by Viola Grace
She cocked her head. “Um, sure.”
“Take my hand. We will move into my mind. They will have a harder time finding you there.”
“They?”
“The folks who run the experience. They are recording this interaction, though it will look different through their filters.”
“I am guessing that your time here is not your choice?”
He smiled slightly. “Take my hand and find out.”
That was a cryptic statement, but she was here for a purpose and he was offering her a chance to get closer.
Nothing in her own mind could hurt her, but she was going to stretch that connection if she accompanied him. With a deep breath, she extended her hand to his and pressed her palm against the surprisingly calloused skin of his own extremity.
He tightened his fingers around hers, and the world flared bright.
* * * *
Alarms were screeching and techs were racing around. Lady Yumant was lying quietly on the bed. They hadn’t even had a chance to get life support on her.
Her tech looked at the readouts and swallowed. Her mind was rioting, but the signal wasn’t normal. The baseline signal that they had measured on her way in was wavering wildly.
He asked one of the scrambling techs, “What is going on?”
“There is an incursion into the mastermind. Another mind is inside his. Management is frantic.” The tech looked at the monitors, and he stared at Yumant’s tech. “It is your guest that is causing the issue.”
Tmrieo looked at the monitor and casually grabbed a sedative. “Is it?”
With one smooth move, he injected the other tech with the sedative they used to induce the waking comas in the guests. The mastermind was linked with his guest, and he was loyal to the man in the centre of the underground fortress. Perhaps this woman was just what he needed.
* * * *
The world spun, got bright and then settled. Urado was standing next to her and still holding her hand.
She stared at him and blinked at his garb. “Why are you dressed as an oro?”
He looked down and shrugged. “It was my occupation. I was raised in the Arkek monastery.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That is a peculiar coincidence. Where are we?”
He waved his free hand. “At the monastery. I spend time here in between the guests.”
The stone was right. The weather was right. Looking at the sky above them, she could see the stars that were different from those that drifted through her thoughts every night. If this was a memory that she owned, she didn’t know it.
“I am afraid that I need to continue contact with you, but would you care to see the place that was my home?”
The hills were the same rich purple as his hair. She looked at the stone under her, and the sense of being somewhere physical was unmistakable. It was odd. In her own mind, she always knew when she was on the psychic plain.
“Certainly. Where are we exactly?”
“My home before I became a Minder. I grew up on Uranak in the monastery of Arkek. My mother and father broke their contract before I was born. They visited regularly but neither would raise me.”
She was suspicious. “You were born out of contract?”
“I was born in a shattered contract. It happens, or so I am told.” He smiled, and they walked inside the archways of the building. Light streamed in from every angle, and the exsko were wandering around without restriction.
“You can’t tell me that the exsko were lying in the meditation halls in reality.” She was amused.
He shrugged. “Each one is a memory that I treasure. To protect them from the influences of other minds, I gave them this form to protect themselves.”
“Very smart.”
“If you touch one, you will experience that memory as if you were there.”
She smiled. “It is not necessary.”
His fingers around hers were warm, and it was the first time she remembered feeling temperature on her skin in someone’s mind.
He smiled fleetingly. “I would not mind. You are the first person I have spoken to in centuries.”
She paused. “What?”
“I have been here for centuries, granting fantasies to the wealthy.”
Zeeat cocked her head as they passed a rippling fountain. “It has not been that long.”
“What?”
“You have not been here for centuries. You have been here for three years. Others have been sent to look for you, and no one has ever come back.”
He paused. “Three years?”
“Yes.”
“The Citadel has not fallen?”
“Of course not. I just finished my training. I was sent here to look for you because my mind is not typical.”
He grinned. “You can say that again. I was immediately drawn to you and your sense of self. Your mental construct is different than anything I have seen before in the pleasure-seeking folk who touch my mind.”
“You touched mine.”
“I did no such thing.” He looked offended, his clear eyes wide.
She paused and stared at him. “You did not contact us before we entered the trance beds?”
“No. The lights trigger the wavelength that I need to make contact. Whatever touched you, it wasn’t me.”
She felt her blood run cold, and she looked around. The light was still bright and the suns in the sky were still high. The exsko flew and fluttered around in lazy patterns, confident in their security.
“If you are not the one that tried to put us in a hypnotic state, there is another talent here, and it is probably keeping you in a state as well.”
He blinked slowly. “That isn’t possible.”
“Of course it is. Every mind has weaknesses. Yours reaches out to explore and leaves itself wide open.”
Urado pulled her to face him. “No. That cannot be it.”
“What is the last thing you remember before you began to pleasure foreign minds?”
His skin coloured slightly at her phrasing.
