by Sulin Young
“Both combatants are disqualified,” she said loudly to the cheers and boos of the crowd.
“In case you didn’t realise, the gong is above the grid — not in the lake.” Both girls squirmed under her disapproving gaze. “Did you see the dolphin?”
Terrana’s eyes widened. “What dolphin?”
“I said, you swim like a dolphin.” So, she hadn’t seen it after all. Headmistress Marl was left feeling disturbed. Had it been a manifestation of Terrana’s desires, or had it been an entity independent of her?
“Get changed. Class is over.”
“Yes, Headmistress Marl,” replied both girls meekly. She deposited them on land and watched as they walked away. Her skin still crawled from witnessing the large silhouette under the lake and, like Mawuk, she had been unable to see the creature clearly. She would have to study the pictures closely to learn more about it, and she also had to wipe the boy’s memory.
“Degra!”
Headmistress Marl looked up in surprise to see Master Drummik approaching. Judging from his grim expression, something serious had happened.
“What is it?” she asked once he reached her.
Master Drummik leaned forwards and whispered in her ear. “Felix Jingo was murdered early this morning.”
17
Target, Baneyon
“Degra, the queen’s on the move,” said Master Drummik.They were in her office, behind the left eye of the great dragon that made up the main building of Minda Yerra. Everything was sleek and white, from the furniture and walls, to the flower vase that graced her desk.
“Is it related to Felix Jingo?”
“Possibly.”
“Dartkala!” muttered Headmistress Marl, using the word as an expression of surprise and dismay. She felt ill just hearing about the queen. It had been a long time since this imperial menace had ventured from her own planet; everyone, especially the Imeldors and L-Masters, preferred it when she remained in Swiva.
An automated voice interrupted them.
“You have a new message.”
Headmistress Marl raised an eyebrow and looked at Drummik. “Don’t you usually keep it on silent?”
“New phone. I’m still getting used to it.” Master Drummik fished a small, rectangular device from his pocket, glanced at the message and started cussing. Headmistress Marllooked at it in surprise— it was an old model that seemed to be regaining popularity with the phalange-endowed species.
“Don’t ask,” he growled when she threw him an inquisitive stare. He put the phone away and continued, “Felix Jingo wasn’t the only one. Three L-Masters were also murdered last night. They were Barthos Morkan, Ophilia Traci, and Pajar Kumta — all killed within a space of few hours, at different locations. There was evidence of a struggle in each case.”
“Dear Dartkala! Who would be so bold as to go after both Imeldors and L-Masters?” Marl said, the disbelief plain in her voice.
“The lacers believe that someone mindslipped into them. They’re pointing at us.” Master Drummik looked worried.
“Why? Because Imeldors are supposed to be the only people who can take control of a person’s mind? We’re losing people too.”
She understood Master Drummik’s reason for worrying. It was no secret that the L-Masters loathed Imeldors and took every opportunity to carry out regular checks on them via the UWIB Monitoring Authorities. These checks included late night raids on Imeldors’ premises under the guise of protecting the general public. But what the L-Masters really wanted, were detailed studies on weavers’methods of qi manipulation, mind control and— the queen.
Headmistress Marl shuddered. Cold blue eyes and a beautiful, unforgiving face framed in a dark halo of hair came to mind. Icy as the world she came from, the queen had once obliterated an entire guild of assassins who had slipped into her planet. They had been on a mission to assassinate her and capture the faars.
The attempt, however, had ended disastrously. She had been sipping hot tea in her ice caves with a group of L-Masters when it had happened. The assassins had been more than two kilometres away and never knew what hit them. But the L-Masters did, and when they returned home carrying the bodies of the assassins, they locked themselves away in solitary confinement. That incident had occurred five years ago and, to this day, the L-Masters were still locked away. Many believed that it had something to do with the queen kindly sparing their lives because she could have easily killed them all. Whatever had stayed her hand was a mystery to everyone.
Headmistress Marl sighed. “With the queen on the move, we must be extra vigilant about the boy’s whereabouts. Why do I feel like we are sitting on a ticking time-bomb?”
“Are you referring to Prince Gil Ra Im?”
