That caused his head to pound much harder than standing had, so he spent a few minutes with his hands clasped against his head in a futile attempt to keep it from exploding. When the pounding eased again, he lowered his hands and opened his eyes. He was concentrating on taking long, deep breaths in an effort to ease the pain and dizziness, so at first he didn’t really notice what he was staring at. After a few moments, he realized he was looking at printed writing. He didn’t know what most of it said, as it was upside down and rather small. But, whatever it was, at the end there were several words printed in all capital letters with an exclamation point after them.
Curious, he reached down and picked up the paper, then rotated it so that he could read it properly. The large writing at the bottom said: MEM WIPE ONLY! NO PULLS TILL FURTHER NOTICE!
Darck frowned, then glanced up to the to top of the page and read the smaller print. His heart skipped a beat, then began to race when he read the part that said Stalnek was off-world for an undetermined period of time and had personally ordered a hold on all pulls until he returned. Darck turned the paper over, already knowing what he was going to see, though a small part of him could not help hoping that the image was new, sent after the ones he’d pulled.
“Oh, star crap,” he said softly as he gazed down at the vaguely familiar face of one of the potentials he had ordered pulled.
Ignoring his still aching head, Darck began sifting through the rubble scattered all over the floor, searching for the other images. He didn’t find them all, but he did find two more. Both had the same warning on the bottom.
“How did I miss that?” he asked himself numbly. Suddenly he remembered Lenny’s vox call immediately after he’d sent the images and orders for the pull. So that’s what Garid meant, he realized with a rush of intense embarrassment.
Darck sat staring at the images for several minutes, trying to force his brain to work. There had to be a way out of this mess. If Stalnek found out about this muck-up, he could kiss his hopes of rising to a high position among the Brethren good-bye forever. Hell, he’d be lucky if Stalnek didn’t take his tail for this one.
Suddenly it occurred to him that Stalnek was not on Earth. Which meant there was a chance he could fix this. If he moved quickly enough.
Darck struggled to his feet and hurried into the bathroom. He found the pants he had worn the day before on the floor and bent over to grab them, ignoring the spike like pain in his head as he did so. He grabbed the vox out of the pocket and dropped them back to the floor as he put the vox to his ear and requested the compound.
The compound vox could not be used to make calls other than to Darck’s number, and only Darck’s vox could call it. So it made no sense to Darck when nobody answered any of the half dozen call attempts he made.
Darck swore with frustration as he yanked the vox from his ear and threw it on the floor. He was going to have to go to the compound himself. He splashed water on his face, threw on some clothes and spent several infuriating minutes searching for his boots. He found one, but couldn’t find the other. He stomped through the apartment, kicking debris out of the way with one boot on and the other foot bare. Finally he returned to the bathroom, grunting with relief when he spotted the boot sticking out from beneath a pair of dirty pants. He stepped into the bathroom to retrieve the boot and heard an ominous crunch as his booted foot came down on something.
Darck lifted his foot slowly, already knowing what he’d stepped on. Sure enough, all that was left of his vox was a few small shards of plastic and some tiny metal pieces he could barely see.
Shaking his head at his own bad luck, Darck grabbed the boot and pulled it on. He had a bad feeling about all of this. A very bad feeling. For one thrilling moment, the idea of just turning tail and running crossed his mind. He imagined himself on some lush, tropical planet, surrounded by females, living the easy life.
Then his eyes focused on his reflection in the bathroom mirror, and reality crashed in. His skin was greenish, with just a hint of scales on his face, neck and arms. He had the small hard nubs of what would one day be leathery fins growing in a line from his forehead up over his head and down his back. His nose was not quite flat yet, but his jaw had lengthened and he had too many teeth to be considered remotely human. His hands and feet were heavier than they had been, but they still appeared mostly human, except that they were green. His brows were thick and heavy, hanging over eyes that were a pale yellow, almost white, with vertical slits.
No woman ever looked twice at him unless it was with horror or disgust, so the fantasy of him on a beach surrounded by women was just that; a fantasy. Besides which, traveling cost money, and he had very little of that.
No, he decided, running was not an option. He was Brethren, and there was no changing that or running from it. His only choice now was to fix this mistake. Even if Stalnek discovered he’d made the mistake, if he fixed it, he would be forgiven. Mostly.
Darck turned from the mirror and left the bathroom. He grabbed his wallet, glad to find it still on his bedside table since he was just plain tired of searching for things. He paused at the door for a moment, trying to decide if he’d forgotten anything. After a moment he shrugged and let himself out, locking the door carefully behind him.
As Darck drove out of the garage and turned toward the compound, he ran the facts of the situation through his mind. All he really had to do was go to the compound, drug the women, take them to Redoubt for their memory wipe, and take them back to their homes. Easy. What the heck was he so worried about, anyway? Okay, he had made a mistake. But he had discovered his mistake, and he was going to fix it. No harm done.
