“I would not need to heal if you did not cut on me.”
“The surgeries are necessary.”
“Why!” She rose to her knees. “Why? The tube makes it so my disease does not spread. We can be together.”
“But you will still be sick.”
“I could live decades before it would matter. The quarum keeps the tissue alive and healthy.”
“What happens if we lose the quorum?”
“Then we die, together.”
“I cannot lose you. You are everything to me.”
“Please Xade, no more.”
His hand brushed her cheek, much like Marin's did mine last night. “All right.”
She smiled and scrambled to her feet. Her arms went around Xade's waist.
His hands framed her face, and he stared at her before his eyes drifted over her shoulder. She sagged against him. “You said no more.”
“I lied.”
Selmay dropped to the ground.
Xade stood there with a syringe in his hand and a smile on his face.
The next image showed the change.
Selmay curled in the corner. Her clothes were filthy. Blood oozed from her jaw onto her neck. Her hair had grown out and covered her face. Her arms were over her head, and she rocked into the wall. “No more, please, no more.”
My hand covered my chest, heart aching. “I know that feeling.”
Selmay's hand gripped my shoulder. “I know you do. I have seen yours as well.”
Our gazes met. The next was the worst.
Selmay rocked in the corner, facing the room. Her arms crossed over her chest, her head down. When Xade entered she didn't stop her movements. She didn't acknowledge him at all.
“Now you are being childish. We just want to make you safe, whole. We love you.”
Selmay's head rose. “We?” Her eyes widened when she noted the clone standing right next to him.
“What is that?”
“This is what I was working on; do you not remember me telling you about it? These are the clones. We have numerous sets. They have developed very well, do you not think?”
“Why do they all look like you? But all pale and thin and pasty?”
“They are my clones. Texxak has his own clones. It is specific to the Progenitor.”
“So you are just going to make your own people?”
“We need the numbers; your people are quite efficient at killing mine. Apparently, your father objected to our marriage, and then when I would not let him see you… Well, now we are at war.”
Selmay's head jerked up, and she began to push herself up along the wall. “War?”
Xade's mouth twisted. “Do not look so happy.”
“This is wrong, Xade. You have to know that.”
“No. This is right,” he screamed and advanced on her with a blade in each hand.
He pressed her into the wall, one blade to her neck, another to her cheek. “I have given you everything. All of this is for you and you doubt me? Me. I made this world.”
“You destroyed this world. Can you not hear it crying?”
“You stupid Fost and your land-loving idiocies. There is no magic in this world.”
“Do you love me?”
“I will always love you.”
“Then let me go. Let me fight and die.”
“I cannot bear to part with you.”
Selmay shoved him. “I am not your possession. I want to be with my family and help them fight.”
“You would fight against me?”
Selmay flinched at his tone, her gaze dropping automatically. “No, not against you.”
Xade tipped her chin up with the knife. “I do not believe you. I think you would leave me in a second if you could.” He took the second blade and cut it deep into her face, trailing the metal down and into her jaw.
Selmay didn’t so much as twitch. “You cannot hurt me anymore, Xade. I am done.”
Her eyes remained calm and focused on his as he carved her face to pieces.
No, Selmay was no spy.
Chapter Six
How did one start a conversation with someone after watching them be carved up like a side of beef?
Selmay kept her eyes down and fists clenched.
“I agree, you’re not a spy.”
She laughed without humor. “No.” There was a world of hurt and disillusionment in that tone. “I want some information. How are you finding these bases so easily?”
“Dela.”
“What is Dela?”
“Not a what, Dela is a who. He is a Remains, like me.”
“Remains?”
“It is what we call ourselves. The ones who survived Xade.”
Selmay pondered this. “Then I am a Remain too?”
“I guess so.”
We grinned at each other. “Let us go meet this Dela. I have some questions. And we need to talk strategy.”
“Tonight, when we are all together; Marin called the leaders. Until then, relax.”
“I do find sexual release relaxing.”
I choked and took a step away. “Well, that is nice. Just to be clear, I do not swing that way.”
Selmay blinked. “I do not know what you mean. Can you tell me who is sexually available? I was thinking that Thorn fellow who greeted us, but he clearly has eyes for the Zara.”
I curled my lips at her name.
“You do not like this Zara?”
“She tried to take my man.”
“And?”
And? “Where I come from, it is one man and one woman. We don't have many mates.”
“Ah, we used to be that way. Some still are. That is hard. You did not like the competition, but I bet little leader loved the fight. Men always do.”
“Anyway.” My cheeks burned. “Let’s find Dela.”
He sat at the central controls, Erin firmly on his lap. “There he is. Didn't you see him as you came in?”
“He was so involved in his woman, they did not notice me. I am very careful of not being observed. It was how I got away from Xade so many times.”
Selmay lagged behind a few steps as we approached the desk. Dela's eyes cut toward us as we got close. He sat up abruptly, nearly dumping Erin to the floor.
“Selmay.” A single word that held a ton of knowledge.
“Hello,” she said stiffly at my side.
