by R S Penney
The sphere of warped space-time expanded, the world beyond its surface fuzzy and blurred to her vision. A short way off, Isara stood with her arm extended, a knife hanging in mid-air before her.
Several paces away, the man who had come here with Isara was down on one knee with his back turned, staring at two trees. Keli was next to him with a gun pointed at the man's head.
The knife continued its slow approach.
Melissa turned her body sideways.
When she let the bubble vanish, the knife flew past behind her, close enough that she could feel the whoosh of air on her back. Not far off, Isara blinked and then smiled with a burst of laughter. “Not bad, girl!”
Isara ran at her.
The woman leaped and kicked out. At the very last second, Melissa leaned back. Her hands came up to grab Isara's foot, and Bent Gravity did the rest.
Isara was thrown backward, propelled by an unseen force. Her back slammed into the concrete lamppost, and then the woman fell to land on shaky legs. It was hard not to feel a little pride after that.
Melissa charged forward.
She jumped and curled her legs as she soared through the air, intending to flatten her opponent against the post. Rage and fury. This was going to end in-
Isara moved out of the way.
Melissa landed.
A hand clamped onto the back of her collar and then shoved her face-first into the lamppost. Hard concrete against soft skin. She had a bloody nose, and everything went dark for a moment.
Melissa turned to find Isara standing there, right in front of her. Four hard knuckles collided with her face, and then another fist slammed into her stomach. It was so hard to breathe, so hard to think.
A hand seized her hair and pulled her head down, forcing her to double over. Isara leaped and brought her elbow down between Melissa's shoulder-blades, forcing her to the ground. Oh, God…I can't win this.
Dimly, Melissa was aware of the other woman's silhouette standing with fists on her hips. “I have to give you credit,” Isara said. “You've learned a great deal in such a short amount of time.”
Melissa pushed herself up on extended arms.
Her vision cleared in time for her to see the tip of a boot strike her right between the eyes, and then she fell over onto her side, with the lamppost behind her. She's going to kill me! In Jesus's name, I pray for strength.
“Did you really think you could win?”
Isara hoofed her in the stomach.
Bent Gravity lifted Melissa off the ground and flung her backwards into the post. She bounced off and landed on all fours, shaking her head to clear away the fog. Come on, kid, a voice whispered in her thoughts. Don't quit on me now.
Not her own voice…Not Jena's either. Not really. Jena was gone. But somehow, she knew without a moment of doubt that this was exactly what Jena would have said had she been here to say it. You can do it. Remember what I taught you.
Isara turned on her heel and stalked away from the pole with her back turned. “You have a strong will, girl,” she said with a shrug. “But surely you must understand that you stand against the champion of the gods themselves.”
Gods don't need to commit mass murder, the voice whispered. She's a liar, Melissa. Don't listen to her!
Turning partway, Isara looked over her shoulder with a solemn expression. “I once offered Lenai the chance to join us,” she said. “Sadly, she turned me down, but perhaps you might be wiser.”
Melissa, I can't do it for you. It has to come from you.
Isara strode toward her with a smile on her face, laughing softly with satisfaction. “You have learned much,” she said. “You can be an asset to us; the rewards for faithful service are beyond your imagining.”
Melissa, get up!
Rage flared to life inside her, boiling her blood, setting every nerve-ending in her body on fire. It hurt – dear God, it hurt – but somehow the pain didn't matter. She found within herself the strength to rise.
Wiping her bloody mouth with her forearm, Melissa winced and shook her head. “Never gonna happen,” she snarled. “You really believe your threats are gonna make me back down? I knew Jena Morane, and you, madame, are no Jena.”
“She was nothing but a clone, the product of a-”
“Yeah, I've heard,” Melissa said. “It doesn't matter. Jena may have been the clone, but you, Isara, you're the fake!”
The woman flinched at that.
“Come on!” Melissa said. “Let's end this.”
