Close Contact (14 page)

“Why wasn’t this information included in the data Dr. Daniels gave me?”

“Because the Federation didn’t know until I told them. Remember, they were only here for half a cycle and the Madreans are very wary of scientific equipment. I’m sure the Federation would have realized it sooner or later, but for the short time they were on Madrea, the scientists simply chalked the Madreans’ good health and lack of disease up to their natural style of living. It was only because of the commander that I did a more in-depth study of their physiology and discovered the direction their evolution has taken. Of course, I’d really love to do a DNA study now, but that will have to wait.”

Reynard was frowning now. “Is this ship saying I’m like you and the Smith woman?”

“Not exactly.” I touched his hand. “She’s saying something in your environment has caused you Madreans to evolve faster than the average humans. You’re stronger, smarter, and healthier than Naturals.”

I paused to gather my thoughts. “Lillith, does the commander have a psi ability?”

“Yes, I believe he does. I’ve analyzed every interaction you’ve had with him, and one hundred percent of the time he knows when you’re lying. That’s statistically impossible without the aide of an ability. The only times he’s missed are when you add truth to the mix, or lie by omission. And even then I can tell from his heart rate and blood pressure that he’s suspicious, as if he senses he’s not getting the entire story.”

Marcus studied the commander. “Have you always been able to tell when someone is lying?”

Reynard’s frown had eased. Now he just looked thoughtful. “It’s more that I know what’s right from what’s wrong. Like in combat, I know what the right action will be to counter any attack as soon as my foe begins to move. The same way I knew what was needed to bring Echo back to her body. When someone lies, the words feel wrong. I’ve always just accepted the results without thinking too much about the why, the same way I accept breathing or eating. It’s part of who I am.”

I couldn’t restrain a snort. “No wonder you didn’t believe a word I said that first night in the castle.”

He grinned at me, that single dimple flashing. “No, but I did find the telling very amusing. It was like watching a play.”

“Oh, thanks a bunch. So happy I could entertain you. Why didn’t you call me on it right then and there?”

“Because you made me curious. I’d never met anyone like you before, a beautiful woman who fought the way you obviously could. You moved so fast I had no time to
come up with the correct countermove. That had never happened to me before. I wanted to know more, so I waited and watched.”

“And I obliged you by going into overdrive.”

“Yes, you did. It was amazing to behold, as if you simply vanished for a fraction of a second. At that point, I’d already decided you were from the Federation. Seeing how you reacted to the thrown knife made me realize you were like the Smith woman, and the situation must be dire indeed for Alien Affairs to not only violate the ban, but send someone of your caliber to Madrea.”

“Which brings us back to the Daughter Stone,” Marcus said. “And who has it. Any ideas?”

“It’s not the king.” His eyes turned chill and his chin formed a tight, stubborn line with the answer. “As you said, I would know if it were.”

“How?” I asked him. “Have you mentioned a stolen Orpheus crystal to him and gauged his reaction? Have you told him six girls have been kidnapped and brought here, and that four of them have died so far?”

“No, but I have no need to ask him these things. I grew up with him, spend part of every day in his company, hear his judgments and see his dealings with our people. I know him better than anyone else alive, as if we were brothers. He’s an honorable man down to his soul, one who would have no part in the killing of children.”

“Even good men can be tricked, Reynard. Honorable men can do the wrong thing for all the right reasons, but they’ll still be wrong. The king knows the ships bringing the girls are landing. He even orders people to stay inside on the nights they arrive.”

His fists clenched on the table and he looked down. “Politaus breaks his own rules and allows the ships out of a sense of guilt. As the firstborn son, his older brother, Braxus,
should be king. Only his twisted body and constant pain prevent him from taking the throne. And the king never forgets that he rules at his brother’s expense. He’d do almost anything to bring some bit of peace to Braxus, even allow the delivery of contraband books. Braxus has so little to live for, this seems like a small thing in comparison.”

