PLANETBOUND

by D M Arnold

  “Nykkyo!” She ran to embrace him and peppered his face with kisses. “I was so worried about you.”

  “Let me fill you in,” Kronta said. “Agency Enforcement is being disbanded. Authority to deal with Agents' behavior is being transitioned to the Agents-in-Chief. Tomyka Wells has been relieved of her duties and is in custody.”

  “On what charges?”

  “Attempted willful and malicious temporal interference. Your wife is in custody, also.”

  “Senta?”

  “She is scheduled to undergo interrogation this afternoon. She'd like to see you.”

  “Illya -- Senta meant no harm. She's not evil -- just headstrong and accustomed to having things go her way.”

  “That's what I expect to come out of the interrogation. She volunteered for it -- to clear her name.”

  “Let's go see her.”

  “Follow me.”

  Illya led Nyk and Andra into a detention cell within the ExoService complex at Government Center. Senta was sitting on a bunk in a confinement tunic and with a stun collar around her neck.

  “Senta,” Nyk said and chuckled.

  “That's right -- laugh it up. I've never been so humiliated.”

  “I'm sorry,” Nyk replied. “I'm not laughing at your situation. It's -- that tunic matches your hair.”

  “I suppose I'm getting what I deserve. You were right -- you were right all along.” She looked at Andra. “How did you know? How were you so sure what he was doing was right?”

  “I wasn't,” she replied. “Nyk and I are bonded and friends for life. We trust each other with our lives. I had faith he knew what he was doing.”

  “How will you ever forgive me?”

  “I have already forgiven you,” Nyk said.

  “You have? After all the trouble I made for you and Sukiko?”

  “Senta -- I've been forgiving you for years. This is no different.”

  Her jaw dropped. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “You were just being you.”

  “If Nyk forgives you -- so do I,” Andra added.

  An attendant entered the cell. “Dr Kyhana?”

  “Yes?” Senta replied.

  “It's time for your interrogation.” Senta sat on the bunk and stared at her feet. “Come along.” A tear formed and rolled down her cheek. The attendant grasped her upper arm and began to lift her. “You don't want me to have to stun you and carry you there.”

  “Can they come?” she asked. “Can they be with me?”

  “Until they start the procedure -- yes.”

  “Will you come with me? Please? You two are my only true friends. I hope you're still my friends.”

  “Fine, Senta,” Nyk replied. “We'll come with you.”

  Nyk and Andra followed Senta and the attendant down the corridor to the interrogation room. The equipment was the same as he had experienced in Sudal. Another attendant began attaching electrodes to Senta's scalp. Her green eyes darted around the room.

  Andra sat beside her. “Don't worry -- both of us have been through this and we survived -- right, Nyk?”

  “Just relax and it'll be over with.”

  “I'm frightened,” Senta whimpered. “I've never had a medical procedure -- I've never set foot in a hospital.”

  The attendant examined Senta's arms. “Hmm... no likely veins.” She touched one on her ankle. “We'll use this one.” She started to insert the IV in the vein in her leg. “Please keep still -- I don't want to have to poke you more than once.”

  Nyk knelt, held Senta's foot and caressed the top of it. “Ow!” she exclaimed as the nurse punctured a vein in her ankle.

  A medic entered the room. “We're ready to start.”

  “You'll have to go, now,” the attendant said to Nyk and Andra.

  “NO!” Senta exclaimed. “Can't they stay until ... until I'm under?”

  The attendant looked toward the medic. He nodded. Nyk took a seat on Senta's left and Andra on her right. Each held one of her hands.

  “Start the agent,” the interrogator said.

  “Nyk -- I'm frightened!” Senta exclaimed.

  “Just relax,” Andra replied.

  “Zero-five,” the medic said.

  “I feel it in my leg!” Senta gasped. “I'm afraid!” She clenched Nyk's hand in a white- knuckled grip.

  “Zero-seven ... One-zero ... One-five ... One-seven...”

  “Relax and give yourself to it.” Andra spoke soothingly and caressed her forearm. “You'll be all right.”

