Zealot

by Cyndi Friberg

  He looked so annoyed she was surprised when he answered. “Your gift is a form of scanning. You must be inside someone’s mental shields before the strands are visible.”

  Scanning. That was the word her mother used to identify her gift. “Can anyone who scans read soul strands?”

  Danvier shook his head. “Scanning is as common as telepathy. What you do is extraordinary.”

  A lump of tension formed in the pit of her stomach. Everyone wanted to feel special, but extraordinary people were expected to do extraordinary things. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that sort of responsibility. “You said my gift is rare. Is there anyone who can train me? Make me more proficient at what I do?”

  Danvier shot Zilor a secretive look that made Indigo tense. “I can train you, at least in the beginning. Basic skills are all the same.”

  That look had been filled with meaning. No, it was more than that. It had been filled with communication. “Are you telepathic?”

  Zilor eased a bit closer. “If you agree to help Chandar, every Rodyte you encounter will be able to send and receive thoughts. Some, like Danvier, are naturally telepathic. Others, like me, have com-bots, implants that allow us to access a variety of wireless signals.”

  “Like a cell phone inside your head?” His smile was warm, but his eyes remained…odd. “Are you wearing contacts?”

  “I am. We’ve tried for years to make them more expressive, but anything dense enough to conceal our phitons creates this lifeless look.”

  “Phitons? That’s the gleaming rings in your eyes?”

  “Yes, we—”

  “We can answer all her questions after she’s assessed Chandar.”

  A mixture of excitement and terror tore through Indigo. Did that mean what she thought it meant? “You’re going to take me to your spaceship?” Had she really just asked that question? This was so surreal.

  “It’s not that simple,” Zilor said. “To allow you access to our ship, you have to sign a six-month contract and agree to complete confidentiality.”

  Six months wasn’t a problem, but complete confidentiality? “I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what I saw? What about my mother? She already knows aliens are real. She was the first to believe Mimi’s stories.”

  The men looked at each other, likely debating the subject telepathically. The realization made her want to laugh. She was standing in her store with two telepathic aliens, waiting to find out whether or not they were going to take her to their spaceship. That was bizarre, even by Boulder’s standards.

  “Your mother will have to sign the contract as well even if she doesn’t accompany you to our ship,” Zilor told her. “Then you’d be free to speak with her about what takes place.”

  Their fixation with contracts was making her nervous. Somehow, she’d hoped advanced societies would have outgrown the need for such things. “Do you have a copy of this contract? I won’t sign anything I haven’t had time to examine and I’d really like to show it to my Aunt Lynette. She’s a lawyer.”

  “Are you talking about Raina’s mother?” Zilor crossed his arms again and his sleeves looked ready to burst. The man really was drool-worthy. “Wouldn’t talking to Raina be enough?”

  “Maybe. Is that a possibility?”

  Zilor nodded. “It can be arranged. When and where would you like to meet her?”

  She checked the time on her phone before she answered. “I can close up in a few minutes, but I’d rather Mom be there to hear what Raina has to say. Give me two hours then have Raina come to our house. She knows where it is.”

  Danvier didn’t look pleased with the outcome. No doubt he wanted his sister’s treatment to begin as soon as possible. But Indigo wasn’t even sure she could help Chandar yet.

  “I’ll give Raina the message and transmit a copy of the contract to your phone. I hope to see you again soon.” Zilor bowed from the waist and the two men walked out the front door as if they were ordinary customers.

  Chapter Two

  The doorbell rang at nine o’clock on the dot and Indigo rushed across the cozy living room. The house she shared with her mother was a charming Victorian in the heart of Boulder, Colorado, which meant it had lots of character but small rooms and no closet space.

  “I told you she’d come.” Indigo shot her mother a triumphant smile. She’d already explained about her unusual visitors and her opportunity to help a struggling victim of violence. Obviously, Laura wasn’t quite convinced.

