Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (27 page)

Ara carefully lifted the large, leathery sac
and held it. Inside it looked like lightning zapping around and the
Quadrazaad grew brighter and brighter. She changed the tiny
receptors in her eyes, and how her brain processed the data, seeing
energy and the incandescence of color around her and Trickster. It
filled the hut, with the strongest color around the Strike and the
other three seeds. Suddenly, a flash and tendril of blue-white
energy pierced the sac and joined with Ara’s energy line. Her gasp
caused Trickster to nod. She looked from the seed to the warm,
brown eyes.

“It’s done.”

“What will it do?” she asked.

“The Strike is connected to you and you to
it. When you fear or feel alone, think of drawing the Strike to
your heart, Ara Katron.”

She nodded and regretfully handed back the
sac. When he returned with the Sulture she frowned.

“Let’s try with all of them?” He lifted the
red and orange, glowing seed.

Ara stared inside the Quadrazaad seeing magma
swirling around and, with some hesitation, agreed. She repeated the
process. All the Quadrazaads gave something of themselves to her
and Ara had a feeling she gave something to them too. Either way,
she felt better.

“Are you ready to go home?”

Something in those words made her tingle all
over again. “Go home.” She closed her eyes. “Go home.” There it was
again. When Ara opened her eyes, Trickster was staring at her. She
had to make a decision about her life. “May I help you,
Feathers?”

At her use of his new nickname again his
mouth fell open but then relief showed in his eyes. “Just record if
you feel that malign energy again.”

“I can do that.” That was it? All her worry
for that? She picked up the top she had dropped.

“So few recognize energy, I do not like to
burden you so.”

As she mused over his words, Trickster
plucked the top out from her hands to fold it again.

“That male … um … Dusty. I felt his energy
too.”

“Yes. You will feel Lusty, Crusty, and
Rusty’s energy.”

Her mouth fell open. “What?” Her eyes moved
down to the long box. “Oh, do they belong to Dusty, err, Rusty,
Crusty, and … um … Lusty?”

He shrugged and studied her with interest.
She screwed up her nose and he tapped it.

“The wind will change and you will remain
like that forever.”

She giggled and remembered she wasn’t
supposed to be giggling anymore after Tricia’s Virgo. Her chuckle
morphed into a yawn as Ara felt the tug of sleep.

“Lie down, Ara.”

She lay down and curled up on her side.
Trickster sat next to her, and rested a hand on her arm. “You must
not tell Caleb this.”

“But—”

“No. There will come a day when keeping
secrets will be your main protection.”

“But—”

“You must obey me in this.”

“I’m not a child!”

He traced her face with his fingers. “Yes,
you are.”

“I love him.”

‘I know. Now go to sleep.”

She struggled up. “He won’t be in danger will
he? Loving me or because I love him?”

“I am guarding him, Ara Katron.”

Relief rose within her as sleep claimed
her.

Mountain Installation

When Trickster contacted him, Jamie was
exultant. But as the years went by he came across another “Ara”
problem. Her adventurous side was coming out again.

And then Trickster sent him a holo of the
Safeguard—in a sea of sparkling gold, a ring of metal sat at an
angle. On the ring were markings that Jamie couldn’t make out.
Inside the ring were strange, metal wheels constantly turning and
shifting position. Now and then, he saw something golden-white
creep up, but then a wheel would drag it down. Jamie received a
call via Voice. “It’s a perpetual in motion fluid-metal wheel
labyrinth. It took Nyx over two hundred years to make the
Safeguard. Only she knows where the Key is.”

“And Nyx is?”

“Learning all she can about the Lacuna.”

“Yeah, to determine if there’s suffering? I
can tell her that.” He had an uncomfortable flash of Leanne
starting to paw Michael, his brother, and Michael had been
crying.

“She must make a hard decision, Jamie.
Trillions of lives are at stake.”

“And what about Ara?”

“Trust me when I tell you that Nyx will not
forget or forgive anything that happens to Ara.”