Darck relaxed a little. Then he remembered Stalnek’s temper. He reached over and unplugged the Blind Sight unit from the outlet. The release of energy caused the ground-car to shoot forward in a sudden burst of speed. If anyone tried to pull him over, he’d just plug the unit back in. It was risky, because he wasn’t supposed to do anything that would so much as hint at the Blind Sight’s existence, but at the moment he didn’t care. The sooner he got to the compound and fixed this mess, the better.
.
Chapter 29
After their mid-day break Hope picked up the pace a bit. Since Karma wasn’t having any trouble with the shoes, and Grace was in great physical shape and used to hiking, she thought it was safe to go a little faster than they had been. They walked steadily for a couple of hours before Hope called a halt in the shade of a small grouping of Joshua trees. They all sat down and reached for their water.
Karma checked her feet again at Hope’s request and Grace assured her that the pack was not bothering her at all any more.
“What time is it?” Karma asked, glancing toward Hope’s watch.
“It’s three thirty,” she said. “We still have about three hours till sunset.”
Hope stood up and Karma and Grace did the same, all three of them shifting their packs a bit to readjust them. Hope turned to face northwest and started walking again. Every now and then one of them would pause to pick up the odd piece of dried wood and put it into the pillowcase each had hanging from their waist. They had collected enough that they would be able to have a nice, long fire that night if they wanted to. That was something to look forward to.
Hope was endlessly glad that it was only March. She had read once that the temperature in mid summer could reach 120 degrees or higher in the Mojave desert. If it were that hot, they would never be able to make the kind of time they were. Nor would they be able to carry enough water to keep themselves alive long enough to cross the desert.
***
The Bearens spent several hours searching every inch of Hope’s apartment for anything resembling jewelry. They pulled the cushions from the furniture, the mattress from the bed, and checked every inch of baseboard and carpet as well as the inside of every drawer, but they found nothing.
Ellicia had run her hands over every flat surface she could find, including the window sills, the back of the toilet and even t
he inside of the kitchen cabinets. Now she was taking her turn at the insides of the drawers in the little office while the Bearens watched.
“Hey, what’s this?” Clark said, reaching past Ellicia to something in the narrow gap between the top of the desk and the vid terminal. He worked at the object for a moment, using his littlest finger to coax the object out far enough for him to grasp. Finally he was able to remove what appeared to be a book.
It was a strange book, unlike anything the Bearens had ever seen before. It was rather large, but only about an inch and a half thick, and it was covered in a dark, ivory colored fabric. On the front in tarnished gold lettering it said The Wedding Book.
As they all crowded around to see it, Clark opened the book to a random page. There were four images on the page, each one of a different woman wearing a white or off-white dress. All four of the women wore flowers in their hair, and two of them held a bouquet of flowers as well. Beneath each image was a name and a date.
Clark turned the page and there were four more women dressed in pale gowns with flowers in their hair. The dresses ranged from simple to ornate, and some of the women wore veils as well as flowers. A few more pages revealed more of the same. The biggest difference between the images was the apparent era in which they were taken. Some seemed fairly modern, some a bit outdated, and some of the earliest ones appeared to be copies of paintings or drawings.
“What is this?” Jackson asked Ellicia after they had looked at several pages.
“I’m not sure,” Ellicia said. “May I see it?”
Clark closed the book and handed it to her. Ellicia opened the cover and saw handwriting on the first page. She read silently for a moment, and smiled.
“This is just what it says on the cover,” she said as she flipped through several pages. “It’s a wedding book. Apparently every woman in this family adds a picture of herself on her wedding day to the book, along with her new name, and the date. Then she hands it down to her daughter, who does the same. From the look of some of the earlier images, this is a tradition that has been kept for centuries.” Ellicia looked closely at the first few pages, then turned at random to some later ones. “You can see the family resemblance between the early images and the later ones. This is really amazing.”
“What does the writing say?” Jackson asked.
“Basically what I just said. It also instructs the holder to copy pages when they become old or damaged, and to add new pages when the existing ones are filled. This isn’t meant to be kept as an original antique. It’s a pictorial history of the women in this family.”
“I sense that Hope has a close attachment to this book,” Clark said. “Do you think you can use it to find her?”
Ellicia flipped to the back of the book to look at the most recent entries. The last page held only two images. One was of a woman with black hair and blue eyes, who, according to the name beneath it, Minerva Strigida, was probably Hope’s mother. The one next to it was of a woman who looked very much like Minerva, only she had green eyes. Her name was Olivia Hontza, and from the dates below the two images, it seemed likely they were sisters, or perhaps cousins.
“That must be Harlan’s mother,” Ellicia said softly as she stroked one finger lightly over the image. After a few moments, she cleared her throat and looked up at Clark. “There isn’t a picture of Hope in this book and I don’t really see how I could use it to find her, but I’m certainly willing to try.”
Ellicia sat down with the book in her lap and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes and shook her head.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t get anything from this,” she said as she handed the book back to Clark.
“It was worth a try,” Clark said as he took the book back from Ellicia and closed it carefully. It was obviously very important to Hope, and her family, so he returned it to where he’d found it with the utmost care.
“We should leave now,” Jackson said, frowning at the dark circles beginning to appear beneath Ellicia’s eyes. “We’ll take you out to eat dinner, and then home. How does that sound?”
