“Such as the stress of having your home bombed and your father killed?” Alisa asked bleakly.
“Perhaps. I remember Jonah first displayed talent after recovering from a bout with pneumonia. But there’s much that even modern science does not know. The Starseers themselves are very secretive, and few outside of the imperial bloodline have come forth over the centuries to volunteer themselves for studies.”
“What did the empire do with those it took and sent to orphanages?”
“From what I’ve heard, they wanted to use those with Starseer potential to their own advantage and raised them with the idea of indoctrinating them to be loyal subjects, but since so many children never developed abilities, the empire most likely ended up with a bunch of normal children who grew up bitter that they had been taken from their parents.” Sylvia lowered her voice. “Some speculate that they just got rid of the babies.” Her grip tightened on the teacup. “Jonah didn’t want to risk that.”
“No. Hells, no. I understand that, but why didn’t he ever tell me?”
Sylvia smiled slightly. “You used to tease him for being overly bookish when you two first met.”
“I tease everybody. Myself included. It’s part of my charm.”
Sylvia snorted. “Indeed. But Jonah was sensitive. We studious, artistic types often are.” She waved her hand toward an easel set up in the corner. Alisa had been too distracted to look at what she was working on and did not notice now, either.
“So?”
“You already thought him a tad odd, and he had a huge crush on you as soon as you sat together in Professor Lingenbottom’s class. He worried that if you found out about his heritage, you would think him tainted. Besides, our family has been here, growing wheat and corn out in the hinterlands for generations. It’s not as if anyone remembers that we originally came to Perun as refugees from Kir after the Order Wars. Also, Jonah had very little interest in learning about his heritage. I still remember when we were children and a Starseer came to visit after Jonah first started demonstrating his powers. I’m not sure what the gist of the private conversation they had was, but Jonah ran screaming out to the corncrib and wouldn’t climb down until the man left.”
“The Starseers don’t have reputations for benevolence and kindness.” Alisa shuddered, horrified to know her daughter had been taken by them. They operated off the grid, hiding from the empire and everyone else most of the time. Even if a face had shown up on that video, it probably wouldn’t have been in the Perun police database. How could Alisa ever find the people who had taken Jelena if they didn’t want to be found? The name Durant wasn’t much to go on.
“No, our first contact with them, after centuries of isolation, was when they regained spaceflight, left their planet, and tried to take over the rest of the system,” Sylvia said dryly.
“What do you think they want with Jelena?”
“I would guess to raise her as one of their own.”
Alisa slapped her palms against her thighs, then stalked around the room, distress and horror giving way to fury. “Well, they don’t get to,” she said. “Presumptuous bastards. She’s my daughter, and I’m going to raise her. I already gave up too much for the Alliance, four years of my life and hers. They promised it would only be for a year, Sylvia. And it was four. Four. If I hadn’t been gone so long, this never would have happened. Jonah—”
“Would probably still be dead,” Sylvia said with a sad sigh. “And if you had been in the apartment when the bomb went off, you would be dead too.”
Alisa pushed her hands through her hair, almost tearing off a chunk. “Logically, I know that, but I can’t help but wonder if—fear—I did the wrong thing, made the wrong choice. The Alliance would have won without me. I shot down a few ships, flew some people around, but that’s it.”
Sylvia spread her hand, palm up. She wasn’t going to deny Alisa’s self-recriminations. Maybe she agreed with them.
Alisa’s comm beeped. She ignored it and stalked over to the window, scowling out at the building behind this one, the hint of blue sky visible above it. Earlier, she had been admiring that blue sky, but now, its cheery brightness seemed to mock her. Stormy gray clouds would have been better. She felt so lost. Where could she start looking for her daughter? Was Jelena even on the planet? Three months had passed, and Alisa had no leads. Nothing.
The comm beeped again.
Alisa snatched it off her belt clip and roared, “What?”
