It's not possible. Dia kept repeating those words in her mind until she realized she'd said them out loud.
Reyes---or maybe better to say captain Reyes at this point---smiled even more like he'd anticipated this moment for a long time and was now tasting the fruits of his long wait. He seemed to enjoy immensely the surprise on her face.
Although more than surprise, complete shock was closer to the mark, because no matter how fervid Dia's imagination could be, she would have never thought the man in front of her could be the same Nathan Reyes of her memories.
Sure, he was tall like him, and the way he behaved was similar---though this captain Reyes seemed even more shameless than the old one---but everything else was different.
His eyes were still brown but of a darker shade than she remembered, his voice a lot deeper, almost guttural, and his nose not straight like an arrow but a little arched.
The Reyes she knew wasn't handsome but pretty, an androgynous, almost feminine kind of beauty, completely different from the rugged man in front of her.
After all, there was a reason if they called him "Pretty Reyes" at the academy. But what he'd lost in beauty, he gained in intensity, a kind of carnal and sexual appeal it had nothing to do with the perfect but cold Reyes of the past, more like a statue to admire from afar, so perfect he seemed unreal.
This Reyes was very real and very close.
Wait, why I'm already thinking of him as Reyes? He still gave her no proof he really was what he claimed to be. He only said that name, Squirrel, but even the real Reyes wasn't the only one knowing her old academy's nickname.
She opened her mouth to say that to him, but Reyes preceded her.
"How can I be sure he really is what he claims to be, right?" He asked and grinned when she frowned. For sure it looked like this Reyes had the same bad habit of the old one: the ability to read her mind.
She didn't like it but nodded anyway.
"Well then, I'll prove it to you. But first, let's move somewhere else." And he added, probably noticing the stubborn look on her face. "I don't think you want to stay here." He said, glancing around the room before giving her an eloquent look.
Dia followed his gaze and shivered. Then she scowled at him, mostly because he was right. She really wanted to leave this place. It would take some time before she could stay inside a sickbay or a medical facility of any kind.
"Fine, make way." She said at the end.
Reyes smiled at her and moved to open the door, and it wasn't the usual kind but some sort of strange hatch, completely made of metal. Dia looked at him, both surprised and wary when he kept it open. It took some time for her to understand he was holding the door open for her. She wasn't used to this kind of thing. In the navy, she'd spent half the time trying to prove she was better than any man, and the other half trying to pass like one.
Of course, his gallant gesture would have looked better if he hadn't started staring at her ass as soon as she went past him.
Dia glowered at him, but he simply looked at her with a disarming smile and shrugged, like to say, my bad, but I couldn't help myself.
They went through a hallway, and when Reyes tried to do the same thing again, she refused.
"Thanks, but I can do it myself." She said, and Reyes chuckled like he already saw what he wanted to see.
Asshole.
"And I want explanations, real explanations." She added, just to wipe the smug smile from his face.
Her words had the effect of sobering him up.
"Of course." He said quietly. "This way." Then he went forward without waiting for her.
They reached the end of the hallway and Reyes opened another hatch, turning its big crank with both hands before pulling it toward himself. He panted as he did so, his muscles straining like it required a lot of strength to open it.
Dia frowned.
Why didn't they install some sliding doors? All this seemed extremely inefficient. It would take too much time to open them, especially during combat. Granted, she wasn't so surprised since the entire structure looked weird; the ceiling and the upper part of the walls were a little curved and rounded inward. Together they formed some sort of half sphere, a kind of design very different from what she was used to seeing on the imperial ships.
But neither the walls or the ceiling was as strange as what laid on the other side.
There were books there, hundreds of real paper books stacked on four huge shelves. In an era where everything was digital and paper a luxury, seeing one of two was rare enough, but hundreds? Dia shook her head. She couldn't even think about it. In her own life, she'd never seen more than a dozen of them, most of which were safely stored in the imperial museums.
This must be worth a fortune. The books were listed by name, organized with a precision almost maniacal. She would have never taken Reyes as a bookworm. He was more the kind of man that liked to have fun, spending his night drinking, playing cards or planning his next conquest.
