Symbiosis

by R S Penney

  And that was just the first floors. At the back of the room, a set of stairs rose up to the second story. Anna had never seen so much knowledge gathered in one place. On her world, e-readers were used to conserve paper. You could access just about anything from the palm of your hand. True, paper books still existed, but most were kept safe and never touched. A collector's item.

  Anna grinned, tilting her head back. She felt her eyebrows climb up. “Well, this is certainly unexpected!” she exclaimed. “I wish I could spend days here just gobbling up every last scrap of knowledge.”

  She glanced over her shoulder.

  Grinning down at the floor, Jack squeezed his eyes shut. He shook his head in wry amusement. “You've never seen a library before?” he asked, keeping his voice low. “Not once in your life?”

  “Let's just say I have most of my books in soft copy.”

  “There's something sad about that.”

  Red-cheeked, Anna smiled down at herself. She brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “Guess I'm the most boring girl you've ever met,” she said, “talking about how much I want to gobble up knowledge.”

  “Boring is not a word I'd use to describe you.”

  He led her to a wooden table in the corner that was bathed in warm sunlight from a window on each wall. A few old books – some with tattered covers – were stacked upon the table's surface. The leftovers of students who had been doing research? Libraries still existed on her world, but they were used mainly as a place of study. Physical copies of books were still printed, but they were kept safe in vaults so that the knowledge could be preserved in the event of disaster.

  Anna dropped into a wooden chair. It felt a little strange to be learning how to read again, but if she survived the next few weeks, there was a good chance she would be living her life here. She would have to adapt. “Where do we begin?” she asked. “When I was a child, my favourite book was called The Moons of Myria.”

  Jack sat next to her.

  “I figured we'd start with something simple,” he explained. “You already know how to speak the language, so now all we have to do is teach you to associate text with sounds. So, Anna, let me introduce you to the English alphabet.”

  “In a…hole…in the…groan…ground! In a hole in the ground, there lived a…hoe-bit?” Remarkable. Simply remarkable. After only three hours, Anna had advanced from learning basic vowel sounds to reading books that most people didn't tackle until their early teens. Jack had never seen anything like it.

  She attacked each book with such gusto it made him want to cheer every time she mastered a new sentence. Apparently, this rapid progress would not have been possible without the assistance of her Nassai. Remarkable creatures, Jack thought to himself. It must be an incredible experience.

  “A hoe-bit?” Anna muttered. “What's a hoe-bit?”

  “Hobbit.”

  Planting her elbows on the table's surface, Anna buried her face in her hands. She let out a groan of frustration. “Why can't your language follow consistent rules? Small wonder you're all crazy.”

  Jack smiled into his lap. He shook his head, trying not to chuckle. “Well, believe it or not,” he began, “you're actually doing quite well. You've gotten further in three hours than most people do in three weeks.”

  When he looked over his shoulder, Anna was grinning at him, her cheeks flushed to a soft pink. “Well, it's embarrassing,” she whispered. “Always having to hide that I can't read this language.”

  “I can imagine.”

  Slouching down in her chair, Anna threw her head back. “Part of it is just survival; a woman who can't read would draw notice.” She folded her arms with a soft sigh. “But the fact that I even have to pretend is irksome.”

  That made all kinds of sense to him. Jack imagined he'd feel much the same way when he got around to visiting Leyria – a task that had climbed to the very top of his bucket list. If there were other worlds in the cosmos, then he wanted to see them, to learn about a way of life beyond the one he had known.

  For months now, a pervading sense of gloom had settled into his world and defined his every day. It had taken some soul searching, but Jack had concluded the source of that feeling was a belief that so much of what he did was pointless.

  He had chosen a job in a thrift shop to help the poor, but honestly now, what did that do to address the root cause of poverty? Instead of treating the symptoms, society should cure the disease. Every time he said as much, people told him he needed to accept the things he couldn't change. A rather ugly paradox. It turned out the only way to make an idealist accept the things he could not change was to break his spirit.

  Jack bit his lip and nodded once. “Let's try this one,” he said, sliding a book across the table. If he knew anything about Anna, then J.K. Rowling would be perfect. “I think you'll really like it.”

  She scooched closer, close enough that Jack had to ignore the warm fuzzy feelings in his heart. Taking the book, Anna began to read. “Murr and Mriss Dursley of Number Four Privet Drive…

  Jack grinned, slapping a hand over his face. He trembled as a wave of laughter went through him. “Those are abbreviations,” he explained. “Short for mister and missus. I know, I know…you want consistent rules.”

  She punched his arm.

  “So, you think violence is a form of affection!” Jack teased. “I didn't know Leyrians subscribed to the Ike Turner school of thought on marital bliss.”

  “I subscribe to the school of thought that says smart-ass young men get punched if they're rude,” she muttered. “Honestly…laughing at a woman's attempts to learn a very difficult language.”

  It was difficult not to feel a little tense. A part of him just wanted to wrap his arms around her and soothe away her pains with warmth and affection – the poor girl had been through so much: violence, danger and now she was cut off from her own people – but Anna was a guest in his home. That made her dependent on him. She didn't know the first thing about getting around this city.

