Psychogen (Galactic Syndicate Cycle Book 1)

by N. C. Madigan

  14

  The apartment was silent when Vely woke. The sleep cleared from her vision, and for a moment she didn’t recognize the room she was in. Slowly, the events from the previous day rolled back through her memories. Rising from the bed, she shivered, and pulled on a few of her discarded articles of clothing.

  She wandered into the main area of the apartment, which was empty. Cedrick was probably still asleep. Curious, Vely opened the front door and stepped out into the chill of the Moon’s artificial morning air. The streets were quiet, which was both a surprise and a disappointment. Did the Enforcers really get control over the situation that easily? Knowing it would probably make Cedrick angry, Vely set off down the street anyway, to see what she could see.

  There were no Enforcers out on the street. She saw some of the colonists nursing their wounds on the front stoops of their shabby apartments. A few looked up at her as she passed, and she heard her name being whispered.

  That’s her. That’s Vely Strange.

  Vely slowed her pace, locking eyes with the colonists staring at her. She finally stopped.

  “You’re talking about me?” The colonists looked up at her, grins spreading on their faces.

  “The first night is ours,” one of the men said, rising up from where he sat. “The Enforcers could not stop us once we took their weapons. They have retreated for now.” He grasped her hands in his. “You have started the revolution.”

  His words weighed heavily on her shoulders. She only meant to stir them up, not force an all-out revolution.

  “What if it doesn’t work?” she asked. “What if you all end up being killed?” The colonists glanced at each other and shrugged.

  “Then there would be no one to work the fields. The Moon colonies would have to shut down. No one should be living here anyway,” a woman said. She had a nasty gash on her forehead. “Living here is the worst sort of hell.”

  Their conversation was interrupted when several chimes echoed through the colonies. A message from the colony leaders, and their messages were rare.

  “Attention Colonists. Vely Strange is a dangerous fugitive and must be caught. Any information leading to her arrest will result in extra food rations,” came the disembodied voice. A picture of her was projected onto the dome surface. Vely slowly turned to look back at the colonists she’d been talking to. They were staring at her, their expressions shifting from hunger to defiance. Vely backed away slowly, holding her hands in front of her.

  “Please…” she whispered. One of the men, the youngest one, pushed himself from the step and lunged at her. Vely threw her hands up, and the man grabbed them. In her mind she repeated the mantra, Please, don’t kill me.

  From her hands, she felt the calm slam into his mind. Almost instantly, the man released her and took a step back. His face was serene, calm. He looked into her eyes, and she could see that there was not much thought left beyond the surface. He stumbled backwards, his mouth hanging open wide, saliva already beginning to pool at the corners of his mouth. She had obliterated his mind.

  Vely stared wide-eyed at him, her body shaking. The others rose from their seats. Vely turned and took off running. She took alleys and dodged around buildings until she was running down Cedrick’s street. Up ahead, she saw him, wearing black with a large hood covering his face. When he spotted her, he threw back the hood.

  “There you are!” he said, furious and relieved. Vely ran straight to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. He held her tightly. “I woke up and you were gone. I thought something horrible happened. Come on,” he said, and tugged her down the street. He unlocked his door and pulled Vely inside.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, her body still shaking. “I shouldn’t have left.”

  “What were you thinking?” he cried, but his face betrayed his true emotions. He’d been terrified.

  “I don’t know…” she said and allowed herself to slump on the floor. “I used my Tranquility on someone…” Cedrick knelt in front of her. “He was attacking me, and I let it go into him. He grabbed my hands, and it just happened. I think… I think I destroyed his mind.”

  Cedrick sat back on his heels, and grabbed Vely’s wrists, where her sleeves covered her skin. “This is why I must protect you and keep you safe. You’re strong, but uncontrolled.” Vely nodded, a few tears clinging to her eyelashes. Her shoulders continued to shake. Cedrick sat down beside her and drew her into his arms. “It’s okay, Vely,” he whispered, holding her tightly. Her fingers gripped the fabric of his shirt. He held her for several minutes, before he gently released her.

  “I wish I could tell you that we could leave the Moon today, but we can’t. Our transportation hasn’t arrived yet. I need you to stay here, okay? Stay hidden here and keep up your Tranq security.” Vely nodded, wiping her cheeks with her sleeve.

  “There’s another problem,” she said, lowering her chin. “The leaders have announced me as a ‘dangerous fugitive.’” Cedrick sighed.

  “I heard the announcement as well. That is a problem. Even more reason for you to stay hidden,” Cedrick said. He stood, hoisting Vely to her feet. He stared at her for a moment, then looked away.

  “What?” Vely asked.

  “I was going to ask if… well… sometimes I can see someone’s future if I touch them. Like I said, I haven’t been getting anything for a while about your sister, and even your future is hazy right now,” Cedrick said. Vely shrugged her shoulders.

  “What harm would it do?” she asked. Cedrick nodded and he placed his hands on her neck, thumbs pressed against her jaw. He closed his eyes, and Vely waited. She watched his face and saw how expressions of pain and fear flashed through, and she could feel his fingers twitching against her skin. Finally, he released her and stepped back. “Did you see anything?”

