He still wasn’t going to try drinking the water, though. It was barely a week ago he’d seen a body floating by. If the water was contaminated with the virus, he could get sick and die just from drinking it. His portable filter could filter any bacteria, but he was sure it wouldn’t work on a virus. So he only drank the water he carried with him, collected in his bunker in barrels every time it rained and bleached to make it safer.
He walked furtively along the coast when he heard the motorboat, long before it passed by. He had time to hide himself out of sight and get his gun ready. He crouched behind some bushes and readied his rifle, looking with one eye through the telescope and the other in the distance.
A couple of minutes later, he saw an orange and white motorboat with the inscription MSC Grandiosa on the side coming closer, navigating up river. On board a woman was driving it. A luscious woman. Alone.
He kept watching through the scope of his gun, watching her attentively. She was beautiful. And she was wearing some type of uniform. That was very exciting. He felt a sudden stitch in his member and started to touch himself with his left hand while he kept the rifle up with his right. The motorboat was moving fast, so he had to change position to follow it, but in a minute she was out of sight. He thought about shooting her to stop her, but that would ruin her.
In a few seconds, the woman was out of sight and the sound of the motorboat was lost in the distance.
Where was she going and where did she come from? It was clear the woman wasn’t just out for a ride, so she was going to, or coming from, seeing someone. Or both. He could walk in the direction that she was headed, or go the other way.
He thought about it a bit and decided it wasn’t worth it. The woman didn’t have anything in the boat besides a backpack. Wherever she was going, it wasn’t very far or she was just passing through.
At some point, she’d return.
And he’d be waiting for her.
SURPRISES
Rho, December 24, 2027. 10:00 a.m.
Leora returned to the command center at Rho. It was the fourth trip since she’d seen Alexis’ friends for the first time. They’d finished the analyses and had discovered that the virus wasn’t infecting the water or the fish, it just stayed in the bodies of the people infected for a few days. The vaccinated weren’t carriers, nor were the wild animals, so they could move without precautions securely enough as long as they weren’t manipulating or approaching those recently deceased from the virus.
While Alexis had left the submarine in Lionel’s hands and had established himself in Rho, she returned to the ship every now and then to coordinate work with the crew, oversee the distribution of food and prepare the people for evacuation when they were all finally vaccinated. The bad part was she had to make the trip by motorboat and truck and enter the city with a guard who gave her access to where she wanted to go. Just thinking about the trip this morning gave her a stomach ache. She thought it might be convenient to stay for a while in the city, but she certainly didn’t want to abandon her ship as long as the people couldn’t disembark, too.
The guard accompanied her to the control center and let her pass.
“Good day,” Leora greeted everyone, seeing that Alexis, Althaea, Juan Carlos, and Sofía were all in the room.
Sofía was more mature every day. A week ago she looked like a young woman of eighteen; today she looked like a woman of a little more than twenty. At the moment, she was eating chips.
Juan Carlos was at the console that used to be Tzedek’s. He had the three giant screens lit up and was looking at the Atlantean symbols on them, on window after window of code. He was working with the computer, but in a curious way. He had both hands resting on the table and was reading the screens, moving his sight from one side to the other. Where he looked, the code was highlighted and if he concentrated, it changed to another. There were also windows with results on the last screen. Genetic modifications, genealogy trees, and many other things.
“Hello, Leora,” replied Alexis with a smile that touched her heart. The man really was glad to see her, though she hadn’t yet forgiven him for everything. At a conscious level, she understood that his secret wasn’t something he could go around divulging to everyone he met, but even so, she felt betrayed.
“Do you feel okay? You look a little pale,” Althaea said worriedly.
“It’s nothing, I got pretty seasick in the boat, and on the trip from the ship.”
“Seasick? A sailor?” joked Alexis.
Sofía paid attention for the first time and looked at her from top to bottom. Her mouth opened in surprise when she looked at Leora’s belly.
“You’re pregnant,” she said simply.
A second later, Leora laughed out loud.
“Do you think I’m joking?” Sofía said, offended, putting a hand on her slender hip.
“I know you’re joking. Because I was a little seasick doesn’t mean I’m pregnant,” Leora chirped, still laughing.
“I didn’t say it because of the nausea. I just scanned you and I see the embryo nested in your belly.”
Everyone went quiet. Leora looked incredulous. The smile disappeared.
“I can’t be pregnant, I’m sterile. Not to mention that from what I have been told, the only person who could be the father could not have children with me anyway,” she hesitated, looking at Alexis, who was as serious as she was.
“I can’t have offspring with humans. I don’t want to be impertinent, but isn’t it possible that it’s someone else’s child?” Alexis asked.
“Good thing you don’t want to be impertinent. I’m not a prude, but it had been weeks since I’d had relations when you and I met. Let’s say I wasn’t on good terms with my, um, companion of the moment.”
