The Significant

by Kyra Anderson

  “I know,” Dr. Busen said. “But, if she’s going to be traveling off-planet, I need to give her a clean bill of health, and I certainly can’t do that if I never see her.”

  As the doctor set his briefcase on the table and opened it, Kailynn’s jaw dropped.

  “She’s going off-planet?”

  Dr. Busen turned around, surprised.

  “Did you not know?”

  “No.”

  “It was only confirmed today,” Rayal interjected. Kailynn rounded on him, glaring at him for not telling her that Isa would be going to another planet. “The Alliance is having a meeting to discuss the attack on the Syndicate and what to do with the Ninth Circle.”

  “Dr. Busen,” Tarah greeted, walking into the living room.

  “Hello, Tarah,” Dr. Busen said with a smile. “Is she here?”

  “She’s in the office. I’ll show you to her.”

  “Actually, I would prefer if you would forcefully yank her away from work,” Dr. Busen said, sighing and shaking his head. “I swear, these Elites…”

  “How is Remus?” Kailynn asked.

  “He’s doing much better,” Dr. Busen assured. “He’s healing very nicely. In about two weeks, I’ll release him. He’s going to have to do some physical therapy and regain his strength, but he’ll make a full recovery.”

  “That’s a relief,” Kailynn said with a nod.

  Dr. Busen smiled. “I’m relieved to hear you say that.”

  “Why?”

  “I was worried that you would be predisposed to dislike Remus,” Dr. Busen explained. “Considering the situation.”

  “…oh.” Kailynn chose not to tell the doctor about the number of time she was extremely jealous of the bond that Isa and Remus clearly shared.

  “Remus is a very good man,” Dr. Busen said seriously. Rayal lowered his eyes to the ground. “He has been through much, and he has done a lot of things that are very difficult to forgive, but no one can deny how important he is to Isa and his loyalty to her.”

  Rayal turned to Tarah.

  “Tarah, I’ll get her.”

  He left the living room and Dr. Busen made a face.

  “I keep forgetting how much he dislikes Remus.”

  “He does?”

  “Yes,” Dr. Busen said. “Anyway, how have you been, Kailynn?”

  “Honestly? Not great. I keep expecting the building to explode, or something.”

  “There is a lot of anticipation in the air,” Dr. Busen agreed. “But there is no need to worry. Security around the planet has been tripled and everyone is on alert.”

  Dr. Busen stood with Tarah and Kailynn in the living room, talking about how he would likely be over every day to be sure that Isa was healthy enough for the meeting with the Alliance. He was discussing how to keep an eye on her when Isa walked into the room, looking pale and tired, though that did nothing to distract from her beauty.

  “Dr. Busen,” she said with a weak smile.

  “This is why you cannot skip appointments,” Dr. Busen said. He shook his head, walking over to Isa and grabbing her wrist, pinching it as he glanced at his watch. “Isa, I have hundreds of hours invested in your health, but you seem to like to challenge me at every turn.”

  “Admit it,” Isa said with a small smile, “if I wasn’t such a difficult patient, you would not be so innovative in your treatments.”

  “You get no credit for that,” Dr. Busen chuckled. “Your appearance is worrisome.”

  “You know, there are several who find me quite attractive,” Isa said with mock-hurt.

  Dr. Busen chuckled and motioned to the couches in the living room.

  “Sit. I’m going to give you a full exam.”

  “I have an appointment for a full exam next week,” Isa reminded him, though she moved to obey.

  “Yes, and I’m sure that, when the time comes, you will ditch once more.”

  Isa sat down heavily on the couch, letting out a long sigh. Kailynn sat next to her.

  “Are you really going to another planet?”

  “In about a month,” Isa said with a nod. “I’m going to Fortunea. The Alliance is meeting to discuss the current state of affairs.”

  “Why do you have to be there in person if you can just use the Opium mode on the chair?” Kailynn asked, confused.

