Davin's Quest (12 page)

While they were glad of the new beacon crystal—it was, after all, a much-needed resource—some of them were being stubborn about Callie’s presence. Troyan was perhaps the worst of them, but others frowned at them as well from around the large chamber.

But Davin stood firm. “I’ll defy anyone who tries to come between me and my lawful mate.” He produced a data crystal and fed it into the display unit at his table, projecting highlighted historical documents for all to see. “The law is on my side in this instance, Councilors. You will see here, very clearly, the ancient Alvian Code states that resonance mates, once Joined, cannot be forcibly separated for any reason. I have Joined with my proven mate. The crystals themselves prove that our Joining is a true one. So my question to you is: How
dare
you try to take my resonance mate from me?”

Grumbles were heard among the Council and the gallery of spectators until finally Councilor Orin raised his amethyst wand for silence.

“I say we cease our interference in this matter, since I do believe young Davin has the law on his side.”

“It is an old law. Outdated,” Councilor Beyan pointed out in her quiet way.

Orin nodded. “Perhaps, but we have never changed the ancient laws. We have never yet created any new law that was inconsistent with the ancient texts. I, for one, do not believe now is the time to do so.

We have lost Alvia and have come to a new world. Let us not lose more of our heritage by disregarding the ancient wisdom and laws of our forefathers.”

The debate went on for some time but eventually a vote was taken and most of the Councilors
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recognized Davin’s legal right to keep his proven resonance mate, even if she was a Breed. They debated for a while on whether or not to grant her full rights of citizenship, but held off on that decision until some future date.

Davin didn’t care. As long as he and Callie were free to live together as mates, that was all that mattered. She was safe and should be forever now, as his legally recognized mate. Even if something happened to him, she would still have the rights of his resonance mate, regardless of what the Council finally decided about her status as a citizen. He moved back from the table, and gathered Callie into his arms, uncaring of what the Council or gallery would make of their display of emotion. Perhaps, he thought, it was time his people saw firsthand what an emotionally bonded couple could feel for each other. Maybe it would make them think about what they’d given up in the search for genetic perfection.

Maybe hearing the Hum of their skin touching and seeing their Kiss produce a glow like no other from every crystal in the vicinity would be enough to make them realize they’d turned down the wrong path.

Davin Kissed Callie, momentarily bringing a stunned silence to the entire Council chamber as every crystal within began to glow. Callie pulled back and laughed when she saw the shocked faces, a becoming flush pinking her cheeks as she looped her arms about Davin’s neck.

“I love you, my heart,” Davin said in a whisper loud enough for all to hear in the silent chamber, lit with the light of their passion.

“Oh, Davin, I love you too!”

Councilor Beyan watched them with interest in her eyes. “Davin.” She spoke softly, but garnered everyone’s attention. She, of all the Council, understood him perhaps the best, since she too had a strong crystal gift. “Is your mate gifted?”

Davin held Callie’s hand, addressing the Councilor’s question with a firm nod. “Yes, she is very gifted.

On par with a level eight novitiate, at least, and growing daily.” Murmurs sounded throughout the chamber. Davin knew the idea that a Breed could have one of their most precious—and dangerous—abilities was unsettling to them. Good, he’d rock their boats just a little further. “It is my belief that all Breeds may have some level of the crystal gift. As we produce less and less gifted Alvian children in each generation, but require more and more crystal power, I’ve toyed with the idea of testing some of the Breeds.”

“Outrageous!” Troyan exclaimed again. Davin wasn’t really surprised. Troyan hated throwbacks as much as any modern Alvian could hate.

“Do you really think that’s wise?” Councilor Beyan’s soft voice challenged him.

“I believe it is necessary, Councilor. We need more staff to keep the new grid up and running. I propose testing and training acceptable Breeds to manage the small, day-to-day tasks that level one, two and three novitiates usually handle. Surely they couldn’t do much damage with such simple tasks.” None of the Alvians recognized the snide irony in his tone, but Callie squeezed his hand and when he looked back at her, the devil danced in her eyes. It was all he could do to keep from kissing her again, but this moment was too important.

