The Rising(45)
“We want you to try it with us first.”
“But I don’t smoke.”
“It’s safer than drinking,” her mother noted.
“I don’t drink, either.”
“Sam?”
Alex’s voice shocked her back to the reality of the present and the plight in which she may have placed her loony, ditzy parents. His hand was on her shoulder, squeezing gently, to bring her back to reality.
“Finally,” he continued. “Have a nice trip wherever you went?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m back.”
“I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Getting you involved in all this.”
“I don’t mind.”
Spending the night in a motel room with the boy of her dreams? Not that it had happened the way she’d conjured in this fantasy or that.…
“I’m sorry for messing up your life,” Alex was saying. “I wish you could just go home and forget this ever happened.”
“Then who would I go to prom with? And what kind of friend would I be if I just left you alone like that?”
“So we’re friends.”
“What else do you want to call us?”
He managed a smile. “Don’t give me any ideas.”
In that moment, he was charming and charismatic Alex again. But the glimpse of a smile quickly faded, his eyes losing their gleam and glow.
“Just remember I’m still your tutor,” Sam said, failing to get another smile out of him.
“But you’re forgetting the first lesson you taught me, back to math again.”
“What’s that?”
“What you said to do whenever I couldn’t solve a problem set in calculus or analyzable geometry. Go back to the beginning. Start there and work forward toward the answer.”
“Good point, but it’s analytical geometry.”
The tension broke between them, Alex reaching out to squeeze her shoulder again, as if he’d liked it the first time. Even the lightbulbs in the sign outside seemed to catch, however briefly.
“Okay, so start at the beginning,” Alex prodded.
44
PROBLEM SET
“WE’VE GOT ANDROIDS,” SAM said, doing just as Alex suggested, “physical projections and those weird slap bracelets that worked like electronic handcuffs, holding your—”
She broke off, but it was too late.
Alex swallowed hard. “Are we talking about aliens here or something?”
“Theoretically, that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Theoretically? None of this makes any sense, theoretically or not.”
“Okay—it’s not even logical.”
“So what are you now, Spock from Star Trek?”
“More like Nurse Chapel.”
“Who?”
“Dr. McCoy’s nurse in the original nobody ever remembers.”
That seemed to pique Alex’s interest. “You watched the original Trek?”
“Every episode maybe a million times.”
“Me too,” he told her.
“Really? What character do you see yourself as?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, Alex, it’s obvious: Captain Kirk.”
“I’m no Captain Kirk.” He frowned.
“No, you’re just captain of the football team, homecoming king, and the most popular kid in school.”
Alex started kicking at the worn carpet again, the tension settling back into the room. He slid Meng Po from his right hand to his left. “I never got into all the Trek follow-ups, though. A few of the movies were good.”
“I like the new ones,” Sam told him, “the reboots. Nice to be able to go back to the beginning and start over from scratch.”
“Wish I could do that.” Alex sighed. “But just tonight.”
“I wouldn’t mind starting everything all over again. Not that it would matter since it would probably all turn out the same.” Sam frowned too, not bothering to add how things had turned out when Heinlein’s Valentine Smith had tried that.
“That’s how you think of yourself?”
“Because it’s the way I am.”
“Not to me,” Alex said, looking down.
“The ash man wanted you to go with him,” Sam said, trying to hold on to this moment, whatever it meant.
“So?”
“So why? He said something about you belonging to him.”
“Not exactly.”
“Okay, but close. That you didn’t belong where you were.”
Alex thought on that, tapping his head with his knuckles. “Maybe this has something to do with me being adopted.”
“I don’t see what.”
“My mom was apologizing for something she and my dad never told me. She said something like I deserved to know the truth. That’s what the ash man must’ve been talking about. What else sticks out to you?” he asked Sam, not quite looking at her, again squeezing the statue of Meng Po tight in his grasp.
“My phone not working, then working again as soon as I got away from your house.”