“Who is that calling me? Is it you, Fiona?”
“This isn’t Fiona. I’m speaking on behalf of the nosy. My name is Amber.”
There was a disapproving grunt on the crystal comms. It sounded like it came from Adika. He was probably unhappy about me telling Juniper my name.
“The nosy wants me to reassure you,” I continued. “You are not suspected of any crime.”
Juniper’s voice proclaimed her fury. “If I’m not suspected of any crime, then why was I brought here, why was I locked in that room, and why is a nosy reading my mind?”
“The nosy isn’t reading your mind any longer,” I said hastily. “The nosy wants me to apologize to you for the prior intrusion. The nosy was reading your mind because you were known to be innocent, and that innocence will help the nosy find the true guilty party.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” said Juniper.
“It’s a complicated situation. If you wish, I will try to explain it to you.”
“Why are you speaking on behalf of the nosy anyway?” demanded Juniper. “Why doesn’t the nosy do its own talking?”
“Nosies phrase things in unusual ways, so people often find it hard to make sense of their words. It’s my job to explain what the nosy is trying to say.”
“You mean you’re an interpreter?” asked Juniper.
I’d never heard the word interpreter before, but Lucas was vigorously nodding at me.
“Yes,” I said.
“All right. You’re the nosy’s interpreter.” Juniper’s voice sounded calmer. “Now explain to me how telling lies to an innocent person, and poking around in their mind, helps the nosy find the true guilty party.”
“The nosy had no idea you’d be told lies about going home. The nosy understands the cruelty of that and apologizes.”
“It was Fiona who decided to lie to me then,” muttered Juniper. “She wanted to make her life easier, and didn’t care how much she hurt me.”
“A complaint is being filed about Fiona’s unprofessional conduct. If you wish, she can be ordered to come back and apologize to you in person.”
“I never want to see Fiona again. So what is the complicated situation you mentioned?”
I allowed myself a moment to choose my words. Juniper wouldn’t find long pauses odd, because she’d expect a nosy to be talking to me.
“When groups of sea farm suspects arrive at the Hive, their minds are always read by the same nosy.”
There was an exasperated noise from Juniper. “That isn’t complicated. That’s just a sensible way of working.”
“The complication is that the nosy has been reading the minds of people from the sea farm for four decades, but has to stop now due to age combined with illness.”
“Oh.” Juniper’s voice sounded surprisingly compassionate. “Nosies get old and ill like human beings then?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Yes, they do. A new nosy has to take over the work of reading the minds of people from the sea farm. I’m speaking on behalf of that new nosy.”
I tried to work out the best way to phrase my next few sentences. I mustn’t anger Juniper by saying anything that implied a criticism of people from the sea farm.
“The new nosy was warned that people at the sea farm live in a very different way to people in the Hive,” I said. “That makes their thoughts very different too. The new nosy needed to read the mind of an innocent person to learn about those differences.”
“You mean your nosy needed to read my mind to establish a benchmark?”
The note in Juniper’s voice sounded as if she’d got a whole new understanding of events. Unfortunately, I’d no idea what she meant by a benchmark. There didn’t seem to be any reason why I shouldn’t admit that.
“I don’t know what the word benchmark means.”
“Sorry, that’s a technical term I learned during the boatbuilding part of my Apprenticeship of the Seas.”
Apprenticeship was another meaningless word for me, but I knew of the existence of boats. As a child, I’d often sailed a toy boat down the stream in our local park. I knew the sea farm had a fishing fleet of proper boats, and it was obvious that someone must build them, but why would Juniper be doing that? She was only seventeen, so she couldn’t have been through Lottery yet. Was this the sea farm equivalent of the activity sessions teens attended at their local community centres?
“A benchmark is an established standard for comparison,” said Juniper. “You’re saying that your nosy had to read the mind of an innocent person from the sea farm to establish what an ordinary mind looks like. That benchmark is needed to help it recognize the guilty party?”
“Yes.”
