Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4)

by Janet Edwards

  The clarity of thought that came with cleansing my mind of echoes told me that Keith would use his telepathic abilities to find ways around any precautions taken against him. Gold Commander Melisande couldn’t stop him attacking my unit. Gaius couldn’t stop him. I was sure that the other telepaths would have contacted Keith by now, but they’d clearly failed to stop him too.

  This situation could only end in one way. I was going to have to call Keith myself, but a conversation between us could easily make things worse rather than better, and the thought of that battle to the death between two telepaths was unnerving me. I needed to find a way to get past Keith’s jealousy of me, establish some sort of bond with him, and negotiate a peace treaty between us, but I’d no idea how to do it.

  Lucas rolled out of the sleep field and stood up. “Are you hungry?”

  “Incredibly hungry.” I sat up and looked hopefully around. “Does this little tentish thing have any food?”

  Lucas smiled. “Megan’s plan of the expansion area describes this place as a pavilion. Apart from this sleep field, there’s only a shower room and kitchen unit of about the same size as in rooms on Teen Level, and a tiny cupboard with a second set of the body armour and other equipment you need to go on a run.”

  He paused. “The good news is the shower room is working, but the bad news is that the kitchen unit hasn’t been stocked with food packs yet. We need to go back to our apartment to get fresh clothes, so we can eat there.”

  I stood up, reluctantly pulled on yesterday’s clothes, opened the door in the side wall, and laughed. “There’s a creature like a fancy rabbit looking at me.”

  Lucas coughed pointedly. “I think the idea of having a second set of equipment in the pavilion is that you keep the first set of equipment over in our apartment.”

  “Oh.” I retrieved yesterday’s body armour from where I’d abandoned it on the floor. My gun and wristset light were on a shelf. “I’ve lost my ear crystal.”

  “It should be in your pocket,” said Lucas.

  I checked my pocket. “I hope Hannah will be willing to clean this pavilion for us.”

  “So do I,” said Lucas, with a heavy emphasis. “Believe me, so do I.”

  I gave a guilty giggle. “I keep trying to reform and become a tidy person, but it never works.”

  We walked out of the door, and followed the path towards our apartment. We’d come to the pavilion last night while the suns were dimming overhead. Now they were at full brightness, I could see the expansion section had an unfinished look. The trees and largest bushes all seemed to be in place, but there were expanses of fresh earth still awaiting the arrival of smaller plants, and a scattering of red signs saying “Temporary Nestbox Location.”

  It was obvious that Megan had planned for the area around our apartment to be ready first. The nearer we got to it, the closer everything looked to being completed. When we reached the security door, I halted to take a last look around. “I can see there’s more planting and other work to be done, and I expect that things are in a far worse state at the park end of the expansion section, but a staggering amount has been achieved already. I don’t understand how Megan could have arranged it all so quickly.”

  “Blatant theft,” said Lucas.

  “What?”

  “Megan used Telepath Unit diamond priority to hijack all the habitat sections, plants, animals, birds, and other creatures that were intended for two other new animal and bird areas, as well as the necessary installation, planting, and animal care teams to set everything up.”

  He laughed. “Randomly throwing resources at this expansion area and pushing for fast results caused a bit of confusion, such as accidentally burying the unit northern emergency exit. That actually worked in our favour yesterday evening though. The animal care team wouldn’t normally have released the animals and birds into a half-completed area like this, but they didn’t want to keep them in cramped transportation caging for too long. They just wedged all the nestboxes into the more finished areas.”

  “That explains why there are all the red signs about temporary nestbox locations.”

  Lucas nodded. “Everyone working here was wildly curious about what our unit does to rate diamond priority. They saw and heard enough during yesterday evening’s alert to convince them it was something scary though, so they’ve suddenly stopped asking questions.”

  I was silent as we went through the security door into our apartment. Lucas’s comment had reminded me that my parents must have heard that alert, and Gregas had seen me arriving back from the run.

  I brooded over that while I showered, dressed in some fresh casual clothes, and ate breakfast.

  “What’s worrying you?” asked Lucas, as we finished eating.

  “I’m going to have to talk to my family about what happened yesterday evening,” I said gloomily.

  “Megan went to see them last night. She told them that you were well, just too exhausted after the run to come and see them yourself. It would be a good idea for you to reassure them though. Shall I come along too?”

  I shook my head, and stood up. “I think my parents are more likely to be honest about their concerns if I speak to them alone.”

  Chapter Forty-five

  I’d intended to go and talk to my parents right away, but when I reached the open area by the lifts, I decided to call in at our unit medical area first. I told myself that it made sense for me to check on Eli and Caleb before speaking to my parents, because they knew Eli and would want to hear how his operation had gone. I was really just grabbing for an excuse to delay a difficult conversation.

  As I entered the medical area, I was startled to hear shouting in the distance. Crista was standing in the corridor, frowning uncertainly.

  “I think I’d better insist on them leaving,” she said.

  “Insist on who leaving?”

  “Caleb’s parents,” said Crista. “I told them they could visit Caleb for an hour, but they’ve started yelling at him.”

