EarthBound

by D M Arnold

  The office door burst open and swung in front of Suki. A rough-looking young Asian man entered holding a knife. He turned toward Cathy and spoke to her. She held her cane in front of her. The man touched the tip of the knife to her neck and began pulling at her blouse. He kicked the door shut.

  Suki's eyes widened and she screamed. The man whirled around and glared at her.

  Nyk stared at the image, his heart pounding in his throat. He poked the vidisplay touchscreen to open a second comm session. The ExoAgency uplink responded with a dial tone. He entered zero and heard the ring signal.

  Suki backed from the attacker and out of the field of view of the camera. Nyk could see Cathy holding her cane. She backed away until stopped by a desk.

  “Ameritech operator.”

  “This is an emergency. I need 911.”

  “Please hang up and dial 911,” the operator said. “The 911 system will route your call.”

  “No, I need 911 in New York. There's a man with a knife attacking two women and one's blind.”

  “Where in New York?”

  “I don't know. NYU, where's NYU?”

  “Manhattan -- 212, I think. Hold on.” He heard ringing again.

  Suki came back into view. The man held the knife to her face then touched the point to her throat. “No, Suki,” Nyk said under his breath, “Don't do anything foolish.” The man gestured with the knife and she lifted her top and unsnapped her bra.

  “911. Please state your emergency.”

  “There's a man with a knife. He's attacking two women... It looks like he's about to rape one of them.”

  “Where are you calling from?”

  “From... From Wisconsin. I'm in touch with New York via the Internet. Please send someone.”

  “Where is this attack?”

  “NYU union, top floor.”

  “We'll pass this along to NYU security. Hold the line.”

  “Hurry!” He pressed his fist to his lips.

  The attacker fondled Suki's breast and nodded. He pointed the tip of the knife to the waistband of her jeans. She began unbuttoning her jeans and dropped them to her ankles.

  Nyk heard the ring signal again. “NYU Security.”

  “There's an attack in progress,” he panted. “NYU union, top floor. A man with a knife.”

  “Do you know which room?”

  “An office,” Nyk said. “I don't know the number, but it's the one for an archeology journal, and a newsletter for the disabled.”

  “We're dispatching. Can you describe the attacker?”

  “An Asian man, about twenty years, height about 1.8 metres.”

  “1.8 metres?”

  “...Five foot eight! Short black hair, black jacket and a large silver earring in his left ear.”

  “We'll send someone.”

  The attacker grabbed the waistband to Suki's briefs and cut them off. He pointed the blade at her and she began to lie on the floor, out of view of the camera. “No, not like this!” Nyk said to himself, his eyes filling. He pressed his fist against his lips. “It wasn't supposed to happen like this!”

  The rapist unbuckled his belt and dropped his jeans. He knelt and Nyk could see his head and shoulders in the image.

  “Gaagh!” he heard Suki half gasp and half scream over the sound the ventilator. Cathy stood upright and moved toward her voice. She reached out with her cane and touched the attacker's back and began flogging him. The tip of the cane came down on his left ear, snagged the earring and ripped it from his earlobe.

  “Yaah!” he cried and reached for his bloodied ear.

  “I'm to blame,” Nyk sobbed. “My interference caused this!”

  The rapist began to stand, holding his hands up and out of the way. Suki sat up and now she held the knife. He backed away from her until he bumped into Cathy. She began whacking him with the cane again. He started to the door and stumbled, pulled up his jeans, ran out and slammed the door behind him. Suki stood, looked down at herself and dropped the knife. She touched her lower abdomen, examined her finger and then bent over and vomited.

  Cathy extended her hand and felt her way toward Suki. The two women embraced and sobbed. The door opened and a pair of security guards walked in. Nyk watched as they conferred with Cathy and Suki. One used his radio and headed into the corridor.

  The second guard wheeled over an office chair and Suki sat in it. She placed her head between her knees. The guard patted and stroked her back. The door opened again and a pair of paramedics wheeled in a stretcher. Nyk saw Suki shake her head. The medics and guard spoke with her. She lay on the stretcher and the medics began strapping her onto it.

