Autonomy: Book 2 in the Invasion Day series (14 page)

When he then led her away from the amusement park, she didn’t hesitate to follow. Where he went, she knew she’d always go. Kyra wanted to see the rest of his mighty collection, and followed him into building after building filled with art, books, historic relics, and even religious artifacts—including bibles. Kronus watched as she traced the binds of the old works with a delicate touch, as though mesmerized by the sight. “Your religion still baffles me. How could you believe in a power so omnipotent, yet you’d never seen it?” he eventually asked.

She hoped he was asking it rhetorically, as she didn’t have the energy to type out such a long response. Kyra simply put one hand over her eyes, and the other over her heart. “Seeing isn’t always believing,” he murmured, and she nodded. “You humans are weird.” Kronus jogged away before she could slap him, and he beckoned her over to another door, but then hesitated before opening it. “This is new, but please trust I had good intentions when I put it together.”

Kyra pushed him aside with a frown, wondering what on earth she might be about to see, and her heart lurched when she found a small room laid out neatly inside with a gurney and an array of medical equipment. On the table in the center was a small machine that she recognized instantly as an ultrasound. Next to it sat a screen, and she looked back at Kronus with a fearful stare. “I need to know if I’ll ever hear you speak again. Please let me take a look? I even got trained up on it so I wouldn’t have to call in anyone else.” She knew he meant Greegis, and was actually grateful for that part, but was still annoyed that he hadn’t told her.

“I’m not ready,” she typed.

“For what?” he asked, and seemed surprised that she didn’t want to know how the healing was going, but in all honesty the idea of being officially labeled as mute terrified her.

“I’m not ready to find out if I’m going to spend the rest of my life in silence. I’m not ready to know yet, please,” the robot voice asked of him, and she rubbed her chin to silently tell him just how anxious she was. Kronus looked utterly disheartened, but didn’t pry. He simply shut off the light and led her away.

“Then it’ll wait until you are ready,” he promised, and she knew he meant it. Despite her previous doubts, Kyra had learned to trust in his word, and instantly felt relieved that he’d listened to her plea.

***

Kyra checked through the new batch of files Thrayke had brought her again. She separated them into groups and rearranged them on the desk, pinned certain ones on a huge pegboard, and then listed the fundamentals again in her notebook, but still the answer was evading her. At times she felt close, but never quite close enough.

Her mouth moved over words unspoken, like she would once have done when mumbling to herself about a code or puzzle she was trying to crack.

There, this lady had the serum but it failed, regardless of her having the supposedly correct DNA code. This child was the same…
she mused, and began making groups afresh. She then noticed an abnormality in one patient, and then another, and another. Before long, she was rifling through them all, weeding out the test successes and failures not based on the computerized readings at the end of their treatment, but on the tests at the beginning. Their initial, pre-serum DNA samples seemed to hold the answer, rather than the other way around, she was suddenly sure of it.

Next, Kyra cross-referenced the charts and re-read each patient’s history, and the answer came like a lightening bolt to her chest. She’d got it. She’d figured it out.

Instead of considering what they had or didn’t have, it was more a case of what they were
going
to have. Early-onset malformations weren’t registered on the selected few test results, but they’d already begun. Those successfully tested for the correct sequence had less than a one percent difference in their genetic code to the others, and inexplicably it was all because of a disease that’d been the plague of the human race for the past millennia.
Pre-cancerous tissue. That’s it! They weren’t present in the early stages, but their cells were regenerating incorrectly already, and the serum targeted them to a point where were not only cured of the impending malignancy, but in a way that also created an artificial purity in the blood. They were then classed as failures and terminated along with all the others, when in fact, given the right alterations, their abnormalities might just be what the Thrakorian’s need?

Kyra looked up and out the window, deep in thought. Could it really be possible that after centuries spent combatting it, the disease that’d almost been cured could be the answer the Thrakorian’s were looking for? She looked again, calculated it over, and was surer than she’d ever been before about her findings. Her hand went to her mouth in shock.

“I know that look,” Thrayke’s voice pulled her from her intense reverie, and she jumped. She hadn’t even realized he was there, and her heart fluttered wildly in panic as she took in his intense expression. “Have you found something?” he asked, stepping closer.

Kyra didn’t want to give the information up until she was absolutely sure of her discovery, and for some reason she actually felt too fearful to tell anyone at all. If she gave them the answer, there might be no reason to keep the test humans alive any more. In fact their need of humans might potentially cease completely. They could be gathered and separated into different groups ready for testing as soon as the end of the following day, and she had a feeling that those who tested negative for the pre-cancerous cells in their immune system would be classed as useless, and then massacred. There would be no need to bother with the pretense of society and the sectors like before, and most certainly no point in allowing the ruse of King Kronus, Earth’s savior, to continue.

