She spoke in Bengali, “my boss, Kali Sanyai, has been following the story of your Easter Emancipation very closely. She is eager to meet with you. I believe she has a proposition for you.”
I replied in Bengali, “we’re not really in the business of taking requests. We have our own mission.”
“Kali says that you’ll find your goals and her own are quite similar.”
I took a deep breath before replying. “I admit to my own curiosity about meeting with her. When and where shall we do this?”
Bita smiled, “I came back from India on one of her private jets. You can use it to go to India and meet with her.”
I raised an eyebrow. This Kali Sanyai really is quite eager to meet with me…
“When?”
“Whenever is convenient for you,” Bita said, “just let me know in advance and we will set everything up for you.”
“Will you be sticking around the LoC?”
“For now,” she said, “but I can’t say for how long.”
“I see.”
She smiled and said in English, “you are free to come to my remaining store whenever you want. I need to get going now, though.”
“Alright,” I said in English.
Bita nodded, turned, and quickly strode away, disappearing into the dark parking lot outside the party’s lighting.
That was strange…
I turned back toward the party. Salia was now cheering the children on as they pulled Kantor and Aveena onto the dance floor. Salia’s extensive mutations made dancing an awkward experience for her, but she was content to watch.
Masaru stood near Salia, a smile still plastered on his face. But he kept glancing toward Akira, who remained sitting at a table by herself. He was worried that this party wasn’t having the intended effect on her.
I strode toward Masaru. He turned to me as I approached, giving me a deep bow. I returned the gesture and opened up chat with him, his symbol appearing in my ARs.
“This is great,” Masaru said, “I can’t believe how well this is going!”
“It is going well, isn’t it?” I said, “All except for one thing,” I added, glancing to Akira.
Masaru gave me a pained look. “I was hoping this might lighten her up.”
“You might have to take a more proactive approach,” I said.
“I want to talk to her, but I don’t know if it’ll help,” Masaru said, still glancing over to Akira. She still had the same mixed drink in front of her that she’d had since dinner, barely touched.
“Don’t talk,” I grinned, “get her to dance with you.”
Masaru looked at me, eyes wide. “You think she would?”
“I think she will if everyone cheers her on,” I said. “Get the DJ to play her favorite song.”
Masaru looked hopeful as he braced himself. “Will you dance, too?”
“I don’t know if-”
“Don’t give me that,” Masaru smirked, “Akira respects you a lot. It’ll mean even more to see all of her loved ones out here dancing.”
I wanted to protest more, but I understood where he was coming from. “Sure,” I smiled, “I’ll dance, too.”
Masaru’s face lit up with delight. He gave me an approving nod before disconnecting from the chat and limping out across the dance floor toward the DJ.
I spotted Regina standing near to Salia, watching the other kids. I walked over toward her and she saw me coming, giving me a smile with her childlike face. I opened chat with her.
“Finally decided to join in?” she asked.
“I’ve been called to duty,” I grinned.
She looked at me, confused. “You have to leave?”
“No,” I laughed, “Masaru wants to try cheering Akira up,” I signaled to where she sat, “and he needs people to encourage her to get up and dance with him.”
Regina’s smile returned, “I’ll dance with you.”
“Great,” I said, disconnecting the chat and turning my attention to Masaru as he spoke with the DJ.
As the current song wound down, Masaru started limping his way over to Akira. Regina and I both watched as he approached her, saying something I couldn’t hear. Akira shook her head, but Masaru responded with an insistent look. The song ended and then another one came on. The electronic sounds of Mukankaku’s theme song – the anime that had helped bring the two of them together. Akira looked out to the dance floor, eyebrows raised, while Masaru stood with his hand out to her. I nudged Regina as I started chanting Akira’s name.
“Uh-Keer-uh! Uh-Keer-uh!”
