Ascension

'No,' he said, resting his elbows on the desk and placing his head in his hands.

Kahlee stayed silent, waiting patiently. A few seconds later he looked up at her and said softly, 'I think we might have to pull Gillian out of the program.'

'I was thinking that myself,' she said with a sympathetic nod.

Hendel leaned back in his chair again and put his feet up on the desk, tilting his head back to stare up at the ceiling.

'I'm thinking of offering the board my resignation,' he said, the casualness of his voice at odds with the bombshell he'd just dropped.

'What?' Kahlee exclaimed. 'You can't quit! The children need you!'

'Do they?' he wondered out loud. 'Yesterday I let them down when they needed me the most.'

'What are you talking about? Nick and Gillian were the only ones hurt, and they'll both be fine in a few days. You did everything right!'

He swung his feet down from the desk and sat up, leaning forward intently.

'No, I didn't,' he told her, his voice gravely serious. 'When I realized Gillian wasn't going to stop, I should have hit her with my stunner without a second thought. But I hesitated.'

'I think that's a good thing,' Kahlee protested. 'I'd be more worried if you didn't think twice about it.'

'Everyone in that cafeteria was in danger,' he explained, speaking slowly. 'Every second I let her keep going there was a chance someone else could get hurt. Or worse.'

'But that didn't happen. There's no point beating yourself up over it.'

'You don't understand,' he said, shaking his head in frustration. 'I put the safety of Gillian ahead of every other student at this Academy. I can't afford to do that in my position. I'm trained to react in emergency situations, and I can't let my personal feelings get in the way.'

Kahlee didn't say anything right away, her mind reeling as she processed the information. She thought he was overreacting, but he wasn't a man prone to empty comments; she had no doubt he was serious about leaving.

'What will you do?'

'I was thinking of asking Grayson to hire me as a private tutor for Gillian.'

Suddenly everything made sense. Kahlee realized this wasn't about Hendel feeling guilty over what had happened. Not really. Hendel cared about all the kids in the program, but Gillian was different. She needed more help than the other children. She needed more time and attention. Because of this, Hendel had grown more attached to her than the others. It wasn't fair, but who ever said life was fair?

Gillian was special to him. Hendel cared for her. He loved her. And he was willing to do whatever it took to stay in her life, even if it meant throwing away his career.

'Hold off on that resignation for a while,' Kahlee said, reaching out to pat him gently on the hand. 'At least until we know for sure if the board will let Gillian stay.'

'They're not going to let her stay. We both know that.'

'Probably not,' she admitted. 'But there's always a chance.' Her mind went back to her conversation with Jiro from the night before. 'If I have to, I could get my father involved.'

'Your father?' Hendel asked, confused.

'Admiral Jon Grissom.'

HendePs jaw gaped. 'Grissom's your dad? 1… I

didn't know that.'

'I don't like to talk about him,' she said. 'Jiro's probably the only one who knows.'

'What did he say when you told him?' Hendel asked, still stunned.

'I… I don't remember,' Kahlee answered uncertainly, trying to think back. Funny. I should remember telling him something like that. 'I actually can't remember telling him. But he knows. We were talking about it last night.' But if I didn't tell him, then how does he know?

Hendel's expression changed from disbelief to one of concern. 'Kahlee? What's the matter? What's wrong?'

'Nobody knows who my father is,' she said slowly, still trying to work out the implications for herself. 'It's not even listed in my Alliance personnel file. There's only one document that mentions my father: the classified report Anderson filed twenty years ago. Top secret clearance required.'

'And you're positive you never mentioned it to him? Why the hell would one of your lab techs have top secret clearance?' Hendel asked, worried. 'Something doesn't add up.'

Kahlee could only nod, numb from the possibility that the man she'd been sleeping with had been lying to her all along. Lying about how тисЫAnd why?

'I need to talk to Jiro. Now!' Hendel told her, yanking open the drawer of his desk and pulling out a pistol. 'Where is he?' he demanded, strapping the pistol onto his hip.

'He went to see Gillian.'

Hendel slammed the buttons of the speaker-phone on his desk, moving quickly, but still staying calm and focused. Kahlee was upset as well, but even so, Hendel's urgency surprised her. Perhaps he was eager to get back to being in control, anxious to focus on something other than the events of the past day.

'Quarantine ward,' the nurse's voice answered.

'This is Security Chief Mitra. Has Dr. Toshiwa come to see Gillian yet?'

'Yes, sir. He took her to the atrium. Would you like me to—'

Hendel killed the call, barking out, 'Door — open!' as he sprinted from the room. He moved so fast it took Kahlee a full second before she reacted and took off after him.

Eleven

'We're almost there,' Jiro said encouragingly. 'Just a little farther and then we can sit down.'

Gillian was moving slowly, taking one painfully measured step at a time as they made their way down the walking path of the Grissom Academy's atrium. He should have anticipated this. She was distracted by all the trees and plants; leaves in a myriad of shapes and flowers in a kaleidoscope of colors were too much for her limited sensory perception to process all at once.

They hadn't seen anybody else in the atrium so far; not surprising as most of the staff and students were in class. But the trails that wound their way through the wooded park were popular spots for runners looking to get in some exercise during their free time. He didn't want to start giving her the medication only to have some off-duty Alliance soldier come jogging around the corner and catch him in the act. So he was doing his best to hurry her along, careful not to touch her or upset her by getting overly anxious.

'We can rest over by the waterfall, Gillian. Come on. Not much farther.'

The atrium was a five-acre woodland that had been carefully constructed at the heart of the space station to provide a place for faculty and students to commune with nature. The glass roof was equipped with adjustable mirrors to reflect and redirect light from Elysium's sun down onto the trees below, mimicking the duration of the day-night and seasonal cycles found on the planet.

Local flora made up the majority of the plant life, though a few exotic species imported from other human colonized worlds were found in specially tended gardens scattered throughout the park. It was also home to carefully monitored populations of insects, birds, and small mammals indigenous to Elysium, as well as numerous fish species in the small streams that wound their way through the landscape.

The streams were artificial, the water pumped through them in a continuous circuit that both began and ended at a large pond atop a grassy knoll that rose up from the center of the park. At the base of the knoll was a small clearing where water spilled down from the pond in a makeshift waterfall — a popular place for picnics and lunches. This early in the day, though, Jiro suspected the clearing would be empty. . and it was located safely out of sight of the running trails.

'That's good, Gillian,' he cooed when she started moving again, her head turning slowly from side to side in bemused wonder at the spectacle surrounding her.

'Okay, let's turn right now,' he said to her when they reached a branch in the trail. It was warm beneath the