Close Obsession (4 page)

Korum was right; the outfit was very pretty. Similar in style to the ones she’d seen the female Keiths wear, it was a beautiful shade of ivory with peach undertones, and draped over her body in exactly the right way. Her back and shoulders were mostly exposed, while her front was modestly covered, with strategic pleats around her chest area concealing her nipples. The length was exactly right for her too, with the floaty skirt stopping a couple of inches above her knees.

When she turned around, he handed her a pair of flat ivory sandals, made of some unusually soft material. Mia tried them on. They fit her feet perfectly and were surprisingly comfortable.

“Nice, thanks,” she said. Then, remembering one last crucial item, she asked, “What about underwear?”

“We don’t really wear it,” Korum said. “I can make it for you if you insist, but you might want to try wearing just our clothes.”

No underwear? “What if the dress rides up or something?”

“It won’t. The material is intelligent as well. It’s designed to adhere to your body in exactly the right way. If you move or bend in a certain direction, it will move with you so that you will always be covered.”

That was handy. Mia thought of the countless wardrobe malfunctions in Hollywood that could’ve been prevented with K clothing. “Okay, then I’m ready, I guess,” she said. “I have to use the restroom, and then I’m good to go.”

“Excellent,” Korum said, smiling. “I’ll see you in the living room.”

And with a quick kiss on her forehead, he exited the room.

* * *

“I like what you’ve done with the place. Very twenty-first-century American.”

Korum’s friend had just walked in and was looking around with a smile. An inch or two shorter than Korum, he was just as powerfully built, and had the darker coloring typical of the Ks. His face was rounder, however, and his cheekbones sharper, reminding her a bit of someone with Asian ancestry.

“What can I say? You know I have good taste,” said Korum, getting up from the couch where he had been sitting with Mia to greet the newcomer. Approaching him, Korum lightly touched his shoulder with his palm, and the other K reciprocated his gesture.

Mia wondered if that was the K version of a handshake.

Turning toward her, Korum said, “Mia, this is my friend Saret. Saret, this is Mia, my charl.”

Saret smiled, his brown eyes twinkling. He seemed genuinely pleased to see her. “Hello, Mia. Welcome to our Center. I hope you’ve been finding it to your liking so far?”

Mia got up and smiled in return. It was strange to be meeting another K. With the exception of a couple of brief encounters with Korum’s colleagues, her lover was the only Krinar she’d interacted with thus far.

“It’s been very nice, thank you.”

Should she offer to shake his hand? Or do that shoulder thing Korum had just done? As soon as the thought occurred to her, she decided against it. She had no idea what the K rules on physical contact were, and she didn’t want to accidentally cause offense.

“Have you had a chance to go anywhere in Lenkarda so far? Korum told me you arrived only this morning.”

Mia shook her head regretfully. “No, I haven’t. I’m afraid I spent most of the day sleeping.” What time was it, anyway? Through the transparent walls of the house, she could see that it was dark outside. It had to be late in the evening, or maybe even the middle of the night.

“Mia was jet-lagged and exhausted from what happened earlier,” Korum explained, walking back toward her and placing a proprietary hand around her back. He pulled her down on the couch next to him, and Saret sat down on one of the plush armchairs across from them.

“Of course,” Saret said, “I completely understand. It had to be very traumatic for you, learning the truth that way.”

Mia stared at him in surprise. How much did he know? Had Korum told him everything, including her role in the Resistance attack on their Centers? She had no idea how her actions would be viewed by the Krinar. Would she be punished somehow for aiding the Resistance earlier?

“Well, the good thing is that it’s over,” Korum said, taking one of Mia’s hands into his and softly rubbing her palm with his thumb. Turning toward her, he promised, “You don’t have to worry about any of this again.”

“Actually,” Saret said with a regretful look on his handsome face, “I’m afraid there might be one more thing that Mia has to do.”

Korum’s face darkened. “I already told them no. She’s been through enough.”

Saret sighed. “There was a formal request from the United Nations –”

“Fuck the Unites Nations. They don’t get to request anything after this fiasco. They’re damn lucky we didn’t retaliate –”

“Be that as it may, the majority of the Council believes it’s important to extend this gesture of goodwill to them.”

Mia listened to them arguing with a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. The United Nations? The Council? What did any of this have to do with her?

“The Council can go fuck itself too,” Korum said in an uncompromising tone. “There’s absolutely no need for this, and they know it. She’s my charl, and they don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“She’s not just your charl, Korum, and you know it. She’s one of the witnesses in what will be the biggest trial of the last ten thousand years, not to mention the human proceedings –”

Mia wanted to throw up as she began to understand where the conversation was leading. “Excuse me,” she said quietly, “what exactly is needed from me?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Korum said flatly. “They can’t make you do anything without my permission.”

Saret sighed again. “Look, the Council wants her testimony as well. It really would be for the best if you just let her do it –”

Staring at them, Mia began to feel angry. They were talking about her like she was a child or a pet of some sort. Whatever it was they wanted from her, it should be her decision, not Korum’s.

“She doesn’t need this right now,” Korum said firmly. “They have plenty of evidence, and I’m not putting her through any additional stress –”

“Excuse me,” Mia said coldly. “I want to know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Clearly startled, Saret laughed, and Korum gave her a disapproving look.

“I think your charl is gutsier than you give her credit for,” Saret said to Korum, still chuckling. Turning toward Mia, he explained, “You see, Mia, the traitors that you helped us catch – the Keiths, as your Resistance friends called them – will be tried according to our laws. While our judicial process is fairly different from what you’re used to, we do require all available evidence to be presented – and testimony from all the witnesses. Since you were involved throughout, your testimony could play a role in whether they get convicted and how serious their punishment will be.”