Kyra smiled across at her friend and, regardless of her trust in him, shook her head. She felt sick with worry, and anxious as hell, but forced herself to remain calm while Thrayke was still watching over her. She’d never lied to him about anything, and wanted to cry knowing she was keeping such a life-changing discovery to herself for even a moment longer than necessary, but her entire species’ existence hung in the balance, and she knew she couldn’t rush her revelation. She had to be certain before she left the fate of her kind in the hands of their alien overlords. It was obvious he knew she was hiding something, but in true Thrayke style, he seemed to make the decision to leave her be, and she respected him immensely for stopping to give her the opportunity to come clean in her own time.

She hadn’t seen her old friend in weeks, and was glad to see him again, regardless of his terrible timing. He stayed and chatted for a few minutes about the inanity of his current workload, and she listened politely but gave no real input. In all honesty, she wanted him to come and sit beside her, hold her in his arms, and bring with his touch the comfort she craved. She wanted to come clean, but her experiences with the rebels came flooding to the forefront of her mind. It didn’t matter that they were friends, Thrayke and the others of his kind were technically the enemy, and Kyra knew she couldn’t burden him with the information she’d found and expect him to keep it quiet.

When he’d said his goodbyes and headed off to find his King, she was actually relieved. Kyra then paced the small study she was working from, and everything inside of her went crazy with the turmoil of knowing something big, and being too scared to share it.

The dead haunted her dreams again that night and each one after. The two rebels, her parents, and then Colonel Summers from Greegis’ morbid facility came through from the other side to call her a traitor, a failure, and a miserable alien-lover. She tried to call out to them, to beg their forgiveness and tell them they were wrong. She hadn’t lost herself in service to Kronus. If anything, she felt like she’d finally discovered the person she’d always wanted to be because of him. The secret crush she’d once held so dear was now a genuine mutual affection, she had no doubt about it any more, and wanted to protect it by keeping her secrets safely hidden away.

Her loyalty was to Kronus and his reign, but also to the furthering of both the human and Thrakorian societies she’d been taught to serve ever since Invasion Day. She still believed in that world, and didn’t want it to be over. A new world led under an autonomous reign was a wonderful idea, if you were a rebel, and she knew with all her heart that she wasn’t. She didn’t want to be free of their rule, in fact being left without guidance and laws scared her more than giving in to death’s lingering grasp. In her dream, Kyra cried out to her otherworldly tormentors for respite from their torturous visits, but they didn’t listen.

“Wake up, Kyra, wake up!” she was forced awake by Kronus and his fretful voice, and she peered up at him in surprise as she blinked away the sleep. She was covered from head to toe with sweat, and tasted the saltiness of tears on her lips. Kyra knew she must’ve been thrashing around and crying in her sleep, and she felt more exhausted than when she’d fallen asleep beside him as Kronus had read to her.

A huge part of her wanted to curl into his arms, but the weight of her treachery was weighing too heavily on her mind. Rather than go to him for comfort, Kyra rolled out of bed in an attempt to get away from Kronus and his questioning gaze. “Are you okay?” he asked, and when she shook her head he climbed straight out of bed and gathered her up in his arms.

She was too weak to fight, and couldn’t stop crying, so Kronus carried her into the bathroom, where he sat her on the closed lid and wiped away her tears. “Tell me what it is. You haven’t been right for days,” he pleaded, and his sincerity only made them return.

Kyra knew it was inevitable. She’d have to come clean about her findings. Whatever the resulting changes those truths would undoubtedly bring about, the time had come, but she needed something from him first. She had to know for sure—and before she ruined everything—how he truly felt. Hearing him say it just once was all she told herself she needed, and with every ounce of courage she could muster, Kyra stopped her crying and peered across at the god-like man sitting on the floor before her.

She pointed to her chest, made a heart shape with her hands, and then pointed to him.
I love you,
she mouthed, and his eyes widened, but he didn’t seem annoyed or upset with her for finally saying it.

“I love you, too,” he replied, and he stared back at her incredulously. Kronus seemed surprised with his admission, and Kyra smiled when she caught the redness flush against his cheeks. She wondered if he’d ever told anyone that before, and guessed not, seeing as he’d been promised to another for presumable his entire life. “No matter how hard I try and deny it, or tell myself we can just be friends—I can’t do it any more.”

