Astra: Synchronicity (34 page)

There was always room for negotiation, even
in the darkest times. The Xuranians had no need for slaves; their
mechanoids were far superior in every way, but that didn't mean
they wouldn't pillage worlds abundant in natural resources. Or
force humanity to do things against their will. But at least if
they opened the doors of communication, they'd know.

The eleven captives on Xur hadn't even been
discussed. If she knew the chairman, he would deem them casualties
of war because surrendering to save a few lives was ludicrous. Yet
his hypocrisy astounded her since he'd demand to be rescued if he
was being held captive.

Amii had been dismayed to learn Xander Adams
was one of those left behind. With any luck he'd managed to stay
alive in the confusion following the incident. That wiry coot had
survived worse run-ins in his past, and it would be a shame to
leave him at the mercy of the Xuranians. If he did make it, she
already knew he'd be planning an escape.

"Tomorrow, I meet with Allied Fleet Command
to discuss our military options," Dodd said. "I'm not asking for
your support on the matter, but unless you want a lot of good
people to die needlessly, you'll think about backing my proposals
on the table. Saying yes is the patriotic thing to do. Good day to
you, gentlemen."

She shook her head when the image winked out.
Not backing the will of Chairman Dodd constituted political suicide
throughout the AF. While he couldn't bully either of these men
under his regime, giving them a guilty conscience marked only the
beginning of his backlash. Many underhanded dealings never made it
into the news because if they did, the political machine of the AC
would be thrown into sudden turmoil.

One more firestorm and the AC may very well
dissolve. That is, if this war didn't break them first.

After a quiet lunch, Magnius returned to his
room in the East Annex of the Westwood Estate. "Amii, are you
here?" he called.

As expected, she didn't respond. She sat in
front of the window and stared outside. If a hunger strike would
bring Xander back, she would've already won. For the past several
days she hadn't left the room or spoken much. She'd been lost in
her own world since they escaped Xur. Magnius couldn't tell if she
preferred to be left alone or needed a friend to talk to. He often
caught himself watching her, hoping she'd say what was on her mind
but always decided to let her be.

Without thinking about it, he headed into the
bathroom and emerged with a large container of pills. He sat down
at the kitchen table and poured several of the white tablets onto a
plate in front of him. His extraordinary display of power on Xur
still left him drained, but the effects had subsided for the most
part. He took the pills in his hand and closed his fingers around
them.

He'd discovered his gift of molecular
rearrangement by accident one day. After appearing in court at the
divorce of his first wife, he found the nearest bar and ordered the
strongest liquor they had. He held the glass in his hand for
several minutes, too furious about the ordeal to drink it; after
the anger passed, he noticed the clear liquid smelled like ether
when it had originally smelled only of alcohol.

At the time he didn't know enough about
molecular structure to be able to utilize his power. Over the next
several years, he took night classes in organic chemistry to learn
everything he could about building molecules piece by piece. It
took him years of practice in order to replicate the exact
structure of gammamine. Two of the drugs distributed to psions
nowadays were fairly close…a cis-bond here, a hydride shift there,
and a quick Claisen rearrangement was all it took. Not that long
ago, all he had to work with were basic amino acids. Given enough
time and a comparable starting material, he could transform
anything into gammamine.

Of course, this ability was not without
flaws. Early on, it took a great deal of time. Until he mastered
the power, incomplete transformations often made him sick. The
process also made people's ears ring incessantly and the sclera of
his eyes glowed deep emerald. In many ways it was more dangerous
for him than killing the weak-minded, though he took a great deal
of solace in knowing he'd never taken a human's life to obtain
it.

Amii never seemed to pay attention, but her
silence suggested she condemned his flagrant display of telekinetic
powers. Although it had been a footnote in the days following the
attack, all of Astra now knew he was a psion. He should've just
grabbed Nadine and Amii and made a run for it, but he'd foolishly
acted on instinct to protect them. In the end with all the rumors
swirling about a coming Xuranian invasion, it wasn't worth it. He
doubted any of the humans unaccounted for survived the attack.

The government had been decidedly hush-hush
about the Xuranians, deflecting questions and spinning the fear
that blanketed Astra into positivity. For all anyone knew the Vice
President was busy negotiating peace under their noses. That was
his forte. Never had it been more vital.

He headed toward the sink and filled a glass
with water, swallowing the tablets one by one and following each
with a long drink. His attention returned to Amii, who sat curled
up in the cream-colored recliner with her arms around her legs. The
street below was filled with the weekend crowd, eager to get out
and enjoy the day before curfew struck. But she didn't pay any
attention to the people. Instead, she stared into the clear sky and
waited for a sign that Xander was still alive out there.

How could the man have meant so much to her?
He was nothing but a fraud and a cheat, a swindler held in the
lowest regard. She should be happy she'd rid him from her life.

But Magnius could empathize with her loss. He
too had no idea what direction his life would lead him next. When
he'd arrived in Northampton, he sent a message to his secretary
informing her of his resignation: that he'd turned over control of
the fishery to his head supervisor, a trusted friend he knew the
company would be in good hands with. His life as he once knew it
had come to a stunning end.

On an impulsive whim, he walked over to her
and stood next to the window. But she didn't take any notice of
him. Her eyes blinked twice and she focused on the errant tendrils
of ice crystals a ship had left in its wake across the sky.

"Come outside for a while with me," he said.
He pulled on her arm but she didn't budge. "We can walk around the
Daisy Garden. It'll help take your mind off things." Still, no
response. "Do you think Xander would be happy if he knew you were
moping around here and not getting on with your life?"

Amii furrowed her brow. "I'm only agreeing to
appease you." She stood and followed him toward the door.

"Good."

