Daugher of Ash
Page 37
“Please, explain,” said Talbot.
Burckhardt’s right eyebrow went up.
“Two problems.” Kate crossed her arms. “One, despite your best efforts, I’m nowhere near angry or terrified enough to do it. I’ve only gone off like that twice in my entire life, and both times I was scared shitless as well as in immediate danger of being killed by a large group I couldn’t run away from.”
“Let me guess.” Talbot held up a hand with a light pen stuck between his fingers. “The second problem is that it drains you unconscious for a few days?”
“No.” Kate let her arms fall slack. “None of you are far enough away to survive.”
Burckhardt’s other eyebrow went up. “Perhaps we can skip an active recreation of that test.” He moved to the edge of the target area. “Miss Solomon, would you be so kind as to think about when you last used it?”
The telltale squirm-inducing feeling of a telepath knocking on her brain sent a ripple from head to toe. Despite her effort to recall only the abandoned house swarming with nibblers, the emotional scar of her escape from C-Branch as a child brought both events to mind. The last thing she expected was to see Burckhardt smile.
I’ll find it quite a welcome change not to be the only one around here everyone is frightened witless of. He faced Talbot. “I figure the range at about fifty to sixty meters in all directions from where she’s standing. As best I can tell, she is correct about it being a subconscious reaction to extreme duress. I doubt very much she has the ability to create an explosion of that magnitude as a conscious act.”
“So, are we done yet?”
“Yes, yes…” Talbot waved her over. “That’s quite enough for now.”
“One more test,” said Burckhardt. “How do you melt bullets?”
At this point, the man who entered with Ahmed removed a small Class 1 handgun from a carrying case. The tiny size made it resemble a child’s toy.
“What?” Officer Ahmed shot a questioning glance at Burckhardt. “That’s completely without sense… Sir. You can’t be serious. That is so far outside protocol I don’t even know what to call it.”
The Deputy Director appeared to take a few seconds to suppress the reflexive need to lash out at the enlisted man. “Need I remind you, Officer Ahmed, that her very existence is far outside of protocol. It is necessary for the greater understanding of what we may come to deal with in the not too distant future.”
“I don’t even know if it still works.” Kate stared at the man holding the pistol. “The last time I was shot, my skin was constantly hot enough to burn anything I touched. I might not even have the ability to do it anymore.”
Burckhardt clasped his hands behind him and leaned back and to his left. “Lieutenant, aim for her leg.”
The Lieutenant offered an apologetic look.
“Sir, please reconsider,” said Ahmed.
Kate felt a rush of warmth in her face. Is he standing in front of me? Or, am I ducking behind him?
“Miss Solomon,” said Burckhardt. “If the ability no longer works and you suffer a wound to the leg, you can begin your active duty period with one month paid vacation. The intelligence value of this test is too high to―”
“Worry about ethics?”
Thinly veiled anger cloaked Burckhardt’s voice. “Officer Ahmed, you are dangerously close to an official reprimand for insubordination.”
“It’s okay.” Kate put a hand on Ahmed’s shoulder. “It’s only a little pea shooter, right? In the leg. Maybe it’ll work.” She leaned up to him, whispering, “Don’t get in trouble for me.”
She walked out to the center of the target range, fists clenched, and rotated to face the Lieutenant.
“Is there anything we need to know to increase the chances of it working?” asked Burckhardt. He gestured at Talbot. “Send for a medic, just in case.”
Officer Ahmed looked at the wall, unable to watch.
“Even if it works, it’s like getting hit with a pipe.” Kate shivered. “It hurts. It used to melt before it pierced, but it still slaps me like a hammer. I doubt it works on the asteroid-metal bullets… uhh indirium. And, I have to see it coming. It’s a subconscious thing.”
Kate, don’t do this. Ahmed’s voice rang in her thoughts.
She jumped, startling the Lieutenant who had raised the pistol.
She concentrated on him. Don’t distract me. I’d rather not enjoy a free month.
“Proceed, Lieutenant. One shot only.”
