Tabitha snickered. “I’ve seen a few people lose their dignity in those fights. Usually after running their mouths a bit too long on the way into the ring.”
Bethany Anne smiled as she pocketed the glasses. “Guess they deserve what they get if they can’t walk the talk.” She smiled her approval of the systems to keep her hard workers playing hard on their own time. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s keeping morale high. You kids have done a great job replacing the seedy shit people here used to do for release.”
Bethany Anne made a mental note to investigate the range of the system at a later date. She had the germ of an idea forming. “Remind me to talk to you about Halloween. We might be able to set up some kind of reward for the players.”
“Halloween?” Jacqueline echoed. “I think I’ve heard of that. It sounds familiar, anyway. Something to do with getting scared. Little kids used to put on costumes and go door to door to get candy?”
Bethany Anne broke out laughing. “Looks like you remember it just fine. The older ones would visit a haunted house or something.”
Tabitha waved her hands in excitement. “I think I know where you’re going with this.”
Bethany Anne’s mouth turned up at the corner. “I’ll bet you don’t.” She shrugged at Tabitha’s inquisitive glance. “You’ll have to just wait and see. What progress are you making on finding out who is sabotaging the building?”
“Oh, shit! I almost forgot.” Tabitha turned and started typing on the main console. She huffed when the file she was looking for proved difficult to locate. “I wish to hell I could just pull stuff up with a thought. We have an image at last.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow at the empty kitchen on the screen. “What am I looking at?”
“This is Tina’s apartment on sublevel one.” Tabitha zoomed in on a gap in the baseboard. “There, see the foot? It’s small, but it’s definitely there.”
Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes when she saw it. “I recognize that skin tone. There aren’t too many twelve-inch-tall shocking-blue aliens around.”
Tabitha frowned at Bethany Anne curiously. “You know the owner of that foot?”
Bethany Anne wrinkled her nose. “Not personally. We broke a small group of them out of the prison at the factory, but they disappeared. I didn’t think the little guys made it. You think they’re responsible for the damage to CEREBRO?”
“Ashur’s space rats are real?” Jacqueline couldn’t figure out why she hadn’t smelled them. “I can’t believe it. Wait until Sabine finds out they weren’t rats after all.”
Tabitha pressed a key, and the next image appeared. “This is from inside that cabinet. The bite marks in the pans match the ones found in Clarence’s cradle exactly, plus the same mystery of CEREBRO not registering any lifeform present when the image was taken.”
“I’d say that all adds up to a conclusion,” Jacqueline chipped in without looking away from her screen. “It’s a damned mystery why none of us can track their scent.”
Bethany Anne connected the dots just before ADAM spoke.
>>Are these beings the missing link Jean’s been looking for? The Bl’kheth?<<
You read my mind. Did you locate Mahi’?
>>She’s at the New Citadel site. They’re laying the city’s foundations today.<<
Bethany Anne winced. “Fucksticks. I knew something had slipped my mind.”
Tabitha chuckled. “What did you forget?”
Bethany Anne headed for the door. “Construction on the new city is starting today. I told Mahi’ I’d be there to say a few words. I have to run.”
“What do I do about the aliens?” Tabitha called after her.
Bethany Anne waved a hand over her shoulder. “Make contact if you can, and don’t hurt them. Find some food for them that isn’t wired into the Hexagon's systems.”
She cut through the Etheric to the underground hangar and found a transport Pod that wasn’t in use, then opened her link to Michael. You should talk to Tabitha. The saboteurs inside the Hexagon turned out to be those little blue guys we thought we lost.
The ones from the factory? Michael replied. I thought they vanished while we were getting all the prisoners out?
Yeah, me too. Bethany Anne finished setting her destination in the Pod’s navigation system and sat back with her hands laced behind her head. Looks like we were wrong. They somehow got aboard the Izanami, and now they’re running loose inside the Hexagon.
I’ll keep my senses peeled for the little buggers, Michael told her.