“I was here to investigate a series of abnormal events after folk had spent time here. They changed everything from charities to political affiliations after spending time on Ikappi. I was sent to find out who or what was influencing them.”
“Well, I am guessing that you found them.”
Urado looked confused. “I don’t remember. That is odd. I remember landing, and I am sure that centuries have passed, but that is all I know.”
She smiled and reached out to comfort him. It was strange to have to reach up, but when she stroked his cheek, it sent a shockwave through her as well as him. The small contact was definitely not like comforting a child.
Zeeat curled her fingers toward her palm, and she struggled to get in contact with her body.
* * * *
The tech watched the woman claw at her wristbands and necklace. When they were on the floor, she lay still and her mind evened again.
* * * *
Urado blinked. “What did you just do?”
“I made my body perform an action. It is fine. I am here with you now until you either release me or there is another intervention.”
“What do you mean, release you?”
She held up their joined hands and his snug grip. “I know you are happy to see me, and I will stay with you until help comes.”
“Why?”
“You are my assignment. I am here to get you out.”
“How is that going to happen?”
She chuckled. “There is a plan in place. I just need to remain with you and everything will work out. Now, show me the library. It is always my favourite part of a monastery.”
He held her close, and they walked through the courtyard and up to a building that had stairs leading upward with the enticing scent of books in the air.
* * * *
Equilar of Moreski watched the men racing from the shuttles to the site where the bracel
ets had started their radioactive beacon the moment they left Zeeat’s wrists.
Four days of no contact, and suddenly, the signal had blazed loud and proud.
Equilar remained on her shuttle and waited for the signal that they had found either Zeeat or the other Minders.
When the call for the medical teams came out, Equilar got nervous. Zeeat was an excellent pupil, and she had a delightfully clear grasp on her own capabilities and had given excellent advice on how to make a better impression with Mala. Getting closer to her granddaughter was important, especially with the next generation involved.
Equilar had never imagined that Mala would be all that was left of her family, but now that she was, any chance at a relationship was better than nothing. She had to prove that she was worthy to remain free and a part of the great grandchildren’s lives.
Helping Zeeat might get her out of the homicide and espionage charges that had placed the probation over her. They kept promising her freedom, but it hadn’t arrived yet. She didn’t really mind. The Citadel had a surprising need for a woman with her skills, and being one of the only royal Moreski loose in the sector made infiltrating exotic situations very easy.
Forty-five minutes passed before the med teams began to bring out unconscious bodies. The stream of faces of missing Minders took in all but the one she was waiting for.
Finally, a man came out of the lift carrying Zeeat. His skin was pale and he was disoriented, but he followed the men who guided him to her shuttle.
To Equilar’s shocked surprise, it was the missing Minder, Urado. “You are alive.”
He blinked and opened and closed his mouth a few times. He finally nodded, holding Zeeat tightly.
Equilar took in his pale form, shaking limbs and the dazed look in his eyes. “She is still with you, isn’t she?”
He nodded.
“Right. Come here. Sit and let the medics look at both of you. Pilot, taking off will be a good thing.”
The pilot nodded and sealed the hatches. “Yes, Lady. We are up.”
They lifted off as the medical teams swarmed around the two Minders.
* * * *
Zeeat held tight to him as the world quaked around them. “What is happening?”
He looked down at her in surprise. “They have found us. They are coming for you.”
She chuckled. “They are coming for you. I am just the hunting beast that located you.”
He kissed her quickly. “They are coming for you. I can hear them.”
She was surprised by the kiss. “I need to protect them from the other influence.”
Urado smiled. “You do that and I will protect you.”
“How will you do that?”
“My body still works. I can help them find you.”
She looked at him in surprise and nodded. “You do what you can; I will protect them from the hypnotist. See you when we are clear.”
He held her tight. “Go and do what you need to do.”
She nodded and sent her psychic control out to shield their incoming rescuers.
Protecting the helpless was one of her easiest duties.
* * * *
Zeeat kept the prodding influence of the hypnotic talent away from the rescuers until she was out of range.
She rushed into her body and sat up with a gasp. “Coms! I need a com to the other ships!”
Equilar frowned. “What do you need them to do?”
“Sedate all survivors. One of them is the hypnotist that started this mess.”
She tried to move, but she was held in a warm embrace.
“I will get it done.” Equilar rushed toward the cockpit.
Zeeat looked up at her restraints, and to her surprise, the physical form of Urado was even more pleasing and imposing than the mental projection. “Hello.”
He smiled and nodded. “Hello. Are you Zeeat?”
She stared at him. “Of course. Didn’t you recognize me?”
“I recognized the hair. Your face in your mental projections is not very clear.”
She chuckled. “I grew up without mirrors. The inner structure was far more important than the outer.”
