Authors: Kyra Anderson
Dr. Busen nodded.
“The damage was extensive. We thought we
were going to lose her.”
Isa sighed, too tired to ask the doctor
not to say things to scare Kailynn.
“Take all of these,” Dr. Busen said,
handing the pills over to Isa as Kailynn walked over with the water. “I’m going
to monitor you for two weeks. If nothing has improved by then, then I can’t
sign off on you going off-planet.”
“Just tell me how many to take of what
and I’ll do it,” Isa assured quietly, lifting the first pill to her mouth.
“No,” Dr. Busen said. “I’ll come over and
administer them every day.”
“Why?” Isa asked, laughing brokenly.
“For my own peace of mind,” he said. “So
I don’t lie awake at night agonizing over whether or not you took them.”
Dr. Busen concluded his examination and
made Isa swear not to work for the rest of the night. He left saying he would
be back the following day and that he expected Isa to eat something and sleep
for the entire night.
Kailynn extended her hands to Isa.
“What?”
“Let’s take a shower,” she said. “The hot
water will relax you. Then you can eat and we can go to bed.”
Isa sighed, but did not protest. She let
Kailynn lead her to the shower and they both stepped under the hot spray.
“Have you ever been to Fortunea before?”
Kailynn asked as she ran the washrag over Isa’s shoulders.
“Yes,” Isa said. “It’s a beautiful
planet. There is a lot more foliage and wildlife than here on Tiao.”
“I’ve never heard of it before.”
“It’s the third power in the Alliance,”
Isa explained. “Tiao is the first, and a planet called Kreon is the second.”
“What’s it like to travel to another
planet?”
“Long,” Isa chuckled, turning around, her
arms wrapping around Kailynn. “We’ll be spending a week on the ship alone. Then
a few days on the planet just to turn around and spend a week on the ship
again.”
“I’ve never been on a ship before.”
Isa smiled gently.
“I would say it’s nothing special, but
that’s because I have traveled so many times, I grow weary of the travel.” Isa
took Kailynn’s hands in hers and kissed the fingertips briefly. “With something
of this magnitude, it is not uncommon for the leading powers to bring an
entourage of people. The entire Syndicate will be going, including the new
girl, Tia. And I’ll likely have Rayal join me, as well.”
“Sounds like quite an ordeal,” Kailynn
said, trying not to let her disappointment show.
“There are going to be at least
twenty-one different planetary leaders there with their entourages. It will be
difficult to keep up with everything.” Isa glanced down at Kailynn’s hands in
hers and smiled. “Perhaps it would be best if Rayal had his assistant join
him.”
Kailynn’s face lit up immediately.
“Really?” she gasped. Isa nodded.
“I think an assistant would be necessary
for this meeting.”
“Thank you!” Kailynn breathed, wrapping
her arms around Isa’s neck and clashing their lips together. “Thank you! Thank
you so much!”
Isa chuckled into the kiss and her arms
tightened around Kailynn’s waist.
“There is one thing, though.”
“What?”
“
We
,”
she motioned between them, “will have to be twice as careful. The Alliance is
shaky, and everyone is nervous. They will look for any means to get to me to
tear down my regime. Therefore, we have to be very careful about how we
interact.”
“I will be on my best behavior,” Kailynn
said strongly. “I promise.”
Kailynn was so excited to travel
off-planet that the days were crawling by for her. For everyone in the
Syndicate, the days were passing too fast. Trying to repair the Syndicate
Building, train a new Elite fresh out of the Academy, and handle the press and
other planets when it came to the attack on the Syndicate was causing tension
to run high among the Elites.
As promised, Dr. Busen was over every day
to check Isa’s condition. She seemed to improve under his very careful watch.
Similarly, the other Elites healed well from all injuries received during the
ambush, and Remus was released from the hospital, though he was asked not to work
until traveling off-planet to preserve his strength.
The day to leave the planet came closer
and Kailynn could hardly sleep she was so excited. It had always been a dream
of hers to leave Tiao and see the other planets in the Altereye System. She had
always assumed it would only be a dream that she could never achieve, but it
filled her with hope on the days she had needed it. Realizing that the dream
was about to become a reality, she could hardly contain herself.
Tarah, on the other hand, was less than
enthusiastic.
She had been left alone in the house
before when Isa went off-planet on other occasions, but with Rayal leaving, she
was disappointed that she could not join them.
Isa
apologized that she could not take the caretaker with them, and even though
Tarah understood why, she tried not to be hurt that Isa found a way to make
Kailynn part of her political entourage, but could not do the same for her.
Rayal did whatever he could to cheer her
up, though he knew she was going to be upset for a while.
“I’ll be sure to vidcall every day,” he
said to her when she was pouting about being left alone in the house for a
nearly month with Rayal gone.
In the final days before the trip,
Kailynn was sure she never slept.
Going to the docking station for the ship
was a surreal experience. She was waiting to wake up and realize she had been
dreaming.
