by Jace Kang
She froze. “I want to stay with my boyfriend.”
“He is in serious need of medical attention.”
She started to turn around. “I want to be there with him.”
“You’ll just get in the way. Please come this way.” His grip held her in place.
Go with him, Siena’s voice spoke in her head. I will watch after Kentaro.
Aya just about jumped out of her skin. How…
I’m in your mind. I can see through your eyes and hear through your ears, and even feel what you feel.
It was just like when she’d taken over androids, though their sensations were probably so much different than another living being with two eyes and ears.
And a tongue!
It was like Ai’s voice in her head, though without the lilting accent.
Who’s Ai?
How to explain her AI assistant?
Oh, an AI. Ai. How cute. I wonder if I’ll run into her in here.
Was that even possible? Well, technically, telepathy was impossible.
Yet here we are.
Indeed. Aya continued walking until they turned into a maglift.
It looked like they were on level seven, and it felt as if it were rising. If Ryusuke’s pills were still on level twelve, maybe…
Don’t try anything by yourself.
Was that Siena’s voice? Or Aya’s own?
Definitely mine, Siena said.
They got off the maglift and turned into a hall where several Peacekeepers in dress uniforms were running about. Thankfully, Keiko wasn’t among them.
The man took her to a room with a single table and several chairs. He gestured her to one.
“Someone will be with you shortly,” he said, then closed the door.
The unadorned walls with no windows and simple furnishings suggested an interrogation room.
They hadn’t confiscated her emitter, or even bothered to check her. Would it be safe to jack in from here? No doubt there were several surveillance devices watching her, and the elevated security measures would probably keep her from being able to link into the EtherCloud without detection.
On the bright side, if she could just get to a room with a user terminal, she could jack directly into the Peacekeepers’ EtherSpace, behind its security measures.
The door slid open, revealing two male Peacekeepers in burgundy uniforms. The one with straight brown hair had a crooked nose—since that had been genetically edited out of XHumans, it was likely from an injury that hadn’t healed correctly.
The other, with a mop of curly brown hair, scrutinized her through narrow eyes as he walked over and set a holoprojector onto the table. “I’m Officer Martin,” he said, taking a seat across from her.
“And I’m Officer Kim.” Crooked Nose sat down beside him.
Definitely interrogation.
“Your hair,” Kim said, looking past his bent nose. “It’s Elestrae gold.”
“It’s not mine,” Aya said. “There’s an expert down in Minami Ward who can weave imported Elestrae hair into our own. You ought to try it.”
Running his hand through his disorganized curls, Kim opened and closed his mouth.
At his side, Martin snorted. A menu—how amateur, Aya had a mind to hack the damn thing—appeared above the holoprojector, and he swiped his hands left and right.
“In your statement to Officer Perez, you said you and your boyfriend were attacked by this creature.” Martin drew his finger in a circle in the holoprojector’s menu.
An image of the Nue appeared.
“Just what is this?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Aya lied. “I thought it might be some escaped genetic experiment, fusing baboons, tigers, and God knows what else.”
The Peacekeepers looked at one another before Kim turned back to her. “The fugitive, Ryusuke Ishihara, was seen fleeing the scene. What is your relation to him?”
Had her viruses destroyed all photo evidence? Had the one Peacekeeper Ryusuke knocked out on the bridge gotten a good look at the rest of them? A new lie formed. “I don’t know. We were just passing through the neighborhood.”
“Despite the warnings to stay inside at night?” Martin swiped again, and the holoprojector swept to a blurry image of their group from when they saved the man from the Kappa. “Do you recognize these people?”
She shook her head. “It’s blurry.”
“Yes,” Kim said. “The image was degraded by a mysterious hack, but we were able to save this.”
Had they figured out she was the hacker? The MoD and the Peacekeepers would have had to cooperate in order to track down her identity.
Not likely.
Kim eyed her, then continued swiping his hand through the projector’s menu. This time, the three Yin-Yang symbols Ryusuke had drawn appeared.
“These images have appeared here: dug in the Zen sand garden of Ginkakuji; inexplicably furrowed into the grounds of Pontocho Park; and finally here, drawn in blood outside of Hozoji Temple, where we just found you. What are they?”
Aya made a show of leaning closer to get a better view. “They look like ancient symbols.” Shrugging, she turned to the Peacekeepers.
“We found you and your boyfriend’s DNA in some sludge our labs have identified as organic.”
That must’ve been the impurities they’d been scouring from their meridians with Cultivation. As for the DNA—a swap was part of her identity swap program, so they’d be seeing Hiromi Johnson as having Aya Oyama’s DNA. For now, they were safe.
“We were there,” she said.
“At all three sites?”
Shit.
Kim swiped the menu, going back to the degraded image. “Which brings us back to this picture. I see two heads with traces of gold hair. Don’t you, Officer Martin?”
“I sure do.” Martin stared at her, a grin forming on his lips. “Let’s start at the beginning. How do you know Ryusuke Ishihara, and who is this boyfriend of yours?”
Oh, shit.
