by Tim Kaiver
She reached to the blind side of her chair, and for a moment Ehli wondered if she'd pull up a levitor pistol and kill Ehli just because. But she didn't. A bottle of what looked like water rested in her grip as she brought it up over the arm of the chair. She smiled. "Think I was going to hurt you?" She popped the suction of the rubber cap and chuckled as she took a long drink.
"Lady, I don't know what the black hole you're gonna do next," Ehli commented. Willo gasped in relief after her drink. "For all I know," Ehli continued, "when you're done with that, you'll smash it on your head just to see how I react."
Willo harrumphed. "That's too bad you said it. Would've been a neat experiment." She winked. "I'll have to come up with another."
"Or you can stop wetting your lips and taste my drink already. Where's my son?"
"On his way." Her tone sank to the boredom of a child who’d been told game time was over. "Though, he's not stopping here. He's going straight to Fel Or'an. Don't worry, he has his wolverine, and the child-doctor, Sara. Won't this be an interesting love square on the foot of Schaefer's doorstep."
Ehli raised a brow.
"She thinks she's in love with him too. Sharp as they come in a lab, but when the adult clothes slip on, she's as dumb as a two-by-four. Poor girl's harbored a crush for, like, three years. Schaefer and..." Willo held her mouth open for a moment of apparent self-restraint, then closed it in a sly grin. There'd been an opening there into a hidden truth, but it had shut before Ehli could get in far enough to read. "Like I said, I didn't know about you at the time. Dr. Cochett—Dr. Orson, as we've recently come to discover, and quick-tongued no matter what last name he gave us—came in as an investor and brilliant doctor with friends among the rebellion. He helped create a safe haven for captured Rucien and Esune alike, all the while planning the end to the Osuna empire. The very same that's ruled more suns than we could both name planets." Willo's cheek twitched. She licked her lips and opened her mouth to hide a tic while stretching her face in faked exhaustion. "He took on more than he could handle and tried to make us pay for the difference. His payback is coming."
Willo held up a hand as Ehli started to open her mouth. "I'm sorry, but it's too late to play nice. He's stepped on any good graces I had left. I'm offering you a chance to stay here and not have to witness my revenge."
Fat chance she was staying here if her son was going. "What have you planned for my son?"
Willo smiled and leaned forward. "Well, someone's gotta get Schaefer to open the door."
Ehli considered all Willo had shown her—from the mental invasion during her swim across the river to what Ehli had accomplished diverting mara attacks, reading and using Haritz to get her through fifteen or so more. "Why can't you or I just make Schaefer open the door? I mean, whoever's stronger between us," she said with a wink.
"That weasel's got himself a cage that protects him from telepathic influence. He found a filter, using the neuronet, that allows him to communicate outside the cage, but the filter protects him from the influence we're capable of, and he knows it. By the same measure, your son must believe in his father's best intentions—both for his own safety and for our plan to work—so that Schaefer relaxes his security enough for us to get in."
"And then what?" Ehli asked.
Willo's left eye held a twitch for at least two seconds. She blinked, and all seemed to return to normal. "Then you'll see. Sounds like you plan to come along?" Willo winked back. "Got an itch in you, girl. And I don't see it going away without a little play time."
"Better than the twitch I see in you."
Willo scowled.
"What is that, anyway? Are you okay?"
Willo exhaled, apparently to quell a rage she couldn’t hide from her face. "Don't be arrogant just because you were given a longer timetable to adapt. The ultra serum's made from snake venom, on which our bodies have become dependent. We require higher doses than you do, since you were given more time." Willo's cheek and eye convulsed in a parody of a sneer on one side of her face. She growled. "Once we regain control of Fel Or'an, we plan to find a way to regulate our systems to the stability you and your son have."
"Is that what you want? To regain Fel Or'an?" Ehli waited to see if Willo would add anything else.
