How can people do that to other people? I asked. I've seen plenty of awful shit before, but this may be the worst yet.
I know. Where did those people come from? she asked.
I still can't figure that out. They had to be shipped in from somewhere else—all of them. I don't believe the concrete block had been there more than thirty years at the most.
I think you're right, and that's a huge puzzle to solve. I wonder if Randl got anything more from all that?
I don't know. All I saw were the images he sent me—as if he wanted a witness to the horror so people would believe him or something.
I realize that, Mom agreed. We may not have believed him, or completely believed him. After all, the block is gone and we have no remaining evidence, except what Randl saw and passed to you.
Yeah.
Look, I'll come to Pyrik when you get there and we'll have a family dinner. Invite Sabrina, too, if you want. We can talk more about this then.
Mom, I can't tell her about this, I said. It's too awful.
Perhaps you should tell her eventually, when talking about it doesn't upset you so much.
I'll consider it. Thanks, Mom. I feel better, now.
Good. Send mindspeech anytime. I'll be here.
I know.
Randl
I was supposed to be resting.
Instead, I was on the bridge, going over the recorded images of the location—where Travis and I had witnessed past events surrounding the massive, concrete block.
It had been placed on the outskirts of a large city, with crumbling buildings acting as a backdrop on one side, while an encroaching forest lay on the other three sides of the block.
Those trees had to be a century old or older, and were quite tall. Many were evergreens, and could live thousands of years, perhaps.
They'd witnessed the horror, as had Travis, by a connection I'd forged between us. I imagined trees had no care for humanoids, who were a fleeting thing as they counted time—if they counted time.
Were they aware enough that humanoids often cut them down and destroyed them? I had no idea.
I figured these trees would be safe enough, since Kooper had quarantined the planet after the discovery of the massive, worm-like creatures living beneath the soil.
I sighed and my shoulders sagged. Weariness was taking a toll, but I knew I couldn't sleep if I wanted to; the same, horrific images invaded my mind if I tried.
Perhaps meditation would work.
"I think I'll go to my cabin and meditate, if that's all right," I rose and turned toward Trent.
"I'd recommend it," he agreed. "We'll be underway in two hours or less to Pyrik, Kooper's orders," he added.
"All right." I walked toward the doorway and off the bridge, heading toward the ship's sleeping quarters. Travis hadn't felt the fear beating with the victim's hearts like I had. There wasn't any way to convey that, and I'd have stopped it if there had been. He was traumatized enough by what we'd seen. No need to add to the horror of it by feeling the terror, sadness and overall hopelessness of the victims as they were forced into liquid concrete.
As for the final, terrifying moments while they struggled for breath and inhaled concrete in their mouths and noses—I felt ill just recalling a portion of that.
Whoever was responsible for that—and for whatever reason, I promised myself I'd hunt them down if it took the rest of my life to do it.
For that horror, they needed to pay. As an agent for the ASD, I'd work diligently toward that goal.
More than diligently—it would become my own obsession.
Just got a message from Kooper, Trent's voice filtered into my mind as I reached out to open my cabin door. He says we're stopping at Le-Ath Veronis before going on to Pyrik. He wants you to go with Winkler, Lukas and Quin to New Fyris in a few days. WildTree is sending a scouting party to New Fyris, and we need your help with that. When we get there, you can talk to Winkler and Lukas ahead of time about the scheduled visit. Quin says there's something odd about the supervisor WildTree is sending.
I know about the scouting trip—Amlis told me to make the reply to WildTree months ago, I responded. I knew it was a mistake when he ordered me to do it.
Kooper says we can have shore leave while we're docked, Trent said after considering my reply. I just talked to Mom; she's providing space for us at the palace.
Thank you—that sounds good, I said, although my response was parroted. A day earlier, perhaps, the promise of shore leave would be welcomed. Now, it felt just as empty as I did.
