I had already begun pulling up the particular files we wanted to look at first. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe later. Let’s focus on this so we can get get out of here.”
Pulling up the video first, I shifted my chair so both of us could sit in front of the screen. There was no audio, but at least the footage was from more than one angle. The four cameras started as soon as someone entered the room.
Jonim was the first in followed by a pair arguing. I grabbed the tablet from my bag to match the faces in the video to the files. One arcane and one divine caster. A Spelltech employee entered with a tablet in hand and stood behind the defense station.
“What is it?” Silver asked.
“They brought in an arcane and a divine caster for this test. It doesn’t make much sense if they’re only testing one of the stations.”
“Didn’t they say they were trying to figure out the best combination? What’s the affiliation of the divine caster?”
I scrolled through the information on my tablet. Silver reached over and paused the video before dropping his chin on my shoulder. I moved slightly to get him off, but he apparently had gotten comfortable. At least it dampened the effects of the system and I could focus better.
“A priest affiliated with a church devoted to the God of Magic,” Silver commented, reading my screen. “I guess that makes sense, though I thought most of them were purists about not mixing magic with anything else. Typically they don’t like arcane casters either.”
I tried to turn and look at him, but could not with how we were situated. “Aren’t you considered an oddity?”
“Yes, and happier for it. Okay, back to work.” He reached over and resumed playback.
We sat through more time of the two arguing. Jonim kept trying to break it up. I tilted my head, seeing something which made little sense. “I wonder why Jake isn’t here?”
“Maybe he normally doesn’t. We’ll have to check other tests. He could also be monitoring the system from elsewhere.”
I shrugged. Given his personality, I thought he would be right there expecting a miracle to happen.
Finally the test began and the divine caster took a seat at the defense station. No sooner had his hands touched the grips than sparks rained down on him from above and the station around him lit up with bolts of electricity dancing across its surface. Parts of the station exploded, throwing shards.
The caster was thrown back against the chair, tearing his hands from the grips. The arcane caster ran to the door, frantically trying to yank it open, the person recording data from the test hid behind the chair, and Jonim moved to help the unconscious caster.
The room went dark for a few seconds before the emergency lighting kicked in. At that point everything we needed to see was done.
“Odd Jonim never mentioned he was there,” Silver said.
I crossed my arms and sat back. “We’ll have to ask him why. I wish I had the programs here so I could get a closer look at sections of the footage.”
“Let’s see if I can’t at least do something toward that.” Silver grinned and got up, heading to the other side of the room where Aris sat at his station.
I rolled my eyes and pulled up the reports associated with the incident. Jonim’s was thorough - documenting not only what happened, but also the argument between the casters. However, that particular piece of information was unimportant.
I switched over to the notepad program on my tablet and jotted down who we needed to talk to. I hoped to corner Jonim away from Jake.
Curiosity overrode my need to keep working on this puzzle and I turned to see what Silver was doing. I stretched a bit in my chair to see over the other stations. My partner leaned against the wall, chatting with Aris, idly flicking the tail of his braid back and forth. A smile graced his features as they talked.
What happened to finding out if we could get copies of these files? I still had not figured out how to pull digital files with a spell.
Even if we got the files, I still did not have access to the programs I needed. I would have to send it to Sparky. I cringed at the thought of how much work I would be sending him, knowing what his normal workload looked like.
Right now, I needed to focus, which was difficult with the constant pull from the system. I brought up a video of a previous test and sure enough, Jake was there running around frantically - yelling at everyone in the room. They were testing both systems though.
Digging through the project file further, I found a spreadsheet someone kept of the tests and a description of each with corresponding dates and times. Perfect.
Until I found out they never tested a single station like this before. Frowning, I sat back in the chair, crossing my arms. I began to wonder if testing the one station might have unbalanced the system.
No. Unless there was something drastically different about the offense station, I would have caused a repeat of the incident. The rough principal of the design simply converted the type of energy into the particular system it was being supplied to. Both stations acted the same way until you got to the finer controls.
Though the caster at the defense station in the prototype became no more than a power supply. I knew the current defense systems in use created zonal shields which could be moved and stacked to protect a particular side. Unless they planned to implement it in a later stage.
But then the current design made no sense. The defense station would need to be centered just as much as the offense station or both would need their own views of the exterior. Though I did not need the screens.
I ran a hand over my hair and tugged on my bangs in frustration. Just one more time with the system and I would have a better grasp on this.
“Don’t do that - your hair is so pretty.” I turned to find Aris standing behind me with a smile on his face. Silver stood next to him. “So I hear you want a copy of the project file. I’ve gotten the go ahead from my superiors. How do you want it?”
I shifted so I was not twisted awkwardly to look at the two of them. “Can we get it encrypted and sent in a message?”
“Standard military encryption okay?”
“Yeah,” I said moving out of the way.
Aris brought up a mail screen. “Here, just plug in the address and I’ll take care of the rest.”
