by S. E. Weir
“Uh, no?” Ryan gaped.
“Oh, my stars!” Alina’s eyes were wide.
April looked like she might be ill. “Really?”
They all looked at Stark with concern and with fear. When Phina saw the smirk on Stark’s face, she burst out laughing. Their heads swiveled to her in surprise before Stark’s voice brought their attention back.
“No, not really! I’m kidding.” He shrugged. “Just a little joke.”
Ryan let out a sigh of relief. “You scared me there, T-man!”
“I wouldn’t lose it, though, or you’ll answer to the Empress.”
Stark’s avatar winked out.
Ryan’s jaw dropped. “You were kidding that time too, right, T-man? Stark?” When the EI didn’t return, the man looked around. “He was kidding, right?” He only received raised eyebrows and shrugs as answers, and he rubbed his eyes. “Can we start today over again? Apparently, this is Beat up on Ryan Day.”
“Sorry, man.” Maxim gave him a slap on the back that was as hard as the one he had been given earlier, causing Ryan to squawk in dismay and the rest to chuckle. Phina felt warmth as she looked around the room. This reminded her of the conversations she had with ADAM, Meredith, Reynolds, and then with Link and Braeden, where she had the same feeling.
It hadn’t hit her until now that the warmth indicated happiness that they were together. That all of them cared about her and supported her. They had her back, and she knew she could count on them. Like…family—a family she’d chosen and who’d chosen her rather than the one she had been born into. She had felt the same way with her parents, even though they had been gone so often.
Overcome by that happiness, Phina laughed in the middle of a comment she hadn’t heard that wasn’t funny. Everyone looked at her in confusion and question. Waving them off, she shook her head and smiled, leaning forward on her elbows to soak in the feeling.
The warmth quickly passed when Link entered the room moments later with a serious and dark expression on his face.
“Doctor Keelson? Phina? Come with me. We need to talk.”
He turned on his heel and walked out, leaving Phina and April scrambling to follow. As she went through the door, Phina heard Ryan cursing behind her.
“Know what? Screw this. If I’m going to die by Empress, I’m at least having a Coke first.”
Chapter Fourteen
Etheric Empire, QBS Stark
Braeden waited as first Greyson, then Phina and Doctor Keelson entered the lounge and conference room. The furniture and decor were a blend of comfortable and utilitarian Braeden appreciated. Link made sure the door locked behind them, then moved over to a large chair next to Braeden, leaving the couch for the women.
Through both of their shielding, Braeden caught Phina’s confusion and concern and shook his head. He had hoped to have more time to help her strengthen her shields, but apparently she needed them more quickly than he had anticipated. Again. Phina kept surprising him, and at his age, he was of two minds about liking that.
“Sit down, kid. This is serious, but you aren’t in trouble. Well, you are, but it’s nothing you did.” Greyson stopped with a sigh and wiped his face when he saw her alarm. “Let’s start over.”
“Okay.” Phina followed April to the couch then leaned forward to listen.
“Doctor Keelson, you’ll find a message from ADAM that he sent to both of us. If you want to know the details, pull that up.” The woman nodded and pulled the tablet out of her jacket pocket.
“Phina, remember ADAM had you scanned before we left?”
“Did he figure out what’s wrong?” Her eyes were focused and ready, but he could feel her tension and unease. She had realized something was wrong.
Greyson hesitated. “Yes and no. He’s still figuring out what started the change, but he knows what is happening in your body and why you feel the way you do.”
“Tell me.”
Doctor Keelson gasped, placing her hand on her mouth as she stared in astonishment at the tablet in her hand. She turned her eyes toward Phina and back to her tablet, causing Phina’s unease to grow and Greyson’s face to turn dark. Phina narrowed her eyes at him, clearly telling the man to get on with it.
His shoulders sank as he sighed. “At some point, an altered version of what we call nanocytes were introduced to your body. Since then, your body has been changing and growing in strength and ability. The problem is that these nanocytes weren’t meant to be synthesized in this way, and your body hasn’t learned how to regulate them. Something was adjusted within the nanocytes that causes your abilities to grow daily, but with a decrease in your body’s ability to cope with them.”
Phina turned pale, then sat back in her seat and drew her legs up, hugging her knees. After closing her eyes, she took a breath and tried to calm down. Braeden could feel her emotions bouncing all over the place. After another ragged breath, she raised her head, showing tears shimmering in her eyes, though her voice stayed steady.
“That means I’m dying, right?”
Doctor Keelson cleared her throat as she turned to Phina. “It means we need to get you back to the station as soon as possible.”
Phina straightened and spoke firmly. “No, we can’t change course now. Those people could be dying!”
Greyson leaned forward to get her attention. “Listen, my dear. You need help quickly, true, but so do these Aurians we are trying to find.”
“Aurians?”
He waved his hand dismissively. “That’s what ADAM learned the Kurtherians called them. Not important right now. The point is, we know they need help. You also need help. You can go into stasis in the Pod-doc here on the Stark, but the closest estimate of time needed to adjust your nanocytes is a week.”
