Devotion (11 page)

“What shall we do today?” Tikki asked Charlie.

“Can we go and see the elephants?” he asked.

“Maybe later, when Okil comes back. But until then I think we have to stay here.” She looked around; there was little for a young child to do, no toys, except for those he had brought with him. “Maybe it would be safe for us to go in the garden. But first I think we should try to get to grips with the bathroom. We both need a shower.”

“Is it the same as on Earth?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Let’s have a look.” Together they headed for the bathroom, where the toilet looked fairly normal, but the shower did not.

“Where does the water come from?” Charlie asked, looking up.

“I don’t know. Shall I press this and see?” She pressed a button but nothing happened. So she tried again. Still nothing.

“Is it broken?” Charlie asked, disappointed.

“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll have to ask Okil when he gets home.”

Before they could leave the bathroom, there was a loud knock on the door. Tikki froze. Charlie’s eyes filled with terror and he went to run. She grabbed him and held him to her. Then she pointed to the shower cubicle and he went in, shutting the door behind him and crouching down in the corner.

Going into the bedroom, she pulled the covers over his teddy bear and made sure there were no other toys visible. All the time someone knocked on the door.

Tikki stood behind the solid wooden door, wondering if she should just ignore it. But what if whoever was out there burst in and then searched the place? If she answered the door, it would look as though she had nothing to hide, right? As her hand reached out, an excited voice called her name.

“Tikki, it’s me, Elissa. Open up.”

“Elissa!” Tikki couldn’t believe it and threw the door open, to be caught in a tight hug from her sister. “I can’t believe it’s you. And oh my goodness, look at your belly.”

Elissa ran her hand over her stomach, and Tikki caught sight of the colours that flashed across her skin. Okil had told Tikki what had happened in the decon’ and how, in trying to repair Elissa’s burnt hands, he had given her a diluted form of Karalian skin. “I know, scary, isn’t it? In a couple of months’ time I am going to give birth to the first Karal–human hybrid.”

“That is wonderful. I am so pleased it worked out for you and Marin.” Tikki looked behind her sister to where the Karalian stood, a little further back, not knowing what to do. “Hello, Marin. Thank you so much for looking after Elissa. Okil told me all about it.”

“Okil? Now, that was a surprise. Darl told Marin last night. Marin then kept it from me. Can you believe that?”

“If I hadn’t, you would have been over here at midnight. And I expect your sister and Okil had
other
things on their mind,” Marin said, his polite inflection not lost on either woman.

If only you knew, thought Tikki, hoping that Charlie would keep himself hidden. Although she trusted her sister, the more people who knew about Charlie, the harder it would be to keep him a secret. Although she did want to see if Elissa knew anything about the new life Sienna had with her pent. It was looking more likely that the whole thing was a lie, and Elissa might just know something that may shed light on what Sienna was doing. And how she’d ended up caring for Charlie.

Taking a risk, but knowing that time was not on their side, she asked Elissa in. “I have no idea how anything works, maybe you can show me.” She led Elissa to the kitchen.

“Listen, I have some errands to run. Why don’t I pick you up in an hour?” Marin said, looking between the two of them and realising that if he stayed he would be subject to an hour of sisterly catch-up chitchat.

“Great idea, Marin,” Elissa went to him and kissed his lips. “I’ll see you soon. Just don’t be too long.” Elissa touched her belly again and said to Tikki, “We have a scan this morning. It’s why Darl came over, to let me know he is back. And with Reja too. Who would have thought we would all be here together?”

“Who would have thought?” Tikki said absently. She hadn’t banked on Marin leaving them alone. Now she was bursting to ask Elissa what she knew about Sienna and even considered telling her about Charlie. But would it put her sister in danger?

“So, let’s make some tole and then you can tell me how exactly you and Okil came to be an item,” Elissa said, taking cups from the cupboard and showing Tikki how to make the coffeelike drink. “It’s easy; you just have to make sure you don’t put in too much of the powder.”

“While you do that, would you excuse me, I just have to go to the bathroom,” Tikki said, taking the opportunity to go and check on Charlie.

