Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4)

by Janet Edwards

  “Gregas never thinks things through,” said my mother sadly.

  “The course began with a set of lectures on caring for seagulls, so that went smoothly,” I continued. “Then the practical sessions started, and Gregas and Wesley were given the job of capturing a seagull with an injured wing so it could be treated.”

  “That was bound to go badly,” said Wesley’s father.

  “It went disastrously badly,” I said. “The seagull was sitting on a cliff ledge at just above head height. The boys decided that Wesley should climb up to the ledge, and frighten the seagull into jumping off, while Gregas would catch it and put it in a cage. Unfortunately, Wesley was far more scared of the seagull than the seagull was of Wesley.”

  I sighed. “When Wesley tried shooing the seagull off the ledge, the seagull pecked at him. Wesley panicked, fell off the ledge, and landed on top of Gregas. The Seagull Care Specialist who was running the course sent the two of them off to a medical facility for checks. As I said before, those showed the boys only had minor bruising, but they were kept in overnight because Wesley had a panic attack.”

  “I suppose the seagull incident and the panic attack made Wesley forget that he was supposed to be visiting home,” said Wesley’s mother.

  I’d entirely forgotten that bit of my script. “Exactly,” I said gratefully. “Wesley forgot about calling you to cancel his visit, and the medical facility’s message didn’t reach you because the boys had given false names and identity details.”

  “So they’re both on their way back to their rooms now?” asked my mother.

  “I’m not sure whether they’ll be heading back yet,” I said evasively. “Gregas and Wesley needed to collect their belongings from the Teen Level beach accommodation area before going back home to Blue Zone, and the Seagull Care Specialist wanted to talk to them as well. She’s a bit annoyed about what happened.”

  “I’m not surprised,” said my father grimly. “Lying about your identity code on a course application is a serious breach of Hive rules. I suppose that will be going on the boys’ records.”

  I rubbed my forehead nervously. Nicole had invented this story to cover up issues like joining an illegal Teen Game, trespassing in maintenance areas, kicking people off ladders, and getting arrested. She’d had to include a mention of false names and identity codes to explain why Gregas and Wesley had left their dataviews behind, and why the medical facility hadn’t tried to contact the parents of such young teens involved in an accident. False names had seemed such a minor issue compared to the rest, that I hadn’t thought to ask about this detail, and wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I’m confident that our Liaison team leader can make sure nothing goes on the boys’ records about this incident,” said Lucas smoothly. “My impression is that the Seagull Care Specialist was only really concerned about the wellbeing of the seagull, and that wasn’t harmed at all. Amber can arrange for Gregas and Wesley to be supplied with enough food to last them until their next allowance payment arrives, so we should be able to forget about the whole thing.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Wesley’s mother gave me an appreciative look. “The boys are so fortunate to have you helping them, Amber.”

  “I’m not sure she should be helping them quite this much,” said my father. “If Gregas starts thinking he can lie about his identity without any consequences, it could have a terrible effect on his Lottery result.”

  I rubbed my forehead again.

  “There’s no need to worry about that,” said Lucas. “We’ve already discussed this issue with Gregas. He understands that he must never lie about his identity in future.”

  Wesley’s mother nodded. “And we’ll make sure that Wesley understands he can’t expect Gregas’s sister to get him out of trouble again.”

  “If Wesley is capable of understanding anything at all,” said his father bitterly, “which I sometimes doubt. The boy lives in a total fantasy world. We shouldn’t have let him play so many bookettes as a child, or …”

  My mother interrupted him and frowned anxiously at me. “What’s the matter with your face, Amber?”

  I realized I’d rubbed my face too many times, and removed the makeup that Buzz and Megan had carefully applied.

  “It’s just a slight bruise,” I said hastily.

  “That’s more than a slight bruise. It looks like you’re getting a black eye. How …?” My mother abruptly broke off her sentence and started a new one. “Did that happen when you were chasing the enemy agent yesterday?”

  Wesley’s mother gasped. “That news report on Hive Channel 1! It was this Security Unit that was chasing the enemy agent!”

  My mother was still frowning at my face. “I thought you had bodyguards to prevent you from getting hurt, Amber.”

  “She does, but things didn’t entirely go to plan,” said Lucas.

  “Clearly not,” said my mother reproachfully. “So that’s why Amber had so many bodyguards on the shopping trip, and Adika was staying so close to her all the time. He was making sure that she didn’t get hurt again.”

  “That’s right.” Lucas stood up. “I’m afraid that Amber and I need to check on some security issues now, but you’re all welcome to stay here as long as you wish. Emili will arrange for whatever more food and drink you’d like.”

  “No, no.” Wesley’s mother hurriedly stood up. “I hadn’t realized that your unit was involved in something as important as catching an enemy agent, though I should have because Security Units obviously do catch enemy agents, but I was so worried about Wesley vanishing that I wasn’t thinking about anything else, and you were being so kind that I quite forgot that you’re both Level 1, and …”

  “Thank you for your help,” Wesley’s father interrupted her increasingly incoherent sentence and stood up as well. “We’d better get back home to Blue Zone now. I’d like us to be at our apartment when Wesley calls, so we can have a private chat.”

