48
S ecurity just checked her apartment,” Dark ended the call on his phone. “She’s not there either.”
“Let’s hope she’s just keeping a low profile now,” Carson lamented. He was pretty sure she was smart enough not to have gone back home. “I’m sure we can assume that she knows the shop was firebombed because of her presence there.”
“I’m not making assumptions,” Dark glared. “I don’t think any of them are that smart. Not after today.”
“What do you want me to do about it?” Carson asked.
“These kids are endangering the entire planet.”
“You want me to spank them? They’re adults, Dark.”
“They’re also dangerous—to us and to themselves.”
“We can’t dictate their values, or how they feel about the war.”
“Carson, the Seven aren’t going to be concerned about the feelings of some ‘contentious objector’.”
“I agree. It’s a very serious problem. But short of getting into a conflict with the Kir, I don’t know what choice we have? I’m not going to invade the sanctuary of an ally.”
“It’s a frat house!” Dark glared.
“With a magnum reflex power core.”
Dark fumed. “We need to at least talk to them. Maybe see if we can reason with them.”
“I’ll send Francesca to see if there is anything that can be done.”
“That’s at least something; maybe she can talk some sense into them.”
49
W hy would the Masters target their own people?” Gage popped a large red grape into his mouth while walking around the kitchen of their apartment.
“The Seven are Ra, Gage,” Kirin reminded him. “The Masters might have been trying to keep them from leaving Earth?”
“Naw, that doesn’t make sense. The Seven haven’t had access to vessels for how long?”
“Hmmm, good point. But if the Seven were able to get off world, somehow, the Sentinels would not want them to be there. They’d probably setup something like what we found to keep them from leaving.”
“Sure. But is there any record of the conflict ever moving beyond Earth, ever?”
“No. You’re right. Earth was the only habitable planet.”
“So who was on Mars?” Gage thought out loud.
“Martians.”
“Ha-ha.” Gage mocked, then popped another grape into the air.
“Some kind of outpost maybe?”
“Sure. But why Mars? You were expecting Humans or perhaps even Reborn to be there but not your own people. Not Ra. Why?”
“Yea, that is a little weird.”
“What’s on Mars that you don’t want anyone to find or be able to get to?”
“The Tomb of the Ancients maybe?”
“Hmmm,” Gage thought for a moment. Then tossed another grape into his mouth.
* * * * *
Francesca walked with Trac along the perimeter ledge of the largest reflex core she’d ever seen. At the moment it appeared all but dormant. She had only the vaguest of ideas what such a thing would be capable of. The two of them stepped onto a platform that began descending slowly downward into the miles deep core shaft. The two of them looked like tiny ants next to the subtly glowing network of sub cores encased within the main glassteel core.
“Thank you for the invitation, Trac. Your family has been most kind and a tremendous help to the Dominion.”
“I’m not much of diplomat, Francesca. Do you think we could dispense with the formalities?”
“Of course.”
“The Sentinels are worried about Kira?” Trac advanced.
“Dominion is. We are deploying significant resources to find her before the Seven do.”
“What if the Seven have already found her?”
“Then I am afraid your sister is in grave danger. They will use her in an attempt to access your knowledge.”
“She won’t help them, Francesca. She’ll die first before she allows anyone to user her to hurt others.”
“She will not have a choice in the matter, Trac. The Seven are more than resourceful. Kir maybe gods, but you do not have the psionic ability of the Reborn.”
“You’re talking about Amy.”
“Not just Amethyst. They have other newbloods in their employ now. And after the recent battle over the Amazon last year, access to middle Era knowledge and vessels. How many, we still do not know. The Seven grow more and more powerful with each passing day.”
“These Reborn are quite the enigma to us.”
“To the Sentinels as well, Trac.”
“Nea and Savannah have been studying the psionic ability the newbloods. It’s not a discipline the Kir have had much success in dealing with before. Empathy is one thing; we built our knowledge around it. But this latent ability of the mind—it’s not something inherent of the Ra.”
“Then who?”
“Humans actually.”
“Your pets harbored such talent?” she grinned wryly.
Trac laughed. “Who knew, right?”
“Evidently the Masters were aware of it,” Francesca agreed.
“At first we thought that the Masters had embedded this new psionic ability within the genome of themselves for it to bubble to the surface within the Reborn. But that wasn’t the case at all. It’s something that’s deeply recessive within the Human genome itself.”
“It’s natural?”
“Completely natural. Modified genetics are like computer code; it’s precise, deliberate, well organized. Natural code is less precise, more random, it even has minor flaws. Like looking at the difference between an orchard and a forest, one has trees that are precisely aligned while the forest is much more disorganized and arbitrary.”
“Ra and Human are from the same evolutionary root, Trac. Yet you’re telling me that this psionic gene is not present within the family of the Ra and by extension the Kir? How could the humans have this and not the Ra?”
“There’s an odd divergence somewhere within each of our genetic trees, that’s really all we know at this point. When and where that happened? It’s anyone’s guess.”