“Sure. It takes a couple of minutes to brew.” Elissa made herself busy, while Tikki went back to the bedroom and shut the door.

Going to the bathroom, she opened the door quietly and was thankful to see Charlie still where she had left him. “Come on. It’s only my sister, so I think you will be safe on the bed. Wait there quietly, and as soon as she has gone, we can go and look in the garden. Is that OK?”

Charlie nodded. He showed no sign of wanting to speak, and dived under the covers as soon as he could, pulling them up over his head. Tikki was pleased that she couldn’t tell he was there, but felt a pang of guilt for not sharing this with her sister. Then she thought of Harri and knew her sister had kept personal stuff to herself. It was what you did to protect people, she was realising that now.

Still, she had to find out what Elissa knew about Sienna.

“So, tell.” Elissa passed a cup of tole to Tikki.

“Well, after you left, Okil came to visit. He wanted to make sure I was OK and to let me know that you were happy with Marin. You know, not having contact with you was hard. So I was extremely grateful, especially when it was my fault you were here.”

“I must admit I got lucky. It was scary at first, being the only human on Karal, and knowing that I was chosen on purpose.” Elissa let her eyes drift up to Tikki’s. “I don’t know if Okil told you that they thought I was a threat to them?”

“No. He didn’t.” It wasn’t a lie, Darl had told her about Elissa’s involvement with the resistance.

“I never knew how much he knew. Lytril, the Hier Ruler, keeps a lot to himself.” She sipped her tole. “I was involved with the resistance.”

“Why?” Tikki had never expected the conversation to get to this point so quickly.

“I got caught up in with a group of people who thought the Karal had come to Earth to enslave us. When I realised I was just being used, I left. The whole thing was stupid, and I should have told you, but I wanted to forget about it. I was ashamed.” Elissa wiped a tear away. “Pregnancy hormones, they make me a blubbering fool.”

“No. I’m glad you told me. Although some of it, I did know. But not from anyone here.”

Elissa looked up at Tikki. “Then who told you?”

“I … I had a visit.” Tikki was still trying to gauge how much to tell Elissa.

Elissa’s face went pale. “A visit from who?”

“Harri.”

Her sister put her hand to her mouth. “Oh, Tikki, I am sorry. He came to see me at the hospital, tried to get me to be a spy for them. He even gave me a stim, poison, in case I wanted to end my life. I swear I never thought he would drag you into all of this.”

“He didn’t. But he is the reason I am here.”

“I don’t understand, I thought Okil was the reason you are here.” Elissa’s face was serious now.

“He is.” Tikki put her face in her hands. The whole story was bubbling up inside her, and she needed to share it with Elissa to get some answers.

“What is it?” Elissa asked softly.

“Harri came to see me the day before I came here. He was looking for something.” This was it: did she tell her sister about Charlie, or not? “It had to do with Sienna.”

“Sienna? I haven’t spoken to her since before … well, she knew of my involvement with the resistance and didn’t agree.”

“She left the city. I still saw her periodically, even after you left. She told me she was living with a pent, I think … I thought she was a prostitute.”

“Sienna? No.” Elissa shook her head in disbelief. “She would never sink that low.”

“I know that now.” Tikki’s pulse was hammering in her head. Did she tell Elissa everything? She flip-flopped, with each breath, between her choices.

“And you know this because of what Harri told you?” Elissa sounded confused, as though she were trying to fit it all together.

“No. Although I think what he was looking for has something to do with why Sienna is dead.” Tikki watched the shock on her sister’s face.

“Dead!” Pure shock hit Elissa and her face paled. “How?”

“The story is she fell into the canal.”

“Story?”

“Yes. Well,
I
think she was murdered.”

“Who would kill her?” Elissa asked, but already the pieces were fitting together. “Harri?”

“If he wasn’t the hand that pushed her in, I think he most definitely knew whose it was.” Tikki had skirted around the truth for long enough. “Before she died, she asked me to look after something. I don’t know why she came to me. But she did.”

“And somehow Harri knew,” Elissa asked.

“Yes.”

“What was it? Information?”

“Of a kind,” Tikki said. And left it there: she couldn’t bring herself to put her sister in jeopardy. “I’m not even sure if what he left is of any use. All I know is that he insinuated that there was a plot to take over Karal.”

“The planet?” Elissa asked, shocked.

“I believe so. I know from Okil that the President has been pushing for space cruisers to be given to Earth, on the pretence that they can begin their search for a new home. It seems they don’t trust the Karal to help them, or maybe they just want to speed it up. But you know how governments work, Elissa. What if they think they can come here and take the planet? The wormhole is already open. It would be easy.”

“Except for the thousands of Karalians who will be here, ready to fight. And I have no idea what weapons they might have hidden under the tower. They use the technology they garner from other species and use it as their own.”

“I know. It seems like suicide, to go up against the Karal. Which makes me think they have some kind of plan. Maybe inside information. This is not the resistance. This is the President. He would not be stupid enough to start a war he has no way of finishing.”

“No Karalian would give him information. And no human has ever visited Karal and returned to Earth. They have very strict laws.” Elissa’s brow creased in thought. But it appeared she had no further light to shed on the problem.

“Then I don’t understand why they would risk everything.”

“Especially the President; he has always been for the aliens. And Harri? He was simply a small cog in a big network. The resistance was made up of conspiracy theorists. I was stupid enough to get caught up in it. Then I saw Harri for what he was. He exploded a bomb, which killed people. Killed the Karal. I never wanted that.” The memories this had dredged up made Elissa sob, and Tikki went to her and hugged her sister tightly.

“I am sorry to bring this all back to you. You looked so happy with Marin.”

“We are happy. But I am grateful you have told me. If trouble is coming, we need to be ready to act.”

“There’s something else…” Tikki’s voice trailed off, and Elissa jumped as there was a knock on the door.

“It’s Marin.” Elissa put her hands to her cheeks, and Tikki could see how flushed and agitated she was.

“Listen, just tell Marin you are excited to see me; don’t tell him any of this.”

“I trust him, Tikki.”

“I know. But I think it’s better that we try to find out more before we involve too many people. This may be nothing, just Harri talking.” Tikki didn’t believe that. It went deeper; she was sure. “I don’t want to risk turning the Karal against humans. We need them to go and find a new planet; we need them to trust us.”

“OK. For now. But I’ll come back in a day or two. I’ll get Marin to drop me off when he has an errand to run. Then I want to know what Harri wanted. OK?”

Tikki nodded. “OK.”

Then her sister left, and she waited by the door, watching them drive into the distance before she went back to Charlie. He was still buried under the covers, and she lay down next to him and pulled him into her arms, feeling very alone and wishing Okil was there with her.

Okil stood before the sim, ready to access the information he needed. No one would come in here; the room was private. Mainly because it was the place where Karalians could come to learn about the way humans procreated. The simulator could create a kind of hologram that they could interact with, and touch. Not that Okil had spent time in here for that reason. He had no need; instead, he had spent endless hours with Tikki, exploring what she liked, how she enjoyed being touched, and how to make her come.

Those thoughts needed to be ignored. He had work to do. If he wanted Tikki to be able to stay, he needed to find out about the threat to her and Charlie, and the one to Karal, if it did indeed exist.

However, the meeting with the President had left him with deep concerns. He was glad he hadn’t been questioned about that this morning, instead he was expected to compile it into a written report. Each council member would receive a copy and read at their leisure; then the council would meet and discuss their views. Finally, Okil would be called to clarify anything they didn’t understand or agree with. Okil wanted extra time to make his own investigation into the President.

Going to the console, he pressed a button, to wake the sim, but chose not to enable speech mode. Instead, he wanted to pull up surveillance data. The sim held all the information gathered by the probes dotted around Earth; like satellites, they watched everything that happened, and the Karal had the technology to pinpoint any person at any time, thanks to the data. Now he was going to concentrate on Tikki’s apartment.

Inputting the date, he went back to the day Harri visited her. Watching, he saw Tikki leave for work, and then about an hour later, a man came to the door and knocked. There was no answer and so he went away again. Two hours later, he returned. Still no answer.