Lee'Qee, Pyrik
Varok
The command compound looked as though it were inhabited by swarming ants. I'd received information moments earlier that the Prophet was coming to visit shortly.
I'd put everyone on alert; none of us wished to be found not working when he arrived—that could lead to terrible things best left to the imagination.
I'd just finished the reports on the presidential election—the latest information I had was that the election would be held in three eight-days.
"You will not have an election." The Prophet appeared as he often did, unannounced and unaccompanied.
He needed no guards—his power was enough protection. With the hood traditionally falling over his face, he saw everything anyway, and I wondered at that before going to a knee and bowing before him.
The others in the command center had done what I did, kneeling, bowing and remaining on our knees until he ordered us to rise.
"Rise," he tossed out a hand. "You will not have an election," he continued his announcement. "I have seen the death of one of the candidates. The other will take the President's position. The Conclave will convene after that."
"As you say, Mighty Prophet," I dipped my head to him.
"I charge you with ensuring his death," the Prophet went on. "I care not how it is accomplished, only that it is. Kill Lebbon, as he will be the least cooperative with our wishes. O'Tunne is more to our liking."
"Of course. It will be done," I bowed again.
"Do it in five days."
"I will see to it."
"Good. Very good. Keep me informed."
He disappeared as quickly as he'd appeared, and a collective sigh of relief went through my underlings. No sacrifice had been demanded this time, and I was grateful.
Sabrina
"Will Queen Lissa have access to a manufacturing facility?" I asked at dinner. We'd been on our way to Pyrik, until Director Griff changed plans and sent us to Le-Ath Veronis for a few days' shore leave.
David, Terrett, Jayna and I sat together at a galley table, eating and discussing shore leave. At least they were discussing shore leave. I wanted to manufacture weapons for the crew so I'd feel less of a burden.
Travis and Trent were noticeably absent at dinner, and I hadn't gotten mindspeech from either of them.
Randl, too, wasn't there.
"You can ask," David said, lifting his beer bottle to drink. "Lissa has access to just about anything, if it's for a worthy cause."
Inwardly, I was quaking over asking Queen Lissa for anything. Suck it up, I reminded myself. I'd had a new idea for creating a temporary version of a ranos pistol, made from hardened plastics which would carry the shielding device and could easily be set to destroy itself by melting into a pile of unrecognizable junk.
Therefore, if you were about to be searched by the authorities, you could effectively get rid of any evidence that you'd carried a weapon.
My fingers itched to hold a prototype in my hands and fire it before setting it to self-destruct. It was a portable, undetectable, disposable weapon, and I wanted it to be as amazing in reality as it was in my head and my drawings.
If I'd only had one before Kooper confiscated my previous shielded version, I'd be back on Jaledis and—dead. As sobering as that thought was, I still wanted this idea to become reality. It would greatly enhance the ASD's abilities in undercover operations.
I had to think about that for a few moments
. Make it operable only by the assigned agent, I mentally added another feature to the list. If it melted when anyone else touched it, all the better. They couldn't take it apart to see how it was made, and that would protect the ASD and my creation.
"You look like you're a thousand light years away," Trent set his tray next to mine at the table.
"I'm glad to see you," I whispered, staring at my plate.
"Stop worrying about stuff you can't fix," he said and scooted a chair out so he could sit beside me. "Trav is asleep. Randl is still fretting, so I had a tray sent to his cabin. We'll be at Le-Ath Veronis' space station late tomorrow morning. We're staying with Mom, of course. I'll take you to Niff's in Casino City while we're there."
"I have a new design I'd like to have manufactured—it shouldn't take long if the right equipment can be found," I blurted.
"Mom can point you in the right direction." Trent lifted his roll and bit into it. "Besides, you have to eat and have a little fun, you know. That's what shore leave is."
"All right."
"I can see those little wheels turning in your mind," he teased. "When I look in your ear, all those little people in your head are just bustling around."
