A Stellar Affair (9 page)

“What?” Shock propelled him to his feet.

He hurried into the next room in time to see the young soldier being carried in on a stretcher. There were deep gashes on the boy’s right arm and wrist, and his skin was pale.

“What happened?” Jack asked. “How did he do this?”

He addressed Falk, who had come in with the young man and was covered in his blood.

“The window,” the guard said. “I don’t know how he managed it, but he punched through the glass and cut his arm. No one heard him do it, so I don’t know how long it’s been. Gabriella is worried he might have eaten some of the glass.”

Jack turned his attention to Tarrin and took the young man’s face in his hands. “Tarrin, did you eat any of the glass?”

The kid didn’t answer.

“Did you?” This time Jack used mental persuasion to get an answer.

Tarrin shook his head.

The physician on duty barked out orders. On closer inspection, it looked as if the wounds might not be life-threatening after all, but they needed to be cleaned and stanched as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the instant the doctor took hold of the young man’s arm, Tarrin started to fight.

Jack motioned for everyone to step back for a moment and then reached for the boy’s left hand.

Nobody seemed to notice Ardra as she stood watching from the doorway. She had caught the door when Jack had run out and was surprised by what she was witnessing. Tarrin—the soldier she had met what seemed like an age ago—lay on the medical table covered in blood. He fought off the doctors and shouted and tossed, but then Jack leaned closer and took Tarrin’s hand.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you relax so we can get through this.” He gently pressed his thumbs into the boy’s palm. “Trust me. I’m very good at helping people relax.”

Although he was still upset, Tarrin stopped struggling and looked up at the man beside him.

“What are you worried we’re going to do?” Jack asked.

Tarrin cringed. “You’re going to torture me now.”

Ardra could tell he really believed that.

Jack’s voice became low and slow and soothing. “No. No one is going to hurt you, Tarrin. We’re going to help you.”

Ardra saw the young soldier’s breathing slow. His muscles relaxed, and his mood grew more tranquil.

“Help me?” Tarrin asked. “What are you going to do?”

Jack kept his hold on the boy’s hand. “You’ve hurt yourself. We’re going to heal you.”

Tarrin’s eyelids drooped, and his voice was nearly a whisper. “I’m so tired. I’m so tired of fighting.”

“I know,” Jack said. “Why don’t you rest for a while?”

“I can’t.” Tarrin was still holding on.

“Yes, you can. It’s safe here. Feel the warm sunshine, the gentle breeze. It’s a clear day, and you’re with friends. Go ahead and doze in the nice warm sunlight. No one will disturb you. Just go to sleep.”

Jack motioned for the doctor to draw near again, but Ardra worried they might disturb whatever illusion he had planted in the young man’s mind. Tarrin didn’t even wince when they stuck a needle in his arm, though. Instead, he grew even more relaxed.

“Go to sleep,” Jack repeated, and the young man’s eyes finally closed.

He returned the boy’s hand to his side and stepped away, and the doctor began to work in earnest. Ardra was amazed. She knew what hell Jack must have put Tarrin through, but she was struck by how gently he’d handled the kid.

Seven weeks until deadline

Ardra was still trying to figure Jack out a few days later. She was at his house, and the sun was beginning to mellow when he walked onto the patio to join her. He set two plates of pie beside their glasses on the little center table.

“I baked this myself,” he told her. “I hope you like it.”

Ardra had never known a man who baked. She resisted the urge to return a crooked smile as she picked up her plate and fork. “Pecan?”

“Yes.”

She took her first bite, and her tongue turned traitorous.

“Why pecan?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Because it’s a tradition passed down to me from my Earth ancestors? Because of the easy transport of nuts? Mostly I had a hankering for it.”

She stifled a laugh.

“I’ve never met a man who baked before,” she told him.

“Yes, you said that. Believe it or not, there are quite a few male bakers in the universe.”

She frowned. Had she said that aloud?

He leaned closer and distracted her. “Why do you eat your pie like that?”

