by T. M. Catron
“What is it with men and blondes?”
“Aww, c’mon, Mina. It’s not just the hair.”
“Well, maybe not.”
“Do you think hybrids dated humans before the invasion? You know, to blend in?”
“No, I don’t think they did. Doyle told me about one that got in trouble for it.”
“Oh.”
“Just go ask her already.”
“That would be awkward.”
Mina had never met Nelson before the invasion; something told her he’d never dated much. But she wasn’t about to ask to find out.
“What do you think about the technology on this ship?” she asked, wishing to change the subject. “Is it what you expected?”
Nelson perked up. “It’s incredible. Like I said—I wish we could explore. I always imagined meeting a more advanced culture, but this… It’s so far advanced, their tech seems like magic. And Doyle mentioned a computer in the lab. I can’t wait to see it if he’ll let me.”
“I don’t know why he wouldn’t.”
“You think so?”
“Yes.”
“And the adarria. They’re alive, Mina. But I don’t know how. What’s their biology like? Are they organic? Are they made of cells? Or are they really more like a sentient AI?”
“Maybe you can ask Grace those questions. It’ll give you an excuse to talk to her.”
Nelson shook his head. “I don’t want to look like an idiot.”
“Why would you?”
“Because the answers must seem very elementary to the hybrids. They’ve been surrounded by the adarria their whole lives.”
Mina laughed. “You don’t want to look stupid.”
When he didn’t answer, she said, “They’ve lived among humans. And they’re more human than they’re willing to let on sometimes. You should ask her.”
“I think we should all move into the hospital anyway. It makes more sense than for us to be split up.”
“I agree,” Mina said, going over to her pack. She thought Doyle had another reason for her being this close to the training room. He’d wanted her to communicate with the adarria. Could she do it from the hospital?
Since Nelson had contented himself with staring at the floor, she decided to try now.
Mina closed her eyes, thinking about what she wanted to say. Should she address them by their name? Or would they know she was talking to them?
She directed her thoughts by picturing the adarria in her mind.
Adarria.
No answer. Maybe they didn’t answer when they were spoken to like that.
I need to see Doyle. Can you tell him to come get me?
“Hey what was that?” Nelson asked.
Mina opened her eyes. “What?”
“The lights—the adarria—flashed. Is Doyle on his way?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
Did you hear me? she asked.
A pause, then, How are you speaking to us?
“There they are again!”
Mina kept her eyes closed, her thoughts on the symbols around her. The effort from concentrating on them was intense. And when they spoke, she felt enveloped in warm light.
You don’t know?
“Mina?” Carter asked, awake now. “You alright?”
Doyle, she thought.
Mina—are you okay? Doyle’s voice in her mind sounded concerned.
I think I scared the adarria. Didn’t you tell them about me?
“Mina?”
She opened her eyes. Carter was standing in front of her.
“Yes, sorry. I’m just tired. Dozed off for a minute.”
“Sitting up?”
“I’m that tired.” She smiled and stood to face him.
“Are the lights misfiring?” Nelson called. “Can they do that?”
Then the aether at the door disappeared, and Doyle walked through.
“No, they don’t misfire,” he said. He looked straight at Mina. “I thought you’d all sleep longer.”
“Why were the adarria flashing? Is another hybrid doing it?”
“No, my fault,” Doyle said. “Sorry for waking you. I walked by and spoke to them. Then I heard you calling to Mina and came to check on you.”
“We were awake anyway,” Mina said.
“I wasn’t,” Carter mumbled. But he went back to his bunk and lay down again, this time facing the wall with his blanket pulled over his head.
Doyle walked down the aisle and stopped at Mina’s bed. She was excited. She’d done it. Just like that. But Doyle didn’t look too happy.
Why not? Wasn’t that what he wanted?
“Hey, Doyle,” Nelson said. “Why don’t we all go to the hospital? No sense in being split up. And I’ve been thinking about something I want to discuss with Lincoln.”
Doyle tore his eyes away from Mina to look at Nelson. “Up to you.”
“Does this mean I have to get out of bed again?” Carter asked.
They quickly settled into the hospital bay. Alvarez and Lincoln were happy about the new arrangements.
“I am too,” Doyle quietly told Mina. “Now Grace can keep an eye on everybody when I’m not around.”
Mina glanced at Grace before saying, “Are you that worried?”
“I’m concerned the Glyph will say something to another hybrid. I’d rather not deal with that just yet. But if it does, it’ll be good to have Grace around. She doesn’t know about you, but I think I’ll tell her so she won’t be surprised.”
He stood with a hand on the wall behind Mina. Maybe he wanted to be close to her, or maybe he was tired. Had he slept at all?
Mina wanted to address the thing growing between her and Doyle. But lately, they were always surrounded by other people. Her anger from a few days ago had turned to confusion. Doyle had violated her trust and taken advantage of her good faith. But Mina could no longer pretend to be upset at the result.
Now she was confused about her own motivations. If creating more hybrids was the answer to the Condarri invasion, why hadn’t she jumped in to help?
“Did you hear me?” Doyle asked.
