Being of the Field (27 page)

The door to the cell vanished and Aurora nearly keeled over from relief. ‘
Finally…
I need a medic, I—’

Swithin entered, scowling. ‘Sorry, we’ve got other plans.’ He pulled her to her feet, and she nearly toppled over. ‘You
are
a bit woozy on it.’ He steadied her against himself and hauled her back into the flight bay.

‘Are we going somewhere?’ Aurora was feeling drowsy until she spied the craft at the centre of everyone’s attention. It was AMIE’s recon vessel and despite her pain, the young woman smiled.

Swithin, at her back, placed his weapon to her head. ‘Looks like your new boyfriend came after you.’

‘He did.’ Her heart welled with the romance and relief of it all. ‘You’re in
so
much trouble.’ She didn’t attempt to keep her amusement from her voice.

‘Unless the little upstart is fireproof, I don’t think I have anything to worry about,’ Swithin assured her, and despite the threat, Aurora’s hope did not waver.

She knew from the little she had learned from Taren about the quantum world that whether or not she’d tapped into her psychic power her will could still support Zeven. So, she refused to believe that this was anything but her will to be rescued become manifest.

‘Open it up,’ Swithin ordered the USS soldiers, who did not follow his order directly, but waited for their commander to give the nod.

They opened the vessel and entered and after a few moments of quiet confusion, they all got out.

‘Why don’t I hear any firing?’ Swithin demanded.

‘There’s nothing to fire at.’ The USS commander strode past Swithin, his men behind him.

‘But we picked up a communication that originated from this vessel.’ Swithin questioned the thoroughness of the search.

‘What can I tell you?’ The commander motioned to the vessel. ‘Look for yourself?’ and the company departed the hangar.

Swithin’s attention turned to Aurora, who was eyeballing the hangar bay with a huge smile on her face. ‘What are you grinning at?’ He raised his weapon to smack her, but was rudely interrupted when he was belted in the face and his weapon knocked from his hand. He went reeling backwards to land flat on his back.

Aurora was dazed and confused, and doubly so when an invisible force grabbed her hand and began hauling her towards AMIE’s recon vessel. ‘What the…? Starman?’ she asked quietly, her eyes drooping against her will.

‘Your love made me brave,’ he whispered, now supporting her as they fled.

‘You love me,’ she said with a broad smile, as her eyes rolled backwards and her body became a dead weight in his arms.

‘Aurora?’ He picked her up to make greater haste.

‘What the…?’ Swithin observed Aurora begin floating towards the recon vessel, and he rose quickly to try and prevent his unconscious hostage escaping. He took a running dive at the space below Aurora’s floating body and was not surprised to collide with a solid object.

Zeven fell through the back door of his craft, landing Aurora safely on the floor inside. He turned and smacked his assailant in the jaw with his unseen boot.

Swithin backed up, as he was way too close to his invisible attacker. His best bet was to get on board the craft and use Aurora as a shield. ‘Is that you, Lennox?’ Swithin asked. She was the only person on the AMIE project with the Powers that he knew of.

Zeven realised it would be a very wise move to keep his mouth shut. He waited for Swithin to try and barge his way into the craft, and served him another great smack in the jaw before kicking him clear and closing the exit door. Zeven crouched down to place one hand on
Aurora and the other on the floor of the craft, whereby he focused on moving them all to the flight bay on AMIE.

‘You’ll never get out of this flight bay!’ Swithin ran at the craft and slammed his hands against it, whereupon the vessel exploded in his face in a great blast of light.

Taren paced the floor of the flight deck awaiting word of their missing team members with the rest of the crew. She was trying to maintain a positive outlook but with every minute that passed it became increasingly difficult.

‘We’re in the flight bay.’
Zeven’s voice came through all the crew’s personal communicators and startled everyone into action.

In the launch bay dock, they were shocked to find their recon vessel…and Swithin Gervaise lying unconscious on the floor alongside it.

The side hatch opened and the stairs dropped down, hitting Swithin’s torso which startled him awake.

