Chaos Theory (37 page)

Beside him, Max stood with Creighton. The older man stared at
his daughter with panic.

“
Stay with her,” he told Max then fled.

Somewhat relieved he wasn’t going to have to wrestle Creighton
for the right to hold Kali, Blue nodded to Kenshin. This time when
the Hybrid hovered over her, Blue felt a surge of hope rather than
despair.

Disconnected, Kali gawped at what used to be the most popular
quadrant on the planet. It was now a forsaken wild of abandoned
homes. She had known the world was in trouble, had known humanity
fought for survival, but the extent of the damage had been
inconceivable to her, bound as she was. She had imagined laser
battles, battalions of soldiers pushing the alien menace back in
the name of the Alliance.

The silence was chilling.

Kenshin stared at Kali, enraptured. “Déjà Vu,” he muttered. “I
wish I had the time to document the feeling. It is peculiar
and....” He trailed off, cocking his head. “She looks
different.”

Lara peered over his bony shoulder, shaking her head in
disgust. “She sure does. Even her aura is different.” She glanced
at her Omicron. “How could you not know that thing before wasn’t
her?”

Blue’s jaw clenched. “Lara, do you have anything constructive
to add?”

“
Telling it like it–”

“
Pilot the ship. Use Zeke as your second, I want him trained.
Go easy and stay low. Remember we’re out here.”

“
Just cosmic,” Lara muttered, stomping back into the
ship.

Kali enjoyed the sunshine.

Blue didn’t want to disturb her, but he was concerned she was
sick. “Ken?”

“
Her vitals are standard and there’s no internal damage.”
Kenshin gently lifted Kali’s arm and studied the gouged skin at her
wrist. “There is some irritation on the flesh, but the SkinAids
will seal the damage until I can spend more time with her when she
is feeling better. We should move her inside.”

The sound of the spaceship’s engine startled Kali and she
squeaked. Blue held her tighter reinforcing that she was safe. The
horizon moved. Gasping, Kali leaned over to look through the
crystal floor and watch the land move beneath them.

“
I want to stay here,” she begged. “Please?”

He laughed shakily. “Course you do.” Blue kissed her temple,
his eyes scrunching closed. “You scared me to death. What’s wrong
with hanging out two hundred feet in the air outside the
spaceship.”

She made a noise. “This isn’t scary. Last time I saw you, you
were unconscious, and I was dragged into the darkness.” She
repressed a scream at the haunting memory. “That’s
scarier.”

“
No. Watching you disintegrate into sand then dragged into your
mind trumps that.”

“
Trapped in a pod for endless days whilst aliens prodded me,”
she countered.

Brows plunging, Blue rubbed her back. “Why are we having this
argument?”

“
Beats blubbering over each other. I don’t want to cry anymore,
and anger makes me feel stronger.”

Kali rested her chin on his shoulder and squinted. There was
someone standing at the top of the ramp, but her vision was out of
focus. Her hysteria had eased, and she was becoming more aware of
her environment. A draft swept over her bottom half, and she
realised she was wearing only Blue’s top, which was not much. She
crossed her legs in mortification.

Sensing her distress, Ken paused in his tending to drape a
blanket over her.

“
Blue, I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

“
There can be no more talking,” Kenshin objected in a firm
tone. “I’m going to give you a mild sedative. You must rest and be
taken out of the cold.”

Kali turned her gaze to Blue, silently pleading.

He exhaled sharply, anxious to see her resting, but
understanding her need to be heard. “What?”

Kenshin wasn’t so easily swayed. “Omicron, I don’t
advise–”

“
Let her speak. This way she won’t fight the sedation.” He gave
Kali a ’no nonsense’ look to back that statement.

She rubbed her fingers across his jaw absentmindedly. “There’s
so much I need to say.” She sighed. “I have a theory. Ten Novae
make up the Hive mind.”

