Part 3
Chapter 22
As the year wore on, the weather got warmer: more so than any time Diana could remember. Even Noah commented on how unusual this was, but all the kids loved it, especially the little ones. A few rainstorms hit after the EMP disaster, but after that, it was mostly clear and sunny for months on end. Diana found herself spending more and more time escorting some of the youngsters outside the domes for several hours on end, on long walks and tours of the other domes. Sarah had been hesitant to allow it at first, but even she wasn't entirely immune to the good weather.
Simon had been allowed to continue communicating with her using the mirrors. Twice now, someone had adjusted the mirror down on the beach, making it impossible to chat until it was set right again. Simon had taken the opportunity to set a small motor and timer on the mirror. If it slipped, or was moved, it would set itself right again, every night at eight. Then he'd put in some more... advanced upgrades to how they communicated.
It seemed he was also relaxing a bit for the summer. Noah's workload had eased on all the older boys, and they were now free to go after things other than just academics and practical skills. For now, most of them were actually focused on dating.
It wasn't actually the word Noah had used. He'd described it as 'courting', now that they were getting older and allowed to spend more time with the other sex. Still supervised time, of course. Noah had given sex ed classes to both sides, though they got slightly different lessons, according to Simon after the fact. Diana had been able to pick up all the biological stuff easily. It was pretty straightforward. The social responsibilities were confusing, though.
Why did people have to wait until marriage—a permanent situation—before having sex? Wouldn't it be better to try it out first, and see if one or both of them were any good at it, before doing anything irreversible? There was no need to worry about STDs here—none of them had been exposed to anything yet. Though there was always the possibility that some disease or other would mutate, and become a new STD here on New Eden.
Still, Noah was adamant on this point. Extramarital sex was a sin, plain and simple. And not only that, it could always result in a pregnancy, which according to the Faith Doctrines, had to go to term regardless of the circumstances. While Noah had been clear that eventually people on this planet would be having kids the old-fashioned way, for now they were better off surrogating for the cell samples in storage. The failure rate for Noah's artificial wombs was at about twelve percent for now, but the human womb was safer, at about five percent.
Even the thought angered Diana. She didn't want to have some... thing growing inside her like that! Even if it would become a person eventually. She'd seen pictures of how big pregnant people got. How would she fit into any cockpit with a belly that big, much less be able to handle g-forces? None of the boys had to worry about that, or any of the complications that came with it!
At her urging, Simon had downloaded a portion of the medical database and sent it to her using the consoles. Pregnancy wasn't just risky to the baby, but to the mother as well. Some of those accounts described women developing vertigo during pregnancy, and then the condition sticking around afterwards! For someone like her, that would be like a pianist having his hands cut off!
Thankfully, it was still a little too early for any of them to be expected to marry and start carrying kids. It was always on the horizon for her though, like a storm that would eventually hit and destroy her life as it did. Simon didn't understand why she got so angry about this, but how could he? He'd been valued, even celebrated, for his skills. All she and the other girls could expect was to be valued for their bodies only.
In her mind, Diana knew it was unfair to judge him for taking credit for flying up to save Noah. What was he supposed to do, tell the truth? This was the only way to keep their secret. Still, it was frustrating when she saw people clap him on the back and thank him for saving the day like that. Even if he just looked down and stayed embarrassed by it for the rest of the day.
One day, about three-quarters of the way through their planned break, all the first classers were called to the boys' side. This wasn't a scheduled social gathering, so a dress code wasn't strictly required, but Sarah insisted on everyone dressing up anyway. As usual, the boys didn't have to do nearly as much. As soon as Diana entered the boys' half of Harmony, she caught sight of Simon on the far end of the room. She raised her eyebrows at him questioningly, but he only gave a minute smile in response. Whatever was going on here, it wasn't about the two of them. Otherwise he would have looked worried or deadpan.
Noah had several caretakers there, but it was Adam who stepped up in front of the group, raising both his hands for quiet. "Thank you all for coming out here on such short notice. I wanted you all to know about this before the younger kids find out, so that you can explain it to them yourselves as you see fit. We'll be doing the same with the boys on this side. And what we'll be explaining... is this."
He beckoned to his left, and Rhys stepped up, handing him a white rectangle. It looked like paper, which was in short supply on New Eden, but a little larger than the usual sheets they had, and more rigid. It was also covered in a grid of black lines. Abruptly, Diana recognized it: a calendar.