“Fiona should have explained that to me.” Juniper’s voice was fierce with emotion. “Everyone at the sea farm is frightened. People are getting hurt. One person has died. If the members of Sea Farm Security had done their job properly, their first or second group of suspects would have included the culprit behind these attacks, and my left arm would still …”
Juniper broke off her sentence for a moment before speaking again. “Well, they haven’t done their job properly. They’ve sent thirty-three people to the Hive without finding the guilty party. While I was in the Trauma Casualty Centre, I made a lot of calls to my family and friends at the sea farm. Everyone is waiting in suspense for the Hive to send a report on the fifth group of suspects. They’re hoping that group contains the attacker, so their lives can go back to normal.”
Juniper made a pained noise. “I was very angry when I realized I was locked in that room and a nosy was reading my mind, but there are far more important things at stake here than my feelings. People are in danger back at the sea farm. It’s vital that I do anything I can to help catch whoever is carrying out these attacks. I give the nosy permission to read my mind again.”
I knew exactly how much heroism it took for Juniper to make that offer. “That isn’t necessary,” I said hastily. “The nosy has already learned what it needed to know. It just has to take a while to absorb that information, and it will be able to continue to read the minds of the fifth group of suspects.”
Juniper didn’t say a word, but I heard her sigh in relief.
“I’ve been told how much you want to go home to the sea farm,” I added. “I’d like to end this call now and find out what can be arranged.”
“Yes,” said Juniper eagerly. “Please do that.”
I ended the call, gave a relieved sigh myself, and then looked hopefully at Nicole.
“I’m afraid today’s scheduled flight has already left for the sea farm,” she said. “There’ll be another one tomorrow afternoon.”
“Tomorrow afternoon isn’t good enough,” I said. “It’s unfair to force Juniper to spend another night in the Hive.”
“I agree,” said Lucas. “I’m impressed by Juniper, she appears to be a remarkable person, and I’d like her to return to the sea farm as soon as possible. I’ll talk to our contact at Hive Defence.”
He tapped at his dataview and spoke into it. “This is Telepath Unit Tactical Commander Lucas 2511-3022-498. I need an aircraft to fly one passenger from our nearest aircraft hangar to the sea farm.”
A brisk female voice answered him. “Tactical Commander Lucas, there are regular scheduled flights to the sea farm.”
“This is too urgent to wait for tomorrow’s scheduled flight,” said Lucas.
“Please send me the passenger details.”
Lucas tapped at his dataview again.
“I regret that I have to query two points,” said the female voice. “Firstly, why are you requesting this flight when Tactical Commander Saanvi is responsible for the sea farm? Secondly, why is it so urgent for a seventeen-year-old to return to the sea farm?”
“Responsibility for the sea farm is currently in transition between Tactical Commander Saanvi and myself,” said Lucas. “We have strength six incidents happening at the sea farm, and the seventeen-year-old is assisting our investigation. Hive Defence should f
lag her as having protected status.”
“Understood. Readying an aircraft at your nearest hangar.”
“Thank you.” Lucas ended the call.
“I’d like to go with Juniper to the aircraft hangar,” I said.
“That’s totally unnecessary.” Adika’s voice spoke on the crystal comms. I could tell from his tone that he wanted to say more, but was limited by the fact Juniper was right next to him.
“Juniper isn’t dangerous, Adika.”
Adika grunted his disbelief.
I sighed. “Adika, on every emergency run, you take risks with your life, and the lives of all your men, because you trust what I tell you. You can trust what I’m telling you now. Juniper isn’t a threat to me or anyone else. She’s had someone tell her cruel lies today, so I want to go with her to the aircraft hangar to reassure her.”
“Both Amber and I will go to the aircraft hangar with Juniper,” said Lucas.
“I can’t see that it will achieve anything useful.” The change in Adika’s tone of voice indicated he was still disapproving but resigned.
“Actually, I believe it will achieve something very useful indeed,” said Lucas. “You heard what I said to Hive Defence about Juniper continuing to assist us from the sea farm. I want to discuss that with her in person.”
