Spies of Pangea Chapter 3: Mathoni Learns the Truth

I present to you the third chapter of the in progress novel Spies of Pangea. This is a rough draft, typos will hopefully be forgiven. Enjoy and please tell me what you think!

Mathoni Learns the Truth

“Mathoni, we’re not your parents.”

Mathoni stared at the woman he had called mom as long as he could remember. His eyes went back and forth between her and ‘dad.’ Mathoni leaned back into the light blue fabric of the couch and reached for a pillow. Thoughts were not forming for the eighteen year old young man with blue eyes and dark hair. He hadn’t ever noticed that both of his parent’s eyes were brown before. He shook that thought off. “Wait a second; I’ve seen my birth certificate. Both of your names on are on it.”

Mathoni’s father, Amos, looked at him sadly. “Forgery.”

Mathoni sank even further into the couch trying to process what he was being told.

His mom, Sarahi, took pity on him and began explaining. “Sixteen years ago your real parents were killed, executed by Javis for crimes that your uncle had committed.”

“Not really crimes at all.” Amos interjected.

Sarahi nodded and continued. “Your parents were Dianna and Michael Griffin. Your uncle Marcus Griffin harbored a political fugitive, and when High Lord Javis found out he executed your entire family. Before they came for your parents your mom was able to get you to us. You were just barely two years old. “

Mathoni stared blankly at his mom for a moment. “Griffin? As in Senator Griffin?”

Dad nodded. “He’s your cousin. Now that your eighteen we thought that you should know the truth. That and since Robert Griffin helped overthrow Javis and he is now the senator we thought he would be able to help you get a leg up in the world. We sent him a message yesterday about you. We’re hoping he can get you into one of those colleges you’ve been dreaming about.”

“Don’t you think he’ll think it’s a fake? That we’re just after some of his money?”

“We have the proof.” His mom looked at him carefully. “I hope that once you have money too that you won’t change.”

Mathoni frowned at his mom. “You raised me better than that Mom.”

Tears filled Sarahi’s eyes. “I hope that you will always call me mom. No matter where life takes you in the galaxy know that you will always have a home here.”

Mathoni hugged his parents. He did have big plans for the future and he was going to make a name for himself. These were always going to be his parents. But he couldn’t pass up the chance to get not just a leg up in the world, but a leap.

****

Senator Robert Griffin loosed his cravat and leaned back in his chair. It had been a long day of committee meetings. Robert took in the dark wood walls and plush carpet of his office. He liked that the room could feel so formal, and with the push of button it could all transform into a command center of the political realm of the Republic. “Byte, is there anything else on my schedule today?”

Byte, the computer AI that had once inhabited Robert’s starfighter, had proven to be an excellent aide and secretary. Byte was as adept at maneuvering the politics of the senate as he was at doing automated repairs and generating missile locks on a starfighter. Robert frequently had an ear piece in that connected him directly to Byte. The information that Byte had gotten out of the news waves and net had more than once been immeasurable to Robert on the senate floor as he debated.  “Sir, the only thing left on your schedule is a conference call with Mathoni Griffin.”

Robert had long given up on getting his AI to stop calling him sir. So many other people were doing it these days and in his days in the military that he had gotten used to it. “So what did you turn up on this kid Byte? Is his claim real?”

“Yes sir. I double checked a number of sources, including a hack into the DNA database on Pangea. He is your cousin.”

Robert stared at the polished wood surface of his desk and ran his hand through his sandy blonde hair. Relatives. Family. I have family. There were plenty of friends that were practically family, but Robert had assumed that all blood relatives were gone. Javis’s purge had been pretty wide spread. Anyone who even knew they were related to Marcus Griffin had been killed. And anyone who had even considered themselves a close friend of the family had been wiped out. But now his cousin Mathoni had survived. Miraculously spared in much the same way Robert had been. What am I going to do with a relative?

“Better connect us Byte, let’s find out what this kid has to say.”

“Yes sir.” A panel of wood on the wall behind Robert slid away and a series of numbers scrolled across it as Byte made the hyperspace connection to Pangea. Robert glanced at the digital clock on the wall that showed Pangea time compared to Galantos time. He did the couple hour conversion from the Pangea capital at Zora to Zephyr City where Mathoni lived. Robert was ready to go to bed, but Mathoni should just be getting up. Hopefully he wasn’t a lazy sleep till noon kind of teenage kid. Robert turned around in his chair to face the camera that would transmit his face to Mathoni and waited for the connection to be completed.

Mathoni’s handsome face appeared on the screen. Robert stared at him instantly seeing his aunt’s features in Mathoni and the deep blue eyes that seemed to be very common among the Griffin family. “Mathoni I presume?”

“Yes, Senator Griffin. Thank you for responding to my message.”

“Of course. Last time I saw you you were only two years old of course. But since you are my cousin I thought we should talk.”

