A Chronetic Perspective (The Chronography Records Book 2)

by Kim K. O'Hara

  “I might have heard something. Tell me.”

  “I don’t know the details. It was evidence that recordings like those could actually interfere with the timestream, and had done so in some alternate reality. The legislative contacts that arranged the hearings for those laws are the same ones Marak is going to in your case. They have the background.”

  “So we just wait? Will it happen quickly enough?”

  “Lexil seems to think it’s okay for now. We hope it stays that way.”

  “What are you going to do with the…container?”

  “Give it to Detective Rayes. Marak says he won’t be able to use it in court, but it can show him where to dig, for anything he thinks should be dug up, that is. Most of it he’ll probably just ignore.”

  Panic flitted momentarily across his face. She almost missed it.

  “What was that look?”

  He dodged her gaze.

  “You can’t look like that and not tell me why.” She waited.

  He took a deep breath and bit his upper lip. Finally, he spoke. “He shouldn’t see all of them. Please. Wait till…”

  “You can pick out some? So you can continue what you started? No, Uncle Royce. I won’t be part of that.”

  “No, no. You misunderstand. I can’t do that”—he winced at the thought—“any more.”

  She wondered again about the implant. How were they able to stop his thoughts before they were even spoken?

  Again, a deep breath. “It’s not that. It’s just that she mustn’t be implicated. The recordings aren’t…true.” He shook his head. “I can’t say more. Just wait. Please. Please wait.”

  He bowed his head, in obvious pain, rubbing his temples and forehead.

  She stared at him for long minutes, considering. Who was he protecting? Who did he care that much about? How could the recordings he got from RIACH be wrong?

  Eventually, she stood. He looked up at her. “We’ll hold on to them, then. Just until you can tell me. But after that, they’re gone.”

  Relief suffused his features. “Thank you. You’ll understand why, I promise.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Immobility

  NEW HARBORVIEW HOSPITAL, Seattle, WA. 0930, Saturday, September 16, 2215.

  “Huh. You don’t look half as bad as everybody’s saying.”

  Dani put down her puzzle game. She was getting bored anyway. “Hi, Zaidee. What are they saying?”

  She grinned. “Oh, you know, you have strange growths. Or you’re aging rapidly. Or you’re not expected to survive till lunch. The usual.”

  “But I don’t quite look that bad, huh?”

  “No, you’re beautiful. Even with bed-hair.” Her eyes twinkled.

  “Aw. That’s sweet of you.”

  “But hey, about that accident. Was that crazy or what? I’ve been to The Float hundreds of times—well, dozens, anyway—and I’ve never heard of such a thing.” She sat down on a chair and scooted in close. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “You know you can tell me anything. Do you have any…enemies?” She managed to keep a straight face for two seconds, and then she winked.

  Dani laughed. “How could I have enemies? I’m nobody.”

  “Well, I’d agree about not having enemies, but not about that. You’re definitely somebody, dear. Your absence left us with an empty hole, and now we don’t even see you in the halls.”

  “I’ve only been gone for a day. And now it’s the weekend, and you’re seeing me when you normally wouldn’t. I don’t think your argument is valid.”

  “Don’t argue with my argument! You know you can’t win.”

  “Nope, you’re right about that. I won’t argue with the master. I humbly beg your pardon.”

  “Granted.”

  “Hey, this is weird, I know, but—Can I ask you to help me to the washroom? I was just about to page the nurse.”

  “Feeling wobbly?”

  “Not so much. It’s these sheaths on my legs”—she flipped the bed covers back enough to let Zaidee see—“I just got them last night, and I’m not supposed to let them bump against each other. It makes walking really difficult.”

  “Oh, sure. No problem. You just need an arm to lean on?”

  “And someone to help me with these weird hospital shorts.”

  Zaidee laughed. “I think you can just release the seam at the top and then press it back together afterward.”

  Dani grimaced and took Zaidee’s arm. “Thanks. I guess I could have figured that out.”