  “With so many members of the Alliance, it becomes extremely difficult to coordinate. Also, having so many planetary leaders in Opium, it’s very easy to plan assassinations. It’s safer, in situations like this, to meet in person.”

  “I’m going to ask you to stay out of Opium for a while,” Dr. Busen said, walking to Isa and sitting in front of her on the coffee table, opening his briefcase once more. Kailynn glanced at Tarah and Rayal, who were standing by the bar. Tarah was looking up at Rayal, smiling broadly as he grinned gently back at her. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss, giggling quietly when they parted. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen.

  Dr. Busen continued with his basic examinations, checking Isa’s pulse, blood pressure, and her wound from the ambush of the Syndicate Building. The longer he continued the exam, the more drawn his face became. Kailynn tried not to feel nervous, but she could tell that there was something bothering the doctor.

  Dr. Busen sat back, looking over Isa.

  “Everything alright?” Isa asked.

  “No,” he said simply. “Something’s not right.”

  “I feel alright. Tired, but that’s it.”

  “Headaches?”

  “I’m bound to get those if I only get an hour of sleep a night,” Isa said with a tired laugh.

  “Stand up.”

  The Elite complied and Dr. Busen pushed the coffee table away, turning back to her and holding out his hand.

  “Right hand,” he said. She lifted it and he gently took her wrist, holding her hand at the level of her belly. “Push up.” She did so, fighting against the pressure he put on her arm, familiar with the exercise. He shifted, putting his hand under her wrist. “Push down.” He moved her hand and put his fist against her palm. “Push out.”

  She completed the exercise and he motioned for her other arm.

  She was significantly weaker on her left side.

  He looked at her, his eyes showing his concern.

  “Sit down.” When she was seated, he pulled the coffee table back and sat on it, leaning forward and placing a hand on each of her shoulders, feeling around the muscle and collarbone. When he pushed on the left side of her neck near her collarbone, she hissed and backed away. He sighed and continued the examination, finding the painful points on the left side of her neck.

  When he reached her jaw, she immediately backed away.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  Dr. Busen looked at her suspicious.

  “Recite your vowels,” he said seriously.

  She sighed heavily, making a face.

  “Michael—”

  “Isa,” he interrupted quickly, “recite your vowels.”

  She opened her mouth to enunciate the letter A, and when she shifted her mouth to enunciate E, she flinched and sighed, defeated.

  “Okay, remember what I told you?” Dr. Busen said, exasperated.

  “Yes.”

  “Yet, you decide to ignore me?”

  He leaned forward and pressed his fingers into her jaw, moving them slowly. “Open your mouth.” She slowly did so. “Close.”

  “What’s wrong?” Kailynn asked.

  “She’s suffering reconstructive deterioration,” Dr. Busen murmured, asking her to open her mouth again as he peered inside, feeling along her cheek.

  “What’s that?”

  “When she fell five years ago, she received substantial injuries, particularly to the shoulder, neck and face. I had to reconstruct the entire left side of her face, including the eye, tongue, and nose. But Elites do not react well to reconstruction. For some reason due to their immune system and the way their g
enes are manipulated, the new tissue breaks down. For some it take several years, for others it takes only a few months.”

  He sighed and lifted his finger.

  “Follow my finger without moving your head.”

  She did so, but as she turned her eye to the left, her eyes began closing and she cringed away, dropping her head.

  “That’s what I was worried about,” Dr. Busen said. He reached forward and pressed his fingers carefully around the eye. Isa backed away quickly when he pushed under her eye above her cheekbone.

  “Sorry,” he said, pressing a little more gently. “No wonder you have a headache. There is a deposit of fluid here.”

  “Is she going to be alright?”

  “Yes, thankfully, since we caught it now,” Dr. Busen said. He reached back to his bag and pulled out a syringe. “Isa, lie down. I’m going to drain that.”

  Kailynn quickly stood and turned away, refusing to watch the process.

