A Chronetic Perspective (The Chronography Records Book 2)

by Kim K. O'Hara

  “He’s the gofer. Takes the clothes and towels to the right rooms.”

  Just then, Jored ran by with a stack of towels. “Hi, Dani!” he called out, just before he vanished into the kitchen. She heard a cabinet door whir open and click closed. He ran back through. “Bye, Dani!”

  Kat’s mouth twitched up and her eyes twinkled. “We’re having a race, in case you wondered.” She passed the WindoWand over the surface of the biggest window, catching all the smudges and dirt, leaving a gleaming surface behind.

  Dani set to work on the tables. “Who’s winning?”

  “They’re ahead, but now that I’ve got you, things will even out. Besides, either way, the house wins.”

  Practical. Of course. Dani made mental notes. Someday, she might have kids of her own, and she’d love to raise them like this.

  “What have you been up to? Still not dating that boss of yours?” Kat nudged her on the way past and gave her a broad wink.

  “We’re pretty good friends. But he’s still my boss. I think it would be awkward to…you know.”

  Kat snorted. “More awkward than it is now? You should really stop fending him off.”

  “I don’t fend him off! At least…I don’t mean to.”

  “Are you kidding? Unless things have changed over the last three weeks.” She whirled away from the window. “Have they?”

  “Uh, no. Not really. We went on a little trip to the mountains yesterday.”

  “Instead of work? That sounds promising.”

  Dani was tempted to leave it at that, but she was too honest to mislead her friend. She shook her head. “We were out finding evidence for a kidnapping case. Marak got to listen in on our debrief with Detective Rayes.”

  Kat’s face darkened, as if a cloud had passed over it. Too late, Dani remembered: Detective Rayes was the one who had arrested her uncle. “How nice for you. I’m glad I wasn’t there.”

  “Kat, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s fine. You don’t have to filter things for me. I just don’t really like the man.”

  “I know.”

  They worked in silence for a while, with Kat furiously wanding and wiping, moving from one window to another, and Dani sneaking glances at her, worried. She finished the last table and put her duster down. She knew her friend wasn’t really mad at the detective. She was too smart to blame him for choices her uncle had made. But Dani had clearly hit a nerve when she mentioned his name. Kat had never been this sensitive in the weeks following the arrest.

  “I’m done with the tables. What else is on your list?”

  “Kitchen. I’ve got the robomop working on the floor, but it always misses the corners. Can you get those?” Kat used her sleeve to wipe her forehead. She dabbed at her eyes. A little sniffle escaped.

  Impulsively, Dani walked toward her with her arms out wide.

  Kat submitted to the hug, but only for a moment, and then she shook her head. “I’m fine. I don’t know why I’m so edgy lately.” She diverted her eyes downward, dodging Dani’s gaze.

  Dani scrunched down, putting herself right in Kat’s line of sight. She caught her eyes and held them, straightening back up. “I think you do. The question is, can you talk about it? Whatever it is, you don’t want to keep it all stuffed up inside.”

  “I’ve been visiting my uncle.”

  “Yeah, Marak mentioned that.”

  “He wouldn’t see me for a long time. Months. I was actually fine with that. I missed him some, but before he got—” She swallowed, and then she managed to go on. “—arrested, he was always going on trips out of town or busy with civic meetings anyway. We only saw each other a few times a year. He’d take us out on his boat or to an amusement park. Made a big day out of it. But it really wasn’t very often.”

  “You talked, though.”

  “Yeah, we talked a lot. He was always teasing me about the latest protest, and I depended on him for—” She shuddered.

  “For what?”

  “For a moral compass!” She shuddered again. “Can you believe it? I used him as a sounding board.”

  Dani shook her head. “I only met him that one time, here at your place. He seemed, I don’t know, wise, I guess. I can understand why you would have trusted him. Why you would miss him.” My dad was like that.