His hand rose, then banged down on the table, causing me to jump with surprise. “But not even for Braxus would Politaus allow the deaths of innocent children.”

I nodded. “Okay, for now we’ll take your word that the king’s not involved. But someone in the castle knows what’s going on and is actively participating. If it’s not Politaus, the next likely candidate is Braxus. How do you feel about him?”

His face became expressionless as he answered. “He is the king’s brother.”

“And you’re loyal to the king, so you won’t say anything bad about his family.”

“He doesn’t need to,” Marcus said. “I can tell you. Braxus is a bitter, hateful man. He never misses an opportunity to remind Politaus that he rules only because of Braxus’s infirmity and pain. I believe his mind is as misshapen as his body—maybe more so.”

I drummed my fingers on the table while I thought. “I’m inclined to believe he’s in this up to his twisted little ears, but what reason would he have to steal the Daughter Stone?”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, it hit me. “Oh, Zin. He’s read Kiera Smith’s journal, how she fixed the Buri females so they could have children and how she healed Thor’s blaster wound. Now he thinks the Sumantti can make him whole again, and he doesn’t care how many children he kills to do it.”

“Could it make him whole?” Reynard asked.

In my agitation, I leaped to my feet and paced the length
of the room. On the table, Peri marched from one end to the other, mimicking my actions. “I don’t know. In both cases where Kiera used it to heal, it was one specific thing that needed fixing. From everything I’ve heard, Braxus’s condition is congenital. If it were fixable, the Federation scientists who were here five cycles ago would have offered to cure him, but they couldn’t fix the Buri, either. It took Kiera with the Limantti, or Mother Stone, to accomplish that feat, so maybe if she tried, it would work.”

I raised my hands in a helpless gesture. “But there’s another aspect of this that Braxus couldn’t know. The Daughter Stone is too immature to be as rational as the Limantti. And right now, she’s very, very angry. If she gets the chance, she’s more likely to kill him than cure him, even
with
a Shushanna in control. No matter how powerful those girls’ psi abilities might be, they aren’t Shushannas. And the Sumantti may not stop with her immediate surroundings. So, even though she’s not as powerful as the Mother Stone, she’s plenty strong enough to wipe out this solar system and maybe a few more for good measure.”

“Will you be able to stop her, with the Imadei’s aide?” Reynard asked.

I touched the crystal, a grim knot forming in my chest. “That’s the theory. Or at least, that I’ll be able to act as her Shushanna without going through the preparation ceremony.”

“You will succeed,” Reynard told me. “I don’t doubt it for a second.”

His gaze was so warm that heat suffused my body in response. This time it was Marcus who cleared his throat.

“Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be off to bed.” He stood and waited for Reynard to do the same. “Commander.”

“I’ll walk him out the back way,” I told Marcus. “We don’t want to upset Bim again.”

“Don’t be long.”
He gave me a meaningful look.

I nodded, and then waited until he was closed inside his room. “This way, Commander,” I gestured toward the back door, calculating just how much time I had. Not as much as I’d like, but enough to make some progress on the personal front, maybe.

Peri watched with a great deal of interest, but stayed where she was on the table as the night closed around me and the commander.

It was clear out, stars visible in the black sky, although they seemed to be in the wrong place to someone used to seeing them from Alpha Centauri. The air was warm enough to stave off chill, but not hot enough to make you sweat, and heavy with the scent of flowers.

After a slight pause to insure no one was around, I turned to face the commander. He was staring down at me, that intense look still in his eyes.

“Will I see you tomorrow—”

I cut his words off by the simple expedient of going up on my tiptoes, wrapping my arms around him and sealing his lips with mine. For a split second his body went taut with shock, but then he scooped me off my feet and dived right in.

The desire that had simmered since I’d first seen him burst into full heat and shot through my body with a force that left me shaken as he deepened the kiss. No one had ever affected me this way before and I had a horrible feeling no one ever would again. If there really was such a thing as a soul mate, I’d met mine in Reynard du’Marr.

