by Eileen Sharp
She looked back down at her cell band and started crying again. He patted her on the head again. “Are you crying for all the kids I’m going to beat up?”
She nodded, laughing and crying at the same time. “Yes.”
They drove up the mountain to a small cottage, very Old Earth style, with shutters and a chimney peeking out from the roof.
A chef had already been there, and a fragrant dinner was in the oven. They made a fire in the fireplace, and the four of them sat around the table by the fire and ate dinner. When a bowl of peas was passed around, Joshua waited for Caina to dump her portion on his plate, moving his arm out of the way for her.
Her mother fussed. “Oh no, Caina, eat your peas.”
Joshua rolled his eyes at her. “Just don’t give her any. It only means I have to eat twice as much.”
“You probably don’t like them either,” their dad observed, spearing a few on his fork.
“They’re okay,” Joshua said, smiling at the small lie.
Caina dumped a few more peas on his plate.
He pushed them into his mashed potatoes and shook his head at her, secretly relishing every moment. He had the rest of his life to belong here, to them.
Chapter Four
Homecoming
FOUR YEARS LATER
CAINA LEANED OUT over the balcony, the cool summer breeze brushing against her gown. The gardens spread out before her, as far as she could see, almost to the fading sunset on the horizon. The sounds of the party below drifted up, music and voices blending in with the soft night air.
She sighed, keeping her gaze to the sky, looking for signs of Joshua’s arrival. Her parents were throwing a big party; it was a tradition they’d started whenever he came home from school at the end of the year. They loved to use any opportunity to celebrate something for him.
The day he’d accepted their offer of adoption had been the happiest day of her life. It was like she and her parents had always been waiting for him, and when he came into their lives their family was complete.
The extravagance tonight went beyond reason, with an orchestra and Old World candles burning in elaborate candelabras. premiers from other colonies, galactic alliance leaders, and other dignitaries chewed on delicate pastries down in the ballroom. Many of the colonial premiers were new, however, and she didn’t know them.
The sky deepened from purple to black, and the second moon began to rise when she finally saw the lights of his journey skiff. It drew closer, and then banked in a deliberate arc towards the estate’s landing bay.
She turned from her perch and ran out of the room into the corridors. She let her feet hit the floor hard, her dance shoes slapping the floor. The simple white gown she wore was long and flowing, but the fabric was light and easy to move in.
The great wooden doors to the orangerie opened for her, the sensors detecting her haste. The heady scent of lemons and oranges filled the great glass room as she raced through the trees. In the winter, the orangerie was a small heaven—the air warm and sharp with the tang of citrus while the cold raged outside the windows. It was one of her favorite places, but she had no time to admire it tonight.
The landing bay doors opened and the smell of metal and burnt grease hit her. The whine of the landing journey skiff keened for a moment as it touched down on the floor, and a blast of hot air rushed against her face. The engine slowly died, the bay becoming quiet.
The skiff opened when Caina was halfway across the bay. Joshua stepped out in full uniform. He was still very tall, though he hadn’t grown at all since his sixteenth birthday. His hair was cut short—military academy length. His red eyes met hers.
He’d never been able to remember anything from his past. There were times when he’d told her that he thought he might go insane with wanting to know. He finally had to forget he ever had another life. The night he stood up from the wreckage of the broken transport had been his birth, in a way.
She waved at him, quickening her pace. Cristian stepped out of the skiff behind him. Joshua’s friend since high school, Cristian’s black hair and pale skin made him easy to find in a crowd. He had a wide face and a mouth that was quick to smile or smirk, with blue eyes that saw everything yet revealed none of what he thought. He was introspective around strangers, yet open and generous to his friends.
“Are we too late?” Cristian asked.
She sighed, feigning nonchalance and playing with her hair. “Yes. I’m the only one left. Everything has been eaten and all the musicians are have left. Too bad you missed it.
Joshua snatched her in a giant, purposefully awkward hug. “Hey, Pest. I missed you so much,” he said. He teetered around with her in a drunken dance until she laughed.
She pushed his arms away. “No wonder you’re still single.”
“Ah, that’s so sweet. Let’s go find Mom and Dad.”
When they entered the white and gold ballroom, Joshua’s eyes widened, and Caina had to laugh.
“Wow. Mom is insane,” he said.
In mere seconds their mother found them and embraced Joshua. She wore an elegant burgundy gown, and had drawn her gray-sprinkled hair away from her face with diamond clips. Her face was softened by age, though she had no wrinkles on her forehead or around her eyes. It was too easy to erase those, so she had. She kept her silver hair as a favor to Caina, who insisted.
"I've missed you!' their mother said.
"Hi, Mom," Joshua said, folding her carefully in his arms.
“Another impressive year at school," their father said, his smile spare but genuine. He was not one for gushing out sentimental praises or hugs.
“Thanks, Dad.” Joshua was pleased anyway, Caina could tell.
“Hello Cristian,” their mother said, giving him a hug.
He smiled shyly. “Hi, Mrs. West.”
"Have you eaten?" their mother asked.
"We’re always eating, Mom," Joshua assured her. “Although, you’ve got enough food here to feed the academy. And all these candles…very retro. The whole Old World thing is very nice. A little much for just me, though.”
