Mutant Star (19 page)

Come on, don’t nag me. Things have been stranger than strange. I’ll explain it all when I see you.

You’re coming here?

Sure. Why not?

Rick, I don’t think you want to see my father. And I know he doesn’t want to
see you.

Don’t worry about it. Just sneak outside. I’ll meet you down the street.

Rick, I—

Oh, one more thing. We’ll need wheels.

What happened to your jet cycle?

Tell you later. See you outside about eleven.

The linkage faded.

“Damn.” Alanna was wide awake. Rick was coming for her. She trembled, fear and excitement colliding. All these changes: would he look different? Was she foolish for hurrying to respond to his summons? Perhaps. But how could she ignore him? No, she couldn’t. That was impossible. She would go with him, wherever he took her. With a deep breath she willed herself to stop shaking, turned on the light, and began to stuff clothing into a backsac.

* * *

Dr. Rita Saiken sat in her darkened office and watched the stars twinkling above the trees like distant lanterns in the early morning sky. She was not a woman given to hysteria. But her encounter with Rick Akimura had shaken her to the core. She turned her attention to the other healers seated around the room. “A null doesn’t just change overnight,” she said. “Unless the null state is merely a latency period.”

“For what?” First Healer Hesta Doherty said. “Rita, forgive us, but we must be skeptical of any theories on mutant development. That intruder worked you over pretty thoroughly. We’ve found indication of memory erasure. Who knows what other damage he did? Are you certain you want to debate this now?”

“Absolutely.”

“You should rest.”

“And you should be willing to face the truth.”

“There’s little evidence that he’s anything more than a rogue multitalent,” said Kristof Jenner, Doherty’s assistant.

“Look at his file,” Saiken replied. “This multitalent you’re talking about was a documented null until age twenty-five. The son of a documented null.”

“That family’s had some unfortunate luck.”

“By the Book! Won’t you see what we’re facing?”

Doherty shook her head. “Calm down, Rita. We understand your agitation. But frankly, we must proceed cautiously. Are you certain you’re maintaining total objectivity?”

“What does that mean?”

“Only that your adherence to the True Host is known to us. Perhaps you are eager to have the old prophecies proved true.”

Saiken glared at her. “How dare you? My beliefs are not your concern. I’ve been a resident healer for fifteen years. You’ve seen my record.”

“Of course. No offense intended.”

“Then what do you propose to do about Rick Akimura?”

“Do? There’s nothing to do.”

“The Mutant Councils should be notified. We must bring him back here.”

“And cage him like an animal? That’s not our way. Besides, he’s already proven too strong for us.”

“We were unready. With enough practiced telepaths, with neural dampers …” She saw in their eyes that she was failing. “I ask you. Have we ever seen powers bloom this late? Documented a null changing into a multitalent?”

“No.”

“Can we requisition his genetic chart?”

“You know we lack information on the father,” Jenner said. “That fire in the Metro Los Angeles base net destroyed years of records and backups.”

“Rita, get some sleep,” Doherty said. “We’ll discuss this tomorrow.”

She waited patiently while they filed out of the room, then sat alone in the darkened chamber. What if the right genetic factors came together to work their peculiar magic? An evolutionary leap is made. Null turns multi.

What if Rick Akimura is
the next-step mutant?

Her heart pounded at the thought. Almost automatically, she began the chant for composure:

***

“Night is long,

Night is dark,

Deep.

Each night enfolds us

In the safety of its embrace

The stars a pillow for weary head

The ocean a blanket for willing body

Through endless dark

to the promise of light

We endure. And endure.

Together.”

***

Her breathing slowed, but to ensure composure she pressed a half-dose hypo of Valedrine against her arm.

Only the True Host of the Book practiced the old chants. She’d begun attending Host meetings three years ago, when the general Mutant Council gathering had begun to depress her; too many nonmutants admitted to the inner circle. Too little respect for tradition.

Saiken smiled as the Valedrine comforted her, buoyed her upward through the darkness. It strengthened her resolve as she reached for the keypad and tapped out the code of the Book Keeper of the True Host.

Paula Byrne answered her screen quickly. Her white hair made a soft halo around her thin face. She smiled as she recognized the caller. “Rita, it’s a rare pleasure. How may I serve?”

“Sister, I bring wonderful news,” Saiken said. “Our long wait is ended.”

.

******************

9

Julian bent over his deskpad, one eye on the screen, the other on his calculator. When the phone chimed, he looked up from his notes with relief and exasperation. He split the screen, saving the statistics on the left. His mother’s face appeared on the right beside rows of glowing orange digits.

“Julian, have you seen Rick?”

“Mom, I’m right in the middle of some heavy number crunching.”

“This is important.”

“So is my dissertation. Which I’ll never get done if I have to check up on my brother every five minutes.”

“I’m not talking about every five minutes. I’m talking about now.” Her voice rose slightly on the last word.

“Sorry. No, I haven’t heard from Rick.”

“Your aunt Kelly saw him a couple of days ago.”

“In Denver?”

“Yes. Remember her Shuttle Corps reunion?”

“Rick went?” Julian stared at her in surprise. “But he hates parties like that.”

His mother nodded. “I know. Even more peculiar, he asked if he could come early. Kelly said he seemed nervous, almost as though he were trying to get away from something.”

“I’ll bet. Probably the Yakuza.” His eyes drifted to the left toward the rows of orange numbers.