“Like what?” She looked down and realized she was picking at the center layer between the nuts and crust. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right,” he said. “Actually, I find it fascinating.”

“You’re easily fascinated,” she retorted.

“Maybe. In your case, though, you can’t blame me for thinking you’re interesting. Did you eat pie like that as a kid?”

“Yes,” she answered. Then she shook her head. “I mean no. I don’t know.”

Her memories of her childhood were all mixed up now.

They returned their plates to the table simultaneously.

“It looked like you had a little ritual going there,” Jack said. “I thought maybe it was an old habit.”

Ardra looked at him and saw the fading sunshine lighting the lashes of his hazel eyes. Such an odd name, hazel. They didn’t describe any other eye color as a nut or a tree as far as she knew.

She met his gaze. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“When Tarrin was brought to your infirmary, what did you do to him?”

“Exactly what I told him we’d do. We cleaned his wounds and bandaged him up and—”

“No,” she said. “What did
you
do to him?”

“Ah.” He smiled again. “Watching me work with him gave you a new perspective, didn’t it? To answer your question, I sent him into a deep, peaceful sleep. There’s more than one job for a precept. I’m a psychological healer most of the time, although I specialize in interrogation, but there are also medical precepts. They put patients under without anesthesia. Doing it that way is much safer and less stressful. In Tarrin’s case, I promise he felt no pain, and he woke up feeling calm and refreshed.”

“And now? Is he in danger of trying to commit suicide again?” She couldn’t get that last image of Tarrin out of her head, of him lying on the stretcher all pale and bloody.

“It will take time, but he should be fine,” Jack told her. “At least now he knows the truth. Tarrin was an intel carrier. He joined the military voluntarily, but he was supposed to have been stationed on the Namid Space Observatory. Instead, he got snatched in transit and conscripted for programming.”

“So you got the number you wanted?” Ardra felt terrible for Tarrin, but she was also relieved. Did this mean she was free to go?

To her surprise, Jack shook his head. “The information in his head was a list of some of the top Roimiran government officials along with a plan to bomb one of our smaller compounds five months from now. We’ve already notified the appropriate people, so at least one disaster has been avoided, but those weren’t the coordinates we’re looking for.”

“And Tarrin?” she asked.

“It wasn’t easy for him to accept that his own government betrayed him, but I really do think he’ll be okay. He and Slade have been shipped out for further treatment to help heal any psychological damage. Their futures should be brighter than their pasts.”

She nodded, but she was confused. “I don’t get it. The Roimirans keep trying to go the natural way, but then you use medical scanners and space vessels and a whole lot of other technology. Isn’t that hypocritical?”

“We don’t shun all technology and science,” he explained. “Most of us just strive for moderation. You’ll find that true of the majority on both sides—true of the Roimirans and the Tetch. It’s only the extremists who want us to return to hunting and gathering on the one side or to endorse brain transplants on the other. Unfortunately, a fanatical few can be loud, so they seem like their numbers are greater. As my mother used to say, ‘Only politicians live at the poles’.”

“Poles or polls?” Ardra asked.

He laughed. “Both, I suppose.”

A minute or two of silence passed.

“Is your mother still alive?” she asked.

“Yes. She lives on Edalus, where I was born.”

“And your father?”

“I didn’t know him very long,” Jack said. “I have a few faint memories of him, but he died when I was a child. My aunt and mother raised me.”

Ardra suddenly found herself envisioning Jack’s childhood. She saw a narrow wooden house with a wraparound porch and a little stream out back. An older woman came out through the screen door and smiled, and she had the same kind expression her son always wore.

Ardra jumped. Or rather Jack jumped, and she reacted. He was staring at her as if she had done something shocking. She scowled at him in return.
“Tricky precept,”
she thought. She turned away from him and gazed out at the impending dusk.

Chapter Eight

“What exactly is the holdup?” Walter asked a few days later. “You’ve had more time with this girl than with any of the others, and you’ve still given me nothing. And yesterday…yesterday I saw you two taking a walk. What the hell was that?”

