Mystic

by Cheryl Brooks

  That drew an infinitesimal smile. “No. At least you cared enough to check on me. My mother never did.”

  So…abuse and neglect. Unless the mother was also a victim.

  “Is that why you’re living at the orphanage?”

  She nodded. “I couldn’t take being at home anymore. Everyone at the orphanage has been so kind to me. It’s their job, of course, but it’s been nice to be treated that way for a change.”

  “I don’t believe any of the staff see working at the orphanage as a job. From what I understand, Aidan doesn’t even draw a salary. They volunteer because they honestly want to help.” Sula wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she would’ve sworn it was true.

  Qinta appeared to consider this. “You’re right. I have a hard time believing anyone would care about me that much. I’m trying to adjust, and I think I’ve done pretty well so far, but it’s hard sometimes.”

  “I think you’re doing remarkably well. You were so ready to help me when I needed it. I’m here for you. I want you to know that.”

  “Yeah. I believe you. You know, this mission of ours,” Qinta said slowly. “It could get us all killed.”

  “True. But it’s worthwhile. Think of the children born on that world who never got the chance to grow to be as old as you are. None of them asked for that any more than you did.” Sula hesitated. “I won’t ask why you left your home. Whether you talk about it is your decision to make. No one will pressure you in any way.”

  Several moments passed before Qinta finally spoke again. “It’s funny. My father was my best friend when I was little. Then as I got older, he changed toward me. Never said why. Just one day, he started treating me more like a”—she stopped and looked down at her hands—“sex worker than his daughter. Like I was only there to satisfy his needs. I knew it was wrong, but I went along with it for a long time. Then one day, I finally realized I didn’t have to put up with what he did to me.” She sniffed as her tears began to fall. “It’s so much worse when it’s someone you should be able to trust.”

  “You felt betrayed?”

  “Yeah.” Qinta slammed her controller onto the table. “That’s exactly how I felt.” Following her brief outburst, she sat quietly, staring blankly ahead. “Curly didn’t make me feel that way, though. He was only being himself, with no hidden agenda. He’s just…Curly. Maybe he needs a friend as much as I do.”

  “Maybe even more.” Sula suspected Aidan needed someone in the same way Curly did. “These Zetithian guys…they don’t seem to do very well as loners.” Val was probably just as needy. Finding someone to love him would go a long way toward breaking through that stoic facade of his.

  But that was a job for another day.

  Sula got to her feet. “Speaking of which, I need to check on Aidan. What do you say to a visit to the bridge?”

  Her mouth stretched into a mischievous grin. “To say I’m sorry for beating Curly at Super Starburst Football Adventure?”

  Sula chuckled. “That’s a start, but I don’t think you should apologize. Gloating would be better. After all, it’s what he would do.”

  “Kindred spirits?”

  “Yeah. Something like that.”

  “Gotcha.”

  * * *

  Aidan still felt a little strange, but at least he’d made it from the bed to a nearby chair.

  I’m allergic to contraceptives.

  At least, that was how he’d interpreted the matter. Was that common among Zetithians? If so, he’d never heard about it. Perhaps a trip to Terra Minor was in order. The entire Zetithian database was housed there. He could access parts of it from home, but going there might be best. Since it had been designated as the new Zetithian homeworld, there were more Zetithians living on that planet than any other. They might know something.

  However, except for his siblings, none of those Zetithians had Mordrial ancestry.

  We just had to be different.

  “I don’t need help,” he muttered. “I’m perfectly willing to make love with Sula without the benefit of birth control. Babies are good. The more, the merrier.”

  He still had a problem with the triplet idea, though. Three babies at one time sounded like way more trouble than any new parents should have to deal with. His parents had had two litters. Cat and Jack had had three. They’d had each other’s help and support. Second and third litters were easier because the older children were there to help out, which was reportedly the way it had always been done on Zetith. Spacing of litters seemed to be built in as well. Jack had tried to have more kids in between the litters she’d had, without any luck.

  Why was he thinking about this now when they were on their way to Ursa Prime with the intention of solving what was probably the most far-reaching murder mystery of all time?

  When put like that, one ship and a handful of rebels seemed totally inadequate.

  Then again, this wasn’t a war that could be won with an army. The best way would be to get whoever was in charge to confess. Too bad they didn’t know who that was, let alone how to get to them. Sula had suspicions, but that was the extent of it. Unfortunately, getting an evil mastermind to talk about their exploits probably wasn’t as easy as it was in the movies. Even if the villain believed he had the upper hand, it didn’t necessarily mean he would start spouting incriminating information. In fact, if the villain was as smart as Aidan suspected, he and his friends would probably be shot on sight.

  Aidan had never wished to be able to read people’s pasts as well as their futures. In this case, however, that ability would be far more useful. Of course, mind reading as a means of establishing someone’s guilt probably wouldn’t hold up in court anywhere except the Mordrial homeworld, where there would be others who could corroborate that evidence.

