The Blood Solution (Approaching Infinity Book 3)

by Chris Eisenlauer

  Jav nodded. “There’s still plenty to do here, though. There are three other planets in this system, all quite small and barren except for the one gas giant, but with the resources we can get from them, we may be able to start rebuilding the Grans. The Transit Division will need to install jump deck relays, too, so that we can re-establish contact with the rest of the Empire.”

  “So, for a little while, anyway, I can play at being a peaceful monarch?” Raus smiled wanly.

  Not knowing how to respond to that, Jav puffed his cheeks and released a long breath.

  “Don’t worry, Jav. I know what the future holds for me, for this planet, and the people left on it. Ban is the only thing that’s important to me. Ban and my pledge to the Empire.” Raus brightened suddenly and changed the subject. “You must be anxious.”

  “About what?”

  Raus turned to Jav in surprise. “About that young lady we’ve got sequestered up there in my Tower.”

  Jav stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide and wild. “Anis. . . Lausden. . .” He shot a look at Raus and bolted for the Tower that loomed ahead of them.

  “Hey!” Raus cried, taking off after him.

  • • •

  Jav burst into the room, knocking the door from its frame and drawing the locking mechanism into a jagged length of twisted ruin. He stood there staring at Anis, prone and unmoving on the floor. He moved slowly, sure that he was already too late, but unable to banish hope completely. He knelt down and propped her head upon his lap, cradling it at the same time. Her breath was faint and shallow. Her lids were closed, but because of the angle, revealed a hint of the dulled glimmer of her eyes. The remnants of a smile adorned her lips.

  Jav squeezed his eyes shut, wetting her face with his tears. He bent and gingerly kissed her lips while stroking her soft, straw-colored hair. He held her close like that for several minutes.

  He straightened and saw Raus in the doorway. “I. . . She. . . The moment you mentioned her, I knew that something was wrong.”

  Raus gaped, shock and confusion plain on his face.

  Jav sat her up so that he could hold her more closely, resting her head upon his chest. He placed one hand upon her breast and bowed his head as he felt the last heartbeat shudder out of her. He clutched her to him tightly for a time and then laid her back down.

  “Jav, if we hurry, there may still be a chance to save her.”

  Jav sniffed back tears and nodded. He picked Anis up and followed Raus out of the room with her in his arms.

  10,689.171

  Raus stared at the girl suspended nude in the fluid-filled tank. The tests confirmed what he could see with his own eyes, that she had died of malnourishment. He had informed Barson’s chief of Anis’s presence, but was explicit about her going undisturbed for the duration of their ten-day assignment. The state of the door’s lock made it clear that she had been alone, safe from any prying eyes or ill intent. The food stores in her apartment had been untouched. It was as if she had stood in the middle of the room until she collapsed from hunger and waited just long enough to die in Jav’s arms.

  He felt very close to Jav just now. Both he and Jav suffered a similar fate where women were concerned and circumstances seemed to dictate that it was indeed fate at work, perhaps with a little help here and there from unseen, unknown agents: there were too many coincidences and outright challenges to nature to ignore. He wondered what he should tell Jav, if it would make any difference, if it would help.

  The timing made it clear that on some primitive, inaccessible level Jav felt Anis Lausden slipping away, but even now, Jav could not seem to make that conscious connection, that she and the thing he complained of losing were one and the same. Jav was distraught, but it appeared to Raus to be of a different order than what he had spoken of while they were still in the north.

  Perhaps it was better if Jav didn’t make the connection. Raus didn’t know, but some force, active or passive, was working to erase Jav’s knowledge of any association with the person Anis Lausden echoed. Should he attempt to interfere with that force? To what end? Would it help Jav in any way or serve only increase the mounting number of tragedies, as tragedy seemed to be the end result of every coupling? And would interfering make Raus a target as well?

