Only Human (Themis Files, #3)(5)

—I didn’t know it had a motto.

—Awful, isn’t it? So, what do you say? Please! I’m dying here.

—It’s called Esat Ekt. It means Home of the Ekt. That’s what they call themselves. We couldn’t keep Earth time, but they…They use a unit of time that’s somewhere around a minute, so…

—You didn’t have a watch? Or a phone?

—We did before the batteries ran out. So like I said, we counted our heartbeats during that unit of time—Vincent and I know our normal heart rate—and we did the math. Obviously, we were a bit off. It’s possible the air was different. More oxygen, maybe.

—Oh, like when you’re on a mountain.

—Well, that would be the opposite. But yes, that’s the idea.

—Sorry. Law school, remember? Oh, before I forget. When you left, General Govender was with you. Now he’s not, unless he somehow got transformed into an alien teenager. What happened to him?

—He died.

—I’m sorry…How? Did they kill him?

—He died of natural causes.

—So sad…SO, the people on that planet are called the Ekt. That’s what he is, your friend that came with you? He’s an…Ekt?

—I thought you wanted to answer my questions.

—I did it again, didn’t I? I’m so sorry. I get too excited. I am! I am so thrilled! But I do that. I steal the conversation, and I don’t even notice it until I’ve offended someone. Please forgive me? I swear—No, I won’t, because then I’ll do it again five minutes from now, and I’ll feel even worse. Stop talking Katherine. PLEASE! Dr. Franklin. What do you wanna know?

—I’m sorry, Ms. Lebedev, I—

—Did you just call me Ms. Lebedev? It’s the office, it does that. I don’t even know what it’s called. Victorian gothic? Ms. Lebedev is my mom. I’m Katherine. Call me Katherine.

—OK. Katherine. I don’t know if it’s the traveling or if the drugs you gave me are still working, but I’m exhausted. Would it be possible to continue this conversation tomorrow?

—Of course! You traveled, I don’t know, millions of miles, and here I am asking you all these questions. You get some rest. We’ll talk when you feel you’re ready.

—Thank you.

—Don’t even mention it. I want you to know that we’re doing everything we can to help your friend, even if you’re being less than forthcoming with us, being exhausted and all.

—My friend?

—Yes, your friend. The young Ekt—I love saying that—who came with you. He’s a bit sick, I’m afraid. Don’t worry, though, you need to rest. I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s got the best doctors with him.

—What did you do to him?

—What did I—? What makes you think I would hurt him?

—There was a scientist working for you before we left, she…

—You mean Dr. Papantoniou. What about her?

—She had no problem submitting people to very invasive procedures to get what she wanted.

—That was before my time. I did hear some pretty nasty things about her, though, but she works for the Americans, now.

—Alyssa does? What does she do?

—Oh, we can talk about that tomorrow. You need rest, remember?

—Please.

—She finds pilots for them. Some kind of blood test.

—Pilots for what?

—For their robot. Giant one, like Themis. I told you you had a lot of catching up to do.

—What robot? Where did they find it?

—Well, you gave it to them.

—Me?

—Yeah, you. Nine years ago, you disabled one of them in New York. It fell to the ground in pieces, remember? How long do you think it took for the US military to grab it?

—But it didn’t work.

—Well, it does now!

—How do they even pilot it? Do they have someone with legs like Vincent?

—I have no idea. But that geneticist finds pilots for them. I hope you don’t think I’m anything like her! I seriously hope you don’t, because…woooo…crazy. I mean, sure! I like to get what I want—I usually do get it—but I don’t want anything bad to happen to your friend. I really don’t.

—What do you want?

—From him? I want him to get better. I really want him to pilot that big robot for us, but he can’t do that if he’s sick, now, can he? So I want him to get better. He seems nice. A nice Ekt.

—…

—That’s a lot to take in all at once, I know. Go get some rest. We’ll talk later.

—Am I a prisoner?

—What? Of course not! You’re free to leave whenever you want, go wherever you want.

—I could leave this building and no one would stop me?

—Your escort will take you anywhere you want to go. Take in the city! It’s beautiful. It’s a lot better than Moscow, if you wanna know what I think. See the cathedrals. Walk along Nevsky Prospect. If you want to visit the Hermitage, I’d love to go with you. I haven’t been in years.

—Can I see my friends?

—That’s a great idea! Why don’t we all have dinner together? After you get some rest, of course.