by Clara Woods
“It’s going to be amazing to have clothes to change into and wash in between,” Persia moaned as she pulled one of Lenah’s blouses over her head.
Meanwhile, Lenah packed clothes for herself and went to put on her business outfit, then adjusted her brown hair in a strict top bun. When she was done, she stepped in front of the mirror, feeling strange and familiar at the same time. Today, at least for a little while, she’d be corporate Lenah again. Maybe for the last time. When she was done, they made their way back outside.
Doctor Lund was wandering around, touching everything, while Cassius stiffly stood where he’d stopped when they first came in. Lorka sat lounging in Lenah’s pilot’s seat with Zyrakath hovering close-by. Cassius looked her up and down as she walked out but glanced away before meeting her gaze. What was wrong? He almost looked as if he were seeing her for the first time.
“That it, rich girl? If you’re done giving us the grand tour, let’s go blow up your corporation,” he said when they had all assembled in the front room.
“All done,” Lenah pressed out, trying not to sound hurt. Or angry. They’d all agreed to the plan, and looking less like thugs and more like they had business here would be solid help in reaching their destination. So why was he like that now? It was bad enough she’d potentially have to confront her father next. Lenah was not letting herself feel rejected by Cassius. She walked out in front of everyone without taking a further look. She might never see these things again.
Persia came after her and touched her shoulder lightly. Lenah walked on. If she let herself feel, she might cry. How would that look for a captain leading her team into a mission?
“He doesn’t mean it,” Persia whispered as they walked down the stairs and back onto the first floor. Lenah shrugged and forced a grin. “Sure, no worries.”
The look Persia gave her made it obvious she didn’t believe Lenah one bit, but she also seemed to realize that now was not the time. Instead, she turned her attention to the corridor in front of them.
25 Confrontations
“Rich girl, stop, someone is in the corridor ahead,” Cassius whispered. “Footsteps are coming.” He turned his head to listen for a few moments. Then he slipped by Lenah, his hand resting comfortably on the handle of his tranquilizer gun.
Persia fidgeted nervously next to Lenah.
“Wait,” Lenah also whispered, touching Persia on the arm to keep her from getting out her weapon as well. What was Cassius doing? They’d decided together to make use of Lenah’s familiarity. And hope her father hadn’t shared with most people that his daughter had gone rogue. Lenah approached Cassius as she stretched out her senses.
Whoever was coming was still too far away for her to see their minds, so she looked up at Cassius and shook her head. His arm twitched, and he flexed and fisted his enhanced hand a few times before reluctantly falling back. Lenah got the impression that he was itching for a fight. She shook her head at his behavior. He’d chosen the worst moment. She needed to focus. They all needed to focus.
Lenah turned her attention back to the approaching group, hoping her father wasn’t going to be part of it. She’d never been able to control his mind, and she wanted to run into him from a position of power, not sneaking through the house like a burglar. By now, she could make out approaching footsteps and faint voices. From the regular rhythm of the footsteps, she suspected it was part of the house guard.
They were not far from their destination—her father’s offices, located close to the mansion’s main entrance and the most guarded part of the house. The faint conversation grew closer, as the other turned into the corridor up ahead, and Lenah could now see the dim outline of several minds.
“There are four of them,” she whispered to Cassius and Persia. Persia’s posture stiffened as she nodded, while Cassius didn’t acknowledge. He’d likely already known with his enhanced hearing.
Lenah resisted the urge to influence the approaching minds. The plan was not to disrupt regular house activity if possible. She steeled herself with what she hoped was a warm smile as figures appeared around the corner. All four stopped when they saw her.
“Lenah,” the Head of Guards, Marcus, said as he took her in from head to toe.
“Hi, Marcus. It’s good to see you again,” she said with a smile, trying not to remember how he had collaborated with Kahoot the last time Lenah had seen him. He might even suspect the truth; in fact, he probably did know some of it.