Erin and Dela exchanged significant glances before moving around the desk to hug Selmay and myself. “Welcome home, sister.”
Selmay relaxed and nodded, still stiff in the huddle, but there.
I pointed to the computer. “I need your skills.”
Dela grinned. “All women do.”
Erin thumped him on the shoulder, sending him into a fake fall back onto the desk.
He ran his hand along her side. “What specific skills are you referring to?”
Selmay moved behind the desk. “I need information on the labs. It appears you have found ones I have not heard of. Bretylyn I know; these labs clustered nearby here, I know. I am trying to find the central hub. It has the information on all the defense of the E'mani. How many ships are in space, their numbers, and locations.”
“What do you mean, in space?”
“Oh, little ones, Xade is but one of the Progenitors. The scientist that helped make this new civilization, but he was not the leader. That is someone else. Before the Fost can be free, we need to defeat Xade. I will take care of him.” Her eyes flared with ire. “But we also need to anticipate the response from the others. You have been thinking small, little girl.”
My stomach dropped and I plopped onto the edge of the desk.
Erin's hand gripped Dela's shoulder. He sat at the desk, fingers flying. “Then let’s us get this information for you.”
“What are we looking for precisely?” I asked.
“Look for anything on the Five. That is the name they liked to call themselves. They were all schoolmates. I met them before. They grew up together in a remote town here in Indus
try.”
“Will do.” Dela moved his hands over the controls. The movements fascinated me. The touches appeared random, but the key lay in the colors selected and pressure of the fingers. I still couldn't figure out how to use the machines.
Dela stopped and turned to all three of us standing behind him. “Do you mind giving me space? I need time to look. I am good but I’m not that good.”
Erin kissed his head. “You're not that bad.”
Dela growled at her. “That is not helping.”
I grinned. I loved hearing slang. Dela was unlike any of the Fost I knew. He'd grown up here like Selmay, his upbringing guided by science. He'd been a cherished member of an E'mani family destroyed by the E'mani. Then he fell in love with Erin, a human like me, while in the labs.
He helped run the computers for Xade and Roger. He knew more about Earth than I did. He watched our history happen.
“We should let him work.” All of us stepped back. “Erin, where are the twins?”
“They went to Bretylyn this morning. They wanted to get into the innards of the computer and see if they can break some of the blocks that Xade is putting up on the town.”
“How does he know we are in the system?”
“While he is a medical genius, computers are not his thing. If Dela is as good as you say, then Xade knows this and will have taken precautions,” Selmay said. “Without Dela, I doubt he could have done any of this.”
Erin's shoulders stiffened. “You know what they did to him.”
Selmay nodded. “I heard them when they made the decision.”
“What am I missing?”
Erin answered for her. “They have Dela's son, or had, I don't know. Dela wasn't just a cherished family member. He was foolishly in love with the youngest daughter. They had a child. The family forced the girl to leave and to get Dela to cooperate, they took the child and held him. When Dela began to rebel, they hurt his child in front of him but then put him in a tube. The child was dying but not dead. His future depended on Dela's abilities. But when Dela checked recently, his son was gone. Right before you came, Beta.”
“His son is dead,” Selmay said.
Dela whipped around from his spot at the desk, clearly listening. “What? How do you know? Did you see the body?” He sprang to his feet and advanced on Selmay.
She stood her ground, chin going up. “Xade told me. He regretted it. Said he cut too deep.”
Dela fell to his knees. “Why?”
“I am not sure.”
“And the quarum couldn’t heal him?”
“No. I am not sure why. The Rocians would know.”
“How would they know?”
“Their race is the one who found the quarum and discovered the unique properties of the stone. Read Rocian history. I think you would be surprised at what you find. Their people used to rule this planet long before the E'mani grew into the predators they are now. Their race kept the E'mani in check until their own civil war nearly destroyed the world. That is why there is a desert to the east. Then they became the mud-dwelling, fun-loving blue boys you know now.”
“The woman iss corrrrect.”
We all twirled to the entrance. Those damn doors were soundless.
Werner stood at the desk in all his frog-like beauty. His lips twitched as he spoke, betraying his discomfort. “Thiss land wass once the home of the Rrocian high elderrss. They decimated the population. The motherss cleaned up the messss and rrefussed uss accessss to ourr passt. We hearrd the sstorriess, but they didn't want uss sstudying the engineerring orr the sscience.”
“Why?” I felt like an echo.
“We werre too good at it. They didn't want uss rrepeating the misstakess of the passt.”
“But you're here.”
“The E’mani kidnapped uss. And now we arre tainted. Ourr motherrss will not take uss back. They arre afrraid we will rraisse up the rrace and drrag uss into thiss warr.”
“They want to remain neutral,” Dela said.
I shifted. “When did you talk to them?”
“Ssoon afterr the attack. We headed home to warrn them of possssible dangerr. We werre politely told to leave.” His face drooped at this last. He really was kind of adorable with that light blue skin, all shiny and bright, and those earnest green eyes.
I walked forward and hugged him. “You have a family here.”
He patted the back of my head with his webbed hands. “We will take carre of you, little Beta. I prromissse.”
