Planetbound by DM Arnold (best contemporary novels TXT) 📕

“You will know everything within half an hour.” He stood on the uptown platform. The train pulled into the station and he escorted her aboard. He glanced at his watch -- 8:25.

The train began to slow. Nyk gestured to her to stand. “Grand Central? Are we going back to Queens?” Her eyes widened and she put her hand over her mouth. “Does this have to do with Nicky or Mom?”

“No -- not to Queens.” He led her to the street and headed toward Park Avenue, half-walking and half-running. Suki lagged behind. “Hurry!”

“Nick,” she panted. “What is going on?”

“You'll know soon. We're almost there!”

He reached a high-rise of co-op apartments, showed a key to the doorman and called an elevator. “What's this place?” she asked. “I've never been here. Why do you have that key?”

“It's to Seymor's apartment. He gave it to me in case I needed to use any of the homeworld equipment he has stashed there.” Nyk inserted the key and pressed the button for the penthouse. “Or, in case I needed to sanitize the place in the event anything happened to him.” The door opened and he stepped into the apartment. “Seymor! Seymor!” he yelled.

Seymor appeared in a pair of suit pants and a white shirt. “Nykkyo... Sukiko... This is a surprise.”

“Quick -- I need the bubble shuttle.”

“What's going on?”

“I have no idea,” Suki replied.

“No time to explain.” Nyk dashed through the sliding doors to the roof and began unhooking the tethers restraining the bubble shuttle. He opened the door and helped Suki inside.

The shuttle came alive, its power cells spinning up. He tested doorseals and received a blue “go” panel. The safety latches engaged with a snap. Nyk deployed the sham rotors. They began to spin and he pulled back on the unistick to lift the shuttle off. He activated electronic countermeasures to make the craft invisible to radar. When he reached an altitude of 5,000 feet he put the shuttle into station-keeping and pointed toward lower Manhattan. He checked his watch -- 8:44.

“Now can you tell me what this is about?” Suki asked.

“Watch...”

A fireball engulfed the top floors of the North Tower as the first plane struck.

“Oh, my God!” Suki shrieked. “That's about where Daddy's office is...”

“Yes,” Nyk replied, his voice cracking. “No doubt -- George is dead.”

She wailed. “I would've been there, too! Why would you save me and not Daddy?”

He looked into her face, his vision blurred. “I didn't save you, korlyta -- you're dead, too.” He gave her a handheld vidisplay. “It's all here...”

“What is this?”

“Koichi Kyhana's genealogy. Look at it.”

“More Esperanto?” she asked.

“Here is the Kyhana family line from your great-great grandfather up to Koichi.” He pointed. “Here's Nicky ... his son Jeremy ... Jeremy's son ... and so on... Nicky's entry reads, “Nykkyo Nicholas Kane Kyhana -- mother Sukiko, father unknown... Your entry -- Sukiko Kyhana, born New York, August 27, 1974... died September 11, 2001. Your father, George Kyhana -- born July 16, 1938 ... died September 11, 2001. Your mother, Yasuko Kyhana nee Tanaka, born...”

She put her hands over her ears. “Stop! I don't want to hear any more!”

Tears ran down his face. “Your future is my past. What will be ... has already been. As concerns Earth history -- you are dead. You perished when that aircraft hit. But -- I couldn't stand by and let you die.”

“You -- you saved me. You've changed history.”

“No -- I can't change history. It's Quinn's Postulate.”

“But, you have...”

“Any attempt to return you to a normal life on Earth will have the same result -- you will be dead. If I were to take you to your home in Queens -- you'd still be dead. I can't take you there. How I wish I could.”

“Where are you taking me, then?”

“To Floran. Andra will care for you, there.” He pointed toward the towers again. “Look!” The second aircraft struck the South tower. “Within three hours, both towers will be gone and nearly three thousand will be dead. You're among them. You were destined to depart the face of Earth today.” He grasped the unistick, pulled back and the shuttle shot into a parking orbit. “But -- you need not die to leave.” He began computing the warp jump coordinates.

He pointed toward the blue sphere below. “Take one last look, korlyta. I'm about to trigger the jump.”

Nyk pressed the warp coil trigger. The bubble became opaque and the coil discharge shook the shuttle. Transparency returned and he began homing onto the relay station transponders. He approached the shuttle bay, parked the craft and began bay repressurization.

Suki stood in the workroom, trembling. “You knew... you knew... How long have you known? This thing the other week -- Labor day Saturday -- that was a dry run!”

“That was an error in the transcript. I learned of the genealogy when I went for the hearing. Andra forwarded the encyclopedia entry the day before yesterday.”

“Last night -- we talked of death and spirits -- this was what you meant, wasn't it? I'll never see Mom or Nicky again.” She began weeping.

“Korlyta -- the choices were ... to let you die ... or to let you live -- on another world. There was no third choice. You say you don't believe in an afterlife. Well -- you're in it. Call it heaven, hell or purgatory -- this is your afterlife.”

“No... no... oh, God, Nykkyo -- oh, God, I don't know what to do...”

“Go to Floran. Live out your natural life. Andra will be there for you. I'll call you -- I'll call every day. I'll send you photos and tell you of Nicky's progress. You'll see his first step and hear his first words. I'll visit -- as often as I can. And -- when my work here is done ... I'll return to Floran and we'll be together again forever -- and die in each other's arms.”

“It's like prison -- to be kept forever from the people and places and things I love. To be kept from my baby -- my family. It's cruel, Nykkyo. You shouldn't have interfered!”

