Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (33 page)

“He reminds me of someone that’s all.” Ara
hadn’t seen Trickster for some time and was worried. “What’s really
bugging you?”

Tara was fidgeting in her seat. “Karu asked
to see me after.”

“Ah.”

“And now”—her voice was whiny—“I have three
hundred new best friends.”

“Just think, more tea parties for Meg.”

Tara screamed quietly. “I just want to forget
about it.”

They reached the snow resort and struggled to
find a car park. Ara said, “Busy.”

“Oh no!”

“What?” Ara looked around, trying to see what
was wrong.

“They’re here.”

“Who? Karu and Balin?” But then Ara saw.

“No, the girlfriends and boyfriends. They are
waving.”

“Don’t worry; I booked a cabin right at the
top of the mountain.”

Mountain Resort

Tara slunk in her seat. “Just get the key and
can we go please?”

Ara parked right at the end, at the back, and
walked to the main resort reception. She booked in and accepted the
key.

“All the food has been stocked, Lady Katron.
We have the usual for you, plenty of wood, and skis and snow
equipment are up in the room already.”

“Thank you.”

Ara left, happy at the chance to get away for
a few days.

There were no gatherings inside so the girl
and boy friends weren’t interested in Ara at all. As she neared the
car, she sighed. Poor Tara. The girls and boys were hanging around
the car. Ara had to squeeze by several, smiling and nodding to
their mindless comments, and just managed to slide into the front
seat. She backed up carefully, and Tara waved and smiled inanely.
“I am not leaving the cabin.”

For the first day, Tara lounged in front of
the fire reading.

It suited Ara who was tired. They had rebuilt
the rhino breeding grounds and it was now nine square kilometrons,
with easy access to the main grounds. Sacha had no success with the
whole bee thing, but Marc contacted her and said they were on the
right track. At least he sounded excited because he was still
mapping HaV and he was working again to track those interested in
Saratoga. Ersen was coordinating with Queen Silvia to find out
anything he could there.

She and Tara ate when they wanted, and wore
PJs most of the first day and night. The second day they went
skiing, and then tobogganing. The security guards must have kept
the mobs away because when Ara snuck back down to pick up some hot
chips, there were only a few girls and one boy left who tried to
engage her in conversation. Amazingly, every topic morphed into
something about Karu. “Has Karu seen your Seeker?” “Does Karu visit
the wildlife park?” Ara said, “Yes,” to that one. They wanted more
patronage and volunteers.

“Actually, Karu volunteers occasionally.”

They all stopped talking and, as one,
surrounded her.

“I’ve always wanted to volunteer,” said one
girl.

“I’m studying animals at the moment,” another
said airily.

At least she’d be able to tell animals from
plants. That was a plus. Ara would have felt that unkind of her
except the girl was twirling her hair, and had that vacant look she
associated with an unused brain.

Ara waved a piece of paper when she got back
with hot chips and fish. Tara spread the food out on the floor, and
Ara poured them wine after letting the paper fall to the floor.

“What’s that?”

“Volunteers for the wildlife park.”

Tara squealed with laughter as Ara told her
why she’d been held up.

“The problem now,” she mused, “is getting
Karu to volunteer.” Ara also wondered why she considered most of
them as kids, they were all over sixty.

“Well, he’s a fan of yours I think, so just
ask. Can you imagine it? The Adonis mucking out with my Aunty?
That’s so awesome.”

Bitter Sweet

As Ara chuckled over her new volunteers, she
sent a message to Karu introducing herself. She was sure Dad knew
him and he messaged her back with contact details. She heard Tara
yell out, “Goodnight!” and stood outside in the cool looking out
over the dark, snowy mountains. Ara loved winter on Saratoga; she
really didn’t resent her stay there. She planned to go ice climbing
the following day and Caleb was to join them. They were going to
teach Tara how.

Her Voice beeped and she read the reply:
“Dearest Ara, it would be my pleasure to meet you. I’m sure Tara
Delario passed on my expression of interest. When you return from
holidays please contact Balin and he will make a time for us to
have dinner. Karu.”

