Music of the Spheres (7 page)

As he neared, he felt a change come over him. At first, he
thought it was a feeling of happiness at seeing his friend, but by the time he
was halfway to her, Alex knew what he was experiencing was something different.
He could sense it.

Kinemet.

It was like a ray of sunshine to someone who had spent months
in the dark. He could feel it radiating through him, replenishing him. Like a
homing beacon, it called to him.

Everything else became peripheral to Alex, and with a renewed
energy, he made directly for the large container in the middle of the group. He
was barely aware of Justine or the others, and only peripherally registered
their presence.

“This is Alex, my friend,” Justine said to the group with a
lightness in her voice. “I hope you guys don’t mind, but he’s going to spend a
couple of hours here with us during our layover. Don’t worry, I’ve cleared it
with the higher ups. Ah,” she continued after a moment, “here’s the NASA
liaison now.”

Clive appeared from behind the containers and waved as he
spied Justine. As if completely understanding Alex not greeting her in the
traditional manner, Justine waved back at Clive and met him halfway down the
hall.

Alex couldn’t hear what Justine and Clive said to each other.
He knew he should at least make the effort to pull himself away from the
container of Kinemet and say something sociable to Justine. She had obviously gone
out of her way to arrange this for him. But the kinetic metal was a siren’s
song for him.

When it was not in the midst of a reaction, Kinemet was only
mildly radioactive—less than a percent of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. A
person who had not been altered by exposure to reacting Kinemet would need to
be exposed to the dormant form in close proximity for several months before
starting to feel any effects, and then it would most likely only be about as
harmful as a sunburn.

Dormant Kinemet did, however, give off enough radio waves to
play havoc with some electronics in close proximity. As a precaution against
causing any shipboard disasters, the Kinemet on board the liner was encased in a
thick container lined with titanium—the same material used in Kinemetic dampers.

Even through the sealed container, Alex could feel the waves
penetrating through to his core.

A few hours? If that was the limit to his time, he would
need to get closer. He turned around and said, “Can we open it up?”

With Clive in tow, Justine returned to the circle of guards
and nodded. “Go ahead, Lieutenant.”

As the lieutenant unlocked the main opening by tapping a
code into the magnetic lock, Justine grabbed one of the cots and dragged it
closer to the aperture.

When the door opened a fraction, a wave of Kinemetic energy
poured over and through Alex, and he basked in it. Justine gently guided him to
lie down on the cot, and at that moment, she made an odd face.

“Well, there goes my optilink,” Justine said with a laugh.
“Might as well put my sweater back on.”

“It is safe for us?” asked the lieutenant.

Justine turned toward the sound of his voice, but she
appeared to be looking past him. “If you have a digital watch, it probably
won’t tell the time correctly. And forget watching any vids unless you go to
the other end of the cargo bay,” Justine said. “But, yeah, the rays are mostly
harmless.”

The lieutenant called out a few orders to his men to patrol
the area, and told the ones off-duty they could go up to the main floor
kitchens.

“I’ll pop back down to check on you in an hour or so,” Lieutenant
Jeffries said. With that, the soldiers made themselves scarce.

Whatever Justine and Clive talked about over the next few
hours, Alex was completely oblivious to it.

As his body re-energized from the proximity to Kinemet, he
found himself once again entering something very similar to that fugue state…

The ancient voice called to him:
Alex, come home.

13

Lunar Lines Vessel,
Diana
:

Dock Seven :

Canada Station Three
:

Leaving Alex next
to the Kinemet, Justine and Clive moved as far down the cargo bay as they could
while still able to maintain line of sight.

The Kinemetic radiation continued to interfere with both
Justine’s PERSuit harness and the optilink; the sensors gave her such static
feedback she thought her head would overload with the influx of scrambled data.
Even though it meant she was once more plunged into complete darkness, she disabled
her optilink and put her sweater back on. At the very least it helped keep away
the chill of the cargo bay.

She was fine with her loss of electronically enhanced sight,
because she had Clive there; he held her tightly in his arms as they sat on a
turned over crate and spoke in soft tones.

“I meant it, you know,” he said.

She didn’t have to ask what he was referring to, and she was
never one to play coy; she would not pretend ignorance and make him repeat
himself.

Over the past few hours she’d had some time to think about
what he’d said, but she was still torn. On the one hand, she was acutely aware
that she wasn’t getting any younger, and she wasn’t looking forward to spending
the rest of her life alone. On the other, her twilight years were still far away,
and there was so much more she wanted to do with her life.

Justine couldn’t have asked for a nicer man than Clive. He
was understanding, compassionate and kind. Although he could be a bureaucrat
both at work and off duty, and could be a stickler for doing things the
‘proper’ way, he also had a singular wit and could make her laugh. The thought
of giving her future over to him and making a life on the Moon together was not
unappealing. At the same time, she had this fire in her belly that told her she
wasn’t ready to settle down just yet.