  “Yeah, but I could ignore it, you know? I put the whole thing out of my mind. Didn’t want to think about it anyway. And then, about a month ago, I got word that he had put me on his list. I gathered I was the only one.” She made a few more swipes with her wand, chasing invisible dirt.

  “The guys are going to win this race,” Dani said.

  Kat shrugged, but a little smile touched the corners of her lips. “So I had to go see him.”

  “Because he asked for you?”

  “Partly. Yes, I wondered why he’d changed his mind. But it was for my own benefit too. I wanted to reconcile the caring uncle I knew with this evil mastermind they were describing. I wanted to see him again.”

  Dani nodded, slowly. “I can understand that. Did it help?”

  Kat shook her head. “No. Not at all. He acted strangely, right from the start. I found out he has some kind of implant, a chip that deadens anger and channels his thoughts. They’ve changed the way he thinks. And he’s afraid of something.”

  “The guards?” Who else could he be afraid of?

  “Probably, but…” she hesitated.

  “Someone else?”

  Kat put down her WindoWand and walked around Dani to the kitchen.

  Dani followed, glancing down the hallway as she passed it. The clothes machine was still clattering from around the corner. Kat was scraping dishes and stacking them side by side in the laser cupboard, ready for cleaning. What didn’t she want to say?

  “Is it something you’re not supposed to talk about?” That was a wild guess.

  Kat leaned forward. “No, it’s just…hard to believe. If I tell you this, you’ve got to understand that I didn’t believe it either, not until yesterday. And then I had to. You have to hear me out before you decide I’m making it all up, or worse.”

  “Of course I’ll listen. You’d do the same for me.”

  Dani comforted Kat as much as she could. She couldn’t relate to having a relative in prison, a self-confessed criminal, chip-controlled and monitored, but she could certainly offer a sympathetic ear.

  At some point, twenty minutes or so into the conversation, the clothes machine ceased its noises and Marak poked his head around the corner. Quickly assessing the situation, he pulled Jored outside for a game of catch, leaving the two women in privacy.

  That was when Kat told her about the supposed threat to the timestream. “Is that even possible?”

  Dani knew it was. Just a few months before, Lexil had uncovered evidence of a timestream diversion that could have had catastrophic results, if their own timestream hadn’t been restored.

  And, of course, there was the timestream anomaly her team was investigating. She wondered if it was connected to Kat’s uncle’s claims in some way.

  “We’ll check on it,” she said. “I’ll talk to Lexil and the team, and—” She winked. “—If we can’t figure it out, we can always get Jored to help.”

  Kat laughed and gave her a little shove.

  Dani shoved back playfully. “Yeah, you’re going to be fine.”

  Her friend tipped her head back and closed her eyes. “I can’t tell you what a relief this is.”

  “You should have been talking to Marak.”

  “About what?”

  “About this.” Dani made a circle with her hand, all-inclusive. “About everything that’s been bothering you. He loves you. He’s been worried.”

  “I know. I’ll tell him, I promise. He was just so obviously angry at my visits—”

  “Only because he saw what they were doing to you.”

  “I get that now. We’ll talk.” Kat smiled.

  “Also, if it does turn out that your uncle doesn’t belong
in prison, despite what he’s done, Marak might have some ideas about how to get him released.”

  Just then, Marak passed by the window, catching Dani’s eye. He mouthed exaggerated words at her, accompanied by sweeping gestures. “Okay if we come in?”

  She turned to Kat with a smirk. “Shall we let them back in the house?”

  “Yes, let’s.”

  As Marak stepped in the house, his eyes were on his wife. Dani could tell how much lighter Kat’s mood was, and she was sure Marak would notice too.

  He took her by the shoulders, studying her face, raising a thumb to brush back her hair.

  She looked back steadily. “I need to talk to you.”

  “And I need you to talk to me.” He looked over at Jored. “Son, can you do something for us?”

  The boy had been sitting on the edge of the couch cushion, leaning toward his parents, listening intently.

  Boys like Jored could smell it when there were secrets to be told.

  He nodded eagerly.