  “I can't,” she shrieked. “I'M SCARED!”

  “Two-zero ... two-two ... two-five...” Senta's grip relaxed and her eyes glazed. “She's under -- finally,” the medic said.

  Nyk nodded toward the door and Andra followed him. “I felt sorry for her,” Nyk said. “I saw real terror in her eyes.”

  “I think they used a lot of drug,” Andra replied. “She's apt to suffer from it, later.”

  “Let's go to the commissary and get something to eat. We'll check on her once she's in recovery.”

  * * *

  Nyk and Andra approached Senta's pallet. She was lying on her back with her eyes closed. Kronta was reviewing a vidisplay. “She's still under,” he said. “We'll release her -- as soon as we have medical clearance.”

  “What did you learn?”

  “No malice -- she was acting on good faith. We can't charge someone for being mistaken. If we did -- we'd all be under arrest. Would you like to see her interrogation transcript?” He held the vidisplay toward Nyk.

  “No, Illya. I learned from my own experience that truth drug is nothing less than the rape of a mind. I don't wish to be party to it.” He pushed the display aside. “What about Tomyka?”

  “She signed a no-contest agreement, and will be given early retirement on Gamma-5.”

  “It sounds like she's getting off light.”

  “Not so light -- she'll be under house arrest for five years. She didn't fight the charges, Nyk -- though she professes to have done no wrong. Tomyka has made enemies -- many within these walls. She knows how eager are some to see how she fares under truth drug.” Kronta set down the vidisplay. “Your wife is apt to be under the weather for a while. I'll see you at the hearing.”

  Nyk approached Senta. Andra stroked her cheek. “Senta?” She cracked her eyes open and gripped the sides of the pallet.

  “The room's spinning so fast you need to hold on,” Nyk said. “I recall feeling that way.”

  “I feel if I sit up, I'll be sick.”

  “Then -- don't sit up.”

  “I'm going to be sick, anyway...” She leaned over the side of the pallet. The attendant rushed to her and held a polymer tub under her face. Senta lay on her back. “False alarm.”

  The attendant produced a tumbler and drinking tube. “Try to drink this, dear.” She slipped the tube between her lips and Senta sipped some. “Your stomach will feel better with something in it.”

  Senta emptied the tumbler and lay on her back. Andra sat beside her and held her hand. “I don't think I've ever seen you that color,” Nyk said. “Your lips are white.”

  “This time I AM going to be sick,” Senta gasped and leaned over the pallet. Andra held the basin under her face. “Don't watch!”

  The attendant approached her. “Don't be shy, dear. Relax and let it up.”

  Nyk caressed Senta's shoulders as she vomited into the tub. She lay on her back. “Now my stomach feels better,” she panted.

  “Your color looks better, too.”

  “My heart! It's skipping beats!”

  “It's another side effect,” the attendant replied. “We're watching it. We won't let you go into arrest. All these after-effects will fade as your body rids itself of the drug. You should try to sleep. Would you like a sedative?”

  “Sleep will help more than anything,” Andra said.

  “All right...” The attendant jabbed Senta's deltoid with an injector.

  “Now -- try to sleep,” Nyk said.


  “Nyk...”

  “Shh... sleep.”

  “Where are you staying?”

  “We have a room at the hostel by Government Center,” Andra replied.

  “You can use the apartment.”

  “We already have the room. You sleep.”

  “Nyk... You can have the divorce ... I'll call my solicitor tomorrow and retract my objections.” Her eyelids drooped. “You're a ... free ... man...” She closed her eyes.

  “They gave her so much drug -- we'll need to keep her overnight,” the attendant said.

  Andra kissed Senta's forehead. “I'll check on her in the morning,” she replied. “Come on, Nyk -- we might as well go to our room.” She led him out of the building toward the tubecar platform.

  “Look at the line!” Nyk exclaimed as they approached the platform.

  “It's quitting time,” Andra replied. “It'll take forever to get a car.”

  Nyk pointed down. “And, twice as long for a groundcar. This town needs something like the New York City subway. Every time I think New York's crowds are big, I think about the ones here.”