“Hi, Danilo,” Lenah greeted the other guard she knew by name, then nodded to the remaining two.
Danilo nodded back, but his eyes widened as his gaze swept behind her to the rest of her group. Lenah wondered if it was about Uz, Cassius, or Zyrakath but didn’t turn around to check.
“I didn’t know you were back from your vacation,” Marcus said, his eyes turning to slits.
“I just came back,” Lenah answered, maybe a little too quickly. She couldn’t believe he was calling it a vacation when he’d sent armed thugs after her. Her heart started to beat quickly, and she had to force herself to not lash out at him. Or tell Cassius to do so.
“Who are your friends?” Marcus finally asked.
“Oh, not friends. These are potential new investors. No one you should concern yourself with,” Lenah managed to force out, trying for her best authoritative tone and lifting her chin high. She was the family member here; he was only the house guard. “No worries, I’ll get them security clearance soon. They are not armed.” She smiled sweetly, hoping that Cassius was hiding his cyborg arm as they had discussed. Danilo and the other two guards gave her a friendly smile and made to move on, so she figured he was doing a good impression of looking harmless.
“See you around, Marcus,” Lenah said, then waved for her group.
“Oh no. Not so fast, little one.” Marcus stared at her with cold eyes, so different from the man who’d taught her self-defense moves when she was a child.
Lenah stopped, bracing herself. This couldn’t be good.
“Arrest them,” Marcus said in a clipped tone.
There was some commotion behind Lenah, and she turned her head to see that Cassius and Persia were reacting faster than the guards and detaining them instead. Cassius’s arm was slung around Danilo, who struggled without any chance in the metal hold. Cassius had one more guard similarly secured under his other arm. Persia held the tranquilizer gun to the third guard’s temple. Out of the corner of her eye, Lenah saw Marcus move. Before she could jump away, she felt the cold metal of his gun at her neck.
Their eyes met, and she snarled at him, then reached out with her mind, injecting an image of him bleeding from a terrible wound in his leg. His arm with the gun trembled, and he went down with a groan, sitting on his butt to clutch his leg. Lenah kept pouring the thought at him, then kicked away his hand. This man had almost gotten her friend and her killed. She rammed her boot against his leg, then his belly. She had trusted him. She grinned as he yelped. “You asshole.” Lenah kicked his belly again and he curled into a fetal position on the floor. “Are you aware that right now thousands of lives are in danger because you decided to band with criminals?” She kicked once more. “Instead of straightening out my father, you helped him, you —”
“Lenah. Stop,” Cassius said, right next to her.
She ignored him. “—you probably helped him make the contacts. Did you know Kahoot before?” A thick leg blocked hers as she kicked at Marcus again. Then Cassius’s arm shoved Lenah back, away from the man. Within seconds, Cassius touched him on the neck, and he lay unconscious.
Cassius turned to Lenah. “What’s wrong with you? We have a mission here. Instead, you yell around the house like a spoiled brat.” He was whispering, but his words cut sharply into the silence of the corridor. Lenah shook her head. She’d been right to accuse the guard. Marcus was the bad guy here. He probably thought he could get promoted if he helped her father. He deserved what she’d done to him.
“You. Need. To. Chill. Out,” Cassius hissed.
> Lenah looked down at Marcus, then up at Cassius. He was staring back intently, his eyes cold. Lenah shook her head, trying to calm down and control the raging anger she felt welling inside her. Cassius was right. No matter what Marcus deserved, she was here for something else. What had gotten into her?
“Stars.” She breathed out. “I’m sorry.” She looked away from Cassius, no longer able to bear his accusing face. What must he think of her now?
Persia stepped next to Marcus and gave him a good shove with the butt of her tranq gun. “That’s for setting your smuggler dogs on our trail. He does deserve it,” she said and nodded to Lenah. “But we have to move on.”
Lenah took a deep breath, grateful to Persia for breaking the tension. “I could not have said that better.” She managed a weak smile at her friend.