And if the way he shook was any indication, he felt the same about me.

When we finally drew apart it took me three tries before I could speak. “There’s something we need to get straight, Commander.”

He let me slide down the length of his body until my feet touched the ground, but kept his arms around me. “What would that be?”

“Books are fine if you want to learn about GEPs in general, but if you want to know about me in particular, then I’m the one you should ask. And I’m going to save you the trouble. I’m not a Madrean woman. The fact that I don’t charge for sex has no bearing on who or what I am. If I needed to charge for sex to earn credits for my own support, I’d do it without a qualm and it wouldn’t make me less a person than what I am now.”

My hand curled into a fist and I thumped him gently on the chest. “As I told you earlier, when I have sex with someone it’s because I want to. That means I take responsibility for my own actions and I’m not expecting a marriage proposal to make me an honest woman afterwards. I
am
an honest woman, and the only one who can change that is me. Sharing myself with someone I care about doesn’t have a thing to do with my honesty.”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “Are you afraid yet?”

His lips twitched. “Terrified.”

“Good. You should be. Because there’s something else I have to tell you. When I want something badly, I go after it and I don’t stop until it’s mine. And I want you.”

Before he could answer, a loud thud sounded from Marcus’s room. I couldn’t decide whether to sigh or roll my eyes at his none-too-subtle reminder.

“However,” I continued with a grimace, “it seems now isn’t the time or place. Marcus has to live and work here on Madrea and I don’t want to jeopardize his reputation as my guardian.”

Reluctantly, I freed myself from Reynard’s embrace and stepped back. “But be warned, Commander. I plan on having my way with you first chance we get.”

Slowly, he lifted his hand to run a finger gently down my cheek. “I’ll be looking forward to it.” With the same deliberation, he kissed me again and then leaned down, his lips brushing my ear. “You won’t have to fight for me, Echo. I surrender.”

And then he was gone, swallowed by the darkness, leaving me with a confusing mix of longing and elation. I almost danced my way into the house, deliberately making enough noise to let Marcus know I was back. When I was sure he’d gotten the message, I followed Peri to my room. The dragon bird was positively oozing smug satisfaction as she settled on the bed’s headboard. She’d had the same reaction when Reynard had used the Imadei to pull me back into my body, as though she’d known exactly what he was going to do, and why he was doing it.

It made me wonder. If she picked up my emotions, and Reynard’s brain operated on the same frequency as mine, she might be picking up on his feelings, too. At this point, nothing would surprise me. She’d been enthusiastic about him from the beginning. Lucky for me, I was fine with that, but it would be nice to know for sure.

I stripped, folded my clothes and climbed into bed, but sleep was the furthest thing from my mind. It had been a hell of a day, and I needed a few minutes to go over it, let the events soak in. Especially the part where I had to admit I was endowed with psi ability, thereby ending any hope, however futile, of getting my old job back.

And of course, it
had
been futile. Part of me had known it from the beginning.

That didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t created to be an agent or that I had no desire to be one, so the question now became, What could I do about it?

Easy, I decided after a few moments of ruminating. If I
couldn’t have my old office job back, then I’d find a niche for myself in the upper echelon of Alien Affairs. And if I were going to aim for an office job, might as well go for broke. A smile crossed my lips. Dr. Daniels’s job would do very nicely. Very nicely, indeed.

T
he sun had barely cleared the edge of the planet the next morning before I was up, energized by the decision I’d reached the night before. I had a goal now, one that felt absolutely right this time, as if the Director of Alien Affairs job had been made specifically with me in mind. Don’t know why I hadn’t seen it before. Too busy being upset with the unasked-for changes in my life, maybe.

Oh, I knew it wouldn’t be easy. I’d have to work my way into the job. But Dr. Daniels was getting on up there in age, and sooner or later he’d want to retire. With my background in political relations and organizational skills, I’d be uniquely qualified to step into his very large shoes.

