Devotion (15 page)

She let the small boy out of her arms, and he sat down on the bed, still hiccupping. “Don’t worry, Charlie. We will find out where your mom and dad are. And if they are alive, I will get you back to them.”

Okil raised his eyebrow in question, and then said, “I need to go to the tower to see if I can read this. Stay here.”

“You’re leaving now?” Tikki asked.

“Yes, the tower will be quiet; it’s not unusual for any of us to go in at night, but the council members are rarely there. Now would be a good time.”

“Then go. I’ll wait here for Elissa to come by in the morning. I think it might be a good time to ask her about Sienna and maybe about Harri again. She might know something else.”

“Are you going to tell her about Charlie?”

“Yes. I think it’s time all the secrets were out.” She looked at Charlie, her heart aching for him. “If she was deep in the resistance than she might have some clue as to what was happening. She may even know what happened to Charlie’s parents.”

“Be careful.” Okil came forward, kissed her head, and then went to the bedroom to get dressed. Then he left, slipping into the night. She heard the sound of the cruiser leaving, and knew all she could do was wait.

“Well, teddy, who would have thought you were the one holding all the secrets.”

“Sienna Mommy told me to hold onto him and never let him go.”

“If you knew the tag was there all this time, why didn’t you tell me?” Tikki asked

“I thought if I didn’t think about it, and didn’t tell you, it wouldn’t matter. It would just disappear. I don’t want to lose you too, Tikki Mommy, or Okil Daddy.”

“Don’t worry, Charlie. We’re not going anywhere.”

“But the bad men want to kill the aliens. I don’t want Okil Daddy to die.”

“What do you mean?”

Charlie shrugged. “My mommy used to cry, she said that the aliens didn’t deserve what the bad men were making her do.”

“What was your mom’s job?”

“She was a doctor. She tried to make medicine to help people.”

Tikki frowned, trying to see how this all fit together. She only hoped that Okil would find the answers on the chip. But until he came home, all she could do was wait. And hug a little child who had carried so much on his shoulders, or at least in his arms, in the shape of a teddy bear.

Okil had placed the chip in a small piece of cloth that was now nestled in his pocket. Maybe he had overreacted by coming here to the tower in the dead of night, but he knew that if this chip had been hidden by Sienna, whom Tikki was convinced had been murdered, then there must be something important on it. Okil wanted to find out what that information was and try to solve the mystery of Charlie before the Hier Council found out about him.

If Elissa decided to reveal the truth about her baby, then things could rapidly spiral out of control. Once he had the information off the chip, he planned on visiting Darl so that they could try to piece together what was happening. That reminded him: while he was here, he also wanted to check what message Torac had sent to Earth.

Okil had a feeling that things were going on behind his back, that the Hier Council had more information than they were letting on. What if they had got this all wrong and someone on the council was scheming with the President?

Was it possible that they had stumbled across a Karal–Earth alliance and that they were in danger from both sides? The Hier Ruler might have no idea, but there could be a leak of information from somewhere else. Some members of the council might long for the days when the females, the mothers of their children, were all shut away out of sight.

The sound of the wailing women, the mothers, from the breeding house rose in his ears. Yes. The Karal would do whatever it took to get what they wanted. His race were hard and unfeeling when they needed to be. As children, they were all trained to keep their emotions in check, to keep their colours under control.

Rushing along the corridor, he headed for the sim room. There he woke it, asking it to identify the chip.

“Earth technology. Analyse.” He would have to be quick, so talking was the preferred choice of communication with the sim. He only hoped the room was completely soundproof.

“Earth technology. Analysis complete. Data on display.”

Okil cursed. The chip was not compatible with the Karal technology. “Can you read the information?” Okil asked.

A long pause, before the sim’s voice answered. “Simulation computer online.” There was a flash of lights and then behind him, the simulator re-created a computer to read the chip. Okil went to it, amazed at how it could look so lifelike, and only hoped it could fool the chip into thinking it was real too. Pushing the chip into a small slot, he held his breath and hoped it would work.

