Ghost in the Machine (Corwint Central Agent Files)

by C. E. Kilgore

  “Hello, I’m Hank Eros, Captain of the Zera. Director Szina...”

  “Said you needed a negotiator.” Orynn turned around to the group and surveyed Hank for a long moment. “I am glad to meet you.” She placed her hand to the center of her chest and bowed her head slightly at him with lowered, open eyes. “I am called Orynn, and I am at your service.”

  Hank wasn’t quite sure what to do in response to her gesture, so he just smiled and dipped his chin at her. “Thank you.” A silent awkward moment passed.

  Introduce us to her, Hank. Merik projected his thoughts through Hank’s thick skull with annoyance at his lack of understanding. She opened herself to us, now you must return the favor.

  Hank gave a silent thanks to Merik and cleared his throat. He gestured to Tara. “This is my engineer, Tara Flint.”

  Tara gave a genuine smile and extended her hand as Orynn turned her way. “Nice to meet you.”

  Orynn observed Tara’s inviting aura and accepted the hand. “And you, Tara.”

  “Brom is my weapons specialist.” Hank continued.

  “Hey.” Brom didn’t extend his hand and became noticeably uneasy as Orynn turned her strange eyes to him.

  “Brom.” She repeated his name and bowed her head at him. She could feel the anxious tension wafting from Brom’s aura and it hit against her skin with the rough irritation of sandpaper. She knew there would be an Orellian aboard the Zera, which would cause additional difficulties in her acceptance to the crew. It was not something she had looked forward to dealing with, but she could not hold his feelings of her against him. The brutal and bloody history between their two races was a dark stain that could not be easily brushed away with a smiled greeting.

  Hank decided it was best to move on as the silence between Brom and Orynn hung in the air. He gestured towards Merik who had moved to the front of the group. “And this is...”

  “Merik.” Merik responded before Hank could finish. He locked eyes with Orynn and time in the hangar seemed to slow around them as their auras inspected one another.

  “It is a great honor to meet a free-living Trexen.” Orynn offered him a smile and glanced over his figure. All Trexen, but perhaps a handful, were Xen’dari puppets. Trexen who declared themselves free-living were hunted down and terminated. The Xen’dari were very strong-minded about keeping their genetically enhanced weapons in check. This Trexen’s aura was a black storm of tightly controlled carnal emotions and intoxicating power. With a shallow breath in the face of his suffocating energy, she held her hand up to him, palm facing out.

  Merik observed her for a few long seconds more, then followed her gesture. He removed the fingerless glove from his hand and hovered his palm a few inches from hers. She was showing him an unexpected trust and it gave him an uncharacteristic pause of caution. Unable to ignore his growing desire to satisfy his curiosity, he pushed the caution aside and pressed his hand against hers.

  His eyes closed as she opened herself to him in a sensation he could never hope to describe in words. With flashes of images and deep emotional torrents, he flew through selected pieces of her past, her thoughts and her being. When he opened his eyes again, he looked at her with a new understanding of just who and what she was. “You are indeed Orynn, daughter of Tersai, of the Sisterhood of Vesparia. I am equally honored.”

  Orynn continued smiling softly as she and Merik shared a lingering glance. The images she had shown to the Trexen had been carefully selected, but she could feel that if Merik wanted to, he could dive deeper beyond what she wanted him to see without much difficulty. It had been a long time since she had run into a Trexen with his natural ability, especially one so young.

  With another shallow breath, she tore her eyes away from him to look at the final member of the group. As her eyes took in the tall figure of the Mecha, her smile was replaced by an open mouthed expression of awe.

  “Remarkable.” She quietly whispered with a stunned blink, unable to stop herself from leaning in closer to Ethan.

  He was far from the first Mecha she had encountered, but he was by far the most advanced. All of them, be they call androids, machines, or Mecha, had paled in comparison to Ethan’s natural and subtle details. Technology had always been a fascinating subject for her and this Mecha was one of the most brilliant examples of tech that she had ever come across. She forgot herself momentarily and was lost in a need to take in every part of the skillfully designed masterpiece standing before her.

