Looks like she found me. Stephanie smiled.
She jogged the last few steps to the other girl.
“Hi.”
The girl waved her wrist over the lock pad and the domed roof slid open to reveal a cream white bench. She slid inside and patted the seat next to her. She smiled, her eyes twinkling in the dim light.
Stephanie scrambled to follow.
The dome closed around them and they started moving. The car coasted along on autopilot and Stephanie wondered how long the girl had been waiting, for her to have set the destination already.
She leaned over the back seat, grabbing a leather jacket and shrugging it on. It did little to cover the floor length formal gown, blue crystals embroidered into the skirt glistened in the dim light.
Stephanie cleared her throat. “Where are we going?”
She probably should have asked before she got in the car.
“There’s a bar I know that does private booths. So we can talk.”
“Cool,” Stephanie nodded at the non-answer.
The girl twisted around in her seat, reaching for the back of her skirt.
Stephanie swallowed, mouth suddenly dry as she watched the clasp come undone. She hadn’t realized that the skirt and top were separate pieces. The skirt fell away to reveal a pair of short, black shorts, long creamy legs, and black ankle boots. A tattoo wrapped around one thigh like a band, the pattern tightly woven and difficult to make out from her position. She’d have to be nearly touching her to see it clearly, close enough for her breath to brush against the other girl’s skin.
Stephanie shifted uncomfortably.
What was she doing?
“I just realized I didn’t catch your name before,” Stephanie murmured.
“You didn’t ask.”
“I suppose not... I’m Stephanie.”
“Ana.”
“Is that short for anything?”
“It’s short for Ana.”
Stephanie snorted.
Ana smiled.
The car stopped.
A black car pulled up behind them and Stephanie noticed another car just ahead of them. Two men stood in front of it. Even in the civilian clothing and casual stance, Stephanie saw them for what they were.
She linked arms with Ana, leaning to whisper in her ear.
“I think we’re being followed,” she glanced sideways at the men who’d parked just ahead of them, then flicked her eyes to the car pulling up behind theirs.
She felt amusement spike through the girl and wished she wasn’t wearing the jacket so she could get a stronger read on her. It was almost as bad as having no powers at all.
“Don’t worry about them,” Ana said. “They’re mine.”
Who the hell is this girl? Maia asked.
Stephanie frowned. She knew she was someone. The way the general had leaned toward her, as though her words were the most important in the room, had been enough to show she was important. Stephanie had thought she was the general’s date. The security escort implied otherwise.
She searched her memory for someone named Ana who matched the girl’s description. Was she a diplomat?
Stephanie followed Ana into the bar. A live waiter came to greet them, ushering them into one of the private rooms. A paper door slid shut behind them and they climbed down into the sunken booth seats, a low table between them.
Ana flipped an order screen up from the side of the table, where Stephanie hadn’t noticed anything hidden.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“I could eat.”
“They grow salmon on the premises. I don’t know about you but I’m a sucker for fresh grown sashimi.”
Stephanie nodded and they ordered a sashimi platter and some drinks. Their order rose into place in the middle of the table, under a transparent dome that disappeared once the platter was in place.
Ana took the bottle, pouring two glasses to the brim.
“Skull,” she said, before slamming the glass back.
Stephanie followed suit. The drink fizzed, burned, and left an aftertaste like warm peaches behind.
“You were going to tell me about this girl I look like,” Ana reminded, slipping a piece of salmon between her lips.
“Caroline.” Stephanie reached for the bottle and poured them both another glass full.
Ana clinked her glass against Stephanie’s before downing it. “An ex?”
“More like a sister.” Stephanie picked up her chopsticks and reached for a piece of tuna. The red triangle squished beneath her chopsticks and she dipped it in the small dish of sauce before sliding the whole piece into her mouth.
She chewed, thoughtfully.
Part of her just wanted to tell Ana the truth.
Don’t be stupid, Maia muttered.
“She had an accident when we were teenagers. She couldn’t be saved.”
“Oh.” Ana put a hand over hers. “I’m so sorry. If I’d have known that’s why you were crying...”
Guilt and embarrassment warmed Ana’s skin and she bit her lip.
Stephanie shifted her hand in Ana’s, moving her thumb to rub in small circles over the edge of Ana’s wrist.
She felt the tingles run up the inside of Ana’s wrist as though it were her own.
Let me know when this is over, Maia said, raising a higher barrier between the two parts of their minds.
Stephanie smiled. “It was a long time ago. I’d almost forgotten about her until I saw you.”
