Starfall: A Starstruck Novel

by Hiatt, Brenda

  “I, ah, don’t know that I’ll be qualified to answer any of your questions, Excellency. My father never discussed confidential Council business with me, to include his reasons for resigning. He simply said he believed he could be of more use on Mars than on Earth.”

  That was a surprise. I’d figured Shim would have told them the whole truth by now. “Actually, he resigned in protest. Because the Council voted to go along with erasing Rigel’s memory—in complete violation of Nuathan law, by the way.”

  Despite the shock I felt from both of Rigel’s parents I forged on, since we only had another few minutes of privacy. “Nara resigned, too. Kyna convinced her to come back, but the Council still needs one more non-Royal member. Will you be that member, Mr. Stuart?”

  “Me?” His surprise was so extreme, I was impressed when the car didn’t swerve even an inch. “Surely there are many people far more suitable—”

  “Not in my opinion. The remaining Council members have made a few suggestions—all of them Royals. But our greatest need right now is for a secure communication network way bigger than MARSTAR—more like an Echtran internet. Who could be better than you to create something like that?”

  Still, he shook his head. “I’d be more than happy to design such a network without the honor of a Council position. In fact, I’ve already mapped out a blueprint of sorts for something along those lines, as it seemed obvious it would become necessary with so many Nuathans relocating to Earth. And if the rest of the Council believe another Royal would be a better choice, perhaps—”

  “No. It’s bad enough they already have a majority on the Council. I’m not letting them make it five to two. Especially when one of their suggestions was Devyn Kane, who conspired against Rigel and me back on Mars. To be honest, at this point I don’t much trust Royals, period—even if I am one. Other than Faxon, every single person who’s threatened, bullied, or betrayed me has been a Royal. It’s like they don’t think normal rules should apply to them.”

  “My father occasionally expressed a similar opinion,” Mr. Stuart admitted after a pause, his startled resistance fading. “Power does tend to corrupt. Though we Echtrans like to think of ourselves as morally and ethically superior to the Duchas, we are still very much human.”

  “Then you’ll do it? Take Shim’s place on the Council?”

  Cornfields gave way to the outskirts of downtown before he answered. “If it is your wish, Excellency—and if the rest of the Council will agree—I am willing to serve.”

  “Thank you!” I saw no point in telling him I didn’t plan to give the Council the option of disagreeing. “There’s a Council meeting at the O’Garas’ house tomorrow night at eight o’clock. How about you come around eight-thirty, unless I call and tell you otherwise?”

  “Very well.” I still sensed a certain amount of nervous uncertainty, but also determination, along with grateful pride. I had no doubt he’d turn out to be an excellent Council member.

  When we pulled into my driveway, I thanked Mr. Stuart again for his willingness to serve, as well as for the ride home. Then Rigel walked me to the door, hand in hand. It felt so good to be together like this again!

  “So, arboretum tomorrow, right? One o’clock?” he murmured as we mounted the steps to my wide front porch.

  “Yep.” I glanced at the sky, where clouds now obscured the stars. “Rain or shine.”

  At the door, he turned to face me. “Can’t wait. G’night, M.”

  He leaned in and I eagerly turned my face up for his kiss. Last fall, winter and spring, every kiss had seemed better than the one before, and that hadn’t changed. Only awareness that his parents were watching kept me from completely melting into him. I halfway hoped it would rain tomorrow, so we could have the arboretum to ourselves.

  Kissing Rigel totally blocked out his parents’ conversation in the car, which was good since they thought it was private. Luckily, we were still able to hear Aunt Theresa’s footsteps in time to break apart before she opened the door.

  “I thought I heard a car.” She raised an eyebrow, looking from Rigel to me. I was probably a little flushed from that kiss. “Didn’t you ride to the game with your friend Debra?”

  I nodded. “The Stuarts offered me a ride back.”

  The look she now turned on Rigel was both suspicious and curious. “I see. I’d have thought they had enough on their hands, what with… Well. You’d best come inside, Marsha. It’s late. Good night, young man. Thank your parents for us, if Marsha hasn’t already done so.”

