I stared at myself in the mirror for a few minutes. What was it? Something about the system.
Anger rose quickly when I realized what Silver had done. I had been unprepared for the color change of my eyes. The iridescent colors swirled wildly around where the gray normally was.
So that’s what it looked like. No wonder it unsettled people. I should calm down. After I dealt with him.
Twisting the doorknob sharply, I strode up to my partner who sat on the edge of his bed brushing his hair. “Never do that again.” Then I stormed back, shutting the door behind me firmly.
Chapter 11
“Ketayl, don’t you think that’s enough?” Silver stood next to the ladder I was on.
I refused to talk to him after what he did last night.
“I’m sorry, but you needed to stop and calm down.”
The same thing he had been saying. I continued searching for fingerprints in the upper panel. Some of the debris seemed suspicious, but it was not my focus right now.
“Please talk to me. The least you can do is yell at me for what I did instead of this.”
I sighed. I knew I could not keep up my silence forever and if he was still begging me to talk to him, then it meant he was not working. We had a lot to search through and it was going to take me time to scan all of these prints and get them to Sparky. Come to think of it, he had not contacted us yet.
Backing out of the panel, I said flatly, “Call Sparks and get an update.” There, I talked to him.
“Not until you come down here and we talk.”
There went my hope. I climbed back down and folded my arms, glaring up at him.
“I guess this is as good as it’s going to get for the moment. Like I said, I'm sorry I had to do that, but you were pushing yourself too far. Especially after what happened with the system test. I should have insisted we end yesterday after that.”
I clenched my teeth at his overprotective behavior. “No.”
“Would you just listen to me for once?!”
I jumped at his tone. I guess I had it coming. It had been hours.
“I saw the toll it took on you and I didn't act. I pushed you into the event at the restaurant so we could gain some insight. I should have taken you back and made you rest.”
“I’m fine,” I ground out at him.
“You’re not. I let that stupid test go on for too damn long. I shouldn’t have let it happen in the first place.”
I glared up at him.
“You asked when I knew something was wrong. I knew something was wrong before you even sat down. I knew something was wrong the moment you synced. I knew something was wrong when you didn’t respond to any of us. The longer you were in there the more panicked you became and I finally ignored them to pull you out.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but he covered it with his hand. I shoved him away.
“I’m not done,” he said sharply, “I got too used to letting you be in Ghost Forest and failed to do what needed to be done.”
“Are you going to eventually argue that I did something wrong?” I asked flatly.
“What? I…” Now he seemed confused. He let out a long breath and tugged on his braid. “I’m not even sure where I was going with that anymore.”
I shook my head. He could get so hot-headed at times he distracted himself. I started back up the ladder.
“Stop, please.”
I had gotten up high enough I looked down at him. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.
“Let me take over, okay? We need to get this stuff to Sparky and I don’t know how to use the portable fingerprint reader.”
“Alright.” I got back down and shifted over to my new task. I had not been fond of being up in the ceiling anyway.
“Hey,” Silver said gently, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Sorry about that.”
“You probably want to take some time later at the physical training facility.”
He grinned mischievously. “Are you joining me?”
“No.” I went to go to my gear bag, but he stopped me again.
“How about we go back to Watered Down tonight for supper?”
I glared up at him.
“I’m not asking you to sing. It’s a nice place and you seemed to like the food.”
I shrugged. “I guess.”
“Non-working meal,” he stipulated.
“Only if you get back to work now.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I rolled my eyes. Often times I wondered about him.
We worked for a while. I glanced at my watch and it was already well after noon and I had gotten hungry. Granted, I ate little for breakfast since my appetite was gone while I was still mad at him.
“Do you want to take a break?” I asked. I knew he needed to eat also.
Silver slid out from where he had been trying to get under the floor to see if he could find the source for the console issue. “Why, what time is it?”
“Almost 1300.”
“Yeah. I’m not making any headway here anyway.”
I sighed, crossing my arms. “After lunch I’m going to see if I can’t get to the amplifier from another room. I need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“Any word from Sparky yet?”
I shook my head. “I should probably call him.”
“After lunch.”
I had been grateful for the quiet morning - no Jake, no Jonim. Just us and attempting to get to the bottom of this.
“I need to talk to her,” Jake said loudly as we reached the ramp to get off of the ship. “For the last time, let me through.”
I stopped and looked up at Silver. The scene before us explained the peace and quiet we had.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we have orders that under no circumstances are you allowed on-board while the investigation is ongoing,” one of the guards said.
“This is ludicrous. This is my ship!”
“Actually,” Silver said as he led the way down the ramp, “It’s the Navy’s ship you’re borrowing.”
Jake folded his arms and watched us as we came down the ramp. “Well, I guess that works too. Your reports are still missing.”
