Death Thieves (26 page)

We all nodded and watched a moment before Dennis gently took Natalie’s arm and led her out of the building. He looked back at the door. “Don’t just stand there! Get down!”

We scrambled to the remnants of the counter and tucked ourselves into tight little balls, where we were hidden from the view of anyone who might enter the room.

Tears slid down Jen’s face. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”

“I’m sure she will. The effects of the Taser are short-lived. She’s likely more scared right now than anything.”

It took several moments before I found my voice. “Do you think those soldiers are dead?”

Jay’s look was one of resigned rationale. “We’d better hope so, or
we
will be.”

I wrapped my arms around my knees and buried my face in my arms to hide the horror such news gave me. People died because of my curiosity. Winter would not be proud of me. Tag would not be proud of me. Were those guys his friends? Would he mourn them when they didn’t return to the barracks?

Stupid!

“Do you think he’ll really come back for us?” Jen asked.

“Of course.” But Jay couldn’t promise that. He’d played poker and eaten onion rings with this guy. What did he really know about Dennis?

My legs had cramped, and my butt had gone numb from the cold floor when Dennis showed up again. “Let’s go.”

Those were the only words he said as we moved up the elevators to the sky levels. When we stepped out of the elevator, Dennis’s chalky face was drawn in a tight frown. “I like you, Jay. I’m glad to know you New Youths aren’t all purse-puppies for the regents. But I won’t take you down there again. It’s nothing personal, right? I just gotta watch out for my own.”

Jay nodded his understanding. “I’m sorry we caused trouble for you. And so you know, we’re friends. You ever need anything—just let me know. I hope Natalie’s okay.”

Dennis nodded and hit the button for the elevator.

Going down
. The happy elevator said. It sounded like a warning.

The doors closed on Dennis, and we followed Jay back into the dining hall.

By the time we retrieved our rings, exhaustion had taken over the adrenaline rush, depression over whether or not those soldiers had died on the street because of us replaced fear. I had played a part in making the world worse.
Forgive me, Wineve. Forgive me, Tag.

***

In spite of my trip through the dark levels, Tag had been right. At three months, I’d resigned myself to the life I’d settled into. And not just resigned but in many ways genuinely liked my life. As Tag had predicted, I made friends and excelled in school in a way I never had back in my own time. At three months, I didn’t ask Tag to take me back. I’d even forgotten we’d made that deal until at four months Tag left a note in our book at the library.

08-10-2113

I told you. You argued, but when don’t you argue? I told you that you would make friends and be a queen and not want to go home. It’s been four months, Sunny. Four months and you didn’t even ask. Yes, I’m gloating.

Yourit

I didn’t know what Tag did with his notes but felt pretty sure he destroyed them. Paper was difficult to come by due to the digital way of life, so often we resorted to using scraps of packaging. I destroyed all of his notes. Alison liked to borrow my clothes and play in my stuff, not in any snoopy way, but in a chummy, we-should-share-everything way. I hid the photos Tag had given me of Winter and me inside the lapdesk itself and screwed the back plating back on. My sun quilt stayed hidden in the layers of all my other blankets, and I demanded to be allowed to do my own laundry. Kathleen had merely grunted at me and let me have my way. I was a New Youth. I always had my way.

08-13-2113

Who’s a queen? Where’s my tiara? I’ve never seen any crowns on my head. J & J are getting married tomorrow. They’re moving out of the dorms and into a house of their own. I hate feeling left behind. I will really miss them.

Sunny

“I can’t believe this is really happening!” Jennifer stood in front of a full-length mirror, her white dress shimmering in the sunlight coming through the window next to her. She looked beautiful.

I stopped fidgeting with the skirt of my burgundy bridesmaid’s dress long enough to say, “What I can’t believe is that it took you guys so long.”