  “She has, but I’ll tell them you said thanks too, Mrs. Truitt,” he said politely. “Good night.”

  As he headed back down the steps he sent, Don’t let her rag on you, okay? Remember, you’re the Sovereign now, even if she doesn’t know it!

  I was still smiling at that as I accompanied Aunt Theresa into the house—which she unfortunately noticed.

  “You seem quite pleased with yourself tonight, missy. Don’t tell me you’re dating that quarterback again? I heard he had complete amnesia after that accident last summer. Indeed, I’m surprised he can function at all.”

  Remembering Rigel’s last thought to me, I squared my shoulders. “I’m sure Uncle Louie can tell you how well he’s functioning on the football field—we won again tonight. Anyway, he only lost the last year of his memory and now he has most of it back. And yes, we’re dating again, as of yesterday.”

  My aunt hmphed. “Well…don’t let him talk you into any more midnight trysts. I trust you both learned your lesson about that sort of thing.”

  That “midnight tryst” in the arboretum last year had been just as much my idea as Rigel’s, but I forced myself to nod. “Don’t worry, Aunt Theresa. We’re both more responsible now than when we were sophomores.”

  Besides, there was no reason to think anything else was going to happen that would force us to sneak around like that. No reason at all.

  26

  Superconductivity

  I got my wish—when I left taekwondo the next day, it was beginning to drizzle. Pulling up the hood on my lightweight raincoat, I headed for the arboretum with a spring in my step, my gear bag swinging at my side.

  Rigel and I reached the entrance at the same time, him with a poncho enveloping him and his bike, reminding me of one of our walks last year. He obviously remembered too—or picked up on my thought—because he held up an umbrella with a grin. “It’s not a force field, but it gets the job done.”

  Laughing, I held out my free hand and he took it in his. Together we walked along the deserted gravel path to “our” bench, just out of sight of the arboretum entrance. I reveled in the delicious tingling sensation that went through me at his touch.

  “I wished for this, you know.” I tilted my face up to the falling mist. “And it worked—we have the place to ourselves.”

  Rigel took off his poncho, shook it, then spread it over the wet seat of the bench. “Excellent. Does that mean you can control the weather now?”

  “What?” Oh, he was teasing. “Not yet. Maybe we should work on that next.”

  “No, what I think we should do next is this.” Pulling me down onto the bench beside him, he lowered his lips to mine and for the next ten minutes I wouldn’t have noticed if it had started blizzarding.

  One hand still caressing my face, Rigel pulled back an inch or two. “No voices while we’re kissing, have you noticed?”

  I nodded. “I noticed last night, on my front porch. That means we can learn to control it, don’t you think? So we only hear what we really want to?”

  “I’d rather control it like this.” And he was kissing me again.

  Finally, with a happy sigh, I leaned back to look up at him, my arms still around his neck. “We really should practice other ways to shut out the voices, since we can’t do this all the time. Much as I wish we could.”

  “I guess you’re right.” He released me to drape an arm over the back of the bench, holding the umbrella over both of us since the drizzle had picked back u
p. “And it would be great if we could figure out how to use your emotion-sensing thing to get fair warning in case whoever threatened my parents tries anything.”

  “Did they tell you any more about that anonymous note?”

  He shook his head. “They mostly talked about the idea of Dad being on the Council. Even I didn’t see that one coming. How come you didn’t mention it?”

  “I first got the idea when I was talking to the O’Garas Thursday, then last night it just kind of…blurted out. But I really do think he’ll be perfect, what with his background and all. Plus, I trust him.”

  Rigel gave me that crooked smile I adored. “You made a good case. And I sure don’t disagree with you about Royals in general. Not counting you, of course.”

  I gave the hand grazing my shoulder a quick squeeze of thanks. “Yeah, even if it wasn’t a member of the Council who planted that note, I’ll bet it was either a Royal or someone acting on the orders of one. I plan to find out—though I already have my suspicions.”

