AWOL

by Traci Harding

  Plummeting feet-first into the void was an excitement rush the like of which Zeven had not felt in some time. In the past he would have waited until the last possible second to set his intention on his next destination, to enjoy the ride and the shock of his onlookers. But these days too much was riding on his memory.

  Khalid. The thought swept his form into a quantum stream of light, before his company had time to gasp.

  5

  ANGER MANAGEMENT

  By the time Taren returned to AMIE, the third mission of the day had been completed. She had teleported herself to her husband, and she joined him in the captain’s office — Lucian was alone.

  As the captain was already seated behind his desk, Taren took a seat to be debriefed.

  He reported that the AMIE team who had gone to Sermetica to retrieve the Princess Satomi’s body from the Vidor family crypt had found her not entombed as expected, but in a stasis module, where she had been kept in a state of suspended animation since the time of her death. Due to Zeven’s directive, Swithin was present to resurrect her, and Kassi Madri — the ship’s medical officer — was on-hand when the princess returned to life and began bleeding anew from her death wounds. The patient was immediately transported to the medical quarters on AMIE, where Ringbalin Malachi was called in to heal her wounds and restore her to full health.

  ‘Good grief!’ Taren smiled at the wonderful news, and at what could be achieved when psychics were permitted to pool their talents. ‘So Mythric has his princess back.’

  ‘And Zeven has his mother,’ Lucian added, dryly.

  ‘Maiara foresaw all of this,’ Taren imagined. ‘And in the end, managed to save them all from Khalid.’

  ‘Yes, quite the little miracle.’ Lucian’s tone turned cynical, and he leaned forwards onto his desk to advise, ‘Only now Khalid has escaped from prison.’

  ‘What?’ Taren’s heart began racing in panic.

  ‘He was apparently spotted on security camera performing psychic feats in his cell, whilst restrained. When the wardens tried to sedate him, Khalid managed to jam his ankle in the security door and crush his restraining device.’ Lucian conveyed what President Anselm had confided in Taren’s absence.

  ‘But why would he want to smash the neutraliser, grievously injuring himself in the process, if he already had his Powers back?’ Taren challenged.

  ‘He thought he was under psychic attack,’ Lucian voiced his conclusion.

  ‘You think someone broke Khalid out of prison?’ Taren didn’t think Khalid had any allies.

  ‘Well, you and I both know it takes at least an hour for the effects of a psychic neutraliser to wear off.’ The irony in Lucian’s voice increased. ‘So … with a broken ankle, under sedation, and with his psychic powers still dumbed, Khalid vanished from his top security vehicle in transit to the hospital. You know what that means, don’t you?’

  Deep pangs of shock were shooting through her body as she realised. ‘He either mysteriously got his Powers back and crushed his ankle for no good reason, or he had psychokinetic help.’

  ‘Exactly right,’ Lucian awarded, sounding most displeased. ‘Needless to say this does not bode well for the psychic freedom act your parents are hoping to pass through the USS senate.’ He stood, frustrated, and then took a few deep breaths to calm himself. ‘Fortunately your father is altering the story to one that indicates Khalid acted on his own.’

  In this case Lucian was absolutely right to be angry; she was angry too! She did not appreciate feeling like a scolded child.

  ‘There are only a handful of people living with such a talent, all of whom are on board this vessel. But at the time Khalid escaped, Zeven was mysteriously absent.’

  Taren was feeling ill; surely Zeven had not freed Khalid! Yet it could explain his interest in the father of their nemesis.

  ‘In light of all this,’ Lucian appealed kindly from behind the desk, ‘do you want to tell me what is really going on? As I am certain Zeven did not suddenly develop full-blown precognition, without at least his wife finding out about it?’

  Taren stood up to confess. ‘The truth is I have two timekeepers AWOL and I have no idea why, nor do I know what they are up to.’

  ‘What do you mean, AWOL?’

  ‘I mean, they have executed a time-jump without me.’ Taren threw both her hands up in question briefly, completely bemused. ‘Apparently they … we,’ she included Lucian in the equation, ‘have already returned to Kila to warn Rhun about the threat to the Chosen. Upon completing that mission the plan was to return to the week before the Oceane incident. But for some reason Zeven and Telmo jumped back to this morning. So I shall be unable to verify Zeven’s story until just before D-day.’