  Suki pointed toward her desk. Nyk saw the guard approach the laptop computer. “You want this off?” he heard the guard say. The image went dark.

  Nyk sat and buried his face in his hands. “It's my fault ... It's all my fault ... Oh, Suki, I'm so sorry!”

  10 -- Expecting

  Nyk paced back and forth in front of the vidisplay attempting to call the phone numbers Suki gave him. Outside, the wind continued to howl, bright flashes of lightning seeped around the closed shutters and thunder boomed.

  He placed another call. He heard it ringing. “Hello?”

  “Mrs Kyhana? This is Nick Kane.”

  “Oh, Mr Kane! Have you heard what's happened?”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “She gave herself to him. She taunted him and gave herself to him so he wouldn't molest a blind woman.”

  “I had no idea! That was a brave thing.”

  “It was a foolish thing. She could've gotten them both killed.”

  “It was brave and noble, Mrs Kyhana. May I speak with her?”

  “I'll see if she'll come to the phone. Needless to say, she's distraught. Sukiko? It's Nick Kane.”

  “Oh, Nick!” She began sobbing. “Thank you, Mom. I'd like to be alone... Nykkyo!”

  He sobbed. “I saw the whole thing. If I could've jumped through that circuit to help you, I would've.”

  “I know you would. Were you the one who called the police?”

  “Yes.”

  “To think help came from two hundred lightyears away. I don't know what would've happened if those guards hadn't shown up.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I'm sore, I'm exhausted and I feel so, so violated.”

  “Your mom said you lured him from Cathy. That was a brave thing you did.”

  “It was another out-of-body experience. I saw myself, lying there on the floor. I don't know why I did it. I couldn't bear the thought of someone taking advantage of Cathy, and she feels so guilty he attacked me.”

  “What's next?”

  “I went to the hospital for the tests. They offered me the morning-after pill, but I refused it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don't like taking drugs. I've heard scary things about it. I need to go back for regular HIV testing until they're sure I'm negative or ... Oh, God, Nykkyo -- I don't know what I'll do if I test positive! I've been in the gay community. I've known people with AIDS ... It was so horrible...” She sobbed.

  “Oh, Suki, I'm so sorry I can't be there to hold you.”

  “I'll be all right. What's worse is knowing we'll never get closure.”

  “Closure?”

  “The bastard got away. They'll probably never find him.”

  “Didn't you or Cathy get a good look at him -- oh, not Cathy of course. Did you get a good look at him?”

  “To be honest, Nykkyo, I was looking at the knife. NYU Security searched the union for him. Well, they have samples for evidence if they ever do catch him. And, they have his knife and earring ... and a piece of his earlobe.” She giggled. “I couldn't believe Cathy was hitting him with her cane. I'll never forget that...” She sobbed. “I'll never forget any of it!”

  “Oh, Suki, I feel terrible -- it's all my fault. If it hadn't been for my interference, this might not have happened. I caused your suicide attempt, and now I've caused this. I'm
so sorry -- I've messed up your life.”

  “Nykkyo, you can't blame yourself. My life was messed up before I met you. You're my bright spot -- my savior. Please don't feel badly. I've never had good luck. I certainly don't blame you, and without you there's a good chance I'd be dead, now.”

  “That's not likely.”

  “No one knows what my life might've been without you. Might-haves don't count, remember? I'd rather have my life with you.”

  “I called to comfort you, and now you're comforting me.”

  “We comfort each other, Nykkyo. I'll get through this. Please don't blame yourself. Knowing you care helps so much.”

  “You'll call and keep me posted?”

  “Of course. Good bye, my love.” Nyk heard a click and a dial tone. He cancelled the vidphone session and sat, his elbow on the table and his forehead in his hand. He closed his eyes and sobbed.