  Andra pressed her palm against Nyk's and he laced fingers with her. “Have you really forgiven Senta?” she asked.

  “Yes. Have you?”

  “She hurt me deeply, Nyk. When we fought in Sudal, she called me the worst names -- accused me of the worst deeds.”

  “You told me the past is a rock.” She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Senta helped me through difficult times right after my parents were killed. For that, I'm eternally grateful. I was a mess then, Andra -- as big a mess as Suki in her darkest days. I wouldn't have survived.”

  “Then, I'll be grateful to her for that, too.”

  “Senta and I were happy, once. We lost our virginities together. We had quite a lusty physical relationship in those days.”

  “What happened?”

  “She outgrew me. After the Ricin affair she became a celebrity for a while, and the Food Service courted her to start the sequencing labs. As her power grew, so did her promiscuity. It was like a drug and she became addicted.”

  “She's an unhappy woman, Nyk. She doesn't know what true love is.”

  “Neither did I.”

  “You had to go to Earth to find it.”

  “I found it here, too.” They approached the tubecar kiosk and Nyk reached to scan his wrist -- then stopped. “I won't have my privileges restored until after the hearing tomorrow.”

  “I'll order the car,” Andra replied and scanned her wrist. She specified the hostel as their destination. Nyk stood with his arm around her waist and awaited their car.

  * * *

  Nyk lay on his back on the narrow mattress. Andra knelt, straddling his hips and rocking hers. She ran her hands across his skin. He gripped her thighs and watched her ribs and abdomen heave with her breathing.

  “Release?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I'm not ready. Can you maintain?”

  He nodded. “Suki wanted me to tell you,” he panted. “Some of this ... is from her.”

  She smiled. “I know,” she gasped. “I can feel it.”

  “How?”

  “No guilt,” she replied. “I told you -- one day ... she would understand our ways ... with her heart.”

  “She told me ... you and she ... sister lovers ... and we three a ... family in love.”

  “I'm so happy... I do love her, Nyk.”

  “She wanted me to ... tell you something else ... Andra, I love you.”

  “I know you do.”

  “I love you deeply ... you and Suki -- together ... the ones I love most ... in the whole universe.”

  “I know,” she panted. “Hearing it means so much.”

  Nyk read the cues in her body. Her skin glistened and a pink flush formed on her cheeks and upper chest. He could see her pulse pounding in her neck. “Release, now?” he asked. She nodded, closed her eyes and lifted her face. Her lips parted and she drew in a deep breath, then released it as a long, low moan.

  Nyk held his release for a moment, then smashed the barrier he had built in his mind. Sensations surged into his awareness. “Oh, Andra!” he grunted, grasped her hips and pressed himself against her.

  He lay beside her. She pulled herself against him. “Nyk -- I don't think I've ever felt so loved,” she said and kissed his cheek. “I've been reluctant to let myself feel the depth of your love. I've distanced myself.”

  “I've been denying my own feelings for you. I'm sorry for that, Andra.”

  “I understand.”

  “I'm denying them no longer. Andra, I love you as deeply as I love Suki. Leaving you behind was the hardest thing I've had to do. I hope I never again have to choose between the two of you. You're a sister in our love-family.”

  “I know -- I felt it. I love you just as deeply. You've changed my life, Nyk.”

  “One person can make the difference.” Nyk took her hand and held it to his chest. “You're a hero, Andra. The entire hegemony owes its existence to you.”

  “How could that be?”

  “You engineered my escape.”

  “I? How?”

  “You'll know the details soon enough. You did, so I could be with Suki and Nicky. She has just emerged from some dark days. But, I was there to help her through them. She told me she'd be dead, otherwise -- perhaps Nicky, too. I believe her. I was there for her. Your sacrifice -- your love made it possible. I owe it to you -- we owe it to you.”

  * * *

  Nyk sat beside Kronta in the committee hearing room. He looked around. “Who's the new chair with Tomyka out of the way?” he whispered to Illya.