  Lucian sank back into his seat. ‘What did Zeven say he was doing?’

  ‘He wouldn’t say. Told me to trust him …’ She reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved the memo outlining Zeven’s instructions. ‘And gave me this.’ She handed the missive to Lucian, who upon reading it learned that it outlined every essential component of the missions they’d just run. ‘Zeven did say that under no circumstance was anyone from AMIE to come looking for him.’

  ‘Including you?’ Lucian clarified.

  ‘Yep.’ Taren raised both brows, baffled, and then frowned as she considered. ‘Oddly, he also returned his Juju stone to me for safe keeping.’

  ‘That confirms it then,’ Lucian reasoned. ‘The Juju stone would have repelled Khalid and made him violently ill.’

  Lucian was right about that. Taren slapped her forehead into her palm. ‘No, I can’t believe it. Why would Zeven do such a thing?’ Taren’s head shot up as she gasped. ‘Unless he means to kill Khalid and fulfil Maiara’s prophecy? But then why the interest in Khalid’s father?’

  ‘Chironjivi?’ Lucian assumed.

  ‘No,’ Taren confused the issue. ‘It seemed Chironjivi did not use his old corpse of a body to rape the late Qusay of Phemoria. Instead, his evil spirit possessed the body of the Qusay’s chosen mate. Zeven must have uncovered information pointing to the Old Ones as the source of the male of this coupling, as we have confirmed this claim is quite true.’

  ‘Your research trip on Phemoria?’ Lucian guessed.

  ‘What an education that was!’ Taren felt her eyes bulging, as she considered how much work there was to be done on that planet in the wake of the Phemoray.

  ‘So Khalid is fully human?’ Lucian was shocked to learn this.

  ‘And if separated from his demons …’ Taren was having an epiphany. ‘We might even be able to —’

  ‘Rehabilitate him.’ Lucian reached the same conclusion.

  ‘Zeven came up with such a plan? Really?’ Taren felt this notion sounded as odd as Zeven planning to kill Khalid. ‘But that would explain why Zeven is seeking Khalid’s father, to be part of that process.’

  ‘Or to be used to torture his enemy further?’ Lucian had not ruled out the darker possibility.

  ‘This is Zeven we are talking about.’ Taren defended her cousin.

  ‘A Zeven who has gone through who knows what since you saw him yesterday, ’ Lucian reminded her and Taren was forced to concede the caution. ‘Revenge would explain why he doesn’t want any of us going after him. Why he’s not wearing his Juju, as it would not allow him to take a life.’

  ‘Zeven wouldn’t risk the Grigori revoking his powers again.’ Taren knew that in her soul. ‘And why the desire to heal Khalid’s father? If he wanted to shock Khalid with the sad truth, he’d just drag his father before him raw from prison and not have him healed first.’

  ‘Wait?’ Lucian was sure they’d missed some information here. ‘They imprisoned the Prince of the Old Ones? The Old Ones who built the inter-system gateways?’

  ‘Well the Phemoray thought he had raped their Qusay,’ Taren defended her people. ‘They don’t know anything about Dead Man Downs, apart from what the legends say about it being haunted and no one ever returning from there. If Khalid’s father is still alive, Zeven
has asked me to return to Phemoria with Ringbalin to heal the fallen prince.’ Taren was thoughtful a moment.

  ‘Well,’ Lucian assessed all the information. ‘From what I can tell, Zeven seems to be doing good work so far. All today’s missions went smoothly, thanks to his intel, and a tonne of new information has come to light about Khalid.’

  ‘And many other things,’ Taren conceded with a smile, thankful that Lucian was awarding their pilot the benefit of the doubt. ‘I shall get some shut-eye, and then take Ringbalin to Phemoria. Zeven will be returning there to collect the man in question, and I shall be waiting. No more sidestepping the issue; we need to know exactly what his intentions are.’

  Lucian, who could read her like a book, seemed appeased; clearly, he knew that he now had the full story. ‘Agreed.’

  Upon his arrival at Vadik’s treehouse on Frujia, Zeven found the top floor abandoned. He approached the railing and looking over it, spotted Telmo and Vadik lying on the small beach down below, in the shade. Khalid was wading around in the river, arms folded, and not very happy.

