Mandate (2 page)

Finally, she was shaking but her breathing was even. They carried her to the bed and ran the scans over her newly silvered skin.

“You have fully amalgamated the W’lyn DNA. Rest for a few hours and your training will begin.” The doctor smiled.

Wren read concern, amazement and pride in the emotions of the man next to her. She blinked in surprise. Normally, she could only get those senses from someone she was caring for; receiving from the medical staff around her was going to take some getting used to.

“The tank was psychically insulated?” Her voice was hoarse but they understood her.

“Yes, though we have your little exercises on our scans. You put everything back where you found it, so thank you.” The doctor grinned.

A tech wrapped her in a soft blanket and smiled slightly. “We don’t want you to get cold.”

The man found her attractive, which surprised Wren. She hadn’t thought much about the sexual dynamic of being a single woman in the stars. She hoped it wasn’t as bad as travelling abroad on Earth.

“Wren Silverberg, I am your instructor.” The woman’s voice was low and her face was hidden in the depths of her hood.

“Pleased to meet you.” Wren stuck her hand out, and the woman moved minutely toward her before pausing.

“Most psychic races do not shake hands. You will learn a polite bow and that will be sufficient.”

“Is that correct for all situations?”

“It is correct for the world you are being assigned to. That will be enough.” The woman folded her hood back and smiled. “Being out in space takes some getting used to, but you can manage it.”

“You are human!”

“Wendalyn Amhurst, at your service. Citadel Master Instructor for telekinesis and I can pinch hit for empathy.”

Wren was stumped. “I didn’t think you were allowed back in Terran space.”

“I am not. This is a one-off. The seers that have been focusing on Terra have noted that you will be needed on W’lyn in a matter of weeks. My responsibility is to make sure that you are physically and psychically fit. So, let’s begin with checking your current weight limits. There are nine weights on the floor. Begin with the smallest, lift and replace it and proceed down the line.”

“Seers?”

“I will explain it later. Get lifting.” Wendalyn crossed her arms and jerked her chin.

Wren took a few steps toward the end of the room.

Wendalyn grabbed her arm. “From here.”

Wren nodded and focused. “Right.”

The small weight trembled and lifted off the floor until it was at chest height. She kept it there for a count of three and then placed it back where she had found it. “I did it!”

“Keep going.”

It was the beginning of three hours of exertion without moving a step.

“You don’t have to lift the last weight, Wren. You have done more than enough.”

Wren’s limbs trembled. “One more.”

She stiffened her body and elevated the weight at knee height for a count of three before she set it down again. Her knees gave way and she hit the floor with her hands.

Wendalyn rubbed her shoulders. “Well done. I have never seen someone lift ten tons on their first day before.”

Bleary, Wren turned her head. “What?”

“That end of the room has been altered for high gravity. You were lifting a small spaceship with your mind, and your body has paid the price. Let’s go and get you some refreshments and a rubdown. You are going to be very sore in the morning.”

“A rubdown?” Wren’s mind was still shorting out.

“Yes. Let me take care of you for a change, Caretaker. You will have plenty of time to fuss over others. Go to them strong and at the peak of your fitness.”

Wendalyn helped her to her feet and walked her to a small commissary. A quick scan of her palm provided Wren with a meal that was as unfamiliar as it was tempting. “Why does it smell so good?”

The colours were all wrong. A riot of oranges and purples fought for dominance.

Wendalyn assisted her to a booth and settled her in. “Your body has been altered to W’lyn specifications. You crave their food. It is that simple. The machine reads your genetic code and provides you with the food best suited to your physiology. I will be right back with some tea.”

Wren picked up the strange eating implement and took a few exploratory bites. It was good. She smiled softly and continued to eat while Wendalyn complimented her on her progress.

“Tomorrow, if you can still use what has bloomed inside you, we will work on fine motor control. Now that I am sure you will be able to use the gross skills for self-defence, we will work on you stopping small objects that are approaching you at speed.”

Wren blinked. “Like what?”

