Traitor
Chapter 3 Houston

“We are throwing this party in honor of Jason, who is the first person within the family who has been recalled to the Empire. I understand he will be the vanguard for other family members to return to the Empire. Without further ado, I’ll ask Jason to talk to you and answer any questions that you may subsequently ask. Jason, I suggest you do an introduction for say twenty minutes and then we’ll have our starter, talk for another fifteen to twenty minutes and we’ll have our entrée and then perhaps you can take questions. Deserts will be placed on the buffet tables afterwards. Jason, we are all sorry to hear about Sarah and the circumstances of her death, please accept the condolences of the entire family,” said Great Uncle Cletus.

Jason looked around the room. All the people who had been born in the Empire were still alive including his uncle Cletus who had introduced him. All the generation that had followed had died including his own parents. The room was in the corporate headquarters of the family food business and could hold at least a hundred and fifty people. It was used as an executive dining room during the day, and frequently for events in the evenings. He fondly recalled eating many an outstanding meal in this room over the years.

“Dear family, I’m delighted to be in your company again, though I’m embarrassed to be the one asked to return to the Empire. I’m not terribly keen to go, particularly after the death of Sarah and because of my age and multiple medical problems. Most of us younger ones and I use that term lightly, have felt abandoned by the Empire and I’m especially angry because my parents have needlessly died as have so many of the generation above me and even those of my generation. Two days ago, our family was taken to see the battleship that’s taking me back to the Empire. They fixed all my health problems, and I’m allegedly in the process of becoming a young man again. You don’t die in the Empire of old-age, they tell me. For that reason, I’ve undertaken to ensure that every single one of you benefits from Empire medicine before I leave... and my departure is far from a done deal... to find what the hell has happened and why we were abandoned.”

He received prolonged applause and some whistles and cheers, particularly from the younger people.

“The story that I’ve been told is that my great-grandfather is very ill and I’m needed to assist him and to take over the Duchy as is necessary. The ship belongs to the Empress who sent it for me on behalf of my great-grandfather. To me it’s a strange story and I’m not sure that I believe it. Why, with such great medicine, is he sick? And if that’s not the reason, then what is? The reason I may go is that I’ve nothing to lose. With current technology and paranoid levels of security in society it’s hard to live to a thousand and explain it to others.

“If I remained here maybe I’d have lasted another five to ten years, and those with a poor quality of life. I was a slowly deteriorating old crock. Part of why I’m thinking of going is to create a pathway for those of you who want to return, and to find out if it’s going to be better for you in the Empire. The other part of why I’m considering going, is that I don’t know what the hell I’d have done in the next few years while waiting to die. Now I’m getting younger and I don’t know how I can fit in. I lost twenty-five pounds the first day and ten pounds since then. I am looking ten years younger than the twenty years I lost the first day.

“The last reason is that there’s a detective who is chasing me as a murderer or at least a supposed accessory, assistant, or helper, in the death of my wife. He has charged me for a crime for his own obscure reasons. I’m out on bail and have to report to a police station once a week. I will look like a different person if I get to trial.

“I would love to hear about the look on the slime ball’s face, when Lauren tells him I’ve gone back to the Empire.

“What happened, for those who have not heard, I arrived home four weeks ago, to find Sarah hanging outside the balcony of our bedroom. I had a heart attack shortly after I managed to get her down and called emergency services, and Lauren.

“Stan, who is an AI and the pilot of the ship presented himself at the door to speak to me after I was arrested and beaten up in jail. He gave Lauren the spiel about my great grandfather asking for me and arranged to meet me after I came out of hospital, and took us to the battleship. They sorted all of us out physically, including fixing Chloe’s diabetes and tuned up everyone’s genes so that we can live forever. I’ll return to the physiological state of a twenty-year-old over a few weeks, and then physically change over two months to look the age. On the ship, it’ll go faster if I visit the medical machine and rehabilitation pod often.

“I really didn’t feel like going anywhere, but I’m feeling younger and more energetic already. There’s some feel of the scale of the problems I’ll face and I’ve never backed down from a challenge. I’m intrigued by what my great grandfather faces, but there’s anger there, as well. We were sent here and just left, a thousand odd years ago. There was no communication, and no timeline for a return. We are all supposed to be of royalty, yet here we wait. My parents and many of the second and third and even some of the fourth and fifth generation died needlessly. I’ll not ramble on about that issue any further, but will move on to tell you more.