  So long as she remained dependent on him, indulging those feelings of affection would be five kinds of sinful. Consent that came at a time of vulnerability was not really consent. He had to get some distance.

  Jack stood.

  He spun around and looked through the window. Through the glass, he saw a parking lot where cars filled almost every space, and beyond that a line of elm trees that marked the edge of the property. A beautiful summer's day. It occurred to him that he was using his time off – time that should have been spent resting – to strain himself further. To hell with it – he was never one to be idle.

  Crossing his arms with a heavy sigh, Jack frowned down at the windowsill. “If we could just narrow down the search,” he said with a shrug. “Come up with a theory as to where Denario took the Nassai.”

  “Believe me, I've tried.”

  Pinching his chin with thumb and forefinger, Jack squinted through the window. “I have an idea,” he said, nodding. “You said that you arrived here by passing through some kind of short-range transit device?”

  “A SlipGate, yes.”

  “Well, this may not have occurred to you – since those things are common on your world – but I've never heard the term SlipGate before I met you, and neither has anyone else in this city. That technology is unknown to my people.

  “So, it stands to reason that if Penworth Industries has a SlipGate in its basement, it might just be in the business of collecting other alien technologies. Say…a living creature that can warp time and space?”

  He spun around.

  Anna sat with her back to him, hunched over the table. “You're right; I didn't think of that.” She slid her chair backward, then got up. “But I should have. Tell me more about this Penworth Industries.”

  “On a hunch, I Googled,” Jack explained. “They refine jet fuel.”

  “Propulsion technology,” Anna whispered. “An organization like that will be very interested in the prospect of bending space…I think you had better sha
re everything you know about this Penworth Industries.”

  Anna stood on the sidewalk with hands clasped behind herself, her posture stiff. He could only see the back of her head, but even so, Jack knew she was troubled. “So, this is the place where I came through the SlipGate…”

  Across a busy street where cars zipped back and forth, a towering skyscraper rose up to touch the clear blue sky. Thirty stories of white concrete with windows that glinted in the sunlight. Though he couldn't see it from here, he knew one of the pillars along the columned front entrance had been damaged.

  Jack craned his neck to stare up at the building. He narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, that would be it,” he said, nodding to himself. “Penworth Industries Incorporated. One of the leading manufacturers of jet propulsion technology.”

  He stepped up beside her.

  Jack frowned then lowered his eyes to the pavement. He ignored the sudden chill that raced down his spine. “I used to work in a call centre,” he went on. “They had some pretty tight security. Given Penworth's reputation, the place is probably in lockdown. We may have to do some recon.”

  Anna stood beside him as still as a statue, the wind blowing tendrils of hair across her face. “Then I'll take a look around,” she said. “If I find the Nassai, I'll make a quick exit.”

  Jack clamped a hand on her shoulder.

  She spun around, glaring up at him with fire in her eyes. A spike of alarm pierced his chest when he saw her expression. It wouldn't do to forget that this woman could snap him in half in a heartbeat. “You're not going in there,” he said before she could get a word in. “It's too dangerous.”

  Anna clenched her teeth and hissed like a mother cat defending her young. “You must not have been paying attention,” she snapped. “It's my duty to go in there. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't.”

  Jack arched an eyebrow.

  “The fact that your face will be recognized by just about anyone on their security staff?” he suggested. “This is a recon mission, not a direct assault. If they're holding the Nassai here, chances are they'll keep it in a science lab. Now, you've got thirty stories of floor space and no time for a room-by-room search.

  “Most office buildings are organized so that individual departments occupy one or two floors. If I can locate Applied Sciences, that will narrow down the search. No one in that building knows me; no one has seen my face. I'm the best choice to get the lay of the land. After that, you can decide how you want to proceed.”

  Anna pursed her lips, then bowed her head to him. She heaved out a frustrated sigh. “You'd make a good Keeper, Jack,” she murmured with only a touch of resentment in her voice. “Alright, we'll try it your way. But I want you out at the first sign of trouble.”

  “Won't be any trouble, An.”

  He stepped back, allowing her to take a good look at his clothing. Anticipating this possibility, he had changed into a pair of dark slacks and a matching jacket, a gray shirt with the collar left open. “I look like one of them,” Jack explained. “Hundreds of people walk through that door, and I will be just one more. Just an ordinary man going about his business. So long as I don't try to poke my head into a restricted area, I'll be fine.”

  Anna nodded.

  She slammed into him with a fierce hug that nearly took the wind right out of him, her hands gently caressing his back. “Good luck,” she whispered with her cheek pressed to his chest. “I'll meet you at the coffee shop on the corner.”

  “Right.”

  At the crosswalk's prompting, he started across the street. Now that he was actually committed to the task, Jack felt his bravado begin to wane. He had assured Anna that this was just another office building – and in all likelihood, that was the case – but if he was correct and the Nassai really was in there, it meant these people were in cahoots with dangerous criminals who possessed advanced technology.

  Once again, he found himself marvelling at the situation. The knowledge that human beings were already roaming the stars and kidnapping members of other species left him with a kind of disembodied feeling, as if this were a movie he was watching and not a genuine conflict.

