Devotion (3 page)

Instead, she switched her thoughts to Charlie. He was such a sweet kid, but Mrs. Drummond, the mother who looked after him, had voiced her concern at how little he spoke. Tikki hadn’t realised it, not until she saw him next to Bobbi Drummond, who was a child of similar age. It had set her thinking. Was there something was wrong with Charlie? And that had turned to worry about med bills if he needed drugs or stims of some kind. However, within the short time he had spent with Tikki, and with the Drummonds, his vocabulary and confidence had grown. It all made Tikki wonder about the life he’d led with his mom Sienna.

Nearly at the Drummond’s house, she crossed the street, her eye drawn to the StreamScreen above her head. It was advertising the lottery—not that they needed to, enough women entered it anyway. Tikki put her hand on her neck, feeling for the tag there. It was buried under her skin, so of course she couldn’t feel it, but it reminded her of how excited she had been, knowing she was old enough to enter the lottery and to be Okil’s mate. All that was gone. Thanks to an old friend and a small child.

And that small child, clutching his teddy in its usual place under his arm, was waiting for her at the door, holding hands with Mrs. Drummond and looking down the street. He smiled, his little teeth white against red lips, his skin pale. Her heart had a weird fluttering it did when she saw him, a kind of love that was different to that she felt for Okil. She never thought she would have a maternal side, but Charlie bought it out in her; she would do anything to keep him safe and happy. She would also do anything to protect him.

It made her sad to think she would never experience the same emotions with her own child, because she had already realised that after being with Okil, there would never be another man for her. He was her world, and Charlie had shattered it.

“Hi there, Charlie boy,” she said waving.

“Tikki Mommy,” he said, lifting his arms for her to pick him up. She did, lifting him up and tickling him. He giggled beautifully, the sound making her laugh; even Mrs. Drummond smiled, not a thing that happened very often. With four children under eight, things were very tight in the Drummond household, which was the only reason she had offered to look after Charlie; they needed the money.

“Thank you, Mrs. Drummond, same time on Friday?” Tikki asked, resting Charlie on her hip.

“Same time. And if you are this late again, I will have to charge you for another hour.”

“I’m only …” She was going to say she was only five minutes late, and that was because the street down to the canal had been closed—some fool had gone walkabout down there in the night and fallen in. A common occurrence in the last few weeks.
No, don’t think of Sienna’s bloated body, of seeing her lying there cold and lifeless on a slab
. “I’m only sorry I couldn’t get here on time,” Tikki said in the end, knowing that she could not afford to lose Mrs. Drummond as a babysitter.

“Hmm, well, next time it will cost you five extra coins.” With that she went inside and slammed the door shut.

“A good day to you too,” Tikki said. Charlie just laughed.

“Good day,” he mimicked. “Good day, Tikki Mommy.”

“You know, you could just call me Tikki,” she said to him, putting him down on the ground and holding his small hand in hers. Tikki often wondered if Charlie found it as comforting as she did to hold hands.

“I like Tikki Mommy,” Charlie said firmly.

“I know you do. But it is a little long and I am not your mommy.” They had had the same conversation many times, but he always carried on saying it. She ought to get used to it. But although she loved him, she didn’t feel ready to be a Mommy. Couldn’t she just pretend to be his big sister instead?

“I like it,” he said and that seemed to be the end to it.

“Let’s go home and get some dinner,” she said, glancing at the big screen once more. Charlie looked up too; he was always fascinated by the colours. Only this time he stopped on the street, staring up at the screen.

“Funny Daddy,” he said.

She nearly loosed his hand as she carried on walking, but she held on to the tips of his fingers, looking up at the screen to see if there was a cartoon hero on it. But the face of the man who had drowned in the canal still looked down on them.

“Does he look like your daddy?” Tikki asked. She had no idea who Charlie’s father was.

“Funny Daddy is like Tikki Mommy.”

“You mean he isn’t your real daddy, but looked after you? Like I am looking after you?”

