Telepath (Hive Mind Book 1) (35 page)

He paused for a moment. “The
result is the ground above the Hive is quite flat, like a vast, oblong table
top, but when you get to the edge of the Hive there’s a very steep slope. Getting
down the slope can be tricky, and is best done on an established path.”

I wrinkled my nose. I
didn’t think our current path was all that flat, so how steep would the slope
be?

“A break of a few hours
sounds good to me,” said Lucas. “I’d like us to do our travelling early and
late, and give Amber a long rest break inside a tent during the middle of the
day.”

We walked on through the forest.
“If they just piled loose soil on top of the Hive, why are there all these
trees?” I asked.

“They planted fast growing
conifers to help stabilize the soil,” said Rothan. “Other trees grew from random
seeds. You mainly get conifers on top of the Hive. Once we’re down from table
top, you’ll find the trees are much more varied.”

“How do you know all these
things?” asked Eli.

“My parents told me about them,”
said Rothan. “They do maintenance work Outside, so their imprints have lots of
details on the conditions.”

The path had been going
up, now it went down again. “I thought you said table top was flat?” said Eli.
“This feels like a slope to me.”

Rothan just laughed.

The trees abruptly thinned
out. When we walked past the last of them, we stopped and stood in awed
silence. The ground ahead plummeted downwards a terrifying distance. Bushes and
the occasional small tree clung on desperately.

“Now
that’s
a
slope,” said Rothan.

“Yes, that’s definitely a
slope,” said Adika, in a thoughtful voice.

Forge casually wandered
forward to take a closer look. “I’d be happier if it was even steeper and solid
rock. That soil looks dangerously loose to me.”

Rothan nodded. “If loose
soil and stones start sliding under your feet, then you’ll slide with them. If anyone
slips at any point, then I advise sitting down, but we shouldn’t have any trouble
if we stay on the path. It’s a maintenance one heading to Spike 71, and should
be nice and solid. Rambler paths are a lot more variable.”

I advanced nervously to try
to see the path heading down, and spotted it zigzagging to and fro across the
slope.

“The path takes a very long
route,” said Eli.

“If you want to save time,
you can just jump,” said Rothan. “You’ll get to the bottom very fast indeed.”

Eli gulped. “No thanks.”

“Will you be able to cope
going down there on foot, Amber?” asked Adika. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea
to have someone carrying you in case they slip.”

I pictured that and winced.

“Would you like me to walk
down with you, Amber?” asked Forge.

“That would make me feel a
lot safer,” I said. “Do you remember the time I tried cliff climbing at Teen
Level beach, and got a massive panic attack when I tried their ‘C’ grade climb?”

“Of course I remember,” said
Forge. “You froze near the top, and I had to go up and rescue you. This is
nothing like a cliff climb though. It’s just a steep path, zigzagging
downwards. It’s wide enough for me to walk beside you on the slope side all the
way. You can’t possibly fall then.”

“That’s good,” said Eli, “but
who’s going to stop
me
from falling?”

“I’ve walked along paths
like this since I was three years old,” said Rothan.

The rest of the Strike
team hastily straightened up and tried to look fearless, but Lucas laughed. “The
Strike team may not be scared of a path used by three-year-olds, but I am. I
want Rothan to lurk close by, ready to grab me if I slip. I also claim the
right to scream in terror at regular intervals. I have to suffer a few hours of
agonized anticipation before that though, so can Rothan put up our tent
please?”

Rothan turned back from
the slope, picked an open area of grass, and took off his backpack. I watched,
fascinated, as he rapidly took out, unfolded, and locked together sections of
tent.

“Blue group, your job is
guard duty and soothing Eli’s nerves,” said Adika. “Red group, get some more
tents up and try to sleep. You’ll be on first watch tonight.”

Blue group fanned out to
take up guard positions. Red group started unpacking more tents. Once Rothan
had finished putting up the tent for Lucas and me, I went inside and stretched
out blissfully on the floor. Lucas came in after me, took off his ear crystal,
and brushed my hair aside to steal mine. He turned them pointedly off.

“Alone at last.”

