Telepath (Hive Mind Book 1) (32 page)

Barrett smiled. “Hive
Genex could claim Elden’s verbal statements were the result of delusion or
brainwashing, but physical location evidence is impossible to explain away. Anyone
transferring from Hive Genex to our Hive would never have returned home again. Personnel
trades and transfers are irrevocable and permanent.”

“Would the physical
location evidence show if Elden has visited any other Hives?” I asked.

“Yes.” Barrett made a
dismissive gesture, showing his lack of interest in other Hives.

I nodded. “So those Hives could
be warned that Elden might have imprinted their future true telepaths.”

“Yes,” said Lucas. “Proving
our case to Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement would also make them deeply suspicious
of any future requests for transfer by true telepaths or other key personnel. Hive
Genex wouldn’t be able to use this method to steal people in future, and
neither would any other Hives.”

“Our Hive would benefit financially
as well.” Barrett’s face took on a disagreeable, gloating expression. “We could
expect Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement to impose severe penalties on Hive Genex, including
making significant payments to our Hive as compensation for their action
against us.”

Adika’s forehead creased.
“We have to catch Elden and hand him over to Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement then?
We can’t deal with him ourselves? I was hoping to do something rather nasty to
him.”

Lucas pulled a face. “How
sadistic were you planning to be, Adika? Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement will put
Elden through destruction analysis. If you’re thinking of doing anything approaching
that bad to him, then you’re a sick man.”

I sneaked a look at
Lucas’s thoughts, and wished I hadn’t. Destruction analysis meant using every
possible technique to get information from someone, regardless of the physical
and mental damage it caused. If Elden was lucky, he’d die early rather than
late in the process.

“So everything depends on
us catching Elden,” said Adika. “Are we done here? It’s already dark Outside,
so we could make a start on our trip now.”

Lucas glanced at Barrett,
and then stood up. “Are you ready for this, Amber?”

I tried to forget that
disturbing insight into what Elden would face if we caught him. I wouldn’t wish
that agonizing, prolonged death on anyone, but I couldn’t let Elden and his
Hive do to others what they’d done to me and my unit. “Yes, I’m ready.”

“I’ll tell the Strike team
that we’re moving in thirty minutes,” said Adika.

I stood up. “One last
thing. Nicole, return Barrett to Hive Trade. Tell them I don’t want anyone in
my unit who forges Hive records to further his personal career.”

I didn’t bother to look at
Barrett’s face, just walked out of the room.

Lucas and I went back to my
apartment in total silence. Once we were safely inside the entrance hall, I
stopped and gave him a guilty look. “I’ve just destroyed Barrett’s career,
haven’t I?”

“Definitely,” said Lucas.
“When Hive Trade get that message, they’ll double-check every move the man has
ever made. Even if they can’t find anything suspicious, they’ll never trust him
again.”

“Do you think I should
call Nicole? Stop her sending the message if it’s not already too late?”

“Was your accusation true?”
asked Lucas.

I sighed. “Yes. When Barrett
was thinking about trading personnel, I caught some of his fringe memories. He
arranged several personnel trades after the last Lottery, including some
complex five and six-way trades, where multiple highly skilled people were
swapped around so each Hive in the deal got their vacancies filled. He didn’t
exactly mess that up, but our Hive didn’t do as well as it should have done. Barrett
faked the records of the deal to protect his career. He feels threatened because
he knows his deputy is better than him at negotiating.”

Lucas shrugged. “In that
case, you had no option but to warn Hive Trade.”

“I know. Telling Hive
Trade was the right thing to do, but … I didn’t give that order to Nicole for
the good of the Hive, but out of personal revenge. I was angry about Barrett
saying you should have left me controlled by the imprint for weeks. You worked
to exhaustion point to help me, and he dared to criticize you for it.”

“Perfectly justifiable anger,”
said Lucas. “Criminally irresponsible suggestion. Involvement multiple representatives
Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement in imprint removal process dangerous in extreme.”

I instinctively dipped
into Lucas’s thoughts to keep up with his gabbled speed speech, and caught him
comparing Barrett’s suggestion to the destruction analysis planned for Elden. That
was an overreaction, but Lucas was even more angry with Barrett than I was.

Lucas smiled and went into
full sentences again. “I’m delighted that Barrett will be demoted. Hopefully to
protein vat scrubber. He can think himself lucky that Adika didn’t rip his head
off his shoulders.”

I started to laugh, but
broke off as I suffered another wave of guilt. Every person in my unit was
imprinted with facts about how true telepaths were rare, precious, and must be
protected. Those facts influenced everything they thought and did. Barrett’s imprint
must be all about putting a price on everything and everyone, and that would
influence him too.

I shook my head. “I took
an instant dislike to Barrett, because of the way he thought of people as if
they were just objects to be traded, but anyone doing his job would be the
same. Lottery selects them to be like that, and their imprints reinforce their
attitudes. Adika might be right after all.”