Willo stretched her mouth and bit down on an imaginary meal, possibly as a coping exercise for the twitching. She stood. "Yeah," she started, heavy with the sarcasm. "And then I'd like a week to relax at the beach. Girl, I got plans beyond plans, but if we don't take Fel Or'an from that bastard husband of yours, then it's all gonna end badly. For you, your son, me, our people, and many planets beyond. I won't let that happen." Another convulsion started in her eye and cheek. She smacked herself and started for the door. "Come on. I need another shot. And you're getting one, too. If you're coming with, we'll need you fresh."
Ehli didn't know so much about that, and watched Willo without standing to join her.
"I'm not asking. Like I said, you can stay here and wait till it's all over, or come along and play by my rules."
Ehli stood, not hiding her lack of appreciation for Willo's ultimatum. Some anxiety set in, but she focused on communicating with Cullen, which Willo hadn't intercepted. While she'd go along and take the shot, she'd play by her own rules.
"Is that so?" Willo asked, then led the way out through the doorway. "We'll see about that."
Skill: Stealth pathing reached Level 1. 10% bonus to blocking other telepaths.
99% success blocking Willo's probe.
+15 XP
15/155 to Level 3.
Ehli waited until Willo was in front of her before she allowed a trace of fear to reach her face. She redoubled her efforts to hide her thoughts. How much had she read in the one percent?
27
Leading the way down the tunnel, Willo cast a playful smile over her shoulder at Ehli. "You know, I admire your progress. That last thought was almost hidden." She turned forward again. "I forgive you, because I want you on our side. This army needs the strongest people it can get. I don't like playing by others' rules either. We all have to fight, and we'd be stronger if you joined us. I get the hostility—maybe a little jealousy, some motherly protection, and I'm sure being a prisoner who's found freedom would lend toward not wanting others t-t-t-to tell you how it has to be." She rushed to end her sentence, ending on a grunt that echoed down the hallway.
"Agh. See what your husband did while you were holed up in prison?"
"Wasn't it you who got me bitten by a snake?"
"It wasn't going to kill you." Willo rolled her eyes and continued down the hall. "You've been given enough treatments that you're able to handle the venom."
That wasn't what the Cipher said, but she couldn't argue because she couldn't mention that, so she let it slide. "So, you did it—why? To slow me down?" Ehli recalled getting closer to the snake, then waking up on her back. "Or were you trying to drive me bonkers, like you?"
"You know. I'm trying to help you," Willo said, getting up in Ehli's face. Her breath reeked of stomach acid. "Th-th-th-th-there y-y-y-you go b-b-b-being a-a-arrogant."
She spun. Her shoulders shivered before she shook it out too. "Even with your new boy-f-f-friend's daring rescue, you b-b-boosted your abilities with that bite."
"He isn't my boyfriend." Ehli didn't like her calling him that. If others caught on, she'd let it go too far. "You know my husband. He never would have gotten me bitten by a snake."
"If I could have delivered a dose w-w-without i-it, I would have." She grunted and spat. "To be honest—agh!—we're low on s-s-supply."
Willo started running. "Come on."
Ehli followed. "Did you give Cullen the serum?"
"No. If he's to become wa-wa-one of us, he'll need at least sixteen months to two years to ac-c-climate safely." Willo turned down another hall and slowed, her chest heaving. "He just got a let-the-voices-sing shot, w-w-which—" She opened the door to a well-lit room with humming refrigerators along the side walls. "—I can't take 'cause
it also weakens mental defenses."
She staggered into one of the chairs lining the middle space of the room, hit a metal shelf and scraped a half-circle bar across the top. "I didn't have to tell you that, but I want us to work together." She took the arm bar off the table and clamped it on her bicep, then rolled her sleeve up as she crossed the room to the nearest refrigerator.
Her forward-bending posture made Ehli step closer. "Can I help?"
"No. Thank you." She paused as her hand gripped the refrigerator handle. "I'm almost there."
As she opened the fridge door, cool mist escaped in a faint cloud. She took a plastic slide out of a pouch hanging from the door. The shelves inside had trays with empty holes except for the one front and center, which had two amber vials filled with a liquid.