"It took some finagling to get the dates and times right," Adam explained, holding it up. "But for the first time in our society, we have a calendar, based on our planet, not on our ancestors' one. We're starting to step away from some of the damaging traditions and superstitions of our ancestors, and pave the way for a new way of life. Rhys will explain."
He ceded his place in front of the group, handing the calendar over to the slightly taller redheaded boy. Grinning widely, Rhys pulled the first page up, and presented it to the others. "Because New Eden's trip around Siagis is longer than Earth going around the Sun, we had to change a few things. A lot of things actually. For one, we now have fourteen months, twenty-eight days apiece. Days are still almost the same, with us having a twenty-five-hour day, but everything else is changing too."
Rhys nodded over at Simon, who looked uncomfortable as usual. "Simon dug up some of the histories for me, about why the months were named back on Earth. Some of them were after the old gods the Romans used to worship, but Adam said we shouldn't follow their example. There's only one God, and He's too important to have just one month named after him. So instead, we named them mostly after the Disciples in the Bible."
He started flipping through them one by one. "The first month is Genos, of course. The start of the year, just like it was the start of life on Earth. The second is Peteria, after Peter from the Bible. Then, in order, are Andero, Jaim, Joni, Philios, Barthalos, Tomay, and Matay, after Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew. Here's where it gets weird, so stick with me. The next one is Alpheson, after the other James, the son of Alphaeus. After that is Taddeo, after Thaddaeus. Then Zelotos, after Simon the Zealot. Sorry about that, Simon," he added apologetically across the room. "Given that Peter was also called Simon first, we figured it was better to go with Zelotos than make it even more confusing."
The crowd chuckled a bit, and Simon bowed his head understandingly. "No problem here. Keep going."
Smiling again, Rhys flipped the next page. "Following Zelotos is Todos, after Judas Iscariot. Adam thought he should be represented by death, since he was history's most famous traitor. Todos is a variation of tod, the old word for death in Germanic. It also happens right in the middle of winter, which was the time of the year people on Earth had the least hope, back in those days."
Diana couldn't argue with that, even in her head. She'd seen how much more vibrant people had become with the warm weather this year.
"Lastly, we have Resurta. Just as Jesus rose from death, so does that month end out the year with a 'resurgence' of sorts. From birth, to death, to resurrection, through a whole year," he concluded proudly. The crowd gave a polite clap, and Diana had to admit she was impressed. Adam had put a lot of thought into this. Even though they weren't technically adults yet, somehow he'd convinced Noah to let him do this ahead of schedule. She glanced over at Simon again, and could tell he was intrigued as well.
Adam took his place again, taking the calendar back. "Fourteen months, with twenty-eight days apiece. We'll have a leap year every five years, and the extra day will go on the end of Genos, just so we can get it out of the way early. As for the days of the week, we had the same problem. The ones on Earth were mostly named for pagan gods, and we can't have that."
He stepped forward, so they could see the smaller print over each day. "The first day is Miaday, as in God's day. He got everything started after all, so it makes sense. Just like 'history' is His Story."
Diana hid a grimace. Unlike Simon, she had an interest in etymology, and had asked him to copy parts of that database for her as well. History was based on histor, or historia, meaning wise and old, or discovering through knowledge. Adam was just wrong. He would probably never look it up, either, because it fit with what he already wanted to believe.
"The rest are pretty simple," he went on. "Dioday, Trisday, Tetraday and Pemday, after two, three, four and five. After that comes Parasday, which is a preparation for what our ancestors considered the holy day. Miaday is our holy day, but the last one in the week is Sabaday, after the old Sabbath tradition. We're not Jews, but this is at least a nod to their part in our history."
Diana still didn't know what to think about the Jews specifically. They were mostly missing from the historical database, but the Faith histories had described them as misguided and persecuted precursors to the more 'pure' Christian tradition of the Faith. Persecuted was a bit of an understatement, when it came to describing European history during the 1930s and 40s. Sometimes she wondered if the Jews had been treated better or worse, really, than the Faith described. After all, the Faith historians were only human. They couldn't get every detail perfectly right.
Adam handed the calendar over to Bez, who passed it on to the others in a chain. When it reached her, Diana flipped it back to month number 1, Genos. Accompanying the grid was a picture of a mountain, on Earth. Everest, probably, the tallest point on the planet. Maybe someday she'd get the chance to climb the tallest peak on this world. Maybe she'd even name it, if Noah hadn't beaten her to it. No, the first one might happen, but the second one never would. That would be up to Adam probably, or at least one of the other boys.
