University [Sunsinger Chronicles Book 6]

by Michelle Levigne

  Dr. Frurin's quarters were attached to his laboratory, which was attached to a high-security wing of the University. He passed Bain and Lin through with a touch of his thumbprint at various scanner ports and codes punched into five different terminals along the way. He had them look into retina viewers and press their thumbprints into scanner ports to record them as being allowed in to visit him. If he wasn't in the building, he explained, the system would tell them so and refuse them entrance. If he was in the building, he was be alerted that they wanted entrance; if he didn't want to see them, he had to enter a refusal code; if he did want to see them, he didn't have to do anything.

  Bain kept silent during the journey through security portals into other domes and up lift shafts in tiny cars and down long corridors. He didn't pay much attention when they passed by the double doors to Dr. Frurin's research lab. Then they reached the doors to his quarters. Dr. Frurin made a sweeping bow and waved his hand across the door beacon. The narrow white panels slide aside.

  Something brown, gold and blue squawked and zoomed out into the hall from between the panels. It landed halfway on Dr. Frurin's shoulder and halfway down his chest. Bain had an impression of four sets of arms with long claws, scrabbling for purchase on the man's stained white smock. In a moment, it had taken a seat on the man's shoulder.

  “Oh, dear. Joobi, I forgot all about you.” Dr. Frurin dipped his hand in one of his pockets and brought out some of the bread from their dinner. “I met some fascinating new friends. You'd like some new friends, wouldn't you?"

  The thing growled and snatched at the bread. Now that it was sitting still, Bain finally got a good look at it.

  From the thick, hooked golden-brown beak, Bain thought it was a bird. But it had four arms and no wings—unless the furry flaps of skin between the upper sets of arms and the bottom counted as wings. Then Bain decided the bottom set of arms had to be legs, even if they did have little clawed hands instead of feet attached to them. Its long, fuzzy golden tail wrapped around Dr. Frurin's neck twice. The man didn't seem to be suffocating, so Bain assumed Joobi was allowed to do that. Sitting upright on Dr. Frurin's shoulder, it barely topped the man's head.

  “What is it—he?” Bain asked. He glanced at Lin. She looked at him and shrugged.

  “Joobi is a minkno from Tartrus.” Dr. Frurin fed the last bit of nutty bread to the creature, then dusted off his hands. He glanced up and down the hallway, as if he had just noticed that nobody had stepped inside his quarters yet. He beckoned for them to precede him.

  Inside, Dr. Frurin's quarters had a hint of spaciousness, but the main room was so crammed with storage boxes and shelves full of books and book disks and charts and chemical models on stands and pictures, Bain could barely see the floor and walls. He thought he saw a few doors into other rooms, but couldn't be sure.

  In the center of the room were four low couches, set up like barricades against all the crates and shelves to keep them from completely filling the room. Dr. Frurin led the way over to them and sat down. He sighed and closed his eyes and let his head rest against the back cushion. Joobi chirped and released his tail-hold on the man's neck. He slid off Dr. Frurin's shoulder and down his chest.

  Lin and Bain sat down on the couch directly opposite the doctor and waited. Joobi perched on the man's knee and studied them with big blue eyes. Now that the creature wasn't half-hidden behind Dr. Frurin's hair and neck, Bain could see the stripes of royal blue-tinted fur on the animal's shoulders and arms and the softer-looking patch on his stomach.

  “Hello, Joobi,” Bain said, and held out his hand with some idea of a peace gesture.

  Joobi squawked again and launched from Dr. Frurin's knees, straight at Bain.

  The boy tried to hold still, but he had an awful image of Joobi clawing his face. He flinched and twisted to the right. The creature hit his shoulder and started to bounce off, then wrapped its tail around his neck.

  Bain held very still, waiting. He was surprised to realize that Joobi's claws weren't sharp at all, as the little animal scrambled to get up on top of his shoulder instead of hanging off the side.

  “Wonderful,” Dr. Frurin said, opening his eyes again. “Joobi likes you. A sure test of your character and your open spirit."

