Chapter 12
James
Lessa and Jett sit on the couch, diagonal to James. Their mouths hang open as they stare, blinking at him. He really wishes one of them would say something so this nervous flutter in his stomach would abate.
Moments earlier, Kate dropped the bomb of his retained memories on them. Before that, due to his heightened paranoia, James had requested that Decci get locked in Kate’s bedroom. The manupartner was all too happy to please.
“Hello?!” he demands as her friends continue to wordlessly stare at him.
Lessa opens their mouth as if they are going to speak, but then closes it.
Jett steps in. “So what you mean to say is you have some of this James fellow’s memories?”
“What I’m saying is I am James Fletcher. I am him. I have all of his memories. Well,” he backtracks. “At least the ones I’ve always remembered.”
“It seems there was a glitch in the DNA processing,” Kate says.
“Researchers have known for a while now that DNA carries memory. Particularly in the cells that make up certain areas of the brain. When James died, they pulled him from a plane crash. He had severe brain trauma and died before they got him to the hospital. I’m wondering if that trauma somehow caused his memories to imprint more deeply in the cells that got collected for research purposes.
James donated his body to science.” Kate proudly pats him on the knee.
Listening to people talk about his death so nonchalantly in front of him is unsettling. James ignores the discomfort. “But how would my DNA have ended up in a GROW database?”
“Over the years, batches of DNA have been traded. Acquired by different companies, to study or formulate products, like the manupartners. Yours must have got swept into one of the batches.” Kate’s explanation makes him shiver. What else has his DNA been used for?
Jett leans forward, grinning. “This is fantastic. I knew there was something off about you!”
Kate perks up. “Exactly! That’s why we need you two to help us prepare for the inspection.”
God, she is positive. Almost annoyingly so, if she wasn’t using her perky energy to keep him from being recycled.
“If we fail, they will recycle me.” He hopes her friends understand the urgency.
“That means death number two, and this time I’ll see it coming.
” Not to mention he’ll lose the chance to test himself in this future world.
They don’t need to know that, though. Keeping him breathing should be enough, but who knows with these future people—had he not seen the woman commit suicide on his first day, he would feel comfortable relying on human instinct when it came to his life.
Lessa sighs, leaning back in their chair. “I’m going to need a cocktail for this.” They keep fidgeting with an invisible speck of lint on their pant leg.
The tic is familiar. Someone he knew from before did that.
“Wait, so who were you?” Jett asks as he scrolls through his device. “There are a lot of articles about you from your time. Did you know that?”
Even though Jett is doing his own research, James tries to explain, as it is unlikely the articles accurately represent him.
“I was an entrepreneur. A job creator. I had a business and made investments,” he says, thinking that about sums it up.
Before, those words would have felt like enough.
They feel brittle now as he speaks them to these future people.
But surely there are still people like him?
Jett continues scrolling as Lessa leans over to look at his screen. “You were a billionaire,” they say. “That was a lot of money then, right?”
James rakes his fingers into his hair as he buries his face in his hands. The heels of his palms press into his closed eyes as if the action might soothe the sting of the memory. “Yes, that was a lot of money.” And he can do it again. He will do it again.
“Did you have a will?” Lessa asks.
“It wouldn’t matter if he did. A manupartner couldn’t claim it even if The Great Equalizer hadn’t wiped out all personal wealth from his time.” From Jett’s tone, he doesn’t realize he’s delivered a crushing blow. James makes a mental note to research the ominous-sounding event.
He must appear crestfallen, because Lessa frowns, seeming genuinely concerned. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s only money.” Jett waves a pale hand through the air as if it’s no big deal for James to learn some historical event would have wiped out any legacy he might have passed down because, of course, he had a will.
Lessa smacks Jett’s arm. “Don’t be insensitive. Clearly, James isn’t upset about the money. Speaking about the past probably reminds him of the family he’s left behind. Right, James?”
Jett gasps. “Wait, were you married?” He says the word like it tastes funny.
James looks at Kate, hoping she’ll interject so he doesn’t have to answer, but she only stares at him like this question intrigues her, too.
Her brows edge together, creating the slightest line between them, as if this question is a hypothesis in need of study.
She’s watching him as he says, “I wasn’t married, but yes, I had a family.
