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“How many people were killed this morning?” asked Mia, feeling like she wanted to die herself.
Korum shrugged slightly. “I don’t know if the medics got to the ones who were burned fast enough to save them. Some of them might have died from their encounter with the shield.”
“What about all the other ones, the ones who were hit with that red light?” asked Mia, her heart beginning to pound in wild hope.
“They were knocked unconscious – and so were the ones who attacked our other Centers. They deserved to die, of course, but we decided to let your governments deal with them. It’ll be interesting to see what their punishment will be for violating the Coexistence Treaty and endangering your entire species in the process.”
The relief that Mia felt was indescribable. The painful grip in her chest seemed to ease, letting her breathe freely for the first time since she’d witnessed the attack.
And then Korum added, “Of course, we’re not going to leave it to chance. All those fighters now have surveillance devices embedded in their bodies, so we’ll know everything they do and everywhere they go. They’ve been effectively neutralized as a threat to us, and we can now use them to catch the rest – those that were not near our Centers today.”
So he had succeeded in his mission of squashing the Resistance movement. Given the number of fighters lying on the field, Ks would now have thousands of walking, talking surveillance mechanisms all over the globe. It was quite clever really; why bother killing a human when you could use him instead? Pure Korum deviousness at work.
She must’ve looked upset because he said, “Mia, stop worrying about this. The Resistance is over. It was a foolish movement to begin with. Just think about it. So they don’t like us being here and changing a few things. Is that really a good reason to risk so many lives? You have to admit, we’re nothing like the alien invaders of your movies. We have no desire to enslave humans, or to take away your planet. If that had been our agenda, we would’ve already done it. We settled here as peacefully as possible, living in our Centers with minimal interference in human affairs. That’s far better than what your Europeans had done to the American natives.”
Still sitting on his lap, Mia looked away. If Korum was telling her the truth and John had lied about the meaning of charl, then the entire Resistance movement was misguided at best – and criminally irresponsible at worst.
“And do you honestly think it would’ve been a good thing for you to have those seven traitors as your rulers? Because, believe me, that’s what they would’ve been. They wanted power, and they didn’t care who got hurt as a result of their actions. Do you really think they would’ve been content to live quietly among humans, obeying your every law and selflessly sharing Krinar knowledge?”
Now that Korum put it that way, Mia could see the implausibility of what John had originally told her. Maybe the Resistance leaders had thought they could somehow control the Keiths once the other Ks had left – but that could’ve easily been a dangerous assumption to make. Mia mentally kicked herself. Why hadn’t she probed further into the Keiths’ motivations? But no, she’d blindly gone with what John was telling her, too caught up in her own personal drama to fully think about anything else.
Korum sighed, and she felt the movement of his chest. “Look, it won’t be so bad being in Lenkarda, believe me. Aren’t you the least bit curious to see how we live?”
Mia looked up at him again, feeling completely drained. “Korum, I just can’t . . . I can’t simply leave everything and everyone –”
“What if I take you to see your family in a couple of weeks as we originally discussed?” he asked softly. “Would that make you feel better?”
“We’d go to Florida?” asked Mia in surprise.
He nodded. “You could spend a few days with them before we have to go back.”
She smiled, the pressure in her chest easing further. “That would be wonderful,” she said quietly.
He smiled back and gently brushed a curl off her face. “And hopefully, by the end of the summer, we’ll catch the rest of the Resistance fighters – so if you still want to come back to New York then, we’ll return here and you can finish your last year of school.”
Mia blinked at him, hardly daring to believe her ears. “You’ll bring me back here?”
“I will . . . if you still want to return by then.” Getting up, he placed her gently on her feet. “Now put on a shirt and some shoes while I get dressed. It’s time to go.”
* * *
Korum allowed her to take her purse with its entire contents, the weapon excluded, and nothing else. When she protested that she needed her computer and her clothes, he laughed. “I promise you, there’s plenty of everything where we’re going,” he explained with a smile.
“What about my passport?” she asked, and then realized that it was a stupid question. She might be heading to a foreign country, but she sincerely doubted she would be going through airport security. Somehow, Korum had managed to travel there this morning and then come back to New York – all within a span of a couple of hours. No, thought Mia, they likely wouldn’t be traveling by airplane.
Her suppositions turned out to be correct.
He led her into his office, holding her hand as if afraid she would bolt. Walking toward the back of the room, he held his other hand in front of the wall and it slid open, revealing stairs that likely led to the rooftop.
“Come,” Korum said, and she followed him with hesitation, her pulse racing at the thought of where she was going. It was too late to turn back now – not that he would have let her – and Mia felt a heady mixture of excitement and fear rushing through her veins as she walked up the stairs.
They exited onto the rooftop, and Mia looked around. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting to see – perhaps some alien aircraft sitting there. But there was nothing. The roof was empty, with the exception of some evergreen shrubs growing in neat rows around the perimeter. The rain had mostly stopped, but it was still wet and humid outside, and Mia could practically feel her curls frizzing up from the moisture in the air.
“What are we doing here?” she asked in surprise. “Is someone coming to get us?”
Korum shook his head and smiled. “No, we’re going by ourselves.”
“How?” asked Mia, burning with curiosity.
