Stars Above (The Lunar Chronicles #4.5)(8)
“Why are you here?” she said instead, leaning the pitchfork against a row of wooden cabinets that were peeling with old paint. “You told me you wouldn’t be back until the child was at least fifteen years old. I wasn’t expecting you for years still.”
“I know. But we can’t wait … I can’t wait any longer. We must complete her operations. We must wake her up, soon, before it’s too late.”
Michelle frowned. When he had first brought the princess to her, he’d explained at length what would need to happen when she was older. When her body was almost full grown, they would outfit her with what physical features would be necessary for her to walk and breathe and speak and be the queen that Luna needed. It had taken Michelle a long while to comprehend that he meant to turn the princess into a cyborg, which on some levels seemed a travesty, but she’d long ago come to the understanding that it was the only way. She was not one to pass judgment on cyborgs, anyway. Just one more misunderstood group, like so many others.
Still, Logan had always insisted that the cyborg operation be conducted once the child was older. To outfit an immature body with cyborg limbs as extensive as she would require would be clunky and inefficient, and perhaps even incompatible with her growing organic tissue in the long term.
“Why?” she finally said. “She’s still so young. Why wake her now?”
Logan’s face fell and he leaned against the podship that she used for local deliveries. “I have Lunar sickness.” His voice cracked. It sounded like a confession of some shameful crime. Michelle’s expression must have conveyed her confusion, though, because his eyes softened at her. “I am going mad, Michelle. When I first came to Earth, I was able to use my gift in small ways, simple ways, to avoid detection. But over the years, even small manipulations have begun to feel dangerous. I’ve been afraid some other Lunar might be near, might recognize my use of the gift. Or that an Earthen might pick up on the manipulation. Even if it was something harmless, they might know…” He swallowed. A deep crease had formed between his brows. “So I stopped. I haven’t used my gift for years, and now … now I am paying the price. It is driving me insane, and I don’t think I could stop it now, even if I tried. It’s happened fast. So much faster than I thought it would…” He dragged his palms down his face and groaned into them.
Michelle stared. She wasn’t sure if she understood half of what he said, but she was only a pilot and a farmer. Logan was the Lunar, the doctor, the one who had left his home and risked everything to keep the child safe. If he believed she needed to be woken up sooner, then Michelle didn’t think she could argue with him.
“Will she be ready?” she asked.
Logan’s arms dropped to his sides. “She must be.” He opened his mouth to say something else but stopped. Then, after a long moment, he said, “She will not be staying with you once she is stable and awake. I have endangered you for long enough.”
This was the topic they had always skipped around before. The after. It had been difficult enough trying to keep her alive, hidden, secure. It had seemed too distant and complicated to imagine what would become of her once the operation was complete. But now they had no choice but to think of it.
Soon, she would not be a body in a tank. She would be a child. An eleven-year-old girl, who would no doubt be frightened and confused.
“Where will you take her?”
“I’ve found a man who lives in the Eastern Commonwealth, just outside of New Beijing. His name is Garan Linh, and he’s an intelligent man with a vast knowledge of android systems and artificial intelligence, which will be useful given her cyborg … additions. But he’s also an inventor, and he’s created this marvelous device that attaches to a person’s nervous system. In an Earthen, it can keep them from ever being manipulated by the Lunar gift. But in a Lunar, it can ensure that they are unable to use their gift at all, whilst also protecting them from developing the hallucinations associated with Lunar sickness.”
Michelle was frowning again as she tried to take in everything he was telling her. “Well … good, then. That will help you, won’t it? Prevent you from … er, going mad?”
“No, no. I will not take one. He has only two in the prototype stage. One must be for the princess, of course. She will eventually have to be taught how to control her gift, and until then, we can’t risk her revealing her identity. The other prototype is for you.”
“Me?”
“Just in case.” Logan fixed an intense look on her. “Just in case anything should ever happen to you. Just in case any Lunar should find you and … try to manipulate you into giving up the princess’s location.”
Her jaw tensed. There were other ways to get information out of a person. More old-fashioned ways. But Logan wished to protect her mind, at least, and she had heard tales of Queen Levana and her thaumaturges’ creative methods before. She was grateful that Logan wanted to protect her in this small way. She recognized his sacrifice, even if she knew he would never admit that it was such.
“All right,” she said, wiping her sweating palms down the sides of her jeans. “You’ve found this inventor, and the child will receive this device of his. Then what?”
“Then she will go to live with him. He’s already agreed to care for her as his legal ward, and he has two children of his own. It will be a good fit.”