No point, Bethany Anne countered. They don’t register as lifeforms to any of the digital entities, and the Weres can’t track them by scent. Michael, they have to be the Bl’kheth. Don’t you think? ADAM suggested they might be the missing link we’ve been searching for to explain how the Seven are able to bypass the issues with metal in the Etheric.
Michael paused to consider the information before answering. Do you agree?
They’re the same bright blue as the Ooken, they appear to eat metal, and they can get around undetected. I think we’ve found them. I’ve got Tabitha trying to make contact with them. Do you have any ideas to help her?
Here’s hoping they aren’t the last of their kind, Michael murmured. I’ll get on it as soon as William gets back from the Citadel site.
Bethany Anne saw the dark, shadowed rings of the proposed city’s layout cut into the ground below. I’m about to touch down there now. I’ll light a fire under him once they’re done with the printing process.
Mahi’ was nowhere to be seen when Bethany Anne landed the transport Pod in between the temporary Baka settlement and the heavy machinery that was there to build the city.
When Bethany Anne left the Pod, no one was around, so she walked over to the settlement’s edge to check the prefabricated planning office. She found Mahi’ inside with William and Marcus. “No Bobcat?” she asked in greeting.
Mahi' looked up and smiled. “You made it.”
“I cut it close,” Bethany Anne conceded, stepping inside. “It’s like, the more I have to do in a day, the more surprises bite me in the ass.”
Mahi’ chuckled dryly. “I hear that.”
William waved vaguely in the direction of the construction site. “Bobcat has taken it upon himself to assist the printing machine operators. You’ll probably find him riding one of the permacrete printers like it’s Saturday night at a roadhouse and he’s had three too many beers to be looking at a mechanical bull, let alone riding one.”
Bethany Anne chuckled at the image of her irascible engineer getting tossed around while trying to keep his seat. “I didn’t know there was such a thing as too many beers when it came to Bobcat. Do you need to be here for the printing? Michael needs you back at the Hexagon as soon as you can get there.”
William looked at Marcus. “Everything is good to go, right?”
Marcus put his stylus down by his datapad. “Yes. All the foundations have been dug out. The pipes and wiring have been laid. All that remains is to ‘print’ the city proper, starting with the foundations. Then the construction workers can put in the electricity and plumbing and the Bakas can make the finishing touches to their homes and businesses before they move in.”
Bethany Anne jerked a thumb over her shoulder toward the door. “Then I guess you’re needed more back at the Hexagon.”
William got to his feet and collected his belongings, tossing an empty beer can into the trash near him. “Then I guess I’d better get back there and see what Michael needs.” He grinned as he pocketed his datapad. “Guarantee it’s going to be interesting.”
Bethany Anne returned his grin with a warm smile. “Between finding the untraceable aliens and figuring out what’s on those memory crystals, I think you’ll be entertained for a while.”
Marcus glanced up with a pout. “Don’t I get an invite to the fun?”
“No, you do not, Doctor Cambridge,” the stern reply came from the holoscreen Mahi’ was using. “You are the only one on-site who can keep up with the
printing schedule. Unless you want to ask Tina to take over?”
“Have you ever tried to get my wife’s attention while she’s mid-project?” Marcus replied distractedly, his eyes on his screens. He furrowed his brow at something he saw and hunched over his keyboard to type. “I’ll be fine here.”
“We should get started.” Mahi’ turned her screen to show an impatient-looking Qui’nan and flashed Bethany Anne a wry smile. “The fore-Yollin is ready to begin.”
Bethany Anne and Mahi’ left the office and made their way to the edge of the construction site, where the operators hung around the bases of the behemoth printing machines.
Bobcat extracted himself from the group and made his way over to Bethany Anne. “Hey, boss! We good to go?”
Bethany Anne looked around, trusting her instincts to inform her of any subconscious worries. When none appeared, she replied, “We are.”
Mahi’ picked up her datapad and transferred the call to it with a couple of taps on the screen. “Qui’nan says yes.”
“Qui’nan would prefer it if you kept the camera still,” the Yollin called irritably. “My Queen, stage one is complete. The printing stage may commence.”
