The Best of All Possible Worlds Read online

  “Yes…I feel better now,” he said though he still did not look at her.

  Christine frowned but said nothing about his odd behavior; instead she slipped on her gloves and drew a blood sample. D was unusually quiet during the procedure which also aroused Christine’s suspicions.

  “You’re feeling better?” She asked when she was finished, confused by his subdued manner. The boy nodded again, but said nothing and moved back to his bed. He flopped down and picked up his reader and pretended to read though his eyes flicked back toward Christine several times before she finally turned and left the room.

  D’s behavior was completely abnormal. He usually interacted with whoever was in his room until the time they actually departed. He’d never shown any signs of anti-social behavior before today.

  ‘Something’s up,’ Christine thought and wondered if the boy somehow knew what was to befall him.

  ‘He can’t suspect, not from one short visit.’ Christine moved back into her room with Shirley.

  “He claims to feel better, but he’s acting odd. He actually pretended to read while I was in the room,” Christine said. “Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary with him?”

  Shirley considered this a moment. “No. He acted completely normal with me,” she replied.

  Christine sighed. “I’m going to test this sample, do you mind spending the next hour with him? Don’t do anything special, just interact with him and watch for any abnormal behavior.”

  “I’d love to,” Shirley said then grew concerned. She loved to spend time with D. She felt better when she was with him, happier, much like when her own grandchildren traveled down from Santa Fe for a visit. “Do you think he’s still feeling poorly and trying to hide it from us?”

  Christine shrugged not having considered this possibility. Deception was not something she associated with D. He was uncommonly open and honest. “I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s nothing. Let’s just keep a close eye on him.”

  “Will do,” Shirley answered and slid from behind her desk. She was already in the observation room before Christine made it across the hall to her lab.

  An hour later Christine returned to her office utterly bewildered. She performed a follow up test with what was left of the blood sample, but the results came back the same. Moments later she was on the phone to Dr. Crane.

  “Something’s wrong,” she said immediately after he answered.

  “Wrong with what?”

  “I think you’d better come down here,” she answered. Ten minutes later Crane was standing in the lab reviewing the tests.

  He shook his head perplexed. “I don’t understand,” he finally said.

  “I don’t either,” Christine agreed. “You can see from the sample I took yesterday that the R89 gene is present, it’s found the correct marker and it’s active. The gene appears to be working effectively, but today while R89 is still present, for some reason it’s gone dormant. The gene is no longer active and D’s development has accelerated once again.”

  “But how is that possible?” Crane asked scratching his head and rereading the results for what seemed like the fiftieth time.

  Christine shrugged. “I don’t know, it shouldn’t be, even with the increased hormonal activity. I’m going to draw another sample, just to make sure,” Christine announced. “This is going to take some further testing,” she added hopefully. Crane was not fooled and did not try to spare her feelings.

  “Christine…take as many samples as you like,” he said softly. “D gets cancelled tomorrow afternoon as planned.

  Christine rounded on him. “You mean killed! Say it Ian…killed. You’re going to put him to death. Don’t bandy words.”

  Crane flinched. “It wasn’t my decision. I’m not happy about it…Heyworth is not happy about it, and clearly you’re not happy about it. If it’s any consolation Reverend Heyworth has threatened to pull his funding and set you up in a private lab…I think he’s serious.”

  Christine was taken aback by this piece of news and for a moment her heart swelled with pride and happiness. ‘It would be something to run my own lab…make my own decisions.’ The thought slipped through her mind, completely beyond her control, but she quickly realized if she followed along that course of action D would have to die, and that was not something she could honestly consider.

  “Fine…but I’m still running the tests,” she added and jerking the door to the lab open, she stormed out into the hall. “And I believe I’ll give the good reverend a call,” she hollered back at him.

  Crane sighed. “Suit yourself,” he whispered and slowly headed back to his office.

  VII

  “Love is a curse!”

  Vio Valencia

  October 15th 3217 Noble Island

  “Galen says, ‘All wisdom comes from within.’ “What do you think that means?” Avigail asked and then skipped quickly away from a kata aimed directly at her forehead. She scowled at her brother, blocked his next blow, ducked and sent a low thrust of her own at his shins. He lifted his leg smoothly and avoided the strike as if he knew it was coming. Fighting Arnot was very frustrating for her; it was like trying to fight yourself. He always seemed to know exactly what she was going to do, even when she was not even sure of her tactics herself. But he would only agree to discuss Galen’s philosophy while she sparred with him...so she sparred.

  Arnot’s left kata caught her full in the back and she grunted. He backed off smiling.

  Avigail glared at him and dropped her hands to her side and cocked her head slightly.

  Arnot shrugged. “I don’t know…that we’re all smart?”

  Avigail nodded slightly. “Yes…in a way. What he’s really trying to say is…” She had to stop talking as Arnot leaped forward with a flurry of attacks. Avigail managed to block every one and even forced her brother back a step before his final attack struck her firmly on the backside.

  “Ha!” Arnot laughed. “Nice wound.”