As the calendar made its way further through the group, Simon spoke up from the back. "What's today's date, then? It's getting pretty warm on a cold planet, so I'm guessing sometime in Philip? I mean Philios?"
Adam smiled. "Good guess. It's Parasday, the fifth of Philios, 16 AA. After Arrival," he added quickly. "We could do it in Earth years, but Noah agreed that it would get confusing real quick after that."
He wasn't kidding. Diana knew she was over seventeen by Earth years, but on New Eden, she was barely fifteen. Between the slower rotation and slower revolution, it added up. "You've been here sixteen years now, Noah? Local time, I mean?"
His nearest drone did a smile imitation. "Believe me, it feels even longer than that. The Earth day right now, is January 6, 2121. It doesn't seem like an important day, does it?"
The crowd enjoyed passing the calendar around and flipping through it after that, with a few more questions ringing out. People asked what day Noah had relocated them here, or what day of the week Leap Day was, when it was supposed to show up next.
"Oh, I forgot," Adam put in. "Leap day won't actually be a day of the week. It'll fall outside the Miaday through Sabaday range, and it'll be a holiday. If Miaday is the first day of every month, we don't want to mess that up if we can help it. I hope everyone's ok with an extra holiday every five years."
"Well, we'll need more anyway, right?" Bez pointed out. "If the year's longer, we deserve a few more."
People seemed to agree with him, but Adam just gave him a wan look. "We'll talk about that later. For now, Noah and I have discussed it, and agreed that we should switch over to this new system, permanently. Even for the younger kids. Anyone already around will still have their birthdays in Earth time until we're eighteen, but anyone coming from now on will have fewer birthdays, on paper anyway, than the rest of us."
Noah spoke up again. "I realize some of you may wonder why I'm allowing Adam to do this before any of you have reached adulthood. It's partially my fault. The Faith wanted me to rename the months and days of the week, but it failed to give me specific names. I'm not the most creative when it comes to naming things, so I needed some help. Unless you all actually liked the nicknames you had when you were little."
Diana shook her head. "I liked the sound of Val, but Valae wasn't really me," she said, surprising herself a little. Others nodded along with her, though.
A few more questions were asked, but for the most part, the group diffused into the whole room, in pairs or small numbers. Adam and Sarah were together, of course. Their relationship had obviously intensified over the past few months, and they weren't afraid to show it. Though they were careful around Noah. They wanted to set an example, both of them, of who was in charge, why they were in charge, and what all the others should do to follow that example.
"How're you doing?" Simon asked quietly, suddenly at her side.
Diana smiled warmly. "I'm ok. It's weird, suddenly being two years younger though."
"Right? I had the same thought when I heard about this. I'm just glad it didn't push back Graduation Day at all."
They both stood there for a moment, reveling in the idea. Graduation Day wasn't just their freedom from classes, or from Harmony, or from childhood itself. The day they turned eighteen, the trackers would turn themselves off as well. They could go wherever they wanted, and not even Noah could order them around anymore!
"Have you picked out your new home?" She inquired nonchalantly. His answer could mean a lot.
Simon shook his head. "I'm still going over possibilities. It's a big city. And we can't exactly go out there and check it out for real, until the dome's completed."
Noah had estimated five years until Greater Harmony's dome was sealed and keeping breathable air in. He'd undercut that by over two years, or was about to. Bez had set up a series of cameras outside the huge dome on the mainland, set to take pictures every two hours. They were transmitted, with Noah's cooperation, to a pair of screens here, where any kid, male or female, could look at the feed in a timelapse. Even now, Noah's flyers and rollers were just months away from completion. Then all he had to do was test the seals, pump in the O2, and roll out the welcome mat.
The boys in the First Class had already started looking over Greater Harmony's map, trying to find ideal places to live, and where offices and industries would eventually pop up. It was mostly guesswork for now, as Simon had said.
"Is Adam still set on living in the city core?"
Simon nodded. "Right in the middle. It fits with his hero complex, or so Freud might say."
She elbowed him. "Hey. He was brave too, when Noah was offline. He and Tycho and Massimo risked their lives to try and help the rest of us."
"I know, I know," he admitted. "I'm just resentful is all. No one's running against him in the election. I'm supposed to help count the votes when we all turn eighteen, but what's the point? Even one vote would be enough if he's the only option!"
