“And be extra nice to David,” Esis added, with a teasing smirk. “He’s my favorite.”
“I’ll do that. I promise. But . . .”
The pair eyed Quint quizzically, waiting for him to finish his thought.
“I’ve followed your instructions for five years now, Azral. I’ve done everything you asked. I’m just wondering when I finally get the chance to learn about you. I mean . . . where do you come from? When do you come from? What’s your ultimate purpose with these people?”
The Pelletiers smiled with enough wry amusement to make Quint regret his outburst.
“How soon you turn from seeking forgiveness to favor,” Azral mocked.
“I’m a scientist. Do you expect me to be incurious?”
“We expect you to be patient, Sterling. This is just the beginning of our relationship. For now, your focus should be on the Silvers. Keep them comfortable. Keep them content.”
“Our task will be simpler if they remain here willingly,” Esis added.
Quint’s thoughts turned to Zack, who’d been so stubborn and clever about securing an independent future. “And if they choose to leave?”
Azral’s deep blue gaze turned chillingly severe. “Then this won’t be the beginning at all.”
The couple disappeared into the shimmering circle. It shrank away to nothingness.
As he waited for his thumping heart to settle, Quint cursed himself for his whimpering subservience. For all he knew, Azral was a mediocrity in his native era—a fraud, a mental patient. And yet here was the great Sterling Quint, begging for knowledge like a dog begged for scraps.
Still, indignity was a small price to pay for this scientific windfall, a chance to forever rise above his simpering peers. For the greater prize, Quint resolved to do his job. Most important, he’d do it without any more mistakes. On the short list of things he didn’t want to learn from Azral was how he handled the people who disappointed him.
—
Hannah pulled away from Theo and studied him. When she first met him, he looked like a shipwreck victim. Now his face was clean-shaven and his hair was trimmed to a more civilized shag.
“I had no idea you were awake,” she said. “I must have asked about you a hundred times. All they told me was that you were hanging in there.”
Theo processed her with awkward, busy eyes. She recognized the look.
“You forgot my name, didn’t you? It’s all right. I’m Hannah.”
Czerny stepped in. “I’m afraid it’s worse than that. Due to his unfortunate mishap, he doesn’t remember his first day here.”
She looked to Theo again. “You don’t remember me at all? That talk we had in the van?”
As he raised his palms in shrugging remorse, his sleeves rolled back, revealing the Asian script tattoo on his left wrist and the shiny silver bracelet on his right. It had been nearly two weeks since Zack removed her own bangle. She never thought she’d have to look at one again.
“Okay, well, I can fill you in later. I’m just glad you’re all right.”
Theo thanked her, even though the state of all-rightness seemed about as distant as Alpha Centauri. He’d spent the last month tucked away in his one-man rehab unit on the second floor, with his own catered meals, his own lumivision, his own sweaty struggles. On the upside, he was truly sober for the first time in years. That made him only slightly prepared to be integrated with the other survivors. He was only slightly ready to hear what Quint had to say.
The esteemed physicist motioned Theo to the empty chair. “If you would.”
Theo sat down at the end of the row, drumming a nervous beat on his leg. The cartoonist offered him a smile and a handshake. “Zack Trillinger.”
“Theo Maranan. Hi. Did we, uh, also meet before?”
“Nope. This is our first time.”
“Okay,” he said, suppressing the hot urge to laugh. Zack already seemed as familiar as a best friend. He had no idea why.
Quint nodded to Czerny, who dimmed the lights and switched on the lumiplex. He cleared his throat, then the presentation began.
—
The first image to appear on the screen was a satellite photo of the world. Though Czerny ran the projector-like device from the other side of the room, Quint was able to move in front of it without casting a shadow or wearing the swirling colors of Earth on his skin.
“To start, I’d like to thank you all for your patience. You’ve gotten a lot of nonanswers to a lot of pressing questions. I know how frustrating that can be. Believe me, it was never our goal to keep you in the dark. We just want to portion out the information in a way that doesn’t overwhelm you. Given all the strife with your physical anomalies, you can understand why we’d hold off on discussing the many quirks and differences of this new world.”
Theo scanned his fellow refugees, wondering if he’d failed to notice goat horns or cat eyes. When David caught his gaze, he turned his attention back to Quint.