by Viola Grace
Rathi looked at her armour, and she traced her fingers over it. It was designed to be impressive, distinctive and she was the only one who could wear it. What started as a symbol of defence had become a symbol of fear. She was no longer in the mood to put that particular symbol on.
Jarrod emerged, his hair tidy and his face shining.
“You used the solar shower?”
He nodded. “It is the fastest method I am aware of to have a shower and still escort a beautiful woman to breakfast.”
She laughed and shifted Targo to her hip while they left her quarters and headed to the dining hall. She had seen the other Yaluthu eating salad and seeds, so she got Targo a plateful alongside a bowl of water. She set him up on the table and quickly got her own meal.
“I think Dr. Yarmek should measure me again with Targo in the room…there might have been a change.”
Jarrod raised his brows. “Do you think so?”
“The Yaluthu are having an effect, and Targo hasn’t had to call in reinforcements today, so it might be good to see the difference.”
They talked about the possible effects that the Yaluthu might be having, including the possibility of an allergy that was dampening her body’s systems.
Jarrod spoke to his com unit and requested a Reader from the Citadel accompany them to medical.
When he was done with his call, she asked, “A Reader, not a Minder?”
“You and your armour were designed for a purpose. If we can find out where you were, it will put more of your memories into context.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your earliest memories did not involve you in battle. If you can learn more about your first days, you might find more of a peace with your current situation.” He chuckled. “Who knows, you might have had a hobby.”
She let out a snort of laughter and finished her meal. Targo returned to her lap the moment her hands were free, and she rested her chin on his soft and fluffy head.
“Do you mind if I get another round?” Jarrod waited politely for her answer.
“Of course not. How long will it take for the Reader to get here?”
“Half an hour or more.” He got to his feet and wandered off to continue his grazing.
Tonya walked by with a tray of food. “May I join you?”
“Please. Jarrod is on his seconds.” Rathi gestured to the open seat to her left.
Tonya took a seat and smiled at the Yaluthu. “It seems you have been adopted.”
“Apparently I am unstable. Targo is helping with that.”
“They are good for healing or so I have heard. What are your plans for the day?”
Rathi laughed, “First, I need to convince Dr. Yarmek to put me back in the scanner, and then, I will have my past run over by a Reader. It should be entertaining.”
Tonya offered, “I could take a look.”
Rathi extended her hand just as Jarrod was sitting down.
Tonya put her hand on Rathi’s wrist and closed her eyes.
Jarrod shouted, “No!” and quickly pulled Tonya’s hand away.
It was too late, Tonya was shaking violently, and her eyes were staring blinding into the past.
Targo made a high-pitched squeal, and he squirmed to get onto the table and into contact with Recall.
Jarrod was watching Tonya, and Rathi asked, “What is the problem?”
“Recall hasn’t been exposed to much violence. She has only been sent on investigative missions to date. I am afraid that your past as Destroyer is more than she was prepared to see.”
As Targo nuzzled Tonya, a flotilla of Yaluthu hopped into the dining hall and gathered around Tonya’s legs. Sighing in relief, Targo left Recall and returned to Rathi.
When Tonya’s gaze finally focussed again, Rathi apologized. Tonya smiled weakly and blinked rapidly. “I wasn’t expecting…that.”
“I am sorry. I never thought about what you would be seeing on your way to my past.”
“I shouldn’t have tried when I wasn’t aware of your situation. It was something that they warned me about when I was brought on board.” Tonya sighed and looked down at the crowd of fluff around her legs. “They are handy little things, aren’t they?”
“They removed your shock, didn’t they?” Jarrod smiled and started to eat his seconds.
“They did. They stopped it from progressing, and now, it is only a vague memory.”
Rathi felt bad. “I do apologize. I have never had to deal with others, so any offer of help is accepted without thought to the consequences to the one offering it. I am rather self-centred.”
Jarrod snorted. “You have spent the last eon alone. You have a right to be focussed on you.”
She cuddled Targo as Jarrod finished his meal.
Tonya was feeling better and even cracking jokes about strapping two Yaluthu to her legs for warmth.
When Rathi and Jarrod headed to medical with her little companion firmly in her arms, Tonya lingered over her lunch and waited for Icon to finish her combat training.
“It must be nice to have a friend who will wait for you.”
Jarrod smiled. “It is. Thanks for waiting until I could get a second round of food. I am always a little tired when I replace sleep with food.”
She scowled. “You didn’t sleep?”
“Your couch is a little uncomfortable.”
“You should have slept on the bed.”
“I didn’t want to startle you.”
Rathi laughed. “I normally sleep standing up, so having someone nearby won’t worry me. Next time, just come on in. I am fairly sure that Targo will be a good chaperone.”
He grinned. “Thank you for the invitation.”
They arrived at medical and a nervous Yarmek helped her into the machine, and she could feel him holding his breath while the unit hummed to life. The numbers were different from the day before, she could tell the moment she left the scanner. “So, I am better today, right?”
