Being of the Field

by Traci Harding

  ‘I thought she wasn’t going to remember anything?’ Zeven protested.

  ‘Unless my mission is threatened, whereupon I remember everything.’ She held the device up, showing a light on the side was blinking. ‘You know what this is?’

  ‘You don’t want to use that.’ Zeven moved slowly towards her. Aurora gasped and tried to stop him, but he gently brushed her hand aside, staying focused on Kalayna.

  ‘I have a mission,’ Kalayna stated, ‘and I will succeed in delivering you into USS hands, or we all die. I daresay your deaths would draw Dr Lennox into the civilian sector of the city and that will be mission accomplished for me.’

  ‘You’re on our side, remember?’ Zeven said. ‘Whatever you’ve done before, we don’t care!’

  ‘I am not who you think I am.’ She became angered by his support.

  ‘You are whoever you want to be,’ he insisted. ‘Personal choice is the one thing no one can take from you.’

  ‘Oh, yes, they can,’ she said, beginning to tremble as her eyes welled with tears. ‘When you’re alone in the world, anything can be taken from you.’

  Aurora feared that Kalayna would accidentally hit the trigger on the device if Starman did not take it from her soon.

  He wanted to avoid exposing his PK to a known enemy—at present, she only suspected his Power and he thought it wise not to confirm her guess. Instead he poured all the love he could summon in her direction and she moaned as she felt the healing force bombarding her being.

  But the secret agent in her resisted his advances and compassion. ‘You do not control me!’ Her finger was poised upon the button, when Aurora suddenly remembered the code name.

  ‘You are not the Fem-Libertine! That bitch has no control over you, Kalayna!’ Aurora yelled. Kalayna froze and Zeven seized the device from her, and then held her tight as she burst into tears.

  ‘I nearly killed you,’ she gasped in shock and despair. ‘I…I…who the fuck am I? What just happened?’ She looked at Aurora, who was shaking her head as she breathed a sigh of relief. ‘No, wait a second.’ Kalayna scanned her own memory and found an excess of MSS experience she’d never consciously known she had. ‘It’s all starting to come back to me.’

  CHAPTER 21

  THE TWO-FOLD CITY

  Lucian was very wary of Taren going to dinner with the Queen of Phemoria. ‘What if they’re not taking you there at all? Why should we trust these people?’

  Taren suspected Lucian’s concerns were driven by his anger at being so obviously discriminated against. ‘I need some answers, Lucian.’ She didn’t appreciate him trying to strike fear into her about this. ‘And we need funding, supplies and crew or we won’t last another week in space. Can’t you please envisage a more constructive outcome? You know my beliefs, and channelling energy into a bad scenario will not help anyone. Maybe the queen will not speak with a man? From what I hear she rarely meets with anyone.’

  This was true enough. Qusay-Sabah Clarona never left Phemoria and gave her envoys responsibility for political dealings on her behalf. This behaviour gave her an air of mystique and protected her from political violence, and assassination, for no one was really sure what she looked like.

  ‘Personally, I don’t think the Phemorians are interested in the project at all. It’s you they’re after.’

  ‘Then let me find out why,’ Taren appealed.

  As the apartment door chimed, Taren turned to give her appearance the once-over in the mirror and then looked back to her lover’s worried face. ‘I have a communicator. If anything happens I’ll buzz you.’ She kissed him. ‘Wish me luck.’

  ‘Be careful,’ Lucian said with a smile.

  ‘I promise.’ Taren kissed him again, feeling a great lack of urgency to go anywhere, but the buzzer on the door downstairs urged her to get this meeting over with.

  Taren was not thrilled to discover Jalila Lamus waiting to escort her to the engagement with the queen. The way she had spoken down to the man Taren loved and respected had really rubbed Taren the wrong way.

  ‘Why was Professor Gervaise not invited to this dinner with me?’ she asked. The viceroy sat directly opposite her in the back of the car.

  ‘Is he your keeper?’ was Jalila’s curt reply.

  ‘We are each other’s keeper.’

  Jalila looked aside, seemingly impervious to Taren’s sentiment, and uttered, ‘Not for long.’

