Planetbound, DM Arnold [interesting books to read .TXT] 📗

“The cutter beam. I did it on purpose.”

“Whatever for?”

“To destroy my personal ID chip. I don't need one here -- I can't do anything or go anywhere.”

“Nyk, I've never heard of someone doing that. Why?”

“Now, I'm invisible to agency enforcers -- they'll never find me. I must find my way to Earth. I promised Suki this planet won't hold me, and I'll return to her or die trying.”

“How will you get to Earth?”

“I don't know. I'm still working on that one.”

Andra set the skimmer onto the deck of the research platform. She led Nyk through the hatch to the lab. “This was all lost and had to be replaced. Tonight, when they come to the surface we'll collect our specimens.”

Nyk stood on the research platform deck with his arm around Andra. Night had fallen -- the Floran sky dazzled with stars and illuminated the platform to full-moon brightness. He looked up and spotted a bright white star with four dimmer companions tracing a lopsided rectangle in the sky. He pointed. “There -- that's where my korlyta is. Out here the sky is even more dazzling than at the Residence. The stars look close enough to touch. I think I can even see Earth's sun -- or maybe it's my imagination.”

Andra pointed toward the sea. “Look -- they're coming to the surface.” A patch on the surface was faintly glowing purple. Nyk held Andra with his left arm and watched as the glow intensified. Other patches appeared. “Let's collect samples.”

“How?”

“I'll show you. Come.” She led him below deck and to a bulkhead. Behind a door was an inflatable launch with a box at its center. She placed clear polymer sample containers into the launch. “Come on,” she said.

“I'd better not. I don't want to risk getting this gadget wet.” He patted the device on his arm. “I'll watch from the top.”

Andra secured a foam belt around her waist and climbed into the launch. A press of her hand against a control sent it from its slip into the open sea.

Nyk climbed to the deck and watched. The sea was calm, yet it undulated in metre-high swells. Andra steered the boat to the center of a glowing patch. She attached a container to a pole, poked it into the water and drew in a sample. The boat moved over another bright spot and she retrieved another sample.

She extended the pole, stood and leaned over the side of the boat. “Andra!” Nyk shouted. “Don't lean over so far -- you'll capsize the boat!”

She retrieved the sample and waved to him. “One more...” she said and poked the pole deep into the water. A swell rose athwart her and flipped the boat over.

“Andra!” Nyk yelled. He watched as she struggled. Her flotation belt kept her from sinking, but she was head-down in the water. She righted herself and held onto the launch. Nyk saw her cough and retch as she regained her breath. “Andra! Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she yelled. “But everything went to the bottom.”

“Can you flip the boat over?”

“I don't think so.” She started attempting to kick the launch toward the platform, but a current was carrying her from it.

Nyk popped open the door to the skimmer. He sat behind the controls and powered it up. With his hand on the unistick he lifted it from the deck and toward Andra's location. The craft went into station-keeping above her.

He stood by the open door. “Climb onto the boat. When a swell comes along it might lift you enough so I can reach you.” She clambered onto the launch and stood. Nyk lay on his stomach and reached down with his left arm. A swell lifted the launch. Andra grasped for his hand but couldn't hold on. Another swell and she was just out of reach.

“I'll drop it a little lower.”

“The antigrav fields are repelling the launch,” she shouted. “Next swell I'll try jumping.” Andra watched the sea. A swell built and lifted the launch. She jumped and Nyk grasped her forearm. He began pushing backward. She grasped the sill of the door.

“Hang on!” Nyk shouted. He leaned, grabbed the floatation belt and hauled her into the craft.

Andra removed the belt and sat behind the skimmer controls. “Watch the boat. I'm going to try to push it toward the platform with the antigrav fields.”

He looked out the open door. “To the left. Good -- just a little more.” The boat approached its slip. Andra set the skimmer on the deck and rushed below. With a pole she snagged the launch and pulled it into the platform.

“Help me flop it over.” Nyk lifted and the boat was right-side up.

“I don't like the idea of you going out by yourself. You should always have a partner.”

She smiled. “I always do -- partner. Come, let's get those samples.”

“You're going back out?”

“Of course -- that's why we're here.”

“I have a better idea -- grab that long pole.”

Nyk held the skimmer in station-keeping a fraction of a metre above the sea while Andra probed with the pole and retrieved buckets of dimly glowing water. “I never thought of collecting samples from a skimmer.” She retrieved another sample. “That should be good enough.” He directed the skimmer to the platform. “I didn't know you were qualified to pilot one of these.”

“I'm not -- but, it's not much different than a shuttlecar.”

“Does Senta know? If she did, maybe you two would get along better.”

Nyk followed her to the lab where she dumped the samples into larger containers and topped them up with seawater. She passed her hand over the proximity pad to switch off the ambient lighting. The tanks lit up with a dull, purple glow.

“I think that's enough research for one night,” Nyk said. “Don't you?” She nodded and fell against him as he embraced her. “Shall we check out the cabins?”

“I'm the one with a better idea this time.” She led Nyk to a compartment, retrieved a rolled-up cushion, carried it to the deck and spread it out. Looking into Nyk's eyes she grasped the hem of his tunic and slipped it from his body. He removed hers and they lay beside each other.

Nyk regarded her face. In the starlight her irises were fully dilated, making her eyes look oddly dark. “Andra -- you're such a beautiful woman.”

“I'd rather you not say that.”

“It's the truth. You are beautiful.”