  “Yeah? Who?”

  “The two with the biggest axes to grind against both of us are Allister and Gordon. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to find out they’re in cahoots.”

  “But Gordon’s still on Mars, isn’t he?”

  I blinked at him in surprise. “Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know. No, he came back to Earth on the same ship you did, supposedly to supervise what you’d be told when they woke you up. But now no one seems to know where he is—though I’m pretty sure Allister’s lying about that.”

  Rigel looked thoughtful, though I also sensed anger—and worry. “Do you think they sent that crazy dude after you last week, told him to say he was an anti-Royalist?”

  “It definitely fits their style. Allister always got others to do his dirty work and Gordon seems the type who’d be happy to oblige—at least if he can do it without getting caught. There’s nothing I wouldn’t put past those two.”

  Turning to face me more fully, Rigel propped the umbrella over us and took both my hands in his. “Let’s see if we can pick up anything in range, maybe find out if Gordon’s right here in Jewel.”

  Our extra-sensitive hearing hadn’t been a distraction since arriving, probably because the arboretum was a good three blocks from the nearest houses or businesses. Once we really listened, though, it was apparent we’d been controlling that ability without even realizing it.

  The birds were suddenly a lot louder, as were the cars going past on the street outside. Soon, I could pick up voices, too—voices that had to be farther away than any we’d heard yesterday at school. Sharpening my focus, I again found I could ignore the extraneous noises to hone in on specific conversations.

  Anything that sounds or feels like Gordon? Rigel sent silently.

  Not yet. I listened harder, trying to push my hearing to its limits while also reaching out with my emotion-sensing ability. It wasn’t easy. If I didn’t limit my focus to one or two people at a time, it got confusing and uncomfortable. As I kept at it, though, it slowly got easier.

  Ah! That was definitely Belinda, the bookstore owner, gossiping with old Mrs. Batten about somebody’s cheating husband. They were both enjoying themselves immensely. A bit farther away, I picked up a woman complaining about the drugstore being out of her color hair dye. She seemed way too upset about it.

  A few minutes later, I heard Mrs. Crabtree, my across-the-street neighbor, on the phone with someone. Maybe her daughter? Someone she was happy to be talking to, anyway. Did that mean I could—?

  Sure enough, I was able to push my focus just enough farther to hear Aunt Theresa and Uncle Louie. They were arguing—again—about a couple of his buddies Aunt Theresa considered bad influences. Both of them felt resigned, almost bored, with the same argument they’d had so many times before.

  Rigel and I stared at each other, then unclasped our hands. “Wow,” he said. “That was…amazing. And totally weird.”

  “No kidding. And I felt like we could have kept going, reaching farther and farther away, didn’t you?”

  “I did. But…it’s kind of exhausting—especially for you. Let’s try just holding hands and not picking up anything. Recharge each other.”

  I was all in favor of that. Scooting closer to him, I took his hand again and snuggled against his shoulder. He felt even more wonderful than usual, his strength and vitality flowing into me, replenishing the energy I’d just spent on our experiment. I was careful to focus only on Rigel now—his thoughts, his feelings. It worked. It’s working for you, too, right?

  He nodded, smiling down at me. “See? I knew we could do it. Though I still like this way better.” His hazel eyes darkening, he lowered his mouth to mine and soon I was so revitalized I felt like I could fly.

  * * *

  When the sun came out and other people started wandering into the arboretum, we finally, regretfully, decided it was time to head home. I’d told Aunt Theresa I was staying after at taekwondo for some make-up training but I didn’t want to risk her calling the do-jang to check on me.

  Still holding hands, we walked through through the archway to Diamond Street.

  “Your bike is soaked.”

  Rigel shrugged. “No biggie. This hour with you was totally worth a wet seat.”

  Notice how we’re still not hearing more than we want to?

  Yep, he replied. But we should try one last time, make sure no baddies are nearby.

