The Returned, Part II Read online

  Han had used his power as the prime minister to shut down the temple once he had taken up residence there. He did not want or need someone else showing up and questioning him or challenging his faith. He needed to be able to focus on what he was doing.

  Even if it came to nothing.

  That can’t be the case. I can’t be wasting my time here. I must remain steadfast in my dedication. If I do, the Awesome will come to me. He will come.

  But . . .

  What if He doesn’t?

  Han was not prepared to cope with the possibility that he could be wasting his time.

  The problem was that he was slowly wasting away. His hunger strike was weakening him to the point where he was having trouble moving at all. He was only drinking water so he could remain hydrated, but he felt as if the starvation was beginning to rob his brain of the ability to think coherent thoughts.

  He realized that he was on the floor. That struck him as extremely strange, because he didn’t remember sitting down.

  “Awesome,” he whispered. “Awesome, please . . . please come to me. I have been asking you to come to me for so long that I have lost track of how long I’ve been here. I know that you put the Cwan family in charge. I know that. But the baby that is now here . . . he is not truly Thallonian. The Cwan family has been corrupted by the intervention of humanity. This child cannot grow up to rule us. He must be destroyed. He and his mother. And that . . . that demigod who has come with them. You and you alone can defeat them. You and you alone can restore the heritage of New Thallon to the grand traditions of our people. You alone can—”

  “Oh, for crying out loud, will you just stop?”

  The voice startled Han so thoroughly that his words choked in his throat. His head snapped around as he tried to see from where the voice had come.

  There was someone standing on the alter that was dedicated to the Awesome.

  Han was utterly confused.

  It was not a Thallonian. It was a human being. Or at least it appeared to be a human being. He had a head of black hair and a look of total impatience on his face.

  “Seriously. Please. Just stop. You’re becoming so incredibly tiresome,” said the human. “On and on with your begging and pleading. Don’t you have any shred of pride?”

  “Who are you?” Han managed to say. He leaned on a pew and pulled himself to standing, still not understanding what was happening.

  “You ask me that?” said the human. “After all these days of begging for me to show up, you have to ask?”

  “You’re . . .” He gulped deeply. “You are the Awesome?”

  The human sighed. “That’s what your predecessors tended to call me, yes. Personally, I always thought that to be a rather pretentious name, but it seemed to bring you satisfaction. So I let it go. At least until now.”

  “But . . . you are not Thallonian.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m your god. Why would you think that I’m Thallonian?”

  “You don’t even look Thallonian.”

  “I look however I choose to look. This is the body that I’ve been using for a while, and I’ve grown accustomed to it. I don’t feel the need to change it just to satisfy you.”

  Han’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “How do I know that you are telling the truth? This . . . this could all be some sort of fabrication.”

  “Really?” The Awesome cocked an eyebrow. “I appeared out of nowhere and that wasn’t sufficient? I have to prove myself to you?”

  “That . . . that isn’t really necessary . . .”

  The human stepped forward and put a hand on Han’s shoulder. “This is a popular one. I did it once before.”

  And suddenly Han was in deep space.

  He let out an alarmed shriek and thrashed around, not understanding what had just happened. The world of New Thallon was far below him, turning peacefully in its orbit.

  Han was still alive. He had no idea how that could possibly be the case, but he was.

  “Help!” he screamed into the nothingness. “Help me!”

  “How should I help you?” It was the human, who was clearly far, far more than a simple human. “Would you suggest that I create an air bubble around you so that you can survive in the depths of space? Oh, wait . . . I’ve already done that. Is there any further proof that you require?”

  “No, no! I believe you! Bring me down! Please!”

  “Are you sure? I could do more if there is some degree of doubt. I could transport you into the sun. I imagine that spending a year in the sun’s core would relieve you of any doubt you might have.”

  “I have no doubt! You are the Awesome! You are a god! You are our god! I believe you! I worship you!”

  “Very well,” said the human, and just that quickly, Han found himself back in the temple.

  He collapsed to the floor, resisting the impulse to kiss it in relief. The human, who had now proven beyond any question that He was the Awesome, was standing nearby with His arms folded across his chest.

  “So tell me,” said the Awesome. “Now that I’ve actually come here, what do you want me to do?”

  Han didn’t quite understand why the Awesome was asking. “Don’t you know? I’ve been saying all this time.”

  “I know, but I want you to say it here and now, to my face.”

  “All right. All right.” Han steadied himself and focused on what the Awesome wanted from him. “The son of Si Cwan has returned to New Thallon.”

  “Yes. You brought him here. In fact, you forced him to come here. For the purpose of having him live here and eventually take over as your ruler.”

