Defender (Hive Mind Book 2)

by Janet Edwards

  Lucas looked around the watching unit members. “Every single one of you will have a part to play in saving the Hive from a devastating explosion. We’ll be holding our first training exercise tomorrow morning. We’re bound to discover that we’ve forgotten some things, or need duplicates of key equipment, so we’ll be sending an aircraft back to the Hive every morning to collect supplies. If any of you feel you can’t cope with this, then you can go back to the Hive in that aircraft, but I hope you’ll stay because you’re all needed.”

  He paused. “One last thing. All of you will have seen the Light and Dark pageants held before the festivals of Carnival and Halloween. You will have watched the light angel fighting to defend the Hive from the forces of darkness. Five days from now, we’ll be flying out to defend our Hive from being plunged into darkness, and Gold Commander Melisande has given us a codename to be used in this operation. We will be known as Light Angel.”

  Chapter Thirty-six

  I woke with the comforting warmth of Lucas’s arms holding me close to him. I lay still for a while, too blissfully content to move, before hunger made me open my eyes. I was confused to find we were lying on the carpeted floor of a strange room, but then I remembered we were in Hive Futura.

  I studied Lucas’s sleeping face. He’d had a strained look around his eyes since the Security Unit fire, and he’d been so busy arranging this trip that I wasn’t sure he’d slept at all the previous night, but he finally looked relaxed and peaceful.

  I automatically drifted from studying his face into studying his mind. Down near the subconscious, multiple thought levels were still working away, checking and rechecking his plan to deal with Mars. Lucas could never stop analyzing problems, even when deeply asleep.

  Most of his mind was filled with amorphous imagery though. I watched in fascination as one level suddenly flared to life, engulfing neighbouring ones with the clarity of its pictures and its rushing torrent of emotions. Lucas was dreaming. He was reliving watching me dancing with Adika, reliving the way we’d danced in this apartment last night, reliving the way we’d kissed on the couch and …

  Lucas’s dream was shattered by the sound of his dataview playing a wake-up alarm. The higher levels of Lucas’s mind abruptly shifted to full consciousness, his eyes opened, and he smiled at me.

  “We’ve been sleeping in some odd places lately. In tents, in parks, and on carpets. Have you developed a phobia of sleep fields, Amber?”

  I laughed. “If you think through what happened last night, you’ll remember that ending up on the carpet was your idea.”

  “Oh yes.” Lucas blushed. “I was so relieved about you getting rid of your echoes, that I got a little carried away.”

  I gave him a smug look. “You have to admit that I was right.”

  “The telepath is always right,” said Lucas. “Right about what exactly?”

  “On our first visit to Hive Futura, you had this same apartment, and we spent a lot of time together in this room. Remember how I tried to talk you into having a relationship with me, and you turned me down.”

  “I didn’t want to turn you down. We’d known each other for less than two weeks, but your telepathy accelerated everything so it felt like two years. You understood and accepted me in a way nobody else ever had. Not my work colleagues, not the friends I’d had on Teen Level, and certainly not the parents who’d cut their ties with me as soon as they could. I was just afraid of what would happen when we arrived at the unit and you met the host of attractive young men on your Strike team.”

  “I know.” I gave him the smug look again. “I told you back then that meeting my Strike team wouldn’t change my feelings for you, and I was right.”

  I saw Lucas’s thoughts accelerate. “That’s why you told Megan you wanted us to have this apartment rather than the larger one you had back then?”

  “Yes. I know this will sound ridiculous, but being here now … Well, it’s as if it puts something right that once went wrong. This is how we should have been back then.”

  “It’s not ridiculous, it’s …” Lucas’s words were drowned out by his dataview playing the same wake-up alarm again, but even louder. He groaned. “I’d better go and shower. I hope our maintenance people have managed to solve the problem with the hot water.”

  Investigation showed the water temperature had improved from yesterday’s breathtakingly cold to bearably tepid. By the time we’d showered, dressed, and were finishing breakfast, someone was outside the apartment, repeatedly pressing the door chime.

