Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4)

by Janet Edwards

  “I don’t understand why anyone would do that,” I said. “Don’t the children care what Hive they belong to?”

  “Joint Hive Treaty states that everyone has the right to request a transfer to another Hive, but that transfer is an irrevocable lifetime commitment,” said Paula. “If these people wanted to stay at Hive Genex, they could easily bypass our claim on them. They’d just need to tell the Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement inspectors that they’re requesting a transfer back to Hive Genex.”

  “Since they haven’t done that, we believe they actively wish to come to our Hive with the three kidnapped parents,” said Michaela. “They’re choosing to let Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement make the decision on their behalf to avoid having their imprints removed.”

  “It’s a unique opportunity for them,” said Elliott. “They’ve got the chance to transfer to our Hive with their imprints intact, see if they like it here, and if they aren’t happy …”

  “They’ve still got their right under Joint Hive Treaty to request a transfer back to Hive Genex,” Michaela finished the sentence for him. “We don’t think our Hive would have the right to remove a Hive Genex imprint from people returning to Hive Genex, so again they could transfer without having their imprints removed.”

  “Our Hive will naturally do everything possible to make sure people with such valuable imprints are happy to stay here,” added Paula.

  “I can see why you didn’t want Bruce to wreck our Hive’s claim on these people,” said Lucas. “If it had just been a case of you handing Bruce some undeserved luxuries, then I’d think you’d done the right thing by dealing with this yourselves.”

  He paused. “What’s puzzling me is why you didn’t call a halt when Bruce started enjoying himself endangering Blue Upway players. A number of teens have been injured. One has been killed. Why didn’t you ask for help and explain the importance of making sure that nothing was recorded on our Hive’s central data core?”

  “It would have been easy to get someone to arrest Bruce,” said Elliott, “but we need to find the Blue Upway game master stack too. If we arrest Bruce, and someone else stumbles across where he’s hidden the game master stack, then anything could happen.”

  “I’ve tried searching for the game master stack myself but failed to find it,” said Declan. “I’ve managed to search both of Bruce’s offices, his own apartment on Level 41, and Michaela’s apartment on Level 1, as well as most of the maintenance areas around Teen Level beach.”

  Francesca sighed. “Did you really need to tell a Tactical Commander that you’d broken into Bruce’s apartment? He could arrest you for that.”

  “I’m just explaining that we know Bruce has the game master stack well hidden,” said Declan.

  “After Declan’s search failed, we decided we’d never find the game master stack without the help of a true telepath,” said Elliott.

  “So why didn’t you approach a Telepath Unit Tactical Commander?” asked Lucas. “You could have called me two months ago to have this exact conversation.”

  “There was an excellent reason why we couldn’t risk doing that,” said Elliott. “That reason’s name is Keith.”

  “What does Keith have to do with this?” I demanded.

  “It’s vital that Keith doesn’t find out anything about this claim against Hive Genex,” said Elliott. “We had a previous incident where Keith got curious about something happening in Hive Politics, went searching through the records to find more information, and then interfered.”

  “With disastrous results,” said Paula bleakly.

  “What did Keith do?” I asked.

  “We don’t have time to tell the full story of what happened back then,” said Elliott. “I’m just mentioning it to explain why we’re so worried about Keith. If he finds out about this claim, then he’ll try to repeat what he did years ago, and access the messages that Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement has sent to us.”

  “Can’t you block him from doing that?” asked Lucas.

  Declan groaned. “We’ve taken every measure we can to block Keith from accessing those messages, but it’s hard to block a telepath successfully when they can read the latest authorization codes in people’s minds.”

  Elliott nodded. “If Keith learns the full facts of this claim, then we believe he’ll sabotage our efforts by putting something incriminating on our Hive’s central data core himself.”

  “That worry didn’t just stop us from asking Keith’s unit for help,” said Paula. “We know that Keith has gone to great lengths to read the minds of people in other Telepath Units, so we couldn’t approach them for help either.”