Max stood out of the way anxiously watching over his friend,
but hearing her now, he gave a derogatory snort. “You think ten
aliens overran our entire solar system?” Kali’s head snapped toward
his judgmental yet warm voice. She grinned broadly when she managed
to focus her blurry gaze on his advancing form. Max knelt and
clasped her grasping hand. He held it to his chest. “That’s a bit
of a stretch, Kal.”

“
Could you kill a million ants?” she asked. Heart swelling with
relief, her grip tightened as she took comfort in having someone so
dear to her close and well.

“
Of course I could.” He scowled. “Damn. I see where your mind’s
at.”

“
Hearing Kenshin call Blue Omicron cinched it for me. The Novan
called me a Zeta, one of seven. It’s Ionian numerals. The Novae
must have a different patois, but they’ve translated it into a
classification the Hybrids can understand. It’s simple and clean
and fits perfectly with Novan logic.”

“
Not so
the
Hybrids can understand, but
so
you
Hybrids
can understand.”

Kali held on with mulish resolve when Max tried to let go of
her hand. She met his gaze squarely, and didn’t hide the hurt. His
blatant resentment at what she was skirted the edges of outright
rejection. “I know it has been hard, but don’t let it break us.
You’ve known me your whole life. I’m as Human as you
are.”

“
You’re not Human, Kal. We wouldn’t be having this conversation
if you were.”

“
Do not be like that. Don’t draw a line between us. I’ve shared
my entire life with you, and more at one point.”

Feeling Blue stiffen at the mention of their intimacy, Kali
reassured him with a gentle squeeze. That part of her and Max’s
history had been put to bed a long time ago, and he knew it. She
mentioned it, because they should be on a more synchronized
wavelength than they currently were, and it frightened her how he
was pulling away.

Max scrubbed a hand through his golden hair, broad shoulders
slumping. “What am I about? You don’t need me going on like this.”
He gave her a peck on the temple. “We’ll fight later. Love you,
Kal.”

He spun away and stalked into the main body of the ship. Baby
prowled close on his heels.

Kali turned to Blue with a troubled smile. “What do you think
about my theory?”

“
Your logic is sound,” he agreed softly, seeing the pain in her
eyes. “Now take the sedative.”

Her eyes flashed panic. “Wait. I have questions and I…” A
funny look passed her face.

Blue’s head snapped up.

“
Can you feel that,” Kali whispered, unable to peel her eyes
from an odd bump in the horizon. An invisible presence she could
feel, but not see. She knew what it was. “They found
us.”

“
Incoming.” Lara’s panic-stricken bark crackled over the
ComLink. “They came out of nowhere. Valiant and Push are on their
way to help.”

Igor rushed forward and crouched. He locked eyes with Blue. “I
can stay.”

“
Go to Lara.” Blue rested his cheek on the crown of Kali’s
head. “Make sure she doesn’t stab anybody in her rage.”

Grinning, Igor manhandled Kenshin to safety in the main body
of the craft, and left him there, sprinting away to reach the
control bridge.

Kali blinked slowly. “We’re not fast enough.”

Blue glared stonily at the vessel from Quadrant6. “On this
smaller craft no. Valiant and Push won’t make it back in time to
help us.” He paused. “There are Novan on that ship.”

Kali pushed away from him and stood on shaky legs. “I’ll bet
there is.”

A smaller vessel detached from the larger and shot into the
atmosphere. Clouds churned turbulently in its wake. It sounded like
the crack of thunder as it moved with supersonic speed and breached
the Earth’s atmosphere into space.

“
Coward
,”
Kali screamed at the disappearing ship, knowing the one who’d held
her captive was on it.

The remaining spaceship hovered before them, a glacier
sprouting needle-like spikes. Its iridescent nimbus glowed brighter
than the dawn. The base of the craft was a flat slab of solid
crystal, denser and darker in colour, a pearlescent gray, rather
than a shimmering opal like the zenith.

Blue entwined his fingers with Kali’s and gathered his
strength. “Don’t hold back.”

“
Don’t worry about me,” she murmured, her eyes sparking as her
energy quickened. “I didn’t spend all my time hoping you’d rescue
me.” He slanted a look at her. She slid one back and winked. “I
learned, Blue. I learned.”

