I knew the truth now, but my parents and younger brother still believed in the nosy myth and fiercely hated the grey-clad telepaths. I lived in terror of my family discovering I didn’t run a standard Hive Security Unit but a Telepath Unit. That could be enough to shatter my relationship with them, and if they found out that I was the telepath …
The chanting around me rose to a crescendo as we drew level with the nosy patrol.
“Two sevens are fourteen.”
“Two eights are sixteen.”
I, the true telepath pretending to be an ordinary girl, turned to look at the ordinary hasty pretending to be a telepath. I saw the grey-clad figure step forward to speak to a passing woman, and was startled to see the woman put her hands to her mouth in a gesture of panic before turning and running away.
“What happened there?” I asked. “Why did that woman run away from the nosy squad?”
“I’ve no idea,” said Adika grumpily. “I’ve also no idea why Liaison didn’t move that nosy squad out of our way. They should know that all the chanting near nosies disturbs your concentration, and nosy squads shouldn’t be loitering around a belt interchange disrupting the Hive travel flow anyway.”
“We didn’t move the patrol because the nosy was a borderline telepath on an urgent confirmation assignment,” said Nicole.
So that hadn’t been an ordinary hasty wearing the nosy mask but a genuine telepath. Not one of the Hive’s precious five true telepaths who had full control of their ability, but one of the thousands of borderline telepaths who could just get random glimpses into nearby minds.
“What’s a confirmation assignment?” I asked.
My counsellor, Buzz, normally listened to the crystal comms during a run without speaking herself. She was a borderline telepath though, so the best person to answer this question.
“Nosy squads use clues like body language to spot people afraid of them discovering a criminal secret,” she said. “The person playing the nosy then approaches the suspect person, and makes mysterious comments about only the guilty having anything to fear, in the hope of triggering a confession.”
She paused. “Nosy squads can’t hope to catch every minor criminal that way, but Hive citizens have been conditioned from birth to believe nosies are telepaths, so the tactic is surprisingly effective. Those who don’t get challenged by nosies usually think some personal defence trick, such as focusing their minds on innocent thoughts, has saved them.”
She sighed. “A few people get suspicious though, and start spreading stories about nosies not really being telepaths. It’s essential to keep the general Hive population believing the nosy myth, so the second anything like that is reported, a borderline telepath goes out dressed as a nosy. They intercept the person in front of as many witnesses as possible, make comments about the person’s foolishness, and quote carefully chosen facts about them. If the borderline telepath is lucky enough to get an insight into the person’s mind as well, this can be an utterly convincing confirmation that nosies are telepaths.”
Adika gave a grudging grunt of acceptance. “I suppose the nosy squad needed to be there.”
“Now you’re clear of the nosy squad, I’ll continue my briefing,” said Lucas. “Your twin priorities are to secure the target and provide emergency medical treatment to the injured person.”
“Do you mean that we’ll be providing that medical treatment ourselves?” asked Adika.
“Yes,” said Lucas. “The amount of blood loss implies life-threatening injuries, so the speed of treatment will be critically important. Liaison has a medical team standing by close to the scene, but we can’t risk sending medics into maintenance crawl ways when an active violent target is probably still close to the injured person or persons.”
“Understood,” said Adika, “but we’re only carrying our regular medical kits.”
“A medical courier will intercept you on the way to the incident scene,” said Nicole. “They’ll give you more comprehensive medical supplies, including a genetically neutral emergency blood transfusion kit.”
Adika made a dubious noise. “Strike team imprints cover basic emergency treatment for knife wounds but not blood transfusions.”
“Megan and our unit medical staff are on the crystal comms,” said Nicole. “They’ll advise you whether a blood transfusion is necessary and talk you through the procedure.”
“Rothan and Dhiren, you are designated red group and will focus on reaching and treating injured parties,” said Adika. “Everyone else on chase duties belongs to blue group and will be pursuing and securing our target.”
