Proximity
Page 16
CHAPTER 16
Ordinarily, driving from Father’s house to Sabela’s would be pointless. Our three houses formed a large triangle, approximately one hundred yards to each side, connected by a meandering gravel drive. It was hardly worth the trouble to get in the car, especially during the day. But since it was now the middle of the night—and Aeron and Ewenami were not familiar with our property—it made more sense to drive.
I rode the short distance with Dominick and Sabela, having left my car at home when we went to see Dominick’s lecture earlier in the evening. It seemed like days had passed since then.
Aeron and Ewenami followed behind. Ewenami’s prediction had been correct—it took only the miniscule amount of drive time for her to persuade Aeron to follow through with the plans to move in with our family. As we entered the house, Aeron expressed his gratitude to Sabela and Dominick for their generosity. Sabela, of course, dismissed it as the least they could do.
We each took a seat around the dining room table. There were more than enough chairs for the five of us, and I noticed that Aeron seemed to intentionally avoid the head of the table. Try as he might, he could not avoid the fact that all eyes were upon him. The rest of us had already talked ourselves out, and it was his words alone that we wanted to hear.
When we had all settled into our seats, he addressed the group softly, “Once again, I would like to apologize for excluding you from my conversation with Kencane. It was important that I have an opportunity to gain his trust, and I felt that was best accomplished alone.”
Once again, his humble demeanor contradicted his powerful position. It seemed odd he was so concerned with my father’s approval. “I appreciate that Ewenami has already explained how she and I came to be here in your midst,” he continued, “and I am deeply sorry for the danger it has brought upon you all.” His eyes flitted momentarily in my direction. “As we are all now caught in the collision of two worlds, I feel it is important that you understand the extent of the entanglement…”
We sat silently as he began the briefing, his expression solemn. “As you are aware, Bito Obo’s spies have infiltrated our government. It is via this espionage that he was able to acquire the design drawings which allowed him to construct his own ship. Fortunately, we have spies as well, many of them with centuries of experience. We had made the critical mistake once before of turning our attention away from Bito Obo—a mistake we have no intention of repeating. Through our own secret intelligence, we have become aware that Obo’s purpose in building a ship was twofold. The first, obviously, was to obliterate the remaining members of our family.” His eyes protectively glanced toward his sister as he paused momentarily. “The second…” he hesitated, reluctant to speak the words, “was to obliterate Earth.”
Sabela gasped faintly as she reached out to grasp Dominick’s hand. I caught myself swallowing audibly as my eyes widened. Aeron paused to give us a moment to digest this disturbing information. I knew instinctively from the look in his eyes that he had no immediate solution to this dilemma.
Sensing we had gathered ourselves enough to continue, he resumed the account. “Obo is confident he will succeed this time in overthrowing our government and assuming control of Onontí. This is, of course, an unacceptable outcome—not because we are bent on absolute power, but because he is the worst kind of ruthless dictator. He uses his powers to detestable advantage, twisting people’s minds to coerce them into following his will.”
It appeared Bito Obo shared a similar gift with my father…Only he lacked the morality to resist its misuse.
“We cannot, under any circumstances, allow him to succeed,” Aeron continued, quiet determination in his voice. “However…” he paused, taking a breath in as he looked directly at me. Exhaling sharply, he completed his thought. “His defeat may prove equally unacceptable. That is to say…He cannot be allowed to resort to his fallback plan.”
“Which is?…” I prompted, looking him in the eye, scarcely aware we weren’t having a private conversation.
“To occupy Earth, having annihilated its inhabitants.” He held my gaze as he elaborated, “All without expending any of his troops…or getting his hands dirty.”
“How?” Sabela’s voice was barely more than a whisper.
Aeron held his eyes on mine for a second longer before he turned to answer her. “Surprisingly simply.” His expression was forlorn. “He knows that humans are more fragile than we are, and he will capitalize on that fact by introducing a biological agent into Earth’s atmosphere.”
Sabela impulsively turned to look at Dominick beside her, gripping his hand more tightly.
Aeron refocused his eyes on mine as he proceeded to explain. “His ship is equipped with a biological weapon, which will distribute a virus throughout the globe. It is a strain of an Onontian respiratory virus, which in some cases can be deadly to us.” A look of genuine sadness filled his eyes as he clarified, “Humans will be universally exterminated.”
In an uncharacteristically rattled moment, Sabela whimpered softly, then promptly recovered herself with a deep breath of air.
I spoke out resolutely, “But you are working on an antidote…some sort of antiviral?” It was more of a statement than a question. I had no lingering doubts it was the purpose of his research at the medical school.
“Yes…at least I was,” he responded softly. Once again we were having a one-on-one conversation. “I was able to salvage what I had thus far the morning after I was attacked, and I’ve almost managed to find an effective antiviral. The problem is that time is running short, and I have no idea how to go about manufacturing enough of it…or distributing it globally.” His forehead creased as he was pulled back into a quandary that had clearly bewildered him for weeks. “Our only chance is to deliver it directly into the weapon, before it has a chance to go airborne—a task which would be difficult enough, without first having to track down a hidden enemy ship. We have no idea where to even begin looking.” His voice trailed off as a look of utter defeat crossed his face.
“I think I can help with that…” Sabela was back in the conversation, having steeled her resolve. “I will just need more information about the ship itself. Father can give me those details in the morning, while Palta helps you finish out the work on your antiviral agent.” Suddenly she was in full-on maternal mode, giving out orders we didn’t dare object to.
King or not, Aeron knew when he had best just agree. “Thank you, Sabela…Perhaps we have reason to hope after all.” He smiled with the best optimism he could manage.
Somewhere in the course of the conversation, it occurred to me that I felt completely at ease in his presence. Though I still found him overwhelmingly attractive, it no longer kept me from making eye contact. Yes, he was royalty—but I had never been one to be particularly impressed by power or exclusive titles. Somehow he was just Aeron. And despite the threat of global annihilation, I felt safe in his presence.
Ewenami had remained silent, giving the rest of us a chance to hear the full explanation for the first time. She finally spoke, addressing Dominick, “While everyone else is occupied, I was hoping you might help me with a fallback plan of our own…” Dominick turned to look at her, a bit perplexed. “I didn’t take the internship at the VLA for my own personal enjoyment,” she elaborated. “I was attempting to locate the nearest habitable planet, aside from Onontí, just in case our people have nowhere to go. It is unlikely we would have time to construct the necessary ships to evacuate anywhere near everyone, but it gives me some comfort to at least try.” Her eyes were apologetic, almost ashamed of her farfetched optimism.
Dominick nodded in assent, “It’s worth an effort…Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that eventuality.” He kept hold of Sabela’s hand, stroking it gently with his thumb.
Though none of us felt ready for sleep, we agreed it was time to break for the night. We would need our rest for the days ahead.