by Jenn Nixon
I’m ready, Caelum.
I pray you are. He smiled, swallowed, and breathed deeply which caused them both to shudder. Caelum leaned close, teasing his lips against hers. Whatever comes of this kiss may only grow stronger if we remain together, Sanjeeta. You must consider it all when you view the data in the collector. If you still wish to be my Conduit and my lover, I will be eternally yours.
Similar to the first time they kissed, Caelum’s energy and emotions and thoughts and memories and dreams and fears swirled though him like a newly formed galaxy, chaotic, disorganized, fighting for survival, only this time, he didn’t keep it from her, instead, he let it flow through their link.
Sanjeeta’s gasping moan opened her mouth and exposed her sweet tongue, which he teased with his own, fueling the kiss, longing for more. She pushed him into the workbench, pressing her pelvis to his and groaning as her hands slid under his shirt. A pure blast of her arousal heated his skin. He craved more. One thought and he could remove their clothes.
“Yes,” she panted against his mouth, driving him to the brink of his control.
“We agreed, Sanjeeta,” he whispered, drawing his face back, but keeping her blazing body firmly on his. “I need you to be certain.”
“When you shook my hand, that was the first time I heard it, the second time I felt it, now, I’m certain. Our lives have collided for a reason, Caelum. I am your Conduit,” she replied, curling her lips into a smile.
“And the next time our link opens, if that is your choice…we will bond, Sanjeeta, and if that is all we are meant to be—”
“Such a pessimist for an omnipotent being,” she said, brushing her fingers on his chin. He shut his eyes, focusing on her touch, feeling his body tremble again. “Believe me.”
“I do,” he whispered, gazing into her eyes again. A thousand ideas twisted through his head, as everything she held back for him slowly returned. His worry for the team and Dina and the threat this future world suggested was forcing his needs aside, no regard for his desires, yet one smile from Sanjeeta was all it took to raise them higher, make them part of his daily thought processes. Hundreds of possibilities awaited them tomorrow, next week, every year to come, if he worried about them all he’d easily go mad.
“Is the collector here?” she asked, focusing his mind and peeling her body away, but keeping a firm grip on his hand.
“Yes.”
“Since I took the day off, I may as well get started…”
“Will you contact me when you are through?”
“I will,” she said, squeezing his hand before releasing it. “Can we talk at your place tonight? I haven’t seen a visitor ship in person yet.”
“If you’d like, I’d be happy to show you, Sanjeeta.”
“Then I’ll see you soon,” she said.
“Yes, you will.” He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. Caelum captured her smile in his mind and carried it to Rivia’s ship.
One second alone and he knew he needed a monumental distraction.
Caelum shut his eyes, found the furthest reaches of the galaxy where he could go and still hear Sanjeeta, and flashed there with in a single thought.
***
Caelum’s voice echoed in her head. When she opened her eyes, she was alone in the medlab, once again on a medbed with a biting headache and an odd sense of relief. Dina sat up slowly, testing her dizziness and finding little. On her feet, she made it to the exit and reached the hub with no issues.
She gripped the railing when the frenzy thoughts of the lone occupant swirled through her head. Liam, ever aware, had a hand on her elbow in a heartbeat. “Thanks.”
“Good?”
“Feeling wise, yeah, plan wise, no…please tell me you convinced him not—” When he frowned, she huffed and moved toward her station.
“Dina.” His tone tightened.
“How do you know this isn’t exactly what we did before?”
“Val and I have already had this conversation. It’s our only decent plan.”
“No, it’s not and you know it,” she bit back and brought up their stupid plan so she could review it and punch a bunch of holes in it so they wouldn’t go through with it. “I bet you he’s in my head. Gardner. I bet she knew what he looked like.”
“If this doesn’t work, we may have to consider it,” Liam confessed.
“Because you know what’ll happen right, between me and Caelum. I’m sure he has a hundred other ideas on how, I have a few, but they all boil down to two conclusions.” Dina lifted her brow, watching the confusion pour into his mind. “You haven’t? Shit. Never mind.”
“Dina, don’t do that. Don’t keep your thoughts from me. Not now, please,” Liam said, teleporting to her side, and kneeling down beside her station, his concerned eyes already glowing, one of her biggest weaknesses. “What are your conclusions?”
“She had almost forty years’ worth of Caelum’s energy keeping her alive, right?”
“A logical assumption.”
“Such a nerd,” she said, trying to lighten the mood before she smacked him in the face with the truth. “There’s only two ways that could happen, Liam.”
He furrowed his brow.
“He gave it willingly or she took it by force.”
Liam pressed his lips tightly together.
Dina frowned. “Exactly. Either one fucking sucks.”
“You would never—”
“I’d never. Me who sees Pop, Duncan, and you…die. Might. On the other hand, do you think he’d give his entire energy force to me? Sanjeeta…maybe. Or Lexa.”
“You make a sound argument,” Liam said, running the data through his mind like she had done.
“If he keeps looking into my head, he’ll know which, and what do you think he’ll do if he finds out future me killed him?”
Liam’s eyes flashed. Her heart thumped painfully when they turned glassy. “He will never harm you, Dina.”