  Standing next to his bike, hand in hand, we reached out again. This time it only took me a couple of minutes to find Aunt Theresa again after sifting through the wash of emotions between here and there. Some were happy, some were sad or upset, but none seemed to be plotting nefarious deeds. Aunt Theresa, on the other hand, was getting distinctly impatient—probably because I was going to be late starting my Saturday chores.

  “Yep, definitely time to go,” I said, releasing Rigel’s hand. “Did you pick that up, too?”

  “Yeah. Is that how it always feels when you…” sense other people’s emotions? he finished silently as an older couple walked past us into the arboretum.

  “Only if I focus.”

  “Focus any time you see a stranger then, okay? Promise?”

  “I will. Promise.” Going up on my toes, I gave him a last, quick kiss, then turned toward home.

  I’ll bet our telepathy range will be better than ever now, he sent as he passed me on his bike with a wave and a smile.

  He was right. We kept thinking to each other the whole time I was walking and he was biking. I got home a few minutes before he did, still able to hear him. After apologizing to Aunt Theresa for being gone longer than I’d expected and getting started on the bathroom, I reached out to Rigel again. Can you still hear me?

  I can! And…I’m home! Just got here. This is beyond awesome.

  Totally! Should we tell your parents?

  We discussed that and other things the whole time I was scrubbing out the tub and toilet, then off and on for the rest of the day, when we didn’t need to pay attention to anyone else. Rigel was right. It was beyond awesome.

  * * *

  At ten minutes till eight, I headed to the O’Garas’ house, again with my overnight bag since tonight’s meeting would probably go even later than the first one.

  “Mind you’re a good guest,” Aunt Theresa cautioned, like she always did. “Pick up after yourself, offer to help around the house and don’t forget to say thank you.”

  “I know. I will. G’night, Aunt Theresa. G’night, Uncle Louie.”

  “Nearly everyone is already here, Excellency,” Mrs. O’Gara greeted me when I arrived. “Quinn has taken Sean and Molly to a movie.” The last two meetings, they’d been home and Mr. O had sat in, though he hadn’t participated.

  “Better than them being stuck in their rooms, since we have so much to talk about tonight.”

  “We do indeed.”

  I knew she meant my “ill-advised” decision to get back together with Rigel, but suspected the Council would disapprove of some other item
s on my agenda every bit as much. Shaking off the subservient attitude I had to assume around Aunt Theresa, I lifted my chin and preceded Mrs. O into the living room.

  The two other local members of the Council, Breann and Malcolm, rose and bowed at my entrance. So did Kyna’s and Nara’s projected holograms—incredibly solid-looking, but without brath or emotions I could sense, since they were actually in Washington, D.C. They were still bowing, right fists over their hearts, when Connor’s hologram beamed in from Denver.

  Once he’d bowed, I sat down and the others followed my example. (I always assumed the holographic ones were on actual chairs elsewhere, though it looked remarkably like they were sitting on ones here in the living room).

  “As you all know, we have a lot of business to cover tonight,” I began before anyone else could speak. “First, Nara, I want to personally thank you for returning to the Council. It means a lot to me—as did your resignation and the reason for it.”

  Though the Royals all shifted uncomfortably, little Nara smiled and bobbed her head. “It is my great honor, Excellency. My allegiance is yours. Always.”

  “This still leaves us a member short.” I looked around at the others, most of whose expressions were guarded, as were the emotions of those physically present. “So you’ll be happy to know I’ve found someone both suitable and willing to serve by taking his father’s place on this Council.”

  “What? You wish to appoint Van Stuart?” Connor exclaimed, frowning.

  “I already have. Which is completely within my authority,” I reminded them all as their surprise became tinged with disapproval. “Just last week you stressed the need for a decent communication system to connect the new Echtran settlements popping up around the world. You were worried because we have so few qualified Informatics Scientists on Earth, and because that person would need such a high level of security clearance. Appointing Van Stuart to this Council solves all those problems at once.”

  I held my breath, waiting, while my words sank in. One by one, heads started to nod, though some with obvious reluctance. Kyna was the first to speak.