Page 57 of Kiss Across the Universe
Aran could feel the resistance, theresentment, trying to build in him.
“You don’t understand, Rafe,” Jesse said, and Aran could tell she was struggling to sound reasonable and calm. “This is important to Aran.”
“And I was partial to mead, but I had to give that up,” Rafe shot back. He lifted his hand again. “Let’s not argue. It just gets in the way of good sense. Aran, you know as well as any of us the risks you take every time you jump back. And that isn’t why I’m saying you should stop with the long jumps. You’re going to grow older than Jesse. Alotolder. And you’re physically old enough already that in a year or so, your metabolism is going to drop off a cliff.”
Aran stared at him, baffled.
Rafe leaned forward. “You’ll getold, Aran. You’ll feel it in your bones. Your eyesight won’t be what is was. You’ll have to wear glasses to read anything. And you won’t be able to eat breakfasts like this because they’ll put your heart at risk because they’re full of fat, and because you can’t drop the weight the way you used to. Which will spike inflammation, and that sets off a whole bushel of problems, including cancer and auto-immune diseases.”
Aran shook his head. “So what? Getting old is part of being human.”
“Not in this family,” Rafe said flatly.
This time, it was Jesse who rested her fingers onhiswrist. “Remember who his spouses are,” she said softly.
Alexander, the physician who had been in general practice for fifteen hundred years. Sydney the strategist, who could often see further into the future than Veris.
“You really want to be turned when you can’t see much, and your joints ache when it rains?” Rafe asked. “You’ll carry that with you the rest of your very long life, for near immortalityisthe legacy of this family. Time travel is just a bonus that comes with the long life.”
Aran sat back, his anger gone just like that. Rafe had flipped around his understanding of…just about everything. Certainly, about the real shape and meaning of his family and their peculiarities. “Iliketime travel,” he said, but not with any great emphasis behind it.
And I was partial to mead, but I had to give that up.
Rafe grimaced. “Long life comes at a cost. Most people can’t see the cost. All they can see is how cool it is to live a thousand years and find out what life will be like then. Of cheating death and living essentially forever.”
“Maybe I don’t want to live forever,” Aran said. “Maybe Jesse doesn’t and if she doesn’t, then I’m not going to go on without her.”
Jesse’s expression softened. There was a warmth in her eyes that told Aran she would have plenty to say to him about that when they were alone.
Rafe smiled. “Oh, yeah? An inveterate time traveler like you doesn’t want to travel into the future? Long life is just another, slower version of time travel, Aran. You don’t want to see Nyara’s world, see time travel commercialized? Veris is still alive then. Maybe Brody and Taylor, too.” Rafe paused and considered what he’d just said. “Scratch that. They’re all three alive in that time, because Veris would sayexactlywhat you just said, if either of them passed. Ergo, they live until Nyara’s time at least.”
Another, slower version of time travel. “I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Aran admitted.
Jesse looked thoughtful, too.
Rafe sat back. “I’m guessing that you and yours don’t need active income any more. Not with the way you’ve been milking compound interest and inflation.”
Aran wanted to smile complacently. “We’re not hurting,” he admitted.
The corner of Rafe’s mouth lifted. “Stay exactly that reticent about your finances.Forever,” he said. “Salt it away under a dozen or more different IDs. Spread it out so no one person or institute can tie them together. Sydney can help you with that—she was trained to deep dive into records and find what people were trying to hide. She knows how to hide things so no one can dig them up.”
Aran rubbed the back of his head. “I guess I’ll take up knitting…” he muttered.
Jesse pressed her lips together in a sympathetic grimace.
“You were a successful lobbyist in Washington DC,” Rafe said. “Sydney could use someone like you.”
“To do what, exactly?” Aran asked. He was only a tiny bit interested. Sydney’s form of politics wasolde worldepolite. It was diplomacy, not dog fights.
“We come across other time jumpers in other worlds,” Rafe said. “Not just our alternative selves, but people we don’t know, who have tripped over time travel themselves. And lately, we’ve met time travelers who weretrained, the moment another traveler suspected they were jumpers. And they were trained using Veris’ manual and principals.”
“That damned book,” Aran growled. “It’s too conservative.”
“For you, who grew up knowing about time travel, sure. But Veris’ manual scares the shit out of most people, which is exactly where they need to be when they’re first learning to jump. They can toss the thing when they’ve got a few successful jumps under their belt…and that’s where you come in.”
Aran just shook his head. “You’ve lost me.”
“You teach them how to use time properly,” Jesse said.
