by RS McCoy
“What are my options?”
“We can find you a position somewhere. You can pick whatever class you want. I know with all the clean-up efforts, there will plenty of need for someone like you.”
“What else?”
“You can come back with me. I’ll be setting up a small office in Boston. We’ll canvas for bugs. It’ll be small scale, but you’ll have all the amenities of CPI. Masry’s guaranteed that if you want it.”
“Okay.”
“There’s a third option. You could go home.”
“To Monarch?”
Silas nodded.
“How? I have a record. You told my parents I went to a prison nation.”
Silas stroked his chin. “I have clearance to modify any files. If you want to go home, I can make it happen.”
Dasia rubbed her shoulder with a hand. “Could you have done that before?”
“I could have, yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I wanted you. CPI needed new, high-caliber recruits. I know that doesn’t sound fair, but I won’t pretend to regret it. We needed you, and you’ve proved me right. But now, as compensation for your role, I’ll send you back.”
“Do I have some time to think about it?”
“Of course. I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon, so if you can let me know by then.” Silas cursed himself. He should never have offered to let her go home. He needed her in Boston.
But it was only fair to her, after everything she’d done.
The door spun open and let Maggie in.
Dasia walked over, kissed her on the cheek. She whispered something in Maggie’s ear and left without another word.
It hurt just to see her. The puffiness that lingered in her cheeks. The broken hand still wrapped. “Maggie, I just want to say how incredibly sorry—”
“Don’t.” She shook her head forcefully, as if she could fling the words away entirely.
Silas wouldn’t be quieted. “I’m sorry I failed you. It was my decision to send them, and I couldn’t recall the termination. I know there’s nothing I can say that will—”
“Just stop,” she shouted. Her eyes were wide, panicked, before she regained her calm. “I don’t want to talk about it. What’d you say to Dasia?”
“Nothing, I need to talk to you about—”
“What’d you say to her?” Maggie asked with arms crossed.
“The same thing I’m going to say to you. Sit down.” Silas sank against the desk, but wasn’t all that surprised when she didn’t move. It was completely fair if she hated him forever.
“I’m fine.”
“We’re back to this?”
“Until you tell me what you said to upset her, then yes. I’m fine over here.”
“I just asked her what she wanted to do. CPI is gone. I offered her a position and told her she could go home.”
“What’d she say?” Maggie looked visibly worried.
“She said she’d think about it.”
“What did Theo say?”
“Guess.”
Maggie nodded. “What about Osip?”
“I haven’t asked him yet.”
“He gets the same offer?”
Silas nodded. “Your options are the same. I can send you to any position you like. I can offer you a position in a new facility. Or you can go home.”
“Home?”
“The Root. Atlanta. Wherever you want.”
“New York is gone.”
Silas looked up, sure he’d misunderstood her.
Maggie uncrossed her arms and jogged to the scanner. Dasia stood on the other side of the doors until Maggie pulled her in.
They stood with hands clasped together. “Tell him. Where do you want to go?” Maggie prompted her.
Dasia looked between Maggie and Silas.
“It’s okay. Tell him what you want.”
Dasia swallowed and said, “I want to go back to CPI. I want to live with Mable and Osip and work under you. But New York is gone, so that’s not an option. I’d like to work with you in Boston, but I won’t go without Mable and Osip.”
Maggie looked up and said, “I guess that’s it then. We’re going to Boston.”
“Both of you?”
“All four of us. Will you bring Knox, too? And Ramona?”
“And Jane?” Dasia asked.
Silas felt the tears in his eyes. He tried to blink them away. When still they threatened, he pressed his thumb and forefinger against his eyelids, trying to physically hold them back.
“What’s wrong?” Maggie asked. He could hear her close to him, only feet away.
Silas shook his head. He couldn’t begin to form the words.
“Are you crying?” she asked.
“Shut up.” He pulled his hand away and blinked rapidly, sure that it was useless.
“Holy shit. You’re crying. God, you’re a baby.”
“Fuck you.”
Maggie’s lips turned into a wide smile. “I have a condition.”
“What?”
“If you want us to go to Boston, I have a condition. Okay, two conditions.”
“No. You don’t get to make demands. You already agreed.”
Maggie shrugged. “Fine. Suit yourself.”
Silas rolled his eyes and laughed. What had he gotten himself into? She would never be easy. She would never listen. She would always be a massive pain in his ass.
“You can have whatever you want. Within reason,” he said with a finger pointed for emphasis.
“What do you mean? I’m always reasonable.” She batted her eyes innocently. Then, hand in hand, the two left Silas alone. In the privacy of Filmore’s office, Silas let the truth of it sink in.
He’d done it. He’d been the wrong guy from the start, a Craftsman, an alcoholic, a terrible judge of character. But for those kids, that little rag-tag bunch, he’d managed to put them together and solve one of the greatest pandemics of their time. And he’d made a family out of them. He’d made a family for all of them.
It was all he’d ever wanted.
DASIA
SHUTTLE DOCK CHS-165, CHARLESTON, NORTH AMERICA
SEPTEMBER 29, 2232
Dasia stood tall in the high-heel shoes Mable had picked out for her. Most of her toes felt like they were breaking, but she had her instructions: under no circumstances could she take them off until after.
