Broken Protocols (8 page)

“We have take-out, too.” Milo bounded closer. “High-end food.”

“Yeah, sure,” she scoffed, smoothing the pleats in her bedding. “Like the rest of your supposed advanced lifestyle.”

“We do! Healing pods. Awesome elevators.” He motioned to the tray with the coffee. “The best coffee ever.”

“I’ll give you that on the coffee, but your lifestyle seriously sucks. Look at this tiny-ass apartment, the monster cities…”

“Ha! Look what I did with you.” Milo did a fast two step. “See, gotcha there.”

Immediately the air cooled and her smile fell away. She dropped her gaze. “Yeah, that’s a big gotcha.”

“Uhmmm, yeah, I’ll go make more coffee.” He scooted backwards out of the bedroom. Escaping…

She let him go.

If Dani could get up and walk into the kitchen, she would help cook, but any movement seemed to steal all her energy. She sank back against the pillows. She felt like a fat slug whose body had grown so big, so heavy it couldn’t carry its own weight. Considering the look on Charmin’s face, she had to wonder if he didn’t feel the same. She bent to scratch the back of his head. He rolled over slightly and stared at her, but the look in his eyes made her shift and tug him, blankets and all, into her arms.

His head fell back.

“Don’t feel so good, do you? Do we?” she corrected. She nuzzled his neck, reassured when his engine kicked in and his heavy purr filled the room. “At least that much of you is working.”

“Yes, but I’m tired.” He closed his eyes and laid his head back down.

“Me too.” She wondered what the pod had done for her last night when she still felt so rough today. Then again, maybe she wouldn’t have woken up today without it. Apparently they had an unregistered pod being delivered today. What kind of a government system had pods register the medical knowledge and defects of its contents without the people knowing? There was such a thing as too much government intervention.

And would having an unregistered unit get them into more trouble?

Then again, if they were found with a non-registered person…she couldn’t imagine having to explain her presence. Hell, she had no answers, she’d have to tell the truth of what she did know. And likely end up in a psych ward.

Who’d believe her?

Who could?

At least they could have brought her clothes with her. Then again, as she stared down at Charmin, they had brought the most important part of her life. Presumably because she’d been holding onto him at the time. And, as she thought about it, when she was whooshed away from her apartment, she’d been wishing he could talk. Coincidence?

What had happened to her old life? Had anyone reported her missing? Did she just disappear forever? Was she a missing person in the history books? Or did the apartment blow up and Milo’s little time travel trick cause the deaths of a couple of hundred people? Could she find out? Would she be able to do a search on the Internet and find herself? Did they even have Internet here?

And if they did, would her search be reported to someone that she was researching this person in history? Did the government keep that close an eye on its citizens?

If they kept that close an eye on everyone’s health – maybe.

She had a lot of questions and no answers. The biggest one was still unanswered – was this really a one-way trip?

*

Levi worked in
the kitchen, quietly and competently at a counter. She needed food. It would be these mundane details that would keep him focused. Maybe while doing the mundane, he’d come up with a solution for everything else. He glanced up at the screen on the wall. Still a half hour until the pod was delivered.

He didn’t want anyone else to see it. He’d asked for a call when the delivery left the warehouse so he could put on the special effects. Special effects he’d set up after Milo’s genius started to show. And the lines he started to cross.

Innocently of course. Yeah, right.

Just as he took the scrambled eggs off the heat, his comp buzzed.

He checked the message. The pod was en route. Good. “Milo, engage the privacy mode setting out front.”

“Woohoo.” Milo jumped up from the table and raced over to the control unit. “I never get to do this.”

“Well, this time, it’s necessary.” He checked the digital readout on the screen. “Good, it’s all working.” He set the plate on a tray. “Take this to Dani. I have to go and accept the delivery.”

Milo looked at him. “Are you sure about this?”

Levi stopped, the plate in his hand, then laid it down on the tray. “It’s a little late to be asking, isn’t it?”

Milo’s lively features twisted in regret. “I’m just realizing that this is all my fault.”

Levi stared at him. “Really, just now?” He leaned on the counter to stare at him. “You really don’t get it, do you? This isn’t some game. This isn’t a rush to beat the technology. This isn’t something you can just do then forget about.” His temper fired as he thought about all he had to deal with. “You have damaged lives – in ways we can’t begin to know about. And you have ruined Dani’s.”

“I haven’t ruined Dani’s at all. Don’t you see this is beautiful? She has a great life waiting for her here. We’ll make it great.”

“But you didn’t give her any choice. You did this to her. You made her a victim of your mechanisms. And that’s just wrong. She should never have been brought into our world. You didn’t ask her if she wanted this. You didn’t care.”

He stopped and stared, wondering what it would take to get through his head. “What you did was wrong. On so many levels. And you’ve left me to deal with your mess again.”