Bethany Anne’s mouth turned up at the corner. “Thank you, Qui’nan.”
“This way,” Bobcat directed, indicating the space between two of the gigantic printers. “I've got you covered.”
Bethany Anne and Mahi’ followed Bobcat to the other side of the machinery, where a mixed group of humans and Bakas wearing hi-vis vests were gathered around a podium at the edge of the outermost ditch.
Bethany Anne couldn’t miss the slight limp Mahi’ walked with. “I get that you want to honor Addix, but isn’t there a less painful way for you to do it than suffering with a prosthetic for the rest of your life?”
Mahi’ shook her head firmly. “This is my choice. Besides, I am assured that the discomfort will pass when the ghost of my leg gives up and accepts that it is no longer a part of my body.”
Bobcat glanced at Mahi’ with wide eyes. “I think that’s crazy, but then so does everyone I try selling the merits of a mostly-beer diet. Each to their own, that’s what I say.” He indicated the waiting group with a hand. “These are the people responsible for the non-printable part of the build. Bethany Anne, you can see I put up a ribbon.”
Mahi’ tilted her head in curiosity at the six-foot ribbon stretched between two posts by the side of the podium. “What is the purpose of the ribbon?”
Bethany Anne chuckled. “We cut it before commencing. It’s an old Earth custom, usually to mark the opening of something.”
“It’s a symbol of unity,” Bobcat clarified, pointing up at the camera drone overhead. “You cut the ribbon together, then I send the footage to Mark, and he’ll edit it and send it out across the holonetwork after Devon’s Defenders tonight.”
Bethany Anne inclined her head. “Nice touch. I like involving the whole planet in what’s going on. No time like the present to get started.” She walked to the podium and stepped up to take the microphone.
Mahi’ joined her a second later as the crowd began to grow, filled out by the Bakas living in the settlement. “Did you prepare anything?”
Bethany Anne’s eyebrow went up. “I only remembered this was happening today ten minutes before I left the Hexagon,” she admitted in a low voice only Mahi’ could hear. “I don’t need to know what I’m going to say. I need to explain how I feel.”
Mahi’ gave Bethany Anne a pertinent look. “I had some time while I was in the medical unit.”
“Then by all means, go first,” Bethany Anne whispered as she stepped back.
Mahi’ shrugged and limped up the two steps to join Bethany Anne at the microphone. She looked out across the faces in front of her. For a moment, she blanked on what she was going to say.
Thankfully, it was only a second before the first words started flowing from her lips. “My people. My heart swells with pride to see so many of you here on Devon. The Kurtherians tried to break us, but we cannot be broken.” She shifted to lean on the podium. “We have been tested in the fire, and we’ve proven we are greater than the evil who would divide us. Qu’Baka may be gone but we…WE live on, reunited against all odds. We are Bakas, and we are strong!” She raised her hands to quiet the cheer that came from the Bakas.
She smiled and stepped back to allow Bethany Anne to address the crowd.
She cleared her throat, and the workers dropped their conversations to pay attention. “I can’t replace your history or the loved ones you lost when Qu’Baka fell, but I can make sure you all have a place to live and raise your children in safety.”
She paused a beat to give her emotions a moment to settle. “I know you to be a proud people. A people who do not take a slight without answering it. I appreciate your commitment to living with honor. Learn from your cousins who have lived on Devon this past decade how to remain true to that without breaking my laws, and I will make a promise. There will be prosperity for those who work for the greater good of all. There will be peace.”
Bethany Anne smiled, her eyes turning red. Many in the audience felt, more than saw, Baba Yaga’s invisible presence beside her at the podium. “Lastly, there will be a place in my military for any of you who care to personally take up their grievances with the Seven.”
A roar went up from the crowd, the reaction mirrored by the Bakas still inside the settlement as the news filtered back to them.
Bethany Anne picked up the oversized scissors Bobcat had placed behind the podium and held them out to point at the footprint of the new city. “This city represents both your past and your future, as well as the courage and strength you have shown despite oppression and then dispossession. Here you are welcome. This is your home now.”
