Aino pointed at the screen. ‘That’s my dad there.’
The card had a picture of a lean man with blonde hair, perhaps in his fifties.
‘Are you sure?’ Tredd asked.
‘Of course, it’s him!’
Gus opened the card. The man’s name was Henning Dal and his title was Starlight of Avalon. In Evie’s eyes he looked like someone who had been handsome as a young man – he kind of still was. His short hair, leathery skin and stern expression reflected authority. The card had the standard personal data, unique name, registered address, occupation, age, education, and network access level – but was empty on spouse and children.
‘No children?’ Evie wondered aloud.
‘No children with a Dawn Network ID… which reminds me, the Dawn Alliance had Aino’s bio-identification tagged with something called “Project Renascence”, but I can’t find anything on it. You know what it’s about?’
‘No idea.’ Tredd said. ‘I thought in Eura everyone got a Dawn Net ID at birth.’
Gus shook his head. ‘Not if you live in a closed religious community, have never used the government medical system, and have never legally travelled off the planet. Let me show you.’ He tapped a bunch of controls, and a map appeared on the screen. It zoomed in on the largest continent of Eura, revealing a white village surrounded by enormous walls in the shape of a perfect circle. A tall tower overlooking the village shone like a huge metacrystal on a ring.
Impressive visualisation from the ID, Evie thought. ‘I love this integration.’
Gus smirked. ‘You haven’t seen anything yet…’
Beside the map ran a video, where Aino’s father, in an all-white outfit and with a calm smile, welcomed anyone seeking enlightenment to Avalon. He continued to talk about Avalon as the home of the Children of the Light, a religious community dedicated to mind preservation and enlightenment in anticipation of the final transcendence.
‘That’s my home,’ Aino said.
Evie smiled. Not having an ID made sense if Aino was from a closed religious community. However, it made her skills feel even creepier. Also, it was weird she happened to be from the same planet as Tredd and Eddie. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, or perhaps there was something they were not telling her.
‘You’re all from the same planet?’ Evie was thinking aloud again.
‘Lucky coincidence,’ Eddie said. He sounded matter of fact, even a little curt. Everyone else also seemed to shrug it off as a coincidence, but it still left Evie wondering. Is there something more between these folks, a connection they never spoke about?
‘Hey,’ Tredd said, and grabbed Aino by the hand, ‘let’s take you home to Avalon, to Eura!’
‘Yes!’ Aino said, and jumped up in the air. Evie was delighted to see her so cheerful.
‘Thanks, Gus.’ Tredd extended his arm. Gus took it and they shook hands. ‘You’ve been very helpful, as always. There must be something we can do to repay you.’
‘It’s nothing, mate. Just make sure Little Miss Sunshine is safe,’ Gus said, and coughed. Then he turned to Evie. ‘For you, young hacker, I will deliver a package. It will be a tough challenge, but a rewarding one. You’ll start by finding the X.’
Evie felt her heart flutter.
CHAPTER THIRTY
JILL’S BROW HURT. Perhaps the painkillers had started to wear off. They had glued up the wound, but hadn’t even wiped her face clean. Stains of her blood, which had soaked the side of her face, clung to her fingers.
Someone had sneaked in behind her and struck her unconscious, and now she sat alone in a white holding cell. She had no mirrors to check what she actually looked like. Gruesome, she thought, but did not care. A superficial and temporary thing, compared to what she expected was to come.
She had been caught red-handed aiding the fugitives’ escape. There was no way she could talk herself out of it. She knew she was facing a short affair with the court, and a long one with the Dawn Alliance penitentiary facility.
She had gotten far in the navy. Her quarters included full automation, and offered more space than she needed. If she ever required anything above what the computer or the service robots were able to provide, she could summon a servant to deliver her desires. The perks of a military executive were grand, even at her level, and she was moving upwards very quickly.
Well, that’s all gone now. What kind of blasted star-wind blew over me?
