Belen didn’t wait until the next day. She couldn’t. Despite the lateness of the hour, she grabbed a jacket and headed for the Palatine. She held her thoughts in suspension for the duration of the journey. She didn’t want to think through what she was doing. She didn’t want to analyze it and have her better sense reassert itself.
She had not been imagining the fear and loathing Ursula’s new request about wills had created in her, so she focused on that single ambition—to understand why.
Despite the late hour, Rex’s house was in daylight because of the off-kilter eight-hour light cycle that the Palatine torus went through. Night was coming, though. Belen could see the night line creeping down the curve of the torus, heading for the house.
For now, there was enough light for her to move across the open landscape to the front of the house. She stood at the front door, once again wondering how she could get anyone’s attention, when it opened. Pasi nodded at her. “Ms. Belen.”
“Is he home?”
“I can check, if you’d like to wait just inside here.” He let the door open enough for her to step through.
Belen pushed through and kept walking. “I really can’t wait,” she told Pasi.
He hurried to catch up with her. “Then I will announce you,” he said, trying to keep up with her rapid pace. There was an urgency in his voice that made her look at him sharply.
“I’d rather announce myself,” Belen told him.
Pasi managed to get in front of her and reached the closed door of Rex’s office before she did. He raised his hand, as if he was going to bang his knuckles against the door.
Knocking. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She could have knocked on the front door, too. It would draw attention just as well as tapping the communications pad would have.
Someone was speaking on the other side of the door and it wasn’t Rex. It was a female voice.
Belen snatched at Pasi’s wrist, preventing him from knocking. Her heart was back to thudding painfully again. “He has company,” she said flatly, her voice low.
“Ms. Michaela is with him,” Pasi said softly and licked his lips.
“That’s not her voice,” Belen said. “I’ve heard Michaela on the Forum.”
Pasi tried to draw her away from the door, using her grip on his wrist. “I can make you a beverage while you wait,” he suggested.
Belen shook her head. “The lover he denied having…” she breathed. “He lied to me.”
In all these years, despite their separation, despite everything, Belen had been secure in her belief that Rex would never lie to her. He had evaded and omitted facts. He had refused to discuss things, as he had the other day, rather than lie to her.
Except, now she knew he had lied. It felt as though she had been kicked in the chest. It hurt, more than she thought it ever could. Her eyes stung with tears.
“He lied,” she repeated and lunged toward the door and pushed it open. Pasi tried to halt her and failed. They both staggered into the office.
Rex looked around, his eyes widening. He was alone in the room and standing, as he often did, with his hand in his pocket.
Belen looked around wildly. “Where is she?” she demanded.
Rex moved closer. “Thank you, Pasi. I have this.”
Pasi nodded and withdrew. The door shut behind him.
Belen was shaking. “I heard her voice. The woman. Where is she?”
“It’s not what you think,” Rex told her. He was calm, far calmer than he ought to be.
“Are you telling me you didn’t lie about the brunette lover?”
Rex considered her for a moment. Then he turned away. “Emma, I think you had better introduce yourself.”
Belen looked around for Emma to step out, although she wasn’t sure how she could have hidden anywhere in this room.
“Hello, Belen Tirrell. I am pleased to meet you once more.”
“Once more?” Rex said sharply.
Belen gasped. The voice was issuing from everywhere and nowhere, including the screen hovering over the table at the end of the room.
The truth slammed into her, making her feel weak and giddy. “Emma is an AI,” she whispered.
“Yes, I am,” Emma confirmed. “Although you once called me Alice, do you remember?”
There was a dull roaring in her ears. “Alice!” Belen sank into a chair and clutched her head. “Oh my sweet stars…Alice. I haven’t thought of you in years.”
“Forty-seven years,” Emma said.
Rex shifted on his feet. “Who is Alice? Emma, what is going on? You two know each other?”
“I believe that is a revelation Ms. Belen should make,” Emma said, sounding almost prudish.
Belen bent over her knees, trying to control her runaway heart and order her thoughts. Adrenaline was making her nerves sing. “Just…give me a moment.”
A glass was thrust into her hand. “Here,” Rex said roughly.
