“How can the messengers know what’s happening to the Kinahns and the expedition, and why do they care? Why do they care about the remaining lives on those other Doftle held worlds? Why do they care about any of this?”
“And yet?”
“And yet, those questions bring three other bits of information to the front of my mind, and I’m not sure why.”
“What are they?” Zander asked.
“Vari said the Doftles, those of Pithos who are, presumably, sane, are a peace-loving race. That’s the first one. The second is that Rodnil told her, before offering her all of his knowledge and memories, that seeking help from Pithos was the only way to prevent the Doftles of the Lost Tentacle from destroying the Thousand Worlds. And the third one is something that few people know about. It was on the rescue mission vid of the Leaper, but edited out of all public versions.
“Doftles are divided into groups or levels. Those of higher levels have authority over those of lower levels.”
“Do you mean like us being Commanders, able to command all below us?” Zach asked.
“They do have ranks like that, but I’m talking about something a little different.” She paused, trying to think of the best way to describe what she meant. “Imagine that you’re Doftle, and you tell Sark, who is below you in rank, to do something that he doesn’t want to do. All you’d have to do is say one word or phrase to him. That would activate a biological mechanism in his brain that would force his body to obey you even while his mind is fighting it. He’d have zero choice in the matter. He wouldn’t become mindless or brainless or unaware. He just wouldn’t have any control over his own physical actions.”
“That’s…well, I’m not sure what that is,” Zander said. “It must be a holdover from when they were siphonophores.”
“It’s like the Controllers,” Zain said. “That must be where they got the idea from.”
“I agree. It makes sense, too. A siphonophore can’t exist without absolute cooperation and obedience of every organism within it. Otherwise one leg would go here, the other over there. They’d never survive.”
“So these three ideas keep banging around in your head,” Zain said. “What do you think they mean?”
“I couldn’t even guess until I just told you about them. Now I think I understand.” She set her fork down and pushed her plate back a little.
“Pithos isn’t going to want to race all over the galaxy tracking down stray Doftles in their space stations, worlds, ships, what-have-you. It would take forever for one thing, and for another, they’re peace loving. It would go against everything they believe in, and Rodnil would’ve known that.
“Now I’m thinking they probably wouldn’t need to do that. Maybe all they’d have to do is send a command to all the Doftles from the Lost Tentacle ordering them to destroy themselves. Since the highest level Doftles are telepathic, I doubt they’d have to do much more than enter the same galaxy, and send out the order.”
“I can’t imagine how powerful they’d have to be to send a command like that telepathically throughout an entire galaxy,” Zander said. “Which, in retrospect, raises another question.”
“Which is?”
Zander checked the privacy screen, and lowered his voice. “If they’re so powerful, why is it that you and your sisters are supposed to protect them?”
“Excellent question,” she replied. “Unfortunately, in the two and a half months between my learning that, and our departure, none of us were able to find an answer.” Bean went completely still again. Zander, Zach, and Zain watched as she slowly turned to meet Iffon’s gaze. When she paled slightly, they all became tense, but they remained silent until she looked back up at them.
“What did you and Iffon just figure out?” Zander asked.
“We didn’t,” she said softly. “I just got another message telling me why the Doftles poisoned Kinah. It’s a distraction.”
“Distraction from what?”
“I don’t know, but if they think it’s important enough to tell me about it, I suspect it’s bad.”
“They told you about the Kinahns months ago, right?” Zain asked. She nodded. “So why didn’t they tell you that it was a distraction then?”
“I don’t know for certain, but I think it’s because they didn’t know it was done as a distraction then.” She hesitated, then sighed. “There’s something else I think I should tell you.”
“Go ahead, the screen is still up,” Zander said.
“According to what Iffon told me after I got shot in the stairwell, Chaos has been trying to kill me since I was seven.”
“Wait…what? Why?” Zach asked.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?”
“You don’t know?” Zander asked.
“No, I don’t, and neither does Iffon.”
“Did anything happen when you were seven?” Zach asked.
“I’ve thought about it a lot since Iffon told me that,” she said. “I have a good memory for significant events, like when I discovered my telekinesis, and meeting you when I was four, even though I didn’t know it was significant at the time. As far as I can remember, nothing significant happened when I was seven. It’s been fifteen years though, so who knows?”
“Merde,” Zach hissed suddenly, instantly gaining everyone’s attention. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I probably shouldn't have said that.”
“You thought of something, Zach,” Bean said. “Now you don’t want to upset me by telling me what it is. But I need to know.”
He nodded reluctantly. “Something significant happened to us fifteen years ago, Bean. Something that might well have destroyed our lives had we not gotten lucky when someone managed to record that woman bragging about what she’d done to us.”
Bean stared at him in shock, as did Iffon. “That means Chaos was working against you, too,” she said, her eyes filling with sudden tears. “Because of me. I’m so sorry.”