‘Kassa, Aurora needs you.’ Zeven jogged down the stairs, further squashing Swithin between the metal stairs and the concrete ground and he moaned accordingly.

‘Get my bag,’ Kassa instructed Ayliscia, and rushed into the vessel to check on Aurora with Ringbalin hot on her heels. The leggy Phemorian ran for the stairway rather than wait for the elevator.

Zeven dragged Swithin out from under the stairs.

His captive looked around and discovering, that he was back on board AMIE all he had to say was, ‘Fuck!’ His sight fell upon Taren and he smiled. ‘Hello.’

Yes, Swithin knew her MSS code name, but he wouldn’t attempt to use it on her whilst in the company of others, as that would blow his advantage. She glared back at him defiantly, as she had nothing to fear from him at the moment.

‘So, it wasn’t you who came to Aurora’s rescue,’ he deduced, as Zeven was the only person to exit the craft.

Lucian gripped his brother’s jaw and directed his attention to him. ‘You don’t get to talk to her, or anyone on board this ship!’

‘Let’s just stick him in bio-containment and jettison him into outer
space,’ Zeven suggested, pulling Swithin’s arms back hard for greater manoeuvrability.

‘Jettison
him
,’ Swithin said, motioning with his head to Zeven. ‘He’s the freak, you can’t trust—’

‘Don’t speak to me about trust.’ Outraged, Lucian cut Swithin off. ‘Bio-containment is an excellent idea,’ he agreed, as Leal came over to assist with Swithin’s removal.

‘You’re not serious, Luc. Come on!’ Swithin protested, as he’d never seen his brother so detached from him before. ‘I was trying to do you a favour! The Phemorians will screw you, just as surely as the USS and the MSS will,’ he yelled back in warning.

Unfortunately for Swithin, Ayliscia Portus caught the comment as she entered and slapped him hard across the face.

‘Sermetic-sympathiser scum,’ she hissed, without a backward glance at her victim, and as Zeven and Leal dragged Swithin out of the dock, Ayliscia rushed the medical bag to Kassa.

Taren approached to see what was going on with Aurora, but Kassa came backing out with Ringbalin behind her carrying the unconscious young woman. ‘Is she going to be okay?’

‘She’s had a bad knock. I’ll need to operate and relieve the pressure, then we’ll see.’ Kassa rushed off in front of Ringbalin, with Dr Portus in tow and ready to assist.

The launch bay fell into silence. Taren looked at Lucian blankly and he at her. ‘Do you really plan to jettison your brother into space?’

‘Yes,’ he replied coldly, then softened his stance and shrugged. ‘Although I will probably stick him in a pod first,’ he admitted as Taren moved to give him a squeeze.

She held no love for Swithin, but was pleased to hear there would be no blood on their hands.

‘He’s got a few questions to answer before then, including your code name.’ Lucian was determined to rid Taren of that threat. ‘And he’s not going anywhere before he divulges it.’

She was reassured by his promises but what they all craved now was some rest, to take a pause and reassess. With a USS base station looming somewhere between them and Phemoria, Taren didn’t expect they were going to be awarded much grace.

Lucian left to deal with his brother. Taren headed down to Kassa’s consultation rooms to await word on Aurora’s condition.

She arrived to find Kalayna sitting on a chair in the corner. The young woman’s eyes were puffy from crying and silent tears were streaming down her face by default.

Taren wasn’t sure what to say to the girl, as she had yet to determine her state of mind. ‘Hello. Can I get you anything? Some food, a room to sleep in, or—’

‘Why are you being nice to me?’ she asked in a very hostile fashion. ‘I have probably killed a dear friend of yours.’

Taren saw through to her heart at once—Kalayna was angry at herself and she was fearful that everyone on board this craft must now hate her. ‘You are not the first person to be tricked into doing something stupid by Swithin Gervaise,’ Taren replied, holding high one hand to confess. ‘I too have been his puppet, much to the detriment of this project, yet no one on the AMIE crew has held that against me.’

Kalayna sniffled, encouraged. ‘Really?’

