Awakening (34 page)

“Another half-kilometer or so,” Kayla said. “Not far.”

The ten days since she’d last seen Devak had blurred together, the endless trips up and down the Western Territories a fog of lifting and carrying cargo. They’d finally ended up in Mut sector this afternoon, where they took on a load of drom wool. And with Chadi the next sector over to the southwest, Kayla could finally come home again. She’d sent a message ahead to let Tala know she was finally coming home for a visit.

Risa, planning to drive south across Mut’s border into Two Rivers for a Kinship meeting, sent Abran with Kayla. There was no time to give Tala advance notice that the GEN boy was joining them, which might mean shorter dinner rations, but Tala was always glad to welcome another guest.

Kayla’s heart trembled in anticipation. It had been two and a half months since she’d last seen her nurture mother, Tala, and her nurture brother, Jal. Kayla had had nothing but messages
passed in a long oral chain of GENs from Tala in Chadi to Risa. Kayla flung a prayer of gratitude up to the Infinite to be home.

Abran nudged her arm and gestured toward what had now become an all too familiar sight—another bombed warehouse. With the setting of Kas, the second of the brother suns, a golden light softened the ugly edges of the rubble.

There’d been at least one site of destruction in every GEN sector they’d been through, a half-dozen over the last ten days. But she’d hoped Chadi would have been spared.

“That used to be kel-grain stores,” Kayla said. She could still smell the sickly sweet stink of burned grain. “There’s one other foodstores warehouse in Chadi, but it’s smaller.”

“Hopefully no one was hurt,” Abran said. So far, FHE’s evil deeds had only killed the young GEN girl and the enforcer in Nafi sector.

Kayla had spent several sleepless nights tortured by the need to tell Zul what she knew about FHE. She’d slip out of bed, filching Risa’s wristlink from the cubby the lowborn woman kept it in. But the programmed block FHE had placed in her annexed brain stopped her from even tapping out Zul’s number. She just couldn’t summon the will.

Even worse, she hadn’t even been able to speak to Risa about FHE. She’d wait until Abran was out of earshot, would formulate the words in her mind. But she couldn’t voice them. She couldn’t type them even when she asked to borrow Risa’s sekai.

Thank the Infinite, the neural block was only for what she knew of FHE. She could take in other new information and tell Risa or Zul about it. But she couldn’t reveal anything about FHE or its connection to the bombings.

She’d become an unwilling party to Junjie’s deception, to FHE’s dealings. And it was tearing her up inside.

At least the incessant noise in her head had faded as the competing programs settled in her annexed brain, just as Junjie had said they would. But the voice still intruded, sometimes clearly calling her name, sometimes muttering just out of comprehension.

She assumed the voice was just an artifact of the FHE programming. But then it occurred to her—what if it was someone trying to communicate with her? The FHE programming had done everything but turn her into a flash-oven. Had it built a communication device within her too?

But every attempt to find an answer met with failure. She’d trace the path of her circuitry to what seemed to be the source, send mental messages back through that conduit. But there was never a response. Just that mindless blabber or that occasional clear cry of her name.

She got so frustrated, she’d been tempted to let Junjie have another try at quieting it. But she wasn’t sure the block would even let her ask him. Not to mention, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t just make things worse.

So she tried to ignore the voice, told herself it was just extraneous noise. But perversely, even though it irritated and sometimes startled her, there was also something about the timbre that filled her with warmth when she heard it. That surrounded her with a sense of security and love. Which angered her all the more, since real security and love lay just ahead, in Tala’s flat.

Kayla’s pace quickened as the twenty-ninth warren came into view. “Almost there.”

Tala was waiting outside, Jal dancing beside her with his usual impatience. Kayla ran the last thirty or so meters, taking care to leap over Liku Street’s potholes and ruts.

She threw her arms around Tala, giving her as tight a hug as she dared. Jal did a silly jig beside them, then joined in the embrace, uncaring that a few of his eleventh-year pack loitering across the street could see him.

Kayla finally let go of Tala. Had time added a few lines to her light brown face, or had Kayla just not noticed them before? Tala’s waist-length hair was just as golden as it had always been.

Kayla smiled at Abran and motioned him forward. “This is Abran. He’s been traveling with us.”

“Good to meet you,” Tala said, then passed a speculative glance from him to Kayla. Whatever questions she might have, Tala kept to herself. Just as well since Kayla didn’t have any answers.