Chapter 31:
The Purebred
A s the medics ran, guiding Kentaro’s biobed through the sterile halls of Peacekeeper Headquarters, it felt like a nostalgic homecoming…even if there was the constant worry of being recognized in his workplace.
Of course, he had nothing to worry about. None of the Peacekeepers he recognized showed any sign of knowing him—he was just like the furniture to them. Even the medic who’d rode with him in the hover transport didn’t know who Ken was, despite Ken cleaning his station on a daily basis.
It hadn’t mattered at the time, since he’d spent the quick ride alternating between Cultivating Fire and Metal, as the master had instructed.
“Have you contacted the Elestrae embassy?” a female medic asked her colleague.
He looked over to his side, where Siena’s eyes were open but unseeing. Had she died?
“No,” answered a male. “The Ministry of Defense has lodged an appeal for secrecy. A tribunal will render a decision soon.”
Did the squiggly lines rising and falling on Siena’s biobed display represent her heartbeat?
He needed to concentrate on his own. Though the pain had subsided and the bleeding had stopped, the gruesome slash still bared his intestines. He closed his eyes and focused on distributing the Fire Essences of the Nue Core from his heart and through his blood vessels. He visualized himself performing the Xingyi Fist Fire Form.
On the third breath, excruciating pains lanced through every square millimeter of his body. His mouth tasted of everything he’d eaten in the last day. He convulsed on the biobed, fighting for coherent thought.
“What happened?” the male medic asked.
“We’re losing him!” said the woman. “Scans are showing a deterioration of his arteries!”
The male cursed. “How is that even possible?”
The woman held Ken down, trying to stop his convulsing. “I don’t know, we need to get him to surgery now! Inject him with a sedative!”
Ken fought
through the pain to focus his thoughts. What had the master said about Metal being used to heal skin? Maybe that would be the only way to save himself. He shifted from processing Fire to redistributing Metal.
He screamed. No sooner had he started than his skin erupted in what felt like a blaze of fire. Every smell in the room overwhelmed his nose, from the floral scent of the woman’s sweat to the taco aroma hanging on the man’s breath.
“Hurry up with the injection!” the woman said.
“Hold him steady!” Bioinjector in hand, the man’s hand shifted left and right near Ken’s neck.
The woman leaned her weight on him. “I’m trying!”
“Got it!”
The bioinjector pressed against Ken’s neck.
Nothing. Usually there’d be a slight prick with a bioinjector. Maybe his skin hurt so much he hadn’t noticed?
“Dammit, it didn’t work!” the man said. “Didn’t penetrate his skin!”
“His abdomen wound,” the woman said. “It sealed!”
Ken had no time to consider what that meant. Double doors slid open, and Ken was aware of the sensation of the biobed turning into a bright room. At least four other medical personnel waved frantically and yelled.
At first it was impossible to discern their words, as thousands of scents bombarded his nose. He forced himself to focus.
“Over here!” an older medic said.
The biobed glided into a diagnosis tube, and a myriad of lights flashed over him. It’d been years since he’d been in one, but he remembered not being able to hear anything over the machine’s beeps and hums.
Now, he could hear the voices of the medical staff.
“How is he even alive?”
“Are you seeing this?”
“This isn’t possible.”
“I guess we won’t need a dermal regenerator.”
For someone doing so well, Ken’s body hurt everywhere.
“Look at the microscopic scan: iron alloys embedded in his skin cells.”
“I’ve never seen this protein structure in vascular tissue before.”
What was going on?
“And his bone marrow!”
Bone marrow. Master Ryu had said that advancing to First Rank in the Water Path had altered Ken’s marrow. It had also caused a deep pain that he’d felt to the core of his…bones. If what the master had taught was true, the Fire Path manifested in blood vessels, the Metal Path in the skin.
Ken had Advanced.
In Two Paths.
The chatter outside of the scanning tube went silent, followed by clattering and thumps. The biobed slid out.
Ken blinked several times to see Siena leaning heavily against the edge of the tube.
“Are you all right?” she asked, voice feeble. Her half-lidded eyes swept a line over where the gash had been.
And he was naked. Swallowing hard, he covered himself. “Yes.” Ken looked around.
The entire medical staff lay strewn across the floor. The rise and fall of their chests indicated they were alive, and one man’s snoring said he was asleep.
“What happened here?” He sat up and kicked his legs over the side.
“I put them to sleep with channeling.”
He studied her. Her complexion looked even paler than usual, and sweat clung to her brow.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She pushed herself off the diagnosis tube, and her legs wobbled. “Exhausted. I’ve been drawing on my own reserves, first to stay connected to Aya, and now to put these people to sleep.”
He studied her. Some of the baubles around her neck—specifically, the blue istrium marbles—had faded to grey. “Your necklace…”
She brought her fingers to the beads. “The Nue’s discharge of gamma rays rendered the istrium inert. I’ve had to draw on my own energy for channeling, and it’s exhausting.”
“They’re certainly surveilling this room. Armed guards will arrive any minute, maybe even a tactical team.” He looked at the medics, but he already knew none carried weapons. They did, however, have clothes. He reached for one of the medic’s jackets. “What will we do?”
“I know a quick way to restore my vitality.” She seized his wrist before he grabbed the jacket.