Funny how he didn’t actually comment on the
volunteering at all, they were going to dinner, and “expression of
interest”—what the hell was that about? What she didn’t need in her
life was the Adonis. That night she dreamed and there was a strange
tugging sensation, as if she was being pulled in two different
directions. One direction was danger, so she followed a familiar
presence. Opening her eyes, she smiled. “Feathers.”

Aryan Dream – Tuan

“Ara Katron. Welcome.” His unsmiling face was
a welcome sight, while his words warmed her. “I called you.”

“I heard. There was another presence again.
More persistent this time.”

He nodded and his black braid fell over his
bare shoulder. He wore only a loin cloth, and it was warm again.
Ara sat up, once again on the pallet in his hut.

“Where are your people?”

“Around. I like solitude.”

“Do you?” Ara thought it might drive her
batty. She watched him in the dim light. “Is it a new day or new
night?”

“Night approaches.” He went to the long box,
and pulled out the Strike. “I want you to hold this and try to
connect to it.”

She accepted it, and held it up seeing the
energy sparks inside. “Why?”

“The Mobile Unit may one day need Chaos.”

Ara peered at him over the sac. “For?”

He shrugged.

“So,” she said with a drawl, “I have enemies
and I might need Chaos? I don’t even know what the Mobile Unit is
supposed to do.”

“Collect data on matter levels.”

Ara almost dropped the sac. “You knew
that?”

He gave her an odd look and she flushed.

“You know that. You access the data and share
it with Caleb.”

“Shared. Right.” She sighed and settled on
the pallet, sitting cross-legged. “I just thought there might be
more to it.” Please, tell me more.

“For now, as you grow it is all that is
required of you.”

“Honeypot?”

He stared at her blankly. “Pardon?”

“Am I a honeypot drawing the bees and is the
CU recording all who sip and sup while Maya determines why matter
is rising all over Iota?”

His eyes drooped and she thought he was
staring at her boobs. It made her uncomfortable for a few moments
until he raised his eyes again. “Who told you that?”

“I think—” she paused as she wondered how
much to tell him “—I stumbled upon it working with bees at the
wildlife park but it was just a one off job about laying honey
traps.”

“Ah. Maya may have been cluing you in. She
does that.”

“She does?” Ara’s voice was unnaturally high.
“What does it mean?” Geez, and why not just a log?

“It may mean that you will be moving soon. To
another planet. If Maya cannot send a log for some reason then she
may have used an indirect path to ensure you received the prompt.
The message may mean more to someone else. You must tell your
guards about moving.”

Sacha had already told them about the honey
trap idea. The anger in Ara was too great for her to talk but she
spluttered out, “Fine, I’ll tell them. And after Maya doesn’t need
me to draw in shitheads and add up matter?”

“You will experience life.”

She muttered darkly, “I don’t like the sound
of that. Or rather how you say it.”

“Tea?”

“Ah, a change of topic.” She studied his calm
face and knew she needed to calm down. “Yes, please.” It was then
she realized he had picked up on her Geez, and why not just a log?
thought. She tried one more thing. “Who might she be trying to
conceal that message from?”

He said quite calmly, “The Natal.”

So it hadn’t been a dream on the night of her
one hundredth birthday. Ara sat up straight. “Is there another
Mobile Unit somewhere? I mean there was another taken to the Natal
on my one hundredth, and there are other CUs and Mayas.”

“No.”

Thanks for nothing. “They did something to
me.”

“Yes.”

She gritted her teeth, hissing, “Well, what
did they do?”

“They were hiding you from the Natal but it
may not have been effective. We may have to take other
measures.”

Ara wanted to scream. “They were the Natal
and what measures?”

He stood smoothly and turned, Ara had too
good a view of his brown, muscled legs and bottom. It was a
reminder of how long she’d been without physical contact. Twenty
years now. He said, “They worked for—”

“kroTan,” she muttered a little darkly.
“Whoever that is.”

Trickster smiled, left, and then returned and
handed her a large mug.

She sniffed the air. “Hot chocolate?”

He nodded in pleasure, and sat before her
with his mug. “As the Mobile Unit you are unique. Never has someone
like you been fabricated. Both Maya and Natal are afraid. But some
fear so much they were trying to hurt you.”

