The Faarian Chronicles: Exile (28 page)

Chapter 35: The Slow Hum of Justice

“Veridian,” he began.

“Sunny,” I corrected, crossing my arms. What was he doing
here? He should have been able to stop the other justices who put my mother in
jail without even listening to the evidence. But he didn't.

“Sunny, this is…” Teague began.

“I know who he is,” I interrupted. “He just sat there at the
trial and let them put my mother in jail. And for what? For protecting me when
an Anakharu broke into my room and tried to kill me. They wouldn’t even look at
all the evidence. What kind of justice is that? People who won’t give memory
testimony are automatically guilty? Bunch of lazy, power hungry monsters! You
don’t care about the truth at all, do you?” I found myself shouting right in
his face with my hands balled at my sides.

“The truth is why I’m here, Veridian. I’m attempting to get
your mother a retrial,” he replied, leaning away from me warily.

“Oh.” I stepped back and noticed Teague grinning out of the
corner of my eye, well, as much as Teague ever grinned anyhow.

“Before trial began,” Justice McCall continued, “I received
an anonymous message offering payment – of a sort – to make sure the General
did not go home anytime soon. I ignored it, of course, but during the trial I
realized that my counterparts had received, and must have taken, similar
bribes. The attack on you last night merely strengthened my suspicions. Someone
set your mother up to get her out of the way.”

“Yeah,” I replied, having figured that out already. “But
why? And who sent you that message?”

“Unfortunately, it has proven untraceable. However, I am
sure the reason why someone went to such trouble is your unique DNA. You are
aware that you’re not the only half-Earthan in existence?”

I nodded, thinking of Russ and his family back home.

“There are quite a few of you on Earth actually. However,
you are the only one who’s been able to come to Macawi. You’re the only one
with the chlorophyll mutation, or possibly some hybrid of it.” He looked
speculatively at my hair, which now had at least an inch of greenish-brown
roots showing. “No one is sure why, but you can bet the scientific community
wants to find out. You and your Kindred will need to be careful.”

I nodded shortly and recrossed my arms. Yeah, I’d figured
that out too.

“As soon as I can gather enough evidence, I will be taking
it to the National Council. They are already starting to receive pressure from
the Kindreds questioning the fairness of our justice system for Faarian
defendants. I am confident that we can force a retrial for your mother.”

I started to ask what good that would do when he held up a
hand.

“With new justices.”

“Well, I hope you’re not expecting Mom to give your precious
memory testimony this time, cuz she still won’t do it.”

“Mmmm, quite.” Justice McCall pressed his lips together in
displeasure. “Without her memory testimony, preparing for trial will take many
times longer, but the quicker I can gather the evidence, the quicker it can be
done.

“Now, I need you to tell me everything that happened on the
night and morning in question. Don’t leave anything out.”

“Why? I mean, we already did that whole mind-reading thing
in court.” In front of millions of people.

“Yes, well, it appears that the red police who arrested your
mother have both gone missing. Something that we missed perhaps the first time
in their memory testimony, or… something compromised, perhaps. So please, humor
me.”

Ha! I wanted to yell. So that memory testimony wasn’t
fool-proof after all! But I refrained, not wanting to tick off my mother’s one
champion on the court. "Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Don’t you need a
recorder or something?”

“I have a very good memory.” He tapped the side of his head.

I told him the entire story, starting with being chased by
Drazen, then dreaming he was after me, only to wake up to the attack itself. I
mentioned seeing Micha trying to get into the casket and the red police lifting
the lid to put something inside before Micha suddenly gave up. I even told him
about the dream I had that following night from the dead Anakharu’s
perspective. After all, if I wanted Mom to have the best chance, he needed to
know everything, no matter how unimportant. When I was done, he was studying me
quizzically and humming under his breath.

“You’re related to John McCall, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “I assume you’re talking about my nephew, John?”

“Yeah. So you're related to the McCalls on Earth too?” I
asked. “In Colorado?”

He blinked. “That’s one of my brothers and his family. He
fell in love with an Earthan woman and decided to stay there with her since she
couldn’t move to Macawi, of course. Why do you ask?”

“You hum like they do. Under your breath.”

“Faarians can’t hear that,” he said, giving me a strange
look.

“What, really?” I asked, looking over at Teague who shook
her head, looking puzzled.

