“No, I think that the mechanism that guides and controls them is made of nano-bots like the kind in my head.”
“Why would you be able to see them when we can’t?” Thorn asked. “Are you seeing them in ultra violet or infrared?”
“No,” Ria said. “I see them because the nano-bots in my head see them.”
“Here are three samples,” Tee said. He laid them out on the edge of a work station.
Ria leaned over, frowning at the samples. She glanced at Tee, then shrugged. “The two on each end are nano-bots. The one in the center isn’t.”
“How can you tell? They look exactly the same.”
“Not to me. The nano-bots are filled with energy and have a faint blue glow. The other is just gray ore.”
“Ria, Vari’s on the secure channel,” Thorn said.
“Oh, um, hi Vari.”
“Hello Ria, can you do me a favor and look for some of that gravity light?”
Ria’s eyes widened. “Of course, I should have already done that.” She closed her eyes, focused, then opened them. “Yep, there it is. I don’t suppose you need me to tell you it’s position.”
“No, I don’t think so. From what we’ve heard you say so far, we’re guessing this minefield surrounds that planet.”
“You’re exactly right, Vari. Can anyone over there see the mines?”
“No, Txikreba, just you.”
“Oh goody,” Ria said. “From where we’re sitting right now it looks to me like a grid that surrounds the planet with mines. If I’m right, then there isn’t anything behind us that we haven’t already hit.” She frowned, thinking. “Talon, can we back out using the same path we came in on?”
“Yes,” Talon said. “I’d like to be certain there’s nothing back there first, though.”
“If I could see back there I’d tell you.”
“Can you see them on that vid screen?”
Ria moved closer to the screen he pointed at, but saw nothing. “Can you display the view in front of us? I want to know if I’m seeing nothing because there’s nothing there, or if they don’t show up.”
“Good point,” Tee said.
Ria felt something, and turned toward Star who stood just inside the bridge. “Star?”
“Yes, Ria?”
“Are you okay?”
“Just nervous.”
“Come on down here,” Ria said. Star gave the cubs a quick look to be sure they were still sleeping, then hurried to stand beside Ria. “It’s okay, Star, we’re not going to blow up. Isn’t that right, Tee?”
“It is,” Tee said. “Nothing to worry about, Star. We have shields that will protect the ship if we bump into another one. Once we figure out how to see what Ria sees, we’ll be able to avoid them.”
“Thank you, Tee, that makes me feel better.”
Ria put one hand on Star’s neck and stroked her soothingly.
“Okay Ria, try this,” Talon said. Ria turned and looked at the screen and shook her head. “I don’t see them. But…hmmm, let me check something.”
She turned to stare through the viewport and blinked her eyes, switching through the different modes of vision she’d been able to separate so far. “There it is,” she said softly. She turned back to Talon. “Is there a way for you to see them in ultraviolet?”
Talon thought about that for a moment, then looked at Thorn. “That’s easy,” he said. “I’ll just change a couple of settings on the exterior cams. Give me a minute.”
“By the way, Ria,” Vari said over the channel speaker, “did I hear you say the nano-bots had a blue glow?”
“Yes, oh that’s right I didn’t tell you I can see color again!”
Vari laughed. “I’m so glad, Ria. When did it come back?”
“This morning. I can see just as well as ever, but I can still see all the other parts of the spectrum, too.”
“That’s fantastic, Ria,” Vari said. “You should send Mom and the Dads a vid. They’ll be very happy about this news.”
Ria didn’t say anything for a few moments, which drew the Katres’ attention as well as Star’s.
“Ria?” Vari asked.
“Yes?”
“Oh, thought I lost you for a moment there.”
“Nope, I’m here.”
“Ria,” Thorn said, deliberately interrupting. “Come take a look at this.”
Ria smiled her thanks at Thorn and moved over to look at his screen. “That did it,” she said, grinning. “I mean, they don’t look the same, but they’re there.”
“What looks different about them?”
“This shows the centers only. The nano-bots. But it doesn’t show whatever the other material is in there. You can see this, right?”
“Yes, I can see it,” Thorn said. “Let’s see what’s behind us now.” He tapped at his control board.
“Nothing,” Ria said.
“Nothing?”
“That’s right. I don’t see anything. You?”
“Nope, not a thing,” Thorn agreed.
“All right, we all need to reverse course,” Talon said, walking over to the navigator’s station while talking to both the Bihotza and the Beacon.
“Ria,” Vari said when Talon was done giving instructions to the other ships.
“Yes?”
“You said the mines look like red glowing balls, right.”
“That’s right.”
“Can someone give her a pair of macronoculars, please?”
“Sure,” Tee said. “You want her to look at the mines more closely, correct?”
“Yes, please.”
Tee reached under a desk top and removed what appeared to be a pair of thick glasses. After adjusting them for the distance of the nearest mine based on the image Thorn had gotten, he handed them to Ria who put them on.
“What am I looking for, Vari?” She asked while adjusting them so the ball wasn’t blurred.
“I’m not sure. Just tell me what you see.”