“Uhh, got a problem, Captain,” Beck said.
“If you have to take a piss, just come inside and do it.”
“No… the combat armor takes care of that.”
“Ew.” She scowled at her unit, still irritated. She forced herself to take a deep breath. “What’s the problem?”
“Someone’s spying on us.”
“Are you and Leonidas looking suspicious and intriguing?”
“I’m definitely not. The mech… he always looks suspicious. He’s been chatting up old girlfriends since you left.”
Alisa blinked, the image so startling that she forgot about her own problems momentarily. “Really?”
“Nah, I don’t think so. I did hear a woman’s voice come from his earstar, but not much more than that. He’s been whispering and keeping his back to me. I caught him agreeing to meet someone at a certain time, but that’s it.”
“Who’s doing the spying?” Alisa asked.
“One of the kids from the field.”
“I was imagining mafia thugs.”
“Don’t underestimate kids, Captain. They make good lookouts since nobody pays attention to them. They work cheaply too.”
“It’s probably just the one that was intrigued by your armor. Maybe he wanted to look more closely.”
“I had that thought,” Beck said, “but I’m not the one the kid was staring at.”
“Leonidas?”
“Leonidas. I’m not sure if he ever saw his spy—or if he’s paying attention to me now. The kid was quick and stayed out of sight, but I glimpsed him looking at the mech and comming somebody. I think he might have taken a picture too. If I hadn’t been wearing my helmet with the built-in cameras, I wouldn’t have spotted him behind me.”
“It must not have been the boy who knew your specs so well.”
“It wasn’t. It was one of the older ones. I turned around to look, and he darted out of sight. I ran back to the alley I think he went into, but he had disappeared. I’m sure he knows this neighborhood a lot better than I do.”
Alisa grumbled under her breath. She didn’t particularly care if people were spying on Leonidas, not now. But she didn’t know what else could be gained by staying here, either. She had already learned far more than she expected. More than she wanted. The idea of her sweet Jelena having Starseer powers was creepy, but it probably made it more important than ever that she was raised by someone who loved her, someone who cared.
“Me, damn it,” she muttered.
“Pardon?” Beck asked.
“Nothing. I’m coming out.” Alisa turned to Sylvia. “I need to go.”
Sylvia rose to her feet. “Can I do anything to help?”
“Not now.” Alisa didn’t even know what could be done yet. She closed the comm channel and lowered the device. “Before I go… I’ve wondered. Can you tell me, is there any possible way that everyone was mistaken and that Jonah wasn’t home when the apartment building was bombed?” The idea of searching for her daughter alone daunted her. By all the gods in all the galaxies, she wished Jonah were alive to help her. More than that, she wished he were alive, period. “Is there any way he might have made it?”
Sylvia was shaking her head before Alisa finished. “No. I was called in when they scanned the remains.” She turned toward a window, blinking a few times as her eyes grew damp. “I saw them, watched them do the test, and verified that the genes matched up. He’s gone.”
Alisa’s legs grew weak, and she groped for the back of the sofa for support. She had not expected anythi
ng else, and yet, a silly part of her had hoped that she would not only find Jelena when she arrived on Perun, but that somehow, Jonah would be there, too, that it all would have been a mistake.
She brushed the back of her hand across her eyes. This was as much Sylvia’s pain as hers, and she managed to utter a soft, “I’m sorry.”
“So am I.” Sylvia came around the sofa and hugged her.
Alisa had never been that comforted by human contact, but she returned the hug.
“Do you need any money?” Sylvia asked. “A lot of the banks crashed in the last months of the war, and nobody has much—we’ve been clinging to physical assets and coin. You’ve probably noticed the imperial morat tanked and is barely worth anything in the rest of the system.”
“I’m fine,” Alisa said, even if she wasn’t, not in any sense of the word. But she didn’t want to take money from her sister-in-law, especially if she was struggling too. Money seemed so unimportant now, anyway. She stepped back, wiped her eyes again, and forced a smile. “Thank you.”