She waved a hand. “The look on your face was worth it.”
He gazed around at the dancers. “We haven’t danced since the last ridiculous party you had. Would you?” he asked and held out his hand.
She smiled. “Of course.”
Joshua paused for a moment, finding the beat and then they danced away. Before her father could say anything, Caina fluttered her lashes at him and offered her hand. "Dance with me, Father?"
His eyes twinkled at her. "I'd love to."
She looked back at Cristian. A long-legged girl in a silky short dress was already walking toward him. Caina suppressed a pang of jealousy and turned her attention to her dad.
Like everything he did, her father approached dancing with calculated skill. She wasn’t sure how much he actually enjoyed it, but she was proud of how smoothly they twirled around the dance floor. The polished floor gleamed under the gold lights of the Old World chandeliers, and the scents of the garden flowers drifted in through the open ballroom doors. It was the perfect way to welcome her brother home, no matter how he protested.
Her father bowed to her at the end of the dance, and she curtseyed dramatically. The Old World ways of Earth were cherished and remembered in a few formal gestures, and Caina loved them. It still remained one of the most beautiful planets beyond the twin galaxies. She read somewhere that if all the people in the colonies were to try to go back to earth, there wouldn’t be room. Space exploration had been the beginning of never-dreamed peace for Earth. Once technology had advanced enough for people to live on other planets, colonists were eager to do what they couldn’t do on earth—choose the political system they believed in. Capitalism was always popular, but social justice proponents made their own colonies, too, with tightly regulated economies that eliminated super wealthy or super poor. Remington was not one of these, but she’d visited one. They usually collapsed and resurrected themselves on a regular basis.
&n
bsp; Cristian claimed her for the next dance, to her surprise. He was going to make a lot of the other girls angry for wasting a dance on her, she thought.
She tried not to think of every place he touched her, but as they talked, she was aware of his hand on her waist, his thumb right above her hip through the thin fabric of her dress. There was nothing sisterly about the way she felt when they danced.
“I neglected to mention that you aren’t hideous in that dress,” he said, a mischievous smile on his lips that made her heart jump.
“Why, thank you. You also, are not hideous this evening.”
"I heard you were accepted into the Remington Ballet Company. Congratulations," he said, going from teasing to sincere.
"Well, there's only one ballet company in the colony, so there isn't much of a selection," she reminded him.
"Congratulations, anyway."
"Thanks."
"What are your plans after you graduate?"
“I’m not sure. Probably work with my dad." If she and her brother gained enough experience, it was possible they could either find themselves on the board itself or as a candidate for premier. That would take many years, but her father seemed to like the idea.
"No dancing?" He asked, his mouth almost in a frown.
She rose on her toes and twirled herself around. "I'll always dance. Don't worry about me." She fell back on her heels.
Cristian deftly caught her hand as she finished the turn, his hold firm and confident. "It’s not only me. Joshua worries sometimes.”
Surprised, she almost tripped over the next step. "Why?"
"He wonders why he never hears about any of your friends.” He paused and then added, “That doesn't mean you don't have any. Maybe you just keep them to yourself.”
She discarded one reply after another. What could she say? A lot of the kids who befriended her in school only did it because of her family name. They’d gone from tormenting her out of jealousy to trying to win her favor. She didn’t know how to respond to either. "If I wanted friends I could have them," she finally said.
"That's what I told him," he said and drew her in close for an extra spin that wasn’t in the waltz, her body against his. It lasted only a second but it derailed her thoughts.
She looked away, hoping he wouldn’t see her blush. "So are you going home for the break?" she asked him.
"Yep. I'm using my military academy training to help out with my father's business."
She blinked in confusion. His father was a financial trader. Neither the pilot training program nor any of the military training would be useful.
“Knowing how to run through an obstacle course in the rain will really be helpful,” he said, his eyes mocking her.
"Ah, of course," she smiled sheepishly, finally catching his sarcasm. Really, what else was there to do with a military academy training other than to join one of the various planetary security companies? There hadn't been a war in hundreds of years, and there probably wouldn't be. Unions and agreements between colonies shifted as easily and bloodlessly as legal contracts were signed. The Twin Galactic Alliance didn’t even have a military, something that had been debated lately. A faint rumor had started a few years ago about an aggressive alien race encountered in other galactic systems. There was no evidence yet, though it was causing a lot of buzz. Ever since the first colony, people had talked about the possibility of meeting new species, but so far that hadn’t happened.
"I don’t regret picking the academy, though. Sterling has the best pilot program and a great reputation academically,” Cristian said.
"Joshua is glad you are there. He knows you had other choices."
"Yeah, he’d be lost without me. Poor kid."
She made a gagging face.
"Nice," he replied drily. The music ended and he bowed to her, his eyes holding hers. She must have held his gaze too long because he winked at her. It would have been flirtatious if it were not Cristian.
“Where did Joshua disappear to?” she asked. He jerked his head in the direction of a group of people laughing. “Over there, with Romana.”
A dark-haired beauty stood next to Joshua. Her hand lingered on Joshua's sleeve and he had an arm around her waist.
