When she was clean and dry, she went to the kitchen and had the house prepare some breakfast for her. According to the information on her tablet, her lab partner Adam was supposed to return from his week-long vacation today – which meant that Mia could start relearning everything she had forgotten about her apprenticeship.
The lab wouldn’t be open, given the recent events, but she was hoping there would be some way for her to continue learning about the mind. The subject fascinated her now more than ever.
* * *
Korum walked aimlessly down the ocean shore, letting the roar of the pounding surf drown out the cacophony in his head. For the first time in his life, he felt lost. Lost and hopeless . . . and angry.
His anger was directed mostly at himself, though a healthy portion of it was reserved for Saret. Korum hadn’t let himself think about his friend’s betrayal before, too focused on Mia and her memory loss. Then the fight had consumed his attention. Now, however, there was nothing to distract him from the fact that a man he’d regarded as a friend had turned out to be his greatest enemy.
Korum knew he wasn’t universally liked. It was a state of affairs that had never bothered him before. He was respected and feared, but there were only a few individuals he’d ever considered his friends. Most of them remained on Krina, busy with their lives and careers there. Saret had been the only one to accompany him to Earth.
Even as a child, Korum had always been self-sufficient. He had discovered his interest in design early on, and that passion had consumed his life – until Mia. Now he had two passions: his work and the human girl who was his charl. He wasn’t a loner, but he rarely needed the company of others. Unlike most, Korum was just as happy by himself – or now spending time with Mia – as he was surrounded by people.
Saret’s betrayal proved to be agonizing on multiple levels. Korum had trusted Saret; he’d confided in him for centuries, sharing his goals and dreams. They’d played together as children, discussed their sexual conquests as teenage boys, and often worked toward a common goal as members of the Council. When had Saret begun to hate him? Or had it always been that way and Korum had just been too blind to see it? Could any of his friends be trusted, or were all of them like Saret, just waiting to strike when his back was turned?
These thoughts were both painful and disturbing. Self-doubt was not in Korum’s nature, but he couldn’t help wondering whether he had brought this upon himself. He knew he could be harsh and arrogant at times – even ruthless when it came to achieving his goals. Had he done something to make Saret hate him to such extent? Or was it simply jealousy, as Saret himself had intimated?
Reaching the estuary where he’d sat with Mia on the rocks before, Korum stripped off his clothes and waded into the surf, letting the water cool him down. He’d always found the ocean therapeutic. The power of the waves appealed to him, and he especially liked it when the current was strong, as it was right now with high tide. It picked him up, carrying him out to deeper water, and Korum let it, floating along until the shore was a few miles away. Then he began to swim back, the tug of the current providing enough resistance to make it a challenge. The mindless exertion of swimming helped clear his mind, and he felt a tiny bit better when he finally emerged from the water.
Sitting down on the rocks, he let the sun shine down on his bare skin, warming him up again. The worst thing about Saret’s betrayal wasn’t what it did to Korum: it was the consequences for Mia. She had not only lost her memories, but her freedom of thought as well. Whatever she felt for Korum now was involuntary, a byproduct of this ‘softening’ Saret had done to her. His sweet, beautiful girl was not the same person she’d once been; her mind had been tampered with in the most unforgivable way.
She had been afraid of that, Korum remembered. When she’d first arrived in Lenkarda, she had been hesitant about the language implant, afraid of having alien technology in her brain. Korum had been amused at the time, but it turned out she’d been right to fear. Saret had been dangerous all along.
And Korum had failed to protect her. The thought gnawed at him, eating him from the inside. He, who had never failed at anything before, had been unable to protect the person who meant the most to him. Could Mia ever forgive him for that? And if she could, how would he know whether her feelings were real? If Saret were to be believed, she would now accept most things with equanimity, her reactions different from what they would’ve been before.
Getting up, Korum pulled on his clothes and began walking home. It would be a lengthy walk, but he was in no rush. Mia was there, and, for the first time ever, he was less than eager to see her.
He would have to tell her what he learned today. She would want to know, would want to make her own decisions about what to do next.
And if she chose to leave him, he would have to let her go.
Even if it killed him to do so.
* * *
Mia exited the house and walked to the transport pod that was waiting for her. She’d messaged Adam from her wristwatch-bracelet device, and the K had agreed to meet with her, sending his little aircraft to pick her up and take her to the lab.
Getting in, Mia settled on one of the floating seats, feeling it adjusting around her. She was getting so used to K technology that she didn’t even have to think about how to use anything – it was all starting to seem perfectly natural to her.
She was curious to meet her former partner and dive back into that part of her life in Lenkarda. She had found a few recordings where Adam was explaining something, and she had been impressed with not only his intelligence, but also his ability to take complex subjects and put them in simple, easy-to-understand terms.
Two minutes later, she landed in a clearing in front of a mid-sized building that looked like it had been through something extraordinary. The walls were partially gone, as though something had melted them from the top down, but the interior looked perfectly intact.
Adam was standing there, waiting for her. As Mia emerged from the pod, he smiled – a bright and genuine smile that lit up his handsome face. He had what Mia was coming to think of as typical K coloring: dark hair and eyes and that beautifully bronzed skin.
“Well, howdy there, partner,” he said, his eyes crinkling attractively at the corners. “I heard our boss turned out to be Doctor Evil and practiced some of his craft on you.”
Mia grinned, immediately liking this Krinar. “Yep, you heard right. You leave for a week and that’s what happens.”
“So you don’t remember me now?” he asked, his expression becoming more serious. “How much did he wipe out?”
