Page 10 of 3 Secrets to Love
I grabbed the guy by the scruff of his neck and pulled him off Xacalla. As soon as she moved out of the way, I slammed him on the ground and pinned him down. Though smaller and older than me, he had a lot more hair and refused to settle.
Suddenly, he stilled. His eyes going wide as he let out a groan.
“That’s what you get for trying to ambush us,” Xacalla said from behind me. Stars, had she kicked him in between the legs?
“Family friend,” the man coughed out.
“Yeah right.” I stared down at him as I combed my memory but didn’t recognize him at all. “Then why did you attack us?”
“No, attack.” He shook his head. “I try to find you in secret. The Kalpierenes here and after all of us.”
“The children are here?” Xacalla pulled on the collar of my suit. “We need to find them.”
“Not children.” The man gasped and I loosened my hold on him. “It’s the ones who are after the children, too. They don’t want truth to come out.”
“What truth?” Xacalla demanded.
“I have document to share.” He pointed over to a P-comm laying in the grass off to the side. “It explains picture.”
“What picture?” Xacalla asked before I had the chance to.
“Also on P-comm. It’s me and your parents and doctor.”
“Show me.” I got off him and helped him up while Xacalla retrieved his P-comm.
Sitting in the grass, he loaded a picture from before I was born, my parents dressed in clothing from their union ceremony. And sure enough, the man before us stood to one side of them with a Kalpierene on the other side. They all looked happy, like they were living their best lives. My parents didn’t know then that they’d be killed a couple star cycles later, leaving me an orphan.
“If you were friends with them, why didn’t you come find me earlier? When I was growing up.” I had been raised in a community pod, but not one of them claimed to be family or to even know my parents.
“Was best at time.” He pointed to Xacalla’s P-comm. “Let me transfer files before I go.”
Xacalla held out her device, but plazer fire interrupted the transfer.
The man handed me a key that had been tucked into his P-comm. “There is shack near secondary spaceport. Stay there till sun rises. Then take transport away from here and don’t return till you know truth.”
He activated the self-destruct code on his P-comm before taking off in the direction we heard the plazer fire.
I wanted to race after him, to get more answers and learn more about my family, but I doubted we’d get the opportunity.
“He was only able to transfer the picture,” Xacalla said, squashing down my longing and bringing me back to reality. “But I found the other spaceport. It’s to the north across this field.”
She had no idea how large the field truly was, but we grabbed our gear and headed northward. We still had to get to Arodin.
***
“I found the Kalpierene from the picture.” Xacalla twisted around for me to see the screen. “They died when their lab exploded, but it was theorized they had created unauthorized clones.”
I tried to pay attention to the information she told me but found it hard to concentrate with her body pressed to mine no matter what position we tried. The “shack” was more like a tiny wooden closet built into a knoll. Between the gear we needed for Arodin and ourselves, there was little room for anything else. Definitely not enough room for either of us to lie down.
“Do you think the children who wanted to see you are the same clones the scientist created?” She turned to face me, her elbow connecting with my gut in the process.
“Maybe.” I winced, trying to hide my pain in the dim light provided by her P-comm.
“That would make them almost your age, and older than me. Hardly children.” She glanced up at me. “What do you think they want?”
“I don’t know.” And I didn’t want to theorize until I found them. It wasn’t the distraction I wanted to give attention to while we waited for the sun to rise. I placed my hand on the wall to the side of her head. “But I do know that I want to kiss you. For real this time.”
Her cheeks flushed right before her P-comm timed out and the space became dark.