  “That’s a good point,” said my father. “We’d like to have a private chat with Gregas too. We’ll travel back to Blue Zone with you.”

  A moment later, everyone was walking towards the lifts. Wesley’s parents went straight into lift 3, while my parents paused to say goodbye to me.

  “I’m sorry that the shopping trip didn’t work out as planned,” I said.

  My mother shook her head. “That wasn’t your fault, Amber. You’ve been a great help today. I was so worried when I heard Gregas was missing, that I didn’t stop to think before demanding your unit’s help. I hope that doesn’t cause you any problems.”

  “You mustn’t worry about that,” I said. “I can never predict when there’ll be an emergency needing my attention. That means I can’t spend as much time with you as I’d like, but I’ll always be here when you need me.”

  My mother gave me a quick hug, and then she and my father went into the lift. Once the doors had closed on them, I gave a deep sigh of relief.

  “I think that worked. Gregas is still going to be in trouble with my parents about giving a false identity code, but not nearly as much trouble as he’d have been in if they knew the real story.”

  I turned to Emili. “I’m so grateful to you, Nicole, Buzz, and everyone else that helped with this. It’s not part of your job to deal with my family problems, but you did it anyway.”

  “It is part of our job to deal with your family problems,” said Emili. “The Hive understands how vital support networks are to telepaths, so we’ll do everything we can to help you maintain your relationship with your family.”

  I remembered how Mira’s support group on Teen Level had been brought to her unit to support her again in her new life as a telepath, and her unit had a hydroponics area to help her hide her real work from her family. Yes, the Hive understood how vital support networks were to telepaths.

  Lucas smiled at me. “Shall we go back to our apartment, have something to eat, and then rest for a while?”

  “Yes. I’m feeling ridiculously tired, and I didn’t even d
o any shopping.”

  “Shopping would have been far less stressful,” said Lucas.

  We walked down the corridor to our apartment. When we arrived in the living room, I heard a chiming sound from Lucas’s pocket. He took out his dataview, studied the screen, and groaned.

  “Is there another problem with Gregas?” I asked anxiously.

  “No. I’ve just got a message from Gold Commander Melisande. She wants me to call her as soon as possible.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I’d better call Melisande right away and find out what’s wrong,” said Lucas. “Do you want to be involved in the call?”

  “I’d prefer to listen to the call, but keep out of view,” I said. “If Melisande saw me, she’d probably notice my black eye.”

  “She’d definitely notice your black eye,” said Lucas. “Melisande never misses anything.”

  I sat down on a couch at the far side of the room. Lucas tapped at his dataview, and a holo of a familiar diminutive figure in a Hive Defence uniform appeared in front of him. Melisande’s blonde hair usually hung in a neat plait down her back, but today it was just roughly tied with a ribbon, and she looked uncharacteristically tired. I remembered all the panicking messages during the night, and wondered guiltily if Gold Commander Melisande had been involved in them.

  “Tactical Commander Lucas, how is Amber?” she asked. “She’s still not showing any worrying symptoms after the Tobias attack?”

  I frowned. I’d specifically told my people not to mention the Tobias incident to anyone outside this unit, so how had …?

  “Our Senior Administrator has already sent you a full medical report,” said Lucas. “I’m not a doctor, so I don’t see what I can add to that.”

  I felt it was typical of Megan to ignore my wishes and send a report to Melisande.

  “Your imprint information covers behavioural analysis and selected areas of psychology, and you have an intimate personal knowledge of Amber,” said Melisande. “You’re the most likely person to notice symptoms such as forgetfulness or personality changes.”

  “Amber has some bruising on her left cheek and around her eye,” said Lucas, “but she’s acting exactly as I’d expect in this situation.”

  Melisande nodded. “Your Strike team leader’s report included a recording of the incident.”

  Adika had sent a report to Melisande as well! Had everyone including my cleaner, Hannah, sent reports? I gave a despairing shake of my head.

  “After examining that recording, I’m satisfied that everyone acted correctly except for Tobias and Amber herself,” said Melisande. “It’s difficult to take disciplinary action against telepaths, but I hope you’ve made it clear to Amber that she must never endanger herself again.”

  “I expressed myself forcefully on the subject of Amber endangering herself,” said Lucas.

  “I was surprised and concerned to discover that Tobias is still in your unit,” said Melisande. “I’m aware that Amber is overly protective of her unit members, but you were criminally negligent not to insist on him being moved elsewhere immediately after the incident.”

  “Tobias isn’t in our unit,” said Lucas calmly. “He’s merely being held in our holding cells under maximum security conditions. Amber has already accepted that Tobias must leave the unit permanently. Tomorrow morning, she will read Tobias’s mind as part of a psychological assessment to decide the best options for his future.”

  “Is it necessary for Amber to take part in that assessment?” asked Melisande.

  “Amber’s counsellor wants to let Amber satisfy herself that no errors are being made. I feel that’s a wise decision.”

  “Very well,” said Melisande. “Now what’s the current status of the Gregas crisis?”

  “It was complicated by Amber’s parents getting involved,” said Lucas, “but I think we’ve got everything under control again.”