  A few minutes later, she was done. Zaidee helped her back to the bed and moved her pillows to help support her back.

  “This bed is self-adjusting, but there’s really nothing like pillows when you have to sit in bed all day. Thanks again.”

  “Happy to help, Dani. I’m so sorry you’re stuck here. Have they said how long you have to stay?”

  “The nanohealers are done with the osteoclasts. All the tiny bone fragments are dissolved. I couldn’t even get out of bed for that part. But now they’re using the sheaths to direct the nanohealers for the rest.”

  “What do the nanohealers have left to do?”

  Dani tried to remember. “They use DNA somehow to make my bones grow. They’re hoping I can go home on Tuesday or Wednesday and just check back in for physical therapy. Might have to wear the sheaths till the end of the week.”

  “That’s not so bad.”

  Dani wrinkled her nose. “No, probably not, from your perspective.”

  “A week from now, you’ll agree with me.”

  “Yeah, I suppose. I’ve just never had an injury like this before.”

  “Really. No injuries at all? I’ve had all kinds of broken bones. It’s an inconvenience, but the way they do things now, you’ll be good as new in a few days. Never even once?”

  “I’ve come close a few times. But I was so young, I don’t remember. Only what my dad and mom told me. I guess I was quite the adventurous toddler.”

  “A climber, eh?”

  “Something like that.” Dani’s thoughts went back to a happier time, when her father was so much a part of her everyday life. “Once I went up a lattice that was too weak to support anyone climbing up after me. My dad said he had to talk me back down, coaxing me to step backwards, and then I got impatient toward the end and just turned around and jumped into his arms.”

  “Wow, that’s trust.”

  “Yeah, he said he was afraid for me, but I wasn’t scared at all.”

  “Sounds like a good dad.”

  “He was, back then. Not so much now.” She shook her head and changed the subject. “How are things going at the lab?”

  “The usual. Chali’s keeping an eye on the disturbance, staying in touch with Marak to let him know if his efforts are causing any amplification or damping. Things are under control, for now. Lexil’s got the rest of us catching up on analyzing the data we got from our external sensors. It’s been piling up. We’ve got a few theories to test out when we have time, but we’re all thinking….” She trailed off with a guilty look upward.

  “What are you all thinking?”

  “I wasn’t supposed to say anything. Silas said to give you time.”

  Dani eyed her steadily, raising her eyebrows, tilting her head, waiting, not blinking.

  Zaidee squirmed. “Okay, I’ll tell. We’re all thinking you’ll be coming back soon. We have one theory to test—you’d be so intrigued by it! We all decided we want to save it for when you get back.”

  Tears welled up in her eyes unexpectedly. She blinked several times to clear her vision. “That’s really sweet, Zaidee. I hadn’t actually planned on coming back, though.”

  Zaidee snorted. “You’re going to have to rethink that. You know you belong with us. You thrive on research and theory, sister. You can’t be happy doing grunt work—”

  “It’s not—”

  “By comparison, that’s exactly what it is. Plus we need your insights. And there’s that other matter, too.”

/>   “What’s that?”

  “Lexil hardly smiles any more. You’d think he lost a pet or something.”

  “He smiles when he’s around Althea. I’ve seen him.”

  “Ha. We see him more than you. And you realize that when you see him around Althea, you are also there yourself. So who’s he smiling for? Her or you? And don’t you love being with him too? It sure looks like it to the rest of us.”

  “We’re good friends. We were, anyway. I don’t know what we are now.”

  “What changed? Did you two have an argument?”

  “No, nothing like that. We even went out on a double date—Silas was my date.”

  “He told us.”

  “Silas or Lexil?”

  “Silas. Lexil doesn’t talk about it much.”

  “We had fun. And really, I think Althea suits his personality. She’s bold and gorgeous. I’m mousy by comparison.”

  “Shouldn’t you leave that up to Lexil?”

  “If I left it up to him…” She remembered the moment in the tube car and shook her head. “He moves too fast for me.”