  * * *

  Nyk opened his eyes. He was slumped over the vidisplay. Wakefulness spread across him and he became aware the storm's winds had subsided. He stepped to the house's control panel and touched the screen. The shutters opened and a breeze blew through the Residence. He stood looking out at the roiling sea. Easterly winds were breaking up the overcast. Patches of indigo sky were becoming visible and shafts of golden light contrasted against the dark clouds.

  He walked to the front of the house and looked out to the west. A large dune of black sand had blown across the access roadway. The vidisplays began signaling him of an incoming call. The scanpad chirped as he pressed his wrist to it. “Hello,” a voice answered. “This is Sudal Civil Support. Do you have storm damage?”

  “There's a dune across the roadway outside the Residence.”

  “We'll send a crew to remove it. Do you need supplies? We can send a skimmer.”

  “Could you take me into Sudal?”

  “Certainly.” The vidphone session terminated.

  Nyk stood outside the Residence and saw the skimmer approaching. It touched down and he climbed aboard. “Any place in particular you want to go?” the pilot asked.

  “Shopping mall. I must restock our supply of meals.” The pilot nodded and the skimmer lifted off.

  Nyk regarded damage to the vegetation. Branches from the indigenous palm-like plants littered the ground and violet-black leaves were scattered everywhere. “It was quite a storm,” the pilot said. “Two fatalities.”

  “How?”

  “A pair of visitors from the north were caught without shelter. City people ignore the storm warnings.”

  “It never even rains on Floran City,” Nyk replied, “because of the rain shadow from the mons. City folk have no idea what these storms can be like.”

  * * *

  Nyk lugged a sack filled with prefab meals and beverage packs to a livery kiosk outside the shopping mall. With a wristscan he ordered a groundcar. He looked around the city's streets. Most shops and buildings still had their shutters down and he could see little traffic. The fleet of groundcars had been called off the street and he knew one must be dispatched from the garage. He paced back and forth until he saw the driverless vehicle approaching. It stopped adjacent to the kiosk.

  He climbed in. “Car, the Residence.” The vidisplay showed a photoimage of his house. “Confirmed, car go.”

  “Destination unavailable,” a synthesized voice reported.

  “Car, power plant. Confirmed, car go.” The groundcar headed for the fusion plant on the coast south of Sudal.

  Nyk approached the ashpile on the power plant grounds and spent the better part of the day sorting through it to select the largest and clearest crystals. He carried a large polymer fiber bag of raw diamonds to the groundcar and climbed in. By now the dune should be cleared, he figured. “Car, the Residence ... confirmed -- car, go.” The groundcar pulled onto the roadway and headed toward the east.

  * * *

  Nyk walked into the kitchen and opened a cold breakfast package. The vidisplay signaled a call. He scanned his wrist and saw Veska.

  “Nykkyo, Senta hasn't heard from you in twenty days.”

  “Nor have I from her.”

  “Hasn't this gone on long enough?”

  “Why don't you ask her that?”

  “Don't you think it's time to return to her?”

  “You can ask her that, too. Veska, Senta left me, not the other way around. She left me stranded here without transportation. Since she did the leaving, she should do the returning.”

  “Nyk, I know I shouldn't interfere with how a man and his wife manage their relationship.”

  “But you will, in this case. You're hardly an impartial arbiter.”

  “It pains me to see Senta unhappy.”

  “I'm not sure she is unhappy. I don't think she misses me as much as she misses her control over me.”

  “I'm calling to negotiate a truce between you two. Senta will have you back if you give up the Earth woman.”

  “I can't give her up. I don't have her. She's two hundred light-years away, and I'm stuck here for at least two years if not forever.”

  “Give up your love for her.”

  “You might as well ask me to give up breathing. I can't turn on or off how I feel for someone. I'll always love Suki, even if I can't have her. You can't ask me to give up my love for her.”

  “I'm not asking you. Senta is.”

  “Veska, what do you know of forbidden love?”

  “More than you might imagine, Nykkyo.”

  “Ask Senta how she'd feel if I insisted she give up Andra as my terms to return to her.”

