Astra: Synchronicity (40 page)

She glanced over at Magnius, who lied on his
stomach and continued to lightly snore the way he had all night.
After she pulled the bedspread off of him, she started to rub his
back. Several dark freckles made an unusual pattern on his skin and
she tried to make sense of the inconsequential. The memory of her
tattoo haunted her mind. If she ever saw Xander again, perhaps she
could ask him about it.

His eyes blinked open and tilted his head
toward her. A smile of satisfaction spread across his face.
"Careful…I could get used to this."

"That's funny. Just the other night you were
complaining about me."

"Yeah, well, nobody's perfect. We'll manage."
He rolled onto his back and continued to stare at her. "I hope,
anyway. I'm not sure how you plan to rescue Xander, but I'd feel
better knowing beforehand if it works out or not. Do you ever
wonder what Nadine knows that she doesn't tell us?"

"I would rather not know the future. I'm sure
it's more of a burden for her than you realize." She ran her
fingers over his chest and decided if he put a little work into his
body, he could look phenomenal. "I mean, seeing things it's not
possible to change…I'm surprised it doesn't drive Seers
insane."

"Where's the harm in telling us if it doesn't
matter?"

Amii shook her head. Perhaps he'd never value
the virtues of ignorance.

"Before I forget, I have something for you."
He climbed out of bed and searched the pockets of the pants he'd
worn the night before that lay on the floor where they'd left them
in his haste to undress. After a few moments, he pulled out a
keychain and sat down next to her.

She gazed at the pair of silver dice embedded
with nine colorless crystals on each side. They hung next to the
key to his hoverbike, coded for the machine with encryption as
elaborate as DNA. He unhooked a silver ring from the loop.
Square-cut aquamarine was inlayed in a channel all the way around
the band. The deco design looked at least fifty years old. What was
once a smooth band had been worn with superficial scratches. She
had a feeling every flaw had a story to tell.

Before she could ask about it, he took her
left hand and slipped it on her finger, which fit the ring
perfectly. He stared at it with pensive reflection while he held
her hand in the morning sunlight. The gemstones' clarity enhanced
their vitreous luster, and the seamless setting looked fragile
though it had lasted this long without major defect.

"This was Greta's wedding band, and I figured
if we're going to pretend to be married, you should wear it. I
always keep it with me. That's your job now, Cinderella."

"How long were the two of you married?"

He took a deep breath. "Eleven years and
thirty-seven days." With that he closed his eyes, furrowed his
brow, and sat in silence.

Nothing she could say would make any
difference when compared to the mountain of despair he held in his
heart. So she took his face in her hands and smiled. "You do have
me."

After trying to hold back his smile and
failing, he lowered his head. "I want to think that's true."

"What's stopping you? We may never come back
from this. Forget about the past and don't worry about the future;
live for today and to hell with the consequences. Or if you want, I
can hit you over the head and give you amnesia too."

He grabbed her by the shoulders and tossed
her down on the bed while he pinned her with a kiss. The moment
came and went much faster than she wanted it too. "After another
night like last night, I just might let you. Mrs. Vaughn."

She brushed her hands over his bare buttocks
to entice him, but a sudden knock at the door foiled her advances.
Only one person came to visit them this early before the din of the
morning rush set in: Nadine Taylor. Magnius pulled on his pants and
cracked the door open, silently gesturing the second lady inside
the room. She looked proper in her long-sleeved gray dress that
flared out at her delicate ankles. Around her waist she wore a
bright green sash: a symbol for the AC to solve their problems with
peace instead of war.

While Amii dressed, Magnius moved into the
kitchen to make coffee, which he drank every morning without fail.
He put on the same disheveled clothes he'd had on the previous day,
yet for some reason they looked better on him now than they had
then. In minutes the rich aroma filled the air, full of a nutty
sweetness she'd grown accustomed to these past few weeks. Though
she preferred tea, coffee's full-bodied flavor and its crisp
acidity provided a refreshing change of pace.

