Part 33 (2/2)
”I do,” she said. ”But I hate missing out even more.”
Over the soft murmuring of the crowd, someone at the aft end of the compartment shouted, ”Here they come!” Everyone leaned toward the windows and craned their necks, straining to see past everyone else, to bear witness to history.
Pazlar and Ra-Havreii s.h.i.+fted their weight and stood at matching angles while staring out at the stars, awaiting the main attraction. Facing aft, the blond Elaysian woman had her back to Ra-Havreii, who savored the fragrance of her hair.
”It's too bad they had to shut down my holopresence network while making repairs,” she said over her shoulder, making eye contact as she noticed how close their faces were.
He nodded. ”Yes, it's a shame. But the interruption is only temporary. Oh! Did I tell you about the new asymmetric interaction mode I created for it?”
”No, I don't think you did.”
”You're going to love it,” he said with unabashed pride in his work. ”It lets your holographic avatar inflict amplified physical damage on real opponents while preventing any harmful effects from being transmitted back to you. It could prove very useful if t.i.tan ever gets boarded again.”
She smiled at him. ”I have a theory about the holopresence system, you know.”
”Really?” His eyebrows climbed up his forehead. ”Do tell.”
”I think it's proof you're in love with me.”
Affecting a nonchalant air, he replied, ”Ridiculous.” Noting the amused glimmer in her gaze, he added with some hesitation, ”I mean...love is, um, such a strong word, and we hardly-that is, we...”
”Simmer down, Commander,” Pazlar said. ”It's not the least appealing idea I've heard lately. And some of your past conquests have a.s.sured me that you know how to be gentle.” Another teasing grin. ”Which is important for a gal like me.”
”Well, obviously,” he said. Tamping down his surging excitement, he decided to handle the matter with delicacy. ”I find your invitation almost irresistible,” he began.
She sounded insulted. ”Almost?”
”Nigh irresistible,” he corrected himself. ”But before I surrender to my pa.s.sions-and yours-it's absolutely vital that I be completely honest with you.”
”About what?”
”Well, about me,” he said. ”I am deeply attracted to you, Melora, and in ways that I haven't felt about someone in a long time. But I'm afraid it's simply not in my nature to be, well, monogamous.”
She snickered, and then she laughed. ”Who's asking?” Shaking her head, she turned aft and added softly, ”Let's just see how our first date goes, okay?”
The more he learned about her, the more he adored her.
”Okay,” he said. ”Sounds like a plan.”
s.h.i.+ning brighter than the stars, a white point grew larger as it neared the Utopia Planitia orbital s.h.i.+pyard. Edges resolved into forms and then into two distinct shapes linked by a glowing beam. At the forefront, a Sabre-cla.s.s stars.h.i.+p. Towed behind it, and held together by who knew what kind of high-tech legerde-main, was a twenty-second-century NX-cla.s.s stars.h.i.+p, its hull and nacelles scarred but still together.
An announcement over the intras.h.i.+p comm echoed from the overhead speakers. ”Attention, all t.i.tan personnel,” said Commander Vale. ”Muster starboard for pa.s.sing honors.”
Outside, the Sabre-cla.s.s vessel adjusted its course to glide past overhead, giving Ra-Havreii and the other spectators a perfect view of the registry on the ventral side of its primary hull: U.S.S. da Vinci NCC 81623. With precision and grace, its tractor beam guided its ward, the Columbia NX-02, past t.i.tan to safety inside a docking slip.
Ra-Havreii didn't feel foolish or embarra.s.sed to have tears br.i.m.m.i.n.g in his eyes while he watched the Columbia's long-overdue homecoming, because everyone else in the arboretum did, too. With a solemn nod of salute to the old vessel, he whispered, ”Welcome home, old girl.”
The personal transport pod had barely settled to the ground near Vicenzo Farrenga's home in Lakeside on Cestus III when his five-year-old daughter, Aoki, was out the pod's side hatch and sprinting for the front door of their house.
He called after her, ”Sweetie, wait for Daddy!”
