Lilou’s kalenium vibrated enough to startle them. “Sir, our ambassador is awake.” Zoey tried to keep her cool despite the cannonball in her throat. She shrugged and returned to the Chancellor.
“I—I have to process this.” She might have gestured uncontrollably. Her heart might have pumped a little too much blood. Her body language might have spoken too much.
Richard unfolded his arms and pulled the chair forward. “I know. And I also know you’ll make the right choice.” He gave a reassuring nod. “I’ve been reading your file, Alexandre documented your progress and he’s actually looking forward to testing your enhancements in a proper environment this time. I’ll also have Lilou reunite you with Rufus downstairs; I hear you’re really excited to see him.”
She nodded, a little too contained this time around. It felt just like being in a principal’s office again. Richard had been evaluating her, she saw it in his eyes and the way he registered her body language. “Richard… thank you. You could have chosen to kill us all and move on.” If there ever was a universal truth, this was it.
“At the end of the day, we all win. That’s politics.” He stood up and gave Zoey a handshake. A shorter one this time around. “I trust you’re in good hands here. I need to see the ambassador before I leave, but I’ll be back again in time to finish our conversation.” And just like that, Lilou held the door open and escorted her out.
Only inside the capsule, Zoey let her guard down and slumped her head against Lilou’s shoulder under precipitated breaths.
“You’re fine, you did well.” She draped an arm around her. The level of emotional comfort humans needed was overwhelming at times, but Zoey wasn’t half as bad as Rufus. Lilou smiled to herself as she directed Zoey to her bedroom. “Have some rest now, I need to join the Chancellor before he portals back. I hope you remember how the kalenium band works because we’ll be in touch shortly.”
γ
“Try harder! Alex’s voice pierced through the speakers in the training room.
On the other side of the kalenium wall, Rufus was losing his already fragile patience. “For the love of chili, we’ve been at it for days now and I can’t control it!” Trying to manipulate body and mind and not liquefy in the process had been in Rufus’s view, the mother of all mothers. Unachievable. He shrugged and lifted both hands in the air at the poor optan lady who had the misfortune of being his live puppet for today. Then he proceeded to scratch his beard.
“Nice try. I’m lowering the temperature ten degrees, I’ll give you the signal once it’s settled.”
The infinitesimal speck of hope still resided in Alex’s eyes like Nessie’s ass at the bottom of Loch Ness. Rufus shamelessly pictured it. “Look, this nice lady is probably fed up being used as a voodoo doll. I think we could both use a sandwich right about now. When I took over her mind last time, I could sense a deep desire for bacon!” He brushed the beads of sweat off his forehead.
“Except there’s actually no bacon on Opt, buddy. Set!” The buzzing noise was a clear indication the nice lady was going to be on her twelfth round of Macarena. Alex steadied his earpiece and craned his head.
Rufus gave an apologetic look, and a nanosecond later, she was swaying musicless to the only choreography he actually remembered. Somehow, taking over someone’s body was an easy mechanical action almost—he thought it, she performed it. Right now, the lady stared at him perfectly conscious as he was having his brazen dance way with her limbs. Taking over someone’s mind while their body was in full swing had gotten easier, though.
Testing the effects of temperature on his performance had Alex all psyched this morning, and this was a tall, athletic nerd Rufus had trouble saying no to. Especially since Jasper had been so close to recovery. Somehow, Rufus felt the need to give him some sort of motivation, a surprise of sorts since he’d been the one working on his enhancements from the beginning. He took a deep breath and visualized the lyrics, implanting them in the girl’s head as if sending an invisible brainwave.
He opened her eyes to hear her singing and dancing along the most unrepentant Macarena his ears had ever heard. And just when his eyes were taking in the sight, they started sliding off his face like soft pudding.
Alex sighed from behind the glass. “At ease, Rufus!” Maybe he had been a little too hard on Rufus with all the intense training. He watched him snap back together like a rubber band as soon as he stopped exercising his enhancement.