“Encrypted. Searching.”

A few tense minutes passed while the display flashed code; every so often a beep sounded. This signalled another part of the encryption being stripped away.

“Data on screen.”

Okil leaned forward to study it. It made little sense; it seemed to contain broken files. Feeling frustrated, he asked the sim, “Explain data.”

The sim didn’t respond.
So it was broken
. What a waste, what information the chip contained they would never know. It was too corrupted to be read.

“Code is the DNA strains of the Karal species. Secondary code is a virus.”

“A virus?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of virus?”

“Airborne autoimmune.”

“You mean it would make us sick? Or kill us?”

“The code is not complete.”

“You mean it is not finished?”

“I do not have that data.”

“Can you extrapolate the data?” he asked. It was a long shot, but he needed some clue as to what the virus was. Although deep down, he already knew. The President wanted the cruisers, not to search for a new planet, but to come to Karal and destroy them.

“Airborne autoimmune. Deadly to the Karal species to 95 percent.”

“You mean it would kill 95 percent of us? You are sure?”

“Yes. Extrapolation margin of error is 5 percent.”

Okil had to allow himself a minute to compose himself. This went far beyond finding the parents of a small boy. They now needed to know where the scientists were who were perfecting this virus.

“Do you see any information as to where the chip came from?” Okil asked. “Who created the virus? Anything to lead us to the perpetrator.”

Okil could not believe what he was seeing. The President, a man whom he had trusted, was working to make the Karal extinct. That was how he planned to deal with the Karalians. The war would not be fought on the ground; it would be fought in the air. The very air they breathed.

“I can cross-reference with similar projects.”

“There are similar projects?” Okil faced the console, his hands having to support him, shocked that the humans he had tried to help, had fought for, would do something like this.

“I count four other projects. None complete. Three inactive.” Pause. “All under the umbrella of Judd Holdings.”

“What is Judd Holdings? What do they do? What do they make?”

“Information on screen.”

Okil scanned the information and then said. “Show location.”

A map appeared on another screen and Okil moved to view it. “Zoom in. Zoom in.”

The image grew bigger and Okil tried to pinpoint the area. Damn it. There was a complex of warehouses; they were situated behind the bar Harri had walked into the day Tikki had run from him. This put the final piece together. The only thing he didn’t know was where Charlie’s parents were.

Think
. No. There was no more he could do. He needed more information from Tikki. She must know Sienna’s surname, or Charlie’s. He was stupid; he should have got it from her before he came here. In this way, he could cross-reference back and see when Sienna had first appeared with Charlie and expand out to search for his parents.

He took the chip and tucked it back in the piece of cloth. He needed to see Darl and show him this, then he would need to go before the council as soon as he could. This went beyond smuggling a child onto Karal; this was far more of a threat than he could ever have imagined.

At this moment the people of Earth took second place to his own species. If it was a choice, he would save the Karal. His devotion to Earth and humans was being tested.

Although when he opened the door and walked out to find Torac and two armed guards waiting for him, it seemed it was too late for him to prove that devotion.

“Okil, I have come to arrest you for treason.”

“Treason?” Okil asked, sure he must have heard wrong.

“Yes. The council awaits.”

As he was led away, he wondered who had betrayed him. Darl, the doctor, had more to lose than anyone. Or maybe it was one of the female humans. Had Celia found out and told the Hier Ruler? Or had Charlie been discovered?

It could be anyone. Now he had to decide to whom his loyalty lay and how he was going to make sure that the woman he loved was not brought down with him. Because above all else, he loved Tikki and had to protect her.

She opened the door before Elissa even had time to step out of the cruiser. “I am so glad you are here early,” Tikki said.

“I couldn’t sleep. Neither of us could,” said Elissa. She was wrapped up against the early morning chill. Marin came up beside her and put a protective arm around her. Tikki wondered if there was a problem between them. This news might be enough to split them up, unless their relationship was very strong.

“We have talked it over, and Elissa has a plan,” Marin said.

