Close Remembrance

by Anna Zaires

  She took a couple of steps back and stared at him, her small chest moving up and down, drawing his attention to the hardness of her nipples underneath her dress. Korum swallowed, remembering their pale pink hue, the way they tasted in his mouth, how they pebbled under his tongue.

  No, don’t fucking go there now. Lifting his eyes back to her face, Korum said, “I know you’re not ready for this yet, my sweet. I won’t hurt you, I promise . . .” And he meant it. He would sooner lose a limb than do anything to traumatize her while she was so vulnerable.

  She bit her lip, then nodded, crossing her arms around her chest in a defensive gesture that sent a pang of regret through Korum. He hated it sometimes, the all-consuming lust he always experienced in her vicinity. She was so tiny, so delicate, her body unsuited for the hard demands he often placed on it. No matter how careful he tried to be, he knew he wasn’t always the most gentle lover, his overwhelming need for her constantly testing his self-control.

  “So what happened?” she asked again, still watching him warily. “Why don’t I remember you, or my sister getting pregnant, or any of this? How did I lose two months of my life?”

  Korum took a deep breath, trying to control the anger still boiling in his veins at the thought of Saret. “Someone I knew and trusted – a man who pretended to be my friend for a long time – did this,” he said evenly. “This person wiped out a portion of your memory as a way to get at me . . . and because he also wanted you.”

  “Really?” Her eyes widened. “Another K?”

  “Yes, another Krinar,” Korum confirmed before explaining the whole story, starting from Mia’s internship and ending with Saret’s betrayal. Not wanting to overwhelm her, he downplayed the part about Saret’s ultimate intentions for her people, as well as some of the complexities of Council politics. She didn’t need to know everything all at once; as it was, he could see that it was already almost too much for her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her, soothe her distress, but he knew she wouldn’t welcome it now – not after the way he’d almost attacked her earlier.

  The best thing to do right now was to give her time, he decided. Time and space to think about everything she’d learned.

  “I have to go now,” Korum said, his heart squeezing painfully at the look of relief on her face. “There are a few things I have to take care of. Why don’t you relax, take it easy for now? I’ll be back in a couple of hours and we can have lunch. If you get hungry in the meantime, just say what you want out loud and it will be given to you. Unless you’re hungry now?”

  She shook her head, her dark curls moving around her shoulders. “No, I’m fine, thanks.”

  “Good. Feel free to explore the house if you wish. I know everything’s going to look strange to you now, but it’s all fairly intuitive, so it shouldn’t be too bad.” He smiled, remembering how much Mia enjoyed that aspect of life in Lenkarda. “All the furniture is intelligent, so don’t be startled if it conforms to your shape. The house is intelligent too, so feel free to ask it for food or anything you need.”

  “Okay,” she said, giving him a small smile in response. “Thanks.”

  Pausing for a moment longer, Korum drank in that smile. Then he walked out, leaving her alone to process everything she’d just learned.

  Chapter 9

  Exiting the house, Korum quickly created a transport pod and headed toward a small round building in the heart of the Center – the gathering place for routine Council meetings.

  Walking in, he greeted the other Councilors, nodding coolly toward Loris and a couple of his other opponents. While all of them could participate in the meeting virtually, everyone living on Earth had chosen to attend in person today, given the important topic at hand.

  Taking a seat on one of the floats, Korum carefully watched the Councilors’ faces, seeking to gauge their collective mood. What he’d done to Saret’s lab building was bound to have frightened them, shaking their belief in the impenetrability of the Centers’ defenses. Some of the Council members failed to comprehend the necessity for technological progress, clinging to what was known and familiar instead of advancing with the times.

  “Welcome, Korum,” Arus said, turning toward him. “I’m glad you’re able to join us today. Is your Mia all right?”

  “She is, thanks,” Korum said, appreciating the concern. If anyone understood his feelings for Mia, it was probably Arus, whose devotion to his own charl was widely known. Although they didn’t always see eye-to-eye on every issue, Korum respected the ambassador and even liked him to some extent.

