Airborne

by Kimberly P. Chase

‘Why would you think my dad had anything to do with you in the first place?’

  ‘Dr Stevenson found a Titon Technologies type stamp on one of my genes,’ Zane answered, his voice devoid of all emotion. He was retreating back into his shell.

  The blood drained from Aurora’s face and she dropped Zane’s hand. ‘No.’ She shook her head vehemently, as if that would take away his words. ‘No, no, no … My dad would never do something like that.’

  ‘There’s no mistake, Aurora. I found the secret laboratory, I stole the computer, and when I cracked the password, I found everything I needed to know about The Helen Project.’

  ‘The Helen Project?’ That was Aurora’s mother’s name. Zane had to be wrong. ‘My dad wouldn’t do this.’

  ‘Even if he thought it would save lives? Or your mom’s life?’

  Aurora swallowed. Would he?

  ‘Why did you lie to me?’

  ‘I didn’t know what else to do.’

  ‘Did you mean any of the things you said to me? Or was it all for research on your past?’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Zane reached out and stroked her cheek. She flinched, but didn’t pull away. She wasn’t ready for all the questions this stirred. She’d almost just died. Twice. And now Zane expected her to swallow the idea her dad experimented on him?

  ‘I feel like you’re always catching my tears,’ Aurora mumbled.

  ‘There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. I’ll catch your tears forever, if you’ll let me.’

  ‘I don’t want to cry forever.’ Aurora pushed Zane’s hand to the side, wiping away the last tear herself. ‘How’d you break open the computer? What was the password?’

  Zane closed his eyes as he spoke. ‘Helen and your birthday,’ he whispered.

  Sickness spread down her throat, engulfing her stomach. She was going to throw up. While she was sharing childhood memories with him, he’d been searching for possible passwords. Aurora distantly knew she was being irrational, but she couldn’t think straight.

  ‘When you got sick, I was really desperate to help you in some way …’ Zane bit his lip. ‘Then I remembered our conversation about your mom and I thought—’

  ‘You thought my mom’s name might work,’ Aurora finished for him.

  Zane nodded, looking away from her, as if he was disappointed in himself. Aurora wasn’t disappointed in him. She was disappointed in herself. Her father. The Alliance. The list went on.

  The sick feeling in her stomach was replaced by downright fury. Her father had apparently done something to Zane. Her mother’s name was proof enough.

  And Zane had known all along, but had never trusted her enough to share it.

  ‘You knew the whole time he was behind it?’

  ‘Aurora,’ Zane whispered, scooting closer to her. ‘I first found out the night of the Lunar Festival.’

  Everything made so much sense.

  ‘That’s why you were late. And that’s why you didn’t want to be with me?’ Aurora’s voice couldn’t have sounded any higher. She tried to remove her hand from his, but he held on.

  ‘Let me finish.’ Zane’s eyes pierced hers, forcing her to look at him.

  She swallowed.

  ‘At first, I was upset. I tried to stay away from you, but that’s never worked. But now, I’m okay. What he did helped me save you. I don’t want to think about the past anymore, I want to look forward … with you.’

  His words seemed to ring throughout the room.

  It was too much, too fast. He’d just told her that her own father had not only genetically altered him, but then had abandoned him when he was a child, and that he was okay with it all.

  ‘I’m not okay with what he did,’ Aurora whispered. ‘And will you ever really trust me?’

  Zane flinched. ‘It won’t be that way anymore. I needed time. It’s not easy for me to trust anyone.’

  She’d thought they’d past this on Aviary. When she’d asked him if he trusted her, but what she really should have asked was if she could trust him. She was so worried about earning his trust that she never even considered that he still had secrets.

  A secret way worse than his unknown status. A secret that was slowly breaking her heart.

  Aurora laughed, but it was a harsh sound. ‘Right. Because of what my father did to you. How can you even look at me?’

  Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Aurora pushed back the covers. She pulled all the anger just beneath the surface to her. It was the only thing she knew how to process right then.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Zane asked, moving out of her way.