“Who is Romana?”
“Her father was just appointed premier of Tremont Colony on Benning 2.”
“Well, that tells me so much, thank you for nothing,” she said as woodenly as possible.
He sighed. “Okay. They met at a Terraball game. She’s hot for him and a little too full of herself. Beautiful and very aware of it.”
“What does Joshua think?”
He shrugged. “He’s been out with her, but I didn’t ask for details.”
She stared over at them. Romana flicked her hair from her cheek with a graceful finger, and glanced in their direction. She wore a snug silver dress that moved with her skin, her curves accented to an almost embarrassing degree. Caina casually turned her gaze to Cristian. “I think you should dance with her.”
He held her gaze. “Why do you hate me so much?”
“So many reasons, Cristian. So many.”
He took Caina’s hand and walked through the crowd, digging his thumb into her palm. It was supposed to annoy her, but she found herself suppressing a laugh when it tickled. They reached the small circle of people around Joshua, and Cristian held up Caina’s hand, dangling it from his fingers.
“Look what I found.”
Joshua took his arm away from Romana’s waist, his red gaze brightening. “It’s a sister. I better rescue you. She can be really annoying.”
Cristian smiled at Romana. “It’s so true.”
Strains of a slow, stately waltz began. Cristian offered his hand to Romana. “Would you care to dance?”
The dark-haired beauty let a long leg slip out of the slit in her dress, and then put a delicate hand on his. “I was wondering when you’d notice me, Mr. Trask.”
He smiled and led her out to the dance floor, leaning over to say something in her ear that made her laugh.
Joshua turned to Caina. “Are we dancing?”
She jutted out her hip in an exaggerated, sexy pose. “I was wondering when you’d notice me, Mr. West.”
He rolled his eyes. “Her father’s prestige is new. It might have gone to her head.”
“She was probably like that before her father was made premier.”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. She just sort of showed up a few months ago.”
“Spawned out of thin air?”
“Maybe. It feels like that keeps happening. I was going to try to impress Dad by chatting up some of the premiers we used to visit, but I couldn’t find any of the ones I knew.” His red gaze roamed over the room.
“Some of them are retiring, and some of the boards are just looking for fresh blood,” Caina said.
“I can’t see Dad retiring. He loves Remington too much,” he said.
“Yeah, he does.”
A movement from across the dance floor caught her attention. "I think Mom is vidding us."
“She likes those nice sibling moments.” His eyes turned speculative. “It would be a shame if we ruined it.”
"Make it spectacular,” she advised.
"As you wish."
She was laughing before he even tripped and clumsily collided with her, dropping her on the floor. She kicked his foot out from under him and he sprawled next to her.
Cristian gallantly came to her rescue, pulling her up. Caina was pretty sure her mother had stopped vidding by then until she looked over and saw her mother wave.
By the time the guests had left the party, Caina found herself truly tired. The second moon was high, almost perfectly centered in the sky, and the night had cooled.
Her parents found her as the catering crew were taking down the tables. Her dad kissed her forehead. “Hey, sleepy girl. We’re turning in for the night. Maybe you should do the same.”
She nodded over to Joshua and Cristian who were throwing grapes at eac
h other. “I’m going to supervise the children.”
Her mother laughed. “Have fun. Good night.”
Caina followed the boys into the kitchen where they collected some snacks and trooped up to Joshua’s suite.
A holopad sat in the center of the game room, surrounded by several couches. Recessed neon lights glowed from the walls, allowing for some ambient light when they played games in the dark. It was the same decor he’d decided on when he’d first moved in.
Caina kicked off her shoes and collapsed on one of the sofas. The boys did the same, taking off their uniform jackets. Cristian balled up his socks as usual. They’d probably make their way under the couch and be forgotten for weeks. They started the game, with Cristian dominating right away. Joshua looked over and shook his head, a wicked smile on his face.
“What was that?” Caina laughed, throwing a pillow at him.
“Oh, I just happen to know he’s going to lose, that’s all.”
Smiling at them, she curled up and fell asleep to the sound of the game and their voices. It almost felt like the days before they’d left for the academy. She hoped they’d always be this way.
Chapter Five
Night Run
SHE HEARD HER NAME, but she didn’t know who had spoken it. Still deep in sleep, she heard it again.
Caina.
She opened her eyes. She remembered falling asleep in Joshua’s room. The glow from the holopad lit her brother’s face in eerie shadows, except for his eyes, which caught the light and shone like crimson fire. Cristian sat crouched next to him, the two of them wide awake and alert. Joshua put a finger to his lips.
Cristian whispered, “Someone’s in the house.”
A chill ran over her as she stared back at him. “What?” she whispered back.
The biorecognition system would have locked anyone out who wasn’t authorized. Was he joking?
Joshua turned to the door as if he were listening.
Her thoughts raced to her parents. Were they safe? If the biosecurity system was offline then Colonial Security wouldn’t know their home had been invaded. She turned her wrist to contact security, but it had an icon she’d never seen before, lit in red. She had no connection. Syn and Ays were down. Nothing ever happened to the two communication networks on Huron. If one went down, the other took over. There were also countless backup systems in each region.