“I can’t believe it,” Said Alexis.
“What the hell? Do you think you’re going to accuse me of being a liar...?”
“I’m saying I can’t believe I could be a father, I never have been and was not supposed to be without the help of a medical genetic engineer. Calm down,” he explained, trying to placate her. “Sofía, are you sure about this?”
Sofía sighed and approached them both. She put a hand on each of their shoulders and concentrated for a moment.
Both Leora and Alexis saw the embryo...and they felt it. And then, like in a film speeded up in reverse, everything that Leora had done in the last month, until the intimate moment with Alexis.
Leora jumped away from Sofía, angry.
“What the hell, Sofía!”
“I’m sorry, it’s that I accessed the cellular memory to arrive at the exact moment when the embryo was implanted. There’s no doubt that Alexis is the father,” she said, flushed.
“How is it possible, Sofía?” asked Alexis, rubbing his head.
“We know that Atlantean women can’t have children without artificial assistance and that Atlanteans and humans can’t have natural offspring,” Sofía, said thoughtfully.
“I know I never had children,” Alexis revealed.
“Well, me either, and not for abstinence, exactly,” Leora said indignantly.
“We know Alexis’ story, so the unknown here is Leora,” Althaea said.
“I’m not a damned unknown!” she shouted, losing her temper.
Her whole world was reeling. Be a mother? What did she know about being a mother? And besides, in an uncertain world, full of questions and no answers. How could she survive in this world with a baby?
She could not have it.
Could she?
“I’ll be with you. It’s my child, too,” Alexis said.
“Was I talking out loud? Or were you reading my mind without my permission?” asked Leora, more and more upset.
“I didn’t need to, I can see your thoughts on your face.”
On her face? Leora had never felt so helpless. Never in her life had things been so out of her control. She put a hand on her belly, as if something would feel different, but she didn’t feel anything. What should she do?
“Leora,” Alexis approached, looking in her eyes.
“What!” she shouted at him.
“Don’t make a decision now. You have time to think about it.”
Alexis was right and that made her even more nervous. On one hand, all her life she’d regretted not having a child. On the other, the timing couldn’t be worse. They weren’t in a civilized world any more where they would have lived, where her child would have grown up relatively safe and problem-free. Wouldn’t it be crazy to bring a baby to live in this world almost stripped of humans? And what would happen when she got old? Or if she died?
Suddenly, she remembered Leonora again, what she had said to her father, his solution...and she realized that, in a certain way, she was thinking about doing something similar. Although there wasn’t a baby or child yet, there could be and if she stopped it now...she wouldn’t be any different than Leonora’s father.
She realized that the decision had been made. Though she was tormented with doubts and fearful of what the future would bring, she wasn’t ready to kill her own seed.
She realized she had her hand on her belly and she was caressing it. She looked around and saw that Alexis looked at her worriedly while Sofía smiled at her. She tried to control herself. She wasn’t like that, she was used to hiding her thoughts and now they could read her like an open book.
She straightened up and crossed her arms.
“Robert, I mean, Alexis, we need to talk.”
“Yes, my lady,” Alexis replied very seriously.
Leora looked at the others and then at Alexis.
“In private.”
Althaea and Sofía looked away, while Alexis gestured with his hand. Juan Carlos had never left the computer and had not even looked at them.
“Would you like to speak in my apartment?”
“You go first,” Leora said and followed him out of the room.
“I don’t want to obligate you to anything,” Leora hesitated, looked at the apartment and the views from the large windows.
“Don’t do that. I will be happy to help you if you decide to have it. And I’d like to be with you even if you decide not to,” Alexis commented very seriously.
Leora sighed.
“I wish I could read minds like you all do...”
“Do you think I’m not sincere? That’s understandable.” He thought about what he could say to convince her, and realized that nothing would.
Leora looked at him sideways and shook her head.
“Come here, give me your hands,” he invited her, seeing her gesture.
Leora looked at him suspiciously.
“Trust me,” she heard Alexis in her mind.
“And why give you my hands, if you can talk to me that way?”
“To take less energy and because...well, it’s better if you see it yourself.”
Leora approached him slowly, a little suspicious. When she got in front of him, she offered him a hand.
Alexis took it and brought her to a chair next to the dining room table and asked her to take a seat while he sat in the chair next to her.
“It will be safer if you sit down.” The warning only served to make her more nervous, but she sat down.
Alexis took both her hands. For a moment, nothing happened, but suddenly a tingling sensation started in hers and something like pressure in her head. She closed her eyes and suddenly an avalanche of voices and images filled her head. She tried to resist, pulling away from Alexis, but he held her more firmly and the sensation of discomfort passed.
And she saw...