“I know you meant it,” she said to him. “But it’s been a
very complicated couple of years.”

“So that’s a ‘no’?” he asked, but he said it with a half
smile, as if he’d been expecting the answer all along.

“It’s not a ‘no’,” she said. “It’s not a ‘yes’; but it’s not
a ‘no’.” She squeezed him a little tighter and buried her head in his shoulder.
“I just need to get a little more comfortable with who I am now before I can
make that kind of decision.”

After a moment, he spoke in a quiet voice. “You won’t mind I
ask again at a later date?”

Justine laughed and gave him a playful slap. “I’d be upset
if you didn’t.”

They held each other in silence for long minutes.

“This is nice,” he said after a time. “Not quite
La Dance
Des Étoiles,
but it’s still cozy.”

She playfully slapped his arm. “You’re such a liar!”

“Ha.” He laughed. “So, what’s this supposed to do anyway? To
Alex?”

“I don’t really know how this works for sure,” Justine said,
“but I think it has something to do with how he was exposed to Kinemet the
first time. It imbued him with its inherent radiation which changed his
physiology. Now he needs it like we need Vitamin C.”

Clive said, “I’m not sure I completely understand.”

“No one does. That’s why he’s gone so long without it; why
he’s deteriorating physically. No one believes he needs Kinemet to survive.”

“He seems content now.”

Justine couldn’t see anything. “Does he?”

“Yes. He looks like he’s sleeping, but there’s a serenity
about him.”

Justine could feel herself smiling. “That’s good.”

“How much longer do you think he’ll need?” Clive asked. “The
liner is set to reload passengers in a couple hours. We’ll have to get him off
before anyone sees him.”

∞

They sat together for two more hours, enjoying one another’s
company and talking about nothing and everything.

Though she just wanted to rest in Clive’s arms forever, Justine
finally squeezed his hand, indicating it was time to go. They had things to do.

She stood up and headed back to Alex, and could hear Clive
following.

Alex sat up on the cot. “Thank you so much, Justine.”

“You’re welcome, but really, Clive arranged it all.” She
felt around for the door of the container and pushed it shut. It locked
automatically, and Justine quickly removed her sweater.

As the Kinemetic radiation was cut off once more, Justine’s
main optilink connection came back online, and she immediately turned on her harness.
At last she could look on Alex and Clive’s faces with those electronic eyes,
courtesy of Optimedia.

Putting his hand out for Clive to shake, Alex said, “Thank
you, Clive.”

The two shook, and Clive stepped back and put an arm around
Justine. “Not a problem, young man. I just wish there was a more permanent
solution for you.”

“This was good enough,” Alex said. “I feel much better.”

“How long will it last?” Justine asked.

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know. But one thing I do know: I
won’t be needing these braces for the time being.”

Justine watched as he undid the biomechatronic device from
his legs.

Alex stood to give Justine a hug, and she blinked away tears.
“If I could find a better way,” she said.

“I know.”

Justine heard footsteps approaching.

“Are we about wrapped up here?” asked Lieutenant Jeffries.

Nodding, Justine said, “Yes. We need to escort Alex out
before the passengers embark. Thank you, Lieutenant. You have no idea how much
I appreciate this.”

“Uh, I really didn’t do anything,” he said to her in a
modest voice, and checked the lock on the container.

“Sometimes,” she said, “that’s more than enough.”

Justine put her hands on Alex’s shoulders, and then pulled
him close for a hug. It was difficult to explain to people why she cared so
much for this boy. Although she never had any children of her own, that
maternal instinct was still there.

Alex was like a foster child to her in some ways, and she
didn’t realize how much his deteriorating health had affected her until this
very moment. Seeing him looking hale and happy brought a sudden torrent of
tears to her eyes, and she hugged him even tighter.

“I feel much better,” he said to her in a low voice. “Thank
you.”

Justine gave him one more squeeze, then stepped back, but
still kept one hand on his shoulder.

“We need to figure out a way to make it permanent.”

Alex smiled. “Working on it. Now I have a little more time.
And,” he added, “now I have something that might help Kenny.”

“Kenny?” she asked.

With a subtle glance at Lieutenant Jeffries, Alex spoke in a
low voice. “Kenny Harriman. He’s the new physicist they sent up from Vancouver.
He’s trying to figure me out. Since I haven’t been able to use any of my gifts,
I don’t think he fully believed my story. Maybe now if I demonstrate, it might
give him some ideas.”

Justine was one of the few people who had witnessed
firsthand Alex’s ability to manipulate electricity and his uncanny capability
to see far beyond the normal range of human vision.

It had not occurred to her until that moment that those
gifts would once again be restored to Alex once he was recharged with the Kinemetic
radiation. He was connected to that element in a fundamental way. As Alex said
often, he needed it.

For the past few years, as Alex’s capabilities diminished
along with his health, it had been harder and harder to convince the corporate
governments to take an interest in Alex. Justine hoped that this new physicist,
Kenny, would be able to help in time; she had no idea how or when Alex would
have access to more of the superluminal metal.