The sable-haired little girl stopped on the snaking path of organically shaped paving stones that led away from the landing area. Vicenzo and his cousin, Frederico-more commonly known as Fred-pulled themselves out of the vehicle with the stiffness of men tasting their first years of early middle age.
”If you want to take the twins, I'll grab your bags,” Fred said, using his handheld control to open the rear hatch.
”That'd be great, thanks,” Vicenzo said.
He released the magnetic locks that held in place the horizontal bar of his infants' tandem safety seat. Then he lifted them out one at a time-Colin first and then Sylvana-and guided them into a double-pouch baby sling that enabled him to carry both children at once, one against his chest and the other on his back, while keeping his hands free.
As he straightened under the weight of his heavier-by-the-day scions, he saw that Fred had finished unloading the luggage and apparently was pondering which pieces to take inside first. ”Don't hurt yourself,” he said to his cousin. ”Start with Aoki's bags-she mostly has pajamas and stuffed animals.”
”Right,” said Fred, who stacked Aoki's smaller flowered bags on top of a large one with wheels, extended the bottom bag's towing handle, and pulled it behind him as he followed Vicenzo toward the broad, immaculate A-frame cedar house.
Vicenzo breathed in the cool early morning air and admired the view of Pike's Lake surrounded by mostly undisturbed forest. Sunlight sparkled on the water, and a breeze brought him scents of wood smoke and pine.
His was one of few homes that had been built around the lake. One of the most attractive features of this piece of property, in his opinion, was that none of the houses around the lake had a view of another. Each was sequestered in a nook of the sh.o.r.eline and sheltered by the forest.
He checked and confirmed that his two canoes and one rowboat were still tied to the small dock behind his house. The lawn furniture didn't appear to have been pilfered during his absence, and that much more was once again right in his world. He'd just spent seventeen days making an arduous, impromptu round-trip journey with his children, who had pestered him with an endless barrage of questions. There had been no way to tell them that they had, in fact, been running for their lives from the Borg, because Mommy had said to leave Federation s.p.a.ce.
Even after President Bacco's startling address, when it had become clear that the Borg threat was over, getting home hadn't been easy. By then, he and the children had reached Pacifica, along with several million other hastily displaced refugees. It had taken six days to get there, then five days to book pa.s.sage on another transport back to Cestus III. And, as he'd feared, he'd been deprived of communications every step of the way, up to and including the moment he and the kids had landed.
Fortunately, Fred had never even considered being evacuated from Cestus III and had been home with nothing better to do, as usual. After a gentle browbeating, he had agreed to come pick up Vicenzo and his brood from the starport in Johnson City.
Trudging up the walk to the house, Vicenzo winced as both twins began crying at once. In front of him, Aoki hopped with manic energy after barely plodding along behind him for two weeks. She cut the air with a shrill plea: ”Faster, Daddy!”
”Hold your horses, Pumpkin,” he said.
It's good to be back at the house, he thought with relief. It'll be nice to sleep in my own bed. And eat my own cooking.
As he approached the front door, it swung open ahead of him, and he stopped in midstride.
His breath caught with hope and surprise.
Aoki spun around toward the house and shrieked, ”Mommy!” She ran at a full gallop into Miranda Kadohata's wide and waiting arms. Miranda scooped the girl off her feet, kissed her, and spun her around and around as they laughed with glee.
Vicenzo desperately wanted to sprint to his wife, but he didn't want to risk shaking the twins, so he trotted in a funny way that minimized the bouncing of his hurried steps.
Miranda turned, perched Aoki on her sundress-clad hip, and held the girl steady with her right arm; she used her left to embrace Vicenzo and the babies. She felt amazing in his arms, and she smelled even better. He had missed every inch of her.
”Welcome back, love,” she said, her eyes gleaming with grateful tears. She kissed the top of Colin's head, and then she touched her fingertips to Sylvana's spa.r.s.ely covered scalp and ma.s.saged it, in a peculiar flexing gesture that Vicenzo had nicknamed the hand spider. Within moments, both twins had stopped crying. She smiled at Vicenzo. ”It's good to be home.”
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