Jill knew what it was. The minute she had seen Tristram in Five Ways, she had known. Those long-gone feelings of love had washed over her again. Tristram was her first and only true love.
But for her, love had become a synonym of pain.
It had all started when, in her teens, she had woken up in the middle of a wild dream to what might have had been a flash of lighting. Smelling smoke, she sat up and turned on the bedside light. She remembered gasping at the sight of her sheets. They had been charred black where she had lain.
Ever since she has been living with a secret.
Within her, she found an eerie electric current. It would shoot out whenever she experienced arousal, passion or excitement. Experimenting alone, she got to know how it felt coming on and how she could manage it. One time, just when Tristram was about to kiss her, she had felt it and the only thing she had been able do was push him away. Afterwards, she had cried through the night, cursing her monstrosity.
As time passed, she thought she had it under control, but as she grew, the power grew stronger too.
In the university, she had a boyfriend. Pat was a lean and tall human, with a wavy golden hair down to his shoulders and a sparkle in his eye. He was from faraway Anteral, but as a pair they looked so similar that everybody teased them about being sisters. One night, Jill’s roommate had gone away to visit her family down in rural Eura, and she had Pat over. It didn’t take long for Pat to kiss her, and soon they were rolling around on the carpet in their underwear. The next thing she remembered was him being rushed to the ER as she covered herself in a towel, her head hanging in shame.
Pat survived the electric shock, but they never spoke again. The following years she focused on completing her studies and avoided all social activities. While the power continued to grow within her, she learned how to control it.
Or so she thought.
She supposed she had loved Rogg Conrad, but looking back she knew that most of all it had been a liaison of convenience. Rogg had been twenty-five years her senior, a tad shorter than Jill and noticeably overweight, but Jill hadn’t cared. She had been eager to advance her career, and Rogg, a famous psychologist with his own renowned practice, was her springboard. In exchange, she offered to be his beautiful trophy wife to take to charity events and to entertain his guests on his beach-house terrace.
Then Rogg died on their wedding night.
The doctors said it had been a heart attack, but Jill knew the cause: an electric shock from her body. She had thought she could handle it, and for a while she had done very well. Eventually, however, the pressure had intensified inside her up until the point she had released it with a scream.
She had nobody to whom she could talk; nobody would have understood. As a young psychologist, she applied her knowledge and counselled herself. After a few dark months a decision revealed itself to her: leave the old Jill behind and start anew in the navy. Within weeks, she gave them the soldier’s oath and, to herself, a vow of chastity.
Even so, Jill had often fantasised about meeting her childhood friend Tristram. Ever since she had left Eura, she had wanted to know how he was and what he did. She felt a strong bond between them – a silly idea – like a spider’s silken thread, holding the two together no matter how far it was stretched. She had followed him from time to time via the Dawn Network, but never made a move. He was her little fantasy, a childhood dream. Meeting him, she thought, would only serve to open old wounds. Then the assignment at Vegasos had forced her to face him.
Seeing how Tristram was now a real man, rugged and handsome, and mischievously outside the
law, had made something move deep within her. He stood opposed to everything she was as a navy officer – and the lovely bastard’s desire to protect the child had been the tipping point. She didn’t care anymore. She wasn’t a robot. She too wanted to protect the child. She was a human being and she wanted to make her own choices in life.
When it had become clear the girl was the Starcrasher, she had researched Aino and stumbled upon a reference to ‘Project Renascence’. Most of the material about the project had been highly classified and inaccessible. However, she had been able to access a file that made the hairs on her neck stand up.
The file had details about citizens of Eura, whom the project considered special, and whom the Project Renascence was tracking. The list was long, but as her eyes hit upon Tristram’s name and then Tommy’s, she sought and found herself.
When she had realised the file was not meant for her – but had perhaps been left accessible by accident – she closed it immediately, knowing that her activity would be tracked. When she had tried to look for it only minutes later, the file was gone, along with everything else there had been about the Project Renascence.