  When he was finished, he pulled out a bottle of pills and extracted two. As he reached for another bottle, he glanced at Kailynn.

  “Could you get her a glass of water?”

  “I’m giving you a couple things,” he said, grabbing yet another bottle as Kailynn went to the bar. “This is for the headaches. This is to slow the deterioration. In the next few months, I’m going to have to reconstruct everything again.”

  “…can’t you leave it?” Isa asked hopefully.

  “Not if you don’t want your face to collapse and your skull to deteriorate around your brain,” the doctor quipped. “I didn’t have you on the table for twenty-seven hours for nothing.”

  “Twenty-seven hours?” Kailynn gaped.

  Dr. Busen nodded.

  “The damage was extensive. We thought we were going to lose her.”

  Isa sighed, too tired to ask the doctor not to say things to scare Kailynn.

  “Take all of these,” Dr. Busen said, handing the pills over to Isa as Kailynn walked over with the water. “I’m going to monitor you for two weeks. If nothing has improved by then, then I can’t sign off on you going off-planet.”

  “Just tell me how many to take of what and I’ll do it,” Isa assured quietly, lifting the first pill to her mouth.

  “No,” Dr. Busen said. “I’ll come over and administer them every day.”

  “Why?” Isa asked, laughing brokenly.

  “For my own peace of mind,” he said. “So I don’t lie awake at night agonizing over whether or not you took them.”

  Dr. Busen concluded his examination and made Isa swear not to work for the rest of the night. He left saying he would be back the following day and that he expected Isa to eat something and sleep for the entire night.

  Kailynn extended her hands to Isa.

  “What?”

  “Let’s take a shower,” she said. “The hot water will relax you. Then you can eat and we can go to bed.”

  Isa sighed, but did not protest. She let Kailynn lead her to the shower and they both stepped under the hot spray.

  “Have you ever been to Fortunea before?” Kailynn asked as she ran the washrag over Isa’s shoulders.

  “Yes,” Isa said. “It’s a beautiful planet. There is a lot more foliage and wildlife than here on Tiao.”

  “I’ve never heard of it before.”

  “It’s the third power in the Alliance,” Isa explained. “Tiao is the first, and a planet called Kreon is the second.”

  “What’s it like to travel to another planet?”

  “Long,” Isa chuckled, turning around, her arms wrapping around Kailynn. “We’ll be spending a week on the ship alone. Then a few days on the planet just to turn around and spend a week on the ship again.”

  “I’ve never been on a ship before.”

  Isa smiled gently.

  “I would say it’s nothing special, but that’s because I have traveled so many times, I grow weary of the travel.” Isa took Kailynn’s hands in hers and kissed the fingertips briefly. “With something of this magnitude, it is not uncommon for the leading powers to bring an entourage of people. The entire Syndicate will be going, including the new girl, Tia. And I’ll likely have Rayal join me, as well.”

  “Sounds like quite an ordeal,” Kailynn said, trying not to let her disappointment show.

  “There are going to be at least twenty-one different planetary leaders there with their entourages. It will be difficult to keep up with everything.” Isa glanced down at Kailynn’s hands in hers and smiled. “Perhaps it would be best if Rayal had his assistant join him.”

  Kailynn’s face lit up immediately.

  “Really?” she gasped. Isa nodded.

  “I think an assistant would be necessary for this meeting.”

  “Thank you!” Kailynn breathed, wrapping her arms around Isa’s neck and clashing their lips together. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

  Isa chuckled into the kiss and her arms tightened around Kailynn’s waist.

  “There is one thing, though.”

  “What?”

  “We,” she motioned between them, “will have to be twice as careful. The Alliance is shaky, and everyone is nervous. They will look for any means to get to me to tear down my regime. Therefore, we have to be very careful about how we interact.”

  “I will be on my best behavior,” Kailynn said strongly. “I promise.”

