* * * * *
She awoke with a disconcerting feeling. What was she forgetting?
Hinev, she had been thinking of Hinev—dreaming, yes—she had been able to sleep! Creator above, was it possible? To really dream again after more than thirty thousand Seynorynaelian years?! She could have stayed in a dream forever, if she didn’t know that Eiron would be there waiting for her when she woke. Living with him had been the best of all dreams.
The transceiver on the wall flashed off and on, pounding out a staccato, high-pitched whine. Eiron stirred with a groan. “Relay message,” he croaked, half asleep.
“Message to Miran Vaikyur-Erlenkov.” Senka Kalear’s voice entered the room. “Ship Sukúr project experiencing delays. Orian attack on Wysteirchan destroyed city two days ago. Collateral damage and casualties, 42,000 lives, two million aileks. Senka Vaikyur charged with deliberate sabotage, failure to alert defenses. Charges dropped upon return of Miran Vaikyur-Erlenkov to build defense ships. Will possibly consider negotiations.”
Eiron’s hand found his forehead, and he began to knead it unconsciously. He turned to face Alessia and realized she’d been listening. He was glad; he wouldn’t have liked to have to repeat the news. She was weighing a decision by her expression, and he remembered that last night she had said that she was planning to tell him something. In the end she had decided it could wait until the morning, since he had returned exhausted from helping Korten II to repair a broken conduit in the weather circulation system.
Suddenly she got out of bed and sat on the edge cross-legged, looking bright and optimistic.
“Are you ready to go back?” she asked, for all the world as though she were unconcerned.
“I can’t just let them take my grandfather.” He shook his head. “I’ve go to find out what’s going on.”
“Of course,” She agreed. “You’d better go tell Kesney that you’re leaving.” She said. “He’ll want to hear news about his family.”
“I won’t be gone long, a few months at the most.” Eiron assured her, sounding more cheerful than he actually felt. “Don’t worry; if I have to swim the ocean to get back, I will.” He said and gave a half-smile.
Alessia watched as he slipped into his uniform.
“All right, I’m just going to tell Kesney what’s happened, but I’ll be back in about an hour to collect some things,” he said. “It’s going to be a little hard to get the fighter out, though. Kesney and I went back up to cover her up a while ago. I never thought I’d need her so soon.” He shook his head, then came to himself. He kissed her and turned to grab his wrist chronometer from the bedside panel.
A moment later, he was gone. Alessia stood and turned the lights brighter. She pushed a button to make the sleep panel retract into the wall. The room seemed suddenly very hollow and empty.
The computer decided it was time to break the silence.
“I knew it wouldn’t last.” Its synthesized voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Who asked you?” She snapped, sitting down on the chair in front of the reflection panel. The image there seemed to surprise her, as it always did, and she turned away from it in a bitter mood. “I thought I turned off your terminal.”
“Eiron turned it back on yesterday for a status report on the sea probe I detected.” The computer informed her.
She sighed, annoyed, reclining in the chair until it tapped against the reflection panel, her mood thoughtful and silent. The computer, though, had no intention of letting her off so easily.
“Weren’t you going to tell him about your child? When you told him you had something to say last night, it sounded as though you were going to, I must say.”
“Maybe I was.” She admitted. “I don’t know now.”
“I know I didn’t believe you when you told me your suspicions—Hinev said that it was impossible for his Immortals to have children. I could never imagine it. After all this time—” The computer continued.
“It looks like Hinev was wrong.” She cut it off. It wouldn’t have been the first time.
“So you aren’t going to tell him before he leaves?”
“I’m thinking about it.” Alessia said.
“You’re afraid.”
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
“But you don’t have much time.” The computer informed her. Alessia sighed, wishing for once that it was possible to turn the whole computer off, not just its terminals.
“Well then I guess I shouldn’t tell him now.” She said. “Anyway, he’s already got enough to worry about.”
“It’s your decision, of course.” The computer said quietly. So quietly she could not hear the note of triumph in its voice.
The Last Immortal : Book One of Seeds of a Fallen Empire Page 67