Diana raised an eyebrow. "Do you think someone else would be better at it? You, maybe?" The elections were the talk of the town for now. A president, a representative, a senator and a supreme court justice would be in office as soon as they moved into their new home.
"God, no! I don't want to be in charge of anything." He sounded disgusted just hearing about it. "It just doesn't seem right to have a president who didn't have any opposition in a campaign. But I talked with Argent about it. He wants Adam in charge, and so does Noah. No one else feels strongly about it, so I guess Adam's in charge. Not that what Noah wants will matter much longer. That feels strange, too."
"I know what you mean," she responded, but then paused. "Wait. Why would Argent's opinion matter? More than anyone else's I mean?"
Simon froze, his eyes going wide briefly. "Uh, it doesn't. He's just my friend is all. I care about what he thinks."
"Simon," she said warningly, and he flinched. He actually flinched! It was cute.
"All right. It's just not something I can say here. We'll talk about it later?"
"We will," she promised darkly, hiding her smile.
Diana slowly became aware of two things: first, she and Simon were in close proximity. That was fine, and it hadn't been the first time. Argent still assumed they were together, and she'd let the girls think the same thing. The trouble was, Bez was obviously watching them right now, with a smirk on his face.
"All right, everyone, that's enough," Noah called out. "I'll get copies of the calendars printed out and available to both sides in a day or so. For now, the girls will return to their side. All the girls," he added pointedly, obviously meaning Sarah and Diana.
Diana squeezed his hands briefly and let go, but before she could turn away, Simon kissed her.
It caught her completely off guard! Her eyes widened, and she just froze for a second before remembering they had an audience. She gently pulled away, faking a smile, and stepped back to the door. Bez grinned, but no one else seemed to notice. It seemed Sarah and Adam had done something similar.
She couldn't even remember the expression on Simon's face as they left. Maybe she didn't want to, after how she'd reacted.
-.-
Diana spent the rest of the day thinking about—no, obsessing about—that... action. What had he been thinking, if he'd been thinking at all? Did he care even slightly about their friendship? How was she even supposed to talk to him, now?
Fortunately there was a field trip scheduled, for some of the five-year-olds to go to one of the nearby greenhouses. Diana quickly volunteered for it, and made sure it was just her and the four of them. Making sure kids didn't get into trouble was second nature to her by now, even though she wished it wasn't. Still, she could use the time to think, away from Sarah's prying looks, and Naomi's more knowing concern. As she went through the rote description to the little girls, Diana ran over the events again in her head.
On paper, it made sense. There was no way for any boy and girl to be just friends here in New Eden, and Simon had obviously assumed the same. It probably wasn't even possible later, when everyone was supposed to be married, except between spouses themselves. He was just doing as he'd been expected to do. That's all.
Unless he'd had another reason. Diana gave an inward grimace, leading one of the girls by the hand. As unpleasant an idea as it was to face, she couldn't ignore it. What was she going to do??
That was it. She resolved not to think about it for the rest of the day: to block it from her mind until she could get a straight answer from him later on. She could continue to dwell on it, ruining her day and cheating the girls out of her attention, all the while coming up with explanation after explanation, each more elaborate and ridiculous than the last. Or she could just put it all on pause and figure it out later. With more facts.
It worked surprisingly well, actually. Almost before she knew it, Diana was back in her room. She had to be quiet, but she'd had a ton of experience with that by now. Carefully, she dug out the hidden pack from the closet behind all her clothes, unfolded it by her bed, and then stared down at it. She was still partly paralyzed, wondering what to do next.
This new console setup had the laser pointer, just like the old one, but Simon had made significant upgrades before smuggling it to her. They could still use the mirrors to send morse or tap code to each other, but Simon had used the dome's wiring itself as a conduit for a phone line. He'd tried explaining it to her once, but she'd lost interest. It worked; that was all that mattered. Now, the tiny red light was on at the base of the console. That meant he was on the other end, waiting. Taking a deep breath, Diana pressed the button and sat down on the bed. Usually she was prone when they talked for hours into the night, but she wanted to be upright for this. People on Earth had taken their phones for granted, Simon had told her. They hadn't needed to build their own.
"Di, are you there?" His voice echoed through, quietly.
"I'm here."
"Uh, about Argent. There are some things I need to tell you—”
"Why did you kiss me?" She cut him off, harshly. She did want to hear the other stuff, but not right away.