50
T anner had found some clean clothes and dressed in a fresh pair of well-fitting jeans and a couple of layered shirts and hiking boots. Kira had found similar clothes and dressed casually as well. He walked out onto the wide wooden deck of a log home located somewhere that he didn’t have the foggiest idea where. A high-mountain stream burbled through the edge of a meadow clearing a few yards from the deck. In the distance, high snow-capped mountains loomed, sparsely dotted with evergreens.
Tanner and Kira were the only ones in the spacious log home at the moment.
“Have you figured out what we’re doing here yet?” Tanner asked, walking up to the deck railing.
“A little. I can feel something about this valley. And those mountains. I’m not sure what it is.”
“What’s it feel like?”
“Trouble.” She frowned.
“You’ve been a little cryptic since those U.N. agents dumped us off here in the middle of nowhere. I don’t suppose you want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Don’t you already know?” She asked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Tanner, I’m not stupid. I know who you’re working for.”
“You do?”
Kira looked at him curiously. “Don’t you?”
“I’m a Ra living in Interra, Kira. It’s pretty obvious I work for the Sentinels,” he admitted.
She smiled politely. She could feel his feelings. He wasn’t making any attempt to hide them from her. She wasn’t sure if he even knew how to shield his feelings from her.
“How long have you been awakened?” she asked.
“A while.”
“A week?”
“No!” He glared. But seeing her face, he softened his attitude. “Last year,” he admitted.
“I’m a little surprised.”
> “About?”
“Why the Sentinels assigned someone so new.”
“We’re a little shorthanded at the moment.”
“I’m sure.” She sighed, gazing out over the bubbling stream and the meadow beyond.
“Who do you work for?” he asked.
“You don’t know who I am do you?” Her eyes met his.
“Kira, honestly, the only thing I know is that I was supposed to drop by that coffee shop and see if you were the real deal—a goddess, a halfblood, or just someone pretending to be awakened. I didn’t know I’d find a Kir.”
“So you reported me to the Sentinels?”
“The Invictus Council knows, yea.” He nodded.
“I’m surprised they didn’t send you to arrest me.”
“You’re Kir, they’re not going to do that. They just told me to keep an eye on you. Even bring you back to Interra if I could. We would have been safe there.”
“You think this is my fault—”
“No,” he lied.
“Do too.”
“Well, maybe a little.”
“I didn’t know Amy was going to show up.”
“That bitch is bad news.”
“Tanner—” she frowned.
“Witch.” He corrected. “So why do you think they stuck us here?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. But, this place, it feel really familiar to me some how.”
Tanner watched her looking out over the meadow. “You know, you’re really beautiful.” He smiled handsomely.
“Hmmm.” Kira’s gaze moved from the meadow to look now at Tanner. He was nicely built for someone so slender, and he definitely had swoon down well. She smiled back at him.
“Why do I feel like I want to kiss you?” he moved closer to her, bumping his shoulder into hers.
“You—probably shouldn’t—do that.” Kira said, half hoping he would.
The newblood teen took her warmly into his arms and Kira found herself drinking lightly of his sculpted lips for long moments that she savored every instant of. Both pulled back for some air.
She pulled herself out of his arms, catching her breath and pulling her emotions back down to simmer.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.
“No. It’s just, I don’t think you know your own biology yet.”
“What’s to know? You kiss like a goddess.”
She breathed a cute smile. “Tanner, we’re obviously very attracted.”
“You think?” he smiled warmly at her again. His dimples were killing her. “I think we sort of noticed that the first day I walked into the coffee shop. I’ve never felt anyone like you before.”
“Your emotions are really potent. Even more than some other people I know.”
“Is that bad?” he glided back into her arms.
“Tanner, honestly—don’t,” she returned his kiss warmly, “do this.” Kira couldn’t help but sink her emotions into Tanner’s. She didn’t really know who he was. Suddenly she didn’t really care. His fine lips were softly caressing hers as one of his hands moved warmly over her ass.
* * * * *
The forward-most deck of the sprawling epic warship rechristened as Paradisus provided a stunning near 270-degree view of everything cold hard space had to offer. At the moment, the rings of Saturn in the light of the distant sun glowed like nothing Ty had ever seen before. He sat in the overstuffed sofa of the dimly-lit empty lounge that was part of the observation deck and just contemplated his life, the Universe and everything.
“This is becoming a habit for you.” Ethan appeared with a subtle rush of air. He watched the glow of the rings for long moments and then flopped onto the couch beside Ty.
“Wanna go do something?” Ethan asked.
“I am doing something.”
“You’re sulking.”
“Probably.”
“About Sofia still? I heard you guys had a fight.”
“It wasn’t a fight. We had a disagreement.”
“About your son?”
“She’s still stuck in your stupid Human culture. Now she wants to marry Cain. I told her she’s a goddess, the Ra don’t marry; we partner as families, often with multiple parents; it’s the only way it works for us.”
“She not getting the message that she’d not Human anymore?”
“NO.” Ty fumed. “I am never getting another woman pregnant as long as I live.”