The man mouthed a silent apology and aimed. Ahmed closed his eyes. Kate stared at the weapon, trying not to tremble hard enough for anyone to notice. At the sight of a muzzle flash, a wave of hot and cold came over her. Compared to the hand cannons she so often had pointed at her, the tiny pop this one emitted almost made her laugh. If not for the sensation of a hard punch to the left thigh, she would have. Smoke wafted past her face, carrying the scent of molten plastic.
A brush of cold air caressed her naked breasts.
Burckhardt pursed his lips and turned a shade of red. The Lieutenant averted his eyes. Talbot gawked. Yuki covered her mouth. Officer Ahmed whirled about and attacked several pushcarts in a hasty search.
Kate attempted to maintain an air of dignity. Her sports bra and shorts had vaporized. A soft whimper slipped past her clenched teeth as the re-solidified bullet burned her leg.
“It burns. Ouch. That’s certainly new.”
A spatter of re-hardened lead clung to her thigh. She peeled it away from a darkening bruise and smirked at two black footprints melted into the floor. Tossing the misshapen lump of metal from hand to hand, she limped up to Burckhardt.
“Still works.” She reached out, grabbed his hand, turned it palm up, and dropped the warped metal into it. Wearing a defiant smile, she closed his fingers over it. “Burns now.”
The old man’s jaw clenched, but he tolerated the hot metal without flinching. If anything, he seemed… impressed.
“I didn’t get a temperature reading,” whispered Talbot. “It surpassed the upper limit of this equipment. Likely several thousand degrees for only the span of a microsecond. I’ll need some time to set up for the next test.”
Kate tilted her head at Burckhardt, hands on her hips. Twenty-five years of being naked 24/7 left her beyond shame. “When do we test how many fireballs it takes to make a scientist beg for his mother?”
Ahmed tore the lab coat from Doctor Talbot and wrapped her in it. Kate threaded her arms into the sleeves and rubbed the blistering bruise. The Lieutenant unloaded the weapon and put it back into the box. Yuki opened her belt case and offered a stimpak.
Kate held up two fingers, and injected the first one.
“Loss of uniform could prove quite inconvenient in the field,” said Talbot. “Did it hurt?”
She glanced at the fading six-inch bruise. “You’re the doctor. You tell me.”
ate reclined on a plain white sectional, wrapped in a soft robe and the scent of lilac. The apartment was a simple one-room modular where the Comforgel sleeping pad mounted to the bottom of a rotating sofa that folded into the floor. Overall, her new home had about as much space as a half-length trailer of a cargo transport truck. One window in the center of the outside wall offered a modest view of the building across the street. A counter with a food reassembler occupied the area to the right of the window; to the left, an autoshower stood wedged between a toilet and the wall. Rather than a partition or separate room, the shower used a near-opaque plastic tube, which still emitted the warm fragrance of recent use.
She swished one hand over the holographic control panel every four or five seconds, trying to find a channel on the vid with something worth watching. After settling on an animated fantasy intended for kids, she went over to a white box mounted at about head-level on the wall. It ignored her when she pushed the single button at the bottom. A pounding fist caused a plastic-wrapped packet of pale grey cloth to plop to the carpet at her feet.
“A soft couch and all the pre-packaged panties I could ask for.” K
ate ripped the pouch open and slipped them up under the robe. “Guess this is the sweet life.”
Once dressed in a full-sleeved shirt and loose pants, she tossed the bathrobe over the autoshower door’s handle and dialed up a turkey sandwich on the ‘sem. It whirred and chugged; the level of beige goop in the OmniSoy tank dropped by an inch and a half and the machine went into a banging, beeping fit.
“That doesn’t look―”
Bang.
The reassembler hatch flew open, spattering her with ooze the approximate consistency of hot cottage cheese that smelled of Spanish olives and sardines. She pursed her lips, wiping her eyes clear.
“Yeah… So this is paradise.”
“Are you okay?”
Kate whirled, startled by the voice of Officer Ahmed standing in her doorway. Distant squeals of playing children echoed in from the cramped hallway behind him. “I was just conducting an experiment involving molecular reassignment of protein strands. You could have hit the buzzer.”
“Heard the explosion, used the override.”
Her glance shifted to the box under his arm. “What’s that?”