“How?” He cocked his head.
She guided his hand inside her dress to her breast. Round and full, its firm softness fit nicely in his palm. Her nipple felt springy against his finger. Having never touched one before, the only word he could think of was perfect. His manhood sprung to attention.
Pulling him around, she sat on the edge of the biobed. Her other hand went to his erection.
He swallowed hard.
“May I connect to your Core?” she asked. “Our lives depend on it.”
Their lives. So much pressure! His arousal went flaccid. How humiliating. And no doubt, the surveillance team was watching to see his embarrassment. It shriveled up like on a freezing winter morning.
Siena frowned. “Come on, we don’t have time.”
“Don’t rush me!” Ken thought of every daydream and fantasy.
To no avail.
After all, an Elestrae beauty right here was better than anything he could imagine.
She pouted at him and looked up through her lashes. Then she leaned back, lifted her skirts, and spread her legs.
Though Ken had seen much of her when she’d made love to Master Ryu, he’d never seen all the glorious detail of her nethers. A cleft ran down the middle of her plump mound, threaded with silky golden wisps. The supple creases of pink folds lined either side, widening the lower it went. Though the Elestrae denied it, they must’ve had some evolutionary connection to humans to be so similar.
His heart pounded, and his erection returned, so hard that it ached. She took it in her hand and guided it into her. By every star in the sky, he was inside a woman. An Elestrae woman. He looked down in disbelief, marveling at how her lips wrapped around him. Her vagina was hotter and more slippery than anything he’d ever used for stimulation, and without a single thrust, he peaked instantly.
She breathed in at that moment, and the energy from the remnants of the Nue Core surged through his own, down his Conception vesselmeridian. It coursed into his penis and into her Conception vessel.
He let out a gasp, and she pulled off of him. Apparently, she had been paying attention during Master Ryu’s lessons.
And he’d just had sex. Very brief sex which the observers would laugh at, but sex all the same.
With an Elestrae, no less. His cheeks flushed hot as his heart raced. Even so, a sense of guilt pricked at him.
“Thank you,” she said, voice full of life compared to just a few seconds ago.
“Did you…?”
“Orgasm?” She giggled. “Beautiful boy, of course I did.”
He almost believed her. Still… “No! Did you Advance?”
She tilted her head, and her pupils rose to the corner of her eyes. “Hard to tell. But I feel invigorated. Let’s get—”
The double doors slid open, and ten peacekeeperPeacekeepers in enhanced tactical gear charged in with guns drawn.
Siena waved a hand and spoke a word.
They all tripped over their feet and crashed to the floor, asleep.
Ken could only gawk.
“That felt…different,” she said as she picked her way between them. She knelt down and retrieved two guns. “Like a new connection to my channeling. It barely took any energy at all.”
“Those weapons are coded to them,” Ken said.
She laughed, fiddling with the firearms. “Human biometric encryptions are easy to hack. Now, they took Aya to level eight, to an interrogation room. Do you know how to get there?”
“Yes.” They were on sublevel five now, the medical wing which they’d helped Master Ryu escape from. He knelt down and retrieved one of the fallen men’s’ jackets, then tugged his pants off and slipped into them. Despite the mismatch, he found a taller tactical officer’s boots and put them on.
> “Stay behind me,” she said, “but give me directions.”
As always, despite him advancing in Three Ranks, she was treating him as useless.
“I’ll lead.” He started to push past her.
She twirled both guns around her fingers. “Wait, I’m the one with the weapons.”
The Elestrae had a point. Even if Master Ryu had taught Ken how to fight hand-to-hand, he had yet to learn any of the Shaping techniques.
“All right; when you leave this room, turn to the left.”
She strode ahead and turned.
He followed as she went toward the maglift. Boots clopped on the floors.
Just why hadn’t security engaged the interior force fields? Unless…
“Siena, they’re herding us…”
Five Peacekeepers turned the corner.
Twisting between incoming blasts, Siena fired both guns, downing three with four shots before the remaining two ducked back.
Ken had little time to gawk as one popped back out and fired a blue pulse at him, only to fall as Siena shot him.
The bolt should’ve travelled too fast for Ken to see much more than a blur, but it slowed down just enough that he could tell it would miss. Had Advancement slowed combat down for him?
“I need backup,” the Peacekeeper was yelling.
Ken zigzagged toward him, avoiding the barrage of pulses and closing the distance in seconds. He punched the Peacekeeper in the head, knocking him out.
Had he just done that? “Sorry!”
“Where to?” Siena asked.
He pointed to the right. “Turn here. The maglift is there.”
Siena turned and they came to a bank of maglifts on either side of the hall.
None were moving, and one’s doors opened and closed, opened and closed.
“They must’ve locked them down.” Ken pointed at a set of doors at the far end of the maglift banks. “We will need to take the steps.”
Which would be a bottleneck. Still, without the maglifts, there was no other way to reach level eight, up thirteen flights of stairs.
It was absolutely insane.
Well, if he died today, he wouldn’t die a virgin. He opened the doors and dashed up. Siena hurried after him, her little feet not making a sound.
