Callisto 2.0, Susan English [i love reading .TXT] 📗

for warp technology, which I hoped to finish within the next few months, so I was happy to let her take the lead.

After a late dinner, I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep. As I was brushing my teeth in my tiny bathroom, my wrist computer vibrated. A holomessage, probably from Olivia. I completed my nightly ablutions, then settled into my bed, adjusting the strap over my waist. I opened the holographic projection, expecting to see Olivia’s face.

Instead, I found myself looking at Amélie! We had exchanged contact information as we were waiting for the shuttle to take her to Tako—how long had it been? Four months, at least. But it had felt more like a formality than anything else. Like I told Naomi, we lived in completely different worlds. I smiled to myself as I was mentally transported to the Moon, thinking of our time together, and how renewed I had felt after being with her. I studied her holographic image, her delicate features, sensuous lips, alluring eyes …. I peered more closely at her eyes and caught my breath—they held a profound sadness. A sudden, irrational stab of fear shot through my gut. Something terrible had happened. I sat up and activated the message.

“Calli,” she said. I stared at her, open-mouthed, then paused the recording. I reinitialized the message and listened intently as she said my name, pausing again. It was Amélie’s voice, but her delightful, lilting French accent was gone, replaced by an unmistakable British one. A cloud of confusion enveloped me. I played the message.

“Calli, I’m so sorry.” Amélie began to cry softly.

I was having a difficult time associating the accent with the woman I had spent a blissful week with—it was surreal, and my mind felt disconnected. I focused on her holographic image.

“I’m so sorry, I’ve done something terrible.” Amélie took a deep breath and dried her eyes. “I can’t live with myself if I don’t tell you. I’m a terrible person, and I’m so, so sorry. You were so kind to me, so open and loving, and I betrayed you.”

I stared at the image. What in the Universe was going on?

“Please,” she continued, “I want you to know our time together, it wasn’t a lie. I swear to you, being with you like that, it was beautiful, and I felt something for you—I think it was love—and I felt your love in return. And I will always be grateful for that experience, your love was a gift, so pure. I was confused, and deceived, but I truly thought I was doing the right thing, righting a wrong.”

She shook her head and took another breath. “The only way to do this is to start at the beginning. I’m a dancer, that part is true, and a professional actress, as you might 185

have figured out by now, but I’m not from France, I’m from Great Britain.” She looked down, and I could see remnants of tears on her eyelashes.

Then she lifted her head and stared directly at the holocamera, directly at me. “We had just finished our tour in Japan, it was closing night, and the venue where we performed was hosting an end-of-tour party. Things had gone splendidly—we had received rave reviews from the media, and we were all ecstatic, and also ready for a break. Our next gig was six months away. The party was high-society—it seemed like all the rich and famous of Tokyo were there that night.

“I was relaxing, enjoying my cocktail and chatting with our manager about our success, when I saw Hiroki for the first time. He was standing alone on the other side of the crowded room. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, my conversation forgotten. He was the most beautiful human I have ever seen. When he met my eyes I didn’t look away—I couldn’t. It was like seeing an angel. He had a glow, an aura. It was mesmerizing. I was paralyzed by his beauty, his perfection. He came over to me, took my hands in his, and looked deep into my eyes. I could feel his energy pulsing around me, enveloping me. ‘Come with me,’ he said. I would have followed him anywhere, even to the gates of hell.” She put her hand to her face, covering her eyes. “And that’s exactly where he led me.”

She removed her hand, and once again I was looking at her despondent eyes. “He was like no human I have ever met—more like a celestial being, and I swear to you, he could see into my very soul. He wanted me, and how could I possibly refuse a god?

And, oh, how I wanted him. He took me to his hotel room that night, the penthouse suite in the most luxurious hotel in all of Tokyo, but the opulence didn’t matter to me—

I only wanted to be near him, to be in his presence. We made love that night, and it was incredible. I had never felt so open. He knew me, Calli, he could see right through me.

I forgot everything—nothing else mattered except being with him. He was magnetic, magical. I was lost in him.