  In this case, however, Sula was the evidence, along with the cave she’d found on Rhylos. He knew he could find that cave again, but so could someone else. That sort of evidence had been destroyed before, although no one else could possibly know what she’d found or where it was located. Even if she was suspected of having found something significant, they’d have done better to capture Sula and try to extract that information from her before someone else stumbled onto that cave. Then again, with Sula dead, no one would have any reason to connect that cave with what happened on Ecos.

  Or did she worry them for a completely different reason? She hadn’t died from what was apparently a new strain of the Scorillian plague. Was that what made her such a threat to them that they would send assassins after her?

  Aidan squeezed his eyes shut.

  My head hurts.

  A footstep at the doorway made him open his eyes. He was pleased to see that, despite his headache, Sula looked perfectly normal; there was only one of her, and she didn’t appear to be shimmering.

  “Hey, you,” she said. “Feeling any better?”

  “I would if I could get my brain to stop hounding me.” He peered up at her. “You realize we have absolutely no plans for how to accomplish this mission, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “We do seem to have been flying by the seat of our pants so far.”

  “We have to do better than that if we’re to be successful—and remain alive.”

  “In a way, I’m amazed we’re all still alive at this point.” She tilted her head to one side, as though considering this. “Maybe some higher power has decided it’s time to put an end to the atrocities. Are you sure you haven’t seen anything?”

  “I think the vision that led me to find you is a pretty good indication.” He gazed up at her. “You obviously weren’t meant to die on Ecos or Rhylos. And I don’t think the gods have saved you just so you could be my mate.” A brief smile tugged at his lips. “Not that that’s anything to sneeze at. At least not from my perspective. But you see what I mean, don’t you?”

  She nodded slowly. “Yeah. I do.”

 
“You’re a savior, Sula. I hope you realize that.”

  Her initial response was a snort. “A savior would’ve figured out how to stop them before so many of the Ecosians died.”

  “Think any of them survived?”

  “I doubt it. The plague spread like wildfire—almost as if they’d all been infected at once. Granted, I was only observing one small village, but any travel between villages would eventually contaminate that continent, if not the entire planet.”

  “Maybe you and Raj were only the first wave of the attack. We might be able to stop any further attempts.”

  “After a full year?” She shook her head. “I doubt Raj and I were the only ones sent there. We were given specific instructions for where to land. A coordinated attack would’ve sent other unwitting victims to a variety of regions. Plus, they’ve had a full year to put their plans in motion. I don’t know how long it would take for the virus to die out completely; Ecos might still be unsafe for humanoids. Bots would be okay, though. At this very moment, thousands of them could be scouring the planet, destroying every trace of their civilization.”

  “A full-scale annihilation…” Even after what had happened to his own homeworld, he still had a hard time wrapping his head around the sort of twisted minds that could justify such evil. “Greedy bastards.”

  “No kidding. I’ve given this a great deal of thought. Considering how long it’s been since Rhylos was first colonized, if we’re right about this, we’re looking at a conspiracy that goes back at least two hundred years. Dalb University has been a fixture on Ursa Prime for over three hundred.”

  Aidan nodded. “Zetith was destroyed by one very rich man’s jealousy. Imagine what an organization like that could do over hundreds of years.” His eyes widened as he considered the full scope of this crime. “How can we ever hope to win against something that big?”

  “I don’t know, but we have to try. Like you said, I was spared for a reason.” She was silent for several seconds, then gave a firm nod before continuing. “When we were talking about the cave on Rhylos, Rashe mentioned going public. Keeping the cave a secret was our best bet at the time, but if we could trick someone into confessing publicly, or record it secretly and release it to the media, we might stand a chance of succeeding.”

  “Val can help. He should be able to hack directly into the news feed and broadcast it before anyone could stop us.” He thought for a moment. “What if you were to walk onto the campus like nothing had ever happened? It would be interesting to see who was the most surprised to see you.”

  “I’d probably have to wear my Zetithian disguise to get that far, even without my nanobots.”

  “That would probably work better,” he said. “What if I were to schedule an appointment with your professor, or maybe the department head, saying I was concerned about faulty information being taught about Zetithians? I could say I wanted to help update the textbooks or something of that nature.”

  “That might work. My textbooks weren’t what you’d call complete. I’ve learned a lot more from hanging around with you guys. And there’s your reaction to my birth control implant. I’m pretty sure that’s never been a problem with anyone else.” Her eyes narrowed briefly before opening wide. “I’ve got it! You could say you were willing to fund a long-term research project concerning the effects of your planet’s destruction on Zetithian survivors and their culture.”

  “Offer the greedy bastards even more money?” He grinned. “Sula, you’re a genius.”

  Chapter 24

  Aidan had known they would come up with a plan sooner or later. Deciding upon a course of action now would give them more time to prepare. “Of course, that would make concealing our identities even more important. Not only would you need a disguise, so would I—or we would at least need to arrive on a different ship.”

  “Got any more friends with starships?” Sula asked.

  “Several,” he replied. “But Curly’s mother would be the best choice.” He thought for a moment. “Her or Leroy.”

  “And who is Leroy?”

  “Lerotan Kanotay,” he replied. “He’s an arms dealer.”

  Sula giggled. “I vote for him.”