“We’d better hurry,” Cassius said, finally stepping away from Lenah. “Where can we hide these bodies?”
“In here.” Doctor Lund held open the door to a rarely used sitting room, and Lenah didn’t object. Cassius bent down and made quick progress heaving all four bodies into the room. Somehow, all the other guards were slumped unconscious as well. Lenah suspected this was Cassius’s doing and cringed at the thought of what Danilo would think when he awoke. Then she reminded herself that her friends were right—this was not what they were here for. It didn’t matter.
“It’s not far now,” Lenah said as she retook the lead. She still felt angry and shaken. But at least for now, she was in control.
26 Timothy Callo
They all followed Lenah as she made her way around the turn in the corridor. Cassius walked next to her, looming protectively but not speaking. Now and then, he’d glance at Lenah through cold eyes as if scanning her to see what was the next appalling spoiled-brat-thing she’d do. Or was she interpreting that? Was it because she felt shaken and was nervous? He had called her rich girl. And he had seen her flip out over Marcus. As if he’d always been in control of his emotions. She snorted to herself, causing Cassius to turn his head toward her again. Lenah looked away, determined to not let this get to her. It was best not to care what others thought of her. This was one more of those situations.
Lenah made the last turn that would lead to her father’s office. No one was in the corridor, and she jogged the last few meters, swiped the Starwide Research access card she’d picked up in her room, and stepped inside. Lenah wasn’t expecting her father to be in here. At this time, he usually read his business correspondence in the library while enjoying a coffee. Indeed, the spacious office was empty. Maybe she could avoid meeting him altogether.
Lenah quickly made it to the center of the room, scanning the familiar surroundings with new eyes. Where would her father store his visitor’s access card to the mage farm? A mysterious place where he’d take investors and scientists but not his daughter, who was his right hand at business. How could Lenah have ever believed that? She’d gone down to the underground lobby of the farms and nodded in understanding when her father hadn’t allowed her to go inside.
Now she wondered what really lay behind those doors and why the mages were working there if it was so unstable. Did they know the risks? What were those risks exactly? Or was there something else entirely going on that her father was hiding from her? No matter, Lenah was determined to find out today.
Her gaze traveled over the neat, invaluable mahogany desk; an antique made centuries ago from an ancient wood that since had ceased to exist. Humanity had brought all kinds of seeds on the generation ships all the way from Old Earth. This desk had been made on New Earth, but no one had thought to take more seeds when humanity had to abandon their new home. It might well be the last of its kind.
The desk was freestanding in the room, its thick ornamented legs accentuated by the space and the modern, almost invisible chair her father’s interior designer had paired it with. It didn’t have any drawers though, so she decided to move on after only a quick sweep. Lenah walked further into the room and toward the bookshelves. They were stacked with a combination of useful things, like holobooks with Starwide Research’s projected figures, and decorative items, many of which were also antiques. The most valuable was a display with a few coins—little metal buttons—that dated all the way back to Old Earth. Some, like the U.S. dollar, were from the later centuries of humanity’s home planet, others, like a Roman centaur, dated a few thousand years back in Old Earth history.
Lenah couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to carry heavy-weighted coins like these. Her limited, and recent, experience with physical coins had solely consisted of handling the lightweight, plastic chips CGCs were made of. Paying with a wristpiece was way more practical.
Her eyes scanned the displays, trying to determine if there was a place to store a key card. Her father used it for guests, presumably guests who were already in here with him. That meant it couldn’t be hidden too far away. Or be inconvenient. He wouldn’t climb on a chair to fetch it from the top of the shelves. Or go get it in his bathroom. Unfortunately, that still left plenty of space. She swept her hands over the displays, lifted books and figurines, but couldn’t find anything out of order.
Lenah turned and saw that Uz and Persia were searching the coffee table her father used to hold intimate meetings with clients. A good choice. Doctor Lund was clanking around in the bar area, lifting carafes and touching behind the glasses on the shelf. Cassius was nowhere in sight.