“Liar.” Ana smiled. It looked friendly and sympathetic, but because their hands were still gently brushing against each other, she felt something that felt a lot like loneliness, lingering in the shadows of Ana’s smile.
Stephanie leaned across the table. Her hand came up almost of its own accord, brushing Ana’s cheek before moving to cup her jaw. She pressed her lips against hers, the loneliness in the depths of her soul crying out to the loneliness in Ana. She felt her powers connect with the contact and Ana’s memories rose up for a second - long dresses, sparkly tiaras, and an older man who Stephanie recognized even without the names attached to him in the memory - before being swept away in the wake of emotion. Something low in her trembled and she leaned closer.
Stephanie pulled away, staring into Ana’s eyes. They were heavy lidded now, half closed.
“I just realized who you are,” Stephanie whispered.
Ana pulled away, sitting up straight as a support beam. “I’m just Ana.”
Stephanie shook her head.
“Fuck.”
“You’re a princess.”
“I prefer the term primary heir to the majority voting share holder.”
“That’s a lot longer.”
“And a lot less pretentious.”
“Your father seems okay with the term king.”
“He just likes the shiny crown.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.”
“I usually try to stay out of the media.”
“You only have four guards with you?” Stephanie shook her head. The whole thing was unbelievable.
“That you saw.” Ana smirked.
Maia, did you hear any of that?
You’re done already?
We barely got started. I figured out who she is... An image of a family portrait popped into Stephanie’s mind. Princess Ana and her father in the shareholder’s office, the representatives of the other five percent lurking in the background.
I’m going to have to report this, aren’t I?
“Look, I get it.” Ana stood up and went to leave.
Stephanie caught her hand and pulled her back down beside her. Ana’s eyes flew wide open, staring up at Stephanie.
“I’ll sign something,” Stephanie whispered. “A nondisclosure agreement.”
Then she was kissing her again.
Chapter Sixteen
“I understand. I should have called.” Stephanie sat primly, back straight, hands on her lap, monitoring devices attached to her skull. The morning
light cycle burned her eyes.
Her monitor frowned.
He was older than Spencer Evans had been and she couldn’t help comparing the two. Where Spencer had been young enough that he’d obviously been hired especially for the initial trial period, Dr. Volkov was old enough to have been there for the first batch. His hair was nearly white, his skin oddly smooth, as though he’d had it redone in recent years. His eyes somehow managed to be cold, even though the dark brown should have been warm.
“You knew she was the princess of Cetus before you went incommunicado?” Agent Jefferson interrupted. He was younger than the doctor, thick jawed and muscular, with dark eyes.
“Of course.” Stephanie kept her voice neutral. “It seemed like a good opportunity to reach higher level information.”
“Hmm.”
“I got the information I was contracted to find.”
“Yes, I’ll be sending that later today,” Jefferson said.
“I think we’re done here,” Volkov mumbled.
“Great.” She disentangled herself from the neural net that wrapped around her forehead. She rubbed at the skin, not sure if the odd prickling sensation was real or psychosomatic.
Volkov went back to his tablet, manipulating data. He would compile his report with hers and Jefferson’s, encrypt it, and then send it with their courier on the next ship. Jefferson turned his back on her, going back to his own report.
Stephanie cleared her throat. “About the princess?”
Jefferson waved a hand in her general direction. “Continue as you see fit. Try not to blow it.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Stephanie walked out of the small hotel room, careful to keep her pace even. It wouldn’t do to let either her excitement at the prospect of seeing Ana again, or her nerves that something had shown up on the scans show.
The door slid shut behind her and she breathed a low sigh of relief.
Maia, you can come out now.
I really don’t like that man, Maia said, stretching out to her normal size. He makes my skin crawl.
You don’t have any skin.
It’s a figure of speech.
Anyway, I think we’re good for now. He didn’t look like he saw anything weird on the scans.
Just thank god you’re allergic to that truth serum bullshit.
A defect I’m sure they’ve removed from the next batch.
Do you think they’ve made a batch three already?
Stephanie gave a mental shrug, careful to keep her shoulders still so no one saw her reacting to a voice that wasn’t there.
I don’t know, Maia. I hope not.
Maia grimaced. Anyway, what’s on the cards for today?
Stephanie smiled. I have a date.
* * *
“Tell me something about your childhood." Ana said, walking her fingertips up the back of Stephanie’s spine. She was lying on her stomach across Ana's bed, and the sheet had fallen down, exposing the skin of her back.
Ana hit a ticklish spot, and Stephanie squirmed away from her.
She rolled onto her side, just out of reach, and propped her head up on one hand, elbow digging into the bed.