“Yes.” Charlie was still staring at the screen, and Tikki suddenly had the overwhelming urge to pick him up and run. If the man staring back at them had any connection to Charlie, that was bad news. It surely couldn’t be a coincidence that two people so closely connected to Charlie had fallen into the canal.

“Come on, Charlie, let’s go eat. I bet I can find you a cookie,” she said, hoping she could live up to her promise, but there were still a few luxuries left in her apartment from Okil’s last visit. All she wanted to do was get out of here and hide. Suddenly everyone around her on the crowded street was a potential murderer, come to take back Charlie and give him to back to his real father. A father who had now murdered twice.

“Chocolate cookie?” Charlie asked excitedly.

“Might be, we’ll have to go and have a look. Coming?” She pulled him forward and he followed, trusting her, smiling at the thought of the cookie.

Tikki looked around as they walked, but none of the faces jumped out at her; no one looked like a murderer. She thought of Okil, and wished he was a human from Earth so she could call him and ask him what she should do. But there was no way to contact Okil, even if he was still on Earth. No, she was on her own and would be from now on.

“Reja,” she said quietly, and instead of heading straight home, she went in the direction of the hair salon where her friend worked.

“Aren’t we going home?” Charlie asked.

“Soon, Charlie, we are just going to visit Auntie Reja first.”

“Will she have a cookie?” he asked.

“I’m not sure, but if she doesn’t, there is still one waiting for you at home.” She turned down a side alley and they walked about half a mile to a small shop in a back street. Reja liked to impress people by calling the place she worked a salon, but in fact it was a pitiful place. Women with long hair came here and had it cut off to sell to the wigmakers who catered to the pents and the StreamStars. Tikki had seen grown women cry over having to sell their dignity for the price of a loaf of bread. But long hair was no comfort to hungry children. Tikki opened the door of the shop. There were no customers in there, only Reja picking over the long strands, cleaning them and packaging them ready for collection.

“You aren’t so desperate that you need me to cut your hair are you, Tikki?” Reja asked, smiling at her friend and then waving at Charlie. “Hello there, young man. Shall I see if I have a special treat for you?”

“Yes please,” Charlie said, happy now they had taken a detour to come here.

Reja disappeared into the back room and came out with a small box. She opened the lid and there sat six chocolates. Not simchoc: no, this was the real thing. Tikki’s mouth watered just to look at them.

“They are beautiful,” Tikki said quietly.

“I know. A client bought them in as a thank-you. She said I had the best quality hair in the city.”

“And she gave you chocolates.”

“Yes. I would rather she told all her friends to come here instead, I certainly could do with the uptick in business, but I can’t remember the last time I had real chocolate, so I’m not complaining.

“Are you sure? About letting Charlie have one?”

“Yes, I am. You are the sweetest boy I know, so here, Charlie, take your pick.”

Charlie took one, choosing one with a squiggly pattern of white chocolate over a sumptuous-looking rich, dark velvety truffle, not realising quite what a precious thing he held in his hand. “Thank you, Reja.”

“You are welcome, little man,” Reja said, smiling as he bit into the chocolate, licking her lips as if she could taste it herself.

While Charlie ate his chocolate, Tikki asked Reja, “Did you see the image of the man who drowned in the canal last night?”

“Yes. I saw it on the StreamScreen at lunchtime. What a waste, he slipped in the dark and fell into the water. Couldn’t swim. Or so they say.”

“What do you mean
or so they say
? Do you think he was murdered?”

Reja laughed. “You have a hyperactive imagination. I didn’t mean he was murdered. I meant they say he drowned and not that he died of poisoning. Do you have any idea what is in that water? I expect there are enough pollutants in there to burn the flesh from your body.”

“Oh,” Tikki said.

“What? Do you know something I don’t?” She stared at Tikki. “Oh my goodness! Do
you
think he was murdered?”

“No,” Tikki protested. “I don’t know what I think. I don’t even know who he was.”

“He was one of the StreamStars who worked on the Karal Project.”

“The Karal Project?” Tikki asked. She had never heard of it.

“Well, you should watch more then just the RealityStarStreams. That way you might learn something. The Karal Project is a franchise set up to prove that the Karalians have something more sinister in mind other than simply wanting females to breed with.”

