Close Remembrance (34 page)

“Mirat?” Connor asked.

“Yes, mirat,” Korum said, pointing toward one of the brown tree trunks.

When Mia looked closer, she could see that what she had mistaken for solid wood was actually some type of a jelly-like substance – and that it quivered and moved, expanding and contracting in a creepy way.

“Mirat are similar to your bees, although they don’t sting,” Korum explained. “They’re social insects, and they build these complex structures around trees. Our scientists love studying them. There’s a lot of debate as to whether the collective mind of a mirat hive displays signs of higher intelligence. We never bother them, and they generally know to avoid us and our dwellings. If you touch their hive, you’ll get dizzy from the fumes they emit, so it’s best to stay away from them.”

“That’s crazy,” Marisa said, looking worried. “Is there anything else like that we should know about?” She was holding her stomach in a protective gesture.

“Yes,” Korum said. “That, right there –” he pointed at a small red insect-like thing on the floor, “– is also something you have to be careful of. It bites and likes to burrow inside the skin. They’re not poisonous or anything, but extracting them is very unpleasant. There are also some large predatory animals, but you’re unlikely to encounter them in this vicinity. They’re afraid of the Krinar and generally avoid our territories.”

Connor was frowning. “Korum, no offense, but that’s a lot of shit we need to worry about here. I don’t think we realized we’d be living in the middle of an alien jungle.”

Korum didn’t seem offended in the least. “Our jungle is far less dangerous than your cities, as long as you don’t stumble around blindly,” he said calmly. “And my house is completely safe and critter-free. In a few days, you’ll know exactly what to watch out for, and you’ll be able to go outside without me. Until then, I’ll accompany you everywhere and you won’t run into any problems.”

Connor opened his mouth to say something, but Mia’s mom interrupted him, exclaiming, “Oh, wow, Korum, is that your house?”

While they were talking, they had reached the ivory-colored, oblong-shaped dwelling. To Mia’s eyes, it looked very similar to Korum’s house in Lenkarda – a place she now thought of as her home. To the others, though, it had to look strange and foreign.

“Yes,” Korum said, smiling at them. “It is indeed.”

“You don’t have any doors or windows?” her dad asked, examining the structure with visible curiosity.

“No, dad,” Mia said. “It has intelligent walls, just like the ship that brought us here. They’re probably see-through from the inside. Right, Korum?”

“That’s right,” her lover confirmed, and Mia grinned, feeling like she would burst from excitement. She was actually on Krina!

Korum did a quick tour of the house, showing her family how to use everything. Mia’s parents seemed a bit overwhelmed, so he created a separate ‘humanized’ suite of rooms for them, just as he had on the ship. Her sister and brother-in-law, however, decided to stay in the main portion of the house, preferring the comfort of K technology to the more familiar human-style furniture.

“I love this thing.” Marisa was sprawled out on the intelligent bed in her room, a blissful expression on her face at the massage she was receiving. “I never want to leave it.”

“I know, right?” Mia sat down next to her sister. “All their stuff is unbelievably awesome like that. The first time I fell asleep on a bed like this I thought I’d died and gone to Heaven.”

“No kidding.” Marisa closed her eyes, moaning in pleasure. “So freaking good . . .”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Mia said, grinning. “Get some rest, okay?”

Marisa didn’t reply, and Mia realized that her sister was already drifting off to sleep, her pregnant body requiring more rest than usual.

Connor was taking a shower, and her parents were relaxing too, so Mia went to find Korum. “I’m ready,” she told him. “Now is as good a time as any.”

He got up from the float in the living room where he had been sitting, his tall, muscular body as graceful as a panther’s. “Are you sure?” he asked, and she could see the concern written on his beautiful face.

“Yes,” Mia said, lifting her hand to stroke his thick dark hair. “I’m sure.”

He caught her hand and brought it to his lips, tenderly kissing each knuckle. “Then let’s do it,” he said softly. “Let’s get your memory and your old self back.”