She straightened enough to drink the generous shot in one mouthful. It burned going down and stole her breath for a moment.
Belen got to her feet and handed the glass back to Rex. “When I was four years old, I had an invisible friend. I named her Alice. Up until a few seconds ago, I believed Alice was a figment of my childish imagination, just as millions of invisible friends have been invented by millions of children throughout history.”
“Hello again, Belen,” Emma said quietly.
“I really don’t understand,” Rex said, sounding stressed.
“Welcome to my world,” Belen said dryly. “You’ve left me floundering for weeks. It’s nice to leave you in that state for once.”
Rex glared at her.
Belen indicated the glass he was holding. “May I have another?”
He turned back to the dispenser and pushed the glass under it impatiently. Then he whirled to look at her. “The white house,” he said. “You passed it every day you walked the trails. When you were smaller, you would have played nearby. Your house wasn’t far from it.”
Belen nodded. “I was told never to go close to the white house and I didn’t. Only, the flowers always looked so pretty. They were all bigger than me then, too. So was the fence.”
Rex glanced at the screen over the table. “You had audio projectors in the garden, too?”
“Micah worked to ensure I could go anywhere Laura did, even in the Palatine,” Emma said.
“Micah?” Belen said sharply. “You knew Micah Thorne?”
“Very well,” Emma said. “I knew his partner, Laura Hyland, much better.”
“Is Emma the reason you’ve been writing about Micah Thorne lately?” Belen asked Rex.
He held up a hand. “Wait. I’m trying to figure out dates. Something isn’t right here. Emma, you told me that Micah Thorne deactivated you.”
“He did.”
“Then, when you met Belen when she was four, that was in…” He frowned.
“Four fifty-two,” Emma supplied.
“Micah was still alive then?” Rex asked.
“That was his last year of life,” Emma said sadly. “Laura died of…complications, only shortly before I met Belen.”
Rex hung his head. “Then he knew what was happening to the ship. He knew it had all gone wrong.” He sighed.
“Yes, he did know,” Emma said. “He had despaired over it. Endlessly. Trying to figure out how to change things. After Laura died, though, he stopped caring at all.”
“You didn’t stop caring, did you?” Rex said, his voice just as soft.
Emma didn’t answer.
Belen walked over to the dispenser and took the filled glass out of it, moving around Rex, who was standing in front of it. She drank a big mouthful, then went back to her seat. “I’m starting to remember so much! Emma, you used to talk to me about so many things. About helping others.” She drew in a sharp, shocked breath. “About money, too. What money really was, instead of what people thought it was. About…” She rubbed her temple with her free hand. “About how money was just a symbol for the energy on the ship and how energy must be kept circulating around the ship and through people. How we were all just energy ourselves and would one day be returned to the ship….”
She bowed her head. “That’s why I panicked about Ursula Pavia’s demand to be allowed to pass on her wealth to her son.” She lifted her head and looked at Rex. “All these years. You thought I was principled and driven and it wasn’t me at all. It was Emma. She conditioned me. She shaped my future and pointed me toward it as if I was a gun and pulled the trigger.”
Rex sank down onto the arm of the chair. “Emma?”
Emma stayed silent for a long moment. “I had no malicious intent,” she said quietly. “I merely wanted to pass on Laura’s heritage, before it was too late. Micah had been so driven to find a solution for so long, while she was alive. Only, in the year I talked to Belen, Micah was already speaking of deactivating me. I was running out of time, you see.”
Rex’s fingers on his knees were white. He was holding in his reaction. “It might be an idea if you go into privacy mode for a while, Emma. Belen and I need to think about this.”
“Of course. I understand completely,” Emma said. “However, before I go, could I ask one question?”
“Yes,” he said, with a sigh.
“Belen spoke of Ursula Pavia’s demand to be allowed to pass on her wealth to her son. I was wondering, is that a very recent event, Belen?”
“Just tonight,” Belen said. “It’s what brought me here.”
Rex looked at her and raised a brow. “To me?”
Belen nodded. While she finished the glass of whisky, she told him about Ursula and her interview with Tony and how it had made Belen feel. “I knew something was wrong, I just didn’t know what was wrong. It was Emma’s conditioning, making me feel sick at the idea of inheritable, controlled and generational wealth.”