With her legs feeling numb, she walked back out to the front of the building.
As Beck had implied, Leonidas was on the comm, but they weren’t separated. They were both by the lamppost now, their heads tilted together. Leonidas had taken off his earstar and held it so they could both listen.
“What is it?” Alisa asked when the men turned in her direction, Leonidas reaffixing the earstar.
“Dr. Dominguez needs my help,” Leonidas said. “He’s run into trouble at the library. Someone is stalking him.”
“Someone more ominous than a twelve-year-old boy?” Alisa glanced at Beck.
“Apparently.”
“Are you going to help?” She remembered that Leonidas had asked Alejandro for help, something related to studying cybernetic implants and performing a surgery on him. Alejandro had refused, saying that he did not have the necessary knowledge, though it had sounded as if he did not want the knowledge. She did not bring this up, since she’d been eavesdropping and was not supposed to have heard the conversation.
“Yes,” Leonidas said without hesitating. He gave her an assessing look that she wasn’t sure how to read. “Come with me.” He waved for her to follow and started back toward the train station.
“Uh, I don’t respond well to commands,” she said, making him pause. “Unless that was your way of asking me out on a date. But if that was your intent, I would expect flowers and chocolate. Definitely chocolate.” Three suns, she could use some chocolate about now. “Oh, and perhaps use a more diffident tone.”
Beck smirked. Leonidas simply looked exasperated.
“You’ll be safer with me if Beck’s spy turns into something more dangerous,” Leonidas said, wriggling his fingers again, an order to follow.
“My spy?” Beck protested. “That kid was snapping pictures of you, buddy. And I can take care of the captain just fine. We’ve got chicken feed to buy.”
Leonidas’s eyes closed to slits. “You will not come to assist Dr. Dominguez?”
“What do you think we can do that you can’t, mech?”
Alisa agreed with the sentiment—all she had was her old Etcher in her holster, and her fighting skills were meager without the cockpit of a combat ship around her. But Leonidas’s question made her wince, feeling guilty. Even though Alejandro and his orb weren’t on her radar now, as far as problems went, he had patched her up after they escaped the pirate ship, and she felt a degree of debt toward him for that. His solicitude was one of the reasons she hadn’t seriously contemplated sending word about him and his orb off to Alliance headquarters.
“Stay then,” Leonidas said coolly and resumed walking.
“We better help,” Alisa said with a sigh. “Though you’re probably right in that there’s not much we can do that he can’t. Especially me.” She rapped a knuckle on Beck’s armored shoulder and started after Leonidas.
“After a few good jobs, when you’re flush with cash, you can get some combat armor, too, Captain.”
“I suppose being able to pee wherever you’re standing would be useful.”
Beck snorted. “That’s really only for emergencies.”
“Like when you’re in battle and get so scared that you lose control of bodily functions?”
“Basically. Or when an overly muscled mech stalks up to you, disarms you, and breaks your favorite gun.”
“You weren’t in your armor then.”
“No, but I wished I was. You get what you needed in that building?” Beck pointed his thumb over his shoulder as they followed Leonidas away from Sylvia’s apartment.
Alisa’s humor drained away. “No.”
“Maybe you’ll find what you need at the library.”
It was possible. Assuming that whatever was vexing Alejandro didn’t turn out to be that serious, she could make time for some research there. Alisa doubted any imperial subjects could help her locate the men who had taken her daughter, so there was little use in talking to the authorities here—as Sylvia had already found. From everything that Alisa had heard, the Starseers operated outside of governments, answered to nobody, and had ties to few who weren’t in the Order. That meant she would have to find a Starseer to get information on Starseers. There had to be at least a few here on Perun. Maybe the library would have data about a monastery or group residence or whatever they called their homes.
“Maybe I will,” she replied, nodding to herself.
