Close Remembrance (6 page)

Not that she minded, of course. Being with Korum, loving him, was so much more than she could’ve ever hoped for. And if somewhere deep inside, a small part of her felt hollow at the loss of her nonexistent son or daughter . . . Well, she could live with that. Perhaps, one day, she could even convince Korum to adopt.

So Mia pasted a smile on her face and turned her attention back to Delia, asking her about her experiences on Krina and what it was like to live for so long.

Over the next hour, Mia got to know both Delia and Sandra, learning about their stories and what the life of a charl was truly like. Unlike Delia, Sandra had only been in Lenkarda for three years. Originally from Italy, she’d met her cheren by accident on the Amalfi coast. For the most part, both Delia and Sandra seemed quite happy with their lives, although Mia got the sense that Arus treated Delia as a real partner, while Sandra’s cheren spoiled her rotten, but didn’t take her too seriously.

After most of the food at the table was gone, Maria challenged all the girls to a drinking game that seemed similar to truth-or-dare. For the ‘dare’ portion, they had to drink a full shot of tequila.

“Don’t worry,” Sandra whispered to Mia, “you won’t have a chance to get too drunk – not even if you drink five shots an hour. Our bodies metabolize alcohol really quickly now.”

Mia grinned, remembering the last time she’d gotten wasted. It would’ve been nice to have all those nanocytes back at that club; it would’ve saved her quite a bit of embarrassment.

They played for an hour and Mia drank at least six shots, choosing the ‘dare’ option over answering some very probing questions about her sex life. Other girls had no such compunction, however, and Mia learned all about Moira’s preference for black leather pants, Jenny’s passion for foot massages, and the fact that Sandra had once had sex in a lifeboat.

Finally, the party came to an end. Feeling mildly buzzed, Mia headed home, eagerly anticipating seeing Korum and finishing what they had started earlier today.

* * *

Saret walked through the slums of Mexico City, dispassionately observing the dregs of humanity all around him. He had already planted the devices in the center of the city, so this excursion served no particular purpose except to satisfy his curiosity – and to reinforce in his mind the rightness of what he was doing.

On the corner, a pair of thugs were threatening a prostitute with a knife. She was reluctantly pulling money out of her bra and simultaneously swearing at them in very colorful Spanish. Saret walked in their direction, purposefully making noise, and the thugs scattered at his approach, leaving the whore alone. She took one look at Saret and ran away too, apparently realizing what he was.

Saret grinned to himself.
Fucking cowards
.

It was already after midnight, and the area was crawling with every kind of lowlife. Drug-related violence in Mexico hadn’t gotten any better in recent years, and the country’s government actually went so far as to appeal to the Krinar for help with this issue. After some debate, the Council decided against it, not wanting to get involved in human affairs. Saret had privately disagreed with that decision, but he voted the same way as Korum: against the involvement. It was never a good idea to openly oppose his so-called friend. Besides, it made no sense to help humans on such a limited scale. What Saret was doing would be far more effective.

He was heading back to where he left the transport pod when a dozen gang members made the fatal error of crossing his path. Armed with machine guns and high on coke, they apparently felt invincible enough to attack a K – a mistake for which they paid immediately.

The first few bullets managed to hit Saret, but none of the other ones did. Consumed by rage, he was hardly cognizant of his actions, operating solely on instinct – and his instinct was to rip apart and destroy anything that threatened him. By the time Saret regained control of himself, there were body parts all over the alley and the entire street stank of blood and death.

Disgusted with himself – and with the idiots who provoked him – Saret made his way back to the ship.

He was more convinced than ever that his path was a righteous one.

Chapter 4

The next day, Mia finished running the simulation for the third time and sent the digital results to Saret, hoping that he would get a chance to look at them soon. Without his feedback – or Adam’s input – there was really nothing else she could do to move the project forward at this time.

It was only eleven a.m. on Wednesday, and she was already done with what she had set out to do in the lab for the day. Of course, she could always do some mind-related reading or watch some recordings, but that was something she tended to do in her spare time outside of the lab. Lab hours were for doing actual work, and Mia hoped she could find something to occupy herself with until she got the necessary feedback on her current project.

As usual, Saret was gone somewhere, and the other apprentices were in Thailand again. They’d left her alone in the lab – which Mia thought was probably a sign of trust. She doubted Saret would leave just anyone around all the complex lab equipment.

Getting up, she walked over to the common data storage facility – a Krinar device that was light years ahead of any human computer. Mia was just beginning to learn all of its capabilities, so she decided to use the downtime to explore it a little and brush up on some of the other apprentices’ projects. The data unit responded to voice commands, which made it easy for Mia to operate it.

The next six hours seemed to fly by. Absorbed in her task, Mia hardly felt the passage of time as she read about the regenerative properties of Krinar brain tissue and the complexity of infant mind development. She took a short break for lunch – requesting a sandwich from the intelligent lab building – and then continued, fascinated by what she was learning. It seemed like the project that took the other apprentices away from the lab was even more interesting than what Mia and Adam were working on. Feeling slightly jealous, Mia decided to ask Saret if she could somehow get involved.

Finally, it was five o’clock. Although Mia typically stayed later in the lab, she decided to make an exception today, since nothing much was going on. Leaving the lab, she headed home.

Arriving at the house, she wasn’t surprised to find that Korum wasn’t there yet. His schedule was far more grueling than hers, although it helped that he didn’t need to sleep more than a couple of hours a night. He actually got a lot of work done at night or early in the morning when Mia was sound asleep.

Making herself comfortable on the long floating plank in the living room, Mia decided to use the time to call Jessie. They hadn’t spoken since before Mia’s trip to Florida, and she really missed hearing her friend’s bubbly voice.

