Journey of Rick Heiden Ch. 37-38

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

It took ten minutes to return to One City, so I had no time to contemplate how complicated my life had grown. In his ubiquitous Trust uniform, Magnar met us at the hospital where two hand-picked Trust members kept an eye on Greco and Lopez inside the building.

We stood in the waiting area for Magnar. The instant he arrived, the three of us deactivated our communication link with Iris, and we told him.

"So, the rest have died," said Magnar, getting to business.

"We saw two graves," I said, "and one body still lay atop the portal crushed beneath a rather large boulder."

Magnar cringed. "And someone covered the portal on purpose."

"Yes, and the drones had no payload," I said. "They used the magnetic clips as part of the packaging for the travel container."

"Your flippant suggestion of a saboteur yesterday may prove correct after all," Magnar said to me, "and while that may let Pearce off the hook for Rom's death, I'm still suspicious of him. We need to know who has done this. Rom was an important and trusted member of our community. He must have justice." He looked at Cadmar and me. "You two did well. Rick, would you mind if I spoke to Cadmar alone?"

"No, of course," I said, "I need to check on Pearce anyway. Have you heard anything?"

"Aiden tells me Pearce wants to see you," said Magnar. "Later today, we will need you to carry Trust members and equipment to the portal site. I'll contact you on where to go once I have that coordinated."

"Right," I said, "let me know, and I'll be there."

I landed on the grand balcony just before dawn in One City's time zone, where Aiden and Maggie met me. They had just emerged from the pool. I spied Mason through the open glass wall taking Pearce's breakfast tray away from the bedroom.

"Did you miss me?" I asked, hugging Maggie once she had donned her robe.

"You know I did," she said. She stopped a moment and smelled me. She gave me a funny look and told me I smelled strange. Not having had a proper shower, I must still have carried the scent of sex. Alarmed --with a quick hello to Aiden and Mason from a distance-- I excused myself to wash with a promise to give them the news later after I showered.

I barged into my bedroom, a generous rectangular space with dark wood furniture and an enormous four-poster bed with a canopy. Pearce sat in bed with the blankets pulled around him.

"There you are," Pearce said.

I flung my pistol holder onto the bed. "We've found the other portal," I said, untucking my shirt, "and I need a proper shower."

"That's excellent news," he said. "Do you have nothing else to say to me?" He glowered at me.

I stopped. "I apologize. I didn't mean to see, and I have said nothing to anyone."

"Very well," he said, "and it's alright now. I contacted a nano technician, and they came over first thing this morning. He took care of it, but it will take a while for things to become normal again. I'm fortunate that it hadn't gotten far, and that we have had 50 jears of innovative technology. The NP device I had couldn't reverse a sex change."

"I'm glad they could help you, but I don't remember seeing that on the list of reversible enhancements."

"Well, it's not a true reversal," he said, "more like a redirection."

"I see. I don't understand the difference, but I'm glad it worked out for you. I need a shower."

"We can't precisely reverse it," he said, "but I'll consider it a new and improved me once it's finished. So, who went with you to find the portal?"

"Cadmar did," I said.

"Ah," he said, "so that's whose it is. I wondered."

"Whose what is?" I asked, unbuckling my pants.

"Whose sex scent you seem desperate to wash off before anyone notices. It's wafting to me from there."

I stood with my head down as if I had cheated on David of my own volition. "It's not what you think."

"Try me," he said, staring at me in judgment.

"Believe it or not," I said, "the cause came from a damned-able red fruit. Neither one of us had eaten one before."

He laughed. "This story sounds familiar; Mother had a fondness for it. A serpent in the tree enticed you to eat the red fruit, is that it?"

"I'm serious," I said.

"Yes, I know," he said. "I was joking. I know you well enough to know you would make a terrible liar. I assume you ate a red fruit with its seeds on the outside. That's the one known as Fruit 7-H."

"7-H?"

"7th Heaven, of course," said Pearce. "Don't tell me Cadmar didn't know that."

"From what he said, he didn't."

"Well, for future reference, eat the fruit green, don't eat it once it turns red, doing so will make you high and horny. Some people use Fruit 7-H on occasion at special beddo parties. I'm positive Cadmar has never gone to one of those."

"Well, I can attest to their efficacy," I said, shucking off my pants.