The spaceship wobbled fiercely, and the crystal cracked.
Sensing what Kali did, Blue used his power to pull on the opposite
end of the craft. Dozens of fissures appeared in the sparkling
exterior and raced along the hull until it was marbled with cracks.
The vessel’s engines roared and tried to pull away, but Kali
tightened her mental grip to hold it steady.

Lit from the inside, her head was thrown back in defiance and
her lips parted in feral triumph. Her eyes narrowed as she hacked
at the hull and a dagger-like spike snapped free and plummeted to
earth. Seemingly not satisfied with the destruction she wrought,
Kali channelled more of her energy and the ship began to
disintegrate.

Blue focused hard to discover how she was doing it.

The constant flex of brainpower was exquisite, a gentle
vibration that wiggled in-between the tiniest of particles and
shook them loose. The resulting effect was magnificently
destructive.

Plunging into the grim task, Blue pounded on the spaceship
with sledgehammer blows.

The destruction climaxed, and the vessel shook violently. Its
smooth surface was cracked and gouged, so destroyed in some places
you glimpsed the interior rooms.

They needed to gain distance before it exploded.

“
Let go,” Blue ordered, sensing the end had come.

Kali held on, wanting to rip it apart piece by microscopic
piece until there was nothing left.

“
I hate them,” she whispered fiercely.
“I
hate
them.”

She lurched forward, ready to physically hurl herself at her
enemy. Blue hooked an arm around her waist and spun her into him.
Kali put up a token struggle then redoubled her focus on attacking
mentally.

Blue cocooned them in a force shield as his face lowered. He
forced her chin up, but her eyes remained fixed on her adversary.
His eyes bored into hers, a dazzling sapphire that fractured her
concentration. “Look away, beautiful. Let it go.”

Choking on her anger, Kali scrunched her eyes closed and
turned her face to his chest.

Light beams burst from the radiant spaceship.

The luminescent shafts of light highlighted Kali and Blue in a
jewelled halo.

It sucked up the surrounding air, burning brightly, rumbling.
The white-hot heart exploded. Deadly shards of crystal blasted in
every direction and a crescent blade of light cut the sky, a
booming expulsion that rocked their craft. Splinters of glinting
rock bounced off the hull of their ship with a hollow tinkling, and
colour-tinted wind bathed them in ripples of heat. The noise was
deafening, a shrill ring that made their teeth rattle.

The roaring noise, blistering heat, and brilliant light died.
There was the strong smell of burning in the air. The ozone
crackled with expelled energy, ready to spark and ignite. The zany
tang made the taste buds in their lower jaws pinch.

Kali shook on the spot. So weak and insubstantial, she felt if
she trembled too hard she’d drift apart. She’d pushed too hard. Her
body wasn’t used to extending that much energy so aggressively.
Kali collapsed, hunching over as she dry retched. Blue rubbed her
back until she crumpled into a sweaty heap.

“
Donotputmetosleeep,” she gurgled.

Exasperated, Blue scooped her up. The mind and body were
connected. You couldn’t exhaust one without severely affecting the
other. Blue knew this, but it would take her time to learn her
brain was like a muscle that would grow tired unless she trained it
to withstand more.

“
Now?” Kenshin asked in a wobbly voice.

Blue nodded.

Kali felt a prick in her arm. She had precious nanoseconds to
stare ravenously at the sun before her vision blurred. Her head
lolled, and her arms fell away, body relaxing into the strong arms
that caged her as she was pulled under.

Face stony, Blue watched the remains of the Novan spaceship
fall to earth in green-hued fire. He stood, gave the shrinking
wreckage his back, and pressed a kiss to Kali’s lips.

31.

After endless days of the cold and wet, Kali was warm and dry.
She flexed her toes and wiggled closer into the body curled around
her. She’d woken in Blue’s room after a dead sleep caused by the
heavy sedative Kenshin had administered.