  ‘Going to see my father.’ Aurora grabbed a sweatshirt from the closet and quickly pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

  ‘Don’t.’ Zane’s hands gripped her shoulders, turning her to face him. ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for him to know about me.’

  She limped toward the door.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘I can’t not say anything!’

  ‘I didn’t tell you so that you can run off in my defense. I told you because I wanted to be honest with you. No more secrets, remember?’ Zane reached out for her hand and she let him take it. He moved his hand to her chin, slowly tilting it up. With no other choice but to look up, Aurora stared into Zane’s eyes as he continued to speak. ‘Nothing can change what happened to me. If your father hadn’t done what he did to me, then I wouldn’t have been able to help you.’

  Aurora tried to understand this new Zane. ‘I’m glad that you’ve come to terms with it, but I haven’t had quite as much time as you. I need to know why my dad did this.’ Because deep in her heart she was still hoping he’d talk his way out of it. That he hadn’t abandoned Zane. She needed an explanation just as much as Zane did. If he weren’t willing to find out the reasons behind it all, she would do it for him. For the both of them.

  Aurora placed her hands on Zane’s. ‘I’m going to go talk to him. I won’t mention you, I promise.’ She looked deep into his gray eyes. ‘Thank you for finally telling me the truth.’ Squeezing his hand one last time, Aurora stepped away from him.

  ‘I’ll never keep anything from you again.’

  Nodding, she pulled the sweatshirt over her head and walked out the door. Aurora could feel him watching her walk away. If everything he said was true, no matter how much she wished it weren’t, her father was behind everything bad that had ever happened to him.

  How could he still look at her like he loved her?

  Chapter 59

  Aurora

  Not bothering to tell Ms Lovell where she was heading, Aurora strode out of the Academy. As she glided down the stairs out front, Aurora used her techiwatch to call a hovercar to take her to Titon Technologies. Passing by the palm trees that marked the Academy’s front entrance, Aurora hopped in the back of a black hovercar.

  As soon as she was buckled, the hovercar was off. The thirty-minute drive to Orlando blurred by as Aurora’s head swirled. It felt like the life she’d dreamed of was falling to pieces around her. Not only was she unsure of what was happening at the Academy, she now wasn’t too happy with the company she was supposed to work for once she graduated. Oh and let’s not forget the cherry on the cake, her father was now an evil scientist that apparently messed with little kids.

  Aurora pictured Zane as a three-year-old, his big gray eyes watering with tears as he was dumped off in a new place. Not knowing why or who would take care of him. A tear rolled down Aurora’s cheek and she realized no one had ever taken care of Zane. He’d done it by himself. Probably did things he never wanted to do only so he could survive. While Aurora was living a life of luxury, he’d been struggling on the streets. Her stomach clenched. How could her father do this? How could Zane ever love her after what her father had done to him?

  The doors clicked as they unlocked, pulling Aurora back to the present. Not waiting a moment longer, she stepped out of the vehicle. Titon Technologies loomed before her and this time the dark, massive building l
ooked evil. Reporters called her name but she ignored them all. Using her hands to cover her face, Aurora pushed her way past them and into the building. Going straight through security, Aurora thought about finding her dad, but who knew where he’d be. Instead she asked the closest guard to page him and let him know that Aurora wanted to meet him in the condo.

  The lights illuminated when Aurora pushed the front door open. Walking down the hall felt different now. The condo had always been a lonely place for Aurora, but now everything she saw was tinged with disappointment.

  ‘Aurora.’ Her dad strolled into the living room. ‘I didn’t expect to see you here.’ He sat down beside her, pulling Aurora into an awkward hug.

  ‘Dad, we need to talk.’ Aurora pulled back from his reach.

  ‘Okay.’ He nodded, glancing down at his watch. ‘I’m so happy you’re here.’ He glanced around uncomfortably. ‘I have a meeting in half an hour. Should I cancel it?’

  His words stung, but Aurora pushed her hurt aside. She’d always thought he was a good father, just absent. But now Aurora didn’t know what to think.