“No,” Zander said firmly, startling Bean. “You will not take responsibility for Chaos, or the Doftles, or anything they do. I’m serious Bean. Don’t do this. You’ll drive yourself, and us, mad.”
“All right, Zander, I’ll try.”
“Thank you,” he said with real relief. “We’ve discussed a lot of serious and worrisome things today. Maybe we should try to relax and keep to lighter subjects for a while.”
“That sounds like a great idea to me,” Bean said enthusiastically. Zain and Zach agreed, and the atmosphere around the table relaxed. They spoke of lighter topics for the remainder of the meal, mostly the Falcorans telling her stories of their antics as boys. When Bean’s cheeks began to feel sore from smiling so much, she didn’t mind in the least.
After dinner they stood outside the cafeteria, all of them wanting to spend more time together, but not knowing what to suggest. “Have you toured the fifth and sixth decks, yet?”
Zander thought a moment. “Those are the decks prepared for the refugees.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“No, not really,” Zach said. “We were shown them briefly our first day aboard but haven’t taken the time to look at them more closely.”
“Do you want to?”
“Yes,” Zander said, sensing that it was important to her. He didn’t know why, nor did he care. It was just nice to know there was something they could do to please her, whatever it was.
“Great,” she said, turning toward an open elevator and stepping inside. Zain pressed the button for Deck 5 and the doors closed.
“Is there a particular reason you want us to see them?” Zach asked.
“Yes, but I don’t want to tell you what it is. I want you to see them first.”
“All right,” Zain agreed. The doors opened and they stepped out, then followed Bean into a moderate sized lounge with lots of couches and chairs and a large vid screen on one wall. They passed through it into a corridor with several open doorways. One led to a very large room filled with tables, chairs, and a long counter at one end setup
like a buffet. Others led to exercise rooms, game rooms, multipurpose rooms and another vid room.
From there they went into one of several long corridors lined with doors. She took them into one stateroom and stood back while they looked around, checking the bunkbeds, the bathroom and other amenities. When they were finished, they returned to where she stood waiting. She led them up the corridor and showed them two large shower rooms, each holding multiple shower stalls, one for women, the other for men. After checking those out, they gathered around her.
“This is very nicely done, Bean,” Zander said. “Well thought out, spacious, clean, and comfortable.”
“See, I told you so,” Iffon said. She nodded.
“You have objections?” Zach asked.
“Not really,” she replied. “I just feel a little guilty that we have private rooms and baths, and can order what we want from the cafeteria.”
“I’ve seen a couple of the ICARUS transport ships,” Zander said. “They generally have one or more immense rooms filled with bunks, and a couple of bathrooms that people have to stand in line to use. There are no comfort or game rooms, no vid rooms, libraries, nothing of that sort. And no showers. Water is heavy and these aren’t passenger liners, built to carry and recycle the massive amounts of water necessary for large numbers of people to shower with.
“These facilities are quite nice, and as private as possible under the circumstances. No one is going to complain, Bean, and if they do, too bad for them. They won’t have to stay here for long anyway.”
“That’s true. It’s just that I know how much they’ve suffered already, and I don’t want them to suffer any more if I can help it and we need to get to the bridge right now!” Before she finished speaking she was already jogging toward the elevators.
“What’s wrong?” Zander asked as they quickly caught up to her.
“I’m not sure,” she said, breaking into a run. “Something bad.”
If you’ll let me carry you, we can use Air to get there faster than the elevator,” Zander said.
“Yes, do it,” she said. Iffon melded with her the moment Zander made the offer. He picked her up and she held onto him tightly, eyes closed, as he raced up the stairs with Zach in front and Zain just behind them. Before she felt like she had to take a breath Zander was setting her on her feet just outside the bridge.
“Thanks,” she said as she hurried onto the bridge. She stopped on the dais and looked around before her eyes fixed on the back of a man sitting in front of a large vid screen with several smaller displays on either side at a station near the front. She headed straight for him, the Falcorans flanking her.
Kyrus Bearen looked up from his station, saw the procession and the serious expressions on their faces. He got up and joined them without asking questions.
“Excuse me,” Bean said to the man, stopping beside his chair. The man looked up, saw the Commanders, Lady BreeAnna, and Kyrus all gathering around. His face paled.
“Is something the matter?” he asked nervously.
“What do you do?” Bean asked.
“Pardon me?”
“What do you do?” she repeated. “What is it that you do here, at this console?”
“I’m the helmsman.”
“Did you just make changes to our course?”
“Yes, ma’am. A course correction of just a few degrees to compensate for an unexpectedly high gravitational gradient in this area. Purely routine.”
“Whatever change you just made, reverse it. Put us back on the same exact path we were following.”
“I don’t understand,” he said, frowning.
“Do as she says, Mr. Gowan,” Zander said. “Immediately. That’s an order.”
“Aye aye, Commander, changing course to intersect previous trajectory,” he said, snapping to attention. He turned to his console and began tapping at keys.
“Watch what he does, please,” she said to Zain quietly. He nodded and stepped closer to the helmsman so he could watch over the man’s shoulder.