  In the end, as far as fate was concerned, Raus supposed it didn’t matter what he did. He didn’t want to make things worse than they had to be, though, so he would simply wait and see. He would not mention anything to do with soul echoes again unless Jav brought them up or if it was regarding his own trouble with Milla Marz. The Tower was set to be dismantled, his brother and the lightning gun to be transported to the Root Palace. He could see to Anis Lausden’s burial discreetly and outside of Jav’s notice easily enough if that’s how it needed to be.

  One thing did bother him, though. While he fully believed that a larger force—fate—was at work, he couldn’t ignore the timing of his and Jav’s assignment. Raus was new to the Empire, but he was no fool. No advantage had been gained by their swift departure, unless that advantage had something to do with Anis Lausden being left alone. She had been perfectly fine when they left, but Jav had started to act strangely soon after they arrived in the north, as if he knew subconsciously that something had happened to her. It’s possible that Jav’s behavior had nothing to do with Anis, that it was due instead to Kohanic’s influence on him, but Raus didn’t think that that was the case, not wholly, anyway. None of it made any sense, though. Ultimately, she had died of natural causes. If she or her association with Jav were dangerous, why not simply kill her? Why go through the trouble to cover it up?

  Raus shook his head suddenly and pinched the area between his eyes to relieve the building tension there. He had to stop this line of thinking. There were no answers. He would be the best friend to Jav that he could and let the natural course of future events direct how he should do that.

  “How did she die, Raus?”

  Raus whirled, surprised by Jav’s presence. “How long have you been standing there?”

  Jav shook his head, shrugged. He had his new leather jacket hooked on one finger over his right shoulder. “A minute, two? I don’t know.”

  “Starvation,” Raus said.

  “What?”

  “She died of starvation.”

  “With all that food available to her?”

  Raus nodded. He lowered his eyes and said what he thought might be plausible, but which he didn’t believe to be true. “It’s possible that at heart she resented the position she’d been put into and that this was her protest.”

  Jav pursed his lips and looked longingly at Anis floating peacefully in the tank. “I suppose it is possible at that.”

  Raus waited nervously for more from Jav, some doubt, some suspicion, but there was nothing. “I can see to her burial, Jav,” he said.

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll take care of it. I know I just met her, but I really liked her, Raus. She didn’t look anything like her, but for some reason she reminded me of Mai.”

  Raus’s breath caught in his chest. For some reason. . .

  • • •

  Together, Jav and Raus buried Anis Lausden. Besides the two of them, the Emperor and Salton Stoakes, no one knew what she was to Jav. Her friends and what little family she had had given her up for dead as soon as she’d been taken to the Tower. They were too busy realizing the utter hopelessness of their plight with the arrival of the Vine to do anything but mourn silently.

  Raus couldn’t help feeling a small sliver of terror work its way under his skin, deep and inextricable. For all the power that he and Jav had at their disposal, in the end it meant nothing. He felt sorry for Jav. He felt sorry for Anis. But his life and that of his brother would have to come first. Fate was fate. Those who could manipulate fate required a healthy respect, and Raus would not hesitate to oblige.

  11. THE LAST PARDINE

  10,689.201

  Jav exited his quarters, a wide grin on his face. Warmly, he greeted Kalkin, who stood just
outside, and took his leave. Kalkin watched him walk off and join Raus further down the corridor, the two on their way to an appointment with Gilf Scanlan in lieu of the daily briefing. What was of greater interest to Kalkin, though, was the look of satisfaction on Tia Winn’s face as she, too, watched Jav go on his way.

  “Tia,” Kalkin said, “I know the look on Jav’s face. I’ve had it myself. What confirms it is the look on your face, which is worrisome.”

  Tia wore a form-fitting blood red tube that just managed to cover her private parts and thigh-high tights, striped the same red and a white that was difficult to distinguish from her skin. She turned to Kalkin, folded her arms over the ample white breast nearly overflowing the tight red fabric, bent to look him in the eye, and pouted. “Why would you say that?”

  He met her gaze with a stoney one of his own, blinking lazily, waiting for her to answer her own question.