She didn’t see why the shoes were such a big deal. It wasn’t like anyone could really see them. Her pants were wide-legged and stretched nearly to the floor. Without the shoes, they would have been dragging. On top, she wore a tight, white tank with an asymmetrical green sweater hanging off her shoulder.
Dasia felt ridiculous. Nearly every person who passed her stared. She tucked back a strand of hair that had fallen from the intricate design. Gold chandelier earrings clanked every time she moved.
It was all worth it when she saw his face.
Osip was hard to spot in the crowd that emerged from the shuttle tube. When finally they thinned enough, she could see the way his mouth dropped, the way his steps slowed as he took in the sight of her. He collected himself and ran. He didn’t slow until he reached her, slamming into her and lifting her off the ground.
“What are you trying to do to me?” he fussed as he set her down. “Do you know how long the ride to Boston is? You’re going to sit next to me looking like that for seven hours?”
Dasia laughed. “Eight and a half,” she corrected.
“Lord Almighty. You’re trying to kill me. It’s official. I knew you two were up to something.” Osip wrapped an arm around her waist and squeezed her against him.
“Do you have any bags?”
Osip shook his head. “No way, firefly. I’ve got everything I need right here.” He spun her around and looked her up and down. “You know, I hate to admit it, but I’ve got to give that girl props. Remind me to thank her when we get back.”
Dasia leaned her head back and laughed. “I don’t think you’ll need to. She’
s already taking full credit.”
“Somehow I’m not surprised. You two have fun on your lunar vacation?”
“Yeah. Come on. Let’s get a pod. I’ll tell you about it on the way.” Dasia slipped her fingers between his and squeezed.
“What’s the rush? Trying to get me back home, eh?”
“She’s planning some secret party. I have strict instructions not to be late.”
“I know better than to piss you girls off. Let’s go.” Osip lunged forward with vigor. Dasia tried to keep up but failed miserably thanks to the shoes and her unbridled laughter.
AIDA
LRF-PS-100
SEPTEMBER 29, 2232
Aida took a turn around the Planetary Systems wing and tried to pretend that it wasn’t strange. Dr. Parr gone, Dr. Niemeyer gone, Maggie gone. Vincent gone.
All gone, and only she remained.
Any minute now, her new batch of mentees would arrive, fresh from the Academy and willing to do anything she asked. After her little stunt with the bugs, she’d earned a level of notoriety she would never have fathomed. And with an empty department that needed filling, she’d had her fair share of applications to process. Since shuttle facilities on Earth were more than a little disrupted after Miami went down, it had taken longer than she would have liked, but today was the day. They were finally here, on their way down the corridor at this very moment.
Then, she heard the beep of an incoming comm. Aida marched back to her office and hit the intercept button just in time. She was only half-surprised to see it was Dr. Arrenstein.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Perkins,” he offered with an easy smile.
“Should I be concerned that you’re comm-ing me?” she teased.
“I won’t ask to put any bugs in your brain. Not today, anyway. I wanted to let you know that I got Filmore’s permission to put one of my agents in your department. He’s not as good as Dr. Hill, but no one is. He won’t take the space of your researchers, but I need someone who can keep an eye out from up there.”
Aida sighed and nodded. “That’s a logical course. What specifically are you hoping they can accomplish?”
“We’ve had no sign of bugs or any attacks since the colony was terminated, but we still don’t know much about them. If there’s ever an uprising again, we’d like to make sure we have all the information. I’m sending my agent to work with you on bug research. How they got to Earth. How they are transmitted between hosts. The more information we have about them, the better.”
Aida smiled and admitted, “I know how they got to Earth, Dr. Arrenstein.”
“You do?” He didn’t attempt to hide his utter shock.
Again she nodded. “The planet is subject to substantial impact activity. I suspect a partial collision put some of your bugs on an outgoing meteor that, by some stroke of insane probability, managed to land on Earth. Though I’d be very interested to know how they were able to communicate from such a distance.”
“My agent should be there in the next few minutes. Hopefully, together you’ll be able to figure it out. And Dr. Perkins, if for some reason you find this new agent unsuitable, I hope you’ll let me know. I can always reconfigure my personnel and send someone else.”
“I’m sure it will be fine. Thank you for your concern, Dr. Arrenstein. Can I ask what you’ll be working on?” Aida adjusted the sleeve of her favorite white shirt.
“More of the same,” he said, feigning unimportance. “There’s a few million people working on the clean-up and rebuilding efforts. My team is settling in and will be monitoring bug activity, though so far we haven’t seen any. The rest of them are going back to school in the meantime.”
“Even Theo?”
Arrenstein chuckled. “He’s starting some music classes at Boston Northwest. Composition and Music Theory, I believe.”
“Good for him.” Aida didn’t know why the thought of her brother in Artisan classes made her so emotional, but she choked back the threatening tears. Today wasn’t a day for crying.
As if on cue, the door scanner beeped. Someone was here, waiting to be let in.
