She froze in midair, her jaw hangingopen.
Then her jets froze too, and she plummetedinto the surf.
The water was ten feet deep, and she touchedbottom easily, giggling and choking as she swam for the surface,chagrined but not at all embarrassed. To her delight, Rem waswaiting for her, treading water and laughing so hard he couldbarely keep his head above the rough surf.
“That was the most hilarious thing ever!” hetold her. “You should’ve seen it. One minute you’re flying, thenyou dropped like a rock.”
“I was there,” she reminded him with a ruefulsmile. “I notice you didn’t try to save me.”
He rested one hand on her bare waist. “Likeyou needed help?”
Despite the coldness of the water, thissituation was definitely heating up. His smile was deadly, his bodysteely—
And he has a vendetta against yourfamily.
“Keep your hands where the world can seethem,” she advised, paddling back a bit in hopes of gaining alittle perspective. “We don’t want anyone mistaking this foranother romantic interlude.”
“Another one?”
“You obviously haven’t seen the vids from theceremony.”
“I stopped watching vid news years ago. Soshould you.” He arched a playful eyebrow.
“OmniVid calls you ZeeZee. So do yourfriends. So I guess it doesn’t bother you?”
He moved closer to her again, but his smilefaded as the Coast Guard cutter drew up alongside them.
He gave its occupants a curt glance. “Backoff, guys. She’s fine.”
“Yeah, we noticed,” a seaman grumbled. Thenhe told Zia, “The president wants to see you right away, miss. Inthe infirmary.”
Zia grimaced. “Thanks for the message. I’llhead over there right away.”
“Have a good day,” the seaman said, eyeingRem with suspicion. Then the boat pulled away, leaving Zia and Remto exchange wary looks.
“What do you think it means?” shemurmured.
“They got the results. But . . .” Remshrugged his shoulders. “Who knows?”
“Want to come with me?”
“Definitely.”
They paddled back to the beach, where shewhispered, “Go on ahead, and I’ll catch up. I need to tell myfriends what’s going on. Just in case—well, in case I’m leaving foranother galaxy tomorrow morning.”
“Be careful what you say,” he reminded her.“The vids don’t even have the news about Malara yet.”
She sighed, knowing he was right. And knowingher original plan—of recruiting one or more of her friends to comewith her if she ended up going—was foolish and wrong. Bea andCharlotte were adventurous, but not trustworthy. The twins were toosilly to be useful.
And Jenni? Zia trusted her completely, butknew how terrified her friend would be at the prospect of leavingEarth. She wouldn’t want to let Zia down, but she’d be sofrightened . . .
Anyway, you have Rem if the worsthappens, she reminded herself. And it won’t, because yourDNA won’t match. It’s like Uncle J said: you’re nothing likeGrandpa, thank God.
“Are you okay?” Rem asked gently.
She nodded. “Leave your stuff here. Theguards’ll bring it up to the house. Let’s just get this overwith.”
* * * *
They trudged in silence over the sand, thenalong the dirt road that led to the medical building. In thedistance, she could see the hangar, and noted that workmen werealready moving the skirmisher out into the open. It wouldn’t takelong for OmniVid to catch sight of that and begin asking questions.And once they saw that the colossus was being moved, too, they’dreally start hounding her uncle’s press folks.
She hadn’t said much to her friends, justthat she was needed at the Hacienda and would call them later. Sheknew Jenni could read her expression, so she barely looked at her,stopping only long enough to scoop up her beach robe—a pink kimonomade of lightweight cotton—to wear over her bikini. None of thegirls had insisted on talking, which told her one of two things:they either sensed the gravity of the situation or they hoped shewas sneaking off for some hot-play with a sexy, medal-winningpilot.
You should be so lucky, she teasedherself as she glanced out of the corner of her eye at Rem. Helooks so serious, but can you blame him? In two minutes he’ll knowif he’s going to Malara alone, or with his sworn enemy, or with aninternationally acclaimed foghead.
But it was still better to know than notknow—for both of them—so she quickened her pace. Rem did likewise,and they soon reached the door to the medical building, where Ziarested her hand on Rem’s arm. “Maybe I should go in first.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
She mentally kicked herself, wishing she hadthought this through a bit better. Her uncle wouldn’t be pleased tosee his enemy here. And she could almost understand how he felt.But like it or not, Rem was a part of this now.
Thanks of course to Zia.
Stepping inside, she was greeted by a youngwoman in a lab coat who led her to a large room dominated by ahuge, tube-shaped machine. Humber was there with two otherMalarans, as well as Dr. Fuller and the president.
One look at her uncle’s sheepish expressiontold her the story, and she strode right up to him and patted hisarm. “Sorry, Uncle J.”
“I know you hoped I’d be a match, Zee—”
“Are you serious? I’m so relieved!” Shehesitated, then gave him a tentative half hug, expecting him topull away. When he didn’t, she knew he was feeling bad aboutfailing the test.
Of course, he would have felt worse if he hadpassed.
“Like we said yesterday, you’re all thefamily I have. I’d die if anything happened to you.”
She wanted to ask how close he had come tomatching Quito, but didn’t dare. Instead she turned to Humber andsaid, “If I’m not a match either, then what?”
“Our engineers will completely recalibratethe giant to suit a young Malaran pilot. Presumably the challengewill be decided long before it is ready, but it is the prudentchoice for the future—for Earth as well as Malara.”
“I’m sorry we can’t help more,” she told himsincerely. “But at least you’ll have Rem Stone. He’s outside, bythe way. Is it okay if he joins us?”
Her uncle scowled. “What’s he doinghere?”
“I invited him. If there’s a chance he and Iare going to Malara together, I’d like it to be friendly.Please?”
“You still insist on being tested?”
“Absolutely.” She hesitated, then asked,“Does it hurt?”
“No, but it’s a bit claustrophobic.”
Zia groaned inwardly. She despised closespaces, and