  “That's good?” Bain tried to relax. Joobi's tail wasn't at all tight around his neck, but it wasn't a sensation he was used to, either.

  “It pleases me.” He stood and glanced around his room. “Now, where did I store that chart? I know I tried to put it on top when I heard that you were coming to Centralis. I certainly didn't expect you to appear so quickly. The invitation should have taken months to reach you, and Captain Gilmore said you were probably so busy with shipping commitments it could take some time to get free of them."

  “Gil is a pessimist when it comes to calculating time and supplies,” Lin said. “That way, he's always pleasantly surprised when things turn out better than he hoped."

  “That sounds like an intelligent way to conduct business. Especially for someone in the military.” Dr. Frurin grinned. “Still, you two are here and very fortuitously met and we must thank Fi'in's providence for that, because we certainly had nothing to do with it."

  He chuckled and circled around behind the couch to check a stack of charts lying on a table, which was pushed up against five storage crates, which leaned dangerously against a set of shelves hung from the wall. At least, Bain hoped they were hanging from the wall, and not suspended on something else that might fall over with the wrong amount of pressure.

  “What is it you wanted us to see, Ian?” Lin asked after a few moments of searching.

  Five charts slid to the floor during that time, one crate started to slide, but Dr. Frurin caught it absently and pushed it back into place. Joobi gave up his hold on Bain and jumped off his shoulder to sail back to the abandoned couch. Now Bain understood what those flaps of furry skin were for. They acted like para-sails, catching air under them and keeping the little creature airborne. That was how Joobi had managed to fly out to meet Dr. Frurin when he opened the door. Bain looked for a high enough spot for the animal to launch from. He thought he spotted a nest of rags and twigs with wilted leaves, sitting on the topmost shelf, only a hand's span from the ceiling.

  “Ah, here it is!” the doctor cried triumphantly, and yanked a square sheet of opaque blue plastic from the bottom of the stack of charts. The others slid to the floor, and he ignored them. “Here, Lin, look at this."

  Dr. Frurin stepped around the couch again and spread the chart out across the seat and back. He gestured proudly at the diagrams.

  It took a moment for Bain to realize it was a complex genealogy chart. The sheet itself was nearly two meters wide and two long. Three names were highlighted on the chart, printed in brilliant scarlet, when all the other names were printed in black ink. Bain felt a hollow, dropping sensation in his aching stomach when he realized one of the names was his. He checked, and the other two names were Lin's and Dr. Frurin's.

  “Oh, my.... “Lin breathed. She dropped to her knees and followed the lines of descent, from her name up through generations of ancestors, then across different ladders of siblings, then down through the generations of descendants to Dr. Frurin's name. “We're blood relatives."

  Chapter Six

  "We are?” Bain sat back hard in the couch and stared at Dr. Frurin. Then different things the man had said clicked together in his mind. “You knew when I told you my name, didn't you?"

  “It's not a very common name,” Dr. Frurin said. He sank down into a couch not occupied with the chart. “I hope you don't mind the secrecy. I just didn't think you'd really believe without the genealogy chart, even after I heard how you two found each other."

  “Family is everything to Spacers,” Lin said. “That's one of the first things I taught Bain. We're scattered through the galaxies so far and wide, we have to hold onto something, no matter how thin.” She sat back on her heels and gazed up at Dr. Frurin, giving him one of her long, considering looks.
“Well, kinsman ... why didn't you contact us sooner? We would have come to see you months ago."

  “I know that now, but I had no way of knowing that back then, when I was working on my charts.” He chuckled when Joobi scrambled up his chest and perched on his shoulder again. “I come from a long line of only children, ever since our common ancestor's twin sons argued and split up. The twin that started my branch of the family changed his name and settled on a planet and did everything he could to keep his son from going into space. Each succeeding generation got a more twisted version of the story, keeping us from venturing into space except as passengers, until my grandfather got sick of the whole thing and tried to find the truth. My parents died when I was a baby and my grandfather raised me. I loved science to the exclusion of all else and never dared go anywhere near a spaceport except for my trip here ten years ago, but I've always cherished this dream of seeing one of my sons become a Spacer. I decided to do a genealogy chart to see if I could find any living blood relations."

