I miss your father right now. I want to share this with him. I want him to see what I see. I want him to see you. He’s plan B. If all goes well, you’ll never have to read this, and I’ll just bring you home. I’m hoping there’s a home to bring you back to, but one thing at a time. Earth is being attacked by alien forces, and there’s a strong possibility all of us will be dead soon. Rough week.
I should be aboard Themis right now, fighting back, but I came to find you instead. I’d be lying if I said I thought about it for a long time, and it seemed like the right choice. I didn’t choose. I just … left. You’re not alone, Eva. You just don’t know it yet. I’ll keep you safe, and if I can’t, Vincent will. I seriously hope it’s me. I’d rather not die, obviously, but I also have a plan. No one dies in my plan. If I fail, and your father is the one who comes to find you, I don’t think he’ll care who lives or dies. He’ll machete his way through an entire army if that’s what it takes.
I have to warn you, Eva. Your dad is one big pain in the ass. He’s stubborn, doesn’t listen. He thinks he’s smarter than everyone—he often is, but that’s not really the point—and you’re probably more mature now than he’ll ever be. Of course, there’s a flip side to that. He’ll play with you not because he wants to please you. He’ll play because he loves to play. His heart is even bigger than his ego if you can imagine. He’ll protect you when you don’t need to be protected. He’ll jump in front of a train for you. He won’t think twice. He’ll do it because it would kill him if anything happened to you. He’ll make stupid calls, that I can promise you. It won’t be long before you’re the grown-up in the family.
I need to ask a favor of you. I want you to take care of him for me. You’re just a kid, but I’ve seen you go through hell, and I know you can overcome anything. He can’t. Not anymore. You have to be there for him. You have to protect him, from danger, from himself. More than anything, you have to live. You’ve lost a parent. You’ve lost three of them if you’re reading this. Trust me when I say that Vincent won’t survive losing a child.
So when you’re my age, and he still treats you like you’re ten, when he turns the entire world upside down to make sure you’re OK, when he does something incredibly stupid because he’s worried about you, let him. Don’t change who you are. Don’t become something you’re not, but let him have his moments. Be his little girl from time to time. He’ll need that. He’ll need you more than you can understand. He’s been waiting for you his whole life.
The sun’s going down. It looks like you’ll spend the night. There’s this little bar across the street. I think I’ll have a mojito, watch the sun set, and call it a day.
So long, Eva. I’ll see you soon.
Kara
EPILOGUE
* * *
FILE NO. 2379
INTERVIEW BETWEEN DR. ROSE FRANKLIN AND VINCENT COUTURE
Location: Medici on 57th, Chicago, Illinois
—Vincent! It’s so good to see you! How long has it been? A year?
—Can’t be.
—It has to be. How old is Eva?
—She’ll turn twenty-one in—Wow. I can’t believe it’s been that long.
—You’re all set up? How’s the toy business?
—It’s good! I’m not making any money, but it’s a lot of fun.
—Where’s Eva? Is she still living with you? Last we spoke, you told me she was working at the store.
—That lasted a whole three months.
—That’s not bad.
—I know! I had to fire her.
—Fire her? What’d she do?
—She stayed, that’s what she did. I just wanted to spend some time with her. I thought she’d be gone after a week or two, but she stayed. I just couldn’t do that to her any longer. It was like watching a tiger pacing in its cage. She was good, though, sold way more than I did.
—Where is she now?
—Sweet home Alabama.
—What?
—She’s in Fort Rucker. Flight school.
—For the army?
—Yep. She blew through basic combat training—go figure—then the warrant-officer-school thing, and now she’s training on the Apache. Believe it or not, she has a knack for it.
—That fast?
—Yeah. It’s fast. She also had good letters of recommendation.
—How are you two going to see each other?
—I’m not sure. We’ll see where she gets posted. I might need to sell the store. I was hoping she’d be a Canadian helicopter pilot, but the choppers are more fun on this side of the border. Bigger guns. She likes big toys.
—God help us all.
—She already has an offer from the EDC.
—What does the EDC need with helicopter pilots?
—They’re putting together a … conventional strike force, developing new tech. State-of-the-art experimental stuff.
—Who’s running it? Don’t tell me they got Alyssa to run it?
—Ha! No, but she does work there.
—I … Who did they put in charge?
—You’re going to love this. Remember Katherine from Russia?
—No! Really?
—Yep.
—Wow. They’re building weapons.
—Well, yeah. Just in case harsh language fails to stop an alien invasion.
—I don’t like this at all, Vincent.
—Then you’re really not going to like this. There’s someone here who’d like to say hello … Come in!
—Mr. Burns!
[You seem surprised, Dr. Franklin!]
I saw you. I saw you board the Ekt ship and leave. You and everyone else.
[I did. As far as the me on that ship is concerned, I’ve been gone over a year … I suppose I’ve been dead over a year.]
But—
[Oh, come on, Dr. Franklin! I said I was willing to die. I didn’t say I was stupid. I couldn’t watch thousands of people—my family, my closest friends, me!—vanish into nothingness for no good reason.]
How did you—?
[Same way we brought you back, of course! Before we left, we each scanned ourselves with the device we used on you—when was that?—nineteen years ago! Wow! We’re not getting any younger. We scanned ourselves and stored the information. That was … mindlessly boring. You should have seen the line for the machine! I asked a friend of ours—your daughter met him, Mr. Couture!—to make us whole again when it was safe. I guess it was safe!]
—Was it—What was his name?—Bob?
[Yes! Bob! He sends Eva his best. He says … let’s see if I can remember. Oh yes! Artél’nyj gorshók gúshhe kipít. Something like that.]
What does it mean?
[How should I know? It’s in Russian.]
I’ll tell her he said hi.
[You do that. It’s funny, all my life, I wanted to visit the planet of my ancestors, and I finally did! But I don’t remember anything about it because I wasn’t even there. Ironic, isn’t it?]
—I don’t know what to say. I don’t—
[What, Dr. Franklin? You don’t what? I know you’re happy to see me, even if you’re making that face right now. Seriously, you look like you just drank a whole glass of sour milk.]
—I think Rose is worried the Ekt will find out you’re alive and come back.
—No, Vincent. They won’t. The Council just needed a victory of sorts after all that happened. I don’t think they could care less about what goes on here.
[That’s the spirit. And who knows? The universe isn’t the most friendly place. You might need some old fool with stories to tell someday.]
I’m sure we will, Mr. Burns. I’m sure we will.
[Speaking of stories, you never told me about the time you fell into that giant metal hand.]
Of course I have! You know all about it. You even told me you played a part in all that.
[No, no, no! I told you we made sure you’d be the one studying that hand when you were older, but we didn’t know anything about you until you fell into that hole. I’d love to hear that story.]
Some other time, maybe?
[Do you have anything better to do right now? Don’t answer that, I already know the answer.]
—I’ve never heard that story either, Rose.
[See! Everyone wants to hear it. Please!]
—All right … It was my eleventh birthday. I’d gotten a new bike from my father …
Acknowledgments