  Arus inclined his head in response. “Good. I’m glad to hear it. Delia was worried when she heard about what happened.”

  “Please tell Delia she’s more than welcome to stop by,” Korum said quietly, aware that the whole Council was watching their exchange. “I’m sure Mia could use a friend right now.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Korum could see a smirk on Loris’s face. His long-time enemy was clearly enjoying the situation, both the fact that Korum had fallen for a human girl and the entire debacle with Saret. Toxic rage crawled through Korum’s veins again, but he didn’t let anything show on his face, keeping his expression mildly amused. Let Loris enjoy his discomfort for now; the so-called Protector wasn’t going to be on the Council much longer, given his son’s now-almost-proven guilt.

  “All right then. We have a lot to discuss today.” It was Voret, one of the oldest members of the Council. “The guardians reported to us that all of Saret’s dispersion devices have been located and neutralized, thanks to Korum warning us about them in time. Apparently, they had been scheduled to go off simultaneously in approximately thirty-two hours from now. We also found the designer who had the nano-weapon. He was in Thailand and has now been arrested. The weapon was already fully functional, and Alir thinks that Saret planned to use it shortly after he succeeded in unleashing the mind-control devices among the human population. Arus, you spoke with the United Nations?”

  “Yes. I glossed over the situation when I explained it to them,” the ambassador answered. “They already have their hands full dealing with the military leaders who had aided the Resistance, and there is no need to scare them at this point. They just need to be aware that Saret is on the loose, so that their intelligence agencies can keep an eye out for him. I didn’t go into any detail beyond informing them that he’s a dangerous individual who needs to be apprehended promptly.”

  “Good,” Voret said. “You did the right thing. They already don’t trust us, and if they knew about the mind-control devices, they would probably panic again.”

  “And with good reason this time,” Korum said, thinking about Saret’s insane plan. “If he managed to get Saur to attack me, imagine what he could’ve done with human minds.”

  “Indeed,” Voret said, and Korum could see him preparing to approach the topic that was likely of most interest to the Council today. “Now as far as the other events that took place yesterday . . .”

  “Yes?” Korum prompted when the other Councilor trailed off. He knew exactly where Voret was headed, but he wanted to hear what he had to say.

  Voret gave him an uncomfortable look. “Now, Korum, we all watched the recordings of the events, and some of the things we saw were . . . disturbing, to say the least.”

  Korum smiled, not the least bit surprised. “Which part disturbed you the most, Voret?” he asked. “Was it the fact that Saret planned to annihilate us all in his quest to mind-fuck the humans? Or that none of us had a clue?”

  Voret frowned. “You know I’m referring to the way you were able to breach the lab’s shields. We’ll address the Saret situation in greater detail once we have more information from the guardians, but first we need to know if we’re safe here, inside our Centers. Did you develop a weapon that can penetrate our force-shields?”

  “I did,” Korum said, enjoying the expressions of shock and fear on some of the Councilors’ faces. “But don’t worry – I’ve also developed better shields.
Both are still in experimental mode, which is why no one has heard about this before.”

  “And you used this weapon yesterday?” Arus asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “Yes. I had no choice once I learned how Saret had set up the lab.”

  “How did you learn that?” It was Voret again.

  “By scanning the lab building. Once I knew what Saret intended, it wasn’t difficult to figure out that he would have some pretty strong defenses in place. Which he did. I distracted him by feeding him an image of myself from three years ago and used the time to build the weapon based on my experimental designs.”

  Voret’s frown deepened. “And when were you going to tell us about these new designs of yours?”

  “When they were ready to be used,” Korum said evenly. Voret and the others forgot sometimes that Korum was under no obligation to share anything with the Council. He chose to do so for the good of all Krinar, but he had no intention of seeking the Council’s permission and approval on every project.

  “Could anyone else gain access to this weapon?” Arus asked, focusing on the more important part of the issue. “Korum, are you certain no one else has these designs?”