Tikki began to feel a little sick; this was worse than she thought. “And you think the aliens killed him? Why, because he found something out about the Karal they didn’t want the world to know?”

“I can’t imagine Okil killing anyone,” Tikki added quietly.

“But your Okil is the only alien you really know. There are hundreds, thousands of them.” Reja watched Tikki’s face drop, and then said, “Hey, it might not even be the Karal. And I know it wouldn’t be Okil.”

“I guess you’re right,” Tikki said. “It seems weird that I knew Sienna her whole life. Yet the last few years she led this secret life. I never knew she was pregnant, let alone that she had a child.”

“We never know anyone in this world, Tikki. Or Okil’s world,” she added. Her words were a warning to Tikki, one she didn’t want to heed.

“Thanks, Reja. Come on over, maybe, the night of the lottery? I might need a shoulder to cry on.”

“So you told him, then?”

“Yes,” Tikki said, taking hold of Charlie’s hand. She didn’t want to talk about it right now—she would probably break down in tears if she did. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

“Bye, Charlie,” Reja called.

“Bye, Auntie Reja. Thank you for the chocolate.”

“You are welcome, sweetie.”

Tikki left the salon, turning to wave as they crossed the street. She could see the concern on her friend’s face, and that made her uneasy. Before Charlie came into her life, she had been so carefree; now she was having to act like an adult. She missed her big sister and longed to be able to sit down and talk it over with Elissa.

Looking up at the sky, she saw the flash of light as a space cruiser exited the atmosphere. There went her only hope of escaping Earth and seeing Elissa again. And she wondered what kind of fool she was to be staying here on Earth, all because of a child she hadn’t known existed two weeks ago.

Usually Okil enjoyed the journey back to Karal, but this time he was not in the mood to look at the colourful stars that leaped out at him as he entered the wormhole. He had hoped to share this with Tikki, to show her the wonders of his world, but now it seemed impossible. All day, despite trying to concentrate on the meeting with the President, his mind had drifted off to think of all the ways he could make this work.

He had come up blank. If they brought Charlie to Karal, they would most definitely be sentencing him to a life behind walls. There was no way to persuade the Hier Council to let a human male, no matter how young, live on Karal. It went against all of their laws, all of their traditions. They had only ever brought females. He knew that sometimes that had meant leaving the males to certain death on their home planet. Regardless, that rule had never been bent or broken.

They owed the males nothing; they had no right to come to Karal, and no use.

Okil reached the space station, docking quickly and exiting the cruiser, he so wanted to reach his home planet and let the clean air clear his head. Passing through decon’ was uneventful and within half an hour of docking, he was back in his cruiser and heading home. He took in the beauty of his planet, and once again his heart lurched at the thought of Tikki. He would never share the wonders of Karal with her.

Landing on the small runway, he drove the cruiser through the security checkpoint and then turned for the tower. If Tikki wasn’t going to be his woman, he didn’t want one, not yet. But the lottery was in two days and he had to get someone to take his place. He could only think of Darl.

Parking his cruiser outside the tower, he went straight to the small lab where the doctor spent most of his time examining DNA, particularly of humans, and checking their compatibility with that of the Karal. It was imperative they matched a Karal male to a human female whose genes would create a strong child. The Karal had such a small window of time before their Prime passed that Darl had turned his full attention to this task. The remainder of his time was spent carrying out regular checks on the Earth females. Okil wondered if the doctor ever slept and if he would find the time in his busy schedule to take Okil up on his offer.

“Darl,” Okil said, walking into his lab.

“Okil, how are things? Are you ready for your life to change forever?” Darl asked, looking up from a microscope and touching a computer screen to access a new file.

“My life has already changed, but not for the better,” Okil said as Darl turned away from his work to give his full attention to his friend. Okil did not want to share the details, even with his friend, but he continued, “The woman I chose is no longer able to come to Karal.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. By the look on your face, I take it it’s not merely a postponement.”

“No. It looks as if it is a permanent issue.”