False Horizon - Alex Archer [49]
“Everything’s great,” she said. “I guess I’m just a little bit in awe of this place. It seems almost too amazing to be true.”
“I know what you mean. I’ve been here longer than you two and I’m still in shock.”
“Not that it’s affected your appetite,” Annja said with a laugh. “Apparently.”
Mike held up his hands. “I’m a growing boy. I need to have my strength, you know.”
“Yeah, I got that.” She looked at Tuk, who was talking with his parents again. “He looks so happy.”
Mike nodded. “Orphan suddenly finding out that his parents are still alive and that he’s going to be the king of some long-forgotten land? Yeah, I’d bet that would put a smile on my face, too.”
Annja nodded and reached for her glass of wine. Mike nudged her.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“You sure you’re okay?”
Annja sipped the wine. “Yeah. I don’t know. I’ve never known my own past. And I guess it’s kind of being brought up again seeing Tuk find his way back to his family. But I’m still searching for the answers I need.” She sighed. “Maybe I’m just jealous.”
“Anyone would be,” Mike said. “This is a pretty damned amazing thing to have happen. But I guess we’re lucky to be here, right?”
“And what about Tsing?”
“What about him?”
Annja looked at Mike. “Well, what happens after we leave this place? Tsing is going to want to know how we found our way here.”
“Who says he has to know?”
Annja frowned. “When we come walking back from that plane wreck with little to show for it, I don’t think he’s going to be the understanding type.”
Mike bit into a peach. “Maybe we don’t go back.”
Annja shook her head. “We can’t stay here, Mike. We don’t belong here. This isn’t our home.”
“Home is where the heart is,” Mike said.
“Thank you, Mr. Cliché.” Annja sighed. “Look, Mike, this was never my obsession. I signed on to help you find this place. But I never said I wanted to run away from the real world when we found it.”
“Run away? Is that what you think I’m doing?”
“If you want to stay here, then that’s exactly what it looks like.”
Mike frowned. “Annja, you don’t know everything that’s happened in my life since the last time we got together. A lot of crap came down on me. Not the least of which is my failing health.”
“Your cholesterol? That’s easily taken care of if you simply change your eating habits.”
Mike smiled but there seemed little mirth in it. “It’s not just my cholesterol, Annja.”
“Something else?”
Mike nodded. “I’m dying.”
“What?”
He put a hand on her arm. “This isn’t the time to bring it up. But the fact is, I have a very short time to live. I have an inoperable brain tumor. If they try to crack my skull and get it out, it will just kill me.”
Annja felt her throat swelling shut. “How long?”
Mike grinned. “I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to know. It always seems to me like that’s just a death sentence right then and there. Doctors tell you that you’ve only got six months and, whammo, you drop dead at exactly six months. All I know is the tumor is there and it’s a ticking time bomb. And, eventually, I will die.”
“Eventually, we all die,” Annja said.
Mike nodded. “Granted. I would have liked a little more time, though. Say thirty years or so. Get married, have a few kids of my own. Would have been nice to have those experiences.”
“You could still have that.”
Mike shook his head. “I’m not that selfish. What would I do, go out and find someone to fall in love with me, have children and then crush their hearts when I kicked off? That would really make me something of a jerk.”
“It’s not selfish to want to be loved, Mike.”
Mike took a drink of wine. “However, my time is extremely limited. And personally, I can’t think of a place I’d rather be than here with these people. I mean, if you could choose how you wanted to go out, wouldn’t it be in a place like this? Surrounded by beauty and peace. Everything here is so utterly perfect.”
“I guess it is,” Annja said. “But I don’t want you to stay. I want you to come back with me.”
Mike grinned. “Now you’re being selfish.”
“Yes. I am.”
Mike hoisted his glass and they clinked them together.