Digital Fortress

"No chance." He laughed. "A couple needs secrets-it keeps things interesting."

Susan smiled coyly. "Any more interesting than last night and I’ll never walk again."

David took her in his arms. He felt weightless. He had almost died yesterday, and yet here he was, as alive as he had ever felt in his life.

Susan lay with her head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart. She couldn’t believe that she had thought he was gone forever.

"David." She sighed, eyeing the note beside the table. "Tell me about ‘without wax.’ You know I hate codes I can’t break."

David was silent.

"Tell me." Susan pouted. "Or you’ll never have me again."

"Liar."

Susan hit him with a pillow. "Tell me! Now!"

But David knew he would never tell. The secret behind "without wax" was too sweet. Its origins were ancient. During the Renaissance, Spanish sculptors who made mistakes while carving expensive marble often patched their flaws with cera-"wax." A statue that had no flaws and required no patching was hailed as a "sculpture sincera" or a "sculpture without wax." The phrase eventually came to mean anything honest or true. The English word "sincere" evolved from the Spanish sincera-"without wax." David’s secret code was no great mystery-he was simply signing his letters "Sincerely." Somehow he suspected Susan would not be amused.

"You’ll be pleased to know," David said, attempting to change the subject, "that during the flight home, I called the president of the university."

Susan looked up, hopeful. "Tell me you resigned as department chair."

David nodded. "I’ll be back in the classroom next semester."

She sighed in relief. "Right where you belonged in the first place."

David smiled softly. "Yeah, I guess Spain reminded me what’s important."

"Back to breaking coeds’ hearts?" Susan kissed his cheek. "Well, at least you’ll have time to help me edit my manuscript."

"Manuscript?"

"Yes. I’ve decided to publish."

"Publish?" David looked doubtful. "Publish what?"

"Some ideas I have on variant filter protocols and quadratic residues."

He groaned. "Sounds like a real best-seller."

She laughed. "You’d be surprised."

David fished inside the pocket of his bathrobe and pulled out a small object. "Close your eyes. I have something for you."

Susan closed her eyes. "Let me guess-a gaudy gold ring with Latin all over it?"

"No." David chuckled. "I had Fontaine return that to Ensei Tankado’s estate." He took Susan’s hand and slipped something onto her finger.

"Liar." Susan laughed, opening her eyes. "I knew-"

But Susan stopped short. The ring on her finger was not Tankado’s at all. It was a platinum setting that held a glittering diamond solitaire.

Susan gasped.

David looked her in the eye. "Will you marry me?"

Susan’s breath caught in her throat. She looked at him and then back to the ring. Her eyes suddenly welled up. "Oh, David… I don’t know what to say."

"Say yes."

Susan turned away and didn’t say a word.

David waited. "Susan Fletcher, I love you. Marry me."

Susan lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with tears. "I’m sorry, David," she whispered. "I… I can’t."

David stared in shock. He searched her eyes for the playful glimmer he’d come to expect from her. It wasn’t there. "S-Susan," he stammered. "I-I don’t understand."

"I can’t," she repeated. "I can’t marry you." She turned away. Her shoulders started trembling. She covered her face with her hands.

David was bewildered. "But, Susan… I thought…" He held her trembling shoulders and turned her body toward him. It was then that he understood. Susan Fletcher was not crying at all; she was in hysterics.

"I won’t marry you!" She laughed, attacking again with the pillow. "Not until you explain ‘without wax’! You’re driving me crazy!"

Epilogue

They say in death, all things become clear. Tokugen Numataka now knew it was true. Standing over the casket in the Osaka customs office, he felt a bitter clarity he had never known. His religion spoke of circles, of the interconnectedness of life, but Numataka had never had time for religion.

The customs officials had given him an envelope of adoption papers and birth records. "You are this boy’s only living relative," they had said. "We had a hard time finding you."

Numataka’s mind reeled back thirty-two years to that rain-soaked night, to the hospital ward where he had deserted his deformed child and dying wife. He had done it in the name of menboku-honor-an empty shadow now.

There was a golden ring enclosed with the papers. It was engraved with words Numataka did not understand. It made no difference; words had no meaning for Numataka anymore. He had forsaken his only son. And now, the cruelest of fates had reunited them.