“Great.” Diane put her tablet down and took a sip of her coffee. “Moving on, how are the plans for the ceremony coming?”
Dorene grinned and tapped her finger on the side of her nose. “Max and I have everything under control.”
“Did you manage to speak with the Queen about her speech?”
Dorene nodded. “I did, and she promised to keep the profanity to a bare minimum—but that was the only concession she would agree to.”
“I suppose that will have to do,” Diane replied with a shrug.
“I had a visit from young Peter regarding Maxim. The DNA has come back.”
“And?”
“The man in medical is his father! I’m so happy for Maxim. Peter is coming over to talk to him later today. Peter has asked us to arrange for Doctor Dietrich to be here when he tells him.”
“That’s a turnaround for the books!” Diane remarked. “Can you believe that Nikolai was aboard all this time?”
“Sadly, yes. Even all our technology can’t eradicate simple human error. Still, Maxim can begin to heal now they will be reunited.”
D’s brow furrowed. “Do you think it’ll be that easy?”
“Oh, God, no. I never said a thing about it being easy.”
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Etheric Academy, Basement Level
Mischa closed the door behind her as she stepped back out into the corridor and fired a quick message from her tablet to Masha.
Another room clear. Still no rabbit. You?
Masha’s reply came through a minute later.
Nothing here. Keep going.
Mischa sighed, heading to the next dusty storage room to begin again. She wished for the millionth time that she hadn’t let her sister talk her into this.
___
Meredith was alerted by the word ‘rabbit.’ She reviewed the video archives for the last two and a half weeks, but her search did not turn up what she was looking for.
ADAM?
>>Yes, Meredith?<<
The Kosolov twins did not return the rabbit to its habitat.
>>They didn’t?<<
No, and I cannot find the rabbit either. What I did find was multiple instances of the twins entering the Academy basement, so I can only assume the rabbit has escaped. I insist we inform the Academy administrators about the twins’ involvement, especially in light of the findings from the genetics team.
A fraction of a second passed while ADAM pulled and read the report.
>>That’s not good. We really don’t need an explosion of rabbits on the station.<<
No, we do not.
ADAM sighed. >>Okay. Leave it with me.<<
What are you going to do? This plan of yours hasn’t turned out exactly the way you told me it would.
>>That’s the nature of plans, Meredith. As to what I’m going to do—for now, nothing. I’m still waiting to hear back from Wells.<<
He is still on assignment?
>>I don’t think he’s ever not on an assignment, but I expect he’ll be contactable in a couple more days. <<
What about the rabbit?
>>It’s only a single rabbit. Give the kids until I hear from Wells. If they haven’t found it by then you can intercede.<<
Very well.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Medical Level, Psychiatric Wing
Peter entered the rosy comfort of Ward G. The good news he had to share brought a smile to his face.
He’d gotten to know the staff who rotated on the desk over the course of his investigation and he was happy to see that Dionne, the orderly he’d met in the lobby at the start of all this, was at the desk today. “Hey, Dionne, how’s it going?”
She looked up and smiled at Peter. “Good, thanks, Peter. What can I do for you?”
He returned her grin. “It’s what I can do for you, or more accurately, for Nikolai.”
A puzzled frown crossed Dionne’s features. “We haven’t got a patient by that name.” Peter winked at her and hope lit her face. She clasped her hands. “You don’t mean... You found his people?”
Peter nodded. “The DNA came back. We found his son and his brother.”
Dionne let out a squeal and clapped her hands before squeezing them together tightly again. “Oh, that’s just the best news! Is that why you’re here? To tell him?”
Peter grinned and nodded once. “That’s why I’m here. Is he awake today?”
“Yeah, he’s awake most days now. He’s even talking a little.”
Peter raised his eyebrows. “That’s great! Last week when I visited he wasn’t talking.”