Silence fell for a second.
Dela shook himself and returned to the desk. Erin went and stood at his side. “I found some information.”
We all huddled around the desk.
“This is the Five.” Dela pulled up a photo. “That one there is Texxak Chamaderan.” Tall, redhaired, and beefy, he towered over the others in the picture, an air of menace evident in his smile. He had an arm around each of the two men flanking him. “The dark-haired man on his right is Bronson Berani. And the scrawny dude on his left is Sebara Yahrey. The woman opposite Xade is Amara Rei.
“So far, I have the names, so further information will be easier to find. But one big question. This is unnecessary information if we do not figure out how to take care of Xade. We don't know how to do that, do we? Or did I miss something?”
“I can be a help with that!” Roger rushed in. His round, bespectacled face bright, he waved a pad. “I think I have it. I am not sure why the hepatitis failed. But now I’m trying a flu. Viruses are much more virulent and easily spread. If I do this correctly, I could make the land uninhabitable for the E'mani.” He practically glowed at the announcement.
“So, we wouldn't be killing all of them?” I asked.
“The ones on planet will be sick. The ones off planet will be banished.”
That sat better with me than the hepatitis. The memory of their faces... My stomach dropped. “What do you need?”
“E'mani DNA. I think we should test it out first.”
Oh god, that sounded way too much like something Xade would do. “Test how?”
“Nothing too awful. We will just make them sick. Make sure it is effective.” He rocked back on his feet, swaying in his enthusiasm. “This should work.”
“How do we get the influenza virus?”
“Xade kept a plethora of diseases available. Anything that you could immunize for or weaponize. He was quite a progressive man.” He stopped and cleared his throat at all of our looks. “A very bad man, of course.”
His words struck me as odd, as did his glee. I didn't know Roger well. Technically, I didn't know any of them well, but I had memories of all of the others except for Roger. Rael trained me. Dela irritated me. Erin confounded me. So many memories, but none of Roger. How could that be? He had to be one of us; he was found in the labs. I was just being paranoid.
Chapter Seven
Given our last encounter, I knew where to get some E'mani DNA. This called for another road trip. I walked back toward Center and made my plans.
After arriving in town, I beelined to Hana's. Being the wise person, I did listen for any suspicious, or well, coital, sounds before knocking.
Hana's pixie cut, dyed a brighter shade of pink than ever, greeted my eyes. “What?”
“What has you so grumpy this morning?”
“Jace's on patrol. I do not sleep well when he is not around.”
“Are you up for a road trip?”
“You mean go explore?” Her lips tilted upward.
“Yes, we need to find and capture an E'mani.”
Hana bounced on her toes and clapped her hands. “That should be fun.”
“I know, right?”
I linked my arm with hers as I pulled her along, hunting for our next member of the Scooby gang.
Zanth was easy to find. Given his new love interest, his whereabouts were never in doubt.
Again, I listened for noises prior to knocking and again, no sound. Prog answered the door shirtless, his dark gray feathers evident and bright
with red at the tips, almost like blood. Zanth slid out from behind him. “Beta, what do you need?”
“Help finding and capturing an E'mani.”
Zanth smirked. “Sounds like fun, sister.” He'd taken to calling me that recently, ever since Marin’s and my trouble. A subtle dig probably, but the joke was on him. I liked the nickname.
Prog stepped forward, his wings fanning out behind him. “I will go.”
Zanth gave him the side-eye. “Are you allowed?”
“Rael is my king, not my keeper. He said to see to defenses here while he was gone.”
“Do you know if he is close?”
“No, there has been no communication. Hopefully, our people are well.”
The winged fighters proved invaluable to our defense. They scoured the air and kept the E'mani away. “That reminds me. We found an…ah…er…Fost who knows how to recognize the stealth thing the E'mani use on their hover crafts.”
“Who?”
“Selmay.”
“Finn’s grandmother? So she really was an E'mani whore.”
Selmay lounged behind me out of sight but at Zanth's words, erupted from the corner, blade out. “I am not a whore.”
I got to her just in time. “No, Selmay, no. He is an asshole. He doesn't mean it.”
“Yes, I do,” Zanth said with a smirk.
Oh great. “Ignore him, he likes being rude. Nobody likes him anyway.”
“I do.” Prog interjected with a grin and a hand on Zanth's shoulder.
“Except for that guy. And nobody knows him.”
Selmay growled and glared at the pair of them. “I was as much a victim of the E'mani as any of you. He tortured me for years. Years I gave to him and kept you safe. Years.” She turned away and leaned against the wall.
I glowered at both of them and jerked my head to her figure.
Zanth shook his head. He really was an asshole. Prog stood by his man.
“Seriously, Selmay, ignore them.”
“Why are you worried about her?” Zanth asked as he stepped forward to whisper to me.
“I have seen what Xade did to her. I know she isn't an enemy. I know because he did the same things to me.”
Zanth's gaze dropped.
Prog took a step forward as well. “We are sorry, Selmay.”
Distant Memory: She remembered everything (Solum Series Book 3) Page 4