There were only two stumbling blocks to this plan that I could foresee.

First and foremost, I’d have to complete this mission. Successfully.

My chin went all stubborn as I thought about it. I could do it. I was created to be a problem solver. Now that I was invested in getting this done, the bad guys didn’t stand a chance.

Imbued with new energy for my task, I jumped out of bed, wrapped my cloak around me, and headed for the shower. My cheery call of “Good morning!” to Bim, who had just returned from his breakfast break, startled the stoic man, and I could feel him watching me in surprise as I tripped down the path to the privy.

Peri zipped inside with me, and I was under the shower, scrubbing away and trying not to step on her as she flapped vigorously near the drain, before I let myself think about the second problem.

Reynard.

Every time I pictured myself in Dr. Daniels’s office, doing his job, Reynard was by my side.

He would love Centaurius. Love the universities and museums. Love all the modern gadgets, and technology, and information available. I could even see him working for Alien Affairs. His ability to distinguish truth from lie would make him an invaluable asset, and he had so much more than that to offer.

But I also knew, right down to my toes, that he would never abandon his duty to King Politaus. His loyalty to the man was unwavering, preceding Reynard’s own wants or needs.

I couldn’t—wouldn’t—ask him to change. His honor and loyalty were as much a part of him as his eye color or height. And it was part of why I was rapidly falling in love with him.

My problem
, I thought, as I stepped from under the water and toweled off. One I wouldn’t inflict on Reynard. I’d simply have to live with the knowledge that he could only be mine for as long as I was on Madrea, and enjoy him while I had the chance.

As much as I wanted to rush through everything I had to do, I forced myself to slow down enough to insure I got my
clothes on properly, and then combed out my wild mass of hair while Peri preened and fluffed her damp feathers. When we were both presentable, I headed for the Terpsichore with Bim close on my heels.

The kitchen was bustling with early-morning activity, and all the usual people were either eating or working. Leddy smiled as I came in and gestured at the eggs currently simmering in a large skillet.

“Hungry?”

“Starved.” I returned her smile. “But can I get a tray for me and Marcus, along with a pot of coffee, to take back to his house? We have some business to take care of today.”

“Of course. I’ll fix it for you.” Efficiently, she began heaping food on plates, positioning them on a large tray.

Treya came in from the front of the inn just as the cook finished adding a basket of homemade biscuits to the other bounty. “Will you be dancing tonight?” The blonde asked.

“No, not tonight. Marcus and I are to have dinner with the king. Apparently he knew my father. But I promise, I’ll be here tomorrow tonight.”

“Hmph. See that you are,” she commented before sweeping back out.

I sighed, and Leddy took a second to pat my arm. “Ignore her. She’s just jealous. Until you came, she was the top draw around here. Taking second place is good for her character.”

She picked the tray up and handed it to Bim. “Carry this for Echo, then come back for another cup of coffee. You don’t have to stand guard when Marcus is with her.”

His brows lowered and I got the impression he wanted to argue with her, but he didn’t. Holding the heavy tray like it weighed no more than a single flower petal, he opened the door for me, then kept his pace even with mine as we returned to the house. Quiet though he was, his eyes were
sharp, constantly checking our surroundings for danger, and that massive axe was always within easy reach on his back.

If
I
were up to no good, I sure wouldn’t want to take Bim on. The man was solid as a rock and built like a mountain. And he was, apparently, devoted to Marcus from tip to toe.

He escorted me into the house and deposited the tray on the table, then stood shifting in indecision. I could hear Marcus stirring in the bedroom, so I touched Bim’s arm.

“Go get your coffee. Marcus is awake, and we aren’t going anywhere. We’ll still be here when you get back.”

He shot a look at Marcus’s door, hesitated briefly, and then nodded. Silently, he made his way out the back door and was gone.

By the time I got the tray unloaded and our places set, Marcus put in an appearance, sniffing as he took his seat. “Coffee,” he croaked, cradling the hot cup I poured for him.