“My team has now contacted every maintenance worker in the area,” said Nicole. “That includes workers in the crawl ways above the Level 1 ceiling, as well as those higher up on Level Zero. They all confirm they’re uninjured, and have joined the evacuation.”
I grimaced at the mention of Level Zero, the giant interlevel that divided the accommodation levels of the Hive from the industrial levels above them. I’d only been in there a handful of times on emergency or check runs. My Strike team were imprinted with basic knowledge of all areas of the Hive, but Level Zero was so complex that they still found it confusing, while I was totally bewildered by the wildly varied specialist equipment areas.
“If the maintenance workers are all safe, who is the injured person?” asked Rothan.
“We’ve been assuming our target met a maintenance worker in a crawl way and attacked them,” said Lucas. “Now it seems they must have either decoyed someone into a crawl way or carried a body there.”
“Approaching scene,” said Adika.
I blinked. “Already?”
“This incident happened unusually close to our unit,” said Lucas.
“Which is why you’ve arrived when we’re still evacuating people from the area,” said Nicole pointedly. “The Strike team should jump belt immediately, because the area 500/2500 interchange ahead of you is massively overcrowded.”
“Jumping belt,” said Adika.
We all moved across from the express to the medium belt, then the slow belt, before stepping onto the corridor floor. The five men on bodyguard duty went into formation around me.
“Take the first corridor heading west,” said Nicole, “and then turn north at the next junction to reach a secure location for Amber.”
Adika led us into an accommodation corridor, where I was startled by the distance between the apartment doors. These must be impressively large and luxurious apartments even by the standards of Level 1.
“Crystal units to visual,” ordered Adika.
We all adjusted our ear crystals, and the camera attachments unfolded.
“Visual links green for all Strike team,” said Nicole.
Adika started running down the corridor. The leader of my five bodyguards, Matias, swept me up into his arms and chased after him. When we reached the next corridor junction and turned north, I saw a figure dressed in the dramatic red and blue, diagonal striped uniform of Emergency Services. He held out two red backpacks, and Rothan and Dhiren grabbed them as they ran by.
“Your secure location is in apartment 1, which is at the far end of this corridor,” said Nicole. “One of the owner’s bodyguards is there waiting for you.”
I raised my eyebrows. With only five telepaths in our Hive, my safety was so crucial that Adika never let me go outside our unit without several bodyguards to protect me. If the owner of this apartment had bodyguards as well, that meant they were also hugely important to the Hive.
“Who does this apartment belong to?” I asked.
“The head of Hive Politics,” said Lucas. “We’re sending you to his apartment because it’s only one corridor length from the reported dripping blood, and has a reinforced central area which will be an ideal position for Amber.”
“Has the head of Hive Politics given us permission to use his apartment?” asked Adika warily.
“He has. Most people outside Law Enforcement believe in the nosy myth, but senior members
of Hive Politics take part in negotiations with other Hives so need to be imprinted with the truth about telepaths.”
Lucas paused to laugh. “Senior Ambassador Elliott says that he’s happy to offer the use of his apartment to keep a telepath safe, but requests that the Strike team should be careful not to damage a surfboard of great sentimental value.”
“Bodyguard team will take Amber inside the apartment, and not touch anything that looks remotely like a surfboard,” said Adika. “The rest of us will wait in the corridor.”
A moment later, we arrived at an open apartment door. Matias carried me into a luxuriously carpeted hallway, while my other four bodyguards formed a defensive group around us.
A muscular woman dressed in an unobtrusive grey onesuit was standing by an open door at the end of the hall. “This is the reinforced central area of the apartment.”
We went through the doorway, and I noted the extra thickness of the reinforced door and walls. I had a similar arrangement in my own apartment, in case we ever had intruders in our unit and my bodyguards had to defend me there. This reinforced central area was smaller than mine though, just consisting of a living room with blue and white walls.
