The Lost Aria (Earth Song Book 3) by Wandrey Mark

Author:Wandrey, Mark [Wandrey, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2014-06-19T04:00:00+00:00

She pushed the aerocar to the limits, and beyond. By the time she dropped from cruising altitude and banked towards a landing at the Tranquility Hospital there were two warning lights flashing on the cars control boards where she'd never seen them before. 'Impeller Over-Temp', and 'Check EPC Coupling' both glowed bright yellow. Minu ignored them as she landed and jumped from the car. Minutes later she was running from the stairs (too long of a wait for a jump-tube) onto the coma wing.

As soon as she turned the corner to the coma unit she saw Dr. Martin, dressed in white hospital fatigues and wearing stylish dualloy framed glasses, he was talking with a middle aged couple who had to be Pip's parents. She only knew they lived far from Tranquility and could not afford to travel to visit their son very often. Minu had never met them to date. The woman was looking at the floor, tears dripping down her cheeks, while the man listened as the doctor talked. For a second, Minu feared she was too late.

“You must be Minu Alma,” the man said as she approached. Minu almost tripped at the man's thick Rusk accent. Could this really be Pip's father? “Our boy, Pipson, told us a lot about you before he was hurt.”

“Thank you, sir,” she said. The woman lifted her head for a moment and spoke a few words Minu didn't understand.

“I'm sorry, Aliana doesn't speak much English. She comes from the Trablinsk region, and there it is a matter of pride that the villagers only speak Russian.”

“It is not a problem.” She chewed her lip for a second before continuing. “Please don't take this wrong, but Pip never said he was Rusk.”

“No, I don't imagine he would. Our family was allies of the Malovich clan, long, long ago. It is a very long story, but suffice it to say our two families had a parting of the ways, and for many years now we've been on the opposite sides of events as they proceeded.”

“Pip didn't even have an accent!”

“He spent hours on end watching movies, on the computers, reading to himself, doing everything he could to learn to speak without an accent. He knew what people would think if they knew his racial heritage before they knew him as a man.”

“It wouldn't have mattered to me,” Minu said, the lie tasting vile on her tongue, “very much,” she softened the statement. She turned to the doctor. “So what is Pip's situation?”

“He's continued to deteriorate since we talked,” the doctor explained and gave a quick synopsis. From behind him Minu saw Cynthia, Pip's long term girlfriend even through his coma, walk out of his room. Her face was red and swollen from crying, and still more tears fell. “The family was about to make a decision.”

“Let me ask something first,” she said and got all of their attentions. “How long does he really have?”

“Two days, maybe a week at the most. One organ after another will shut down until he has a catastrophic episode.

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