Harness (3 page)

“How many jumps are there?”

“Three. You look a little green.”

“I am. I find them unsettling.”

“That will change when you learn to close your mind. It is the openness that causes the problem.”

“Oh, good. As long as there is an explanation, I am good. It is the not knowing that drives me nuts.”

She kept her hands together as they entered the last cruiser, and she gripped the arms of her seat and breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth for the last jump. He wasn’t chatty, which was good. Her head was reeling by the time he patted her arm and announced. “That was it.”

She kept herself calm as her senses righted themselves.

“Where are we going again?” It was a strange question after seventeen hours of flight. She really needed some sleep, but it didn’t seem to be in the cards.

“There it is. The jewel that is Arxuxsa. It was a bio-forming effort, and it is stable so far.”

“So far?”

“It was a training effort for a Guardian. They were not fully trained, and there is no way to assure anyone of the stability of the world. We simply don’t know.”

He shrugged and increased their speed.

She looked down and watched the blue, purple and green jewel with anticipation. “What was on it before?”

“Ruins of a dead civilization. We kept them in storage and reset them in the precise place they had been once the world was stimulated into growing again.”

Alfreda looked down at the world, and she felt a lightening of her spirit. Even if she had to leave it again, for now, she had a home where she was welcome. She could feel the welcome as the scout ship landed. Something was happy to see her.

Her quarters were sparse, made of white stone built directly out of the surrounding rock. It seemed that she was sleeping in another student’s arts and crafts project.

“Do you have enough energy for a tour?” The captain popped his head into the open doorway.

She had been eyeing the bed with longing, but she straightened. “Of course. Show me around.”

She didn’t realise that she had made it an order until he snapped to attention. Alfreda winced. “Apologies, Captain.”

“It is fine. I know you are tired. And here, you can call me El-sur.”

“Call me, Fred. It is far preferable to Alfreda.”

“Who named you?” He started a slow walk through more corridors with stone arches and open rooms. There was one with a masculine feel to it, so she was guessing it was his space.

“The nun that found me. She tucked a book of English poetry in my cradle with me and named me after Saint Alfred. He was a warrior and a scholar.”

“Fitting. What about your second name?”

“Older. Well, I can only guess that it was what happened when one of the elderly nuns touched me. I probably shifted to a more wizened shape.” It was the most logical reason she could ever come up with. She didn’t mention that the book she had been given was tucked in with her few possessions. She had kept it with her for two and a half decades.

“We are alone on this island, so there is only a food dispenser. It will do a bio-scan of you and select options accordingly. It is this way.” He continued down the hall, and the narrow passage opened up into a wide room with the food dispenser, a tea set and water dispenser. There was a heater and what seemed to be a chiller.

“Where does the power come from?”

“Solar units and a thermal generator.” He showed her the dishes, cups and cutlery.

The green and purple of the foliage was visible through the windows. “Are there gardens?”

“Not in the way you are thinking. The greenery here grows aggressively. We have underground burn units to keep them from encroaching on the building, but it is quite the battle.”

Fred yawned. “Thank you for the basic tour, but I must get some rest, El-sur. I have been up for more than two days no matter which planet you are on.”

“How long were you on duty before you returned to the
Nettle
?”

“Thirty-six hours by Banua standards. It took me a while to get to and from the pod.”

He winced. “Of course. Please, get some rest. I will report your arrival and get the doc down here for a medical scan.”

“Please, let me have a few hours before I get poked and prodded. I am not particularly fond of most doctors.”

He chuckled. “I imagine that you are not.”

She shuddered and turned away from him, heading back the way they had come.

Any alien physician was better than the human ones that she had met on earth. They had gone from polite medical inquiry to invasive poking and prodding in secure wards in a matter of minutes.

Shifting to look like one of her tormentors usually worked to get her out of the room, and shifting rapidly to someone else once she made it to a public area meant she was home free. She had skipped to another city by then and started over, looking like an adult though she was only a child. If she hadn’t known the year she was born, she never would have known how old she was.

“Ah, well. That is the past. This is the now, and tomorrow is the future. I had better get some sleep.” Her muttering was an old habit, but it had kept her from dwelling on the incidences that afflicted young women alone who could only work for cash.

She blanked her thoughts and removed her clothing, folding it neatly and tucking it on a shelf nearby. Fred brushed out her hair, grimacing at the criss-crossing of the harness across her torso, and she finally pulled back the bedding and crawled between the sheets. She settled the headpiece again, and as she dropped out of consciousness, she felt her body relax. Whatever shape it was in, it was currently her own. She almost wished she could see it.

* * * *

El-sur stood in the doorway and watched Fred’s appearance shift to a form that was as pure Sukra as he had ever seen. Her skin glowed with pearlescent white; her hair was a burgundy wave that reached her hips. He knew that her eyes would be dark gold if they opened right then.

He had never heard of a Sukra parent behaving as hers had. He was going to call his father to see if he had ever heard of such a thing. From the histories they had found regarding the Sukra, they were devoted parents and gentle lovers. No mention of violence had ever been recorded.

Fred looked exhausted. There was no movement in her body, and her mind was black and blank. El-sur sighed quietly. She had so much potential, and the fact that she was not corrupted after the horrific images in her memories was amazing. She was a survivor, and he was going to help her be everything that she had never dreamed of. She would be a Sukra warrior, or he would just keep trying. Her Terran half would just have to step aside.

He had a plan of education to enact. She was going to need her rest.

* * * *

Her mouth was dry and her skin was tight. She needed water.

Fred got to her feet and put on a covering of blue fur. It beat running around naked.

She crept down the halls and headed for the kitchen. She guzzled glass after glass of water, finally slaking what had felt like an endless thirst.