"Oh. Ok, I guess we're doing this first," he sounded chagrined. "I, uh, don't really know why. It's hard to explain."
"Try," she instructed, with the same threatening tone from before.
There was a long silence. "A lot of reasons, I guess. Partly because I wanted to see what it was like. To kiss someone. To kiss you. I'm sorry; I should have asked first. I should have told you what I wanted to do."
She shook her head, futilely. It was just some experiment to him? Trial and error? "And what did you find out from your little test? What was it like? The truth, Simon. I'll know if you're lying."
It was quiet again, for a bit. "Truthfully, it wasn't like I thought. I thought I'd enjoy it, or you would. But now, it's just a thing that happened. Does that make any sense?"
More than you know, she thought bitterly. "You said that was one reason. What were the others?"
"You know those. I did it because it was expected of me. I mean Bez was staring at us, and I kinda panicked, but it's what people like us are supposed to do, isn't it? I mean, 'Gent's already started asking why we're not more like Adam and Sarah in public. It's only a matter of time before others start thinking we're weird, too."
At least she had expected that response. She'd felt the pressure too, from girls she'd known her entire life. Pressure for details, which she couldn't give them. She'd made up how she felt, while talking to them, but it wasn't like lying about her flight training. She had no guilt about that at all. This... felt wrong somehow.
"Any other reasons?"
He sighed through the line. "None I can put into words, for myself even. I really am sorry, Di. I never wanted to make you feel uncomfortable. Especially not in public like that. I feel stupid for even trying it."
After a moment, Diana grimaced. "No, it's all right. There's nothing to forgive, actually. Something like this was bound to happen eventually. But just so we're both clear: you're not really interested in me like that. Are you?"
She heard the chair in his room creak as he shifted his weight. It was something he did when he felt awkward. "I'm sorry, no. I don't think I've ever felt that way."
That was a weight off her shoulders. "Don't be sorry. I haven't either!"
She could hear him stand up quickly. "Are you serious? Wow. That's such a relief!"
They both laughed quietly at that, for a little while, bleeding tension out of their voices. Eventually though, Diana had to bring them back to topic. "What does this mean for us, though? Do we break up? In public, I mean."
He tapped his fingers on the desk, as he always did while thinking. "I don't see why we have to. We can just keep faking it, as far as other people are concerned. Pretending we like each other, when we just like each other."
She smiled a bit at that. "No, I mean over the long haul. What happens when we graduate, and are on our own? Noah won't be watching over us anymore, but the others will. They'll be keeping an eye on me more than you," she added darkly.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I suppose we could just keep pretending—even get married if push comes to shove. I know you don't want to have kids; you've been pretty clear about that. If we ended up married, we could just say we're trying on our own, to keep other people out of your business. Is that a good plan? I don't know."
"It's a plan," she allowed, "and I don't have anything better for now. I'll keep thinking on it though, and I expect the same of you."
The idea of getting married was kind of hateful to her, but it was expected of her. And if it wasn't to Simon, the idea got even more hateful. Shaking her head, she changed the subject. "Ok, what's this about Argent? Why does his opinion matter so much to you? Or more importantly, to Adam?"
"Right; that." He took a deep, probably uncomfortable, breath. "The thing is, Argent is pretty rich by now. Like King Solomon rich. Or as much as he can be, since none of us have an actual paycheck. I did some calculations, and from what I've seen so far, he's got about six thousand shekels by now!"
Diana gave a low whistle. By now, most of the boys were saving money in preparation to buy land in Greater Harmony when it was ready. Girls didn't get an allowance of course, but Simon had told her the basics of how it worked. She wasn't as good at math as he was, but it sounded like Argent had saved every single allowance he'd ever gotten, and then some. "I... had no idea the commissary was so profitable!"
"That's just it. It's not," Simon responded with clear frustration. "I mean I'm sure it helped, but he has to split those profits with Massimo. No, he got most of his money from other sources. And that's partly my fault."
Before she could ask, he spilled the entire story. How Argent had set up a secret distillery in his greenhouse; how he was planting seeds of some plant she'd never heard of, which Simon had helped him steal for some reason. She didn't really see the problem, but it had obviously been bothering Simon for a while now. It wasn't as though he thought it was wrong, exactly, but that he'd been keeping the secret itself from her.
The alcohol was a bit disturbing, but Simon had been clear that Argent couldn't make much of it. Distilling was a long and difficult process, and he didn't have much room to do it in. No, the real moneymaker seemed to be this 'cannabis' stuff.
