Aliena by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media

Part 3

Redemption

The word came within a month: tell them. The authorities thought it would be best if Brom and Aliena did it themselves; Sam and Martha, who had become like family friends, remained in the background.

They sat in the Smythe’s family room, with Maple, now ten months old, on Aliena’s lap. “You know that Aliena is special,” Brom said. “But not how special.”

“Was that you on Air Force One?” Johnson asked alertly.

“Yes. We met the president and went to Australia, where Aliena helped fix a piece of equipment.”

“You are that important?”

“Aliena is. The president wanted to meet her, and I think he liked her.”

“I crossed my legs,” Aliena said.

Johnson laughed. “That would do it.”

“But be more cautious in the future,” Rebecca said. “This sort of thing can be overdone.”

Brom got serious. “You know that Aliena is a brain from a person in a far place. That she is being groomed to be an envoy, a contact between her people and ours. A truly historic connection.”

“But that is not the whole of it,” Johnson said. “No place on Earth could rate such extraordinary arrangements.”

“Exactly. She is a literal alien, from another planet. Her natural body could not survive here on the surface of Earth. She has to have a human body.” He went on to tell them the rest, while Aliena nodded.

Now came the crunch. Could they still accept Aliena as a family member?

The Smiths considered. “We knew there was something,” Johnson said. “But we underestimated the reality. We thought we were prepared, but it’s a shock.”

“But we know Aliena,” Rebecca said. “Of course we still accept her.”

It was as though Aliena had been holding her breath all this time. Now she dissolved into tears of relief. It was all right.

“There will be a huge ceremony of Unveiling in about a year or fourteen months,” Brom said. “All over the world. The top officials of most of the countries will attend. The newspapers and Internet will have complete information. Everyone will know. She will abruptly be the leading celebrity of the age. There will be a backwash, as reporters seek to unravel every detail of what we call the Trillion Dollar Project. That means that your privacy will vanish. You will have security, but you will live in a virtual glass house. We can arrange to take you out of circulation if you prefer, to move to a closed community. But serious disruption is inevitable.”

Maple grew restless. Rebecca came to pick her up. “We will handle it,” she said. “As long as we can continue to be with our grandchild.”

“Oh, yes. We will depend on you to be with her and protect her from the mob. We hope you will travel with us, taking Maple in charge, so that she is not unduly exposed. There will be times when Aliena will be unable, because of the demands of her office.”

“We understand, and are gratified,” Johnson said.

Then odd things started happening. Aliena got confused about minor arrangements, forgetting to feed Maple, or to dress her properly.

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