Planerbound Read online

  She looked at him for a long moment and broke into a smile. “Yes, Nick -- I will marry you.”

  “Let's go tell your folks.”

  He descended the stairs holding her hand. “I see you found her,” Yasuko said. Suki stood by her mother, held her hand and beamed a broad smile. “What are you grinning about?”

  “You'll see...”

  George was studying patterns on the “go” board. Nyk approached him. “Mr Kyhana -- I would like your permission to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage.”

  He looked up at Nyk, his jaw dropped. He smiled. “Permission is granted.”

  Nyk stepped to Suki and took her hand. “Sukiko -- will you marry me?”

  “Yes -- oh, yes, Nick -- I will! I will marry you!”

  Yasuko hugged her. “This calls for a celebration.”

  “I'll call Jonathan,” George said. “Maybe we can convince him to keep his shop open tomorrow evening.”

  “Who's Jonathan?” Nyk asked.

  “He's Daddy's brother. He took over the jewelry business from my grandfather... Daddy! I already have the stone. I'll get it.”

  She ran up to the apartment and returned with a small cardboard box. George removed the stone and examined it with a lens. “This is a very nice diamond. How did you come by this?”

  “Nick gave it to me -- for Christmas. We were in Wisconsin. We were just friends, then.”

  George looked at Nyk. “Isn't this a rather extravagant Christmas present for just friends?”

  “Actually not, George. The diamond is synthetic -- my company makes them. We've discovered a technique for making diamonds inexpensively.”

  “Indeed -- synthetic or natural, this is a very fine stone. It looks to be about two carats.”

  “That's a second -- it's how I came by it.”

  “A second? Then, I would really like to see a first-quality gem.” George continued to eye Nyk. “Is this technology something you'd be willing to license?”

  “We think we're better off keeping it a trade secret -- like the alchemists of old making gold from lead. Once the secret is out, the gold becomes worthless.”

  * * *

  Nyk sat with his coffee and a slice of toast, and with Suki beside him.

  “I'm so excited,” Yasuko said. “I couldn't sleep.” She looked sideways at them both. “You weren't sleeping, either. It sounded to me like you two were getting a head start on your honeymoon.”

  “Mom!”

  “If we put our heads together, we can plan a ceremony before the baby comes.”

  “Mom -- Nick and I haven't set a date yet. When we do -- I can assure you, it will be AFTER the baby is born.”

  “But ... wouldn't you want the baby to be ... legitimate ... have a father?”

  “He has a father -- and it's not Nick. You know that.”

  “As long as you're married before he's born -- Nick will be the legal father. It won't matter who the biological father is.”

  “I understand all that. I'm not going through the humiliation of walking down the aisle with a huge belly. Nick and I are getting married for OUR sake -- not the baby's.”

  “But...”

  “MOTHER! NO! Not another word on the subject. My mind's made up. Besides -- it would be humiliating for Nick, too -- it would look like a shotgun wedding.” She stood and headed toward the apartment. “I'm going to get dressed.”

  Yasuko looked at him. “Now, I've upset her. I know she's upset when she calls me 'Mother.' Nick -- what do you think?”

  He shrugged. “It doesn't make any difference to me. After the baby comes is fine.”

  * * *

  George pulled the Town Car up to a shop in a retail section of Queens. The place had seen better days -- the paint was peeling and a rusty security grate was folded back. A faded sign above the door read Jonathan's Jewelry. George opened the door and gestured them all in.

  Nyk regarded the man behind the counter. He bore a strong resemblance to George, but was perhaps five years older.

  “Come in,” Jonathan said. “What is so important I must keep open?” He spotted Suki's mother. “Yasuko -- my favorite sister-in-law.”

  “That's easy to say,” she replied. “I'm the only one.”

  “You'd be my favorite out of a hundred. Sukiko -- how are you feeling?”

  “Fine,” she replied.

  Jonathan's eyes met Nyk's. “I don't think we've been introduced.”