  “That was the stated purpose.”

  “And now you want him gone. Imagine my surprise at the sudden change in your opinion.”

  “I haven’t changed my opinion,” said Shintar Han. “My determination was always to have him die. As long as he lives, there are those who continue to hope and pray that he will take over the leadership of this world. That does me no good. People will never accept my leadership of New Thallon if they believe that Si Cwan’s son will eventually take over.”

  “So you want to put an end to that belief.”

  “I do,” said Han. “I want him to die, and I want everyone to know that he is dead. Once that happens, they will have no choice but to turn their loyalties to me.”

  “That is a very exciting plan, my dear prime minister,” said the Awesome. “And yet I notice that you have failed to do so.”

  “He has a guardian. A demigod of some sort who goes by the name of Mark McHenry. He has thwarted my earlier attempts to slay the boy. I need McHenry disposed of. Him, the boy, and the boy’s mother.”

  “And you want me to do this?”

  “Yes,” Han said, his head bobbing up and down. “I absolutely do.”

  “Very well. I’ll do it. It sounds like fun.”

  “Thank you, Awesome.”

  The Awesome sighed. “Again, please don’t call me that.”

  “What should I call you?”

  “Q.”

  About the Author

  PETER DAVID is a prolific author whose career, and continued popularity, spans more than two decades. He has worked in every conceivable medium—television, film, books (fiction, nonfiction, and audio), short stories, and comic books—and acquired followings in all of them.

  In the literary field, Peter has had more than a hundred novels published, with numerous appearances on the New York Times bestseller list. His novels include Fearless (with his daughter Caroline), Tigerheart, The Hidden Earth Chronicles, the Sir Apropos of Nothing trilogy, the Knight Life trilogy, Howling Mad, and the Psi-Man adventure series. He is the co-creator and author of the bestselling Star Trek: New Frontier series for Pocket Books, and has also written such Trek novels as Q-Squared, The Siege, Q-in-Law, Vendetta, I, Q (with John deLancie), A Rock and a Hard Place, and Imzadi. He produced the three Babylon 5 Centauri Prime novels and has also had his short fiction published in such collections as Shock Rock, Shock Rock II, and Otherwer
e, as well as Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine and the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He is also the author of the recent Halo novel Hunters in the Dark, and is one of the participants in Crazy 8 Press (www.crazy8press.com), a self-publishing venture producing ebooks and trade paperbacks available through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

  Peter’s comic book résumé includes an award-winning twelve-year run on The Incredible Hulk, and he has also worked on such varied and popular titles as Supergirl, Young Justice, Soulsearchers and Company, Aquaman, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, X-Factor, Star Trek, Wolverine, The Phantom, Sachs & Violens, The Dark Tower, Halo: Helljumper, and many others. He has written comic book–related novels, such as The Incredible Hulk: What Savage Beast, and co-edited The Ultimate Hulk short story collection. Furthermore, his opinion column, “But I Digress . . . ,” ran in the industry trade newspaper the Comics Buyer’s Guide for nearly a decade, and in that time was consistently the paper’s most popular feature and was also collected into a trade paperback.

  Peter is the writer for two popular video games, Shadow Complex and Spider-Man: Edge of Time. He has also authored the graphic novel edition of Disney’s Epic Mickey and a series of tie-in digital comics titled Tales of Wasteland.

  Peter is the co-creator, with popular science-fiction icon Bill Mumy (of Lost in Space and Babylon 5 fame), of the CableACE Award–nominated science-fiction series Space Cases, which ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon. He has written several scripts for the Hugo Award–winning TV series Babylon 5 and the sequel series Crusade. He has also written several films for Full Moon Entertainment and co-produced two of them, including two installments in the popular Trancers series, as well as the science-fiction western spoof Oblivion, which won the Gold Award at the 1994 Houston International Film Festival for best Theatrical Feature Film, Fantasy/Horror category. He is currently working with his wife on a new series titled Headcases.

  Peter’s awards and citations include: the Grandmaster Award from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, 2011; the GLAAD Award, 2011; the Julie Award, 2009; the Haxtur Award (Spain), Best Comic script, 1996; the OZCon award (Australia), Favorite International Writer, 1995; the Comics Buyer’s Guide Fan Awards, Favorite Writer, 1995; the Wizard Fan Award, 1993; the Golden Duck Award for Young Adult Series (Starfleet Academy), 1994; the UK Comic Art Award, 1993; and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, 1993. He lives in New York with his wife, Kathleen, and his four children, Shana, Gwen, Ariel, and Caroline.

  FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/Peter-David

  MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

  SimonandSchuster.com