“The battleship is massive, and it would have cost a fortune to send it. There’s a lot of pressure to go. I risk nothing much. I’ve lived a long happy life, and if it all goes to hell, so what? If it doesn’t, I’ll open a path for you all to return if you wish, but first we have a visit to the ship for all who wish to do so in the family.

“As I said before I’ve arranged for all of you to be transported to the battleship this evening. There they will sort out all physical problems and get everyone’s genes optimized. I want you all to see that monster of a ship. For all of you I guarantee it’ll be a treat. Immortality is also not a gift to be sneezed at.

“For those of you who have to return tomorrow, there will be a shuttle bringing you back before dawn, but everyone else will be able to have an extensive tour of the battleship, and come back tomorrow evening. Overnight, you will learn the Empire Standard language, and you can ask for any educational input while you are on the ship. The learning systems are amazing. That’s about as much as I can say, for now. Let’s eat drink and be merry, for from tomorrow, you live forever!”

Jason sat down and began to eat his prawn starter.

“Dad, that was a pretty confronting introduction, let me ask Uncle Cletus what he thinks of your words in a minute or two. Both boys are flying in, they don’t want to miss the battleship for anything. I think the benefits that they can get from a health point of view are immeasurable,” said Craig and then turned to Cletus. “Uncle Cletus what you think of what dad has just said?”

“I remember the day we left the Empire. The Mob War had been going for some time and things were not looking good. We were winning but at a very high cost. The Emperor is my great-grandfather with several greats and is your great uncle with even more greats. I remember him saying that the Empire was under threat, and he wanted to send some very good quality people away to another galaxy, in case things went badly. He suggested that we get involved with food production and information technology, which is how our family has had made its money. He said it was a relatively primitive society which made it easy for us, with our skills, to make a life for ourselves. He forgot, as did they all, that each generation needs to be optimized from a health perspective. It’s sad that most of the recent generations after me, have died. At least your grandparents are alive and will be here in time to go to the ship for a checkup. Jason there was no malice involved.

“I think, at that time, Cassius was at least sixty-thousand years old. A couple of thousand years is nothing to many of the people in the Empire. He said that at some stage the Empire would either use our companies or recall us to the Empire, but he had his concerns beyond The Mob, and he was concerned about the diminishing numbers of males in the population, particularly in the less affluent groups of the population.

“Jason, I’d encourage you to go and not be bitter about the Empire. My memories of the Empire are wonderful, though I’ve been happy and fulfilled here. I’m sure they wished us only the best, and the time we have been away would be seen by them as but a moment.

“I had certainly hoped to be recalled within a hundred years, but as time has gone by, I must say that I’ve enjoyed my life here with the one reservation and that was the fact that all generations after us, have not had their health and genes optimized. That will now be rectified and they’re making a massive purchase of food from us and even taking live animals which they’re putting into stasis. We are going to make an absolute fortune, as is your good daughter, out of this deal. They are talking about sending cargo ships which will allow us to send even more food if our produce goes down well in the Empire.

“Here are your Grandparents, Jason!”

“Hi, Grandpa and Granny,” said Jason fondly greeting his grandparents who looked to be in their forties at most and were fit and healthy. “I’m sure you guys will be rejuvenated tonight and will look even younger, soon,” said Jason.

“We were so sorry to hear about Sarah, and wish your parents could have been here,” said Bert Kargo clutching the hand of his wife Agnes. “Your mother’s parents are a few minutes behind us. Here they come through the door now. Hi, Mort and Jane! Jason is over here.”Agnes hugged Jason before Jane hugged and kissed him and Mort shook his hand.

“Momentous times, my boy, so sorry about Sarah,” Mort said as he shook Jason’s hand firmly.

Bert went on to say, “I’ve met quite a lot of the farming people as well as their chefs and we are sure that they like our food. They love the spicy spectrum in particular, but they seem to like the food in general. We have given them a one week intensive chef program as well as agricultural programs for those who are intending to grow crops versus those who are into animal husbandry. They have taken it very seriously and have converted our materials into Empire learning systems. As an interesting example of how they operate: they bought every recipe book you can get as an e-book and have put it in their systems. They’ve had an AI translate it and rebuild the book. They said it’s a bit slow... it takes about a tenth of a second for each book and all the illustrations... but they converted them into 3-D holograms.