  “How long have you held onto this?” Lin traced the line from his name back to hers with the tip of her finger.

  “Years. I forget it every once in a while, then find it quite by accident and add some more names in a flurry of research.” He chuckled. “I must admit, I'm somewhat of a coward. I thought, why would anyone want to learn they were related to a somewhat crazy research professor on Centralis? A young kinsman, mad to learn about being a Spacer would be another thing altogether."

  “I know exactly what you mean,” she said with a grin aimed at Bain.

  “But you don't have any children, do you?” Bain said, blurting the first thing that came to mind, just to ignore the new warmth in his face.

  “No, unfortunately. I seem to have this knack for making friends with interesting ladies, and then losing track of them in the excitement of some new research project. When I come back up for air, so to speak, they've either lost interest in me, or someone else has married them in the meantime.” He shrugged. His tone of voice sounded like it didn't much bother him, so Bain assumed his question hadn't been rude.

  “Well, you have kin here now,” Lin said. She reached out and clasped both his hands in hers. “If you like, I'll send the message to the rest of our kin. It's something of a hobby of mine, too, finding where our family tree has divided and splintered out among the stars. I'd be delighted to learn more, if I could."

  “Would you? I have research access clearance most of the public and half the Council doesn't even know exists.” Dr. Frurin chuckled. “We could have a great deal of fun checking through all those old records and tracking down name changes and ... oh, I'm getting carried away, aren't I?"

  “No, you aren't. What do you think I been trying to do in the library the last few days?” She laughed. A moment later, Dr. Frurin and Bain joined her.

  * * * *

  That evening was the start of a routine for the next nine days. After parting from Gorgi, Lin and Bain went to the library for their research projects. The librarians were a little more respectful of Bain's requests now. He decided to be nice, and not tell them he was a distant relative of Dr. Frurin. Not yet, anyway. He and Lin settled in at their chosen table and got to work each day, checking sources and accessing printouts or copying information off screens, until Dr. Frurin finished whatever meeting he had to attend for the day. He and Lin would then work together for a few hours, comparing notes and suggesting areas of research the other had never considered, while Bain continued on his own project. Then, when dark had fallen across the asteroid and the supplemental lights had dimmed to let the starlight through, the three would go out for dinner.

  They didn't return to Cooria's restaurant. Bain wasn't totally disappointed in that. He hadn't gotten sick from all the rich food he had gorged on, and had rather enjoyed all the new tastes and textures. However, he knew if he kept eating like that every day, he would never fit into his spacesuit for outside repairs on Sunsinger. That wouldn't be good. Spacers always had to be ready for emergencies.

  “Bain,” Lin said on the fifth day, “did you ever consider that if you stayed here with Ian, you'd get all the education and training and the powerful connections you need to set up your Scouts?"

  She didn't look at him as she spoke, and kept her voice low and soft. They had just settled into the library for the afternoon. There was hardly anyone around at that time of the day, and the traditional solemnity and hush of a library filled the massive building.

  For a moment, Bain just looked at Lin, trying to decide why she had brought that subject up, here and now; or for that matter, why she brought it up at all. Just from the softness of her voice and the hunching of her shoulders, he could tell she didn't want to.

  “Did he ask you to tell me to stay?” he finally said, when he had thought through all the implications and reasons and still couldn't decide.

  “He's hinted,” she admitted. Lin glanced up from her text and met his gaze for the briefest moment. “Ian would never come right out and say he wants you to stay, but I can tell he does. He was made to be a father, despite all his foibles.” She smiled a little at the use of Dr. Frurin's favorite word.

  “Maybe he won't ask outright because he knows I belong on Sunsinger with you."

