Planetbound by DM Arnold (best contemporary novels TXT) 📕

“It'll be sitting right here.” Andra turned and closed the door.

Nyk climbed the stairs to the second level and looked out. Senta was struggling to load the crate into the groundcar. He chuckled and shook his head.

Andra approached and threw her arms around him. “Oh, Nyk, I'm so happy to see you. Are you all right?”

“As right as I can be.”

“How's Sukiko?”

“She was returned to her parents. I don't know anything else.”

“You haven't spoken to her?”

“I can't. My communications have been cut off.” Andra's mouth formed a silent O. “Does Internal Affairs still have an ID trace on you?”

“No,” she replied. “They took that off as soon as they ... captured you.”

“I can't make calls -- but you can.”

Andra smiled and stepped to a vidisplay. She pressed her wrist to the scanpad and Nyk punched in the codes to access the ExoAgency uplink network on Earth. He pressed another code and heard a dial tone. After another code yet he heard ringing. “Hello?”

“Hello, Yasuko. It's Nick Kane.”

“Nick! Oh, my God! Nick! Where are you?”

“I'm out of the country.”

“Oh, Nick -- Sukiko left with you for a short trip. I was surprised to find her on my doorstep the other day. I asked her what happened, but she won't tell me anything. All she said was you and she were traveling, and you were detained. She said she was released but you weren't.”

“I can't add anything to that story.”

“Can you tell me which country? George has some connections -- we can call the State Department -- do something!”

“I'm afraid there's nothing anyone can do.”

“Were you kidnapped? Being held by terrorists? Please, Nick -- tell me what happened.”

“It's really nothing more than a big misunderstanding.”

“Are you being mistreated?”

“No, not at all.”

“Are you in trouble? Do they think you did something?”

“I'm trying to get my ... status sorted out. Visa problems, you know. I called to see how Suki's doing.”

“She's doing well, considering. She's in good spirits.”

“May I speak with her?”

“Oh, Nick, I'm sorry -- she's out for the day. She went to her office at NYU for the morning, and then she was going shopping with Cathy. She'll be upset to know she missed your call.”

“I'll try calling again, later -- when I can. Yasuko, please tell her something...”

“Anything, Nick.”

“Tell her I love her, and I haven't spent a day without thinking of her. Tell her I'm working on resolving this, and I will return to her. I promise I'll return -- or die trying.”

“Please, don't do anything foolish or dangerous, Nick. We can manage 'til you get back.”

“Good bye, Yasuko.” He pressed a control to terminate the call. “Did you catch any of that?” he asked Andra.

“A bit. Her mother's speech sounds -- different.”

“She has a Japanese accent. I love hearing Yasuko speak.”

“It sounds like Sukiko's safe and cared for.”

“I still worry for her. It's a more than a month yet before the baby's due. I must find a way to Earth. It was a mistake bringing Suki here.”

“I'm glad you did. Otherwise I wouldn't have had the chance to get to know her and to make her my friend.”

“I'm more determined than ever to find my own way to Earth and go native -- and thus fulfill my destiny.”

“They'll send more enforcers after you.”

“I'll take my chances with the enforcers. They'll have to find me, first. New York is a big place.”

Nyk lay on his childhood bed. The storm shutters were up and the nighttime land breeze wafted through the open house. He could hear the surf washing against the rocks at the base of the bluff.

Andra reached a slender arm across him and pulled herself closer. “Thank you for letting me sleep with you,” she said and kissed his cheek.

“Senta must be safe and sound on T-Delta by now.”

“Yes. Do you know why she goes?”

“To help the Deltans establish a sequencing lab.”

“That's the official reason. She's been there four times since you started your Agency tour -- twice since Zander died. I know the real reason she's drawn there -- Senta doesn't know I know, but I do.”

“What's that?”

“There's a public brothel on T-Delta. The staff are all ex-consorts of colonial ex-officials.”

“You mean they're all ax'amfinen -- I'm sorry, Andra, I didn't mean it.”

“It's all right, Nyk. I know I'm an ax'amfin.” She kissed his cheek again. “Senta wanted me as her amfin. I refused to be bound to her.”

“So, she's spending her days in meetings and her nights in the arms of ax'amfinen. No wonder she didn't want me tagging along.”

“I feel sorry for her, Nyk.”

“Sorry for Senta? She's led a charmed life -- her good luck is matched only by my bad.”

“She's an unhappy woman -- despite her success. She's searching for something -- for what you and Sukiko have.”

“Are you searching, too?” He caressed her face with the backs of his fingers. “Andra, I'd like it if you'd find some Sudalese to love you. You're beautiful and a beautiful persona. I'm sure someone in Sudal would love and cherish you. You could have whomever you wanted.”

“I have no desire to be a kept woman. You're wrong, Nyk. I can't have the one man I truly want.”

“Don't you harbor bitterness for what Zander did? It wasn't just him -- our society had a social contract with you and it was abrogated.”

“I don't, Nyk.”

“How can you not? You were destined for glamour on a far-away world.”

“I was destined for right here. No, Nyk -- I'm not bitter. What's done is done. The past is a rock.”

“The past is a rock?”