“Of all the people she could have entrusted him to, why did she pick us at Minda Yerra? For sixteen years he trained under her tutelage, and it shows. There is no one his equal among the students. Minda Yerra is a holiday for him!”
“He’s led a sheltered life,” said Master Drummik softly. “Knowledge comes from experience, and experience comes from living beyond the sheltered confines of his world. Perhaps the queen knew this.”
The headmistress was about to respond when a vibration on her wrist interrupted her. She glanced at the message blinking on her wrist-phone.
TELL DRUMMIK TO ANSWER HIS PHONE. B.
“It’s Baneyon. He wants to speak with you.”
Master Drummik scowled. “Tell him to stop stalking me!” He caught her puzzled look and explained. “He’s been harassing me about Terrana’s progress every single day! He wants to know how she’s doing, if she’s settling in okay, if anyone’s bullying her, if the food is to her liking, if she’s made any friends, what her grades are. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s a nagging mother!”
“Why doesn’t he ask me? I spend more time with her.”
“He said your fangs would only get in the way.” Master Drummik almost bit off his tongue when he realised what he had said. Headmistress Marl descended on him, her face black as thunder. “Degra, in my defence … Don’t kill me!”
Blissfully unaware of the terrible events her teacher and headmistress were discussing, Terrana sat at the desk in her room, typing out a message to Baneyon. Her school day was over and so she had time to communicate with him; students weren’t allowed to carry phones beyond their rooms. Kazu lay on her lap purring contentedly, glad his mistress had returned.
Terranathought carefully— how she phrased the next few words was a matter of life and death. She tapped her fingers across the virtual keyboard on her desk.
BANEYON, PLEASE GET ME THE NEW HOODED CARDIGAN FROM GRIENNA’S STORE. IT’S CALLED THE A-LINE AND I’D LIKE THE RAINBOW ONE. WITH LOVE, YOUR ONLY DAUGHTER. P.S. I CAN SEND YOU THE CATALOGUE NUMBER.
She tapped Send.
Back in Pophusia, languishing in the warm sunshine outside a riverside café, Baneyon nearly choked on his iced loganberry shake. His eyes scrolled rapidly across the screen of his phone, blinking his response.
SURE. WHEN THE SUN MARRIES THE MOON AND THEY GIVE BIRTH TO A TWO-HEADED BABY MONKEY. Send.
Terrana scowled. Her fingers flashed across the desk.
YOU’RE TOO OLD TO UNDERSTAND. FASHION IS A RELIGION. TODAY I WAS TOLD MY CLOTHES WERE CHEAP, UGLY, AND PRIMITIVE. DO YOU WANT ME TO LIVE WITH THAT? Send.
Baneyon’s face turned dark. Did she really just say he was too old? He read his message again. She did!
LIVE WITH IT. AND JUST REMEMBER, AN OLD MAN WOULD NOT TAKE YOU SHOPPING. Send.
PROVE IT TO ME AND BUY ME THE A-LINE. Send.
Baneyon cussed under his breath. The little brat had got him. His phone beeped again. It was a message from Master Drummik.
BEWARE DEGRA! SHE TRIED TO FORCE ME TO SPIT OUT WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT HER FANGS.
“Drummik, you idiot!” he said out loud. He blinked his reply.
AS LONG AS SHE DOESN’T KNOW I WANTED TO USE THEM AS RIVETS TO ATTACH THE BEAM ON MY CEILING. Send.
A whole minute passed by before he received an answer from Drummik.
YOU IDIOT! YOU SENT THAT LAST MESSAGE TO DEGRA.
Crap! Baneyon prepared himself for the backlash. He, Drummik, and Degra had grown up together so he knew just how unpredictable her temper could be. Any moment now … His phone rang.
“Baneyon here,” he answered, sounding as normal as he could.
“How did your time on Earth go?” She didn’t sound angry. That was good. The murder business was probably weighing on her mind.
“No luck. I nearly got my ass bitten off by some great whites along the coast of Australia — did you know they actually have the intelligence to herd their prey into traps?”
“If you were the prey, then it wouldn’t be too hard.”
There it was — the slightest hint of vehemence.
“Have you tried searching close to her home?”