When Matias put me down, I looked curiously around the room. The head of Hive Politics obviously liked the colour blue. It was everywhere. His precious surfboard was hanging on one wall of the room, while another was dedicated to a set of images of Pasquale, the famous singer and songwriter from Blue Zone.
I suspected that Senior Ambassador Elliott had, like me, been born and raised in Blue Zone. I went over to study the surfboard, and saw it was battered and ageing. Most of the original blue and gold decorations were intact though, and a familiar blue heart was at the centre of the design.
During my five years on Teen Level 50, I’d had a room on the same corridor as Forge, who was now Adika’s deputy in charge of the Beta team. Forge had been a member of both the Blue Zone teen swimming team and the surfing team, so I’d spent a lot of time on Teen Level beach, cheering him on to victory in the teen inter-zone surfing competitions. I knew the blue heart symbol meant the surfboard’s owner had once belonged to the Blue Zone teen surfing team.
Having confirmed my theory about Senior Ambassador Elliott, I went to sit in a cushioned chair that was, inevitably, blue. I was about to close my eyes when I realized the muscular woman was hovering in the doorway, staring nosily at me.
“I belong to the Personal Protection branch of Law Enforcement,” she said. “I’m trained in combat and know every inch of the corridors in this housing warren. If I can help in any way …”
“I’m afraid you can’t help us,” said Matias. “This is specialist work, so you need to join the evacuation now.”
She sighed, took a reluctant step backwards, and Matias firmly closed the door on her. “Bodyguard team in position,” he said.
“Amber, the dripping blood is one cor north of you,” said Lucas. “Your first priority should be to check for injured people in the maintenance crawl ways above the Level 1 ceiling. If there’s no sign of anyone there, move on to checking Level Zero as well. It’s possible the blood has trickled down from there.”
I closed my eyes and reached out with my telepathic sense.
Chapter Two
The walls, ceiling, and floor were invisible now. I was hanging in a dark void with the five familiar glowing minds of my bodyguards clustered around me. I found it helpful to read the thoughts of one of my Strike team members to orient myself before scanning an area for a target, so I linked to the mind of Matias now. He was amused that a member of Personal Protection had offered to help a telepath’s Strike team.
… will only be the briefest mention of Telepath Units in her imprint. She doesn’t know the physical requirements and knowledge needed to …
Further down Matias’s mind, close to the subconscious, was a train of thought about Tobias.
… and Adika is right that Tobias blames his failures on everyone but himself. I’ll never forget the way he whined to me about …
A memory sequence appeared, its images distorted and tinged red by anger. A scowling Tobias was talking to Matias.
“Totally unfair that Lottery robbed me of the chance of getting one of the two deputy positions. I was even faster and stronger than my older brother was at eighteen. Lottery imprinted him as a Strike team leader, so I should definitely have got that imprint too.”
I felt Matias’s outrage as he replied. “Lottery didn’t rob you of anything, Tobias. A candidate needs other qualities than just speed and strength to be imprinted for Strike team leader, and the Lottery testing process must have shown that you didn’t have them. If anyone was robbed of the chance of a deputy position, it was me.”
“But you were one of the lucky five who were imprinted for Strike team leader,” said Tobias.
Matias lost his temper entirely and started ranting at him. “I wasn’t lucky, Tobias. I was unlucky. Lottery imprinted me for Strike team leader because I had all the necessary abilities, but I got appendicitis at the crucial moment when Adika was choosing his deputies.”
He paused to breathe. “That meant I had no chance to impress Adika, no chance to get promoted, but I didn’t sit around sulking about it. I accepted that not everyone imprinted for a post will actually get the chance to hold the position, worked hard to get back to full fitness, and did everything I could to serve my team, my telepath, and my Hive. That’s what you should be doing instead of …”
I dragged myself away from that memory sequence, and moved on from Matias to where the men on chase duties were waiting. A stranger’s mind was moving past them, thoughts burning bright with frustration.