“Yes,” she replied. “It sits there, immutable. We can't change it -- so why dwell on it? I believe each of us has a choice -- to enjoy the beautiful gift of life, or to harbor resentment. I chose the former. I owe it to you.”

“To me?”

“When we first met, you told me might-have-beens don't count. You're right -- they don't. I meditated on the truth of it, and I decided then and there to keep the past in the past -- and to get on with enjoying what life offers. I am happy here, working at the sea research center. I'll be happy for a lifetime.”

“Don't you wonder? If Destiny's hand had unfolded the universe in a slightly different order -- you might be in a palace on a colony planet right now, hosting a state party.”

“Or, I might've been on the staff of that brothel on T-Delta. Remember, might-have-beens don't count. I had my taste of life as a chancellor's consort during our adventure on Lexal. It's not easy -- as you and I discovered.”

“What happened on Lexal was hardly typical.”

“I am happy, Nyk -- and I owe you thanks for introducing me to Sudal and to the beauty of the sea.”

“Are you headed to the university today?” Nyk asked as he sipped his morning tea.

“No. They're still repairing the research platform -- and, installing a redundant inertial sink. I have some reports to finish -- I can do them here.”

“I thought as long as I'm stuck here, I'd do some improvements around the house. I thought it would be nice to have a set of steps leading from the bluff to the beach -- so we don't need to climb down the rocks.”

“I don't mind climbing the rocks,” she said. “What did you have in mind?”

“I was going to use a cutter beam to carve steps into the rock that forms the bluff. It was something my dad wanted to do.”

“Carve steps in solid rock with a cutter beam? That'll take ages.”

“I have plenty of time.” Nyk dumped his cup and tray into the waste reprocessor and headed to the workshop in the house's lower level. He placed the cutter beam and a faceplate onto a levitating pallet, activated the antigrav fields and dragged it to the bluff. He pressed a control on the handle to switch off the antigrav and the pallet settled onto the ground.

After donning the faceplate, Nyk picked up the cutter beam and switched it on. Grasping each handle he pressed both triggers and began cutting an outline into the rock. He looked up and saw Andra, standing on the second level. She waved at him and turned toward the center of the house.

Nyk set down the cutter and picked up a length of polymer fiber cord. He placed the butt of the cutter on the ground and looped the cord over one handle and across one of the triggers. With his right wrist positioned over the instrument's muzzle he pressed the other trigger with his left hand and stepped on the cord.

“Yaahh!” he screamed. “Yaahh!” He ran toward the house, cradling his right arm in his left.

Andra came running toward him. “What happened? Nykkyo, what happened?”

“I was setting down the cutter and it discharged.”

“Let me see.” She held his arm. A deep, circular hole was burned into his wrist.

“It hurts, it hurts!”

“I'll call Internal Affairs. They'll send a skimmer to take you to the clinic.” She helped him into the house and bid him lie on an upholstered bench. “The skimmer will be here shortly,” she said.

He looked up into her face. A grey fog filled the periphery of his vision and spread toward the center.

Nyk looked up at the ceiling of a treatment room. He saw a man in hospital garb standing over him and looking down. His right arm was numb. “You're in shock,” the medic said. “You'll be all right. It's a nasty burn -- how did you do it?”

“I was using a cutter beam. I set it down and it went off.”

“You nearly burned a hole clean through. We're putting a team together to patch you up. You may lose some mobility in that wrist, but you'll be all right. We're putting a neural inducer on your head. It'll induce deep anesthesia until the surgeons are finished. Do you understand?” Nyk nodded. “We're switching on the inducer now...”

“Nykkyo?” He awoke to someone calling his name. Four pale-blue eyes looked down on him and slowly merged into a pair. “Nykkyo, are you all right?”

His right arm was encased from his elbow to his hand in a metallic sleeve. He couldn't feel his fingers. “Andra.”

“I'm Dr Vonn.” A figure spoke to him from the other side of the therapeutic pallet. “I'll give you the good news first -- you will recover. You will lose some range-of-motion in that wrist. The device on your arm is an osteo growth stimulator, to encourage the formation of new bone tissue. We had to remove your metacarpal bone and replace it with a prosthetic. The stimulator will ensure the natural bone will fuse with it.”

“My metacarpal bone?”

“We also repaired the tendons you severed, and we have some synthetic skin covering the entrance wound. You'll need to wear the stimulator for about ten days. We'll discharge you tomorrow, and you can return to have the stimulator removed.”

Andra poured some green tea for Nyk. He sat, his right arm in a sling and sipped it with his left hand. “Senta's wrong about you,” she said, “except for one thing. You are clumsy. She's right about that.”

“Thanks.”

She threw her arms around him. “It's one of your more endearing traits.” She kissed his cheek. “The research platform has been repaired. I promised I'd collect some more bioluminescence specimens. Maybe you'd like to join me.”

“I don't see why not.”

“I was planning on spending the night on the platform. You might want to pack a case.”

Nyk climbed into the groundcar. Andra closed the house and directed the groundcar to the research building on the coast. The car pulled up to a shed.

“I see the shuttlecar's still here,” he said. “I wonder how long it'll take the Agency to realize it's missing.”

Andra led him to the skimmer and piloted it toward the research platform. Soon the craft was speeding over open sea.

“It wasn't an accident,” he said. “It was intentional.”

“What was?”