“You want me to testify in a Krinar trial?” Mia asked incredulously.

“Yes, exactly, and we’ve also received a formal request for your presence from the United Nations Ambassador –”

“She’s not doing it, Saret. Forget it. You can go back to Arus and tell him it’s not happening.”

“Look, Korum, are you sure you want to do this? We’re so close to getting the approval . . . You know this is not going to be viewed favorably –”

“I know,” Korum said. “I’m willing to take that chance. It won’t be the first time they were pissed at me.”

Saret looked frustrated. “Okay, but I think you’re making a big mistake. All she has to do is get up there and talk –”

“You know as well as I do that if she gets up there, the Protector will try to take her apart. I will not put her through that. And I don’t want her anywhere near the United Nations right now – that’s far too dangerous. Besides, human media might sniff out the story, and Mia doesn’t need the whole world watching her testimony at the UN. Her family doesn’t even know anything yet.”

Her anger forgotten, Mia squeezed Korum’s hand in gratitude. She couldn’t help but be touched by his protectiveness. It was hard to say what appealed to her less – the idea of appearing in front of the Krinar Council or at the United Nations with the whole world watching.

“Arus said they can make other arrangements for her. The UN hearing can take place behind closed doors, with nothing leaked to the media. And the Council has agreed to accept her recorded testimony for the trial.”

“Tell Arus that he can talk to me himself if he’s so determined to make this happen,” Korum said quietly, his eyes narrowed with anger. “She’s my charl. If he wants her to do something, he needs to ask me very, very nicely. And then, if Mia says she’s okay with it, I will maybe consider it.”

Saret smiled ruefully. “Sure. You know I hate to be in the middle like this. You and Arus can talk it out. I was asked to deliver a message, and that’s where my responsibility ends.”

Korum nodded. “Understood.”

The expression on his face was still harsh, and Mia shifted in her seat, feeling uncomfortable about the role she had inadvertently played in this disagreement. She needed to learn more about this trial and what it all meant, but she didn’t want to ask more questions in front of Saret. Instead, wanting to lighten the tension in the room, she asked cautiously, “So how do you two know each other?”

Saret smiled at her, understanding what she was doing. “Oh, we go way back. We’ve known each other since we were children.”

Mia’s eyes widened. If they had been children together, then she was in the presence of two aliens who measured their age in thousands of years. “Were you classmates or something?” she asked in fascination.

Korum shook his head, his lips curving slightly. “Not exactly. We were playmates. Our children are educated very differently than humans – we don’t have schools like you do.”

“No? Then how do your children learn?”

Saret grinned at her, apparently pleased by her curiosity. “A lot of it is play-based. We let them develop most of the key skills they need through socialization and interaction with others, be it children or adults. Later on, they do apprenticeships in various fields with the goal of honing their problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities.”

Mia looked at him in fascination. “But how do they learn things like math and history and writing?”

Saret waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, those are easy. I don’t know if Korum has talked to you about this before –”

“I haven’t yet,” Korum said. “You got here as soon as Mia woke up. All I had time to do was mention the language implant.”

“Oh, good.” Saret sounded excited. “Would you like to get that done tonight, Mia?”

Mia hesitated. If Korum wasn’t lying to her, then she would be an idiot to pass on this opportunity. “Can you please explain to me again what exactly this implant is and what it does?” she asked, looking at Saret.

Korum sighed, looking exasperated. “Yes, Saret, please tell Mia exactly what the implant is. She doesn’t seem to trust my explanation.”

“Can you blame me?” she asked Korum, trying to keep the bitterness out of her tone.

Saret’s eyebrows rose, and he grinned again. “Still some unresolved issues, I see.”

Korum shot him a warning look, and Saret’s grin promptly disappeared. “Never mind,” he said hastily. “I don’t know what Korum told you, Mia, but the language implant is a very simple, very straightforward device that many Krinar get upon maturity – once our brain is fully developed. It’s a microscopic computer made of special biological material that essentially acts as a highly advanced translator. Its function is to convert data from one form into another – thought pattern to language and vice versa. It acts on one area of the brain only and has absolutely no harmful side effects.”

“Does it ever malfunction?” asked Mia. “Or can it do something else to me?”

“Like what?” Saret looked perplexed. “And no, this technology has been in existence for over ten thousand years, so it’s been fully perfected. It doesn’t malfunction, ever.”

“Can it make me think something that I don’t want? Or broadcast my thoughts?” Now that she’d said it out loud, Mia could hear how ridiculous that sounded.

Saret shook his head with a smile. “No, nothing like that. It’s a very basic device. What you’re talking about is far more advanced science. Mind control and thought reading are still in theoretical stages of development.”

“But it is theoretically possible?” Mia asked in amazement, the psych major in her suddenly salivating at the prospect of learning even a tiny sliver of what the Krinar knew about the brain. Now that she wasn’t so nervous, it occurred to Mia that the K sitting across from her was probably a veritable treasure trove of knowledge about her field of study.

Saret nodded. “Theoretically, yes. Practically, not yet.”

Mia opened her mouth to ask another question, and Korum interrupted, looking amused at her unabashed interest, “So does this make you feel more comfortable about getting the implant?”

Mia considered it for a second. How much should she trust them? Korum had already proven himself to be a master manipulator, and she had no idea what Saret was like. But then again, like Korum said, they didn’t really need her permission to do this. The fact that they were giving her a choice is what ultimately convinced her.