“Sorry, what?”
“We’re going to get our first samples of the Glyph today.”
“Are you going to come get me, or should I go with you now?”
Doyle shook his head. “I’m leaving you here.”
“Why? I won’t get in the way if that’s what you’re worried about. And besides, I’m more than curious to see how this all works.”
“The Glyph is too interested in you. I don’t want it to figure anything out.”
“If I promise not to talk to it, can I be there?”
“No.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she hissed.
Doyle glanced over at the others, and she lowered her voice. “If it already knows about me, what harm will it do?”
“The less it sees of you, the better. Trust me on this.” He shifted to leave.
“Doyle.”
He paused.
“You can’t run away every time you don’t want to argue with me.”
Doyle scoffed. “I’m not running away. There’s nothing left to discuss on this.”
Mina’s face burned red. “You can be really arrogant, you know that?”
Doyle stared at her with a blank expression. Then he spoke so low Mina had to strain to hear him.
“Now that we’re on board the Factory, there are certain things you can’t say to me, Mina. I have to maintain control of this ship at all times. And I can’t be viewed as weak.”
“It’s not weakness to listen—”
“You don’t know anything about it! The hybrids admire strength. And they demand it of their leaders. There is no democracy on this ship. Never has been and never will be. And if there’s any hint of me allowing a subordinate to speak to me in the way you just did, I’ll lose face. You can imagine how it would work out if I lost control of the hybrids.”
“Do you think of me as a subordinate?”
Mina was irritated, but her heart beat a little faster as he contemplated his next words. Then he straightened, and his face became unreadable.
“It doesn’t matter how I think of you. What matters is what the other hybrids think of me.”
Mina was annoyed that Doyle hadn’t said what he was actually thinking—again. But what he said made sense.
That annoyed her even more.
Chapter Nine
Lincoln was bored. After they’d brought the mattresses into the hospital, they all managed to get some decent sleep. But after a couple of days, Lincoln had all the rest he wanted. He was the only person confined to his bed.
Doyle rarely showed up in the hospital wing. He’d disappeared with Nick and Li to oversee getting tissue samples from the Glyph. Lincoln would have liked to see that.
Everyone else had spread out around the hospital, picking beds away from one another, looking for some sense of personal space. The first day, Mina had tossed her blanket over the robotic arm above her head, creating a tent over her bed for a semblance of privacy. Everyone else followed suit.
And then there was Grace.
She stayed with them all day, every day. Lincoln never saw her sleep. She walked around the room without making a sound. The habit was a bit creepy, but it was Lincoln’s only complaint about her. He kept it to himself.
Instead, he found himself looking for excuses to get her attention. When he woke, he looked for her. She was never far away. He wondered what she did to pass the time while they were resting. The next time she came over to check his leg, he asked her.
“I secretly watch movies,” she said, pointing to a human tablet on a table nearby.
Lincoln felt a twinge of jealousy. “You could share the wealth.”
“I’m not good at sharing.”
“Seriously, what do you do?”
“Not much. Sometimes I stare at the hologram of Earth.”
“And what does it show you?”
“Anything I want. I mostly scan for Condarri activity.”
Grace pulled the tent around the bed so she could see Lincoln better.
“And?” he asked.
“Now that the invasion is over, the Condarri are gathering more and more around some key locations. One of those is the West Virginia mine. But there’s another in Tibet, near the Tibet-Nepal border. Another in the Alps. Mountains seem to be key.”
“Why, I wonder?”
Grace shook her head. “Your guess is probably better than mine. You’ve been to the one in West Virginia. I haven’t.”
“I never figured out what they were doing there. And I never dreamed the adarria were alive.” He sat up.
Grace shot him her no-nonsense, don’t-even-think-about-standing look. Lincoln settled for propping himself up on his elbows.
“When can I get up again?” he asked.
“Soon, I think. How’s the leg feel?”
Lincoln tried to wiggle his toes. He saw them moving inside his socks. “Still no feeling. You sure this treatment’s going to work?”
“Your nerves were severely damaged. It’s going to take time.”
“Maybe you can adjust the dose, though. So I can at least feel my leg down there.”
“Trust me, with the medication I’m giving you to regrow the damaged tissue, you don’t want to feel everything going on down there. Give it a few more days.”
But Lincoln didn’t feel like giving it a few more days. He wanted to do something. As the day wore on, he began feeling even better.
Nelson started acting weird. Every time Grace came to check on Lincoln, Nelson made a point to be there too. He didn’t say much. Lincoln wanted to laugh at the way he looked at Grace—like a love-struck teenager with a crush.
Grace was way out of Nelson’s league. Lincoln suspected she was way out of his league too. Then he remembered she was part alien, and he cooled off a bit. Wasn’t he angry with Mina for forming a relationship with Doyle? Lincoln couldn’t exactly hold the moral high ground if he began following Grace around like a lost puppy.
The day wore on. Mina came over to sit with him. She smiled when he told her his leg was mending, but the warmth didn’t spread to her eyes.