He paced, wringing his hands, and her stomach lurched when a regretful expression swept across his features. Kyra knew before he spoke that regardless of their admissions of love, Kronus was about to break her heart all over again. “I can’t offer you a place at my side, Kyra, but I will give you everything I can while we’re here. It’s not fair to string you along with promises of more. There’s a time limit on our lives together here, but I’ll do everything I can to make it the best while it lasts.”

His future wife was on her way, surely that had to be it? Or else was he too ashamed to admit to others of his kind that he had fallen for a human? Doubts aplenty filled her head, and Kyra reached up, covering his hand with her own.

Why?
she mouthed, and he sighed.

“I haven’t told you everything, and I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to mislead you, and I can’t even begin to explain my reasons why, but…we aren’t staying here—we never were. This planet was never going to be my permanent home, and when the order comes to withdraw, we’ll leave Earth and never return. Your kind is not welcome on Thrakor either, so when the time comes, you’ll never see me again.”

Kyra saw red. She slapped Kronus across the cheek and pushed him away. In his shock, he landed on his ass and stared at her incredulously. She couldn’t believe he’d dared lead her on like he had, and her mouth moved over numerous unheard profanities and insults about his selfish, immature and immoral behavior. She silently accused him of being a coward and a liar, and even went as far to say he was no King if he couldn’t even be bothered to help save a world that was supposed to belong to him.

Kronus read her lips as best he could, and had clearly made out some of her pained words. For some reason, he didn’t seem angry with her for them, just sad. He simply sat back against the cold tile and watched, letting her release her fury in absolute silence. When Kyra finally stopped, she reached for her cell and typed out the words she knew she might regret for the rest of her life, but that she had no other choice. She couldn’t stay and play the beloved pet of a coward who’d never love her in the way she deserved. Kyra knew she’d been kidding herself to even believe their future could be anything other than the obvious, and she felt miserable at the realization that she was going to get her heart broken regardless of whether they stayed together or not.

“Better not to miss something I never had. I want to go home,” she told him before storming out to gather her things.

Chapter Twelve

Kronus was a shell of the self-righteous Thrak he used to be. Once upon a time ago, he’d thought he knew it all, and had even grown bored with his planet and the selfish inhabitants of it. He had come to loathe the humans so much that he’d had as little to do with them as possible, and left his armies to govern for him while he’d hid away in self-imposed isolation in wait of his father’s orders to vacate. He’d thought he was happier that way too, until a blast from the past had ruined it, and him, forever. The girl with that damn scar on her cheek.

Now, he was utterly confused by the world around him, and the life waiting for him back home on Thrakor. His father had told him when he’d sent him away that Earth was nothing more than his trial run at reigning over a planet of his own. It was always going to be temporary—a research mission to discover the secrets of their race via their primitive ‘cousins,’ the humans. Once they had what they needed, they were ordered to leave again, and he hadn’t bothered to ask for more information at the time. He honestly hadn’t cared. A good soldier and ambitious heir, Kronus did as his father commanded in all things, so hadn’t stopped to question the order that his youngest son was to oversee the seemingly simple, tedious mission to Earth. In fact, it’d been an honor to accept so he could prove himself to his father, but now none of it felt so black and white.

His men had hinted at their eagerness to get their answers and leave, and it hadn’t concerned them at all to think that the end of their mission might finally be nearing. Kronus had felt the same way, and had only bothered asking questions to try and figure out how long their mission might take so he could plan his return home. He was sure his Chief of Defense was more in charge of his planet than he was, but had never cared, until recently. There had been nothing worth protecting or fretting over, and yet he suddenly felt like his heart was breaking. He’d hurt Kyra and lied to her, rather than admit that she was the sole reason he’d turned it all around at the last hurdle. He’d pushed her away at every opportunity, but still never believed she’d ever have the guts or desire to walk away. He knew then how he’d underestimated her for the final time.

Kronus confided his hurt in no one, simply because he was meant to maintain the cover of the powerful leader—the cold, distant, privileged, and arrogant rich kid. But, none of that meant a thing now that the human girl he pretended to care nothing about was leaving. He cared so much it made him sick, and yet he couldn’t let himself beg her to stay.

He’d watched over Kyra every day since retrieving her from the clutches of the rebels, and she’d been a breath of fresh air to his once so strict and stuffy existence. He’d known he might never have come back from the brink of war with the rebel scum if she’d died on that rooftop, and for the first time he’d truly wanted to hunt down and wipe out all of the insurgents for having almost taken her life. Before she’d taken that bullet for him, Kronus hadn’t bothered to put any time or effort into their fight with the rebels. The hunt had given his men something to do, but after Kyra had been injured, he’d been ready to massacre them all to honor her.

