Calendra straightened at that announcement and glared at him. “How dare you lie to me—”
“I’m not lying. My father is a decorated Star Union hero. That’s quite a bar to live up to, Calendra, and abandoning all hope of rescue would surely disappoint him. I’m bred of both dimensions, as is my sister. We can find a way out of this prison.”
“How?”
“First we need a peace offering.” Rafe traced his tongue along her ear. “Release the Terrans, Calendra.”
She sighed and the wave of pleasure crested over them both. So sweet. Sweeeeet. “No.”
He brushed her pale shoulders with his palms, gave in to her cool kiss. Pulled away. “They can’t survive much longer. Don’t sentence them to your fate. Your pain.”
Calendra leaned back. The clarity in her eyes swirled and as the dam broke, they morphed to an inky black. “Why? What will you give me in return?”
He brushed a flowing white tendril from her forehead with the back of his hand. “I am yours for as long as you’ll have me. If I can’t free you, I’ll remain here forever.”
Calendra’s dark tongue flicked out and licked her lips. “I have your oath?”
Rafe nodded. “We’re both escaping this place, but the people who can help me need the Terrans released first. Let them go.”
She skimmed a look over her shoulder. “I need them.”
Chief Petty Officer Timms writhed on the decking. Tendrils of another of Calendra’s crew folded over the man, entangled their white trails into his mouth, eyes and ears. He couldn’t scream.
Rafe stood up. “You’re torturing him.”
Calendra brushed against him, and her ivory slip shifted to display the top of creamy petite breasts. Just that brief touch sent a frisson of electricity along his skin as if she were a natural force embodied. He wrenched her closer.
Rafe didn’t want to think anymore, but he forced himself to focus. “Let him go.”
“I have your promise?”
Rafe nodded. Calendra glided away and suddenly the bridge seemed cold. All around him floated the few remaining members of Calendra’s crew, each a spinning whorl of mist. She snatched the other creature off Timms. It shrieked.
Calendra blew up her form to twice its size and her face elongated. Her mouth opened to reveal several rows of fangs, and ghost-white tendrils reached out to the others of her kind. The creature crouched back, collapsed in on itself like a dying star. Timms scrambled away to a group of Terrans huddled in one corner of the bridge.
Calendra turned back to Rafe, angelic once more. That hideous creature of moments ago would soon be his fate if he didn’t escape. He ached that Calendra had endured such a state for so long. What would happen if she turned that specter on him?
She flicked her tongue over Rafe’s lip. “Send them back. You. Stay.”
Rafe nodded and her tendrils enveloped him. Seconds before he melted into the vapor infusing his every pore, Rafe sent a message to Timms through the ether. Run. Go to the Interlace escape pods.
Then he was floating in the sky, delving deep into the recesses of the clouds.
Outside the dermaplas dome of the prime minister’s yacht, the sun had nearly set, the last of its rosy stain like wine on a white tablecloth.
“You’d think after that four-hour med exam we deserved a break.”
Lara pulled her gaze away from the sunset and snatched the champagne Cam held out to her. “Tell me about it. What I want right now is a long shower and a soft bed.”
All around them, Nessa’s officials and cornerstone families mingled with the Gryphon’s senior staff. Servers presented platters of deepwater delicacies such as cuttlefish rolled in ink-dyed sticky rice, rare land-raised venison and even Terran quail that would last mere hours. Her mother stood with several Creed cabinet members, but it was Mitch’s tall form that drew her attention. Rigged out in dress blacks that included several honor decorations, he moved through the room with ease. While the man might never have met Sabine Osai, Mitch did seem to know everyone else who mattered in the prime minister’s inner circle. Lara’s breath caught. After all these years of running from him, turns out Mitch had been running toward her. And now he fit in better with her people than she did.
Cam clinked their glasses together. “When I left the ship, the last of the crew was finishing up their examinations. Nessa’s doctors found nothing out of the ordinary. As far as they’re concerned, we experienced a mass hallucination in the wormhole and are chalking it up to some sort of chemical imbalance inherent in Chimeran physiology.”
