Waking Dream [Tales of the Citadel 23] (2 page)

I am sorry. I didn’t want to get too weak again. I have never been away from myself for this long before.

“Don’t worry, Wiyra. I will get you back in your curves, and then, you are going to have to start paying me back for my heroic efforts on your behalf.” He chuckled.

She didn’t know what to say to that. Her body had more than the average breast and hip for a space-born woman, his notice of it was one of the things that kept her from dealing with him as she would an indifferent man. Everything she said, he turned into something flirtatious, and it was hard for her to deal with him on that level, no one on her platform would dare to try something as crass as flirting with the Waking Dream.

“No comment?”

I am thinking. I want to be back in my body, but I have no idea what has been done to it in my absence.

“I am guessing that your family hid you. They were very protective when I came calling with my offer.”

Your offer would have had direct financial impact on the family. They react with their wallets first.
She tried not to think of how many times that her life had been shoved back because the family needed one more mineral hit to afford an increase in equipment or send one of her brothers or sister off on a trip to a far-off station.

“What was that? I felt something grey in your normally cheerful demeanour.” He pulled them out of the asteroid field, and the ship increased speed.

I was just remembering some of the less stellar moments of my family life.

“Don’t worry about it. The past is past. You can choose to shape your future somewhat, but the clay is given to you. Even it has a pre-set structure.” He chuckled. “My great-grandmother was a seer who liked to embroider.”

A seer? My great-grandmother was a seer. She named my family for the next seven generations. She wanted to make her mark.

“Wiyra is certainly an original name.”

Actually, I was named after her. Do you think that it’s weird that you are talking out loud when I talk to you?

He laughed. “I have done far more peculiar things in this shuttle.”

Her curiosity reared its head, but she kept quiet.

How far behind them are we?

“Currently, their trail is six hours old. The up side is that we can move a lot faster than they can. We should be able to see them in under two hours. Will you be okay that long?”

With you to keep me cohesive, I should be fine. This isn’t the first time I have been stuck with my body missing, but it is the only time that the entire platform has gone with it.

“What happened the first time?”

Are you just asking to keep me calm?

“Perhaps, but I am also curious. Tell me.”

She took a silent breath and braced herself for the memories.
I don’t know about your species, but none of mine are born with knowledge of how to use their talents. The powers come upon us and sweep through us as if the ancient gods decided to turn us on for their own purposes. That is what happened to me.

She could feel him listening intently with all his senses.

We were docked with another platform and trading was going on on the main floors. I was bored. There were no other girls my age on the other platform, so I went exploring. I made it into the engine compartment when I had my first waking dream.

I came out of my body with a jolt as if I had touched some electrical equipment. I saw my body on the ground, and I thought I was dead. The engineer who saw me thought I was dead. He lifted my body and ran to our platform. I hid and followed behind him, more a wraith than the astral creature I am today.

My family mourned me. They put my body on a bier and celebrated my life. I didn’t know what was going on, but I started feeling weak.

My family’s platform separated, and they went on their way. I didn’t have the wit to follow them before they uncoupled. I was fading fast.

The elder of the visitor’s platform could see me, but

she thought I was a restless spirit. She was coming toward me to start communication when one of her sons walked into me. In my weak state, I stuck to him and I was able to whisper to him.

Since I didn’t know what had happened, I couldn’t really explain it, and I was eleven at the time. I wasn’t nearly as articulate as I am now. By the time I made myself clear, my family was hours away. The visitor’s platform was mining, so there was no choice for me.

When I felt stronger, I stepped out of the young man’s body and thought of my own fingers and toes. I snapped into my own body and pounded against the interior of the burial pod moments before my grandfather launched me into a star. I remember screaming, kicking and then finally breathing the stale air of the platform.

My family rejoiced, and then, they got the call that told them my soul had been trapped on the other station. I was forced to train my talent day in and day out until I could manage to leave and return without effort. Once I had gained control, I went to work, but there were safety measures put into place.

“Like what?”

When we find my body, if I am still in my sleep pod, I will be hydrated and breathing easily. There is a full life support system for me now. As long as I am in my safe place, I should be fine. It is only if they have removed me from the pod that I will be in deadly danger.

“So, how did you find your way home that first time?”

Oh, the elder contacted my ship, and I was able to see their location on the scanners. My talent and ability to move is based on spatial orientation. I am an excellent navigator.

“That is fascinating. I knew there was something I liked about you aside from your body.”

She blasted his thoughts with a cool wind of frustration.
It always comes back to that for you, doesn’t it?

“I appreciate you physically. There is nothing wrong with that. Among my people, we either link minds or trigger physiological reactions with our partner. I don’t have that option with you, so I am trying to make my courtship intentions clear. No surprises.”

She laughed in his mind.
I am in your mind, and you are worried about surprising me? How thoughtful.

“I am striving to be a good partner. I will prove my mettle when I find you.”

Get me into line of sight with the platform, and I will prove my own ability to take care of myself.

“Two hours, Wiyra, and we will see how we work as a separated team.”

She had to admit he sounded far more confident than she felt.
What the hell was going on at the platform?

Chapter Three

“Where is she, Kwinto?”

Vecho Kwinto stared at the two intruders who had brought a dozen armed men to steal Wiyra. “I don’t know. She was here when you arrived, so I don’t know where she is now.”

The younger of the two lifted him and hissed into his face. Fangs that dripped venom were inches from Vecho’s cheek. “Tell us where she is.”