"I don't have little people in my head," I made a face at him.
"Have you ever looked into your own ear?"
"That's practically impossible," I began.
"Then how do you know you don't have little people in your head?" Mirth glinted in his dark eyes.
"When I look in your ear," I sassed, "I can see clear through to the other side."
"Oooh—burn," David raised his beer bottle in a salute to me.
"All my little people are on shore leave, just like you will be tomorrow. Tell your little people to knock it off for a while," Trent grinned.
"After I get my new design manufactured," I countered.
"All right, we have a deal." He lifted his beer bottle and drank.
Randl
The tray of food was provided by Trent; the four bottles of beer came from David. My attempts at meditation had mixed results at best—if I managed to clear my mind, it didn't last long and I was back to the visions again.
I stared at the food and beer before reaching for a beer first. Maybe alcohol would take the edge off what kept running through my mind. So far, nothing else had worked.
Want company? I received mindspeech from David.
Sure. Bring more beer, I instructed.
On the way, he replied.
Soon enough, David elbowed his way inside my cabin, allowing the door to swing shut behind him. He carried a crate of cold beer in his hands and set it on the floor with a slight thump.
"You're barely started," he complained as I drank from a second bottle. Lifting a beer from the crate first, he climbed onto the end of my bed and settled there to drink it. "Lexsi and Kory skipped back to Kifirin—there wasn't any need for them to stay, but Wyatt's still aboard and plans to stay with us for a while," David reported.
"Wyatt and Jayna," I began.
"We know that. Now. It appears they've been pining after one another for a while."
"Will she drop the disguise?" I asked.
"If she attends official functions with Wyatt, I think so," David nodded. "Otherwise, while she's on ASD business, it's the disguise as usual."
"Makes sense," I agreed. "Although the news outlets will all be wondering who the mystery woman is."
"Wyatt's a diplomat and a good one. He'll figure this out."
"Then I'll wait and watch," I shrugged and drank more beer.
"Need to talk about it?" David asked. He meant the visions from Bornelus.
"No."
"Ah."
"Just want to get as drunk as possible, since the meditation didn't really work out."
"I'll drink to that." David lifted his bottle before drinking again. "Will you see your pap while you're on Le-Ath Veronis?"
"I hadn't thought about it, but sure. I'd be happy to visit him. I hear he's staying at Lissa's beachfront palace on the light side most of the time."
"I've only been there once. It's really nice."
"I've never been. It'll be a first for me."
"It took a while for me to get used to all this," David said, waving his free hand. "I'm from Old Earth, but you probably know that already."
"I do. Some of the circumstances that brought you here are a little murky, but that's all right."
"Zaria," David nodded and touched his chest where the medallion lay hidden beneath his shirt.
The medallion—it was something I hadn't considered. I disliked asking for help in this, but gave myself permission to request it from Zaria if the visions didn't disappear after I drank myself into a near-coma. Perhaps she'd consider my request.
"To near-comas from drinking too much," I lifted my bottle.
"I'll second that motion," David affirmed and clinked his bottle against mine.
Queen's Palace, Le-Ath Veronis
Lissa
"So far, it's like a battle of second-level students," Kooper settled onto a chair at the dinner table. He meant the presidential race on Pyrik; everyone at the table understood that. "It goes from says who to, you're guiltier than I am."
"Always play the guilt card against your opponent. It gives the journalists exercise running back and forth," I pointed out.
"Hello, dearest," Reemagar and Connegar, my Larentii mates, arrived unexpectedly.
"Hi, honeys. I didn't know you were coming," I said.
"The Wise Ones say it is time to tell you who the father is," Reemagar's grin was so wide and bright you'd have thought the sun shone in the dining hall.
"We only came to deliver the news, then we will go," Connegar's grin mirrored Reemagar's.
"So you're just going to drop that announcement on us and take off before we can ask questions?" Winkler demanded and rose from his seat beside me.