Like the spirit of a banshee swooping low over the tall grass, Isara moved forward for the kill. There was a serpentine grace in the woman's stride, a predatory focus in her eyes. She drew back her arm and punched.
Turning her side toward the other woman, Melissa caught Isara's arm in both hands. She forced Isara to double over with her arm extended. Trying to break a Keeper's bones was a bad idea – it would require quite a bit of strength, and she was tired – so she simply used the opportunity fate had provided.
Melissa whirled her opponent around and ran Isara head-first toward the lamppost. With a shove, she sent the other woman stumbling toward a head-on collision.
Isara leaped, kicking the lamppost and pushing off with a surge of Bent Gravity. She back-flipped through the air. As expected. It's what Jena would have done. Melissa only needed a thought to erect a Time Bubble.
The dome of warped space-time formed around her with Isara hanging suspended in mid-air just above its peak. All the time in the world and yet no time at all. Her skin was already beginning to burn.
Melissa turned around, allowing the Bubble to vanish.
Isara landed in front of her.
Melissa kicked her in the chest, driving the air from the woman's lungs. She spun and hook-kicked, one foot whirling around to strike Isara across the cheek with a most satisfying crunch.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion; Isara toppled over sideways, blood flying from her open mouth. The woman landed in the grass and bounced once, flopping onto her back.
As she came around, Melissa saw her opponent struggling to sit up, wincing from the pain. “No!” Isara scrambled backward on all fours, gasping and panting. “No, it's not possible!”
The woman stood up on shaky legs, then spat a gob of blood into the grass. “How?” she whispered. “How can you…”
Melissa stood before the post with fists raised in a guarded stance, her gaze focused on the other woman. “You said we had no Jena,” she growled. “But you're wrong! I carry Jena's symbiont! She lives on in me!”
She looked up to see Ben and Keli running toward her, both panting as they jerked to a halt several paces behind Isara. Keli doubled over and wheezed. The woman was not used to this much exertion, though Melissa suspected that some of that was the result of pushing her telepathic abilities to their limits.
Shutting her eyes tight, Melissa sucked in a deep breath. “The others?” she asked, nodding to them. “Have they been subdued?”
“Calissa is stunned,” Ben answered.
Standing up straight, Keli folded her arms and shook her head. “The other one will never be a problem again,” she said in a voice as cold as liquid nitrogen. “Why you insist on keeping your enemies alive is a mystery to me.”
Isara threw her head back, laughing softly. “You're on the wrong side, my dear,” she said. “Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to use those remarkable talents to serve the true gods of this world?”
“Like hell,” Melissa said. “And this-”
Her words were cut off by the soft hum of an anti-gravity drive.
A Class-3 assault shuttle, shaped very much like the head of an arrow, swooped low over the surrounding buildings and settled to a stop over the park. The hatch in its belly opened just long enough to let something drop out.
A SlipGate.
The metal triangle had two thruster modules clamped onto it, and they both spat ignited gas toward the ground, slowing the Gate's descent. It landed on the other side of the fountain with a
loud thud.
The shuttle pitched its nose upward and flew off toward the upper atmosphere, no doubt trying to get out of here before anyone shot it out of the sky. So, this was Isara's escape plan. Too bad it wasn't going to-
Without warning, Isara shot upward, propelled by Bent Gravity. She curled up into a ball and tumbled sideways over the top of the fountain.
“No!” Melissa screeched.
Instinct kicked in, and she ran around the fountain as fast as her legs could carry her. That vile witch wasn't getting away! Not this time! Someone had to make the woman answer for her crimes.
On the other side of the fountain, Melissa found Isara standing right in front of the SlipGate. “Cheer up, girl,” the woman said. “What's a hero without a villain to give her life meaning?”
A warp bubble surrounded Isara's body before Melissa could get close enough to do anything. The other woman was a blurry figure, standing there with a mocking grin, and even though sound could not pass through the barrier, Melissa knew she was laughing.