“We needed a break,” Jack answered. “She promised she wouldn’t run away, and I was right there if she tried anything.”

Walter guffawed. “She promised? Did you just say she promised? And what’s this
we
stuff?”

His superintendent’s tone was accusatory, and Jack was starting to lose his temper.

“I already told you,” he grumbled. “It isn’t like that.”

“No? Then why aren’t you getting answers from her? We need that intel, and we need it now. The
Oberon
is going to reach Algoron soon, and the Tetch are going to notice something is missing the second they open the doors. How long after that before they get their hands on those coordinates through another carrier and accelerate their attack plans? How much longer until they move against us?”

Jack gritted his teeth. “I understand that, but pushing is not the fastest way to get what we want. I have to gain her trust.”

Walter was clearly unconvinced. “So that’s what you’re doing? Being nice to her until she lowers her guard? To get the information?”

Jack clenched his fists. He knew that was what Ardra worried about—the kind of manipulation she suspected but didn’t want to believe. Honestly, he didn’t have such outright deception in mind, but he knew it would appease his superintendent to say so. He decided to play it smart.

“Yes,” he answered.

Walter still looked suspicious. “But why all the trouble? I thought you said you were stronger, that you could force her if you had to.”

His surprise washed away his indignation. At times, Walter could be insightful, and he had obviously gleaned something from Jack’s demeanor. Although it pained him to acknowledge his mistake, he came clean.

“I was wrong,” he admitted.

“What?”

“I was wrong,” he repeated. “Ardra is not only a low or mid-level precept. She’s learning too quickly and is already becoming a match for me. If she ever gains consistent control over her abilities, she could be very powerful.”

“How could you have overlooked this, Jack?”

He shook his head. “She thinks so differently from me. I don’t know how she’s doing it on her own. Strictly speaking, people are born with various talents in special perception, but it takes years to hone those skills. I’ve never met anyone like her.”

Jack cringed. He hadn’t chosen those last words very carefully.

“Listen to me,” Walter said. “I don’t care who she is or what she is. I need to know what she’s carrying. Can you still get that for me?”

“Yes.” Jack returned eye contact even as he rubbed his right hand. “Yes, I can get the information.”

“Dammit, you stupid piece of junk!” Ardra cursed under her breath and shook her hand.

The chair foot—her only escape tool—had cracked, and she’d snapped two of her fingernails backward against the window frame. A red line ran through each of them, and the pain was remarkable for such a small injury.

She stepped off the chair and sat down. Her work on her prison window had been slowed since she’d discovered that the wires that crisscrossed inside the glass also ran down into the wall on all four sides. The filament wasn’t very strong, and she could break each strand with a few twists, but it had delayed her escape considerably.

At this point, she would bust out tomorrow night. As she leaned back and clutched her sore fingers, she thought about what she would do. Her original plan had been to reach the communications building and get out a distress call, but she had since discarded that idea. The path there was too open, and without a weapon, she had no way to force the people inside to send a signal. Of course, this was assuming they even had transmission equipment. They might only be listening to the channels.

No, she would have to sneak out of the compound and see what else was on the planet. If she could get far enough away, maybe people wouldn’t recognize her. She just had to get through tomorrow without letting Jack catch on.

He might not know what she was planning, but she could tell he was suspicious. She was sure he had told the guards to keep a closer eye on her, which explained why they checked up on her more frequently. With a last longing glance at the night sky beyond the windowpane, she quit and climbed into bed.

Jack studied Ardra as she sat on the sofa, her head slowly bobbing as she succumbed to his influence. He knew from experience that she would slump over soon, and then he could catch her against his shoulder. No one knew why people contorted into various positions while linked to a precept, but it was natural. In this case, while most would have lain down or sat back, Ardra bowed her head forward. Jack liked to think she needed someone to lean on. Needed him.

“There we go,” he said.

