the other
hand, should be well enough to move to quarters shortly. I’ll begin
making the arrangements.”
    When the doctor would have turned away, Alex shot
out a hand to stop him. He gripped the man’s arm, catching his
attention.
    “ I won’t leave her. Father Theos
said we would be quartered together.”
    The doctor seemed surprised. “I see. Well, we can
work around that, certainly.”
    The doctor was as good as his word. Soon after Della
roused for a short period, they were moved together to a nice room
of adequate size to house them both. Alex walked there under his
own steam but Della had to be transported on a med bed. She’d been
awake long enough to answer the doctor’s questions and send Alex a
weak smile, but that was all. She’d fallen asleep again within a
minute or two.
    The doctor had assured Alex that was to be expected.
He’d also seen no reason, given her answers to his diagnostic
questions, why she couldn’t be moved to quarters as long as she
continued to be monitored remotely.
     
    The next time Della woke, Alex was there beside her.
She wore small sensor pads on her pulse points and he’d moved her
to the large bed in their quarters, tucking her in to make her more
comfortable.
    After some internal debate, he’d pushed aside
worries about getting too involved with her.