by neetha Napew
“I understand the Agency has recruited someone they can train to be an exobotanist and send down here.”
“That'll be a few years yet,” Nyk said.
“A few Floran years. By the way, this candidate is someone you know.”
“Who do I know who'd be interested in becoming an ExoAgent?” He tossed his soda cup into the trash barrel. “We'd better get back. I have to get through those field reports.”
He accompanied Seymor to the office. Seymor put his arm around Nyk's shoulder. “Good to have you back, lad.”
Nyk stepped into his office and looked through his email. He spotted a telemessage from the Floran comm net, converted to email. He opened and read it.
Dear Nykkyo.
My treatment is going well. I've been drug-free since that time on Earth. It hasn't been easy -- some days I didn't think I'd make it, but I've kept with it. I wanted to tell you because I thought you'd be proud of me. In a few days they'll let me go live with my mother. She's now amfin to a gentleman with a house in Altropolis -- he's an assistant to a member of the new Altian senate. He has two other amfinen, but I think Mom is his favorite. He's used his influence to help me.
Now for the big news -- I've been accepted for ExoAgency training. Once I'm done with my treatment, I'll be off to the Agency training center in Floran City. I suppose you know what that's all about. In the meantime, I'm catching up on my studies and am taking a course on exobotany. I hope I'm good enough to make the cut -- so I can make use of that course.
So, the next few years of my life are mapped out. I don't know if I'll be able to keep that date, Nykkyo. I think of you and how you helped me, and I hope our paths do cross again.
Thanks for everything -- Dyppa.
Nyk stepped into Seymor's office and sat on his desk. “I received a nice note from Dyppa.”
“So did I.”
“It puts it all into perspective -- and it finally gives us closure on this Zander business.”
“How do you mean?” Seymor asked.
“Zander's plotting wrecked some lives -- but, it also turned some around. Andra has been accepted into the Sudal University Sea Research Center, and she tells me she's happier than she's been her whole life. Dyppa's turned her life around, too.”
“It wouldn't have happened without your involvment, lad.”
“Yes -- I realize that. It's all part of the path Destiny is tracing for me. This will give me some material for my afternoon vidphone call. In the meantime -- I have some items falling under my domain of responsibility to deal with.”
* * *
Nyk carried his briefcase and walked, holding hands, with Suki from the bus stop. He climbed to the apartment, unpacked the laptop computer and plugged it in. Suki stepped into the bedroom to change her clothes.
The vidphone indicator flashed and Nyk answered the call. “Nykkyo, I'm finally home!” Andra exclaimed. “Do you want to see my scar?”
“Sure.” She lifted her tunic and showed her abdomen to the vidphone camera. “That doesn't look bad at all. In time, it'll hardly be noticeable.”
“Aahhn and his team did a good job. I was sure I'd end up with a second navel.”
“I like little scars. They're testimonies to overcoming adversity. How are you feeling?”
“I'm still a bit sore, and a bit weak. But, otherwise well. And look...” She held the backs of her hands to the camera. “I'm no longer green!”
Suki came from the bedroom brushing her hair. “Who are you talking to?”
“To Andra.”
“There is Sukiko?” Andra asked. “Hello Sukiko!”
“Saluti, Andra. Kil fet-zi?” Suki asked as she stepped around the table and looked into the screen.
“Good. Good. I good. Home from ... Nyk, hopitala es-ka?”
“Hospital.”
“Ji-ji. I home from hospital am.” She lifted her tunic again and pointed to her scar. “Me shot, but I okay am.”
Suki looked at Nyk. “Andra was shot?”
“Nykkyo and me ... big adventure have.” Andra looked up and waved. “Company here is. Zi dev ziven!”
Nyk saw Janna step beside Andra. Her hair was down and clipped into a ponytail, and she was wearing a Floran tunic without lifxarpa. “Hello, Nykkyo.”
He replied in his native tongue. “Janna -- good to see you.”
“Who's that?” Suki asked. “She looks like Andra's twin!”
“That's Princess Janna Wygann, wife of and consort to the chancellor of the Lexal colony. Check out the crest tattoo on her arm.”
“Since the palace is being rebuilt, I decided to come here -- to get out of the way, and to help Andra recuperate. And, to give her this.” She opened a box, removed a medallion and held it to the camera. Nyk recognized the design as the Lexalese colonial emblem. “This is the Lexalese Medal of Honor -- our highest award.”
“What's she saying?” Suki asked. “I can't follow.”
“Janna was Andra's roommate in school. She came to help her convalesce and to give her that award. It's the Lexalese medal of honor -- their highest.”