“You do?” Tikki asked, relieved that she had her big sister here to help her with this. However, the problem of Elissa having a female baby wasn’t their only one. Not now the chip in Charlie’s teddy had been found. The child’s words still haunted her: what had the
bad men
been trying to achieve?

Tikki looked down the road, hoping to see Okil approaching, but there was nothing, only an early morning mist.

“Are you OK?” Elissa asked.

“I’m not sure. You had better come in so that I can explain everything to you.”

“You mean there is more?” Marin asked, sounding worried.

“I’m sorry, Marin. I expect you had an easy life before we came to your world,” Tikki said, trying to make light of it, but Elissa saw her worried look.

“Let’s go inside, you had better tell us everything.”

Tikki walked back inside and Elissa and Marin followed her. “Okil has already gone to the tower,” she said as they went into the small sitting room. “But I think you had better meet the other man of the house. This is Charlie.”

Marin went white, with explosions of red across his face, whilst Elissa had to put her hand on the sofa for support. She recovered enough to say, “Hello, Charlie.” Then to Tikki she said, “Perhaps an explanation might be in order?”

“It’s complicated,” Tikki said. “Charlie, are you all right to play in here while we go and have some tole in the kitchen?”

He nodded, looking warily at Marin and Elissa, and then he went back to playing with his toys.

“What the hell did you bring a child here for, Tikki? Of all the irresponsible things you could do,” Elissa said, her temper rising. “Who is he anyway? I’ve only been gone for five months, so he can’t be yours.”

“Bringing him here
was
the responsible thing,” Tikki said feeling hurt that Elissa was speaking to her as though she was the child. “Harri was trying to find him.”

“Harri? You mean that little boy is what he was looking for?” Elissa shook her head in disbelief.

“Have some tole and calm down.” Tikki handed Elissa a mug, and then glanced up at Marin who hadn’t said a word, but was staring back to where Charlie was playing with his toys.

“Calm down? I think if I have any more shocks I will go into labour.” Elissa accepted the mug of tole, though, and took a sip.

“I’m sorry.” Tikki blew on her tole, watching the steam rise as she tried to compose her thoughts. “We weren’t going to tell you, but something happened.”

“Is Okil OK?” Elissa asked.

“As far as I know. I hope so.”

“Hey, come on, Tikki, why don’t you tell us what the hell is going on here?” Elissa came and stood next to her sister, her arm protectively around her shoulder.

Tikki took a big breath and then began her story. “Basically, Sienna came to me two weeks ago and asked me to look after her child for a few days.”

“He is Sienna’s child?”

“Well, no, as it turns out he isn’t.”

“Then whose child is he?”

“I was hoping you might be able to tell me.”

“Why? I have never seen him before in my life.” Elissa turned to look at Charlie again, who stared back at her.

“I thought he was Sienna’s child. That was what she told me and at the time, I had no reason to question her. As I told you yesterday, I thought she was a pent prostitute. She asked me to hide him so that his father wouldn’t find him. Only now do we know that’s a lie.”

“Why did she give him to you?” Elissa asked, as confused as Tikki was about the whole thing.

“I think she needed to hide him somewhere and she knew she could trust me. Or maybe she thought I was too stupid to ask questions. Of course, she had no idea I was planning to come to Karal. She couldn’t know that.”

“But you changed your mind? You were going to stay on Earth and look after him,” Elissa asked, the pieces falling in to place.

“Yes, I told Okil I couldn’t leave Earth. That’s when he arranged for Darl to take his place. But when Harri showed up looking for Charlie, I had to run. You see, Sienna wasn’t the only person to die in the canal. Charlie recognised the face of another man on the Stream, he was pulled out of the same canal. Charlie called him Funny Daddy. Weird thing is, Reja said this man was a StreamStar who made a documentary about the Karal. He tried to expose them. How he ended up helping Sienna, I have no idea. None of it makes sense.”

“Wait, I remember something about the resistance finding an undercover investigator amongst them. He had tried to get close to members of the resistance because there were rumours of an attack being planned. Maybe that was your StreamStar.”