“Call Jessie,” Mia told her wristwatch-bracelet device, and heard the familiar dial tones as the call connected.

“Mia?” Jessie’s voice sounded cautious.

“Yep, it’s me,” Mia said, grinning. She knew that the call would show up on Jessie’s phone as coming from an unknown number. “How’s it going? I haven’t talked to you in over a week!”

“Oh, I’m good,” Jessie said, sounding a little distracted. “How’s your family? Did they already meet Korum?”

“They sure did,” Mia said. “Believe it or not, they loved him. But hey, listen, are you busy right now? I can call back another time –”

“What? Oh, no, hold on, let me just go into another room . . .” A short silence, then, “Okay, I’m good now. Sorry about that. I was just hanging out with Edgar and Peter. Do you remember Peter?”

“Of course,” Mia said. Peter was the guy she’d met at the club – the one Korum had almost killed for dancing with her. Mia still shuddered when she remembered that terrifying night, when she’d thought Korum had found out about her deception and was going to kill her. In hindsight, she’d been an idiot; she should’ve known even then that he would never harm her. But at the time, Korum had still been a stranger to her, a member of the mysterious and dangerous Krinar race that had invaded Earth five years ago.

“He still asks about you,” Jessie said – a bit wistfully, Mia thought. “Edgar tells me he’s really worried –”

“That’s nice of him, but there’s really no reason to worry,” Mia interrupted, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking. “Seriously, I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life . . .”

Jessie fell silent for a second, and then Mia heard her sigh. “So that’s it, huh?” she said softly. “You’re in love with the K?”

“I am,” Mia said, a big smile breaking out on her face. “And he loves me too. Oh, Jessie, you don’t even know how happy he makes me. I could’ve never imagined it could be like this. It’s like a dream come true –”

“Mia . . .” She could hear Jessie sighing again. “I’m happy for you, I really am . . . But, tell me, do you think you’ll come back to New York?”

Mia hesitated for a moment. “I think so . . .” She was far less certain now than before. With each day that passed, college and all that it implied seemed less and less important. What use was a degree from a human university if she were to continue living and working in Lenkarda? She learned more in a day at the lab than she could in a month at NYU. Did it really make sense to spend another nine months writing papers and taking tests just for the sake of saying she got her diploma? And, more importantly, would Saret let her return to the lab after such a long absence? Given the rapid pace of research there, coming back after nine months would be almost like starting over.

“You don’t sound sure,” Jessie said, and there was a sad note in her voice.

“Yeah, I guess I’m not sure,” Mia admitted. “Korum is fine with it, but I just don’t know if I’ll be able to return to my internship if I leave for so long . . .”

“So you like it there? At the K Center, I mean?”

“I do,” Mia said. “Jessie, it’s so nice here . . . I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome some of their inventions are. Korum has a zero-gravity chamber in his house. Can you imagine that? And he’s got a floor that massages your feet as you walk on it.” Not to mention the fact that Mia was now pretty much immortal – but that was something she was not allowed to talk about outside of Lenkarda.

“Really? A floor that massages your feet?” Jessie sounded jealous now.

“Yep, and a bed that does the same thing to your whole body. All their technology is amazing, Jessie. Believe me when I tell you this: it’s not a hardship to be here at all.”

“Yeah, sounds like it,” Jessie said, and Mia heard the resignation in her voice. “I guess I just miss you, that’s all.”

“I miss you too,” Mia said. “Maybe I’ll swing by for a visit in a couple of weeks. Let me talk to Korum about that, and we’ll figure something out.”

“Oh, that would be so nice!” Jessie sounded much more excited now.

“We’ll make it happen,” Mia promised, smiling. “I’ll let you know when we’re coming over. But, anyways, enough about that . . . Tell me about you and Edgar. How are things going on that front?”

And for the next ten minutes, Mia learned all about Jessie’s new boyfriend, his latest acting gig, and the stuffed panda he’d won for Jessie at an amusement park. It seemed like the two of them were becoming increasingly close, and Mia was glad he made Jessie so happy. If anyone deserved to have a cute, caring guy, it was her former roommate.

Finally, Jessie had to go to dinner, so Mia said goodbye and went to change before Korum got home. He’d mentioned taking a post-dinner walk on the beach, and Mia wanted to make sure she had her swimsuit ready.

* * *

“So when do you think the Council will finally decide about the Keiths?” Mia asked, taking a bite of sweet pepper stuffed with mushroom-flavored rice. “Are they still doing the investigation?”

Korum nodded, picking up a piece of mushroom with the tong-like utensil the Krinar used in place of forks. “Loris is being difficult, as you’d expect. He’s got a couple of Councilors on his side, and he’s claiming there’s no way Saur could’ve erased the Keiths’ memories. Supposedly, someone from the Fiji lab told him that apprentices don’t have access to that kind of equipment.”

“Really? So, what, he’s still saying that you and Saret are responsible for this?”

“I think he gave up on the idea of framing Saret,” Korum said, a mocking smile appearing on his lips. “He’s now seeking evidence to come after me.”

Mia stared at him, concerned about this development. The black-garbed Krinar she’d seen at the trial didn’t seem like someone who could be trifled with – and he truly hated Korum. “Do you think there’s any chance he could cause trouble for you?”

“No, don’t worry, my sweet,” Korum said reassuringly, though his eyes glittered with something that looked like anticipation. “He’s just trying to delay the inevitable. He failed as the Protector, and he knows it. Once his son and the rest of those traitors are sentenced, he’ll lose all of his standing – and his position on the Council along with it.”

“And you don’t mind that in the least, right?” Mia asked, regarding him with a wry smile. For better or for worse, her lover tended to be quite ruthless with his opponents – a personality trait that made her glad she was now on his good side.