Having her stay with him on Kro Island had made an empty house a home, and he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to enjoy the solace ever again. If only he’d fessed up and told her how he felt, rather than tell her he loved her, only to follow it up with a damning explanation of how little he was willing to offer her.

“She’s leaving?” Thrayke demanded from behind him as he joined his King. His voice boomed loudly in Kronus’ ears, and normally he would’ve picked him up on his informality, but he didn’t care for any of the etiquette. He cared for nothing at all, or at least that was what he kept reminding himself.

“Yes,” he mumbled.

“Yes? Is that all you’ve got to say? Fight for her. Make her see sense, dammit. What did you say to make her leave?” Thrayke’s anger was pouring out of him in waves, and malicious replies were on the tip of his tongue, but Kronus forced his angry retaliations away.

“I told her the truth. Kyra knows we’re leaving. She can’t come with us, so I’d be a fool if I let her believe we could be something more than friends,” he sighed and turned away. “She told me she loves me.”

“Then you really are a fool, because she and I never loved each other, and yet still I moved mountains to protect her and make her see how special she was to me. I asked Greegis to give her that treatment so we could be together longer, and didn’t think for even a second that it was all for nothing,” Thrayke replied, and Kronus furrowed his brow. “I wanted her and you forced us apart, when in reality you weren’t willing to take proper care of her. No wonder she walked away.” His old friend had just delivered the ultimate kick in the teeth, and yet Kronus still couldn’t bring him self to take back any of his foolish words or actions.

Thrayke had gone above and beyond for Kyra when it’d mattered, regardless of their love affair having only been a fleeting thing. Whereas Kronus had told her he loved her, while never once doing something selfless to show her how much he cared. Fresh pain radiated from within at the realization that Thrayke had done more for Kyra than he ever had.

In actual fact, Kronus didn’t like being reminded of her past with Thrayke, and he felt a growl rumble in his chest at the sheer thought of them together. His old friend ignored his vicious stare, and instead continued on in his bid to give Kronus what for. “If she ever had said she loved me, I’d have turned rogue for her. I’d have stayed behind on this dying planet and loved her until the day she died, Kronus. I’d have done whatever it took to make sure we could be together, because that’s what you do when you love someone. You don’t just sit back and watch them leave, and you certainly don’t let them go hating you.”

Silence was his answer, and it was clear Thrayke took his reticence for blind ignorance. Kronus had never thought himself a coward, not until right that second, when he knew it was exactly what he’d become thanks to the emptiness he felt growing and growing from within.

Thrayke turned on his heel and left. His words had hurt, but they were absolutely spot-on. It wasn’t so simple though; surely his old friend could see that? Thrayke was thinking and speaking the words of an everyday soldier and civilian, and a Thrak free to choose for himself where his life might take him. Kronus was royalty. He had a pre-arranged marriage waiting for him back home. Mariah was a worthy bride, an aristocrat, and a lady. She would accompany him when he conquered his next and final planetary prize where they would make a home together and start a family. He would rule as King until his dying day, on which his eldest heir would take over, and so on. His future was mapped out, and it didn’t matter whether he wanted otherwise. There were no choices he could make for himself like Thrayke had just chastised him about. No listening to his heart, and certainly no defying his father.

Kronus stood like a statue, peering out the window at the launch bay where he knew the craft containing the other half of his heart was about to leave from. When it’d gone, and so had Kyra, he remained locked in his stance in an attempt to steady his rage. No one tried to talk to him again, and he knew it was for the best.

When he eventually went back to the achingly empty bedroom, he found a note waiting for him from Kyra, and there was a huge part of him that didn’t want to read it. If she said she still loved him, he’d lose it, but if she said she didn’t any longer—he knew he’d go mad from the agony of knowing he had ruined the only real thing he’d ever had. After staring at the folded sheet of paper for a while, Kronus eventually opened it and forced himself to read.

Dear Kronus,

I should’ve always known you weren’t mine to love, but I guess a fool will always try and listen to their heart regardless of the glaring truth. You called me a fool when we met that second time, and I guess you were right. I was a fool to care for you so much, and I was an even bigger fool to think you could care for me in return. You still saved me in ways I don’t even think you know though, and I’ll never forget it.

I cannot leave without coming clean and telling you that I have solved the problem with the serum and its outcome. My irresponsible brain has cracked the code that will save your race, while betraying my own, and I cannot keep it to myself no matter how hard it is to give you the answer that will result in you leaving for good.