“Reaching previous trajectory and returning ship to previous heading…ship is back on previous heading. We’re following the exact path through space that we would have followed if we had not made the course correction, Commander,” Mr. Gowan announced a little over a minute later, describing the situation in plain language rather than in technical space navigation jargon for Bean’s benefit.
All eyes turned to Bean who stood with her eyes unfocused. She blinked and nodded. “It’s okay now.”
“I’m not sure we understand what just happened here,” Zander said.
“In about ten minutes the course correction the helmsman made would have taken us straight into a massive black hole that our sensors have already detected, and that our previous course was designed to take us around.”
“What?” Mr. Gowan exclaimed hoarsely. “No no, that’s not possible. I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t have done that. I specifically checked the projected course against the plotted location of the black hole--twice--and made sure we would miss the black hole by more than half a light year.”
“No, you didn’t do it,” Bean agreed. “But you did it.”
They all looked at her strangely. “Zain, you and Mr. Gowan should now check the course he set before we came in. Tell us where we would have gone.”
“This isn’t possible,” the helmsman said a few minutes later. “The coordinates I used in my course calculations for the location of the black hole are off from the coordinates Stellar Cartography gave me by 0.522 light years. I’m very meticulous about these things. I don’t understand how this could have happened.”
“In nearly a century of deep space travel, I’ve never seen anything like that happen,” Zander said quietly. “Chaos?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” she confirmed. “That’s twice tonight. I’m think incidents like this are going to escalate the closer we get to our destination.”
“We need to find a way to prevent something like this from happening again,” Zach said.
“We’ll set up an independent check system at all critical stations,” Zander said. “No one will make any changes to course, speed, ship’s status, or any mission-critical system without another crew member or officer qualified on that station who took no part in ordering or implementing the action verifying every step, every action, and every calculation.”
“Make that a random someone and I think that’ll do it,” Bean said.
The Falcorans spoke with Kyrus and Sark for a few minutes so she wandered over to the viewport and looked out at the stars while she waited. It was a beautiful sight to see and she realized with some surprise that this was the first time she’d actually taken the time to notice it.
“You ready?” Zander asked from just behind her.
“Yes,” she replied, smiling up at him. He touched her shoulder lightly and she turned around, then walked beside him as they left the bridge. She could feel Zach right behind them, and wondered how long it would take before she could feel Zain, too.
“Bean, if something like that happens again, will you be able to sense it?” Zach asked once they were in the elevator.
“I didn’t sense that, Zach. The messengers told me.”
“Do they always tell you when Chaos is behind something?”
“No,” she said. “I’m not sure what the criteria are, but it seems they know some things, but not others. They aren’t all-seeing or all-knowing.”
“If something like that happens again, even with the counter measures we just set up, you’ll know it, right?” Zander asked.
“I think so,” she said as they stopped in front of her door. “Thanks for a nice evening, guys. I enjoyed myself.” She smiled. “Well, up to the exciting near-death ending up on the bridge.”
Zander returned her smile while gazing into her eyes. He wanted to kiss her more than he wanted his next breath. But he knew it was too soon. “Sleep well, Bean.”
“I will,” she said. “Goodnight.”
&n
bsp; Chapter 20
13 days to deadline
The next couple of days were nice for Bean. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so relaxed and just…happy. Except when she was struggling with the telekinesis, which became more frustrating by the day.
She had breakfast with the Falcorans every morning, and at the end of each day she had dinner with them. Spending that time with them was so important to her that she firmly set all other worries aside so she could enjoy them to the fullest.
She got used to the low-level arousal she felt whenever she was close to Zander or Zach and, since she couldn’t do anything to prevent it, she stopped worrying about it. She felt Zain a little more strongly each day, and she sometimes worried about how strong the arousal would get once the suppressants were out of his system. But, it had taken nearly three weeks for her to have a physical reaction to Zander and Zach, so she reasoned she had a couple of weeks before she had to worry about that.
She was just leaving the cafeteria after lunch with Iffon a few days after Chaos tried to send them into a black hole when she stiffened, then took off running for the elevator. She pressed the call button several times in rapid succession, glancing at the stairwell door, and knowing it would take far too long for her to climb to the bridge. The elevator doors opened and she leapt inside.
“What’s going on, Bean?” Iffon asked from where he had just melded to her forearm.
“We’re about to run into an enormous debris field which will destroy the ship before anyone up there even realizes what’s happened,” she said. The doors opened and she ran up the corridor to the bridge, relieved to find the Falcorans there.
“Bean?” Zander asked, sensing her presence the moment she entered.
“Change course,” she said breathlessly. “Quickly! It’s almost too late!”
Zain used Air to get to the navigator’s station in an instant. “Which direction?”
“Straight away from the galactic center,” she replied, hurrying down the steps to join him with Zander and Zach right behind her.
Bean's Heart (Hearts of ICARUS Book 7) Page 34