‘Really,’ Taren assured her, smiling, and Kalayna forced a smile in response. But then Zeven came charging into the waiting room and Kalayna’s frown and fear returned.

‘You…’ Zeven pointed a finger at her.

‘Zeven, that won’t help.’ Taren grabbed his finger to deflect his anger.

He brushed Taren off, remaining focused on his foe. ‘Who do you work for?’

‘What?’ Taren was surprised by the question.

Kalayna was baffled. ‘What do you mean? I’m a stowaway. I used to work for the resort you were all staying at, but Aurora made me a better offer, so I took it.’

‘
That’s crap
.’ Zeven took a step closer to stare Kalayna down. ‘You didn’t learn how to launch a pod working in a
fricking
hotel! So answer the question.
Who do you work for
?’

‘My dad taught me,’ Kalayna said, bursting into tears all over again. ‘He was a techie for the Frujian pod link system.’

‘Crap!’ Zeven insisted.

‘It’s true!’ Kalayna hollered back, distraught. ‘He was teaching me his trade until he died, then I was forced to find alternative employment.’

‘A great story that we have no chance of checking!’ Zeven scoffed.

‘You’re a systems engineer,’ Taren said happily.

‘Ninth year,’ she replied, which meant she only fell short of being fully qualified by one year of her apprenticeship.

‘Hey, we need one of those,’ Taren commented to Zeven, desperately trying to clear the air.

‘You lay your hands on any of my vehicles,’ Zeven warned Kalayna venomously, ‘and I’ll personally rip them off.’

‘Zeven!’ Taren was unnerved by his inceasing hostility, but his focus did not waver.

‘And heaven help you if Aurora does not come through this one hundred per cent intact!’ Zeven turned around to storm from the room.

‘You don’t love her,’ Kalayna stood to yell back. ‘She’ll just be another conquest to you and then you’ll toss her aside.’

Zeven halted, his jaw clenched. ‘Don’t you pretend to know anything about how I feel about Aurora, or she me. I’ve known her for five years, you’ve known her for five minutes!’

‘So what took you so long?’ Kalayna challenged him.

Zeven had to catch his breath to answer that question for the answer was buried deep within him. ‘I am well aware of the kind of a guy I am, and I have had plenty of opportunities to do just as you claim I will. But I have only ever wanted the best for Rory, and I never, but
never
would have endangered her life out of jealousy.
Never
,’
he went on, relaxing as Kalayna hung her head in shame. ‘So don’t speak to me about love…when you obviously have no concept of what it means.’

Taren was mystified at his cutting eloquence, honesty, self-control and insight. ‘You’ve changed,’ she said as he looked to her.

‘Sorry you had to see that,’ he commented, heading for the exit door. ‘Let me know the second you hear anything.’

‘I will.’ Taren looked at Kalayna, now sunk in a seat sobbing, her fingers buried deep in the hair at her scalp, holding back her long blonde locks.

‘I can’t fix this,’ she gasped, overwhelmed by what she’d done. ‘He’s right, I am to blame—’

‘Kalayna, Zeven
will
calm down, and come to see that you were manipulated—’

‘No!’ She looked up to set Taren straight. ‘I could have trapped them both in that pod and sought help,’ she confessed. ‘I was not under any physical duress to launch.’

‘But you were under emotional and mental duress, and they are just as powerful—’

‘No. I own my mistake…what I need to know now is how I can make some amends for it.’

‘In that case, I believe you need to see the captain,’ Taren said, holding out a hand, and, although Kalayna did not accept it, she did not object to Taren placing a comforting arm around her shoulders as they made their way to Lucian’s office.

‘Luc!
Thank fuck
,’ Swithin exclaimed as Lucian entered the Bio-containment observation room and stood, arms folded, glaring at his brother in the containment area. ‘You can’t be seriously thinking of keeping me in here. Where the fuck am I supposed to pee?’ He motioned to the barren cell.

‘I never expected to have to contain any criminals on board AMIE,’ Lucian informed him coolly, ‘but not to worry, I won’t be keeping you long. I just need you to tell me Taren’s code name and you’ll be out of there.’