  “That has to be Adika,” said Lucas. “Have you remembered to wear your body armour under your clothes?”

  “Yes. I’ve got my ear crystal and gun as well.”

  “Have you got your wristset light?”

  “I’ll be right back.” I dashed off, rummaged through my bags, found one of my collection of wristset lights, put it on, and returned to find Adika lecturing Lucas.

  “You can’t be serious about using our cleaning staff as guards,” he said.

  Lucas grinned at him. “I see you’ve carefully read the detailed planning document that I sent to everyone.”

  “Yes, and most of it makes sense. I love the devious approach of giving all the zones faulty replacement fuel rods to remove the risk of an explosion, but your idea of using our unit cleaning staff as guards is ridiculous.”

  Lucas picked up our jackets from where they were lying on a chair, and passed mine to me. “We need some guards to stop curious bystanders disrupting our mobile operations centre. It’s not worth tying up several of the Strike team on such a simple job.”

  “If anyone does try to interfere with our mobile operations centre, then cleaning staff won’t have the courage to argue with them,” said Adika.

  Lucas led the way to the apartment door and opened it. “You’re underestimating the courage of our cleaning staff. Every day, I’m awed by the bravery of Hannah as she comes to do battle with the mess in our apartment.”

  We arrived at the end of the corridor, and found a large crowd gathered in an open area. Lucas checked the time on his dataview. “One minute to go. Is everyone here, Megan?”

  “I haven’t seen Buzz or Forge yet.”

  “They’re late?” Adika somehow managed to make the simple question into a threat of intense suffering for Forge, and, if he could get away with it, Buzz as well.

  Megan glanced round the crowd. “Ah, Buzz and Forge are over by that structural pillar, so everyone’s present.”

  “We can head to the hangar now then,” said Lucas.

  “Telepath Unit is moving,” shouted Eli’s exuberant voice.

  Everyone laughed, and Adika led the way towards the aircraft hangar. Lucas leaned across to whisper in my ear.

  “Amber, the seven aircraft pilots are with us. Can you check their minds, and make sure they’re all dependable?”

  I took Lucas’s arm, letting him guide my steps as I swapped from using my eyes to viewing things with my telepathic sense. There was a long line of glowing minds, Lucas’s mind flaring brighter than the rest. I had an odd thought. What did my own mind look like? There were no mirrors in the telepathic world to show me my reflection.

  I thrust away that irrelevant distraction, skimmed past the familiar minds of unit members, and hit a group of six strangers. No, I corrected myself, there were actually seven strangers, but they were packed closely together. I noticed that four members of the Alpha team were in front of them, and four more behind them, in what seemed suspiciously like a pre-arranged formation.

  I checked one of the nearest Alpha team minds. Yes, Dhiren was tensely watching every move the pilots made. Adika’s instructions had been clear. Any stranger was a potential danger to the precious telepath. Even strangers who were Hive Defence pilots must be closely watched until declared safe by Amber.

  I went back to the minds of the pilots. Three of them were virtually indistinguishable. All young men, excited to be part of this operation, and mildly irritated at the Strike team memb
ers constantly following them around. There was one woman who’d come out of the last Lottery, two older women, and an older man whose thoughts were tinged with darkness.

  I frowned, went deeper into the older man’s mind, and was hit by his pent up emotions. Being here, learning about our mission, had rekindled an intensely personal distress. He would do anything he could to help stop Mars. Anything at all.

  I opened my eyes and whispered to Lucas. “All the pilots are perfectly loyal members of the Hive.”

  “Is there any particular one we should entrust with the job of ferrying supplies from the main Hive?”

  “One of the men is older than the others. His husband was in Blue Zone during the power outage, and was badly injured in an accident, so he knows only too well what’s at stake here. There is absolutely no risk of him betraying our secrets.”

  Lucas nodded. We’d arrived at the aircraft hangar entrance now. When we went inside, we found the place was still freezing cold. Everyone stopped to put on their jackets, and then Lucas stood on a crate and waved at people to gather round.