“When I woke up here a couple of days ago, my latest memories were from March,” Mia explained, watching as the K’s jaw tightened.
“That fucking bastard,” Adam said, anger seeping into his voice. “I’m sorry, Mia. I wish I’d been here –”
Mia waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t be silly. Nobody suspected anything; he was too good. He even managed to sneak into the fight yesterday and almost kill Korum.”
“Yeah, I heard about that too,” Adam said. “I watched the recording of the fight this morning.”
“Oh, right.” Mia tried not to blush. If Adam had seen the fight, then he might’ve also watched the celebration afterwards.
“Do you want to go inside?” Adam asked, motioning toward the ruined building. “I think we can extract a lot of the files and data. I spoke with the other apprentices, and they’re fine with it.”
“Sure,” Mia said quickly, grateful for the change of subject.
Walking up to the building, they climbed through a ragged opening in one of the walls. The usual wall-dissolving mechanism appeared to be malfunctioning – which was hardly surprising, considering the condition of the building.
“What’s going to happen to the lab?” Mia asked when they were inside. “What’s the normal protocol for something like this?”
Adam shrugged. “There is no normal protocol. This lab is Saret’s, so technically we’re now trespassing on his property. Although I think the government might own it now, given Saret’s crimes. I’m not really sure how these things work. My best guess is that most of the information will be transferred to the labs in the other Centers – and maybe some other mind expert will want to open a new lab here in Lenkarda.”
“What about you? Why don’t they have you take over the lab?”
“Me?” Adam raised his eyebrows. “I’m too young and inexperienced as far as they’re concerned.”
“You are?” Mia looked at him in surprise. He looked to be a man in his prime, outwardly similar to Korum. “How old are you?”
“Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot that you don’t remember.” Adam smiled. “I’m twenty-eight, only a few years older than you. I am also a fairly recent arrival in the Centers. I grew up in a human family, you see.”
“You did?” Mia’s eyes went wide. “How?”
“I was adopted as an infant,” Adam said. “Now why don’t we start going through some of Saret’s files and see if there’s anything useful there? Maybe we can shed some light on your condition.”
Mia was dying to ask more questions about Adam’s origins, but he didn’t seem to be in a mood to talk about it, so she focused on the task at hand instead. Adam showed her how to operate some of the lab equipment, and they began digging through mountains of information, searching for anything memory-related.
Six hours later, Mia got up and rubbed her neck, her brain feeling like it would explode from everything she’d learned today. Adam was still as focused as ever, going through file after file with no trace of tiredness.
Hearing Mia’s movements, he looked up from the image he was studying and gave her a warm smile. “You should go home, Mia. It’s getting late. I’ll work here some more, and then I’ll leave as well.”
Mia hesitated. “Are you sure?” She was mentally exhausted and starving, but she felt bad leaving Adam on his own.
“Of course,” Adam said. “Now go. This is plenty for today.”
* * *
Korum paced in the living room, too wound up to sit still. When he had gotten home an hour earlier and found the house empty, his immediate thought had been that something had happened to Mia – that Saret had found a way to get to her after all.
Of course, that wasn’t the case. A quick check had revealed her location, and then it had been easy to access the satellite images and see her talking to Adam outside Saret’s lab several hours earlier. Still, those few seconds before Korum had been assured of her safety had chilled him to the bone.
Now he was fighting an urge to go to the lab and bring Mia home. He wanted to hold her and feel the warmth of her body in his arms, maybe for the last time. Once he told her the truth about her condition, she would be more than justified in wanting to leave him. As terrible as her memory loss had been, the other procedure was far more invasive, altering her brain in a way that she would likely find unforgivable. Now she would never know if the way she felt about Korum – or about anything in general – was real or if it was a result of what Saret had done.
A dark temptation gnawed at Korum. What if he didn’t tell her? What if she continued in blissful ignorance, happy with her life as it was? Other than Saret and Korum, no one else knew the truth. He could keep her, and she would love him – and he would be the only one to know it wasn’t real love.
A couple of months earlier, Korum wouldn’t have hesitated. He had wanted her, and he’d simply taken her, disregarding her wishes. If he had been faced with this dilemma then, it would’ve been an easy decision to make: keep her and all else be damned. But he couldn’t do that anymore, couldn’t treat her like a child or a pet, as she’d once accused him of doing. He wanted her to stay, but it had to be of her own free will – even if that free will had been somewhat tampered with.
No, he had to tell her, and he had to do it soon.
Finally, Korum saw a pod landing outside. Mia came out, and the aircraft took off, heading back to wherever it came from.
Despite his black mood, Korum couldn’t help smiling as she entered the house. She was dressed in a cream-colored dress that left most of her back bare, and her dark hair was pinned up in a thick, messy knot. The hairstyle was surprisingly sexy, exposing her delicate nape and drawing his attention to the elegant column of her throat.
“Honey, I’m home,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.
Unable to help himself, Korum laughed and picked her up, bringing her up for a thorough kiss.
When he lowered her back to her feet, her smile was almost blinding. She looked at him as though he was her entire world – and Korum’s heart felt like it would shatter into a million pieces.
“How was your day, my sweet?” he asked, his hands still holding her waist.
“It was great,” she said, still grinning. “I met Adam again. He’s very nice. I like him a lot.”
Korum felt a surge of jealousy, but he tamped down on it, refusing to give in to the emotion. Mia had always liked her partner, but, as far as Korum knew, her feelings were entirely platonic. Besides, the young K already had a human he was obsessed with; Korum had found that out during a background check he’d done on Adam shortly after Mia started working with him.