Chaos Theory (16 page)

Blue might have been impressed by the fluidity of the move had
he not been reeling back, scrubbing to clean the spray of blood
that splattered his face.

Mouth twisted into a grimace of pain, Peter barely had time to
grab for his ravaged throat before his legs gave out, and he
crumpled.

Blue stared at the newcomer with wide eyes. He’d seen death
before, but never delivered so brutally, and with such acerbic
composure.

The Valkyrie-like female shrugged at his horror-struck
expression. She switched off her laser knife and tucked it into her
pocket. Her hair divided into two braids that were white at the
roots and ended in flowing pink hair. She wore a gray bodysuit with
purple moon boots. A duffel bag rode her shoulder and looked
heavy.

A male with white-rooted hair tied into a messy ebony topknot
stopped beside her, clucking. His oval face dropped in disapproval,
and he crossed willowy arms over a narrow chest. He was not much
taller than her. “Another?”

“
Stars. I couldn’t risk him sending a mental push to the Hive.
We’ve discussed this six times, Ken. Do we have to go over it every
time I kill someone?” She rolled glowing red eyes skyward. “If they
become a threat they must be removed. He suspected something was
wrong.”

“
My calling is to heal.” He sighed and stared down at Peter’s
body morosely. “I’m going to have a problem with it.”

“
Omicron Blue. I’m called Lara. That’s Kenshin, but I call him
Ken.” She backed her words with a strong mental nudge, a handshake.
“We’ve been waiting for you.”

He was startled by the touch to his mind and even more
startled by how familiar she felt to him.

“
I know you,” Blue breathed.

Their faces floated into his mind’s eye along with a full work
down of biometrics and skill assessments.

Lara was twenty-four, a Jupite, and a MainLander like him. She
left her abusive home when she legally became an adult, and
emigrated to ContinentTwo Quadrant31 to work as a server in a bar.
She had gained knowledge in battle logistics and weaponry. Though
he looked older than Lara, Kenshin was two years younger, an
Earthling, and was cast-off from his CatEye family as a baby due to
his strange looks. He worked as a street sweep since legally
allowed for the LoCaste – the age of eight – and was highly trained
in advanced medical practices, as well as holistic and spiritual
treatments.

Blue blinked.

The information was there as if it had been there his whole
life.

“
Your reconditioning took a long time,” Kenshin said. His eyes
scanned the horizon for trouble. “You have a strong
will.”

“
You’re the second to suggest it took longer than expected.”
Blue frowned. “How long have I been gone?”

“
Three days,” Lara answered. “Most of our kind defected in a
few hours when told the truth of their origin. Some took longer. I
resisted for a day then realised I wasn’t going anywhere unless I
accepted my role in the Hive hierarchy. The moment I caved, the
Creator sent me back to where I was beamed up. I was expecting to
feel different when they sent me back, but I’m still me, you
know?”

Kenshin nodded. “It was the same for me.”

“
Ken and I think it’s to do with how we felt before the took
us. We were both already looking for you when we were taken.” Lara
looked vindicated. “I knew you’d resist them. I knew you wouldn’t
give in.”

“
After learning your rank, I had doubts,” Kenshin confessed. “I
now owe her a hundred credits. What she’ll do with them now the
structure of the world as we know it has ended, I don’t
know.”

“
Just make sure you pay.”

Blue struggled to focus. He knew that he’d been in the
clutches of the Novae, his Creator, but he couldn’t assimilate all
of what they had told him. He remembered being with Kali and
remembered the pain of the red light. He had been fighting
something, and it had taken her from him.

Then….

He’d woken in the junkyard without Kali.

He cursed and pressed his eyes closed, just for a nanosecond,
to catch his breath.

Lara was sympathetic. “That transport beam is a bitch on the
senses. Still feeling lightheaded? Memory lapses?”

Blue rubbed his temple. “Correct.”

“
That’ll wear off in a few hours. Your abilities will be
diminished until then, but considering who you are, you have
nothing to worry about. You’ll never get the lost time back, but
that’s just your brain protecting itself from information
overload.”

“
You know me?” Blue mumbled, incoherent as he tried to order
his mind.

“
We all know you, and each other. It feels strange, doesn’t it,
after spending so long in hiding, but you’ll get comfortable using
your abilities in the open real quick. You are our Omicron. The
information is there now; you just need time to access all of it.
Don’t force yourself, let it come to you naturally.”

Taking her advice, Blue buried his confusion to focus on one
thing at a time. “You know Kali? Where she is?”

“
There is no Hybrid by this name,” Kenshin replied. “Is she
Human?”

Blue nodded.

“
Where did you leave her?” Kenshin asked softly. “If she was
out here with you it’s likely she has been taken to the slave
encampment in Quadrant1, the place you are supposed to
go.”

Blue’s face twisted in horror as that sank in and information
as what happened at the encampment filtered through the fog in his
mind. “They took her with me.”

Kenshin cocked his head. “That is not logical. They took a
Human for reconditioning?”

“
She was caught in the transport beam. They dragged her
away.”

“
Oh.” Lara was nonplussed. “They would have dumped her back on
the ground for collection by the Host.”

“
I must find her.”

Kenshin and Lara shared a look.

“
What?” Blue demanded.

“
We need to set up a secure location and figure out just what
we’re doing,” said Lara. “We’re in the middle of a war zone.” She
moved closer. “You are Hybrid, a cross breed of Human and Novae, a
genetically superior species from another galaxy who have come to
harvest stock planted here millions of years ago. To every Human
you are something evil to run screaming from. To every Hybrid, you
are the Omicron, the voice of the Novae on Earth. Are you even sure
this Human, this Kali, will want to see you now?”

