Shalia's Diary (23 page)

“Okay, Nang.  I’ll be right here waiting.”

“Good girl.  Don’t worry.  I’ll find her.”

So here I am, taking a break from pacing a rut in the floor as I wait and worry.  I nearly burst into tears when food service dropped off two breakfasts.  I swear Mom, you’d damned sure get back here to eat this shit.  And you’d better be okay, because dementia or not, you’re all I’ve got.

Please be okay.

September 26 (later)

Nang commed.  Someone took my mother away.  She didn’t just wander off.  They abducted her.

According to the vid surveillance, someone came to the door just before sunrise.  I slept right through the tapping on the door they did to get Mom’s attention (she was probably awake and knitting in bed by the light of a small headlamp she has, as she often does).  The vid shows a person wearing a long, dark coat with a hood.  It kept the person’s face shielded and covered all his clothing.  We’re not even sure if it was a man or a woman.  It was somebody Mom knows, because as soon as she answered the door, she smiled up at him and conversed pleasantly.  There is no sound on the vid, so Nang couldn’t run a voice recognition program. 

Mom went back into the room, and the person moved almost all the way out of vid range.  Only the flared hem of his coat could be seen along one edge of the vid frame.  A couple minutes later Mom came out of the dorm, fully dressed and looking happy to go. 

Worse still, vid surveillance shows them leaving with two others through a hole in the perimeter fence no one knew about.  Decorative shrubbery hid the opening from view.  The Kalquorians only discovered it because you can see Mom and her companions duck behind a tall bush.  The next moment, they’re outside the fence and heading away from the Academy.

Nang told me they have re-captured most of the gang members.  With only half a dozen still missing, he has sent out a bunch of Nobeks including Esak to track Mom and her abductor.  I was so glad to hear Esak was part of the search effort.  If anyone will do everything possible to find Mom, he will. 

Nang said, “The lockdown is still in effect, Shalia, so I must ask you to sit tight for a bit longer.  We still have six dangerous men loose on the site, and we are also conducting a dorm-to-dorm search to figure out who else is missing that should be here.  Your mother knew at least one of her kidnappers, and that person knows the Academy grounds.”

I couldn’t help but sob as I spoke to him.  “It’s all my fault for being too friendly with your people.  They’ve taken Mom who knows where to punish me for my crimes.”

“You have committed no crime, little one.  The crime has been committed against you and Matara Eve.  She will be found, along with those who dared to steal her away.  You have my word on it.  My own Nobek leads the search, and he is the best tracker I have ever known.”  Nang’s voice was strong with confidence.  “They will pay for making you cry, Matara.  I will see to it myself.”

About ten minutes after Nang’s com, Dusa called.  “Shalia, I am so sorry to hear about your mother being taken.  Esak is out looking for her with a very good bunch of trackers.  They will find her.”

I was so glad to hear Dusa’s voice.  “You don’t know how much it helps to know Esak is part of the search.  You can’t come see me, can you?”

“I wish I could, if only to hold you.  Right this moment I snuck away from the search we’re doing of the dorms to see if any other Earthers are missing.  I have to get back right away before I’m missed.  I did want you to know we are going to get Matara Eve back though.”

I got all weepy again.  All my Kalquorian friends were being so good to me.  No sooner had I got off the com when Weln called, absolutely irate and frightened over Mom.  As non-combat personnel, he too is under lockdown.  I swear he was in tears; I could hear the catch in his voice as he begged me to let him know the instant she’s found.  My Kalquorian dad Nayun also commed with his encouragement and sympathies.  His lockdown is in the heavily guarded medical center.  It’s good to know that – God, I hate to write this – if they find Mom hurt, Nayun will be there to take care of her.

If good intentions could save the day, Mom would be wished right here right now.  It sucks I can’t be a part of the search, but I know everyone is doing their best to get her back.  As hard as it is, I have to trust in them.  And pray.

September 27

There has been no word yet except a couple of calls from Nang and Dusa essentially telling me to hang in there.  I tried to sleep last night, but couldn’t really rest.  I’d doze off only to wake from nightmares.  I even woke up once to discover I was looking under the beds, trying to find Mom in my sleep.  I’m a wreck.  I need

Bastard!  I hate Earthers!

Apparently the lockdown is over, because there was a knock on my door that interrupted my writing.  Hoping it was Mom, I ran over and threw the door open.  Instead of her I saw Father Lucas, that priest that sometimes ate ... fuck, EATS with Mom. 

I refuse to write about her in past tense because she’s got to be okay, wherever she is. 

Anyway, Father Lucas had this really serious look on his face, and I was afraid Nang had sent him to give me bad news, like you’d typically have a priest or cop do.

“Yes?” I asked when I could find enough breath to speak.

He has one of those big carrying voices, which is funny for such a skinny old man.  “Shalia Monroe, I have heard Eve was abducted.”

“Yes, she has.  Would you like to come sit down?”  I was too relieved for words when he didn’t tell me the unthinkable.

“I will not set foot in your den,” he intoned.

I thought, well fine then fuck you.  But I didn’t say it.  Yet.

“What do you want?” I asked.  I was being rude as hell, but if Father Lucas was going to be an unhelpful dick, then I didn’t want to hear it.  And if the lockdown was over, I wanted to talk to Nang right away.  In the meantime, I wasn’t going to chase Father Lucas away on the off chance he had information that would help me find Mom.