“We have also connected them into our computer systems as we have with many of our clients so that they can order ahead of time and we can assemble product as efficiently as possible.

“I was well aware that we could spend a very long time on Earth, but the subsequent generations have been very much angrier about the Empire regardless of what we told them. Jason that’s not to say that I wouldn’t like to visit the Empire. I very much would like to go back and see my grandfather, but I’m not in a frantic hurry to do so. I suspect that once everyone is aware that they going to live for a long time they’re going to lose their sense of urgency about the Empire, and once they have gone through the medical systems they will be grateful for Empire technology. I’m sure there was no evil intent, they’re just so used to the medical technology that they wouldn’t have considered the death of your parents,” said Mort

“We have said more than enough, most people have finished eating and it’s time for you to talk a little more,” said Agnes.

“Ladies and gentlemen of my family, I’d suggest that you ask questions, but I intend to be here for a bit less than a week and I suspect that many of your questions will be answered when you visit the ship. I’ll be staying with Craig and Jeanette and my grandsons Sean and Harry for most of that time. Much of the rest of the time will be with my grandparents. I don’t have anything further to say formally, do we have any questions?”

“How big is the ship?” Josh a nineteen-year-old cousin asked.

“My grandson, Chuck, tells me that it goes into battle with three hundred thousand people on board, which includes a hundred thousand Marines, some of whom defend the ship and others may invade a planet or a space station or board another ship. You will have the opportunity to ask those questions when you are on board. You will see it’s absolutely huge, and it looks like it’s many miles long.”

“How do they do the medical treatment and gene optimization?” Jenny a sixteen-year-old cousin asked.

“The short answer and the long answer are the same. I don’t know and I didn’t ask. The medical facility stretches further than the eye can see. There are many large white cigar shaped pods which accommodate the patients, and these pods deliver medical treatments and the gene optimizations as well as rehabilitation. None of us thought to ask how they work. Whatever it is, and however it’s done, most treatments are done in a very short period of time. The machine had a lot of work to do on me, and it took six to seven hours; but for everyone else it was less than thirty minutes, and it cured Chloe of her diabetes within that time. The machine as I previously mentioned removed twenty-five pounds of fat from me. It’s the fastest weight loss program I’ve ever been on. There’s no pain or discomfort and for much of the time that I was in treatment, I was asleep. I’ve had some aches and pains since then, but in general I feel better every day. I’m looking at least twenty years younger, I’m sure. The AI that delivers the treatment has a very bad bedside manner and she thinks that she’s the bee’s knees.

“She talks in a very hoity-toity voice and extols the value of Empire medicine. Chloe gave her a piece of her mind.

“We’ll be leaving for the ship in two hours, so make sure that everyone that wants to go along is here. If they can’t get here tonight it’s not a disaster, I’m sure that we can arrange further trips over this next two weeks while they are still here.

“The shuttle technology is astounding. I was looking for my seatbelt so that I could buckle myself in, and then a hologram appeared and we were already way past the moon. There’s no sensation of movement whatsoever and that’s extraordinary. There was also no sound.

“Chuck also tells me that he spoke to the ship, who I understand is a very high end AI, and the guy that pilots the ship and our shuttle, is also an AI. The tour is mind boggling and I’m sure that you will be impressed. However I see that our entrée has now arrived. I think I’ve said about as much as I can. If you’ve any further questions please ask them of me as we are traveling to the battleship or are on the battleship and I’ll answer as best as I can. They will teach you the language and you can ask any questions you wish from the guides who are usually AIs. I absorbed a small fraction of the extensive tour of the ship and I can’t say I know a lot about the Empire. If you want to know about the Empire make sure that you ask the learning machine to provide the history for you, or ask Cletus or one of the other oldies such as my grandpa and grandma Bert and Agnes, or Mort and Jane. They have at least experienced it, and know a lot more about the Empire than I’ll know for some time.

Jason thoroughly enjoyed the younger members of the group’s reactions to seeing the ship, flying through the iris and landing in the same hanger as he had done previously. They all went to the medical area first where they all entered the pods including the oldies and Jason.

“Lord Kargo, how may I be of assistance to you today?”