  “I’m the only one,” Korum said, understanding the ambassador’s concern. “None of my designers have been involved in this project yet, and no one has access to these files.”

  “Not even your charl?” It was Loris this time, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. “Are you sure she can’t steal the data and run to her friends in the Resistance?”

  Korum gave him a sardonic look. “No, Loris. She can’t. Besides, what would the Resistance do with this information without your son? We all know now how useful he was to them . . . and to Saret.”

  Loris got up slowly, his face darkening with anger. “Those were lies! Nobody would believe them for a minute –”

  “Oh really?” Korum said coldly, looking at the black-haired Krinar with contempt. “We all saw the recording – and heard Saret explain Rafor’s role in his plans. Your son is as guilty as Saret himself, and he’ll be punished accordingly.”

  Loris’s hands clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white. “Saret was your friend,” he hissed, apparently no longer able to contain himself. “For all we know, you’re the one behind it all and are now just waiting for the right moment to use your new weapon on us –”

  “Loris, that’s enough!” Arus’s voice cracked through the air like a whip. At the resulting silence, the ambassador continued in a calmer tone, “We understand your need to protect your son, but, unfortunately, the evidence against him continues to build. Given this new information, we’ll need to have another trial session tomorrow. It may be the final session –”

  Loris’s entire body shook with rage now. “Fuck you, Arus. And fuck all of you. Rafor is not a traitor. That –” he pointed in Korum’s direction, “– is the only traitor here, and you are all too fucking blind to see!”

  “The only blind person here is you, Loris,” Korum said calmly, watching his enemy unraveling right in front of his eyes. “And tomorrow, when the Council judges the Keiths to be guilty, the entire world will know about your failure.”

  That appeared to be the last straw. With an enraged roar, Loris launched himself at Korum, leaping across the room with full Krinar speed.

  Acting on instinct, Korum turned and twisted his body, reflexively shielding his head and throat. As Loris slammed into him, he met the brunt of the attack with his shoulder, jabbing his elbow into Loris’s side as they fell to the floor and rolled toward the middle of the chamber.

  With the hard floor scraping his skin, Korum felt his own rage spiking, every cell in his body filling with bloodlust. His fingers curled into claws and raked across Loris’s arm, taking out a chunk of muscle and sinew. At the same time, his arm hooked around Loris’s neck in one of the more complex defrebs moves, baring his throat to Korum’s teeth –

  “Enough! That’s enough!” Strong hands were pulling them apart, dragging them to separate sides of the room. Still rational enough to comprehend what was happening, Korum didn’t struggle as Arus and another Krinar held his arms, preventing him from continuing the fight. Loris, however, was completely out of control, twisting and yelling as two other Councilors held him pinned against the wall. Finally, he seemed to run out of steam, panting and glaring at Korum in hatred. His arm was a bloody mess that was just beginning to heal.

  “You can unhand me now,” Korum said, his own breathing slowly calming as he glanced at the two men still holding him in an iron grip.

  “Sorry, Korum,” Arus said, his lips curving into a faint smile as he released Korum’s arm and took a step back. “Couldn’t let you kill him here.”

  Voret followed Arus’s example, letting go of Korum’s other arm.

  “That’s fine,” Korum said, wiping his bloody hand on his shirt. “We’ll continue this in the Arena. That’s what that was, wasn’t it, Loris? A challenge?”

  The black-haired Protector stared at him, his chest heaving with fury. “Yes,” he ground out between tightly clenched teeth. “You could call it a challenge.”

  “Good,” Korum said, giving him a wide, predatory smile. “A challenge it is, then.” He hadn’t had a good Arena fight in a while, and he could feel his blood heating up with anticipation.

  “Loris, that’s not a good idea,” Arus said, taking a few steps in the Krinar’s direction. Korum was unsurprised by his concern; Loris and the ambassador were usually on good terms, frequently teaming up against Korum and Saret. Korum imagined it must be difficult for Arus now, taking the side of his former opponent against a man he’d considered his ally.