  ‘I beg to differ.’ Taren was shocked by the comment.

  The viceroy’s attention darted back to Taren to engage with her. ‘You don’t have to beg for anything. Tonight your life will change forever.’

  Taren was dumbstruck. She didn’t know whether to be afraid, angry or offended!

  ‘You have nothing to fear, Doctor, and everything to gain. Be patient…the answers you seek are coming.’

  Shit, she’s a telepath, Taren surmised on the quiet, whereupon Jalila smiled confidently and turned her gaze back out the window.

  The queen’s estate and residence were high on a forested hilltop overlooking the city. It was a sheer-walled circular dwelling, several storeys in height, rendering it virtually unscaleable and giving it a very modern appearance.

  Queen Qusay-Sabah Clarona was protected by a fierce group of female guards, rumoured to be ten thousand in number. These were the ‘Valoureans’, the elite of the Phemorian army. True to name, they were supremely fit, focused, beauteous and well armed. Silver-spiked armour, worn over a red leather uniform, made them look formidable, but with a seductive twist.

  Jalila led Taren past the guard to the door and then halted to take her leave. ‘Do have an extraordinary evening, Doctor.’ The viceroy bowed her head briefly.

  ‘I feel confident of that,’ Taren replied coolly, as her escort retreated to the transport and departed the residence.

  Taren breathed deeply of the cool night air to compose herself. She truly hoped that Queen Clarona was not as arrogant and elitist as her viceroy. Taren really didn’t like Jalila Lamus very much, and was not keen on being associated with the Phemorians if all the women here were of the same ilk.

  An older female steward answered the door. ‘Dr Lennox, welcome.’ She bowed deeply to Taren as she invited her inside. ‘Our majesty is awaiting your presence in her council chamber. If you would please follow me.’

  At least I have definitely been delivered to the queen’s palace, she thought. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

  The walls of the residence were adorned with huge frescos depicting the heroines of Phemoria’s past. Looking up at the ceiling, Taren beheld a breathtaking depiction of many elegant veiled women overseeing the scenes unfolding on the walls below. The Phemoray, Taren guessed as she and her guide reached the top of a staircase and the steward opened the double doors at the top. ‘Dr Lennox, majesty.’

  A tall woman stood with her back to the door, gazing through panoramic picture windows at the city below. She was dressed all in white: a sparkling veil fell to her waist over a slim-fitting floor-length gown. The underside of the queen’s long sleeves reached the floor also.

  ‘Very good, Salantea. Thank you.’ She waited for the doors to close behind her steward before she turned to view Taren.

  ‘Your majesty.’ Taren bowed her head briefly, in a show of respect. ‘Thank you for seeing me.’

  ‘It is I who am grateful for this audience,’ she replied. ‘I have dreamt of this meeting for some fifty years.’

  ‘Fifty years?’ Taren smiled politely, confused. Her work had only brought her recognition over recent years. ‘But I was barely born fifty…’ The revelation hit her like a brick wall. ‘…years…ago…’

  ‘I know,’ the veiled woman said, her voice filled with warm sentiment. ‘I was there.’

  Taren didn’t know what to make of this and did not jump to any immediate conclusions. ‘Are you saying you knew my mother?’

  ‘Yes, I know her,’ she replied, waving Taren forward. ‘Come closer, child. Let me look at you.’
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  Overcome by the prospect of learning something about her mother, Taren began to shiver as she acquiesced to the stately woman’s request. ‘My mother lives?’ The subject of her parents never failed to set her on edge, since they had both chosen to abandon her. Or so she’d always assumed.

  ‘Yes, she does. However, she did not abandon you as you imagine.’ The queen reached out to touch Taren’s cheek and turn her face to the light. ‘You look so much like her,’ she claimed, her voice betraying strong emotion.

  ‘If my mother didn’t abandon me, then why have I not heard from her in all these years?’ Taren asked defiantly.

  ‘You were stolen and up until your recent involvement in the disappearance of Maladaan, we have been unable to find you.’

  Taren stepped away, bewildered and becoming angry. ‘Who stole me? Why?’ Her eyes narrowed, determined to get her answer. ‘Who am I?’