  Indigo pulled the door open and felt her jaw drop for the second time that day. Raina stood on the front porch, as expected, but she wasn’t alone. Beside her stood a Rodyte male and this one wasn’t bothering to disguise his alien origins. He wore a black uniform accented in gold. With squared shoulders and a sharply assessing stare, he emanated authority. Some sort of knife was strapped to his side but the sheath securing it concealed the details.

  “Hello.” Deciding not to draw attention to the fact that he was armed, she held out her hand toward the surprise addition to their family reunion. “Indigo Carlson. And you are?”

  “Kotto Tarr, Commander of the Crusader.” He shook her hand then wrapped his arm around Raina’s waist. “I’m also Raina’s mate.”

  Mate? Had he just said he was Raina’s mate?

  Before Indigo could recover enough to speak, Raina said, “Yes, he said it, and yes he’s my mate.” Raina grinned then brushed past her and pulled Kotto into the house.

  “But I didn’t say that out loud.” Indigo shut the door then scratched her temple. “Did I say that out loud?”

  Her mother stood so she could shake hands with Kotto, but she hadn’t missed the playful exchange. “Have your powers finally kicked in?”

  Raina smiled, her mood unusually buoyant. “It’s just barely begun, but yes. I’ve started picking up thoughts and impressions. It’s still really hard to control.”

  “I wish Mimi could have lived to see this day.” Though Laura still smiled, regret clouded her gaze as she returned to her seat on the couch.

  Indigo sat in the tall-backed chair facing the sofa. Thoughts of Mimi were always bittersweet. Indigo had spent endless hours studying the digital text of the journal entries after Raina had taken time to transcribe them. Indigo knew the stories were more important than anyone on Earth was willing to accept, yet she could barely remember Mimi’s face. Indigo had just turned ten when Mimi died. It would have been nice to have more time with her.

  “When did you realize they were more than just stories?” Raina asked as she motioned Kotto toward the couch. But rather than squeezing into the limited space between him and Laura, Raina perched on the thickly padded armrest. Kotto rested his hand on her leg. Both were clearly comfortable with the intimacy.

  “During Luna’s memorial service,” her mother admitted. Luna was Raina’s older sister. Her murder had been shocking and emotionally crippling to everyone involved. If they hadn’t had each other for support and a strong faith in a benevolent creator, Indigo wasn’t sure they would have survived. “I was trying to comfort your mother while my own heart was breaking, but these random images kept popping into my mind.” She shuddered and blinked away the ghosts from her eyes. “I thought it was a bizarre survival mechanism, my brain’s way of distracting me from the pain.”

  “Were you intercepting other people’s thoughts and memories?” Kotto asked, clearly intrigued by her admission.

  Laura nodded. “I didn’t allow myself to think about what it really meant while the loss was still so crushing, but I couldn’t avoid it forever.”

  “So she knocked on my bedroom door one night about a year later,” Indigo put in, “and asked me what I was thinking about. Before I could tell her, she said, ‘No, let me tell you’. Then she perfectly described what, or should I say who, I’d been imagining.”

  “Anyone I know?” Raina grinned, having guessed the naughty nature of Indigo’s thoughts.

  “Let’s just say he was tall, dark and talented.”

  “We’ve go
t a ship full of men who fit that description,” Kotto offered, his expression filled with challenge.

  He didn’t seem uncomfortable with the subject, but a more detailed discussion would embarrass Raina so Indigo let it go. “I’ll keep that in mind. So, we’re all part of the same psychic circle. Finally.” She blew Raina a kiss then crossed her legs. “How the heck did this happen?” She pointed toward the ruggedly handsome “this” at Raina’s side. His dark eyes were ringed in purple and the feline shape was decidedly un-Earthly.

  “Unfortunately, that’s a story that will have to wait until after you’ve signed the contract,” Kotto told her.

  “Bullshit,” Indigo dismissed his assertion and looked at her cousin. “He introduced the subject when he told me he was your mate. When did you meet him? It couldn’t have been more than a few weeks ago? You’re much too analytical for love at first sight.”