  His synthetic flesh looked as real and soft as any Organic’s, but it had a subtle translucent quality to it with undertones of blue and silver. His frame was very tall and slender, but solid. Her eyes made their way up the tight white shirt hugging the contours of his chest between the sides of his jacket and gazed at his face. Framed by a strongly defined jaw, his face was handsome and perfectly crafted. The blue of his lips was a perfect match for the blue of his hair which was cut short at the neck and spiked long on the top. His bangs arched playfully over his brow and eyes.

  When she got to his eyes, she stopped breathing. The deep blue of his eyes were sapphires surrounding pupils of mechanical ingenuity. As she stared more deeply into them, she sensed something she had never noticed in a Mecha before. She could feel him, just like she could any Organic. The electrical and emotional aura he had was faint, but it was definitely there. It was a very strange and disorienting experience that made her doubt her empathic senses momentarily. In truth, she found herself slightly unnerved and very much unprepared for this circumstance.

  Hank watched as Orynn’s eyes roamed over Ethan’s body and face, and he could see Ethan’s growing confusion and awkward tension. “This is Ethan, our Technician.”

  Orynn inhaled slowly as her mind refocused and the rest of the hangar flooded back in. She looked at the others and realized she had been making them all uncomfortable. Turning back to Ethan, she wanted to disappear from the look he was giving her. She took an immediate step back and placed both hands centered on her chest, bowing her head deeply to him. She had made a grievous misstep and chided herself for her lack of discipline. “Please forgive my rudeness. I did not mean to treat you as an object of curiosity.”

  “But that’s what he is.” Hank cut in with a forced chuckle, hoping to lighten the air a little. It only seemed to make her more uneasy.

  “Hardly.” Orynn raised her head slightly. “Jehdra spoke of Ethan when she reviewed the crew manifest with me, but...” She tempted a glance back up to Ethan who was still surveying her with his unreadable and breathtaking eyes. “she failed to mention how advanced...” Orynn’s words trailed off and her eyes darted back down to the ground in uncertainty.

  “He certainly is.” Hank stepped over to them and set a hand on Ethan’s shoulder, hoping to get past this awkward moment. Ethan, however, refused to take his eyes off of her and had a strange expression on his face. The Mecha was either deeply offended and perturbed, or he was just as curious about her.

  “So...” Tara decided to try her hand and changing the atmosphere. “How long have you been working with Central?”

  Orynn, thankful for a change in topic, smiled at Tara. “I have been officially in the service of the Council for one hundred and eight years of Corwint. I normally work solo on Outer Rim missions requiring long-term infiltration, but Jehdra asked that I take leave of my current assignment to work with your crew. When I learned it was for the nephew of Jhonis Eros, I could not refuse.”

  “You knew Jhonis?” Brom leaned back on a nearby support column and crossed his arms over his chest. He was curious about her past, but he was still not sure she wouldn’t eat one of their crew. Merik may have given her a pass, but Brom had known Jhonis for twenty-three years and he had never once mentioned any run-in with a Vesparian.

  “Yes.” Orynn moved her eyes to the Orellian. “He tried to save the life of my mother.”

  “Tried?” Tara frowned as her thoughts went to her own mother. “You mean she died?”

  Orynn nodded. “Yes. But
he tried. That is all that matters.”

  “He never mentioned it to any of us, meeting a Vesparian.” Brom wanted to make a point, despite the story of her mother. If she had wiped the memory of Jhonis, how could she be trusted?

  Orynn downcast her eyes. “It was a regrettable circumstance that required the alteration of his knowledge of our encounters from his memory.”

  Her eyes looked back up to the group with a small hint of defiant unapologetic resolve entering her voice. “We do what is necessary to protect those who we consider allies. Knowledge of our existence can lead to dangers from outsiders who are seeking to use us for their purposes. When it comes to choosing between torture and death or a loss of memory, we choose the later. Some may think it is an invasive method, but most times it is the only option left to us.”