Her forehead pressed gently against his shoulder. He put his hand on the back of her neck and concentrated on the information he was looking for. The defects in Ardra’s programming started with her missing lover, Stevin. If he could pick away at the inconsistencies there, maybe he could uncover what was under the veil the Tetch had pulled over her mind.

“Ardra,” he said. “I want you to tell me about Stevin. What’s the last memory you have of him?”

She murmured softly as the memory started to emerge. When Jack stepped into her past, he was on board a ship, standing in some kind of observation area with Ardra off to his right. Although the stars were bright outside the window in front of her, she gazed at something far more spectacular. Framed within the glass was a large blue planet—one he recognized through his connection with her.

“You’re from Earth,” he announced in surprise.

This wasn’t just any orbit in the universe. They were over the mother planet itself.

He gazed at her face and noticed how sad she looked. Although she fought them back, tears swam in her eyes. She was unhappy about leaving home. Jack started to draw closer to her, but then he saw a man come up behind her to take her in his arms.

The guy pressed his mouth close to her ear. “Ready for me to show you the universe, Mrs. Corvus?”

She smiled. “I think you’ve opened my eyes to it already.”

This had to be Stevin—definitely her husband, not just her boyfriend. Jack dared a step closer and studied the man carefully. He and this fellow were about the same height, but Stevin had darker hair, and his eyes were deep brown.

The man suddenly laughed.

“What?” Ardra asked.

He took her hand and turned her around to face him. Jack didn’t like the expression on the guy’s face, but he stayed back and watched.

“Oh, I just realized our situation,” her husband said. “Here we are, a handsome groom and his pretty young bride on board a passenger liner. The stars are shining brightly all around us, and we’re on the threshold of a new life. I thought we might make the most of a romantic moment.”

They kissed, and without further romancing, Stevin picked Ardra up. Jack remained an invisible observer as he followed them down the lift and along a hallway to their quarters. Stevin hurried to set her on the bed.

Although he squirmed uncomfortably back in his house, Jack couldn’t take his eyes off the couple. He watched Ardra as the other man removed her clothes, and he only regained control when they started to make love. He closed his eyes and mentally pushed Ardra to move forward in her memories. When he looked again, she and her husband were curled up in bed together and talking quietly.

“You know I love you, don’t you?” Stevin asked. “You know I love you more than anybody?”

By the tone of his voice, Jack wasn’t so sure. He thought it was telling that the man said more than
anybody
, not more than
anything
.

“I love you too,” Ardra told him.

“What I mean to say,” Stevin continued, “is that you trust me, right?”

“Stevin?”

“No, really,” he insisted. “You do trust me?”

She ran her finger across his chin. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust you. I love you, and I trust you. That’s why I married you, you dolt.”

Her husband smirked at her, but he still appeared distracted.

“Stevin,” she asked, “why don’t you just say what you want to say? You’ve obviously got something on your mind.”

Jack temporarily ignored the two figures in front of him. There was a noise coming from outside the door, though Ardra barely noticed. She was still preoccupied. Although Jack wished he could walk outside and see what was happening, he had to wait. These were her memories, and he could only see what she had seen.

“Stevin, what is it?” she asked.

Her husband shoved away from her and began to get dressed. “Please put something on.”

“But, Stevin—”

“Do it,” he said.

Jack watched Ardra’s naked body when she slipped out from under the sheets. She stopped and put her hand to her temple, and at the same time, he felt pressure in his own head. He realized she was resisting him. He concentrated harder, and she at last moved again and pulled on her clothes.

Finally, Stevin walked over and took her face in his hands. “Ardra, you have to trust me. Don’t be afraid. We’re going to have a new life together, and we’re going to be very rich. I’ll give you everything you ever wanted, like that house and garden you’re always talking about. All you have to do is stick with me.”

“Stevin.” Her voice quavered. “I don’t understand.”

The noise Jack had noticed grew louder. Someone banged on the door with a closed fist. Jack looked at Ardra in time to see Stevin force a kiss on her, and then the other man opened the door. Out in the hallway, a pair of armed men was waiting. Ardra gasped, and Jack felt her fear.