After the first long sip, he sighed with pleasure. “I don’t know how I managed to survive in the Federation for so long with only cafftea to wake me up.”

“I know. I’ll miss it when I have to go back.”

Putting down the cup, he picked up a fork and dug in. “I think there’s something you’ll miss more than coffee. Or should I say, someone.”

I smiled as I raised my own cup. “Yes, but I’ll live. Now, eat. We’ve got things to do today.”

He nodded around a bite of eggs. “Which first, Dr. Daniels or Kiera Smith?”

“Lillith, is Dr. Daniels ready for me yet?”

“He will be by the time you finish eating,” the ship responded. “He wants you to come to him, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course. So, I guess it’s Dr. Daniels first.”

“I really don’t think there’s much danger now that you’ve
figured out how to get back in your body, but I’d like to stay just to be on the safe side. I’d hate for whoever threw that knife yesterday to come across you when you weren’t able to protect yourself,” Marcus said.

“Thank you. The same thing occurred to me, so I hoped you’d stay. I’m still not comfortable with this leaving-my-body-defenseless thing.”

We finished the rest of the meal in silence and then stacked the dishes back on the tray.

“Where do you want to do this?” Marcus asked.

I thought for a second. “Since I don’t know how long it will take, maybe I should stretch out on my bed?”

“Good idea.” Bringing a chair with him, he waited while I went to my room and got on the bed, and then he blocked the doorway as he sat down. Even as Peri darted into the room, humming with curiosity, I noted that Marcus could cover the window, too, from his position. He wasn’t taking any chances, and that made me more comfortable with what I had to do.

Eyes closed, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then I began to construct a mental image of Dr. Daniels. When it was complete, I gave a slight push and literally felt the sensation of rapidly flipping pages followed by a click, and abruptly I was in his office.

Two men lurched to their feet when I appeared, and I recognized the second one as Dr. Shilly, head of the Alien Affairs psi department. He was holding a metal rod in his hand, aimed right at me.

“What’s that?” I asked, suspicious in spite of myself.

“Now, now,” Dr. Daniels patted the air to calm me. “It’s nothing to get upset about. Dr. Shilly merely wanted to find out if you leave any kind of signature in this state.”

“Oh.” I looked at the elderly man in his rumpled suit. His
thin hair was standing on end as if he’d been running his hands through it all night. Of course, he always looked like that. “Do I?”

He fiddled with a control on the rod, and then smiled. “No, you don’t. Not even an electrical pulse. As far as the machine is concerned, you aren’t here at all. This is absolutely amazing.”

“I’m thrilled you like it,” I told him sourly. “But the question remains, what
exactly
am I?”

Dr. Shilly put the rod away while Dr. Daniels moved to sit behind his desk. “There’s no name for what you do, Echo, so for now we’ll just stick with
ghosting
. It works as well as anything.”

“According to all the data we’ve gathered, and the probability programs we’ve run, I think we know how it is you’re doing this.” Dr. Shilly sat down on the sofa. “It seems you’re somehow able to lock onto an individual’s DNA and then travel to them instantaneously. It’s like you’re tracking them. And what’s more, you seem to be able to do this without expending excess energy.”

“Or, more likely,” Dr. Daniels interjected, “the Imadei is replacing the energy you use.”

“Yes. But to continue,” Dr. Shilly said. “Once you’ve met someone in person, you somehow store their DNA code and are able to access it at will.”

My thoughts spun. “You mean, I gather DNA just walking down the street? Good grief. I’ve lived on Centaurius for thirty cycles. Is it even possible that I’ve stored the code for everyone I’ve passed?”

“No, not at all,” Dr. Shilly said. “That would be counterproductive to the ability’s efficiency. According to all our probability programs, an individual would have to be fairly close to you before you picked up and stored their DNA
code. And there’s no way to be sure how long you store the code without more testing. I imagine those you spend the most time with are the ones whose codes will last longest.”

