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** CHAPTER 48 ** Father and son reunited

The smoke, chaos, blood, confusion and ultimately the pain of loss; this was all that he knew for years. Of all this, what was real? What was a dream?

His eyes where finally opening. All he saw was white above him. His brain tried to organize his ideas and figure out why he was seeing this and why did it provoked such a sense of peace. The nightmare that he lived for countless years had taken a toll in his perception of reality. What was going on? Why was the pain absent? The fear suddenly was no longer part of his routine.

Strangely though, his subconscious missed it, not because he liked it, but because it was all he knew after that horrific day that Canis Major was destroyed by those monsters.

He's opening his eyes... He could hear. A voice echoed around him after all those years. He had forgotten that sweet sound.

Look at me, brother... He again heard. His eyes hurt and couldn't focus correctly, but he saw a figure in front of him.

Something made him reach for this unknown figure. Maybe it was its scent or the fact that it was speaking to him. So much time without physical contact; he craved it.

"Can you see me brother?" K9 spoke to the Rottweiler. He had finally gained consciousness and thankfully he responded better than the husky.

The German Shepherd was awake and being treated in the examination table. He was sitting and apparently his condition was ok. The Siberian Husky was calm now and fell asleep on his own after that hard awakening he had.

"He seems to be calm, just like the German Shepherd." Laser said. He walked occasionally to the glass that separated the small waiting room from the medical lab. The rest were there, following the progress of their rescued brothers.

"I know this is confusing," K9 spoke to the Rottweiler. "All you need to know is that you are safe now." He smiled at him. He understood that the Rottweiler wouldn't react like the Siberian Husky; by now, he already would.

"I..." To a surprise of everyone, the Rottweiler tried to speak. So far, the Siberian Husky and the German Shepherd didn't utter a single word.

"What... what is this?" He made an enormous effort to organize his words. It was obvious that it was his first time he spoke in a long time.

"Yes, brother?" K9 never stopped talking to him. He caressed the Rottweiler's face and was a gentle as he could. "You are home, buddy. You are safe now."

The Rottweiler then tried to sit up. K9 was a bit worried by this, but knew that he wouldn't flee as the Siberian Husky did. He gently helped him to sit up.

"I don't know what you've gone through, but all I have to say is that Canis Major is alive." K9 told him.

The Rottweiler looked all around him, trying to focus on what was going on. He rubbed his eyes constantly due to how painful it was just to keep them open.

"Here, let me" K9 gently grabbed his face and administered some medicated drops in the Rottweiler's dark hazel eyes. "This should help you refresh your eyes. They look red and might be a bit sore."

The Rottweiler didn't react negatively at any moment; as a matter of fact, he placed his hand-paws in K9's face as soon as his eyes recovered from the soreness. The blurry image that had been speaking to him soon became clear. A light golden Evocanis stared at him in such a tender way.

The Rottweiler started crying as he kept on staring at this golden furred Evo. He sniffed him and he kept on touching him. He was in complete disbelief. K9 just rubbed his belly gently.

"Please..." The Rottweiler tried to speak but the words didn't come out. His mind had finally managed to organize his memories, and he now realized what was happening.

"What is it, brother?" K9 asked. The Rottweiler couldn't stop touching K9's face as if not believing what he had in front of him.

"Please tell me this is real and not a dream!" The Rottweiler drowned in tears. He rocked back and forth, looking everywhere and holding K9 close to him.

"This is no dream, brother. You are ok." K9 reassured him. The Rottweiler now hugged K9 as he cried inconsolably. The nightmare was over for him.

Some time passed and the Rottweiler had recovered from the initial shock. He had been checked all around and other than his low weight for his size and some other minor details, he was just fine. The German Shepherd was also in good condition, but still didn't speak other than a few words. He looked very happy as well and was sitting in a bed while Husky, Fx and Lya played around with him gently. Both had been given a warm bath by their brothers and were all cozy in a living area of R105. The Siberian Husky was not in a very good shape so he was transferred to another medical lab for observation.

"Panzerfaust," The Rottweiler said. "That's my name. But you can call me Panzer."