“I have a few ideas that will grow with your skills. We have some time before you are to leave. Let’s work on getting you proficient with everything you have in that head of yours.” Wendalyn grinned.

Wren felt remarkably better after a meal. “Tell me what you want me to become and I will do my best.”

Her instructor leaned back and gave her a considering look. “What do you want to be, Wren?”

“Useful. I have always endeavoured to be useful.”

“You are beginning at useful; I want you to fulfill your promise to become extraordinary.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

Wendalyn sat up and inclined her head. “You already have the tools; I am here to show you how to use them.”

Her confidence glowed in her mind, as did her optimism. Reading Wendalyn was easy, which scared Wren. How was she going to deal with crowds when she could read the woman across from her so clearly and the others in the room were emotional static, even in her exhausted state?

“Don’t worry. You are fresh out of the tank, Wren. Control will come, but you know what your job will be to some extent. You are to become the bodyguard and companion to another Terran who is in need of some stability.”

“If she needs me, shouldn’t I be on my way there?”

Wendalyn laughed and rubbed the back of her neck. “That is one of the seer issues. They know where you need to be so that you can be prepared, but they can’t stop you from going early. Right now, your charge doesn’t need you. She is about to embark on the early stages of a relationship and as that develops, you have to get yourself in gear.”

“Is that an order?” Wren raised her brows.

“If you like. You will be graded on your obedience.” Wendalyn raised her teacup. “Drink up. You have studying tonight, and tomorrow, you will be on fine control of lightweight objects.”

“What?”

“If your ability to move objects does not need a day to rest, you will be putting puzzles together while I lob pompoms at your head. It looks to be a fun day.”

“Why am I beginning to suspect that your version of fun and mine are markedly different?”

“Because you have good instincts. Drink up.” Wendalyn winked.

Her life spun in a strange combination of using parts of her she didn’t know she had and deep thought about her future. Wren studied the medicine of W’lyn as well as the birthing practices of the Vimpyr and the Admaryn. It seemed the thing to do, and Wendalyn told her to focus on her instincts.

Her final day on the base rushed up before she knew it. Wendalyn met her in the greenhouse and handed her a small, flat box.

“What is this?” Wren smiled at her instructor.

“It isn’t a going-away present; it is a
welcome to your new life
present. You will be leaving here with a mandate to be a companion to the Terran on W’lyn, and I know you will carry it out to the best of your abilities and beyond.”

As Wren opened the box, her friend continued.

“It is to remind you that the world isn’t black and white and you know that better than anyone else. It is a suit that will protect, insulate and support you until you are ready to put it aside.”

Wren took out the folded fabric and the large black and white blocking was easily apparent. “I love it.”

“It suits you. Your hair is the shade of silvery grey that is missing from the two and I hope that you remember that you are the balance. It will come easily to you but never doubt your importance. You have a destiny to become a key part of the Guardian team on W’lyn. Let it play out as it was designed to.”

Wren looked at her instructor and sighed. “Why do I get the feeling that you know far more than you are telling?”

“Because this isn’t your first time meeting me. Now, get into that suit, get your bag and get on your shuttle. Your launch window comes up in an hour.” Wendalyn hugged her and wiped away a tear. “I wish I could go with you.”

Wren touched the gem at her neck. “Don’t worry. Emily will report everything to you the moment that she meets a psychometrist. She is looking forward to it.”

Wendalyn laughed and escorted her to her quarters and waited for her. The walk to the launch bay was bittersweet.

“I have learned a lot, Wendalyn.”

“So have I. Never underestimate yourself, Wren. Leave that to others and use it to your advantage.”

“I will.” The bodysuit fit like a second skin, but Wren didn’t expect anything else of a suit made at Morganti and designed to take any kind of weapon blow that could be aimed at fabric and still bounce back.

With a final hug, she was on her way to the ship, strapped in for a long journey and sedated to keep her mind from trying to anchor itself in the jumps. They knocked her out for her own safety and she would wake on W’lyn. It had better work smoothly or her client was going to be in for a rough ride.