So long. We never would have called it so long back in my home time. The New Youths pairing off and marrying quickly was incentivized by the regents. They were showered with gifts. And though they treated us like an elite society, everyone knew that any sexual relations outside of marriages condoned by the regents would get them in huge trouble. Biological needs encouraged early marriage. We were brought to the future to make babies. They wanted us doing our jobs as soon as possible. I believed that the schooling they put us through was only to give us an environment that felt comfortable to allow us opportunities to flirt and form relationships.

I’d done enough research on crazy testing-day procedures. I understood the horrors parents persevered to keep the species alive and felt guilty that I did nothing to help in the way the regents expected. It just felt unfair for me to find a mate, get married, and make children I could raise to adulthood when the rest of the population couldn’t. I wanted something different. I wanted to cure the disease entirely. If I could do that, the future really would be a better place.

Jennifer turned to the side, still admiring herself in the mirror, her taffeta skirt swishing with the movement. “Can I ask a personal question?” She pointed to her back where a few of the pearl buttons had been left undone so we could keep her necklace from catching in the lace while we put it on.

I frowned, and finished doing up the final buttons. The flowers in my hair made me feel as though someone had hosed me down in rose scented perfume. “No.”

Jennifer laughed, making it harder to get the final button fastened. “I’m asking anyway. Why aren’t you dating anyone? You’ve been asked out by a million different guys—”

“Nope. Not true. There are only seventy-three eligible young men in our group. And not even half of them have asked me out. You are grossly exaggerating.”

“You know what I mean. Surely one of them . . .”

“I’m not interested in any of them.”

“Like you just said, there aren’t that many to choose from to begin with. You don’t have time and Internet dating services on your side.”

I laughed. “If things get too bad, I can always use Eddie as my fallback.” Eddie remained persistent in his pursuit, and I remained persistent in my deflection of his advances. Thinking of Eddie made me tired.

“I just don’t want you to be lonely.”

“I’m not lonely.” I adjusted her veil on her head so it sat a little straighter and used a bobby pin to keep it in place.

“How can you not be lonely? All you do is read and research and take classes.”

How could I explain how the research filled me with purpose, that the classes gave me hope I could really do something to make a difference. How could I explain those little scraps of paper that kept me company as the days turned into months? How could I explain how just seeing the words,
Morning, Sunny,
filled my every need for companionship?

I used Jen’s shoulders to face her back toward the mirror. “Don’t worry about me. Today’s
your
day.” I smiled at her, feeling how strange and irrevocably right that Jennifer and Jay were saved from their deaths to be brought together in this future here.

I picked up my flowers from the table near the door to her dressing room. “It’s time.”

She took a deep breath, picked up her own flowers, and followed me out.

“I don’t know if I can do this alone. I wish my mom and dad were here,” she whispered as we arrived at the door leading to the gardens where the ceremony would be held.

“I know how you feel.” I took her hand and gave it one quick squeeze. “But you aren’t alone. You’ve got your whole life waiting for you out there.”

The doors fell open and the bridal march started. Jay waited at the end of the aisle. I went first as maid of honor.

Jay’s marriage to Jen was the sixth wedding that month. Our small group from the past had wasted little time in pairing off and moving on. Josephine and Leland were already expecting their first child. They’d been whisked off to some private remote location for observation, since a live birth hadn’t been done in over sixty years, and the regents didn’t want anything to go wrong.

And for reasons I couldn’t understand, the news of the pregnancy had been kept pretty quiet. I would have assumed such news would be international precisely because they
hadn’t
had a pregnant woman walking around on this earth for over sixty years. It should have been huge news. But instead, the net carried reports of sports winnings, stock market prices, new funding for ocean exploration, and the glitzy life of the regents.

I passed Kathleen who smiled at me as I made my way to the front. Once I caught Kathleen shaking her head. “Why would they take Josephine and Leland from the colony of the New Youth?” she had muttered to herself. “It doesn’t make sense.” She must have realized she had spoken out loud because she startled when she saw me. But I gave a nod that showed I agreed with her regarding the oddity.