The bubble collapsed to a point and vanished.
Chapter 29
The park was silent and still in the aftermath of the attack. No one moved; no one spoke, and the wind that should have been warm and comforting had a distinct chill. Only then did Melissa notice the corpses. Her mind had been too focused on staying alive to really take in the sight of them.
There were several that she noted: a woman in a green dress who was sprawled out on her side, a man in shorts and a t-shirt who stared lifelessly at the sky. If only they had gotten here just a few minutes sooner…
Melissa hugged herself, shivering as a chill raced through her body. She shook her head and let out a squeak. “No,” she mumbled. “It's not fair.”
She sank to her knees.
There were sirens other Keepers moving through the park; she heard them, sensed them as they arrived. Paramedics and emergency response drones as well. All around her people were weeping or praying.
A silhouette came up behind her, quickly resolving into the shape of Anna. “Thank the Companion,” the other woman said. “Melissa, are you okay?”
Closing her eyes, Melissa felt tears on her cheeks. She shook her head so quickly it made her dizzy. “No…” It came out as a hoarse whisper. “No, I don't think that I will ever be okay again.”
Anna crouched down beside her, slipping an arm around Melissa's shoulders. Her eyes were full of sadness. “You saved these people's lives,” she whispered. “Many more would be dead if you hadn't been here.”
“It was just dumb luck…”
Clapping a hand over her mouth, Anna shut her eyes and cleared her throat. “Yeah, I'm not so sure about that,” she said. “Be honest with me, Melissa. You went looking for her, didn't you?”
Melissa nodded.
“Why didn't you tell us what you were doing?”
“Because you would have stopped me!” Melissa groaned. “You would have said that a cadet had no business going after someone like Isara, but I was the only one who could beat her. The only one…”
“What do you mean?”
Melissa said nothing.
Anna stood up and took a few steps forward. The woman whirled around, staring down at her with a grimace. “Jena's symbiont,” she said. “You've had it accelerate your learning curve.”
“Yes.”
“Melissa, that's very dangerous!”
Craning her neck to fix her gaze on the other woman, Melissa blinked a few times. “Jack did it!” she protested. “So did you, for that matter! When you were stuck on Earth, you learned English in a few days.”
“We had no other choice,” Anna said.
Melissa wasn't willing to argue. It seemed everyone was making dangerous choices in service to the cause. Jack and Anna had pushed their Nassai to accelerate the rate at which their brains formed neural pathways; her father had bonded with the N'Jal. Jena and Raynar had given their lives. Why should she be any different?
Melissa stood up with every intention of slipping away quietly. She would have to pay a visit to Larani and endure whatever lecture the woman deemed appropriate. Not to mention her father. When Harry got wind of what she had done, he would be livid. More so after her lecture just a few hours ago.
She turned to go, but the sound of frenzied whispers got her attention. On the other side of the fountain, three people stood side by side, watching her as if she had just come down from heaven. “It's her,” one said.
“She saved us.”
“How old is she? I know Keepers look young, but-”
Applause rippled through the park, applause from the people who had taken refuge behind trees, from people who were waiting as paramedics loaded their loved ones into white shuttles painted with the red shepherd's crook that indicated a medical vehicle. All around her, people were clapping.
“Looks like you're a star,” Anna said.
Melissa felt her cheeks burn, then bowed her head in chagrin. “Yeah, I guess so,” she said. “Which was not what I wanted.”
Late afternoon sunlight came through the window in Larani's office and glinted off the surface of her long, rectangular desk. The Head of the Justice Keepers stood behind that desk with her back turned, one forearm braced against the window pane as she stared out at the buildings across the way.
“Reckless,” Larani said. “But…Impressive.”
Melissa sat in a soft chair with her knees together, peering into her own lap. “Thank you, ma'am,” she said with a curt nod. “But I only did what any other Keeper would do. I was very lucky.”