“Do you trust him that much?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“I’m afraid of failing. I’m terrified we’ll repeat the cycle and I will—”
“No,” she said, touching his mouth gently. You’re not going to die this time. I will let these memories drive me to the brink of madness if it means keeping you alive. You’ll bring me back, you always do.
I don’t think I am strong enough. Liam rose to his feet, hands balled at his side, his go to position for anger and fear. Caelum warned me.
“Liam…” she called after him as he teleported to the hub.
“We have work to do, your father needs everyone on board, Dina,” he replied, shaken more than she sensed, probably. “He’s at the shuttle right now.”
Sighing, she sat back down, staring at her station trying to figure out what to do first. When the door to the techroom opened and Sanjeeta walked out, Dina glanced back to see Liam wiping his face, her heart dropped.
“I didn’t know you were still here,” Dina called, giving Liam a moment to gather himself.
“Caelum wanted me to stay back and view the information in the Collector, I hope that’s okay…” She paused near the hub and glanced around. “Where’d everyone go?”
“Team scatter,” Dina said, with a light chuckle. “Few at our shuttle, some in the field.”
“We’re going through with your idea,” Liam added, finally, smiling over from his geeky throne. “You can sit here at the hub, the device is in the second drawer. We can’t activate it, but you can.”
She walked up and approached Liam slowly. “Are you sure?”
“Yep, we’ll stay out of your hair,” Dina added. “The collector works telepathically, think and ask, and if we’re too loud, let us know.”
“Thanks.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Dina chuckled as Liam teleported to the station beside hers. She turned her focus back to the screen and remembered what she originally wanted to do and called up the
live feed from the shuttle prison room only to find it blank. She hit the reset. Same blank fuzzy screen appeared. When she glanced over to Liam, he shrugged, so she tried a few more things to get the feed working. Aggravated, she beeped the command center. The screen flickered and turned to static before filling with a live image.
“What’s up?” Duncan’s voice came through the speakers.
“The shuttle feed was off, you’re there?”
“Yeah, getting the specs for the…uh tracker Pop’s going to use.”
“You do know that every time you say ‘uh’ I know you’re trying to keep something from me, right?” Dina shook her head and leaned closer to her station watching her father move away from Zila’s prison cell and Jazara approach. “Whatever, tell me later, I’m busy.”
She cut the feed, heard Liam chuckle, and turned the volume up in time to hear Jazara tell her mother she was happy and dating Hinta.
“Your…friends, they made you see what I thought was true was in my mind, yes?” Zila tilted her head.
“They have, yes.”
“And I have done all they asked.”
“We appreciate it.”
“I did everything for you, always for you, my child.”
“I know,” Jazara said much too calmly. Dina didn’t know if it was an act or if she believed her mother, regardless, the situation was horrible. Zila was no parent of the year after torturing her own daughter and brother for selfish reasons that turned out to be utterly false. “Now we want to stop him from hurting other people, taking other mothers away from their children.”
“I told them all I know,” she replied.
“There’s nothing you can think of to help us find him? Some place you met him? Where he may have lived? How he found you?”
“I remember all he showed me, not his face. All he told me, but not his voice,” Zila said, shaking her head and pacing the small cell.
“How about associates? Do you remember any other names?”
“Only those who were with me at the hospital.”
“But he would know you, you’re certain?” her father asked suddenly.
“Yes, we…were close, once.” Zila’s brow furrowed.
Dina leaned closer to the monitor.
Jazara stepped up to the cell. “Did he ever take you to dinner, Mother?”
Zila lifted her head, smiling. “Yes, may times.”
“Where?”
She frowned. “I’m not sure, the beach?”
Jazara glanced back.
Valtor nodded.
“Will you help us?”
“Yes, I will.”
Dina looked over at Liam. He shrugged. She hated secret plans within secret plans. And when her father was involved, it probably meant he had more information than the rest of them did at present. She knew the tactic, she used it often.
“They’re up to something, Liam.”
“I will speak to Val.”
“I know we’re planning a long game here, but we all have to be on the same page,” she added before turning back to the hub. “Sanjeeta seems really deep into it. Maybe we should give her some space and to be honest, I’m starving.”
“Agreed, pizza bagels?”
Dina sighed and nodded, hoping some time outside the base could cheer them both up. As it stood, the future memories were doing nothing but creating tension within the team and more importantly her and Liam. If her father was going to have some secret plan, Dina needed to consider doing the same. Using what was in her head may be the only way.
Chapter Twenty
Half of Sanjeeta felt slightly awkward as she sat on the high back and very comfortable leather chair and stared down at the strange alien console and odd cube sitting in the drawer, the other half was still fighting off everything she’d experienced with Caelum. From simply touching his shoulder, Sanjeeta absorbed the heat of a hundred suns, viewed the birth and destruction of a thousand stars. Every beautiful and horrifying experience within his profound mind was within reach, she only had to pluck it free from the bundle.
Words didn’t seem to exist to explain the link, the bond. Cosmic, petrifying, stimulating all came close, yet not close enough. Apart from the mutual physical reactions, the Enhancer unleashed a fervent need deep in her soul.