  “Bain—"

  “Lin, will you stop trying to think of what's good for me all the time?” Bain's voice cracked with the effort of keeping it soft. “I'm still a kid, but I know what I want and what I'm good at and what I should do with the rest of my life."

  “You do, huh?” She sat back, slouching a little in her chair, and smiled at him. Bain hadn't noticed how pale she looked until the color started to come back into her face.

  “I'm a Spacer. That's what I'll be and do best. I can use Spacer ships and technology to put my Scouts together and get them where they're needed fast. I like Ian a lot, and it would be fun to spend my whole life just studying and meeting powerful people ... but it wouldn't be right."

  “Oh, and you think you know what's right, do you?” she drawled.

  “Yes, I do. You taught me,” he shot back, and grinned wide enough to hurt his face.

  “All right. I give up. You're too noble for your own good, you know that?"

  “Just like you, Lin."

  She just laughed and bowed her head over her text again. For the next hour there was silence between them—punctuated once in a while with a soft squeak of escaping laughter.

  * * * *

  On the morning of the eighteenth day after landing on Centralis, Bain and Lin were awakened with messages delivered to their rooms, asking them to appear at the Council testimony hall. Finally, they would fulfill their real reason for coming to Centralis.

  By the time their lunch break came, Bain thought he had never been so bored in his entire life.

  At first it had been exciting. He and Lin sat at a little table facing a half-circle table where the science and military members of the Commonwealth Council sat. The twenty-eight men and women were every age, skin-tone, type of hair and height imaginable. Bain had been reading about race wars and prejudices, in studying the history of the Order. Sensitized to the entire concept of differences in the Human race, he wondered now if the diversity among the Council members was deliberate.

  Then he shook his head and pushed that idea aside. Differences in color of skin, eye and hair were all genetic, not mental or moral—why should it matter? He settled down into his seat and prepared himself for the first question addressed to him. He was determined to be polite and speak in an even, controlled voice. His voice had stopped cracking and squeaking months ago, just as Gorgi had promised him. He would make a good impression.

  No one called on Bain that first morning. Most of the time was spent on reviewing Lin's log entries of the mission with the Rangers. Lin's participation in the review consisted of affirming or correcting what others had extrapolated from her entries. For the entire morning, she only said, “Yes, that's true.” Over and over and over again.

  The aftern
oon session was the same thing. Despite hours of talking—and Bain struggling to sit still when his body ached to move and his buttocks muscles grew numb from sitting—the review only covered the overhaul of Sunsinger and installation of the shield tiles.

  During their testimony time with the Council, Lin and Bain were forbidden to discuss anything pertaining to their testimony outside of the chamber, unless it was with someone directly related to the investigation. To be safe, they cancelled their lunch meetings with Gorgi until everything was finished. Gorgi didn't mind—his studies were getting tougher and he needed more time to concentrate on his assignments.

  It was perfectly safe to continue meeting with Dr. Frurin for dinner. Their study sessions were by necessity cancelled until the investigations had run their course. Dr. Frurin met them at the doors of the chamber in the evenings when they were released, and they went to dinner. Lin wanted to try cooking in the little kitchen in her room, but she was always too exhausted, drained by the monotony and paradoxical intensity of the reviews. Dr. Frurin always waved aside her protests. He honestly enjoyed meeting with them every evening. Bain enjoyed being with people who actually talked to him and asked him questions he didn't have to consult a technical manual to answer.

  On the sixth day, the review of Lin's log entries finished. Bain tensed in his chair, flexing sore sitting muscles. Maybe now he could contribute something.

  By the end of the seventh day, his relief and enthusiasm had waned again. The questions had changed to addressing Lin's perceptions, her feelings on events and changes and the why of some of her actions and decisions. As far as the members of the Council were concerned, Bain was there to keep Lin company and fill the empty seat at her table. He doubted anybody even looked at him.

  He would have complained about it that night, but Dr. Frurin's assistant Dr. Heleen Goran joined them. Bain kept silent first of all because he was stunned at her sudden inclusion in their cozy little group, and second because he didn't know how much could be discussed in front of her.