Sleeping Jenny (22 page)

“At first I didn't know what to think, but then I realized the connection just made me like you more.” My cheeks burned with the truth.

He sat back against the wall, and I felt guilty for not telling him sooner. “I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to scare you away.”

“You'd never scare me away, Jenny.”

So what? He'd just lurk on the edge of my sight, teasing me every day of my life? Frustration built up like lava inside me. “Look, it doesn't matter anyway. We're not supposed to be together, right? You have your responsibilities.”

Angela's disc stopped and the screen turned blank. “Let's just get this over with and pop in the next disc.”

Unwilling to argue, I got up, ejected Angela's disc, and popped in the second to last one, hoping it wasn't more polar bears or messages from my best friend.

Crashing waves stretched out on my wallscreen above a white railing. Mom leaned against the side, her hair blowing in the wind. She laughed as the camera turned on Dad's face. He wore a Hawaiian shirt and carried a margarita with an orange umbrella.

Maxim's face instantly softened. “Is that them?”

“Yeah.” My heart broke all over again as they twirled across the deck. “This must be an old vacation video someone threw in.”

“Do you want to keep watching?”

As much as the sight of my parents together, healthy and happy, comforted me, I needed to know the truth. “Fast forward. See if there's anything else.”

After a luau with fire dancers and a walk along a sandy beach, the video faded out.

Maxim held up the last disc. “Just one left.”

Maybe there was no answer on the discs after all. For all I knew, this last one could be another vacation video or another season of
National Geographic
. I felt stupid for bringing Maxim here, for making him sit through old family movies. “Maybe I was wrong.”

“We have to give it a try.” Maxim stuck the disc in and sat beside me on the bed. We waited, my heart beating faster each second as the wallscreen read the old disc.

Timmy's adult face stared back at me, darkness tingeing the corners of his eyes. “Hi, Jenny.” Standing in Dad's study, he wore a black suit with a long black tie, and the solemn tone of his outfit took the breath right out of me. The white lilies in the back screamed funeral.

Timmy let out a heavy sigh. “This will be the last entry in my video collection to you. I know I haven't kept up with it, but life has gotten in the way, and to tell you the truth, I've spent so many hours waiting.” He rubbed his forehead like he had a headache. “I need to move on.”

Beside me, Maxim threaded his fingers through mine. I held on, glad he was there.

Loosening his tie, Timmy angled the camera so he could sit down at my dad's mahogany desk. He picked up Dad's paperweight, a golden globe of Earth, and ran his fingers along the impressions in the surface. “I considered leaving it be, but if you ever wake up one day, I want you to know what happened to Mom and Dad.”

My heart leapt to my throat and I struggled to breathe. My chest felt like a python had squeezed around it. Maxim tightened his grip beside me.

“I was at school when it happened.” Timmy rubbed his eyes, almost looking as though he'd changed his mind and would shut off the video before I had a chance to learn the truth. I leaned forward, my eyes glued to the wallscreen.
Please, Timmy, I need to know
.

“It was their anniversary. They were driving on route 102 to Luigi's when an old Chevy hydroplaned and hit them head-on. They're gone, Jenny. Just like you. I couldn't freeze them. The coroner said after the fire there wasn't enough left.

“I've decided I don't want to be frozen, no matter what happens to me. The doctors promised Mom and Dad that they were close, but now they're saying they're nowhere near a cure. Who knows if we'd even wake up in the same decade? Besides, I've met someone, a woman I can't live without. We're going to get married after I graduate, and I want to be by her side forever, even if it means I go with her in this lifetime. Jenny, I'm sorry. I always thought we'd be together, and I've loved you forever, but I need to let you go.”

The video clicked off and the screen went as black as the hole in my chest. I'd lost them all over again. Somehow knowing my parents' lives had been cut short, while mine had been prolonged, made it worse. They'd had so many plans, so many hopes and dreams. Dad wanted to expand his business. Mom always said she'd retire early and finally have time to spend with us. Their untimely deaths made me realize that I had to live my dreams now. You never knew how much time you really had.

Maxim held me as my body convulsed with sobs. He wrapped me in his arms and I let the sorrow overtake me in an inevitable tidal wave.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Hope

“
Y
ou sure you'll be okay, Jennifer?” Len touched the back of my hand as I lay curled in a ball on the couch. She slung her miniscreen bag across her pressed navy tunic, looking like the perfect futuristic businesswoman.

Wrapped up in a formless robe, I felt like such a slouch. “Yeah, I just need some time to myself. To sort things out.”

“Take all the time you need. I've let Principal Hall know you'll be out for a while.”

“Thanks, Len.” She and Valex had been very understanding when I told them about the final video. I made sure not to mention anything about the album, so they thought I had just turned it on to be close to my family for my birthday.

Len touched her bag. “Buzz my miniscreen if you need me.”

I nodded.

Len hugged Pell and slipped out the front door. Valex had already left, and C-7 buzzed in the kitchen, cleaning.

Pell ran over and kissed my cheek, “Feel better soon.”

“Thanks, kiddo. Sorry you have to ride the bus alone.”

“It's okay. I'm a big girl now.” Ever since her birthday party, Len and Valex had been feeding her that phrase to get her to do “big girl” things. I was surprised it worked.

“You are.” I tousled her hair. “Kick some cyber butt in school today.”

“I always get straight A's.” Pell grabbed her lunch container and scampered out of the apartment, leaving me with C-7. A while back, I would have been afraid to be alone with him, but now I was glad for his company, even if he
was
a robot.

