Chapter Ten
Numbar opened the door and asked, "Do you want me to finish what you started, or will I leave that to you?"
"I figure you tied me up," Dasha said, "so you know how to untie me, too."
"Alright, then." Numbar quickly untied the rope, and Dasha's wrists were free. He handed her his zap-pad, but he stood over her as she pressed a button.
ZZZ
Zenon's zap-pad went off, and she said, "Hold on, I think this might be important." She took a few steps away from the group and answered her zap-pad, to none other than Dasha. "Dash? Dash, where are you?"
"It's Dasha?" Proto Zoa asked, taking a step forward.
"I told Numbar I'd do what he wants, if I got in touch with you, and he's watching me right now," Dasha explained. "I have to do what he wants, or I could die."
"Dash, where are you?"
"I dunno, can't say. I was hoping you'd find me."
"We will, Dasha."
Zenon could clearly see Numbar gesture to Dasha, and the latter said, "I gotta go now, Zee. Please come find me."
"We will. Promise."
Dasha hung up and Zenon turned to face the others, especially Proto Zoa. "We need to go find her."
"Hand me your zap-pad. We'll trace the other with it," General Hammond said, holding out his hand toward Zenon. She handed him the zap-pad, and he hooked it up to the computer and ran it through a program neither she nor Proto Zoa had seen before. The program popped up an address.
"Isn't that Lester's apartment building?" Proto Zoa asked. "One room under his?"
"You know the place?" the general asked.
"I'm fairly certain. I'm also fairly certain I can find it if I had to."
"You just might," Zenon said. General Hammond handed Zenon her zap-pad back, and she and Proto Zoa moved toward the door.
"Keep us up to date," Commander Plank said after them.
"Absolute major," Zenon replied.
ZZZ
When Numbar took his zap-pad back, Dasha untied the ropes around her ankles and got to her feet for the first time in what felt like, if not forever, then almost too long. She turned and followed Numbar out of the bare room to another, more furnished living room. He walked out of the door of the room, Dasha at his heels, and he continued to lead her down stairwell after stairwell until they reached his pod, and she hopped in right after him.
The pod took off, and Dasha adjusted her position in the passenger's seat and stared out the window at the everchanging scenery.
ZZZ
Zenon hopped into Proto Zoa's pod, in the passenger's seat, and stared straight ahead. Proto Zoa gently pulled the pod out of the loading dock and asked, "Zee, is something wrong?"
"It's...complicated."
"How complicated can it be? Someone or something hurt you, and you're not talking about it for whatever reason. All I want to know is, what's wrong?"
"Why do you care? You're the one running around with actresses from soap operas."
"And you're the one running around with activists of obscure causes. If my memory serves me, we've already been over this."
"It doesn't matter anyway. You do whatever you want no matter what anyone else says, so don't bother trying with me."
"Because I care about what you think, Zenon. I want to make you happy."
"That's what Sage said, that's what Greg said, and that was what Orion said, too, so don't go there with me."
"I'm sorry," Proto Zoa whispered, returning his attention to the space in front of him. He maneuvered the pod effortlessly into a slow descent through Earth's atmosphere, and Zenon looked out the side window, struggling to pay attention to the changing scenery.
"Why'd you do it, Zoa?" she finally asked.
"Why did I go on a date with the girl from Of All The Worlds? I should ask you why you kissed Sage, but if you insist, I'll answer your question first."
"I do insist."
"Then I did it because I thought you no longer wanted to be with me."
"And I kissed Sage just because it just felt right at the time. So, we both have our answers, and as far as I know, we're both single, so what happens now?"
"What do you mean, what happens now? We find Dasha, that's what happens now."
"I know that, but what about between us? I mean, are we friends, are we enemies, acquaintances? What are we?"
"Let's just worry about this later, alright?" Proto Zoa gently glided the pod through the streets of a city Zenon quickly realized was Los Angeles. "We do what we came down here to do, and then we can think about us. Do we have a deal?"
Zenon chewed her lip for a minute and then sighed. "Yes, we have a deal."
"Well, then. We have some work to do."
ZZZ
Dasha hopped out of the pod with the samples Numbar handed her, not bothering to ask how he got them, and she walked into the testing facility. "May I help you?" one of the ladies in white coats asked as she approached Dasha.
"I'd like to have a paternity test done," Dasha replied, handing over the samples. "I brought the samples already, and I hope you'll be able to use them."
The lady took the samples, thanked Dasha, and told her she'd have the results as soon as she could, and Dasha walked out of the facility, only to find Numbar leaning against his parked pod with an expectant expression on his face. "Five days," was all Dasha said to him.