Kali’s eyes flew open, piercing, and snapped to Blue.
Frightened, Kenshin lurched back, the laser scalpel falling from his fist.
The odd angle of her head made the stiff fixation of Kali’s eyeballs creepy, but Blue stared back, and was sucked into a vortex of impressions.
Icy cold. Slimy wet. Isolation.
“I’m trapped here, Blue.” Her desperate whisper echoed in his ears, the same haunting voice from his dream. “I’m cold.”
Thick tubes pierced his flesh. They were stuck in his stomach, his chest, and the back of his head. He tasted bitter liquid swilling in his mouth and wanted to gag. His skin felt grimy and shrivelled. A dark cloud of hair floated around him, and his eyes burned when he peered through the murky water he was submerged in. Bone-chilling fear had him struggling to move from the restraints holding him spread-eagled as the white shadow drifted closer then pressed its face to the glass. His heart pounded in fright at the bulbous obsidian eyes, colourless skin, and pitiless mouth filled with fangs.
The connection was cut.
Blue was hurled back into his own mind.
Lara and Igor grabbed their heads. Kenshin fell to his knees, eyes rolling out of sync as blood seeped from his nose. The Humans jerked away from the Hybrids, terrified by them and the moving corpse.
High-pitched screeches bounced off the walls. The frequency of the mental communication increased to a painful trilling, and the vibrations shattered the thin crystal beakers strewn across the ransacked medical bay.
Kali’s pale, dead face twisted in agony. Her neck cricked oddly. An excruciating punch of telepathic energy blasted through the room. “HELP ME!” The guttural cry echoed loudly. Kali’s mouth wrenched open and froze agape. She screamed. The bloodcurdling sound didn’t come from her gaping mouth, but through the ghostly mental connection, exploding with apocalyptic force. It ripped past the Hybrid’s mental defences and rattled the room.
The body on the crystal table trembled violently. It turned translucent black then disintegrated through Blue’s fingers, a sand so fine it flowed like water and sparkled like crystals. It gushed over the edges of the tabletop and sifted onto the floor in a gentle rush.
Silence descended with a faded ringing in the air.
In delayed reaction, Christabella shrieked hysterically. Her whole body quaked with the sheer force of the noise erupting from her.
Creighton convulsed then rolled over and vomited electric pink LiquiNu onto the titles. Mixed with his stomach acid, it stank, and made their eyes water in the enclosed space.
“Somebody tell me what’s happening?” Zeke’s bellow crackled over the ComLink. “Push collapsed. She’s bleeding from her ears. Oi? Can anybody hear me?” There was a tinkle as the transmission cut.
Groaning, Kenshin lifted himself from the floor. He swiped at his bloody nose. “I need to work on my mental barriers.”
“There was no stopping that,” Lara gasped. She rubbed her temples, cheeks pink. “When I realised what was happening I tried to erect a block, but my wall was torn apart like tissue paper.”
“The touch was strong,” Igor rumbled. “Clumsy, but powerful. I did not sense hostile intentions, only the desire to be heard. Natalya! Quiet.”
The leopard immediately stopped snarling at the clipped command from her master.
“What, the fux, was that?” Max mumbled.
Prying Christabella’s hands from her temples, he helped the traumatized girl onto her feet. He tucked her head on his chest to stifle her cries as he glared at the dark piles of sand that used to hold the form of his best friend’s body.
Howl padded into the room and stopped beside Blue. He sniffed at the sand then chuffed bad-naturedly. It was the first time he’d come anywhere near Kali. He barked then sat at Blue’s side, his golden eyes knowing.
Blue placed a hand on the FetchMe’s downy head.
He had not been as physically affected as the others by the mental push, being stronger in his psychokinetic ability yet it had shaken him to the core. He was certain the message had been meant for him. His mind raced as he pieced it together, and the relief that stole over his body bowled him over. To hold himself upright on shaky legs, his palm flattened on the crystal table, grains of sand rubbing into his skin as he stared at the opposite wall.
