Chapter 23

A young army officer had accompanied Eitan and Akemi to China Town. She was not Akemi’s usual type of friend, but they seemed friendly enough to Eitan. Two women keeping each other company while traipsing around the boroughs was not about to raise suspicions. They were waiting with Eitan for his bus to arrive. Most of the non-Chinese took the Bolt Bus or the Megabus, but Akemi assured Eitan that the Chinese-owned buses were safer for travelers because the ticketholders were mostly restaurant workers returning to their jobs in small restaurants up and down the eastern seaboard.

He boarded his bus and took a seat near the middle. The Boston run stopped at cities along the interstate in Connecticut and the Mass Turnpike. The trip was slow, but the price was eyepopping cheap. Settling into a seat, he began setting up his new phone. He also had a tablet to configure. About the only thing that Akemi had retained of his was his wallet. The bus began moving.

Looking around, Eitan realized that the bus was half-empty and indeed, most of the bus were Chinese. Confident that no one was near enough to see his screen or follow his fingers, Eitan sat back again, pulling out the handwritten business card from the wallet sheath. No numbers were written down because Eitan had converted all the numbers to Greek letters. A professional could decode it easily, but most people were not professionals.

He tapped in Reggie’s number and sent him a text; that one was easy. He considered his next move, weighing the opportunities in proportion to the threats. He texted Bea, explaining he needed to talk to his LLC treasurer. Everyone else could wait, he decided. Then on a whim, he texted the last number he had for Dr. H.: “I am now an Aikido black belt with a new Aikido master. -Eitan”

Bea returned his text first. “Where are you?”

Eitan responded that he was on a bus “headed up your way.” They went back and forth a few times, until Bea decided that she could pick him up in Worchester. Eitan pulled out his ticket and looked up the route on the English side, giving her an estimated time of arrival. He notified Kavita in Boston.

“Not a good time,” Reggie texted back. “Stranger danger, says Clifford the Safety Hound.” Eitan chuckled at the reference to a childhood PSA about child snatchers. He got the message though, which left him questioning just who was looking for him. He sent Akemi an update. Chewing on a pregger’s vitamin and iron bar that Akemi had given him, Eitan brought up Sten’s article on his tablet. The paper was locked behind a paywall, which meant $35 he would never get back.

He was slowly working through the highly technical language when the bus stopped again and the driver shouted, “Rooster.” Eitan shot up and bumped his head on the rack. He stuffed his crap back in his backpack, making his way out the door with two sleepy men who were mumbling at each other in a Chinese dialect.

When the bus pulled away, Eitan looked both ways and across the street. A Jeep flashed its lights and started its engine. Eitan crossed the empty street and climbed into the passenger seat. Bea nodded and hit the gas. The vehicle leapt onto the road and took off quickly. She said nothing for a few blocks. “Sorry, downtown is a bad neighborhood at night.”

“No worries,” Eitan said. “Is there a place we can talk?”

“It’s a little late for restaurants in Worchester and one of our security advisories warned us to stay away from working class places such as diners. Everything is security now.”

Eitan rubbed his chin. “I won’t get to Boston tonight. Let me get a cheap hotel room and we can talk in the lobby. What’s nearby?”

The cheap hotel did not have much of a lobby to speak of, yet it did have an available room. Acting as if she was giving into the inevitable, Bea followed him into the room, racing past him to claim the bathroom. Eitan slid his backpack onto the little table by the window and sat down in the only chair. He looked up when Bea walked back into the room.

She sat down on the bed facing him, dropping her purse next to her. “All we need is a bad jazz beat from the bass line and this could be a B movie,” she said. “What do you want, Eitan.”

“What I need is a straightforward conversation,” he said. “Your parents may believe that they can manage this crisis without Akemi and me, probably by hiding away in the Fortress of Solitude, but I don’t believe that you do.”

“They’re panicked,” Bea said. “They do not have an inkling of what to do. They are afraid of Akemi because she so easily manipulates them and they are terrified of you because, well, because. You guys spook me as well, and I know you two are my friends.”

“And Leslie?”

“Double secret probation and mandatory rollcall every hour on the hour,” Bea said. “She did have a serious concussion with some residual weakness on her right side. She’s better, but mom is not willing to let it go. Mom blames Akemi even though I’m equally if not more responsible for Leslie being with us that day. My father is keeping an eye on me too, insisting I stay at the Newtown offices ‘for my safety’ of course.

“The FBI interviewed me twice about Exponential Solutions. Apparently one of the five has a lacerated liver and two of them have disappeared. I cannot imagine which ones. The FBI would like to interview you as well, but let’s just say the request was odd. The second time three agents came: the two who interviewed me and the third who never said a word except to ask for you.

“Our business is raining pennies from heaven. I’ve given you my state of nation and I expect the same straightforward talk from you, Eitan. Where have you been and what are your and your siblings’ plans?”

Eitan was still digesting Bea’s news as he chose his narrative. “Easiest first: Sten was plucked by Hobart Foundation security, not the corporation, minutes before the crazies got him and deposited in the middle of a forsaken desert. He’s safe, unable to communicate with the outside world, and making significant progress on Thread Theory.

“Akemi is desperately lonely and terrified of her work’s conclusions. She is mostly hiding in plain sight. She sees chaos coming and more of what you three went through.

“As for me, prepare to be amazed,” Eitan said, rising from his chair and fishing out his card. He motioned her to follow him a few steps to the back of the door. He brought up the picture of the different races and projected it against the smooth surface. “These are the fourteen races who have learned to jump between stars. We’ve joined an exclusive club.”

The questions began pouring out of Bea. She was tracing the figures with her finger as she listened to Eitan’s replies. He did his best to describe what he had seen and to some degree, what had happened. She ran out of questions and he ran out of answers.

They sat awkwardly on the bed, knees touching.

“There’s more you haven’t told me, true?” Bea said, staring at her cupped hands.

“It’s embarrassing,” Eitan said. “My nano has been upgraded, making it easier for me to jump without getting sick. I have extra to distribute.”

“What’s embarrassing about that?”

“You remember that I can’t carry much of anything when I jump, right? Their medical A.I. decided the best place to safely store and transmit the nano was ... my balls.”

“Now I know you are pulling a prank on me, you bastard. You want a blowjob,” Bea said testily.

“No,” Eitan said softly. “If you could take the nano orally, then it would be in my mouth as well.”

“Really, Eitan,” Bea said. “This is the worst pick up line ever in the history of the world. I thought I could trust you.”

“Hey, I don’t lie,” Eitan said. “Now, you know the full story. I did not offer to give you the nano yet. You must consider the ramifications and the confront the possibilities of the choice. If you get it, you will be able to pass it on as well. I chose to trust these aliens. I am physically doing well after the last two jumps, no weakness or dizzy spells. I’m sure my blood test will come back as tip-top shape.”