  “This is Nick Kane,” George replied. “Sukiko's fiancé.”

  “Now I understand what this is all about. I think I can help you.”

  “We already have the stone, Uncle Jonathan.” Suki handed him the box.

  Jonathan examined the stone under lenses. “Nice -- very nice, indeed. What sort of setting?”

  “Gold,” Nyk and Suki said together.

  “Let's see -- something to show of the beauty of the stone. Some diamonds are a ... a compromise, but not this one. This one demands to be displayed. Let me measure your finger.”

  “I like this one,” Nyk said, pointing at a setting.

  “Yes, Uncle Jonathan -- I like it, too.”

  “A good choice -- you wait here. I'll be back in a jiff.” Jonathan headed into his back room.

  Nyk looked around the shop and into the cases. A photograph of the golden Kyhana crest was pinned above a high case. He slipped his hand into his pocket and fingered his Agency draw account debit card.

  “How's business?” George called toward the back room.

  “I'm living,” Jonathan replied. “It's getting tougher to compete with the chains in the malls -- even if their merchandise is inferior to what I have.”

  Jonathan stepped from his workroom and presented Nyk with a velvet box. “Here, take this,” he whispered. “George told me of how a Nick Kane undoubtedly saved the life of my niece. This is the least I can do in appreciation.”

  Nyk bowed and turned to Suki. “Now -- officially. Sukiko, will you marry me?”

  “Oh, yes, Nick! I will marry you.”

  He slipped the ring onto her finger.

  * * *

  Suki lay beside Nyk and admired her ring. “It is beautiful. I love this stone, Nick. Do you know why?”

  “Because I gave it to you?”

  “Yes -- but also because it's from your homeworld.”

  “That stone originated in our sea. We generate our power by converting sea water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is fuel for our fusion reactors, where it's turned into helium. Then, the helium is turned into carbon -- in the form of diamond crystals. You are wearing a bit of Floran's sea on your finger.”

  “You love your sea.”

  “And, I love you. It's a perfect match.”

  She cuddled to him and ran her hand along his arm. “Shall we disturb my mother again?”

  * * *

  Nyk walked into the FloranCo offices in Tribeca. He stepped into Seymor's office. “I'm on Cloud Nine,” he said. “Suki agreed to marry me.”

  Seymor looked up at him. “I have news to bring you down to Earth in a hurry.”

  “Not another flare-up of that homeworld potato virus, I hope.”

  “No -- worse -- much worse. Sit down, lad.” Nyk sat. “I have word that Agency Enforcement is looking for you. They've gotten wind of your living with Sukiko.”

  “How would they know?”

  Seymor shook his head. “They didn't hear it from me.”

  “What do we do?” Nyk asked. “Should I go to Floran and explain the situation?”

  “They wouldn't let you back offworld. Nyk -- Agency Enforcement is headed by one Tomyka Wells -- one tough cop with a heart of granite. All she knows are the rules and regs. She will regard your relationship with Sukiko as temporal interference.”

  “It's not -- I'm with Suki to correct interference that occurred earlier. I must replace the Earth man who was to be in her life.”

  “I understand all that -- Tomyka won't. It gets worse -- the last time this sort of thing happened,
Agency Enforcement took not only the offending ExoAgent, but the Earth girl, too.”

  “What did they do with her?”

  “They kept her confined on Floran. Neutralizing the temporal contamination is what they called it.”

  “They wouldn't dare do that with Suki -- the child in her womb is a direct ancestor of Koichi Kyhana.”

  “Such an argument will get little sympathy from the likes of Tomyka Wells.”

  Nyk sat and pondered. “Can I hide from them?”

  “Not easily -- they can track you through the chip in your wrist. They will locate you, Nyk. I've been in a terrible stew all morning trying to figure out the best way to address this.”

  “Maybe I need to go away somewhere -- some place where Agency Enforcement won't be looking.”