He even spared the energy to shoot the optan lady an apologetic glance. “I hope they’re paying you enough.” Rufus pursed his lips and rested his hands on his hips. Exercising his enhancements was tiring. His body tingled. Knowing the lady wouldn’t understand him without her earpiece, he gave a repentant nod. Snatching someone’s body and mind away from them still felt like psychological rape. No matter how excited Alex was.
Better be fucking proud, Jazz.
Alex rose from his seat and straightened his pose. “I have good news.” He entered the glass training room and dismissed the helper. “You lasted three good seconds longer this time.” With proper training, he knew Rufus could indeed wield his enhancements. He also knew he wasn’t in an optimal emotional state having been separated from Mia again. “I have a huge bacon sandwich underway with your name on it.”
Before he could pat Rufus on the back, the door to the lab made a buzzing noise and Lilou came through followed by Jasper and the Chancellor. “The sleeping beauty is now ready for that hug, Rufus!” Lilou chirped.
It took seconds for Rufus to spring to Jasper and envelope him in a bear hug. That Chancellor gave Rufus the creeps, but he wasn’t going to act formal when his excitement possibly matched his hunger now. “Are you good, man?” Rufus patted Jasper’s shoulder and cleared his throat, trying to take a manly stance since the Chancellor observed him like something straight out of Animal Planet. Jasper looked good—if anything, only a little sleepy with his tousled hair coming to his shoulders in messy waves.
“I’m good.” He returned the pat and nodded. “Have you been training?” His glance switched to Alex.
“He’s making slow but very steady progress.” Alex noticed the Chancellor’s eyes roaming around the training lab.
“Training keeps your mind in the right place, Rufus.” The Chancellor spoke, taking a few steps towards the door. “I’m ready to be escorted now.” He gave Lilou a nod and she was quick to tap into her kalenium. “I’ll be back shortly.”
Lilou bent down to open a portal and the room shook with the usual pressure. The Chancellor nodded once more before stepping through. He was gone. “Coast is clear.” Lilou chuckled, watching Rufus exhale with relief. “You haven’t warmed up to the Chancellor, have you?”
Rufus was transparent as glass. “What’s up with all the spandex, man? I get it’s your natural habitat and all, but dayam that shit’s ugly!”
Not even Alex could keep a straight face. “You mean our uniforms?”
“It’s like his junk keeps staring you in the face!” Rufus wrinkled his nose, causing Jasper to shake his head, trying to hide a smile. He’d missed this Rufus. The real one.
Alex folded his arms over his chest and elaborated. “You’ll get used to it. To give you a clue, positions which require quick movement or fighting demand a tight uniform. I’m Tech and Strategy” he signaled his dark coveralls “we don’t get physical much at the base.” For someone as aloof as Alex, Rufus sure had him talking a good bunch.
Lilou jumped in. “I prefer the coveralls, but my usual gear’s also tight. And it’s nearly impenetrable, so that’s a huge plus. So meds are purple, soldiers are dark blue mostly and anywhere you get a glimpse of pearly white, you need to behave because they’re our superiors.” She winked. “Much like in the military on Earth.”
Rufus rubbed his forehead, cocking a brow at Jasper. “Why are you not in your uniform, then?” He scanned his outfit like a judgmental grandma. Dark blue sweatpants and white t-shirt made Jasper look as foreign to this place as he was.
“I literally just woke up from an induced coma, man. I need a shower like air. I need briefing like air too. Have the timelines been restored?” Jasper glanced at Lilou who looked like she could have used another minute.
“About that, Jasper…” she started but the buzzing door sound stopped her in her tracks. Holding a massive plate of food, Zoey made her way through.
The air got thinner. Color drained from his face and Jasper froze as soon as their eyes met. He sucked in a startled breath and instinctively locked his fingers in a fist.
“She’s here?!” The anger in his voice made Zoey stop to a halt. Pressure clamped down on her chest as she felt air leaving her lungs again. As if slow motion had set in, her ears couldn’t focus on any sound as she saw him brushing exasperated fingers on his face, his brows going up. Terror took over his features. Her stomach tightened. Everyone had a different look on their faces at the sight of her; Rufus was the only one who looked… happy. Alex tilted his head, slightly confused, Lilou shrugged apologetically and Jasper… Jasper looked as if he’d seen a ghost.