Water was essential to waking after the long sleep, but the Guardians were nowhere to be found. She sat up and asked the nearest tech. “I am supposed to be picked up by the Guardians.”

He looked at her in surprise. “There is a volcano erupting on the far side of the world. I believe that takes precedence to meeting their new caretaker.”

She sat back and sighed. At least her identity was on record. On W’lyn, you could easily get lost in the paperwork if they weren’t sure who you were.

A knock at the door brought her around and she saw her client. “Beryl?”

“You have the advantage of me. I was just told to come and pick someone up and take them back to base.”

The pink hair complemented the soft silver skin that the woman wore with dignity. Her clothing was softly elegant and swirled around her in graceful lines. Her belly hadn’t begun to show yet, but Wren could make out two distinct energy patterns within the body.

“I am Wren Silverberg of Terra. I have been assigned as the Guardians’ caretaker and your companion.”

Wren could feel her emotional state building. She used a trick that Wendalyn had taught her and sent a trill of laughter along the emotional buildup.

Beryl paused. “Did you do that?”

“I did. I am here to keep you calm, comfortable and safe.”

“You don’t look Terran.” Beryl scowled and came closer.

“Neither do you. I am imagining that the genetic alteration is a little hard on the system.” Wren flipped the covers back and slowly got to her feet. Her suit was still as starkly black and white as it had been at the moon base.

“My change came when I first mated with my…with Toyo.”

“I was given an altered serum of W’lyn material so that I would not stand out in any particular fashion.”

Beryl’s lips quirked. “You smell like Drovin.”

“What?”

“He is one of the Guardians. You don’t smell particularly like him, but you carry a scent in your blood along with your own and that scent belongs to him. Where did they get the
material
?”

Beryl was tilting her head as she asked the question, and she came close enough to touch Wren’s arm.

Wren could understand what she meant by scent. Under the body heat of her client, there was a wrapping of masculine musk that came out through her pores.

“I don’t know; it was classified and beyond my authorization.”

Beryl smiled. “That won’t do. Come with me. We are hitting a terminal. I am going to find out what they did to you, and you are going to have an idea what is going to happen when you hang around with the Guardians with that scent. Drovin is the most timid of the bunch but that is not saying much. He just defends more than attacks.”

The medical team gave Beryl a wide berth as she linked arms with Wren and hauled her to the exit. Wren’s first few steps on a completely alien world were engaged in while the medical staff eyed her companion with fear and Beryl moved with single-minded intensity.

“I guess I am cleared to leave.” She chuckled.

Beryl snorted. “I will send one of the guys here to officially transfer your custody, but for now, you are with me and no one is currently messing with me.”

“What do you do?”

“Anything I like, which is kinda odd, but I will take it. Throw a Guardian through one wall and suddenly everyone stays out of your way.” Beryl chuckled and led her to a low, flat platform with seats for eight.

“Who did you throw?”

“Toyo. He was objecting to my wanting to remain on active duty as an analyst while I am pregnant.”

“Oh, when was that?” Wren sat next to the pilot’s seat and strapped in.

“Two days ago. I am only four weeks along. Since you are here and ready to keep me company, I am guessing that someone got worried.”

Wren smiled and did not tell Beryl that she had been in the works for two months. It was a conversation to be had when they were not flying over a city with a vulnerable population beneath them.

Once they were over water, Beryl turned to her. “So, how precisely are you going to control me?”

Wren chuckled. “That isn’t my mandate. I am here to protect and keep you healthy and safe. I have been given the skills I needed and trained in the ones I lacked. I know about your supplements and will keep you up and running with minimal interruption when you work. I am here for you. I am your caretaker.”

Beryl let go of the controls and leaned over to hug Wren. Absently, Wren kept the controls aimed straight and their heading toward an island in the center of the bay.

Wren hugged the other woman awkwardly and smiled when she quickly brushed her cheeks and resumed control of the skimmer.