“I’m still thrilled to talk to you. You were kind of a hero to me, even before I knew that you were my cousin. Robert Griffin and Liberation squad are pretty much legends around here.”

Robert smiled. Ever since the liberation of Pangea from the clutches of Javis he had been quite the celebrity back home. They had even erected a statue with he, and his fellow squad mates Rod Beruby and Lance Jenson on it. “I don’t have a lot of time to chat today. What can I do for you?”

“Well Robert, I can call you Robert right?” Robert smiled and nodded his head. “Don’t think that I’m contacting you because I need anything. I really didn’t know until the other day that you and I are related. But I was hoping to come to Galantos and attend school, I was even thinking of joining the military, or even the intelligence agency. I can do all those things on my own of course. But I was kind of hoping maybe I could stay with you.” Mathoni added the last part hurriedly.

Robert smiled to himself and then a half brewed idea that he had been kicking around for awhile began to solidify. “Intelligence you say? Hold on a minute.” Robert mashed a button on his desk and Mathoni’s face disappeared replaced with an on-hold sign. “Byte, see if you can get Lt. O’Bray on for me.”

“Yes sir.” Another line of text scrolled across the screen and then the screen divided showing Lt. O’Bray’s round face on the screen against a blank background.

“Senator, how can I help you?”

“I’ve been thinking for a long time that we don’t have good intel coming in from Fontana’s government. At least nothing very high up. I may have found an excellent candidate that we can get into the higher levels of her government. But I want to do it off of the books with as few people knowing as possible.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Just have to run it past Colonel Hawkins.”

“That’s just it. When I saw as few people as possible, I meant just you and me.”

O’Bray paused and considered. “I’ve bucked authority plenty before. And having this kind of a spy isn’t anything new. But we at least have to bring Colonel Hawkins into the loop.”

“Fine, but just Hawkins.”

Whettam shrugged, “We really should give him some training. I’ll set him under an alias so no one will really know who he is but the three of us.”

“Do it. I’ll get you the info. And remember, no trail that this kid is working for us.” Robert killed the connection and pulled Mathoni back up. “Sorry about that. But how would you like a job?”

****

Mathoni was shocked. He was going to be a spy. As of right now he couldn’t tell anyone the truth about what he was doing. That was going to be the hard part. Even his parents were going to have to buy the cover story he and Robert had come up with. No one could know the truth. Robert was even going to give him the money to get started. There could be zero trail of any kind to point to the fact that Mathoni was secretly working for Senator Griffin. A freelance agent Robert had called him. Everyone had plausible deniability if things went wrong. He was also going to have to keep the secret about his relation to Robert.  That of course would be a dead giveaway. Mathoni was going to keep the name he had always known. Mathoni Griffin would have to wait; Mathoni Gubler was going to be here to stay for awhile.

Mathoni went up to his room and took a look around. The environmentally friendly house didn’t have a lot of wall space that wasn’t windows, so Mathoni didn’t have much in the way of decorations. But he would miss the view. Three of his windows looked out into the pine forest surrounding Zephyr City. In the distance he could see the jagged peaks of the mountains to the east. Hopefully he would live through what he was about to do and be able to come home someday.

Packing the essentials into a duffel bag Mathoni took one last look around and went back down to the main living area where his parents had been waiting. Mathoni looked at his mom who looked back at him expectantly. “Hey Mom, no matter what you hear, I love you.”

“What are you talking about Mathoni? What did Senator Griffin tell you?”

“I can’t tell you mom. But,” Mathoni trailed off and fought back emotions welling up inside of him. He couldn’t keep it in, he had to tell them. “Mom, Senator Griffin has given me a job, it’s a very dangerous job, but it’s important and I want to do it. You must keep it a secret that I work for him though, and no matter what you hear, just know that I’m working under Senator Griffin. I love you, but I don’t know when I’ll see you again.”

Sarahi fought back tears as well. “You’re leaving now?”

“Yeah mom.” Mathoni went to her and wrapped his arms around his mom. You won’t hear anything from me for I don’t know how long, but I love you.”

“I love you too.” She was going to say more but the tears stopped her. Amos put his arms around her and pulled her in close.

“Be careful Mathoni. I think Senator Griffin is a good man, but don’t do anything that isn’t right.”

“I’ll be careful dad. I love you.

“Love you too son.”

And just like that Mathoni walked out to the door; hoping that someday he would see his parents again.

The spaceport at Zephyr City was not very big. Nothing compared to the one at the capital city Zora. Mathoni had been to both. He had once won a science fair project in school that got him a free trip to the massive space station the orbited Pangea. The trip was the first time he had been to space and he loved it. Seeing the planet from above was amazing. Mathoni was glad that he had that opportunity as a kid. He was going to be drawing a lot from that experience.

Mathoni purchased a ticket on the next shuttle to the space station and made his way to the boarding area. He looked out the glass window and admired the sleek long triangular shuttle that would lift him off to the stars and the biggest adventure of his life.