K9 gave him a cup of warm milk while he sat in a bed all covered in sheets. His low weight plus his weakened body made him feel the cold of R105.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Panzer. My name is Kalem, but everyone calls me K9 these days." The mixed Golden Retriever said.

There was so much to say, but so little words that came out.

"This is so good." Panzer said as he took a sip of his warm milk. "I had forgotten about it to be honest."

"There's plenty more where this came from, my friend." K9 said.

"I have one question, Panzer." Laser the Chihuahua approached him. "You three seem to be surprised of seeing us. It almost feels like if you haven't seen another Evocanis in ages. Weren't you being held with the rest?" A valid question indeed; their behavior suggested that they haven't had contact with other Evos in a long period.

Taking another sip, Panzer sighed. He seemed confused and tried again to come out with a response to this while searching his memories.

"I just remember that day," He said referring to the last attack. "My son and I had survived the first attack after we lost our whole zone. It was so difficult for us to continue on after loosing everyone, but we finally managed to settle and go on just as everyone did."

"Then it happened again," Panzer continued. His eyes were starting to flood with tears of pure rage. "The second time was worst than the first. This time these monsters were back to destroy Canis Major and showed no mercy. My son and I did what we could to defend ourselves and our friends, but we were all soon overwhelmed."

"My son..." Panzer found it hard to continue. "Me and my son Schwartz; we couldn't keep together since there were many of our brothers that couldn't defend themselves and we needed to make sure to save as many as we could. We fought with what we found; metal beams and other debris falling from Canis Major."

"I suddenly realized that I had lost track of Schwartz." Panzer continued, as difficult as it was becoming. "I got frustrated and went on a rampage, fighting against those monsters while calling my son. I don't know when and how it happened but the machines finally overwhelmed me. I was not killed but immobilized. I lost consciousness after something hit me in my head."

The memories of what happened that day soon returned to the ones who went through the same. Lay, Laser, Hasky, Kalem; they knew what he was talking about.

"When I came back to my senses I just saw chaos. I was inside a strange cage and quickly had a glance of Canis Major's hangar in the other side. I did not notice anyone else, but could hear my brothers yelping of agony. There were explosions everywhere. Before I could do something, everything went black. I don't know if I was hit again, or just put inside a really dark place; I can't really remember."

"Some time passed, I don't know how much. Everything was in silence. Suddenly I felt like if these machines were all around me and suddenly immobilized me. I felt an enourmous pain in my arms as something restrained me tightly. I couldn't see anything because it was too dark." Panzer took another sip of his milk. His handpaws were shaking a little bit. K9 was surprised of how he could remember these things with such detail.

"Then the pain started." Panzer continued. "Something ripped my clothes off and then I felt like if I was being stabbed in the abdomen close to my belly button. I could only describe it as a huge needle that went deep inside. I felt a burning liquid being inoculated in my insides. I lost consciousness while yelling the name of my son."

"Soon after," Panzer went on "I only have vague memories of being sporadically conscious. I just know I had something in my head, like a helmet of some sort. I couldn't see anything other than a strong blue light that kept me awake for what I felt were hours or days, while I felt those monsters doing things to my body. The anxiousness of not knowing if they were going to cause me pain or not was overwhelming. Sometimes they did, some other times they didn't. When that blue light wasn't on I was showed a deep red light. Somehow that light made me fall asleep after a long time."

"To answer your question, my little brother," He referred to Laser. "I don't remember sensing, hearing or seeing any other Evocanis around me."

His confessions were startling. For all that time he felt alone not being able to see the world around him while he was constantly tortured by those monsters. It was no surprise of why he was so overwhelmed by happiness when he saw K9.

"By what you've told me, and because these other two brothers, I can assume that I wasn't the only one taken, right?" Panzer asked.

"I'm afraid that there were thousands of Evos taken, brother." K9 answered. "Your rescue was unplanned. We've been tracking the machines since that day in look for you. But now that we finally managed to find you, we've realized that it won't be easy to fight against those machines and rescue the rest without running a huge risk."

K9 explained the situation to Panzer. He also explained the presence of the Retcans and how they were their saviors that day. Also how they had grown an incredible relationship and not only how they were taught many things, but also all the technology that they were gifted by these gentle and wise furred aliens.