  She turned to Hank with an honesty in her eyes that made his heart pause for a moment. “Your uncle was a good man.”

  Hank nodded. “Yes, he was.”

  Brom shifted his weight. Her answer made sense, but he still wasn’t ready to let his dislike of Vesparians go so easily. “Sorry to hear about your mom. Did Jhonis know your father too?”

  Orynn’s face became expressionless as she turned back to Brom. The tension between them was wearing on her and she had absorbed quite enough of it for her liking. She decided a well-placed lie might serve to clear the air. “I never met my father, but I was told he was delicious.”

  Brom’s face blanched and he looked like he might be ill at any moment. A deep rumbling laugh echoed into the hangar and the group all turned to find Merik almost doubled over in amusement.

  “I like her!”

  “You can laugh?” Hank was shocked.

  Merik straightened as the moment vanished and all humor left his face. “Yes, if something is amusing. Well, I have places to be.”

  He turned his black eyes back to Orynn as he stepped close to her again. Looking down on her, the top of her head barely came past his shoulders and it beguiled him that a creature so small and harmless looking could be one of the most dangerous in the universe. Her eyes raised up to his and he found himself sucked in by their swirling mercury. It would not have surprised him if she used that moment to tie up any loose ends and wipe his memory of her. In fact, he expected it.

  Instead of altering his memory, she returned his stare and he could feel her empathic aura shuddering against his own. Her aura was bright and moved around her like a great ocean. It rippled through everything it touched and he wondered if she knew the full force of its gravity. Where her aura was fluid and caressing, his was jagged and etched with places where his emotions had been ripped out by the Xen’dari. Being this close to her, he could feel part of those missing pieces of his soul start to rebuild.

  It was a deadly thing for a free-living Trexen to let that happen. Emotions were a weak crux for prey and he was the hunter. Still, he admittedly craved more of what her aura was doing to him. “I would very much like the chance to learn more of you.”

  “And I more of you.” Orynn could feel the subtle conflict in Merik’s aura and it tempted her to push further. Trexens were an interestingly complex race with a history just as complicated as Vesparians. Being so close to one was an experience most of her sisters avoided due to their carnal auras and mind-reading capabilities. She, however, had always been drawn to them by her curiosity. The last time she had been this close to one it had not ended well. That thought caused her to back her emotions away.

  Feeling the empathic connection dissipate brought Merik’s mind out of its fog. With a raised eyebrow, he realized he was going to have to keep a close eye on this one. She was much more powerful than Jehdra had let on. He turned away from the group and started walking off. “I’ll be around.”

  “Understood.” Ethan watched as Merik drew up the hood on his reflector trench coat. It shimmered for a moment before his figure became indistinguishable from the rest of the hangar. Ethan turned back to Orynn who was still looking in the direction that Merik had gone. She didn’t seem to know that Merik’s last words were a warning to Ethan about her. With the way she was gazing at the space where Merik had been, Ethan wasn’t even sure she had heard them.

  As the presence of Merik’s aura drifted away and was lost in the crowded hangar, she took a moment to gather herself after the intense exchange. With a deep breath to clear her head, she turned to Hank. “I am sure you are on a schedule. Shall we depart, Captain?”

  Hank nodded and motioned for her to follow. He watched as Orynn picked up a small tote bag and nodded for him to lead the way. Brom was the last to follow the group as it headed back towards the bay where the Zera was parked.

  “So, did your mom eat your dad or not?”

  5 Make an Exit

  Orynn watched Hank’s back as he led her on board the Zera and down the corridor towards her quarters while the others disappeared in various directions to prepare the ship for departure. This crew had certainly been a bit more than she was expecting. An Orellian with an obvious grudge, a Trexen who seemed to show up whenever he pleased, an engineer who had shown an unexpectedly open kindness and a Mecha whose aura, which should not exist at all, was still throwing her off balance. The ship was small and she was grateful that it would only be these few people she would need to interact with so openly for this mission. She also knew that it could prove harder to avoid making connections in a small group than in a large crowd.