“Destiny is cruel and She's singled us out for exceptional cruelty. But -- you will be with your family. Somewhere between one in a hundred and one in a thousand Florans have Kyhana blood in their veins -- your blood, korlyta. You're their mother -- a couple hundred times removed. You will be with your progeny -- on the world THEY built.”

“I'd rather be dead ... I'd rather die, Nykkyo!”

“If you'd really rather die -- I can arrange it.”

“How?”

He opened the door on a man-sized transparent tube. “Your afterlife has an escape hatch. This is an emergency stasis chamber. Once I put you into stasis -- you're dead. It's quick and painless. It would destroy me, but I would do it for you.”

She poked her head into the chamber.

“Normally, patients are kept in stasis until reanimated. I used it to save you when you cut your wrists. Please don't make me use it now.”

Suki stood with her hand on the stasis chamber hatch. “Quick and painless?”

“One moment you're conscious -- the next you're not. If you really wish death, you may have it. The choice is yours. I was sure you'd prefer life.”

“What will you do with my body?”

He put up his hands. “Eject it into space.”

“If I died today, then I die today. How do I get into this?”

“Don't make me do this, Suki.”

“How?”

Nyk pressed a control and a table extended from the chamber. “Lie on this.”

She sat on the table and stretched out, her feet pointing into the tube. Nyk pressed a control and the table slid into the chamber. “You're sure?”

She nodded. “Just don't tell me when.”

He closed and latched the chamber hatch. Suki closed her eyes and clenched her fists. A touch of the master control brought the stasis field generator into standby. He looked into her face through the transparent tube, tears streaming down his. Then, he took a deep breath and placed his finger on the actuator. “Goodbye, korlyta.”

“Wait, Nick!” she yelled. “Stop! NYKKYO -- STOP!” He opened the hatch. “I changed my mind. You're giving me a gift -- a wonderful gift -- I'd be horribly foolish to refuse. I choose life -- I'd rather be two hundred lightyears away than nowhere at all. I'll go to Floran. Now, get me out of this thing.”

Nyk pressed the control to extend the table. Suki swung her feet to the floor and stood. He threw his arms around her and held her. “I knew you would,” he said. “I knew you would.”

“If this is heaven -- then you must be some sort of an angel -- flitting between here and Earth. There were times I was convinced you were heaven-sent.” She held him. “To do all this for me...”

“I'd do more if I could. I'd have saved George, too -- if I had known how...” He embraced her and wept.

“It's okay,” she said, “it's okay...” She held him and stroked the back of his head until he calmed. He looked into her face and she smiled. “So, what's next?”

“You know the drill -- decontamination and wait for the packet.”

Suki adjusted a lifxarpa. “When you visit -- bring me some bras. I know your people aren't big on underwear.”

“I'll bring whatever you want.”

“You had this ... rescue planned. How did you know...”

“I didn't. Mine was a contingency plan -- and then, everything fell into place. I figured if you were in the tower, you'd have to be there first thing in the morning. You couldn't have arrived after the attack was in progress -- you'd have been turned away. You said it's a twenty-minute walk from Pace.”

“You timed it all out.”

“I walked with you yesterday to estimate the timing of the train, and how far to Pace. The only snag was when I followed you from Grand Central. I missed your train and was convinced I had lost you. You owe your life to your conversation with your dean.”

“Maybe not. If he hadn't delayed me, I might have been in and out of Daddy's office before the attack.”

“Might-haves...”

“...don't count,” she said, completing his sentence.

“I spent the rest of yesterday arranging details...” Nyk heard and felt a thud reverberate through the relay station. “...like the packet diversion. Come, korlyta -- the moment of our parting draws near. Remember -- even if we're apart, we're together. I'll never stop loving you. Love is communication -- we'll always have each other so long as we can communicate. Will you remember?”

“How could I forget?”

“Take care of yourself.”

“You take care of yourself. I'm getting off easy -- YOU have to raise Nicky as a single dad.” A tear ran down her face. “Take care of Mom -- okay?”

He nodded. “I feel sorriest for your mother. It'll be hard for her.”

The docking tunnel door opened and Andra emerged. She opened her arms to Suki and embraced her. “Sukiko -- I sorry am -- but happy too.”

Nyk embraced Andra and kissed her. “You said you'd do whatever I needed. I need you to love and care for my korlyta.”

“I do and I shall. This request is no burden, Nyk.”

He held Suki. “'Til we meet again.”

Suki followed Andra into the docking tunnel. The airlock door closed. Nyk watched the packet pull away and vanish into her warp jump.

Nyk piloted the bubble shuttle to a rooftop landing. He climbed out and began hooking the safety tethers. Seymor approached from the sliding doors.

“I'm in shock,” Seymor said. “The whole city -- the whole country is. It'll be days before we can get into the office -- maybe weeks. I'm glad my office faces north.”

Nyk headed into the penthouse. “I'm numb.”

Seymor put his arm around him. “Once the plane hit -- I realized what your game was. It was a gutsy thing you did.”

“I couldn't bear the thought of her dying -- especially that way.”

“If I were in your position, I'd have done the same -- assuming I'd have thought of it. With that sort of thinking and execution -- you'll make a first-rate Agent-in-Chief, Nyk -- a better one than me.”

“I wish I could've saved her father, too.”

“You did all you could. Lad ... I'm sure there will be legal issues. If I can help in any way...”

“Well -- they're probably both in testate. George's estate will go to Yasuko and Suki's -- what there is of it -- will go to me as her husband. My big concern is Nicky. Now, I wish I had married her before he was born -- then, there'd be no question.”

“I'll look into it. My gut tells me you have little to worry about.”

Nyk looked at his watch. “It's one in the morning. I wonder if I can get