I slid the keyboard over and started typing. I referenced my phone to make sure I spelled Sparky’s actual name correctly.
“You’re having it go to Sparky?” Silver asked.
I bit my lower lip for a moment. “He’s got access to the programs needed and he can update the case file far more easily than we can.”
“Good point,” my partner conceded.
I stepped away when I was done and let Aris do his part. On my tablet, I typed up a set of instructions for Sparky. I hated piling more work on him, but we were limited in what we could do here.
Now that there was nothing to distract me, I felt the pull of the system again. It was still faint, but enough to make me long for that moment of balance. Just a moment of what it must feel like to be normal.
“Ketayl?” Silver asked softly, jarring me from my thoughts.
I shook my head. “Sorry, I think the time difference is messing with me.” It was the first excuse I could think of. Admitting the system still affected me would only worry Silver and slow down our work.
“Maybe we should call it an early night. Think I can make good on drinks another time, Aris?”
Our assistant stood up and looked at my partner. “Yeah, I’m good whenever. You know how to find me. Oh, and it’s sent. Just got a confirmation of receipt so whoever it went to has it.”
I bowed. “Thank you.”
“Hey, come back and visit anytime.” The look Aris gave Silver confused me, but I figured it had something to do with their conversation earlier.
Chapter 5
I laid in bed staring at the ceiling. Silver still rested, but I only managed maybe an hour. I listened to his soft breathing from the other bed, but it had not
helped lull me back into a resting state. The gentle rain had not helped either.
Silver opened the curtain before we went to bed because if I rested longer than him, he would not wake me when he needed to view the sunrise. Not that it mattered really. When we lived together in the house in Ghost Forest for a couple of months, I would often sit with him for his morning rituals. The quiet and stillness brought a measure of peace and balance, but not nearly at the level the system had in that all too brief moment.
Sliding out of my bed, I padded as quietly as I could around where Silver rested and stood at the window, looking out at the ship through the rain. Would actually testing the system make this worse or would I feel more complete?
Maybe it was less about the system itself and more I had a chance to stretch my power out. No, that made no sense.
I touched the window with my fingertips. Usually I found the rain calming. Especially summer rain, but then I could sit on my balcony or at least open a window. I rested my forehead next to my fingers, soaking in the coolness of the window. What I needed to do was not give Silver reason to worry.
And yet here I was up in the middle of the night. I should go back to bed and at least pretend to be resting. I turned to find Silver sitting up, staring at me.
I bit my lower lip and hurried to think of a reason for being up.
He signaled for me to come sit next to him on his bed. Hesitantly I did so, staying as much on the edge as possible. Rough fingers dug at the knots in my shoulders and neck, releasing the tension built up. At the same time, the siren’s song of the system dampened. How he was able to do it, I did not know, but hopefully it was enough so I could get some rest.
“Uneasy resting in a new place?” Silver asked quietly.
“Yeah, I guess.” It was as good of a reason as any and one he knew my pattern of. Unless I was exhausted then I cared little where I rested. I drifted as he worked out the tension.
“Hopefully we won’t be here too long. You should take some time off to readjust when we get back.”
I took a deep breath and reminded myself I withheld the truth for his sake. If he worried too much about what went on with me, he would be unable to focus fully on the task at hand.
I still disliked doing it.
~*~
“I’d like to see if we can talk to Jonim away from Jake,” I told Silver as we got ready for the day.
“That might not be as easy as you think. I’ll see about arranging a meeting. It looks like we may have to split up after all just to cover more ground.”
I frowned at his statement. I would leave it to Silver to handle. Dealing with Jake could be an issue, but one I figured I could handle. “What is the status of the divine caster involved?”
“Still in the infirmary, but he’s able to talk. How willing could be another story.”
I raised an eyebrow at my partner.
“Apparently he hasn’t wanted to talk to anyone. Nothing outside of what he needs for medical attention anyway.”
What we saw was traumatic, but not to the point of silence. Perhaps something different happened which we were unable to see on the video.
“Okay, what?”
I came out of my thoughts. “Hm?”
Silver knelt down in front of where I sat on the edge of my bed. “You’re a few too many steps ahead of me right now. What are you thinking?”
I bit my lower lip and debated if I should say something. He already knew I was theorizing. “I’m not even sure it’s a possibility, but what if he ended up connecting to the system the same way I did?”
“You didn’t cause it to explode the second you touched it.”
“Could be something with the defense part. I’ll have to check the records and see if he tested the defense station before. I think I saw his name on the list, which would cancel out my theory.”
Silver sat back on his heels. “Not necessarily. Not if they made an adjustment from a previous test.”
“I’ll see what kind of headway I can make with the files in Jake’s office.” With any luck, I would be left alone to work.
“Have you heard back from Sparky yet?”
I pulled my watch off of the charger, noting there was a request for a call from the Halfling. “Do you want to start a call to him? I think he has something.”