  “Can you help Dani find the bread and make us some sandwiches for lunch?”

  The boy’s face fell, but only for a second. “Can I have peanut butter and chocolate?”

  Dani took him by the hand. “Let’s go see what there is, shall we?”

  It wasn’t long before they had lunch ready and the table set. “You two ready to eat?” Dani called out into the living room.

  “You bet!” Marak stood up quickly.

  Kat followed him, and the four of them settled around the table.

  Jored dropped his napkin. He bent down to get it, and came up giggling.

  “What’s funny?” Dani asked in a whisper.

  He whispered back. “Mom and Dad are holding hands.”

  It wasn’t until Dani had said her goodbyes and left the Wallace house that she realized she’d forgotten to ask the boy about his dreams.

  On her way home, Dani put in a call to Lexil.

  “That sounds like something we need to look into, for sure,” he said. “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you come out to the island tomorrow? We’re having a celebration of sorts anyway.”

  The island—that would be Vashon Island. That was where he lived with Dr. Mitchum Seebak, who had taken him in as a teenager when his parents died. She knew the two of them had operated their own chronography lab for years. She’d never been there before, but she was eager to see it.

  “What are you celebrating?”

  “Marielle’s birthday.”

  Dr. Marielle Brant. Dani liked the dark-haired doctor, with her gentle nature and easy laugh. She had, in fact, long admired her as one of the early pioneers of the new science. Dr. Brant had been an assistant to Dr. Seebak and Lexil’s mother when they worked together to develop chronography.

  But she didn’t know her socially, and she didn’t want to intrude on a private celebration.

  “I don’t know her very well. Are you sure she wouldn’t mind?”

  “She’ll be fine, I’m sure. And anyway, I want you to come. It’s about time you saw my place. I know all about yours.”

  That was true. He had a knack for stopping by at the most awkward moments. She blushed to remember one of those times when everything she owned had been in the clothes machine, and she’d had to stop it midcycle and pull out a damp shirt and shorts before she could open the door.

  And here she was, worrying about interrupting something. “Should I bring anything?”

  “Just yourself. Let me know when you head over. I’ll meet you at the tube stop to show you the way.”

  As if her eyescreen didn’t have built-in maps. She rolled her eyes, even though he couldn’t see.

  “Of course, because otherwise I might take a wrong turn somewhere.” She couldn’t help the slight sarcasm.

  “Well, if you’re going to get lost, I could…get lost with you? It’s the least I could do.” He laughed.

  “Silly.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Compatibility

  SEEBAK HOME, Vashon Island, WA. 1400, Saturday, September 9, 2215.

  Lexil found Doc out in the lab, straightening up. They didn’t use the home lab much any more, since they’d both taken on responsibilities at RIACH. But they both had a few side projects of their own.

  “One more for lunch tomorrow, Doc.”

  The older man looked up and raised one eyebrow. “Oh? Who are we expecting?”

  “Dani Adams. She has some work-related questions, but it was too important to wait for Monday, I guess.”

  “So you saw an opportunity and took it.”

  Lexil laughed. Doc could see right through him. “Yeah, I do like having her around.”

  “It’s good to see you engaging in more social pursuits again. It’s okay for an old guy like me to surround himself with work and a few good friends, but it always bothered me that you spent so much time cooped up here with…”

  “…the aforementioned old guy?”

  “Exactly. You’ve got to have more than just my perspective on life.”

  “Your perspective’s pretty good, Doc.”

  “Well, my perspective approves of your choice to spend time with Dani Adams. She seems good for you, and you for her. And you’ve matured, so you’re not likely to make the same mistakes you made in high school.”

  Lexil nodded. There wasn’t much more to say. He and Doc had shared a household for so long, most of their conversations were finished in a few words. All the unsaid stuff was already in place, permanently parked in their brains. It’d be superfluous to voice it out loud.