“Oh.” That actually made sense when she
thought about how Maya had feared her when she was a baby. “But
isn’t the Mobile Unit a good thing in their eyes? Oh, the honey
trap thing, the reason behind matter rising.”

“You must not think of these things, Ara. Try
your hot chocolate.”

Ara’s lip curled but she sipped it and tried
not to screw her face up. “Um … do you have any sugar? Or
milk?”

He nodded, placed his mug down and took hers.
She leaned over seeing the substance in his cup was as dark as
hers. When he returned she sipped it and this time cried out in
disgust before her face burned in embarrassment. She was gagging a
little too, making those hacking noises.

“You do not like it?”

He just watched her as she tried to
recover.

Finally, with her voice scratchy, she asked,
“Um … what did you add?”

“Goat milk and a tree sap that’s quite
sweet.”

Ara knew she should drink it. She knew it was
polite. She sipped it and almost threw up. “I’m sorry! I just
can’t.”

He handed her his. “Try this.”

She was just barely able to drink the
unadulterated version but thanked him for his offer, trying not to
gag as he drank hers.

“Will you show me next time how to make you
hot chocolate the way you like it?”

Ara nodded. “Sure. Do you have cows?”

“We do.”

Ara’s face was getting hot.

Trickster leaned over and took the mug from
her hands. “You are allergic to the tree sap.”

Great.

“Practice using the Strike to heal
yourself.”

Ara almost yelled at him. “Was this some kind
of test?”

“No.” He seemed surprised. “But while you are
holding Chaos you might as well try.”

Half way through her unsuccessful attempt,
where she was now scratching and crying out, Tara’s voice pierced
through her senses.

Mountain Resort

“Aunty, wake up.”

“Baby, drink this.”

Someone lifted her head and she felt
something at her mouth. Sipping a foul tasting concoction, she also
felt a cool sensation spread as someone injected her with
something. But the relief was immediate.

Caleb’s pale green eyes met her one eye.
“Better?”

She eased back and croaked out, “Thank
you.”

“Don’t talk. Your throat was closing over and
Tara couldn’t wake you. Medic is here.”

“She’ll be okay.” The female voice was far
too cheerful. “Two more injections, rest all today, water only.
I’ve taken a blood sample to see what it was but we couldn’t find
any bugs or usual foods.”

“Tree sap,” croaked Ara.

Caleb chuckled. “She’s delirious.”

Ara lay awake, and realized her eyes were
swollen, one was almost shut. It was bright day in her room and she
waved vaguely at the window. Tara slid the drapes closed with some
difficulty. The relief was immediate but Ara didn’t have the heart
to tell the stricken Tara the drapes were for appearances. The
window could have been made opaque.

Caleb looked after her while Tara reorganized
the ice-climb for two days’ time. Ara felt better by evening, but
slept fitfully with Caleb watching over her that night. By the next
day, she was sitting by the fire, reading. Caleb and Tara went out
for a walk. That night Tara went out, daringly, she said, to a
party at the resort club.

Ara had to shower and carefully eased her
body off the couch. She turned on the water and leaned on the tiles
feeling hands on her waist. She didn’t even talk but turned, seeing
his need was as strong as hers.

“How are you feeling?” he whispered hotly in
her ear.

“Good enough for this.” She pressed into
him.

“It’s been some time, Baby.” He kissed the
nape of her neck and over her shoulder. It wasn’t some kinky
erogenous zone of hers but it was doing the trick.

“Me too.” Ara ran her hands up his back,
pressing him closer.

They spent the evening playing, soothing
minds and bodies. That night, after everything except 69 and actual
sex, Caleb kissed her stomach. “I missed you so much.”

She ran her hand through his red hair but he
captured her hand, kissing it. “I missed you too.”

He slid up and gazed down at her. “Twenty
years for me. Not even with Meg.”

Ara’s breath caught. “Me too on the twenty.
But, Caleb, don’t worry about it so much. That’s unnatural for a
FiG.”

He jabbed her in the ribs. “I’m being serious
here.” But his lips traced down to her naval and then up to her
mouth. Kissing her. They both jumped with a big clap of
thunder.