  Loris laughed bitterly. “Oh really, Arus? Not a good idea?”

  Arus gave him an even look. “He excels at defrebs. When was the last time you fought?”

  Loris’s upper lip curled with derision. “Yeah, fuck you too, Arus. You think I’ve gone soft? I’ve had more kills in the Arena than this fucker has had fights.”

  “Then the challenge has been issued.” Voret stepped forward, his voice taking on a formal cadence. “Since the trial is tomorrow, the Arena fight will take place the day after at noon.”

  And with that, the Council meeting was adjourned.

  * * *

  Mia sat on the bed, staring blankly at the green forest outside the transparent wall. She was immortal, and she had a K lover – who was something like her husband, but not really.

  It was so incredible she could hardly fathom it, her mind twisting and turning in a million different directions.

  After the K left, she’d called both Marisa and Jessie, needing additional confirmation of the impossible claims he was making. Both her sister and her friend had been quite happy to hear from her – and both had mentioned Korum in the course of Mia’s conversation with them. Marisa had gone on and on about her pregnancy and how much better she was feeling thanks to Korum’s involvement of someone called Ellet, and Jessie had asked whether Mia had decided when she and Korum were coming by for a visit.

  Still in a state of shock, Mia had managed to give Jessie a vague answer – something along the lines of still needing to talk to Korum – and listened politely as her sister gushed about her newest ultrasound results. To her relief, neither one of them seemed to suspect that anything was wrong, that the Mia they’d spoken to today was far from normal.

  She didn’t know why she was so hesitant to reveal the truth about her condition to anyone, but she was. She didn’t want to make her family and friends worry, yes, but she was also almost . . . embarrassed.

  How could this have happened to her? How could her entire family know her alien lover, while he seemed like a stranger to her? How could she have forgotten making love to someone so extraordinary? When he’d kissed her, her body had responded in a way Mia had never experienced before – or at least didn’t remember experiencing before. It had been almost frightening, the degree to which she’d lost control in his arms. If he had continued kissing her
instead of stopping when he did, she could’ve easily fallen into bed with him – she, who didn’t remember going beyond a few kisses with guys before.

  The strangeness of her reaction to everything kept throwing her off-balance. He was an extraterrestrial – someone from a different species – yet she was barely freaking out at being told that he was her lover. She even believed him now, after just a few conversations with her family and Jessie. Theoretically, he could still be lying to her; her family could’ve been threatened or brainwashed to say what they did. Hell, he could’ve even had them replaced by some kind of robots that looked and sounded like them. It wasn’t as if Mia knew what the Ks were truly capable of.

  And yet . . . she believed him. Something inside her seemed to recognize him on some level, even if she couldn’t consciously remember him. She had been glad when he left her alone, giving her time to digest everything, but now she found herself missing him, craving the comfort of his presence. It made no logical sense, but it was true: a stranger felt more necessary to her than people she’d known her whole life.

  Everything he’d told her thus far was one big jumble in her mind. The Resistance, human sympathizers among the Ks, her spying on him – it all sounded more like a movie than anything that could’ve actually happened to her. Why would she have done something so crazy? How could she have wanted something other than to be with this gorgeous man – alien or not?

  Blowing out a frustrated breath, Mia looked down at her hands, trying to make sense of this insane situation. Why would she have helped the Resistance? She’d never thought there was any point to fighting against the Ks, not after they’d taken control of her planet and basically left humans alone.

  Yet she had supposedly fought against the Ks – or at least had tried to help those who did. According to Korum, it hadn’t been a very successful effort.

  Then again, maybe she was wrong to trust him now. Sure, he’d been kind to her thus far, and her family seemed to like him, but she had no idea what he was really like. What if she was trusting someone who shouldn’t be trusted? It’s not like she knew what the Ks ultimately wanted from humans. There were those rumors about them drinking blood. For all she knew, Korum could’ve been the one to wipe her memory, making her forget something terrible about him.