I had Vincent cook up fake identities for both of us. Mine said I worked as a private investigator as a consultant. Which was true. Leanna didn’t like pretending to be married to me—again. But I thought it was better to travel as a married couple.
The nurse used a black funnel on a handle to peek into both of my ears. When she finished, I read her words from the digital pad. “You’re fortunate. There’s no damage to your ear drums. Your hearing may return in two weeks.”
That was the first bit of good news since I had arrived. I expected my hearing to return sooner than that, a gift of my Binger genes. We healed faster than mundanes, the name we used for “normals.”
The whole experience of being deaf made me realize what it would be like to be deaf all the time. The quiet was nice but not being able to hear conversations was a bitch. I was an outsider trying to eavesdrop without success.
My interrogator asked more questions on her pad. At one time, she wanted my ID and I showed her my PI card. She asked, “Gun?” with her index finger thumb extended and her thumb closed on an imaginary hammer.
I replied, “In my car.”
My voice still sounded muffled through the bones of my head.
She looked in my eyes and mouthed the words, “Why are you here?”
I answered, “To pick up my daughter at Gate 7.”
“Her name?”
“Alena Dani.”
“Spelled that, please.”
“A-L-E-N-A space D-A-N-I.”
A few clicks on her keyboard showed that name on her monitor.
She asked, “What did you see at Gate 4?”
“Six humanoid robots, each seven feet tall, came out of Gate 4. They were accompanied by a half dozen humans in light green uniforms. The robots looked like humans with flesh-colored skin and wore blue and white clothing. The edges of white shirts were visible near their collars.
“Then a blast came from behind them.”
She asked another hundred questions. At least it seemed like that many.
The nurse reached in a box and searched for a tag with a number attached to a comm.
I said, “Thirty-seven.”
“I know,” she added. Her words appeared on the ereader in front of me.
When she found mine, she removed the tag and handed it to me.
She pulled out another piece of paper. It said, “You must go to the hospital to get x-rayed for metal pieces stuck in your body.”
I replied, “But I don't feel anything.”
She mouthed, “Go anyway.”
She jerked her thumb in the universal sign of “You can leave now” or “Get outta here.” I couldn't tell which but I got the message.
She wiggled her right index finger three times to a guard standing nearby to bring the next person in line to come sit in the chair.
I put my comm on my left wrist and I proceeded out of the roped off area and through a crowd sitting on benches. Some had the red of blood on their clothing. As I went on foot by them, I wondered if they expected the hundred questions. Didn’t matter. They’d get asked anyways.
Then I strode toward a crowd of gawkers beyond a rope. A guy in a light green uniform opened the rope for me to pass.
When I got beyond the gawkers, I saw two familiar faces sitting on a padded bench. My ex and my daughter.
Leanna and Alena rose as I got near them.
I had last seen my daughter several years ago when I left LA to come here. Alena no longer was a skinny and clumsy teenager. She was a woman now.
But the look on her face wasn’t warm. Her lips were pursed and narrow. Her eyes glared under lowered eyebrows.
A beige sweater hung over her left arm. She had on black slacks and a beige short-sleeved blouse. On her feet were low-heeled brown shoes. She stood beside a luggage carrier. On it were six large suitcases. Four were of the same blue color and hard-shells. The other two were dark brown with cloth covers.
She was an inch taller than me and about my weight but with muscles bulging in her short-sleeved blouse. She might be 210 pounds. Good for her but she would stand out on Rossa.
You could tell who came from Earth by their height. With the fifteen percent higher gravity on Rossa, those born here did not reach the heights of most Earthers.
When I approached, Leanna smiled and said something. “…daughter….”
I looked my daughter over while she held her arms out. She took one look at my bloody shirt and shook her head. She decided against a hug.
Can’t say I blame her.
I said, “I have a lot of questions.”
Alena said something.
I pointed to my ears and shook my head.
“I can’t hear. Comm,” I ordered. “Use subtitles for translation.”
Thank heavens for voice recognition software.
I pulled Alena’s luggage cart while the two women strolled ahead of me.
As we entered the garage, the air felt muggy. Rain was coming.
When we got to my black sedan, I put her luggage in the boot while Alena sat in the rear seat behind her mother. I put on a spare shirt from my trunk. There was blood on my slacks but not as much.
When I sat in the driver’s seat, I said, “Car. University of Zor. Unlock seat.”
I felt the click as my seat came unlocked and I swiveled to face my two women.
“Did the news say how many had died?” I asked of Leanna.
She looked at me with a frown. “You didn't use your comm?”
I had to look at my comm to get her message.
“They took it from me. I didn't get it back until a few minutes ago. Guess they didn't want me to read the news before I told my experiences.”
“They said that over fifty people were killed.” She said that so fast I asked her to repeat it. She flashed her hands with her fingers spread five times and then stuck out her tongue on one side of her mouth and tilted her heads sideways with her eyes closed in a pantomime of someone dead.
“No robots?”
She raised one eyebrow. “Silly.”
Guess robots don't count as people.