  “Can you all hear me through your ear crystals as well as me shouting at you? If not, then check your ear crystal is set to receive both command channel and your group channel. Ask a member of the Liaison staff for help if necessary, because you’ll need your ear crystals working during the training exercises.”

  He paused. “I hope you’ve all read the detailed plan I sent out. If not the whole thing, then at least the section covering your own part in it.”

  I was guiltily aware that I hadn’t read the detailed plan. However, I had read Lucas’s mind when he was thinking about the detailed plan. I hoped that would work just as well.

  “Hive Futura has an identical power complex to the ones back at the main Hive,” said Lucas. “This morning, Amber, Adika, and the Alpha Strike team will be familiarizing themselves with the layout of that power complex. I’ll be going with them, our unit Electrical Maintenance Specialist, Sakshi, will act as our guide, and Forge will be coming along to play target with the Alpha team chasing after him. Everyone else will be practising setting up the mobile Liaison and Tactical operations centre in the aircraft hangar, with the Beta Strike team helping carry things.”

  There was a loud chorus of groans from the Beta Strike team.

  Lucas waited for them to settle down before speaking again. “This afternoon, the Alpha and Beta Strike teams will trade places, so the Beta Strike team can learn their way around the power complex.”

  This time the Beta Strike team cheered.

  “Everyone on guard duty should report to Megan immediately, so she can order the right size of hasty uniform for them.”

  “High up!” The wild yell came from the back of the crowd. I couldn’t see who’d shouted that, but I thought it sounded like Hannah.

  “Pilot Ralston will soon be flying one of the aircraft to the main Hive to collect additional supplies,” Lucas continued. “If you discover you need any extra equipment, then you should inform Megan. We haven’t had anyone ask to return to the Hive yet. Again, Megan should be informed of any such requests.”

  He paused. “That’s all for now. Gideon is in charge while I’m away, so refer all your problems to him.”

  “Thank you so much, Lucas,” said Gideon. “Can I point out that I’m seventy and supposed to have a reduced workload?”

  “Why are you suddenly talking about reduced workloads, Gideon?” asked Hallie. “It’s normally impossible to get you to leave the Tactical office.”

  “The Tactical office is warm,” said Gideon. “This aircraft hangar is so cold that it’s making my bones ache.”

  Lucas grinned at him. “I promise you won’t have to suffer for long, Gideon. I’ll be back in an hour, and then you can spend the rest of the day in your nice warm apartment.”

  Lucas jumped down from his crate, and beckoned a slim girl in a maintenance uniform over to join him. Adika and Forge led the Alpha Strike team out of the aircraft hangar, with Lucas, Sakshi, and me swept along somewhere near the middle of the group.

  We stopped outside the door, and everyone turned to look expectantly at Sakshi. She seemed unnerved to be the centre of attention, running her hands through her long black hair before speaking.

  “Yes. Um. I should explain that I’m not an expert on power complexes. I wouldn’t normally be expected to work in one. My imprint only includes enough basic information on them to allow me to provide help in emergency situations.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” said Lucas, in an encouraging voice. “I’m sure that the rest of us will be struggling to understand even the basic information. Perhaps you could start by explaining where the power complex is located.”

  “Yes. A power complex contains the crucial power supply nexus and its ancillary support areas. The precise position of the complex varies from one zone to another, but they are always right at the top of the Hive, and close to their zone’s aircraft hangar to ease the problems of transporting the heavy fuel rods.”

  Sakshi was getting more confident about addressing her audience now. “A newly charged fuel rod is flown in by a specially adapted freight aircraft, and then transported on a customized trolley to a storage area in the power complex. After a fuel rod has been changed, the depleted rod is taken back to the aircraft hangar, and flown off to the Geothermal Energy Hub for recharging.”