"Well, well, lucky lucky you," he said, smiling, "Cadmar is a handsome, virile man. If you're going to wake up one morning to find you've cheated on David, there are worse ones. But don't worry, if it happened as you say, and I believe you, I think David will forgive you."

"You think?" I asked.

"I should think so. It had you under its influence." He had his head tipped sideways studying my penis for a moment.

I took a deep breath and felt relieved.

"You should guard yourself, though," said Pearce looking me in the eye. "You have a connection to Cadmar now. That will make staying away from him a struggle. I know I would struggle. I must warn you, however, if it should happen again between you, David would never forgive you."

I didn't want to hear that. "I know. Please don't say anything. I have it under control, I promise."

He put his hands up. "I am neither your conscience nor your mother," he said, "but if you're feeling guilty, Oliver heard that saying twenty Ave Marias did miracles to assuage residual guilt."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Right." I left for the shower.

My mind raced with images of the encounter with Cadmar. I had never had an experience like that before, and I felt drawn to having another one. I had David as my mate, but I was thinking of Cadmar. Should I have felt guilty? Did how I feel come from having eaten the fruit, or did I enjoy Cadmar more than I did David? I kept telling myself to stop, and I repeat it until my mind came to other business, which I latched onto as quickly as I could. I would remain busy carrying Trust members to the site for the next few hours, and I had so many questions of Pearce needing answers. The next time I began to think of Cadmar, I intended to ask him so I could focus on something else. Without effort, I held Cadmar's image fresh in my mind, and with my enhanced memory, he would remain so.

Mason cleaned my clothing during my shower. I wore a pair of my shorts from Mumbai with a t-shirt and sat down to a large meal. Since Pearce's clothing reproductions arrived that morning, he, along with Maggie and Aiden, joined me so I could tell them the news and discuss the mercenary situation. It seemed, the more I discovered, the more questions it left us.

Eating had energized me, and while I should have waited a bit to digest, I performed my morning exercise, as I had done almost every morning since I first arrived on Jiyū with David. I had outgrown them; they were too easy for me. I could plank for 15 minutes in any position, perform various one-legged squats 200 times and 500 push-ups in an assortment of styles without sweating, so the time had come to move onto something harder, and I commented as much.

"You could go back to the gym," said Aiden, who sat with Maggie, both of whom watched me from the couch.

"I like exercising at home," I said. "They get too busy down there."

"The first floor remains empty," said Mason, "It has plenty of space. I could ask the Master Builder to create a full gymnasium there for you."

"I think that idea sounds marvelous," said Pearce, leaning against the couch, "you can work off some excess sexual energy you can't expend with David."

I knew what Pearce was doing. "The Master Builder has the Quadrātum to finish," I said. "I doubt she would show any interest in a piddling home gym when more important projects require her attention."

"It wouldn't hurt to ask," said Maggie.

"I agree with Pearce, Rick," said Aiden. "While David's gone, you need something to keep your mind off sex."

I glowered at him. "Et tu, Aiden?"

Maggie hugged me. "We love you," she said. "We know this cannot be easy for you."

"You don't know the half of it, Maggie," I said, glancing at Pearce.

"All the more reason to do it," said Pearce. "As your doctor, I prescribe a regimen of exercise --twice a day, if necessary. Just stay hydrated, eat plenty of food throughout the day, and rest afterward. The Foundational Enhancement will take care of your recovery."

"Whatever you say, Doc." I relented. "Go ahead, and do it, Mason. Pearce, may I have a word with you?" I said, walking to the balcony and out to the ship, and he followed. I opened the hatches, and we climbed in. I closed them for privacy, motioning that we should turn off our communication to Iris, and we did.

"I know what you're going to say-"

"No. No, you don't," I said. "You're in my business because you want to represent David's interests. I get that. I understand why. I'm not blaming you for it. I want to talk to you about another matter.

"You seem better now. You must have thought about this, and I hadn't risked our lives flying 70 kilometers up a drain for nothing, so what plans do you have now? We can't get to what you need via the aqueduct. Do you know the location from the surface? One City must have a schematic of the drainage system somewhere."

"Oh sure, a schematic exists," he said, "it's inside the mind of the Master Builder. Aurum had it designed during his tenure as Prime. The location is a secret. He would have destroyed any other copies. However, my plan hasn't changed, but I don't know how to acquire what I need."