  “To be perfectly open about the situation,” said Elliott, “we’re willing to explain this to you now because we’ve learned Keith has been attacking your unit. You’re already taking precautions to protect your people against him, so we know you’ll listen seriously to our concerns.”

  “I’ll definitely listen seriously to concerns about Keith,” I said grimly. “He tried to steal Lucas from me.”

  “Which is also an important factor,” said Elliott. “The six of us, and the two of you, are currently the only people in our Hive who know about our claim against Hive Genex. The Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement inspection team will be arriving after the New Year Festival, but there’s no danger of Keith getting any information from their minds.”

  I frowned. “Why not?”

  “Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement has a simple, effective method of preventing telepaths reading the minds of its inspectors,” said Elliott. “It chooses a team with a different birth language.”

  “That would certainly work,” I said. “When I tried to read the mind of Hive Genex’s agent, Elden, I found it impossible to make sense of his thoughts.”

  “Our Hive goes to great lengths to avoid telepaths meeting,” continued Elliott. “After Keith’s recent behaviour, nobody would be surprised if Amber refuses to allow her partner to leave her unit without her for the next few weeks. That would mean there’s no danger of Keith getting near enough to Lucas to read his mind.”

  “I’ve no problem with us taking that precaution,” said Lucas, “but I’m confused by two things. Firstly, why are you so worried about Keith managing to read my mind? It would be far easier for him to read the mind of one of the six of you.”

  “That won’t happen,” said Elliott confidently. “Our Hive doesn’t just take care to avoid telepaths meeting each other, but also to stop most telepaths meeting those imprinted for the highest ranks of Hive Politics or the Council of Gaia.”

  I gave him a puzzled look.

  “Secondly, why would Keith care about our claim on these people enough to bother sabotaging it?” asked Lucas.

  “Morton’s unit is about to shut down for months while he has surgery,” said Elliott. “That will leave the Hive with only four operational Telepath Units. The Hive desperately needs Keith to keep working, which puts him in an overwhelmingly powerful position. Keith is enjoying taking advantage of the situation.”

  “I’m not sure how that’s an answer to my question,” said Lucas.

  “It’s an answer to your question because the three people kidnapped by Hive Genex included a borderline telepath,” said Elliott. “Her twenty-four-year-old eldest son is a true telepath.”

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  My brain seemed to freeze. “What did you just say?”

  “Her twenty-four-year-old eldest son is a true telepath,” repeated Elliott.

  I made a faint whimpering sound. There was the chance of another true telepath arriving at our Hive! I turned to look at Lucas, and the dazed expression on his face drew me into linking to his mind. I found it blazing bright with a multitude of thought trains, all racing past so fast that I could only catch a few fragments of them.

  … having another telepath would make a huge …

  … projections for the months Morton’s unit will be out of action show a rapidly rising death rate which …

  … arriving befor
e the crucial third month would save hundreds of lives. Possibly thousands. It just takes one attack on vital life support equipment to …

  … but Elliott is right. If Keith finds out about this, he’ll certainly try to sabotage our Hive’s claim to …

  … by far the weakest of our telepaths. He’s only able to flout Gold Commander Melisande’s orders because the Hive is so desperate …

  … difficulties of dealing with a telepath from another Hive, but …

  … just handling check runs would be enough to …

  … language issue will be a major …

  “Hive Genex speaks a different language to us,” said Lucas aloud. “We couldn’t risk imprinting a telepath with our language, so …”

  “We’ve been told he’s bilingual,” interrupted Elliott.

  I retreated to my own mind to ask a question. “What does bilingual mean?”

  “He’s fluent in both our language and the language of Hive Genex,” said Elliott. “He grew up living with his mother, and the family spoke our language at home.”

  “Our Hive ideally needs eight telepaths to keep order,” said Lucas. “We’ve been teetering on the edge of disaster for years with only four or five. We can’t lose this chance of another telepath.”

  I nodded urgently.

