Page 54 of Possessed By the Leonid King

Silence.

“Layla? We grew up together?”

“Elio? This isn’t funny.”

“Layla, Wendy! Please say you remember me.” Her fingers bit into her knees. Why couldn’t she see her face? Why did she sound so weak? Maybe it was late at night there on Sapien-Three and she’d woken her up.

Sure enough, a small yellow light appeared and Wendy’s shadowy face peered close to the screen. Only a small square of Layla’s large screen was filled with a poor quality visual. The lab “inmates” must only have small portable comms, Layla realized.

“Layla?”

“Wendy! It’s me! Are you okay?”

“I’m... I’m okay.” Wendy seemed confused. “What's happening?” Her dull eyes widened. “Did you sell your contract to the lab, too?” Her voice teetered between excitement and something else. Joy? Fear?

“No. Look, I don’t know how long they give you to talk, so I’m going to spit out a lot at once. I should have fought harder for us. I should have gone with you. Once you left, I tried to visit, and they said you couldn’t see outsiders because of the testing protocols you currently had. I tried a few more times. I dropped off letters, but never heard back.”

“Letters?” Wendy shook her head.

“Not important now. We can have lots of time to talk later. Wendy, please let Rupex, the captain of a Leonid craft called the Comet Stalker, buy your contract to be crew on his ship. Please. Please, and once you’re here, we’ll be together and if you don’t want to be crew, I can find something else for you to do, but we can be together. The boys, too. I want to bid on all of your contracts. Well, Rupex, officially, but me, too.” Layla hoped that her rushed tangle of words made sense.

Wendy was silent. “I have to ask Dax. And Elio. We took the five-year placement and signed the one-year with the bonus. The labs take part of your pay to rent you a room. And your comm. Your clothes. They give you six outfits a year, but if you wear them out, you have to pay for the new ones.”

Layla nodded, unease growing. Wendy sounded disoriented and depressed, beyond mere lack of sleep. “Your contract is up soon, Wen.”

“Thirty days. We’re all getting out. Not going back this time.”

Unease, hell. Pure panic gripped Layla’s chest and wouldn’t let go. “Did you try to leave?”

“Once. Our contract wasn’t up, and we couldn’t buy off the time. We don’t go without each other.”

“Baby, I’m so sorry. I should have been there.”

Wendy looked at her for a long, silent second. “No. We should have been with you. If we had trusted you, we would have been okay.”

“Are you—are you not okay now?” Layla pressed.

More silent staring. “In thirty days we’ll be better. We saved up. We’re going to get a place, the three of us. We’ll do different work. Cleaning. Babysitting. I always wanted to be a nanny. Or a teacher.”

They don’t need me. They survived without me. They made a plan without me. They’ll be okay without me.

But I’ll never be okay without them.

“I know you don’t need me, but... what does the lab pay per year? Whatever they do, we can double it. And housing is included, no paying it back. The clothes—well, right now the clothes are a little baggy, but... But Wendy, it’s safe here. No one would hurt you. No one would make you stay. I’m trying to get a place for us. Um. Wait.”

Wendy stared, mute and wide-eyed as Layla tried to display her screen. She opened a second display window to show Leo Falls. There was only a brief aerial view and a coastal view as it wasn’t a popular location, but it was beautiful in any picture. “Here. We can have a safe place here. Or we can travel. Wendy... I hope to be a mom soon. There might be other families who need help with their cubs—I mean, babies, too.” She thought of Dane and Cherie.

Her voice was tiny and flickering, like her screen. “This isn’t real.”

“Huh?”

“Not real. Hallucination. A dream. Side effects. Psychotropic. Antipsychotic. Had it all before. Never this clear.”

Layla’s heart cracked further. My poor beautiful Wendy! “They gave you all that stuff?”

“Lots of stuff. It’s safe. They have to see how it affects people before they can prescribe it.” Her eyes didn’t meet Layla’s and instead looked around the dark room.

“I’ll send the offer for all three of you, including transportation to the Milky Way Intergalactic Port.” Layla bit her lip. She was making rash promises with Rupex’s credits.

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