That moment she knew she was going to be in trouble. The milk was already spilled, so she had decided to take it a step further: to help Tristram take Aino away from the Dawn Alliance. She had wanted to keep it quiet, but the thrill inside had shot beyond the scale and an electric current had exploded out from her, blasting electricity through the hangar, downing the soldiers under the cameras. It had been a huge red flag she had unintentionally hung on herself.
The white walls and the gleaming lights of the holding cell offered no place to hide. In her quarters, she always had the floor-to-ceiling screens on a forest view, with rain pouring down. Ever since she had left Eura, she always had to have a connection with nature, be it a plant in a pot or a simulation on a screen. The rain patted the leaves, and thunder rolled in the distance. The sounds calmed her.
Sitting alone in the cell, she had no sounds of nature to soothe her, only the dispassionate gleam of cold light on the walls. Since childhood she had always had something to keep her company, whether it was a story-screen or a robot. In the navy she had a lot of colleagues, but no real friends. Work kept her busy, and she didn’t want the tangle of personal relationships messing up her career. She had driven all people out of her life. She realised she had unknowingly let herself descend into utter loneliness, the thing she wanted most to avoid.
Jill’s thoughts were cut by the sound of the door opening. She raised her head and looked up. Vice Admiral Vorlar Block stepped in, alone. The door swished shut behind him.
Vorlar Block was intimidatingly tall. He was three-quarters human, but his Dresnean blood made him gigantic, quick and fierce. He was a lover of war, and had spent countless hours mastering various combat methods. When you saw him in the flesh – the screens didn’t do him justice – it was clear that this man lived and breathed battle. Jill didn’t know a person who would not be intimidated by his appearance. He carried a standard issue Light Burst laser gun on his right hip, and on the left, a Hotblade. It would have been easy if he were just a brute, but he had the talent for strategy, and politics, too.
Vorlar glanced around the cell. When Jill met his eyes, he produced a sly smile. ‘Commodore Conrad – no, that’s not you anymore. You’re only Ms Conrad now, because you have just been relieved of your duties.’
Jill swallowed. What can I say? That I’m sorry? Never. She remained silent.
‘With your act you became an enemy of the Dawn Alliance. You became my enemy,’ Vorlar said, and took a step back. He pulled out a Hotblade.
Jill gasped and leapt up.
As Vorlar ignited the blade, its edge radiated red light, like it was bleeding liquid fire. It coloured the white walls red as he swung it around.
She took a step backward.
Vorlar smirked, and held the fire-bleeding Hotblade between them. ‘The ODD were once a threat to the five races, but we banished them, and this ancient weapon brought me my first ODD kill. It was then that I…’
Jill knew the story of Vorlar Block’s first face-to-face encounter with an ODD, years ago. His success had led to more, climaxing when as a commander he secured a major star system from the ODD. This eventually became the tipping point, a critical milestone in eradicating the ODD from the Dawn Alliance perimeter. While he was celebrated as a saviour of the five races, he didn’t fight to save his kind. Nor did he fight to expand the Dawn Alliance, or to achieve a universal peace. He fought to have a good fight, and then to win. Whatever the orders, the admirals could trust him. He delivered destruction like atomic explosions. He was probably on his way to making it as an admiral soon.
‘…masculine weapon, but mostly useless in modern battles,’ Vorlar said, and stared down at Jill from above the blade.
Jill nodded as Vorlar sliced the blade through the air between them. It dripped red light, which vanished in the air. It looked gruesome, like blood on fire.
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Vorlar said, lowering the weapon. ‘You’d blast me before I could do anything. But think again, because against you this is the perfect weapon.’
Jill was puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
Vorlar snorted, and pointed at Jill with the tip of the blade. ‘I know what you do.’
‘What I do?’ she said, leaning back against the wall. But she did understand now. Vorlar had seen what happened. She was not going to give him any information though.
