VECTOR (The Weaver Series Book 3)

by Vaun Murphrey

  I could ask Kal in the Web for advice but if I did, that would ensure his arrival on Earth. That might seem like a desirable outcome to Gerome or Maggie, but they didn’t know just how much the Axsian had risked by bringing me back to his home planet. Vector or not, I was still an alien life form brought home without permission like a stray puppy. The politics of the situation were still dicey and he’d only avoided being imprisoned by the barest of margins. There had even been a trial where I’d been forced to testify. The memory of Sil’s excitement at our quick absorption of light bending in front of witnesses made a half smile creep in. I sobered.

  No, there wasn’t a defense the safety of the twins could be trusted to. The best defense was offense anyway. Silver and I would have to draw the alien out in the open and kill him. How we would accomplish that goal was still to be determined, but I felt better just making the decision and I was sure my sister would second it when she was done meeting with Maggie, Gerome and Malcolm in the Web. I would find out soon enough if she’d shared the knowledge that Shiva had visited the twins. Ray had only felt the strange sensation of being watched at night twice, but I knew in reality my little cousin could have been sleeping during the alien’s other visits so it wasn’t an accurate gauge to go by.

  There was another alternative but Silver would be against it due to her protective, territorial streak. I could contact Mez in the Web and ask his opinion. Silver’s lover was studying to join the same galactic police force of which Kal was a member, but he wasn’t a fully sworn agent until he passed the final examination and was approved by the governing body for active duty.

  My sister wouldn’t appreciate me making the unilateral decision to involve Mez, but it wouldn’t be the first time he and I communicated in secret. We’d colluded when Silver kept making excuses not to break down her barriers and take that final step into the happiness of a relationship. It could be argued the Bender owed me one or more favors for that interference, but in reality I was just glad my twin had found someone to love who wasn’t squicked out by our dual nature, only intrigued by it. Now would be the perfect time since my sister was otherwise occupied so I closed my eyes to find my center without even bothering to sit down on the floor first. The still mirrored lake beckoned.

  When my mind’s eye opened it was to reveal a mindscape that closely resembled outer space. A backdrop of obsidian was covered sporadically and dazzlingly with clusters of varicolored lights shining brighter than any single star imaginable. Pausing for just a moment to let the beauty of the endless mindscape sink in, I wondered at how the sight of so many Weavers’ lights always awed me. I could feel Silver of course and Gerome, Malcolm then Maggie, but I made sure they couldn’t sense me in this breathtaking infinite dimension.

  Children could ghost the Web before they were physically mature with the help of their parents, but most adults didn’t know how to mask their presence once they reached their full physical maturity. Kal had taught both of us how to hide in plain sight, even from one another. Granted, it wasn’t an ability just anyone possessed since experimental genetic engineering had played a part for Kal. A tiny piece of me separated from the intense white pulsating mass that represented our essence. I had only to think of where I wanted to be before the fabric of the Web blurred past then immediately settled to a stop almost on top of my objective.

  A small overlap occurred and I got the sense that Mez was engaged in a heated debate with someone. Kal’s name popped to the forefront of a thought and then his mother’s strident voice as her objection filtered through his consciousness. I sent a shock through the beautiful yellow and orange ball that was my friend and sister’s lover combined, feeling his surprised recognition of the echoing pull that trickled through to alert his mind in the physical world of my presence. The decision he made to split his attention and join me in the Web was so quick as to be almost instantaneous.

  “Back already? Does my Leoght Cor need me?” His mind voice dropped to a mock sultry whisper, “Or is it you that misses me, Sustor Cor?”

  I ignored the playfulness, feeling Mez’s real worry under the surface, but I sensed he had his own issues at the moment so I grabbed the memory of the events that had occurred in the twin’s room, deftly throwing them his way to absorb.

  There was a wash of intense red hot anger and then that emotion cooled to be replaced by a nearly arctic objectiveness as Mez answered, “You are pursuing the only course available. Earth does not have the necessary technology to trap an Axsian against their will. Hunt him out and kill him. I trust you have a plan?”

