Water and Power (2 page)

There was a cup of tea left out for her, but she ignored it. She didn’t trust anything that the Resicor government had to offer.

Two hours later, the agent returned. “We have a posting for you. You will be taken to get your uniform, and from there, you will work in the water-processing plant with whatever skills you have mastered. You will be shackled to the facility and no one will know you exist.”

“So, just like I am now, but I will have something to do with my time. Excellent. When do I leave?”

The empath blinked in surprise. “Um, now.”

“Good. This interview has gone just about as far as I was willing to go without dinner and a glass of wine.”

Mora waited for the guards to take hold of her. The last thing she wanted to do was to stand up without them ready for it. They looked a little twitchy to her.

She was marched through the assessment facility and several women approached her, removing her clothing with tongs and grimaces. It didn’t take much. Her clothing was ready to fall apart anyway.

She was scrubbed, brushed and tucked into a new bodysuit, all without removing her cuffs. The ladies had skills.

A cowl was put over her head, and she was flown for hours before being disgorged into a building that had the feel of water around it.

She was marched down an endless array of hallways before the cowl was removed and the cuffs were released with new bands being snapped in place on wrists and ankles.

The tech attaching the cuffs looked apologetic. “The cuffs will keep you from leaving the facility. A sonic shower array has been set up. If the bands get wet, you will get a shock hard enough to knock you out.”

“I understand. You can’t be too careful now can you?” Mora smiled and rotated her wrists.

She looked around and noted the folks in lab coats manning monitoring panels. One of the scientists looked at the tech and the tech nodded.

“Miss, if you would come here and increase the volume of water through this channel?”

Mora flexed her hands again. “I need to be near the water. Show me the physical channel and I can increase the flow.”

She was led to the pipes under guard, but once she was standing in proximity, she could feel the flow inside the metal and ceramic. The pipe traced back into a water treatment plant, and the pressure couldn’t be built up without creating an air bubble.

“I can’t increase the amount of water. The plant that supplies the water has a blockage. I work with water, not metal.”

The scientist looked at her and smiled. “Very good. They wondered if you could track water as well as move it. That solves that issue.”

Mora crossed her arms. “What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. We were not given the extent of your talent.”

She sighed. “Tell me what you want me to do and I will try to do it. That is all. No games.”

The scientist nodded. “Right. Divert two-thirds of pipe nine twenty over to twelve thirty-six.”

Mora identified the pipes and found their connecting points. She pulled the water through until it opened the valves to the correct level. It was boring, but it seemed to be what they wanted from her, so she did it.

Two months later, she was getting the commands from a headset that she could wear around the plant. She spent time exploring the caverns that surrounded the pipes, but there was nowhere to go and nothing to do.

The tedium continued as days flowed into weeks and she was never allowed to see daylight. The tunnels became her home, and it was a boring existence.

After her third week underground, she had learned the reason behind her assignment. They had run out of the motors to change the valves with any kind of speed. The demand for clean water was ongoing, so her appearing at that time had been fortuitous.

“Miss? You are requested in the boardroom.”

Mora got to her feet and walked lightly along the gantry toward the offices.

“Yes?”

There were new people in the boardroom. A telepath and an empath as well as two others.

“Ms. Esterhart? Please be seated.” The telepath gestured.

“No thank you.” She stood at the opposite end of the long table, placing herself in the advantageous position.

She felt pressure on her mind. “Sit.”

Mora raised one eyebrow. “I am not one of the sheep of the population. I can feel what you are trying to do.”

The empath whispered, “She is bored and amused.”

The telepath sent a bolt that Mora felt, but she let it slide through her without making a mark.

“As entertaining as this is, you came here for a reason. What is it?”

One of the normals in the room said, “Have you heard of the New City?”

Mora scowled. “Only in theory. It was to be a talent-free zone, a haven of safety for those who feared the taint of the talented.” She laced as much sarcasm as she could in those last words.

The normal continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “The New City is a clean and fresh start for Resicor. We have designed it to be the peak of technological advancement, grace and beauty.”

“Wonderful for you.”

The other normal spoke. “Our opening day has been moved up and our water-processing systems have not been completed. Your assistance is requested.”

The telepath scowled. “Required.”

Mora snorted. “That goes without saying, but thanks for making sure I understood.”

She lifted her wrists and the bands shifted.

The telepath nodded and Mora was grabbed by two guards she hadn’t noticed standing behind her.

They shoved her arms into pitchers of water, and Mora let the water flow across the bands. First, there was pain and then everything went black.

She woke up in a large bubble covered with screens. A voice in her ear began immediately. “Ms. Esterhart, you are now responsible for the water feeds to three thousand homes and all public works. A relief switch has been placed that will allow you to have breaks and operate the few pumps we have for up to eight hours. You can sleep, eat and there is even an entertainment station for you, but from this moment on, you are the water supply for New City.”

She felt a tingling in her wristbands.

“If you cease to work, oversleep or attempt to escape, you will feel a growing electrical shock in your limbs. Begin now.”

She found the reservoir and pulled the water upward and into the pipes while the electric charge on her wrists intensified.

When the gauge displays finally showed water pressure, Mora felt the sensation dissipate. She exhaled and took a seat in the only chair in the room.

She was on duty until she figured out what she wanted to do next.

Four years came and went while she worked with New City. They had added exercise space for her when her limbs began to show atrophy and she lost her appetite from lack of stimulation. She was ordered to work out and to eat everything that came out of the dispenser.

They had turned her into a pet, dependant on them for food, water and exercise. That is when the hatred for them got a second wind.

A tech began showing up to check her equipment around that time. He was handsome with pleasant features and an easy smile. He was a distraction, and she knew it when she saw it.