"I have a question about that," I said. "You think Aurum's secret will help you. You wouldn't think that unless you knew what it is. So, what is it?"

He paused a moment and looked at me. "What do you know about the Prime?"

"I know what David has told me. They declare someone worthy of joining the Trust."

"That's true," said Pearce, "but there's more. What do you know of the Sharing?"

"I admit, that's more of a mystery," I said, "but I know a little. Amaré had Dmitry share with him his English, and from what I witnessed, Amaré has a clone of Dmitry's English. That disturbed me."

"As you're a linguist, it would puzzle me if it didn't," he said, "but you don't know this. It sounds obvious that anyone with the Sharing can only share with others who have the Sharing, but Amaré is different. As the Prime Sharer, he can share with anyone."

"Anyone...how?"

"I don't know how it works," he said, "but I know he can do it because I think at 12 years old, that happened to me. He caught me playing spy the day it happened."

"You said you have memories of Aurum telling you. So, do you think you have memories passed down through the last three Primes to Amaré, who then shared them with you? Why would he do that?"

He nodded. "Yes, and I don't know why he did it," said Pearce. "After the incident with Amaré, I've carried the information in my memory, and I remember what Amaré told me the day it happened. Those Japanese words have stuck in my head like a song I can't shake off. 'Watashi no tame ni kore o hokan shite kudasai?' I've had that translated, but you know what it means."

"'Could you please carry this for me?'"

"Yes, and that's when he gave me the memories," said Pearce. "I think he didn't share them, he gave them to me, I believe, for safekeeping. And I suspect once he did, he no longer had them."

"He hid the memories inside you. Why?"

"No one but Amaré knows that answer," he said. "One odd thing, I couldn't recall the memories until I received the Memory Enhancement, which tells me he didn't want me to remember it. He just wanted me to carry it for him. Somehow the Memory Enhancement triggered my recall of it."

"Fascinating. How would this help you, though? I don't understand."

"The Prime Sharer can insert information and ideas into people's minds. If I could do that, I could make them give me my son."

"That ability would be dangerous in the wrong hands."

"Aurum expressed the same concern, but his concern went a step further. He worried about the misuse of the ability to get enhanced, period. So, he created a special enhancement he called a Nano Reset. It ends someone's ongoing enhancements back to the foundational enhancement."

"That's part of the memories?" I asked.

"Yes, and I believe such a reset could cure Neal."

"Why didn't Aurum make the Nano Reset available like the others?"

"I've thought about that," he said. "I think he believed that you couldn't make any enhancement immune to misuse, even that one. Perhaps, he thought acknowledging the existence of a Nano Reset in public would present a danger."

"How?"

"Well, let us suggest an evil and unscrupulous person had an enhancement they are misusing but refused to give up under any circumstances. They know the Nano Reset exists. How far might they go to destroy it?"

"But why create it, if you're going to keep it hidden?" I asked.

"I think that's why he gave the memories to the Prime. He left whether it had become necessary to their judgment, and at that point, they would break the seal and enter the vault."

"You got your memory enhanced at sixteen," I said. "You didn't put any of that information into your journals until you were twenty-five with book 8. Why did you wait so long?"

"They felt like a vivid dream for jears. I didn't take them seriously. When I began to learn about Aurum's secret, I wrote them in my journals."

"Do you think your journaling caused Amaré to pick you?" I asked.

"I didn't begin journaling until after the incident with Amaré," said Pearce. "There's a possibility I began writing them because he wanted me to, or maybe not, and I just had convenient timing."

I nodded. "It's something to think about. The Nano Reset wouldn't reset everything, would it?"

"No, it couldn't revert any finalized enhancements. It wouldn't make you short again or change your hair or eye color back, age you suddenly, or even stop you from having the quantum lattice, but it would stop you from remembering anything new with it unless you received that enhancement again. It would also reinstate your fertility, restart the aging process, and it would end the Prime Sharer's abilities."

Aiden walked into view on the ship's screens, indicating I should open the hatch. "Magnar is trying to reach you. He asks you to land inside the arena."

"Thank you, Aiden."