  Kronta tapped his chest. “I am, but the vice-chair will conduct the hearing. I wanted to be the one to represent you. Please don't worry, Nyk. The outcome is a foregone conclusion. This is merely a formality.”

  Nyk stood as the committee members filed in and took their seats. The vice chair stood. “We're re-opening the case of Nykkyo Kyhana, charged with fraternization with the Earth population, unauthorized transit and unauthorized transport of an Earth woman. What is your petition?”

  Kronta stood. “We petition dismissal of the charges based on mitigating factors.”

  The vice-chair nodded. “You will present evidence of such factors?”

  “Yes,” Kronta said. “Each of you will find on your vidisplay a document. Please take a moment to examine it.”

  Nyk looked at the vidisplay before him. His eye caught a line of Esperanto rendered in Floran characters:

  ... Sukiko Kyhana: naskigi New York, New York 27 augusto 1974; morti New York, New York 1 septembro 2001 ...

  His jaw dropped and he buried his face in his hands. “This is Koichi's genealogy!” he whispered to Kronta.

  “Yes, Nyk, yes!”

  “I don't want to see it!”

  “Please explain the evidence,” the vice-chair said.

  “This document shows the family line from Sukiko Kyhana to Koichi Kyhana. Two items are of interest -- first, the name of Sukiko Kyhana's only child is Nykkyo Kyhana. She named her son after this man.” Kronta patted Nyk on the shoulder. “She did so out of love for him.”

  “And the second item?”

  “After the birth of Sukiko's child, the record shows she married a man named Nick Kane, who became the child's step-father.” He put his hand on Nyk's shoulder again. “Nykkyo, would you please tell the committee your Earth identity?”

  “It's Nick Kane,” he replied, his face buried.

  “Can you repeat it so the entire committee can hear?”

  Nyk stood, his eyes closed. “It's Nick Kane.”

  “The relationship of Nykkyo Kyhana, otherwise known as Nick Kane, to Koichi Kyhana's forebear is documented in this genealogy. It is a matter of historic fact. What we have here is a unique case. Despite our regulations against temporal interference and fraternizing with the Earth population, Nykkyo found himself thrust into contact with someone on the critical path to the Centauri mission. Temporal i
nterference did occur. Sukiko was diverted from her rightful path -- onto another one requiring Nykkyo's participation. This committee, in punishing Nykkyo Kyhana was in fact itself causing temporal interference that, if left unchecked, could have had catastrophic -- disastrous consequences.”

  “What evidence have you of the authenticity of this document?” the chair asked.

  “We are presenting a transcript of the document created in the year 6602APF. This is three years before the birth of the petitioner. The format and content of the document is consistent with genealogies of other Floran crewmembers.”

  “Are there any questions?” The vice chair looked up and down the committee. “Hearing none, would the petitioner care to make a statement?”

  “Just tell me when that document is down. I don't want to see it.”

  “It's down,” Kronta said. “You can take it.” He handed Nyk the datacel.

  “We will recess to deliberate.” The committee filed from the room.

  “Illya, where did you obtain that genealogy?”

  “Your friend Andra brought it to my attention.”

  “I didn't want to see it.”

  “Why not?” Illya replied. “It's an important historic document.”

  “Then, give it to future generations. I don't want to see it -- I don't want to know about it. That document contains dates, Illya -- it lists Suki's death as 1 September, 2001. That's less than a year away!”

  “Nyk -- I'm so sorry -- I had no idea. I'm not familiar with the Earth calendar.”

  “How can you not be? You're a Kyhana scholar!”

  “My specialty is the early days of THIS world. This must be very upsetting to you.”

  “Upsetting! I know -- I saw -- and I can't un-see it! Suki will die within the year -- and I'm powerless to do anything about it!”

  “The committee is returning. You'd better stand.”

  Nyk stood as the committee resumed their seats. The vice-chair stood. “It is the decision of this committee to dispose of the charges as follows. In the charge of inappropriate contact with a member of the Earth population, Nykkyo Kyhana will be given an official reprimand, to be placed in his Agency personal file.