Lara rolled her eyes and sipped the champagne. “I did not hallucinate.”
Only Mitch and now Sabine were aware of Lara seeing and speaking to Rafael in the wormhole. Mitch—and probably the doctors too if she told them—believed she’d imagined Rafael, but she trusted her instincts. She’d spoken to her brother. Rafael had been real.
Mitch, however, would soon himself become less substantial than a ghost. He’d consented to an exam too and, since she was captain of the Gryphon, the doctors had released his results to her. They[0] revealed that the man had less than a week’s time left on Creed.
They had to act fast. And they had to stop arguing. Time was now counting down for both Mitch and Rafael. After all, no one knew what ill effects her brother could currently be experiencing. Chimerans could exist in either the Creed or Terran dimensions, but in some other dimension, Rafael could be facing the same fate as Mitch.
The collar of Lara’s formal uniform itched and she clenched a fist to avoid snapping the flap open. Mitch chuckled at some joke and Lara let herself drink in the sight while she could without him knowing. The dark uniform played up straight black hair that framed an angled jaw. Would his skin still warm to her touch?
Lara stopped the runaway train of her thoughts and set her glass down on a passing tray. For a little while their relationship had been wonderful. If only they could have lived in a bubble, untainted by outside forces. If only they’d been from the same world.
Enough of this.
“Cam, I’m getting out of here. If anyone asks—”
“If anyone asks—” her XO continued scanning the room, but her lips lifted in a smirk, “—you’re reviewing ship diagnostic logs from the wormhole. You’re a very busy girl.”
Lara suppressed an all-out grin with a look at her boots. “You deserve a raise, Cam.”
“I’ll settle for my own ship.”
Lara popped open her collar and headed for the door. Freedom lay just a few quick steps down the gangway to Nessa proper.
The lock of tension in her chest that had taken hold since talking to Rafael eased with each step closer to outside. She needed to get out of this place, get back to the ship. Find Rafael. All this talk was such a waste of time.
“Lara.”
She stopped, closed her eyes. Her mother’s voice.
Lara plastered a smile on her face and turned around. Sabine stood next to a man two heads taller with gray marking his temples. Creed’s defense minister, Aber Kade. Freedom would have to wait.
“A word, please, Captain, before you depart.” Sabine’s clear voice filled the space between them. Her bright eyes were accentuated by a light blue tunic and the aquamarine necklace of office draped over her narrow shoulders.
“Of course.”
They moved in closer and Sabine’s gaze scanned the room until they settled on Mitch. “Is there any way you might be able to convince Commodore Yoshida to reveal the last known coordinates of the Interlace?”
“He’ll have to tell me eventually.” Lara reined in her tapping foot. “Commodore Yoshida knows he can only hold back that information temporarily. Not if he wants to actually take the Gryphon there.”
Sabine pressed a hand on Lara’s arm. “Why do you think he’s holding back now? We want to send in our own search party.”
“I really want to know what Rafael’s mission was in the first place. And get my hands on those logs.”
Sabi
ne quirked an eyebrow. “He usually can’t tell us anything about his missions.”
Lara dropped her voice. “Exactly, but Mitch knows. I’m sure of it.” She glanced at Kade and wondered if he, like the doctors, thought she’d begun to lose her mind because she insisted she’d seen Rafael. None of it mattered though, since they had no authority over her. She could, and would, speak her mind. “What we Chimerans experienced in the wormhole was not a mass hallucination. I alone encountered a very different situation. As I’ve told my mother, I’ve spoken to Rafael and I trust him. Wherever he is, he said that he’s not alone. We found huge amounts of negative matter out of phase with both dimensions that seems to corroborate his story. I want to go back into the wormhole and try to contact him again.”
Sabine pulled Lara to the side of the room. “As a Chimeran he has some protection from sudden phase shifts, but how much time do you think he has, really?”
Lara hesitated. What if she was wrong? “I don’t know, Mother.”
