Ayrie: An Auxem Novel

by Lisa Lace

  "Why not? Don't you hate me or think I'm a witch? Maybe you're thinking about burning me at the stake."

  The smile left his face. "You're serious."

  I nodded, avoiding his eyes. That's why he wasn't upset. He thought I was joking.

  "People treated you that way, Quinn? Because of your gift?"

  I made a face. "Sometimes it feels more like a curse."

  "It's a gift." He put his hand under my chin, forcing me to look at him.

  "Not where I come from," I said, tears in my eyes again.

  "Well," he said, smiling broadly. "I guess you're lucky you're here."

  "What are you talking about, Airik?" I stared at him in bewilderment.

  "It's too bad you didn't read the folder on Koccoran, Quinn. You could have saved yourself a lot of worry."

  "Why?" I frowned.

  "Because," he said, smiling broadly at me. "You happen to have landed yourself on a planet full of psychics."

  I felt my mouth drop open. I knew I was staring, but I couldn't help it.

  "You've got to be kidding me."

  "It's no lie, Quinn. You'll fit right in around here."

  I wrapped my arms around him, and he hugged me tightly. I couldn't keep tears from leaking out. I pulled away from him quickly, hungry for more information.

  "Tell me everything."

  He grinned and pulled out a computer. He quickly retrieved official-looking documents with the Koccoran government logo.

  "This describes the Precog Division of the government," he said, glancing sideways at me. "It's my division. I'm the Director."

  "Of the whole division?"

  "Yep. I'm the youngest ever to hold the post. It was a great honor to get it. I've been working my whole life towards this position. That's why I needed to marry you, in fact. To keep my job."

  "I wondered what it was."

  "My career is everything to me, Quinn. I would do anything to keep it, even marry a stranger."

  "Why would you have to get married to keep your job?"

  "We have a requirement called The Akuna. You have to be married by a certain age, or else there are consequences. If you ask me, it's an old law and should be abolished."

  "Wow," I said, stunned by his revelation. Something else dawned on me.

  "Precog? As in precognition? Like Precogs who have visions?"

  He nodded.

  "So I'm a Precog?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around the sudden shift in perspective. On Earth, I had to conceal my abilities. On this planet, they were desired.

  "I believe you are."

  "If that's your division, does that make you a Precog too? You're like me?"

  "I have visions too. I'm in charge of all the Precogs. What is it, Quinn?" He was staring into my eyes with such compassion that I almost broke down.

  "I've never met anyone who was like me," I said. I felt joyful as he looked solemn.

  "I'm sorry for the way you've been treated in the past, Quinn. I hope you will come to see your power as a gift here on Koccoran." He smiled, looking deeply into my eyes that were bright with tears.

  "Maybe," I said, shrugging.

  "How about we order some food and talk about it more over dinner? We'll make it a date."

  I smiled. "A date? With my husband? Who's a Precog?" I pulled him in for a kiss. "That sounds perfect."

  AIRIK

  I sat across the table from Quinn. It was hard for me to stop gazing into her fascinating blue eyes. I thought for a moment about what she had been through because of her gift, and it made me sad. It was such a waste of talent.

  Quinn started eating her food. "Okay, spill," she said. "What does a division full of people who see visions of the future do? It's not like we can change things. Do you record everything for posterity? That way, the newspapers can have their stories and obituaries ready a few days ahead of time?"

  She was joking. I smiled uncomfortably. She had many misconceptions that needed clarification. I didn't know where to start. Maybe I should knock out the biggest one first.

  "Quinn, listen to me. I don't know what happened to you in the past. You need to clear your mind of everything you thought you knew about your gift."

  She stared at me as she chewed.

  "The future can be changed, Quinn. That's what my division does. We have visions. Many of them are about death. We are trained to open more to those insights to find out when a person is going to die. Then we can go in and save them."

  "All of them?"

  "Almost all of them, unless something goes wrong with the intervention. We have an underpopulation problem on Koccoran. We want as many people as possible to die a natural death. Most people do."

  "Why is the birth rate so low?" she said curiously.

  "I'm not sure. It's something about the environment, and it's been a problem for as long as I can remember. There have always been people who could have visions and who had other mental abilities. My ancestors soon figured out how to use their images to save people's lives. Since then, the problem with the low birth rate has been balanced out with the number of people we save from early death."

  "You sound like a bunch of superheroes," she said admiringly. She took a bite, chewed, and swallowed.

  "I don't know what that means, but I'll take it as a compliment."

  "I meant it as one," she said. "How does your division operate?"

  "Here's how it works." I started recited a workflow that was familiar to me, but foreign to her. It was fascinating to see things through her eyes.

  "A Precog has a vision and alerts their Recorder. We have partners who help us write down visions as they're happening."

  "You can do other things while you're having a vision?"

  "We've had thousands of years to improve our mental abilities, Quinn. We have it down to a science. In fact, it is science. Did you wonder why you had flashes of images when I kissed you? I touched a particular part of your brain that controls intuition and precognition."