“Yes, you were,” Larani agreed. The woman let her arm drop and stood there with her shoulders slumped, heaving out a deep breath. “You were all very lucky. And in more ways than you realize.”
On Melissa's left, Ben sat with his arms folded, his mouth a thin line as he watched Larani's back. “If it means anything to you, I wasn't looking to get involved,” he said in a soft voice. “The girl can be very persuasive.”
Melissa could see Larani's faint reflection in the window. The woman was smiling. And not just any smile, but one that indicated satisfaction. “I'm beginning to realize that,” she said. “Surprising in one so meek.”
“Meek?”
That came from Keli, who sat on Melissa's right and gazed into the cup of tea that she cradled in both hands. “Don't confuse quiet with meek,” she murmured. “The girl has an iron will.”
The girl was sitting right here and listening to every word these people said about her. A part of her was miffed, but it was just a mild irritation. Not worth disrupting this meeting, certainly. There were larger concerns.
Larani spun around to face them with her hands clasped behind herself, head held high as if she were about to give a speech. “Mr. Loranai, Ms. Armana,” she began. “I've recommended that you be offered the highest symbol of valor among civilians: the Silver Crescent. And as for you, Cadet Carlson…”
Melissa steeled herself for whatever came.
With her eyes shut tightly, she could still perceive the other woman as a silhouette who leaned forward with her hands braced on the desk. “Nicely done,” Larani said. “But your decision to allow your symbiont to imbue you with Jena's knowledge-”
“I know, ma'am.”
“I sometimes think the lot of you are trying to give me a heart attack.” Larani fell into her chair, forcing out a deep breath. When Melissa opened her eyes, the other woman was watching her intently. “You've proven yourself to be more than capable. Frankly, we need Keepers like you.”
“Ma'am?”
A warm smile blossomed on Larani's face, and she shook her head slowly. “No, my dear, I'm not promoting you,” she said. “You've got a lot to learn before you're ready for that, but I am willing to let you go on certain field missions.”
Melissa hopped out of the chair, standing up before she realized just what she was doing. God help her, how did one respond to something like that? Words tumbled through her mind, but she found the courage
to open her mouth.
Larani raised a single finger, cutting Melissa off before she could utter one syllable. “Provided, of course, that you are properly supervised.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Reclining in her chair with elbows on the armrests, Larani steepled her fingers and ran her gaze over all three of them. “As for the rest of you,” she said softly. “I'm willing to overlook certain past mistakes so long as you are willing to play by the rules.”
Laughter from Keli left Melissa with the distinct impression that this conversation wasn't going to go well. The telepath lifted her mug and took a sip of tea. “I killed one of Isara's men today,” she said. “I could have incapacitated him; I chose not to.”
“That isn't what I wanted to-”
“You know my stance, Larani,” Keli went on. “This is war. In war, you seek to win. I will gladly work with you because I recognize Grecken Slade's underlings for the threat that they really are, but I will do it my way.”
In one smooth motion, the telepath stood and set her empty cup down on the desk. She straightened her back and managed to look very much like a teacher lecturing one of her students. “If you have a problem with that,” she said, “I suggest you think deeply on it. Because I'm going after Slade's people with or without you, and you may just want to be in a position where you can keep an eye on me.”
Keli turned and walked out of the room with the grace of a woman in the finest ball gown. She paused at the door. “I know what you're thinking, Larani,” she said. “And no, I don't need my talent to manipulate you.”
Melissa shivered when she was gone.
“And you?” Larani asked, turning to Ben.
He stood up with his arms hanging limp, frowning down at himself. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I don't think so. Put me in for whatever citations you like, but this was the last time I put my life on the line.”
“Tanaben, you-”
Ben threw his head back, blinking at the ceiling. “Keli's right!” he snapped. “You won't let me do things my way. I developed technology to give myself a fighting chance against Keepers, and what did you do?”