Yarmek stared at his monitors, and he nodded. “You have had molecular containment increased by over thirty percent. How did that happen?”
She picked Targo up and snuggled him. “I was surrounded by Yaluthu for several hours. They drained the excess energy and got hammered at the same time.”
Yarmek ran his hand through his hair and cocked his head. “Well, if your levels remain this low, there is no reason why you can’t stay on Balen. I will let Olaris know.”
“Thank you.” Wearing a bodysuit she didn’t have to change for the scan, she was upright when a male entered the room, his horns curling up from his forehead toward the back of his skull before they changed direction and curled under his ear. His face was not conventionally attractive, but it was riveting.
“I am Deoth, the Reader you requested. Is there somewhere we can sit quietly?”
Jarrod straightened and looked the newcomer over carefully. “There are some tables and chairs set up in the gardens. She can meet with you there.”
Deoth nodded and waited for Rathi.
Jarrod led the way while they walked side by side through the halls.
“I will examine your armour later, but we are looking for the reason for your existence, and so, I am going to go back as far as I can, reading the signatures in your very bones.”
They walked outside, and the fresh air made her react as it always did. She filled her lungs as if another breath might not come. “Will it hurt?”
“It might. I have never worked on a woman of your age before. It could be agonizing, or it might tickle.”
Jarrod paused next to a table and chairs, holding out Rathi’s chair for her. He took the third seat when Deoth sat across from Rathi.
The Reader gave him a look. “You cannot be in contact with her during this. Any contact will ruin the connection.”
He turned to her. “You will have to release the Yaluthu as well. He will skew the readings that I get from you.”
She set Targo on the ground and tried to send him a pictogram of him being several feet away. He
chirped and hopped off, eating at the shrubs that bore the marks of his people.
Rathi inhaled in slow, measured breaths. “I am ready.”
Deoth extended his hands, palms up, on the table. She reached out and settled her hands against his while Jarrod watched with a concerned gaze.
Deoth didn’t touch her mind, he touched everything around her, and what he said opened her eyes.
Chapter Eight
“You were designed as one of a set. The Ichadra were trying to create gods.” Deoth’s voice was calm and quiet.
She didn’t ask, she waited for his additional input though her curiosity was going wild.
“The first attempts did not produce a viable creation. You were the first success of your creators, but the twelfth attempt. Once you were decanted, they spent a year trying to determine why you were a success and engaged in a campaign to promote their triumph that reached across the stars. This was their undoing.”
Deoth’s eyes had gone from golden to crystal grey, and he stared over her shoulder as he read the past written on her body.
“When the first demand for you occurred, they began to realize what they had done. The armour had been prepared to enable you to walk into the annual celebrations in your incarnation as Destroyer, but they brought it forward to give you an iconic figure to face those who threatened. Once they got a look at you, they were even more determined to have you, so the Ichadra had to give you the order to become the Destroyer in every way.
“Once they set your ability free, they had no way of recalling the power that they had loosed, so they asked you to sleep until they called for you again, and you did.” Deoth blinked and leaned back, dragging in a deep breath as his eyes resumed their normal colouration.
He smiled weakly. “That is it for today.”
She blinked. “Thank you. It was more than I was expecting.”
Jarrod cocked his head. “Is that all you needed to know?”
Rathi sat back and rubbed her hands together. “It was one thing to know I was designed in a lab, quite another to know that I was created with a specific purpose in mind. I wasn’t an experiment. I was a goal. It is quite a difference from where I sit.”
Jarrod frowned, but Deoth smiled and Rathi could see the understanding in his eyes when he said. “She was wanted.”
Jarrod blinked, and his smile was slow. “I understand now.”
Rathi sighed and felt at peace with the universe for the first time in over a thousand years. On duty, she had done what she had to and then returned to her holding area. Knowing that she was wanted for both her body and her purpose now gave her a sense of relief that her existence was not an accident born of boredom or chance.
Targo waddled up to her and chirped to be lifted. She settled him on her lap and stroked his fluffy fur while a lightness swelled in her chest.
Deoth got to his feet. “I will come back tomorrow, and perhaps, I can take a look at that armour. From your memories, it is quite spectacular.”
Rathi smiled brightly at him. “That would be nice. I didn’t know anything about the development process. I only got to step into the suit after it was complete. It had been encased in a storage cabinet next to my bed for months before I first got to wear it.”
The Reader left with a swirl of his robes, and Jarrod slid closer to her. “What did you wear at other times?”
“Nothing. My quarters were climate controlled and five kilometres from the nearest city.” She shrugged. “I spent most of my time alone and reading.”
“Interesting. Well, Dr. Yarmek has found you.” Jarrod sat up and gestured over her shoulder.
She turned and watched Olaris and Dr. Yarmek approach together. She waited and they stood near their table.
“Wacorathi Quen, I am happy to tell you that your body has stabilized tremendously since yesterday.” Dr. Yarmek’s relief was visible in every line of his body.
