Lost Era 05_ Deny thy Father - Jeff Mariotte [88]
“I understand, Michelle. And you could be right. You probably are. But now… now you’re here. I’ve screwed up before, and it’s like some kind of second chance. Fourth or fifth chance, maybe.”
She smiled once more. “I’m glad that matters to you, Joe. Or should I say, Kyle?”
“Stick with Joe,” he urged. “It’s safer that way.”
“I like Kyle better,” she told him. “That is a name that fits you. It’s stronger. Joe is nondescript, and you’re anything but. I’ll call you Joe, but in my heart you’ll be Kyle. Is that okay?”
He couldn’t help feeling glad that events had conspired to send him to Hazimot, where he could meet such an exceptional woman. That made three amazing women-Annie, Katherine Pulaski, and now Michelle Culhane-who had opened their hearts to him. How did a man get to be so lucky?
At the same time, he recognized that, while illness had claimed Annie, he alone had been responsible for the fact that he wasn’t still with Kate. He’d have to take care not to make the same mistakes again, because Michelle seemed like the kind of woman he could spend a lifetime with.
“That’ll be fine,” he said finally. “Just fine.”
“And will you help us?” she pressed. “You don’t have to fight if you don’t want to, but will you advise us? Help with strategy?”
“Let’s keep talking about that,” he suggested. “Give me time to come around. From what I’ve seen so far, you have more passion on your side than you do prospects.”
“That may be true,” she said. “But passion counts for a lot too. And we have some good minds working on it. Native Hazimotian minds, and others. With you, several good human ones as well.”
“Who else is human among the leadership?” Kyle asked. “Jackdaw? Alan?”
“They are, but they’re not really leadership,” Michelle suggested. “But I am, and of course Roog-“
“Roog’s human?” he interrupted. He pictured her indistinct, amorphous form with what seemed like other beings moving about beneath semi-translucent skin, her lumpish head and barely functional limbs. “How… what happened to her?”
“Cyre happened,” Michelle said, an explanation that didn’t explain much. When Kyle just stared at her, she elaborated. “You might have noticed that body modification is kind of a hobby, or a fetish, of many of the locals. Especially here in The End, where it’s the only kind of art one can expect to keep when one is forced to move from one hovel to another.”
“But I thought that was just among the Hazimotians,” Kyle said.
“For the most part, but not completely,” Michelle replied. “Roog has been here for a long time, and she’s gone native in most ways. Including that one. She’s had a lot of work done, not all of which turned out exactly as she’d hoped. But she’s still human inside, where it counts. She still has the experience of revolution in her genetic memory. And she’s as dedicated as you’ll ever find, on our home world or this one.”
“I guess you just can’t trust appearances,” Kyle offered.
“You never have been able to,” Michelle agreed. “Why start now? You can only trust hard facts, like this one. When I tell you that I love you, Kyle Joe Brady Riker, I mean it. That, you can trust.”
What is the report on Kyle Riker?
The report is that there is no report. Still no news, no information. He cannot be found.
How is this possible? We have at our disposal the most far-reaching information gathering technology in the history of the galaxy. We have fingers everywhere. And one simple man can elude all of this? It simply isn’t possible.
It may not be possible, but it seems to be the case. There has been no sign of Riker since the day he vanished. We may need to accept a potential scenario that we have not wanted to…
That he’s already dead. That he killed himself, perhaps, to avoid his certain fate at our hands. Yes, I have considered that. But it doesn’t seem like his way…
But when a man is pushed too hard—
Too hard? How could anything be too hard? After what he’s done to us…
It’s only a suggestion, not a fact. We need to be open to all possibilities.
Agreed. I will entertain