  Her eyes refocused on the man in front of her as they walked down the corridor. Hankarron Eros, the second man to hold that name. Jehdra had explained how the Xen'dari wanted him dead, while a number of other planetary governments wanted him delivered alive so he could be turned over to the Xen’dari for a considerable sum of money.

  Mercy was not something the Xen'dari found acceptable in war. Openly going against the Objective of the Xen'dari was as good as slicing a blade across your own throat. The Xen'dari would not stop, pardon or simply forgive your transgression. They would hunt you down and make you an example to any who dared to contemplate making the same mistake. She knew the harsh reality of that truth first hand.

  The reality they existed in was cruel, full of spite and seething with betrayal. It was a world in which Trexen women were used as breeding machines for genetically engineered weapons and where T’jaros bounty hunters were given free jurisdiction to terrorize spaceports under the guise of Xen’dari peacekeepers. It was a universe where slavery existed, the massacre and oppression of sentient species was overlooked in the face of fundamentalism and where credits were valued higher than the life of a being.

  The universe was full of so many dark auras and countless horrors. Sometimes, it made it hard for her to breathe.

  It was the small flickering lights in the universe like Hank and his crew, the Corwint Central agency and even kind pod Captains like Aaxn that gave Orynn hope. Though fleeting and often hidden, compassion did exist. Because of this compassion, people who lived trapped inside the darkness that permeated the space around them managed to break free and rise above it. The work that Central was doing was an even further step beyond. They were not only rising above the darkness, they were fighting against it.

  Though she had been working for Central for over a century, she often found it hard to connect what she did with the larger picture or see how she was making any type of impact against the oppressive forces. She was one who stood apart while the rest of the universe moved around her, always unaware of her presence. It was rare for her to go on a mission where those she would be working with would know of her true identity. It was typically against her people’s doctrine and their agreement with Central Command. Being open had proven in the past to be a mistake that led to unnecessary problems. Yet, here she was amongst them and with direct orders to be open about herself. In a universe where her entire race lived only as shadows and whispers, she found it unnerving to be suddenly thrown into existence.

  “This is your room.” Hank stopped abruptly and Orynn almost ran into his b
ack. “Sorry.”

  She smiled softly up at him. “It is alright. My mind sometimes wanders.”

  He returned the smile and keyed the entry pad. The door opened and he gestured for her to step inside. He still wasn’t sure what to make of her, and he wasn’t ready to give her his complete trust yet. Merik validated her identity and the Director trusted her, but she was Vesparian. Hank had witnessed her abilities to mask and change herself for others. Perhaps the Orynn that Merik had been allowed to see was different than the Orynn that was now a member of his crew. The unknown history she had with his uncle had also come as an unsettling surprise.

  He paused in the doorway and watched as she took in the living quarters. “It’s not much, but the ship was designed to give as much space to the cargo and engine as possible while still keeping her slim in the tail.”

  She turned and looked at him in a silent surprise. The room was enormous compared to the last few places she had called home. It had a bed set in the corner and nestled against an outside wall. There was a small port window on that wall and then a set of shelves. Below the shelves and at the foot of the bed was a metal desk and a chair. The space between the doorway and the bed was enough to fit two more beds at least and still have room for some movement. On the right wall was a row of storage compartments and a door to a bathroom. A personal bathroom!

  He tilted his head at her shocked expression, not sure what she expected on this type of vessel. “If it’s not ok, I mean...”

  She realized her expression had caused a misunderstanding. Despite two centuries of practice, she still found honest physical communication difficult at times. “No, this is more than adequate. I was just surprised at the space. I expected to be bunking with someone.”

  “Oh, I see.” The smile returned to his face. “Well, make yourself at home then. I have to go clear the ship for departure with the station. We have a couple days journey to our next location, and there is a meeting in the conference room tomorrow at 08:00 to discuss where we are going.”