How Dark the World Becomes (44 page)

“Thanks, pal,” I said. “For
that
, I’ll owe you.”

He smiled. 

“You know, Arrie,” I said, “I like you—a lot. But I got this feeling that the times they are a-changing, and that uniform of yours . . . well, just don’t get too comfortable with us being on the same side. You know what I’m saying?”

He looked down at the insignia on the cuff of his tunic and nodded, the smile gone.

“I know,” he said softly, but then he looked up and smiled again, ears erect. “I suspect the day really
will
come when it would have been wonderful to have been able to tell people that
I
once made Sasha Naradnyo ‘do the perp walk.’”

*   *   *

“Someone else would like to see you,” Marr said, smiling from the doorway. She stepped aside, and Tweezaa peeked in, looking around at all the monitors, ears turning and twitching like little radar antennae. Actually, there wasn’t that much stuff around anymore. A week earlier and she’d probably have been pretty frightened by all the mad scientist crap they had me hooked up to.

She came in, walked over to where I was sitting in my chair, and held out her hand. I took it, and she looked at my hand for a moment. She said something in aGavoosh, and Marr translated.

“She says, ‘I always remembered you are real.’”

“Oh, Tweezaa . . . I’m so sorry about Barraki.”

I started crying again, but she crawled up on my lap and put her arms around my neck, just like she did the last time she saw me, back on the shuttle. We held each other for a long time, then she patted my head, as if to make me well, and she slid down. 

She turned and looked at me, and said in what was probably carefully practiced English, “Sasha get well, so take care of me. Please.” 

“You bet, Sweetheart,” I said, and nodded, not really able to say anything else. 

*   *   *

Later I asked Marr what she’d meant, about me taking care of her.

“You’re going to be the head of her personal security detachment—provided you accept the job.”

“That’s a lousy joke,” I said, “considering what a bang-up job I did protecting her brother.”

“You died for them,” she said. Well, not much I could say to that. 

“Whose idea was this?” I asked.

“Her court-appointed guardian thought it would be an excellent choice, because of your proven loyalty, the bond that’s developed between you and Tweezaa, and your credentials.”

“What credentials? Numbers and loan-sharking?”

“You have no actual criminal record, Sasha, since your one arrest was expunged after your military service. In fact, your official recommendations are quite impressive. There’s the letter of thanks from the United States Navy, and don’t forget what Major Arrakatlak said—you were an elite covert operative of the Co-Gozhak, not to mention a decorated combat veteran of the Nishtaaka campaign.”

“
What
decoration?” 

“I believe a Meritorious Service Citation.”

“Yeah, a perfect-attendance award!”

“You don’t really understand resumés, do you?” she asked.

All this was happening pretty fast, and I was worn down from the physical-therapy session, so all of a sudden I felt dizzy. I sat back down in the chair by my bed and leaned back, and I felt the sweat break out on my face and upper body. Marr sat down next to me.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going. But things are going to start happening, Marr—and when they do, I don’t know that Tweezaa’s security detachment is where I belong.”

“I think it is,” she said softly, her hand on my shoulder. “See, there’s this guy I’ve fallen in love with, and you know why? Because he’s going to change the world, but not over the bodies of children. You know, in a few years, Tweezaa’s going to have to decide what she’s going to do with her share of this fortune.”

“You think I should try to brainwash her?”

“No, her brain’s just fine. But she lost her father and her brother. She needs a male in her life—even if he
is
Human—that she can look to for an example. Someone who’s not . . . just . . .
worthless
. Like the rest of the useless parasites in her family. Believe me, I’ve seen them. Just
be
there for her, Sasha. She’ll figure out the rest.”

I thought about that for a while, and it made some sense, except for one problem.

“What about you and me . . . where does that leave us?” I asked. 

She smiled. 

“The Varoki have some really odd customs and laws. I knew some of them, but the proceedings of the uBakai Guardian Court on Akaampta make for interesting reading. The three judges were really
un
impressed with the rest of the e-Traak family, especially the fact that everyone seemed more interested in being named Tweezaa’s fiduciary guardian than really taking care of her.”

“Yeah, well,” I said, “rich assholes are rich assholes, wherever you find ’em, and they always seem to get all the justice they can afford. What’s so unusual about that?”

“Nothing. But the uBakai seem to take the idea of an independent judiciary a lot more seriously than we do—at least in their guardian court system. I think they were really impressed with what Tweezaa had to say as well. That’s not something many Human courts would have given as much weight to. And afterwards, they did something I can’t imagine that any Earth court would have done, especially with a family that influential.”

“What?” I asked. What was the big deal? She looked at me for a moment and smiled that soft, lopsided smile of hers.

“Sasha,
I’m
her court-appointed guardian.
I’m
offering you the job. So, what do you say, sailor?”

I took a deep breath. 

“You know how I’ve lost a bunch of memories?” I asked her. She was surprised by the question, but she nodded.

“I’ve been trying to figure out which ones I’ve lost. Mostly they don’t matter, but there’s one . . . there’s one that’s breaking my heart, Marr. You remember that night on the transport, when we had dinner in the ship’s mess, just the two of us?”

She nodded.

“That night was the first time we made love, wasn’t it?”

She nodded again.

“I wish . . . I really wish I could remember that first night.”

“Oh, Baby,” she said softly. 

Then we kissed, and I guess I’ll remember that.

*   *   *

Later, as I drifted off to sleep, Marr sat in the chair by my bed.

“This thing between you and me,” I said sleepily, “you know it’s a hundred-to-one shot.”

“I know,” she said, and she patted my shoulder and smiled. 

“You’re the perfect cigar, gonna ruin me for everything else in life.”

“Get some sleep, Sasha,” she said, and she left her hand on my shoulder. It was warm, and the warmth gradually spread down through my chest into my heart, and from there it filled my whole body. It was a feeling of contentment that I suppose lots of people know, but I’d never felt before, at least not when I was alive. 

I was home.