“A week!” Phina protested. “But we will be there in just a few days, thanks to Stark being a Gate ship. The whole mission will be done by then. No, I need to wait. ADAM will help me.”
Greyson eyed her, then nodded. “What we need to do then is go to them as quickly as possible and then return so you can get the help you need.”
Phina relaxed and nodded. “All right.”
“We also need to help you maintain your body at the level it’s at right now and not get any worse.” April had composed herself and sounded calm. “There are things you can do to facilitate that, such as eating twice the amount you are now. The more fuel you consume, the less it takes from your body.”
Looking thoughtful, Phina nodded. Braeden was relieved that her emotions had calmed down.
“However, the biggest thing you can do and the main point of everything ADAM sent us is that you need to keep from moving as much as possible.”
Phina stilled, then shook her head. “I don’t think I can do that. My body wants me to move all the time. Even now, I feel the urge driving me to get up and do something. Flips down the hall, sparring, anything.”
Greyson leaned forward to get her attention. “Kid, you do that, and you’re dead soon. None of us want to see that happen. I know it’s going to be hard, but you’re strong inside. Even stronger than you are outside now. You can do this. We will all help you.”
Braeden inserted himself into the conversation. “I will help you better your shielding. The practice will strengthen your willpower as well, which will allow you to maintain stillness. We can do that after this conversation is finished.”
Greyson stared at him, then raised an eyebrow. “Well, I think that effectively killed it. Doctor Keelson? Anything else?”
She looked conflicted but shook her head. “Nothing that can’t wait. I’ll talk to Phina later about other things she can do to take in energy.”
“Then we’ll leave you to it.” Greyson stood up and moved toward Phina. Just before he passed her, he stopped and pulled on her braid, causing her to look up in irritation.
“Hey, you aren’t dying. Get that out of your head right now. You’re going to follow instructions and we’ll finish this business, and then we will be back and fixing you up in n
o time. You hear me? You’re not dying. We won’t let it happen.”
She stared at him, then gave him a small smile of gratitude. “As you wish.”
“Exactly right, my dear. Now, don’t you forget it.” After a wink at Phina, he moved out of the room quickly.
Doctor Keelson followed him more slowly, mumbling, “That man has more moods than a Wechselbalg.”
After the door shut behind the two, Braeden turned to Phina, who was still struggling to cope. He gestured at the floor. “Let’s sit and practice meditation, then I’ll help you increase your shielding.”
Phina sat, then shifted, shuffled, fidgeted, twitched, and sighed. After four minutes of utter failure, Braeden examined her face and saw a mix of frustration, discouragement, and fear.
“What’s wrong, little sister?”
The words almost exploded out of her. “I can’t do it! I just can’t sit still. I don’t know how people stand it.”
He considered her, then nodded. “I understand. Let’s try something else.”
After standing and bracing himself with his three-toed feet, Braeden used his telekinesis to gently push the furniture out of the way. Phina turned her head one way, then another as she watched the space around them expand, then glanced at him with a grin. “So cool!”
Once they had sufficient room, Braeden turned to Phina. “Watch and copy what I do. The point is to go slow and follow the moves precisely. As you do them, focus your mind entirely on the movement and not the issues that worry you.”
With that, he proceeded to teach her the Gleek version of Tai Chi. As he moved slowly from one position to the next, he kept his mind tuned to hers and was pleased that she had grown calmer, her emotions now less volatile.
That’s how you do it, little sister, he whispered into her mind. Slow movements. Deep and steady breaths.
Braeden felt a burst of gratitude from her. After a few more minutes, he began patiently showing her what she needed to do to rebuild and strengthen her mental shield.
No, Phina, you must rebuild your shields as you continue the movements. He stood firmly planted in the middle of the room, demonstrating the next movement. She threw him a look of exasperation.
“I’ve been trying! It’s frustrating!”
Knowing she needed a motivator, Braeden tried the first that came to him. He went back to speaking out loud so as not to tax her. “What if a friend was in harm’s way and the only thing keeping you from helping them was your control? Alina? Greyson? Maxim? How far are you willing to go to protect them?”
Her breathing ragged and her eyes blazing with anger, Phina bared her teeth in a fierce growl. “As far as necessary. I would do anything!”
Braeden nodded in solemn satisfaction. “Exactly. Protect them now proactively by keeping them and everyone else safe from you first. Then keep them safe from those who would purposely harm them.”
Alarm leaped into her eyes. “I would never harm them!”
“You don’t intend to harm them. There is a great difference. With your increase in abilities, there is much you could do unintentionally.”
Her eyes grew wilder, and her breath came in gasps. Braeden stepped closer and braced himself while he placed his hands on her shoulders. This was the telling moment as to how much control she would be able to exert over herself. If she couldn’t, her chances of surviving dropped significantly.
“Breathe. Calm your breaths. Breathe. Calm your heart. Breathe. Calm your mind.”
Braeden softly repeated the words as he connected to her mind, not to control or influence but just to watch. He kept his eyes fixed on hers, which she connected to as if he were a lifeline. At first nothing changed, and although he continued speaking calmly, he felt dread before pushing it away. She would sense it if he felt anything other than calmness, and it might make her control worse. Gradually, her breathing grew steadier, her emotions raging less than before. However, relief didn’t come until she was able to breathe normally, her eyes closing.