The darkness outside made the woods seem sinister, but as she watched, little fairy lights gleamed and flickered around. A little bit of exploration and she found the door that would lead her to the exterior.

Running around in the woods was not new to her. When she was trapped between forms, there was nothing safer. It made her think that the Sasquatch of legend were just shifters with messed-up instincts. In her experience, stranger things could happen.

The air was rich with loam and the strange scent she associated with ozone. She looked down and could see the glowing wires through the ground. She carefully stepped over them.

She could feel something calling to her, summoning her as if it knew her.

Fred jumped over the wires and into the lush expanse of the trees. The fairy lights called her and drew her in; she had no choice but to follow.

The woods were thick, but the fur on her feet kept her from feeling the snags and brambles that she walked over. The lights encouraged her any time she lagged behind, and they grew thicker and tightened into a column as she slipped through the forest.

The trees ended suddenly, and she stumbled into a wide clearing with a short hill in the centre. The light hovered at the top of the hill, and a cautious Fred climbed carefully up to the crest.

The light became a more solid form, and a voice echoed in her mind.
Welcome, daughter. You have travelled far and are now home.

Fred blinked and ran a hand through her hair.
I am not home. I am on a world a vast distance from my home.

You are where I wanted you to be, child. Welcome, Alfreda Older to the home of your ancestors. I am the souls of Arxuxsa, and your wishes are mine to carry out.

What about El-sur? He is also a Sukra by birth.

He had parents to raise and train him. You are mine, have always been meant to be mine.

You meant me to be alone?

Your father could not be part of your life; I needed you open to me and as you can tell, our communication is strong.

“Fred! What are you doing?”

Fred turned, and El-sur was at the base of the hill. She looked up again, and the light was gone. “El-sur, I think I am losing my mind.”

She felt faint, and she rolled down the hill to land at his feet.

He lifted her and carried her back to her room.

She flicked in and out of consciousness, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw one flicker of light at all times. “Do you see that light?”

“Yes, Fred. They are common to the area. It is thought that they are gas releases from the world beneath us.”

“Something is beneath us.”

“You need more sleep, Fred. I was just bringing you a meal when I noticed you slipping out. What was that form, by the way?”

“Derenvor. It’s very comfortable.”

She yawned but sat on the edge of her bed and sipped at the soup that was waiting for her. A pitcher of water was also at the side of the bed, and the moment she finished her soup, she went for the water.

“Are you all right? Your skin is clammy.”

Fred blinked down at the hand he was holding. The fur was gone, and she was back in skin. It matched his almost completely but had a strange pink tinge to it. It was strange; normally, when she copied someone, she did it accurately.

“I think I just need more sleep. Too much time with an open mind. How long has that hill been there?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “That is strange as well. It wasn’t there when I went out to get you. What called you?”

She helped him tuck her back into bed. “I can’t swear to it, but I think that Arxuxsa was calling me. This planet is alive.”

He chuckled softly and smoothed her hair from her forehead. “Nineteen psychics went over this world looking for signs of life. I don’t think they would miss a planetary consciousness.”

Fred pulled the bedding up to her cheek and turned to her side. “They would if they were on the wrong frequency.”

She yawned again and slipped into sleep. This time, it was mercifully silent.

El-sur sat at the com unit. “I know that the records show that this is a neutral world, but I am telling you that they need to check again. If the relay picked up on a sentience, I believe her. Her mind is open to frequencies that no casual scanner can reach. It is why she was so successful at her job. Her mind is secure unless someone knows
her
frequencies. I have the honour, but as far as I know, no one else is capable of it.”

Guardian Dispatcher Welenheart nodded and made notes. “She is also Sukra?”

“She is but mixed with that new species. The Terrans.” He didn’t offer any additional information. Welenheart had the clearance to get what he needed.

“I will have surface-to-sub-surface probes sent to you. You can deploy them at any likely sites. If there is a living mind inside that planet, we need to know before we continue to let the Guardian trainees have at it.”

El-sur nodded and smiled as the dispatcher signed off. He was having a harder time getting into Fred’s mind now, but what he did see confused him. She had been called daughter. Her mind had clung to that one word with a desperation that had made El-sur’s heart ache. He had taken his relationship with his parents for granted, and his reading of Sukra histories showed him that his family had been blessedly normal. What he was learning about Fred’s early life was causing his blood to run cold.

He had thought of her as a possible mate at first when he had read her initial file, but now that he had met her, he wanted to protect her more than couple with her. There was a brittle innocence to her that belied her experiences.

He disengaged the com unit and returned to her sleeping quarters, watching over her from the doorway. She had reverted to her Sukra form again and the bits of tech that wrapped her were almost the same colour as her skin.

The physician was bringing a technical specialist who could turn down the effect of her harness over time or give her the control over it that she would need.

El-sur had six hours to get some more rest, so he once again set the silent alarm that would ring in his quarters if she got out of bed and moved around again.

He hoped that it didn’t go off; he was as short on sleep as his charge was.

* * * *

Bright light and the feeling of being well rested were both foreign to Fred, but she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked around and smiled at the small lav with the door open on the far side of her snug room. Private shower accommodations were always welcome. She sighed and inhaled the moist air of the shower. Her lungs eased, and her breathing came with less tension.

Her hair was a deep burgundy, and she laughed. That was a new one. Her skin was still the pinkie-pearl that it had been the night before, but without El-sur touching her, she had no idea what was driving the change. Ah well, it was a comfortable skin, and she had no trouble wearing it.

There were no mirrors in her room, so she did what she normally did and dressed by touch. All of her clothing was designed to slip on and seal to her without too much fussing, so it wasn’t difficult.