by Ann Durand
"What request?" Nicole asked.
Carlsen looked at Mike, and Mike turned to Nicole.
"I told him that I'd like to request permission to return to Parallon with Katera."
"You mean…?" Nicole's mouth fell open.
Mike nodded. "Yes."
"You want to go back there?" Farley interrupted, stunned. "What kind of a fool would…"
"Enough!" This time Carlsen smacked the table. Farley narrowed his eyes and leaned forward in his chair, but he shut up, thankfully. Carlsen turned back to Mike.
"The Council was never overly enamored with our work given the morality issues involved with time travel, and now they've got the excuse they need to shut us down. They've issued a mandate to our donors not to provide any further funding. We will not be able to build a new lab. We've also been ordered to dismantle Silver Gate. The process will begin today."
"But surely…perhaps later, we can make arrangements…"
"No, actually Mike, this is permanent. There will be no more Tescali Lab once the dismantling is over. We're all sick about this. I'm so sorry."
Mike did not have the strength to utter a word. His shoulders sagged. What would he tell Katera when she revived? She would come out of her induced recovery-sleep in the morning. He'd made a promise-he had told her he'd take her home. How could he face her with the news that she was now stuck in the future without her family? What would he say? How could he soften this terrible news?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Katera awoke as Mikolen's face materialized before her. She heard barking and realized it was the sound of her own throat clenching around a dry lump. They were in a room larger than any she'd ever seen. The walls were smooth, like those back at the lab on Kan Mountain. Mikolen sat in a chair next to her, and she lay in a bed, but it was nothing like the straw matresses back home. In fact, she could hardly feel it. She wondered if she were floating and turned her head to see what lay beneath her: a white, translucent material inside a long silver frame…a cloud maybe? Mikolen laughed.
"You are lying on a SleepLift suspension bed. It's a porous material pressurized to blend with the surrounding air, and it has an almost transparent boundary. It conforms to body contours, and it's so light and airy that you hardly know it's there."
Katera started to tell him how it reminded her of a cloud, when the hacking cough returned. Mikolen leaned over and grabbed a tall, transparent cup and held it out to her. Still sluggish, she crinkled her brow, wondering why she could see through the cup.
"Drink this," he said. "It's water."
Katera took a long sip, then held up the cup. "I can see you through this. Is it made out of water that's been turned into stone?"
Mikolen laughed and shook his head. "No. It's glass, and it's made from sand and other powders that are melted at an extremely high temperature to produce a white-hot liquid. It used to take all day just to heat the sand properly, but now it can be heated instantaneously."
"This is sand?" Katera asked, turning the glass in her hand.
"Not any more," Mikolen said, sounding serious. "It's undergone a chemical change…it's a little complicated."
Katera had more questions, but she could see from Mikolen's expression that he thought this astounding vessel an unimportant item, so she pressed the cool glass to her lips and emptied it. She noticed while staring through it that Mikolen had changed his clothes. He was no longer wearing his cotton shirt and pants. The material of his blue shirt looked slick and smooth and shimmered like the surface of a lake. And his hair. It was cut short, up over his ears. She'd never seen a man with such short hair. When had he done that? They'd just climbed into the time machine, hadn't they?
She remembered her arm and her hand…her finger. She didn't feel any pain. She lowered the glass, alerted, looked at it…and nearly screamed. Her finger was back. The finger that Tonnelly had cut off was wiggling on her left hand without even a tiny scar to mark the event. How could this be? Was she dreaming?
"My finger…how?"
"You remember the Insertech, Katera?" She nodded. "Well, another amazing instrument from my world was able to reattach your finger and restore the tissues."
Gawking at her pinky, Katera made a fist and opened it. "Your world?" she asked, staring at her hand.
"Yes. We made it, Katera. We're here-in my world, your world….this is our world now."
She felt a drumming in her chest as a seed of fear gripped her. She sat up.
"Not for long, right? You're taking me back home." Mikolen dropped his head and folded his hands, elbows on his thighs. She waited, her fear mounting as he struggled with his words. "Mikolen, what is it? Tell me."