“I’ve lost a significant amount of weight in the last few days in addition to the weight that I lost when I was in the pod last time. I’m sagging everywhere and the skin folds are trapping sweat. Houston is hot and sticky. I want to know if I simply wait it out will everything will tighten up, or can you do something about it to improve the situation more quickly?”Jason asked. “Can you also check how my heart is getting on, and perhaps arrange some more rehabilitation. My muscles are aching after some of the exercise I’m doing and I still feel tired.”

“My Lord, that’s a simple problem for advanced Empire medicine. Please wait one minute while I evaluate the situation before I implement the solution.

“Evaluation is complete treatment will commence and will take six minutes. I’ll provide you with some samples of popular classical music of the Empire while the treatment is in progress.”

Jason listened carefully to the music. Despite its strangeness he enjoyed the three short samples.

“Treatment is complete. I’ve tightened the muscles and the skin all over your body and I’ve re-contoured your subcutaneous fat, after removing ten more pounds of it. I went over all your blood vessels again and I’ve removed those small remaining traces of plaque and calcification. I have further cleaned up your brain cells and optimized all the connections. Your heart is doing very well. All of this would have happened naturally over the next two months; however, it has been my pleasure to provide this service, today. Please talk to the doctor who will arrange a rehabilitation pod. I will provide an extended session.”

“I hope, my lord that my bedside manner has improved. Young Chloe had plenty to say when she was in the pod, and I did also hear you commenting adversely. All feedback is greatly appreciated. The pod is now opening. Have a good day.”

“Thank you very much indeed for your work, today. I’m also delighted with the extraordinary improvement in your bedside manner. The music was delightful,” said Jason laughing.

Jason’s cell phone began to ring.

“Hi, Lauren, it’s good to hear from you.

“Yes, I’m on the ship.

“I agree the technology is terrific. There’s no delay and I can hear you very clearly. Stan says that he’s put up a satellite for long-term communication between earth and the Empire which can handle instantaneous communication.

“I brought all the family over, and they’re still in the pods, how are you doing on your end? Hang on, Cletus is with me and wants me to put you on speaker,” said Jason.

“Hi, Cletus, I hope you’ve had a second rejuvenation and look even younger.

“Hi, Lauren, I’m doing really well. I had done well but the pod said there was a lot of maintenance that could be done. She said the systems continually improve.

“Thank you for sending so much business our way. How are things on your end, Lauren?”

“The food side of things is going really well. The ship people mastered the Internet and ordering systems pretty quickly, searched for what they wanted, and have done the ordering through my company. They were not happy with the security of my computer and have installed one of their own in the house which they will leave here. It’s ridiculously powerful and it has some amazing software, including a whole range of games. They even gave us some holographic projectors to play 3D games. Cletus, they tell me they have done the same at your end?” Lauren asked.

“Yes, they did, and it’s funny to watch them playing with their holograms and doing the ordering. It’s going really smoothly and we are way ahead of schedule. Their systems are pretty efficient. They also upgraded our education equipment. Many of them are building courses from our agricultural programs. Stan says he’s bringing you over for a few days.

“Please excuse me, Lauren, the children are calling me over. I’ll speak to you later,” said Cletus and hurried off.

“I’ll ask Stan if he can arrange for someone to bring me back in for one last bail police visit. I’ll spend a few more days with you guys before I have to ship out. I want a break and I want to say goodbye to everyone in a relaxed way and spend time with my grandparents,” said Jason.

Six days later, Jason was sitting at Lauren’s dining room table, having arrived just before sunup carrying a small overnight case.

“I have definitely decided to go. I’m feeling a hell of a lot better every day. I can’t go to an old age home if I’m getting younger by the day! I have had rehabilitation on the ship daily, and I feel I can’t stay here. I’m going to the police station to register my presence, then I will spend a few days with you guys then off I go. By the time this gets to court I will look twenty and it will be an almighty mess. I will make sure we maintain contact and visit when I can. Stan says it’s a three-week trip at full speed.

“More importantly how is young Chloe?” Jason asked.

“Dad she is better every day. I have taken her to the ship twice a week and she is producing her own insulin and is a new little girl. Every day I bless the gift of Empire medicine. Both Dan and I are more energetic and full of the joys of life. I’m in better shape than I have been for years. We are both exercising daily. We are both stronger and faster. We both had the marine officer gene optimization and have both grown and are getting stronger and faster daily.