  He paused on the sidewalk.

  A set of concrete steps led up to the front entrance of the building. Stone pillars supported an overhang that provided employees on their smoke break with a little relief from the sun's scorching rays, the first one on his right sporting a hole that let him see all the way through.

  Jack started up the steps with his head down. You can do this, Hunter, he told himself. Just an ordinary man going about his business.

  He found a set of double doors that looked in on a lobby, but the adjacent window had been shattered, and now a sheet of plywood filled the opening. Anxiety began to well up in his belly. He stifled it.

  Jack stepped inside.

  The lobby was a huge room where gray floor tiles stretched from wall to wall. To his left and his right, hallways branched off, and a staircase along the back wall rose up to a balcony that overlooked the front entrance.

  There was no reception desk, just a computer kiosk in the corner. That should not have surprised Jack. Why pay someone to greet your visitors when you could use an interactive program to do it for free?

  A pair of men in suits emerged from a hallway on one side of the room and walked across the lobby at a brisk pace. Jack spared them a glance, noticing each man had a key card clipped to his belt. So, that was how they got through the security scanners. It would be difficult to pilfer one, but not impossible.

  Ideas flashed through his mind, but he stifled them. That kind of brainstorming was best when you weren't in the middle of another important task. Recon now, strategy later. When he got out of here, he and Anna could hash out the details.

  Jack went to the kiosk.

  When you got up close, it was little more than a computer monitor in a rectangular box with a keyboard attached. Next to that, he found a bowl-shaped pit in the floor, a pit made of some glossy substance that-

  Light shot upward, resolving into the transparent image of a woman in a black skirt and a blue short-sleeved blouse. Her face was a bit too angular to be called beautiful, but she was pretty nonetheless, long dark hair falling over her shoulders.

  The hologram smiled, then bowed her head to him. “Good afternoon,” she began. “My name is Aveena, and I will be happy to assist you today. Are you currently waiting for an appointment with one of our staff? If so, I will contact him or her.”

  Pressing his lips together, Jack looked up to stare at the hologram. He blinked. “No, that's alright, Aveena,” he replied. “I'd like some information on the company directory if it's not too much trouble.”

  “Certainly,” she replied. “You may make your inquiry verbally or type your search query into the adjacent terminal.”

  “Where can I find Applied Sciences?”

  The hologram flickered, rippling like one of those old TV channels that had been scrambled. A moment later, she solidified again. “The Applied Sciences Department is located on the seventeenth floor. Access is restricted to employees only.”

  She cocked her head to one side, grimacing as she stared at him. “If you are waiting for an appointment,” she added, “might I suggest you visit our cafeteria located down the hall to your right. Our kitchen staff will be happy to prepare a wide variety of dishes, and the coffee is free.”

  Clapping a hand over his mouth, Jack shut his eyes. He tried not to chuckle. “That's alright, Aveena.” Holograms…customer service was built right in. “I'll pass. Who is the department head for Applied Sciences?”

  The hologram wavered, slowly fading out of existence. Her voice still came out of the speaker, however. “Gerald Hamilton is the department head of the Applied Sciences Department.” A new image formed: a transparent man in a lab coat with thin glasses and a receding hairline.

  Next to him, text appeared out of thin air. His name, phone number and e-mail address. It was almost as if the system had generated a holographic business
card. Will wonders never cease?

  Jack retrieved a USB stick from his pocket and slipped it into a port on the nearby terminal. Now for the most important part of his performance. Anyone who was passing by might wonder why he was asking these questions, so he'd give them a reason. “Please upload my resume and cover letter and forward them to Mr. Hamilton's e-mail address.”

  “Certainly.”

  Aveena reappeared with a bright smile on her face. “Your credentials are excellent, Mr. Trevor Conrad.” He had invented a degree in applied physics from the University of Toronto along with a few entry-level science jobs, but there was no way a hologram could assess his qualifications. Still, it wouldn't surprise him if some moron on the seventeenth floor put stock in her – in its – opinion. “I'm sure you'll be an asset to the team.”

  Meeting her gaze, Jack flashed a wry smile. “You're a sweetheart, Aveena,” he said, batting his eyes. “I think so too. Thanks so much for all of your assistance today.”

  “Logging you out.”

  Chapter 10

  A stack of papers landed on his desk with a flap. Della stood in front of him with her arms folded. “Custody papers,” she said with a nod. “The girls live with me. You'll get visitation rights. That's my final offer.”

  Tilting his head back, Harry stared into her eyes. He squinted. “You just don't know when to quit,” he said, shaking his head. “Della, you've got a history of negligence and substance abuse. No judge in the world would give you custody.”

  The smile she offered was enough to freeze his blood cold. What was the woman planning now? “You expect me to give up?” she asked, raising a golden eyebrow. “Oh, Harry dear, if our marriage is any indication of what I should expect, you'll be begging to settle after two weeks.”

  Harry frowned, a flush burning through his face. He closed his eyes and bowed his head to her. “Now isn't the time, Della,” he rasped. “In case you haven't read the news, I have a major case on my hands.