The Druid Gene (15 page)

Darcy’s brows pulled together. She was feeling a little dizzy.

But, still, Elorpha carried on. “There are unverified accounts of drudii creating tremors or even small earthquakes, theoretically disrupting gravity at a particle level. Unconfirmed reports suggest that some drudii may possess the ability to manipulate both gas and liquids, mechanism unknown.”

Darcy couldn’t help herself. She yelled, “Oh, come on!”

“Some of the first recorded references to drudii concern the earliest specimens, who enacted suicide missions against other worlds, blending into the populace and releasing massive shockwaves of ionizing radiation, resulting in their own deaths as well as the deaths of millions of innocent victims.” Elorpha smiled as though pleased with herself. “This concludes the Sectilius Science Moment on the subject of the drudii.” Elorpha dipped her head slightly and the screen went blank.

Darcy looked at Hain, who continued to painstakingly place electrodes on Darcy’s skin. It seemed preposterous. She felt strange and lightheaded. She laughed, a single lame guffaw. It was like a tabloid article, a spoof, a science-fiction parody, not something that was real. “Surely you don’t believe all of that is true?”

It couldn’t be. Could it?

“I do.”

A residual drop of moisture glistened on the point of Hain’s artificial nose. Darcy watched it, waiting for it to fall, as Hain brusquely clicked the button on the sleeve of her garment and began to remove it in one swift movement.

Darcy wrenched away and backed up, pulling the jumpsuit back up over herself. “What do you think you’re doing?” she bit out angrily.

“Nudity is shameful in her culture,” Hain said in monotone. A look passed between Hain and Raub. Raub grunted and continued to watch them, looking bored.

Hain reached for the garment again and Darcy slapped her hand away. “You can’t just strip me. Tell me where they go and I—”

Raub sighed and said, “The garment is comprised of linked molecular machines and generates its own electromagnetic field that would interfere with the test.”

Hain picked up another electrode and stood before her as though waiting. “Our interest is purely scientific.”

Darcy huffed and shook her head. “Fine.” She slipped the jumpsuit off and laid it on the bench next to her.

Hain continued to place the electrodes in an equally spaced pattern over her chest, back, stomach, and even her inner thighs.

“Is that really necessary?” Darcy asked through clenched teeth.

Hain finished placing the electrodes and stepped back, turning her attention to tapping on a tablet with her long, thin fingers. The crusty growths that extended over her hands still glistened with moisture from the strange bath she’d been taking.

Darcy stood there feeling raw and exposed, waiting for her next instruction. They were keeping her off-balance on purpose. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of achieving that goal. It took every ounce of willpower not to cover herself with her hands. Finally, she asked, “What happens next?”

Hain’s face twisted into a smile. “Very little, until you show me your light. We’ve established a baseline reading. Let’s begin.”

Darcy hesitated. She wasn’t sure what Hain knew or had seen. But another glance at Raub’s glowering face reminded her to just play along. She centered herself and called up the power. She didn’t have to look down to know that her chest glowed. Hain’s mouth opened slightly as she glanced back and forth between the tablet in her hand and Darcy’s body. Darcy caught glimpses of a bright yellow pattern inside her mouth, though she couldn’t make out details.

Soft, agitated clacking sounded again from near the door.

“More,” Hain commanded in her thin voice.

“I want to see what you’re seeing,” Darcy replied.

Hain tapped absently on the tablet, not making eye contact.

Darcy extinguished her light.

The slit of Hain’s mouth pulled down into an angry gash. Jerkily, she turned and tapped the screen with her tablet again.

The display shifted. Now it said things like Female Drudii Subject and Preliminary Bioelectric Assessment, with a rendering of the electrode dots Hain had placed on her in three dimensions, sketching a rough outline of Darcy’s body. Next to each electrode was a numerical value.

“What unit of measurement is this?” Darcy asked.

“Let’s continue,” Hain enunciated slowly.

Darcy turned to face her with an expectant expression.

Raub interjected, his voice sounding like a warning, “It will be meaningless to you, Leebska.”

That was probably true. She didn’t care. She kept staring at Hain.

Hain’s gash of a mouth was turned down on one side. “They’re cipa units. Do I really need to teach you a lesson in basic electronics just now?”