Regina joined in. After several seconds, more people joined in on the chant. Soon everyone was looking her way, chanting her name. She blushed, expression anxious as if she wanted to run away. But she slowly extended her hand, letting Masaru take it and lead her slowly out to the dance floor. The crowd erupted in cheers as people started moving to the music.
Regina followed me onto the dance floor, her small body prancing about. What she lacked in coordination she made up for in joy. I started moving slowly, not making much of a spectacle, mostly watching everyone else around me. Masaru finally arrived in the dance area with Akira, moving his body about while still supporting his weight on the cane. Akira stood still, watching him. Masaru shouted something, inviting her to join in. She looked to me, expression colored with trepidation.
I started moving about more quickly, fluidly, calling back to dances learned as far back as pre-history. Dances done around campfires to please the ancestors. Dances done to ring in summer and ward off winter for another few months. Dances done in hopes of earning enough favor from the gods and ancestors to make our bounties plentiful. Dances done for weddings, funerals, hunts, and weather.
And the crowd cheered. Masaru looked at me, mouth hanging open as I moved about the dance area with a grace I didn’t remember possessing. Regina stopped even trying, watching with fascination, hands clapping. And then Masaru became even more surprised when Akira joined in, a tiny, shy smile breaking over her lips as she raised her arms up and gyrated her hips. Masaru laughed with joy and relief seeing her start moving, able to ignore the pain in his leg enough to lift the cane and twirl it about as he swayed along with her.
Aveena made her way over, demonstrating a skill to match my novelty. She had a large grin on her face, the pink, un-gelled Mohawk of hair thrashing about with her head movements. The entire crowd cheered on the spectacle as both of us attempted to outdo each other.
I weaved myself to the ground, where I spun myself about on my upper back before leaping up, landing on my feet, the applause of the crowd almost drowning out the music.
Standing to the side of the dance area, Laura, in her jeans and t-shirt, watched with astonishment. I held my hand out to her. The crowd cheered again as Laura’s eyes widened. Aveena shouted for Laura to join me.
Laura slowly walked out as I continued shaking myself about, letting the repetitive bass line take me over like a drum circle around a tribal fire. She seemed as apprehensive as Akira had. I grabbed her hand, pulling her into the center of the floor. My eyes stayed locked on her’s as I shook my shoulders, stepping in place. A shy smile spread across her face as she tried emulating the movement, looking as uncoordinated as Regina had.
Both of us laughed, but she was enjoying herself. Laura reached out and grabbed my hands, pulling me toward her. She said something in my ear I couldn’t understand, and before I could ask her to repeat herself, she pulled my face to hers, pressing her lips against mine. My eyes widened as her tongue gently slipped into my mouth, but I didn’t push her away.
A voice shouted. The dancing died away quickly, everyone looking off to the side. Laura let go of me and we both turned to see what was happening. Akira stood near the onlookers, yelling at Darren as he stared at her, frightened. Ellen Malloy stood next to him.
“I can’t believe you fucking came to this!” Akira shouted at him, “How dare you show your face around here you piece of shit!”
“What’s going on?�
� Ellen asked.
“You’re actually with this…this creature?” Akira hissed, looking at the red headed woman, “do you even know who he is? What he is?”
“Of course I know who he-”
“Have you asked him about what he did before the Christmas Crossing?”
Ellen stared at Akira, speechless.
“I bet you haven’t even told her, have you?” Akira looked to Darren.
“I uh…I’ve…”
“I should have outted you a long fucking time ago,” Akira snarled, “why don’t you get the fuck out of here, you fucking asshole!”
Darren looked like he was going to say something, but Akira was already storming away. The guests murmured to each other in the uneasy quiet that came over the parking lot. I looked to Laura and then trotted away after Akira, leaving the awkward quiet behind. Masaru exchanged a glance with me.
“I’ll talk to her,” I said.
Masaru wanted to protest, but stood and watched me go, his gaze dropping to the ground.
Akira was off the parking lot into the grass before I caught up to her. Even in the dim moonlight I could see tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked at me, but didn’t say anything. She clutched her electronic cigarette, stopping under a small tree. Back up against the bark, she sat down and started crying.
