Tech Tack (4 page)

Ainora kept looking over at the scarlet skin and white hair of her guide.

Yinfa grinned. “I am pretty sure that they assigned me to you just to help you get used to other species.”

“Do your ears have two points?”

“They do, and my nose does split down the middle, oh and my tongue is forked. You haven’t even commented on my tail.” Yinfa laughed, her golden eyes gleaming.

“I didn’t think it polite.”

Giggling together, they walked down the halls until they reached the assessment office. Iyanna and Vesa were waiting to scan Ainora with the ubiquitous tea.

Iyanna did the assessment and Vesa helped to apply the information she discovered. All being together in one room made the arrangement go faster.

Iyanna sat across from her and extended her hands. “Place your hands in mine, Ainora. It will help the focus.”

She slipped her hands into the other woman’s and jerked at the cool touch of a mind around hers. It didn’t touch her thoughts; it touched everything surrounding her thoughts—her decisions and their consequences. For that moment, she felt that she could see a sliver of her future, and while it was wild, it was a good one.

Iyanna let go and rubbed her hands together. “Well, that is strange. Do you realize that you have tucked your talent up into a narrow segment of the spectrum you are capable of?”

Ainora reached for her cup of tea. “I beg your pardon?”

“Your talent for analysis could be expanded into medical, environmental and situational, not just technical. Your mind is designed to take all the little pieces of a situation and find out what is wrong. That analysis is not confined to your chosen occupation.”

Yinfa sat quietly in the corner, watching with her strange colouring and attentive eyes.

Vesa was nearly bristling with curiosity, and Iyanna was rubbing her hands as if she had gotten an electric shock.

“You are very strong.” Iyanna flexed her hands.

“So, you assess me and Vesa…”

Vesa snorted. “I observe. I would like to see you in action. Once I can see your talent at work, I can help you choose courses that would build your skills.”

Iyanna refilled the cups and handed one to Yinfa. The young woman thanked her and sipped slowly.

Vesa drank and cleared her throat. “I will need to follow you to a few of the areas around the building to determine if your analysis talents can be expanded on quickly or if they would need coaxing.”

“You can tell that by watching me?”

Vesa smiled and set her cup down. “I can tell that by your instincts fighting at your control. I can see waves of energy, the patterns of talent. Iyanna can see what you could become if everything is done to progress with your skills now, and I can see what your baseline for reaction to stimuli is. Some psychic-related talents can be seen in their interaction with Iyanna, but I think you need something more in the physical range. Would you care to go to a trip to medical?”

Iyanna picked her cup up. “You need a baseline for medical anyway. May as well get it over with.”

Ainora blinked. “Baseline?”

“It is the setting to which our healers will try and set you if you are ever injured on duty. When your vitals then match your vitals now, they will know they can rest.” Yinfa smiled.

“Will it hurt?”

Yinfa shook her head. “No. The scanners are painless. The blood chemistry might sting a bit but nothing invasive.”

Ainora looked to Iyanna. “Can I go then?”

“Please. If you can unlock what you are to the full extent, there will be little that you cannot achieve. All I have done is assess your potential; you are the one who has to find it. I wish you all the luck and determination I can.” Iyanna inclined her head.

Yinfa led her and Vesa out of the office and through the halls of the vast construct that was Citadel Morganti.

The medical facility was large, but it was quiet. If there were ill folk in the building, they weren’t gathering in medical.

A few attendants came toward them and smiled when Vesa told them what was required.

Nervous, Ainora asked, “So, Vesa, you and Iyanna seemed to have worked together for a while. Have you been here long?”

The medics steered her into position on the footpads and removed her robes, leaving her the bodysuit.

“We transferred here from Wetura. There is so much more happening in the Citadels close to the Sector Guard bases that we jumped at the opportunity.” Vesa smiled. “It has been a good move so far.”

Ainora watched the body language that Vesa took on. “Can you two have children?”

Yinfa jerked in surprise, and Vesa gave a slow smile. “Your perception is impressive. Do the Resicor have same-sex marriage?”