“Good,” Ellicia replied. “I’m very disappointed though. Harlan seemed to think that we would find something here connected with Hope’s earrings.”
“I’m sorry, Ellicia, but there isn’t anything here that looks remotely like an item of jewelry,” Rob said. “We’ve searched very carefully.”
“I know,” Ellicia said. “Come on, let’s go.”
Clark handed Ellicia her handbag and Rob helped her on with her sweater. Jackson locked up and they walked down the hall toward the elevator.
Once they were all in the elevator, Rob pressed the button for the lobby and the doors began to slide shut. Suddenly, Ellicia reached out and stopped the doors with one hand. As soon as she touched them, the doors slid open again.
“What’s wrong?” Jackson asked.
Ellicia tilted her head, eyeing the floor in front of the doors carefully. She’d seen...something. She stepped out of the elevator, waving the Bearens back as she turned her head slightly. Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she paused, turning her head to the left to study the blank wall and bare carpet. She had seen something and it was nagging at her. What had it been?
She carefully searched the area between the elevator doors and the wall with her eyes, inch by inch. Again she shook her head and started to turn away when, once more, something caught her eye.
She turned back and looked directly at the area just in front of her and to her right, where the baseboard met the carpet. Seeing nothing, she lowered herself carefully to her knees on the floor and began running her hands slowly over the carpet.
The carpet was a blend of beige, brown, cream and russet threads woven together in a pattern meant to camouflage any dirt or debris. It did a good job. She ran one hand along the edge of the carpet and brushed something with the tip of one finger. She looked intently at the spot, but still saw nothing. Again she ran her hand over the area and this time felt a small object which she picked up.
“It’s an earring,” she said. “A pearl earring,.” The earring was very delicate, the pearl a soft cream color that blended perfectly with the colors of the carpet it was lying on. There was a fine gold hoop running through the pearl which also blended into the carpet. Ellicia was surprised she’d found it at all. She gazed at the pearl earring in her palm for a moment, then showed it to the Bearens.
“So that’s a pearl,” Jackson said, gazing at the tiny object. It was a miracle Ellicia had found it at all.
“Yes, that’s a pearl,” she said as she slipped it carefully into a pocket.
“I need to go where I can sit and concentrate with this earring,” Ellicia said.
“First, we are taking you to eat dinner,” Jackson said firmly. “Then we will take you wherever you wish to go.”
Ellicia’s first reaction was to argue, but she didn’t. She was hungry, and she needed to start eating more regularly. Besides, if she didn’t eat now, she probably wouldn’t eat later when she got home because she’d want to work with the earring.
“Okay, let’s go eat then,” she said as she stepped back into the elevator.
The Bearens smiled, glad that they weren’t going to have to argue with her. She’d gotten a stubborn look in her eye that reminded them very much of Princess Lariah, but clearly Ellicia was much easier going than her younger sister.
Chapter 30
Hope, Grace and Karma came up over a long, steep rise and paused to rest, all of them out of breath. Hope had considered walking around it, but after walking along it for several minutes they hadn’t been able to see the end of it. It seemed better to tackle the rise than to go miles out of their way to avoid it. Now that they were at the top, overheated, thirsty, and out of breath, she wasn’t sure she’d made the best choice. Their water consumption increased when they exerted themselves like that, and they couldn’t afford to be careless with their water.
There was no shade at the
top of the rise so they sat down on the sand and reached for their water bottles. Hope lifted the hem of her t-shirt and wiped her face with it, too hot and sweaty to care what it looked like. When she looked up again she noticed that both Grace and Karma had copied her actions, and they all smiled at each other.
“Hope, see that line of green over there?” Grace asked, pointing behind her.
Hope stood up and squinted into the distance. “Yes, I see it,” she said after a moment. “Trees maybe?”
“I think so,” Grace said. “What’s more, I think the green indicates water. Maybe a stream or a creek.”
“Water?” Karma asked, scrambling to her feet to look as well. “Do you think it’s clean?”
“Probably,” Grace replied. “We can boil it before we drink it to be safe. I’m sure it’s snow melt. This time of year, even the desert has streams and rivers from snow melting in the mountains.
“It’s a lot further west than we’re going,” Hope said.
“Not by that much,” Karma argued. “Besides, it would be nice to wash off some of this dust and sweat, even if we can’t drink it.”
“I’ll bet there’s a lot of wood there too,” Grace added.
Hope nodded, but she was still uncertain. It was difficult to gauge distances out here, but she thought the trees looked about five or six miles away. She looked up at the sun, checked her watch and did some quick calculations. She thought they’d made good time that day, walking perhaps 25 miles. If they walked to that tree line, they’d be walking several miles in the wrong direction. Sort of. On the other hand, it would be foolish to pass up the chance to refill their water bottles.
“Okay, let’s do it,” she said, making up her mind. The moment she said it, she had the overwhelming feeling that she had made the right decision, and that if she had not agreed to this, something very bad would have happened. Her skin pebbled and she shivered, though not from cold.
The Bearens' Hope: Book Four of the Soul-Linked Saga Page 19