I watched her for some time, wishing I knew better what to do. Several moments later, the faint music from the distant party picked up again. Still sobbing, she looked down at the electronic cigarette in her hand.
“I’ve really fucked up this time, haven’t I?” Akira sniffled, “They all probably think I’m the bad guy and that piece of shit is the victim.”
“I think they know that you’ve been going through some…stuff, lately,” I said.
“Some stuff,” Akira repeated, “I don’t think they do know what I’ve been going through.”
I exhaled slowly, “this isn’t really about Darren, though, is it?”
Akira’s chin started quivering again, but all she managed to do was shake her head no.
“You do know Masaru cares about you,” I said, “he’s not trying to get you to leave to hurt you.”
Akira shook her head, sniffling as she brought the electronic cigarette up to her lips. She took a drag, the vapor coming out when she groaned, burying her face in her hands.
“I should feel better,” Akira said, “after rescuing those children. I thought I would feel better after doing that, but I only started feeling worse. That’s when I knew.”
“Knew?”
Akira paused for several moments then continued, “My brain implants. They were damaged during the escape from Mexico.”
“I thought you had them fixed.”
She forced a smirk through the tears, “not the way you think. The power converter. It allows power to be taken from my own body’s metabolism. It apparently cut out, but for some reason the sensor said it was working properly.” She sighed, “and when the doctors looked at it, they said they couldn’t see anything wrong. I guess that’s not too surprising. It’s not a common procedure.”
The doctors couldn’t see anything wrong…unless they’re behind it.
“Have you gotten it fixed?”
“Yes,” she said, “right after Masaru…gave me his ultimatum.”
“Is it still not working?”
Akira shook her head slowly, “I did more than fix it. I upgraded it. I just haven’t turned it on yet.”
“Who did the upgrades?”
“I had Salia do it,” Akira said.
“Why are you leaving it off?”
Akira sat a while, fiddling with the electronic cigarette in her hands, “because I…I’ve hated myself so much. It feels like what I’m going through is a punishment for what I’ve done. Like I deserve to feel bad. For what I used to do with the Yakuza. For what I allowed myself to get into in Mexico. For turning myself into…into this.” She looked down at herself. “Why did I deserve to feel better about myself after everything I did? I told myself that if I ever had the right to feel better, it would just have to come naturally. Not through some synthetic brain implants.” She sighed again, “I thought helping the children…I thought it would start me on the path. But it didn’t. And I don’t know how much longer I can deal with how…how terrible I feel. All the time. And now…with Masaru wanting to leave – demanding to leave – to take my daughter away and settle for some simple life…I just can’t take it anymore. I can’t lose them, but I can’t stop doing what I’m doing. I can’t live that simple life. I just can’t. But if I keep going the way I am, I’m going to lose both. And if that happened…”
You would kill yourself.
“So, what are you going to do?” I asked.
She looked back down at the electronic cigarette, not saying anything for some time. “The urge to smoke came back after we were attacked in Mexico. It took me a while to figure it out, but that’s why I’m certain it was then that the implants were damaged. When I started the tDCS program, the addiction vanished. I hadn’t even expected that. But after Mexico, it felt like…like the addiction was just…hiding. Building up inside me. And the need to smoke again…it was insatiable. Worse than I’d ever had it.” She paused, getting slowly to her feet, refusing my help when I held out my hand. She took one last look at the electronic cigarette and then threw it to the ground. The plastic crunched as she stamped on it over and over. And then Akira looked back to me, a wan smile on her lips. “As of right now, I won’t be needing that anymore.”
Chapter 23
I walked into the small Cortez hospital. Most of the shrine built to honor the original rescued children was cleared away. There were no more large crowds. It was back to being a normal hospital.