  “Jack has plenty of big guns too, most of which were purchased from Leroy, come to think of it. Jack would be the perfect person to push for research. She’s the most vocal supporter of Zetithians in the galaxy, and she probably has a collection of Nedwut scalps to prove it.”

  “You aren’t serious!”

  “No, but to be honest, I wouldn’t put it past her. She still refers to herself as the Zetithian Protection Agency.”

  “One person is an agency?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “I keep forgetting you haven’t met Jack.”

  “True. Although I have met Curly.”

  “Which amounts to the same thing,” he said with a grin. “Curly’s brother Larry would be a good choice too. He’s a whiz at communications. If we manage to get a confession out of someone, he’d be the best one to spread it around. Either way, I’m thinking your idea to space that implant and its nanobot buddies might be the best tactic. We certainly don’t want anyone thinking you’re anywhere around.”

  Her brows knit together in a frown. “Seems like they’d still be suspicious of anyone showing up with that story, especially after the way we were chased to the spaceport.”

  “Unless we come up with a better plan, that’s a risk we’re going to have to take. We really need you to come face-to-face with the bad guy. Just seeing you will probably make him show his hand.” Aidan grimaced. “We could use some other evidence to tie the university to the scheme, which is why Onca sent Val after us. He’s the best hacker there is. Like Rashe said, if you want to dig up dirt on somebody, he’s your man.”

  “I’m all for that,” Sula said. “I might’ve done better to team up with him instead of clambering about in the mountains.”

  He shook his head. “They probably would’ve caught you if you had. I’m guessing they have alerts on their database and would know if anyone started hacking into it.” He smiled. “No. You were meant to team up with us, just as you were destined to be my mate.” He gazed into her dark, exotically glowing eyes. “Don’t worry. Everyone leaves a trail, whether it’s printed on paper, stored in a computer, or drawn on the wall of a cave. The evidence will be there somewhere. We just have to find it.”

  * * *

  Sula had been staring at the communications console for what seemed like days when her stomach let out a snarl, informing her in no uncertain terms that it was high time for a lunch break. Every bridge station was occupied by someone trying to uncover something—anything—to tie Dalb University to the genocide she’d witnessed on Ecos. Even Qinta and Abuti had joined the search, working from a small table near the main viewscreen on a pair of portable computers Curly had provided.

  She glanced up to see Curly standing at the doorway eyeing them with disfavor. “This is gonna put a serious drain on my data plan,” he complained. Then he smiled. “Remind me to add it to your bill.”

  Aidan looked up from the weapons station with a roll of his eyes. “You wouldn’t be that mercenary, and you know it.”

  Curly shrugged. “Had to say something. I’m feeling kinda useless at the moment.”

  “Same here,” Aidan said. “Three hours, and I haven’t found a single shred of useful evidence. I take it you haven’t heard anything from Jack or Leroy.”

  “Not a peep,” Curly replied. “Which probably means they’re too far out to get to us in time.”

  “I don’t know if we should be in a hurry or not,” Sula said. “Chances are, there’s no one left on Ecos to save.”

  “We don’t know that,” Aidan said quickly. “We have to assume there are at least some survivors, and even if there aren’t, more planets are being discovered every day. The sooner we find a way to put a stop to this business
, the better.”

  “I can’t argue with that, but we still need as much help as we can get.” Sula worried her lower lip with her teeth. “Any thoughts as to where we might rendezvous?”

  Jetoc came shuffling past Curly, carrying a large tray. “There are several possibilities between here and Ursa Prime. We can choose one as soon as we know who we’ll be meeting. In the meantime, I have prepared lunch for everyone.” He held up the tray, which was piled high with crackers and a platter of steaming sausages.

  Suspecting that this feast represented the full extent of the Drell’s culinary expertise, Sula at least tried to be gracious. “Wow, Jetoc. Those sausages smell delicious.”

  Abuti, however, curled her lip in aversion. “I thought Aidan was going to be doing the cooking.”

  “Not every meal,” Aidan protested. “Can’t we take turns?”

  Abuti demonstrated her opinion of this plan with a frown and a peculiar drumming and popping of her fingertips on the computer desk in front of her.

  “Yes, but you actually like to cook,” Qinta pointed out. “I don’t think anyone else does.”

  “Maybe so,” he said. “But even I need a break sometimes.”

  Sula got to her feet. “Thank you, Jetoc. It was very kind of you to prepare lunch for us.”

  Apparently oblivious to anyone’s disapproval, Jetoc set the tray on the ledge beside the captain’s chair with a complacency that implied this was the normal spot for delivering food to the bridge. “I brought enough plates for everyone.”

  Sula stole a glance at Giklor. Given his attitude toward Drells and the way he’d avoided the bacon Aidan had cooked when they’d breakfasted at his house, she doubted he would touch any of it.

  “What? No forks or napkins?” the Zerkan grumbled.

  Turning toward Giklor, Jetoc blinked in about the only facial expression that would’ve been detectable by anyone aside from another Drell. “Why would anyone need those for sausages and crackers? I said I brought plates.” His inflection suggested that, at least in his mind, providing individual plates was the equivalent of formal dining.