“Lara, whatever resources you need are at your disposal. We want to continue peaceful relations with Terra, but if Rafael and our other Chimeran children are in danger, we must help.” She glanced at Kade, who nodded. “The entire cabinet supports me on this issue.”
A warm breeze swept in from the open doorway and over Lara’s face. Every visit to Creed gave her a sense of relief. Maybe the planet’s lesser gravity caused the sense of lightness or perhaps she was just more comfortable with her mother’s people. About the only place Lara relaxed more was in one of the havens.
Lara sighed. “I don’t plan for the Gryphon to stay here long. Who knows how the wormhole is affecting Rafael and the other Chimerans? I’d hoped to find answers here on Creed, but we haven’t. The best course now is to return to Terra and find out what the Interlace’s mission was. I’m sure Commodore Yoshida will agree.”
“Agree with what?” Mitch walked up behind her, his gaze scrutinizing each of their faces.
Lara’s mother gave her a blank stare and held her tongue. Evidently this opportunity for diplomacy belonged all to her.
Lara cleared her throat. “The prime minister and her cabinet want to send in their own search mission, Commodore. We need to know the Interlace’s last known coordinates.”
Mitch squared his shoulders. The man clearly had no idea how much he revealed of himself just from the tension in his posture. “I’m not at liberty to disclose that at this time. You know that, Captain.”
Lara nodded. “You’re going to have to tell me at some point. I’m not going to let you take my ship in blind. I know you were hoping the Interlace had ended up here somehow, but we haven’t been so lucky. What’s the difference if you tell me the coordinates now?”
Sabine stepped closer. “If you like, we can retire to a more secure venue, Commodore. I understand the need for discretion.” Her mother clasped Lara’s hand but looked at Mitch. “The Chimerans belong to the Creed as much as they do to Terra. We won’t just sit back and wait for you to solve this problem.”
Lara chafed at the idea of belonging to anyone. How could she ever make her mother comprehend that?
“I understand your distress, Madame Osai. We’re doing everything possible to find the Interlace. Rafe is a close friend of mine. Believe me when I tell you that I am very personally motivated to find him.”
Fear and frustration twisted inside Lara, making her insides lurch. Mitch knew where her brother had been last and wouldn’t tell anyone. Sooner or later, Mitch would have to tell her what kind of mission the Interlace had been conducting. She let go of her mother’s hand. “‘Personally motivated?’ Does your sister still live in New Tokyo, Mitch? What if she disappeared tomorrow? Would you call your desire to find her ‘personally motivated?’”
Mitch’s gaze darted around the room. “Lara, don’t do this. Not here—”
She stepped right up to him, her nose maybe an inch from his chin. “Know this. The Gryphon isn’t going anywhere until you give me those coordinates. I’ve had it with this classified-information crap, Mitch.”
She’d already gone too far, but the words just kept spilling out of her. “I can lock your crew out of the Gryphon’s systems with one word. We can stay here for as long as it takes to get what I need to find Rafael. You’ve got less than a week before your molecules disintegrate.”
Mitch’s shoulders tensed up as the whole room quieted. The walls and her thoughts crowded her. She wasn’t the same hotheaded kid who walked out on Mitch all those years ago, but one more minute in his proximity and she might say something no diplomacy could repair.
Lara turned and snapped open the rest of the buttons on her jacket. A few quick steps brought her to the yacht’s threshold. When her breathing slowed, she found herself on the dock, but the sounds of water lapping against the ship were unable to drown out the ferocity of her words.
Why was she always so volatile around the man? One or two words from Mitch could arouse such venom, and her self-control simply vanished near him.
Lara gulped in the briny air. Climbing vines and plants covered every available vertical space on a Creed pod, and Nessa was no different. Blooming flowers swathed the balustrade, all of them edible. Each detail reminded her that Creed was a beautiful world so different from Terra, where she had spent most of her childhood. Their parents wanted her and Rafael to grow up on Terra without the trappings of royalty and public office they’d have had to navigate on Creed. They visited as frequently as they could, though.
“My sister lives in Francisco now.” Mitch’s baritone easily blotted out the sound of water splashing against the dock.
