Chaos Theory (22 page)

“
You never asked if I had a son.” He said this pensively, as if
that was some kind of explanation.

“
Stars!” She curled her fingers into claws and mimicked
scratching him. “Ugh.” Kali stormed off.

Blue sighed.

“
She is upset I exist.”

Blue looked at his son and put a hand on the crown of his
head. Caesar was the duplicate image of himself as a child, but his
son communicated better than he ever did with his peers, and had
wisdom far beyond his small years. Blue struggled to remember at
times this child was a part of him, and not a separate entity he
considered a trusted companion, like his Hypatia.

“
Things are complicated,” he explained.

“
You have feelings for her.”

Blue crouched to look him in the eye, nodded.

“
If she asks, you’re going to place us in danger to save her
family.”

Blue would never put his son in danger, but any risk to Blue’s
own life did have a direct impact on Caesar’s future.
“Correct.”

“
She is the reason you rejected the Novae reconditioning … why
you still resist them, isn’t she.”

There was no judgment or condemnation in his son’s eyes, only
the need to gather knowledge and understand it. “No,” Blue said.
“She was the final push I needed to open my eyes to the world
around me, but thoughts of you gave me the strength to fight
back.”

“
Me?”

Blue smiled. He rubbed Caesar’s small shoulder.
“You.”

The child’s face lit brightly before clouding over. “I’m proud
of you,” he said then spun and made his way back into his room.
Blue followed behind, but paused when Caesar turned. “Something is
not right with her. There are blank spots in her mind that should
not be there. It seems her reactions are all recalled rather than
the product of genuine recognition. There is a difference between
the two.”

“
I’m aware of the differences between recognition and recall
memory.”

“
Her thoughts feel forced. As if the memories are there because
they were put there. It is strange she claims memory of her
abduction. You have all talked of fractured memory.”

“
Claims?”

“
I am speculating, father. Do not misconstrue my words for
something else.”

Blue was taken aback. Caesar called him Blue, always had, and
the deviation in address was unexpected.

He took note of the concerns with a nod. “Told you before
about walking minds so deeply without invitation.” Blue kept his
gaze steady. “It is rude.”

Caesar shrugged. “There is no malice in it.” The child walked
into his room and shut the door, ending the
conversation.

*

She needed to destroy something
. At
the least, vent her frustration at someone who didn’t use logic as
a crutch to fight every argument. Kali spotted her potential ally
slouched on the sofa in the living area.

Max held up the peace sign. “Not happening.”

“
But I–”

He pushed the palm out until she had to step back. “I have no
friendly advice, and I don’t want to hear blather about a guy I
warned you not to date.”

“
Did you know?”

“
Yeah. I did work with him.”

She gawked. “You didn’t think to tell
me
?”

Puckering his lips thoughtfully, Max ended his deep study of
what should have been an easy answer with a jerked shoulder. “It
never crossed my mind. I told you I couldn’t remember much about
him when he wasn’t around me. When I saw the kid, I remembered in a
flash.” He patted her arm. “At least now we know it’s because
they’re Hybrids. I was talking to Ken, and he theorises their
brainwaves give off some weird radiation.”

She grabbed the outstretched hand and flung it away. “Couldn’t
you just let me rant?”

Max plugged his ears with his forefingers. He jumped the sofa
to get away from her. “I’m avoiding you for the good of our
friendship.” He sauntered off whistling.

Kali glared at his back. Her nostrils flared, and she stormed
past him into the corridor. “Some best friend you turned out to
be,” she yelled. Stomping through the halls of Blue’s bunker, she
passed the armoury then backtracked to see Lara sat on a cot,
lovingly stroking a blaster. Kali charged into the room and pointed
at her. “You think he was out of line, right? To let me find out
about Caesar like that? Who does that?” Kali did a double take at
the walls. “My stars, there are a creepy amount of weapons in this
room. You’re comfortable in here?”

Lara blinked. Her hand slowly slid out of her pocket where it
had instinctively gone when she’d felt someone enter the room and
bolt straight at her. She doubted the Omicron would like it if she
stuck holes in his Human female.

“
I’m not good at this feminine ritual of speculation on male
mating practices,” she said then added for clarification, “Men
suck. Understanding them isn’t as fun and more complicated than
killing them.”

“
Umhm. Is that a rocket launcher in the corner?”

Lara could sense this would take a while unless she actively
contributed to the conversation. “What do you want me to say?” she
asked finally, turning her attention onto Kali instead of the
rifle.

Kali crossed her arms over her chest, lips pulling down.
“Empathize. He lied by omission, right. He did. Didn’t
he?”

“
I can’t claim to know his mind. Logically there was nothing
for Blue to gain by withholding his parental status from you.” Lara
searched for words to placate her leader’s prospective mate, so she
would bounce away as she had bounced in. “You know now, and it
changes little. Forgive the Omicron.” She paused, shrugged. “He has
nice hair. Does that help?”

Kali eyed her. “Seriously? That’s all you’ve got? I tell you
my alien almost boyfriend lied to me by omission, and your
brilliant extraterrestrial mind comes up with, ‘he has nice
hair.’”

“
No one’s perfect,” Lara snapped. She had not the time or the
patience to pander to an irrational female. “He is trying, and good
hair is important to people like you.”

“
People like me? Cosmic.” Kali’s hands slapped her thighs. “I
can’t talk to anybody.”

She marched off.

Lara sighed in relief, bending her head to fiddle once again
with the discharge chamber on her beloved pulse rifle.

She called it Edna. The rate of fire alone made the weapon
attractive, but the high ammunition capacity allowed for a three
hundred round Blue Matter clip. The rounds themselves could shoot
holes the size of HoverBalls into a target. Its secondary firing
mode was a pump-action grenade launcher that shot blasts of Blue
Matter in a plasma state. The electromagnetically energised
projectiles were kinetic, sucking power as they accelerated through
the air and exploded on contact.