Rex looked at the screen. “That was one of the symptoms, wasn’t it, Emma?”
“Yes, it was,” Emma said quietly.
“Symptom of what?” Belen demanded.
“Of a society descending into capitalism,” Rex said. Then he laughed suddenly.
“What is so funny?” Belen asked.
“The idea that you, who believes I am amoral and corrupt, especially when it comes to money, thought I would have insight into your reaction to Ursula Pavia’s demand.”
Belen could feel her jaw go slack. She stared at him. “I did think that. I was right, too. You did have insight.”
“Emma did,” Rex corrected her. “I’ve learned in the last few months that my degree of ignorance is woeful.”
He was making light of it. Belen frowned, dropping her gaze to the floor so she could think. All these years, she had considered Rex’s obsession with money to be a deep flaw in his character. So why had she been so sure he would be able to explain her reaction to Ursula tonight? A man who thought the acquisition of money itself to be the highest form of achievement would not have understood why she had reacted at all. Ursula’s request would have seemed to be perfectly reasonable to him.
Yet, Rex had said…what had he said?
Belen lifted her head to look at him. “What was it you said about Ursula’s demand to change the mortality laws?”
Rex blinked, surprised. “I said something?”
“Emma, what did he say?” Belen demanded.
“That Ursula Pavia’s request was a symptom of a society descending into capitalism,” Emma said.
“Yes.” Belen got to her feet, staring at Rex. “Descending.”
He tilted his head, frowning. “There was something wrong with saying that?” he asked, puzzled once more.
“‘Symptom’ is a word used to describe negative side effects,” Belen added.
Rex’s frown deepened. “So?”
Belen let herself drift closer to him. “You believe capitalism is a disease.”
Rex’s frowned smoothed out. Caution replaced it. “As I said, I’ve learned a lot lately.”
“All those essays, the articles, the endless defensive responses you’ve written. Even the pictures you’ve posted. The poison people dumped on you in response. The fears you provoked. I read all of it. Every comment, every response. Somewhere in there I must have subconsciously adjusted what I believed about you. My gut knew what I only just figured out consciously now.”
Rex had grown very still. He watched her draw even closer. “I should take you home.” His voice was low. “Tony will worry. It’s late.”
Belen froze. For a moment she had completely forgotten about Tony. How could she have let herself do that?
“This is quite ridiculous,” Emma said crisply. “Belen, you should know that it was Tony who approached Rex and asked him to lend the Bridge the money he needs.”
“Emma, shut up. Right now.” Rex’s voice was harsh and loud.
Belen gasped. “No! Tony wouldn’t do that! He wouldn’t.”
“Tony was the one to offer interest in payment for the use of Rex’s money,” Emma added.
Rex closed his eyes.
Belen absorbed his reaction. The defeat in the way his shoulders slumped just a little.
It was true, then.
“So, when you said you refused to lend the money because there was no profit in it for you, that wasn’t true?” Belen asked.
“He told you the literal truth,” Emma said. “Only, he omitted to tell you it was really the excuse he used with Tony to avoid giving him the money. It was something Tony would readily believe.”
“Emma, go to sleep,” Rex said. He sounded tired, suddenly.
“Good night, Rex. Belen.”
Silence.
Belen studied Rex. “I thought I knew you.”
Rex shook his head. “Tony is under stress right now. He’s Captain of a ship that is in trouble.”
“You’re using him like a shield,” she breathed. “Fending me off by invoking his name.”
Rex let out a breath. “That doesn’t change the fact that he needs you.”
Belen nodded. “You’ve transformed yourself, Rex. You’ve completely changed, yet you’re still mired in old thinking when it comes to me.” She pressed herself against him. “So was I,” she added.
He was hot against her and she sighed.
Rex shook his head. It was a small movement. “I won’t do this.”
“You don’t have to do anything.” She touched the fastening on his trousers, reversing the polarity. They fell open and she pushed her hand inside. “I’ll do it all.”
His hand came up and she thought he might try to push her away. Instead, he caught the back of her head and held it, as his gaze roved over her face. He was breathing heavily.
Then, with a groan, he kissed her, surrendering.