Blue opened his mouth to assert the affirmative, but suddenly
wasn’t so sure. “Doesn’t matter. I need to know she’s alive. I can
convince her to come with me. To keep her safe.”

Lara inhaled and let loose with a rueful shake of the head.
“Where do we go?”

“
Her habitat is in Quadrant2. We need vehicles.”

“
Quad2 is crawling with Host. Even if she evaded them there’s
no way she’ll have escaped the Hybrids sweeping the area. She’s
probably been taken to the slave encampment in Quad1, and that is a
no go area. Chances are she’s already been inseminated for
spawning.”

“
Lara,” Kenshin said quietly. “Be gentle. This news hurts
him.”

“
Have to know,” Blue insisted weakly. He started toward the
road, determined to find a FloBi to take him to where Kali most
likely hid. “And the other of you?” he asked before he became too
engrossed in his search.

“
Other?” Lara echoed. “It’s just me and Ken.”

“
The one following us. He’s almost hiding his aura from me
completely. He showed up after you did, so he was tracking you, not
me.”

Lara spun. A laser blade appeared in her fist. “I sense
nothing.”

“
I did not want you to,” a deep voice rumbled.

A giant stepped from the shadows, a woollen snood covering his
head and shoulders.

Prowling around his legs was a snow leopard FetchMe, her eye
glinting with intelligence.

Blue’s mind sparked, recognising the Hybrid’s strong features
and cerulean eyes. “Igor,” he greeted.

14.

Blue was disconcerted how he and his fellow defector Hybrids
moved out in the open during the invasion. Host swarmed into
habitats and dragged families out screaming, separating the males
from the females, and wrestling the older males to the ground to be
joined with a fresh Symbiont.

Lara showed no signs that the scene disturbed her, though Blue
did catch her balling her hands into fists as a young woman was
dragged bloody and unconscious into a cage with a dozen
others.

Kenshin was the most visibly affected by the carnage. There
were tears in his eyes as he sunk further and further into his
seat, his chin on his chest.

The Hybrids were considerably less in number than the Host,
from what Blue gleaned from his own mind and what he saw. There was
less than two thousand on Earth, the largest concentration of that
force here in the inner quadrants where the population was
densest.

Blue parked outside Kali’s habitat.

The front door
had been ripped out and thrown aside.

“
This is an unnecessary risk,” Lara warned as they climbed out
the FloVe they’d commandeered. “It may turn the Creator’s attention
to us sooner rather than later.”

“
If I had a connection to a Human,” Igor mused, “I would want
to know of their fate.”

A deafening boom shook the ground and had them tottering to
the side.

The Hybrids twisted in horror, each increasing the strength of
their aura in case they needed to protect themselves.

On the horizon, a mushroom cloud of smoke exploded into the
sky, the dark grey lightening to white closer to the top. Judging
by the sheer size of it, and the orange haze beneath it, a whole
quadrant had gone up in flames.

“
Need to find her quickly,” Blue choked.

Lara rolled her eyes, but even she looked pale. “I’ll go in
through the back.” She pushed past them, and stealthy moved around
the building.

Blue pushed forward, not having a clue where to look next if
Kali wasn’t there. Could he rendezvous at the slave encampments as
were his orders and discover information about her that way? Would
they pick up on his lingering attachment to her and punish him for
it? Would they kill her?

Was she even alive?

Questions flew through Blue’s mind thick and fast as he passed
the threshold into the beautiful home, one he’d dreamed of having
from afar.

The Loklear habitat was in tact. The Host were not prone to
mindless destruction, just like their masters. The Novae were
logical, ruthlessly efficient, and their subordinates were no
different.

Blue rounded the arched doorway into the living room and was
tackled from the side.

“
You
.” Max
slammed into him and grappled him to the ground. “She’ll be safe
will she?” He grabbed Blue by the neck and squeezed.
“
Where is she
?”

“
I–she–” Blue gasped for air, but managed to hold up a hand to
stop Igor, who had stormed forward and begun forming a deadly blast
of telekinetic energy.

Kali would never forgive him if Max were harmed.

Max had no such worries about Blue’s safety, and he smashed
his fist into his face.

Blue’s nose exploded with blood, and his ears rang. The blow
muddled him, and for a while, he simply spaced out.

Igor and Kenshin rushed forward to physically pull Max away,
but his FetchMe landed in front of them with a hiss of warning,
baring two inch long fangs, her claws wicked sharp as they sprung
from her paws.

Natalya snarled in retaliation.

Eyeing the tiger, worried about her size compared his precious
companion; Igor set Natalya loose with a flick of his
wrist.

With an enraged roar, the snow leopard lunged forward. The
animals clashed in an aggressive bundle of white fur and chomping
maws. With a heavy swipe of her gargantuan paw, Baby sent the
smaller feline crashing into the wall and bit down on her
neck.

Blue finally shook off the blow. “They took her. I’m looking
too.”

“
Liar
.” Max
punched him again.

Blue’s vision doubled this time, and he got angry. His mind
was precious, and he could not risk a concussion with all he had
yet to do. He pushed the larger body off him with a strong hit of
psychic power and pinned him.

He motioned to the others to calm the shrieking girl in the
corner. He recognised her as Max’s date from the shooting range.
Christabella, Kali had called her.

Lara strode into the room with her knife drawn.

Blue shot her a scathing look when she headed straight for
Max, a lethal look glittering in her eyes.

“
Put that away,” he ordered. He scrubbed a forearm over his
bleeding lip, winced at his swelling nose, and finally glared at
Max for the damage he’d caused to his face. “I have no reason to
lie. I don’t know where she is.”