Yet nothing felt normal to me. Akira and Masaru had left the day before, going up to their new place in Idaho. That left the house feeling empty, just Laura and me. And she was acting more distant than usual. Likely because I hadn’t yet addressed the fact that she kissed me at the quinceañera.
Pushing the thought out of my head, I fiddled with the tech in my pocket.
“Can I help you, Mr. Eshe?” the receptionist module asked in its gentle, yet still subtly computerized woman’s voice.
“I’m here to see Doctor Taylor,” I said.
“Doctor Taylor is with a patient at the moment,” the module said, “would you like to make an appointment?”
“Nah,” I said, “I can go in and wait for her.”
“Permission granted,” it said, “I would like to remind you that we have a special today on kidneys. I can show you a list sorted by biomarker compatibility with your available profile.”
“No thanks,” I said.
“Very well. Have a wonderful visit, Mr. Eshe.”
The door unlocked and I went through it. Typical hospital smells – disinfectants, vinyl, hot plastic, floor wax – and sounds – beeping, humming, murmuring, footsteps – greeted me. Life went on after the excitement rescuing children. Just like the mortal lives of my friends.
Alone again…just like I always will be.
You know why, Evita said, but you still refuse to admit it.
“Why is that?” I muttered.
Because of Masaru, Evita said, he took away your best asset. He’s slowing you down.
I shook my head, once again manipulating the tech in my pocket as I strode down the hallway. Familiar nurses and technicians nodded at me. I nodded back. There was no more exciting news to share with any of them about progress being made by the children. Now we merely acknowledged each other’s existence.
Soon it won’t even be that. And then later, they’ll be dead.
I arrived at Doctor Taylor’s office, door ajar as it often was. Doctor Taylor was a tenacious person. This led her to neglect any sort of organization or tidiness in her office. Including keeping it secured. She often joked that if someone went in to steal something, her messiness would prevent them from finding it.
I had seen the office on
numerous occasions while making visits to the hospital over the past six months. It still looked the same – stacks of boxes against the walls, printouts of medical journal papers, pictures sent in by grateful patients – and yet somehow different.
Doctor Taylor was now my new ally. Her, Aveena, Colonel Reynolds, and Major Riviera. They would have to replace Akira and Masaru. Meaning that at some point, I would have to let them in on my reincarnation. And on my ultimate mission of making reincarnation available to the world.
For now, though, I needed to know what was actually going on in this hospital. I pushed the door most of the way closed behind me and went around Doctor Taylor’s desk, sitting in her swiveling office chair. Looking to the door one last time, I bent down to the small cubic server with its lights flashing. I took the tech out of my pocket – the LAN turtle – and removed the ethernet cable from Doctor Taylor’s server. I quickly plugged it into one end of my LAN turtle and then plugged the LAN turtle into the server. According to Aveena, I would now have remote access to the hospital’s network and all its files.
I got out of Doctor Taylor’s seat and started my way over to the guest chair when the door opened.
“Ah,” Doctor Taylor said, “I thought you might be in here. Ready to schedule your appointment?”
“I am,” I smiled.
“I can take over for a while,” I said, eyeing the open vodka bottle on the lab bench.
Laura swiveled around slowly to look at me. The hums, whirs, buzzes, and thumps of the equipment played like a symphony without a conductor. The stale air sat cold around me, but it was refreshing after being in the heat outside. The smell of growing bacteria, warm agar, old bleach, evaporated ethanol, dirty detergent, burning hot-plates, steaming glassware, open tetramethylethylenediamine, Coomassie destain, and an assortment of other spilled buffers floated about the cramped space as thick as the corrosion building up in the sink drain.
“Instating a no drinking and sciencing rule?” Laura asked.
The dark shadows around her bloodshot eyes loomed larger than normal. Her characteristic listlessness was exaggerated by the alcohol. She hadn’t stopped drinking since the quinceañera. Once again, I couldn’t help feeling like my inability to address our kiss had something to do with it. But Akira and Masaru’s departure also had to play a role.
Incarnate- Essence Page 40