I wondered how long that would last.
Chapter 3
We loaded Alena’s luggage into the BIS van. As we drove out of the garage and onto the main streets, I saw sprinkles of rain on the windshield.
Warm air blasted out of the vents and soon the windows fogged. That didn’t last long as streaks of clearness expanded between tiny black wires on all the side and back windows. On the windshield, I saw a growing clear view expand upward from the dashboard.
We soon came to a stop light and more rain hit the windows. I didn’t mind because we needed the rain. Zor was in the midst of a drought.
So far, nothing had been said. The tension in the air grew to be unbearable. I had to say something.
“How did you get your mother’s comm number?”
From the backseat, Alena didn’t answer right away. What she said made little sense until I checked. Reading their words on my comm was becoming a nuisance.
“What I’d like to know is how long are you two gonna to keep this pretense up?”
Did she mean her mother being on Rossa or our being spies?
Leanna said, “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” said Alena to her mother, “how long were you going to pretend you were in Germany?”
We had had Alena’s messages sent to our contact in Cologne and then be forwarded to the next courier to Rossa. Leanna had said she held a training job that required her presence in different parts of the world so she couldn’t respond right away. We hoped we could delude Alena into thinking her mother was on Earth.
“I asked you a question,” I interjected. “How did you get your mother’s comm?”
Our daughter responded in a quieter voice as she stared out her window. “I knew she married Vincent Stone, so I looked up his business. I finagled the receptionist to give me her number.”
Like a good spy. Damn it! There I went.
/> “Why are you both on Rossa?” she asked. “Why did you pretend the whole time?”
Because we’re spies and didn’t want you to know Leanna was here.
But I couldn’t tell her that.
I stared at my ex and she looked back at me. Her eyebrows went up. It was my turn.
I returned my gaze to my daughter in the back seat. “We wanted to protect you,” I said.
“From what? From knowing you were both here? Didn’t you think I’d want to come?”
Yeah, we knew you’d want to come. That was the point.
“I’m sorry, Alena,” I replied. “We were just trying to protect you. Why are you coming here anyway?”
Alena crossed her arms and answered back while staring out the window, “I’m attending classes at the University of Zor. The official reason is for my degree of xenoanthropology. Rossa is the only place where there are three species─humans, mercons, and napes. So I want to get my degree here and go on to my Ph.D.”
I knew she was studying xenoanthropology. And her argument made sense. If I wanted to get a Ph.D. in alien lifeforms, I’d want to come here too.
“And the unofficial reason?” I asked.
She peered out the window. “Because my Mom and Dad are here.”
“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”
She fired back as she fixed her eyes on both of us, “You didn’t tell me. Why should I tell you?”
Silence. That would explain why Leanna had received no emails from our daughter in two weeks. Travelers on their way to Rossa, or back to Earth, cannot send or receive emails for two weeks.
“Why couldn’t either of you come to my graduation for my bachelors?” Alena asked.
I looked at my ex and sighed through pursed lips. Alena was hitting hard with her questions. Maybe she had them stored up.
“You surprised everybody by graduating from college in two years,” I said. “I was busy here, organizing my team.”
“And I was busy in training school,” answered Leanna.
I kept my eyes glued to my comm as I tried to keep up with the three-way conversation.
“Spy training?” Alena asked.
Leanna and I glanced at each other.
“What are you not telling me about you?” asked Alena. “I can see it on your faces.”
I answered, “Nothing.”
“Right. Do you expect me to believe that after you lied about being on Rossa? Great-uncle Berry told me he knew both of you were on Rossa. Every Binger knows he’s the head of BIS.” She looked back and forth at her parents.
“Are you spies for Uncle Berry?”
Leanna turned her eyes to me. “Jake?”
I studied my comm to catch up on what Alena said.
I inhaled a deep one.
Here goes.
“I guess you'll find out soon enough. Yes, I'm a spy for BIS. And so is your mother. She works for me here. I'm the station chief on Rossa. And now that you know, you’re in danger.”
Alena leaned back with a smile. “That is so cool.”
She crossed her arms and stood silent for a few moments.
“I wanna be a spy too.”
I stared at her.
“It's not all glamor. Ask your mother. Sometimes it's boring and sometimes it's dangerous. I was captured a year ago and tortured. I thought I'd die. The explosion we saw back there is a good example. We often go for long periods of time with little danger, and then we are frantic with fear as we deal with a problem.”
My daughter snapped back, “But you do good work, too, don't you?”
Leanna spoke next. “Alena, your father’s right. It’s dangerous work. And you never know when it could get more dangerous. We become paranoid.”
“Uncle Berry talked with me about it. I already know all that. He let me see training vids. I know it can be dangerous. But I want to fight prejudice and find out the truth.”
I had to respond to that. “You'll have plenty of opportunity to do that in your research.”
Leanna added, “You may have to kill someone. Have you thought of how you'd react to that?”
Silence.
So she had not thought about it.
I had to change the subject.
“The trip here is expensive. How’d you manage it?” I asked.