Minutes after everyone left, C-7's metal feet clicked on the linoleum. The steps grew silent as he reached the carpeted living room. I glanced up. He still wore his apron from cleaning the dishes, and a towel dangled from his silver fingers.

I straightened up, thinking he needed me to get up to wipe down the couch, but he didn't move. “Something wrong?”

“Jennifer, your miniscreen is beeping with a message.”

I blinked, wondering how he had access to my incoming mail. Was he all-knowing like HAL from
2001?
Maybe he'd just cleaned my room and saw it blinking.

“I'll check it later. I don't want to get up.” It was probably Maxim worrying about me, or Principal Hall sending his condolences. Right now I didn't want to deal with either of them.

He titled his oblong head and his eye seemed to wink in the glint of fluorescent light. “This message might cheer you up.”

“Oh, all right.” I pulled myself up, my muscles creaking. Collecting the tail of my robe in my arms, I dragged my feet to my room.

I squashed down hope as I flipped open the lid. Who could it possibly be to cheer me up? My parents and Timmy were gone, and Maxim was still with Exara. Nothing could change the absolutes in my life.

Jax's face flashed on, eagerness etched in his boyishly round features. I started to shake all over. This could only mean one thing.

“Congratulations, Jennifer. You've made the team.” A smile worked its way onto his lips before he put on a serious face. “It will be you, me, Yara, and two others whom you haven't met. We leave this Friday, November twenty-sixth, at precisely eight-thirty-five PM. A hovercraft will pick you up at eleven-twenty-one AM so you can start the initiation process. Pack only what you can carry on your back. A lawyer will be available to carry out any last wishes on your behalf. Of course, secrecy is needed for this mission to take off as planned. No one can know about your impending departure.

Buzz this number if you have any questions or if you change your mind.”

The message flickered out, leaving me stunned.

Me?
Chosen for an intergalactic space mission to Paradise 15? Deep down I'd known this could happen, but the reality of it struck me like a lightning bolt and I couldn't move.

Did I want to go? I had felt complete wholeness when I touched that horse. The yearning to ride surged up inside me. This futuristic high-rise world suffocated me. If I stayed, I'd end up like Martha. In my heart of hearts I knew the answer.
Yes
.

Was it the best path? Valex and Len had their own lives, and soon Pell would grow up and find a job and spouse. If I stayed, I could visit with them from time to time, but I couldn't build my life around theirs. I couldn't live my life for them.

What about Maxim?
My heart shuddered as I thought of leaving him behind. Living a life of stolen kisses and secret conversations wasn't enough for me. If I bought his family's high-rise, I'd feel I was buying his love. The last thing I wanted was for Maxim to feel chained to me like he did Exara. Knowing him, he wouldn't take my money anyway.

I brought up the calendar on my miniscreen and double-checked the date—Monday, November 22. The mission left on Friday. Four days to prepare. Four days to change my mind.

I slipped on a long-sleeved tunic sweater and velcroed up my thigh-high boots. The air had winter's chilly edge to it, but I wouldn't be around for Christmas.

“Where are you going, Jennifer?” C-7 met me as I tried to slip out the door. I had a few hours at most before Pell got home.

I clutched my backpack with shaking hands and stared him down, daring him to stop me. “I have to visit someone.”

C-7 moved toward me and my heart sped up. Would he physically hold me back? He raised his arm and I shrank back against the wall. This was it. My life would end with a murderous robot crushing my skull.

He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, and shame for my prejudices tingled in my face. “Make sure you're back before two forty-five.”

I stared into his unchanging, twilight eyes. “Why are you helping me?”

His head tilted and gears buzzed underneath a panel in his neck. “Because you need it.”

“But, I mean, you could get into a lot of trouble. You told me before you could have your memory erased. Why risk so much?”

There was a dent in his arm, a chink in his robotic armor. What had caused it? Was it like a scar? All of a sudden he looked more vulnerable.

C-7's voice spoke softly, with a slight change in intonation. “I know what it is like to be misunderstood.”

All those times Pell yelled at him and called him bothead came to mind. All C-7 did was help, and Valex and Len took him for granted while their daughter hated him. I was the only one who ever noticed him, who ever talked to him like a person. In a way, I was his only friend.

“Thanks. You're a big help.” Without him, I wouldn't have found Martha in the first place, or been introduced to the Timesurfers.

C-7 turned away, dusting a cranny in the wall. “You should go.”

I checked the time on the wallscreen. “You're right. I have a few hours at most.”

As I turned to leave, C-7's voice held me still. “Life is a gamble, but nothing worth having is not without some form of risk.”

Only when I got on the hoverbus did I realize he wasn't talking about going out today. He was talking about going on the mission.

C-7 knew.

“Come back for more, tea, eh?” Martha winked as I stepped into her apartment.

“Um…sure.” I couldn't tell her why I was there. Jax had clearly instructed me not to tell anyone about the mission. Still, I couldn't leave without saying good-bye in some way.

Jumbo pounced on the floor in front of me and hissed.

“Yeah, it's good to see you, too.”

“Don't mind him.” Martha puttered around in the kitchen. Porcelain cups rattled. “The old geezer has indigestion problems that are making him snippy.”

I swallowed hard. “Is he going to be okay?” There was a bald spot on his back I hadn't noticed before.

“He's sixteen years old. That's eighty in people years.”

The thought of Martha's cat dying and leaving her alone made me sick. I wished I could take her with me. “I joined the Timesurfers,

Martha.”

Her eyes gleamed as she brought in two cups of steaming tea. “I knew you would. Did they show you their underground base?”

“Oh, yeah.” I thought back to the animals as I took my cup and balanced it on my legs. “I got to touch a real horse.”