  Zeven headed down some wooden stairs that gave access to the upper bank on one side; here a lean-to housed a kitchen. Stone stairs led under the top floor and down the bank, where the stairs forked.

  To the left a set of wooden stairs led to a lounge area, suspended from chains that hung from the upper level of the dwelling. These chains attached to all four corners of the large, square basket-like construction, which had lounges running along underneath the taller banisters at the edges. This suspended area provided excellent views of the river that ran beneath the hut, while being high enough above it to avoid the damp. The lounge was protected from the weather by the level above, but was always well shaded and breezy.

  To the right of the fork, the stone stairs continued down the bank to a pathway that led along the river’s edge. Zeven followed this down to the little beach that sat in the shade of the hut during the warmer afternoon hours.

  ‘You stay away from me, you little blood-sucking freak!’ Their patient was yelling at a colourful little monkey that was screeching at him from the bank, unwilling to enter the water. ‘What? You can’t get me in here?’ he goaded the animal. ‘Well … suck shit!’

  ‘Making progress, are we?’ Zeven commented on the scene that greeted him.

  ‘Well, yes.’ Telmo sat up upon realising they had company. ‘We’ve got him liking the water.’

  ‘I don’t like it! I hate all the fucking elements!’ Khalid waved his arms about, accidentally splashing himself in the process.

  ‘Oi!’ As a master of the elements, Vadik was offended.

  Zeven placed one hand on Vadik’s shoulder to calm him, but addressed Khalid. ‘That hatred is born from fear, which is due to ignorance.’

  ‘Well I’m pretty damn intimate with water at the moment, and I still hate it!’ Khalid staggered about thigh-deep in the river, getting used to balancing with his leg brace. ‘But it’s the only place I’m safe from that little blood-sucking devil, making me stoned out of my mind!’

  ‘And what’s wrong with that then?’ Zeven queried, removing his jacket.

  ‘I can’t think straight!’ Khalid emphasised.

  ‘You can’t scheme, you mean?’ Zeven corrected, stripping off his T-shirt and boots. ‘You spend too much time plotting the future or cursing your past. You need to spend a little time in the present, my friend; the monkey’s venom aids you to do that.’

  ‘What are you doing?’ Khalid was immediately affronted to note Zeven heading towards the water.

  ‘I’m coming in.’

  ‘Why?’ Khalid staggered backwards into deeper water.

  ‘’Cause you need to remember how not to be such a sour-face, whingeing, pain-in-the-arse, sorry for himself, motherfucker!’

  Telmo and Vadik cheered Zeven’s response.

  ‘What do you plan to do?’ Khalid was on edge as Zeven dived beneath the water. ‘Where is he?’ Khalid turned circles, awaiting his fate. But after a few moments when the attack never came, he dropped his guard, fed up. ‘Just fucking kill me then!’

  ‘Boo!’ Zeven startled the life out of Khalid as he appeared behind him and then turned invisible.

  It must have appeared odd to those onshore when Khalid shrieked and began contorting wildly. ‘Stop! You’re a dead man!’ he threatened, while evidently suppressing an urge to laugh. ‘I won’t crack!’

  ‘Is Bob … tickling our prisoner?’ Vadik queried Telmo, confused.

  ‘Our patient,’ Telmo corrected, and Vadik served him a wink in response. ‘But yes, it would appear so.’

  Vadik grinned at this. ‘Payback. Come, Karisha.’ He held out his hand and the monkey ran up his arm and perched itself on his shoulder, whereupon Vadik waded out to join the rumble.

  ‘Oh, fuck off!’ Khalid noted Vadik’s approach, but couldn’t restrain his laughter any longer. ‘This is fucking torture!’ he squealed, gasping for breath as Vadik brought his considerable weight to bear on the matter. Karisha was quick to bite into Khalid, whereby his protests ceased, and he let loose his laughter. ‘You rotten fucking bastards!’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Vadik lifted Khalid clean out of the water and the monkey returned to Vadik’s shoulder.

  ‘Well, I have been known to make rash judgements,’ Khalid attempted to retract the statement.

  Vadik only laughed as he cast him backward. ‘Are we learning yet?’ he hollered before Khalid landed in the river, and disappeared under the water.

  ‘How deep is the water there?’ Zeven queried, knowing Khalid couldn’t swim.

  Vadik shrugged. ‘Should we care?’

  ‘You’d let a team member drown, would you?’