  “You know, no one talks to me the way you do. I’m your senior. I was your teacher, Lor Kalkin.”

  He blinked again, waiting patiently.

  She frowned, growled in frustration, and snatched his hand in hers. She tried to pull him along with her down the corridor, in the opposite direction Jav and Raus had gone, but she couldn’t budge him. She turned and stared at him open-mouthed, forgetting that his gravity rank outclassed hers, making her larger stature meaningless. She pinched her face up in exertion, pulled with all her strength, and still she couldn’t budge him.

  Finally, her face softened and she pleaded, “Please?”

  Kalkin rolled his eyes and allowed himself to be led down the hall into Tia’s quarters.

  Inside, she told him to sit on the bed. She climbed on herself, sitting cross-legged near the head where she grabbed and hugged a pillow. Kalkin took a deep breath, wondering what he was in for. He sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping an eye on her over his shoulder.

  Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Kalkin felt her power at work. Nothing was different except that they were both sitting on the bed, naked and facing each other.

  “There,” she said. “Both of us at our most defenseless.”

  Kalkin snorted. “Defenseless?”

  “What?” she said, feigning hurt.

  “Never mind. Are you going to explain what’s going on?”

  “Yes. But only because it’s you asking.”

  “You mean because I caught you?”

  “Well, yes, but just because someone caught me doesn’t mean I have to admit to the accusations. I’ll explain to you.”

  Kalkin narrowed his eyes.

  “Do you ever wish you were someone else?” she said.

  Kalkin shook his head, confused by the non sequitur.

  “I do. Come on. I can make you anyone for a while. Who would you like to be? I could be Kass for you, if you like.”

  He reached for her, wrapped his fingers through the luxuriant, pearlescent hair at the base of her skull and pulled her head down close to his so that their noses almost touched. She gasped in response, again finding her strength nothing compared to his, even in this induced dream state, and again staring open-mouthed, but this time not due to frustration. She blinked furiously, her cheeks flushing suddenly. She pursed her lips and swallowed awkwardly, waiting for what he would say or do next.

  “You don’t get it, Tia,” he said.

  She flushed anew at hearing him say her name.

  “I don’t want to pretend.”

  “Wh-What do you want?” she asked tentatively.

  He closed his eyes and brought her closer, resting her forehead against his. “Maybe you, if we could get past all the lies and the illusions,” he said.

  Her breath became heavy and Kalkin knew that her heart was racing inordinately fast. She took his hands and gently eased free of his grip. Her breast was heaving, her cheeks were bright red, her eyes spectacularly lit with something like electricity.

  “Lor. When you entered the Academy, everyone wanted to be associated with you. Your Raw Mental Power was the highest in centuries, and there was little doubt that you would go on to be a Shade. I admit to being interested in you at first because of your RMP alone. The fact that you were young and attractive didn’t hurt. But each year I watched you advance and my admiration for you grew. You never compromised, you never shirked responsibility, and you always did the right thing. Of all the students—and faculty as well—you were most entitled to a large and rampant ego, but you never let ego determine your conduct. I did what I could to ensure that we would have at least one class together every term, just so I could be close to you.

  “I don’t know if it’ll mean anything to you or even if you’ll believe me, but meeting you, being exposed to your. . .” she paused, searching for the right words, “your superior character changed me. My name is synonymous with promiscuity, I acknowledge that and take responsibility for it. But since you entered the Academy, every one who has claimed to have slept with me he has done so in his own dreams.”

  “Including me,” Kalkin said quietly.

  “Those dreams of yours, like this waking one, were shared, not one-sided wish fulfillment exercises designed to end unwanted advances.

  “I can’t make you believe me, Lor. But here we are naked and exposed with no illusions to hide behind. I’ve said terrible things about you, about Kass, and about your relationship. She had with you what I desperately wanted, but felt I couldn’t have. I was wrong. To say those things, I mean. And I hope I was wrong in thinking that a relationship with you was something that I couldn’t have.” She lowered her eyes. “Four years ago, when you were helping out at Locsard, I thought there was a chance for us. I wanted so badly for it to work that I rushed ahead and used my power. It was selfish and wrong of me to do so. Right now, I want to lay everything bare, so that maybe we can start again.