  “Our claim has to be successful,” said Lucas. “I can’t keep calling you to discuss problems, so we need to make a plan that covers all the potential complications right now.”

  His voice took on a decisive note. “Amber needs to read Bruce’s mind as soon as he arrives at our holding cells. We’ll then rescue Forge, and retrieve the game master stack for Blue Upway. We’ll obviously need to remove all Bruce’s memories of Michaela’s involvement in Blue Upway.”

  “And that’s going to be a major problem,” said Elliott. “You’ll have to send Bruce to a Therapy Unit for assessment and treatment, and he’ll grab his chance to tell everyone about Michaela and Blue Upway.”

  “We’ve got a forensic psychologist in our unit who can handle this for us,” said Lucas. “Amber can truthfully tell her that Bruce learned the full facts about telepaths nearly three years ago, which made him grow increasingly dangerous. That will mean his memory is reset to before Michaela joined the surfing team.”

  “Your forensic psychologist will still want to do detailed questioning of Bruce before coming to a decision,” said Elliott.

  “Our forensic psychologist is a borderline telepath who bases most of her decisions on her insights,” said Lucas, “and I’m sure she’ll get some very nasty insights from Bruce. She’s also going to be furious about Bruce kidnapping Forge, so I’ll hopefully be able to convince her that Bruce needs to be reset without delay.”

  “Forge is our forensic psychologist’s boyfriend,” I explained.

  “I can see that might simplify the situation,” said Elliott. “You’ll need to ensure the game master stack for Blue Upway is totally destroyed as well.”

  “Actually, I’ve got a different plan for the game master stack,” said Lucas. “When we’ve retrieved it, I suggest that I send a formal request to the head of Hive Politics.”

  Elliott raised his eyebrows.

  “That request will say that our unit was assigned to deal with a Teen Game called Blue Upway,” continued Lucas. “We now have the Game Commander and the game master stack, but I’m concerned that abruptly closing down Blue Upway will leave us with thirty thousand frustrated teen players causing trouble. Running the game ourselves isn’t possible because it involves a level of delegation beyond our abilities. I’d therefore like Hive Politics to assign someone to run Blue Upway until the new games start up next Carnival.”

  Elliott smiled. “And I reply saying that the task would be most suited to someone who’d recently left Teen Level, and suggest Michaela. That’s a brilliant cover story. If Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement does discover a link between Michaela and Blue Upway, we may be able to explain it by her new assignment assisting a Telepath Unit.”

  “One final point,” said Lucas, “I’ve now made two calls to Michaela, both of which were answered by Paula. As far as I know, our Hive doesn’t keep any record of calls made. If the Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement inspection team does somehow find out about them, I called because Amber wanted information about the negotiations related to the kidnapping attempt against her. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” said Elliott briskly. “I think we’ve now covered everything. Let’s hope that our plans succeed, and Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement rules in our favour.”

  The six holo figures nodded their heads respectfully at me, and then vanished. I shook my head and looked at Lucas.

  “What did Elliott mean when he mentioned the Council of Gaia?”

  “I’ve only heard the word Gaia once before,” said Lucas. “Osric said Gaia was a name used to refer to the collective gestalt of over a hundred million minds in the Hive. A logical guess is that the Council of Gaia is a group that makes decisions on behalf of the Hive.”

  I frowned. “What sort of decisions? Gold Commander Melisande makes the decisions for Hive Defence and Law Enforcement. Senior Ambassador Elliott makes the decisions for Hive Politics. All the other divisions have people to make their decisions too.”

  Lucas shrugged. “There must be times when a more general decision needs to be made. You’ll find out the truth when you meet one of the Council of Gaia.”

  “That will never happen. Elliott said that our Hive stops telepaths meeting these people.”

  “Elliott said that our Hive stops most telepaths meeting these people,” said Lucas. “He didn’t have to refer to the Council of Gaia at all. I think he mentioned them as a heavy hint that you might eventually be allowed to meet them.”