As he led her down the stairs, he felt badly
about upsetting her but she had a stubborn streak to rival that of
a corpse. Magnius could see why Xander liked her. Not that anyone
else would…

The two of them headed down a long corridor.
The East Annex had rather drab décor compared to the rest of the
Westwood Estate. Many didn't even consider it part of the Estate,
despite its seamless integration into the existing structure. They
took a left under a large crystal chandelier and the wood floor
turned into marble. Windows of the garden filled the hallway, and
an exquisite set of French double doors led outside.

The doors parted automatically as the two
neared its threshold. Amii pulled her hand away and crossed her
arms when she strode past a wild patch of yellow daisies. The open
vista overlooked a large park in the middle of Northampton that
today overflowed with children and the parents struggling to keep
up with them.

Magnius scratched the back of his head and
sighed. "He would've wanted you to move on with your life. You know
that."

Amii appeared to ignore him while she stooped
down and pulled a reddish-orange flower off one of the bushy
plants. She stared at it for a moment before discarding it on the
ground and taking another.

He smiled to himself. "You know, it's rumored
that anyone who takes one of these flowers will meet the person
they'll marry in the next six months. Not that I believe that sort
of thing but—"

She spun around and glared at him. "I have no
reason to think he's dead. I left him there. I'll get him
back."

"What?" he stammered. "You're joking. No
human is ever going to set foot on Xur again."

Had the events of the past week driven her
mad? She spoke as if she'd thought the whole idea through and
decided it was the only right answer. Even now his words seemed to
be lost on her while she turned the flower's stem between her
fingers and watched the petals twirl around.

"I know how hard it is to lose someone you
care about. When Greta died, I…" He stopped himself from letting
the pain of her death consume him. "But sooner or later you have to
own up to the fact they're gone forever."

She stepped toward him. "Who was she?"

He clenched his brow and stared down at the
ground. "My second wife. I know it wasn't my fault but I can't help
but think it was…that if I hadn't let her to talk me into having a
child, she'd probably still be alive today. Some kind of
complications from the pregnancy. I woke up next to her one morning
and she was dead. Even after fifty years, it still hurts." He
paused to collect his thoughts, unsure why he'd told Amii more than
she needed to know about his past. It was an unwritten rule he
never broke even with those close to him. "You have everything to
live for. Don't let his memory be your undoing."

"You know what I see when I look in the
mirror? A frightened girl with no past and even less of a future. A
pathetic shell of a woman who's always running because if she
stopped, she'd drown in her own tears. And now I have to deal with
the prospect that I've lost the only person who means anything to
me. The only connection to a life I can't remember. I'm pretty sure
that meets most people's definition of hell."

He stared at her for several moments with
glassy eyes from the disrespect she showed herself. "Let me tell
you something. The last word I'd ever use to describe you is
pathetic. There's something about you that's very special. Nadine
has known it all along." He lowered his eyes and whispered, "So
have I."

She broke the three-foot bubble he tried to
keep between himself and other people. He felt uncomfortable
standing next to her; looking up at a woman took some getting used
to. She ran her fingers over his scalp like she knew how to get
what she wanted from a man. "How old are you, Magnius?"

He exhaled through his nose while he stared
into her mesmerizing eyes. "One hundred fifteen." She tried to take
a step back in surprise, but he put his arms around her waist and
held her where she was. "Why did you ask if you were afraid of the
answer?"

Her stony gaze made his heart stand still.
"I'm not afraid of anything. I'm fairly sure I demonstrated that to
you first-hand."

"Is that a threat?"

With a coy arch of her left eyebrow, she
shrugged. "If you want it to be."

What is it about her that makes me just as
inclined to slap her as kiss her
, he thought. With the sole
exception of Xander, her incorrigible attitude surpassed the limits
set by rational people—a defiance born out of the need to be
disagreeable. At least she'd learned from the best.

But every once in a while, she did something
that made his heart melt. She leaned toward him and rested her lips
against his for a few seconds before kissing him. He closed his
eyes and clenched his fists, fighting back the desire to screw her
and damn anyone who might be watching them. His attraction to Amii
flew in the face of all logic or explanation, yet her magnetic
allure kept him on the edge of his seat wanting more.

All of a sudden, he heard the sound of
clapping from somewhere behind him. "Bravo, Magnius…bravo." They
turned toward the noise. Nadine stood in an open second-story
window with a wide smile on her face like she'd been watching an
enchanting play from her balcony. "Come up to my office," she
advised them. "217. I need to talk to both of you."

Neither of them knew what she wanted, but
they headed back inside and climbed a short flight of stairs up to
her chamber. The second lady waited for them in her doorway,
ushering the two inside before closing the onyx-colored door behind
her.

"Bad news, guys," she said to them. "War with
the Xuranians looks inevitable. Dodd and the rest of the
federalists have seen to that."

The blond frowned. "Is anyone going back to
Xur to try and talk with them?"

"Nope. And there's nothing anyone can say to
change his mind."

"I need to get back there. I shouldn't have
left Xander. Who knows what the Xuranians have planned for
them."

"We don't know if he even survived," Nadine
said. "But for conversation's sake, let's say he did. What would a
single person like you be able to do about it?"

She gazed at the glossy floor. "I don't
know."

"I can help you. Both of you, actually." The
second lady picked up a comtab from her desk and placed it in
Magnius' hands. "You see, Xander isn't the only one missing. So is
Lyneea Zoleki."

He scanned the list. "Are you sure?"

"Names of the missing were never released to
the public. Only the military and the government have known. And
they have no idea where Dr. Adams is, but since this crisis
started, they don't even care." She sat down behind her desk and
crossed her svelte legs. "Eleven humans are being held prisoner on
Xur. They didn't give us names, but the AC has no plan to rescue
them; Chairman Dodd made that explicitly clear."