I shrugged. “Well it must be my Earthan side.”

“Hmmm.” He shook his head. “I’ll need to talk with this
Ahatu, Micha, now. It was… a unique pleasure meeting you Veridian. Sunny. I
will do everything I can to get your mother released back to you. You have my
word.”

We shook forearms and I thanked him before Teague led him
off to find Micha.

“He hums?” Thal asked, making me jump. He and Sarosh both stepped
out from behind some potted palms by the door, grinning.

“Thal? What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Listening in, what does it look like? How else would I know
anything in this place?”

I shook my head at him and laughed, giving him a little jab
in the arm. “Get back to the infirmary before your mom catches you gone, will
ya?”

“Alright, alright. You coming?”

“In a little bit. I’ve gotta email Dad, and at least it’s
quiet in here. Okay with you?” I asked Sarosh as Thal left.

She shrugged and looked around the empty room. “I’ll be
right outside,” she said and closed the door behind her. Having bodyguards was
going to take some getting used to.

Now that I had at least a little good news, I sat down in
one of the worn haratchi-leather chairs to write my overdue email home. I was
starting the first lines, trying to figure out exactly how much to tell him
about the newest attack when my link vibrated with an incoming message. I
switched over to find an email had just arrived from Dad.

Sunny,

I’m so relieved to hear you’re okay. Your last
email just about gave your old man a heart attack. I can barely wrap my mind
around your last message: attacked by someone (who wasn’t clear after the
government there got through with your message) and your mother arrested for
murder when she was protecting you! I had no idea it was so backwards and
dangerous there. I can’t even imagine what you must be feeling, but I want you
to know you were right, and this custody agreement was a terrible idea. I’m
contacting your mother, whoever’s in charge at the Kindred now, and my business
partners, the McCalls, to bring you home. Sunny, I’m so sorry to have put you
in danger and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get you home. If anything
had happened to you, I don’t know what I would have done. Wait for my next
email. I’ll send you an update with travel plans as soon as I can.

Love, Dad.

For one millisecond, my heart leapt in my chest – I was
going home! – and then crashed into the dirt at my feet. I couldn’t. Not now. I
switched back to writing my email.

Dad,

I can’t even believe I’m about to say this, but I
can’t come home now. I still want to, of course I do, but I can’t leave while
Mom’s in jail for saving me. She literally dove out a window for me, and I
can’t just give up on her and run home.

 I have more bad news, actually, and then some
good. We lost the trial already, Dad. It happened so fast and was completely
unfair! Two of the three justices were apparently bought off to find her
guilty. The good news is that the third justice is trying to get Mom a retrial
with new judges. He promised they’ll at least look at all the evidence.

So you see, they may need me to testify. I have to
stay and see this thing through. I’m being safe though. The Kindred isn't
letting me go anywhere without bodyguards now.

I winced, writing that I was being safe after last night’s
attack. But if I wanted Dad to let me stay, it was necessary – and true, now. I
wasn’t going to play hero again anytime soon.

Sorry for making you worry Dad, but I’ll be fine.
It may not seem like it, but I can take care of myself, I promise.

Love, Sunny.

After hitting send, I felt lighter and heavier all at the
same time. Like I’d done the right thing, but I could see that shining gold
medal that had seemed so close, slipping farther away into the mist. And there
was nothing I could do about it but buck up and do what needed to be done here.
I wondered if this was maybe what Mom had felt like when she’d had to leave
Earth.

I looked around her big, empty office and thought about all
the people who counted on her. Mom may be getting a retrial, and I may have
squeaked by in the latest attack, but it was clear this was far from over. We
still had no idea who was orchestrating these attacks, and who had the power to
get her arrested and falsely convicted.

I was going to need to keep all the friends I could get, so
there was one more thing I needed to do since I was still alone: I had a thank
you and an apology to make.

Chapter 36: Glowing Admiration

“Hey,” I said with relief when John answered, and his little,
two-inch hologram popped up. “I was worried your parents wouldn’t let you talk
to me after everything. I’m sorry for getting you in trouble.”

“Hey, Sunny. Naw, it’s no big thing. Put me on the ground,
would you?”

“Um, okay.” Well, I didn’t think apologizing would be that
easy. I put my link down on the floor and it started to hover and suddenly John
was full-size next to me. A bit on the see-through side, but still.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s just… how’d you do that?” I asked. “Thal said he
didn’t think it was possible to control another person’s link remotely.”