Ainora held still for the medic while the scans ran light and sound across her. The unit was slightly out of synch, but it performed admirably.

Vesa was watching her intently as the machine completed its cycle.

Ainora smiled. “No, Resicor governments do not support same-sex marriage, but it also does not arrest or destroy those who would engage in it. They simply ignore it. Now, if you were known to be talents and living any kind of life, they would lock you up. They can only hate one thing at a time.”

She sat on the medical bed and let the medic take blood samples. “When was the last time you had your machine calibrated?”

The medic blinked. “I don’t know. The administrator takes care of that.”

Vesa walked to the wall com and made a connection. She spoke quietly and then disconnected. “Five minutes to a tool kit and you have full authorization to do what you can.”

It took less than five minutes for the novice in white to skid in with a large tool kit that he brought straight to her. Ainora took the kit, and she skittered over to control panel, opening the unit with the ease of practice.

She looked at the readout, and she could see that one of the light filters was clogged and the sound unit was being muffled. Knocks on the housing brought her to the problem, a solid thunk instead of a hollow clang.

Opening the housing up, she yelped in surprise as a small object came out as if it had been under pressure. She lifted the item up and laughter rang through the room.

The medic that had set the exam up said, “I will let Fixer know we have found it.”

Ainora reset the scanning light and checked the flow on the sound. “Much better.”

The medic cleared her throat. “Would you submit to a second scan to check the readouts?”

Ainora nodded. “Sure. Just let me close it up.”

She fastened the panel with ease and put the tools back in the kit. She brushed her hands off on her white suit and stepped back into the scanner. The light was better and the sound that measured her bone density was clear.

The medic looked at the results and cursed. “Well, that explains the fuzzy baselines we have been getting. Thank you, Novice Lenz. I will file the repair under your account.”

Ainora picked the toy off the floor. “See that this gets back to its owner. How long has it been?”

The medic took the small, fluffy object. “Two months since Fixer was last here. I am guessing that her little guy shoved this through the wall.”

Vesa grinned. “We call him Pusher. He tends to shove inanimate objects into each other.”

“What does his mother think of that? How does she cope?”

The medic laughed. “She usually just opens the wall and retrieves the item. It is always in good condition, just passes through one layer and into another.”

“She opens the wall?”

“His mother is Fixer. She is a master manipulator of matter, a legendary figure.”

Vesa opened her mouth to speak when Lyon Tacks staggered in with his arm around the shoulders of another man, equally intimidating.

The medics surged toward him and that was when Ainora clued into the fact that they were healers. She walked toward them as they pried the bodysuit away from the deep mahogany skin to show a silvery bruise taking up his abdomen.

Yinfa and Vesa stayed back as Ainora was drawn to the man who was panting and groaning on the medical bed. She had never been this close to someone who was injured. His breathing was laboured, but there was something in there, something else. She didn’t want to touch an active healer, but grabbing her robe, she looped it around the wrist of one of the medics and pressed it over the lower lobe of Lyon’s lungs.

“Here. The bleed is starting here.”

The medic flinched but closed their eyes and cursed, urging the other medic to abandoned the pooled blood and stop the fountain.

Lyon flailed around, and she gripped his hand with hers while the medics continued to work.

Ainora looked to the man who had brought him in. “What happened?”

“A new talent was working on his strength training, and he lost control of his talent in the gym. Tacks stepped into the line of fire and took the concussive blast to the abdomen instead of letting one of the new females take the hit.”

The urgent grip on her hand eased, and the medics relaxed their stances as less and less energy was needed to repair the damage. Clearing pooled blood out of his belly was the easiest part of the healing and didn’t cause him any pain.

She patted his hand. “Have a good day, Lyon. Get some rest, you look like hell.”

He chuckled. “Thank you, Ainora.”

She tried to release him, but he wouldn’t let her go. His fingers held tight to hers and his yellow gaze bored into hers. He tugged her hand to his lips, and she went scarlet as he kissed her.