  ‘You are my daughter, Princess of Phemoria and heir to the throne.’ The queen removed her veil to show Taren the striking resemblance they bore to one another.

  ‘No.’ Taren was beyond shocked at seeing a clear family likeness.

  ‘Yes. My agent stole one of your blood samples from AMIE and your DNA is a perfect match with both myself and your father.’

  Taren frowned, still shaking her head. ‘But others claim my father is President Anselm, and I know that can’t be. The two of you are mortal enemies.’

  The queen nodded. ‘We are mortal enemies, because he is the one who stole you from me.’

  ‘What!’ Taren could barely breathe any more.

  The queen placed a hand over Taren’s third eye area and it had an immediately calming affect.

  ‘Thank you.’ Taren pulled away once she was breathing normally. ‘This is all a bit difficult to digest.’

  ‘I understand that it is.’

  Taren dared to look into the woman’s face, to find her looking joyous…sincerely so. But Taren could not honestly say she was thrilled at the prospect of being the heir to this planet.

  The queen led Taren to the windows to view the city, its tidy street blocks abuzz with traffic and fairly unremarkable in every way. ‘I know our capital does not look as grand as the cities on Maladaan, as beautiful as those on Frujia, or as rich as the cities of Sermetica, but this city has a secret that only true Phemorians know about and can utilise.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Taren was intrigued. She loved nothing more than a good secret.

  ‘Do you know how to raise your vibratory rate to employ your third-eye vision?’ the queen asked.

  ‘It’s not something I’ve had call to do very often,’ Taren said with a laugh, ‘so, no, it is not my forte.’

  The queen shrugged. ‘Not to worry, you shall learn, but for now…allow me.’ She moved around behind Taren and placed one hand over her eyes and the other over her third eye.

  There was a tingling sensation on her forehead, an effervescence, that brought a smile to Taren’s face.

  ‘Behold your true inheritance.’

  Another city, an etheric city, had materialised and it rose high above the existing city, but also interpenetrating it. The ghostly metropolis was far more impressive and remarkable than the city that concealed it and even the room in which she stood had completely altered. Where there had once been a solid wall of windows in front of them, there now extended a long walkway that led into one of the huge buildings of the mega-city.

  ‘The twofold city,’ Taren said with a beaming smile of wonder as she comprehended the true meaning behind this city’s name. The image mentally propelled her back in time to a vision she’d had of this very moment, and the recognition gave her a start.

  ‘You know in your heart it is the truth. Why do you think you have managed to remain immune to the discrimination of the Psychic Monitor Database?’

  ‘My MSS service wiped my record,’ Taren stated in reply.

  ‘But why did the MSS choose to accept your Power, while they denigrate, and worse, all others with the same abilities?’ The queen’s questions caused panic to churn in Taren’s gut. ‘Because your father used the MSS and their database to protect you from being found, at the same time subduing any psychic who might threaten your Power or expose you. That is how Anselm has kept you hidden from me all this time.’ The queen reached out and fondly stroked Taren’s hair. ‘I know this must all be a little overwhelming, but given time you’ll see that you belong here—’

  Taren withdrew from her touch, unsure of how she felt, or whether or not she even believed her. ‘I belong in space on the AMIE project.’

  The queen did not look sympathetic as she shook her head. ‘Surely you can see how impossible that vocation is now.’

  The horrifying truth sank into her bemused brain. Whether or not Taren believed what the queen was saying, the queen certainly believed it. She had ultimate power here and was probably more psychically gifted than Taren had ever dreamt of being. What hope did she have of resisting the will of such a woman?

  ‘I want to return to Lucian, please.’ Taren felt the trap closing on her.

  The queen was displeased with this suggestion, but stopped short of shaking her head in refusal. ‘It is my understanding that you wish to meet with the Phemoray. They are certainly eager to speak with you.’

  Taren’s eyes opened wide. She was intrigued and found the courage to swallow her fears and continue her quest. ‘I would like to, very much.’