“Wasn’t her,” he said finally, eyes closing briefly. “My Kali didn’t die. It wasn’t her.”
“The FetchMe knew,” Lara said, visibly shaken. She pushed her hair back from her face and clasped her throat. “This whole time. That’s why he wouldn’t go near her.”
“Remarkable,” Kenshin breathed, crawling forward to sift his gloved hand through a silky pile. “Fascinating.”
“What was that thing?” Max demanded again. “Why did it look like Kali?” He shook his head in disbelief. “No, I’m sorry, but I know that girl like I know myself. That was Kali.”
“Did they trick us when we saved Madeleine and Creighton?” asked Christabella in a small voice. “What if more of us are like that?”
Though she doubted the people around her, she clung onto Max.
“She was in my head,” Igor said quietly. “Kali. She’s screaming inside. I felt tubes all over my body and such pain in my mind.” He dragged in a breath. “It did not come from this body. The call for help came from somewhere else.”
“The Creator,” Lara said. “They released this … thing.”
“Then why did she not attack us or relay our plans to raid the slave encampment?” Igor questioned.
“You think this thing was sent by the real Kali?” Lara frowned. “She’s never met us. I admit it’s odd the replica didn’t try anything suspicious, but it wasn’t on our side.”
“Replica?” Christabella groaned, looking faint.
Igor was uncertain. Lara was not making sense to him. “The touch to my mind was familiar. It felt like Kali knew me. Personally.”
“Just because the replica appeared good, doesn’t mean it was.”
“She couldn’t have managed this.” Creighton stared at where his daughter used to be. “Kali wasn’t a Hybrid before they took her. Her eyes were normal and so was her hair. No sharp teeth. She hid nothing from us. She was considered a genius and never hid it. She showed no telekinetic or telepathic–”
“Latent inherent ability, perhaps.” Kenshin was on his knees by the black sand, thoughtful. “You can’t classify what you can’t see.”
“The muscle memory,” Max murmured. “She couldn’t throw that knife.”
Creighton snapped his gaze to the younger man. “What?”
“She was different, but it doesn’t matter. We can’t leave her,” Max pressed urgently. “She wouldn’t leave me, any of us, if she knew we were in trouble. We have to go back.”
“Like Lara, I doubt the real Kali met us,” Kenshin said. “I do not think she is at the encampment. The call originated further than that.”
“Please,” Creighton whispered, emotionally flattened. “Help me find my daughter. We have to go back to look for clues.”
“Speculation is counter-productive and inconclusive,” Lara stated. She slapped her hands together. “You’re grasping at straws. We can order Zeke and Valiant to turn the ship around in the hope of finding Kali at the slave encampment, but we all know how stupid that would be. Evidence suggests she’s not there, and the area has been compromised by the Creator’s viral weaponry. Do you honestly believe we’ll be able to escape if we do find something? The Host and the Creator are on alert after our raid.” She gave them hard looks to reaffirm that she thought the concept of going back ludicrous. “We continue as we are, safe and alive.”
“Listen to what you’re asking,” Blue seethed. “They could move Kali or destroy evidence of where she might be. Her trail would go cold.”
“Finding a clue to her whereabouts back there holds a minimal chance of success. You’re Hybrid, stop thinking like a Human, and do the math, Blue. There is a high likelihood of success if we return to t
he bunker. Making impromptu changes to our short-term goals remains the superior plan. It is illogical to turn back.”
“I agree running away is logical,” Igor said. “But is it the right thing to do?”
“It’s not running away,” Lara shot back. “It’s survival.”
“I can no longer reconcile my feelings to follow cold logic.” He shrugged at her. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m being honest.”
“This is ridiculous,” Lara shouted. She spun to Creighton. “I am sorry for all that you have lost. Truly. I fought to keep the replica alive, but I won’t run head first into certain danger without a damn good reason.”
“We knew her before the invasion,” Christabella said. “Can’t you understand that?”