Olaris grinned. “And on that note, I have found you a placement.”
Jarrod was on his feet in an instant. “Where?”
Rathi looked up at him and blinked in surprised. He seemed almost hostile toward the base commander.
Olaris smiled, “Resko-Devi. They have been asking for a defender for a decade, and no member of the Guard or Citadel has suited them.”
Rathi asked, “I would have to audition?”
He inclined his head in a nod.
“Where can I learn about them?”
“The Citadel has an Archive access port. You can research them there. Jarrod, I need to speak with you about your next assignment.”
It was obvious that he was separating them for his own reasons. Rathi got to her feet with Targo in her arms. “Will you make sure that I can access the Archive?”
“I will contact Veera and have someone meet you in the courtyard.” He smiled brightly.
She knew a dismissal when she heard one, so she took flight and headed for the Citadel with her little companion held carefully.
She enjoyed her time in the sky and looped lazily around and around as she approached the place containing the information she needed for the next phase of her life. Jarrod was going to be a memory she treasured, but he had his destiny and she had hers.
She sniffled as she landed, and Targo chortled in commiseration. Life was loss. That was something she had always known. She was designed to be the goddess of destruction for a race that died without her lifting a single finger, there was no happily ever after for her.
Rathi landed in the courtyard just as a man in rich violet robes came out to greet her. “Wacorathi Quen?”
He looked her over from head to toe, and there was a heated interest in his gaze. He was a few inches taller than she was and built like a stone wall. He had pearly white skin, deep emerald eyes and a thick wave of black hair that reached his ankles.
“Yes.”
“I am Archivist Penodal. Please, come this way.” He extended his hand to her.
She slipped her fingers against his, watching the shock that ran through his body at the contact.
Targo chirped and let out a growl.
“You can’t bring him into the access room.” Penodal’s fingers closed against hers as he led her inside.
She pulled back. “Then, I am not going. Give me the information on a chip, and I will read it at the base.”
“It is secure information. You can’t copy it or transfer it.”
She removed her hand from his with a jerk. “Fine. Show me where it is, but Targo has to be there, for everyone’s safety.”
He frowned. “No animals have ever been in an Archive outlet before.”
Rathi laughed. “This is a Yaluthu. It is helping me maintain molecular stability.”
“Oh. I suppose that you could bring it with you as long as it doesn’t shed or anything.”
She lifted Targo so that they were eye to eye. “Don’t shed.”
He chirped in what she hoped was agreement, and she resumed her position with him on her hip as they walked through the Citadel to the Archive access deep in the basement.
“Why is the Archive access so secret?”
Penodal gave her a disbelieving look. “Because this access point runs through the archives of nine systems via living relays. The information assembled in this sort of hub can bring down governments and topple planets.”
“Oh.” She absorbed that. “Will you be doing the data retrieval or shall I?”
“I will set you up, and you can do the recall on your own. I will be nearby in case you need any assistance.” He pressed his palm to a door pad and leaned forward for an optical scan.
The door slid open, and he ushered her inside. She got her first look at the Archive access, and it was distinctly underwhelming. Three terminals, one master control and a view screen that reached from floor to ceiling made up the entire structure.
Penodal helped her to a seat and pulled a second seat close for Targo. “You can enter in the data that you are seeking, and I will begin the uplink.”
The screen in front of her flickered to life, and she saw the data streaming regarding the possible location she would be spending the rest of her life in.
Chapter Nine
Resko-Devi had a peculiar life form that took the representation of dancing sparks of light. They had the odd ability to create objects from raw materials around their world. It was this ability that had thrown their very existence into jeopardy.
Raiders and casual passersby had scooped up a few of the Resko-Devi for their own purposes and depleted the population to the point where it was in danger.
After engaging the Sector Guard to help them, the Resko-Devi sat behind a phalanx of satellites and defensive weaponry, but the passive population did not like having that much metal in the skies above. Their view of the stars was blocked.
Rathi absorbed the information as it scrolled past on the screen. She had been designed to assess information and make a decision as quickly as possible. With all the information on the Resko-Devi absorbed, she quickly typed in Ichadra.
The information was old, but she watched the rise and fall of the species that had designed her. When the data stream was complete, she sat back and turned off the monitor. Her skin shivered, and she welcomed Targo as he hopped into her lap.
Penodal rose to his feet. “Is that all you need to look up?”
“It is. Thank you.” She waited for him to open the door, and when he paused next to her, she felt his hand on her waist.
“If you are not doing anything this evening, I would love to discuss data mining and the histories of your people.” His low tone had a smooth and practiced rhythm to it.
She lied. “I don’t know anything about my people other than that which I have learned today.”
He didn’t open the door. “Would you care to learn more about the Citadel?”
His hand on her waist was making her uncomfortable. She reached out and gripped his arm. “I am sure that the Guard can tell me what I need to know. I am not interested in spending time with you socially if that is where you are heading.”