Another oddity was that many of the regents throughout the world attended the New Youth wedding ceremonies. The regents had taken the place of fame and fortune over Hollywood stars and musicians. Movie stars were making a comeback, but the regents were held in higher esteem. I wouldn’t have ever guessed that someday politicians would trump movie stars. Professor Raik preened for the regents and smiled with them. And though I couldn’t explain why, seeing them all bunched together at the weddings reminded me of vultures waiting for an animal to die so they could feed.

I forced a smile as I waited at the end of the aisle for Jen to make her journey to Jay. Everyone looked delighted. Alison positively glowed.

Alison wanted to be next in the matrimony line but flirted so much with so many different guys, it was anyone’s guess who she would actually end up marrying.

There weren’t many like me. Most of the New Youths dated and flirted and fell in love. I didn’t do any of that.

I frowned as Jay took Jen’s hand. What was that emotion that had just bubbled up? Jealousy? I held my breath a moment and contemplated jealousy. What were the chances of me finding anyone worth being with like
that
? Sure, I got along with most of the people in the dorms. They were fun to hang out with, eat dinner with, go to movies with, or whatever, but none of them was who I
wanted
.

And the only one I did want, I wasn’t allowed to want.

Oh yes. Very jealous.

And the desire to be with that one person denied to me only grew over the next several months.

***

12-06-2113

Did you know that Albert Einstein, the man who made it possible for me to know you, wrote letters to his cousin like we write notes to each other? Every scientist needs a springboard from which to jump their ideas off. I’m grateful for you, Sunny. You make it easier for me to think.

Yourit

Tag’s ability with science affected me every day, and not just because he’d made the breakthrough discoveries on what sorts of forces were needed to stimulate electrons in order to give them enough energy to jump to calculated orbits. Were it not for his science, I’d never have been a part of this future. But more than that, he helped me understand my classes. His mini tutorials helped me understand important elements the teachers just couldn’t get through to me. And even with all my ability to research the world archives and history chips on the net, Tag’s scribbled notes were more helpful.

I did searches on the net for him, too, using my classmates’ lapdesks so it wouldn’t look like I was harboring inappropriate feelings for a soldier. I was sure they could peek at my searches on my lapdesk. But Professor Raik wouldn’t suspect anyone else of anything. He wouldn’t have a reason to keep tabs on the searches of the other students who so dutifully fulfilled his dream of them marrying and having children.

I was the only misfit of the group, searching for any information about where Tag came from and how he’d been raised. Apparently Taggert wasn’t all too popular a name since there was only one I found in Amerio Canada, one in Eurio UK, and one is San Francisco. But most of the pages and news regarding a Taggert in San Francisco were broken links. It was as though someone had systematically erased his existence from the world. He didn’t belong to social networks or have an online presence anywhere that could be found. I couldn’t even locate records of which public nursery he’d been born in.

I also tried searches for Winter Eve Rae. Many of those links were broken as well. I saw a few news articles archived on the beginnings of an acting career, but just as Tag had seemed to have been erased from the world’s digital memory, so had my sister.

12-08-2113

Don’t compare our friendship to Einstein’s friendships. That man may have been brilliant, but he gave everything he was to science and didn’t ever have enough left over for relationships. He admitted he’d failed in relationships. You are not allowed to fail me, Yourit.

Today, Professor Modesitt actually mentioned a young man who wrote the breaking paper on valence electrons, and I knew he meant you. Don’t try to deny it. Professor Modesitt asked if I wanted to work a few hours every week at the public nursery on Angel Island. He said I’m really catching on, maybe not to physics, but definitely to biology. I didn’t mention that I owe it all to you. JS is going to have a baby. She wrote me yesterday and told me she’s due in July. So it looks like her and I will both be working with babies.

Sunny

“Where are you going?” Alison had the look of disapproval I’d become used to whenever I pulled my jeans out of my closet.

“Angel Island. Professor Modesitt is going to have me work in the public nursery.”