Close Remembrance (5 page)

At the lab, the other apprentices were still away, so Mia found herself frequently working alone, surrounded by all the equipment. Saret was in and out, and she would occasionally catch him watching her with an enigmatic expression on his face. Shrugging it off as some weird distrust for his human apprentice, she finished her report and sent it to Saret, hoping that he would give her feedback soon. While waiting, she continued to play around with the simulation, trying different variations of the process and carefully recording the results.

Tuesday was a day off in Lenkarda, and it was also Maria’s birthday. The vivacious girl had sent her a holographic message over the weekend, formally inviting her to the party on the beach at two in the afternoon. Mia had gladly accepted.

“So I don’t get to come?” Korum was lounging on the bed and watching her get ready for the party. His golden eyes gleamed with amusement, and she knew that he was teasing her.

“Sorry, sweetie,” she told him mockingly, twirling in front of the mirror. “No cheren allowed. Charl only.”

He grinned. “Such discrimination.”

She wore the necklace he’d given her and a light floaty dress with a swimsuit underneath – just in case the party involved any swimming in the ocean.

“Yes, well, you know how that goes,” she said, grinning back. “We’re too cool for all you Ks.”

She loved that she could banter with him now. Somehow, almost imperceptibly, their relationship had assumed a more equal footing. He still liked to be in control – and he could still be incredibly domineering on occasion – but she was beginning to feel like she could stand up to him. The knowledge that he loved her, that her thoughts and opinions mattered to him, was very liberating.

“All right,” she said, bending down to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek, “I have to run.”

Before she could pull away, however, his arm snaked around her waist, and she found herself flat on her back on the bed, pinned down by his large muscular body.

“Korum!” She wriggled, trying to get away. “I’m running late! You told me yourself it’s an insult to be late –”

“One kiss,” he cajoled, holding her effortlessly. She could see the familiar signs of arousal on his face and feel his cock hardening against her leg. Her body reacted in predictable fashion, her insides clenching in anticipation and her breathing picking up.

She shook her head. “No, we can’t . . .”

“Just one kiss,” he promised, lowering his head. His mouth was hot and skillful on hers, his tongue caressing the inside of her lips, and Mia could feel herself melting on the spot, a pleasurable fog engulfing her mind. Before she could completely forget herself, however, he stopped, lifting his head and carefully rolling off her.

“Go,” he said, and there was a wicked smile on his face. “I don’t want you to be late.”

Frustrated, Mia got up and threw a pillow at him. “You’re evil,” she told him. Now she was extremely turned on, and she wouldn’t get a chance to see him for the next few hours. The only thing that made her feel better was the fact that he would suffer equally.

“Just wanted you to hurry back, that’s all,” he said, grinning, and Mia threw another pillow at him before grabbing Maria’s gift and heading out the door.

She managed not to be late, although all twelve of the other charl were already there when she arrived. Maria’s invitation message had told her there would be thirteen girls total, including Mia herself.

An unusual musical mix was playing somewhere in the background. The sounds were beautiful, and Mia recognized the melody that Korum sometimes played in the house. However, interspersed with the popular Krinar tune, she could hear the more familiar flute and violin undertones.

The girls were sitting on floating chairs arranged in a circle around a large hovering plank that apparently served as a picnic table. The table was piled high with all manner of delicious-looking fruit and various exotic dishes.

Spotting Mia, Maria gave her an enthusiastic wave. “Hi there, come join us!”

Mia approached, smiling at her. “Happy birthday!” she said, handing Maria a small box wrapped in pretty paper.

“A gift! Oh my dear, you really shouldn’t have!” But Maria’s face glowed with excitement, and Mia knew she’d done the right thing in asking Korum to help her come up with a present.

As eager as a child, Maria tore apart the wrapper and opened the box, taking out a small oval object. “Oh my God, is that what I think it is?!?”

