by S. E. Weir
“You’re welcome, DS.”
Masha squeezed his hand, gave him a warm smile, and pulled back to move away. He tightened his hold on her hand and didn’t let go. She looked at him in concern.
“Greyson?”
He spoke quietly. “Would you still love me if my name wasn’t Greyson Wells and my life was a great deal more complicated than it appears?”
Masha frowned. “Don’t be an idiot. Of course I would. And your life more complicated than it may appear? My love, I think your picture must be etched next to the word complicated in whatever passes for a dictionary these days.”
He gave her a faint smile but his gaze warmed by an infinite degree. Yes, she needed to make studying his body language a master class. The man kept secrets better than anyone she had ever known. Speaking of which...
“Am I allowed to know what your name is?” Masha smiled at him in return.
He tugged at her hand to bring her forward and she obliged, leaning close enough to hear a whisper. “Lincoln Sherwood Grimes.”
She straightened in surprise. “Wow! A Grimes? As in, related to...”
“Yes, John is a cousin.”
Masha gazed at him in amazement. “I had no idea.”
“That was the idea.” He smiled in amusement.
She thought about it for a minute. “Does anyone else know about this? And what should I call you?”
“Link is what I told Phina. It was a nickname long ago. She is the only one I told before you. It felt right since even from the beginning, she’s been family. The Empress and Barnabas probably know since they are telepaths. I don’t think many other people know, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Of course,” she assured him. “But why keep it secret if there isn’t anyone else who knows your name?”
“Two reasons. John doesn’t know, so another Grimes would kind of rub it in his face with its obviousness.”
“True.”
He brought his other hand over to hold her. “The other reason is that there might be a day when I want to disappear from the life of a spy, perhaps to retire and have a family. I would rather retire as myself than live with a name that’s a lie.”
She gave him a warm smile. “Excellent reasons.”
Link gave her a satisfied smile. “I thought so.”
She straightened to her full height and took a step back, her smile turning playful. “Now get yourself fixed, mister. I’ve got plans for you that necessitate your body being intact and healthy.”
“I like the sound of that.” He gave her a grin though she could see the weariness in him.
“Yes, sparring is always excellent exercise.”
She pushed the button to close the door of the Pod-doc on his groan. She gave him a quick grin while his expression turned injurious. The door slowly but smoothly began to close.
“You are a cruel woman,” he called.
She blew him a kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The door slid shut with a click.
The Etheric
The casual arrogance of the Kurtherian grated on Phina. She refocused and pushed her emotions to the side. “To get back to your original question, no, the Aurians were not what gave the presence of a Kurtherian away.”
“It was not?” The Kurtherian frowned as if puzzled. “You humans are against order and rationality. Perhaps a pattern resulted. Your father’s littermate, perhaps?”
Phina’s heart fell into her stomach. Had ADAM and Todd been right? Had this Kurtherian female done something to her aunt to change her so drastically? She could honestly say she had wondered once they knew Jack had been mentally manipulated.
“What about my aunt?” She feigned indifference.
“Come now.” The female sneered. “Are you that oblivious?”
“Apparently.” Phina scratched her chin as she assessed the Kurtherian. “What brought my aunt to your attention?”
The Kurtherian opened her mouth but shut it before shooting Phina a glance. After a moment, she responded stiffly, “It came to my attention that the female worked with nanocytes. An inferior version compared to the original, of course.”
“Ah,” Phina responded as if it had all become clear, even though it brought up several questions. Primarily, how had it been brought to her attention?
“Yes.” The Kurtherian’s expression soured. “It was unthinkable that humans had found the path to Ascension. I had to take steps once I discovered this travesty.”
“Of course you had to take steps. How long did it take to accomplish them?”
“It is ongoing,” she responded with a tone of...not quite bewilderment, but something akin to it. “There have been many setbacks. I had to return to reaffirm the tasks I had set for the female once a year since she usually managed to partially lift the compulsion by then. Still, if she had accomplished her task to recreate the formula that had been used on Death as ordered, my endeavors would be much farther along.”
The Kurtherian shook her head in disapproval. “She was a poor subject. I assume she is still in your medical ward due to mental deterioration? A pity they detained her before she had achieved something useful.”
The cold dismissal of her aunt shook Phina, but she kept it together. “What other commands had she been able to lift?”
Focused on an internal question, the Kurtherian answered absently, “To drive you away, of course. You had knocked on the door and almost entered when I gave her the commands that first time. I couldn’t have you interfering, so she was told to do what humans do to push their children away. It worked for a while, but she had almost lifted it by the time I came back each year.” She shook her head with a frown. “A failed subject.”
Phina wanted to cry and scream and rage. The unfeeling arrogance of this Kurtherian staggered her. She had thought Greyson arrogant at times, but this was a whole different level of superiority. Sorrow crept into the anger. Her poor aunt never had a chance! She had killed Phina’s relationship with her only remaining relative by being so cold and unfeelingly focused on her objective.