  "I didn't know there was such a thing."

  "I used to be a Recruiter before I became Director. Recruiters are always on the hunt for more Precogs. The easiest way to tell if someone's a Precog is to touch the spot on their intuition and precognition cortex."

  "You kissed all your recruits?" she said. She had a funny look on her face.

  "No," I said, laughing and taking a sip of my drink. "I would put my hand on their third eye. It has to be skin to skin contact. I touched your third eye by accident."

  "What happens after the recording?"

  "The visions are analyzed and cross-referenced. Often several Precogs will have visions of the same event. Once we get a few different versions of the same story, we have a good idea of what's going to happen."

  "Okay."

  "Then we pass the information to the ground team. If there's a preventable death, they're responsible for going out and saving lives."

  "That sounds incredible. I tried to prevent one death that I foresaw. It turned out badly for me."

  "Well, we can't save everyone but we do manage to prevent many deaths."

  "I can't believe it."

  "It's my life."

  She stared at me. "You're a lucky guy. I've never even had a job. I spent years hiding my gift."

  "I think that should change, starting immediately."

  "How?"

  "We can always use more talented Precogs. I think you should apply for training."

  "Are you saying I could work as a Precog in your division?" The idea hadn't occurred to her.

  "What do you think?" I asked, smoothing her hair away from her forehead.

  "It sounds like heaven."

  "A job at the Division is work. But this?" I leaned down and kissed her deeply. When we came up for air a few minutes later, I grinned at her. "This is heaven."

  Quinn was, quite frankly, an amazing woman. She was intelligent, beautiful, sexy, and a talented Precog from what I could see, especially since no one had ever trained her. I wasn't in love
with her, but I was pretty impressed with my wife.

  It broke my heart that she had been treated horribly for having a gift like precognition. That's how it was on some of the backwater planets. I was lucky to be born here on Koccoran. I wondered again what her planet of origin was. Kartar hadn't given me any details. But I reminded myself that I didn't really want to know.

  To me, she was just Quinn. I would find out about her as we went along. Right now, she was folding her clothes and packing them in an overnight bag to move into my apartment.

  "I was thinking," I said. "Maybe I shouldn't go to work today. We could go apartment hunting instead."

  "I thought you had a place."

  "I do," I said. Explaining myself was embarrassing. "Now that we're married, I feel like we should start fresh and have something new together." In a place where every room doesn't remind me of Sornalee.

  I wondered if she would think my idea was stupid. I ignored a tiny tab of guilt that I was betraying my true love by striving for happiness with Quinn. But I reminded myself that I had committed to this year. I was going to do it properly. What happened after our divorce would be a different story.

  "Are you sure you want to do that?" She stopped folding, forgetting the shirt in her lap.

  "I do, Quinn. I want this to work. I like you, and we have chemistry. I want us to be happy together."

  "Well then," she said, her eyes shining. "When do we start?"

  "What do you think of this one?" I asked. I turned in the space of the living room and caught a faint scent of fish.

  Quinn wrinkled her delicate nose and shrugged.

  "No? I have one more on my list. The realtor is supposed to meet us here in twenty minutes."

  "Okay," she said, but she didn't look hopeful the way she had at the beginning of the day.

  When we got there, her eyes lit up immediately, and we smiled at each other. It was perfect. I had known it before we walked in. As we followed the realtor on the tour, I held Quinn's hand. I kept getting flashes of us in this place in the future.

  Quinn making supper at the counter in the kitchen. Me working in the office. Us curled up on the couch watching a movie. Quinn having a vision on the floor in the bathroom. Me carrying her over my shoulder to the bedroom. Us making love on the table in the dining room.

  I glanced at Quinn. Her face was a delicate pink color again. I wondered if she was getting the visions at the same time I was.

  I thanked the realtor and asked if we could have a few moments in private to discuss the place. When he shut the door, I turned to Quinn.

  "Well?"

  "I love it. And you do too, don't you? I can tell now."

  "I do. I think it's perfect."

  "Well, and there's the possibilities." She trailed off, biting her lip and dropping her gaze.

  "The visions?" I waggled my eyebrows, and she grinned.

  "That last one was intense."

  "Yes, it was," I said.

  "Does that mean we're going to live here? Are all those things going to happen?"

  "That's usually what it means. But what specifically did you see?"

  She listed off all the things I had seen in my mind, blushing bright red again when she told me about making love on the dining room table.

  "Rooms must be christened, after all," I said.

  She laughed, putting her hand to her crimson face.

  I stopped short all of a sudden as I came to a realization.

  "What is it, Airik?" she said, studying me.

  "Did you have those visions as we were walking through the rooms?"

  She nodded.

  "It almost seems as if we had them simultaneously. That's unusual to say the least. I've never heard of people having simultaneous visions before."

  "What does it mean?"

  "I don't know, Quinn. I don't know." I gazed at her a moment longer before pushing the thoughts aside and changing the subject back to the apartment.

  "Are we taking this place?"

  She nodded happily.

  "Sweet. I'll have someone clean it, and we can stay here tonight."