“Your poor mother is reaping the seeds of sin you sowed.”  He sounded like a hissing snake with all those sibilants.  “An innocent is forced to bear the burden of her daughter’s lust.  Lust for aliens.”

“What has happened to her?  Where is she?” I fairly screamed.  I advanced on him and he backed away, but not like he was scared of me.  It was more like I was so diseased he was afraid my mere presence would contaminate him.

“I do not know.  Others have obviously taken it upon themselves to punish you through the proxy of your mother.  While you deserve judgment, I do not believe Eve should suffer for it.  You should be ashamed of what you’ve done.”

“I think you should be more worried about what I’m about to do, rather than my past actions,” I snarled, so pissed off I couldn’t see straight.  My hands clenched into fists.  Maybe the priest didn’t have anything to do with Mom’s disappearance, but I was ready to punch someone.  As far as proxies were concerned, Father Lucas with his self-righteous sneer was as good as anyone.

He took another step back, and his eyes finally lit with a little concern.  “You do not dare strike a man of God.”

“Why not?  They crucified Jesus didn’t they, and he was the son of God!  If you know where my mother is, I suggest you start talking because I’m done being nice.”

Father Lucas put his skeletal hands up as if to ward me off.  “I swear, I do not know where she is.  If I did, I’d tell someone to make sure she’s safe.  She doesn’t deserve to be frightened or harmed.”

I was pretty sure he was telling the truth, so I stopped stalking him.  “Fine.  If you can’t help, then go away and don’t come near me again.”

He had the balls to shake a finger at me.  “Shalia Monroe, you will pay the dues of your harlotry.  God does not suffer whores—”

“Get the fuck away from me!” I screamed.  “You sanctimonious bag of shit, you wouldn’t know God if he put his almighty foot up your ass!  Fuck off!”

Someday, Mom will be sitting next to me safe and sound and knitting caps for oversized Kalquorian heads.  At that point I’m going to look back on this, remember the look on that priest’s face, and laugh my ass off.  Some day.  We’ll be on Kalquor by then, because I’m not going to any colonies.  I am done with my own kind.  The farther away from these fools I get, the happier I’ll be.

I keep trying to reach Nang but he’s not answering his com.  The son of a bitch hasn’t returned the half dozen messages I’ve left since my encounter with that asshole priest.  Screw this.  The lockdown is done, so I’m going to his office and see if he’s found anything new out.  If I can’t find him, I’m going to start looking for Mom myself.

September 29

Good God, what a crazy couple of days.  It could take forever just to write it all down.  But, here I go:

I found Nang just charging out of his office when I got there.  He immediately grabbed me and shook me until my teeth nearly rattled in my head.  “What are you doing here?  I just commed your room and got no answer!  I was afraid something had happened!”

I kicked at him to make him stop shaking me.  “And how many messages have I left you?  What the hell is going on with my mother?”

Nang scowled, but he stopped treating me like a rag doll.  “That’s what I wanted to tell you.  There are about twenty Earthers missing from the Academy.  We think they’ve joined up with an outside group planning to make trouble for us here, and we also believe they have Matara Eve.  After analyzing the vids closely, it appears your mother was lured away by those three women who befriended her when she first got here. Mataras Patty, Deirdre and ... oh, I don’t remember the other one’s name.”

“Fran,” I supplied, my head swimming with disbelief.  The Pageant Trio.  Boy, we’re in big trouble when the beauty queens go on a kidnapping spree. 

“Anyway, we finally tracked them and your mother to a building about four miles away that used to house many shops.  The Colonial Mall complex?”

Had I not been so worried about Mom’s welfare, I might have laughed.  Trust the P.T. to take Mom to the mall.  Torment old women while you have your nails done.  Stop by the shoemaker and get your feet custom measured while you’re at it.  Commission your next piece of jewelry.  Except the mall, like Earth, was dead now.

“I’m on my way out there.”  Nang smiled at me as a small Kalquorian shuttle sailed up to us and settled quietly to the ground.  “In a few minutes, Matara Eve will be safe.”

“Great,” I said.  “I’m going with you.”

“Absolutely not.”  He actually looked affronted by my statement.  “Those people are armed and there are at least two hundred of them.  It would be very dangerous for you to go there.”

“You said only twenty left the Academy.”

“Apparently they’ve been spying for a larger number, a group we’ve been trying to track down for the last few weeks.  We think they’ve been preparing to attack us here once they get enough people to join them.”

Great, an attack force.  And they had my mother.  They could have been planning to use her as a hostage perhaps, because Eve Monroe wasn’t going to be able to knit them workable guns.  Bastards.

“Let me go, Nang.”  I was perfectly willing to beg.  “I need to be there to be sure Mom’s okay.”

“I’m not going to be worrying about your welfare at the same time I’m trying to save your mother and eliminate a threat.”  He gave me a severe look, like a dad telling his teenage daughter she wasn’t seeing that delinquent boy who zoomed around on a speed cycle.  “I’ve already sent a security detail to your quarters.  You can meet them there and stay where you’ll be safe.”

“Nang—”

“No, Shalia.”  He strode off to board the waiting shuttle.  “I will see you in no more than an hour’s time.”

I stood there, feeling more helpless than ever as the shuttle lifted and flew away.  Then I did a really stupid thing.  Yep.  I went out after Mom.