Willo opened the plastic slide. A needle stuck out the other end, and a slot opened to fit the vial. She clenched her free hand while the one holding the injection stick shook badly enough that Ehli wondered if she'd miss her arm entirely. Willo grunted, scaring Ehli, then took a hard breath and somehow stuck the needle right in a bulging vein. She shoved the contents inside, let the refrigerator door shut, and tossed the spent needle cartridge into a garbage can.
Her breathing rate escalated and her eyes sought the closest chair.
Ehli, for the first time seeing Willo as vulnerable and surviving at the mercy of what she felt was necessary, stepped quickly over to slide an arm behind Willo's back before she fell, then helped her to a chair. The skin on her arm puckered in a rash around the injection site.
Willo rested her head back and stretched her legs out. The sight reminded Ehli of Emmit, unconscious, with tubes in his arm and tracking his vitals. She'd wondered if he was going to die.
"If I have anything to say about it, he won't," Willo 'pathed. It was strange to hear her so clearly when her lips remained so still. "This plan is for his safety, too."
Ehli sensed genuine concern in Willo's tone. She wanted to believe her, perhaps one day become friends. First, take away some of her eccentricities and unpredictability—and maybe some of the promises of violence, but who's perfect?
Willo chuckled, then moaned as she rolled to one side and clutched her arm. "If he finds out Schaefer has been giving him drugs that killed or created permanent disability in others, he will try and use his untrained gift to fight. Schaefer won't hesitate to kill him."
Ehli couldn't believe that. He had been a loving father, no matter what had happened since that time, of that she was convinced. He and Emmit had played, gone for walks, and sometimes he’d let Emmit into his lab—as long as he didn't touch what was off limits.
Willo rolled onto her back and looked at Ehli with no doubt in her eyes. "If he feels threatened enough, trust me. Whatever he was before, he's worse now. More dependent on his work to give him happiness. His science is the one thing he'll never give up."
Ehli understood Willo's perspective. They were connected, as though the words were almost coming from Ehli's own mind. Still, she had known the Schaefer who'd let Emmit sleep in his lap after he'd told her he had plans to go back to work. They'd been a happy family.
Willo sighed. "I fell in love with him too. I get it." Her gaze zeroed in on Ehli again. "But the truth is, when the Osuna came, he could have saved you and Emmit. He chose keeping his research safe and his alone. A man's actions define his heart."
Ehli didn't realize she'd backed up until she hit the table behind her with a loud clang. She reached for the empty bottle that tipped over, but her uncoordinated effort knocked it forward and onto the ground, where it bounced, flipped onto its neck, and rolled under a refrigerator. Ehli stopped chasing it and sat down on the cold clay floor. She'd get up if Emmit arrived, but that was about it.
How could Schaefer do that to us?
Her thoughts turned to her memory of Schaefer the night before their kidnapping. She'd come in with clothes and shoes heavy with mud from Emmit's day outdoors, and found him replacing a light bulb over their laundry room. In jest, she threw one of the shoes. It left a muddy footprint on Schaefer's shirt, frightening him enough to almost wobble off the stepladder. But when he looked at her, looking for all the world like the young man she'd fallen for—clumsy and awkward, unlike the serious man he'd become—she couldn't help but laugh. And when she did, his shocked expression turned to joy. He'd hopped off the ladder and run for her. She'd screamed, playfully thrown the clothes into his grasp, and slipped on a mat by the door. She'd tumbled over, and he'd come down on top of her.
Emmit had been occupied upstairs with taking a bath, and whether Schaefer knew that or not, the timing and connection were just right to make love like they hadn't in longer than she could remember. In that place, she couldn't fathom him killing either of them. It was also a stretch to imagine him dumping them to keep his research safe.
"Schaefer was confident that his research...." She couldn't hold Willo's pitying glare. "He worked hard to help us." An emptiness sucked on the strength of her spirit. She didn't want to believe this version of her husband. To do so would crack a foundation that viewed life as stable, where those you loved wouldn't do anything to hurt you.