“Video?”
“Yeah.”
Silver got his tablet and started the call while I tied the end of my hair off. I stepped up to see over his shoulder, getting my watch on.
“About damn time,” Sparky said the moment the call connected. “Oh, hey, um, hi boss.”
I knew his outburst was toward Silver. I asked, “What do you have?”
“What don’t I have. The guy you wanted me to look into is a nutcase.”
“Tell us something we haven’t already figured out,” Silver said.
Sparky rolled his eyes before picking up a tablet. “Okay, so Spelltech is a relatively new company. Jacob Martin was originally an archaeologist until he started it a few years ago.”
“That’s quite the career change,” Silver noted.
“Yeah, no kidding. Especially when his focus was on Atlantis.”
“What?” I leaned forward. “Are you sure?”
Sparky nodded. “Yeah, I spent last night reading through some of the papers he published. I haven’t really delved into the topic, but from what I could gather, even among others interested in the subject, he was considered pretty out there.”
I glanced over at Silver. This just might have fallen into our domain. I got the sense of it when I saw he was attempting to use both types of magic.
“I’ve got records of him stating he found some ancient Atlantian book and about that time is when he started claiming there used to be only one type of magical energy, but it had been split into the arcane and the divine.”
“So how did he manage to get into weapons research and a military contract?” Silver asked.
Sparky shrugged. “A good song and dance? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m still digging, but his financials are weird. Tonkey is helping to make sense of it. Actually got a few of the cyber team helping. This one caught their attention.”
“I take it Lockonis knows then,” I commented.
“Of course I do,” Lockonis said and smiled at us as she walked into view of the camera. “Realized when we started digging up info for Sparky that we were potentially dealing with a much larger issue and you were going to need more help.”
I nodded and remained silent. We could not let Jake know there were even more people working on this.
“We’ll keep following this lead on this end. Send us the information you can, but focus on figuring out what happened. Any chance you have an idea yet?”
“No,” I said quickly, cutting off anything Silver might say about what happened yesterday. “I’ve got to go over the plans and figure out why sections which shouldn’t be connected also burned out. Spelltech hasn't been forthcoming with information.”
“Okay, we’ll be in touch. For now, I want you to keep yourselves ready for anything.” Lockonis reached forward and ended the call.
Silver turned and looked at me. “You didn’t want to tell her about your reaction the to system yesterday?”
I stepped away from my partner. “No. It was an isolated incident.”
A growl emanated from my partner. “Only because you haven’t been exposed again and I know not only does Jake want you to test the system, but you want a chance at it also. What happens then?”
“You figured out how to break it,” I reminded him, hoping it would calm him down.
“And if that doesn’t work? What then?”
I ran my hand over my hair, tugging on my bangs in frustration. “We’ll figure it out. It may be something as simple as I was unprepared and can back out of the system on my own. I just need to know how.”
“Would you stop risking yourself for once?!”
His angry outburst made me stop. I stared at him with wid
e eyes. “Sorry.”
“Just… Let’s be smart about this, okay?” Silver held out the holster with my shrunken staff.
I sighed and took it, setting about putting it on over my calf-length pants. “Yeah.” Truth be told, what happened to him a few months ago still haunted me. I could not handle the thought of losing him. It was easier for me to take the risks.
Silver took a deep breath and let it out before he said, “Okay, let’s find some breakfast and get started for the day.”
Chapter 6
Silver held the door to the infirmary open for me. I already had my tablet out to take notes. I only hoped Priest Mason Holland could provide insight into what happened. Something that was not visible in the video.
The dark-haired Human man sat on a bed with his arms crossed, glaring us down. Silver previously stated he had been uncooperative thus far. I hoped we could convince him we were here to help.
“I’ve heard about the two of you,” Mason said sharply. He turned to my partner. “If you’re the divine caster then that means she’s the one who twists the purity of magic.”
I stopped short and looked to Silver to make sure I heard correctly. His jaw was set and he glared down at the man. The creak of his leather fingerless gloves sounded far louder than it should have been.
We did not have time for this. Ignoring the comment, I said, “We’re here to ask you about the accident.”
“I’m not talking to someone who defiles what the God of Magic has blessed,” Mason spat. “Just like this forsaken project. Leave now - I won’t tolerate your presence any longer, heretic.”
What had I done? Silver held up his hand for me to be silent. Now I was completely lost as to what was going on.
“Ketayl, could you step outside please?” My partner’s words were clipped, his focus on Mason.
I looked back and forth between the men and debated if I should listen to Silver or not. Not understanding his intent, I chose not to fight him on this. “Um, yeah. Let me know if you need something.”
The door barely made a click as I left. I stood there, staring at the closed door for a minute before I started pacing outside of the infirmary. That pompous, self-centered… ugh!
Conjured Defense (Terra Chronicles Book 4) Page 5