Lucian was so calm that Swithin was unnerved. ‘How dumb do you think I am?’

‘Oh, very, I assure you,’ Lucian emphasised.

‘Look,’ Swithin shook his head, frustrated, ‘you don’t know the half of what is really going on with your girlfriend—’

‘But you’re here to enlighten me.’ Lucian took a seat to listen and Swithin forced a laugh.

‘I’m not telling you a thing, little bro…the less you know the better. Anything you do to torture information out of me would be nothing compared to what the secret services will do to me if I spill the beans. So…’ Swithin shrugged.

‘You think the secret services know your deepest fears like I do?’ Lucian was not fazed, and Swithin observed his brother warily, having never seen this dark side to him.

What Swithin feared most was anything paranormal or supernatural—hence his hatred for anyone who wielded a Power. People with a Power had always been freaks, to be hunted down and restrained as far as Swithin and billions of others like him were concerned.

Swithin scowled. ‘Well, aren’t you turning out to be a chip off the old block, hey?’

Lucian ignored his brother’s attempt to take the focus away from himself. ‘Have I told you that I have discovered a substance that will accelerate your personal psychic power by unfathomable amounts?’ Lucian asked and Swithin turned very pale.

‘That’s what happened to Gudrun.’ Swithin almost sounded like he pitied the young pilot.

Lucian did not confirm or deny the comment. ‘I have quite a large store of this substance,’ he lied. The sample they had of Oceane air was actually minute. ‘I will pump that chamber full—’

‘All right. You little shit!’ Swithin was very frustrated at being bulldozed by his baby brother. ‘You want the truth, here’s the truth. I only know one of Taren’s code names, the one that I use, but she has another, higher-level security code name that I don’t know, so you’re never going to be able to protect her from everybody!’

‘Right now, I only need protect her from you,’ Lucian said.

‘Her code name is Sci-chick Puppet,’ Swithin advised and Lucian wanted to smack himself in the head. Bonar Colbers had already revealed half of Taren’s code name as soon as she’d come on board as he had called her sci-chick often. They could almost have guessed the rest from the code names they already knew.

‘You are the Puppet Master, yes?’ Lucian wanted that verified.

‘Yes,’ Swithin confirmed.

‘You ordered Amie’s death,’ Lucian concluded.

‘She was a dangerous bitch, Luc! I did you a favour!’ Swithin growled.

‘
Stop doing me favours!’
Lucian stood to roar. ‘Enough already!’

Lucian’s communicator went off and seeing that it was Taren paging, he left the room to speak with her.

When the captain entered his office to meet with Kalayna and Taren, he was in a rather cool, odd mood. He attempted to hide his deep frustration, but Taren could sense there was something wrong. ‘Did things not go well with Swithin?’

‘Things went very well,’ he assured her with a smile. ‘It just drives me to distraction trying to reason with someone so completely self-absorbed.’

Lucian took a seat behind his desk and looked at Kalayna, who gulped as she considered that her offence against this crew had also been rather selfish.

‘What can I do for you?’ he asked, looking from Kalayna, who appeared nervous, to Taren wearing a soft smile.

‘Kalayna has a confession to make.’

‘I have committed a crime,’ Kalayna began, ‘and I seek a punishment befitting my offence.’

Lucian nodded and gave her leave to give her statement.

Once Kalayna had recounted the events that had led to her misdemeanour, Lucian sat in quiet thought before he delivered his judgment.

‘Until such time as we know Aurora’s condition, we have no idea how serious the effects of your actions are. But should Aurora recover and not wish to press charges, then I would consider this case closed.’

Kalayna was not happy. ‘But I could have killed her! I wished to do her
harm
—’

‘If I had known what my late wife had been up to behind my back,’ Lucian said, ‘I dare say I would have killed her. Not because I am a violent man or a bad person, but because my shock and emotional derangement might have driven me to it.’ Listening to himself, Lucian smiled grimly, for it seemed he did sympathise with his brother’s motivation for ordering Amie’s death after all.