“We didn’t leave the suite for a whole week. I was captivated by our incredible connection. It felt bigger than anything I had ever experienced before. I spent hours staring at his perfect face. He wanted to know me, wanted to know everything about me, and he seemed fascinated with the tiniest silly detail. I never had that before: pure, unconditional love.” She bit her lower lip. “I had a hard childhood. That’s no excuse, I know. But I have a lot of scars. Not physical ones, or you would have seen them.” She laughed mirthlessly. “But psychic scars. I was a child; they were supposed to protect me. What they did to me was unforgivable, but the worst was the indifference. That’s the opposite of love, you know. Not hate, indifference. But with Hiroki, it was different.

I told him everything, every sordid detail, and for the first time, ever, I felt cherished.

“Then he got a call. It was late, and I was in the bathroom when I heard the chime of his wrist computer. Through the door I heard him say, ‘tell me the good news’. He sounded so happy, so excited. I stepped into the shower and began to shampoo my hair. Then I heard Hiroki shouting. I know a little Japanese, but not enough to 186

understand what was going on. I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair as fast as I could, turned off the water, wrapped myself in a towel, and went out to find him.

“He was devastated, Calli, completely devastated. He had disconnected from the call and was staring out the window overlooking the Tokyo Tower, but he wasn’t looking at the view. Seeing him like that, my heart broke. I went to him—he was like a statue, and his skin was cold to the touch. I begged him to tell me what happened, and it was as if I wasn’t there. I didn’t know what to do.

“He stood there for an hour, not moving a muscle, barely blinking. I sat silently on the bed, watching him, the tears streaming down my face. I knew, in that moment, I would do anything for that man, anything in this world or the next.

“Finally, he seemed to come back to himself, and he looked at me. His eyes, Calli, those magnificent, ethereal eyes, they looked dead, vacant. I felt my heart stop. He spoke in a dull monotone, explaining what had happened—he was a great engineer, possibly the greatest the world has ever known, and all his ideas had been stolen, along with his money, his inheritance, to create the Foundation. It was this organization that co-opted his vision, his life’s work. Everything had been taken from him, he said. The call was from his lawyer, who told Hiroki his lawsuit had been dismissed. There would be no justice—he was ruined. ‘What can I do?’ I begged him, ‘please, I’ll do whatever you need me to do.’ He told me there was nothing anyone could do, he was a broken man, this company had crushed his soul. It was horrible, just horrible.

“Finally, I convinced him to lie down, and he slept, wrapped in my arms. I didn’t sleep that night; I could only stare at his face. That perfect, angelic face.

“The next morning, he opened his eyes and looked directly at me. ‘There is something you can do,’ he said. I started crying, I couldn’t control myself. ‘Please, anything, I’ll do anything you ask,’ I told him. He got out of bed, then leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, and said, ‘I know you will. You are the love of my life.’ I almost died right then and there. I had never felt so much love.

“Later that morning, we took a walk in the Kokyo Gaien Park. He had put on a baseball cap and was wearing sunglasses, as if he didn’t want to be recognized, but even with his face partially covered, I couldn’t tear my eyes away. He was so perfect, and he loved me.

“As we walked, hand in hand, he laid out his plan. He asked me to go to the Moon, to find someone who worked for Portal al Porvenir, and to gather as much information as I could about their technological advancements. He wanted me to focus on the orbital lab, explaining if he could prove the innovations that were being developed there were based on his work, his ideas, maybe he would have grounds to appeal the court’s decision. That whole day we worked on the details, and when he smiled again for the first time since the call, I knew I would do whatever it took.

“We spent the next two weeks gathering all the information we could about the orbital lab and its crew. I studied all your profiles, memorized your faces. I know everything about you, Calli, who your parents are, where you were born, your area of 187

study. I also knew you were a good person, even before I met you. But I was convinced you and your crewmates didn’t know what was happening, you were innocents in a diabolical game. Now I know the truth—I was the one who was duped.

“I had already been on the Moon a