"I have good news," she said after she
strolled into the kitchen and sat down at the table. "You're not
going to have to go all the way to Xur to get Dr. Adams back. Last
night, our sources within the PAU informed us there has been
contact between their government and the Xuranians and learned the
captives are on board their mothership. Further, the PAU has
requested a face-to-face meeting with their high commander on
Barnard Station."

Amii saw no reason to assume the news was
good. A change in venue did little to lessen the danger they'd be
heading into. Magnius handed her a mug of coffee, which she took a
long whiff of. "Do you have any idea when?"

Nadine shook her head. "No. Which means you
should head there immediately. Have you figured out how you plan to
get off New England?"

"Yes," she responded after a long drink.
"When's the next transport to Icelandia?"

"No, Amii, no," the second lady urged her.
"There are hundreds of ships that are easier targets. You do not
want to be on the run from the fleet, branded a traitor, and shot
out of the sky before you even reach orbit."

Amii pulled out a black suitcase from
underneath the bed and opened it to reveal several powerful
handheld disruptors. "Not going to Xur has changed the dynamics of
the situation. All we would've needed to get to Xur is a fast ship
like a pediflop, but you know as well as I do that the PAU isn't
likely to give us the benefit of the doubt and welcome a pair of
potential spies onto their station. We need to be able to defend
ourselves should the need arise."

"I can get you into Icelandia but after that,
you'll be completely on your own."

"We'll be fine. Xander and I planned
everything. There's nothing to worry about."

Nadine glanced toward Magnius. "And you're ok
with this now?"

"Yeah," he told her. "Whatever happens, we'll
be in it together."

She glanced back and forth between him and
Amii, most likely wondering why he'd changed his mind after working
so hard to sway Amii to stay. Nadine picked up the bottle on the
table and turned it in her hands before standing and walking toward
the bathroom. "Amii, come with me."

Amii chugged the remainder of her coffee
before she chuffed off after the second lady. Once they were
inside, Nadine closed the door and picked up a clean towel, which
she draped around Amii's neck. Her friend's eyes fell upon the
ring, and she held her breath while she stared at it. For a moment
she hesitated but said nothing. She briskly shook the bottle before
opening it and laying the stopper down next to the sink.

"What are you doing?" Amii asked as the
nauseating aroma filled the room.

"Having blond hair might get you into
trouble." She picked up a comb off the vanity and had Amii sit down
on the toilet. Nadine poured the viscous liquid onto Amii's head
and started to comb it through her hair. "We both know the
Xuranians wouldn't care either way, but the Asians? You'd be better
off dead than walking onto Barnard Station like this. You could
find yourself raped or kidnapped. Maybe both. Or worse."

Nadine worked the substance through Amii's
hair with the kind of ease that came from dying hair hundreds of
times before. Amii never thought the second lady's black hair might
not be natural. People enhanced their color with natural
botanicals, but society frowned upon the use of harsh chemical dyes
as though narcissism was one of the main causes of the Great
Holocaust.

"Did you read the book I gave you?"

"Yes. I keep hoping to find some deeper
meaning in it, but I'm not sure there's anything under the surface.
Why did you give it to me?"

Nadine smiled. "It's about a woman who loses
everything yet still finds the strength to go on. I hoped you would
relate to her struggles. You have the same sense of resolve and
gutsy fearlessness. But it's a popcorn thriller, not a masterwork
of fiction. First edition copy too. A pity it was destroyed on
Xur."

Amii pursed her lips. "It wasn't. I left it
on the
Schenectady
and retrieved it with the rest of my
belongings after we landed here. I can show it to you if you want;
it's in the other room."

The second lady scratched her brow and put
the comb back down next to the sink. Goosebumps spread over her
arms, though from chill or anxiety Amii couldn't tell. The silence
imparted her with a sense of dread about the future, but she
yielded to no one. If she couldn't save Xander, she'd die trying
even if the mission was doomed to failure.