Rein it in just a little longer, Phina.
Sundancer.
He was right. She had to elicit all the information she could from this unfeeling, arrogant…
She focused on her breathing to calm herself. Breathe in. Keep everything hidden from prying eyes. Breathe out. Show only what I choose to reveal.
Curious, detached, calm, poised, confident.
Phina refocused on the Kurtherian, who was studying her with speculation.
“For a human, you are a strange one.”
“I am myself.” Phina spoke mildly, her emotions under control.
“Indeed.”
“Is there a name by which I can call you?”
The Kurtherian inclined her head in thought, her dark eyes nonreflective. It made her look soulless.
“You may address me as Glorious Penitent in Transcendence to Ascension.”
Phina blinked as she ran that through her head. “Sounds pretentious, but all right. Sorry, but it wasn’t what happened with my aunt that gave you away.”
Glorious Penitent… The Kurtherian snapped her attention to Phina. Her mouth closed with an audible click as she pulled back, affronted. “It is a name of dignity and honor. It is not pretentious.”
“As you say,” Phina responded with amusement and satisfaction at the response. She knew what buttons to push now.
The Kurtherian squinted at her suspiciously while Phina maintained her slightly interested, somewhat bored expression. The Kurtherian finally turned away with a few body twitches that made Phina think she was still on edge.
“If you did not discover my involvement through any of these instances, I can think of only one other incident in which you were involved.” She spoke stiffly.
“Oh?”
Glorious...the Kurtherian stared at her witheringly. “You are not lacking intelligence despite your pretense. You know exactly of what I speak.”
“They were useful tools for a time,” the Kurtherian said dismissively. A thought occurred to her. “Portraying myself a goddess has its uses. I will remember that for later experiments.”
“How did you find out about Aunt Faith?” Phina pressed.
The Kurtherian stilled, then turned until Phina was in view. “It is of no importance.”
“Well, now you have me all curious.”
“It is not relevant to the discussion.” The Kurtherian’s eyes blinked a little too quickly.
Glory was a liar.
“Tell me, Glory.” Phina’s voice hardened.
She stiffened, affronted. “That is not my name, human.”
Phina...
Her control over her emotions snapped. Phina yelled mentally and physically, “You tell me right now!”
She dropped the layers of shielding that kept her from slipping into other people’s minds and dived for the Kurtherian’s mind.
Phina didn’t have any thought in her head except for confirming the awful suspicion that had been growing ever since she’d realized a Kurtherian had messed with Aunt Faith’s mind and when it had started. She didn’t care that it wasn’t smart. She didn’t even care that she could be compromising potential intelligence she could have drawn from the Kurtherian by engaging in further conversation.
She was all feeling, and those feelings stemmed from a single thought.
One terrible thought.
She pushed into the Kurtherian’s mind. It was hard. A human mind was easy to slip into. Wechselbalgs’ were harder. The Nacht were harder still, although she admittedly hadn’t tried all that hard with Bethany Anne and Anne. She could tell they weren’t easily read.
They all were nothing compared to this Kurtherian.
Phina had a glimpse of Glory’s mind before she was flung out of it.
She staggered with the force of the expulsion and coping with the images she had seen.
“I had thought perhaps to utilize you in my pursuits against the Phraim-‘eh clan as well as with my calling to end Death.” The Kurtherian spoke with a ragged edge to her voice. “But now I see that you are just as bad as she is.”
Phina’s thoughts raced as she righted herself. “You’ve got that right. Thanks for the compliment.”
“It was not meant as such. You two stole the Etheric meant for us!” Glory clicked her mouth shut in agitation but collected herself. “You were given the same nanocytes as Death?”
“Nope.”
“The serum. The female gave it to you when she was supposed to perfect it for me.” The Kurtherian’s head swiveled as she worked through her thoughts. “But the aunt gave me a sample, and testing showed the formula was not complete. The programming was not enough to trigger the full transformation.”
Phina’s heart pounded. If she asked...
“You.” Glory lifted her face to view Phina head-on. Her eyes bored into her. “You had birth issues. They had to treat you. You had faulty genetic code that they fixed.”
She had to force herself to breathe. “Yes.”
The Kurtherian leaned forward, intensity pulsing from her. “What genetic material did they use to fix it?”
Drawing herself up to her full height, Phina stared at the being responsible for taking her parents away from her.
“Kurtherian.”
Glory drew back, her gaze unblinking. She was motionless for several moments. “They did not.”
“They did.”
The Kurtherian seethed. “Abomination.”
“Right back at you, lady,” Phina growled. “You took my parents away from me.”
Only her parents could have told Glory about the genetic birth issues. It had become clear once Phina had put the pieces together. She shuddered that she had anything in common with this soulless sociopathic alien.
“They were tools used to achieve my goals.” Glory curled her lip in distaste. “You were nothing, and you are worse than nothing. Abominations don’t deserve life.”
“Neither do murderers!” Phina cried.