But the books weren't the only discordant note. She could feel the smell of smoke, faint but persistent, lingering inside the room. It was like the purifiers tried to clean the air, but the smell was too strong to be removed entirely. The Reyes she knew never smoked, especially not this. It felt like real tobacco, another rarity.
"These are your quarters?" She asked, without hiding her skepticism.
Reyes simply smiled and then nodded. Dia let it go, though she counted this as a minus in the whole "I am Reyes" theory.
"Widka?" He asked, taking a bottle from the drawer of a big oak desk placed in the middle of the room.
The liquid inside was mostly white with just a bit of blue added into it. It was the cheap and synthetic alternative to real vodka. Dia shook her head.
"Why don't you take a seat?" Reyes asked, pointing to the chair before his desk.
"Why don't you start talking?" She rebutted.
Reyes widened his eyes a little like he had been thrown off by her answer.
Serves him right.
"There was a time when you would've listened to everything I said, Dia." Reyes was frowning, staring at her like she was a puzzle, a problem he'd failed to predict.
"That time is gone Re..." She started but stopped, frowning when she realized what she was about to say, and downright scowled when she saw the satisfied smile on his face " I'm not her." She grit her teeth, balling her hand into fists. " I am not that naive, starry-eyed girl, captain. Not anymore."
Reyes raised his hands in surrender.
"Point taken."
"Now do you want to show me the proof you are what you say you are " She continued, undaunted. "or I have bang your head on that pretty little desk of yours until you start talking?"
Dia had the satisfaction of leaving him without words, his mouth wide open as he stared at her with shock. That of course until he started laughing.
"I'm sorry." He said, trying to contain the laugh shaking his body. "I was just surprised. But I like this new Dia." He said and looked at her like she a was a new, strange specimen. Dia didn't like that look, but above all, she had enough of this.
She made a step forward with all the intention of putting her threat into practice---venting part of her frustration on him in the process---when Reyes said a single word.
"November"
"What?"
"November 12." He said, and Dia froze.
That day had a particular meaning for her, and there was just one person who knew about it.
"You remember that day, don't you?"
Dia nodded, a slight, almost imperceptible movement of her head.
"And do you remember what you said to me, in the old plaza?
Dia's lips trembled while she averted her gaze.
"I can't hear you, Dia." He pressed. "Do you want me to say the exact words? Repeat them one by one?"
"No" She whispered. "It's enough." She didn't want to hear those pathetic words, or worse, remember that weak, spineless girl she tried with all herself to forget.
"It's really you." She said like she still couldn't believe it.
"Yes, Dia. It's me."
"Your face and your voice..."
Dia knew how important his appearance was for him. She reached out for his face with her fingers, but Reyes shied away.
"Right, my face." He laughed bitterly, turning to look at that dull gray wall. "Let's just say, I needed a new one and plastic surgery can do miracles these days." He looked at her. "You should know something about it, Dia."
Dia took a deep breath. It was so typical of Reyes to lash back when he felt vulnerable, hurting the people close to him just to apologize when he realized what he had done. Just like this time.
"I'm sorry Dia, I..." He started, but Dia cut him off.
"Where have you been, Reyes?" She asked, her voice steadier than she thought possible.
"I'll explain everything to you, Dia. Just give me some..."
But Dia continued like she didn't hear him.
"They said a lot of things about you when you disappeared, Reyes. They said you were court-martialed, that you escaped on the Ether system..." Her voice started wavering. "they said you were a spy."
Dia looked up at him, but his expressive face looked like a slab of granite. He was staring at her, indifferent like he was a completely different person.
"No." She said, refusing to believe it. "No, it's not possible..." She made a step back, denial giving way to shock when she started to realize she had been wrong all along.
"It's true." He said at the end, his flat voice confirming her worst fears. "Everything you heard is true, Dia."
And then he dropped the bombshell.
"I am a spy."
ns 15.158.61.48da2