  "Tonight?"

  "Why not? It will be like camping. I'll take care of all the paperwork. Watch for a message from me to sign it. I'm putting it in both of our names." I started walking out the door. I was going to let the realtor know of our decision but stopped when I saw the look on her face. She looked surprised and gratified that both our names would be on the lease.

  "We're married, Quinn."

  "I know. But I don't know what that means."

  I walked over and put my hands on her shoulders. "I don't know exactly either. To me, it means that we're partners. Equal partners. Lovers. Friends. Who knows what the future will bring?"

  She nodded.

  "Okay. Partners, lovers, friends, and...who knows."

  "That's right. Watch for my message."

  "I'll catch a car back to the hotel and get the rest of my stuff packed up."

  After I had talked to the realtor, we went outside together. When I glanced at her, she was frowning.

  "What is it?" I asked.

  "It's just…" She glanced at me and changed what she was going to say, smiling falsely. I could tell something was wrong. "It's nothing."

  "Tell me," I said insistently.

  "It's just that I thought I saw that guy from the hotel again. I don't know if you read your research report, but he's a member of the Sons of the Heavenly Father."

  " Why didn't you tell me before? They're the ones who tried to kidnap you, right?"

  She nodded.

  "And he's on my planet following you around?"

  "It seems that way," she said. Her face looked calm, but I could sense fear coming off her in waves.

  "You need to be careful. I'm going to alert the police about him. You shouldn't go out without me, okay?"

  "Okay," she said in a small voice.

  "Don't worry. The police will apprehend him. If he even so much as looked the wrong way when he crossed the street, and it's on his record, they'll have him deported." I kissed her and held her face in my hands. "As your husband, it's my job to keep you safe, Quinn. And I'm going to do it."

  She didn't look reassured.

  We took a car together back to the hotel. I made sure she was safe in the room before heading back out to find someone to clean our new apartment...and install a security system.

  That night, Quinn and I sat on the floor against the wall, the remains of our meal beside us.

  "Do you really think I should apply to the Training Institute?" Quinn said, glancing up at me.

  I picked up my glass of wine and took a drink. "If I were still a Recruiter, I would be advising you to apply as soon as possible."

  "I've never done anything like this before. Having my ability out in the open like that for everyone to see makes me uncomfortable, Airik."

  "I know. But that's thinking from your past life. You have to let it go. It's different here."

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm going to have a new life here. It's what I wanted. It's more than what I wanted. I think I should apply too."

  "That's awesome," I said, passing her a computer that sat beside me. She took it, puzzled.

  "What do you want me to do with this?"

  "Turn it on to start."

  It opened to the application I was using to learn English.

  "We'll close this," I said, swiping it away.

  She looked at me strangely. I didn't want her to ask me about my English lessons. My accent was too terrible right now to show anyone. Maybe in a few months, when I knew more and my accent improved.

  I brought up the application for the Training Institute.

  "I didn't mean immediately. Do you want me to apply right now?"

  "There's no time like the present," I said. "It won't take long. I can help you with any parts you don't understand."

  She looked worried. "Airik, if I do this, I need to do it on my own. Not becaus
e you're a bigwig in the Precog Division."

  "I know. I'm not going to interfere. I can just make the process easier for you."

  She looked down at the computer, then back up to me. "Okay, then."

  We filled out the application, and she submitted it. Then she turned off the computer and handed it back to me.

  "Phew," she said. "I can't believe it was that easy."

  "You did it." I smiled.

  "Yup. No turning back now."

  "Would you want to?"

  "Not yet. I'll let you know after I get rejected."

  "Now you're being silly," I said, leaning in to kiss her. "Koccoran needs your visions."

  She giggled into my lips, which made me want her more. Soon we got carried away again. When we finished and lay on the floor side by side, I gave a sigh of contentment.

  "This room's christened, I suppose. Only six more to go."

  She laughed out loud and slapped my shoulder.

  I remembered my time with Sornalee and couldn't believe I had spent a year and a half with her. That had been forgettable.

  This was how a relationship was supposed to be.

  QUINN

  My life had changed a lot in only a few days. Not long ago, I hid in my father's apartment. I only ventured out on errands in the evenings when I would not be conspicuous. I felt like I was a prisoner in jail and forced to hide who I was.

  I still missed my dad terribly, but it wasn't as bad as it was at the beginning. My life here on Koccoran was good, mostly because of Airik.

  He was a Precog just like me. The thought still blew me away. Some considered my abilities a gift here. I could change the future. If I did well in my training, I might be one of the ones that saved people from an early, unnecessary death.

  Me. A savior.

  After all the years of dying inside every time I knew I couldn't save anyone, I would have the opportunity to help the people in my visions. It filled me with hope and happiness. I couldn't wait to get started once I got accepted into the training program.

  Airik said that they took everyone in initially. There were evaluations during the first week to decide who would continue. I was nervous having Airik so involved in the application process, but he couldn't help it. A lot of husband and wife teams worked together. I hoped it would be okay.