Vorlar chuckled. ‘You’re just like Bounty, trying to hide your marbles under your pillow while they’re all spread out on the floor. To be honest, I enjoyed finally seeing you in action. You pack a million volts,’ Vorlar said, shaking the top of the blade between them, ‘but a simple old tool like this blade will render your power useless. Go ahead, blast me with all you got. I know you want to.’
Jill thought about it. He would be right, he always was. She recalled from weapons training that a Hotblade could dampen a lightning burst of a million volts, so it would certainly draw in and neutralise whatever she could throw against him. Demonstration of her skills was out of question. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Vorlar pushed the blade forward, so that it almost touched Jill’s chest. ‘Do not play games with me, Ms Conrad. You, Bounty, Parkes… you’re all like her, and you know it. I have to say, I expected more from you.’
She stood with her back against the wall, with no room to move.
‘When Admiral Atamian warned me, I was a fool to overlook you. How could I not? Look at you. You’re scared of even being alone with yourself. You would never have the guts to actually do anything. Suddenly I find out you accessed confidential files, and then blasted lightning in the hangar. I guess I was wrong about you. You do have guts, you really do.’ Vorlar swung the blade down, the blade still pulsating with liquid fire.
Jill let out a sigh of relief, and pushed herself from the wall without a word. Vorlar knew everything already.
‘I am curious about one thing though…’ The tip of the blade in Vorlar’s hands seemed to hiss. ‘Why did you not try to escape with them?’
Jill sighed. ‘We wouldn’t have been able to leave—’
Vorlar interrupted her, ‘That’s right,’ he said with a smug smile. ‘Unless you disabled the access controls and the soldiers on duty, which you had to do while the ship was moving. Still, your decision makes me wonder – why sacrifice everything you have? Why sacrifice yourself?’
It made Vorlar wonder for sure, but for Jill it was crystal clear. After she had met with Aino, she could never have given her to the Dawn Alliance. And then there was Tristram. If she could not go with them, she could still help them go. It was simple.
‘It was the right thing to do.’
Vorlar narrowed his eyes. ‘Perhaps I have underestimated you… but this is even better. You’ll be more useful, and you get to play your role of martyr until the end,’ Vorlar said as he came close to her.
‘You see, I am not going to give you to the court. Instead, you will meet with the doctor.’
The door opened behind Vorlar and he turned around, his blade still active. Four soldiers entered and encircled Jill – as if she would be stupid enough to try anything. What could she do? Vorlar always overdoes things. A robot on wheels followed the soldiers, and behind it, Dr Belinda Killock, wearing a white lab coat and stupid pink lipstick on her annoying smile.
The robot on wheels, more like a robotic chair, whirred in and stopped right in front of Jill. The soldiers grabbed her by the arms and sat her down. She went easily, because she knew resistance would be useless: physically she was no match for the soldiers, and the Hotblade would just consume her electrical power. She drooped her head in surrender as automatic latches sprung from within the chair and clasped tight around her arms and legs. She pushed against them to no avail.
The doctor stepped forward. She took out a small instrument from her pocket, and held it up in front of her like a pen – a syringe. She gave Vorlar a self-satisfied smile. ‘We’ll make this one safe.’
‘Yes, they are all dangerous,’ Vorlar said. He stepped in front of Jill and grinned in the eerie light of his Hotblade’s fire between them. ‘But as you will see, Ms Conrad, with your help, we will hunt down each one of your friends, and free them of their unique abilities. What a collection of freaks they’ve gathered in that bucket of rust…’
The doctor bowed down close to Jill. She smelled like fairy floss. ‘This won’t hurt a bit,’ she said, and pressed the instrument against Jill’s neck.
Contrary to what she expected, Jill felt only a little sting. It was when the doctor took the instrument out that Jill started to feel strange. In a few moments she lost the feeling in the tips of her fingers and toes, the numbness crawling up her limbs, rendering them completely limp in a matter of seconds.
When she couldn’t feel her back anymore, and was about to lose the ability to move her head, she thought something was taking over her body. She screamed in horror.
Starcrasher (Shades Space Opera Book 1) Page 28