  “We do but I wanted you to tell me if contacting the agent who replaced Kal would be wise? He’d have the technology needed but I’m unsure of his effectiveness if he missed the prior visits to my cousin’s room.”

  What I was really asking, and Mez knew it, was could this person’s political leanings be trusted? Shiva was on Earth because he had been ‘killed’ during an Axsian uprising and there were supporters still lurking on his home world. For all the pretensions my former host planet displayed, in my opinion they were just as ‘uncivilized’ as Earth. The subject was one Kal rarely brought up, but when he did his opinions were not as lofty or arrogant as the majority of his people, which had made him a whole assortment of enemies over the years. No one likes to be told they aren’t much different than the person or thing they’ve just belittled.

  There was a pause before Mez said, “The agent you speak of has been out of contact for two cycles. Kal informed me today. The Elders will soon choose his successor with the assumption of his death.”

  Nice, that meant Kal had known before we were sent home and withheld the information. My mentor’s reasons were his own, but I would be voicing my opinion when next we met. Kal could be worse than Gerome. Now, I had an inkling what the argument was about between Mez and his mother, Tal. Axsa was a matriarchal society, ruled by three Elders appointed from major Houses and an aggregate of all the clans called the ‘Fid’, which loosely translated to trust from Axsian. No decisions were ever made without the final approval of the Elders and the Fid. Tal currently represented their city of Bleo in a position I could only ascribe as being close to that of a governor or senator on Earth.

  “Thank you, Mez. Give your mommy hell. See you soon.” I threw a mental wink his way and his startled response was all the answer I needed. I had mercy and made one last statement. “I’ll keep this to myself, for now, if you do.”

  The gush of mischievous joy he pushed at me was enough to make me laugh in anticipation before I thought of returning to my rightful place at Silver’s side in the Web.

  Orientation was never a problem as my sister called to me in ways I didn’t think I had words to explain. The thought of my life without her in it was anathema, even though it hadn’t always been that way. The path we’d forged together was offbeat and filled with obstacles along the way, but worth every moment. I could feel that my twin was still wrapped deeply in conversation and I even caught the tail end of a comment floating across her surface thoughts. “…do everything we can. The Council needs to know it all, even the parts you hid, Gerome. Secrets aren’t going to help anyone now.”

  Discreetly I gave a mental nudge to my twin, then sent a carefully edited thought her way. She needed to know that the Axsian agent sent to find Shiva was missing in action and presumed dead before I exited the Web completely. Hopefully, this would, at least temporarily, avoid any questions about how I’d obtained that information in the first place.

  Our eyes adjusted easily to the dim blue illumination provided by Reb and Ray’s night light. Soft, childish snores let me know the terrible two were still asleep. The general area of our abdomen gave a deep gurgle, reminding me that food was bound to be had in the kitchen that far outstripped anything we had had access to in five whole years. Saliva began to pool under our tongue as I imagined what goodies Maggie would have stored in her refrigerator. With one more glance back at the slumbering twins, I decided to leave the door open as I walked ou
t into the hall and headed toward the kitchen slash dining area with hollow sounding thumps on the hard wood floor. I’d forgotten how sensitive floorboards were to shifting weight, so I paused and listened intently for any indication that my loud steps had bothered my wards but the night was quiet. Outside the wind had picked up and with every gust the roof timbers creaked in protest, causing the chirp of crickets to fade temporarily into the background.

  The hallway was so short it only took a few steps before it led into the open concept living room on the left side and the combined kitchen dining area on the right. Maggie, Gerome and Malcolm looked like they were peacefully napping but I knew they were plotting and planning without me.

  Silver would share the memory of the whole conversation as soon as they were back which made me feel a tiny bit guilty for withholding my brief visit with Mez but not enough to confess, I decided. Gerome was sitting in his favorite careworn loveseat with his legs spread eagled, arms clasped together over his waist, and head at a sharp angle to rest on the top of the cushioned back.