Panzer felt how different the Evocanis race was now, but he knew how blessed they were of running across the Retcans. This was all hard to grasp, but he knew he needed time to understand how things worked now.

"How much time had passed, Kalem?" Panzer asked.

"It's been thirteen Canis Major years, Panzer." He replied.

Panzer was shocked. He certainly knew he was held for very long, but never thought it was for more than a decade. With the few lucid moments he had in the machine's hive, he calculated at least a year and a half, or so.

"Where are you from, Panzer?" K9 then asked.

"Prior the second attack, when my son and I lived alone we did in sector D." The Rottweiler replied.

"Sectors are now divided in two. There are two Sector D. There is Sector D1, which I believe it was your old Sector, and Sector D2 which is part of Canis Major's extension and a new series of Sectors."

"It's unbelievable," Panzer replied. "Canis Major was big back then, but now it sounds like it's much bigger."

"And beautiful," Laser said. "It's close to ten thousand square kilometers, as a rough estimate. Of course, that's the surface area."

"It took us and the Retcans eleven years to complete everything with resources brought from Lusceonis, the Retcan home planet. Also, close to a half a million engineers and their equipment worked hard to reconstruct our home."

Some time passed again and Panzer got to sleep on his own as well. There were many things to do yet, but K9 had something to take care of first. Alone in a corridor of R105, he called a very good friend. It was Luke and he along his sister Rika were the few that knew about what happened not a few days ago.

"I need you to do me a favor, brother." K9 said silently. "Run a search in Canis Major's records. Look for two Rottweiler Evos, one going by the name Panzerfaust and the other Schwartz. They used to live in the old Sector D."

"Of course, Kalem; just give me a second." The chestnut Evo quickly went through Canis Major's records through his computer. It didn't take him too much time to find the results.

"Found it, Kalem. Yes, there is definitely two Rottweiler Evos in the records going by those names. Apparently they were survivors of the first attack." Luke replied. "What about the others? Do you have their names?"

"No. The German Shepherd has tried to speak, but he is having difficulties. Our theories are that he was taken while he was very young and wasn't able to develop his speech. We will give him some time, hoping that a least he knows his own name. The husky however, he doesn't respond to speech at all."

"Look at this, Kalem!" Luke suddenly said very excited. "I'll send it over so you can check it yourself."

K9 received some information through his ComPod and read it. He was absolutely shocked by the surprise.

"Panzerfaust: Age 22 during the time of the last attack. Disappeared and his death was unconfirmed. Schwartz: Age 12 during last attack... Is this serious?" He asked surprised when he read the rest.

"I can call him right away to confirm." Luke responded. "Either way, our friend Panzer is probably the luckiest Evo around right now. He deserves this after what he went through, and especially after the immense effort he made that day to protect everyone from the machines."

"Oh, friend... This is just beautiful!" K9 read the information over and over, not believing what he saw. "Don't worry; I'll call him myself. I need to verify by my own."

...Far away in Canis Major, the day was about to end. In Sector O2, everyone followed their normal routine.

An odd colored light brown Rottweiler helped his partner Zone Keeper doing a report that needed to be sent to the resource facility the next day as a regular monthly requirement. He had spent the whole afternoon behind the screen, double checking reports from past months to make sure that all the information was accurate.

The Rottweiler played with a ball, bouncing it in a wall close to him and catching it with his muzzle while the information was being sent. Suddenly, another Evo which was also in charge of the Zone walked in. He had been busy doing an inventory of the medical supplies of their Zone, since he was the medic.

"Thanks for helping me with the report, Schwartz!" A male Borzoi Evocanis had a couple of chocolate-mint milkshakes. He handed one to the Rottweiler. "I know I should've taken care of this myself. I owe you."

"Don't worry, Zastava. I know that you were busy helping with the situation of the gravity pipe down in Zone 36. Our neighbors need all the help they could get."

The sudden jump they did back when the supernova hit that solar system had given Canis Major quite a shaking. Close their zone, the piping system that runs hyper-dense matter to maintain natural gravity in Canis Major had suffered a minor flaw. It was nothing to be worried of; just a small area of about a square meter lost some gravitational pull, and needed to be replaced. This was common in all Canis Major every now and then, and there were plenty of replacements.