“Korum made it,” Mia explained, pleased by her reaction. Maria obviously knew enough about Krinar technology to understand that she’d just received a fabricator – a device that would enable her to use nanomachines to create all manner of objects from individual atoms. Of course, the computer that Korum had embedded in his palm enabled him to do the same thing without any other devices – and on a much bigger, more complex scale. However, he was one of the very few who could create an entire ship from scratch. Rapid fabrication was a relatively new technology and still fairly expensive, so not all Krinar could afford even a basic fabricator – like the one he had designed for Maria. It was a highly coveted object, Korum had explained.

“Oh my God, a fabricator! Thank you so much!” Maria was almost beside herself with excitement. “This is so great – I can now make whatever clothes I want!”

“And other things too,” Mia said, grinning. The little fabricator wasn’t advanced enough to make complex technology, but it could conjure up all manner of simpler objects.

“Clothes,” Maria said firmly. “I mainly want clothes.”

Everyone around the table laughed at the determined expression on her face, and a red-headed girl yelled out, “And shoes for me!”

“Oh, what am I thinking!” Maria exclaimed amidst all the laughter. “I haven’t even introduced you to everyone yet. Everyone – this is Mia, our newest arrival. As you can see, she’s unbelievably awesome. Mia, you know Delia already. The lovely lady to her right is Sandra, then Jenny, Jeannette, Rosa, Yun, Lisa, Danielle, Ana, Moira, and Cat.”

“Hi,” Mia said, smiling and waving to all the girls. The flood of names was a little overwhelming; there was no way she’d remember all of them right away. Normally, she was shy in social situations where she didn’t know most of the people, but today she felt comfortable for some reason. Perhaps it was because she already had so much in common with these girls. Few others outside of this little group could even begin to understand what it was like to be in a relationship with someone literally out of this world.

Taking a seat on the empty floating chair, Mia stared around the table with unabashed curiosity. Like her, all these girls were immortal. Did that mean that some of them were older than they looked? For the most part, they appeared young and strikingly beautiful, of various races and nationalities. However, a couple of them were merely pretty, and Mia wondered again why the godlike Krinar were attracted to humans in the first place. Was it the ability to drink their blood? If taking blood was as pleasurable as having it taken, then she could see the appeal.

Turning her attention to Delia, Mia thanked her for letting her know about the party in the first place.

“Of course,” Delia said. “I’m glad you could make it. We heard you weren’t in Lenkarda for the past week; otherwise, Maria would’ve sent you the formal invitation earlier.”

“Yes, I was in Florida, visiting my family,” Mia explained and saw Delia’s eyebrows rise in question.

“Korum let you go there?” she asked, and there was a note of disbelief in her voice.

“We went together,” said Mia, popping a strawberry into her mouth. The berry was sweet and juicy; the Krinar definitely knew how to get the best fruit.

“Oh,” said Delia, “I see . . .” She seemed slightly confused by this turn of events.

“Do you ever go visit your family?” Mia inquired without thinking. “Are they still in Greece?”

Delia smiled, looking unaccountably amused. “No, they’re no longer around.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry . . .” Mia felt terrible. She’d had no idea this girl was an orphan.

“It’s okay,” Delia said calmly. “They passed away a long time ago. I now only have bits and pieces of memories about them. We didn’t have photographs back then.”

Mia began to get an inkling of the situation. “How long ago is a long time?” she asked, unable to contain her curiosity. No photographs? Just how old was Arus’s charl?

“Oh, you don’t know Delia’s story?” the brown-haired charl who’d spoken before asked. “Delia, you should tell Mia –”

“I didn’t get a chance, Sandra,” Delia said, addressing the girl. “I only met Mia once before.”

“Our Delia here is a bit older than she seems,” Sandra said, an anticipatory grin on her face. “I just love the newbies’ reactions when they hear her true age . . .”

Intrigued, Mia stared at the Greek girl. “What
is
your true age, Delia?”

“To the best of my knowledge, I will be two thousand three hundred and twelve this year.”

Mia choked on a piece of strawberry she’d been eating. Coughing, she managed to clear her throat enough to wheeze out, “What?”