… fantasized about meeting one of the five telepaths on an emergency run. In those fantasies, I gave the Strike team vital help, ended up getting recruited to join them, and …
Her mood abruptly changed.
… but this isn’t a fantasy. Lives are at risk, and I need to keep out of the way and let the experts …
… telepath looked so young that she had to be the one who came out of this year’s Lottery testing. People in Law Enforcement have started calling her Telepath Unit Light Angel after their codename on the mission …
I moved on again and searched further north. There were a host of glowing minds down on Level 2, but nothing but blackness here on Level 1 or higher up on Level Zero. I drifted on for at least three cors, then hit a mass of worried people. Their thoughts jostled together like a thousand voices screaming at deafening volume. I checked the mind of a random person, and found myself standing in a shopping area near an array of vibrantly coloured New Year festival dresses.
“Do you have a target, Amber?” asked Adika.
“There’s no one between us and the shopping area on either Level 1 or Level Zero. At least, there’s no one alive. I couldn’t find any glimmer of thought at all, not even down at subconscious levels.”
Adika groaned. “We’re too late to help the injured person then.”
“I can’t find our wild bee either,” I said. “Should I try expanding my search to a wider area, Lucas?”
“Try checking a little higher up first,” said Lucas. “The ceilings on Level Zero are normally over twice the height of a standard apartment ceiling, but in some areas the demands of specialist equipment mean they’re even higher. Our wild bee could have climbed up a maintenance ladder and be trying to find a way up into the main industrial levels of the Hive.”
“We’ve accessed the plans of Level Zero in this area, and are sending them to everyone’s dataviews now,” said Nicole gloomily. “We’re having difficulty understanding them though. This part of Level Zero is dedicated to hydroponics reclamation, and there are lots of tanks with a maze of interlinking maintenance ladders and aerial walkways. The ceiling height may well be higher than usual to allow space for the tanks, but we can’t work out how tall those are. We’re trying to calculate the height from tank volume, and we must be making a mistake somewhere because our
answers are ridiculous.”
“My Tactical team mathematical specialist, Hallie, should be able to make sense of that for you,” said Lucas.
“I’ll try searching higher.” I reached up through the darkness. “I’m still not finding any minds at all, and it’s hard to judge heights with no reference points.”
There was a sudden burst of laughter on the comms, and Hallie’s voice spoke. “I can see why the Liaison team were confused by the tanks. They’re cylinders containing a series of sedimentation chambers to remove suspended particles from …”
Lucas interrupted her. “How tall are these tanks, Hallie?”
“Six levels high,” said Hallie.
“Six levels!” I gasped. “I’ll need to search for our target over a much bigger range of heights, but that shouldn’t be a problem. If the maintenance workers have all been evacuated, there won’t be any other minds around to limit my range.”
I reached further upwards into the emptiness, and finally found a level packed with minds. “I’ve found lots of people on what must be an ordinary industrial level of the Hive. Let me just …”
I linked to a glowing mind that was moving purposefully in a straight line.
… worryingly short time left before the New Year festival closure, and we’re still behind our production target of …
I wasn’t interested in this person’s thoughts, just the view from their eyes. I’d guessed from the way the mind was moving that the person was walking along a corridor. They were approaching a junction now, and I could see a direction sign on the wall.
“The people are on Industry 46,” I said. “That’s consistent with the tanks extending upwards through the double height of Level Zero and on into the four industrial levels above it as well. I’ll now search that six level gap looking for our target.”
I started making methodical sweeps to the north, and almost immediately found a mind. No, there were actually three minds very close together.
I linked to the one that was flaring brighter than the others, and whimpered in pain. My left arm, no that was my target’s left arm, felt like it was on fire. I was holding it protectively with my right hand, and could feel some bare skin above what felt like a strip of tightly bound cloth.
Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4) Page 2