"Again, I owe you, my friend. You can have the day off tomorrow and I'll take care of everything here." The white silky Borzoi insisted. Schwartz just smiled at him and told him not to worry.

These two Evocanis had met that day that the machines were determined to destroy Canis Major. Zastava was one of the few Evocanis medics who were taking care of the wounded after the Retcans managed to save the colony. One of those victims that he took care of was Schwartz. For some reason, the Rottweiler saw refuge in Zastava after he knew he had lost his only family member. Since then they had become inseparable.

"Go to bed," Zastava said. "I'll complete the last details in the report."

"Don't worry, I'm done with everything. Plus, I'm not tired. I just need to walk around and stretch my legs a bit."

Before Schwartz could walk outside the small control room in their zone, a ComPod that was left on a desk started beeping.

"That's probably Resource Management." Schwartz said. He walked to the ComPod and as he checked the ID of the caller, he noticed it wasn't registered as a Canis Major frequency. "That's odd." He thought out loud.

As he accepted the call, he immediately saw a golden furred Evocanis in the other side.

"How can I help you, brother?" He said, just guessing who the golden Evo could be.

"Wow, I'm surprised that it is you who answered. Just to make sure, are you Schwartz?"

"Yes... It's me." The Rottweiler replied. He was a bit confused about the caller. Somehow he felt like he had seen him before.

"Brother, I need to talk to you." It was K9. "First of all, my name is Kalem, though everyone knows me as K9. I'm head Chief of the D.E Project and Captain of the prototype D.E cruiser."

"Are you serious?" Schwartz felt honored of speaking with such well known Evocanis. "Of course I know who you are! Tell me, what can I do for you my friend?"

"I can't explain it to you right now. I just need you to come over to Canis Major's hangar."

Schwartz was surprised by K9's words. Why did the Evocanis in charge of working together with the Retcans to create Canis Major's defenses and the D.E Project just suddenly calls a common and virtually unknown Rottie from O2?

K9 didn't say anything else but just begged him to hurry up. After Schwartz ended the call he felt lost. What had just happened? Zastava noticed this.

"What was that Schrwartzy boy?"

"You won't believe it, Zastava." The Rottweiler laughed astonished. "K9, our Evo brother that works directly with the Retcans just called me and told me to meet him at the hangar!"

"What? You got to be joking!" the Borzoi laughed. He threw himself in a chair, took a sip of his milkshake and turned to the computer.

"I'm not."

After a few seconds of silence, Zastava turned back at Schwartz and looked at him seriously.

"Oh brother, you are not joking, right?" Zastava said. "Then what are you waiting for? Go!"

Schwartz stood frozen for a while, but he then reacted. Took a long sip of his milkshake, got a brain freeze and ran out of his zone complex to the tram station.

It took him around five minutes to reach the tram station in a Bull Terrier, which is a small wheeled transport to move around the Sector. They can be found scattered around the Sectors and are driven only in the main corridors of the Sectors. Not everyone uses them since Evos like to walk, but in emergencies they serve well.

Schwartz didn't have to wait too long until the tram arrived. While he waited he contemplated the beautiful station surrounded with natural light and warm dark brownish red walls. Some green areas and plants gave the place a very soothing feel.

Finally in the tram, he punched in his destination, to ensure that the tram would stop by the hangar sector. During his trip, seeing the tunnel surrounded by small enclosed green areas made him smile of how beautiful Canis Major was, but he couldn't shake off the nervousness of why K9 would want him in the hangar.

Thankfully, since it was getting late, most Evos that liked to roam around Canis Mayor had returned to their Sectors, so there weren't many stops. It took him around fifteen minutes to reach the hangar sector.

Getting off the tram, Schwartz walked around looking at all ways. It had been some time during his last visit to this sector; as a matter of fact, it had been quite a while since he had left his own sector.

"K9, I'm here."

"Good, Schwartz. I just arrived with my team and we are waiting for you. Please meet me in the hangar. There is a large Retcan transport ship in dock B. You won't miss it since it's quite large."

"Ok. Give me a couple of minutes." Schwartz replied. He didn't know what to make out of this. His stomach was starting to squirm in anxiety.