A commotion sounded outside, followed by the door banging open. A moment later, Cassius walked in, holding Lenah’s father in his relentless grip.
Timothy Callo tried to walk with dignity, but Cassius was making that impossible by the way he forced her father’s head sideways in the grip of his metal arm. Lenah knew from personal experience how scary it was to be suddenly gripped by that cyborg arm. She felt sorry for her father but pushed away the feeling. Cassius was doing this for good reason, and he wasn’t hurting him. When he saw her, her father stumbled, and his eyes widened in shock.
“Based on his looks, this is your father?” Cassius asked as he deposited Timothy into a seat in the sofa area.
Lenah nodded. People said that a lot. They shared the same brown eyes and long nose. Looking at him now, she thought he appeared aged even though she’d only seen him four weeks ago. Otherwise, he was the same—spotless black suit, white shawl elegantly draped around his neck. Standard corporate wear. The only oddity about him was the yellow stone ring he always wore. It had been a gift from Lenah’s mother, and he never took it off.
“Didn’t want to hurt our host,” Cassius said, taking up a heavy accent, presumably to shock her father into cooperation. Her father would have a heart attack if he knew Lenah had kissed a man who talked like that.
“Yes, thank you,” Lenah choked out before turning to her father and coming to stand next to Cassius, who had let go of Timothy but was still standing so close to him that there was no doubt her father would regret trying anything foolish—like screaming.
“Lenah, this is how you come back? Stealing your way into my rooms and surrounding yourself with these people?” Timothy stared at her. The incredulity in his eyes seemed real.
“These people are my friends, and they’ve been on the right side—the side that thinks of defending our species. Meanwhile, you’ve been banding with criminals.” Lenah said and swallowed, even though her mouth had gone dry. No matter the consequences or means, she would find out what her father knew.
Her father flinched, but he didn’t deny it. He looked up at her, shaking his head almost unnoticeably.
Lenah ignored it. “You said you would explain once I came home,” she said instead, glad that her voice sounded even. “Well, here I am.”
He sighed, then looked around. “This is information that should stay in the Callo family. Send your friends away, and I’ll tell you everything.” His gaze swept to Zyrakath who was searching a shelve with Uz and his eyes widened.
Lenah shook her head. “No, Father, we’re doing this on my ter
ms now. Do you even know what’s about to happen to this planet? Because of your mage farm?”
Her father watched her for a few seconds, and Lenah stared back. With a sigh and a nod, he seemed to come to the conclusion that she was serious. “All right. Your terms. But, Lenah, you seem to think that something terrible is coming for us. You forget that Astur is not defenseless. Cheung army is up there as we speak, protecting the planet. And they will not be alone. Starwide Research’s ships are with them. In the end, it might be us who win the day. And the glory.”
“You’re trying to abuse this situation to become a corporate family with army status.” Lenah stated.
“Not abuse, no.” He shook his head vehemently. “All I’m saying is we’ll be there, should the threat prove too much for Cheung’s army to take on. We have a lot of fighters now, in large part thanks to you securing us investments over the past years.”
The comment landed like a fist in Lenah’s stomach. “I didn’t realize you put that much into our security force,” she pressed through clenched teeth, though she had to admit this was perfectly acceptable behavior. Predictable too. She shook her head, frustrated with herself for not seeing it before. She’d been thinking the investments she secured were mainly going into expanding the mage farms and make intergalactic travel a lot smoother for everyone.
“You know our forces are respectable. Even though we weren’t the ones to discover the threat, we can still benefit from it.”
Lenah snorted; he sounded just like the UPL ambassadors. “So that’s it? You were working on our corporate status when you had your smuggler friends chase me for the stone?” She didn’t care that she sounded like a child. She was angry.
“How could I know it was you on that ship with the stolen stone?”
When Lenah remained silent and stared down at him, he continued. “Lenah, why didn’t you share the information you gained with me? Is the company worth so little to you? This is your future too.”