“I told you, brains are amazing. Doc says his neural pathways are pretty much healed. We should know if he’ll get his memory back soon enough. He’s in the dayroom.” She pressed a button under her desk to unlock the door to the dayroom. “Just go on through. And thank you, Peter. You’re a good man, doing this.”
Peter shook his head, pausing as he reached for the door handle. “I’m only glad it’s almost resolved, for both Nikolai’s and Maxim’s sake. Especially Maxim—he’s gone through so much.”
“Is he the boy who went all ‘grrr-argh’ in the lobby?” She made a clawing gesture as she made the noise and tilted her head in sympathy as Peter nodded. “Yeah, we all heard about that. Poor kid. He’s okay now, though?”
“Yeah, the Pod-doc repaired the problem in his nanos and he’s in counseling with Doc Dietrich to learn how to control his emotions in a healthy way so he doesn’t accidentally shift into Pricolici form again. Finding out Nikolai is alive was a big relief to him.”
“I can only imagine,” Dionne replied. “Let’s go and tell him! Someone needs to be there in case he doesn’t react well to the news. Just as a precaution, you understand.”
“Sure,” Peter agreed.
He opened the door and saw Nikolai sitting by the holowindow, staring at the encroaching water as the tide rolled in.
Peter sat in the chair beside Nikolai’s. “How are you doing today, Nikolai?”
Nikolai didn’t react at first, as if he hadn’t heard Peter speak. He stared at the holowindow as the waves gently lapped at the sand. The spell was broken when a seagull flew across the crisp blue sky above the water, catching his attention.
He turned to Peter, his eyes widening. First confusion, then shock and relief warred across his features as clarity returned “I... I am Nikolai. Yes. I am! You know me?”
Dionne threw her hands over her mouth to cover her gasp when Nikolai spoke.
“I do,” Peter told him.
Nikolai interrupted before Peter could go on. “Yes... Never mind me, what about my son! Do you know where my son is?” He grabbed Peter’s sleeves, collapsing to his knees with tears in his eyes as Peter nodded.
“If you are Nikolai, which you are because we checked, and your son is Maxim, then yes, I know your son.” Peter helped Nikolai back into his chair and poured the shaken man a glass of water from the pitcher on the nearby table.
“It has been so long...”
Peter rubbed his eye with the back of his hand, moved to a few tears of his own by Nikolai’s reaction. “You don’t have to wait much longer. How much do you remember? Do you know where you are?”
“Yes, I... we are in space. I sent my son to space to be safe with the Queen while I fought... I do not remember who I fought. It is of no matter. But my Maxim—I never forgot about my son. Where is Maxim? Please tell me he made it out of Russia.”
Peter reassured him. “He’s here, safe aboard the Meredith Reynolds. He’s been staying with your brother.”
“My brother!” Nikolai broke down in tears, dropping his head into his hands as his back heaved with his renewed sobs.
Dionne rushed over to comfort him.
“I do not know what to say,” Nikolai managed through his sobs. “I have been so lost. So alone. And now I have my family once again. I... I cannot even...” He broke down again.
“Hush now.” Dionne gently rubbed Nikolai’s back. “You don’t need to say anything.”
She looked at Peter, who was hovering nearby without a purpose. “I’ll take care of him, don’t worry.”
Nikolai regained some of his composure, rubbing his face with his hands as his breathing returned to normal. “I do not even know the name of the man who has returned my family to me.”
“Peter Silvers,” Peter supplied. “And don’t mention it, really. I’d do the same for anyone.”
“Peter is too modest,” Dionne told Nikolai. “He’s one of our Queen’s most trusted people—the leader of her Guardians.”
“You are an important man, yes?” Nikolai tilted his head to look at Peter, his voice hoarse with emotion. “And still you took the time to do this for me? Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart. I cannot express how much this news means to me. You have given me back my son!”
Peter grinned. “It’s kind of how we roll around here. Just doing my duty by my fellow human being. I’m only sorry it took this long.”
“When can I see him? Will you bring him to me?”