“People die all the time. Thousands have died in the last few days, and your entire species is being enslaved as we speak. Shit happens. It’s sad the wonderful Kali Loklear got swept up in that,” she waved her hands theatrically, “but we need to regain focus. We already risked everything for Kali to find her parents, and look where that brought us.”
“Dreamed of her,” said Blue. “She’s been reaching out to me this whole time, and I ignored her. Couldn’t see past what she put in front of me.” His head moved from side to side, in admiration. “It wasn’t the Novae. Kali’s been astral projecting her etheric body into this one.”
Kali had felt different to him when he’d found her. Even the replica had been confused as to why the connection was no longer there. They’d both decided maybe they weren’t as compatible as they first thought, but there were odd moments when he looked into her eyes and felt that special connection.
Those glimpses of what he felt before she had been taken now made perfect sense.
“She believes everything is connected on a plane below subatomic,” he explained, because he saw they weren’t having the same epiphany as him. “The containment of energy gives us mass, matter, and she transformed the energy of the material she had to hand into her.”
“You’re pushing this because the replica said she woke up in sand,” Lara protested.
“Really?” Kenshin’s eyes were round. “Lara, that strengthens his argument.”
Blue nodded. “When the replica died the energy reverted to its pre-manipulated state. Kali was somehow still connected to it. She felt the death, and in desperation sent a final mental touch to reach us.”
Blue repeatedly thumped the tabletop with both hands in agitation, all the pieces falling into order. The strength of her mind blew him away. How many people would fall apart in the hands of an extra terrestrial captor? How many would use their intelligence to reach out like she had when they were physically bound?
What she had accomplished humbled Blue.
Her mind was beautiful, and when he found her, he would tell her so.
“Blue, stop. Breathe. Listen to what you’re saying and you’ll realise it’s moon mad.” Lara planted fists on her temples. “Even I couldn’t focus enough psychic power to accomplish that. You’re talking about manipulating billions of particles on the subatomic plane, and altering their oscillations without screwing up their dimensional super symmetry.”
“Princess studied that,” Creighton said, ready to accept any explanation if at the end of it he got his daughter back. “Super symmetric string theory.”
Lara bade herself to be calm. She spread her fingers at her waist and inhaled deeply. “Did she? Granted, what Blue is suggesting is theorised, and within the realms of Theory Of Everything,” she said calmly. “But to think that a Human could do this thing is insane.”
“It’s the transference of energy from one form into another,” Blue said. “Someone wise once told me the scientific definitions are fancy names for something natural. It happens all the time around us.” He tapped his foot. “I could do it. Do it on a minor scale when I use my psychokinetic abilities. Couldn’t she on a larger magnitude?”
Lara’s mouth fell open. “You were spawned from Omicron stock and selected as best. You are genetically superior. She is Human.”
“And stubborn as a rock,” Blue added.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Blue sort of smiled. “She knew it was possible. She’d never stop trying.”
“We don’t know she is a full Human for certain,” Kenshin said, holding out a placating hand to Lara who had turned an unattractive shade of red that clashed with her hair. “Creighton has confessed her origins to be unknown, and Max says she displayed the same implicit muscle memory skill as Blue.”
“I’m lost,” Christabella mumbled, feeling dumb as brick in the present company. “Etheric body?”
She had been lucky to be with Max when the invasion happened. Had she been with her usual crowd, Christabella knew she’d more than likely be wandering around barefoot with an alien baby in her stomach.
Or dead.
She almost wished for the simplicity of pregnancy because listening to the braincases was hurting her head.
“Her aura,” Igor said in quiet awe. “Her second self. Her spirit. Her–”
“Soul,” Christabella interrupted sweetly. She touched his arm. “I got it.”
Lara glared at Igor. “You’re not seriously considering this as feasible? You’re trying to convince me she transformed black sand crystals into a living, breathing replica of herself?”
“Then sporadically astral projected her soul into it,” Blue added. “Correct.”