  Raina shifted forward on the couch arm, her expression intensely serious. “The pieces didn’t click into place until it happened to me. Mimi always hinted that there was something special about Boulder, that it drew certain people and awakened their potential, heightened their needs.”

  “I remember.”

  “Have you felt restless lately? Have your dreams been especially—naughty?”

  Indigo chuckled. “My dreams are always naughty.”

  “Have you found yourself wondering about the future? Feeling empty, as if something is missing in your life?”

  Each question Raina asked made Indigo more uncomfortable. Raina was perfectly describing Indigo’s thought life for the past few months, but how had Raina known? Indigo hadn’t told anyone about the strange restlessness, not even her mother. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Raina shot her an impatient look. “Denying it is pointless. What you’re feeling is called the mating pull. It’s instinctual. No matter how much you resist it, or try to ignore it, your genetics are working against you.”

  “I’m not going to argue about something so ridiculous.” Indigo waved away the subject with feigned indifference. “I’ll admit to feeling strangely discontent if it will shut you up.” Kotto glared at her, apparently annoyed by her disrespectful attitude toward his mate. Indigo hurried on before he could interrupt her. “How does this ‘matting pull’ explain your whirlwind romance? You don’t live in Boulder.”

  “Boulder is one of four sacred bonding grounds. Fairfax County is another.”

  Laura fidgeted, crossing then uncrossing her legs. She looked at Raina then Indigo, yet avoided eye contact with both. How strange. Why was this subject making her mother so twitchy?

  Before Indigo could ask what was wrong, Raina continued, “There’s so much more I want to tell you, but it will cost you six months of your life to find out everything. Trust me, you won’t regret it.” Raina suddenly stood and crossed to Indigo. “Guess who else is up there?”

  It only took Indigo a moment to connect the dots. “Ashley?”

  Raina nodded excitedly. “She’s mated with Bandar, Zilor’s middle brother.”

  “Zilor has brothers? Do they all look like him?” Tingling warmth cascaded through her body as she pictured her handsome visitor. Shock had overshadowed the electric awareness building between them, but the connection still sizzled in the back of her mind. “The females of Earth are in serious trouble.”

  “This all leads back to the experiments Ashley’s father conducted, doesn’t it?” Laura frowned, clearly less interested in the social developments than the wide-spread ramifications of interacting with aliens. “Screwing with genetics is like opening Pandora’s Box. Nothing good ever comes out of it.”

  “I’m the product of genetic engineering,” Kotto told her. “As is Zilor. My people have been manipulating DNA much longer than yours. We’re good at it. But Ashley’s father led us to an important discovery.”

  “We can’t tell her any more until she signs the contract,” Raina cautioned as she returned to Kotto’s side. “Everything I told her so far, she already knew about. If we break the rules again, General Nox will have your head.”

  “The contract is pretty straight forward.” Laura nudged the conversation back on track. “I ran some of the phrases by my sister just to make sure I understood what they meant.” Kotto widened his eyes and started to object. “Don’t panic. She thinks the contract is from NuetraCourt, the corporation I met with this evening.”

  “Did you get the distributorship?” Raina asked. “I know you’ve been working on this for months.”

  “We did. Unfortunately, it’s not exclusive. We’ll be one of three stores in Boulder who stock their products, but that’s better than nothing.” She waved away the tangent and returned to the contract. “So we agree to assist your rebellion for the next six months and in return we’ll have temporary access to your technology. Of course, we can’t talk to anyone who isn’t under contract about anything we see and humankind won’t benefit in any way. This all seems a bit one-sided, if you ask me.”

  “It only seems that way because there’s so much we can’t tell you until you sign the contract,” Raina defended.

  “That’s a classic catch twenty-two.” Laura shook her head. “I don’t want to sign the contract because I don’t have enough information, but I can’t receive more information until I sign the contract. I’ve never been comfortable with blind faith. You’ll have to do better if you want my little girl.”

