Rayne's Return (Hearts of ICARUS Book 3) (14 page)

“Interesting distinction,”
Rayne said, sending him soft laughter.
  “How many of these cells are there?  Do you know?
”

“Twenty,”
Wolef replied. 
“As far as I can tell, nine are currently in use, including yours.  This is only a guess, but from the sounds I’ve heard, I believe that there are two rows of cells that are connected at some point.  If I’m right, whichever cell you’re in will be relatively close to mine.”

“Close is good,”
Rayne said as she leaned against a wall to rest. 
“Have you learned anything about that successful experiment they did on me?”

“Not yet,”
he replied. 
“I shall continue my efforts to discover that information.  Unfortunately, if no one speaks about those things, then there is no way for me to overhear them.”

“I know,”
she said with a disappointed sigh. 
“I’d love to get my hands on one of those little hand terminals they all carry around.”

“What is a
hand terminal
?”
Wolef asked.

“Do you know what a computer is?”

“Yes,”
he replied
.  “I’ve never used one, of course, but I do know what it is, and I understand how they work.”

“Well, a hand terminal is a hand held computer.  Every Doftle I’ve seen carries one, and I’ve seen them update themselves from a local mainframe lots of times.  I bet the answers to at least some of our questions are on one of those things, if not all of them.”

“You may need to make the acquisition of one of those hand terminals a priority.”

“I know,”
she said, swallowing her fear.  The Doftle were short, but they were very strong, and very tough.  Even at full strength she’d been no match for them.  But Wolef was right.  She needed to get her hands on one.  Unfortunately, that meant she was going to have to come up with a way to get the better of at least one Doftle, and that wasn’t going to be easy. 

“You still haven’t told me what your psychic talent is, but if it’s something that can be viewed on a camera, you might wish to be careful,”
Wolef said.

“I always know when I’m being watched, and right now, I’m not,”
Rayne said. 
“They haven’t watched me for months.”

“No, but until now, you couldn’t move, either.  Don’t get careless.”

“I won’t, I promise,”
Rayne said as she raised her full shield for the first time in a year.  It was a little harder than it should have been, but she was able to do it and that’s what mattered. 
“Wolef, what can you tell me about the Doftle?  Where they’re from, or why they’re doing the things they’re doing?”

“Not much, I’m afraid,”
Wolef said. 
“They don’t spend a lot of time talking about those things.  Not now, anyway.  They did for a while, when they were trying to resurrect the Xanti, but that was a few years back.”

“They tried to resurrect the Xanti?”
she asked, stunned into dropping her shield.

“Yes, for about ten years, I think it was,”
Wolef said. 
“They failed, of course, since all the Xanti remains they had were neuter males.  There’s something in their basic biology which prevents them from living without a queen.”

“Thank the Creators,”
she said feelingly. 
“Were the Doftle slaves of the Xanti?”

“
I’ve heard them claim that to be the case, but it’s not true.”

“Where are they from?”
she asked, raising her shield again.

“Another galaxy, though I don’t know which one,”
Wolef said. 
“The Doftle consider themselves the most intelligent species ever created in any galaxy, which proves that their egos are even bigger than their bulbous heads.  They’re always experimenting with one thing or another, and they do not bother themselves with annoying obstacles like morality.  Right and wrong mean nothing to them.”

“I suspected as much, but I was concerned about making an unfair rush to judgment.”

Wolef’s laughter cut short.  “Your shield is slipping.”

“Yes, I know,”
Rayne replied, smiling to herself as she pulled it back into place. 
“You could have just told me that you knew.”

“I wanted to see if you’d trust me just because I asked.  I’m quite pleased that you didn’t.  It’s not a good idea to trust too easily.”

“No, it isn’t,”
Rayne agreed.  “
How did you know?”

“When we first began speaking to each other you had a tendency to project more than you intended.
 
You’re much better now though.  I nearly always get no more than you intend.”

“
Nearly
always?”
she asked, frowning.

“I suggest you try holding it part way,”
Wolef said as though he hadn’t heard her. 
“You’ve done that before, haven’t you?”

“Yes of course,”
Rayne said, letting it go since she wasn’t altogether sure she wanted to know what else he’d gotten from her mind without her knowing. 
“I used to be able to hold it up for hours without having to think about it much.  I just wanted to see how long I could hold it up all the way.”
  She paused a moment, then said,
“There, that’s better.”

“I wish that I had enough strength to send you some healing energy,”
Wolef said.
  “A century or two ago, I could’ve done so.”

“As long as you’re strong enough to send me back in time, that’s all that really matters,”
Rayne said.
  “

“Do not concern yourself about that,
Solin
,”
Wolef said. 
“I will conserve enough strength for that, I promise.  But it will take a great deal of effort on your part to reach me, no matter how close you are, and if you fail in that, then there is no point to any of this.  I cannot send you healing energy, but I can send you power.  Not a lot, I’m afraid, but it may make the difference between success and failure.”

“Are you sure it won’t weaken you too much?”

“If it does, it will not matter.  Once you’re gone, I’ll have no more need for power.  It’ll be up to you to find your way back here.”

“I’m worried about that,”
Rayne said as she laid down on the small cot that was the only furniture in the cell the Doftle had locked her in aside from the tiny tray table.  It bothered her that she was so tired after just a few laps of her cell, but she kept that to herself.

“Worried about what, exactly?”

“About my return to the
Facility
.  Assuming I get the name of whatever planet we’re orbiting from a hand terminal, I doubt that the Doftle will just sit back and let me destroy this place.”