‘You are sympathising with me?’ Kalayna was astonished. ‘But Aurora is your personal assistant! Surely—’

‘I’m not taking sides here,’ Lucian said clearly. ‘I am just saying that I understand your motivation, and that you were not entirely sane at the time you committed the offence. But in Aurora’s defence you should know that, when she was unable to find you, she believed that you had reconsidered stowing away and remained on Frujia.’

‘I would also like to bring another perspective to this if I may,’ Taren said, and when Lucian gave her the nod, she looked at Kalayna. ‘I am a pre-cog. Do you know what that is?’

Kalayna was wide-eyed at this news, but not fearful. ‘You can see into the future and then change it.’

‘We were all to be taken into the custody of the USS before we departed Frujia, you included,’ Taren informed the astonished girl.

‘But why would I have been arrested?’

‘In that alternative reality they mistook you for me. During the ensuing interrogation you were accosted by a United Star Systems commander, and it was only when Zeven came to your assistance, to his own detriment, that you were not raped and promptly disposed of by the USS.’

‘Really?’ she squeaked, her spite choking her.

‘It seems to me that what we have here is several misunderstandings and one huge case of very bad timing,’ Lucian summarised.

‘You see, we actually beseeched Aurora to, not so much seduce Zeven, as just boost his ego a little,’ Taren said, without going into detail. ‘I just think their past finally caught up with them and things got a little carried away.’

‘But why ask her to do that?’ Kalayna frowned—what kind of sick operation were they running here?

‘That’s classified information at present.’ Lucian put the matter to rest. ‘Perhaps once we know you better, you will be made aware of what we know, but for now you’re just going to have to trust that we are on the up and up.’

Kalayna was still frowning, but she had a grin also. ‘So what am I to do with myself, captain? Surely you must have some penance for me.’

Lucian thought about this. ‘You’re a tech, you said?’

‘Ninth year,’ Taren boasted on Kalayna’s behalf.

Kalayna shook her head. ‘Starman has already threatened to rip my hands off if I touch any of his craft.’

Lucian was taken aback to hear this, but thought it best to humour the pilot for now. She could be a spy for all they knew. ‘Can you cook?’

Kalayna stuck her bottom lip out and nodded her head. ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘Starman might starve, as I doubt he’ll trust anything I’ve prepared.’

‘His own cooking skills will drive him to your table, trust me,’ Lucian chuckled. ‘There will be washing and cleaning chores about the place that I expect you can take care of also.’

‘I’ve got real good at all that stuff since I lost my apprenticeship,’ Kalayna assured him.

Lucian was curious. ‘With you only having a year to go before you qualified, I am very surprised pod-link did not keep you on.’

Kalayna grimaced. This was a sore point. ‘I was the only female apprentice in the program. I wouldn’t have been there had my dad not fought to get me in,’ she explained. ‘They’d been looking for an excuse to dismiss me from the start. Dad’s death gave them the perfect opportunity, as none of the other male techs would take me on.’

Taren was infuriated to learn this, and folded her arms in silent protest.

‘But Dad taught me a lot outside of work,’ she continued. ‘I’ve worked on all kinds of craft and I am licensed to fly. I was more qualified than any of the male techs. If you ask me, none of them had the guts to sit their final exam against me.’

‘All good to know,’ Lucian nodded with a sympathetic smile. ‘Taren, would you mind showing Kalayna where the kitchen is and assign her some quarters.’

‘Of course.’ Taren was rather thankful to be given a mundane task.

‘You’ll also need to introduce her to Ringbalin. Our horticulturalist,’ he explained for Kalayna’s benefit.

‘You have fresh produce?’ Kalayna asked in amazement.

‘And so much more,’ Taren assured her. ‘Follow me.’

It was on the way down to Module C that the news reached Taren and Kalayna that Aurora was out of surgery. The good news was that she was alive; the bad news was that she had drifted into a coma.

Kalayna did not take the news well. ‘I have to see her. She has to know I didn’t mean this, and that I’m not mad at her any more and…’ She burst into tears.