  “Containing the situation between Amber and Mira must remain your unit’s first priority,” said Melisande, “however we have an additional problem. Over the last few weeks, there have been increasing numbers of Blue Upway game players suffering accidental injuries. Now three Telepath Unit emergency runs have encountered Blue Upway game groups.”

  Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Three?”

  “Keith’s Strike team encountered a Blue Upway game group this morning,” said Melisande. “Details of that will soon appear on the data exchange between Telepath Units.”

  “We’ve just learned a relevant piece of information from Gregas,” said Lucas. “The Blue Upway Game Commander has started offering group leaders bonus points for taking inexperienced players into maintenance areas.”

  Melisande frowned. “That would explain the escalating problems. This situation cannot be allowed to continue. When Morton’s unit is in shutdown for his surgery, the Hive’s four remaining Telepath Units will be pushed to their limits keeping order. We can’t have a reckless Teen Game creating extra trouble.”

  “Agreed,” said Lucas.

  “Game Control has tried all the standard methods of getting Blue Upway back under control without success,” said Melisande. “That means your Telepath Unit has to step in to close down the game. Ideally, you should deal with Blue Upway before the New Year festival.”

  Lucas grimaced. “Gold Commander Melisande, I totally agree with you about the urgency of shutting down Blue Upway, and I understand that the newest Telepath Unit always gets the job of dealing with Teen Games, but suggesting we can do it before the New Year festival is … an extremely ambitious deadline. Blue Upway has been running for over twenty months and has gone Hivewide. It must have at least ten thousand players by now.”

  “Game Control estimates that Blue Upway has thirty thousand players,” said Melisande.

  Lucas made a choking noise. “I’d expect it to take at least two months to shut down a game on that scale.”

  “Shutting down a Teen Game is usually treated as a non-urgent background task,” said Melisande. “In this case, it would be your unit’s first priority.”

  Lucas seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “You just said that our first priority was containing the situation between Amber and Mira. I was expecting to keep our unit shut down until after Amber has read Tobias’s mind. Depending on Tobias’s psychological state, Amber may need some further recovery time after that as well.”

  “Amber must obviously be allowed sufficient recovery time,” said Melisande, “but your Tactical team could start making plans to deal with Blue Upway.”

  “I agree,” said Lucas. “Our first step in dealing with Blue Upway will be to collate all Game Control’s information and run a complete geographical and timeline pattern analysis. Given the massive number of players, the analysis work will take my Tactical team at least a week.”

  “I accept you need to do a geographical pattern analysis to find areas with high levels of game activity,” said Melisande. “Is the more time-consuming timeline pattern analysis necessary as well?”

  “I believe so,” said Lucas. “Irresponsible Game Commanders normally push the limits on challenges from the very start of the game. The Game Commander of Blue Upway used to keep the player challenges within reasonable limits, but now novice players are being sent into dangerous maintenance areas.”

  He shook his head. “My instincts are telling me that something is horribly wrong with Blue Upway. I need to understand exactly what has been happening inside that game, when it happened, and most importantly why it happened before taking action.”

  “And Lottery has selected you as a Tactical Commander because your instincts can be trusted,” said Melisande briskly. “I accept you need both types of pattern analysis, and will ask all the other four Telepath Unit Tactical teams to assist you with the work. Do you have any preference on who should act as the central coordinator of the pattern analysis?”

  “I’d like Beckett,” Lucas’s face took on a fond, reminiscent smile. “He’s the best pattern specialist in the Hive, and
will handle the final integration better than anyone else.”

  “Beckett may be the best choice to carry out the final integration,” said Melisande, “but his weakness is communicating his conclusions to other people.”

  “There won’t be any communication difficulties between Beckett and me,” said Lucas confidently. “We came out of Lottery at the same time, and I spent three years working with him on Keith’s tactical team.”

  Melisande nodded. “I shall make the arrangements at once.”

  She ended the call, and Lucas came over to flop down on the couch next to me.

  “Why does the newest Telepath Unit always get the job of dealing with Teen Games?” I asked.

  “Because we have the youngest Strike team,” said Lucas. “The accepted method of shutting down a Teen Game is to send Strike team members undercover on Teen Level. Their job is to infiltrate the game, attract the curiosity of the Game Commander by their brilliance at game challenges, and try to lure them into arranging a meeting to give an award.”

  I blinked. “Is arranging a meeting really necessary, or even possible?”

  Lucas shrugged. “Whether it’s possible depends on the character of the Game Commander. The undercover Strike team members will also be talking to other players, and trying to find clues to the identity or location of the Game Commander. There are over five million teens living on Teen Level, and half a million of them in Blue Zone. You can’t scan that number of minds looking for the Game Commander, so we have to narrow down the area for you to check.”

  “I suppose that’s true.”

  “Even if our undercover men can tell us a specific area of Blue Zone for you to scan, it may not be easy for you to identify the Game Commander,” said Lucas. “He or she probably won’t have the same sort of distinctive mind as a wild bee. All teens indulge in a little rule-breaking. Game Commanders just break the rules in an unusual way.”