“I’ll let you get that,” Dr. Arrenstein said. “And best of luck today.”
“Will I see you again?” she asked, suddenly afraid this would be their last conversation.
“We’ll be in touch. I’ll make sure of it.”
Aida smiled and terminated the comm. She spun from her office, walked down the hall, and hit the panel code to open the door to the Planetary Systems wing. Before her stood four people—her three researchers and Dr. Arrenstein’s agent. She knew them all of course. Her three mentees had been carefully selected from a hefty pile of applications, and Dr. Arrenstein’s agent was a face she would never forget.
“It seems I’ve been reassigned,” Vincent said with a shrug, his frown deepening by the second.
Aida stared at him for a good long moment before she turned to the others. “You may each select an office and set up your work space. We’ll have a meeting in the conference room in ten minutes.”
The three new researchers wordlessly passed her as they made their way toward the offices, following her instructions to the letter.
“You’re the new agent?” she asked when they were alone. “He said it wasn’t Dr. Hill so I thought—”
“I’m not. I’m Vincent Frederick. I’m an Untouchable, formerly a Craftsman, and I work under Silas Arrenstein as part of an alien bug research facility called CPI.” He spewed his introduction like a gas leak from a transport. “I don’t know anything about planets except what I learned from you. I asked him not to send me here, but he didn’t give me much choice.” His chest heaved as the weight of his words left him.
“Let’s go to my office.” Aida marched back to the safety of her desk, refusing to play out this scene within earshot of her new researchers.
Vincent followed like a lost puppy, trudging behind her until he closed the door, sealing them in her office together.
“He made you come here?” Aida asked with hands clasped in her lap. That wasn’t what she expected.
Vincent nodded without looking at her. “I know what I did and what you had to go through because of me. It’s not fair to make you see me every day.”
Aida stood and rounded her desk, standing right in front of him though he refused to look at her. His jaw was tight, and his eyes were locked on his shoes. “Is that the only reason you came here?”
He nodded just enough, locked in place as he was.
“Because Dr. Arrenstein told you to? Because you thought it would hurt me to see you again?”
“Yes,” he said, forcing out the word.
“You were right. It does hurt,” she admitted. “We used to be easy together, and now you won’t even look at me.”
As she hoped, his eyes shot up to hers. Burning emeralds as always. “Aida—”
“You just left. You walked out on me. And now you’re back but you don’t want to be here.” She crossed her arms and waited for him to leave.
“Aida, I love you. And I would love nothing more than spending every day of the rest of my life in this office with you, but I don’t deserve that. You deserve far better than me.” He curled his lip in disgust at himself before he cast his eyes to the floor again.
“What about me?” she asked, arms still crossed before her.
“What do you mean?” For the first time, he looked at her without that edge of fear and anger. His eyes were softer, his jaw less tight.
“What about what I need? What I want? You don’t get to decide what’s right for me. That’s my decision, not yours.” Aida almost spat the last of it she was so angry.
His shoulders heaved with a regretful sigh. “Then tell me. What do you need?”
“I have three new researchers to train, and none of them have any idea how we do things here. I could use some help getting them on track. They’ll need someone to lead them while I’m out.”
“Out?” His features flashed with confusion a half-second b
efore he realized. A wide, consuming smile erupted across his cheeks. “You did it? You really did it?”
Aida didn’t know why he was so excited. It was her pregnancy, and she was somewhere between nervous and terrified. It wasn’t his child, and he was still happier about it than she’d ever been.
Vincent threw his arms around her and squeezed her tight—so tight he picked her up clear off the ground. Aida clutched her arms around his neck when she felt her feet pull off the floor. Then, already held tight in his arms, Aida refused to let go. And she noticed, with great relief, that he didn’t even try.
“I missed you,” she whispered only inches from his ear.
He squeezed her still tighter. “You have no idea how miserable I’ve been. Worried sick about you. All alone up here. I wanted to come but I just—I know what you must think of me.”
Aida released his neck and lowered her white high heels back to the floor. “So change my mind.”
Vincent pressed his open palm against her cheek and settled those green eyes on her. “Everyday. I’ll prove it to you, day in and day out.”
Aida melted against his hand. She closed her eyes and savored the feel of his warm skin pressed to hers. But a second later, he pulled it back. Vincent sank to his knees and gripped both her hips before he pressed forward and kissed the space just below her naval. “I can’t believe you did this. I am so insanely proud of you. You were always amazing and stunning and incredibly intelligent, but I never thought you would be this brave.” He kissed her belly once more before he stood.
“After having a bug in my brain, it didn’t seem so bad. And I think Sal would like it.” Aida put her hand to her abdomen, knowing somewhere in there, was the last living piece of her husband.
“He’d be a fool if he didn’t.” Vincent’s smile was incorruptible. “You really want me to stay?”
Aida nodded eagerly. “I can do this on my own, but I want you to do it with me.”
This time, when he picked her up and squeezed her tight, he kissed her, too. Good and strong like she’d missed. His hands were on her back as he carried her to the door, and before she could stop him, he was down the hall and in the conference room, still kissing her as if no one else was there.