“As long as the docs say it’s okay.” Peter had a thought. “Oh, man. You’re going to be so proud of him. He’s a good kid, Nikolai.” He looked at Dionne. “Is it okay if I bring Maxim here to visit?”
Dionne grinned. “Of course! We have suites for patients with families. They’re like little apartments, so our patients don’t have to miss out on family life.”
“That’s great,” Peter told her. “Would that be okay, Nikolai?”
Nikolai nodded mutely.
Dionne put a hand over Nikolai’s forehead. “You feel a little clammy.” She turned to Peter. “Il— Nikolai needs some rest now, but I’ll let you know as soon as he has been moved into one of the family suites.”
Peter nodded and stood to leave. “Sounds good. You get some rest now, Nikolai. I’ll be back with Maxim soon.”
Nikolai returned Peter’s nod, holding out his hand for the younger man to shake. “Thank you again.”
Peter left the ward, smiling broadly as he exited Medical. His next stop was the Academy to pass on the news to Maxim.
Sometimes—just sometimes—the universe did someone a kindness.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Etheric Academy, Cafeteria
The Alpha Class table had become the Alpha-Bravo-Delta-Guardian table, and there was no room to sit.
It had begun with just Maxim and Craig, who had been joined by Nestor, Ron, and Aleksei, followed by Yana and Bai Hu, then Tina and Halli.
Last to arrive were the twins, indistinguishable in identical all-black activewear. They slid between Craig and Maxim.
“What’s with the emergency meeting?” Mischa asked, pulling the knit cap off her head and fluffing her hair.
“I have big news,” Maxim began, hardly able to speak in his excitement. “Commander Silvers came to see me, to tell me...”
Craig nudged him. “Spit it out, dude!”
Maxim steadied himself. “My father is alive and he’s here on the Meredith Reynolds.”
Everyone began talking at him at the same time. Maxim held his hands up to quiet them.
“One at a time. I can’t understand a word any of you are saying.”
Nestor spoke first. “Uncle Nikolai is here on the station?” Maxim nodded, the emotions too deep to put into words. Nestor embraced his cousin. “Then I am happy for you, my brother. My father will be overjoyed to hear this news.”
Tina got in next. “How do you know he’s alive? I thought he was lost during your evacuation from Russia? What did Peter say? Where has he been all the time he’s been here?”
“After the evacuation, he was rescued by an old woman. She brought him here, but he was still badly injured and had no memory. I do not know many of the details yet. Commander Silvers told me that he has been in the psychiatric wing this whole time and nobody knew who he was. It was only by chance that he was there one night and came across my father.”
Yana gasped. “That’s terrible! It’s a good thing that Peter was there to find him.”
“He wouldn’t have been there at all if he hadn’t been visiting me,” Craig told them. “You’re welcome, dude.”
Ron was grinning from ear to ear. “This is awesome! So what happens next?”
Maxim sighed, his shoulders dropping as a tension he hadn’t been aware he’d been carrying fell away. “I am going to visit him.”
Mischa and Masha got up and came over to give Maxim a hug, sandwiching him between them.
“We’re so happy for you,” Mischa murmured through her tears.
“Yeah, you deserve this, Maxim.” Masha grinned. “You’ve been through so much.”
Tina nodded, reaching over to take his hand. “Totally.” She looked the twins over with a bemused expression. “Why are you two dressed like burglars?”
Mischa’s eyes shifted to the left.
“No reason,” Masha told her breezily. She shifted the bag on her shoulder and got up. “We have to go.”
“Yeah,” Mischa added. “We have a thing.”
Tina watched them scramble to leave the cafeteria. “What did I say?”
Aleksei winked at her. “It’s not what you said, it’s what you asked. Those two are up to something.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Etheric Academy, Science Wing
Ms. Treble stood outside the classroom door talking to one of the administrators.
Masha and Mischa sat with their heads together, whispering to each other.