* * *

A slender brown-haired Krinar woman walked around Mia, attaching little white dots to her forehead, temples, and the back of her neck. Mia had fully expected to be knocked out for the reversal of Saret’s procedure, but the mind apprentice – Laira – said Mia had to be conscious.

“There you are,” Laira said with satisfaction. “All done. Now please have a seat. It can be on Korum’s lap if you want.” She winked, and Mia laughed, liking this K woman. According to Korum, Laira was young, less than two hundred years of age, and already considered a rising star in the field of mind studies.

Korum smiled and pulled Mia onto his lap. “Sure, I’m happy to hold her.”

“I bet you are.” Laira grinned. “That’s a cute charl you’ve got there.”

“Excuse me,” Mia said, putting a possessive arm around Korum’s neck. “That’s a gorgeous cheren
I’ve
got.”

“True, true,” Laira said, laughing. Then her expression turned more serious. “All right, Mia, this is what you can expect now: it will feel like your mind is going blank. Then you’ll feel a rush of images and impressions as your memory returns and the procedure is reversed. As the memories come, I want you to focus on them one at a time, so you absorb them slowly. That’s why you have to be awake for this, even though I know it’s going to be uncomfortable for you.”

“Is she going to be in pain?” Korum asked, his arms tightening around Mia.

“No, just discomfort, like I said,” Laira replied. “Are you ready, Mia?”

“Yes.” Mia braced herself.

“Here we go then.”

At first, Mia felt a pleasant lassitude stealing over her and she closed her eyes. Her mind felt like it was drifting, as though she was about to fall asleep. There was a strange sensation of nothingness, of blankness.

Suddenly, it was like a bomb going off in her brain, an explosion of colors, feelings, and shapes, all appearing at once. Mia gasped, her fingers digging into Korum’s arm as she tried to cope with the onslaught. It was too much, like a 3D IMAX movie with too many special effects, only streamed directly into her brain.

Somewhere far away, she could hear Korum’s voice. It was furious, demanding. “Stop it! Stop it right now! Can’t you see she’s in pain?”

“She’ll get through this . . .” It was Laira’s voice, calm and soothing. Mia latched onto it, needing something steady in the maelstrom that was engulfing her mind.

At first it was unbearable, and she screamed silently, too overwhelmed to emit any actual sound. Laira hadn’t lied. There was no pain; there was just agony. It felt like Mia’s brain was being filled to the brim, her skull stretching and straining to contain it all.

And just when she thought her head would literally explode, the agony started to ease, colors and shapes separating into images, those images and emotions turning into specific events. Memories began to coalesce, taking shape one by one until she could grasp them, integrate them into what she already knew and remembered.

There was the party at the end of March, shortly before she met Korum. Jessie had dragged her to it, and Mia had ended up having a good time after a few drinks. She’d danced with a few guys, even exchanged phone numbers with one of them, but nothing ever came of it. If only she’d known then the strange turn her life would take . . .

The memory of her first meeting with Korum flashed through her mind, and Mia relived the sharp feeling of fear, mixed with the first stirrings of desire. The man who held her so lovingly now had terrified her in the beginning, his arrogance and casual disregard for her wishes leading her to assume the worst about his species.

More memories . . . Her first time in Korum’s bed, John explaining to her about charl, the incident at the club where Korum had nearly killed Peter . . . Korum holding her while she cried, Mia bringing him to meet her parents for the first time . . . The good, the bad, the ugly – she remembered it all, and it was like a void inside her was disappearing, the before and after colliding, making her feel whole for the first time since Saret’s attack.

Saret!
Mia remembered him too. She’d liked him, regarded him as her boss and mentor. He had been the one to give her the language implant, to let her intern in his lab at Korum’s request. Mia relived the excitement she’d felt when Korum had told her of the opportunity, the thrill of learning what thousands of human scientists could only dream of.