  It meant a lot to him that Doc approved of Dani. She interested him more than any other woman he had met. He thought back to those high school mistakes. Mostly, his problem was getting so wrapped up in his side studies and experiments with Doc that he didn’t invest enough time in the relationships. He had never blamed the girls for breaking things off, and they had all parted on good terms.

  With Dani, the work thing wasn’t an issue. They dove into the same studies, spurred each other to new ideas, completed each other’s sentences. Everything he did with Dani was better for it, and that applied to him, too. He was a better person for knowing her.

  Technically, he was her boss. She was the youngest researcher in his division, but he looked at her more as a partner.

  He could picture things going further. He could imagine the two of them making a life together. She was a natural with kids. Maybe someday they’d have some of their own.

  One thing he knew for sure. He was already falling in love with her.

  If only he could be sure she felt the same way.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Possibility

  SEEBAK HOME, Vashon Island, WA. 1130, Sunday, September 10, 2215.

  The next morning, Dani gave Lexil a call when she left, as he had asked. Much as she tried to resist the idea, she liked the prospect of having a little time alone with him. And Vashon Island was supposed to be pretty, one of the few places left in Western Washington where there were full stands of trees, tall firs and madronas, some of them hundreds of years old.

  The tube car took her under Puget Sound. It emerged from the tunnel at the East Central Vashon station, and then it continued on to West Central, near Lexil’s house. Her eyescreen said it would be a fifteen-minute walk from there.

  Lexil was there to meet her, as promised. “It’s this way to the house,” he said, “but I’m hoping you don’t mind a short detour. We’ll have to go off the road for a bit.”

  “I wore my flexshoes.”

  They walked in near silence for a few minutes. Dani drank in the sounds and smells. Clumps of trees filled the air with a woodland scent. Small insects whirred past her ear. She heard birds trilling from somewhere up ahead. It was all so peaceful.

  “Here’s the spot where the trail begins.” Lexil held a branch aside so she could step over a thorned vine and into a world of mottled sunlight and fluttering leaves. “It runs alongside the road. Leads to a creek in a few hundred meters. Glad yo
u brought those shoes. With all that rain last week, we might have to wade through it.”

  She bent down to turn her shoes to boots. Just at that moment, a creature overhead chirruped at them, and started a tirade of harsh scolding. Startled, she jumped backward. Her heel caught something and she sat down, hard, on a fallen log. The chittering grew louder, and she looked up to spot a bushy tail following a steel-gray body up the tree, around and around in diagonal stripes.

  “What is that?” she whispered.

  Lexil sat down next to her on the log. “Western gray squirrel. They almost went extinct back in the twenty-first century. Some naturalists made a preserve here on Vashon. Started with only three breeding pairs. Now they’re all over.”

  The squirrel continued making angry barking sounds: chuff-chuff-chuff.

  “Is he mad at us?”

  “Probably. We might be near his food stash. Shall we move on and leave him to his work?”

  They made a wide circle around the tree. The squirrel chased them a bit, leaping gracefully from limb to limb, scolding them all the way, until they were about twenty feet farther along the path. Suddenly, he was gone.

  Dani turned around for one last look. “He was adorable. And so brave! Do you see them often?”

  “Yes, they’re pretty common now. But you have to be quiet. They tend to hide.” He grinned. “Unless you walk near their food stash or their nests.”

  “Whatever we walked near, I don’t blame him. None of us like it when our stuff is threatened. Or our babies.”

  “And here we are at the creek.” Lexil stopped at the side of a tiny rivulet of water. “Not as big as I thought. Ground must’ve been thirsty to drink up all that rain.”

  Dani stopped beside him. “It was dry all summer.”

  He stepped over the stream. “The main road is just ahead, and it’s just a few more meters to the house from there. They’ll be wondering where we are.”

  “Especially after you threatened to get me lost.”

  “Tempting.” He raised both eyebrows and looked at her sideways, a clear invitation.

  Why did this man’s eyes suck her in like this? Divert, Dani, divert! But she would have loved nothing more than to melt into that gaze and the embrace it promised. Instead, she looked away and spotted the main road.