  “What? That doesn’t sound like him.” Zaidee frowned. “He’s had eyes for no one else since you first joined the staff. None of us knew him very well back then, but that much was obvious. And it was months before we saw anything like…”

  “Like our little trip last Friday?”

  “Yeah, that. We were all waiting for something like that. Seems like it took forever. So this ‘moving too fast’ thing…” She shook her head. “I think I’d have written him off, he moves so slow.”

  “We were just friends. I told you. And then, suddenly, we weren’t.”

  “You weren’t?” Zaidee’s eyebrows rose. “Tell me more.”

  “It doesn’t matter. He’s with Althea now.”

  “Not from what I see.”

  Before Dani could respond, the door whooshed open and Althea walked through. It was hard to believe she’d just been released from a hospital stay. Her raven hair fell in natural waves around her perfectly made-up face. She was stunning, as always. But it was her utter confidence in getting whatever she wanted that made Dani sure that any potential for a relationship between herself and Lexil was gone. When he came through the door right behind Althea, she was even more certain. They belonged together.

  She forced herself to ignore the pangs she felt at that thought. She could still be grateful for the good memories of the times they’d spent together. She reached up and brushed her lips, remembering one of those times. No, not that memory. Working together, discovering answers, seeing him every day at work.

  Maybe she had been wrong to ask for the transfer. Surely things would be fine now that he was seeing Althea.

  “There she is. Look at her, poor dear, laid up like a sick puppy.”

  Dani was suddenly self-conscious. She tugged at her hospital gown and glanced around for a hairbrush.

  Lexil stepped around Althea. “I don’t know about that. She doesn’t look too bad for having fallen six stories.”

  If he meant that as a compliment, it wasn’t working.

  Althea turned and pushed him playfully in the chest. “I fell too, silly. She could be up on her feet and walking around like I am. Instead, she’s trapped in a hospital bed with her legs encased in those huge things.”

  The “things” were more awkward than huge, only about three centimeters thick. Small price to pay to be able to get full use of her legs back, Dani thought. “How are you walking around, Althea? They told me I was lucky to survive, and we both fell from the same height.”

  “The safety bag in your tube opened late. That’s what Doyle said. But mine worked. And I feel a little guilty about that, because I was the one who told you to take the outside tube.”

  “You didn’t know. You just wanted me to see the view—which I don’t remember at all. I sure wasn’t looking at scenery when the anti-grav field cut out.”

  “You poor thing.” Althea patted her hand. “We’ll have to go again sometime when you get better.”

  Zaidee cleared her throat. “I would advise you never to set foot in one of those again, Dani.”

  “That’s advice that I’ll take gladly, but I’m sure they’ll figure out what went wrong and get it fixed. I’ve never heard of any other accidents there.”

  “Actually, it doesn’t look like it was an accident,” said Lexil. “I saw Detective Rayes this morning. He’d been over at The Float, checking with security there. No question—someone messed with the anti-grav field. Set up some kind of EMP to disrupt it.”

  “Oh, no! That’s horrible.” Althea covered her face with her hands, shuddering. “You didn’t tell me that!”

  “I just found out.”

  “Was anyone else hurt?” Dani hadn’t thought about others who might have been in the tubes when it happened.

  “No, fortunately, the four-tube cluster you were in was the only one affected. Doyle had just stepped out of one of the other two, and the fourth was empty.”

  “I just know that awful man who has my father had something to do with this. He threatened me.” Althea’s eyes welled up with tears. She squeezed them shut and buried her face in Lexil’s shoulder. Dani could hear her muffled voice. “I’m so frightened. Hold me, Lexil. Hold me tight.”

  He put his arms around her. Dani couldn’t help remembering the last time he’d held her like that. But the momentary wistfulness fled when she noticed his helpless expression as he patted Althea’s back, awkwardly offering comfort. She almost laughed out loud, but she was sure Althea wouldn’t appreciate the humor. She didn’t dare to look at Zaidee or she’d have giggled for sure.