"There's something I need to tell you,"
Nadine whispered. "And I don't want you to tell Magnius." She took
a deep breath before continuing. "You're going to meet a man named
Zingeri. Make him an ally at all costs. Otherwise everything that
you're trying to do here will be for nothing."

Amii stared up at her. "I thought I couldn't
change fate."

"I'm not telling you to change the path of
destiny—I'm telling you so you won't have to struggle with the
decision to betray Magnius."

The thought set Amii's heart racing. "Magnius
is a good person."

"I know. But doing this will make him a
better person…the kind of man he needs to become." She took Amii's
hand and led her over to the sink, where she washed the
putrid-smelling substance off her head. "The transport to Icelandia
leaves at 1500 sharp. I'll make sure your names are on the
passenger list. I'm sorry I can't do any more to help." Nadine used
the towel from around Amii's neck to dry her hair.

"There's something I want to give you." She
took a bracelet off her wrist and offered it to Amii. Intense gold
metal linked an inline array of cloudy red stones. The smooth
cabochons sparkled under the light in shades of blue and yellow
from impurities inside. "Blood opals. They're supposed to bring
good luck. I figured you could use some." She handed her a neon
blue satchel that bore a medical emblem on its side. "Take this
too. You might need it."

Amii found it surprising that someone who
could see the future would believe in luck. After squeezing her
hair in the towel one last time, she revealed her newly darkened
tress and stared at herself in the mirror. The face peering back at
her looked like a sinister alter ego who'd bring Astra to its knees
if afforded the opportunity.

Nadine put her hands on Amii's shoulders and
held her close. "Elise Vaughn, the future waits to be written. This
is your moment. Go out and save Xander."

The ride from Northampton to Icelandia took
almost four hours. The waning sunset had long since faded from
view, and the snow-capped peaks of a distant range had fallen into
the black background of space. Not a single fleck of light marred
the horizon since the glowing bastion of the City of Dreams
vanished into twilight. No human had yet tamed this unspoiled
frontier that giant white-furred favabeasts called home—the brutal
southern pole of New England.

Half a dozen others boarded the transport
along with Magnius and Amii for passage to the coldest inhabited
spot on the planet. The voyage over the snow-masked glaciers
would've been relaxing had it not been for their treachery that
lied ahead. In the past he'd gone out of his way to obey the law
because getting caught meant facing scrutiny about who he claimed
to be. He shuddered to think about how far he'd fallen from
grace.

Amii had a plan—at least that's what she'd
told him. He trusted she was familiar with the base. Whether or not
she could pilot them out of there smoothly, however, remained to be
seen. He hoped it could be done. If not, their next stop would be
Caldos Minor Penitentiary where they'd spend the rest of their
natural lives.

From afar, he couldn't recognize her anymore.
While the ashen brown color of her hair looked natural, it didn't
fit the image of her he'd grown to care so much about. She wore a
conservative gray suit to fit in with their false personas, that
they were scientists studying polycyclene composites for the hull.
She wore her catsuit underneath it, and he knew at the earliest
opportunity, she strip down to only that.

"You're staring," she said.

"My mom had blond hair," he told her, his
voice nothing more than a low whisper. "Well, she did—before the
Great Holocaust."

"Is that why you're so fond me?"

Magnius didn't have an answer. He hadn't been
able to stop thinking about her all day. They rode through
Northampton yesterday afternoon and ate lunch at D'Avona. Her
peculiar charm won him over, and through no fault of his own, she'd
stolen his heart. He'd never planned to fall in love with her, yet
here he stood jumping down the rabbit hole after her to save her
father and his estranged wife even though they might die in the
process.

She took his hand in hers, and they remained
that way for the rest of the trip. Their fingers interlocked in
quiet solidarity. The date and time radiated from her wrist in a
bright green font: May 3
^rd
, 19:31. She glanced to the
left and furrowed her brow in pensive thought. Past the three empty
seats beside her, the panoramic window displayed an unbroken
snowscape.