  ‘Then I am afraid you shall have to make do with my company, at least until dawn,’ the queen smiled. ‘The Phemoray are easier to contact at dusk and dawn when the veil between our worlds is thinnest.’

  Taren looked back to the ghost city, wrongly believing that the Phemoray were its occupants. ‘But I assumed—’

  ‘Heavens no.’ The queen was amused. ‘The Phemoray detest cities. We’ll have to venture into the forest to make their acquaintance. Tonissia is the dwelling place of all true Phemorian citizens.’

  ‘No men then,’ Taren chided.

  The queen detected her daughter’s cynical undertone. ‘Nor will there ever be.’

  The deep prejudice in the woman only increased Taren’s fears that she might never see her lover again, but she suppressed her worry for the moment. Her meeting with the Phemoray was of the utmost importance.

  ‘Allow me to show you what women can create without any masculine hindrance.’ The queen proceeded up the long walkway towards the ethereal city.

  Taren didn’t want to believe that this queen and her planet had any claim on her, but nevertheless she warily trailed behind, of a mind to humour the queen as long as it served AMIE’s interests. Taren was rather attached to the males in her life and was not prepared to consider a life without them. If she went missing, the Phemorians would find themselves confronted with a few masculine hindrances they hadn’t banked on.

  It was not long after Taren left that Lucian got a call from Zeven, requesting that Lucian meet them in town at the spacecraft expo, the DS-700 exhibit. Zeven wouldn’t say why he needed to meet with his captain, only that their meeting was of the utmost importance.

  As chance would have it, the invitation was a stroke of luck…as Lucian’s cab rounded the esplanade, heading for the security exit, he saw a large vehicle pull up in front of the apartment and ten armed Valoureans converge on the place he’d just vacated.

  This only confirmed what Lucian already suspected—Taren was in trouble and so was he.

  When the cab passed through the security exit and onto the expressway, Lucian breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as the tunnel ended and he saw he was in the city centre, he requested to be dropped off.

  Lucian made haste towards the rendezvous point, his concern for Taren mounting. All he could think was that his brother had been right about the Phemorians, and they now had a member of the AMIE organisation in their custody who they would grill for information. Thankfully, Swithin didn’t know much about the revelations Lucian had been exposed to recently in regard to AMIE’s opera
tions and crew. But Swithin could connect the AMIE project to the MSS and other intergalactic secret service agencies and that alone was enough to have them all put away for life by the Phemorian justice system.

  AMIE needed to depart Phemoria as soon as possible, but Lucian was not going anywhere without Taren, or his brother. With the crew he had, he’d learned nothing was impossible. Possibly not even penetrating the high-security complexes guarded by Valoureans.

  The spacecraft expo was massive and filled to capacity with people from all the planets in the USS territories. To Lucian’s way of thinking, this was the perfect place to meet…they could lose themselves in the crowd should the need arise. Zeven may have been right out there when it came to heroics, but he was smart enough to keep a low profile if need be.

  Having found the DS-700 exhibit, Lucian couldn’t see any sign of his crew, and began to worry that they might have been picked up before they could meet him.

  ‘Captain!’

  Lucian turned to find his pilot waving at him from the launch pad where the DS-700 hyper-lite was parked. And here I was thinking Starman could keep a low profile. The captain rolled his eyes at his own naivety.

  ‘I’ve convinced this fine gentleman here to allow me to take you for a test drive,’ Zeven announced as Lucian joined him, the salesman and the two girls.

  ‘This is an honour, Captain Gervaise.’ The salesman shook his hand eagerly. ‘I believe the DS-700 would be a fine addition to your project.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ Lucian demurred, playing along with Zeven’s arrangements.

  ‘I really envy you,’ Kalayna called out as she watched the pilot board the latest supercraft.

  Aurora had no interest in throwing up her dinner, and was happy to wave from the safety barrier.

  ‘Get the rest of the crew here now,’ the captain said quietly to Aurora as he handed her his bag. ‘Except Ringbalin,’ he advised. He had no inkling as to where Dr Portus’ loyalties truly lay and he didn’t want her around. With any luck, Ringbalin had pined for his greenhouse and had already returned to AMIE.