Davin hadn’t intended to broach this topic until the Council was more comfortable with Callie, but he was glad in a way that it had come up today. Each day they waited was a day longer in captivity for humanity. If Davin could gather just a few humans from the worst of the pens and give them a decent place to live in his engineering facility, it was a start. But he needed the Council’s permission to begin
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such a daring program.

“It is true we have fewer crystallographers in each generation and we need more.” Councilor Beyan sounded thoughtful. It was a good sign. “May I test your mate, Davin? Her name is Callie, right?” Beyan pasted on a smile, though it wasn’t convincing on a woman who had no feelings. Still, that she would make the effort to put a human at ease meant something extraordinary. Davin tugged Callie forward. She shot him a worried look but he squeezed her hand to reassure her before he let her go, motioning her toward the Councilor who sat behind the high Council table.

Beyan removed a crystal from the pocket of her white robe and placed it on the table. Callie stood about eye level with the crystal, a lovely amethyst with regular edges. She could see the crystal was flawless on the surface, and could feel the resonances Davin had taught her to seek. Although it looked perfect on the outside, something was slightly off inside the crystal matrix that made the resonance a little harsh and jagged, not flowing smoothly as it should be.

“May I touch the amethyst, ma’am?” Callie asked politely, earning raised eyebrows from the Councilors.

Apparently they all thought humans were impolite barbarians.

“Before you do,” the Councilor countered, “can you tell me anything about this crystal without touching it?”

Callie nodded. “It looks perfect, but something’s wrong. The resonances aren’t aligned properly. There is a slight disharmony in the matrix and it’s growing worse. If not aligned, I believe it will eventually crack near the center of the stone.”

More raised eyebrows met Callie’s words and the Councilor radiated a faint feeling of surprise mixed with respect. Of course, these Alvians had so little emotion, it was hard to read much, even for an empath as strong as she was.

“Can you do anything about it?” the Councilor challenged.

Callie tilted her head, considering. “I don’t know. I’ve been able to retune smaller crystals with Davin’s guidance, but I’m not certain I can handle as delicate a problem as this one seems to have. I would have to examine it first, by touching it and studying the disharmony.”

Beyan nodded. “A wise answer. Truly, Davin,” the older woman spoke over Callie’s shoulder to Davin, who stood several feet behind her, watching all, “your mate speaks well.”

“Let her try her abilities on your amethyst, Councilor. I believe she is up to the challenge you have placed before her.”

“Truly?” Beyan looked back at Callie. “Then proceed, by all means.”

Callie reached out and took the amethyst into her hand. It was even worse than she’d thought. The disharmony was a cacophony of warring resonances that she imagined she could almost hear, though such frequencies were well out of human hearing range. But the power was strong. If tuned properly, this crystal would be very powerful indeed. A light touch would be called for to do this work, lest it blow up in her face.

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Callie concentrated, closing her eyes and focusing on the stone alone. She could feel Davin’s reassuring presence behind her. She knew he had absolute faith she could meet this challenge and that made her stronger. There was no one on Earth who knew crystals the way Davin did. If he thought she could do it, there was no doubt in her mind she could.

She also had some idea of what was riding on this. The fate of many humans rested on convincing the Council that Davin’s idea of testing and training humans had some merit. They needed power and they had few crystallographers to run their power grid. If she could prove humans could step into such an important role, she would be saving at least a few of her brethren from life—or death—in the pens.

Marshalling her strength, Callie tried to think of the quiet stream by the farm. All the currents running together helped her imagine the currents of energy focused in the crystal. Throw a stone in the stream and disrupt the current, much like the unseen flaw in the crystal threw off its harmony. But it could be fixed.

Strength of will and suitable application of her psi energy could retune the crystal so its energy flowed freely like the stream.