“Query?”

“Adika said I could be
deadly. Maybe he was right. My position gives me a lot of power, and I just
used it to break Barrett.” I moved on to the other thing that was bothering me.
“What Barrett said about your father startled me. The only time you’ve ever
mentioned your parents was back in Hive Futura. I’ve never even seen you think
about them since then, so I didn’t know your father was traded to this Hive.”

Lucas shrugged. “I rarely
think about my parents because I’ve not had any contact with either of them for
eight years.”

“Eight years?” I stared at
him. “I’ve been assuming the split happened after you went through Lottery.”

Lucas groaned. “My parents
divorced when I was six years old. My father failed to maintain contact after
that. My mother dumped me at the earliest opportunity too. Understandable. I
wasn’t an easy child.”

I frowned. “If you haven’t
had any contact with either parent for eight years, then the split with your
mother must have happened soon after you moved to Teen Level.”

“It happened three days
after I moved to Teen Level,” said Lucas. “I found the adjustment difficult and
ran back home like Gregas. That was an unfortunate error. I found I wasn’t
welcome at my mother’s apartment any longer, not even as a visitor.”

“I’m sorry.” I was no psychologist,
but I thought I understood Lucas’s deep seated insecurities a lot better now.
That much rejection as a child must leave scars.

“Let’s forget about this
now.” Lucas was obviously eager to move away from a distressing topic of conversation.
“You did the correct thing with Barrett, preventing him from causing further
harm to the Hive, and we need to get ready for our trip Outside. We’ll be
wearing special outdoor clothing, because it’s supposed to be quite cold out
there tonight.”

Outside! That word was enough
to make me forget everything other than our trip tonight. Lucas went across to
a crate in the corner of the hall, pulled out two bags of clothing, and handed
one to me.

I checked his thoughts.
Outside temperatures varied a lot. At the moment, they were getting colder
because of something called autumn. More things I’d never known because I
wasn’t imprinted.

No, I corrected myself,
that wasn’t true. I had to forget my old childish idea that being imprinted
would tell me everything. Only facts directly relevant to your profession were
included in an imprint. Those who worked Outside would be imprinted with information
about autumn. Those few who went Outside by choice, like the ramblers, would presumably
learn that information for themselves. The rest of the Hive …

I wrinkled my nose. The
rest of the Hive was deliberately left in ignorance of everything to do with
Outside, so they’d think of it as a terrifying unknown place. Controlling
knowledge was a way of controlling people.

I went into my bedroom, stripped
off the outfit I’d been wearing, and dressed in my body armour. Once I’d put on
the clothes from the bag, I was uncomfortably hot and looked as shapeless as a
bread roll. I thought of my old friend Shanna, with her perfect face and hair,
and the alluring clothes that fitted her like a second skin. She’d rather die
than dress like this.

I sighed, grabbed my crystal
unit from its shelf, and went out to face Lucas. I found he was wearing similar
clothes to me, but holding the jacket instead of wearing it. He laughed at my disgusted
expression.

“I suggest you either undo
that jacket or carry it until we’re Outside.”

I thankfully took off my jacket.
We headed for lift 2, and found it was unusually crowded. The Strike team were dressed
in similar special clothing to us, and wearing startlingly large backpacks that
took up almost as much space as they did.

I gestured at the
backpacks. “What is all this stuff?”

“Camping equipment,” said
Adika.

I remembered Rothan
talking about camping Outside. “We’re taking tents with us on this trip?”

Adika nodded. “Also food,
drinks, and other supplies. If you’re able to adapt to the Truesun, then we’ll
be making a long trip Outside. Rothan is going to help us prepare for that by
giving us some camping training.”

As always, I felt a throb
of panic at the mention of the Truesun. Lucas must have noticed me tensing up,
because he took my hand.

“I’ve made careful plans
for tonight, Amber. You’ll be totally in control of your exposure to daylight.
You can see the Truesun for as little as a second, or not at all. If there’s
the slightest problem, then you can be back inside the Hive within minutes.”

The lift doors closed and
it started moving down. I frowned. “Why are we going down?”

“We have to go down to
start with because our unit security defences are in full operation,” said
Adika.

After only a level or two,
the lift doors opened, and then we rode a belt for a few minutes. It felt
strange to be with the Strike team when my ear crystal was turned off, but
Lucas was sticking to the same rule as before. We had to be able to talk in
perfect privacy while we were Outside.

We jumped belt and went
into another lift. This one took us upwards to the heavy double doors of a Hive
exit. I found it difficult to force myself to go through them. The problem
wasn’t that I was walking into the darkness Outside, but because I’d be staying
out there to watch the Truesun rise.

I’d no idea how I’d react
to seeing that. Removing the imprint should have reduced my fear of the Truesun,
but to what level? Had I been left with just a hollow, powerless memory of past
terror, or would I run, screaming hysterically, from a waking nightmare?