“Well, they’re bright red, glowing,” Ria trailed off and reached up to adjust the glasses. “Amazing. The balls are about two feet in diameter, transparent, and filled with something that…,” she trailed off again. “I’m not sure how to explain this.”
“That’s okay, take your time,” Vari said. Ria turned to look at Thorn, then Tee. They both smiled at her, giving her confidence. She dug her fingers into the fur around Star’s neck and relaxed almost immediately.
“Okay,” she said with an air of determination. “This is probably going to sound stupid, but hopefully it’ll give you an idea of what I see. Imagine you’re in a dark room, you have a little light, like a glow stick. If you make big circles with the glow stick, moving your hand fast, it gives the illusion of a circle of light or a trail of light behind it.”
“Yes, I know exactly what you mean,” Vari said with more than a hint of excitement.
“Good,” Ria said, relieved. “There are…I don’t know, thousands maybe, of little objects inside the ball. They’re bigger than grains of sand. Maybe two or three times as big. They’re red, and they’re zipping around in this transparent ball so fast that they’re leaving trails of light that make it look like the entire thing glows. Right in the center is a tiny ball of nano-bots that’s controlling them.”
“Controlling them in what way?” Vari asked. “Do you know?”
“They’re keeping them inside the ball, and they’re keeping the ball in place.”
“Are the red specks explosives of some kind?” Tee asked.
“I don’t think so,” Vari said. “They’re explosive, but not explosives.”
“What are they, Vari?” Ria asked.
“I think what you’re seeing is tachyo-matter.”
“That’s a myth, Vari,” Ria said. “Isn’t it? I mean, yes, I know tachyons themselves have been proven to exist, but they move faster than the speed of light. No one has ever found a way to harness them.”
“That’s true,” Vari said with a hint of surprise that confu
sed the Katres and hurt Ria’s feelings, though she hid it well. “But I’m guessing the Doftles found a way to not only harness that power, but use it. It makes sense when you think about it.”
Ria looked at the ball of red, speeding light and nodded. “Yes, it does. All of that speed, all of that power just bouncing around in there until something hits it. Then it explodes out of its prison with enough force to take down shields.” She turned to look at Thorn with wide eyes. “Or destroy a small ship.”
“Exactly,” Vari said.
“How sure are you about this, Lady Vari?” Talon asked.
“I have to do some…consulting,” Vari said carefully. “But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I’m about ninety percent sure, Talon.”
“Well,” Thorn said, then cleared his throat. “I suggest we all back out of this minefield and get clear of this planet we can’t see. Then we need to add ultraviolet to our scan sequence so we don't run into these things again.”
“Sounds like an excellent plan,” Talon agreed.
Ria leaned close to Thorn. “We’re going to slip out of here, now.”
“All right,” he said. “You did great, Shiaki. Thank you. We’re going to be here a while so you two should go on and get your lunch.”
Ria nodded. “Let me know if you need my eyes again.”
“We will.” Thorn stroked her cheek lightly, then she and Star left the bridge with the wagon.
“Shall we go back to our room and order in later?” Ria asked Star.
“Yes, please.”
Ria nodded, understanding completely. She felt as drained as Star sounded.
Chapter 23
After lunch Star took a nap with the cubs while Ria sat with her reader and scrolled through her digital library. It’d been so long since she’d been able to read and she was looking forward to doing it again. She’d just selected a book when her hand terminal chimed.
"Ria," Thorn said as soon as she accepted the incoming vid. “We just got incoming message packet from Jasan and there’s a personal message here for you. Want me to send it to your hand terminal?”
“A personal message for me?” Ria asked in surprise. “Can you tell who it's from?”
“One second,” he said. She watched him tap at a keyboard for a few moments. “It’s a private, bio-locked message sent to your parents, who forwarded it to you. It doesn't name the sender.” Ria frowned, unable to think of a single person who’d be sending her a private message.
“Ria?” Thorn asked gently, worried by the confusion on her face.
“Um, sorry Thorn. Yes, please send it to me.”
“All right. Do you want me to bring it to you?”
Ria’s tension faded as she smiled at his image on the screen. “No, but thank you so much for the offer.”
“It’s on its way. Let me know if there’s a problem.”
“I will.” Her hand terminal chimed. “It just got here. Probably something really important like logo shirt order forms from the med school.”
Thorn chuckled. “All right, read your message and I’ll get back to work.”
Ria disconnected, then opened her incoming message file. She selected the one Thorn just sent, opened it and read the short note from her mother, then selected the attached message. She was surprised that it was a vid file, that her bio scan really was required, and that there was no indication of the sender.
She thought about that for a moment. She knew how to discover the origin of the message using a little app she’d written in her sophomore year of college. It would take a few minutes though. She decided to do it if necessary later. Why waste time when the message itself would surely reveal the sender?
She activated the bio scanner on her hand terminal, pressed her thumb to the screen, then entered her personal code. A few moments later the file unpacked itself and an image filled the small screen of her hand terminal.
Her knees turned to water and she sat abruptly. She stared at the screen until, after several minutes, she realized she was sitting on the floor. She climbed to her feet, opened the compartment in the bottom of the device and withdrew a pair of headphones that she placed in her ears. Then she started the message.