Darcy turned back to the screen and let the light flare in her chest, watching as the numbers skyrocketed and colors bloomed across the display. Her body warmed. She focused and pushed the light outward slowly, down her arms. She could control it inch by inch, if she wanted.

She lifted her arms away from her body so that she wouldn’t create static arcs that could disorient her. Her fingers tingled as the energy flared inside them.

Hain watched, mouth opening again, revealing what looked like a yellow flower. “Astonishing. I had no idea.” She seemed to come to herself. “This is so very rare. I must document all of this. Is this your maximum potential?”

Darcy came to a decision. “No, I can do more.”

Hain tapped on her tablet furiously. “Go ahead.”

Darcy brought her energy back down to an ember. Based on their reactions, it was clear that both Hain and Raub lusted to know more about the extent of her abilities. That gave her a small amount of leverage and she was going to use it. “Not until you bring Adam Benally here, so that I can see him. I need to know that he’s okay.”

Hain’s gaze flashed at Raub. His jaw clenched. His eyes were hard and angry, but he didn’t speak.

Darcy felt tense. She glanced from Hain to Raub and back again. There was some unspoken conversation going on there.

Hain put some distance between herself and Darcy, but her body language was suddenly more relaxed. She glided across the floor, her fingers dragging languidly over the workbench. “This Adam Benally was the male we found you with on your homeworld?”

Darcy didn’t like the sudden shift in Hain’s mood, and it wasn’t lost on her that Hain had just put a very large object between them. Fear stabbed at her heart. “Yes.”

“He was your mate?” Hain blinked slowly and folded her willowy arms like she was speaking to a small child.

Darcy’s mouth went dry. Her eyes blurred. There was a roaring in her ears. “Was?” Energy swept through her. She burned.

Faintly, she heard Raub command, “Control yourself, Leebska, before I do it for you.”

“Stay back!” she warned him. To Hain, she said, “What did you do to him?”

Hain tilted her head to one side. “I sold him, Darcy. Many, many standard solar days ago.”

“
D
id
she give you any trouble?” Hain asked, her expression innocent.

“You pushed the girl too hard.” Raub slammed his fist into the bench top. It cracked with a satisfying splinter.

She flinched.

He pulled back his fist, flexing it. He’d just come back from escorting Darcy to their quarters, where he’d taken the precaution of locking her in her sleeping cell, just in case she got any crazy ideas now that Hain had let slip what she was capable of. He didn’t dare leave her alone for long. She’d gone strangely silent and those disquieting, watery “tiersz” were dripping out of her eyes again.

Shedding light on her abilities had been the plan—to empower her, ready her for what was ahead, allow her time to think, to experiment, to become resourceful while still relying on him, for now, anyway. The recent conversation had accomplished the polar opposite.

Hain raised her chin and stared him down. “You miscalculated her attachment to the male.”

She was getting too independent. It was time to remind her of what was at stake. “I miscalculated? You would do well to remember our contract, Hain. Do not forget that I own you. I know the location of your homeworld. If you do not value your own life, value the life of the Mother. Think of the money I could make on all that furniture, harvested from all that lovely, sentient wood.”

Hain did not answer. She stared at him blankly, then turned back to her samples, though she did not work. The stink of ozone offended his nose. He’d gotten through to her.

He continued. “She agreed his destiny was separate from hers. There was no need to create this little drama, Hain. Do not second-guess me. From here on, you will stick to the script.”

Hain fluttered her fingers to dismiss what he’d said. “Apparently she lied to appease you. What was I to do? I couldn’t produce the male.”

He glowered at her. “Reinforcing my message to her would have sufficed.”

Hain turned back, her mouth puckered slightly in a way that he’d come to know as defiance. “I’m not her progenitor. It cannot be wise to coddle an adult with platitudes. Besides, that wouldn’t have worked. She’s queried various individuals about this Adam Benally on dozens of occasions. I’ve made you aware of this. This species is not as logical or opportunistic as one would expect. We must take care not to make assumptions about her behavior. All of the humans were giving us trouble. That’s why I sold them off as quickly as possible.” She paused, the only way she could give her words emphasis. “We must be realistic if this is to work.”

He growled. She made logical points. He didn’t like conceding that Hain might be right. She was too clever for her own good.