“I’d no idea walking could
tire you out so much,” I said. It wasn’t just the walking. I wasn’t going to
admit it to anyone, but I still found being Outside quite a strain. It wasn’t
that it was terrifying me now; it was just so very different from the familiar corridors
of the Hive.

Lucas turned on a lantern
and sealed the tent flap. “You should have said that you were getting tired,
Amber. We don’t want you getting exhausted on the first day.”

He took out the small
package that was a folded heat sack, and shook it out to full size. “Are you
hungry, or shall we rest before eating?”

“Rest first.”

I watched him taking off
the clumpy boots Rothan had given us, sighed, and struggled back into a sitting
position to let my own feet out of prison. I wriggled my toes, took off the
bulkier layers of outdoor clothing, and slid into the heat sack. Lucas crawled
in after me.

“That path looks horribly
scary,” I said. “I’m a dreadful coward, you know. I gave up surfing after a
nasty wipe out. I gave up climbing after that panic attack on the cliff.”

“Deeply fortunate.” Lucas
started talking in speed speech, and I automatically linked to his mind to get
the full sentences. “Adika would collapse under the nervous strain of a surfing,
cliff-climbing telepath.”

“You won’t be worried if I
cling to Forge on the way down?”

“I shall probably be
clinging to Rothan myself. You won’t get jealous?”

I laughed. “I’ll try not
to get overwhelmed by emotion and shoot both of you. I don’t want Adika
arresting me.”

Lucas grinned. “Adika
wouldn’t arrest a telepath for killing a Strike team member or a Tactical Commander.
Both are replaceable. A telepath isn’t. You’re above the law, Amber. Untouchable.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“I’m not being silly,”
said Lucas. “It’s in the best interests of our Hive to have a functioning true telepath
at all costs. Any aberrations must be tolerated. The slaughter of unit members probably
wouldn’t be acceptable on a daily basis, but the occasional one …”

I lay back, gurgling with
laughter, but abruptly sobered up. “It isn’t really funny, is it? However unreasonable
I am, everyone has to accept it and humour me. I try not to take advantage of that,
but I can’t help it sometimes.”

“You definitely indulge in
some blatant abuse,” said Lucas.

“I do?” I gave him a
worried look.

He nodded. “Your criminal untidiness
shocks the entire unit.”

I smiled. “My mother
forced me to be unspeakably tidy at home, but my natural slovenliness took over
on Teen Level, and now I know Hannah will sneak in and clear up after me …
You’re right. It’s blatant abuse of my position.”

“Megan has a theory that
your untidiness is a subconscious method of freeing your mind,” said Lucas.
“She thinks it’s the reason you can read deeper thought levels than other true
telepaths.”

I stared at him. “She does?
What do you think?”

“I think it’s pure
laziness,” said Lucas.

I giggled. “I suspect
you’re right.”

“I suggest you make a special
effort to be tidy during this trip. Especially if we’re going to be sharing
this tent on a regular basis. Are we planning to do that?”

I was startled by the
question. I’d been assuming that Lucas would be with me at night. If he wasn’t
… I was shocked by the realization of how alone I’d feel without him. “I’d like
that. Would you be happy with it?”

“My options are sharing a
tent with Adika or sharing a tent with you,” said Lucas. “I’d definitely prefer
sharing with you.”

There was something oddly
anxious about his voice. I finally had the sense to check the deeper levels of
his mind, and saw what he was really asking me. Were we just sharing a tent on
this trip, or was this the start of something more permanent?

“If sharing a tent works,”
I said, “then I think there might be space for two people in my apartment.”

We lay there in silence
for the next few minutes, smiling foolishly at each other, and then I sniffed
the air and frowned. “Can you smell something burning?”

Lucas put his crystal unit
in his ear, and turned it on. “Are you on fire out there?”

I had my own ear crystal on
in time to hear Rothan’s cheerful reply. “We’re doing camp fire cooking. Want some?”

“No, thank you,” said
Lucas. “I’m too young to die.”

I suddenly felt hungry.
“I’ll try some.”

Lucas groaned. “They’re
going to poison your telepath, Adika.”

“It should be safe,” said
Adika. “We tested the first batch on Eli and he’s still alive.”

Lucas wriggled out of the
heat sack, and threw on his clothes to open the tent flap and go out. He returned
a moment later, and handed me a warm, strangely shaped object. I bit into it
cautiously.