"And yet they do," Willo said, sitting up. Her attention became distracted, and she glanced away.
Ehli waited, wondering if someone was speaking to Willo.
"Okay." Willo looked up in resigned exhaustion. "You need to take your shot now. Our rest is over."
***
Emmit let Sprinkles explore ahead in sweeping arcs, quietly parting branches in makeshift paths as though sewing the wound of forest they walked over. His fear of rejects lurking behind the next tree limited his telescoping, to find his mom, to such an extent that he gave up. He was convinced reading for rejects was more vital to his survival. A memory of fishing with his father connected with what he was trying to do—casting out his hook and waiting for a mind to expose thought so he could latch on and reel it in.
Save for the vibrating calls of frogs and insects, and the occasional chirping of birdsong, he was convinced they were alone. The dread that had pervaded when the rejects had surrounded them was gone, but perhaps that was their power while on the offensive. If they were hiding, it made sense that they might not project that fear.
Sara gasped as she finished taking a drink from Emmit's container. She smiled as she handed it back to him. The tip of her finger touched his, and a chill passed down his hand and arm. She put a hand on his shoulder, and the energy coursing into him intensified.
Does she not notice?
"Notice?" She dropped her hand. "Sorry. I was just trying to be a... friend, I guess. I didn't mean..." And she turned back to walking, pushing aside a branch with long, flat fingers for leaves.
Her tone suggested she thought his anxiety was hormonal. And he supposed part of it could be, but there was something more. He reached out to her mind, clear of any sexual intentions, and 'pathed, It isn't that. The way we telepaths work is enhanced when we touch others—though it works the opposite way when I touch my mom. When I tried that, it was like an electric shock.
He stepped over a small puddle to land in a squishy slick of mud.
When you touched me, I felt like I could reach anywhere or anyone without even trying, as though I had a buggy and an open desert to drive as fast or wherever I wanted.
"I'm glad to help."
He sensed she felt uneasy at the thought that touch would help him, and didn't want to lead him on.
"Emmit?"
His dad's voice made him jump. He planted a hand on a tree for balance.
Dad? He looked around at the hanging branches and didn't see his dad hiding behind any—before he remembered that the voice came from inside his head.
"Hey, Son. We think you're close. But you're going to have to find the way."
Find the way?
The draping branches and thick cover of leaves meant not seeing much of anything but green and bark beyond two meters in any direction.
Sprinkles leapt
down a small slope, then bolted left and disappeared behind a large bush with orange and red cones dangling like a fireburst in slow motion.
"You have the memories from your training. You'll have to use them, since the easy way is saturated with rejects."
Emmit thought of finding the tiny scroll that had opened his mind to the memory of getting on Sprinkles. He wasn't as scared now as he had been then, and he had Sprinkles at his side. But this jungle was massive and its threats plentiful.
"You have to keep opening your mind, Emmit. Something happened not long ago where you locked us out… What happened?"
Emmit reached for a branch to steady himself as he descended a small slope with only roots to keep his feet from slipping in the mud. I can't right now, Dad.
At the bottom of the slope, he approached the bush with the fireburst cones. Had he seen this before? It felt familiar.... He touched one of the cones. The buds covering them were soft, and broke apart like thick tufts of sand. The powder smeared his fingertips. Something told him it would have a sweet taste, and without much thought he lifted his fingers to his tongue. The sweet, citrus taste was too good to be satisfied by so little a sample.
Item Found: 1 Qoch (Fireburst) plant. Restores ultra powers with benefits to overall health.
Sounds good to me.
"What does?"
Food. He pushed back on his dad's connection and cracked the cone off the hollow stalk. Sticky juice from the stalk ran over his hand as he stretched his mouth to take a deep bite. Powder coughed inside his cheeks as a bite through the stalk sent a rush of sweet juice that tingled his teeth. His cheeks hurt to keep it all in, and as soon as he could swish it around, he swallowed some.