And then her last memory from before: Saret cornering her in the lab. Mia remembered her terror, her shock at learning of his intentions for the human race . . . Her disgust when he admitted to wanting her, the sick feeling in her stomach when he told her of his plans for the Krinar . . . And that awful darkness taking over when he wiped out a major chunk of her life and altered her brain.

Now the present and the past were one again. Mia became aware of Korum stroking her hair, raining gentle kisses on her face. Still keeping her eyes closed, Mia relived the more recent events, from her awakening in Korum’s bed to the trip to Krina. She tried to compare her emotions then to the way she felt now – and to the way she had always been.

Saret hadn’t lied. When Mia had woken up without her memories, she hadn’t been completely herself. She had indeed been more accepting, more open to new experiences. She could see that now. However, that had been a good thing. In his quest to soften Mia toward him, Saret had inadvertently created the perfect conditions for her to overcome the pain and confusion from her memory loss. Instead of agonizing, Mia had been acclimating. Instead of worrying, she had been learning.

And instead of fearing Korum again, she had been falling in love with him. Really, truly falling in love with the beautiful, tender Krinar who had greeted her upon awakening. Korum of the recent months wasn’t the same person she’d met in the park that day in April; his arrogance had been tempered by caring, his indifference to her wishes turning into a desire to make her happy. He loved her, of that Mia had no doubt now. He loved her with the same intensity, the same desperation as she loved him.

As the present and the past were joined, so too were Mia’s feelings and emotions. Everything she had felt before was magnified now, strengthened by the trials and tribulations of the past couple of months.

Opening her eyes, Mia smiled at her K lover.

Chapter 26

Seeing her smile, Korum shuddered with relief. “Mia, my sweet, are you all right?” For the past ten minutes, she had been as stiff as a board, her face pale and even her lips drained of color. She hadn’t reacted to anything, as though she’d been in a coma.

“She’s fine. Right, Mia?” Laira stepped closer, bending down to peer at Mia’s face, and Korum fought the urge to strangle the apprentice. His charl had obviously been in pain, and he knew he would never forgive Laira for that.

“I’m okay now,” Mia said softly, as though understanding his feelings. Lifting her hand, she stroked his cheek, the tender gesture cooling some of his anger.

“Do you remember anything?” Laira’s voice interrupted them again.

“Yes,” Mia said, looking up at her. “I remember everything. Thank you for that.”

She remembered. She remembered everything
. Korum felt like he could breathe again, the terrible guilt inside him easing for the first time since he’d learned of Saret’s betrayal.

“What about the softening procedure?” he asked Laira, his arms unconsciously tightening around the girl on his lap.

“That should be reversed too,” Laira said. “Mia, do you feel any different in that regard?”

“I don’t know,” Mia said, a small frown appearing on her face. “I can see that my reactions were a little off before, when I woke up in Lenkarda, but I don’t feel any differently now.”

“You don’t?” Korum asked, and Mia smiled.

“No,” she said, her gaze warm and soft. “I don’t.”

Another weight lifted off Korum’s shoulders, making him feel lighter than air. Up until that moment, he hadn’t known how much he’d dreaded the answer to that question. Mia had loved him before her memory loss, he’d known that, but some part of him had still been afraid that her feelings after Saret’s procedure hadn’t been as real – and that undoing the procedure would destroy whatever love she thought she felt for him.

Mia made a move to get up, and he forced himself to let her go, even though he wanted to keep holding her forever.

Getting up himself, he turned toward Laira and gave her a cool nod of thanks. Although the procedure had worked, Korum still couldn’t quite forget the tortured expression on Mia’s face during those awful ten minutes. He’d felt helpless, unable to do anything to ease her suffering, and he wouldn’t forget that any time soon.

Not the least bit disturbed by his obvious displeasure, Laira grinned at him. “Looks like you got your charl back, all safe and sound.”