Jamie drawled sarcastically, “It’s all a bit
late then, isn’t it?” He hung up. For a moment, he almost
considered packing up and taking Ara with him. He’d have to take
Caleb too. Where would they go? Hiding in the system would be easy
and then waiting for things to come crashing down? And what if Ara
could help them all? He picked up an image of her hanging upside
down under a ledge, poking out her tongue. Jesran had taken the
shot and sent it to Jamie. “See, I’m keeping her safe. But is she
keeping me safe?”

Jamie laughed and set the image down.

“All set to leave, Jamie?”

He smiled at Diane who was standing at his
office door. “All set. My things are already at the lift-port?”

“They are. Have a great time, you deserve a
decent break.”

Jamie nodded and picked up his small bag. He
was off to see Leo and Michael said he’d meet him on Sparta
Prime.

Homestead

Ara had been in a foul mood for an entire week after
Trickster took her to England. She couldn’t tell anyone about being
on Earth and she hadn’t seen anything exciting to share anyway. On
top of that, she, Caleb, Jesran, and Bel, after they had stumbled
into the meeting, had to avoid talking about the “not simulated
court case”. Jesran couldn’t find anything on the weapons. Terzon
had no success with the creatures they saw. Bel and Ara couldn’t
crack the security around the Dressian Gates. But she and Caleb
worried about the CU log still, after they made out.

Jesran had encouraged her to start watching
the news. He said ignorance was worse than stupidity. Her face
flamed over that but he pretended not to notice. The Avatara were
getting riled up over Earth. She watched the news with her family
and it was often the topic of conversation. One night, almost
everyone was home for a holiday parade that was held every ten
years on Saratoga. They also made it a fish and chip night. The
Queen’s Household was out of bounds while preparations were made.
They sat in the lounge; Ara was on the floor, watching the monitor.
She was stuffing three chips in her mouth at the same time.

“You shouldn’t eat so much, Ara. You’ll get
fat.”

Ara blanched at Meg’s words but kept eating
while Ashley and Henry, after frowning at Meg and winking at Ara,
were trying to stuff more in their mouths. Henry’s partner watched
on in disgust while Ashley’s partner grabbed five chips and tried
to beat them all. Deb won and received a kiss from Ash who still
had a mouthful of chips. They fooled around on the floor and Ara
saved the drink bottle from tipping over.

After she laughed, Ara turned back to the
monitor. “Why doesn’t the Cardinal Unit send the sentries to stop
the Avatara?”

“They’re allowed their opinion, Ara.” Meg
barely even glanced at her as she brushed her sleek, blonde
hair.

“But they had that altercation where several
people were hurt and just the other week the Cardinal Unit sentries
captured those space pirates.”

Terance, who was sitting behind her, tapped
Ara on the head. They hadn’t teased her about joining them watching
the news or discussing it. “We aren’t privy to why Maya uses the
Cardinal Unit to send sentries. It might not have been about the
piracy but something that might harm our society or
populations.”

Ara kept quiet after that, seeing how changed
Meg was, and the secretive smiles and looks her youngest sibling
threw at her. Meg caught one of her looks and smiled.

Flakily, Ara thought.

“Have you seen Caleb recently?” Meg asked her
slyly.

“No, why?”

Meg shrugged her slight shoulders, stretching
out her legs, showing off her good figure. “I’ve seen him around,
mainly off world. Pity you can’t get off world. He’s such a sexy
dancer.”

The last comment upset Ara but she said
nothing, and Pen quickly got up requesting help to get dessert. Dad
whispered in Ara’s ear, “Help your mother.”

Ara stood and went into the kitchen smiling,
to Pen’s evident relief. Ara had seen Caleb several times at
functions but their lives seemed to part despite their love. He was
busy with study, and was popular. He insisted he wasn’t trying to
stay away, but over the years she noticed he gravitated toward
petite blondes, that fit Meg’s description, sometimes brunettes,
and once she’d seen him with one of each. Terzon had told her that
they were arranged dates by their mother and father.

Ara wondered what would happen if she and
Caleb made their love public.

Over lunch Meg dropped more comments but only
one really stung. “—and he looks great in a swimsuit—”

Ara smirked at that until Meg added.