“Seriously?” Max finally caught up. Blue believed Kali had created a clone of herself out of sand? The Virgin forgive him, he was inclined to side with Lara on this one, but then he thought about Kali, his best friend since the cradle. He thought of the way her mind worked, and how she would make the impossible possible because she was just that bolshie. “You know, that actually sounds like something she would do. It explains why this replica Kali didn’t have the muscle memory. Kal didn’t understand how that worked, so she wouldn’t have been able to duplicate it.”
“Kali was made of sand,” Christabella muttered, totally confused. Her head turned from one face to another. “Stuff from the beach?”
They all looked at her, blinked then looked away.
Igor was enchanted when she went pink with embarrassment and ducked her head, rubbing her nose to cover her bafflement.
“I agree. It is logical,” Blue continued, gathering more confidence in what he knew in his heart was fact. “Kali knows I’m highly attuned to psi-gamma energy. Especially hers after we….”
Max’s brow lifted. “You what?”
Blue eyes snapped to and from Creighton. He said nothing, not wanting to rile the older man.
Kali and Blue’s minds and souls had merged during their kiss. Was that why the Novae took her? Would she have been safe if he hadn’t alerted them to her?
“She hoped I would find her breadcrumb,” Blue said finally, his cheeks hot thinking about that kiss. “Feel the real her reaching out, and know she needed help. I failed. The replica said she felt like she had to find someone. I thought she was talking about her parents.”
“This changes nothing.” Lara was uncompromising. “We’ll strengthen our mental shields and block her out.”
Blue’s head dropped like the weight of the idea was too much.
“You evil bitch.” Max got in her face. “She’s found a way to reach us. You want us turn our backs?”
“Someone has to be the voice of reason. If the Creator gets his hands on you Humans it’ll be bad.” Lara’s entire body shook with rage and fear as she stood her ground. “They will chop us Hybrids into pieces to see why we rebelled. They’ll rape our minds, and I’d rather die than suffer that.”
“I vote to find her,” Igor said. He shoved himself between Max and Lara to prevent a physical fight. “The Novan we fought at the encampment was surprised to see this replica too. Its consciousness was different, disconnected from the Hive.” Igor shook his head. “I didn’t understand how it could do that or why it would
. Surely you noticed it practically let us go.”
Max spluttered, “Let us go? Were you at the same rescue as me?”
“We were at a distance where escape was probable for Kali before we ran into any real trouble. All was dealt with easily enough.”
“He tried to kill her,” Max argued.
“It tried to send the replica back into its original form.” Igor was confident in his analysis of the situation. “The question we should be asking is why it cared if she was the real Kali, or not, and why it became important she escape if it was likely the replica would survive. It is not logical.”
Kenshin took one of Lara’s hands in his and patted it in comfort. “There is no easy decision to be made here. Blue is our leader for a reason. To doubt him now negates everything we are. Omicron, what do we do?”
These Hybrids had come to him because they believed in his ability to keep them safe. He had set them aside to find Kali, then pushed them into helping him save her family. He could no longer ask them to keep putting themselves at risk for someone he had already failed to save once, no matter how deeply it tore him apart.
Blue opened his mouth to give the logical answer his people needed to hear, but his eyes strayed to his wrist. On it, the faded leather strap Kali had tied onto him as they sat together under the stars.
Howl sniffed at the braid and whined, staring at Blue imploringly. The FetchMe loved his mistress and had known she needed him. Howl had been loyal, and was dragged out of the habitat he’d lived with Kali growling. Even he couldn’t protect her.
Could anybody have kept her safe?
Maybe if Zeke’s team had been successful in its mission they would have gone on to successfully save Kali and her family.
It was then a snag caught in the fabric of his mind. He explored the stray train of thought, and the snag gouged a gigantic hole in his perfect reasoning. It hit Blue hard, tearing apart his sangfroid as the breath whooshed from his lungs in shock. His fingers curled under into fists.
He opened a ComLink with the bridge. “Zeke?” There was silence. “Valiant?”
Chaos Theory Cosmic Lovely Page 24
