Chapter Fourteen

QUINN

"Rob should take you, Airik. He's not making sense."

"He says you're more versatile than I am. You have unique abilities, and they need me here."

I shook my head. "I won't do it. I won't take your spot."

He smiled warmly at me, then kissed me on the forehead. When he touched me, he accidentally brushed my third eye.

A vision of us in the snow passed through my mind and I slowed it briefly, knowing time was critical.

Airik, looking down at me. Airik crying. Our arms wrapped around each other, holding on for dear life. Me being unbelievably happy.

I didn't bother getting a timeline on it, because what I saw was unbelievable. "That's one of the inaccurate predictions," I said, pulling away from him.

He studied me as if he didn't recognize me. I couldn't stand it. He looked like he was trying to figure something out. "You'll go," he said. "Because they need you, not me."

"Airik, it's not right."

"It doesn't matter what's right and what's wrong. They want you." He kissed me. "I know you'll do great," he said.

I scowled as he walked out of the room. It would be a lot easier to leave him if he wasn't so nice about everything. And, of course, if I didn't love him so much.

Rob was assembling a ground team to go out and save the child. Based on all the other Precogs that had come in, they had written down every last detail of the group vision.

The girl and her mother were off-worlders and had recently come to Koccoran. They were unwittingly carrying a virus they had picked up somewhere on their interstellar travels. The virus could not transfer itself until the host died.

In the future, she dies, and her mother dies. The nurse brings their bodies back to the hospital, unknowingly contaminating herself. She gives it to other people at the hospital who are unable to fight it off and die as well. After their funerals, the number of people who have come into contact with the virus starts growing exponentially. By the time the virus is under control, Koccoran loses nearly thirty percent of its population. Most of the people who die are of childbearing age.

The virus was going to wipe out an entire race. The Koccorans weren't likely to survive this blow on top of all their other population issues. I felt desperate at the thought. They were only my adopted people, but my life here would disappear along with their inhabitants. The future looked bleak. There was little doubt of our accuracy with over a thousand visions corroborating the same story.

I strolled across the big Recorder room and into the boardroom where the rest of Rob's team had gathered. I felt like a fraud because I was a new graduate. Everyone else on the team had plenty of experience and training. But if Rob wanted me as part of his group, I wasn't about to say no. It would be the chance of a lifetime. I hadn't done any field work yet, but I hoped it would come quickly to me.

It felt terrible for me to take Airik's place like this. It seemed as if I was bumping him out. If I weren't here, he would be on this mission, and I couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

I didn't know anyone on the team, so I sat down at the table and waited. Rob wasn't only an instructor for the Institute and ground crew leader. He was also in charge of the entire Division of ground teams. He liked to keep his head in the field by doing missions as well as being in charge. I liked that about him. It meant he still knew what it was like on the front lines.

He smiled at me. "Good to see you here, Quinn."

"I couldn't turn down your offer," I said truthfully. I hoped the others wouldn't be annoyed by a green cadet and off-worlder coming along on such an important mission. I looked around. There were five people on the team: me, a man named Bral, a woman named Deerva, another woman that I didn't know, and Rob.

"The plan is simple, team," he said, leaning over and putting his palms down on the table. "We hike to the cabin before the child gets too sick. We give her an injection that will kill the virus, and we make sure she doesn't die. No problem."

We all chuckled. It sounded easy when he put it that way.

"We will have no communication on the mountain. It seems that the woman had a one-time use emergency communications unit she used to inform us about her problem. You've all seen the vision or read the report. She lives in a simple log cabin without electricity or water. She may come from Dantin or another no-tech planet to be content with her lifestyle."

We all smiled again. You would have to be from a planet like that to live without any technology. Yikes.

"We'll meet in twenty minutes to get outfitted for the hike. There's a blizzard coming in, people. Hopefully, we can make it up the mountain before the storm hits."

We glanced at each other. His dream seemed unlikely. I might not have been on Koccoran long, but I knew the chances of beating a blizzard were slim to none.

"Say your goodbyes. I'll see you in building A2 in twenty minutes," he said, wrapping up the meeting.

I went to find Airik. He was in his office, and I knocked on the door. His Recorder smiled at me on her way out.

"I'm heading out. I have to be ready to go soon," I said.

Airik walked over to me. "Good luck, Quinn. I'm sure you won't need it."

I felt my nerves overcoming me, and I looked up at him. I was worried. "There's a blizzard coming in, Airik. I might need more luck than you think."

"This is your second winter on Koccoran. You're not that fragile flower who wilted when the wind hit her face for the first time." He touched my cheek, and I closed my eyes.

"I guess not," I said. "I want to say goodbye, okay, Airik? I don't want to draw this out."

I reached my hand up around his neck and pulled him down to me. Then I kissed him, feeling all the love in my heart until we were both panting as we pulled away.

