Read Online Mayan December by Brenda Cooper - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Brenda Cooper
Tags: Science-Fiction, mayan
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whispered an instant voicemail to Oriana. “Is everything okay?”
Michael waited for her. She must be showing her worry because he echoed, “Is everything okay?”
She nodded quickly, an instinctive reaction in front of a client, and then shook her head. “I think so. My daughter is at Tulum, with a friend. I was just checking on her.”
He looked as if she’d just brought a monkey into a crystal showroom. “Trixie? Isn’t she young?”
“Nixie. She’s eleven. I brought her down to see this.” She struggled to keep her voice light and even. “Something she’ll remember her whole life.” She smiled at him, hoping to disarm.
His smile didn’t reach his cool, blue eyes. “Tulum’s got enough military presence to keep it safe.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” But she couldn’t help glancing down at her phone. There was no reply, and Nixie’s light was still missing.
As they dodged a woman pushing a baby stroller awkwardly on the cobbled walkway, he changed the subject. “We appreciate your work. I’m looking forward to being here when the stars line up like the legends.”
“Not legends,” she said. “Science. The Mayans were excellent astronomers.”
“So have you noticed anything different here?”
What was he looking for? She chose her words carefully. “Chichén has become a popular destination. Mayans are coming, too. In droves.”
“Will there be trouble?” he asked, echoing the tabloid headlines.
She held her hands out, shrugging as if to say she didn’t know. “We saw some protests yesterday in Playa.”
Michael sounded worried as he said, “Miss Marie’s having an international environmental conference starting in Cancun in a few days. Conferences seem to need demonstrators and terrorists.”
One more way the world was going crazy all at once, trying to hold to a world view that was slowly killing them all. Then the name he said sunk in. Marie Healey.
Marie Healey, the President of the United States’ Science Advisor and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The woman who ran his international program of shared responsibility for climate change. A mixed success, but more than anyone else had managed.
“I went to school with her,” Alice said.
“Really?” He sounded intrigued. “What was she like?”
“Smart.” Alice could see her, a year older, laughing as she came to Alice for last minute tutoring, or chided her for studying too hard. Marie the lucky, the one who always knew the moment to strike, the act to take, the person to meet. Marie who might be saving the world. No other woman at Stanford had burned as bright as Marie. “She’s brave. We used to get in trouble together.”
“So are you brave?”
Alice shook her head. “Marie used to make me brave. Besides, courage is for the young.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Really? You’re brave enough to come down here on your own.”
They were near the bottom of the pyramid, and Alice stopped so Julia and Don Carlo could catch them. Maybe she could start them all up the steps and then call Oriana again. “Ready to see if you’re in shape?”
Julia’s eyes flashed at the challenge. Don Carlo showed his white teeth in a faint grin, and Michael simply started up. His long legs made the tall steps easy, while Julia climbed slowly, placing both feet on each step before taking the next one. Although she stayed close to the metal chain running up the center of the steps, she didn’t actually grab for it. Don Carlo went up at Julia’s pace, at her side, but one step at a time. He looked like a Mayan priest might have, taking the steps reverently, his back straight and his head high.
Alice glanced back at her phone. Nothing new. She sent another message and forced her legs up instead of letting them run back to the parking lot and hail a cab to Tulum. Midday sun whitewashed the sky to barely-blue and heated the steps so they produced faint shimmers of heat.
Seven steps from the top,
Michael waited for her. She must be showing her worry because he echoed, “Is everything okay?”
She nodded quickly, an instinctive reaction in front of a client, and then shook her head. “I think so. My daughter is at Tulum, with a friend. I was just checking on her.”
He looked as if she’d just brought a monkey into a crystal showroom. “Trixie? Isn’t she young?”
“Nixie. She’s eleven. I brought her down to see this.” She struggled to keep her voice light and even. “Something she’ll remember her whole life.” She smiled at him, hoping to disarm.
His smile didn’t reach his cool, blue eyes. “Tulum’s got enough military presence to keep it safe.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” But she couldn’t help glancing down at her phone. There was no reply, and Nixie’s light was still missing.
As they dodged a woman pushing a baby stroller awkwardly on the cobbled walkway, he changed the subject. “We appreciate your work. I’m looking forward to being here when the stars line up like the legends.”
“Not legends,” she said. “Science. The Mayans were excellent astronomers.”
“So have you noticed anything different here?”
What was he looking for? She chose her words carefully. “Chichén has become a popular destination. Mayans are coming, too. In droves.”
“Will there be trouble?” he asked, echoing the tabloid headlines.
She held her hands out, shrugging as if to say she didn’t know. “We saw some protests yesterday in Playa.”
Michael sounded worried as he said, “Miss Marie’s having an international environmental conference starting in Cancun in a few days. Conferences seem to need demonstrators and terrorists.”
One more way the world was going crazy all at once, trying to hold to a world view that was slowly killing them all. Then the name he said sunk in. Marie Healey.
Marie Healey, the President of the United States’ Science Advisor and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The woman who ran his international program of shared responsibility for climate change. A mixed success, but more than anyone else had managed.
“I went to school with her,” Alice said.
“Really?” He sounded intrigued. “What was she like?”
“Smart.” Alice could see her, a year older, laughing as she came to Alice for last minute tutoring, or chided her for studying too hard. Marie the lucky, the one who always knew the moment to strike, the act to take, the person to meet. Marie who might be saving the world. No other woman at Stanford had burned as bright as Marie. “She’s brave. We used to get in trouble together.”
“So are you brave?”
Alice shook her head. “Marie used to make me brave. Besides, courage is for the young.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Really? You’re brave enough to come down here on your own.”
They were near the bottom of the pyramid, and Alice stopped so Julia and Don Carlo could catch them. Maybe she could start them all up the steps and then call Oriana again. “Ready to see if you’re in shape?”
Julia’s eyes flashed at the challenge. Don Carlo showed his white teeth in a faint grin, and Michael simply started up. His long legs made the tall steps easy, while Julia climbed slowly, placing both feet on each step before taking the next one. Although she stayed close to the metal chain running up the center of the steps, she didn’t actually grab for it. Don Carlo went up at Julia’s pace, at her side, but one step at a time. He looked like a Mayan priest might have, taking the steps reverently, his back straight and his head high.
Alice glanced back at her phone. Nothing new. She sent another message and forced her legs up instead of letting them run back to the parking lot and hail a cab to Tulum. Midday sun whitewashed the sky to barely-blue and heated the steps so they produced faint shimmers of heat.
Seven steps from the top,
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