“There’s nothing much to tell.”
“Oh, come on. Ecrune is practically a frontier planet. You must have heaps of stories.”
Stephanie shrugged. “It was hot and dusty and I’m glad I left. What about you? I’ve heard Cetus is really beautiful. Do you miss it?”
“Well, the living standards here aren’t bad.”
Stephanie snorted. “You should see my apartment. I don’t think your bed would fit inside my room if I knocked out the bathroom and kitchen.”
Ana blushed. “Well, being an ambassador has its perks, I guess.”
“How come you never use the word princess?”
“Meh,” she wrinkled her nose. “I was born a princess. It’s not really a job. I mean, it will be, when my father retires and I become Queen. But I don’t just want to be my father’s shadow until then.”
“You’d rather be his voice?”
“Sometimes I get to be his ears too. He’s started listening to me more. He barely made any changes to my last trade agreement proposal.”
Stephanie nodded. She’d seen the memory. The pride Ana had felt, mixed with the shame. Not quite good enough. She would be, someday.
“I think you’re going to make a great ruler, someday,” Stephanie said, dropping a kiss on Ana’s shoulder.
She laughed. “You barely know me.”
“No, but I’d like to. Know you better, I mean.” An odd sensation stirred in her stomach, like something pattering against her sternum. She tried to identify the emotion. Why was it always easier to read what other people were feeling?
“We have time,” Ana smiled.
Stephanie felt fear steal through her. She hid it by kissing Ana, letting her warmth wash over her. She didn’t want to think about how much time they might have... or how little.
Chapter Seventeen
The library for journalistic research had seemed like a good place to start, with its access to public record government documents from within the Federation. She’d even managed to run a program so that it would look like she was working on a genealogy report in case of spy software.
What if we can’t find him? Maia asked.
Caroline wouldn’t have given us the memory of him if we couldn’t.
She still believed that, even though she didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. She’d found him, kind of. She’d found where he was five years ago.
She didn’t seem like she was that in control of things, Maia said.
Stephanie frowned. It was the only lead they had.
She ran a hand over her face, trying to push the weariness away. Her curls fell over one shoulder and she twisted the strands of hair together, smoothing them down so that her hair would stay out of her face. Not for the first time, she found herself wishing she was allowed to cut it. Some of her batch sisters wore their hair short, their looks having been decided for them just as much as hers had been.
He’d gone into the pilot academy. Scrounged together enough money to buy a light courier ship and disappeared.
She’d searched the ship’s license. His registration. The private company name he’d registered his first flight under.
Somewhere between leaving his home planet and the first delivery arriving, he’d disappeared.
Maybe he didn’t make it, Maia said.
Accidents happened in space all the time.
He’s not dead, Stephanie’s eyes burned. He couldn’t be.
Her wrist buzzed and she looked down.
Ana had sent her a location.
Stephanie logged out of the system, not bothering to copy any of the information she’d found.
Wherever he was, she wasn’t going to find him like this.
Where are you, Ivan? Where’s Sanctuary?
She bumped into a reporting intern on the way out, the young man’s eyes were shining, his movements hurried and shifty. Nerves and excitement made his hands shake. A phrase swirled through his mind and she caught it with the passing contact.
She froze in the doorway.
She stared after the young man.
He couldn’t know.
Her wrist buzzed again and she sent a quick reply before turning to follow the man, his lanky form weaving between the research stations.
I’ll meet you in an hour. I have some research to finish first.
She had to find out what he was working on. How much he knew, if anything. If he was investigating the corporation or if there was another organization involved in similar experiments.
She shook her head, trying to clear it of the phrase that had been circling around in his mind. But it seemed stuck in her mind now too, circling around and around, like water in a drain planet side, making her feel like she was being sucked down into a deep dark path she didn’t want to go down.
Genetically engineered super soldiers.
* * *
She sat down at a desk behind the man, trying to formulate a plan for getting what she needed from him. She could just grab him, but there was always a possibility of something being picked up on the cameras... and if he really did know anything...
She couldn’t risk anything being traced back to her, not when the corporation who created her might be exposed.
What do you think they’d do to you if anyone found out about you?
Two images flashed through Stephanie’s mind, back to back.
In the first, she was strapped to a bed in a cold, bare room, the way Caroline had been, off her face on who knew what. Fluorescent lights cast deep shadows beneath glazed over, empty eyes. A scientist in scrubs and latex gloves stood beside her, jabbing her with needles and studying something on a screen.
The second was fire.
Just fire.
But the image was so intense she could nearly feel the heat of the flames as they washed over her.
Rogue Memory Page 8