The walk seemed endless, but finally, walking through the massive hangar he spotted a big black ship; that had to it. Before he could reach it, the golden Evocanis came out of the ship and intercepted him.

"Schwartz, I'm so glad to meet you." K9 greeted him friendly.

"Likewise, my brother." The Rottweiler replied. "It's an honor."

"Listen, before we continue, there is something I need to tell you. I didn't before because we need to be as discrete as possible so we don't disrupt the peace of our brothers and sisters."

"Ok, you are starting to scare me, K9." Schwartz said, chuckling nervously. No matter how he analyzed it, it didn't make any sense of why he was called by K9.

"No need to be scared." K9 reassured him while he pulled him close to the ship. "Listen, Schwartz; the Retcans and us have been always working hard to find a way to make Canis Major not only a safer place but also to solve the mystery involving around our brothers that were taken by the machines more than a decade ago."

Schwartz listened carefully, but still didn't understand why him.

"A couple of weeks ago, shortly after what happened with us in the planet, the Retcans got a lead on our brother's location." K9 explained. "You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone yet." K9 got close to Schwartz's ear. "We found them." He whispered.

"What? You found our brothers!" Schwartz couldn't hold his anxiety anymore and sad on a ship's hull that was docked bedsides them. "I understand why we have to maintain silence for now. We don't want to give our brothers false hopes."

"Exactly, my friend."

"But why me? Why did you call me and how did you find me?" Schwartz climbed down the hull and questioned K9.

"Let me ask you something, Schwartz." K9 now got more serious. "Your father; his name was Panzerfaust, right?"

"That's his name, yes! How did you...?" Schwartz's mind began to come up to conclusions that he refused to accept. He had long resigned himself and accepted that his father, his best friend, was lost.

"We did a reconnaissance mission to this place where our brothers are being held. We realized how impossible it is for us to rescue them now, so we decided just to study it and come up with a strategy to attack the machines and rescue our brothers and sisters without any loss. Come with me, Schwartz." K9 gently held the Rottweiler from his arm and walked him to the entrance of the ship.

Schwartz felt nauseous. He almost wanted to pull himself free and go back. It was so hard for him to overcome his loss and now those false hopes were starting to torment him again. He felt like crying; he was in denial.

"Calm down, Schrwartzy." K9 tried to ease the anxiety in his Evo brother. "Before we left that place, we encountered a situation. Three Evos were about to be dumped out in space, still alive. We don't know why they did it; probably they weren't strong enough anymore to withstand the experiments done in them." K9 now held the Rottweiler from his handpaws as he pulled him up the ship. He could feel his paw pads cold and moist, since it's the only part of their body besides the tip of their tongue that sweats. This told him how nervous he was.

As they walked inside the ship, Schwartz looked everywhere, not looking for something, but avoiding seeing what his mind had trained him to forget.

"We had to run the risk and rescue them. It wasn't easy, but we did it."

"No, wait..." Schwartz was now in the limit of breaking. He tried to let loose of K9 and run out the ship. "Don't do this to me." He cried confused.

The door closed behind him. They didn't want others to know what was going on at that moment.

"We have run through the records of Canis Major to find out who these three Evos are. We found one."

"Who did you find? Why do you need me for this?" Schwartz started crying the tears he thought he already shed.

"It's your father, Schwartz."

Before K9 could end the sentence, a dark Rottweiler walked slowly from behind a compartment. He walked dripping tears from his eyes until he reached his son.

"You are alive, son." He said. Taking hold of Schwartz's face, he caressed his head and sniffed him gently still not believing that he had survived alongside Canis Major. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay by your side that day. Panzer's heart pounded heavily as he embraced his little one; his blood and flesh.

Schwartz was petrified. He didn't react and just held tightly to that Evo he loved so much. He felt his soft fur and that soothing scent that he had long forgotten.

It was too much for now. He didn't want to understand what was going on, just keep on holding to that moment, hoping it would never end.

"I'm here to stay, son. I give you my promise that we won't separate again."

Both sat on the floor without letting go of each other. The rest just watched completely moved by the reunion. The warmth of that embrace could be felt throughout the whole ship. They just hope this wouldn't be the only reunion, and for that to happen, they had to work hard to bring their brothers back safely.