  Maggie had chosen to stretch out on the couch with her head laid on one of the armrests and her hair hanging almost to the floor. Malcolm was sitting at the opposite end of the couch with his fingers wrapped around my aunt’s feet in his lap and his chin dipped forward as if he’d fallen asleep sitting up. I wondered sometimes at the history behind Malcolm and Maggie’s friendship; there was more to the story but I considered it rude to ask.

  The kitchen was much the same as I remembered it, minus the childish placemats and booster seats. Each opened cupboard revealed the same sorts of contents as prior years except one; the cups were now not just mugs and glassware—brightly colored spill-proof plastic cups dominated one whole shelf. My actions should technically be considered snooping but I’d been too long around Benders and they poked their ‘noses’ into everything, most of the time just to see if you’d notice.

  Kal and Mez often rummaged through our belongings, appropriating items just to see if we could track down who had taken them. It was a game played amongst friends and anything pilfered would be returned without comment, but more respect was given to those Benders who could gain back their belonging without the ‘thief’s’ knowledge. We knew some of the clothing Kal had given to us was most likely ‘borrowed’ from a store somewhere on Earth, but we chose not to make an issue of it.

  I made my way over to the antique looking refrigerator, lifting the long metal handle upward to release a pale yellow light, revealing an assortment of food items. There were indeed leftovers aplenty—a casserole dish contained cellophane covered homemade lasagna, a Ziploc bag held butter coated garlic bread, and a blue ceramic bowl held some spinach salad with bright red cherry tomatoes halved on top.

  Unfortunately, there were no sweets I could see, but the food looked like heaven enough and I began to pull everything out as fast as my arms would let me. Lasagna formed the base of my one armed stack, then salad and then bread. As I turned away from the fridge and let the door close with a solid thunk behind me, I stopped to listen again to the sounds of the house but could hear nothing that would lead me to be alarmed. Silver and I had learned to mind our gut instincts much better in the ensuing years after Calvin Harris’s attack almost killed us. Right now all my gut cared about was satiating its hunger.

  Once I had piled my plate high with Italian food, heated it in the microwave and then dumped out some salad, I snagged the Ziploc bag of bread before heading to the table. In my hurry to eat I failed to get myself a fork or something to drink so I rose again with a sigh of frustration. Right as the silverware drawer rolled open the air currents in the tiny kitchen changed and I smelled the faint aroma of ozone that accompanied a Bender teleportation.

  Without hesitation I pulled a paring and butcher knife from the area Maggie kept right next to the regular eating utensil tray, turning in one seamless motion to throw the smaller paring knife in the direction I sensed the unknown Axsian to be. The black handle vibrated for a moment as the bladed end struck harmlessly, digging itself into the wall above the table.

  The air currents fluctuated again with a stronger whiff of ozone and I felt a presence off to my left toward the living room so I sent an alarmed pulse out to Silver hoping she could wake everyone up for what good it would do.

  My voice held steady as I whispered, “Come out, come out wherever you are.”

  My steps were quick as I walked over to the wall behind the table to yank the small makeshift weapon free, holding it down next to our side. Terror and adrenaline caused our heart to beat so fast it sent pain through our chest, but I kept our face serene hoping I could draw the intruder to me. As I walked out of the kitchen into the living room Malcolm slowly raised his chin to look intently around the room until our eyes met then his skimmed down our form to settle on the knives and back up to lock onto my gaze with a question in them. Right at that moment Silver rushed in from the Web and I immediately felt a renewed sense of purpose. Anger spilled over from my twin in an infiltrating mist giving me inspiration. My hands extended holding out the knives to Malcolm who grabbed them without hesitation although his palm was too big to use the smaller blade to any advantage.

  Silver absorbed my thoughts and crowed with delight at the simplicity of our idea as we hurried over to a cabinet under the counter, bent to extract a large plastic canister then ripped off its lid to reveal fine white flour. We ‘ported into the center of the living room on top of the magazine covered coffee table, almost slipping on the slick paper and then put on an extra burst of strength and speed before spinning in place with the open container. When we came to a stop the room was filled with a cloud of the finely ground baking staple, revealing a shape just behind Gerome’s love seat.

