Unbecoming Humans

Chapter 6

Dr. Sekin stormed back to her private lab, seething at her most recent failure to get through to Aria. She barely noticed where she was walking. Her feet carried her through the familiar maze of corridors until she turned down a narrow unassuming hallway and reached a secure metal door set apart from most of the main thoroughfares. She barely paused to scan her biometrics before the door slid open and she swept into the lab. The automatic lights were already on in the lab and pieces of equipment were running here and there. Her husband was perched on a stool at the counter on the far side of the room, his back to her.

"How was the lecture, Ionna?"

She huffed. His words were innocuous, but to Dr. Sekin they felt like a jab at yet another failed conversation with Aria, even though there was no way he knew what had happened yet.

"As usual, they were rapt and hanging on my every word."

Oleksiy chuckled, but did not look up from his work. "You are a bastion of the cause, my love. Did you talk to Aria?"

She should have known she could never hide the tension in her disposition from him. She sighed. "Where did we go wrong with her, Oleksiy? Why can she not see that saving humanity is all that matters here?"

"She is young, Ionna. Perhaps she needs time to do the things young people do."

"Hmph! When I was her age, I was getting my doctorate. All I'm asking her to do is make an effort to do what she's told."

"Ionna," Oleksiy spun on his stool to face her and pulled off his glasses, "at her age you refused to listen to anyone, too. Remember the time we were studying in the library and I told you you were going to be late for your next lecture?"

"Please, not this again, Oleksiy."

"You said you were perfectly capable of telling time for yourself and to mind my own business. And what happened?" Oleksiy stared her down. Ionna stared right back. After several seconds, Oleksiy conceded with a grimace and turned back to his work.

"My point is, maybe you should try a different approach with her. Maybe she does not need you berating her right now. Maybe she needs you to meet her where she is." Oleksiy threw the words out quickly, like she might set them on fire and fling them back at him. He ducked his head when she spoke again.

"If I wanted your opinion, Oleksiy, I would ask for it. You focus on this lab where you belong, and I will tend to the residents of this compound." She was spitting venom. The last thing she needed from her husband who had pledged to love and support her no matter what was a lecture how to manage their life's work.

The tension boiled between them for several seconds that felt too long. Oleksiy bit back the spiteful words that threatened to spill out of his mouth, and replaced them with others that felt like cotton balls he might choke on. "Of course, my love. I won't speak of it again."

He could feel Ionna glaring at his back, and when she finally marched out of the lab towards their quarters, he felt nauseous with shame and anger.