The security around the Syndicate was
extremely intimidating, even for Kailynn who was being protected by the same
detail. There were armed robots all around them and the live guards walked
around that circle, their guns in front of them, prepared. They spoke quietly
to the scouts they had around the entire docking station. All commercial
transportation had been halted for that morning, meaning the docking station
was mostly-empty, but with the attack on the Syndicate Building, no one wanted
to take chances.
Kailynn glanced through the windows at
the various ships in the station, enthralled and amazed. She stayed close to
Rayal and he constantly had to call to her to remind her that they had to be at
the ship at a certain time and they could not linger.
They entered a large hanger where a ship
sat idling quietly, being loaded and double-checked by the crew. The ship was
black and grey in color, the sleek design accented by the dark colors against
the white hanger walls. When the crew saw the Elites walking toward them, they
stopped and bowed their heads, waiting for the group to go up the ramp into the
ship. The robots would be joining them as security detail for the ship, but the
humans stayed behind.
Once inside, several of the small bots
that patrolled the ship led various Elites to different areas of the ship.
Kailynn and Rayal went one direction while Isa, Remus, and a few other Elites
went to the other side of the ship.
The inside of the ship was not at all
like what Kailynn pictured. There were long hallways with ornate designs along
the walls, and the black panels she had seen on the ship were large, albeit
dark, windows. There were several seating areas with interactive coffee tables,
like what Isa had at home. There were NCB chair and NGS chairs in various
alcoves of the ship, surrounded by ornate, beautiful dividers that made Kailynn
feel like she had stepped into an exclusive club.
The bot stopped in front of one door,
turning its wheels so the screen was facing the two passengers.
Rayal pressed the open button on the door
and stepped into the room.
There were two beds in the room attached
to a bathroom and a sitting area with a large screen. The wall on the far side
of the room was made up of dark windows, allowing Kailynn to see the hanger as
everyone continued preparations.
“This is amazing…” she whispered.
“You should see some of the big
commercial ones,” Rayal chuckled, setting both their bags on the floor near the
beds.
“There are ships bigger than this?” she
gasped.
“Yes,” he said. “This is actually a
relatively small ship. It’s a special class ship, used only for the Syndicate.
No markings, no distinguishing features other than the frequency of its
communication. For obvious reasons, we don’t want to draw attention to the
Elites when they’re traveling. That’s why we don’t use the big, lavish resort
ships.”
“I would like to see those,” Kailynn
breathed, looking around the comforts of the room, wondering how anything could
be more lavish.
“You might be able to, someday,” Rayal
said with a smile. “This is our room for the week.”
“Where will Isa be?”
“In another part of the ship, probably,”
Rayal said. “Let’s go find her.”
The two left their room. Kailynn told
herself that she needed to pay attention to where they were so that she could
find her way back and, therefore, not raise suspicions with the crew about
spending time with Isa. However, as they walked through the ship, Kailynn was
immediately distracted by how comfortable the ship felt.
Rayal led her down another hallway and
knocked on a few of the doors, asking the Elites what room Isa had. Kailynn
noticed that the Elites were all paired two to a room, and her stomach began
twisting nervously at the thought.
When they came upon the room where Isa
would stay, Rayal knocked and opened the door.
Isa was sitting on one of the two beds,
leaning back on her hands as Remus stood in front of her. They had obviously
been in deep discussion when the two entered.
“Kailynn, Rayal,” Isa greeted. “What room
number are you in?”
“Fourteen,” Rayal answered.
“Why are you sharing a room?” Kailynn
asked.
“Safety procedure,” Remus answered.
“Everyone on this ship shares a room. It’s
a means to keep everyone safe and accounted for.”
“But why…” Kailynn trailed off, biting
her tongue.
“Kailynn, there is no need to worry,” Isa
assured, looking at Remus. “Remus and I are not engaged sexually anymore. You
know that.”
Kailynn bowed her head, deciding not to
speak. It did not matter that Isa and Remus were no longer in a relationship.
There was something about the arrangement that made jealousy bubble in the
Significant’s stomach.
Isa stood and walked to Kailynn.
“Why don’t we see the rest of the ship?”
Kailynn and Isa walked around the ship,
Isa showing Kailynn the different areas of the Syndicate ship, telling her
about the entertainment offered so that the Elites would not go crazy from
boredom when traveling. Since they were going to be traveling for a week, Isa
was sure the Elites would be getting together for drinks and games—apparently,
there was a tradition of a certain betting game that always occurred on the
trips with the Syndicate Elites.
When the ship was rolled out of the
hanger and to the launch site, Kailynn had her face pressed to the window,
eager to see everything she could. The ship hovered, jolting when it was taken
off its cable, and then it began soaring into the sky. The feeling was
disorienting and Kailynn had to grab onto the nearest seat and hold it as they
soared through the atmosphere and into space. Isa sat across from the
Significant, watching with mild interest, though she constantly spared glances
at Kailynn, smiling at the younger woman’s fascination.