She and Mahi’ stepped down from the podium and cut the ribbon together.
Bethany Anne smiled at the cameras. “I declare New Citadel to be founded.”
After a moment of cheering, the crowds dispersed to get back to work.
Mahi’ walked back to the transport Pod with Bethany Anne. “I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done for my people.”
Bethany Anne shook her head. “It’s what anyone would have done in my position. I have more power than most people can comprehend. It’s my duty to use it to remove the cancers that fester in the universe.”
A low rumble sounded from Mahi’. “The Seven.”
“The Seven,” Bethany Anne agreed in a similar tone. “We’ve made some progress in identifying their main player. We have a name, as a start.”
Mahi’ grimaced. “I thought of the Seven as separate groups with competing purposes,” she admitted. “If there’s a Kurtherian who is powerful enough to control all of the clans, where does that leave us?”
Bethany Anne kicked the dirt. “It leaves us with an enemy who can tear the fabric of reality and destroy whole worlds. It also leaves me angry as all fuck that I haven’t already found the bastards to rip their faces off and spit down their necks as payback for fucking with the natural order of things.”
Mahi’ looked to the side, her lips pressed together. “It pisses me off to know there are Bakas being held in those factories.” She looked at Bethany Anne. “Did I tell you I’ve had a chance to meet the Collectives staying beneath the Hexagon?”
Bethany Anne thought for a second. “No.”
“I have, and it pains me to know those sweet and noble beings are being ground up and used to make the Ookens,” she finished.
Bethany Anne let out a long and measured breath. “I know.” She paused by the transport Pod. “All I need is Federation support and we can take them out.”
“Why wait?” Mahi’ asked hotly. “You can take out the factories with a wave of your hand. My warriors will be more than happy to mete out Justice in your name.”
Bethany Anne smiled ruefully. “Yeah, but there are over a hundred factories, and unless I can take out every factory at the same time, I’m stuck with finding
a more conventional route to their destruction.”
Mahi’ looked dejected at the news, her rage at the injustice of the universe having to simmer for a time. “I can’t say that I’m happy about it, but I understand.”
Bethany Anne placed a hand on her forearm. “Being a leader is restrictive.”
Mahi’ nodded. “We can’t act freely when we’re affected by the hurts of our people. We have to watch and wait until the time is right.”
Bethany Anne offered her friend a dark smile. “But when the time is right, nothing is going to stand in our way.”
4
Devon, The Interdiction, QBS Wolfstar
“Bethany Anne!” Ashur’s tail went into overdrive when Bethany Anne stepped out of the Etheric onto the bridge. He leapt down from his station and bounded over to greet her.
Bethany Anne sidestepped to avoid a canine collision, then knelt and held out her arms to offer him a scratch. “Hey, furball. Ready for a road trip?”
Ashur’s tail’s pace kicked up a notch as he leaned into her ministrations. “Absolutely. It’s going to be good. Just you, me, and open space.”
Bethany Anne buried her face in the thick fur of Ashur’s neck and inhaled his comforting dog smell while continuing to fuss over him. “I’m glad you decided to stick around until I got back from Qu’Baka. You’ve been gone for too long. I bet Zeus and Athena are huge now.”
“Zeus is going to be at least as large as me,” Ashur told her with pride. He remembered that he was a canine with dignity who did not roll over and ask for belly rubs and settled for pressing his head into the hollow of Bethany Anne’s neck instead. “Those pups are going to be the death of me. Bellatrix insists their ability to walk the Etheric has encouraged them to be reckless.”
Bethany Anne chuckled, turning her attention to the underside of Ashur’s jaw. “Bellatrix is Bellatrix. Sounds to me like she doesn’t know how to deal when she’s not in control. Maybe telling her no once in a while would do her good.”
“Are you crazy?” Ashur yelped. “I like my balls right where they are, thank you very much.”
The Valkyrie Returns (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 7) Page 4