Read Quit for Free Online Page A

laughed, and it was forgotten for the moment.
    Minny asked, “Do you know what is going on with the Earth? We were watching the display from Lunar Base. It is like there are beams or tentacles of light reaching for something.”
    Imbolt looked up for a moment from the maps he was poring over. “Or someone.”
    “What do you mean?” Selene asked him with a tilt to her head.
    “It has been rumoured that Terra will be rising soon. The mind inside your world is looking for a body to walk around in.” He smiled and kept digging through his maps. Finally, he sighed, slid a small disk out his pocket and stared at the slowly turning hologram of the globe.
    Minny watched the glowing expressions of her siblings, and tears pricked her eyes. “Did you want to meet your niece?”
    That got their attention. Minny pulled out her small tablet and showed them the display of Alyla floating in her tank, with Minny reading beside her.
    Iris smiled. “Did you record it before you left?”
    The Minny who was reading looked up and grinned. “No, Iris. This is a live feed.”
    Her sister jumped and looked between Minny and the image on the screen. “You are kidding.”
    Minny in the box smiled. “I think I should tell you about why I was accepted as a Volunteer ten years ago. But first, this is your niece, Alyla.”
    The image focused on the tank and Alyla’s grey-brown skin and perfect little fingers and toes.
    Minny was amused by her sisters’ “Awww.”
    Athena asked, “How big will she be when she is born?”
    Imbolt answered. “Between fourteen and eighteen pounds.”
    Iris whistled. “No wonder you aren’t still pregnant. It is possible, but it would have been really awkward.”
    Minerva looked at her little darling and smiled. “I carried her for nine months and then, she demanded transfer to a larger container.”
    Imbolt was still idly looking at the globe. “Your sister nearly died.”
    Three pairs of eyes focused on her. Minerva frowned at him. “You read my file?”
    He gave her a wry look and didn’t respond.
    She wrinkled her nose. “Fine. It was not an easy time, and she kicked like a soccer player.”
    Her sisters frowned. Selene asked, “If anything would have happened, would they have told us?”
    Minny shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. The door was locked pretty tight behind the first two thousand.”
    Iris leaned forward and squeezed her hand. “And yet, here you are with a beautiful daughter on the way. Will she be tall?”
    Imbolt murmured, “Six and a half feet or so.”
    Minny looked at him and exhaled in exasperation. “What are you doing?”
    “I am looking for a place to put the embassy. The three options that are on the table are all within the lands of a variety of countries. I wish to find a place that has not been claimed.”
    Minerva snorted. “What about that island?”
    He looked at her in surprise. “What island?”
    She set down the monitor tablet and walked over to the hologram, pointing at the small speck in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. “There. It is outside the two hundred-mile limit and in international waters. It doesn’t appear to be inhabited.”
    She enlarged the speck several times and smiled. “It looks to be several miles across; there is a flat plateau, a beach and plenty of trees. It would be perfect.”
    He gave her a narrow-eyed look. “It sounds perfect. Why can’t I see it?”
    She leaned back. “What do you mean? It is right here.”
    He walked behind her, wrapped his arms around her and tried to look where she was looking. “I still don’t see it.”
    Minny leaned back against him for a moment, enjoying the feel of him before she leaned forward and grabbed a map. She snagged a marker and made a dot. “There. That is where the island is.”
    He smiled. “Good. I will try to make arrangements to take us out there tomorrow.”
    She sighed and turned in his arms. “Excellent. And we will find out why you can’t see what is so obviously there.”
    He