A Taste Of The Unknown

by Seven


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



Author's Note: This is a sequel to "A Taste of Tomorrow" Though not necessarily the only sequel. ;-)



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One year after the Taelons' arrival.

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Sandoval sat on a park bench, watching traffic. His skrill hummed a little, uneasily, as a huge truck passed by, spewing exhaust toward the Companion agent. Sandoval wrinkled his nose and coughed. One of the ten million things humanity has done wrong, he thought. Allowed truck drivers with filthy exhaust to continue living.

For a brief moment, he stared at the simple golden ring on his little finger, gleaming in the sunlight. Dee Dee. He remembered how insanely happy she had been when he had slipped it on her finger at their wedding. He remembered how equally happy he had been. No regrets, he told himself.

"Hi."

Sandoval glanced to the side, where a small boy was sitting, opposite him on the park bench. The boy had wavy dark hair and intense green eyes. Despite the fact that he couldn't have been older than four, he radiated confidence and a strange wisdom.

"Do I know you?" Sandoval asked slowly.

The boy shrugged. "Maybe."

Sandoval felt a sudden irritation toward the boy. What was the child doing, playing with him? He got up and started to walk away. He quickened his pace when he heard smaller, faster footsteps on the sidewalk behind him.

"What's your name?" the boy asked, keeping pace with Sandoval.

"Companion Agent Sandoval," Sandoval said coolly, not looking at the boy. He felt a bit of surprise as he heard

himself ask, "What's yours?"

"Liam," the boy replied.

"Well, Liam, why are you following me?"

"Because I want to hear about you," Liam replied, jogging to keep up with Sandoval's longer strides. "Everything." Sandoval felt a stab in his chest as he heard Liam's words. The child, he thought, did not want to know everything about him. Sandoval himself did not want to know everything he had done and said, especially recently. He stopped and looked the boy in the eye for the first time.

"Now why do you want to know about me?" he asked.

Liam smiled a little. A wise smile, as if hiding a tremendous secret. "'Cause I'm your son."  And he winked out of existance.

Sandoval gaped, open-mouthed, at the space where the small boy had been only moments ago. What had just happened? Who was the child? And why had he said that....