I enjoyed the unusual experience of flying into the Arena. The roof of the Arena could retract upon itself. With the roof fully retracted, I made a smooth landing. Trust members had lowered the central raised platform into the flooring. Many uniformed members stood there waiting for me.

Magnar handpicked twelve Trust members to stay at the site to defend us against anyone who might come through. I looked to see if I could catch a glimpse of Cadmar, but Magnar hadn't chosen him. It took four trips to transport them, their weapons, and equipment to the site. Magnar had me then fly to the industrial area to pick up supplies at warehouse 301. Trust members loaded the ship with goods that I transported to the site. I hadn't seen Cadmar there either.

When I completed the tasks, Magnar asked me to meet him in the Arena, so I landed there as I had before. He climbed inside and caught me up. We turned deactivated our communication with Iris.

"Venn tells me he will complete the next of these ships overnight and have it available in the morning," he said. "At that point, I will release you of your responsibility to the endeavors at the new portal site. I appreciate your assistance today. We could not have done any of this without you. So, maybe, Amaré was right to ask Venn to give you the ship."

"You're welcome," I said.

Magnar continued, "Mr. Greco has told us everything he knows and keeps insisting we don't have to torture him, that he's willing to tell us whatever we want to know."

"That poor man," I said. "Have they received nano-suspension?"

"Yes, but not without considerable persuasion. I had to drink from the glass first before Greco would even touch it."

I shook my head. "Major Palmer must have had them programmed before they left. What's the plan for them and the other portal?"

"Once the clinicians declare them healthy again, the plan, for now, is to send them back to Earth. As for the portal, we will keep it secured with a garrison stationed there at all times."

"Will you send word to our families on Earth they can return home?"

"Yes," said Magnar, "in the morning when the other ship is ready." He looked at me and spoke with as much softness as he was capable. "Rick, I have one last thing. I spoke with Cadmar. He admitted what happened last night."

"Oh?" Images of Cadmar filled my thoughts at the mere mention of his name.

"I know you," he said, "I believe him when he told me the innocence of the circumstance. Cadmar knows nothing about food really, he eats and doesn't think."

"I know now that we ate them too ripe," I said.

"Yes, far too ripe," he said, then took a deep breath. "I think we should keep the two of you apart until your connection becomes dormant."

"Magnar, that won't be necessary, and this isn't your-"

"Yes, it is!" he insisted. "It is my business. I promised David that I would protect you. I will keep Cadmar busy with the new ship transporting replacement personnel and necessities to the garrison."

I felt like someone squeezed my heart, just hearing his name.

"I'm sorry," said Magnar, "I know how you must feel. This happened to me with my first connections. If you don't stay busy, you can't keep Cadmar out of your thoughts, can you? I must protect you from yourself. You don't love Cadmar; you love David. He will return, and if you destroy your relationship with him by giving in to your emotions for Cadmar, you will regret it." He held out his hands, pleading with me. "I won't lie to you. Cadmar is an amazing man, but David is even better. David loves you. He is yours, and you are his, and no other's. You know it's true."

"Yes," I said on the verge of crying, but I didn't.

"Promise me you will stay away from Cadmar," he said.

I felt like it was ripping my heart from my chest, and I couldn't breathe. "Magnar-"

"Promise me! As David's proxy to you. To promise me is to promise to David because if you don't, I won't hesitate to tell him how unfaithful you've been."

I looked him in the eye. "You're coercing me?"

"Don't think this doesn't hurt me," said Magnar. "I care about both of you too much to not do this. You might hate me now, but you'll thank me later. So, promise me."

"I promise I will stay away from Cadmar."

"Both David and I will hold you to that promise," he said.

I sneered at him. "You're a hypocrite."

"Maybe so, but David is not. He doesn't deserve an unfaithful mate, so don't be one."

I hit the open-hatch button. "Get out!"

When Magnar left, I closed the hatch, too furious to cry. I usually never got angry like that. I didn't have David, and I couldn't have Cadmar. I felt like I needed someone. As a proxy, it tied me to One City, and I couldn't go to Earth to find David while things needed doing. I wanted to speak with Amaré. I attempted to contact him using Iris, but Iris redirected me to Gabe.

"Why am I speaking to you, and not Amaré?" I asked.

"Amaré isn't available," said Gabe.

"Is he okay?"