Page 100 of Perfection

* * *

Kindra found her father in his office, pacing. “Anything?” she asked.

“I’ve never seen it take so long,” he said with a shake of his head.

“All this waiting makes me feel so helpless.” She came up to him, and he draped an arm around her shoulder.

“Patience, Muffin. The computer will find a match. All other viruses have been cured. This one will be, too.”

York shoved his hands into his pockets. Her father took the same stance. Kindra glanced from one man to the other, noticing their contrasts and similarities. Where her dad was refined, York was rough, yet they both seemed to have a passion for life. And she cared for them both.

The computer began a chant. “Checkmate. Checkmate.”

She grinned. It was the saying her dad had programmed in to signal a match.

A whoosh of air escaped her lungs. “We’ve found it! HERO has the answer. Now all we have to do is convert the genetic formula into a vaccine. That’s the easy part.”

* * *

York and Kindra took the underground spinner directly from the airport to the Seville Center.

York stepped out below Seville. The place smelled like burned metal and plastic. It was a sickening odor. After living through the explosion, just walking these halls screamed of danger. He put his hand on the small of her back. “Be careful.”

“The vaccine has to work. It has to.” She swallowed, hard.

“We’ll need to get the director to issue the order.”

“Comp Nine,” Kindra said, intending to instruct it to locate Director Isaac.

“No,” York interrupted. “We need to do this on our own. There is too much unrest here. Trust me.”

She looked into his eyes as she rested her hand on his arm. A smile curved her lips. “I do trust you.”

“What do you require?” Comp Nine asked.

“We need to create a vaccine. Is there any problem doing that, Comp Nine?”

“Anything for you, Kindra. I’ve missed you.”

Kindra fed the dot with the formula into the lab computer. “While HERO has to do the computations,” she explained to York, “Nine is fully equipped to produce the vaccine.”

“Thank you for your confidence, Kindra,” the machine chimed in.

“You’re welcome. And would you also apprise us if someone should come our way, please? Advance notice would be helpful.”

“I always strive to be helpful,” was Nine’s only reply.

York sat while Kindra paced. She made geometric shapes with her footsteps—first a triangle, then a square, then a diamond, then a circle.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I have a lot of nervous energy.”

“I can see that.”

“I’m trying not to think of the explosion.”

“Oh.” He waved his hand, drawing her closer. When she inched over, he placed his arm around her and drew her down onto his lap. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”