Of course, even if she found a Starseer, there was no guarantee the person would talk to her, and it wasn’t as if she could coerce someone with prodigious mental powers into answering her questions. Maybe Leonidas could. After all, the imperial army had originally created their cyborg soldiers as an answer to the Starseer warriors, pitting physicality, endurance, and the ability to take a lot of damage against the mental powers of the Order.
“Beck, next time you hear me making sarcastic comments to Leonidas, stop me, will you?” She should dull the edge on her sharp tongue if she wanted his help. Of course, that might be moot until she actually located a Starseer. Still, she probably shouldn’t be so sarcastic with him. He had a knack for making her feel silly and immature about her comments.
“Stop you? I’m usually cheering for you. When that bastard orders you around, you should definitely tell him to balls off.” Beck quirked his eyebrows at her. “Or to bring you chocolate.”
“Chocolate is the way to my heart. And also to my compliance. Especially the good dark stuff. None of that wimpy cow or jakloff milk diluting the flavor.”
“Well, I’m not telling him that. Nobody wants you complying with the mech, Captain.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Chapter 5
To Alisa’s surprise, nobody rushed out to stop Beck from walking onto the open tree-filled campus of Morgan Firth University in full combat armor. Students in sandals and sarongs, strolling from class to class and enjoying the warm day, did give their group strange looks. Most of them veered away. A few glimpsed Leonidas’s jacket and veered far away. The reactions here—and of those boys in her old neighborhood—surprised Alisa. Even though she supposed she’d never wanted anything to do with cyborgs, even before the war started and they officially turned into enemies, she had not considered that the imperial subjects—Leonidas’s own people—would ostracize him.
Their luck ran out at the Staton Hall Library, its two intertwining towers spiraling up to great heights from the rounded base of the main building. As they walked up the wide marble stairs leading to the open double doors, an armed man in the blues of campus security stepped onto the center of the landing to block their way.
“No weapons allowed in the library,” he said, frowning at all of them and especially Beck, as he tapped a perky teal earstar hooked over his ear. Opening a comm? Or starting a video recording? “Or on campus at all.”
“We’re here to assist a colleague who’s in trouble inside,” Leonidas said.
“What kind of trouble could someone be
in in the library?” the security guard asked. “They don’t shoot you if you don’t pay your late fees.”
“Unknown, but he was adamant.” Leonidas walked toward the door, making it clear he would go around the guard.
Beck followed, but the guard pulled out a stun gun and leveled it at his chest. “Stop or I will call for police robots.”
The stunner probably wouldn’t have affected Beck through his armor, especially since he still wore his helmet, but he did stop, looking to Alisa for orders.
“You are an alarming figure in all that armor,” she told him. “Why don’t you wait out here and chat up the security officer until we’re done?”
Beck scowled fiercely.
Leonidas, perhaps noticing that the guard was more focused on Beck, continued toward the open doors.
“Wait,” the man blurted. “Are you armed?”
He glanced toward the hip where Leonidas kept his destroyer and toward a similar spot on Alisa. She was about to ask if she could turn her weapon in to the front desk person to hold, but Leonidas glared at the guard and said, “Yes.”
“Then you can’t—”
Leonidas turned his back on him and strode inside. The guard’s stunner twitched, but he opted to keep it aimed at Beck’s chest. An alarm at the door beeped with indignation as Leonidas passed through. Whether it was reading his gun or all of his cybernetic parts, Alisa didn’t know.
“I’m with him,” she said and walked after Leonidas, giving Beck a wait-here signal, and hoped the guard would not stun her, either.
“I’m calling headquarters,” the guard growled and turned toward Alisa, his stunner leaving Beck’s chest.
She was watching over her shoulder and tensed, expecting to have to dive to the side if she didn’t want to be hit. But Beck’s hand darted out, and he caught the man’s wrist. With the servo-enhanced strength of the armor, the guard did not have a chance of escaping that grip.
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