Far from the welcome wagon she’d hoped for, Zoey placed the plate on the nearest desk and swallowed hard. If two eyes were happy to see her, it was enough to run to them. Rufus welcomed her with open arms, his voice still a buzz to her ears, but his arms were home to the warmest, most comforting hug since she got here. His red beard tickled her ears as he swung her around in his bear embrace.
This was Rufus.
Too many questions swirled in her head, deafened by the only arms which didn’t make her feel like an intruder. “I… I thought I’d never see you again” she squeezed at him through sobs and gulps of air “… it’s really you.”
Rufus cradled her like a child. “Alex didn’t mention jack” his arms loosened their grip as he detached to get a clear look at her. “and your hair’s all over the place. Get a grip!” Her ginger hair framed her freckled face in an explosion of curls. Maybe it was one of his last memories of her, but she still smelled like cookies.
Lilou’s voice broke through. “I’m sorry, Jasper. She was not safe over there, Etienne’s still after her.” She then turned to the rest. “I’ll take Jasper to his room and meet you guys in a few for briefing.” Turning to Jasper, she gave him a push and disappeared into a sea of blue, leaving Alex in the uncomfortable position of having to say something.
“Um, I’m sorry, Zoey. He just woke up and had a meeting with the Chancellor. I’m guessing nobody told him you were here.” Somehow, the explanation Alex had given didn’t shake the incredulous look off Zoey’s face. “Look, I think you’d better get something to eat before we head out.” If possible, even Alexandre’s face had gone a little whiter than usual.
It was enough for the hunger glow to return to Rufus’s eyes as he snatched the baguette sandwich off the tray. “Can I have some water with this?” He gave Alex the puppy eyes and pulled Zoey to the floor. “I haven’t seen a lot of chairs in this place.” He warned. “It’s like they have a thing for standing up all the time.”
“So I guess we’ll take the floor then.” She steadied her legs underneath and leaned in for a whisper. “How are you holding up?”
Words were unnecessary, his face said it all. Grief had curled in the dance of his brows. “I’ll get that bastard if it’s the last thing I do.” Another bite tore through the sandwich. “They told me he’s your ex.”
“Rumor travels fast.” She could barely keep her head from spinning. “I suppose they told you why we were altered.” She shrugged.
“I don’t blame you, Zoey, none of this is your fault. We’ve all been the collateral damage of two very sick individuals.” Rufus sensed Alex approaching with a bottle of water and nodded appreciatively, wiping the back of his hand on his green cargo pants. “We both have good reasons to end the guy.”
Alex returned to his intersat, giving Zoey and Rufus a good chance to catch up. They both looked like they needed it.
“Was James a dick to you at the lab?” She didn’t want to make Rufus relive it all, but the need to know this other side of the one she’d loved for two years was almost imperative.
She watched Rufus washing down the last bite with a gulp of water before he spoke. “Beck was far worse, but Etienne’s the brain behind it all. I won’t call him James, he doesn’t deserve that.” He pulled his knees to his chest and draped an arm over the kneecaps. “They beat Mia up in a coma to motivate her to train. She’s been with them the longest. At first, they made her forget, but then they realized if she remembered the beatings, she’d try harder.” A defeated sigh followed. “They killed her dad just to prove a point—you know that.”
Of course there was a part of Zoey that loathed him. “I know.” She leaned into his shoulder, locking arms. “Mia’s strong, Rufus. Resilient. She’s tougher than all of us put together.” In the short time she’d spent with Mia, there was nothing she didn’t come to admire about her. “And she never doubted your feelings nor your actions.” He knew that now.
“When they brought me here I was in a coma as well, something about the magnetic field and so on. I don’t even remember seeing her, Zoey. Etienne and Beck have somehow implanted superficial memories, Lilou said. When I woke up, I was back in my own shoes.” It seemed like a lifetime ago. “Did I hurt her?”