“They gave us an Empire learning machine for all of us. It’s one that incorporates a simulator. We are all using it.

“Come and have a look at our underground facilities, Dad. We have a sports center and nearly a full underground house as well as our hangers. They built the whole thing overnight. The hanger extends through to the park and has another exit there. On the other hand, let’s wait for the children to get back. Let them show it to you this evening. They will enjoy giving you the grand tour and we can open the doors in the garden and in the park. They provided holograms that hide everything even if a satellite is above us.

“I will drop you off at your new place and you can pick up your car and visit some of your friends. Say your goodbyes, which they will understand when you leave. Tomorrow I will take you to the bank to talk about their experience with Craig’s intervention. They sent this huge basket of wine and fruit to you after your jail experience, and the President called daily to ask how you are,” Lauren said and pointed to a massive basket replete with goodies.

Jason and Lauren rode up to the top floor of the bank in the exclusive elevator that serviced the penthouse: the board of directors and the senior executive level. They very slowly walked to the boardroom, Jason pausing after every fifteen to twenty-five paces. Jason then slowly and deliberately walked into the large room to meet and greet several people he had known for half a lifetime.

“Jason that was a terrible business with the arrest,” said the President. “Please sit down. You are looking a lot better than when we saw you last.”

“Thank you all for your support. I regret to say that today will be my last meeting with you, and today I wish to bid you all farewell. I will no doubt soon leave to join my ancestors as many of our indigenous population say. I had a heart attack after Sarah’s death and another after my prison beating. I had heart failure after the first and compounded after the second. Losing my wife has been a terrible blow. I’m happy that Lauren and Craig carry on the family business, but the business is large and robust with many qualified people who we are confident will look after you. I have enjoyed our meetings, and the friendships we have enjoyed over close to fifty years.

“Please tell me how our intervention has worked. My dear daughter has refused to steal your thunder,” said Jason smiling and looking at each of the familiar smiling faces.

“Craig is an outstanding young man. Some of us remember him well. He set up some of his systems in anticipation of an attack,” said the CEO. “A few days later Lauren brought some people from her office that she said were so good they were beyond this galaxy. We had an attack on us while they were there. Craig’s software warned us before they penetrated the firewall and then these guys asked us to leave the room as they said equipment could explode if the enemy got through. The last I saw was one guy was waving his hand in the air, I assume to cool himself down. Since then we have had nothing. From ten attacks a day to nothing in a week. They said they have put a new predator attack the attacker version of software on our system. Our guys can’t even see it.

“A friend of mine in ASIO, who is a top cyberwarfare guy says there is cyberwarfare inspired chaos, worldwide. There are even some suicides of high ranking officials. He says there is a new powerful player on our side, but they don’t know where they are located. The signal trackers he says disappear into the heavens. Missiles are exploding, services are shutting down, and web connected attack groups are shutting down. Criminal gangs are attacking each other and they are enjoying the spectacle.

“We asked Lauren about it and she said no comment and grinned. The ASIO guy says that they hold you guys in very high regard and said you are in a league of your own. So Jason what can you tell us?” asked the CEO.

“Well, I can tell you that my family has very wide connections with some great people and when we say we’ll get the job done we do it even if we have to use contacts from another galaxy to throw an unexpected spanner into the works. Most times we hold back and act defensively, but sometimes we need to teach the bully and his mates a lesson they won’t soon forget. It needs to be short and sharp so they don’t learn how the attack happened. It can’t be a protracted ground campaign fought house to house. Sometimes one needs to cut the head off the spider or set one against the other. Consider this a parting gift from me, given freely by my family and our friends.

“My time here on this earth, I fear, is limited. A vessel awaits me to take me to another world to join my family. I wish you all well and I hope we may continue to help fight this war against those who hope to steal from us or attack us and threaten the foundations of our society,” Jason said before walking slowly to greet each of them, shake hands and then waved and walked with Lauren out of the boardroom. Jason paused to rest every few paces before they reached the elevator and punched in the code for the basement. Jason walked slowly to the car which was parked very close to the elevator door. Lauren drove out of the basement and onto the road before laughing uproariously.