  2 -- Evidence

  Nykkyo sat in the shuttlecar at the rendezvous coordinates. The craft, designed for Earth missions, resembled a minivan. The resemblance stopped at exterior appearances -- it was a spacecraft, capable of a short warpjump to take him from Earth orbit, past the heliopause and into interstellar space. He knew the tender would be along shortly. Nyk glanced at the trunk-sized canister sitting behind his seat.

  He saw a flash and the tender materialized from her warp jump. Nyk manipulated the shuttle's navigational display and plotted an intercept course. The tender's cargo bay door opened and he set the car onto her deck. The spacedoor closed, the bay repressurized and a crewman walked toward him. Nyk opened the door.

  “This shuttle's due for service,” the crewman said. “Thanks for bringing it up.”

  “Not a problem.”

  “The repair depot is programmed into the autopilot.” He looked into the shuttlecar. “What's that?” he asked, pointing to the canister.

  “Agricultural samples.”

  “Ah, yes -- the mission of an ExoAgent -- to bring plant material to keep our food supply healthy.”

  Nyk stepped from the shuttle and belted himself into a jumpseat. A blue lamp indicated the upcoming warp jump. The jump jolted the vessel. The blue indicator lit again to signal another jump.

  “We're in orbit around Floran,” the crewman said.

  Nyk gave the man a two-fingered salute and climbed into the shuttlecar.

  The bay depressurized, the spacedoor opened and Nyk backed the shuttlecar into space. Using the craft's inertial sink he descended toward the single continent on his homeworld. Navigational images flashed on the windscreen.

  Nyk switched off the craft's communications and transponders. He cancelled the automatic pilot and took the unistick. Under his control, the craft headed toward the southeast corner of the continent and touched down on a rarely-traveled access roadway outside the small city of Sudal. It was Nadir Meridian -- the dead of night.

  The shuttle landed near his intended target. He pushed the unistick forward and drove the car to a circular, dome-shaped structure lined with heavy steel shutters. The shutters were down. He climbed from the shuttlecar and approached the building's entrance. A scanpad read the personal ID chip implanted in his wrist and the door opened.

  Nyk pressed a control and the shutters swung up. He climbed back into the shuttlecar and eased it into the lower level of the structure; then, he closed the shutters again. A touch on the rear hatch opened it, and he activated the antigrav fields on the canister.

  The container slid from the shuttlecar and he eased it to the floor. He snapped open the catches and lifted the cover. A tear formed on his cheek as he looked at its contents. “Oh, korlyta! I never expected it to turn out like this. I'm so sorry.”

  Nyk knelt, grasped the limp body lying in the canister and gently eased her from the fetal position. With one arm under her shoulder blades, he slipped the other under her knees and lifted. He carried her to an upholstered bench, stretched her out and sat, cross-legged on the floor beside her.

  He regarded her face -- her eyes were closed, concealing the feature most intriguing to him -- the epicanthic folds giving her eyes their almond shape.

  He kissed her eyelids. Her finger twitched. He took her hand and patted and stroked her forearm, contemplating her yellow-brown skin. “Suki?”

  “Mmmph...”

  “Suki, are you all right?”

  She turned her face toward him and cracked open her eyes. Nyk stroked her raven hair. “I take it we made it,” she said and started to sit.

  “You lie for a while.” He took her hand.

  “That stuff you gave me won't hurt the baby, will it?”

  “I told you, it's safe for the baby. He's apt to be out of it for a while, too.”

  “What was it you gave me?”

  “Three doses of a euphoriant. Do you remember?”

  “I recall the first dose felt pretty good. The second felt really good. I can't remember the third.”

  “Floran recreational chemicals have a built-in safety mechanism to prevent overdoses. The formulas include a low dose of a quick-acting sedative. Before you can attain a dangerous level of the main ingredient -- the sedative kicks in and knocks you out. Based on your size and build, I figured your limit was three.” He squeezed her hand. “Well, you said you wanted to see the homeworld again. These weren't the circumstances I was hoping for.”

  She began to look around the room. “This is the house you told me about?”

  “Yes -- my childhood home.”