  Kailynn was so excited to travel off-planet that the days were crawling by for her. For everyone in the Syndicate, the days were passing too fast. Trying to repair the Syndicate Building, train a new Elite fresh out of the Academy, and handle the press and other planets when it came to the attack on the Syndicate was causing tension to run high among the Elites.

  As promised, Dr. Busen was over every day to check Isa’s condition. She seemed to improve under his very careful watch. Similarly, the other Elites healed well from all injuries received during the ambush, and Remus was released from the hospital, though he was asked not to work until traveling off-planet to preserve his strength.

  The day to leave the planet came closer and Kailynn could hardly sleep she was so excited. It had always been a dream of hers to leave Tiao and see the other planets in the Altereye System. She had always assumed it would only be a dream that she could never achieve, but it filled her with hope on the days she had needed it. Realizing that the dream was about to become a reality, she could hardly contain herself.

  Tarah, on the other hand, was less than enthusiastic.

  She had been left alone in the house before when Isa went off-planet on other occasions, but with Rayal leaving, she was disappointed that she could not join them.

  Isa apologized that she could not take the caretaker with them, and even though Tarah understood why, she tried not to be hurt that Isa found a way to make Kailynn part of her political entourage, but could not do the same for her.

  Rayal did whatever he could to cheer her up, though he knew she was going to be upset for a while.

  “I’ll be sure to vidcall every day,” he said to her when she was pouting about being left alone in the house for a nearly month with Rayal gone.

  In the final days before the trip, Kailynn was sure she never slept.

  Going to the docking station for the ship was a surreal experience. She was waiting to wake up and realize she had been dreaming.

  The security around the Syndicate was extremely intimidating, even for Kailynn who was being protected by the same detail. There were armed robots all around them and the live guards walked around that circle, their guns in front of them, prepared. They spoke quietly to the scouts they had around the entire docking station. All commercial transportation had been halted for that morning, meaning the docking station was mostly-empty, but with the attack on the Syndicate Building, no one wanted to take chances.

  Kailynn glanced through the windows at the various ships in the station, enthralled and amazed. She stayed close to Rayal and he constantly had to call to her to remind her that they had to be at the ship at a certain time an
d they could not linger.

  They entered a large hanger where a ship sat idling quietly, being loaded and double-checked by the crew. The ship was black and grey in color, the sleek design accented by the dark colors against the white hanger walls. When the crew saw the Elites walking toward them, they stopped and bowed their heads, waiting for the group to go up the ramp into the ship. The robots would be joining them as security detail for the ship, but the humans stayed behind.

  Once inside, several of the small bots that patrolled the ship led various Elites to different areas of the ship. Kailynn and Rayal went one direction while Isa, Remus, and a few other Elites went to the other side of the ship.

  The inside of the ship was not at all like what Kailynn pictured. There were long hallways with ornate designs along the walls, and the black panels she had seen on the ship were large, albeit dark, windows. There were several seating areas with interactive coffee tables, like what Isa had at home. There were NCB chair and NGS chairs in various alcoves of the ship, surrounded by ornate, beautiful dividers that made Kailynn feel like she had stepped into an exclusive club.

  The bot stopped in front of one door, turning its wheels so the screen was facing the two passengers.

  Rayal pressed the open button on the door and stepped into the room.

  There were two beds in the room attached to a bathroom and a sitting area with a large screen. The wall on the far side of the room was made up of dark windows, allowing Kailynn to see the hanger as everyone continued preparations.

  “This is amazing…” she whispered.

  “You should see some of the big commercial ones,” Rayal chuckled, setting both their bags on the floor near the beds.

  “There are ships bigger than this?” she gasped.

  “Yes,” he said. “This is actually a relatively small ship. It’s a special class ship, used only for the Syndicate. No markings, no distinguishing features other than the frequency of its communication. For obvious reasons, we don’t want to draw attention to the Elites when they’re traveling. That’s why we don’t use the big, lavish resort ships.”

  “I would like to see those,” Kailynn breathed, looking around the comforts of the room, wondering how anything could be more lavish.