“Pay attention, Julian! This is as important as your studies. Rick vanished in the middle of the party. Kelly saw him talking to Ethan Hawkins. Then he was gone.”

“Hmm. Any note?”

“Just a farewell and apology.”

“Strange.”

“It gets stranger. Kelly told me her daughter, Mari, saw Rick levitating in their backyard.”

“What? She must have been joking.”

“I don’t think so.”

Julian shook his head. “How could Rick levitate? He’s a null. Everybody knows that. Did Kelly actually see him do anything unusual?”

“No,” his mother said. “And I’ve tried to call Rick, even just to leave a message, but the circuit is always busy. Those people he lives with must never get off the phone.”

“I had the same problem when I tried to call him,” Julian said. “Did you try Alanna?”

“Yes. Narlydda was frantic. She said Alanna had bolted in the middle of the night. Left a vague note for them. They found it this morning. Narlydda’s certain that Alanna went away with Rick. But where?”

“Sounds likely. And they’ll turn up sooner or later.”

“Julian, I’m terribly worried.”

“Mom, you’re always worried about Rick.”

She said nothing but her eyes glittered with anger.

“Sorry.” He regretted his words. But whenever he talked to his mother, sooner or later she told him how worried she was about Rick. He had interrupted the family ritual. An act of appeasement was called for. “Mom, tell you what. I’ll take a trip down to Santa Cruz this afternoon. I’m not due in the lab before three. I’ll try to find Rick’s housemates and see if they know where he is.”

“If they don’t, I’m calling the police,” Melanie said. “I never worry about you, Julian. I know you’ve got good sense. And mutant powers on top of it. But that brother of yours …”

“He’s probably just on a party trip, Mom. Most likely, he got a bunch of his friends together and they’re riding around having a big time while we sit here worrying. I’ll find him.”

“When you do, remind him that he has a mother.” Her image faded.

Julian rubbed his head. A trip to Santa Cruz was the last thing he had time for. The orange figures onscreen demanded his attention. But he had promised, hadn’t he? He stared at the screen for a minute. Then he shut it off.

Rick. He was worried about him, too. But it wasn’t something he could discuss with his mother. Or anyone else.

Almost every other flare ride he’d taken had shown him some new, strange, and disturbing vision of his brother: raving in some healers’ retreat, smuggling weapons into Algeria, sitting at the right hand of the President of the United States, lying dead on a barroom floor.

The visions had become so crazy that he’d started to conceal them, editing his reports for the program. If Eva found out, she would never forgive him. And with their growing intimacy, the risk was great that something would slip through, some night, along their telepathic linkage. But if he told her what he had really seen, she would kick him off the couch. And Julian was convinced that only through the flare rides would he learn the significance of these peculiar visions. So he had neglected to mention that the mutant male he saw on every other ride was Rick Akimura, age twenty-five. And he hoped that he’d figure out the key to this riddle soon. Before Eva learned what he’d done.

***

Ethan Hawkins got an early start on the day. At breakfast, as he mixed his usual bowl of hydroponically produced grain and fruit, he scanned the newsscreen first, then turned to his messages.

Lee Oniburi: concerning their joint venture on manufacturing prosthetics for general sale.

Jasper Saladin: falling behind on Pavilion construction.

Progress reports from mining operations on the Moon’s dark side.

Melanie Akimura: please call. Urgent.

“Leporello, get me Melanie Akimura at Cable News.”

“Ringing.”

A moment later a 3-D image of the woman materialized opposite Hawkins. She was wearing a yellow tunic that shimmered in the holo effect.

“Colonel, thank you for calling.”

“You said it was urgent. But I’d hardly call an interview urgent, Melanie.”

She looked flustered. “The interview? Oh, yes, of course. Well, I’d like to discuss that. But what I want to know is if you’ve seen my son Rick.”

“The dark-haired twin? Not since last week, in Denver. Why? Is there some problem?”

“I hope not. I’m trying to locate him.”

“If there’s anything I can do …”

“Oh, no. I’d just heard you’d encountered him at Kelly Ryton’s party.”

“Yes, indeed. I imagine you’re quite proud of his new talents?”

“New talents? What new talents?”

“He put on a very impressive display of telekinetic ability.” Hawkins paused. The woman appeared stunned. “You mean, you didn’t know?”

“Oh, yes, of course I did,” she said too hastily.

“Is this usual for a null to develop mutant skills?”

“I don’t know. It’s theoretically possible.” She gazed at him, unseeing. “New talents—” He watched her struggling with the idea. Then she said abruptly, “Thank you, Colonel. I won’t take up your time any further.”

Before he could say another word, the screen went dark.

Strange. Well, Akimura family problems were none of his concern. But that reminded him of the other twin, Julian. And Eva Seguy’s research.

“Leporello, any reports from Berkeley?”

“The cold fusion lab …”

“No. The other program.”

“Nothing from Eva Seguy.”

“Send her a faxmail note: ‘Thinking of you and hoping the future looks bright.’ And a dozen roses. No, wait. Orchids.”

“Cymbidiums?”

“Too masculine. Send the ones that look like butterflies on a branch—”

“Paphiopedilum.”

“Right. The white and pink ones. With an autofeed and preserve container. Gold reedglass or celadon. Something round.”

“Done.”

The phone chimed.

“Colonel, it’s Rick Akimura. Calling collect.”

How odd, Hawkins thought. First the mother, then the son. “Put him through.”