He drew in a deep breath. "I can't take you home. I'm sorry. Silver Gate has been dismantled, and time travel…has been permanently suspended."
"You mean…you can't? But you said…"
"I know, I know. I'm so sorry."
"I wouldn't have come here if I'd known."
"You had to come here. You would not have survived any other way. Look at your arm, your hand. You're healed."
Katera looked once more at her hand, which was trembling. "Perhaps they'll change their minds."
"They're not going to do that. I had no way of knowing this would happen, but
I promise you I'm going to stay with you every step of the way."
"You can build another one. Another time machine."
"No, I can't."
"You built one in Parallon-with materials you stole from the lab."
"It's different here. You have to pay for everything. The materials for even one stargate cost far more than my entire fortune."
"Steal the materials again. You did it before, right?"
Mike smiled weakly. "They have very sophisticated security in this world, Katera. That would be impossible, even if I were inclined to do it."
Katera's breathing quickened as she considered her predicament. She'd arrived in the future without her family…Mama, Papa, Rorken. How would she get along without them? And would they be okay without her? What would she do in this new land filled with amazing things like time machines and tools that could replace body parts, not to mention see-through cups? Such strangeness. Would she feel welcome in a world without goats and hoshdels and warm hearths blazing with logs from the fragrant ternok tree? Would she have an opportunity to prepare another kiddik stew? Did kiddiks exist in this world? Would the people of this land accept her, welcome her…would they like her?
She let out a shaky breath and swallowed. Whatever was in store, whatever surprises this world held for her, she had no choice. She would have to face them-meet them head on. She'd been forced to flee to save her own life. Now she was forced to go on without her family. But she was not alone, she reminded herself, struggling to keep her panic at bay…far from it. She looked at Mikolen and caught his gaze. His eyes looked tender, as if he were trying to read her thoughts. A warm, liquid feeling oozed into her chest.
"Shall I call you by your other name? The one they use in your world. Shall I call you Mike?"
Mikolen smiled. "No. You can call me Mikolen. I like it."
She nodded. "Me, too."
He exhaled and swallowed. "Look, I know this world will seem strange to you at first, but I promise you, I'll do everything I can to help you adjust and learn."
Katera tried to smile, but she felt too dizzy to receive his assurances. He lifted her hand, the newly healed one, and stroked her fingers with his thumb. A warmth spread from her fingers and traveled like a current through the rest of her body.
"Katera," he said, his voice soft. "I want to be with you. I mean…for always, for good." His eyes caressed hers, reached into them. "I will take care of you for as long as we are together. I will teach you what you need to know to get along in this world. I will hire people to teach you what I cannot. And I want you to live with me in my home, so I can help you…but not just as a friend."
He paused to reach into his pocket and pull out a small, shiny b
ox. He pressed the top, and amazingly, it slid open by itself. Katera suppressed an urge to gasp. Guess I'd better get used to magical things . Inside the box, on a bed of material looking softer than a butterfly's wing, sat the most amazing ring she'd ever seen. Rings from Parallon looked nothing like this. Rings from home were fashioned from wood, clay, or soft stone by the hands of skilled artisans. If there were any gems, they were polished in their natural form, rough-hewn and irregular. This ring had a perfect shape, a smooth silver oval. A tiny design of exquisite symmetry dripping in delicate tendrils adorned the top, holding a transparent stone aloft. The evenly chiseled faces of the stone reflected endless glittering patterns of light.
"This belonged to my mother," Mikolen said. "And her mother before her. For three hundred years, it's been passed from one generation to the next in my family." He slid the ring onto her finger next to the healed pinky. It felt snug. "And now I want you to have it."
Katera stared at it. She knew from the way his hand was shaking when he slipped it on her finger that it meant a great deal to him, but she didn't know how to respond. She understood why the ring was important to him-it had belonged to the women in his family-but why was he giving it to her?