My parents were alive, and I had a sister. ”
Abby’s face pops into his mind. It’s his sister who Lessa’s nervous perfectionism reminds him of.
But he hasn’t spared his sister a single thought this entire time.
Does he have any living ancestors? Abby had children.
He makes a mental note to look into it. But what would be the point if some event wiped out all personal wealth?
Kate is staring at him as if she can see right through him. Like she knows he isn’t being forthcoming. Jett, with his sharp, appraising scrutiny makes James want to take charge and redirect the conversation. That’s what he would have done in the past, but at the moment he feels a little off-center.
Lessa seems to be the only one he’s managed to convince. Probably because they only appear to be half-paying attention. They say, “Poor thing. I can’t imagine what you must be going through, wondering what happened to them all those years ago.”
They’re all dead now is implied. It doesn’t hurt as much as one might think. For all James knows, they lived long and fulfilling lives. Is that a consolation, or is James really that callous? Never mind.
Lessa pats Jett on the knee, which is apparently a signal to put away his device because he tucks it into his pocket. Then they say, “How can we help?”
Kate claps her hands in front of her chest, content to put away the prior conversation. James is too. “I think we need to practice. Then, drinks on me,” she says.
Jett stands to pace in front of the particle panes. “Okay, from now until you pass the inspection, you must remain one hundred percent in character.” James can’t help but notice the sly look he shoots Kate.
Kate, to her credit, only shakes her head.
James scoffs. “And what exactly does that entail?”
“Well, to start, you should at least act like you like your owner,” Jett says, pointedly emphasizing the word owner as though he knows it will needle him.
James raises an eyebrow at the irritating man.
“You’re meant to be ultra masculine, so you can get away with being a little gruff, but you need to let your body language speak for itself.
Like this.” Jett sits back down next to Lessa and slips a casual arm on the couch behind them.
Then his fingers absently pick up a strand of their shiny silver hair.
As he keeps his attention focused on James, his body gravitates toward Lessa.
“See?” Jett asks, reverting to his former position.
Lessa gives him an exaggerated shiver, fanning themself. “That was quite effective, Jett. I didn’t know you had such skills.”
James rolls his eyes. “I know how to flirt.”
Jett’s smirk taunts him. “Are you sure?”
He stares at Kate for a moment. Something about fake flirting with her feels different. Whether it feels like betrayal to his resolve or opening Pandora’s box, he isn’t sure. But this is his life that hangs in the balance. He needs to treat this as any other job and do it.
James takes another look at Kate, then a deep breath as he steels himself to take on the character of fake lover. He can do this.
Right as he leans sideways, Kate jumps to her feet. Out of nowhere, tears burst from her eyes. Between sobs, she bites out, “I can’t be that bad. I can’t.” She dashes to her room, leaving James dumbfounded.
“Kate, honey,” Lessa calls after her, only a few steps behind.
“There’s something wrong with me,” Kate cries. Lessa makes it into the room before Kate slams the door.
James sits frozen on the couch, staring across the room at the closed door. “What just happened?”
Jett’s voice draws him back to reality. “You fucked that up, didn’t you?”
James whips his head in Jett’s direction. “You’re an asshole, you know that?”
Jett only laughs. “If you get recycled, it’s on you. Kate is putting herself out there by trying to help you, and you act as if you’re loath to touch her. Do you have any idea the trouble she could get in by violating the terms and conditions of the GROW agreement?”
James shakes his head, a little ashamed that he didn’t give it a second thought when Kate mentioned it after he submitted the GROW survey for her.
Jett continues. “Did you even think to ask, or were you only thinking of yourself?”
Guilt nips at James’s conscience. “I know she’s trying to help, and I appreciate it, but I’m not used to accepting help unless it’s from the people I’ve hired. Otherwise, I like to figure things out myself.”
As if reading James’s thoughts, Jett says, “So you’re hyperindependent. You realize that isn’t an admirable quality, right?” When James doesn’t respond, he says, “I think maybe you’re the asshole.”
“You’re right,” he admits. “I’ve been selfish.” He’s always seen himself as self-reliant, but is that only a clever way to excuse his selfishness? God, why is the future so intent on highlighting his flaws?
“Don’t be a Z-quad,” Jett says.