Hain sidled a little closer, probably sensing that he was calmer. “She will recover quickly from this, just as she has from every other incident. This was a good time to discover she’s not as transparent as we had thought. She’ll be able to let thoughts of the male go now, be fully engaged in the present. This was fortuitous.” She looked ruefully at the bench, then turned, placing her palms together. “Now, as to those plans, I have—”

The deck rocked under their feet and a call to arms blared over the communication system. Hain’s face went blank as she mentally connected with the telepathic network created by the kuboderan navigator. Instantly she turned to Raub, her expression grave. “Local system border-patrol net. We, of course, have not filed trajectories with the local authorities nor paid any fees to pass through local space.” Her mouth parted a fraction. “It’s Level Seven.”

Raub swore viciously. He raged, “I would have expected more care to be taken to avoid such inconveniences. You know how important this undertaking is.”

She lifted her head a fraction and met his gaze. “It must be new. It’s not on any of our maps. We’ve heard no reports from our associates. We cannot avoid what we are unaware of.”

Logic. He curled one hand into a fist, barely holding back from delivering a punch to her face.

If it were a Level Four net or less, they’d have no trouble breaking free. A Level Seven would be dicey. Hain might lose everything, including the ship, and end up in custody herself. Perhaps that was where she belonged. He was beginning to wonder if she was as loyal as he’d thought.

Some things on the ship could be easily hidden or camouflaged. These backwater constables usually had plenty of ballistic tech, but little in the way of sophisticated detection. There was no way to hide the thousands of individuals in the cargo hold, however. That would be a substantial loss, unless the officials could be bought.

There was a chance all the merchandise might be freed on the spot—and a fairly equal chance that they’d be moved through a less-than-savory sales venue to make a quick chit for some corrupt local authority. This far from a trade hub or busy port, there was little more than a semblance of law. The net might have been put in place by the government of a planet in the nearby system or by a neighborhood magnate looking to expand their wealth. Out in the fringes it was every individual for themself. No one was above reproach. They were all out here for a reason.

And if they found the girl and realized what she was…

He wouldn’t let that happen.

His nostrils flared and he didn’t bother to quell a roar of frustration. “All this planning ruined by some greedy pless. I’d like to get my hands on them.”

“It’s salvageable,” Hain stated as she opened a drawer and pulled out a handful of laser-deflecting shield generators as well as a small CO
₂
cartridge, efficiently attaching them to premade slots in the dense encrustations upon her skin. The tough, symbiotic lichens served as body armor in hand-to-hand combat, but weren’t enough to protect her in a firefight. The CO
₂
was in anticipation of a possible loss of atmosphere in the short term. It was a precaution most wouldn’t have thought of. Hain always planned three moves ahead. “The tern is ready. It’s outfitted with plenty of weapons, fuel, and food for a long excursion. We prepared for any contingency. You just have to find the right planet. The onboard computer is capable of giving you all the options in local territories in any direction. There will be something you can use.”

She tested the shield generators. They hummed to life. “They aren’t wasting any time. There are three vessels en route, closing fast.”

“She’s not ready,” he growled.

“Wherever you decide to go, you’ll have plenty of time to finish the training during the journey. I’ll find you before you put your boots on the ground and wait for your signal.”

He would have to adapt to the circumstance or risk losing the prize. He picked up an instrument and threw it.

Hain didn’t flinch this time. “They’re hailing. I must respond quickly or they’ll get suspicious.”

“You’ll fight?”

“If they attempt to board? Yes. We’re only partially disabled. They don’t know the full extent of our capabilities. We look like a cracker hauler to them. We have all the proper codes. They should let us pass.”

That was true. It was a clever disguise. But there wouldn’t be many food-supply ships this far off the main routes. “Tell them you’re lost to buy time. You’ve had a bad jump with a sick kuboderan. That’s believable.”

She nodded and started for the door, then turned, listening intently to the hymenoptera chattering over the kuboderan network. “The aft hangar is clear. Go immediately.” With that, she turned on her heel and left, motioning for the two hymenoptera in the hall to join her as she headed for the command deck.

Raub strode swiftly in the opposite direction. The timing couldn’t be worse. The girl had just suffered an emotional blow and would likely be skittish.

Now, he’d see what she was really made of.