I gave Lucas a startled look. “I thought you just said that to get Hive Defence to agree to fly Juniper to the sea farm.”
“I’m perfectly serious about Juniper assisting us. We know that she is innocent of the crimes at the sea farm, was injured in one of the attacks, and is passionately eager to stop others being harmed or killed. She’s demonstrated a willingness to overcome her personal feelings about nosies to help us apprehend our target.”
“I don’t see how Juniper can help us,” said Megan.
“Amber mentioned seeing confusing words and images in Juniper’s mind,” said Lucas. “Juniper will be able to explain such things to us.”
“Can’t we ask Sea Farm Security to give us any explanations we need?” said Nicole.
“We could,” said Lucas grimly. “Unfortunately the incidents at the sea farm have been going on for months now, and Sea Farm Security has sent four groups of suspects to the Hive without finding the guilty party. That could just be bad luck, but if the fifth group of suspects all turn out to be innocent …”
Lucas paused. “Well, in that case there’s a significant possibility that our target is a member of Sea Farm Security.”
Chapter Thirteen
Lucas and I found Forge and Matias waiting for us by the lifts. “Adika sent us a message to say we should show you the way to the holding cells,” said Forge.
I frowned. “I’m sure Lucas already knows the way. What you mean is that Adika doesn’t think two of his best men are enough to help him defend his telepath from a seventeen-year-old girl. He wants to sneak another couple of you into the party.”
“Amber, whether Juniper is a threat or not is irrelevant,” said Forge. “Adika would never allow you to travel across half a zone to reach the aircraft hangar without an adequate number of bodyguards anyway.”
“I suppose not,” I said gloomily.
We went into the lift, and it started moving down. “It could be true that Adika is scared of seventeen-year-old girls though,” said Matias solemnly. “He was defeated in combat by an eighteen-year-old girl only two days ago.”
I gave him a bewildered look. “What do you mean?”
“My girlfriend, Sofia, was painting in the park when Adika walked by,” said Matias. “He made the mistake of pausing to watch her work, so Sofia attacked him with a deadly paintbrush and forced him to retreat.”
I laughed. Sofia hated people watching her work, and fiercely chased away any offenders. I loved the fact that even the precious telepath wasn’t safe from her paint attacks.
The lift stopped, and the doors opened. As soon as we were outside, Lucas spoke on the crystal comms.
“Listen closely, everyone, because I need to explain a plan to you. I know Adika wants Amber to have adequate protection, but Juniper is an intelligent girl. When she sees Amber and I have five muscular guards escorting us to the aircraft hangar, she’s going to realize one of us has an incredibly high status. We can’t have Juniper questioning Amber’s claim to be a lowly interpreter, so we’ll have to emphasize my status as Tactical Commander.”
Lucas grinned. “So, it isn’t Amber that’s being escorted by bodyguards, but the illustrious and autocratic Tactical Commander. You’ll all treat me with the deepest respect, and cower in submission if I yell at you. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” Forge, Matias, and I chorused in unison, saluting as if we belonged to Hive Defence.
“There’s no need to overdo things by saluting,” said Lucas.
“No, sir!” we chorused.
Lucas groaned. “Are you happy with this plan, Adika?”
There was a grunt of acknowledgement on the crystal comms.
“One more thing,” said Lucas. “Amber, I think you should avoid using your telepathy when we’re with Juniper.”
“I agree,” I said. “It’s horribly easy to say something in response to a thought that hasn’t been said out loud.”
Lucas led the way on for the length of two corridors, turned a corner, and I saw Adika, Rothan, and Eli. The three of them promptly saluted Lucas.
“Where is Juniper?” asked Lucas.
Adika moved to the side of the corridor, and gestured at where Juniper was sitting on the floor. She got to her feet and came to meet us. I’d somehow expected her to be a tall girl, but she was only two inches over my own height, with long, straight, reddish-brown hair that hung halfway down her back. I saw her right hand was protectively holding her left arm, and looked anxiously at the scarred skin encased in its black metal bands.
