“Sing to me, sweetie. That lullaby I used to sing to you.”
“What?”
“Please. There isn’t much time.”
I began singing “Highland Fairy Lullaby,” a song I knew so well. “‘I left my baby lying here, lying here, lying here…’”
Ginnie began to talk softly under my singing. “If they’re listening, they won’t be able to make out what I’m telling you. Keep singing.”
I didn’t understand what she meant, but I kept on, straining to hear her every word. “‘I left my baby lying here, to go and gather blaeberries.’”
“There’s no time to preface this, Nina. Your father is still alive. I’m not sure where he is exactly, but I think he may be in Chicago.”
I fell silent. My father? The man Ginnie’d always said she loved more than anything except me and Dee was alive. “How long--?”
“Please keep singing.” The urgency in her voice was unmistakable, even through the machine.
“I’m sorry, Mom.” My voice was shaking, but I went on. “‘Hovan, Hovan Gorry og O, Gorry og O, Gorry og O…’”
Ginnie said, “There’s no time for explanation. Listen to me. You must find him, and give him the book I keep in my bedside table. You know the one.”
I did know. She only kept one book there—Dee’s baby book. “‘Hovan, Hovan Gorry og O, I’ve lost my darling baby, O!’”
“It’s so important. It’s got all the answers.”
She wasn’t making any sense. My father had died the night I was born. Maybe the Infinity machine was translating her thoughts wrong. Or, maybe she was hallucinating. I’d heard that people sometimes do that when they’re dying.
“‘I found the wee brown otter’s track, otter’s track, otter’s track…’”
“The last time I saw him was a few months before Dee was born,” she said. “Nina. Pay attention. I’m not crazy. Please.”
Attention. Yes. There wasn’t time for the emotions that were welling up inside of me. Later I could think about my father—my father who had been alive all my life, but hadn’t had anything to do with me. “‘I found the wee brown otter’s track, but ne’re a trace o’my baby, O!’”
The vocalization machine made a weird noise. It sounded like crying. I glanced up and a nurse was standing in the doorway. I wondered how long she’d been there. When she saw me looking at her, she slipped out of the room. She’d been listening to us, of that I was sure.
The weird sound happened again. I continued the lullaby. “‘Hovan, Hovan Gorry og O, Gorry og O, Gorry og O…’”
Ginnie said, “You must get the book to your father, to Alan. You must keep Ed away from Dee. Don’t let him near her. Promise me, Nina.” It was like her voice was a hand, grabbing me, demanding my assurance.
The buzzer sounded. I stopped singing. Dee rushed back in, the nurse and doctor right behind her.
“I promise,” I whispered.
“Just know that I love you two more than anything in this universe or any other. You have always been the reason for everything I’ve ever done. You’ve been my whole life. Keep each other safe.”
I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. If I let the tears loose, they would never stop.
“I’m so sorry.” The doctor placed her hand on my shoulder.
I pressed my cheek against Ginnie’s and whispered, “Mom, I love you.”
“Peace, dear one,” she said, “at last.”
The nurse motioned me away from the machine. I let my fingers linger on Ginnie’s face as long as I could. Wrapping Dee in my arms, I willed myself to be strong for her.
The doctor pressed a button and my mother was dead.
X
When we walked outside the Infinity machine room, Officer Jelneck was down the hall with a man and woman. She said something to them and gestured toward me and Dee.
The doctor leaned over to me and whispered, “B.O. S. S. agents. Be careful.”
My back stiffened as I watched them come to us.
“These are the daughters,” Officer Jelneck said. “She’s fifteen and the little one is eleven.”
“I’m Agent Meadows,” the man said. “This is Agent Crupp. You’ll be coming with us.”
This has to be some awful dream, I thought. My mother’s dead, my father’s alive, and here are two B.O.S.S. agents who are taking me and Dee who knows where. What little grip I still had on my emotions was slipping fast away.
“Now.” The woman spun on her heel and walked away.
“What about my mother?” I said. “I need to call my grandparents.”
“Your grandparents have been notified,” Meadows said. “Due to regulations regarding the use of the Infinity machine, the body belongs to the government and will be disposed of in the usual manner.” He attempted to shoo Dee and me along after Crupp.
I glanced at the doctor. “Don’t let them hurt her, please.” I knew it was just a body, but it was still my mother.
“I’ll do what I can.” Her shoulders sagged. “You’d better go.”
We left the same way we’d come in. Except this time we were escorted by two B.O.S.S. agents. Neither of whom said one word to us, not even a “sorry about your mother.” I kept myself busy comforting Dee. That way I didn’t have attention to give to the clawing terror at the base of my neck.
They put us in the back of a multitrans with blackened windows. No one could see in, but we couldn’t see out either.
“Where are we going?” Dee asked between sobs. “Are they taking us to Gran and Pops?”
“I don’t know.” I hugged her close. Before I’d had time to imagine all the possible places we might end up, the trannie stopped. When the door opened, we were in front of our modular.
Agent Meadows reached into his pocket. “Here’s the warrant.” He shoved an official-looking piece of paper at me.
“Unlock the door,” Agent Crupp said.
“Warrant?” I said. “My mother didn’t do anything. Someone killed her, not the other way around.”
Agent Crupp tapped her stilettoed foot on the sidewalk.
I did as I was told.
Inside was exactly as we’d left it. Moon Academy was playing on the AV, the remains of dinner in front of it, and the pillows were scattered about where Dee and I had been playing.
“I’ll get that stuff out--”
“Don’t touch anything,” Meadows said.
“You two. There.” Agent Crupp pointed to the sofa.
We sat.
First they went through every vid chip we had. The man easily broke open the locked box where Ed kept his private ones. Agent Crupp was scanning them when she snorted. “Here’s one called Make Those Sex-teens Scream. Real educational, that one.”
I looked away, my cheeks burning.
After the vids, they inspected the few real books we had.
“Take these.” Agent Crupp pushed 1984 and Mars Rising in the man’s hand. “Not suitable reading for anyone.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Smut and sedition. Your mother was a real piece of work.” I clenched the edge of the couch. Not daring to speak. “Come on.” She motioned us to follow her.
We watched while they searched our room, then Ginnie’s. Meadows dumped the contents of her bedside table drawer onto the bed. Dee’s baby book lay on top of the pile.
My heart pounded and a chill ran through me. The book.
Picking it up, Meadows said, “What’s this?”
My breath caught in my throat as he passed it to Agent Crupp.
She flipped through the pages. “A mother’s memory book of her kid. Nothing important.” Tossing it aside, she and Meadows continued their search.