Blushing, she waited until he released her and jerked her hand back. “I have to continue my assessment. Get some sleep, Lyon.”

He smiled. “I will. Good day to you, Ainora. See you soon.”

She backed away.

Vesa smiled again. “Come along, Novice. I think I have some ideas on how you can expand your skills.”

Yinfa took Ainora by the arm, and they left the medical centre for the core of the Citadel. By their determination and the activation of the top floor, they were heading to deal with the Dhemon.

Turnari smiled in delight at Vesa’s report.

“Congratulations, Master Analyst Lenz. You are now part of the technicians’ division.” The Dhemon was pleased.

Ainora had to ask. “Great, what colour do they wear?”

Yinfa’s shoulders shook. “White.”

“Oh, come on…”

Turnari blinked, “You don’t like white?”

“I wore it for Resicor; I do not wish to wear it for the Citadel.”

He bit his lip. “There may be some flex in that. I will send your request to Fixer. She is willing to kit you out tomorrow and would like you to take a look at a few creations that are not quite performing up to her standards. She would like a diagnosis.”

“Is that to be my lot?”

“She can fix her own toys. Trust me. Yinfa will take you for a meal and then back to your room until tomorrow. The database is at your disposal. As a master, you can research anything at any restriction rating.”

She looked at the others in the room and then back to Turnari. “How is it that I am considered a master? I have only been at this for a day.”

He tilted his head until his horns gleamed. “The term master is saved for either a person who has mastered all aspects of their talent or for someone who has a talent no one else has in scope and potential. That means you. Based on Vesa’s report, you are the strongest analytical talent on record. That gains you the title of master. You will grow into it.”

Ainora narrowed her eyes. “If you insist.” She got to her feet.

Yinfa was stifling amusement, and she kept it in until they left they were in the lift and heading for the main floor. “Ainora, I swear that steam was coming out of your ears.”

Vesa smirked. “It seems you don’t like taking orders.”

Ainora crossed her arms. “I don’t like wearing white.”

Yinfa looked at the smears on Ainora’s suit. “That is obvious.”

Laughing, they all went to dinner, and she was walked through the food that was suitable for her digestion. She saw several items that she would like to try but that would have to wait for a day when she wasn’t leaving the next.

“The building seems new. How long has it been open?”

The dining room was half-full and the lazy conversations spoke to a lack of crowding. It was refreshing after the cramped commissary on Resicor under the governing buildings.

Yinfa smiled, “I believe it is three years now. There has been some rotation in staff as things settle, but, in general, we are a happily slow-growing facility.”

Vesa smiled as well. “Iyanna and I have hopes of starting a family here, but we need to decide which of us gets to be pregnant, and, of course, we have to choose a willing donor.”

“Of course. Would you go with your own species or settle for one that is compatible?”

“I think we would find a worthy man with good instincts and work from there.” Vesa had a glow in her eyes.

Ainora knew that look. Vesa was going to make her decision soon.

Yinfa wrinkled her nose, and it did split when she did so. “I can’t imagine having a little one. Well, not until I am at least seventy. I am just getting the hang of my body without handing it over to another creature for two years.”

Ainora blinked at the amount of information in that statement. Yinfa’s people lived long lives, had long gestation and had prolonged adolescence. It was fascinating what one outburst could tell her.

She began to listen to Yinfa and Vesa, but she focused on every detail of their conversation until Vesa looked at her and laughed.

“You are analyzing our speech. It is amazing; your aura turns purple with flashes of blue that matches your hair.”

“And you are analyzing my analysis. I can see it in your posture.” She laughed and then yawned.

Her body began to crash; it wanted to sleep and the clock was ticking.

“I think I need to get to bed. I have left it a little too long. Please excuse me.” She rose to her feet and fought to stay up.

Yinfa was at her side in a moment, putting her arm around her shoulders and supporting her.

“Come on, Master Lenz. Let’s get you some rest in that nice, comfy room.”