  The mention of Caleb’s name made me link to his mind. I found myself lying on a medical bed, aware of the faint floating sensation that came from a high dose of painkillers. I was listening to my mother, no that was Caleb’s mother, ranting at me.

  “… always the same. Constantly scaring me to death. Other children never went further than the local park, but you had to keep sneaking off and riding express belts. I’ll never forget the time you were five years old, and I checked your tracking bracelet and found you were in an entirely different zone!”

  She paused for breath, and Caleb’s father took over. “We thought your tracking bracelet had gone wrong, and called to report the fault. We couldn’t believe it when they said the bracelet was working perfectly, but then that hasty brought you home, and when she handed you over to us, what did you say?”

  Caleb’s mother answered the question before Caleb had time to speak. “You said that you didn’t need anyone bringing you home. Next time you’d come home yourself.”

  “And we said that there wasn’t going to be a next time,” said Caleb’s father. “You were going to stay in your home zone like every other child.”

  “But the next day, you were off again,” said Caleb’s mother. “You got worse and worse as you got older, but getting yourself shot … Don’t you have any consideration for your parents at all?”

  Caleb smiled joyfully at the two people dressed in clothes that showed they were from close to the bottom of the Hive. “You know that I love you very much.”

  The woman instantly waved a reproving finger at him. “Don’t you dare to smile at me like that. Why can’t you be more like your older brother? He was never any trouble at all as a child, was a wonderfully well-behaved teen, and came out of Lottery as a respectable Level 89 Construction Worker.”

  … so awed by me coming out of Lottery as Level 1 that they didn’t dare to talk to me. I was losing hope as the wall between us grew higher with every day that went by, and dreading the New Year festival because I t
hought it would be the end of everything …

  But now they’re here, and it’s just like the old days, with them scolding me and holding up my brother as a shining example of …

  … to be all right. Going to be all right. Going to be all right after all.

  I broke my link to Caleb’s mind, and smiled at Crista. “You can let Caleb’s parents stay for the full hour. What’s happening between them is good, and Caleb’s really happy about it.”

  I paused. “When Caleb’s parents are gone, please tell Caleb that I called by. Say that I didn’t want to interrupt his family time, but I’m delighted he’ll be able to go home for the New Year festival without problems.”

  Crista nodded.

  “So, I’ll just visit Eli now.”

  “You may not want to disturb Eli either,” said Crista, in a confiding voice. “Telyn is visiting him.”

  I winced. “Which room are they in?”

  Crista jerked a thumb at the nearest door. I hastily opened it, went inside, and saw Telyn sitting next to Eli’s bed. He turned his head to see who’d come in, and gave me a desperate pleading look.

  “Can I have a word with you, Telyn?” I asked.

  She frowned, stood up, and followed me reluctantly out of the room.

  “It’s not going to happen,” I said gently. “There are other Strike team members who might be interested in you though.”

  “I like Eli,” said Telyn. “We have a lot in common. We’ve both struggled with a leg injury.”

  “It’s not going to happen,” I repeated. “I know you’re an attack specialist, and it’s in your nature to keep looking for ways to win, but there isn’t one in this case.”

  “What’s the problem?” asked Telyn.

  “I can’t tell you Eli’s secrets,” I said, “but nothing you can do will achieve anything except embarrassing both of you.”

  She groaned. “When the telepath tells you that you’re chasing the wrong target, then you have to accept it.”

  I watched her turn and walk away down the corridor, then went back into Eli’s room. “Telyn’s admitted defeat.”

  “I’m so grateful,” said Eli. “She’s a nice girl, but she’s such a forceful personality that it’s exhausting just being in the same room as her.”

  “I know she’s exactly wrong for you in every way,” I said sympathetically.

  “She keeps telling me what I should think about everything,” said Eli, in a weary voice, “and her idea of relaxing conversation is chatting about the pattern analysis of Blue Upway. I can’t make sense of half the things she says. I suppose you must get that sort of thing with Lucas all the time. How can you bear it?”

  I laughed. “Lucas is a bit work-obsessed, but I have the advantage of being able to read his mind to help me understand him.”

  Eli grunted an acknowledgement, and I saw his eyelids were drooping.

  “I’ll leave you to rest now,” I said gently. “Call me at once if Telyn bothers you again, or you need help with anything else.”

  Eli grunted again, and his eyes closed. I tiptoed out of the room, warned Crista that Eli was sleeping, and then went out of the medical area. I couldn’t think of any more excuses to delay speaking to my parents and brother, so I headed for the apartment where they were staying.

  My parents opened the door and led me to the living room. We all sat down.

  “Gregas, your sister is here!” yelled my father.

  There was a long pause.

  “I’m afraid Gregas is a bit unsociable at the moment,” said my mother.

  I smiled. “He’s been unsociable ever since his twelfth birthday.”

  “Yes, but he’s been even worse than usual since we arrived in your unit,” said my father. “Gregas doesn’t like having to share an apartment with us, so he’s shutting himself in his bedroom all day.”

  “If he’s making your life difficult, I could ask Megan to give him his own apartment,” I said.