Decade after decade, century after century, Alexis’ life passed before her. First his existence in Atlantis, then fighting to survive, learning new things, having partners, keeping his secrets, lost, in a world foreign to him.
And she felt...
Alexis’ emotion, every time he looked for a new adventure and his loneliness over the centuries, with a conquest now and then, only to feel the pain of loss when distance or age required separation...when it wasn’t the death of the partner that caused it. Until he found her.
And she saw it through his eyes. As captain, the things she did on her ship and her own memories, that she felt as he had felt them.
She realized she was crying when he let her go. She cried in anguish and couldn’t contain herself.
Alexis embraced her, realizing the mistake he’d made.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I couldn’t think of another way...” He squirmed, stroking her head.
Leora took a while to calm down.
“How...how do you handle it?”
“What choice do I have? I think there’s always hope. Look, now I’ve found you.”
“But you’re going to lose me.”
“Eventually, but who can say what we can’t do in the meantime?”
“So much pain, so much loneliness...”
“Right now, you’re here with me. Let me be with you. Or would you rather be alone again? I won’t impose my presence, but you know it’s real that I want to be with you. And besides...” he hesitated, looking at Leora’s belly.
Leora toucher her belly once again. Apart from the discomfort she’d felt since the morning, she couldn’t feel anything. It still seemed so unreal.
“I’ll be with you whatever you decide. Though you know what I’d like, I’ll support you whatever you do.”
“I don’t think I can have and raise a child, Alexis.”
“You don’t have to be alone. Besides, look around. Even when you don’t want to be with me, they won’t leave you alone if you need help.”
Leora snorted.
“If only it were that easy.”
“It never is, but you’re also not a woman who needs everything to be easy. Don’t get overwhelmed. Like I said before...you don’t have to decide it right this second. Now you know more about me and what you can expect. Think about it.”
“I’ll think about it...tomorrow.” She thought, looking into his eyes. She remembered everything she’d experienced just a few minutes ago and breathed in his scent, resting her face against his neck. She looked at him again and not being able to stop herself, she suddenly found herself kissing him passionately. They began to caress each other, kissing while they moved towards the bed.
Suddenly Leora moved away. She was pale and almost green. She paused for a minute and covered her mouth with her hands. She turned around and ran towards the bathroom, where he heard the knock of the toilet lid and the sound of a tremendous retching. And then another. And then the sound of something liquid falling into the toilet Alexis approached her slowly and asked if she needed help.
Leora waved her hand, embarrassed, disgusted, her throat burning, trying not to inhale so as not to aspirate the smell that made her more nauseous and her eyes closed so as not to see what she had done. Alexis listened as she emptied the toilet, rinsed her mouth and after a while, she appeared and staggered to the bed, where she fell like a brick.
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking pale.
“It happens at the beginning of pregnancies, don’t worry...and it doesn’t bother me. Just tell me if you need anything,” he offered, lying down next to her.
A little time passed and Leora started to feel a little better.
While Leora laid on her back on the bed, Alexis looked at her, lying on his side.
She had the feeling he wanted to say something but didn’t.
“What?” Leora finally asked.
“I can’t believe I’m embarrassed but...let me tell you. In my country, we used to give a gift to celebrate the winter solstice. Well, here it would be the summer solstice, but it’s the same date.”
“Are you talking about a Christmas present?”
“Well, if you want to see it that way...but it’s nothing to do with the Christian Christmas, of course. We celebrated the solstice long before. For us it’s the beginning of a new year. So it would be a New Year’s gift.”
“But today is the twenty-fourth...well, it do
esn’t matter. What are you talking about?”
Alexis jumped up from bed and quickly looked in a box. He came back to her, holding something between his fingers.
“Well...I’d like you to have this,” he declared, offering her a delicately designed ring.
The ring was a silver blue metal, very soft to the touch and very shiny, as if the whole ring were a gem. Leora was shocked.
“What is this made of? And where did you get it?”
“It’s metal from an Atlantean sword. In fact, it’s made with metal from the hilt of my own sword.”
“You have a sword? That is, I remember I saw it in your memories, but, it’s the same one?”
“I’ve always had my sword. It was in my cabin on the submarine and I’ve had it since I was declared of legal age. That was long, long....long ago. It was made to size, of course, like all Atlantean swords. The alloy is unique and the secret of its manufacture has been lost; nobody knows how to make them.”
“You can’t analyze its components?”
“Yes, but the exact sequence of exposure to heat, cold, magnetism, high voltage and the precise amount of each material that is added in each stage is irreproducible. By having this ring, it’s like you have a piece of me.”
“It is just a ring or does it mean something more? You aren’t proposing, are you?” joked Leora smiling, but her smile left when she saw Alexis blushing.
“Leora, I’d be honored if...”
“Wait!” she interrupted, feeling panicked.
Earth Keepers Page 41