  “I’m not a little girl anymore,” Indigo reminded. Still, she loved her mother for defending her. So many people went through life without any sort of support system. She had always been grateful for hers. “Ultimately this is my decision, but I have some questions of my own before I make up my mind.”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Kotto encouraged.

  “Will any of your technology be available to humans on a regular basis, say in the next five years?”

  “It’s a distinct possibility.” Kotto silenced Laura’s objection with his upraised hand. “I know that sounds like a copout, but a lot depends on how willing the human governments are to negotiate honestly with the battle born.”

  Indigo couldn’t hold back a scoff. “You’re expecting honesty from human governments? That’s not encouraging.”

  “The battle born are even more suspicious of governments than we are,” Raina told her. “But they have good reason to try and make this work.”

  “You have superior technologies,” Laura mused. “What do you want from us?”

  Kotto just grinned. “You know the answer.”

  “You can’t explain until we sign.”

  “There are two situations unfolding simultaneously,” Raina warned. “One is massive and will continue on for years. The other is urgent and involves one, utterly traumatized woman who desperately needs your help.”

  “Chandar.” Indigo sighed. “They didn’t tell me much about what happened to her, but what they didn’t say spoke volumes. I’m willing to try, but I’m not sure I can help her. Am I obligated to stay the entire six months if we figure out in a few weeks that she’s not ready?”

  “We anticipated this and already cleared an exception with General Nox.” Raina smiled up at Kotto before she went on. “If you and Danvier mutually agree that you’ve done all you can for Chandar, your contract will be nullified.”

  “Which means you can come home, but you still can’t talk about anything you saw or did,” Laura warned. “There’s no timeframe associated with the nondisclosure clause. It’s binding from the day you sign until the day you die.”

  “Or until all of this becomes public knowledge,” Kotto said, “which I suspect will arrive much sooner than your death.”

  “Is he full of shit?” Laura asked Raina. All civility fell away. This was a mother assessing a situation for her only child. Nothing was more important and nothing more dangerous.

  “Absolutely not. I trust him completely.”

  Laura wasn’t as impressed as Indigo had hoped. “Of course you do. You’re cl
early in love with the man.”

  “But I love Indigo too and I would never advise her to do anything that would harm her in any way. Do you trust me, Aunt Laura?”

  Laura sighed, but said, “You know I do.” She shifted her gaze to Indigo. “You really want to do this? You’ve never been away from home for six days much less six months.”

  She was right. Indigo had spent the occasional weekend with Aunt Lynette and Raina, but two days was the longest she’d ever been separated from her mother or her home. “Amy said she’d fill in for me and she knows the store almost as well as I do.”

  “I’m not worried about losing a business partner,” Laura stressed. “I’m concerned about the wellbeing of my daughter.”

  “Your daughter needs to do what’s best for her and what’s best for Chandar. And your business partner is asking for a leave of absence. She’s not deserting you.”

  “Then you’ll sign the contract?” Kotto asked.

  For a long, silent moment Laura and Indigo just stared at each other. Then light flashed through the room and the floor vibrated like a faint earthquake or distant thunder. When the disturbance passed a man stood in the middle of the living room. With glossy black hair flowing down his back and high cheekbones, he looked like an American Indian, but his purple-ringed dark eyes told a different story. He wore jeans and a black leather vest that was open in front, and his hand grasped the hilt of a long knife.

  Kotto jumped to his feet, kicking the coffee table to the side as he pulled the weapon from the holder at his side. Rather than attack, he matched the intruder’s level of hostility.

  The newcomer pointed at Kotto with his blade, his stance overtly aggressive. “You will not steal another one of my females without repercussions. Did it never occur to you that we have need of them?”

  Shocked and confused, Indigo glanced at her mother, but Laura’s gaze was riveted on the stranger. Then Kotto rotated his wrist and his dagger smoothly morphed into a massive broadsword. Barely able to comprehend what she’d just seen, she focused instead on the practical. She was not in the mood for another barroom brawl, especially one that would break up her furniture or spatter the walls with blood.