Kara sat in a stadium seat, feet propped on the one in front of her. The crowd roared as a Kalin Bay player snagged the basketball and passed it to Lev. He caught it, weaving in between two players like water flowing. She loved watching Lev like this, where he felt at home.

  The ball went up, and her brother sunk the shot. The crowd cheered, and Kara imagined the vidstream announcer’s commentary; she’d heard it many times before. “Another fantastic three-pointer from Tanel. The Bullets better not give him many more openings like that tonight.”

  A wave of flashing green and blue rolled across the stadium as Luminar fans of the Kalin Bay team raised their hands, glowing with the team's colors. Kara joined in, though she couldn’t produce the same flash of color as a Luminar.

  The next play began as the Bullets, a team from one of the northern universities, advanced the ball down the court while Lev’s team transitioned to defense. Lev had scored plenty tonight. He wasn’t especially tall, just six-foot-one, but they were giving him too much space. As a Kinetic Memoran, if he had a clean shot, he rarely missed.

  A dull ache settled in her chest as she watched the crowd. So many eyes on Lev.

  Not that she wanted to be Lev. That came with its own drawbacks, but the recognition? That part was nice. He wasn’t stuck in some half-life. He was a full Kinetic Memoran. His muscle memory was flawless. Get something right once, and it stuck. Technically, it was his kinesthetic and somatic memory that was perfect, but that was a mouthful, and the somatic part wasn’t something Lev talked about much.

  So, in the end, Kinetic had stuck.

  She didn’t know who decided that. She was a little surprised some of her family tolerated the inaccuracy, but the Kinetics—Rhett, Lev—had always felt so foreign, separate from the rest of the family. Maybe that’s why the detail-snobs like Great-Aunt Sally didn’t care.

  Kara… she wasn’t Kinetic enough to be like Lev, but she carried the gene—just enough to understand him, and just enough to be different from the rest of her family.

  She couldn’t glance at a page and remember its full contents. Couldn’t watch her life like a film the way true Cognitive Memorans could. Her auditory memory was good. She could remember lectures, debates, even casual conversations almost perfectly.

  It was the almost that stung. She still had to work for it. To concentrate. To read. To listen.

  Smart enough to become a professor at nineteen. Now running her own research at twenty-three. Still not perfect enough for her family. Not Kinetic enough to be like Lev.

  Just stuck somewhere in between.

  The Bullets managed to score, and then Kalin Bay brought the ball down the court again. This time, they tightly guarded Lev, leaving no opening for a pass. Kara glanced at her friend, Vera, seated beside her. Vera wasn’t watching the game anymore; she was fixated on a guy across the room. This was the third time Kara had caught her staring. “Someone catch your fancy, Ver?”

  “No,” Vera said with a blush. Her gaze swiveled back to the game.

  Kara had expected a joke. But if Vera was embarrassed about being caught, it meant she was more interested in this guy than Kara had realized. “You sure?”

  “Mm-hmm. Maybe we should find someone to catch your attention?” Vera asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

  Kara sighed but didn’t protest.

  “What about him?” Vera continued, pointing to a cute guy with tousled brown hair a few rows down.

  “No,” Kara said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’ve dated enough people who get weird when I don’t act like they’re the center of my world.”

  Vera tilted her head. “That’s vague and dramatic. Even for you.”

  Kara exhaled through her nose, not quite laughing. “Emotional availability isn’t my strong suit.”

  Vera gave her a look that said she wasn’t buying it. “You sure? You seem to do fine emotionally connecting with Lev, and he's basically a bottle of emotions held together with duct tape humor.”

  That was exactly the problem. Loving her meant making room for Lev. And not everyone was built for that kind of closeness.

  “Lev is different.”

  Vera raised an eyebrow. “How?”

  “He just… People can’t… You know how he is.”

  “Basically, a golden retriever in human form?”

  Kara snorted. A cat dressed up as a golden retriever, maybe. The golden hair didn’t erase the dramatics. “People just… struggle with how much space he takes up in my life.” Kara finished lamely.

  Vera pursed her lips, but didn’t push for more. The buzzer sounded, saving Kara from the conversation: halftime.

  The game stopped and the teams started to head off the court. Lev flashed a smile to the crowd, sending some of the girls into a frenzy. One smile from the tabloid-dubbed ‘most eligible bachelor’ was all it took.

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  Then he turned and offered a brief wave in Kara’s direction before exiting through the tunnel. It was sweet of him. Lev knew sports games weren’t her favorite place.

  A couple of college-age girls turned to look at her after Lev’s wave, whispering among themselves. Either they didn’t know who she was, or they were plotting to have her set them up with Lev.

  Kara avoided their eyes. She didn’t want to deal with hopeful girls today, the ones that just wanted a date and thought they could get on her good side. They didn’t understand. Not really. She didn’t think they ever would, but Lev seemed to disagree with her there.

  Still, most people didn’t even understand her, and her whole family line were Memorans. That was, what, three hundred people total? Why did he think the serial dating would help? No one was going to magically understand. Not if he didn’t open up to them.

  “Hello?” The word snapped Kara out of her thoughts.

  “Aralin to Kara,” Vera said, waving a hand in front of her face.

  “I’m paying attention. What?” Kara asked, glancing at Vera. The dancers had already left the court below.

  Apparently, Kara had zoned out for a few minutes. Vera sighed and then pointed behind her. Kara turned to see a young man in a white shirt with a blue stripe running diagonally from the shoulder, a campus runner.