  “You asked me about Jav. The Emperor tasked me with distracting him to help him forget someone. After an initial sweep, I found his mind to be a guarded and secretive place. His RMP is recorded at 500, but there are some places that are simply inaccessible. His memory loss may be the cause. In any case, I found the most success with a girl.”

  Kalkin raised an eyebrow.

  “Not me,” she said a little grumpily. “But you may know her. She’s Tallo Pardine’s last surviving daughter.”

  “Mao?” Kalkin said, frowning.

  Tia nodded. “One of the strongest feelings in him I could find is his longing for Mai Pardine. As is often the case with dreams, though, it seems that one person makes an easy substitute for another. Once I found that this substitution worked, it required very little manipulation. I simply ensure that his dreams follow a particular course.”

  Kalkin was still frowning. “Why does he need to forget anyone? Why does he need to have his feelings re-engineered? It’s not right, Tia.”

  “Right? What does that even mean? Crashing down on planets, draining them of all their resources, and killing all their inhabitants: is that right? And please don’t give me the food chain analogy.

  “We’re Shades, Lor. It’s my job to infiltrate people’s minds just as it’s your job to melt them down into messy, little puddles.

  “And he’s happy. Which is more than most can expect and maybe more than he deserves.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  She demurred, shrugging. “No reason. I don’t know that I’ve ever spoken a word to him that I didn’t have to because of orders.”

  “That’s no answer. What is it, Tia? What are you holding back?”

  She studied her fingers as she knotted them in the sheets, trying not to make eye contact. “I’m not supposed to say.”

  Kalkin sighed.

  She raised her eyes and blurted out, “But I will!” She relaxed a bit and said, “He killed Karlan Farsal.”

  “Jav?” Kalkin said, shocked.

  Tia nodded. “Back before. He made a deal with the Emperor: the Ritual Mask for service, replacing Karlan. He, Jav I mean, wasn’t in his right mind at the time, tho
ugh. He didn’t seem to really comprehend his own circumstances until things were finishing up on 1398.”

  A variety of thoughts competed in Kalkin’s head for an instant: how Jav might have been able to kill Farsal, how the Emperor could reward such an act with an Artifact, and how, ultimately, it changed nothing, most notably his affection for Jav and his numbness to Farsal’s death.

  “I didn’t think you thought much of Farsal,” Kalkin found himself saying, regretting it almost immediately.

  “Aren’t I allowed any friends in your world view, besides maybe Wheeler, Mefis, and the misguided young Miss Karvasti?”

  “I’m sorry. That was unfair.”

  “I felt sorry for Karlan. He had the power to get inside people, to control them, but he was incapable of understanding them. And then to see him brushed aside so easily by the Emperor in favor of an outworlder, his killer no less. Though, recently outworlders seem to be the popular choice.” She sighed, pausing before continuing, and cocked her head in a way that suggested reluctance to say what followed. “But Jav isn’t so bad. He was only doing what anyone else with the means to fight back would have done. And now that he’s calmed down, not tearing through Wheeler’s troops anymore, he seems like a decent person. Someone you in particular would like and appreciate.”

  Tia met Kalkin’s eyes and was more than pleased to see acceptance, even encouragement, there.

  “You’ve of course reported to the Emperor what you’ve found in Jav,” Kalkin said.

  She nodded.

  “Perhaps not just a coincidence then that the jump relays are several months ahead of schedule.”

  “Perhaps not.”

  “He did look happy,” Kalkin said.

  “Right?”

  “Okay. I’d like you to promise me something.”

  “Anything,” she said eagerly, drawing close.

  “I want you to promise me that from now on you’ll be honest with me, that you won’t hide anything from me, and that you won’t try to use your power on me without my consent.”