Mikolen sensed her confusion and added, "In my world, when a man wants to marry a woman he gives her a ring like this one." Ah, marriage! This she understood. He gathered up both her hands. "Katera, I want you to be my wife."
He had fallen to his knees next to the cloud bed and was looking up at her. Her heart soared with every beat. The man of her dreams wanted to marry her. She wanted to laugh and cry and throw her arms about his neck, but something held her back…a whispered feeling, small yet insistent, pressed for attention and tempered her joy. She squeezed her eyes shut.
What was it? She felt vulnerable in this new world, perhaps even helpless…not a trait that she entertained or enjoyed in herself. Yes, she wanted to marry Mikolen, but not as a defenseless, ignorant woman. When she married Mikolen she wanted to feel competent and confident. She wanted to be someone who filled his heart and eyes with pride. Her eyes shot open. She knew what she had to tell him. It scared her to think she was going to turn him down, but accepting his proposal scared her even more.
"Mikolen, never have I felt so right about a man," she began, and his eyes flashed with expectancy. "Wait. Let me finish." Mikolen moved next to her on the bed. She charged ahead, wishing to get it over with, hoping he'd understand. "I know that you want to help me. Maybe that's why you're asking me to marry you."
"No, Katera. Well, yes, in part. But I wanted to marry you before we left Parallon. It's my heart that's telling me to marry you, not my head." He reached out and cupped the back of her neck. "I love you, Katera. That's why I want to marry you."
Her Lan Ma Ke rumbled warmly inside her, and she knew that he spoke the truth. Still…
"It's just that I'm not ready…not yet. I don't know anything about this world…your world, Mikolen. I need to understand it first, or at least enough about it to know my place in it. I need that before I can understand how I'll fit into it with you ." He was listening intently, his head cocked, so she went on. "Help me discover your world, Mikolen, so I'll know. I will listen carefully and learn as much as I can. Give me time to absorb all the magnificent inventions and surprises that the future…the present…holds. And when the time is right, when we both feel comfortable here together, then, please, ask me again. Will you?"
He let out an audible sigh and pulled her to him, wrapping his long arms around her. "Katera, you can be sure this is now my number one project." Thank you, Lupana , she thought, sending her eyes to the heavens. He understands, and I haven't lost his love. "I hope you'll still wear my ring," he added, and held her at arm's length.
"Of course I'll wear it." She fingered the ring and smiled. Being with Mikolen felt so right. If only her family could be with her-she needed to share her joy with them. An ache tugged at her heart. Would she really never see them again? Were Rorken and her village lost to her forever? She buried the thought as quickly as it had arrived…no. She refused to believe that. There must be a way. There had to be a way…Mikolen would find it.
"And I still want you live with me, of course." Mikolen picked up her hand. "I can offer you your own bedroom…though it's going to be hard for me to keep out of it." His voice sounded strained, husky. "It's all I can do to keep my hands off you right now."
A shudder of anticipation shot through Katera's body. Mikolen lowered his head to her forehead and kissed it. He bent further to land a peck on tip of her nose, then poised his lips over her mouth. The warmth of his breath drifted over her lips.
"Mikolen?"
He moved his mouth to hers. She inhaled, drawing in the scent of him, and closed her eyes to feel him more fully, to drink in the pressure of his touch. Their lips connected, softly searching, tasting. His hand moved to the small of her back and rubbed lightly, circling. He circled higher, until his hand slid up her spine to her neck. There he cupped the back of it, held it firmly while his mouth explored hers more deeply. Never had Katera known such a kiss. Surrender was the imperative behind it.
She met his probing tongue with a low moan. Maybe this was the time to give him what she'd saved all her life. She felt ready…almost.
She dropped her hands and pulled out of his embrace. His eyes opened. They held a surprised look.
"What?"
"Believe me, there's nothing I'd like better." Heat spread into her face. "But I need time…time for everything. Do you understand?"
He lifted a finger to her lips. "I understand. And I want you to take all the time you need to feel as comfortable as you can, okay? But I must warn you; when you are ready, when you're real comfortable," he leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips, "then we're going to start the next stage of your education."