“I’m Amber. Is your left arm hurting you, Juniper? I could get a doctor to come and check it.”
Juniper moved her right hand away from her arm. “My left arm isn’t hurting me at the moment. For the first week or two, it hurt whenever anything touched it, so I got into the habit of protecting it.”
“I see.” I gestured at Lucas. “This is Tactical Commander Lucas.”
Juniper studied him for a moment. “That title sounds very important.”
“I am very important,” said Lucas.
“The nosy reads suspect minds,” said Juniper. “Amber interprets what the nosy says about their thoughts. What do you do?”
“I make the decisions,” said Lucas. “Amber and I are going to take you to the nearest aircraft hangar, which is about half a zone away. There’s an aircraft waiting there to fly you home to the sea farm.”
“Really?” Juniper’s face had the suspicious expression of someone who’d already been lied to about flights home. “Hasn’t today’s scheduled flight left?”
Lucas sighed. “The scheduled flight to the sea farm has left, but I’ve arranged for a special flight to take you there.”
“A special flight?” repeated Juniper doubtfully. “Can you truly arrange for that?”
“I have arranged for that,” said Lucas, in an imperious voice. “Are you familiar with Hive geography, Juniper?”
“No,” said Juniper. “I’ll be eighteen in a couple of weeks, which makes me eligible for the 2533 Lottery. I intended to go for imprinted status, so I put my name on the candidate list, and should have been going to orientation classes to prepare me to go to the Hive. The course didn’t start until after I was injured though.”
I was confused by Juniper’s comment about imprinted status. I opened my mouth to ask about it, but she was still speaking.
“I was unconscious when I was taken to the Trauma Casualty Centre, and Fiona didn’t explain anything when she was bringing me here, so I’ve no idea where we are.”
“There are a hundred accommodation levels in the Hive, with fifty industry levels above them,” said Lucas. “We’re currently on Industry 3. We’ll now go up to Industry 1, th
e top level of the Hive, and take an express belt to the aircraft hangar.”
He turned to Adika. “We’ll start moving now.”
“Yes, sir!”
Adika and Eli started walking along the corridor. Lucas and Juniper followed, with me trailing behind them, and Rothan, Forge, and Matias bringing up the rear.
“Why are all these men going to the aircraft hangar with us?” asked Juniper.
“My bodyguards escort me everywhere,” said Lucas.
There was total silence until we reached the express belt on Industry 1. Juniper managed the transfer from the slow to the medium belt, but stumbled as she moved on from the medium to the express. Eli caught her right arm in time to stop her from falling.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “We don’t have these moving belt things at the sea farm.”
“Please tell me if you have problems with anything else,” said Lucas. “If your claustrophobia starts bothering you, we can find a large, open area to help you to recover.”
Juniper flushed. “I only have problems in small rooms with the door closed. This is a very wide corridor, and there’s hardly anyone else travelling on this belt, so I should be fine.”
She hastily changed the subject. “I thought nosy patrols only had one nosy with an escort of four hasties. You seem to have a lot of people working for you.”
“Ordinary nosy patrols only handle trivial incidents,” said Lucas grandly. “I run a specialist unit that deals with more serious or unusual cases.”
“I see,” said Juniper. “Why are you going to so much trouble to help me? Surely you could have just sent Amber to escort me to the aircraft hangar.”
“I could,” said Lucas, “however I wanted to discuss the possibility of you helping my unit.”
Juniper stared at him. “Me? Help your unit? How?”
“My staff aren’t imprinted with details about life at the sea farm because you have your own security people to keep order there,” said Lucas. “Our involvement is normally limited to checking whether a few suspects are innocent or guilty of a specific crime, but this case is proving extremely troublesome, and there’s the extra complication that we have to use a new nosy to read the suspect minds.”
Hurricane (Hive Mind Book 3) Page 12