“Murder is only invoked with worthy species.” The Kurtherian was cold. “Humans, especially those with stolen Kurtherian technology, are vermin to be exterminated.”
Phina’s mind was flooded with a digging, burrowing weight. Her shields broke and she froze, unable to shore up her mental defenses. They eroded as soon as she threw them up.
Overwhelmed, she threw out the only thought she could manage.
Sundancer!
The Previdian’s familiar presence came crashing through their private door in her mind, but instead of his normal mental touch, his presence was huge in her mind, like a big cat puffing himself up to attack.
Sundancer sniffed. I’m saving your life, and you still insult me.
He mentally leapt at the invader, snarling at the foreign weight of the Kurtherian’s mental presence.
The assault ceased so suddenly that Phina staggered.
She opened her eyes to see the Kurtherian land on her back, a gratifying expression of shock and surprise on her alien face. She reached for her wristband, which used a version of the technology she had given the Qendrok.
“No!”
Phina rushed forward, but the Kurtherian was gone. She froze in shock, waiting to make sure the Kurtherian wasn’t coming back. Her chest heaved with emotion, and she gasped for the air she needed in her lungs.
Her trembling fingers pressed her wristband, and she stepped out of the Etheric. Her surroundings shimmered into the familiar confines of Stark’s ship, and she collapsed to her knees, tears streaming down her face.
When Sundancer nudged her leg to comfort her, Phina curled around him and sobbed for her aunt, the parents she had lost, and her younger self, who’d had to live without them.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gaitune-67, Spy Corps Headquarters and Base, Conference Room
Shaw entered the room and saw Phina sitting at one end of the table. She still retained the haunted expression that she had worn since reappearing on the Stark in the hangar a few days before. He wanted to comfort her and ask her to share her burdens with him.
However, that wasn’t his place in her life, so he pushed those feelings to the side and turned to stare at the man sitting next to her.
Barnabas had arrived the day after everything had come to a head, announcing that the Empress had sent him to help. He suspected the real reason she had sent him had to do with why Shaw had been called to the room.
He stopped at the chair next to Phina’s, across from Barnabas, and sat down. His gaze never left her face.
Phina appeared nervous as she spoke. “You know why you are here?”
He reined in his emotions and focused. “It wasn’t explained to me in detail, just that everyone on base needed to come in today. I have noticed that those exiting the room are being kept separate from those who haven’t entered yet.”
Phina nodded and glanced at Barnabas, who inclined his head, indicating that she should continue. She turned back to Shaw and took a deep breath before explaining.
“The Empress has expressed concern about recent events. Barnabas is here to make sure that certain memories are suppressed or removed. Memories that could be dangerous to the agents or me.”
She shifted uneasily as he processed her words.
“I see. May I ask what the danger is?” He glanced between them. Barnabas’ face gave nothing away. The man should have been a spy with that level of control.
Phina cleared her throat, but before she responded, Barnabas spoke up.
“The Empress is concerned that if the spies here retain the memories of seeing a Kurtherian on the base as well as Phina’s unique skills, they will place themselves in danger by seeking information they are not equipped to deal with or inadvertently expose Phina, thereby placing her in dang
er. You have to admit that they may not see the far-reaching repercussions to their inquiries, just the puzzle in front of them.”
Shaw nodded. “I can see the logic in that. We are all naturally curious and independent. I could see some of the agents seeking information and poking their noses into places they don’t belong. However, I do think we, those loyal to the Etheric Empire, need to find out more about this Kurtherian.”
Barnabas nodded. “There is a plan in place to do so, yes.”
“May I ask what that plan entails, or is that over my clearance level?”
The other man briefly smiled in amusement. “You may ask. However, since the Empress has not shared those details with either of us, there is nothing we can tell you.”
Shaw nodded. Understandable but disappointing.
“So, I assume the reason I am here has to do with one of you rearranging my memories to take this information from my head?”
“Yes, I have been teaching Phina how to do so after we speak to each person and gain their permission.”
Shaw gave Phina a long glance, then straightened and stared Barnabas in the eye. “I request to retain my memories intact.”
Phina’s quick intake of breath pulled his gaze to her. She leaned forward, her eyes showing conflicting emotions. “Even though... Well, it might make certain things easier if you forget.”
Shaw’s mouth tugged into a smile. “You are not responsible for my feelings, Phina.” He wasn’t ashamed of them, either. “They are my own, and I would like to remember why I have them.”
She leaned back, and although she still seemed concerned, he could see she understood. He turned to Barnabas.
“Alpha Agent Wells and Beta Agent Masha are currently restructuring the organization so they share the Alpha role.” He grinned. “The change was a stipulation Masha made before accepting his marriage proposal. Since Jack has requested to step into a different role after his vacation to recover from the trauma of what happened to him, they have asked me to become the sole beta agent. The three of us are planning to revamp everything so we are all aligned in our goals and we can better train our agents. I believe that with my new role and responsibilities, I can better help both them and Phina by retaining my memories.”