  He was staring at her once more, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Something, but it was confusing.” Vely gestured for him to keep talking. “There was pain and fear, fire, and sadness. I think I saw your sister’s face, but it was faint. It is like there’s a wall blocking me from her. But you, you were perfectly clear.”

  “What in the stars does that mean?”

  Cedrick only shrugged. “No idea.” Vely deadpanned him but shook her head.

  “It doesn’t matter. If you can’t interpret it right now, then we shouldn’t worry about it,” Vely said, and Cedrick nodded in agreement. “Oh!” she cried suddenly, clapping her hands together. “Before I ditched my apartment, I had a message come through from Liza!” Vely couldn’t believe she had forgotten. She racked her brain, trying to remember what her sister had said.

  “When?”

  “It came through a few days after my mother died. So, at least I knew she was alive at that point. She said… that she was on some ship… the Gypsy Star.” Vely snorted. “What a terrible name for a ship.” Cedrick had a skeptical look on his face.

  “A lead is a lead, I suppose,” he said.

  Cedrick left a little while later, to scrounge for news and to find food. This left Vely alone to sleep and poke around his apartment. After many nights sleeping outside in uncomfortable little hovels on the streets, it was nice to have a bed, a roof, and a sense of safety.

  She reflected as she lay in bed, her mind reliving the past two weeks after Liza’s disappearance and her mother’s eventual death. Her mother had confided in the girls that they had been saving money to buy both Liza and Vely tickets to a Sun Station, so they could live better lives. Perhaps Cedrick was planning something similar, although that didn’t explain how he planned to find Liza.

  Vely also wondered how Cedrick seemed to know so much. True, he was an Augur, as he said, but what did that really mean? And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Cedrick wasn’t nearly as gaunt and thin as the rest of the Moon’s population. There was something strange about him.

  Vely slipped from her bed and stood awkwardly in the doorway. From her vantage point, she could see a small sliver of the street outsid
e. The blue mist of her power still hung in the air, which gave her a moderate sense of security. She stepped into the main room of the apartment and looked around.

  During her search, it dawned on her that it didn’t seem like anyone else lived in Cedrick’s apartment. And it was a two bedroom, the same as the former Strange apartment. How could a single person afford an apartment of that size on his own? Stepping back into the room in which she’d slept, she searched the standard furniture. The wardrobe was empty, and there was nothing hanging from the poles running the length of the room, nor was there anything stored under the bed. There was no one staying in that room.

  Leaving the room, she stepped to the threshold of Cedrick’s room. Vely hesitated a moment, feeling slightly bad about invading his privacy. Liza would do it. Releasing a long breath, she stepped into his room.

  There were heavy curtains over the single window, blocking out all light. She pushed these aside, allowing some light to break apart the darkness. The room seemed unremarkable - his clothes hung from the pipes, his bed was a mess, and other clothes hung from the wardrobe in an untidy fashion. Vely opened the doors to the wardrobe and searched, but she only found clothes and an old tablet that wouldn’t turn on. She also found a small box that contained several S-chips, probably stolen. She couldn’t pass judgement on him for that. Before turning away, she rearranged the wardrobe to look like it had before. She walked to the bed and knelt down.

  There was a box under the bed. Vely reached for it and pulled it out. The metal box scraped with an unpleasant sound across the metal floor. Once the box was in her hands, she sat down on the floor and set the box in her lap. There was a small lock on the box, but it was already broken. Lifting the top, Vely peered inside.

  Lying on top of the pile of objects was a plastic identification card. The photo was of Cedrick and showed his name just as he had told her. Across the top read the words “Sun Station Beta.” Vely’s mouth dropped open. He lived on Sun Station Beta? Vely flipped the card over, and a small piece of the mystery became clear. Across the back, a single word was etched into the plastic. “Expelled.” So, he’d been forced to leave the Sun Station. Vely set this card aside.

  The next several items in the box were nearly identical metal plates. Written on the top of each plate were the words “Sun Dollar Transfer.” The differences between them were the names stamped at the bottom corner, and the Sun Dollar amount at the top right corner. Each card had a different sequence of numbers stamped across the bottom left. All were addressed to Cedrick. Vely ran her fingers over these plates, feeling the raised letter and numbers against her skin. She’d never seen anything like these before. And she didn’t know how much Sun Dollars were worth, but if it was anything like the moon, Cedrick was filthy rich.

  Vely pushed these aside and reached the bottom of the box. There was one single item left. It was a picture, like the ones she’d found in that Enforcer apartment. She picked it up and squinted at it. There were three people in the picture - Cedrick and two others - with their arms around each other. Vely suspected these were his parents. The strangest part about the picture, the part that gave Vely chills, were the black cross marks across the faces of his parents.

  Vely quickly shoved the items back into the box and pushed the box under the bed. She scrambled to her feet and ran back into the main room. In the kitchenette, she kept her ear tuned for the sounds of the door opening. She rummaged through drawers and storage spaces, until she found a large knife. It wasn’t very sharp, but with enough force, it could still be a useful weapon. Then she waited. Cedrick would have to give her some seriously good answers in order to escape harm.