  “You’re fine, Althea,” he said finally, stroking her hair. “And we’re going to figure out where your father is and help him too.”

  “Promise?” She sniffed.

  “We’re doing everything we can. But you need to stay somewhere safe till we figure it out.”

  She snuggled in closer and sighed.

  The door whooshed open and Kat came in, jerking to a halt when she saw Lexil and Althea. She looked sharply over at Dani.

  Dani rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  Kat ignored her wordless appeal. “Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting something?”

  Althea raised her head and sniffed. “No, honey, it’s okay. I’m okay. As long as I have Lexil here.” She smiled, looking at him through half-lowered eyelids.

  Dani snorted and covered it up with a cough. If this was the kind of relationship Lexil wanted, she wasn’t anywhere near his type.

  Kat assessed the black-haired beauty. “You must be Althea.”

  “Yes I am. Have we met? I’m not sure I would remember.”

  “No, you probably wouldn’t. I’m not very memorable.”

  Dani could tell Kat wasn’t going to introduce herself. For just a moment, she considered leaving it that way, but courtesy prevailed. Besides, she liked Althea in general. Just not so much when she was around Lexil.

  “Althea, this is my best friend, Kat Wallace.”

  “How nice that she came to see you. The only people who came to see me, besides Lexil and Doyle, were the media. But they’re everywhere. You know how it is.”

  “Oh yes, of course,” Kat said. “I’m barely awake in the morning before I have to face the media. Every day. And always finding ways to talk to my son. It’s invasive, isn’t it?”

  “Really? They come to your home? I was generalizing. Are you somebody noteworthy that I should know? Funny, I don’t remember hearing your name before.”

  “Nothing to come close to your level of fame.” Dani could hear the sarcasm in Kat’s voice, and hoped Althea didn’t take offense. “But you might have heard of my husband, Marak Wallace.”

  Althea’s eyes widened. She nodded slowly. Then she smiled tightly.

  She must have figured it out, Dani thought.

  “You face your husband every morning. That was clever.”

  “Yeah. He doesn’t really cover socie
ty news, though. His assignments are usually a little more, oh, I don’t know, front-page.”

  “How nice for you. Do you ever go out in public with him?”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Well, it’s not my place, I’m sure, but you really could use an updated wardrobe. Present a professional appearance. For your husband’s sake.”

  Kat gaped at her.

  Dani knew that Althea meant well, although it was hard to keep that in mind when she sounded so arrogant and privileged. She wished she could take Kat aside and tell her to make allowances, to remember Althea had been injured too and was probably still feeling the effects of painkillers. But Kat was across the room, and her gape had turned to an angry glare.

  Althea seemed oblivious to the effect her words had on Kat.

  Before Kat could reply, Dani changed the subject. “Althea, did you hear what happened to my new clothes?”

  “No. Weren’t they delivered to your apartment?”

  “Oh, those? I don’t know. I haven’t been home.” She gestured to her legs. “No, I meant the outfit I was wearing yesterday. Total loss. I’m sorry. I liked it, and it was really nice of you to get it for me.”

  “Don’t worry about that, sweetie. We can buy you another just like it when you get back on your feet. Daddy’s money, you know.”

  Now Kat would see Althea’s generous nature. Dani hoped it would help take the edge off her earlier words.

  But Kat was still glaring.

  If Althea was oblivious, Lexil was keenly aware of the tension. “Uh, we just stopped in to see how you were doing. Doyle’s waiting for us downstairs to get Althea home safely. Hope you can get out of here soon too.” He guided Althea toward the door and then, right at the threshold, he turned impulsively and made his way past Kat and Zaidee to Dani’s side.

  He took her hand and squeezed it, and then he leaned over and kissed the top of her head, gently, lingering, turning a quick peck into something more tender. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he whispered. And then he was gone.

  Now it was Dani’s turn to gape. In an instant, she had been flooded with a delicious warmth. It made it hard to collect her thoughts. What did he mean by that? What was he thinking, to kiss her right in front of Althea?