I Am A Child

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



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Liam Kincaid sat at the park bench, staring out at the small pond with the Japanese bridge. He liked the way the water reflected the sunlight, turning the algae-specked surface into a sheet of blinding, pure white.

This was his place, his quiet spot. He liked the Flat Planet, but the noise and intensity of the place made it hard to think. Or, he mused, not to think.

He heard some wild laughter from the other side of the bridge, inside a grove of trees. A few minutes later, a group of ten-year-old boys ran out with laser tag vests and guns, firing at each other and laughing hilariously. Liam smiled as their small feet pattered across the bridge.

"BANG!" one boy with cropped blond hair shouted, pointing his rifle at Liam's head. "You're dead!"

Liam grimaced, clutched dramatically at his chest. "Ow! Ohh... you got me..." And he dropped in a heap.

The boys giggled, and Liam opened one eye and grinned. "Having fun, huh?" he asked, getting to his feet and brushing himself off.

"Hey!" another boy said in an awed tone. "I know you. I saw you in the papers. You're Major Kincaid, Da'an's protector!"

"Yeah, I am," Liam admitted.

"My mom says you're hot," one younger child piped up.

"Wow! A real Companion bodyguard!" the blond boy said, astonished. "That must be cool!"

"It's... interesting," Liam admitted.

"Can you come play with us?" the younger boy asked. "You'd be really good!"

Liam shrugged. "No, I'm too old to play laser tag." Their faces fell.

Then he stopped short at what he had said. Too old? What was he talking about? He was a full-grown adult, but one loss that half-Kimera ancestry had taken was a lack of a childhood. The first few hazy hours of his life had been spent submitting to medical scans and watching his unconscious mother, and then he had grown dramatically, to an adult.

Who said he couldn't be a child?

"On second thought," Liam said with a wide grin, bending down to look the boys in the eye. "Who says you're ever too old to play? I'll take you up on your offer!"

"Great!" the blond boy exclaimed. He pulled out a vest and a gun, and Liam fitted the too-small vest over his shoulders and jiggled the plastic gun in one hand. Then he and the boys ran off into the woods...