  “Is that one of your requirements?”

  “No ... I don't care if she has Andra as a friend. I don't care if she has her as a lover. I won't give up my love for Suki.”

  “Then we're at an impasse.”

  “Senta's at the impasse.”

  “I'll speak to her some more. To be frank, Nykkyo ... I think you're right. I don't see how your fondness for your Earth friend injures Senta. But ... I can't take that posture.” The vidisplay went blank.

  Nyk walked out, onto the bluff and down to a shallow, bowl-shaped depression lined with black sand. He stretched out on the sand, laced his fingers behind his head and gazed at the indigo sky. Recollections of his childhood came to him -- his boyhood days in the house; how he had little to do but walk the beach and lie looking up at the sky. It was all he wanted to do. But that was then.

  He arose, returned to the house and picked up a datacel containing the original Esperanto of Koichi's journal.

  * * *

  The setting sun sent shafts of bronze light through the open structure. Nyk sat at a vidisplay putting the finishing touches on his translation of Koichi's journal. He worked while munching some snack wafers. An incoming vidphone call interrupted him. He scanned his wrist.

  “Oh, Nykkyo!” Suki looked at him through the circuit. He could see dismay on her face. “I'm pregnant!”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I'm sure.”

  “I was expecting this, in a way.”

  “I was expecting this, too. I've been sweating bullets for the past three weeks, ever since the...” She stroked away a tear. “I missed my last period. I never miss periods -- I'm never even late! A couple days ago I took one of those home pregnancy tests, and the results were positive. Yesterday, Mom took me to the doctor. They called this afternoon with the results -- confirmed.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I don't know. I should've taken the morning-after pill. What do you think I should do?”

  “I shouldn't advise you,” he said.

  “Mom thinks I should have an abortion.”

  “Do you think so?”

  “I don't know that, either. I know what you say about destiny, and maybe this is my destiny. But I don't think I have the strength to go through with it. I wish you were here. I'm scared, Nykkyo. I wish we didn't have to be apart. I so long to feel you hold me. You have a way of holding me that makes the hurt and the fear go away.
”

  Nyk kissed his fingers and placed them against the vidisplay camera. Suki did the same. “That helps, Nykkyo. It's like we're reaching across the lightyears. Mom made an appointment for me at the clinic. It's in two weeks, Monday at two.”

  “Appointment for what?” he asked.

  “To have the abortion. Mom thinks it's the right way. We know nothing of the kid who raped me. We don't know his medical history or if there are genetic problems. It would set back my career. I'd feel fraudulent applying for a job knowing I'm pregnant. And then I'll have a baby to care for...”

  “Those sound like reasons a mother would give. Is that how you see it?”

  “I don't know... I guess I do see it that way. It'd be so much easier if I heard you say you see it that way, too.”

  “I'm not sure it's right.”

  “Do you have abortions on Floran?”

  “Yes, but they're very rare. Our people plan families with great care. We have no choice, the fertility control policy ensures it. Make sure it's your choice, Suki, and not your mother's.”

  “You're right, Nykkyo. Good night, and I love you.” The vidphone session terminated.

  Nyk pressed his hand to his eyes. “Destiny wants her child,” he muttered. “I displaced the man who was to be in her life. Destiny needs her child. I can't be the father, so Destiny sent the rapist to her. Oh, Suki, will you understand? Will you ever forgive me?”

  He stood and looked out to the west. He could see the tops of Sudal's tallest buildings silhouetted in the ruby disk of the setting sun. “Destiny must have your child, Suki. Don't ... don't terminate the pregnancy!” He paced around the living room and stopped to gaze at the sea. “Two weeks. Ten Floran days.”

  Nyk sat at a vidisplay and composed a telemessage. He returned to his work on the journal, his mind wandering to Suki. The sun had set and the house's ambient lighting came on. He stood looking into the dark toward the east.

  The vidisplays signaled a call. He answered and saw Veska. “Nykkyo, what do you want? Are you ready to talk about Senta?”