He’d come after her. Lara sensed his presence behind her, his body blocking the breeze off the water.
“She remarried last year. Some guy who makes art from reclaimed metal. He seems to make a decent living at it, but all of his pieces just look like scrap to me.” Mitch splayed a hand on her back and its warmth beckoned her, but she resisted the urge to rest against him. She feared even to look at him.
Mitch leaned on the railing next to her and gazed out at the dark water. “I was supposed to be on the Interlace, but I protested the Chimeran segregation. Rafe wanted me to drop it, but I couldn’t.”
Lara’s breath hitched and she rested her head on Mitch’s shoulder. Rafael might very well be lost to her forever. Mitch could have been trapped in that netherworld too. She didn’t want to admit that both men mattered so much to her. Somehow they had to get past their old arguments.
Wait. Her mind whirled, piecing together Mitch’s words. “You protested the Chimeran sequestering on the Interlace?”
Mitch nodded. He clasped her hand and his strong fingers massaged the tension out of her palm. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you, but you were right. I’ve been working on relations with Creed for years. I’ve lived here on Creed off and on for a long time but couldn’t continue much longer. So I requested a command and received the Interlace. I noticed the way the Terran crew members distrusted the Chimerans. Your warning came true. Then the Interlace went missing. I pressed to investigate and here I am.”
Lara thought her mouth might be hanging open. “You see the discrimination now?”
“Do I need to repeat the whole story? You stopped listening at ‘you were right,’ didn’t you?”
“I never expected to hear it from you.”
Mitch chuckled and stared out at the water. “I’ll give you that.”
Lara relaxed against him, let Mitch and the railing hold her up. Just for a few seconds, she promised herself. This was the Mitch before the edict. How long would it last?
“I don’t want to be right about this.”
Mitch turned her chin up and his warm breath caressed her cheek. “The Union isn’t all bad, Lara. We’re not all so afraid.”
The weight of everything pressed in on her—Rafael being missing, Mitch’s time on Creed, and her own fight for Chimeran independence. Lara hungered to melt into Mitch, into the solidness of his chest. She deserved a fe
w moments of respite.
Her voice came out a whisper. “I know.”
If he’d been on the Interlace, this chance she had right now would have been lost forever. Lara turned toward him and let her body soften. Some distant, scared voice inside her yelled, but she ignored it. Mitch had defended the Chimerans.
Lara stretched up on her toes and brushed her lips across Mitch’s. For a second he didn’t react. Was this a mistake? Suddenly Mitch’s arms wrapped around her, anchored her to this moment. Her mouth parted and Mitch didn’t hesitate, his tongue meeting her own. His warmth spread through her, settling deep in her belly.
When the people of Creed cast off from the land, they’d gambled that the soon-to-be unspoiled forests would save them from rising poisons in the air. They’d gambled and won. Lara gambled now, hoped this reconnection with Mitch was not a mistake. That he wouldn’t disappoint her again.
In this moment Lara couldn’t really think about losing Mitch again. Didn’t want to think about losing her brother and the man she’d loved for years at the same time. As always she was determined to bend the world to her wishes. Somehow she would find her brother and set the world right again. Mitch stood here right now, real and tangible—an opportunity not to be ignored.
Lara pressed closer to Mitch, yearned to pull him down onto this very dock right now. They’d wasted so much time, so many years of being apart.
Through her closed lids she sensed an intense bright light and her skin tingled at a crackle in the air. A rumbling boom shattered above and they jerked apart. Above, a wormhole vortex bloomed open low in Creed’s atmosphere, its shimmering swirl hypnotic.
Lara clasped Mitch’s hand. “Can Terran ships jump through that low?”
Mitch backed up from the balustrade and pulled her along with him. His grasp still connected them, but his face showed a blank mask. “No.”
Almost a hundred tiny ships swarmed through the maelstrom, buffeted by the Creed cloud cover. Mitch’s shoulders tensed and Lara feared what he was thinking.
The Spiral Path Page 5