Even with the distance between them and the feelings of him fading from her mind, Sanjeeta knew she was his Conduit. Each time the thought crossed her mind, she knew. Fated.
While Liam and Dina spoke with someone at the shuttle about the trap, Sanjeeta worked up enough courage to pick up the cube Caelum called his collector and stared at it for a moment. It didn’t look special or alien other than the symbols on each side.
She sat back in the chair and placed the heavy cube on her lap, wondering what to ask first. Starting simple would probably be best. Collector, can you hear me?
A link formed in response.
She asked easy questions first, what it was, what it did, mostly everything she knew. Then she got serious.
What is my duty if I chose to be a Conduit?
Everything Caelum said to her and more download straight into her head. Most consisted of what to do if an Enhancer wakes early or gets injured or starts displaying various signs of mental damage or psychosis and a variety of abilities related issues observed by past Conduits, which she started to surmise was the collective knowledge she was currently receiving.
Why do Enhancers need Conduits to stay sane?
The collector showed her every story of the Enhancer class including Tenebris’s madness and death, as well as Lexa and her parents’ tragic tale. Sanjeeta learned how the Sarpians modified the empathic and telepathic abilities during gestation, honed and strengthened them over thousands of year, eventually creating tech to control and use Enhancer power for their own pleasure, just as Caelum said.
What happens if an Enhancer goes mad and refuses stasis?
The collector showed her the depths of her charge; three different Enhancers spiraling into madness unfolded slowly in her head. One was Caelum. His Conduit, Rivia, urged him to go into his most recent stasis. He feared the consequences. Begged to stay awake as a dozen thoughts spewed from his mouth concerning names of people she knew and others she didn’t. Rivia gave him a final chance. He threatened to end her life. Her reaction shocked her entire system.
Sanjeeta lifted her hand from the collector gasping and shaking. Realizing she was alone, she sighed heavily and slinked in the chair. Confused at what she’d seen, yet certain she needed to know more, Sanjeeta scrolled through the computer looking for a phone directory.
“Can I help?” Aime’s voice came through the speakers.
“I’d like to text Bates, see if he is free to speak with me.”
“Message sent.”
“Thank—”
The base doors opened and the bald Englishman walked in, rolling his eyes and shrugging. “Lexa…blipped me over.”
“Blip, that’s exactly what I think of it as.”
“Like minds.” Bates smiled slightly, softening his usually stoic features. “How are you doing?”
“A little worried, little overwhelmed, a lot excited, but mostly right now, concerned about what I just saw.”
“What?”
“Rivia controlling Caelum.”
“The stasis, right?”
“I don’t think he knows about that part,” Sanjeeta said. “Does…Lexa know you can control her?”
“Yes, I’d never keep that from her,” Bates said, leaning over, and picking up the cube. “Lexa and I trusted one another before we formed the bond, it’s imperative between Conduit and Enhancer.”
“Rivia never told him, he doesn’t know.”
“Are you certain?”
“He didn’t mention it to me.”
“It’s not a pleasant topic to discuss.”
“Have you…I’m sorry, I—”
“Once,” Bates said, scrubbing his face. “Early on, by accident during the reckoning, and not since. Ca
elum is very powerful, also scattered and obstinate when he’s unfocused. You may have to control him.”
“Hope I never have to.”
“You and me both because it won’t be pretty.” Bates sighed, then added, “The connection we share with them, however, is bloody fantastic and worth experiencing.”
Sanjeeta smiled, feeling the blush creep up her cheeks. “Thank you for speaking with me, I hope it wasn’t too uncomfortable.”
“Lexa’s all yours if you want to do uncomfortable, she’s much easier to talk to than I am,” Bates said. “She’s honestly dying to chat you up. Caelum’s important to her.”
“The feeling is mutual, that much I do know,” she said, nodding. “I’d love to speak with her as well.”
Lexa replaced her boyfriend in a heartbeat.
Sanjeeta chuckled and shook her head. “Enhancers.”
“You already sound like Bates,” Lexa said, grinning and tilting her head to the side. She tapped her temple and mouthed Bates. “Oh, the control thing…yeah. I think you’re right, I don’t think Rivia told him because he didn’t mention that to me either. Or the fact Enhancers can’t control their Conduits, at all. To be honest, he didn’t tell me the longer life thing or a few dozen other—anyway, how ya doing?”
“So much alike,” Sanjeeta sighed and ran her hand through her hair, casually spiking it. “I’ve had a strange experience with the collector and an enlightening one with your boyfriend.”
“I hope it was helpful, it’s a big decision being a Conduit. Bates sorta stumbled into the job so to speak.”
“I understand. I think I decided the moment I first heard the word. I don’t want to bore you with—”
“Please, please, bore me.” Lexa’s eyes flashed.
“It’s all been so easy, not understanding him exactly, but being near him, with him. He treats me like I’m special, important, not some freak.”
“Man, you two really are perfect for each other,” Lexa sighed. “Sorry, I’m a big old romantic lately. Caelum, well, he never stays around long because he can’t cope.”
