Rising Zero

by Viola Grace

  At the end of her contract, she is about to be freed when an attack brings on her rising, and lives are at stake. Now, her life is no longer her own.

  Dylia was bonded as a private musician for the wealthy. She spent five years paying off her brother’s debts, and the day before she was to be free of the bond, her future plans went up in smoke.

  Using the bad judgment to get between a psycho and his prey, Dylia was the recipient of a blaster using kekxite energy. She was sent flying, and her dress was ruined, but the stalker wasn’t done yet. Dylia walked to stop the next blast, caught it, and sent it back through the gun. It shattered and disabled the attacker, but she had a bigger problem. The kekxite had brought on her rising.

  Farway was on duty when he got the call to get to a rising. Instead of the normal body count, he found a man who was wounded but still alive and a shuttle heading for a lake. The wild power signatures were pulsing inside the ship. This being was intensely strong. The hovering above the lake was odd, but he kept back. The rising was ready to blow.

  The delicate woman who stood on the open hatch and seemed to be waiting for something caught him by surprise. He watched as she timed things out, and when she felt it was time, she jumped. Cascades of power pulsed out of her, harmlessly into the air. She fell for five seconds and could have powered a city with her output.

  She struck the water; he retrieved her and then flew her to the training center where she would get medical help and training. As a rising, she belonged to the empire. She belonged to him.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Rising Zero

  Copyright © 2020 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-989892-11-4

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Rising Zero

  Published by Viola Grace

  Smashwords Edition

  Look for me online at violagrace.com and your favourite ebooksellers.

  Rising Zero

  Stand-Alone Tales Book 4

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Dylia sat and played, as she had every day for the last five years. She plucked the strings, and Lady Meddial smiled and sighed.

  Lady Turor looked at them, and she said, “Will you miss her when she is free?”

  Meddial chuckled. “It will not be for long. Her brother is already in the courts. The music box will play again.”

  Dylia ignored them. She knew something they didn’t. Tomorrow, her service was over, and she had something that she hadn’t had before. Adulthood. Her family’s debts could no longer be pressed onto her.

  She continued to play, her calloused fingers plucking rhythmically at her harp, doing the occasional cascade that Meddial enjoyed.

  When they finished eating, she was allowed a break before picking up the lute. She was tuning up for the next few hours when a small, dark speck in the sky began getting larger at a rapid pace.

  Dylia paused as the ship landed on the green space, the landing jets hissing and then stilling.

  Lady Meddial got to her feet and frowned at the man who was descending a ramp toward her.

  He smiled. “My darling.”

  She scowled. “Not in this or any lifetime, Videl. What the hell are you doing flying a short-range shuttle within the atmosphere?”

  He grinned confidently and walked toward the wide patio where the two ladies and Dylia were.

  “I am here to make a romantic and dramatic gesture, my love.”

  Dylia saw Meddial flinch.

  “I am not your love. I have declined your advances at every meeting. This is not me being coquettish. I do not want you.” Meddial glanced toward the house where security should be emerging.

  “I have gained your father’s permission to court you, and I am here to propose.” The jovial expression that he had exhibited faded into stern lines. It was a statement.

  Meddial looked back toward the house and realized why help wasn’t coming. Videl must be very wealthy for Lady Meddial’s father to offer her up.

  Videl moved forward, and he tried to force the engagement band onto Meddial’s wrist. She slapped him. It was a hard-enough strike to turn his head.

  He straightened and hit her hard enough to send her to the floor.

  Dylia moved forward with her lute in her hands. “The lady has expressed her negative reaction to your suit. Perhaps you should propose to her father instead.”

  Lady Turor swallowed. “You heard her. Go.”

  Videl’s hands formed fists, and he looked at the trio of women. There was a moment of decision, and he left them, turning and walking back into his ship.

  Dylia helped Meddial to her feet, and Turor was assisting her friend toward the manor.

  It was the smallest sound. A little click that got Dylia’s attention. She turned toward the ship, and there was Videl with a blast gun on his shoulder, aiming at their closely grouped trio.

  Dylia acted on reflex. She stepped between the blast gun and Meddial. She looked down the barrel and watched the glow of the charge as it powered up for the attack. The first burst sent her flying.

  Dylia landed heavily on the brick, and her skin was burning. She fought to stand, and her smouldering clothing stung her eyes. Stepping back toward the ladies, she saw Videl panic and fumble with the blast gun again.

  The light-formed ball emerged, and Dylia lifted a hand to stop it. It paused a moment from her hand and spun in the air. She flexed her shoulder and sent the power back toward the gun, and Videl screamed when his gun exploded on his shoulder.

  “Dylia, what is happening to you?”

  She looked down and saw her skin waving with heat and energy. “Get to the house. I think I am rising.”