“She’s not a mess. She’s a miracle.” Milo stepped in front of Levi. “Look, I’m sorry for the problems right now. I’m sorry for any that might still come, but damn it, Levi, I did something that no one else has done.” His eyes glittered with excitement. “Can’t you see the greatness here?”

Levi choked. “And that’s all this means to you, isn’t it?” Would Milo ever see what he’d done? “And what about Dani? Do you think she’s going to consider this greatness?”

A buzzer sounded.

“Damn it. They’re early. I hadn’t expected them so fast.” Levi raced to the door, leaving the food behind on the plate. He opened the door to see his delivery.

“Bring it in here.” He stood by as the pod was floated toward him. He led the way to where it would stay. He’d planned on getting one a year ago but had a hard time with the registration requirements. “Thanks.”

“No problem. You’ll pay through the nose for this, but hey, it’s worthwhile.”

“I hope so,” he muttered. He took the paperwork, glanced at the bottom line, and said, “So we’re good?”

“We are. As long as I get that software, we’re done.”

“It’s already in progress.” And it was. Levi smiled at the man who would prefer to not be named. He knew him vaguely. He’d had to go to a friend of a friend to make this happen as it was. So he’d taken his first step to the wild side. Then again, Milo had pushed them all over there already.

But Dani needed healing. He couldn’t leave her like she was.

Speaking of which, he went through the simple process to open the pod and check it over. “Dani,” he called out loudly, “Do you think you can walk over to me?”

He didn’t hear an answer. He walked back over to her room to see her struggling to get out of bed. Just that much effort had her sweating. Damn Milo.

And she still wasn’t fully dressed. He cursed himself for looking. As she struggled to tug the blanket around her shoulders, he cursed himself again for not taking a better look while he could.

He raced over. “Here, let me help.”

She gasped from the effort. “I thought I’d be fine. I got up on my own this morning.” Her face flushed then paled.

He frowned, hating that she was hurting. “And you will be fine again. Let’s get you into the pod. That will help.”

He half-carried her to where the machine waited then helped her lie down inside. While he watched, the pod fired up and started taking her statistics. That stage could take awhile. He glanced down at her, wondering what he’d forgotten. Mentally, he went through the process from the previous night and brightened. “Right. The critter.”

He ran back to her bedroom and winced. The cat didn’t look very good at all. It only opened its eyes and stared at him, huge chocolate eyes wells of deep dark pain. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. He scooped him up and carried him over to Dani. She lay with her eyes closed, never moving as he approached.

Carefully, he lay the critter down on her stomach.

Her eyes flew open, saw her pet, then her gaze shot up to stare at him in surprise. He shrugged sheepishly. “He looked to be suffering too.”

“He is,” she whispered, her gaze gentling. She studied his face and then smiled. A real smile, no sarcasm, no anger, just a slow blossoming movement that he couldn’t tear his gaze away from. And then the smile hit her eyes.

He was enthralled.

She might be mad sometimes, and she might be sarcastic, but now that she was smiling at him, he realized how honest she was. There was no artifice with her.

She was who she was, and to hell with what anyone thought of that.

He realized how unique she was. And how much he was falling for her – damn it. Milo had been right. He was interested.

D
ani soaked up
the warm healing rays. This pod was amazing. She needed one of her own. She’d skip the bed and sleep in this every night. She wanted to sleep now but at the same time, she didn’t want to be unconscious and miss this experience.

Charmin snoozed beside her. She wondered if he was worse off with this time travel thing than she was.

At least she could talk and walk. Charmin was more or less flat out. She reached down and scratched the back of his head. He was definitely more laid back right now. No nagging for attention. No nagging for food. And speaking of food – the pod had arrived before they could eat.

Her heartstrings tugged at the thought of losing her best friend. She had nothing left of her old life but him. He’d been with her for four years and was a major part of her life. To see him hurting like this…

Charmin raised his head and gave her a pitiful look. “Food?”

She smiled in relief. “There will be food soon.”

He groaned. A long slow guttural sigh that made her laugh.

“I’m glad to hear you are feeling better.”

“Feel awful,” he whispered in a low throaty voice.

“I love how you can talk now.” She tilted her head in thought and added, “It must be a side effect of the time travel.”

“I love how you can talk now, too.” Charmin mimicked. “It must be a side effect of the time travel.”

She gasped, then laughed and laughed. And maybe he was right. Maybe she’d been the one to learn to talk cat and not the other way around.

She relaxed, her hand resting on his ruff, letting the hum of the pod do its thing. Whatever that was. The lights were a soothing blue and there was no computer voice to disturb her peace and quiet. Food and more coffee would be good, but barring that miracle, for the moment she was doing just fine.

She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

*

Levi walked into
the newly designated pod room and smiled. Both guests were sound asleep. The pod would work better, faster if they stayed that way. At least until it was done doing its job. Getting her healthy was just the first stage of this process. Time to work on the second.