I wanted to fidget, but I was afraid I’d accidentally walk through a chair, and that thought tended to freak the schite out of me. Instead I forced myself to stand still and merely flexed my fingers.

“So how did I ‘track’ Gaia? I’d never met her before.”

“In a sense, we think you have,” Dr. Daniels told me. “When your crèche mate, Pelga, died from Chekhov disease, her DNA remained in the storage bank, since there was nothing fundamentally wrong with her. Simon Gertz had access to the bank. When he left, we believe he took DNA samples with him, including Pelga’s. We checked last night and the sample used to create her is gone.”

I started to rub my forehead and then stopped. If walking through a chair was freaky, what would it be like to stick my hand through my head? An involuntary shudder ran over me. Was I ever going to get used to this? It took an effort but I refocused on what they were telling me.

“You mean Gaia is actually Pelga? But they don’t look alike. Well, not much. Gaia has red hair. Pelga’s hair was an almost-white blonde and I haven’t seen her since I was five cycles.”

“No, she’s not Pelga,” Dr. Daniels assured me. “But she was created from Pelga’s DNA. And even though Gertz made changes to that DNA, enough of the original remains to allow you to track her. The fact that you have such a traumatic history with Pelga makes your attachment to her deeper than to most other people, especially since you spent your first five cycles with her. It actually makes sense that she would be the first one you involuntarily tracked when your psi ability began to manifest after you bonded with the Imadei.”

My brow furrowed in puzzlement. “I don’t understand.
What
traumatic history?”

Dr. Shilly glanced at Dr. Daniels, got a nod, and picked up the story. “When Pelga became ill, she was hospitalized on the far side of Centaurius in an institution that specializes in Chekhov disease. There’s absolutely no way you could have visited her that night unless you used your psi ability. You were so young, it was probably the first time you’d managed it.”

He sighed heavily. “It must have been a terrifying sight to see your friend in that condition. If we’d known about it we could have given you appropriate therapy, but we had no idea in those days what Gertz had done to the GEPs he created. So, with no other rational explanation for what you’d seen, your young mind attributed Pelga’s removal to her inability to correctly do her lessons, when in fact, her failure was due to her illness. And the first use of your ability provided you with an experience that must have looked like torture. The two events got all mixed up in your mind. That’s part of why you’ve always been obsessed with being perfect, and it’s also why you subconsciously blocked your ability for so long.”

I stared at him, shock mixed with an eerie kind of recognition. He was right. Deep down inside I knew it.

While the child that I had been still insisted my friend had been tortured, as an adult I now recognized that what I’d seen was medical equipment. Pelga hadn’t been punished for failing.

An enormous sense of relief swept over me, a weight lifted from my shoulders that I hadn’t known was there.
I
didn’t have to be perfect.

Oh, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy to get over a lifelong fixation, but I suddenly realized I didn’t have to be another Kiera Smith to be a good agent. I could be a good agent my
own way, and the Federation wouldn’t come to an end if I made one wrong step.

Except, in this case, Madrea and the surrounding space might cease to exist if I failed to control the Daughter Stone. So, even if I made mistakes along the way, I’d simply have to insure I succeeded in getting the fragging stone to trust me. Somehow.

Dr. Daniels was nodding his agreement with Dr. Shilly. “Now that her ability is back to normal, it will be interesting to discover its parameters.”

I perked up. “Parameters?”

“Yes. It does have limits, obviously, since you can’t track someone through images. Also, your hand goes through anything solid, but you have no trouble standing here even though we’re twenty-five stories up. Why don’t you sink through the floor?”

As soon as he mentioned it, I began to slowly slip downward. Eeek! Hastily, I stepped forward and up, giving a huge sigh of relief when I stayed put.

Both men had stopped talking and were watching me with a great deal of curiosity.

“Interesting,” Dr. Shilly commented. “Apparently if she needs something to be solid, her ability treats it as such. That would imply that she
can
manipulate her surroundings if she thinks she can, at least to an extent.”