Jal, on the other hand, grinned, looking eager to tease. For the moment, he just dashed past them and into the warren.

Tala tucked her arm in Kayla’s, and they followed. Abran hesitated before crossing the threshold, then trailed behind as they climbed the narrow stairs to the fourth floor. Jal, of course, bounded ahead, leading the way.

A girl of about Jal’s age was waiting in Tala’s flat. Jal announced loudly, “This is Betia. She helps Tala sometimes.”

Betia was as light-skinned as Jal was dark, her brown hair long and silky instead of tightly curled like Jal’s. She had one quiet toddler boy in her arms while another raced around the living room as frenetically as Jal used to. A sixth-month baby, towhead Pren, sat beside the sofa, pounding a toy hammer on
the floor. Pren had arrived at Tala’s just days before Kayla’s first Assignment.

“Then the dhans I send are making their way to you?” Kayla asked. Without the extra money, Tala wouldn’t be able to hire a helper.

“Yes, thank you.” Tala pressed a quarter dhan in Betia’s hand.

As Betia left, she gave Jal a lingering look. He grinned in response, then dropped his smile when he caught Kayla looking. Well, that would squelch any impulse in her nurture brother to tease her about Abran.

“How much time do you have?” Tala asked.

“We can stay for dinner and a while after,” Kayla said. “But the lowborn woman will want us back tonight. We’re heading to Mendin at dawn.”

“I’ll get dinner started then. Jal,” Tala called as the boy dragged Abran toward his room, “I’ll need another handful of patagobi root. Qeti upstairs will have some to borrow.”

Sketching a quick promise to Abran that he’d be right back, Jal dashed off. Abran stood awkwardly in the living room as the quiet toddler tapped on his shins.

“That’s Pik,” Tala said. “Kayla, would you—”

“I’ve got him,” Abran said. He picked up the boy and nestled him in the crook of his arm. “He kind of looks like me.” Abran seemed unsettled by the notion.

Kayla laughed. “Always strange to see another GEN with some of your DNA.” She saw Pren had nodded off. She carried him to the crib in Tala’s room.

Minutes later, Jal thundered back down the stairs and into the flat with two handfuls of patagobi. He dumped them in
the kitchen, then all but bounced out of his skin as he urged Abran into his bedroom. Abran followed with little Pik still in his arms. Kayla stayed behind to keep active Choti entertained while Tala worked in the kitchen.

It was an evening like so many Kayla remembered from her childhood. Tala made a stew of kel-grain, adding the patagobi root and some actual chunks of drom that looked like more gristle and fat than meat. Jal’s rapid-fire patter drifted out of the thin walls of his room as he showed off the new sekai he’d been issued as a tech GEN. She could hear Abran’s occasional laughter in response to some silly thing or another Jal said, and she felt a warmth inside that for the moment, Abran was happy.

Tala must have collected some wild herbs for the stew because despite its humble ingredients it was delicious. Abran took his first bite tentatively, then he all but licked his bowl clean. His effusive compliments brought a flush to Tala’s cheeks.

For the first time in the nearly five months since she’d been traveling with Risa, Kayla relaxed. While Tala bottle-fed Pren, Kayla helped feed the hyperactive Choti. Abran spooned stew into quiet Pik’s mouth. Abran nodded every once in a while at Jal’s constant chattering about bleeding edge tech, occasionally sending a smile Kayla’s way.

Kayla so dearly wanted to tell her nurture mother about the work she’d been doing for the Kinship. Because of the extra dhans Kayla sent to Tala and the extraordinary communication chain that the Kinship had worked out, Tala had to know there was more happening in the lorry than delivering goods. But Kayla had never been able to spell it out, and certainly couldn’t now with Abran at the table.

When Kayla remembered her promise to the woman in Fen sector, Tala sent Jal to a warren two streets over to find Lis, the woman’s nurture daughter. When Kayla delivered the nurture mother’s love and warm wishes, quoting what the Fen woman had said as best she could, Lis cried. But her gratitude for the message was clear, and she returned to her warren smiling. Tala glowed with pride at Kayla’s simple deed and Kayla’s heart spilled over with her own thankfulness.

Later, Tala took her aside when they went into Jal’s room to put Pik and Choti down for bed. Tala had tucked baby Pren in his crib an hour before.