He winced. “I hacked your link last night. Thal’s too. It’s
not really all that complicated when you know what you’re doing.”

“But… my link got smashed last night. This one’s brand new,”
I protested. Well, new enough. I hadn’t been able to convince Ethem to get me
one of the totally unbreakable upgrades.

“Yeah, well they must’ve just transferred everything from
your old one.” He looked around. “Where are you?”

“In my mom’s office. Today’s bodyguard is outside. I think
this is the first time I’ve had any privacy in the past couple of days.” I made
a face.

“I know how you feel.” He reached toward the camera and must
have switched a setting because a well-worn living room unfolded around him and
a gaggle of laughing, screaming little boys ran past. “My brothers.” He made a
face. “Let’s go for a walk outside, huh?” he asked and walked through a screen
door into a farmyard. A whole outdoor panorama sprang up around him.

My heart rate picked up. “Sure.” I stood a bit awkwardly in
one spot while he walked toward the red sun setting behind a small grove of
fruit trees. “Is that your family’s ranch behind you?”

He nodded.

“It’s beautiful there.” I paused. “You know, I was afraid
you wouldn’t want to talk to me after all the trouble I got you in with your
parents.”

“I was afraid
you
wouldn’t want to talk to
me
after my design almost got you killed,” he replied with a grimace.

“It wasn’t your fault they stole it.”

“No. I should have used better security measures.”

“So, the hacker got hacked, huh?” I teased.

“Something like that.” He smiled sheepishly back at me.
“So…”

“So?” I arched an eyebrow at him and we grinned at the
shared joke, like that first day, a few months and half a lifetime ago.

“My parents want me to invite you over for dinner,” he said
in a rush. “I know, it’s a stupid idea, right?” He rolled his eyes. “They’re
calling you ‘that brave Earthan girl’ now.”

“No! Um, I mean, that would be nice.”

“It… would?” he asked. “I mean, it would. If you wanted to.”

“I do! It’s just… I don’t think they’re gonna let me go
anywhere now. Not for a long while, at least. Now that they’ve decided to keep
me and not send me home, that is.” It was my turn to roll my eyes.

“They wanted to send you back to Earth?”

“Yeah, Myrihn and Nico and their friends. But more people
stuck up for me, which was cool, even Lyta and Otrere who’ve been nothing but
pains since I arrived. That was a surprise. And Myrihn got demoted for
child-proofing our scys so they didn’t work against
anything
except
haratchi.”

“Ah, so that’s what happened. I’ll bet she’s not so happy
with you.”

“Nah, she hates me, but what else is new?” I found myself
walking around the room next to him in silence for a moment, watching the red
sun set. “And the on-call team last night was sure ticked too, at being duped
like that.”

He raised his eyebrows at me in question.

“There was no emergency at that other Kindred. The call was
faked to get them out of the way. But Micha was almost in time; I wonder how
she found out.” Did he get a bit of a strange look on his face right then? But
when I looked again, it was gone. Must have been my imagination.

“And Ethem was next, wielding an ancient scy he’d found
somewhere.” I laughed at the memory. “Penthe and a bunch of our trainee group
followed him, but by then, all they could do was first aid and mop up. Anyway,”
I looked up at him, “thanks for sticking with us. I’m not sure how that would
have gone down without your help.”

“Of course I stayed with you.” He looked surprised and
reached out his hand to almost touch mine. “We’re friends. That’s what friends
do, right?”

I couldn’t quite answer as I felt this hum of electricity
from his holo-fingertips to mine. He hovered around to face me and reached out
his other hand too. We both stared as we slowly brought them up till they were
palm-to-palm between us. They glowed where we almost, almost touched, and I
couldn’t breathe as I looked into his amazing aqua eyes to find he was looking
into mine. One of us, maybe both, stepped a little closer.

“Right?” he asked again in that deep, melodic voice. I
gulped.

“Right,” I whispered and managed a small, quirked smile
while my heart tried to beat through my chest.

We turned to watch the red sun’s final moments, bathing the
desert with a flash of glorious pink, yellow and orange before fading into the
lasting half-light of the white dwarf star. Maybe this place wasn’t so bad after
all. I looked down at the energy humming between our fingertips.

Definitely not so bad.