“I did! All three-hundred-and-fifty islands. There wasn’t any sign of the dolphin. If I don’t see fish for the next five years, it’d still be too soon.”
“Ahh … well, she is living in Minda Yerra now.”
Baneyon couldn’t help but feel that statement carried undertones of smugness, although he didn’t see how. “Are you trying to tell me that Terrana’s feeling at home in Minda Yerra?”
“Yes. And if Minda Yerra’sher home then—”
“You saw it, didn’t you?” he snapped. “You saw the dolphin!” And to think he had spent the last two weeks scouring Earth’s oceans dodging sharks while looking for it.
“I have pictures. One of my students took them. Don’t worry, I’ve already wiped his memory.”
“You’re not joking. You really saw it?”
“I saw a manifestation of it. I’m not sure whether Terrana called it or it appeared on its own.”
“A manifestation? It wasn’t real?”
“I don’t know. Terrana could have projected it, or it could have been real and therefore trying to tear through our fabric of reality, the way she had done when she was living in Sector Thirteen. There was one other thing …”
Baneyon tensed. Whatever she said next was not going to be good.
“I failed to detect any qi from either Terrana or the dolphin. It seems that what happened on the ship was not an anomaly. Sensors can’t detect her qi.”
A tiny ball of fear grew in the pit of his stomach. He, Degra, and Drummik had physically searched and scanned the forecastle deck of Dartkala’s Arrow but had not detected any traces of qi from either Terrana or the ice-phoenix. There had been minute recordings of the other students who had stayed with her, but zero readings of the ice-phoenix and Terrana. How was that even possible? Why had the ice-phoenix appeared to her?
The enormity of the interaction between Terrana and the ice-phoenix terrified Baneyon. If they didn’t find answers soon and word escaped that Terrana had personally met an ice-phoenix, it wouldn’t be long before the L-Council came knocking on the doors of Minda Yerra, demanding to remove her. And knowing their methods, they would begin with a lobotomy.
“Degra,” he said slowly. “Those boys who were with Terrana on the ship— we should wipe their memories as well.”
There was no reply. Baneyon frowned. “Degra, you there?”
“Baneyon, hello? Baneyon, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you. Must be the connection.”
“It’s not the connection. You were quiet for two whole minutes.”
Baneyon froze. He stared at the table and the cast of its shadow. It was exactly how he remembered it — the shadow fell neatly across the grains of the pavement in the same exact line.
He looked towards the potted Alduran lemon tree and noticed a few of the leaves fluttering, but he knew there was no breeze. The table’s shadow should have shifted point zero five degrees to the right if two minutes had truly passed.
He glanced at his messages — there were two from Terrana.
FELL INTO THE LAKE AGAIN BUT TOOK MISA WITH ME. SHE GAVE UP FIRST COS SHE WASN’T ABLE TO HOLD HER BREATH.
The message was time stamped two minutes earlier.
IF YOU BUY ME THE A-LINE, I’LL PRETEND I WON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ABOUT PARTICLE SEPARATION IN MASTER DRUMMIK’S CLASS SO YOU CAN WIN YOUR BET. Ten secs.
“Degra,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’ve been compromised. Someone’s mindslipped into me.”
Baneyon dropped his phone and looked around in panic. With the intruder in his mind reading his thoughts, he couldn’t be sure whether what he saw was real. There were people everywhere, strolling by with their pets, sitting down, whizzing past on their scooters; they looked real enough. He couldn’t believe he was being attacked in broad daylight — an unwelcome sign of the enemy’s confidence.
A little boy no older than five, with curly hair and chubby cheeks, walked past him holding onto his mother’s hand. He saw Baneyon and smiled. It was an evil smile; his eyes crinkled into dark slits and his mouth pulled back too far.
“You’re going to die today, Baneyon,” he gurgled.
“Hope your mum leaves you soaking in your diapers!” Baneyon shot back, but not loud enough for the mother to hear. He could sense the attacker within him, contaminating his body with foreign qi in a bid to gain control of his limbs.
Baneyon shut his eyes. One by one, he began blocking off the qi points in his body that could have allowed a skilled user to enter. In doing so, he trapped the foreign qi and, therefore, part of the attacker’s consciousness became trapped within him. He only hoped it wasn’t too late; he was beginning to lose sensation in his lower body.