  “Oh.” I considered that for a moment but was distracted by the realization Lucas was still dressed in red and black. “Why didn’t Elliott comment on your hunter of souls costume?”

  “Elliott seems to have researched a lot of information on our unit,” said Lucas. “I expect he knows we’re running a Teen Game called Halloween.”

  He paused. “Now it’s time to put our ear crystals back in and check what’s happening with Bruce.”

  I instantly forgot about everything but saving Forge. “Yes.”

  We stood up, put our ear crystals in place, and turned them on. “Amber and I are back on the crystal comms again,” said Lucas. “We now know exactly what we’re dealing with. When will Blue Zone group arrive at the holding cells?”

  “In about ten minutes,” said Penn.

  “Lucas, you’ve been emphasizing the point that Bruce is extremely dangerous,” said Adika. “I’d like Amber to stay in the unit to read his mind, rather than coming down to the holding cells.”

  “Yes, Bruce has the potential to cause incredible damage to the Hive,” said Lucas. “I agree that Amber mustn’t go anywhere near him. I don’t even want to risk letting Bruce regain full consciousness.”

  “So how should we handle Amber reading Bruce’s mind?” asked Adika.

  “Amber and I will go back to the Tactical office now,” said Lucas. “She shouldn’t have any problem reading Bruce’s mind from there. Once Bruce arrives, you can reduce his sedation level to the point where he can hear us but not speak or move. We’ll then get you to ask questions, so he thinks of the information we need. I’ll want you to ask about Forge first, and then the Blue Upway game master stack.”

  “I’d rather focus on Forge for now, and leave worrying about the game master stack until later,” grumbled Adika.

  “I’d rather Amber gets all the information we need now, so she doesn’t have to read Bruce’s mind again,” said Lucas.

  “That’s a good point,” admitted Adika. “Megan is here to help me with the sedation adjustments. We’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

  Lucas and I went back to the Tactical office. As we went in the door, I noticed Buzz frown sharply at us and then stand up.

  “I’m going down to the holding cells n
ow,” she said. “I might get a useful insight.”

  Once Buzz left, there was an oppressive silence. Lucas and I sat down on a couch, and I linked to Emili’s mind to check what was going on. I discovered that Buzz and the Tactical team had just been having a furtive discussion with their ear crystals set to receive only.

  They’d decided that Lucas and I must have a good reason for all the dashing off into meeting rooms, and agreed not to ask any questions about it until Forge was safe. They’d also agreed they shouldn’t mention any distressing theories about what Bruce might have done with Forge in front of me, so that left them struggling to think of anything to say.

  Emili’s thoughts drifted into worrying about Forge, her anxiety mixed with guilty thankfulness that it wasn’t Rothan who’d been taken prisoner. I pulled back into my own head, and stared gloomily at the wall while the seconds went slowly by. Finally, Adika spoke on the crystal comms.

  “Prisoner transport pod has arrived at the holding cells.”

  “I’ve just had an insight from that pod,” said Buzz’s anxious voice. “Bruce is still fully sedated, so it was hazy, but there was something obsessive and malignant.”

  “Megan and I are sorting out Bruce’s sedation levels now,” said Adika.

  There was another long pause before Megan spoke on the crystal comms. “I think I’ve got the sedation level right.”

  “You’d better wait outside the room while I talk to Bruce,” said Adika.

  “You may need me to adjust the sedation level,” said Megan.

  “I’ll call you back in if necessary,” said Adika. “Go outside now. Bruce has taken Forge hostage. I’m not risking him taking you hostage too.”

  There was a sigh that presumably meant Megan had gone outside.

  “I’ll start checking Bruce’s mind now,” I said.

  I closed my eyes and reached out with my thoughts. The holding cells were two levels down, and slightly west of where I was sitting. The glows of the dozen minds there were conspicuous because of the empty blackness around them. I drifted past the familiar thoughts of members of my unit and found the mind of a stranger. The distinctive look, sound, taste of a wild bee was tempered by the fact Bruce was hovering in the blurred borderland between being conscious and unconscious.