  The ladies ran, their footsteps clattering before they got to the grass. Dylia walked toward the ship, past the moaning and whining Videl. She got behind the controls and lifted off. If she was going to rise, she wasn’t going to take anyone with her.

  Her urgency pulled her up and over a huge nearby lake. Once the ship was set to hover, she waited for the moment that her skin gave off the pulse of power to change her DNA. When that energy hit, she jumped out of the ship and fell toward the water.

  Fire wrapped around her until cold embraced her. With power still coming from her skin, she let herself sink.

  * * * *

  Darmon, the Fourteenth, was waiting at the dispatch center. He was on duty as one of the planetary crew, and when the alarm for a rising was set off, he raced to the information center to learn more.

  “We have a rising at the Meddial estate. We also have an unauthorized landing in the vicinity. It is unknown if it is related.” Information Officer Tell was brisk.

  “How strong?”

  “Unknown. There is interference from the ship.”

  Darmon pulled on his helmet and looked back. “Keep me informed.”

  Tell switched communications to the helmet. “I have you. Go.”

  Darmon launched upward and flew the twenty kilometers in a few seconds. He scanned the area, and it was only when he saw the ship slowly departing the estate that he caught on. “Is the rising on the move?”

  “I was just about to say. Satellites indicate that the rising is inside the shuttle. Keep clear. There is a power build. A very large power build.”

  Darmon nodded. “Right. I will hang back. What is it up to?”

  He watched as the loading ramp was triggered, and the
hover function was activated. His shock at seeing the woman in the clothing that had been scorched to the edge of decency was genuine. Less that one in a hundred risings belonged to women.

  He was over a kilometer away, but his scanners showed a tremendous build of power. She seemed to be waiting for something, and when she felt it, she jumped.

  Darmon gasped as the woman’s skin let out stuttering bursts of power before it glowed bright, and a concussive blast emerged a moment before she hit the water.

  He stared for a moment before he realized she wasn’t coming up. “I have the rising in my sights. Going in for retrieval.”

  He flew to the spot and dove under the water. The concussive blasts were still going on, but when they subsided, he grabbed her and hauled her upward.

  She was limp in his arms as he flew her back to the sight of her rising. He did a full scan, including the man who was bleeding on the ground.

  Darmon looked at him, and his scanners took in the shattered blaster and the catalyst for this whole thing. “Shit. Kekxite.”

  Tell said, “I am reading some in your area. What is the nature of it?”

  “A blaster. She has marks from the burn of the blaster.” He added. “There is a victim of the blast as well.”

  “Is that her count?”

  Darmon looked around, and he shook his head. “Her count is zero.”

  “That isn’t possible. There is always at least one victim.”

  “No. She hasn’t killed anyone with her rising.” He paused. “Oh, send a med team.”

  “Right. Are you coming in?”

  “I am. Have the medics ready at the research center. She is going to need a little work.”

  “Dispatching them. See you soon.”

  Darmon looked toward the manor where a security force was looking at him. They saluted, and he gathered up his burden and flew off once again. The retrieval team was inbound.

  He glanced down at the girl in his arms, and instead of seeing the slumped form, she was glaring at him with silver eyes that flicked to red. “You are awake.”

  She shivered. “I am. You are one of the defenders. Farway.”

  “I am. Do you know what happened?”

  She looked away. “The rising. It was definitely the rising.”

  “Do you know why?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I was primed as a child. My father is a researcher. When that idiot, Videl, blasted me, it must have been a kekxite beam. It started the whole thing.”

  He frowned, but she couldn’t see it. “The use of those beams was discontinued two decades ago.”

  “It is a good thing that I am older than that.” She shivered again. “Where are we going?”

  “A med center. You need to be checked over.”

  “I am fine. Weirdly. I will be fine.” She clutched her midriff with her hands. “I mean, I will be fine once I have something to wear. Getting blasted isn’t good for the wardrobe.”

  He looked from her hands to her scorched hair and pale skin. The small notes on her fingers showed her to be a bound musician. He had seen her at court events with her contract-holder. That made things easier. The imperial palace could simply buy out her contract.

  He felt rather smug as he landed near the medical base.

  The smugness lasted for four hours.

  Chapter Two

  Dylia sat through the exams and wore the thin gown while scan after scan was performed on her by computers and servos whirring in the space around her. Everything was controlled by someone that spoke in calm tones from somewhere else in the building.

  “Excuse me, I know this is fascinating to everyone concerned, but how long is this going to take?” Dylia asked the room at large.

  “Miss, we are trying to determine what will be necessary to contain and focus your rising.”

  “What?”

  “You are mildly radioactive right now. You are going to need clothing that acts as a shield between you and others.”