  Kara’s heart skipped a beat. Getting a runner at night was usually bad news. It was hard enough to track people after hours, so if the call wasn’t urgent, the communications office wouldn’t bother. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  The runner shook his head. “No emergency, but there’s a call for you.”

  “At this hour?”

  He shrugged. “Some people are important or insistent enough that we can’t just ask them to leave a message or call tomorrow.”

  “So, who is it?” Kara inquired.

  “Jeron Blakor. He said he doesn’t know you personally, but he works in an ancient document division, and you might want to speak with him.”

  That piqued Kara’s interest. Who from an ancient document division would call at this time of night? And why? “Alright, I’ll take it then. Where?”

  “Closest comm station is upstairs, but it can be loud with the game. I’d recommend the Alencar building. Here’s the chip,” the runner said, tossing her a small metal chip with a specific dot pattern on the side. It would let her accept the call from any terminal on campus since she didn’t have a comm band at the moment.

  Kara glanced at Vera, who simply shrugged. “Go ahead. I have someone I need to talk to anyway.”

  Kara raised an eyebrow, then said, “Thanks.”

  Vera just waved in a way that said, don’t mention it.

  Kara hurried up the risers and into a hallway. The Alancar building was just across the street.

  The main comm station in the Alancar building was easy to find, but Kara didn’t want to risk interruptions if this conversation was important, so she went up one floor to a comm station in an area she knew would be deserted. Kara inserted the chip and waited for the call to come through. A beep confirmed the connection. “Hello?”

  A deep voice responded on the other side of the line. “Is this Dr. Tanel?”

  “Yes. May I ask who I’m speaking with?”

  “Of course. My name is Jeron Blakor. I’m the head of the Ancient Documents Division for Novem.”

  Interesting. Novem was the government-associated arm of the archeology efforts on Aralin and a major player in uncovering ancient documents. What did they want with her?

  “I apologize for the late hour,” Jeron continued, “but I’m in a different time zone at the moment, and I wanted to make this call myself.”

  If his time zone was that different, he must have been far away, maybe at an excavation site. Not many people actually lived on the other half of the planet. “That’s alright,” Kara said. “I understand. How can I help you?”

  “I’ve spoken with several people on our documents teams who have read your work, and they’ve told me that it is excellent.”

  Kara was glad he couldn’t see her blush. “Thank you.”

  She believed him. Kara wasn’t na?ve; Novem could afford anyone, but the fact remained: Jeron had called her.

  “I have an offer for you,” Jeron said.

  “What sort of offer?” Kara asked.

  “Novem currently has several open excavation sites, and we expect to uncover some exciting things in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, the translator we have on retainer is unavailable. We decided that we need to bring in someone else for a short period. I know you’re currently teaching and conducting your own research, but I wanted to gauge your interest in becoming Novem’s on-call translator, at least for the next couple of months.”

  Kara’s head spun a little. On-call translator. She managed to sputter, “If you don’t mind me asking, why me? There are plenty of more experienced translators out there.”

  “We like up-and-coming talent. Besides, sometimes speed is crucial, especially if someone gets stuck at an excavation site. There are more experienced translators, but I’ve heard that you’re both accurate and fast. I’ve also heard that you’re fond of traveling. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, we need someone who might be able to go out to excavation sites in the future. Some translators prefer that we bring things to them, but having someone younger who we can send to more difficult-to-reach places appeals to us, if you’re up to it.”

  Yes. More than yes. Visiting archeological sites? That was a dream come true, but… teaching, her research. She had a job. And what was she going to do—quit and just wait around until Novem decided they had something?

  It was rash and silly, and yet, for some reason, she was having a hard time remembering why that mattered because, cascades, actually visiting sites?

  Kara drew a slow breath, trying to settle herself. “I’d certainly be interested in something like that, but like you said, I have a job. I might be able to take a sabbatical, but that would need approval from the university. What kind of time commitment are we talking about?”

  “It’s hard to predict. It depends on what we find. Speed is critical for many projects. We’d want the translation as soon as possible. Smaller projects likely wouldn’t conflict with your current work, but larger ones could take significant time. I know it’s not ideal, but any project requiring more time on your part would also be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And, of course, we’ll compensate you for your time.”

  It was a lot to take in, the kind of offer that could change her whole life. And if Novem liked her work, there was always the possibility of a permanent position later…

  “I appreciate the offer,” Kara said. “I’m very interested, but I’ll have to think about it. A long absence would have serious repercussions on my work here.”

  “I understand. I’ll send you more information via the net later tonight. We’d be happy to work with you if it’s a possibility. Please let me know your decision as soon as possible. Have a pleasant evening,” Jeron said, and then the line went dead.

  That was a bit abrupt. Had she said something wrong? Or maybe that was just how Jeron did business. Was he calling someone else? Should she just have said yes?

  Kara let out a breath and leaned back against the wall. This wasn’t the time to be impulsive. She had a job. Responsibilities. A class full of students expecting her next week.

  But original documents? The centuries old kind that had never been read by another human? That wasn’t just a good opportunity. That was everything she’d wanted academia to be.

  Maybe she could take an early sabbatical. Maybe she’d have to quit and come back later. Either way, she could make it work.

  Still, she didn’t want to make a rash decision. She’d sleep on it, talk it over with the department chair and Lev, who was irritatingly good at spotting flaws in her plans.

  And she’d pretend, at least for a little while, that she hadn’t already made up her mind.