Simon eventually ran out of words, and she spoke for him. "And Noah has no idea about any of this? How could Argent be selling this plant to the kids without the trackers showing it?"
"The trackers only go off if someone goes somewhere they're not supposed to. The guys can wander around our half freely, or at least the older ones can. As for how they all pay him, I assume it's done through the commissary. 'Gent's the one behind the desk, always; Massimo is usually glazing his fruits and prepping them to be sold. I'm guessing they pay him in advance, he smuggles the plant in and leaves it someplace in the guys' side, and they get it later."
"So he knows you can't actually disable the trackers anymore? I thought Noah wanted you to keep that a secret from him."
"Maybe he does, but even so, it doesn't matter. He doesn't need me to disable the trackers anymore. He's got a full racket going as it is, and plenty of reasons to go back and forth between his greenhouse and his customers."
She paused. "What does this cannabis do, anyway?"
He clucked his tongue through the line. "That I'm not sure about. According to the medical database, it's a painkiller and nausea reducer. But it's consumable, like the foods in the commissary, and definitely addictive. I think they burn it. I've smelled smoke before where I knew people were using it, but Noah's drones can't smell, so it's not a problem."
That was a surprise. Even burning a candle was supposed to be cleared with Noah in advance, because of the O2 usage. "It can't burn very hot, whatever it is. Maybe you should ask him what it is? I'm sure he'd tell you, since you got it for him and all."
"You don't need to remind me," he said miserably, and she felt bad for doing so. "I suppose I should. I just didn't want to stick my neck out. Not when yours could get cut off with mine."
She smiled. Still thinking of her, even right after she'd poked a verbal stick in his eye. "That still doesn't explain why his opinion matters to Adam. I don't get why being rich matters so much."
"Right, that's because girls aren't taught about economics." He paused, apparently arranging his thoughts. "Very, very basically, if an adult has money, he usually uses it to buy property and equipment. Then he uses those things to get more money, and more, and more over time. Argent's got enough to buy a huge chunk of Greater Harmony, the moment we all turn eighteen. A bunch of us won't have enough to buy land of our own, except Massimo for sure, and probably Adam too. We'll have to rent living space from 'Gent, and pay him a bit of our paycheck. That'll make him richer, too. When Adam becomes president, he'll want to stay on 'Gent's good side."
"Because Argent will have a lot of power over a lot of people, and can make Adam's life harder if he wants to?"
"Yeah, that's basically it. I mean, only property owners will be able to actually vote in the new system, but all of his new tenants will be able to make a lot of noise if he... subtly gets them to. Or if he just threatens to raise their rent prices."
She blinked at the mic for a few moments. She'd had no idea that money could be that important. And suddenly she was angry that she wasn't allowed to have any. Her growl was cut off with a yawn, though. "Look, none of these problems are immediate. We can worry about them later, and we both need some rest for now. Do you want to fall asleep together again?"
A chuckle filtered in. "Sure. I've got an alarm set to wake us before anyone barges in to either of our rooms. Wake me if one of your sisters starts making noise and needs you in the middle of the night, ok?"
"Got it."
She heard him settle into bed as she did the same, with covers rustling and bedframes creaking a bit. They were both heavier than the first time they'd gone to sleep together. Diana tried to slow her breathing for a bit.
"Di?"
She smiled again. Typical Simon. "Yes?"
"When I told you earlier that I wasn't, uh, interested in you, it wasn't something I was really sure about. Don't worry; I am now," he assured her quickly. "But I just don't really know what that feels like is all."
"I know. I could tell."
"Of course you could," he said dryly. "I guess my point is this: you were sure. Before we even started talking tonight. Are you sure... because you feel that for someone else?"
She squinted, despite the darkness. He knew her pretty well, too.
"The truth, Di," he put in, gently though. "I'll know if you're lying."
"Truthfully, yes. I do feel that way. Nothing can come of it, though. Not now, not ever."
"I see. Thank you for sharing that with me."
"Good night, Simon."
The voice on the other end was muffled. "'Night, Di."
Diana glanced at the little red light on the console briefly. She wanted to turn it off, just for a minute or so, so she could scream into her pillow. She'd just told him something she hadn't told—could never, ever tell—to anyone else, ever. Something she could barely admit to herself even! She loved the little geek, to be sure, but why did he have to be so damn insightful, sometimes?