"Ah. The father speaks first. No need to say more," Connegar chuckled and disappeared with Reemagar.
"Wait a fucking minute," Winkler half-shouted at empty air. "Boy or girl?"
"Honey, I think we'll have to wait for that," I pulled on his sleeve to make him sit down again.
Everyone watched while Winkler took his seat—with as much decorum as he could muster under the circumstances.
I figured he'd be cursing under his breath during dinner, but instead, he turned a wide, wolfish grin in my direction. "Fucking finally," he growled a laugh. "We get to be parents together."
BlackWing X
Randl
My alcohol-induced dreams from the night before now invaded my mind, rather than the visions from Bornelus.
In my dreams, I'd gone looking for the hooded man. Somehow, I knew it to be a man although I couldn't say why, as I'd never seen his face. During my dream, I'd chased him from planet to planet, dimension through dimension, and always he'd sensed me after a while and disappeared again.
At one point, we'd even been on Vogeffa II—I recognized the broken, uneven brick streets as if I'd actually been standing there.
The hooded man had spoken to someone there, whose back was turned toward me. I considered it was all a dream, as I'd been quite drunk when I finally fell asleep.
Dreams are often wish-fulfillment, I reminded myself. That's why, I'm sure, the hooded man had run from me every time. In my dream he'd been afraid of me. A heady satisfaction had come from that, and carried over into my morning, when I woke hungry with almost no hangover.
Grateful for both those things, I showered and dressed before heading toward the galley for breakfast.
"Feel better today?" Bekzi asked when I accepted my tray from him.
"Much better," I agreed. "Food smells wonderful, thank you."
"You eat. Headache leave," he grinned. "David not do so well."
"So my more experienced drinking buddy is feeling the effects?" I asked.
"He feel, all right."
"That's a first," I grinned at Bekzi and turned to locate a table. I fou
nd Travis and Trent sitting at a table that could accommodate several more. I walked toward them.
"Have a seat," Travis kicked a chair out opposite his. I nodded in acceptance and set my tray on the table.
"I hope you're doing better this morning," I said.
"I am. It's not nearly as bad as yesterday."
"Same here." I considered whether I wanted to eat eggs or bacon first.
"Trent says Sabrina wants to do some manufacturing while we're on Le-Ath Veronis. There's a small facility that may work for her on the light half—the comesuli farmers use it to make temporary replacement parts for gardening equipment and such, until something more permanent can be ordered."
"Sounds good," I mumbled around a mouthful of food. "You want me to go with you," I lifted my head as the realization came to me.
"We do. Have a problem with that? We can drop by to see your pap afterward, if you want, or while we're waiting for the machine to produce the parts Sabrina needs, anyway."
"All right." I nodded and went back to my food. I worried that having Sabrina that close would only cause me pain, but I had to work with her whether I liked it or not, or whether I felt the pain of it while she didn't.
"We'll be at the space station in less than three hours, bro," Travis informed me. "Want to shoot targets after breakfast?"
"Sure."
Avii Castle, Le-Ath Veronis
Quin
"Randl will be there with you," Kooper said. He and I sat on the terrace outside Justis' and my suite, talking and having a mid-morning cup of tea.
"I'm grateful," I said. "He and I—we have our reasons for being uncomfortable with Amlis and Rodrik."
"I know. If I hadn't asked Randl to go, he would have refused. His ah, last meeting with Amlis wasn't a pleasant one, I understand."
"Amlis trying to make him feel guilty for leaving, no doubt," I snorted.
"Most likely," Kooper agreed. "I'm asking you to set your feelings aside in this, and be there with Randl, Winkler, Halimel and Lukas when this landing party arrives. I don't want any shenanigans going on beforehand, as Lissa would say."
"I worry that the unusual feeling I get from Phorde Gaster's image will be much worse in reality," I mused.
MindSighted: BlackWing Pirates, Book 1 Page 23