“I’m surprised you’re not up in the detention center with Doyle,” Lincoln said.
Mina picked at a stray thread on her sweatshirt. “Doyle thinks I need to be down here. He doesn’t want me in the way.”
Lincoln wanted to be happy at this news; he didn’t like that Mina was so close to Doyle. But he felt sorry for his sister. She was stuck here just like he was.
After another day of his enforced bed rest, Grace surprised Lincoln by telling him he could go for a short walk.
“Where will we go?”
“The detention center. Doyle wants to ask you something. And I’m tired of you sitting in here complaining.”
“I haven’t complained that much.”
Mina, who was sitting on the table next to Lincoln’s, rolled her eyes.
“You’re a big baby,” she said. Then she looked at Grace. “He always is when he’s sick.”
“Most men are,” Grace said. The women shared a smirk while Lincoln carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed.
Nelson walked over to see what was going on.
“I imagine your hybrids do better?” Lincoln shot at Grace.
“Well, yes,” Grace said. “But they don’t get sick, so it’s not exactly a fair comparison.”
Lincoln set his feet on the floor and stood. “I can feel the floor.”
“At least you’ll be able to walk up there. I won’t have to carry you.” Grace winked at him.
Nelson scowled.
Lincoln thought about being offended that Grace was laughing at his expense, but her humor didn’t have any malice behind it.
Mina slid off her own table.
“I’m sorry, Mina,” Grace said. “Dar Ceylin wants you to stay here. He told me you’d understand.”
Mina’s face turned pink. “All of you are going and leaving me here?”
Grace scanned the room, looking at Carter and Alvarez, who were whispering. Then she looked at Nelson. “I’m just going to take Lincoln. You will all be safe here.”
“I’m not worried about being safe. I want to get out of this room.”
“We’ll be back after a bit,” Grace said brightly.
Lincoln turned to Mina. “Why doesn’t he want you up there? Does it have something to do with the way that Glyph was looking at you? What was that about, anyway?”
Mina sighed and sat back on the table. She glanced at Grace before saying, “Yes. Something happened on the beach when Doyle captured the Glyph.”
Lincoln felt like he’d swallowed a ball of lead, and it was sliding down his esophagus into his stomach. “What happened?”
“The Glyphs chased me.”
“You didn’t tell me that.”
Mina smiled apologetically. “Didn’t want to worry you.”
Lincoln scoffed. “I was already worried. Why do you always seem to have something chasing you when Doyle’s around?”
Grace cleared her throat. “That’s because Dar Ceylin is always being chased.”
Lincoln glared at Mina. “Maybe you need to spend less time with him.”
“And maybe you need to stop pretending we’re not on a space station after an invasion of Earth. If you spend all your time worrying about me, you won’t be of use to anybody, including yourself.”
“I can’t help but worry about you.”
“And I worry about you!”
“Do you?”
“Of course. But the rules have changed, Lincoln.” Mina glanced at Grace and Nelson. Both had been staring at the siblings with interest. Lincoln couldn’t blame them—the argument was the first exciting thing that had happened in days.
“Can we have a minute?” Mina asked them.
Grace nodded and
slid away. Nelson followed her.
Mina whispered. “I love you. But we don’t need to add stress to this situation because we’re family.”
“And by we, I’m assuming you mean me.”
“We’ve all had to take risks since the invasion. Life will never go back to normal.”
“I know that. You don’t have to lecture me.”
“I’m simply reminding you that you can’t be the protective older brother anymore. You’re going to have to find a different role.”
“Because someone else is already protecting you.”
“Because I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to protect me.”
Lincoln sighed. “You don’t get a choice in that, you know.”
“Please try not to worry. Or at least don’t let it interfere with what we’re doing here.”
“So far we’re not doing anything, but I get it.”
“Do you?”
“I’ll try.”
Lincoln and Grace were silent on the way up to the detention center. Lincoln limped while Grace walked beside him in case he needed a hand. But he was determined to prove he could walk on his own. No more bed rest for him.
On the elevator, Lincoln had to hold on with both hands to make sure he didn’t topple over the side. Something told him all the advanced medicine aboard the Factory wouldn’t save him if he fell from that height.
Just as they reached the locked door, Lincoln asked, “What does Doyle want?”
“An answer to all his problems.”
“I meant what does he want from me?”
“I did too.”
Before Lincoln could ask Grace what she meant by that statement, the door hissed open to reveal Doyle standing on the other side.
“Was Mina upset?” he asked Lincoln without preamble.
Lincoln shrugged. “She wasn’t happy. She told me why you didn’t want her up here.”
Doyle jerked his gaze toward Grace, suddenly looking angry. Then he hurried them through the door and shut it. No one else was inside the detention center. The young Glyph sat inside its cell, head lolling against the glass. It looked like it was knocked out.
Then Doyle surprised Lincoln by shoving him up against the door.
“Hey—”
“Shut up and listen,” Doyle said. “No one else can know about Mina, do you understand?”
Lincoln opened his mouth to ask know what? But then he realized he already knew the answer. “So it’s true,” he said. “You did mark her or something.”