Wiping away her tears, she said, “I’ll be interested in
hearing about it all when I come back. Speaking of which, I have one more
surprise.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve arranged to take a few weeks’ vacation time, and on
the return trip, I’ll start them here on CS3.”

Alex’s smile stretched wide. “That’s great!”

His delight in the news touched a chord in her, and she
realized that she had just as strong a connection to Alex as he had to the Kinemet.
It was a good reason to reconsider Clive’s offer. If she took a position on
Luna, she would be much closer to Alex on CS3. There were daily flights between
the Moon and the space station.

“Maybe we’ll go on a tour of the Kordylewski clouds or
something,” Justine suggested.

“I would love that.”

Clive tapped Justine on the arm and repeated, “We should get
Alex off before the passengers embark.”

Justine nodded, and the three of them started back toward
the elevator. She mouthed a silent thank you to Lieutenant Jeffries, who gave
her a salute in return.

Justine noticed that Alex was no longer walking like an old
man. Once again, he seemed to be an energetic youth.

When they all got to the upper level and reached the
gangway, Alex stopped and turned around.

“Thank you both again. I don’t know how much longer I would
have been able to last if not for today.”

“No need to thank us,” Justine said. “I just wish we could
do more.”

They hugged and, as Alex left the liner, Justine felt an
acute pang of guilt. She had spent the past few years clinging to the hope that
she could once again recapture the glory of her days in NASA. She had nothing
to prove to anyone in that regard, and it was time for her to make some
realistic choices.

She followed Clive back to the elevator, and as he gestured
for her to go first, Justine hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Clive asked.

Shaking her head, Justine smiled at him. “Nothing. I think
I’ve made up my mind.”

∞

Justine and Clive returned to the kitchen area and she enlisted
his help to restock the refreshment cart with cold beverages and snacks. She brewed
an urn of coffee and liberated a couple plates of fresh pastries for the
soldiers.

When she and Clive had descended to the cargo area and
distributed the snacks, the men expressed their gratitude as they helped
themselves to the donuts, Danishes, and crullers. Their morale seemed high.

Lieutenant Jeffries, flicking icing residue off his uniform
as he finished a bear claw, approached Justine.

“Thank you for this.”

“No problem,” she said. “I’m just sorry none of you got a
chance to visit the station.”

“Goes with the territory.” He held his smile for a moment,
then turned serious. “Do you mind if I ask what that was all about, with the
boy?”

Justine hesitated to answer. Any explanation she offered
would only raise more questions, and she wasn’t certain how much she should
reveal.

The lieutenant added, “I will have to make a report. I just
want to be sure to get my story straight.”

She glanced at Clive, who nodded his assent. Clive had
cleared the visit with administration, but Alex’s status was still classified.

To Lieutenant Jeffries, she said, “Do you remember the news
a few years back about the pilot who returned from  Centauri System?”

The lieutenant blinked in surprise. “From the
Quanta
flight?”

“Yes. You just met him.”

He looked back and forth between Justine and Clive,
disbelieving. “But he’s only a kid.”

“It would appear so,” Clive said in a low voice, “and that
information is strictly on a need-to-know basis. When you make your debrief,
you can report that Captain Alex Manez, retired, performed an unscheduled
inspection of the cargo. Make no mention of his apparent age.”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said, and if he was uncomfortable
with that, he kept it to himself.

A soft chime sounded, indicating the liner was beginning
launch procedures. A pre-recorded voice came on the loudspeaker and encouraged
everyone to find their seats.

Justine and Clive found their way to the temporary webbed
seating that had been installed for the troops, and buckled themselves in
opposite Lieutenant Jeffries.

Justine knew she owed the lieutenant more of an explanation,
if for no other reason than plain courtesy.

As the liner fired its engines and eased out of the docking
bay, Justine told Jeffries how exposure to the Kinemet had affected Alex on a
cellular level, and now he required a certain proximity to the element to
maintain his health.

She also explained that, because of the shortage of Kinemet,
obtaining it for Alex had been near impossible. Justine and Clive had understandably
taken advantage of the situation just to help out a friend.

“Most of your superiors are aware of Alex and his
condition,” Justine said. “However, I would suggest you keep this information
in confidence. I don’t think it’s something you want to be drawn into.”

“ ‘Unscheduled military inspection’ sounds good to me,”
Lieutenant Jeffries said, one side of his mouth turned up in a half smile.

The voice that suddenly spoke through the cargo hold’s holoslate
was not pre-recorded, and was not recognizable by Justine as one of the crew; it
had a thick Spanish accent.

“Attention American soldiers. Remain calm. Because of the
corruption of the corporate countries who have kept humankind in ignorance for
far too long, the Cruzados have liberated this vessel and its cargo.

“Cooperate, and you will not be harmed. Resist us and you
will be ejected into space.”