“And you’ll have them. Eventually. Right now our priority is figuring out what happened.” Once Silver reached the bottom, he stood over Jake, towering above the Human man who shrunk back.
“Do you not understand how much I need that information?”
“We also need information and you haven’t been forthcoming with it,” I said.
Jake huffed. “I’ve given you access to everything. I know it’s disorganized, but it’s all there.”
“Not what your amplifier is,” I countered.
“That is proprietary information.”
I shook my head. “Let’s go,” I said to Silver and walked away.
“What about you? You won’t explain what makes you different from the others.”
I turned on my heel. “That is personal. And with the reply you gave earlier apparently a trade of information is out of the question.” Then I set off at a faster pace. I could not afford to lose my temper here - my power could start pushing at me at any point.
Our escorts hurried to catch up, leaving the soldiers guarding the ship to deal with Jake.
“Hey, wait!” Jake called.
Or not. I turned to see Jake running up to us.
“A trade isn’t out of the question. You must understand I have to protect my business.”
“Protecting your business would be cooperating with us,” Silver shot at him.
“Yes, yes, of course. But I will only reveal the information to her.” Jake pointed at me. “She is able to see the beauty of the system. Bring it to a level I had never thought possible.”
“Fine, but we’re headed to lunch. When we get back, we can talk.” I quickly got in the car with our escorts.
I sat staring out the window while they drove, taking long, slow breaths to calm myself. Everyone remained silent.
Suddenly the car swerved and I slammed my head into the window hard enough to blur my vision for a moment. I held my head where I hit. What just happened?
We pulled over to the side and the escort not driving called in something at a rapid pace. I curled down, holding my head. What was it with hitting my head lately?
Silver got out to come around to my side, opening the door. He moved my hands gently before lightly touching my head near where I hit the glass. “You might want to consider wearing a helmet at this rate,” he joked.
“Damn, I am so sorry, ma’am. I didn’t think I swerved that hard.”
I looked up at the soldier standing on the other side of my door. What was he talking about? Then I noticed the large crack in the glass. It was small, but it was still there. Had I really hit it that hard?
“She’s got a pretty hard head. Do you have a first aid kit?” Silver said.
People were moving about again, talking, but I closed my eyes in hopes to stave off the building headache. What on Terra was happening here?
~*~
The infirmary was not getting lunch, but I sat still while Silver and the doctor poked and prodded at me again. Then there would likely be another call to Lockonis explaining what happened.
“Talk to me?” Silver asked softly.
“Hungry.”
“Well, I'm fairly certain I was the reason for your lack of appetite this morning. Do you want me to see what I can find until we can make it to lunch?”
I started shaking my head, but the doctor held me still. “No.”
“You should eat something,” the doctor said. He stepped back. “It’s not bad. Just some bruising. No reason you should have cracked the glass.”
My head still hurt though. I refused to tell anyone because there would be medications being pushed my way. I did not feel like finding out which side effects I would have from those.
Jonim stuck his head in. “About done here? I’ve got some upset people demanding a conference call with these two.”
“Yeah,” the doctor said, “If there are any other problems, just stop by.”
I slid off the bed and followed Jonim with Silver silently. We left the building with the infirmary when Silver asked, “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“Hungry.”
He folded his arms and looked down at me as we walked. “Are you lying to me?”
I bit my lower lip. I hoped he would not see through my attempt to hide it. “Partially.”
“What else then?”
I sighed, I needed to be more honest with him. “My head hurts, but I don’t want medication.”
Silver put his hand on my head as we walked and the pain lessened. “I can heal the bruising later, okay?”
“It’s fine. Thank you though.”
Jonim glanced back over his shoulder at us. “I’d offer more people for escort, but I ain’t sure it would help. Starting to think someone doesn’t want you folks here.”
My head agreed.
Once we reached Jonim’s office, he began the video conference call.
“What in the Hells is going on down there?” Lockonis demanded. She stood next to where Vince sat behind his desk.
I cringed at her volume. It made my head hurt again.
“Like I was telling them on the way, I’m starting to think someone doesn’t want them here,” Jonim answered. “The best proof we have right now is the crack in the window of the escort vehicle. Something hit it from the outside.”
“And the inside,” I muttered, rubbing my head.
Silver put his hand on my back. “The doctor said you didn’t hit it hard enough to crack it.”
Jonim eyed us for a moment before continuing. “It almost got lost in the confusion of the near accident. Thought the last time was just a reckless driver, but this is showing to be a pattern.”
“You’re not going, Lockonis,” Vince said firmly.
“Someone’s trying to kill them,” she argued.
Vince sighed. “They would have made more direct attempts if that was the case. Right now I’m thinking whoever it is simply wants to scare them off the case. Any ideas?”
I shook my head and regretted the motion.
“No,” Silver said as his spell washed over me again. “We’ve had a hard time getting information from Jake, but he wouldn’t want to push us away. Especially not Ketayl.”