  With another burst of enhanced speed, Silver and I let go of the empty container to launch ourselves at the flour dusted three dimensional outline but not before a red line appeared on our uncle’s neck just as he began to raise his head from the back of his chair. Arterial spray made tiny impact sounds as it hit the leather of our coat and a myriad of other surfaces. Gerome’s eyes popped wide in alarm as they made contact with ours in passing and we could see his hand rising to the cut just as our body slammed into the light engaged Axsian who was attempting to slit his throat. Maggie’s scream was piercing in the background, distracting me with worry about our uncle.

  Silver took over our body. “Get your head in the now, Cass!”

  We could only surmise Gerome’s unknown assailant hadn’t teleported away because he was trying to finish the killing stroke and when we hit all of our senses strained to the limit, collecting every bit of data they possibly could. Our hands gripped what felt like an arm and the opposite shoulder which was covered by a heavy jacket material of some kind—canvas or industrial strength cotton for a construction worker or farmer’s gear. Silver let go of the shoulder immediately but retained her grip on the arm holding the weapon that had wounded Gerome, sliding our free hand up to jab three fingers into the bare vulnerable skin right where the throat met the chin. We sensed it was definitely a ‘he’ but the deep grunt followed by gagging as he coughed and struggled for breath after Silver’s strike confirmed it. Our momentum carried us all into the wall with bruising force and the grip my twin had on the arm with the weapon was jarred loose just long enough for him to shift its angle and gain the advantage in leverage.

  If we’d been a regular human with our smaller stature and weaker musculature, this might have been a worry, but Silver and I had mastered the art of tandem ‘pushing’. When we combined our actions and will in unison with an extra push of strength there weren’t many who could defend themselves against us. One handed, we twisted his arm with such force that the sound of popping joints and tearing ligaments was a burst of music to our ears as was his accompanying scream of agony. We heard something hit the floor which we assumed to be his weapon just as our unknown assailant’s light field disengaged.

  The face that popped into sight was coated in the
sickly sweat of pain but we knew instantaneously this wasn’t Shiva; the distinctive shaved head of a galactic agent reflected light from the ceiling fixture, even coated with a fine layer of white flour. His features were twisted in a rictus of agony, but his midnight orbs never left our face. We could read the warring emotions as he realized just how easily we’d taken him down. Still he kept his mouth closed tightly, hiding rows of daintily pointed teeth, breathing deeply in and out of his nose in a vain attempt to control the pain of his wound.

  Seeing the evidence of his training only made us more disgusted because he had spit on all of his oaths as an agent when he attacked a resident of the planet he was charged to protect. We wanted to know why but we also knew he wouldn’t break. Mez had shared a few things here and there about what sort of interrogation methods agents were prepared to withstand.

  Silver growled, “Since he’s already been presumed dead can we go ahead and kill him?”

  I thought for just a moment as adrenaline coursed through our body and the excitement of the fight goaded us on to further violence about just how satisfying it would be to crunch his head to pulp between our open palms. Our ears picked up panicked sobbing behind us and Malcolm’s deep voice smashed into us breaking the spell. “Cass!”

  A Bender had to be able to concentrate to ‘port and with his arm barely hanging on by a thread there was no way he would be able to gather his thoughts to travel safely anywhere—better safe than sorry though. With a barely contained grunt of disgust Silver reached out with an open hand, hitting the disgraced agent in the forehead with so much force the back of his skull cracked into the wall, splintering the drywall inward, and he lost consciousness in a second.

  When we rose and came around the front of the loveseat it was to find Maggie holding the Winnie the Pooh blanket I’d noticed on the back of the couch earlier wadded up against the side of Gerome’s neck. The blanket was rapidly turning a bright red and Silver walked us over to push Maggie out of the way as we put our hastily gloveless left hand in place of the soaked material. The flow of blood was already slowing down and I didn’t take that as a good sign. Silver made fast work of assessing the damage before she began to close the wound.