“What did Andra do to deserve that?”
Janna slipped the medallion around Andra's neck. “I have one for you, too,” she said holding another box to the vidphone camera.
“Thanks, Janna.” Nyk replied.
“I've also given one to Nayva's parents.”
Suki stared into the screen. “Was that your name on the other box?” She eyed Nyk.
“This is a lovely house, Nyk. I like it very much. Mykkoin loves playing on the beach. I may take all my vacations here.”
“You're welcome any time.”
“What else is she saying?”
“She likes the house and so does Mykkoin.”
“Who's Mykkoin?”
“Her son. He's about two or three Earth years -- an adorable child.”
“Nykkyo, Andra and I are wondering -- how did you know my belt contained a shield?”
“It was too bulky for fashion alone. During our vidphone conversation when Mykkoin startled you -- you reached for it.”
“You're an excellent observer. Our arms-master assured us no one would suspect. You must come to Lexal to receive our thanks in person. Come after the palace is reconstructed.”
“Yes. To Lexal go you must,” Andra added. “Kon li Sukiko pren-li vave?”
“Ji-ji!” Janna replied.
“See? You, too, Sukiko come. To Lexal come. It very pretty world is. We now go must. Good bye, Sukiko.”
“Bon'taka, Andra. Bon'taka Janna,” Suki said.
“Bon'taka Nykkyo ky Sukiko!” Janna and Andra slipped their arms around each other and waved as the session terminated.
Suki looked at Nyk. “It's obvious you haven't told me the whole story about what happened while I was in Turkey. Who shot Andra? Why are there two of ... those women at your house now? What's Lexal? And -- what was your name doing on that medal?”
“I told you. It's one of our colony planets -- about seventeen hundred lightyears away.”
“How does Lexal fit into this?”
“Well -- Andra was visiting Janna there. Some questions about Zander's smuggling came up and Illya Kronta asked me to go there and bring Andra home.”
“You were worried about me going to Turkey, and then you traveled seventeen hundred lightyears to another planet?”
“Once I arrived on Lexal, Andra and I got mixed up in some colonial squabbling. Janna was being targeted for assassination. Andra decided to pose as her double so she and the boy could be sent to Floran.”
“Assassination target?” Suki looked at him with eyes wide. “Andra posed as her double?”
“You saw they look enough alike to be twins.”
“How did you fit into this plan?”
“Janna and Mykkoin used the two packet seats reserved for Andra and me.”
“You and Andra stayed behind -- in harm's way -- while Janna fled to safety. What happened next?”
“Then, the
palace was attacked. We fled and ended up in a shoot-out at the Residence in Sudal. That's when I killed one of our attackers.”
“You killed a man in a shoot-out? With guns?”
“Andra got shot, but she'll be okay.”
Suki glowered at him. “Nykkyo, I think you had better tell me the whole story -- from the beginning.”
He swallowed hard. “The whole story from the beginning. Okay, I'll tell you the whole story...”
* * *
Nyk sat at his laptop computer. He read an incoming email message from Andra. Suki sat across the table from him with a yellow legal pad. She reviewed photographs of artifacts from Turkey and wrote on the pad.
Nyk looked up at her. “Working on your article?” She looked up at him and returned to her work. “I think I'll get a soda. Do you want one?” She glanced up for a moment, then looked down. “I guess not...” He retrieved a can from the refrigerator, popped it open and set it on a coaster. “Oh, Andra would like you to give her a vidphone call. You know her locator code, I think.”
Her eyes flicked up at him again and then back to her work.
“Suki, if you're upset with me about Vipsa, please believe me when I say I don't have any feelings for her. I found myself in that situation and I didn't have any way out. I tried to get out of it, honest. You can ask Andra -- she'll tell you.”
“Nick?” He heard Yasuko calling from the kitchen downstairs.
He stood at the top of the stairs. “Yes, Yasuko?”
“Sorry to bother you. Can you reach something for me?”
Nyk descended the stairs. Yasuko handed him a lacquer tray. “It goes on the top shelf.” He stood on a chair and slipped the tray into the cabinet. “Thanks. Is she still not speaking to you?” Nyk shook his head. “What did you do to earn the cold shoulder?”
“I'd rather not go into it. Let's say I'm prepared for a few nights on the sofa, if it's required.”
“Use the guestroom,” Yasuko said. “I insist.”
“I will, if it comes to it.” Nyk heard Suki's voice and laughter coming from the apartment.
“Who's she talking to?” Yasuko asked.
“A friend -- a mutual friend. Do you need anything else?”
“No, Nick. Thanks. Remember what happened last time -- use the guestroom.”
