Kurt? Is he lucky too?” Samia swallowed but kept her composure.
“There is a reason for everything, Samia. I don’t know why Kurt had to die, but it was not without purpose. Who knows? Maybe he had found what he needed to learn in this lifetime. I can’t say. I only know that there are no accidents. Everything has a purpose, and every action has consequences.”
“Did the Universe take him? Did God punish him, Marcus?”
Marcus looked into her eyes in silence for a long time. This was a conversation that they had had often in the past six weeks, but it was a subject they both needed to explore.
“The Universe doesn’t punish, Samia. What happens takes place for reasons we may not understand and as a result of a person’s choices. You are in no way responsible for Kurt’s death, as I have said. You don’t have that kind of power. It is something he did for himself, no matter how much we feel to the contrary. I understand that he did not want to die, but his Higher Being led him and is still leading him along the road to knowledge. What happened was necessary for his growth, that’s all.”
Marcus held her hand tightly. He wished inside himself that he could believe his own words. They were words his master had given him in his meditations, but he still didn’t understand their meaning. Perhaps when he gets to Rebus.”
“Do you think you’ll like training for the Church, Marcus,” she asked as if reading his thoughts?
“I don’t know. It is not something I’m doing for pleasure. The truth is, this is something I’m driven to do. I just do it, whether I really like the idea or not. I have fears. I have doubts. I don’t know what to expect, but still, I must do it. It appears that the Universe has plans for me, and is not particularly interested in what I want to do.”
“Your Higher Being leading you,” she asked?
“Perhaps.”
“Or is it like a compulsion?”
Marcus thought for a moment, frowning and then said, "More like a destiny, I think." Mine lies for me now in the Faith. Tomorrow, perhaps it will lie elsewhere.”
They fell silent, each buried in their own thoughts but thankful for the company of the other, even in their solitude. Sometimes it was unnecessary to speak aloud and just the companionship of another was enough. Marcus shivered, caught by the irony of it all. Here he was a self-proclaimed follower of the Faith, a celibate by choice, a solitary pilgrim in a world of earthly delights who preferred the company of his now non-physical Master to that of the living, solicitously hanging on the every wish of his sister, herself a confused child who has effectively locked herself away from the world in some dream where the horror of her memories keeps replaying over and over again. It was as if they were united in their isolation.
“I’ll miss you, Marcus,” Samia whispered.
“And I’ll miss you.”
They lapsed once again into silence, slumped in their seats in the non-sound of the train, sliding through vacuum, supported in a stasis that was almost womb-like. Soon they were both sound asleep.
It was early morning when they arrived at the Bay Area Center. Marcus arranged for Samia’s belongings to be forwarded to the parliamentary complex where she was to join her parents, then took her to one of the terminal’s shops for a last breakfast together. He would go on from here to Oahu. Neither of them spoke until the shop had delivered their food. They seemed reluctant to speak as if their silence would delay the parting.
Finally, Samia smiled at her brother who was swirling his fork through the mass of eggs and toast that lay limply on his platter. She chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“Us.”
He cocked his head to one side. “What do you mean by that?”
“Look at us, Marcus. We’re sitting here like a couple of mourners. You’re off to start one of the greatest adventures of your life and I’m about to spend three months in the very heart of the Empire. We should be bubbling with the excitement of it all! Just think of it, Marcus! I’m actually going to be there when Parliament starts! There’ll be more parties, and all the leaders of the Empire to see, and the excitement of deciding the fate of billions upon billions of people!”
“I get the idea, Samia,” he said calmly. “It seems that you’ve recovered from your ordeal.”
A momentary flicker of recognition crossed her face then faded as she lit up again, beaming from ear to ear. “Its going to be so exciting. Aren’t you just a little bit excited? Think of it, Marcus. I will be a part of it all”
“You always have been.”
She shook her head. “Not like this time. I’m almost old enough to request a position in the Parliament itself. Another three years and I could take a seat and vote.”
He considered her curiously. “What are you up to? You’ve never been the least interested in exercising your right to Parliamentary membership before. You don’t even know what it’s all about.”
“Well, I can change my mind, can’t I? And Parliament isn’t about rules and points of order and all that. I can learn all that. Parliament is about ruling the Empire, and in a time of danger, I think it’s only right for all of the Nobility to be concerned.”
He studied her closely. “What in the world are you talking about? What danger?”
“Why, the revolutionaries, of course.”
Marcus sighed. He sat back in his chair, allowing his fork to clatter noisily on his plate and closed his eyes. When he opened them there was a new seriousness in his face.
“Samia, are you all right? The revolutionaries are not a threat to the Empire. They’re just a small fringe group of malcontents, no different than one would find in any society anywhere.”
“So? What about the beasts who captured me? Weren’t they a threat?”
“You told me they were only scavengers. You told me that the Security forces over reacted.”
“Well, I was wrong. They fooled me, but not for long. I know better now. Helson explained the whole thing to me.”
He closed his eyes and took several measured breaths, trying to recapture his state of balance. He thought of his Master, deep in the recesses of his memory. When he did speak, his calmness surprised even himself.
“So what are you going to do, now that you’ve uncovered this heinous plot to destroy the Empire?”
“You can be sarcastic if you want, Marcus, but I’m going to do something. I’m not sure what it is. Helson has friends in the Nobility who realize what a danger this whole situation is. I’ll ask him whom I should see about helping. Maybe I can work on someone’s staff, or become a member of some committee.”
“Samia, you are not to do anything of the kind. Our father would forbid it anyway. You are forgetting his bill.”
“Oh, let him have his bill! I don’t agree with it anyway, and besides, it will never pass!”