Masha watched through the window, studying the body language of the two women. “It’s Diane,” she told her sister almost inaudibly. “That means it’s something to do with the Academy, if it was something to do with a student, Dorene would have come to see Ms. Treble instead.”
“They’ve found out that we took the rabbit, I know they have,” Mischa moaned so quietly that only Masha could hear. “We need to get back down to the basement and keep searching for it.”
“I know, all right?” Masha agreed. “Still, we’ve cleared two sections of the storage area now. We must be getting close. The food we left out has all been eaten, so it’s definitely around there somewhere.”
Mischa squirmed on her stool. “Ugh. We should have found it by now.”
“Found what?” Yana asked, leaning over Halli to speak to the twins.
Mischa gave Masha a panicked look.
Masha shrugged. “It’s not like we couldn’t use the help. That place is too huge.” She leaned in so Yana and Halli could hear. “We took a rabbit back to our dorm. We were going to show it to Devi the next morning and return it before anyone noticed.”
Yana narrowed her eyes. “How long ago was that?” she asked, not missing Masha’s careful reply.
Mischa shrugged. “A couple of weeks; something like that.”
“What?” Yana’s mouth fell open. “I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to get into any more escapades? Why do you need help? Let me guess—it escaped.”
The twins nodded miserably.
Yana rolled her eyes. “I swear. Okay, where is the rabbit now?”
“That’s just it,” Mischa told her. “We don’t know. It got into the basement and then Devi chased it off before we could catch it.”
Devi chuffed from her seat at the end of the row. “I said I was sorry! I’ll help you find it.”
Masha shrugged again. “It doesn’t matter. It’s already happened. We need to find the rabbit—that’s all that matters now.”
“Why does that matter?” Halli asked.
“We eavesdropped on Ms. Treble and Bernadette the other day. There’s a problem with a modified gene the rabbits have.”
The door opened and Ms. Treble came back in. “Class, as you all know, our time in the rabbit habitat has been cut short.” She put up a hand to stay the protests of the students. “I know, you’re all disappointed, but there has been an unexpected development with the project that has forced Bernadette to put the habitat on lockdown.”
Masha noticed that the teacher’s
knowing gaze rested on her and Mischa for a long moment as she spoke.
She did her best to keep a straight face while Ms. Treble continued talking to the class.
“With that in mind, we will continue to work on the rabbit project, albeit from a distance. If you open your tablets, you will find this week’s assignment. As you are aware, you have been working with the second generation of Boomer’s offspring. It’s almost time to take everything you’ve learned these last few weeks and begin compiling your end-of-module reports.”
Masha paid extra attention as the teacher put up a slide on the projector. It showed a diagram much like the ones they had worked on at the start of term, charting the possible outcomes of each breeding pair.
“Now, our inserted allele is recessive, which we know means that most of the first generation of our rabbits were born without the modifications we are trying to achieve. As you can see from the chart, it is in later generations where the gene will become widespread in the population, eventually becoming dominant as long as we continue selecting for it.”
Devi chuffed to get the teacher’s attention.
“Yes, Devi?”
“Why does the allele not appear in all the rabbits immediately?” The puppy tilted her head and her tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth while her translation device did all the work.
Ms. Treble smiled. “Good question, Devi. The simple answer is that while the sire—Boomer—carries the engineered alleles, the dams—the mothers of the first generation—do not. As you already know from our earlier work, each rabbit receives two copies of genetic instructions, one from the sire and one from the dam. Whichever instruction is dominant is the one which will present in the offspring in most cases”
Devi tilted her head to the opposite side. “How do we make it so all the rabbits get the gene?”
The students murmured; more than a few had been wondering the same thing.
Ms. Treble explained further, “While two parents with the engineered allele may not produce a full litter carrying the desired trait, the likelihood of a greater number of offspring in each litter that do carry it increases as the generations pass. This is why Bernadette’s team will only breed the rabbits in which the engineered allele is the dominant trait.”
Alpha Class - Graduation: A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Etheric Academy Book 4) Page 11