  ‘We need to talk about The Helen Project,’ Aurora flatly stated.

  Her father’s eyes momentarily widened before he schooled his face. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, sweetheart.’

  ‘Cut the crap. I know about the abandoned laboratory.’

  Her father cleared his throat. ‘I see.’ His shoulders hunched. ‘I was hoping I’d be able to keep this from you, but I suppose it’s time I trusted you with the truth.’

  Aurora fiddled with her airplane necklace as he spoke.

  ‘THP stands for The Helen Project.’

  ‘Helen as in Helen my mom?’ Aurora’s voice cracked. She dropped her fingers from her necklace. He couldn’t have named something so cruel after mom, could he?

  Confirming her worst fears, her father continued. ‘Yes. The project originally started out as an attempt to fix her gene for heart failure. But you can’t alter genes as successfully on a full-grown patient.’

  ‘How could you?’ Aurora stood, pacing the floor.

  ‘Let me finish,’ her father pleaded with resigned brown eyes. Aurora looked away; she didn’t want to feel anything for him right now. Aurora paced the floor as her father spoke.

  ‘When your mother and I realized she had a weak heart and there wasn’t anything we could do about it …’ He shrugged, choking out the words. ‘I was distraught—out of my mind with grief.’ He rubbed his hands over his knees, wrinkling his once perfect pants. ‘I needed to do something.’

  Aurora stopped, staring at him incredulously. ‘You needed to experiment on babies?’

  Her father flinched, but held her stare. ‘I see you already know more about this than I ever wished for you to.’ Aurora started to speak, but her father cut her off. ‘Yes, I needed to do something. After many experiments it became obvious that the only way to prevent genetic dispositions as your mother’s was to do so in the beginning. On an unborn child.’

  ‘That’s so sick,’ Aurora whispered. It was just as bad as Zane had suggested—much worse than she feared. Her father had experimented on babies. Plural. What happened to the others?

  ‘It’s not like that,’ he protested. ‘We experimented on zygotes. There was no pain.’

  Zane’s cold eyes flashed in her mind. ‘Yeah, no one got hurt? What happened when your experiments were born?’

  ‘Only one survived,’ he admitted. ‘None of the other alterations held, so needless to say the project was eventually disbanded.’ Her father finally looked away from her as if he couldn’t meet her gaze any longer.

  ‘What happened to the one that survived?’ Aurora pressed. She already knew it was Zane and where he was, but did her father?

  He didn’t look at her as he choked out his next words. ‘He got away somehow. I thought I’d find him again when he registered in the retinal database.’

  ‘Oh, yeah? How’d that work out for you?’

  ‘Something went wrong. He was never registered. I don’t know what happened to the child. That same day your mother’s heart finally failed and I … I lost the will to fight for a solution for awhile.’

  ‘I see.’ There was no way in hell Aurora would tell him where this child was now. Collin Titon would probably want to study his experiment. And Zane was not something to be studied. He’d been through enough.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered. When he risked glancing into her eyes, he flinched and quickly looked at his feet. ‘I’m ashamed of myself as well, Aurora. I just wanted to help make people healthier. So another child, another husband, wouldn’t have to go through what we did. I had everything I thought I needed to help make that happen. But it failed … I failed.’

  Aurora resisted the urge to comfort him. Deep in her mind she could understand his desperate reasoning, but that didn’t take away from the life Zane had because of it. Not wanting to remain within his presence any longer, Aurora turned to leave.

  ‘Wait!’ Her father jumped up. ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘Back to the Academy. That’s my home now.’

  ‘Even after what you’ve been through you want to go back there?’

  Sure she’d been almost killed a few times, but it certainly wasn’t the Academy’s fault. Aurora trusted Ms Lovell.

  ‘Yes. I belong at the Academy now. It’s where I want to be.’

  Her father nodded. ‘I could never keep you on the ground.’

  Aurora forced her face to remain cold. She owed her life to this man, but she couldn’t handle all of the twisted feelings fermenting inside of her. This was too much.

  ‘I gotta go.’