“Dad that was very clever. You told the truth but no-one will recognize it. The guys from the ship had a great time. Before they whacked the gangs and others, they asked if I wanted anyone to know what we were going to do. They hacked into all our friendly intelligence people and told them to watch what was going to happen to the following groups which they then listed. They said it was easy. There are lots of groups with smoking equipment. But before they hit the equipment they took all the attached money from each and every group and each and every individual and all connected to them. They hit weapons and military equipment next, followed by servers then individual computers. They retrieved all available photographs and information of the individuals and those in the organizations to which they were attached and sent all the information to intelligence services worldwide as well as to law enforcement in their own countries and to their entire governments. It was then all put up on a virtual content server for widespread access to the media and to those who search for such information.

“The money is well hidden in a Swiss Bank account. It’s so well hidden that even the Swiss don’t know about it. we’ll use the money to help young people educate themselves and to research a variety of important areas in mathematics, physics, biology and medicine. We are looking at setting up our own research foundations to allow a gradual infusion of new learning and technology. We have some teaching machines at our office that are well disguised and we are upgrading our staff education to Empire standards. Dad this has been a wonderful experience and I doubt that it will end any time soon. They told us we’ll need crystals which we can get on another trip if there are qualified people to show us how to acquire them, to do even more advanced programming. None of them had crystals or were eligible to get one.

“None of the ship people are trained programmers. They said it was basic stuff most teenagers could do in the Empire without even university training. They said that the cyberwarfare people were really scary in operation but there were none that they knew of on the ship. They had not seen any of the usual ship marines and the previous marines on the ship had a big team of cyberwarfare people who were top brains in the IT area.

“We have several trillion dollars secreted away to spend on agreed areas, and we formed a group which involves them to make decisions how the money is to be used. We found we reached agreement very easily. I suspect our family values are very much the beliefs and philosophy of the Empire.

“Stan left me a message while we were at the bank. The ship is loaded and ready to go. Tonight, we’ll fly you to the ship in our big shuttle. Your dogs will be ready to go with you. I put them in kennels for a few weeks as there was too much going on to deal with them at the same time. They will be thrilled to see you I’m sure. Dan finished work early to fetch the dogs then the children from school. They will all be there waiting to leave. I have packed and sent all your worldly goods to the ship. In fact, I left all your clothes at the villa at the old age place and bought you a new set of clothing and shoes and anything else I could think of. Stan says none of it is needed as there is a thing called a dresser that creates whatever you want every day, but he said there was no problem, as space was not an issue.

“We are all going to miss you, Dad, but I understand we can communicate easily in real time most of the time. We have all the facilities of the phone and more. The network at home is connected to the ship as is our office. We have more computer power at home than the whole country combined, and the office computer is a lot more powerful. The Engineers said they were both low end computers that they were not using and wouldn’t need in the future.

“Chloe can now participate fully in sports.

“Her endocrinologist said he had never seen a spontaneous remission of type I diabetes in his whole career, and has written a paper on the miracle of her cure.

“It all began when he called me to say the pump had arrived for her and they could put it in within the week. I told him she was better and her tests had shown she seemed to not need insulin injections. He asked us to visit that afternoon after school. He looked at her book showing she had not needed any insulin for two days and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, when he saw how good her blood glucose levels were. She was forced to do some tests, but she got very testy and he dropped it if she agreed to a small number of follow up visits and a weekly blood test on her machine in the morning. Dad it was wonderful to see her smiling face as we left his office.

“Robert is making a special farewell meal for us all tonight. We’ll then fly back after dinner. I hope it will be a great adventure and a happy new life for you, dad. The Empire people have all been lovely people. I’m sure you will have good company and excellent food. Keep in touch and visit often. If they are good people get them to take over this planet before we destroy ourselves. I’m going to miss seeing you and mum nearly every day. The children will miss you terribly. So many of our clients will miss you as well. we’ll continue to speak Empire standard at home so it becomes part of us and it will remind us of you every time we speak it. I promised myself I’m not going to burst into tears, but I miss mum such a lot and I feel so sad about her premature leaving of us. It’s a tragedy Stan was a few weeks late.

“The past is lost to us. We can only live in the now, and look to the future I tell myself every day. The pain of losing both of you is terrible, but at least with you I know we have a future and we can communicate. It’s not the same as getting a hug, however... or, as Chuck says, ‘When Grandpa holds my hand I know I will be strong!’”

Lauren turned into the drive and opened the garage, waited for the door to open fully and drove in. She put her arms around Jason and sobbed for a long time. Jason held her while his own tears gently fell down his cheek.

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