“Yea, good luck with that. There are thirty-two of us and twenty-one of us happen to be female. You, my friend, are going to need to be knocking up quite a few women over the next several millennia.”
“Nope. Knock yourself out, Casanova. You and Cain and the rest of the guys can go fuck all of them into eternity. I’m off women. From now on I’m only fucking guys. Period.”
“You should give Sofia a break. I’m sure she’s just hormonal with the pregnancy. She has a lot to worry about, Ty. We all do.”
Ty sighed. “Yea. Probably.” He threw a pillow onto the other end of the couch.
“What the hell?” Ethan looked out of the observation glass in the distance. His gifted eyes picked up some detail he’d not noticed in the sunlight. “Did you just—did you see that?”
“I wasn’t paying attention.” Ty droned.
“No—it was a flash. I saw it.”
“Ice crystals. The rings are filled with them.”
“No, it didn’t look like that.” Ethan stood up. He couldn’t really make anything out in the distance through the dust and ice of the rings. “I saw something out there. It flashed.”
“Sure it did.” Ty groaned.
“Ty! I saw something. Let’s grab a fighter from the hanger bay and go have a look.”
Ty’s ears perked up. “A fighter, huh?”
“Sure. Why not? I want to see what that flash was.”
“Alright, you talked me in to it.” Ty got up, his spirits lifting. “I get to be the pilot though.”
“Sure, fine.”
Like the rest of the epic vessel, the forward fighter bay of the epic warship was empty of people but filled with different small to large combat vessels, including various aggressive-looking sleek fighter craft. Both Ty and Ethan changed into some snug-fitting Ra flight suits.
The dark flight suits were much more than just flight clothing. The fine nano-mesh felt something like Lycra, but functionally behaved like powered armor. It gave anyone wearing the gear exceptional strength and agility, among other combat-enhanced gifts.
“I saw a suit of this in your duffle bag.” Ethan slipped into the snug-fitting one-piece bodysuit. The moment he’d slipped his hands into the gloves, the suit began self-sealing the back seam like an automatic invisible zipper.
“Mine’s a little more advanced than these.” Ty pulled the lower portion of the suit on commando, and then slipped his thick arms into the rest. Ethan watched as the suit sealed itself around Ty. “But this Fifth-era combat gear is not something you ever want to mess with.”
“It doesn’t feel like anything but a running suit.”
All at once Ty’s fist moved like a blur. He caught Ethan’s shoulder squarely, his fist glancing off the armor. Ethan felt almost nothing. His shoulder never moved.
“That’s armor.” Ty grinned.
Ethan rubbed his shoulder where Ty’s fist had landed. It still just felt like clothing to him. He shrugged, picking up a sleek, form-fitted, shell-hinged helmet that seemed barely larger than his own head. It sealed itself to the rest of the suit when he put it on. The helmet gave Ethan what he was expecting with various heads-up displays of everything around him.
“It’s a sealed environment,” Ty began. “You can live for months in one of these. Maybe years if you have enough ambient power.”
Ethan wasn’t sure what ambient power was, but his attention was more focused on the sleek powerful fighter that both were now walking toward.
About the same size as a typical jet fighter he’d seen in movies, this plane’s design and aggre
ssive lines were nothing like the Human ones. For starters, it looked more like an aggressive insect or wasp. In the cockpit, the dual-pilot seats were side-by-side. Absent were the numerous instruments, flight control sticks and other clustered controls one might expect to see in a fighter plane. The forward cockpit gave the guys a wide view of the flight deck around them.
Once they’d sat down, their seats seemed to grip their flight suits, holding both pilots firmly in their form-fitting seats. Ethan watched as Ty brought the plane’s systems to life. The beefy engines ignited to life giving the whole plane a feeling of raw power.
Their fighter lifted smoothly off the flight deck and rocketed the two of them out of the fighter bay and into the cold hard emptiness of space.
51
F or a thinner guy, Tanner’s body certainly wasn’t lacking in the well-defined muscles that held an almost mystical allure to Kira. She lifted her hands over her head in a sensuous stretch as Tanner caught some deep breaths while moving softly over her bare skin under the covers. He was still breathing soft whimpers after yet another deep release.
“Are you okay?” she asked him with a grin.
“I think so. Is this a bad time to admit I’ve never done this before?” He flipped his hair back out of his face looking warmly at her.
Kira flexed her body beneath his again, feeling his lengthy manhood buried deeply within her. Tanner had no problem filling her with his length.
“I wouldn’t have known,” she admitted. Only minutes earlier he’d had her screaming into his mouth as her body rocked and writhed in so many successive climaxes she’d lost count.
Kira relaxed in deep afterglow moving her arms around him and feeling Tanner cuddle sweetly over the top of her.
“Is this why you didn’t want to kiss me?” he grinned.
“I don’t think I would have had a choice one way or the other,” she admitted.
“What is it with you?” Tanner asked. “I’ve never wanted to make love to a woman so badly in my life.”
“You don’t know about our attraction do you?”
Paradisus (Awakened Book 6) Page 19