“I despise my beauty, Nyk.”

“Why would you?”

“My life has been defined by my looks. When I was little and would walk with my parents, people would stare at me. Of course, at Vebinad Academy, all the girls looked the same. I wish I had been born a naturida and led a normal life.”

“You're leading a fairly normal one, now.”

“I consider myself one of the fortunate few. But I can't walk the streets of Sudal without someone stopping to stare at me. I didn't ask to have this body, Nyk.”

“Your features make no difference to how I feel for you.”

“I know. It's one reason I so cherish our friendship. I've learned Florans will react in one of two ways upon seeing an ax'amfin -- admiration or revulsion. You're a member of the latter category.”

“I'm a member no longer. I saw you as a symbol of a loathsome institution. Then, I met the persona living inside your body.”

“That's exactly what I mean. You're the first person who wanted my friendship despite my appearance. Even Senta wanted me because of what I am -- not who. I know you're sincere. You saw me as a vile, abhorrent, disgusting creature...”

“Well, I wouldn't go that far.” He stroked her cheek.

“But, you liked me anyway -- and, now we're friends.”

“Andra, your persona is even more beautiful than the body she lives in.”

She smiled. “I don't mind hearing you say that.”

Nyk stroked her face and gazed into her eyes. “Senta's right -- I could be happy here with you. Destiny demands something else of me.”

“Believe me, Nyk, when I say I want you to return to Earth -- to your Earth woman. I have a dream. In it, I come to Earth to live with you and Sukiko as your sister lover. We'd live in a house and the three of us would sleep together in a big bed. I'd be an aunt to her child. It cannot be, I know.” She took his left hand and placed it upon her body. “Do you think Sukiko would begrudge me one night of pleasure with you before you return to her?”

“Do you think I'll return to her so soon?”

She nodded. “You must return and you shall. But tonight -- I'm desperate to feel your touch, Nyk. Do you think Sukiko would understand?”

“Earth people have a different concept of fidelity.”

“I know -- I learned some Earth ways when Zander had me there. Perhaps if we didn't actually...”

“That's a rationalization. If we're intimate -- we're intimate. She is my life, Andra.”

“She is your destiny. Nyk -- nothing about us threatens what you and Sukiko share. True love is generous. One day she will understand our ways -- and, she will do so with her heart. Take some of the love we make tonight and share it with her -- let her keep it until I can hold her in my own arms again.” She guided his hand to her breast.

Nyk sat in the kitchen of the Residence sipping his breakfast tea. He heard the chirp of the doorscan. Senta approached from the lower level. “I see you've kept yourself out of trouble...” She spotted the gadget on his arm. “...What happened to you?”

“Cutter-beam -- it was a freak accident.”

She rolled her eyes. “I swear Nykkyo, you're a menace. Are you ready to return to Floran City?”

“I can't. I must go to the clinic in two days to have this removed.”

“I suppose leaving you a few more days in Andra's care won't hurt. To be honest, Nyk -- I've grown accustomed to sleeping alone.”

“I can't imagine you ever sleeping alone. Andra will bring me to Floran City once I'm done with the doctors.”

“There's no rush -- she can keep you as long as she can stand you. I'm going to the lab and then I'm taking the midday train. You will stay out of trouble, won't you?”

“I promise.”

Senta set a polymer box onto the table. “This was among the things Andra so kindly packed for me. It's not mine.”

“I'll make sure she gets it.”

Andra walked through the front door. “How was your day?” Nyk asked her.

“Nothing extraordinary.”

“Senta came by on her way from T-Delta. She wanted me to go home with her, but I told her I had to stay until this comes off.” He held up his right arm. “She left a box on the table -- she said it was with her personal effects, but it's not hers.”

Andra opened the box and withdrew an object. It was a cylinder, about as long as her palm was wide and twice as thick as her thumb. She turned the object over in her fingers. It was made of a silver-white metal that had developed a mottled grey patina. Nyk's eyes popped. “Let me see that,” he said. She handed it to him. He could see remnants of a label, attached with an adhesive. The lettering was in Roman characters. “Do you know what this is?” he asked.

“No -- I thought it might have something to do with the sequencing labs.”

“Andra -- this looks like a data capsule of the sort used aboard the Floran -- like the ones that held Koichi's journal. Where did you find this?”

“It was in the bedroom Senta was using.”

“She was using my dad's old bedroom.” His hand began to tremble. “What's left of the label reads 'K-O-I' -- then there's a gap -- 'O - G - I - A'. If this is what I think it is -- the label would have read KOICHI KYHANA GENEALOGIA. This must be Koichi Kyhana's long-lost genealogy!”

Andra looked into the box again and withdrew a pair of datacels. “These were with it.” She handed them to him.

“This is my father's handwriting,” he said, pointing to the labels on the cells.

“KKGR and KKGF?” Andra asked. What could that mean?”

“Koichi Kyhana Genealogy -- Roman and Koichi Kyhana Genealogy -- Floran. My father must've had the same idea I had -- to have the data extracted and to translate Koichi's records. But -- he never bothered to learn Esperanto or the Roman alphabet -- he was too busy with his career -- he never made it past this one capsule. It's how it became separated from the rest of Koichi's journal... Did you examine these cels?”

“No. Shall we now?”

“NO!” He thrust the box toward her. “Take these -- keep them from my sight!”

“Don't you want to know what's on them?”

“Once, I would've -- I would've given anything to