His gentility, his acceptance, warmed and relieved her. She blinked, feigning innocence.
"Really? And what stage are we talking about?"
"The stage equipped with soft lights and lots of pillows," he said. "Only, we won't be just acting." He tried to kiss her again, but they were both laughing.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
"Why can't I drive one of those?" Katera asked, jerking her head toward an AeroCar that had taken off and was streaking skyward.
"Because," Mike explained for the second time that afternoon, "you have to master your ground skills and get a license before you can start on the flyers. It takes practice." He pointed to the forward icon blinking on the console in the Micro, the smart looking LandCar that he'd purchased to teach Katera to drive. "Press that," he said, and settled into the passenger's seat.
It was a little disconcerting to hand her the controls after a mere seven-month's exposure to his world, but she'd insisted. The weather in Ocean Park where they lived had look good that morning. It was as good a day as any for a ride. At least driving was not a difficult skill to master. Ease of operation made it a child's game. Still, there were rules.
"I've had practice flying…lots of times."
Mike laughed. "Takataks don't count for squat here. There are no Tatatak licenses at the LAUD Bureau."
The officials at the Land, Air, and UnderSea Driving Bureau would likely tip over when she appeared to get her license. A life filled with rocsadons, kiddiks, and simple bows and arrows was hardly a commendation for driving in the twenty-third century.
"Only because there are no takataks," she challenged. "If there were, I'd be an ace pilot."
"As I recall, the takatak did all the driving, and you just went along for the ride."
"Hey," she barked, feigning indignation. "Those leather harnesses are complicated. If you don't center it just right, it could throw the takatak off balance, and it would drop you like a…like an anchor ."
Mike heard the pride in her voice as she belted out one of her new vocabulary words. Since he'd employed the tutor several months ago, she practiced new words constantly. Amazing progress, Jay Schneider, the tuto
r told him. That, and she's a genius. What an intellect. Jay had explained that she'd transferred her writing skills from Parallonian to the English alphabet with incredible ease. She also excelled in science and math, which he tailored to aid in her assimilation. She asked tons of questions and advanced so rapidly that it sent Jay scrambling back to the master plan every few days to modify her curriculum.
"An anchor. Good analogy," Mike commented.
He cast a sidelong glance at her as she eased the Micro past a group of children, tracing her finger around the representational images of the children on the simulation pad. The Micro responded efficiently, veering off the main track and onto one of the innumerable side tracks that were buried underground and kept the vehicle magnetically on course.
She was fully occupied, fitting for a first driving lesson, so he relaxed a little. It was good to see her engaged, and he knew she needed this-this, and the tutoring sessions. And not just to aid in her adjustment to his world-her world, he reminded himself-they served as distractions to keep her mind off the tricky stuff…stuff that had the power to turn her instantly misty-eyed, such as any mention of Parallon or her family.
Since she'd been asking to see the underwater city of Suela del Mar, he figured he'd let her drive there for her first lesson. Located twenty miles offshore from Ocean Park past the San Pedro continental shelf, the ride would allow her both land and underwater driving experience. With the advent of atmospheric controls, and more importantly, the seal created from an impenetrable material, the conversion of LandCars into underwater vessels had become a reality. It was no longer necessary to switch to a WaterCar to finish the route. Since driving underwater was easier than driving on land, the trip to Suela del Mar seemed like a natural choice. She should have a smooth experience, except for the Transition Belt, of course, but he'd help her through that.
Pushing her finger over the pad, Katera guided the Micro onto the busy Landway, the six-lane thoroughfare that ran through the city of Ocean Park in the West Divide of World Union I. The sun sparkled off the tall buildings as she navigated through the speeding traffic. Five miles ahead, the Landway ran into the Transition Belt, a stretch of track a mile long that allowed drivers time to convert their LandCars into water vessels before plunging down the track onto the Waterway, and disappearing into the Pacific Ocean. It would require special attention as controls were adjusted to create the appropriate internal atmosphere and cover the exterior with an ultra-thin layer of indestructible Planck material.