He worked on her cuffs and scowled. “You should not get them so grubby.”

She snorted. “I thought the sonic shower would clean them.”

“It can’t get into the nooks and crannies like a good alcohol soak. I will have to make a request to have one removed at a time to give them appropriate maintenance. Can we check your com systems?”

“I receive only. If I complain, there is no one listening.”

“I beg to differ; they are always listening.”

“Well, go ahead and check them. I am not fussy about what they hear.”

The tech slipped under one of the low decks that housed the electrical systems, and he cut and snipped away while she made the fountain dance with a strange rhythm that made the little children in the town square laugh and clap with delight.

A voice whispered in her ear. “Don’t react.”

She kept her eyes on the video screens with her normal bored attention. The city had expanded and her talent had expanded with it. She checked on water pressure, the power plant and all the public water features that made the city so attractive.

“We are working to free you, so I have set up a separate channel for you to listen to. Don’t speak to us, don’t acknowledge us and you will be free in a few months.”

She asked him, “Are you done yet?”

He squirmed out from under the instrument panel. “I am done, but you still need work on those cuffs.”

“File a request with my owners. I don’t have much say in a matter.”

He nodded. “Right. I will be back, or they will send another tech for the procedure. Either way, you will get the right maintenance for that equipment. We can’t keep you safe if they are not in good shape.”

“Right. Of course not. I forgot my safety was at stake.”

“We are here to keep you safe and healthy, Ms. Esterhart. Remember that.” He nodded to her and made his way down the staircase under her platform.

Alone again, she set off the fountains in rotation. Anything beat the boredom.

She squelched down the hope of the whisper in her ear. Hope would kill her faster than the hate. Hate kept her going.

Whispers in her ear had caused hope to surge despite her better judgement. The view of the night sky on her screens showed her the ships that were landing at and taking off from the dome.

Mora heard the whispers telling her to keep calm and to remain ready to leave, even though her tech had been changed to a young woman who had a knack for quick work and a cheerful manner.

No one who attended her gave their names. They were techs, officers or governors. She was a curiosity to be kept from public knowledge, but she was a treasure that they gloated over. She seethed with rage.

The whisper came to her one night, after dark. “Ms. Esterhart, prepare to leave. When you receive the signal, run to the service entrance and count to six then blow through the door.”

She hummed casually, “How am I going to do that?”

“We have faith in your skills. The bands have been disabled for this moment.”

She shrugged. “May as well.”

“You do realize you are talking to the empty air.”

“Oh, I have been doing this for months. You just didn’t notice. Now, Count Heinrich, take me away.”

“Count Heinrich?”

“Earl of Masterwill. Please, I don’t know you well enough to consider a courtship at this stage of our acquaintance.” She held her hand out and giggled coquettishly.

Her whispering companion went silent for half an hour. On the screens, she saw a falling star tumble toward the ground.

She looked up and heard the voice in her earpiece. “Go! Now!”

She bolted out of her chair, struck the maintenance switch and ran for the exit. Each stair trembled under her feet as she clung to the railing. The bridge that connected her pod to the outside world was made of thin metal. The service door was on the other side, and she rushed over as quickly as she could.

Now that she faced the metal door, she counted to six and summoned some water from fifty meters below where she stood. It wasn’t a laser, but slicing through the metal was not difficult. The hole she made was big enough for her to easily run through.

She had never been beyond this point, so she treaded carefully, waiting for the pain to sear through her body. When she realized it wasn’t going to activate, she used her own saliva to cut free of the bands. She kept the earpiece to hear any more instructions from her invisible friend, but she wasn’t going to keep those bands.

The second door was open and figures were waiting for her. She worked up a little extra saliva and waited to see what they would do. The male tech was waiting for her. “Come with me. Wait, where are the bands?”

She swallowed, “I cut them off. Even if they imprison me again, I won’t wear the bands.”

He looked as if he wanted to ask her something else, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the rocks nearby.

“We are heading to a shuttle. You are being kidnapped by the Citadel.” He laughed.

The shuttle was waiting with the hatch open and power systems gleaming, ready for action.

They ran, and in the distance, Mora heard the approach of flying skimmers. The sound sped her pacing, and she was suddenly glad of the exercise she had been required to engage in.

They clambered into the shuttle, and the moment that the tech shut and locked the door, they shivered up and into the air.

Mora clutched at the nearest wall as they tipped and tilted past the attackers and into the sky.

After the violent rocking eased, the tech helped her into the shuttle and up the hallways with a hand under her elbow.

Once she was seated, she sighed and smiled until the shrill voice in her ear demanded to know where she was. With a scowl, she pulled the earpiece out with a wince, and she sliced the unit into pieces with a stream of spit.

The tech blinked at the tiny fragments left on her skin. “Well, that would explain it.”

She sighed again and relaxed into the seat. “So, what do you need me to do?”

He looked at her with his dark brows furrowed. “What?”

“I expect that you need me to do something or you wouldn’t have gotten me off Resicor.”

“Um, not really. The Citadel does pay talents for the use of their skills. They can teach, train, learn, take courses or merely meditate to keep themselves centred. It is all up to you. If you want to work using your talent, you can, but if you want to take a class on species identification or how to prepare foods for a multitude of extra-planetary visitors, you can do that as well.”

“Are you with them?”

He smiled, “Tranoth Lek, technician and power supply.” He extended his hand to her.

“Morakil Esterhart, water control.”

“You are an elemental.” His smile reached his eyes.

He really was quite nice to look at. Fit physique, black hair and dark brown eyes made him attractive and blend in at the same time. His height was a few inches greater than hers but that was a good thing. She hated being able to see the top of a man’s head.