“It’s a sort of pastryish,
breadish thing, with bits of stuff inside it,” I said. “It’s not bad. Try some.”

Lucas shook his head. “I’m
sticking to protein bars. I like my food carefully measured and prepared by reliable
machines.”

“You can’t survive for a
week on just protein bars, Lucas,” said Adika, through our ear crystals.

“Watch me,” said Lucas.

I munched my way through
my pastry thing, and then dozed for a while until Lucas told me it was time to
face the nightmare path. I crawled reluctantly out of the heat sack, and got
dressed. When I went out of the tent, I found the Strike team packing equipment
and throwing earth on the remains of a small fire. Rothan and Adika were
standing near the steep slope down, staring out at something. Lucas and I went
to join them.

“What are we looking at?”
asked Lucas.

“Spike 71,” said Rothan.
“The big red and black thing sticking way up above the trees. My plan is to set
up camp for the night near there.”

I looked at the tall,
pointed object. I was finding it hard to judge distances Outside because of the
sheer scale of things, but it seemed a very long way away. “What is it?”

“I’ve no idea,” said
Rothan, “but there are a lot of them dotted around near the Hive, and they make
great landmarks for ramblers.”

“They’re geothermal energy
spikes,” said Nicole’s voice.

“What does that mean?” I
asked.

“I’ve got a ten thousand
word, highly technical description here,” said Nicole. “I don’t understand a
word of it, but I can read it to you if you like.”

“Please don’t,” said
Lucas.

“The spikes house geothermal
heat pumps,” said Eli. “They provide heat and power to supplement the Hive’s
recycled resources.”

We all stared at him in
disbelief.

Eli grinned in triumph. “My
parents work in Hive Power Resources.”

When everyone had stopped
laughing, the Strike team finished their packing, and Adika lined us up for the
descent. “Forge, you’re in the middle taking care of Amber. If she falls off,
you’re spending the rest of your life scraping scum filters. Lucas, do you genuinely
need help, or were you joking earlier?”

“I was deadly serious,”
said Lucas. “I’m utterly terrified of going down that path.”

Adika moved forward to
where the path started plunging downwards. “Rothan, take care of Lucas. If he
falls off, you get to tidy up after Amber for the rest of the trip. That’s probably
worse than scraping scum filters.” He paused. “Let’s do this.”

I did a rapid check of
minds. Lucas really was scared. So were a lot of the Strike team. A hand on my
arm attracted my attention.

“Ready?” asked Forge.

I nodded, and we headed
down the path behind Lucas and Rothan. With the solid bulk of Forge between me
and the edge, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared.

“When there’s heavy rain,
water runs down from the table top,” said Rothan. “Watch out for ruts in the
path.”

We progressed slowly and
cautiously down the zigzagging path. I hung tightly on to Forge when we reached
a point where the path wasn’t just rutted, but part of the edge had been washed
away.

“I envy your head for
heights,” I told him. “When I froze on that cliff climb, I was totally rigid
with panic, and you had to help move my feet onto the foot holds.”

“I get scared too
sometimes. That’s part of the attraction of things like climbing.”

I laughed. “Forge, you’re
weird.”

“I’m weird? You’re a
telepath, now that’s …”

“I hate to interrupt the reminiscences,”
said Adika, “but remember you’re talking on an open sound link. Amber, you can
insult Forge all you like, but he can’t retaliate.”

“Unfair,” said Forge happily.

Four more zigzags and the
path gradually levelled out. Lucas turned to face me, and gave an exaggerated
sigh of relief. “We made it down alive!”

We’d got spread out during
the descent. Rothan waited for the stragglers to catch up before speaking. “We’ll
carry on to Spike 71 and camp there for the night. There’s a nice flat area
that doesn’t flood, and a spring that’s good drinking water.”

“You expect me to drink
the water out here?” Lucas protested. “It runs along the ground. Things live in
it. You wouldn’t drink out of the park lake!”

Rothan led the way off along
the path. “We’ll run the water through purifiers so it’s perfectly safe to
drink.”

“You’re going to have to
drink water, Lucas,” said Adika. “We’ve brought some melon juice, but that’s
for Amber, not you.”