Something flew by his face, touching his skin ever so slightly. A tiny, paper-thin cut appeared above his right cheek, spilling blood. Baneyon opened his eyes and stared into the sky. It was beginning. There was a heaviness above as the air began to thicken. The people around him were becoming short of breath. The pallor of their faces, quickened pulses, and slowed pace were all telltale signs of what was happening, but Baneyon didn’t need to see these signs to know what was happening.
The air was being sucked from the ground, and it was all his doing. The attacker had taken control of his qi and was using it to create one of Baneyon’s deadliest weapons. Air-blades.
Baneyon fought down his rising panic. From the sky they would descend, hundreds of thousands of them; blades of super compressed air containing millions of particles that could shred a person to pieces. Or worse, they could be manipulated so that they were inhaled into peoples’ respiratory systems where they would wreak havoc and cause excruciating pain.
He tried to resist but it proved futile — his qi had been released and the attacker was using his power to commit genocide.
Stop it! I’ll do whatever you want — just stop it!
But whoever or whatever had taken control of his body ignored him. A few blades, invisible to a normal person’s eyes, broke away from the swirling mass in the sky and disappeared into a pair of intertwining towers nearby. Baneyon watched in horror as the upper section of the towers began to slide down.
“LOOK OUT!” he screamed. People stared at him as if he’d gone mad. A frantic internal battle took place as Baneyon struggled with his captor to regain control of his limbs. In what was a small victory, he managed to point to the towers. “They’re going to topple.”
This time the people did look, and when they saw the truncated section of the towers teetering, they began to scream. One quick-thinking passerby raced to a neon bollard and activated the city services emergency grid. Baneyon watched in amazement as this man directed rescue drones towards the towers and alerted medical assistance teams.
Baneyon winced. His muscles were beginning to cramp because of the unnatural flow of his qi. If he didn’t do something soon, he’d be wading through a city of dead bodies, assuming he survived long enough.
The phone, which he had dropped, blinked up at him from the ground. Terrana’s messages jumped out at him, as if she was right there by his side, nagging him for pocket money.
Not knowing what else to do, he read the first message.
FELL INTO THE LAKE AGAIN BUT TOOK MISA WITH ME. SHE GAVE UP FIRST COS SHE WASN’T ABLE TO HOLD HER BREATH.
Terrana could hold her breath for eight minutes. The mass of blades in the sky would not descend for another five. Baneyon came to a decision — a decision that could have been his last. With some of his qi points blocked, the attacker could not utilise Baneyon’s full power, and by slipping into his mind, the attacker had used up some of his own strength and life-force. If Baneyon were to die before the attacker could leave his body, he would effectively injure or kill the unwelcome person. Baneyon exhaled all the air from his lungs, and held his breath.
A minute went by, then two, three, and four. Baneyon could have cried with relief — it was working. For the first time, he felt his attacker struggle as he tried to pull out of Baneyon’s body. People were beginning to breathe easier as air flowed back to the ground.
I dated girls underwater, you know. I can hold my breath for as long as it takes.
There was no answer. He could feel his attacker frantically trying to unblock his qi points to escape, and because Baneyon’s own life-force was weakening, there was not enough to sustain the both of them.
You are a fool to think you can defeat me like this!
I’d be a fool if I didn’t try — I’ve got you running. By the way, is that you in the park above me, crouching by the bushes?
He hadn’t been idle while trying to suffocate himself; Baneyon had scanned his surroundings for the attacker, certain that he’d be close by. He eventually noticed the small island floating above the river, and the crouching figure that seemed rather close to the edge.
Feeling a flutter of fear from his attacker, Baneyon took a couple of steps towards the elevator chute that would transport him to the floating island.
You don’t have to read my mind to know I’m coming up there to smack you!
Do that and four hundred people will die in an instant. You don’t have much time, Baneyon. Unblock your qi points and release me.
Baneyon turned towards the stricken towers and realised the drones would not be able to save everyone in time. Neither would they be able to prevent the top sections from sliding off, sending five hundred tonnes of concrete and metal crashing into the people below.