Do not accredit me in any way with this discovery. I’d rather live the rest of my life as a nobody than ever be associated with whatever happens next. I feel like a traitor, and do not want any part in what I know must ensue once you know this truth. I can only hope that you’ll take only what you absolutely have to from my kind, and then leave the rest of us to rebuild some sort of life in the wake of your departure. So, it is with a heavy heart that I must offer you my findings, even if it means you have no reason to stay on Earth any longer afterwards.

The answer is the disease my people have been combatting for centuries, and that yours has cured—cancer. In its benign state, pre-cancerous tissue wasn’t even tested for in the subjects of the trial, but that is the answer. Each and every candidate has had a full blood-work, which is where I discovered the link. Those people without any abnormal cells failed the tests, as did any with discoverable cancerous tissue. Only the small selection of candidates with the cells in their pre-malformation stage had a conflicting reaction to the serum, resulting in a positive outcome for the factors needed for your kind, and therefore their DNA sequence should be deemed a success.

That’s what you need to test for, and where you’ll find the answer to your race’s desire for this DNA sequence. I don’t know all the details as to why you want it, but I know you were willing to murder millions of humans to get it, and I cannot sit back and continue to let that happen now that I’ve discovered the truth.

Even after unburdening myself with this, I’ll still have to hold the weight of this breakthrough on my shoulders, but I will if it means innocent people might stop being snatched in the night and left to rot in mass graves.

Whether you admit it or not, you didn’t come here to save us, only yourselves. You’re the ruler of a world full of nothing but stolen lives and broken hearts, but I’ll still love you until my dying breath, because somehow I’m the one and only life you ever did save. That always has and always will mean the world to me.

I’ll never forget the way you’ve made me feel, or the friendship we’ve known, but I implore you to please leave me alone. I need to be free of you, otherwise I know won’t survive the day you leave forever.

Goodbye,

Kyra.

It was finally clear just why she’d been so distant the last few days. She hadn’t known how to tell him what she’d discovered, and Kronus couldn’t blame her. Her fears were right, though. Now they had the answers they’d searched so long for, they would take what they needed and go, and Kronus knew he had to send word to his father. The Thrakorian’s and their rule over the Earth might’ve screwed her race over at every turn, but it was worth it, because this research would save billions of lives back home.

He thought about the Earth, its indigenous race, their future, and their lives. They were nothing in comparison to his people, but especially not his father, who the serum was truly for. His life meant everything to his people, and yet he was the sickest of all his kind suffering with their strange new illness back home. Even the best doctors hadn’t found a way to save those affected by the strange and deadly autoimmune Ehrad disease, and this mission was just one of their last-ditch attempts at discovering what even the most intelligent Thrakorian minds could not. Despite the uncertainties, it appeared they’d finally done it, and he looked forward to seeing the pride on his father’s face when he delivered him the cure he was sure had to be on the horizon.

“Domo, get me the Chief,” he called out into the darkness, and his guard came in from the hallway to answer him.

“Yes, sire.” He turned to go, but then hesitated. He’d evidently expected for him to change his mind, and seemed unable to stop himself from giving Kronus a nudge. “Would you like to know where she’s going?” Domo offered, and his leader shook his head, scratching so hard at his beard that it hurt.

“No,” was all he could bear to answer.

He then went into the bathroom, where he grabbed his shaving gear and started scraping off the thick bristles from his face in an attempt to force away every lingering remnant of Kyra and her presence. It didn’t work. Staring at his freshly shaven face in the mirror only reminded him of how much he’d lost, and how the man looking back at him was nothing but an empty shell. Kronus forced himself to get showered and dressed, and then went to meet with his Chief of Defense. He wanted off this rock as soon as possible, and knew Rasmos was the best man to make it happen sooner rather than later.

***

Kyra kept her head down the entire journey west in an attempt to hide away from the gazes of those Thrakorian men and women she’d become so strangely comfortable around the past few months, many of which she’d even gotten to know a little during her stay on Kro Island. Thrayke escorted her in silence, and when they arrived in Los Angeles, he walked with her to the Crowned King Hotel. He’d given her the choice of returning to The Tower to carry on as before or taking some time out to be by herself and clear her head. She’d chosen the latter. In actual fact, there was part of her that never wanted to go back to her old life. Something angry welled within, and she knew that deep down, she didn’t want anything to do with any of the Thrakorian’s ever again, much less dedicate the time she had left to serving them. The hotel was the only place she could think to go where she could be alone, and Kyra was glad Thrayke had agreed to let her have some time off rather than insist she head back with him. She somehow knew she couldn’t cope with even the slightest bit of stress, even if the distraction of work was appealing. He escorted her inside, and spoke with the young woman behind the counter on Kyra’s behalf.