“I wanted to bring you something; mind if I come in?”
“You’re already in.” She pulled her fingers through her hair, squeegeeing out handfuls of OmniSoy slime, which she threw into the autoshower. “Give me a moment to clean up.”
He sat on the couch with his hand on the box next to him. Kate ran a towel over herself, considering another shower, but decided against it with a guest in the room. After changing her shirt, she flopped on the other side of the package and swiped her arm at the air to turn off the holo-vid.
“This is for you.” He patted the box and removed his hand.
She slid the gift onto her lap and examined it. It took a moment to find the clip holding it shut, and the upper half opened like a hatch. A layer of shimmery black fabric with a metallic sheen sat inside. Grasping it, she found it cool to the touch, and the fabric took on the shape of a Division 0 uniform as she held it up. The material went from black to indigo when light struck it at certain angles.
“Indirium nanofibers. It won’t burn if you take a bullet.”
Kate lowered her arms, still clutching the fabric. “Sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
She wanted to look at him, but couldn’t. “I must’ve made you uncomfortable in the testing facility. It…” Her hands kneaded the uniform. “I read too much into the way I thought you were looking at me.”
“Ahh.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I’m surprised no one commented when you leaned into me like that.”
He noticed? Kate’s face warmed with blush. “Sorry, that was… I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“You do realize he is the deputy director of Division 0? There’s five layers of command below him… Directly under Burckhardt is a regional commander, then two area chiefs, director of field operations, a couple lieutenant commanders, and finally, Captain Hollister, my immediate superior. They call that fraternizing.”
She stared at her lap. “It’s okay; you don’t have to make me feel better. I know I’m seeing what isn’t there. Just like with Esteban.”
“That man you went off in search of?” Ahmed laced his fingers. “I was disappointed when you left.”
Kate looked up at him. “You were flirting with me then? I thought―”
He chuckled. “No, you weren’t imagining it. Maybe I should’ve been more obvious, but I didn’t want to scare you off. You seemed like someone who understood how it felt to be isolated. Then, you mentioned that man…”
“Isolated? You?” She wrinkled her nose.
“As soon as women learn I’m an empath, they assume their emotions are unnatural. Even if they’re genuine, once they hear the word ‘telempath,’ there’s no convincing them I’m not manipulating them to make them have feelings for me.” He glanced at her. “I saw that same loneliness in you, and felt a connection. Still, I wanted to help you… even if you had your heart set on someone else.”
Every muscle in her body tensed upon eye contact. She became vaguely aware of her pulse picking up as she reached over and slid her fingers between his. He didn’t scream, burn, or pull away. Twenty-five years and I’ve never been able to even hold hands before. What are you waiting for? He’s here. I’m here… No, don’t ruin it. Kate closed her eyes, brought close to tears by the touch of his thumb across the back of her hand.
“Would you like to go somewhere for a drink?” He glanced at the splattered beige mess. “Perhaps food?”
She leaned into him. “I don’t know. I don’t handle liquor well. The last time I had a drink, I wound up in a clandestine prison.”
David put an arm around her. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
Kate grinned. “That fingerprint… in Querq when you asked me to e-sign that pad.”
He smiled. “Sometimes a minor technicality is a major help.”
“All right.” She lifted her head from his shoulder; the energy in his eyes filled her heart with the stirrings of a connection she craved for her entire life. “I don’t know my way around the civilized parts of the city. Did you have anywhere specific in mind?”
“I was thinking of this rustic little place named Tumbleweed’s.” He winked. “It’s a bit of a ride, but the locals are quite friendly.”
Thanks for reading Daughter of Ash, book 4 of the Awakened series!
Mark Woodring – You have my thanks again for another wonderful job editing. It’s always a pleasure to work with you.
Additional thanks to Eugene Teplitsky for creating the stunning cover art.
I’d like to also thank everyone at Curiosity Quills for making this book (and series) a reality.
Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew Cox has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.
He is also fond of cats.
Now that you have completed this book, we hope you will leave a review so that other readers may benefit from your perspective. Authors like Matthew S. Cox live and die by your reviews, after all!
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Appetizer:
Book Cover
Title Page
Main Course:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty