Inheritance (39 page)

When he was finished, Dr. Brand said, “We can’t be sure that other humans will also have your abilities.”

“You can’t be sure they won’t,” Reese said.

Dr. Brand smiled as if Reese had said exactly what she wanted. “That’s true.” She turned to Deyir. “We must reconsider our plans. You must contact home and tell them.”

Deyir had listened to David, Reese, and Dr. Brand without interrupting. Now he turned to Eres. “What is your opinion?”

“Their abilities need further study,” Eres answered. “We don’t know exactly what they can do yet, but the telepathy alone is extraordinary. At the very least, I think we do need to discuss changing the implementation of our plan.”

Deyir looked at Reese and David, his expression sober. “This does change things, but I cannot see the utility of modifying our plan. If anything, we should be even more cautious now about revealing your abilities. I know that your government will be especially interested in using your abilities for their gain, not for the advancement of humanity.”

“But that’s why you need to tell the whole truth,” Reese said. She couldn’t see why Deyir wasn’t grasping this. “The more people who know, the more difficult it will be for the government to take advantage of it. The problem is in keeping things secret, not in telling the truth.”

“Besides, it’s not your job to manage the way humanity deals with this,” David put in.

“It
is
our job,” Deyir said. “We have failed you. It is our task to right your course.”

This was the first time Reese had heard him speak with such emotion, and it surprised her.

“No, it’s not,” David said. “Maybe you were there at the beginning, however many thousands of years ago, but you left. We kept on without you.”

“Humanity’s problems are humanity’s problems,” Reese said. “It’s our job to fix our own problems. You can offer support, but if you secretly try to turn us all into Imrians—which isn’t going to work anyway because apparently the adaptation procedure doesn’t turn us into Imrians—you’ll be exactly what all those freaked-out protesters say you are: colonizers.”

“I don’t think you understand,” Deyir said.

“No,
you
don’t understand,” Reese insisted, growing increasingly frustrated. “You can’t just come here and say, ‘Oops, we fucked up a million years ago, let us fix things.’ You may have had a hand in creating us, but we have been doing fine here this whole time. We have created our own cultures and our own technologies. Your plan doesn’t take account of that. Your plan just says humans need to be changed, so we’ll change them without their permission.”

“Humans might not be able to do
susum’urda
,” David said, “but we’re not idiots. We’ve managed to survive this long without your abilities. We’re not going to roll over and say, ‘Sure, adapt us, we don’t know any better.’ ”

“Besides, the truth will come out,” Reese said. “It always does. If you don’t tell the truth from the beginning, you’re just asking for a war. You said yourself that humans are prone to violence. Don’t you see what you could be starting?”

For the first time since they arrived in his office, Akiya Deyir seemed rattled. Amber leaned forward and said, “She’s right. David’s right too. I don’t think humanity is going to go for it. You
can’t just expect them to fall in line. They don’t know us. We’re strangers to them, and we’ve already started off on the wrong foot by lying about who we are.”

“You have to tell the truth on Monday at the UN,” David said.

“If you really want us to change, you have to change too,” Reese said. “You have to start treating us as your equals.”

Deyir’s gaze flickered around the table. His face gave away nothing. Finally he said, “I’ll think about what you’ve told me. That’s all I can promise you. I’ll think about it.”

When David and Reese returned to the living quarters
after their meeting with Akiya Deyir, the door to Reese’s mom’s room was open. Reese paused in front of her own room and asked David, “What are you up to now?” She was anxious and impatient, and she wished that Deyir had given them a more concrete answer.

“Homework?” he said, grimacing. “How long do you think it’s going to take for him to decide?”

“I hope not too long.”

Reese’s mom came out of her room, followed by her dad. “While you’re waiting,” her mom said, “I think it’s time for you two to come clean about everything.”

David gave Reese’s parents a nervous grin. “Hi, Ms. Sheridan.” He paused as Reese’s dad’s name seemed to escape him,
but was saved when his own parents came into the corridor too. Reese had the distinct impression that the four adults had been waiting to ambush them.

“Why don’t you all come into our room,” David’s mom suggested. “We have a little more space.” Reese glanced at David.
We do have to tell them about our abilities, and your dad has more info about the test results, right?

Yeah. I guess now’s as good a time as any.

Beats doing homework?

David smiled slightly. “Okay,” he said out loud, and walked down the corridor toward his parents’ quarters. Reese and her parents followed.

At 6:15
PM
, Reese was seated in the dining hall with David and their families, eating a perfectly acceptable but rather boring meal of chicken, salad, and crusty bread that seemed as if it had been ordered out of a nearby Whole Foods. “I apologize for the absence of my colleagues,” Nura Halba said as he sat down with them in the nearly deserted room. “They are in discussions, and I believe they will be there all night.”

Dealing with what we told them
, Reese thought. She took a sip of her water and pushed the cherry tomatoes around on her plate. She wondered how long it would take Mr. Hernandez to figure out that neither she nor David was coming to their meeting.

“That’s fine,” her mom said. “We’re grateful that you’ve allowed us to stay here on such short notice.”

Halba smiled, and he looked more Asian than ever. Reese still
hadn’t figured out how she could broach that subject with any of the Imria. “Tomorrow night we’ll have a proper dinner,” he said. “Everyone on board will come. It will be a belated welcome banquet.”

“Will there be actual Imrian food?” Reese asked.

Halba seemed amused by her question. “Well, we do have to buy local. We can’t bring fresh groceries all the way from Kurra, but yes, we’ll have some Imrian-style dishes.”

The door slid open and Amber came into the dining hall alone. She gave them a smile before she went to serve herself from the dishes on the buffet. Reese glanced across the table at David. He had tensed up every time Amber was nearby, and tonight was no different.
She got out of the meeting
, he thought.
Do you think it’s over?

I don’t know
, Reese told him. When Amber came to the table, she slid into an empty seat at the end next to Halba. “Hi,” she said to everyone. “I don’t think I’ve met you all?” After the introductions, Halba excused himself, leaving a gap at the table where he had been sitting next to David. Amber did not move over to close up the space, and Reese saw David turn away from her slightly while he spoke to his sister in low tones.

“Amber,” Reese said, “are they still in their meeting?”

Amber glanced up from her meal. “Yeah. They have to talk to Kurra, and there’s sort of a time lag. It’s going to take a while.”

Reese knew David was listening, even though he was pretending not to. She could feel it across the table, his attentiveness like a charged webbing between them. She had never been able to sense his emotions so acutely when they weren’t touching, and she knew it was because Amber put him on edge.

“What do you think they’ll decide?” Reese asked.

“I don’t know,” Amber said. “I hope they listen to you guys.”

Chloe suddenly burst out, “I don’t want to do that. I’m bored.”

Everybody turned to look at the twelve-year-old, who was glaring at her mother. Grace Li frowned at her daughter. “I’m sorry. I told you that we would be here for a few days and you should bring some things to read. Maybe your brother can play a game with you?”

Even David seemed a little annoyed, but he said, “Sure. What do you want to play, Chloe?”

Chloe rolled her eyes with such vehemence that Reese thought they might pop out of their sockets. “He doesn’t want to play a game, Mom.”

Reese swallowed a laugh at Chloe’s sarcastic tone. Amber leaned over the table so she could see David’s little sister and asked, “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

Chloe realized that everybody was looking at her, and her face turned red. She didn’t seem to be able to speak anymore.

Grace said, “That’s nice of you, but you don’t need to go out of your way.”

Amber looked surprised. “Oh! No, I mean, I can just set up the screens over there to play a movie if you want. We can get whatever’s online.”

“Anything?” Chloe said, sounding doubtful.

“Sure.” Amber glanced at Chloe’s parents. “Well, anything your parents say is okay.” She got up and went over to the screens that showed the view outside. The sky was darkening toward twilight, and across the field the eucalyptus trees moved in a gentle
breeze. Amber touched the wall and the screens went black. A moment later she had pulled up an Internet movie rental site.

“You can get that here?” Chloe said, scrambling out of her seat.

“Of course. What do you want to see?”

David’s parents traded wry glances, and Grace stood. “I’d better make sure she doesn’t pick something she’s not allowed to watch.”

Chloe chose
Blue Moon
, a movie about a high school cheerleader-turned-werewolf-hunter who falls in love with both the leader of the pack and the high school football star. Reese finished her dinner as Amber set up a viewing area in front of the screen. She did something that caused some of the tables to lower into the floor out of the way, and then dragged some cushions into the dining hall, returning several times with blankets and pillows. By the time she was finished, Chloe was chattering with Amber about the actor who played the alpha werewolf.

The parents left as the movie began. “We’re going for a walk,” Reese’s mom said, dropping a hand on her shoulder. “Call us if you need anything.”

“I will.” Reese pushed her plate aside and looked at David. “What are you gonna do?”

He made a face. “I don’t really want to watch that movie, but I’m supposed to stay with Chloe.”

“Oh.” Reese glanced over at his sister; she was reclining in a mound of pillows as the movie began. Amber was walking toward the door behind the buffet that led into what Reese assumed was the kitchen. “It could be worse,” Reese said to David. “At least it’s not vampires?”

He briefly grinned. “I don’t mind vampires.”

She smiled at him. “Good to know.”

Amber emerged from the kitchen carrying four bowls, spoons, and a quart of ice cream. She set it all down on the table near Reese. “Want some?” she asked, peeling off the lid.

“What kind is it?” Reese asked.

“Salted caramel from Mitchell’s.” Amber began to scoop some into a bowl and called over her shoulder, “Chloe, you want some ice cream?”

“Yes!” Chloe replied.

Amber glanced sideways at David but didn’t say anything to him as she prepared a bowl for his sister. As she carried it over to Chloe, Reese picked up a spoon for a taste. “Wow, this is good,” she said, and reached for the scoop. “David, you should have some.”

When Amber returned, she eyed Reese’s bowl. “You took a lot.”

“You don’t like to share?” Reese said.

Amber gave her a look that made Reese blush, but she didn’t respond aloud. Instead, she scooped ice cream into two bowls and slid one across the table to David. “You’ll love it, I promise,” she told him. Then she went to put the ice cream back in the freezer.

Reese ate her ice cream in silence. David didn’t touch his. Amber emerged from the kitchen, grabbed her bowl, and went to join Chloe in the nest of pillows to watch the cheerleader-werewolf-hunter discover that she had been chosen to lead a ragtag group of fellow students in battle. Reese could still sense
David’s resistance, as if his hackles had been raised. She didn’t know what to do about it.
We can leave
, she told him.
I’m sure they’ll be okay.

I’m fine.

Over on the cushions, Chloe and Amber burst into giggles. David’s gaze flickered toward the corner of the room where the girls were sprawled in front of the big screen.

Your ice cream’s melting
, Reese thought at David.

He looked at the bowl that Amber had set near him. Chloe giggled again, and Amber whispered something back. David picked up the spoon.

Reese asked,
Do you want to go watch over there? It’ll be more comfortable.

He shrugged.
Go ahead.

Reese went over to the corner to rearrange some of the pillows, pulling them slightly apart from Chloe and Amber in case David changed his mind. She made herself comfortable and focused on the movie while she finished her ice cream. A few minutes later David joined them, dropping down beside her. “Next time we are not watching a chick flick,” he said.