  She paused. “What?”

  “This is a serious rising. You aren’t just a flash-over. Your body is now one of those who are permanently activated.”

  She pushed the scanners out of the way. “Nononononono. I am free tomorrow. I am not going to be locked into public service. I want a life!”

  “You might be free tomorrow, but today, you are still bonded. Get back on the table.”

  She glared at the nearest scanner. “You aren’t my contract-holder.”

  The voice was sober. “We are now. You are bound in service to the empire.”

  Dylia put her hands on the scanning bed and cursed. She screamed curse words in every language she knew and some that she just knew how to curse in. She pounded her fists on the monitor bed, and it creaked and snapped.

  “Well, that is an expensive piece of equipment. It will be added to your bond. I would recommend that you calm down. It will only get worse.”

  She slumped to the floor and sobbed. One more day and she would have been free.

  A door opened, and Farway came through. “Come on, Dylia. You need a bit of a break.”

  He held out a gloved hand to her, and she looked up at him, sniffling. Slowly, she got to her feet without his help. “I would like a glass of water, please.”

  He nodded. “I can do that.”

  She straightened her medical gown and looked up at him. “Lead the way, please.”

  He made a soft sound and led her slowly down the hall and into a wide garden with a bar set against one wall. He got a glass of water for her and brought it over. “Your water.”

  She inclined her head. “Thank you.”

  The water was ambrosia. It was the best thing that she had ever tasted. She drank it greedily, and then, she held the empty glass.

  He asked. “Would you like more?”

  “Yes, please.”

  He got her more, and she drank it all, almost feeling it disappearing when it struck her stomach.

  “Well, I know you know a little about your situation. Your rising is very strong. It is embedded in you, not just a transient event. You know what that means.”

  She nodded and looked out at the gardens. The patterns were strangely familiar. “I know what it means. It means that I get out of bond with my contract-holder and go into a bond with the imperial court.”

  He nodded. “That is correct. Once we have your rising contained, you will be trained to use it. The training is difficult, and many don’t survive it, but there is no option. Either you will control it, or you will die.”

  She nodded and wandered toward the flowers. “I understand. I will manage it.”

  “Do you have any questions?”

  “How many are there like me?”

  “Like you? None. You even put my output to shame.”

  She glanced back. “These gardens were designed by Notosl.”

  He cocked his head. “Yes. How did you know?”

  “I was allowed to study. I didn’t just play music; I studied architecture and horticulture.” She chuckled. “There was also a bit of building engineering in there. The manor house was assembled over many decades, so the change in building styles was definitely palpable.”

  She looked at the flowers and blinked. “They are all radiation-resistant.”

  “Yes. How did you know?”

  “Because I am still glowing, and they aren’t burning. So, the imperial designer has been here making a pretty and relaxing garden.” She looked around. “This facility is state of the art or was until I started smashing things.”

  “It will be repaired. It might be already. Tell is a little bit of a humourless dick when it comes to his equipment. The medics who have examined the results say that you are in remarkable shape for someone who took the blast to the abdomen that you did.”

  She looked down and pressed a hand to her abdomen. “Right. I had forgotten about that. How did he get a kekxite blaster? I thought they were banned here.”

  Farway grumbled. “It is being investigated. We are the o
nly repository of it since Dronix ceased furnishing it at our request.”

  “That is what I thought. So, where do I go from here?”

  “We have a suit being fitted for you. It will keep your outbursts to a minimum.”

  She nodded and looked down. “What about these?”

  He looked down at the notes tattooed on her fingers. “We will have them removed before you leave this facility. You will be registered as completing your bond.”

  She smiled. “My brother is going to hate this.”

  “Why? I would think he would be happy that you are safe and alive.”

  “Hah. He is the one who sold me into bond for his gambling debts. He is currently before the courts again and was probably going to try it again.”

  “Try it?”

  “Oh, no way was I going to keep playing on-demand in weird situations. I have attended one too many orgies since I became a legal adult. Playing harp in that situation is awkward.” She looked at him over her shoulder. “You were at one of them, your royal highness.”

  He froze. “I don’t know who you think I am...”

  “I don’t forget a voice. Yours is rather distinctive. I had no idea that you had your own rising. You handle it well.”

  He took his helmet off and looked at her in astonishment. “No one has made the correlation, even in jest. You were absolutely certain.”

  She looked at his wine-dark hair and rich gold eyes. “It is an easy thing to recall. You were rather vocal at the orgy.”

  Light colour darkened his golden skin. “It is a strange thing to remember.”

  “Lady Meddial kept me from much exposure to males. The orgies were Lady Turor’s idea. She thought it would be a good way to get Lady Meddial into society. It sort of worked.”

  She changed the conversation topic. “Will I have my own quarters?”