Edna was an intuitive prototype Lara had spent the better part
of a year working on, had high hopes for, and would be ready to
test real soon.

She leaned to grab a screwdriver and froze.

Christabella stood in front of her, hopping from one dainty
foot to another.

Teeth grinding, Lara set down her work, again, and quirked an
eyebrow. She waved the screwdriver in hand when the girl stared at
her like the simpleton she was. Truth be told, Lara had a soft spot
for the female. This is why she only curled her top lip in a snarl
instead of baring fang and hissing until she scurried
away.

“
Do I have all day for you to loiter?” she asked. “Spit it
out.”

Christabella twisted the end of a golden lock, attempting the
impossible by trying to burrow her toes into the concrete floor. “I
was wandering past and heard you give Kali advice. You’re smart
like the rest of them, but you’re a girl too. I could use advice.”
She nibbled her lip. “So let’s say that I had it bad for an alien.”
Christabella fell silent and studied the floor as if it were of
cosmic importance. “Do you think one of you could ever like someone
like me back? Someone not smart. A Human. The whole Kali and Blue
drama doesn’t count because Kali has always been
clever.”

“
Lara?” Blue’s waxen head appeared, and he jerked his head,
gesturing her to follow.

Relieved to have been summoned, she shot to her feet. “I’m
here. Right here.” Lara inched past Christabella, and narrowed her
eyes. “Touch nothing,” she told the girl when she caught her hand
straying to one of the rifles on the wall. Lara jogged the corridor
after Blue. “What?”

“
You know.”

“
I do. It’s under control. He won’t find us, and he’ll be
moving on soon.” She eyed him. The rigid set of his shoulders and
tense jaw screamed his unease. “Took you a while to
notice.”

“
Mind’s busy.”

“
Distracted you mean, because Kali is unstable.”

Blue’s hand hit the wall in front of her. His palm flattened
and he blocked her way. “Been meaning to talk to you.”

Lara leaned her shoulder on the wall and prodded his arm. “If
this is going to be some gushing diatribe on how you love her, want
her safe, and–”

“
I want them all safe. Don’t care if you get annoyed, stressed,
or just feel like making something die, pull it back. The Humans
here are safe and should feel so. That means no threats or
hostility. No waving of knives or pointing of guns. We
clear?”

“
Do the others get this inspiring talk? Or am I
special?”

“
The others don’t have me in a cold sweat. Worrying the next
time I open a cupboard I might catch a body with its throat slit
ear to ear. Seen you eye Max’s jugular one time too
many.”

Lara’s lip curled when she said her piece. “I won’t pretend I
like them when I don’t. They are a weakness, and that is the
truth.”

“
Ken doesn’t mind gentling you, but I have no time for
it.”

“
I got it. Your time is better spent skulking. Mourning a
relationship that was doomed from the start. Brooding over a girl
who is no longer interested. If she ever was.”

Blue exhaled on a hiss. “You know nothing.”

“
Spare me the tragedy. You risked our lives when you dragged us
into the inner quadrants looking for her, and I know you’re
considering the terminally stupid by going to the encampment to
find her parents. Don’t be a fool. Fools die.”

“
Giving my life to reunite a family would not be a wasted
thing.”

“
That is not logical. Your continued presence here gives us a
strong chance of maintaining a successful resistance. If it didn’t,
I wouldn’t be here.”

“
Emotion isn’t logical. This is their world, Lara. Their home.”
Blue was intense when he leaned in. “We’re the trespassers, not
them.” He touched his temple. “They gave me memories I do not yet
understand, but that much I do know.”

“
Their origin–”

“
Doesn’t matter, not when a species evolves as humanity has. We
are a part of them, and they deserve our protection.”

“
You think the Hive should have harvested a different
crop?”

Blue laughed low without humour. “I want to protect these
people, but I don’t wish ill on anyone else.”

Igor left his room and paused when he saw Lara and Blue right
outside his door. He decided it would be lunacy to get between
them, and he bowed out to return the way he came.

Blue waved him forward, sensing him there. “Glad you’re here.
We’re discussing what to do with our visitor.”

“
Stellar.” Igor paced forward his giant feet unexpectedly
light. “It weighs on my mind. You have decided a course of
action?”

Voices cast low with intensity drifted from the main living
area. Distracted from responding, Blue inched forward quietly. He
was intrigued when he saw his son and Kali seated at the table, a
plate of nibbles between them.

“
You feel lied to,” Caesar said, pouring juice, the heavy jug
straining his slender arms. “Hurt, as if he didn’t care for your
feelings.”

“
Exactly,” Kali replied her chin in her palm.

Blue wondered how she would react if she knew the reason his
son was so perceptive was not because he was sensitive to the
emotions of others, but because he was frighteningly adept at
infiltrating the conscious mind. Blue usually felt when anybody
turned their attention to him, or entered his mind. With Caesar, he
felt nothing. The boy mined thoughts deeply, exposing the raw parts
of you. It was the reason Blue kept nothing from him. Not only had
his ability made him a formidable mind-walker, Caesar was highly
observant. He did not yet show signs of telekinetic prowess, but
Blue hoped he would soon.

“
I don’t have a problem with Blue having a son. The way he
sprung it on me was what set me off.” Kali drummed the tabletop.
“What else hasn’t he told me?”

“
That is an answer you will never know. Cookie? Blue is
aspiring as a male figure. I hope to be like him one day.” The
child drank his juice as he turned to stare directly at his parent,
eyes far too knowing. “Trouble,” he murmured. “There is someone
above us.”