While they gave the sleepy boys a quick wash with sani-wipes, Tala asked, “Do you still dream of her?”

“My nightmares?” Kayla asked. “I haven’t had one in months.”

“But you know who she is now.”

A shock ran through Kayla. “Do you?”

“A message came two weeks ago. Delivered by a GEN woman I’ve never met. Not the usual person who brings your messages.”

“What did she say?” Kayla asked.

She could see the distress in Tala’s eyes. “She said, ‘Kayla knows her true name is Elana Kalu. And she knows her true mother is a trueborn named Aideen Kalu.’”

“That’s not right,” Kayla said hotly.
“You’re
my true mother. My nurture mother. I don’t care about her.”

She pulled Tala into her arms and stroked her back. Who could have passed along a message like that? Zul? But why would he when he had to know it would hurt Tala?

“I never came to love a nurture child so quickly as I did you,” Tala murmured.

Even now, Kayla could feel the love radiating from Tala. “And I’m so lucky to have you as a nurture mother,” Kayla said.

They tucked the boys into their bed, chatting about the inconsequential—Jal’s first crush, which GENs were planning their joining ceremonies, where Kayla’s fifteenth-year friends had been Assigned after she left. But it was exactly those tiny details that Kayla had missed most about home.

Kayla couldn’t stand it when it was time to leave. They all went downstairs together to delay their parting. When Kayla spied the tears in Tala’s eyes, she couldn’t speak from the lump in her throat. And Tala squeezed her so tight, Kayla could barely breathe.

“When can you come back?” Tala asked.

“I don’t know.” Kayla took a shuddering breath. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Tala said.

Kayla lifted her head from Tala’s shoulder and in the dim streetlights caught Abran staring at her. He seemed surprised. That she was crying? That she wasn’t eager to get away from her nurture mother and back to her Assignment like some GENs would be?

She gave Jal a quick one-armed hug, then she and Abran started back down Liku Street. She turned twice to wave goodbye. The third time, Tala was gone, no doubt to check on the sleeping toddlers. Jal had joined his pack, the group of ten or so including one girl—Betia. Jal had his back to her.

Liku Street ended as they drew closer to the Chadi-Mut border, transitioning to gravel-topped dirt, then a mere footpath. Two of the trinity moons, Avish and Abrahm, had risen, but their crescents provided an unreliable light. Sticker bushes thrust up here and there, their shadowy branches
looking like clusters of bhimkay. Kayla shuddered at the image.

Abran walked close behind her on the narrow path. “It wasn’t like I expected.”

“What wasn’t?”

“The flat. Your mother. Your brother.” He reached a hand out to her when she stumbled on a rock. “The food.”

“The warrens in Jassa don’t look much different.”

He was silent a moment. “I guess not.”

Their feet crunched in the gravelly dirt. “Are you worried about the judgment?” The councilor had contacted them a couple days ago to say that Abran’s testimony would be taken next week.

“I can’t face him again,” Abran said.

“Baadkar won’t be in the room when you testify. He’ll be watching on a vid screen.”

“He’ll know I’m there. He’ll know I haven’t—” He cried out, startled as he tripped and fell, landing hard on all fours.

“Are you okay?” Kayla asked, offering a hand.

“Yeah.” He let her help him to his feet.

His pants were torn at the knees and she could see a dark smear through the tear. “Your knee—it’s bleeding.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Risa had parked the lorry not far from the border and stood leaning against the cab chewing devil leaf. As Abran limped along, he shook Kayla off when she tried to support him.

As he headed for the rear of the lorry, Risa called, “Seycat’s out, GEN boy. Keep that door open!” He waved a hand in response before disappearing around the end of the bay.

Abran had been traveling in the cab with them instead of in the bay, trading with Kayla between the passenger seat and the
sleeper. He’d been stretching out on the cab seats to sleep. He must be even more upset than she thought to go hide himself amongst those smelly bales of drom wool piled high in the bay.

Kayla and Risa swung up into the cab. “What rat-snake got up his behind?” Risa asked.

“The judgment next week, I think.” But there seemed to be more to it, something about being around Tala and Jal.

Kayla and Risa took their turns in the washroom, Kayla pounding on the hatch to let Abran know when he could use it. When he didn’t come out immediately, Kayla sent a questioning glance at Risa. The lowborn woman wagged her chin at the hatch and Kayla opened it.