Lucas gestured at a
strange object in the darkness ahead of us. “Rothan put our tent up earlier
today.”

When we reached the tent, Lucas
bent his head to go through an opening, and tugged me inside after him. It was
even darker in there. I heard Lucas struggle with something, mutter something
rude, and then call out.

“Rothan! How do I close
this thing?”

The shadowy figure of Rothan
appeared, there was a whispered exchange, and then something blocked out the faint
light from Outside and things went utterly black.

“I’m going to turn a
lantern on,” said Lucas. “Don’t get worried. It’s not the Truesun coming up.”

There was a sudden burst
of light, seeming very bright after the blackness, and I blinked.

“What does this place feel
like to you?” asked Lucas.

I looked round at my surroundings,
and saw the lantern was hanging from a peculiar sloping ceiling. “It’s a very
small, very oddly shaped room. Is that the door?” I pointed.

“According to our camping
expert, Rothan, that’s called the tent flap. I’ve sealed it closed.” Lucas
smiled. “We’ve got our own tiny Hive here, Amber. We can shut out everything.
The night sky, the nosy Strike team leader, the muscle-bound Strike team, and the
Truesun as well. You’ll be safe in here, and in total control.”

My tension went down a
notch.

“I remember you telling me
that you coped in the aircraft coming back here from Hive Futura because that
counted as being inside,” said Lucas. “Does this count as being inside as well?”

“It does now. I can’t be
sure how I’ll feel when the Truesun appears Outside.” I touched one of the tent
walls and felt it move under my fingers. “What is this stuff? Rothan said tents
were made from cloth, but this doesn’t feel like cloth.”

Lucas sat on the floor,
gestured for me to sit next to him, and put his arm round me. “Rothan has been
going on camping trips since he was a small child. Apparently, there are two
sorts of members of the Ramblers Association. Rothan and his parents are traditionalists,
who use archaic cloth tents and get wet when it rains. They look down on the
soft, comfort-loving modernists, who use the state of the art tents made for
Outside workers.”

He paused for a second. “Despite
Rothan’s protests, Adika and I have decided the Strike team are going to be
modernists. Rothan can bring his own cloth tent if he insists on being uncomfortable.”

I forced a laugh and
relaxed a fraction more.

“That’s better,” said Lucas.
“This is a flexi-structure tent, which has been specially modified for us. The
usual material has been bonded to an inner layer of two thicknesses of the mesh
used to make body armour. Adika’s idea, naturally. In theory, the entire Strike
team could shoot at this tent for an hour and it wouldn’t bother us in the
slightest. The downside is it makes the tent much heavier, but I’m planning to
let the Strike team do the hard work of carrying it.”

My laughter was genuine
this time.

“We’ll go Outside while it’s
still dark,” said Lucas, “and watch a little of the dawn. The second you get
nervous, we’ll come back into the tent and shut the tent flap. You’ll be in total
control.”

I nodded, and gave a
sudden shiver.

“You’re cold,” said Lucas.
“You should put your jacket on, or try this.” He picked up one of a heap of mysterious
objects at the far end of the tent, and shook it. Something silver unfurled,
like a Carnival cloak but bigger. “This is a heat sack. You get inside and it
traps your own body heat to keep you warm.”

I touched the material
doubtfully. “It’s very thin.”

“It works though. I
checked out the tent and tested a heat sack earlier today.”

I tossed my jacket into
the corner of the tent, and tried sliding inside the heat sack. “I was thinking
about my old friend, Shanna, earlier. How she’d hate dressing in these clothes
and looking like she was wearing a sack. Now I’m wearing a real sack.”

“It’s highly unlikely that
Shanna will ever join the Ramblers Association. The more relevant issue is how
Emili will feel about going camping, and whether Rothan will make her suffer in
a traditional cloth tent.”

I frowned at him. “You
know about Rothan and Emili!”

“Of course I know. Emili
is my deputy team leader. I’d be a pretty poor behavioural analyst if I couldn’t
work out why my own deputy keeps mysteriously sneaking off. I don’t understand
why they’re hiding their relationship though. It’s not as if the telepath has
staked a claim on Rothan, or has she?” Lucas gave me a teasing look.

I stuck my tongue out at
him. “Rothan doesn’t feel he’s good enough for Emili. He’s only a novice Strike
team member fresh from Lottery, while she’s a year older and a deputy team
leader. Emili’s finding the situation deeply frustrating.”

Lucas shook his head. “I
don’t see what Rothan’s worried about. He’s got a very mature head on his
shoulders, and his expertise in conditions Outside has given him a huge
advantage over his rivals for the deputy positions. If Adika hasn’t got Rothan
lined up to be his deputy in charge of Alpha team, I’ll eat the Strike team’s
camp fire cooking.”

“Their what?”

“Rothan is going to teach
them to cook food over an open fire. I’m planning to stick to protein bars
myself. Much safer.”