Jake’s personality was enough for me to not want to be around him.
“Though if he has business associates outside of the military who have interest in the project, they might not want us here,” Silver continued.
“They shouldn’t even be able to get on base,” Jonim countered.
“How many civilians does the military employ here? How many does Spelltech?” I asked.
“It’d be impressive if they got through the background checks. We’ve also run them on Spelltech’s employees before they’re allowed access to the base.”
Vince looked up at Lockonis. “I think I heard your next challenge.”
Lockonis rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You just want me to stay home.”
“Mostly. Do you want us to pull you?” Vince eyed us.
“No,” I said quickly. I refused to back down.
Vince raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you want more help?”
“No,” Silver said this time. “It’ll only put others in danger.”
“Keep us updated.” Vince reached forward and ended the call.
Jonim crossed his arms and looked up at us. “Something tells me you got some interesting stories last night.”
“Nothing we can act on at the moment,” Silver acknowledged.
“It’s been the same problem I’ve had. I’m supposed to trust Jake and his company, but too many things haven’t been adding up and now this. And if people are getting onto the base who shouldn’t be here, I’ve got bigger problems on my hands.”
All I knew was I wanted at whoever was doing this. They had given me enough headaches thus far.
“Something tells me if she gets her hands on them, they’re going to live to regret it,” Jonim said quietly to Silver.
“You have no idea,” my partner replied.
Chapter 12
After a quick lunch, we were back at it again since Jake was suspiciously missing. I walked through the corridors with a handlight and the copy of the ship’s plans on my tablet.
Stopping to search for the lights would take too much time, though the dark corridors made me uneasy. I should be getting close to where I could access the amplifier.
Silver remained up in the control room attempting to track from that end again. Still no word from Sparky, but we also sent him a lot of information to process.
My footsteps echoed as I walked along the metal floor. I paused, unsure if I heard another walking or if I imagined it. No one else was allowed on-board. The exception likely the ones who made the rules, but they would have headed for the control room, not followed me down into the ship. Or if they had, I hoped they would have made their presence known.
No, no one else. I looked down at the plans and then back up at the doors near me. This one should put me close enough unless the room was shaped differently than shown.
It took shoving my shoulder into the door, but I managed to get it open. Panels sat aside, revealing the wiring behind the wall. Odd, but this whole thing had been odd so far.
Something glowing behind the wiring caught my attention. I set my gear bag and tablet down along the wall next to me and turned my handlight to the wiring. These looked to be shielded so I used my power to reach out and get a feel for how saturated they were with arcane energy.
As I suspected, the silicon composite had absorbed arcane energy, but without Silver here to give me an idea of how much divine energy had also been absorbed, I remained uncertain how close to capacity the shielding might be. Also if it would even absorb divine energy. This area was undamaged though. Somewhere between here and the floor above?
I glanced at
the plans again. This wiring might not be for the defense station. I put gloves on before I moved the wires aside to see what glowed. The blueish light became brighter as I got farther in. The sheer number of wires through here seemed excessive, but some were probably for the rest of the ship’s systems.
I examined the glowing blue orb with wires running to it. It must be bigger than my head. Was this the amplifier? The longer I studied it, the more I felt drawn to it. I had never seen anything like it. It seemed alien…
Or Atlantian. I took a step back, needing to get away from the pull. Had Jake actually found a piece of Atlantian technology? It would explain the results so far - no one would be compatible with it.
No, my theory was too far-fetched. He would never be able to recreate it for multiple systems. It might be based off of whatever he discovered as an archaeologist, but it was Terran made. Why keep this so secret? What purpose would it serve? Not with the way he hoped to have it implemented.
While this was all fascinating, I needed to find the source of what happened to the defense station. Stepping forward slowly, I turned my handlight inward to see the wires behind the glowing blue orb. Some came from the side, others from above - it was a disaster.
Everything appeared to be in order though - nothing appeared broken or burnt. Still, leaving this without documenting would be wrong. As I dug for my camera, the door slammed closed and I jumped, turning and falling back, my exposed shoulder brushing the orb.
Immediately I connected to the system and panicked. Silver was still upstairs. It would take him a long time to find me once he figured out something was wrong.
This time though, I could feel through the system with incredible clarity including both the connections going to the consoles as well as to the outside of the ship. My connection to the defense station shorted out quickly.
My vision remained in the room where I was, but I could shift between places. In the control room, Silver looked around at the screens. He rushed over to the offense station, flicking a few switches. He pulled his phone out and my watch vibrated with the incoming call.
I figured out how to pull back and tried to physically tear myself away from it. The pull to remain was so strong and my body refused to respond correctly. I was unsure I could do it.
Conjured Defense (Terra Chronicles Book 4) Page 11