“It’s going to be even more complicated than that, I’m afraid,”
Wolef said. 
“Have you ever heard of something called
Blind Sight
?”

“Yes, I have,”
Rayne said. 
“It was technology the Xanti used and, more recently, the Nomen used it on Garza.”

“The Doftle are the ones who created Blind Sight for the Xanti, and they make extensive use of it themselves.  Everything they have, ships, yachts, space stations, even their base world, are all protected by Blind Sight.
” 

“That’s bad, Wolef,”
she said worriedly. 
“Jasani ships have cloaking devices, but as far as I know, there’s no way to break through a Blind Sight system.  A ship could be in the same orbit as this space station for a year and never find it.”

“One thing at a time,”
Wolef said.
  “First, a cloaking device may not be enough.  I will not say a cloaked ship cannot escape detection.  I can say, however, that the Doftle have spotted cloaked vessels in the past, more than once.  Only Blind Sight will allow you to hide from the Doftle as well as the Doftle hide from everyone else.”

“Tani told me that there were a couple of Blind Sight systems on Garza, including one big enough to hide the entire planet.  I should be able to borrow one for a time since they aren’t using them.”

“Excellent,”
Wolef said
.  “Now, the second problem is, how will you find the
Facility
while it’s being hidden by Blind Sight?”

“I hope you have an idea because I’m tapped.”

“Actually, I do,” Wolef said.

“I’m listening.”

“If you happen to be orbiting close enough to the
Facility
, we might be able to communicate with each other as we are right now.”

“And if not?”

“In that case, feelings travel much further than words.”

“Feelings?”

“Yes, feelings.  Emotions, particularly extreme emotions, travel for quite some distance.”

“You’re going to send out emotions for me to find you by?”
Rayne asked, confused.  “
I’m not sure if I’m capable of picking up on that.  I can feel my sisters, but only if they’re within a few miles of me.  My sister Salene can feel people she’s connected with from very far away, but I don’t have that talent.”

“That’s fine as that is not what I intended.  I can duplicate the calls you sent out for your bears.”

“You can do that?”

“You sent them loud and clear.  I’ll have no trouble duplicating them, I assure you.”

“What good will it do?”
Rayne asked.  “
They never came, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Since they’re most likely on the far side of Known Space, I cannot imagine how they could possibly have heard you.  I’m more surprised that your sister hasn’t come if she has such a talent for it.”

“I must be too far away for her to feel me, too,”
Rayne said. 
“If everyone is too far away to hear the calls, I don’t know what good it will do for you to send them.”

“You will bring your bears with you when you return, of course,”
Wolef said. 
“I’ll wait a few days after you leave since it will surely take some time for you to return.  Then I’ll begin sending out calls to your bears on a regular basis.  A couple of times every four or five hours should be sufficient.”

“Wait,”
Rayne said.  “
If I’m a year in the past, then how will you know to send out calls when it’ll be another twelve months before you even speak to me?”

“I have the ability to fold time, so I’m also capable of maintaining several different timelines at once.”

“I don’t understand what that means.”

“Do you understand the precise mechanics of how we’re communicating with each other right now, mind to mind?”

“No, I don’t.”

“And yet, we’re still doing it.”

“Point taken
.”

“There are many issues that you’ll be forced to deal with on your own, Rayne Dracon.  Leave matters concerning time travel to me.  Just bring your bears with you when you return.”

“Wolef, I’d really prefer not to bring the Bearen-Hirus back with me.”

“Why not?”

“I just…don’t want them involved,”
she replied. 
“And I really don’t think it’ll work.  Imitating the calls I sent won’t be the same as me calling them and I don’t know if they’d hear me even if they were in the cell next to me.”

“I will duplicate your calls, and your brain wave patterns, exactly,”
Wolef said. 
“They will feel them as clearly as they would feel them coming from you.”

“But they didn’t feel them from me,”
Rayne said again.

“I’d no idea you could be so stubborn,”
Wolef said
.  “I admit to being somewhat surprised.”

“I don’t know whether that’s a compliment or an insult.”

“No?”
he asked. 
“Tell me,
Solin
, do you have a better idea?”

“Yes, I do,”
Rayne said, letting the evasion go since she really didn’t want to discuss it. 
“I’ll send out a call for my sister Salene that you can duplicate.  Then I’ll bring her back with me and she’ll hear you when you repeat it.”

“How will you get here?”

“I may have failed to mention the fact that my parents are the Princes and Princess of Jasan.”

“Yes, I believe you did let that bit of information slip your mind,”
he said dryly.

“My point is that I will not suffer from a lack of resources or aid,”
Rayne said. 
“My parents could bring me.  Or the Gryphons.  Or the Katres.  There were a number of trustworthy people visiting Garza for Tani’s wedding at the time I was abducted.  Any of them would be willing to bring me back, I’m sure.  All I need is for you to send me back no less than ten minutes after I was taken.  Can you do that?”

“Why ten minutes?”

“Because when I was taken the Bearen-Hirus were looking right at me.  I’m sure they thought I’d transported up to my parents’ ship since that’s what I thought I was doing.  Ten minutes should be long enough for them to have left Garza and transported up to their own ship.  I’ll find my parents, or my sisters, or someone to help me.  Someone that isn’t them.”

“Forgive me,
Solin
, but I’m confused,”
Wolef said. 
“Are they not your mates?”

“No, they’re not,”
she said sadly. 
“They’re
meant
to be, but they don’t want me.”