“Yep, you heard her right,” Sandra said, laughing. “Delia is only a bit younger than some of the pyramids –”

And older than Korum
. “You’ve been a charl this whole time?” Mia asked incredulously.

“Ever since I was nineteen,” Delia said, looking at her with large brown eyes. “I met Arus on the coast of the Mediterranean, near my village. He was much younger then, barely two hundred years old, but to me, he was the epitome of wisdom and knowledge. I thought he was a god, especially when he showed me some of their miraculous technology. The day he took me to their ship I was convinced he brought me to Mount Olympus . . .”

“Where did you live this whole time? On Krina?” Mia was utterly fascinated. For some reason, she’d thought that Krinar-human liaisons were a fairly recent development. Although now that she thought about it, the existence of the charl/cheren terminology in Krinar language implied that these types of relationships had to have been around for a while.

“Yes,” Delia said. “Arus took me to Krina when he left Earth. We lived there until the Krinar came here a few years ago.”

Mia looked at her, imagining how shocking and overwhelming it must have been for someone from ancient Greece to end up on another planet. Even for Mia, who knew that the Krinar were not in any way supernatural, a lot of what they could do seemed like magic. What would it be like for someone who had never used a cell phone or a TV, who had no idea what a computer or a plane was?

“How did you cope with that?” Mia wondered. “I can’t even picture what it must’ve been like for you.”

Delia lifted her shoulders in a graceful shrug. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I can barely recall those early days at this point – everything is one big blur of images and impressions in my mind. I didn’t handle the trip to Krina well, I remember that much. Your cheren – who wasn’t even born at the time – has done a lot to make intergalactic travel safer and more comfortable. But back then, it was much more difficult. I was horribly sick during the entire trip because the ship wasn’t optimized for humans, and it took me a few days to recover when I got to Krina, even with their medicine.”

“Did you want to go?” Mia couldn’t help feeling intense pity for a nineteen-year-old who had been taken away from everything she knew and brought to a strange and unfamiliar place.

Delia shrugged again. “I wanted to be with Arus, but I don’t think I fully realized what that entailed. Obviously, I don’t have any regrets now.”

“Are there any charl who are older than you?”

“Yes,” Delia said. “There are two of them. One is the charl of the biology expert who developed the process of extending human lifespan. He’s almost five thousand years old. And another one is only about five hundred years older than me. She’s originally from Africa.”

“Wait, did you say he?” This was the first time Mia had heard about a male charl.

“Yes,” Sandra said, joining their conversation. “I was surprised too. But some Krinar women – and men – take human men as their charl. It’s much rarer, but it does happen. Sumuel – the original charl, as he’s known – is actually with a mated couple.”

Mia blinked. “Like a threesome?”

“Pretty much,” Sandra said with a naughty grin on her face. “It’s a somewhat unusual arrangement, but it works for them. The couple’s daughter thinks of Sumuel as her third parent.”

“The Krinar couple’s daughter?”

“Yes, of course,” said Delia. “We can’t have children with the Krinar. We’re not sufficiently compatible, genetically.”

Even though Mia had known that, hearing Delia say the words gave her an odd little ache in her stomach. Over the past few days, Mia had been so happy that she hadn’t had a chance to dwell on the negative aspects of always being with someone not of her own species. Korum had told her in the very beginning that he couldn’t make her pregnant, and she’d had no reason to question that. Besides, she’d had other things on her mind. However, now that Mia was certain of a future with Korum, she realized what that future held – or, rather, what it didn’t hold: children.

Mia didn’t feel a burning urge to be a mother, at least not right now. Having a child was something she’d always pictured as part of a pleasant, nebulous future. She’d always assumed she would finish college, attend graduate school, and meet a nice man somewhere along the way. They would date for a couple of years, get engaged, have a small family wedding, and start thinking about children after they were married for some time. And instead, she had become an extraterrestrial’s charl within a week of meeting him, gained immortality, and lost any chance of a normal human life.