  She pointed at the floor. “You see there’s a green line running along the floor here. That marks the green route, with a reinforced floor capable of taking the weight of a fuel rod. Whatever zone of the main Hive you’re in, the fastest way to get from the aircraft hangar to the power complex is to follow the green route.”

  Sakshi headed off, following the green line along the corridor, with the rest of us behind her. We walked two or three cors before we reached some security doors. Sakshi entered a code, and they opened to let us through.

  “We’re now entering the power complex,” she said.

  “Our theory is that Mars will try to set up a deadly embrace,” said Lucas. “Would he need to be inside the power complex to do that?”

  Sakshi nodded. “You’d have to override the safety systems to set up a deadly embrace, and manually intervene to stop the automatic alarms sounding. I’d expect Mars would need to be inside the power complex to do that, and probably inside the power supply nexus itself.”

  “The fact Mars expects to die in his own explosion seems to confirm that,” said Lucas.

  Sakshi led us the length of another corridor, before pausing to gesture at a door labelled in giant red letters. “RESTRICTED ACCESS.”

  “That’s the fuel rod storage area. Before we go any further, I need to remind you of the general maintenance rule that anything coloured red is dangerous. Since most of Hive Futura is empty at the moment, the fuel rod in this nexus is one of the low power ones, but touching the nexus core could still kill you.”

  She started walking again, still following the green line on the floor. “The power supply nexus is roughly cylindrical in shape, with the top end on Industry 1, and the base down on Industry 10.”

  I blinked. I’d had a vague idea that a power supply nexus would be big, but I hadn’t expected it to extend down ten whole levels.

  “Since the aircraft hangars are on Industry 1,” Sakshi added, “we’re going to arrive at the top of the power supply nexus.”

  We walked on for another cor or two. Adika was ahead of me, blocking my view, so I didn’t realize we’d reached the power supply nexus until he stepped sideways. I found I was standing on some sort of wide balcony, with a low wall in front of me, and looking out at a vast red object.

  “There are identical circular galleries on each level of the nexus,” said Sakshi. “We’re on the highest of them, which is called gallery 1. If you look over the parapet, you can see the other nine galleries below us.”

  I peered cautiously over the wall, saw a dizzying drop below me, and took a hasty step backwards. I’d been afraid of heigh
ts ever since I was six years old, and the chase after Mercury seemed to have increased my fear. Not because any residual echoes of Mercury’s personality were left in my mind, but because I had the ghastly memory of him and Soren falling to their deaths.

  “We’ll walk round the full circle of the gallery,” said Sakshi, “so you can see the radiants sticking out from the nexus core. There are fifteen radiants on each gallery, each linked to a workstation. Make sure that you don’t touch any of their controls. They adjust the power going to different levels of Hive Futura.”

  We followed Sakshi round the circular gallery. The radiants were equally spaced around the nexus core, and looked vaguely like black pipes sticking out of the giant, red central cylinder. Each of them had its own workstation, with a technical display and an incomprehensible mass of controls. We finally arrived back at our starting point.

  “If this was a power supply nexus in a zone of the main Hive,” said Sakshi, “there would be people on the workstations adjusting the power flows in response to fluctuating power demands from the different levels. It’s not necessary to do that sort of manual intervention here at Hive Futura though.”

  “How many people are we talking about?” I asked.

  “A normal shift would have two hundred people in the power complex, with thirty of them here in the nexus. The galleries are linked by internal staircases to the north, south, east, and west of the power supply nexus. These allow workers to move rapidly between galleries to deal with any problems.”

  Sakshi paused. “During the fuel rod changeover, there’ll be a lot more people on duty though, especially here in the nexus. Swapping the nexus connections from the old fuel rod to the new one triggers a wave of power surges, so you need a member of staff at every workstation to deal with them as fast as possible. That means all three regular shifts will be present at once, as well as many additional reserve staff.”

  I frowned. If there would be fifteen people on each of the ten galleries of a power supply nexus during the fuel rod changeover, then the telepathic view of this place would be a blurred mass of a hundred and fifty minds crammed closely together.