Thinking peaceful thoughts and seeing that vision of harmony in her mind, Callie applied her power. She felt resistance at first, but then the power of the stone yielded and turned, redirected into a more harmonious flow. With what she knew was a smile of triumph lighting her face, she opened her eyes and placed the retuned amethyst on the table in front of the Councilor.

“It’s done.”

Callie walked back to Davin’s side and reveled in the pride she could feel emanating from him for her.

His love and his respect were two things she craved and he gave her both, swamping her empathic senses in what amounted to a body hug as she rejoined him.

Councilor Beyan touched the crystal tentatively at first, then picked it up and stared into its perfect facets. “Remarkable,” she said softly as the other Councilors watched with varying degrees of interest.

“She did a very nice job retuning this piece.” Beyan’s gaze rested on Davin. “I agree with your level eight ranking and would put her at seer status.” Callie didn’t know what that meant, but she could feel Davin’s surprise, then the burst of pride that filled him, and the joy. “My friends,” Beyan addressed the other Councilors now, “I believe young Davin has proven the sense of his proposal. If he can find a few well-behaved candidates with a gift even half as good as his mate’s, it should end our grid shortages. I believe we should allow him to try.”

“Are you certain, Beyan?” Orin, as head of the Council, asked for them all.

Beyan nodded. “I believe it is a sound plan.”

Orin sighed and turned to Davin. “You have the Council’s permission to test and appropriate such Breeds as you need for a pilot program.”

Davin bowed and Callie followed suit. “It shall be done. You have my thanks.” They left the chamber shortly thereafter and the next supplicant came before the Council.

Mara 12 had arrived at a crucial decision. It was a radical idea indeed, but she had always believed in
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taking bold steps to further scientific endeavor. She presented her facts to the Council, unsurprised by the barrage of questions she received, but she’d prepared well and had displays ready to answer each of their points.

After several hours of discussion, Mara 12 was granted permission for a very special project of her own. This time, Mara wanted to test volunteers from her own race with a DNA-altering concoction that might—just might—improve on Alvian genetics.

But it also just might have surprising consequences for them all…

One of the benefits of having the blessing of the Council was that Callie could communicate freely with Harry and Caleb, who was being held for study in the northern city. Of course they had to be somewhat circumspect in what they said because all their communications were monitored, but they could at least talk as often as they wished.

Harry was able to communicate telepathically with the family back at the farm, but the Alvians couldn’t know Davin had given them a communication crystal. Callie could use that illicit crystal to access the rest of her family as well and spoke to them often.

It was good for Callie to talk with her family and it made her feel somehow safer, even as she struggled to help Davin set up his training program in the Southern Engineering Facility. It was slow going, but within a few weeks they had nice quarters and equipment ready for the humans Davin was finding and rescuing from the various settlements and cities.

Callie was also learning the Alvian alphabet and how to work their comm systems and other devices.

Each day, Davin would show her a little more. She had a hard time wrapping her tongue around their spoken language, but the written form was a little easier. Not much, but a little.

One night, Davin sat her down at a comm console with a very serious look on his face.

“What I’m going to show you now, nobody else knows. Nobody, Callie, but you and me.” He brought up what she recognized as a subroutine on the comm panel. “It’s important that you commit this operation to memory. You can’t write it down anywhere. It’s too dangerous for anyone else to know and I don’t want any spies finding out I’ve created this backdoor, or it will be useless if we ever need it.”

“What is it?” She watched in wonder as he brought up an innocuous display that she knew could be accessed from even the most rudimentary comm panels in the facility. Even the airships could bring up this particular subroutine that had to do with simple system diagnostics.

“It’s something I created in case of emergency. A way to disable communications over a wide area. I thought—” He halted, shaking his head as he turned to look at her. “I thought when I finally went crazy and they were going to put me down, I’d use it to buy enough time to go out my own way. I didn’t want to be at their mercy when I breathed my last. I wanted to die free, by my own choice.”