“Hi Ria. I know you’re probably upset just seeing my face, so let me assure you, our deal is intact.” Ria paused the playback and drew in a deep shuddering breath of relief. When she was breathing normally again, she restarted it.
“There are a couple of things I didn't tell you. Things you had…no, that you have a right to know but that I was too cowardly to tell you. It’s been eating at me though. All this time. As trite as it sounds, I honestly can’t live with it any more.
“But, I also can’t tell the truth without breaking my word to you. Rock, meet Hard Place.
“Sorry, bad joke. What I’m about to do is wrong. I know this. And I’m sorry. I truly am. But someone needs to make a decision regarding those other people. You know who I mean.”
Ria nodded, her fingers trembling so hard she couldn't even wipe the tears from her cheeks.
“It should be me, but I promised you, which is a lousy excuse. I didn’t realize how lousy until I just said it. Well damn. The real truth is that I’m related to…that person.”
Ria’s hand covered her mouth in time to muffle the choked sob that escaped.
“I lied to you about the evidence Ria. It exists. I placed several micro cams in his stateroom. When we were shown the energy barrier on that door, I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. I knew what he was going to do, what he’d use it for, so I put micro cams all over that landing. I’ve got far more evidence than I ever wanted, that’s for damn sure.
“I’ve thought about destroying it. Actually, I haven’t thought of much else for the last six months. But I can’t do it. So, I’m attaching it to this message. Once I send this, I’m destroying my copies so what you have will be the only one that exists. You’ve probably already figured out what I'm going to do here.”
“No no no,” Ria whispered through her fingers.
“By the time you get this, well, let's just say our oaths to each other will be null and void. I’m dropping this right on top of you and for that I’m sure to burn for an eternity or two. But I don't have the guts to do what has to be done. To make the decision and then stick with it long enough to follow through. You do, Ria. I know you don't think so, but you do.
“It’s completely up to you though. You’re certainly not obligated to do a damn thing. I am obligated, and haven’t, so if you choose not to, I sure won't blame you. In that event, know that If you delete the attached file, then it’s done and over and no one else will ever know.
“I’m sorry Ria. For not checking on him sooner. For not having the spine to tell the whole truth. For adding to the sins already perpetrated against you.
“Okay, business stuff here. I have a rather large inheritance, which, sickening as it is, was doubled that day. I know you’re wondering why I was working on the Leaper, or why he was, so I’ll tell you. I was there to watch for what I feared to find, and he was there for the opportunity. The Doftles hijacking of the ship gave him far more opportunity than he could have imagined, and he got far more carried away than I ever expected.
“I’ve already given my representative the names of five families. Twelve Standard months from the date on this message they’ll share in the windfall anonymously unless you make the truth known. In that event, the funds will be distributed as soon as the truth is released, and it won’t be anonymous.
“They’ll receive the funds either way, and you have a full year to make up your mind. All I’m asking you to do is decide whether or not they learn the truth. I don’t mean to make that sound like a small thing, because it’s not. If it were, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now, recording this.
“It’s up to you, Ria. Either way, be happy. You deserve it.”
Ria sat down again, this time on the edge of the bed, her heart pounding, her stomach rolling sickeningly. She
stared at the file attached to the message she’d just played and knew she didn't have the courage to watch it. Would never have the courage to watch it.
If she’d received this message a month earlier, she would have deleted it. Now. Well, now things were different. She had Talon, Thorn and Tee. She had Star, Belle, and Lonato. She wasn’t alone any more.
I can do this. I can. Maybe. If I do it one step at a time.
She picked up her hand terminal and called Vari.
“Hi Ria,” Vari said. She frowned. “What’s the matter? Why are you upset?”
“I need to talk to you, Vari. You and Shanti.”
“Me and Shanti?” Vari asked in surprise.
“Yes. I need to tell you what really happened on the Leaper.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean. What happened to who?”
“I’ll tell you the whole story when we meet.”
“All right, when and where?”
“As soon as possible, please. On the Bihotza if you don’t mind. I need to come get my things anyway.”
“Do you want to meet in your room?”
“No, the conference room or the observation deck if possible.”
“All right Ria. I’ll call Shanti now and meet you in the conference room in an hour.”
“That’s good, Vari. Thanks.” Ria disconnected quickly. She saw her sister open her mouth to ask more questions, but Ria didn't want to answer them. She’d tell the story her way, and then Vari and Shanti could do what they wanted with it.
“Ria?”
She turned around and saw Star standing nearby, a worried expression in her eyes. “Hey Star, I hope I didn't wake you.”
“No, you didn't. You’re very upset though.”
“I am,” Ria said. “I have something I have to tell Vari and her friend. It’s ugly, and I think the reactions I get will be ugly. But I have to do it. I’m going over there now to pack the rest of my belongings. Then I’ll meet them and come back. Then I’ll tell you everything.”
“It won't help to tell first?”
“No, I think it'll make it harder.”
“I’ll go with you if you like.”
“I love you so much, Star,” Ria said, hugging her tightly.
Ria's Visions (Hearts of ICARUS Book 6) Page 43