Images of Rufus restraining Mia and fighting her while she tried to access her portalling skills invaded Zoey’s mind. “No,” she lied “you just restrained her.”
Alex’s kalenium lit up and vibrated. He cleared his throat and both Rufus and Zoey jumped from the floor.
“Briefing?” Rufus slid his hands into the pockets of his pants. He shot Zoey a knowing look and whispered. “Jasper means well, don’t hold it against him.”
Watching him turn to follow Alex down the narrow hallway was almost a relief. It all felt like a bitter cocktail of humiliation and disappointment. Somehow, she expected his eyes to light up in flickering amber, to wrap his arms around her as he did in the rental apartment in Pamplona. She wanted to get a feel of him again, as if this wasn’t just work, as if he didn’t regret anything.
But if he was going to be a dick about it, so could she.
The growing knot in her throat got a little bigger, watching Alex open the door to yet another office. Just like in Richard’s quarters, three glass walls revealed a pristine landscape. Her eyes fell on the huge translucent screen showing unknown symbols. A massive table served as the centerpiece, and twelve mismatched chairs gathered round. Intersats were integrated in this particular table and Alex was quick to take a seat and work his fingers, tapping away at something of seemingly great interest.
Zoey’s breath caught at the sight of Jasper stepping in. He was now in full gear, the uniform wrapping his broad shoulders in dark blue. An iridescent pearly pattern made its way in gleaming lines across his chest and down to his waist. It was so similar to the outline of a waistcoat.
Now it makes sense, she thought, unable to detach her eyes from him and the intricate fabric molding over his every muscle in tiny scales. Lilou made a throaty noise at her, urging her to take a seat next to Rufus.
“I missed that man bun.” Rufus elbowed Alex who was oblivious to Jasper’s hairstyle. “Let’s brief.” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
Alex took the lead, slewing his eyes from Rufus to Zoey. “We have Tech working overtime on possible ways to go against Etienne’s atomic manipulation. We can’t come up with enhancements for that one since we’re all kind of grown up right now and we won’t take the risks Etienne has, so we moved on to the next best thing: fabric.” He announced. “We’re testing different possibilities within the simulator.”
Zoey dared to ask. “Wouldn’t it be easier for Rufus to get a hold of James’s mind and coerce him into surrendering?”
Lilou turned to her, propping her arm against the backrest of her seat. “You see, Rufus here has a unique enhancement, but his control over it is relatively slim at the moment” her eyes locked on Rufus nex
t “no offense.” She got up and tapped her kalenium, projecting the same image on every intersat—two male outlines mirroring each other. “Rufus can take control of Etienne’s body, but his power resides in the mind, so while Rufus can make him close his eyes so we can attack, Etienne can safely shatter all the matter around him before we’d even consider taking a first step.” The male outline who presumably represented Rufus dissipated as a consequence. “Controlling the mind is hard for Rufus and fully accessible while he is in total control of a body.” She paced until she got behind Zoey’s seat. “Even so, exercising this particular control over an individual has a limited span of—”
Alex jumped in. “As of today, nine full seconds.” He looked proud, too. “But we’re working on every lead we got. Rufus works hard and I’m sure we’ll be making progress.”
Jasper locked eyes with Lilou as she returned to her seat. “So while Alex works on Rufus, you can work on Zoey and see if we can explore her enhancements a bit further. Do we have their blood tests?”
Lilou nodded. “Rufus is fully stable, kalenium’s in sync and he seems to work better in a colder environment.” She glanced over her shoulder at Zoey. “Zoey just got here, Jasper and I think she needs to fill you in with the latest. I also think you owe her an apology, so why don’t you escort her to her room and meet us all back at the lab for part two of the briefing?” Things were clear as water for Lilou: if they’d started off on the wrong foot, tension was bound to build up, leading to frustration, leading to Zoey possibly frying someone later today. She couldn’t have that, so she narrowed her eyes at Jasper and the dance of her eyebrows did all the talking.
Wow. Alex tried to steer the attention away from the ambassador. “Lilou, would you mind taking over the intersats while Rufus and I try something downstairs?”
Found in Amber Page 5