Equilar came back and sat with a sigh. “The ship carrying the hypnotist was loaded with nulls. They restrained her without much trouble. She is out, and I can show you an image if you like.”
Zeeat nodded. “Please. I suspect that it was the greeter, but I am not sure that it was.”
Equilar brought up the picture, and Zeeat started swearing. “Follow that shuttle. That is Makuran. She isn’t the hypnotist, which means the actual target is on that ship.”
Equilar ran back to the cockpit, and the engines pulsed as they changed course.
Chapter Five
Contact with the shuttle had been established and an intercept had been plotted.
Urado cleared his throat. “Get mated pairs to be there on the intercept. They will block the seduction of the hypnosis.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Seduction?”
He smiled slightly. “Everyone who came to the experience wanted a seduction. Even the Minders were enthralled by the idea of it. They were just used to boost my range.”
Equilar was in communication with someone, and she smiled in relief when she got the reply. She sat back with a sigh. “The Sector Guard is surrounding the ship. They are mated pairs, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Are we needed?”
“Not unless we are requested. I don’t know how talents clash, but I don’t want to find out.”
Zeeat moved, but he kept his grip on her. “Why are you holding me?”
He smiled. “You are hiding the fact that I am naked.”
She laughed and changed her clothing to a more voluminous robe that covered more of him.
“Thank you, Specialist Zeeat. Your calm care for those around you is appreciated.” He stroked her jaw with his fingertips.
Equilar cleared her throat. “Is this the hypnotist?”
The image on the screen was that of the greeter, but it was an older, harder version. Zeeat nodded. “That is the one I met.”
“She was the one I met as well. We went for dinner to discuss the changes in the socialites, and the next thing I know, time was flying by.”
Urado’s hands clenched against her. He might be calmly observing, but he was upset.
“It was three years. Horrible but not devastating. Your family is probably still as alive as it was then and things should be able to return to normal.”
He shuddered. “Normal is not something that I am going to greet easily.”
She sighed and touched her mind to his.
* * * *
They were standing in the monastery again, and his exskos were around them, all looking happy.
“You will be fine, Urado. You have a strong mind. You will recover.”
“Do you know how many thousands of memories in my mind are not my own?”
She scowled. “Can’t you just expunge them?”
“What? That isn’t possible.”
She looked around and saw nothing but tranquil surroundings. “Where are they? I can show you how.”
“You would?”
“You are a trained Minder. I am pretty sure that you have instructed folks on techniques that you are privy to by the nature of your talent.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Well, in that case, I will show you how to protect your inner consciousness, and then, we will go hunting for the rogue memories.” She stroked his cheek again. “You will have to let me go and trust that I will stay with you.”
He slowly relaxed his grip on her hand, and she held herself in his mind.
“Okay. You have already protected your memories with the exsko forms, so now, we need to protect your central place.”
She walked him through the basics of creating a hard shell around his sense of self.
She smiled and sighed when he
finally accomplished it. “Excellent. Now, Equilar is shaking my shoulder.”
“We can go. This feels like it will work. Thank you.” He kissed her quickly.
* * * *
Zeeat looked at Equilar. “Yes, Lady?”
Equilar sighed in relief. “I was afraid you were in some kind of trance.”
“I was helping Urado to work on his conscious defenses. She caught him off guard, and he is upset about it.”
“I am awake and can hear you, Zeeat.”
She glanced up at him. “Fine. You were caught off guard and are upset about it. Better?”
He grimaced.
Equilar smiled. “There is food, and we have found a suit for Urado. He doesn’t need to use you as cover anymore, and the medics can help him get balanced again.”
“Great. I am starving. How long was I under?”
“Four days by my count. If you hadn’t triggered the alert, I was going to start turning over rocks.”
Zeeat took the bodysuit from the Moreski and tucked it behind her as she slowly rose to her feet, despite Urado’s clutching at her.
She batted his hands away and got to her feet. Equilar took her arm and led her to the galley where two of the medics were waiting.
The scans were rapid, and the injections only slowed her consumption of her meal by a few seconds. She was hungry, and if she had been under for four days without life support, she was nearly dead.
She didn’t mention it and neither did they, but she ate and drank like she would never see food and water again.
She had cut it rather close, but time had bent inside Urado’s mind.
Equilar patted her hand, and to Zeeat’s surprise, her meal had been cleared and they were alone in the galley.
“You zoned out again. Is that going to be a problem?” Equilar raised her brows.
“No, I am sure it is just residue of being starved and stuck inside someone else’s mind.”
Her tutor frowned. “Will you need therapy?”
“There is always debriefing, and I am sure that I will get what I need back on Morganti.”