Braeden released her and took a step back, though, given his elongated arms, he hadn’t been closer than two feet. When she finally opened her eyes, she gave him a knowing look. “That’s why we are doing this, isn’t it? So that I have a chance of controlling these mood swings I keep having. They’ve been growing in strength.” Alarm crossed her face. “The mood swings have to be connected to the increase in my abilities.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Yes, to control the mood swings, among other things. And yes, the chance of them being connected is high. The better you can control your body, the better you can control your emotions and abilities. The better your control, the more in control you are. Without that, at some point, you won’t be able to stop yourself.”
A look of frustration passed over her face. “Why does this seem so difficult? I don’t see any others with nanocytes having problems. The Wechselbalg don’t have these raging hormonal issues. I haven’t met many vampires, but they seemed to be in control of themselves too. They were just like normal people.”
“Ah. But those you call Wechselbalg usually are born as such, are they not? They learn control as children, when their bodies aren’t as strong and they can do less damage. By the time they are adults, it’s a matter of discipline over the years. They can still lose control when strong emotions are involved, such as when loved ones are in danger, but they have had a lifetime of maintaining that control, which helps them.
“I haven’t met any of your vampires, but the records we have from Earth indicate they often have difficulty with control at the beginning, and they have to learn to keep hold of that control, or they risk being hunted down. Don’t worry, little sister. This is an abnormal situation, but for what is happening, you are doing well.”
Phina took a deep breath and let it out before nodding. Her eyes hardened, showing nothing but determination as she gave herself more room. “Let’s do this.”
This time, Braeden found none of the previous distraction or reticence in her movements. She followed his direction without question and allowed her body to flow seamlessly from one position to the next. He couldn’t help feeling warmth and pride. She wouldn’t feel the necessity to push past her body’s growing natural responses for herself. If she had, the past hour wouldn’t have been an issue.
But for others, for her friends and family, she would.
Star System within the Empire, Planet Lyriem
She-Who-Mourns paused to wipe the moisture from her face. This phenomenon was new, and their bodies had yet to become accustomed to it. Her planet had previously been temperate, and that was what their bodies were accustomed to. The temperature was now wildly out of control.
What alarmed her was that she could feel the lack of moisture in her body now that it had escaped her skin. Their people would need to drink more water to replace the moisture that left their bodies, water they didn’t have enough of. Perhaps there would be a shift in temperature again soon so they could find relief. Anything was better than this wretched heat.
A mewl returned her attention to the task at hand. Giving the child next to her a smile, She-Who-Mourns pulled a small bowl out of her basket. She frowned since she had expected there to be more in the container, but She-Who-Loves reached out eagerly and her eyes lit up. She-Who-Mourns paused to make sure the child could eat on her own before moving on to the next.
She handed a bowl to the child in the second bed from the end, relieved the task was almost done and the children were no worse off than the day before. That relief fled when she reached the male child at the end. His arms trembled as they stretched out, his eyes pained. Her heart skipped a beat as grief filled her, then resolve. He-Who-Endures wouldn’t die if she could do anything to prevent it.
Bending down, she dropped the basket on the floor and lifted the bowl to his face below his sonorous tubes. His mouth opened to let his long tongue reach out and lap from the bowl.
“That’s it, little one. You can do it.”
His eyes flicked to her and his
tubes waved sluggishly—in irritation, she realized when he protested a moment later.
“Not little.”
She leaned forward to stroke his cheek with one of her sonorous tubes, an act of intimacy reserved for a mate or a child. “Outside you are little yet, but inside…inside, you have grown far beyond your years. You just need to let your body catch up.”
“Can’t. I’ll be dead soon.”
Straightening in surprise, she couldn’t help the agitation of her sonorous tubes. “Who told you that?”
He turned his head away, looking at the wall on the other side of the bed.
“He-Who-Endures, you know not to hold secrets from me.”
Reluctantly, his eyes returned to hers before whispering a name. Sighing, she leaned over and caressed his face again. “Thank you, my strong one. You forget about what other people say and focus on getting better. Do not give up. I do not know what our fate holds, but if it is at all possible, I will not allow anyone else to die. We have come too far to give up now. You hang on and live.”
He smiled faintly and nodded. After blowing him a kiss, she gathered her basket and his bowl, then reversed her route to pick up the other bowls on her way out. She hadn’t meant for anyone else to hear her little speech, but she could see the other children had and were strengthened by it.
Once she left the building, She-Who-Mourns had difficulty keeping her emotions in check. Perhaps she would become She-Who Rages. The situation seemed to warrant the change. Very little enraged her, but mistreating children pushed that button.
Storming into the kitchen where the meals were prepared, She-Who-Mourns found She-Who-Waits. The female had finished serving the meals and begun to clean up. It was a thankless job since they had been on strict rations for weeks. The adults had all grown accustomed to the lack of food, but it fell harder on the children.
“What have you done, telling the children they all will die?”
She-Who-Waits looked at her defiantly. “Well, won’t they? Won’t we all? It does no good to lie to them.”