“There she is,” Stevin told them. “Be careful with her.”

Ardra started screaming as they surged forward and grabbed her. One of the men jabbed her with a syringe.

Jack felt a sharp pain as Ardra broke free from his control and struck his nose with the heel of her hand. They both crashed back to the immediacy of his house, where she punched and kicked in every direction as she fought a residual image of her attackers. Grabbing her around the waist, he squeezed her against his body despite her struggles and screaming.

“It’s all right,” he told her.

The coppery taste of his own blood seeped into his mouth, but he had to calm her down. He could deal with his bleeding nose later.

“It’s all right,” he repeated with a mental push. “You’re safe.”

She stopped fighting, and a groan escaped her lips.

When he was sure she was sedated, he loosened his grip. “Arrius!”

Arrius Grus was currently the guard on duty. He was a coarse sort of man who prided himself on doing his job efficiently.

“Arrius!” Jack called again.

The guard jogged through the door. As soon as he saw Jack’s bloodied nose, he rushed to pin Ardra’s legs.

“No, it’s all right,” Jack told him. “She’s not fighting anymore, but I need you to take her back to her holding cell.”

Arrius grabbed Ardra by the arm and forced her forward with a hard yank. Jack was in no condition to protest the rough handling, but he knew he’d have to talk with the man later. Right now, he had to get himself cleaned up.

“Jeez, Jack,” Nash exclaimed when he stopped by later that evening. “I thought you could read minds. Ever think of ducking?”

Jack removed the icy glass he held against his face and hesitated before taking another sip. “She didn’t really think it over before doing it.”

Nash continued to stare.

“Is there something you wanted to tell me,” Jack asked, “or did you just come to see how I got beat up by a girl?”

Nash laughed. “Sorry. Yes, I do have something for you. It wasn’t easy, but I think I found her. Ardra Amara Pierce from Earth.”

“Pierce?” Jack asked.

“Yes.” Nash didn’t lose his momentum. “Ardra Pierce was born on the mother planet. Her father died when she was a child, and her mom passed away three years ago. Last year, she married Stevin Corvus and took his name.”

Jack recognized her married name from the memory he’d accessed. He listened as his friend continued.

“There’s a record of Ardra Corvus and her husband boarding the
A-Star
, a long-range ship destined for Tabanar. Whatever happened after that, she never arrived at Tabanar. She up and disappeared. There’s no sign of her until a couple of months later, when a woman named Ardra Kelly pops up on Nintu V as a Tetch citizen and local botanist.”

“It has to be her,” Jack said, “but what’s the connection? How does she get from newlywed to intel carrier?” He thought about it even as he said it. In her memory, Stevin had let those men into the room. “Corvus. It was her husband, wasn’t it?”

“You got it,” Nash told him. “Stevin Corvus, working under more than a few aliases, was not just any black-market intel dealer, but one of the high rollers in underground trafficking. Our best guess is that he met Ardra on one of his annual vacations to the mother planet and decided to mix business with pleasure. He convinced her to go off-world with him, had his fun and then traded her to some of his buddies for big interstellar credits.”

“But who was buying?” Jack asked. “If the information they programmed into her is so valuable, why wait all this time to deliver it?”

Nash rolled his eyes. “Typical Tetch intrigue. I couldn’t find out who the programmer was, but I do know who was supplying the currency. Chancellor Cygnus Phryne was the wealthy heir to a legacy of Tetch bureaucrats and a contender for Tetch rulership. He was the original buyer, and he was willing to pay big credits to get that intel. I don’t know if Corvus tried to hold out for a higher price or betrayed his partners, but it looks like he was killed.

“Next thing you know, there was a coup. Large-scale political turmoil broke out, and Chancellor Phryne vanished—presumably killed, though nobody knows for sure—before he could finish the deal for Ardra. Apparently, he wasn’t the sharing type, so when the government changed hands, she got lost in the system. There were bigger issues to deal with, and it’s not like the Tetch didn’t have other intel to collect.