“How could I forget? I promise I will, Yasuko.”
Nyk climbed the stairs to the apartment. Suki had returned to her legal pad.
“Were you talking to Andra?”
She looked up at him for a long moment. “Yes -- we had a very nice conversation -- considering her grasp of English and mine of Floran.”
“What did Andra say?”
“Andra thinks you're a hero -- that you saved her life, as well as Janna's and her little boy's.” Suki wrote a couple sentences on the pad and picked up another photograph. “She told me a bit more about what happened on Lexal and in Sudal.” She glanced up at him. “It makes my flesh crawl.” She flipped over a new leaf on the legal pad. “Andra implored me not to be too angry with you.” Suki scribbled a sentence. “I don't think I'm TOO angry. Do you?”
“I think you're angry enough.” He sat at the laptop computer and began writing field reports. “I think it's nice you and Andra can have these conversations.” He became aware of Suki glowering at him and he looked up.
A tear ran down her face. “Mom doesn't know. Neither of them know, or will ever know how close we all came to losing you. But I know -- and I will never forget!”
She stood and fetched a facial tissue. Nyk switched off the computer. “I think I'll turn in.”
Nyk readied himself for bed, climbed in, locked his fingers behind his head and sighed. He could hear Suki performing her nightly toilet, and crying.
She walked into the bedroom in her short robe, closed the door and leaned against it.
He looked up at her. “Do you want me to sleep downstairs? Your mom said I could.”
“No. You don't have to do that.” She slipped off her robe and hung it on a hook. Nyk regarded her five-month pregnant belly. She walked to the bed, folded down the covers and lay beside him.
She looked into his face and touched his eyebrows. “Are you really...”
She pressed her finger to his lips. “Don't say anything.” She ran her hand along his neck and shoulders. “This is something I need to do.”
She explored his body, running her hands along his arms. Her finger touched the scar where Kyto had burned him. “This is where they administered that ordeal poison?” she asked. He nodded.
She caressed the backs of his hands and turned them over. She ran her finger along the scar on his right palm.
With her finger she traced a prominent vein up his forearm to the bend of his elbow where it dove into his flesh and out of sight. “We are such fragile beings. This vein reminded me of how close to the surface our blood flows -- and how easily it's spilled.”
Nyk felt her hands caress his body and legs. She worked her way up from his feet, kissing his legs and abdomen.
Her kisses and touch grew more erotic and he became aroused. Suki knelt and straddled his hips. He placed his hands on her thighs and smoothed them along her yellow-brown skin. She picked up his hand and pressed it against her breast.
“I'm ready to forgive you for this Lexal business,” she said. “I know you'll need to travel to your homeworld from time to time. I know interstellar travel is as routine to you as air travel is to me. Nonetheless, every time you go, a seed of doubt gets planted in my head -- that I'll never see you again. I worry that something -- maybe something political -- will keep you from returning home, and there'll be nothing I can do about it. Something like that has happened, once. I accept this as the price of having you in my life.
“I'm not going to tell you what you may or may not do, or what you should or should not do. We are adults, and as you say, adults have free wills. Nonetheless, there are consequences to our actions.” She ran her hands across his chest.
“I'm sorry to use lovemaking this way. But, before I could forgive you, I needed to remind myself of the possible consequences if I couldn't -- that I might lose this.
“This Lexal thing was different. It seems to me you acted with a careless disregard for your own safety. Nykkyo, you gave me a promise. How could you keep that promise if you were dead? Think about what it would've been like if I had returned from Turkey to find you gone -- gone forever. It would have destroyed me. It's not just me -- there are two other people in this house who love you and need you, and a third on the way.
“On top of that, you weren't forthcoming about it. That's what hurt the most -- that you kept it from me. This is closer to an outright lie than I ever expected from you.” She wiped away a tear. “I know how gentle and peaceful your people are -- how alien violence is to you. You have helped me through difficult times, yet you denied me the chance to reciprocate. Do you understand?”
Nyk nodded.
“It's always been difficult for me to forgive and forget. I recall how effortlessly you forgave me for the Alice incident. Your ability to forgive is one of the things about you I admire most. It's why I want you as a role model in my life, in my family's lives, and especially in my baby's life. How much better the world would be if we could all forgive so easily. I strive to be more like you in that regard, but I know I have a long way to go.
“So ... as of this moment ... I forgive you.”
“You're absolutely correct.” She stroked a tear from his face. “Now, I must work on forgiving myself.”
“There's time for that. Nykkyo, there is nothing you can do or say that'll change how I love you.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing. We've joined each other heart and soul. Now let's prove how strong our love is.”
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