  ‘Okay, but please be careful. After everything that’s happened, I’m not sure how far you can trust the Alliance. And remember … I love you.’

  Aurora only nodded and walked out the door.

  Love … she wasn’t sure she understood the meaning of that word anymore. She’d always thought it meant trust, safety. But if her feelings for Zane and Sky proved anything … it was that love was so much more complicated than that.

  Chapter 60

  Sky

  Ms Lovell placed her folded hands on the desk in front of her.

  ‘You know they’re going to punish you for this, right?’

  Sky met her eyes. ‘I’ll pay any price they want me to.’

  ‘Luckily, I calmed them down a bit. They weren’t too happy that you broke protocol. But they did admit you saved them. Without you they would have lost ten cadets and three astronauts. The political fallout would have been a disaster.’

  Sky nodded.

  ‘Do you regret it?’

  Sky scoffed. ‘You know I don’t.’

  Ms Lovell smiled. ‘That’s what I wanted to hear.’

  ‘So what’s the punishment?’ It didn’t really matter what the Alliance wanted him to do, he’d do it. Saving Aurora and the rest of the class eight cadets would be worth it.

  ‘You leave tonight.’

  Sky glanced up startled. ‘But I just finished a five month rotation.’ Well, almost. He’d left for Aviary a week before he was due to be shipped back home.

  ‘Well, as you know, they’re desperate for competent astronauts. You’re up for another five month rotation on the moon.’

  ‘Fuck.’ Sky rubbed his hands through his hair.

  ‘I figured you’d be thrilled.’ Ms Lovell raised an eyebrow. ‘Is it Aurora?’

  ‘Yes. I wanted to come back for another semester of training,’ he answered, honestly, surprising himself.

  ‘I think you’re going to want to re-think that. The Alliance is announcing news this afternoon that’s going to change your whole world.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Let’s just say they’ve topped the news on the quarantine with something much more exciting.’

  Sky’s hands began to sweat. He didn’t need to watch the report, he already knew. Had dreamed of this announcement for a long time.

  Chapter 6
1

  Aurora

  Aurora sank down on her bed, emotionally exhausted. She’d run out of Titon Technologies like she’d been on fire. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to go back. The Academy had felt like her home for a while now, but her father’s confession cemented the thought.

  But what pierced her heart even more was that as evil as the whole experiments were, she understood her father’s reasoning. He’d wanted to help. He’d wanted to fix the heart issue her mother had died from. It made sense, and yet sickened her at the same time. How could Zane even look at her knowing all along that her father had messed with him? Her father was the reason he’d grown up alone and as an unknown.

  Was anything they’d shared real? Had he gotten close to her only to find out about what her father had done to him?

  Aurora dismissed the thought. What she and Zane shared had felt too real to be fake.

  Hoping to distract herself, Aurora waved a hand in front of the large screen on the wall. The second Veronica Harley’s face appeared before her, Aurora regretted the decision. As Aurora went to turn the television back off, she stopped, Veronica’s voice penetrating her chaotic thoughts.

  They sunk down into her soul.

  Words she’d never forget for the rest of her life.

  Words that could change her forever.

  ‘We’re here outside of the Alliance Spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Florida where we have exciting news to share with you today. Earlier this morning the Alliance came forward with a project they’ve been working on for a few years now. Their next step for helping all of humanity. The Alliance has announced its decision to send a crew to Mars in January 2165. When asked why, it was explained that Mars, so similar to Earth in many ways, would be the best place for future colonization. Numbers from the World Retinal Database confirm that our numbers continue to grow and because of that, the need for expansion.

  The Alliance will be selecting twenty astronauts for this elite mission from the current Alliance personnel and, quite possibly, from the Academy.’

  Now that she’d seen the Earth from the outside, she had a sense of the whole situation. She’d seen the paper thin layer that protected people from space, the dark patches of land filled with trash, the clear cutting of forests to make room for the massive buildings needed for all the people. If the Earth is sick, and from what she’d seen it was, that meant its people were sick too. But most were too entrenched in their sim glasses to take note of the world dying around them.