  Vadik frowned but couldn’t bring himself to care. ‘If he was a little insufferable prick —’

  Khalid resurfaced in a huge spray of water, arms waving about wildly, as he gasped in air amid laughter. ‘Ha-hah! That was … fun!’ Khalid seemed surprised.

  ‘If you ask me to do it again …’ Vadik pointed a finger at him in warning, ‘I’ll flatten you!’

  ‘Yes! Do it again!’ Khalid waded back towards them.

  ‘He thinks we are playing?’ Vadik was annoyed by this.

  ‘That is exactly what we are doing,’ Zeven advised, lifting Khalid out of the water using his PK. Their patient squealed with delight as Zeven cast him backwards into the water once again. ‘Khalid never had a childhood, he’s never played, had fun, been loved, or had anything or anyone to be grateful for.’

  Vadik was deeply bemused by Zeven’s statement. ‘My childhood wasn’t exactly ideal either —’

  ‘But you were not possessed and controlled by abhorrent, disembodied demons since the day of your birth.’

  ‘And he was?’ Vadik challenged, pointing to where Khalid was surfacing in a fit of laughter.

  ‘Yes,’ Zeven confirmed, forthrightly. ‘I can, and will, prove that claim in due course.’

  Vadik frowned, looking back to Khalid laughing like a lunatic as he splashed water around. ‘That’s pretty horrific,’ he had to admit.

  ‘I do believe this is the first time in his life that Khalid has been free to feel anything at all,’ Zeven said as he walked them both back to shore, out of Khalid’s earshot. ‘You and I recognise bad times because we’ve had good ones, Khalid has not. He’s never had anyone on his side, nor has he had anyone to side with.’

  ‘You could be talking about any psychic ever born!’ Vadik cried.

  ‘Of all the psychics in existence, including the boss …’ Zeven hypothesised, ‘I believe Khalid may be the most significant.’

  ‘Why is that?’ Telmo was curious.

  ‘What is the easiest way to hide a great treasure, and protect it from discovery?’ Zeven posed.

  ‘Have it housed in something impenetrable,’ Vadik replied.

  ‘And guarded by something vicious.’ Telmo grinned, bobbing his head in understanding. ‘But you are acting on more than a hunch, I can tell by your surety.’<
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  ‘True, but I have a few more pieces of the puzzle to fit together yet,’ Zeven waived that topic for another time. ‘What is of paramount import is that we fill Khalid up with as many emotionally stimulating experiences as we can. This island is the best place in the USS to experience the many wonders of life, and you know this place better than anyone!’ Zeven put it to Vadik. ‘Show Khalid the joys of being alive.’

  ‘And what if he chooses to return to his evil ways?’ Vadik argued.

  ‘Then he does so with a balanced perspective on life, and in full knowledge of the damage he is doing,’ Zeven reasoned. ‘That has not been the case before now.’

  ‘You really think you can rehabilitate the most vindictive agent that the secret services ever commissioned?’ Vadik was finding the truth of their mission hard to swallow.

  ‘I’ve been to the future, I’ve seen it done,’ Zeven advised Vadik, whose jaw dropped open at the claim. ‘And the boss is counting on us to accomplish this.’

  ‘Why bother? Why not just kill him?’ Clearly Vadik couldn’t let that aspiration go.

  ‘Then we would be no better than the MSS that you seek to bring down,’ Zeven explained.

  Vadik began nodding. ‘I see the boss is very wise,’ he awarded, and Zeven grinned, quietly proud of himself.

  ‘Certainly is,’ Telmo added, and Zeven was stunned by his rare praise.

  ‘But?’ Zeven knew there was always a ‘but’ as far as Telmo was concerned.

  ‘No but,’ Telmo assured with a grin. ‘I would hardly become involved in a plan that wasn’t ethically sound.’

  ‘Of course you wouldn’t,’ Zeven concurred, realising the truth of that statement was a boost in confidence. ‘So, you guys have got this?’ He indicated Khalid.

  ‘You know me,’ Telmo stated, needing to say no more.

  Zeven looked to Vadik, who was now viewing Khalid as something of a curiosity. ‘Can you do it?’

  Vadik looked to Zeven, uncertain. ‘You’ve seen what he’s like when he is in his right mind — he’s an ingrate who sees the beauty in nothing!’