  “Megan was perfectly right to insist on Gregas sharing with us,” said my father. “A teen can’t expect to have a high level apartment all to himself.”

  “Hush, he’s coming,” hissed my mother.

  We all turned to watch Gregas enter the room and slump into a chair. Now my family were all here, it was time for me to raise the awkward subject of last night.

  “I can’t stay long,” I said. “I just called by to check that you hadn’t been too worried by yesterday’s emergency run.”

  My parents exchanged glances. “We knew that you did dangerous work, Amber,” said my mother, “but actually being here when alarms are sounding … We opened the door, and men were running along the corridor carrying guns and body armour. Then one of them came charging in here to protect us.”

  “We admire what you do for the Hive,” said my father, “but Lottery chose to imprint us for ordinary work because we’re ordinary people. It was helpful seeing what happened last night, because now we’ve a far better understanding of the problems you have arranging visits and trips with us, but we’d like to go home as soon as possible.”

  My mother nodded. “We love you, Amber. We know you brought us here to keep us safe from these enemy agents you’re chasing, and we appreciate being given such a luxurious apartment. We’re missing the work we enjoy though, and we’re not imprinted to cope with a life like this.”

  I stood up. “I promise we’ll do everything we can to make things safe and get you home soon.”

  I left the apartment, and stopped in the corridor outside to bury my face in my hands. I knew exactly how my parents were feeling. As my father had said, Lottery had chosen to imprint them for ordinary work because they were ordinary people. I should have had an ordinary life too, but I’d been forced to adapt to this lifestyle because the Hive desperately needed my skills as a telepath.

  My parents shouldn’t be forced to go through that same painful adaptation just because I was their daughter. I needed to make it safe for them to go home, and that meant finding a way to stop Keith causing trouble, but …

  Gregas’s voice spoke from behind me. “Amber, you have to help me.”

  I lowered my hands to my side and turned to look at him. Gregas hadn’t said a word while I was talking to my parents, and I’d assumed he was sulking, but now I could see the fear in his face.

  “When I met that enemy agent in the air vents,” he said, “I had a sudden overwhelming feeling that he was dangerous. When I went back to my teen room, I had a similar thing happen half a dozen times.”

  Gregas gave a distressed shake of his head. “I kept experiencing a weird moment that left me with an entirely different view of people. Wesley lives stories as if they’re real. The boy in the next room to me is unhappy because his mother is seriously ill. A girl is pretending to be my friend because she’s discovered I’ve got a Level 1 sister.”

  I bit my lip. Gregas’s first insight had been triggered by a life-threatening situation. I’d hoped that he wouldn’t have any more insights before he entered Lottery, but things weren’t happening that way. Gregas was getting more insights. He was getting a lot more insights.

  “Then that Hive Defence team came to bring me to your unit,” continued Gregas. “I sensed their leader was prepared to die to save me. I can’t explain how it felt to know that.”

  He didn’t need to explain. I already knew how it felt.

  Gregas gave me a despairing look. “When we arrived in your unit, I didn’t want to get one of my weird moments about our parents, so I tried to get my own room. Megan insisted on me having a bedroom in our parents’ apartment though, so I’ve been shutting myself away in there. I had some peace for a while, but last night everything went wild.”

  He waved his hands in distress. “Our parents were frightened by the alarm of course. The man who came to bodyguard us, Rafael, was getting messages through something in his ear. He wouldn’t tell us what was happening, he just kept saying the emergency run was going smoothly, but we knew he was worried. He finally seeme
d to relax, but then he tensed again, and I had one of my weird moments.”

  Gregas’s voice was shaking now. “I knew Rafael was terrified because you were in trouble, Amber. I pretended I was going to my bedroom, and ran out of the apartment to find out what was wrong. I saw three people were waiting by the lifts, ran towards them, and heard you screaming. Then the lift doors opened, and Eli carried you out and handed you over to Lucas.”

  He made a whimpering sound. “I had a whole succession of weird moments about the people there. Lucas was panicking he was going to lose you. Everyone else was terrified too, even Adika. Then Rafael arrived and dragged me back to the apartment.”

  Buzz had told me that borderline telepaths were more likely to get clear insights into someone who was feeling strong emotions. Everyone in my unit would have been feeling strong emotions when I arrived back last night, so it wasn’t surprising that Gregas had been bombarded by insights.

  “What’s going on, Amber?” demanded Gregas. “Either these weird moments of mine are genuine warnings, and something dreadful happened to you last night, or something is terribly wrong with me and I need urgent medical help.”

  I’d accepted that I couldn’t block Lottery from imprinting Gregas for his ideal life. Now I had to accept that I couldn’t block him from learning the truth about his abilities. I had to do what was best for Gregas, not what was best for me, even if it meant he refused to speak to me ever again.

  I took a deep breath. “What you’re describing as weird moments are genuine warnings. Something dangerous did happen to me last night, and people were very worried at the time, but I’m fine now.”

  “But if the weird moments are genuine warnings … Well, that can’t be happening. Shouldn’t be happening. Something’s horribly wrong with me.”