“Really? I did not know that.”
“Rumor has it, that’s why the Mayir bought it.”
“I thought it was because they needed a place for their secret base.”
“Yeah, that too. But what if the secret base had something to do with the Rhinobo Basin? Just saying…”
Hmm. Interesting.
As we continued through the jungle, Kira and I swapped stories about growing up, college, our friends, and other light topics. She was four years younger than me, and really hadn’t seen much of the world other than Safadin. But, still, as sheltered as she was, I couldn’t believe she didn’t know who Sean Beck was.
Still, she was curious enough, and wanted to know how I got into expeditionary salvage.
“Family business,” I told her. “My dad started it with my uncle in 2325.”
“Wow. So it’s been going for a while.”
“Yeah, over thirty years.”
“You mean forty,” Kira said.
“No, actually thirty-three years exactly.”
She laughed. “I hope your salvage skills are better than your math skills.”
“What do you mean?”
“You said the business was started in ’25, right? That’s forty years ago.”
I was completely confused. “How do you get that?”
“Sixty-five minus twenty-five is forty.”
“Sixty-five? What are you talking about?”
“The year. 2365.”
I froze, uncomprehending.
“Jannigan, you okay?”
“Say that again.”
“I asked if you were okay.”
“No, the year,” I said. “What year is it?”
“2365. April 9th.”
“You’re not messing with me, are you?”
“No, why?”
I sat down right there on the ground and tried to prevent myself from hyperventilating.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“When I was in the Fountain yesterday, the year was 2358.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I just lost seven years.”
“Are you sure it was 2358? You’ve gone through a lot.”
“Positive. Are you sure it’s 2365?”
“Yeah, I graduated from college in ’59.”
“No wonder you don’t know about my father,” I said. “He was big in the thirties and forties.”
“I was born in ’37.”
Holy shit. A million things raced through my mind. None of them good. How the hell had this happened? But it was a dumb question. I knew exactly how this had happened. “The Levirion,” I said, almost to myself.
“What?”
“Time dilation.”
“I don’t understand,” Kira said.
“That artifact I told you about. The Levirion. When it sent me here, there must have been some sort of time dilation. For me, it was just a few seconds. But for the rest of the universe, it was seven years.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, wow is right.”
“I am so sorry, Jannigan.”
I didn’t know what to think. Seven years. Poof. Gone. Had I aged seven years? “How old do I look?” I asked Kira.
“I don’t know. I’m really bad at guessing people’s ages.”
“C’mon, this is important.”
She looked me up and down. “Well, I know you said you were thirty-two, but you do look a bit older. Early forties, maybe. I don’t know.”
“Are you serious? Come closer.”
She leaned in so that our faces were just a few inches apart.
“See those wrinkles?” I asked.
Kira squinted a little. “They look like they were drawn on. Are you wearing make-up?”
“No.”
“I don’t get it. Why do you have wrinkles drawn on?”
“It’s kind of complicated, but I had to look older for a job.”
“Okay, I guess expeditionary salvage is different than I imagined. I didn’t know it was mostly about looks.”
“Very funny,” I said. “But seriously, do I seem like I’m forty?”
“I don’t know, you’ve had a lot of work done.”
“Look who’s talking!”
“Me? This is au naturel, baby. Except maybe the brows. My mom likes to do them for me.”
I looked into her eyes. “No cosme, really?” There was definitely a spark.
“Yeah, wait ’til you see Biella.”
“Biella?”
“My mother. She’s actually kind of a handful.”
“Can’t wait.”
“You’ll like her, though.”
“I bet. So tell me, though. Do I look forty? Ignore the drawn-on lines. And the hair.”
“I was going to mention that.”
“Same deal. Work related.”
Kira moved even closer to me. Plucked at my hair. Pinched my cheek. Gazed into my eyes. She smelled amazing, by the way. How does someone tramp through the jungle for hours and still manage to smell amazing?
Finally she nodded at me. Her evaluation was complete. “Okay, in my expert opinion, you are somewhere between thirty and thirty-five years old.”
“Yes! That’s what I am talking about!”
“I do have to add the disclaimer that I am a botanist by trade and not a cosmetician, so take it with a grain of salt.”
I felt a lot better now. Fact of the matter was, I didn’t feel like I had aged seven years. I felt the same as I had been yesterday. Being transported by the Levirion really hadn’t affected me physically. Unlike what had happened to the ship.
Anyway, I was relieved. I might have skipped forward in time seven years, but it hadn’t aged me. That was one thing to be thankful for.
As we continued to push our way through the dense undergrowth, I asked Kira to fill me in on what had happened over the past seven years.
“That’s kind of a big topic,” she said.
“Broad strokes. Maybe start with what happened with the Rhya after the Fountain was attacked.”
“I don’t really remember, to be honest. I know there was some controversy about whether or not the Mayir had been involved. They said it was the Shima.”
“Yeah, I bet. Did the Rhya ever do anything? They lost a ton of their people.”
“The Rhya? No, they just kind of fell off the map. No one’s really heard anything from them for years.”
Hmmm. That was weird. You’d think that the Rhya would be all over the Mayir, trying to get justice for all the Rhya who were murdered.
Kira continued, “I do remember that a lot of people thought that thing with the Rhya was the catalyst.”
“For what?” I asked.
“For the Mayir secession.”
“What?”
“Yeah, the Mayir left the Empire back in ’61. Closed all their borders. Kicked out all the non-humans.”
“And?”
“And what? They’ve just been keeping to themselves for the past several years.”
“I seriously doubt that. They’re probably building up a navy.”
“I don’t know. I’m really not the person to ask. My