“—better out of it, and he likes women with
boobs.” She smiled looking down at hers, and then flicked a glance
at Ara’s. “Are you working yet, Ara?”

Ara couldn’t eat after that, and the good
mood darkened quickly and no one seemed to know what to say.
Tricia, who had visited with Marc, looked furious. Marc was
stunned; Ersen was staring hard at Meg, while Sacha was almost
crying. Henry, Gralten and Ashley bravely took over the
conversation saving Ara from the need to leave and cry. She was so
grateful that they gave her time to recover and Ashley gripped her
hand under the table. She knew she was Caleb’s first and only love,
but Meg’s words just made her feel like crap. Crying night after
night—not just from Meg’s sly remarks and cruel insinuations but as
a result of her older siblings constant badgering to stand up for
herself—was exhausting so she focused on work on the farm, study
and making friends. For reasons Queen Silvia couldn’t explain,
Ara’s applications for work were not well received. Nor was she
allowed to go off world as Caleb asked.

Jesran took a stronger role in her life.
Sacha, Jesran, and she went to school part-time in the city, joined
by Bel, to study. She took on advanced programming and jewelry
making. Bel suggested she could start her own business, as Sacha
had done, but Ara was thinking of trying to break into the Cardinal
Unit and do a bit of programming of her own. The problem was there
was no information anywhere about the Cardinal Unit, and she dared
not ask Korbet. He’d probably just say, “I’m not your personal IT
support, Ara.” She sighed, wondering how she was going to combat
what was to come. She even tried to direct her dreams but usually
ended up raiding the cooler, hungry from the effort. Meanwhile,
Sacha said she was studying to broaden her skills but Ara was sure
it was just to make her feel less alone. Tekko moved back and was
moving to more technical training but they saw him most lunchtimes
before they headed home. There were always chores at home, and
animals to care for.

Why was she was mucking out the stalls when
all other Aryans were living in palaces with servants? She griped
to Jesran one day and was sick of the sound of her own voice. He
was cleaning the water trough while she rubbed down the horses,
helping her.

“Do you really want that, Ara?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes I think if I did I
could do more things, have more influence over … I guess, Earth.
No, I mean over what Earth can become. We need to anchor Earth back
into our society. The humans deserve peace, health, and to explore
the stations and worlds. It frustrates me that they don’t even know
of the life they could have.”

They continued working, both mulling over the
issue.

“Your life now will make you a better
leader.”

“Of what? Animals?”

He laughed.

“Anyway, why would I be leading anything? I’m
the youngest PuG Aryan. None of my so-called peers want to see me
that much. I can’t even get a job. To them I’m a gnat.” Her
thoughts were of Kavela.

“Then I must be a gnat’s gnat.”

“Jes! Are you ever going to forgive me for my
being a PuG arsehole?”

He just smiled. “Well, when you do decide to
follow your cause, this gnat’s gnat will follow you.”

She paused her brushing. “Are you
serious?”

“Yeah.” He gazed up and placed a hand over
his heart. “I’d make a good gnat follower.”

“So, if my cause means mucking down the
stalls—”

“Here I am.” He opened his arms, splashing
water over her accidently.

She laughed, wiping her face. “I think you
may be a party of one. You’re here for reasons other than me
leading you.”

He picked up a brush, walked over to her and
stood before her. “And if I am?”

“Um … I just meant you’re my friend and I’m
great company.”

He grinned and began rubbing down the horse
with her. “When you venture out I won’t be too far away.”

Jesran always had a way of saying things in a
way she could manage. With Jes taking a stronger role in her life
again and lately finding weapons on her bed—from her guard she
guessed—it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Odd presents
but they usually appeared when some conflict arose. Was it a sign?
She pulled out the latest and showed Jesran.

He admired the blade. “Good quality, made for
you specifically. Have you ever seen your guards?”

She shrugged. “Not really. I mean I know they
are there. But—they do their jobs don’t they? I’m not supposed to
see them.”

“I couldn’t imagine it. No privacy.”

“Saying it that way makes me feel
annoyed.”

“Call one of them.”

“What?”

“Go on.”

“Why? What would I say?”

“Maybe they aren’t there at all.” He looked
around.