  “You are the final judge of what is wise…no one else can make that decision for you no matter how hard you try to escape the responsibility,” Avi said and attacked in mid thought. She surprised Arnot who backpedaled very quickly in order to avoid being scored upon. “It’s like sparring, Arnot…someone may be able to show you how to fight, but you have to do it all on your own. Vio cannot fight for you.”

  Understanding dawned and Arnot smiled. “I get it. My decisions are like moves in a fight…I control them all,” he answered, standing still for a moment.

  Avi nodded and took another blow to the right thigh for her trouble.

  “Charley horse,” Arnot howled and he was right. Avi knew she would have a fine bruise on her leg come morning.

  “Yes…Galen says there is a reason understanding is called insight,” Avi answered and launched herself at Arnot, determined to score a hit before this little exercise was over.

  “Insight,” Arnot repeated, again looking confused for a moment. Avigail took advantage and increased the rate of her attack and as Arnot backed into the surrounding fence her right kata lightly brushed against his chest.

  “A hit!” Avi yelled and raised both hands in triumph.

  Arnot scowled at her a moment, but soon broke into a grin as he watched his sister dance around the coral in excitement.

  “They’re good together,” N’dori commented from the hillside above.

  “Yes,” Vio answered, a little jealous of the close relationship the two siblings shared. “They seem to complement each other in all things.”

  “He’s very good,” N’dori added as the twins once again took up their sparring. “I’ve not seen anyone move like him since Tar Nev…and you a little bit.”

  Vio smiled. “Yes, he’s good. He makes me look clumsy,” she admitted.

  N’dori scoffed. Vio in motion was grace beyond measure. Vio glanced over at the older Solitary.

  “I cannot best him without slowing time,” Vio admitted and nodded when N’dori glanced at her with raised eyebrows. />
  “Truly?” N’dori asked, shocked by the implications. Vio Valencia in her youth was one of the finest students ever to attend Noble Island. She was the youngest person ever to be elevated to the rank of Tar, and she was the youngest ever to be welcomed into the family of Solitaries. To believe that someone as young as the prince could already match her ability was disturbing.

  Vio nodded. “He’s very good, very instinctual and he has a good mind for combat despite the fact that he appears to shun anything intellectual. But he’s not the one I’m excited about.”

  “Avigail? How so?”

  Vio remained quiet for a long time trying to organize her thoughts. “She’s a fine student…very focused. She doesn’t have Arnot’s innate skill, but she’s very intelligent. She’ll surpass her brother before you’re finished with them.”

  N’dori frowned and wondered about Vio’s assessment. “Surpass?”

  Vio nodded. “She’s a very strong Traveler, so strong Monde wanted to keep her for Light, and Renault as well for Lato. You will see. She’s the leader of the pair, though she defers to Arnot in many things.”

  “Interesting,” N’dori commented and nearly mentioned Gwaynn and his relationship with his own sister but refrained out of respect for Vio’s feelings. N’dori had never met anyone so singular in their love and knew such behavior was not the norm. N’dori found that it was surprisingly easy to fall in love and believed that most people did so numerous times over their lifetimes. Yes, most fell many times even if they were able to overcome the emotion and remained devoted to a single person. Vio, it seemed, was one of the unlucky few who would know love only once and that was a true tragedy.

  “I’ll need you to leave them with me,” N’dori finally commented. “Your presence will become a distraction.”

  Vio nodded then bowed her head.

  “You may return in three months, by then we’ll know if the twins are all you claim them to be,” the Solitary added, feeling for her young friend. But she would be making her own sacrifices for the two young twins. That morning James saddled his mare and moved down to Herra where he would spend the next few months as his lover worked with her new pupils. N’dori sighed. She would miss his steady presence.

  “I’ll go immediately,” Vio answered, very sad to be leaving the twins behind, but it would be good to be home and return to her routine of exercise and contemplation. She’d found herself out of sorts since their arrival…thoughts of Gwaynn plagued her, refusing to give her any peace of mind. She needed to win back what equilibrium she’d gained over the years of solitude and hopefully by the time the twins…Arnot particularly…returned, she would be in a stronger position to resist the pull.

  †

  “You’re much farther along than your father when he faced his first Solitary,” N’dori explained as she squared off against both students.

  Arnot stood to her right, ready, a smile on his face, while Avigail hung farther back on the left, wary. The two were not accustomed to fighting together against a single opponent and Avigail would naturally play a supporting role for her brother who would take the lead.

  “Prepare!” N’dori warned, and then in a blink Arnot was on his back and Avigail was disarmed and lying face down in the dirt. She sputtered and wiped her mouth on her sleeve, making a face as she tried to remove what dirt she could from her tongue.

  “That’s not possible,” Arnot insisted and hopped quickly to his feet. He retrieved his own lost kata as Avigail rose to a sitting position.

  “She’s Traveling!” Avigail accused. “That’s not fighting fair!”

  “Fighting fair,” N’dori repeated with an easy laugh. “There’s no such thing. Who’s going to claim the fight was unfair when you’re lying dead at my feet.”

  Avigail frowned and got to her feet. ‘It still isn’t fair,’ she thought but did not voice her opinion again. Her left kata was near her feet, but her right was twenty feet away, lying just outside the coral. She jumped the fence and when she turned around N’dori surprised her by being very close.