  Cedrick returned a few hours later. When he pushed open the door, Vely could see that he was carrying several sacks with him. As soon he set the sacks down on the table, Vely lunged from her hiding place, knife out. Cedrick cried out as her body slammed into his, holding the knife to his throat.

  15

  Liza peeked around the corner to the galley, and saw the large cook, Corbin, standing at the long counter. From the smell, he was cooking something, and Liza’s stomach growled. Liza stepped into the galley, and Corbin looked over his shoulder at her and smiled.

  “Hey there, girl,” he said. Up over his head, he pulled down a metal plate, and tossed a pile of whatever he was cooking onto it and handed it over to her. Liza had no idea what it was, but she hoisted herself up on the counter and picked up a fork.

  “Thank you,” she said, and lifted a bite to her mouth. Nothing she’d ever eaten until this point in her life ever tasted so good. The meals she had during her recovery were merely bland and filling, but this…

  “What is this?” she asked. Corbin turned, a long spatula in his hand.

  “It’s called a scramble. Different vegetables, eggs… though we haven’t had real eggs since the chicken populations died off. These are just manufactured to look and taste like eggs,” Corbin explained. Liza just stared; everything he said was new. She turned back to the plate and shoveled the food into her mouth. Corbin chuckled and turned back to the grill.

  Other than Corbin, Liza didn’t see anyone else wandering the ship. They might be sleeping still, surely Dom was, or out at the station. Liza decided she wanted to take another look around, so she changed into her new coat that Becce had purchased for her and stuck her high-powered flashlight and gamma pistol into her pockets.

  The station was already packed with people. Liza entered the throng and wandered, checking out the products that were for sale. She never really considered until now just how sheltered she had been on the Moon. Her life had been all about survival. Now, she was seeing how other people and strange alien creatures spent their money and time. Things like tablets and readers, little gadgets, and a shocking variety of products for women, which they appeared to plaster on their faces, were all available for sale.

  She stopped to watch one booth. There were several women crowded around an array of mirrors. They were drawing around their eyes and smudging different things on their faces and lips. Behind the women, she saw a tall man with very dark colored skin and very dark hair. His hair was twisted into dreads like hers. He must have caught sight of her because he stepped around the crowd to stand in front of her.

  “Eyya,” he said. Liza had to look up to meet his eyes.

  “Hi.”

  “Love the hair. May I?” he asked, gesturing to the matted dreads. Liza raised an eyebrow. “I can make ‘em look better.”

  “Okay.” Liza turned, and in a moment, his hands were working through her matted hair, tugging, pulling, rolling, and twisting. Her scalp began to burn and tingle, but she remained silent. A woman stepped up to her, holding a few small pots in her hands.

  “May I?” she asked, indicating the little pots, her eyes dancing. Liza stared at her. There were streaks of pink and purple above her eyes, and her lips were orange. Before she could answer, the woman was sticking a small brush in a pot of black powder and began to smear it around Liza’s eyes. Between the man pulling at her hair and the woman messing with her face, Liza was completely out of her element.

  Beauty was never a concern on the Moon. Vely could probably handle all this better.

  The man finally stopped pulling, and Liza lifted her hand to her hair. Her matted hair had been changed into individual and nicely formed dreads, more like the man who’d done the work. He laughed, admiring his work.

  “Much better,” he said.

  “Thanks,” Liza mumbled. The woman also stepped away from her, grinning.

  “I’m done, too! Take a look, dear!” She spun Liza around by the shoulders, so she could see herself in a mirror. Liza blinked.

  She hardly looked like herself. The dreads that framed her face looked much better than they had, and her face… her eyes were lined with black and purple powders, making her green eyes stand out. Her lips were blood red. “You have the best skin for red!” she said, clapping her hands together. Liza’s mouth moved, trying to come up with something to
say, but she was at a loss.

  Liza walked away from the booth many credits gone, and her pocket full of little pots of makeup and brushes, along with a small container of the wax the man had used on her hair. She looked around herself nervously, expecting people to stare. She knew she looked different now. But to her surprise, the people on this station didn’t even give her a second glance. Though her appearance was altered, she now looked like everyone else on the station. She had become part of the crowd, and that was comforting to her.

  Wandering around the station helped Liza clear her thoughts. She thought of her inadvertent leave-taking from the Moon as a blessing in disguise. She was off the Moon, and with regular meals, was watching her bones sink under the little weight she’d gained. Her hip bones didn’t jut out as sharply as they had before. And even though the crew she was stuck with enjoyed terrorizing other ships and stealing their goods - it was better than freezing on the Moon, scrounging for parts, and hoping she made enough to help feed her family.

  But without Vely, the whole experience couldn’t live up to what it could be. Liza knew she had to find a way to get Vely with her. And after finding out about this weird, latent power she apparently had, she wanted her sister even more. Vely was always the smart one, and Liza knew her sister could figure out what to do.

  As Liza approached the Gypsy Star, she saw several metal crates being loaded into the hull of the ship, overseen by Dom and Captain. They were standing together talking while several burly guys pushed carts onto the ship and unloaded the crates. The two men turned in her direction as she approached. Dom grinned, and Captain raised his eyebrows.