He looked at me as if he didn't understand something, but I had no time to decipher his facial expressions.

"Good..."

"Don't say good-bye," he said, putting his finger to my lips.

"Long life," I said and turned to leave.

"Quinn," he called after me as I went out the door.

"Yeah?" I said. I didn't look back.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry I can't feel the way you want me to feel."

"I'm sorry too," I said.

I squared my shoulders. I would forget about Airik and how he didn't love me, and focus on this mission. It was important that I get it right. The entire planet was depending on us, and my life was going to be all about my career.

My other option, the love of my life, didn't love me at all.

AIRIK

I watched Quinn walk down the hall and had a strange feeling this would be the last time I ever saw her. Everything was going to be fine. She was going to be all right.

Then a full-on vision hit me so hard I couldn't speak to activate my computer. I was in the woods watching a tree fall on Quinn and me. The vision flashed to a casket with Quinn in it. She looked even whiter than when she was alive. She was dead.

My heart nearly stopped as I watched the brief vision flash through my mind. I couldn't lose her. It would be bad enough if she left me. I would be able to see her occasionally. But death? I could not imagine losing her to death.

"I don't love her," I said out loud. My voice lacked conviction.

I could be wrong about this Precog. I had to trust that the team would take care of her. I paced back and forth in my office, not understanding why I was anxious.

We were alone in my vision. Somehow we would get separated from the team. They wouldn't be able to protect her anymore. What if I was the only one who had this vision? What if I was the only one who could prevent her death?

If I were there when she died, surely I could prevent it.

Immediately the thought came to stop the team from leaving and tell them what I had seen. I walked as fast as I could to A2, one of the buildings set up for preparing field operations. It had every piece of equipment you might need and all the gear to carry it. I didn't think they could have left already.

When I arrived, there was no snowcopter, but I could see marks left in the snow. A man was hanging around, closing things down.

"Did Operation Mountain Top leave yet?" I asked.

"That's classified, buddy."

I stepped closer so he could see who I was.

"Sorry, sir. They left about four minutes ago. They have good weather for flying, considering that there's a blizzard coming. They're going to drop them as far up the mountain as they can go in the storm. They'll have to make the rest of the trek on foot."

"Thanks." He nodded, going back to his work.

I felt my worry and desperation growing by the minute. Why hadn't I run all the way here? Why hadn't I insisted that I go instead of Quinn?

A plan crystallized in my mind. I would go after them. I would find her and save her. I would do an intervention by myself. The higher-ups frowned upon solitary engagements, but I didn't care. If I saved her, it would appease my conscience. When I told myself I was doing this was because it was the right thing to do, I could almost believe it.

When I was alone, I started outfitting myself for the hike. There was special clothing to wear if we expected prolonged exposure to the elements - a parka, thicker snow pants than the usual ones, a wool hat, and mitts. Quickly, I grabbed some other survival gear, and I was ready to go. I left a message for my superior for tomorrow's delivery. I grabbed snowshoes in my size and pulled on my backpack, doing up the buckles across my chest and hips.

The snowshoes looked like big tennis rackets, and I soon had them strapped to my feet. They would allow me to move much more quickly over snow without sinking in. I took off in a wide-legged run, moving as fast as I dared in the dusk and falling snow. The visibility was terrible, and I couldn't move quickly. A fallen tree could appear at any time. I had to remain alert.

I intended to take a short cut. I would head cross-country to a point farther up the mountain from the snowcopter landing zone. I hoped I would be able to catch them.

QUINN

The snowcopter had dropped us off as high up the mountain as it could safely fly, but it wasn't far enough. There was still a long, cold walk ahead of us if we wanted to reach the cabin. I wished Airik was with us. I hadn't been away from him for more than a day since our marriage.

It's not like we were joined at the hip or anything, but he was always around at home or work. Maybe I had gotten used to him. I grimly realized that I needed to get unused to him quickly. Soon we would be getting divorced, and I wouldn't see him again.

The thought was troubling but necessary. I couldn't live this half-life anymore. It was painful. Airik didn't love me, and he never would. That was my reality.

There was shouting up ahead. In front of me, people were crowded around one of the women from the team. I hadn't caught her name yet.

"What's wrong?" Rob said.

"It's a sprained ankle, I think. There was a fallen log under the snow, and I didn't see it. I twisted it when I fell."

"Can you still walk?" he said.

"Sorry, Rob. No way."

"No problem," he said. He motioned towards two men. "Make a travois and put her on it. You'll have to pull her back down the mountain, Bral."

"I can do that, sir," he said.

"Good. Deerva, rejoin us when they leave."

The other woman nodded and went to cut branches.

The rest of us continued up the mountain, feeling a little more nervous. Our party was already two people fewer, and we had barely started the journey. I wondered who would be next.