  “And I did not Travel,” the Solitary contradicted.

  Avigail placed one foot on the bottom support of the fence and made to climb back over when she noticed that something was very strange. Everything was utterly quiet. There was no breeze; nothing stirred at all. And Arnot was standing perfectly still looking across to where N’dori had been. He was not moving…nothing was moving.

  “What…” Avi began, suddenly very afraid.

  “Be at ease,” N’dori stated, remembering when Nev had first showed her the true nature of the universe. It’s always very frightening when your world view gets turned upside down.

  “What are you doing?” Avi finally managed and climbed into the coral. Arnot stood stock still as she moved tentatively forward to inspect her brother.

  “Time and Space are one,” N’dori explained. “You move through space in many directions, is it so hard to believe that it’s possible to move through time in the same manner?”

  “How?”

  “You know how,” N’dori chided. “It takes a normal person over a day to travel from Lato to Noble, but with Traveler Gaston’s help you did it in less than a second. Did she move you through space or time?”

  Avi frowned, then reached up and pushed a lock of hair from Arnot’s eyes. “Space…” she answered tentatively. “We moved from one place to another.”

  “But it takes a day at least to move from one to the other,” N’dori commented. “Did you not also move through time…effectively moving back in time an entire day?”

  “That…that doesn’t seem right,” Avi said, confident of her own reasoning ability. What N’dori was claiming did not jive with common sense.

  “But that is what truly happened,” N’dori said. “Time and space are forever linked together and cannot be separated. But both are elusive; we measure and understand each only against the other.”

  Avigail frowned again.

  “Our day is broken into segments based on the movement of the earth…time relies on moving through space, and to understand space we measure it against time. This place is ten minutes away…that place is a day away…the stars are light years away. To understand how big or small a space is we measure it in time.”

  N’dori staggered slightly and reached into her pocket. She popped something into her mouth.

  “To move through both takes good deal of energy,” she explained then moved over and climbed up and sat on the top rail of the fence. The wind suddenly returned and as Avi watched Arnot came back to life and spun quickly, looking wildly about for his teacher.

  He spotted Avigail first. “How did you get over there?” He asked then looked to N’dori.

  “You Traveled!” He accused her, and Avi actually chuckled.

  “No,” N’dori answered, “but I’m afraid the lesson is over for today.” She added and popped another sugar cube into her mouth before gingerly climbing down from the fence.

  “Avi, I think it’s time you and your brother made me something substantial to eat,” the Solitary added then wobbled slightly. Avi reached out and steadied the older woman, concerned. N’dori just smiled. “My strength will return quickly,” she said and they all moved toward the cabin, some more confused than others.

  †

  Over the next three months the twins studied the ways of the Solitaries much as their father had done under the legendary Tar Nev. Neither twin was successful in slowing time, but N’dori was confident it would come. The girl was getting very close, so close in fact that she decided to split the two and send Avigail up the mountain alone over the next week.

  “We will spar,” she told Arnot and was surprised when he did not complain, obviously feeling he was getting the better of the deal. Well he would learn, this time his sister would lead the way.

  Arnot’s natural ability to fight was amazing, and like Vio, N’dori soon found that she could not best the young man without the help of slowing him down. N’dori rarely slo
wed time to a complete stop for that took up far too much energy, instead she would attempt to make him just sluggish enough so that she could score a hit. Of course, from Arnot’s perspective he did not slow at all, rather N’dori moved very fast at times. But even when she slowed him his instincts were so good he sometimes managed to block a blow or two before she dropped him. He was learning very quickly and mastered many very advanced and subtle techniques. He was easily fighting on Tar level and N’dori could see a bit of Gwaynn in his style.

  Toward the end of the week, after sparring all day, N’dori was preparing a very big meal. She’d expended a great deal of energy on the boy who was currently resting on the porch in the cool of the late afternoon. When the meal was nearly complete, Arnot pushed through the door in a hurry.

  “Avigail has not returned. I cannot see her on the mountain path,” he said, clearly worried for the sun was nearing the horizon.

  N’dori smiled and pulled the pot of stew from the fire. ‘Finally!’ She thought and used a small twig to light a lantern then turned to Arnot.

  “Let’s go and find your sister,” she finally answered calmly and without a thought for the food she so needed, they started off. As they made their way farther and farther up the mountain and still came across no sign of Avigail, N’dori found her excitement growing even as dread and worry bloomed in Arnot’s breast.

  “Where is she?” He asked, his anxiety suddenly turning to anger. The sun was down now and he was forced to slow and walk in the light of N’dori’s lantern to keep from stumbling over the edge of the path and falling to his own death.

  “She’s up on the mountain,” N’dori answered wishing she’d thought to bring an apple or two. Her stomach was complaining loudly now.

  They found her near the cave, sitting perfectly still on the very edge of the cliff. Arnot cried out in relief and rushed toward his sister, but when he reached her his concern returned quickly. “She’s not moving!” He yelled to N’dori just as she knelt by the girl’s side.