  “The house without walls... Are we safe here?”

  “I think so. We're quite isolated. Besides -- where's the best place to hide something? In plain sight. The enforcers are busy scouring Earth for us. Here is the last place they'll think of looking.”

  “How long can we stay here?”

  “Quite a while. The structure is self-sufficient, and we have plenty of prefab meals in storage.”

  She placed her hand on her abdomen. “He just woke up. I felt him stretch and yawn. I'm going to try to sit.” She swung her feet to the floor. “Maybe not.” She lay on her back again.

  “Relax -- we're in no hurry. I was taking inventory of whom we can trust. There's Andra, of course. She's offworld right now paying a visit to her finishing-school friend and roommate. Janna is the wife and consort to the chancellor of Lexal. You remember her.”

  “Yes, Nykkyo -- I'll never forget the word Lexal.”

  “Andra will be back onworld in a few days. She'll be using this house. That's good -- the place will look occupied.”

  “More hiding in plain sight?”

  “Indeed. Andra can take care of you if I need to go out. You'll need to stay hidden. With your Asian features, you'll stand out in a crowd.”

  “Who else can we trust?”

  “Not many others.”

  “So, what's next?” she asked and attempted again to sit up. Nyk sat on the bench and held her head in his lap.

  “We start looking.”

  “Looking for what?”

  “Evidence -- evidence I'm right.” He lifted her blouse and caressed her abdomen.

  She placed her hand on his and pressed it against her skin. “Feel him move?” Nyk held his hand against her belly. “Why look here?”

  “What will be -- already has been. Koichi's birth is two hundred years in Earth's future -- but five thousand years in this world's past If there's evidence to be found, it's here.” He gazed into her dark brown eyes and stroked her face. She brushed a tear from his. “I should never have become involved with you. I couldn't help myself, Suki -- I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you. Now, I'm locked into that temporal paradox. I must replace the man who was to be your husband.”

  “I never thought I'd have a husband. I don't want any other man. You complete something in me, Nykkyo. When we're apart, there's a piece missing. I'll never raise this child by myself.”

  “I want you to meet Illya Kronta -- if I can arrange it. He's a member of the oversight committee and a Kyhana scholar. It might help our cause if he could hear it from your own lips.”

  “Is that why you brought me?”
<
br />   “No. Seymor told me an enforcement squad was being dispatched to Earth. They would seize me and bring me here.” He looked into her eyes. “They'd seize you, too.”

  “What would they do to me?”

  Nyk stood and turned from her. “The enforcers will regard your knowledge of our world as temporal contamination -- that must be neutralized.”

  “But, Nykkyo -- your people are so sweet and gentle. You said you were incapable of harming Earth's population.”

  “Nonetheless, they will neutralize the contamination. The survival of more than twenty-four billion is at stake. The last instance of such was ... four generations ago, I believe. The contaminated individuals were removed from Earth and ... quarantined, here -- for the rest of their lives.”

  “It's like life imprisonment.”

  “It's intended to be a deterrent. If a Floran falls in love with an Earth person, he realizes he poses a risk to his loved one as well as himself. In your case, though ... Suki, I know you have as much at stake in this as any Floran. I trust you. You're practically an honorary Floran -- you've begun to learn our language. You pose no risk.”

  “If I'm kept from Earth, how can...” she touched her belly. “How can he fulfill his role?”

  “Exactly. In your case, preventing it will in fact cause disastrous temporal interference. That's the case I must make, but I must find evidence to support it.”

  “What are you looking for?”

  “I don't know. Anything -- I found and translated Koichi Kyhana's journal of the early days of this world. Most of that translation I did before setting foot on Earth, so I had no experience with which to put his words into context. I'll go back over his original journal -- line by line -- and see if I can find anything alluding to his Earth forebears. I'm grasping at straws, Suki. You're a professional historian. Maybe you can help me in my search.”

  She smiled. “That would be an interesting twist for a historian -- looking for evidence of the future. I'd fear what I might find.”