Alena stared out the window.
“Scholarship. Uncle Berry provided some help, too.”
So he could get his hooks in her.
She returned her gaze to me.
“I still want to join,” she added.
“Oh no you don’t!” I exclaimed. “It’s far too dangerous.”
“Listen to your father for a change,” said Leanna. “He’s right. It’s very dangerous.”
I asked the question on every father’s mind.
“Got a boyfriend?”
“Nope. I want to get my Ph.D. first. Boyfriends can wait.”
Which meant a family of her own. Then it hit me.
Good grief! I might become a grandfather in a few years.
My car turned to the right at the light onto University Avenue.
It said, “Destination, please.”
“What’s the address of your dorm?” I asked.
Alena told me.
Our BIS van’s AI Chima acknowledged, “We should be there in two minutes twenty-five seconds.”
The rain turned to a few sprinkles now and then.
I asked my daughter, “Do you have a local comm number?”
She nodded.
“Let’s share comm info,” I said.
We touched our three comms together.
We turned left at a light and soon pulled into a parking lot with dozens of cars. I turned my car seat back to the front and when we stopped, I got out. The rain had let up. For now. Dark gray clouds filled the sky from horizon to horizon. The air felt sticky with humidity.
I looked around but couldn’t see Alena.
Where is she?
Soon she came out a door pushing a luggage cart. I hefted all six of her pieces onto the cart and was about to push it when Alena stopped me.
She fixed her eyes on me and we embraced again. This time was warmer. Leanna came next for a long hug from her daughter.
“I’ll tag you after I get settled in,” said Alena as she pushed her cart up the ramp and into the building.
I watched her as she strolled away, pushing the cart.
My daughter was on Rossa.
I said, “Well, she’s here now.”
“She’s changed.”
I nodded. “Not a kid anymore.”
“Do you think she’ll contact Acorn?”
“I doubt it.”
“He won’t stop trying, you know.”
I sighed. “Unfortunately.”
#
“Chima, Gerges,” I ordered. I had an unscheduled appointment there.
“Telly on.”
Both of us viewed it on the dashboard. Sure enough, the explosion at Gate 4 was the big news.
I could not see the two black mercons. The mob may have taken their anger out on the two small aliens. Next came a vid of the two being rushed to an ambulance, wrapped in white with red stains. Their dark skin contrasted with the white of the bandages and the red of their blood.
Poor little buggers.
The scene changed to show the entrance to the mercon embassy as the ambulance pulled through the gate. Black mercon guards in military uniforms closed the gate.
The scene changed again to show a woman speaking into a microphone. I glanced at my comm.
“News of the explosion has spread over Rossa.”
The next scenes showed angry crowds with parts of the Meda Spaceport behind them. I read the text across the bottom of the screen.
“Hundreds of flights cancelled.”
Our van made a right turn at the Main Street light and a block later we pulled into the large lot at the hospital.
Inside Gerges and not knowing where to go, we stopped at the receptionis
t’s desk just inside the front door. A gal sat behind the window in a light brown jacket and yellow lace blouse. From the dark areas under her eyes, I figured maybe her ancestors came from India or Pakistan. She moved her lips but that wasn't much help.
So I replied, “I was at the explosion at the airport. Lost my hearing so you must speak slower while I try to read your lips.”
She turned to my ex and spoke.
Guess that was too much to ask.
Leanna took the directions and pulled my arm. I felt like a child brought along with my mommy.
We walked down what seemed like a mile of hallways. We made lots of turns and I lost track of where I was until we got to an overhead sign that said “Radiology.”
Leanna chatted with a male receptionist seated behind a glass window through a round hole.
She turned to me. “You’re supposed to get undressed before your x-rays.”
She pointed to a sign over a door. “Men.” Beyond it was another door labeled “Women.”
I wondered what they did with aliens. Probably didn’t get many.
I went into the men’s room and undressed. After counting my cash, I locked my clothes in a cupboard with a plastic card that hung around my neck on a cord. To hide my nakedness, I had to don a blue hospital gown that might have weighed four ounces. I slipped my feet into matching blue thin-soled slippers.
When I entered the cool x-ray room, a sign said, “You may take off your slippers when on the x-ray table.”
The monitor reported, “Please remove your comm.”
So I did.
It didn’t take over fifteen minutes to get my whole body x-rayed. I watched a small monitor where a cartoon man dressed in a similar blue hospital gown went through the motions. As instructed, I held my breath and froze in each position for two or three seconds before I received orders to change to another.
I had watched old vids where a human technician moved the patient before walking out of the room between x-rays. The patient was supposed to lay still in each position. That must have taken hours.
When the ordeal was over, the monitor said, “You may exit and change your clothes. Remember your comm.”
I put on my comm and returned to the change room. There, I used my neck card to open the small locker. Sure enough, my clothes waited for me. Being a spy and a bit paranoid, I checked my cash and ID, but they were as I had left them.
Humans Only: A Jake Dani Novel (Jake Dani/Mike Shapeck Book 2) Page 2