“You have searched the entire platform. There is nothing more that I can tell you. She was here, and when you arrived, she disappeared.” Vecho used his single ability to keep the older male from reading his thoughts. “She comes and goes as she pleases.”

He was dropped on his old, bony butt. He stifled his groan. No one had told the invaders anything, but they were working through the mining platform, floor by floor. They would find the energy signature of the pod if they started to do wider sweeps, but he could only hope that Wiyra was alive wherever she was. He had no idea what was going to happen when they found her, because he knew that they were not going to stop until they located his granddaughter. He just hoped that she found them first.

* * * *

“Are we close enough?” He seemed nervous as he piloted them toward the silent platform.

Burin had their shuttle masked from detection.

From within his body, she reached out to her own and felt the call.
We are close enough. I can get there. I hope everyone is all right.

“You won’t know until you get over there.”

They were drifting toward the platform on minimal power.
Should I go now?

“Wait until the shuttle is locked onto the platform. If they are waiting for you to return, I don’t want to be left behind while you come out of your trance.”

Fine. I hope everything is all right. It looks awfully quiet over there.

“You will find out soon enough.”

They eased in, and when she felt the tug of her body, she whispered in his mind.
See you soon.

Her skin was cool and her pulse thudded hard as she settled back into her body. She opened her eyes, and the interior of her pod was blessedly familiar. With her left hand shifting slowly over her controls, she brought up the schematics of the platform and looked for life signs.

Her own people glowed brightly, but there were fourteen intruders who shifted in a dull blue spectrum. Wiyra checked her location and grinned. She was in the slag pit. Barely any oxygen and tons of cold mining waste surrounded her and kept her from those who didn’t know where to look.

There were intruder figures wandering around the platform, probably looking for her. If they had been looking for anyone else, they would have found them already.

Grimacing, she knew that there was only one way to let her grandfather know that she was back. He wasn’t going to like it.

* * * *

Vecho sat in the command chair and felt the prickle along his senses.

Grandfather, I am back.

He fought not to jolt in his chair as Wiyra’s voice whispered behind his shields.
Are you safe?

I am. There is a Citadel tracker who is making his way onto the platform as we speak. He is coming to help us, but he is outnumbered. Can we help him?

Of course, child. We were only waiting for you. Watch out for the one with the fangs. He’s an Uhn.

Does he know about Grandma?

Vecho smiled and said.
I did not feel it necessary to tell him.

Wiyra’s laughter filled his mind.
I will tell him that you are about to move.

Excellent. Glad to have you aboard, Wiyra. We were worried.

You can remain worried. The tracker is Burin.

Vecho’s grin caught the attention of one of the men guarding him. A scowl was all that the guard gave him, so Vecho alerted his grandchildren and the platform workers to the fact that Wiyra was back and safe. Sighs of relief filled the platform and weapons were lifted. The attackers had taken them by surprise, but they had been held back by the knowledge that the Waking Dream was loose, and she would need to find her home safe and in one piece if she could reintegrate with her body.

The moment the attack came, her pod had dropped into the slag pit. It was the only mechanism that they had come up with, and it had never been needed before today. The fact that it had worked was a great triumph for all of the members on the platform. They would all give their lives to keep her safe, but it was a relief that they didn’t have to.

Vecho faced the fact that if Wiyra had gone to Burin, she would be leaving them, but she would be leaving them by choice and not under duress at the hands of savages. It was time for her to start her own life, but her family would always be there for her provided that they could make it through this adventure intact.

* * * *

Wiyra scooted down in her pod and unclipped the breather. She pulled the mask over her face, and once it was settled, she removed her drip feeds. She knew that two things would happen when she blew the pod. The first thing that would happen was that her body would start to freeze. The second thing would be that the intruders would come running when the pod no longer insulated her heat signature.

Moving fast was out of the question, so she breathed slow and deep until she was confident in her coordination. She went into a foetal curl and slammed her fist into the emergency release that had enough strength to shift the slag that was on top of her pod.

The blast rattled her teeth, but she uncurled and left the pod as quickly as she could. Three hard falls to the floor later, she managed to hit the exit lock and stagger in to let the decontamination field run over her.

She shivered and counted down from twenty as the beams scorched over her suit, removing traces of mineral slag from her baggy jumper. Wiyra moved into the hall the moment the lock opened, and she stripped off her mask, chucking it back in the cleansing chamber.

She could hear footsteps approaching, so she went up. She climbed the riveted ladder, eased open the maintenance hatch and slipped inside. When she had been a child, it had been a game to creep silently in the tunnels and evade detection. It was now worth more than dessert to not get caught.

Her hair was bound tightly to her head, and it snagged on a few rough pieces of metal as she crept quietly through the tunnels on her hands and knees. It was a lot easier when she was ten.

She kept moving for half an hour before she left her body to check her relative position in the ship. Her astral form stuck its head down and confirmed that she was near the command deck.

Back in her body, she resumed her slow crawl into the space above the command deck. Once there, she lay flat and let her astral form out to explore the situation in her least visible mode.

Two intruders were lying dead at her grandfather’s feet, and he was calmly cleaning the knife that he had used to dispatch them. Tracker Burin was at the internal sensors looking for more of the intruders. She walked up to him and slid her hand into his head.

“Hello, Burin. Where are the others?”

He jumped and blinked rapidly. “Your men have taken care of all but one. Your grandfather mentioned that there is an Uhn onboard, and I am pretty sure that it is the survivor.”