The Sensorians: Trust

by Brigitte Morse-Starkenburg

  Copyright © 2020 Brigitte Morse- Starkenburg

  The right of (Author) to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by (him / her) in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cover Art: ©Miquel Gonzalez Lumigo-film

  All Rights Reserved

  No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with the written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).

  THE Sensorians

  TRUST

  Brigitte Morse- Starkenburg

  PROLOGUE

  “Tom, it's me,” a man whispered, not to scare his friend. He was hidden amongst some random stacks of wood on what looked like an abandoned farm yard. It was dark but the two men didn't seem to have a problem seeing each other. Tom joined the other man, a little reluctantly to an outside observer.

  “You have one chance Tom. Come back with me, show your regrets and they will be lenient. They promised,” the man pleaded.

  “I can't. I have gone too far. I have betrayed you all. I'm over the age; they will kill me. That's the rule. They won't break it for me,” Tom sounded exhausted and defeated.

  “But they may for me. It's worth the chance Tom. Please. I'm sure they will consider it, but only if you come now,” the man tried again.

  “Consider it! That's not a guarantee! I'm scared, man.” Tom wasn't convinced at all. He had broken the number one rule of the community and he feared he would have to pay for it with his life. He was tempted to give himself up and go with his friend, as he was tired of hiding and running. But he didn't trust Valentino to be lenient.

  Footsteps approached. Both men recognised immediately who it was. Tom stiffened in fear.

  “Markus? Did you follow me?” the other man questioned indignantly.

  “I needed to know you were safe. You can't trust Tom. You know that,” Markus replied self-assured.

  The man stood up and inched himself forward to square up to Markus.

  “I trust him with my fucking life. He's my best friend.”

  Markus put both his hands on the man's shoulders.

  “So am I, Rick. So am I. But I don't want you dragged any further into this fucking mess. I've told Valentino everything. I don't want you going down with Tom.”

  Rick looked back at the space where Tom sat only seconds ago. He was gone, his scent still lingering. Rick ran after the trail, now shouting at the top of his lungs. His friend had signed and sealed his own death sentence. Rick sank to his knees and screamed Tom's name once again. There was no way he could escape them forever. Valentino wouldn't stop until he was captured and sentenced.

  CHAPTER 1

  Zaphire

  “Aaaargh. That girl never learns! She's doing my fucking head in!” Zack growled when he stormed into my room.

  “What's she done now?” I asked, more out of obligation than anything else. I was still in bed, having passed my fitness test nearly a month ago, so I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to attend the extra classes, unlike Zack.

  “She bloody overslept. Again! How you can sleep through three wake up calls is beyond me,” he exclaimed in utter frustration, flopping down on my sofa.

  “Ugh, you need a shower. Get your sweaty arse off my furniture, brother!” I grumbled, which he completely ignored and carried on with his tirade.

  “I've had to take her TV privileges away and her hour of outside time for two days in a row now. She'll be climbing up the walls by tomorrow. Plus I had to do a double session of exercise as I was late for mine because of her, which I could really have done without!”

  “Stop whinging. How's she doing with her exams? Are they nearly done?” I tried changing the subject, now nearly fully awake and clambering out of bed to make us a cup of coffee.

  “Yeah, she seems confident with them. She's only got one more to do tomorrow afternoon. Thank God, as invigilating those three hour exams are the most boring thing ever. I wish I could have farmed that job out. It's like being in isolation myself, for fuck's sake,” he carried on, still in a foul mood.

  “Only three more days to go now, grumpy. Then she'll be out.”

  I passed him a cup of steaming hot coffee.

  “You look like you can do with one.”

  “Thanks Zaph. Yeah, three days left. Although I threatened to add another one if she overslept again. Fingers crossed that won't happen.”

  He took a big sip of his coffee and closed his eyes. I groaned.

  “Not another day! You've already given her two extra days. She could have gotten out tomorrow!”

  “I know. I know,” he sighed. “Let's hope she'll behave herself then these last couple of days. I do want to see her out as much as you do.”

  Zack was right. I did want her out, desperately. I missed her so much, I couldn't wait to see her again. Feel her wonderfully soft skin and smother myself with her scent, let alone getting lost in her inscrutable grey eyes. My feelings for her hadn't abated one bit despite not seeing her for nearly a month now. I hoped the same was true for Eliza, my brave, stubborn crazy girl, who I hoped to call my girlfriend soon. I still suspected Zack of secretly quite enjoying the fact that I had no access to her, when he still saw her every day. Granted, he probably wasn't Eliza's favourite person in the world right now, but they were still able to build on their relationship. He was also the only person she had contact with so it could work in his favour in the end.

  “Stop stewing, sis. I'm not in her good books at all right now. Don't worry, you'll be her angel when she comes out,” Zack blurted out, perfectly tuned into my feelings which I clearly hadn't cloaked at all.

  Did I detect a little jealousy on his part? I wasn't sure. He had been really closed off about his feelings, even though it was obvious before that he had a thing for Eli. I shuddered, thinking of the time I'd walked into their room after they had clearly got off with each other. I'd been seething then, and still found it difficult to forgive Zack. But he had promised to keep himself in check and be professional and, if anything, Zack was a man of his word. He wouldn't try and take advantage of her again, I knew that. The problem was that I was still worried she might fall for him after all and not me. I would be devastated, but it would be her choice. A choice I couldn't bear thinking about.

  I'd noticed Zack was trying hard to forget about Eli. He'd had, very unlike him, several one night stands since Eliza had been in isolation. I'd tried to talk to him about it, but so far with little success. He simply cut me off as soon as I even thought about asking anything to do with the girls he'd met. None of them Sensorians.

  “Right, I'm going to have myself a shower. I suggest you do the same, stinky pig.”

  I'm the only person that could address him like that. Even his friends were more careful than that, never disrespectful even if they were joking. Zack's verbal dressing downs were notorious and no one wanted to be on the receiving end of one if you could help it. He could be such a dick, but an amazing friend and brother and loyal to the core. That's why everyone admired and respected him so much. He would always have your back and stand up for you if he felt you were wronged. However, if he felt you were to blame he would make you bear the consequences. Not everyone could deal with that and those individuals tried to stay well out of his way as much as possible.

  Whilst I was in the shower I heard the door close, so he had taken my 'hint' this time. I took my time getting ready as it was still quite early. Markus wasn't expecting us until 10am in the m
eeting room for our daily update on the whereabouts and actions of Rick. About two weeks into his disappearance, we finally had some confirmed sightings and we managed to put him under observation again. He had moved location though to about a hundred miles northwards, which made things more difficult to coordinate and monitor. Frank had taken a group of Sensorians to relocate there temporarily, including Ned and Sam, which sucked. I missed them and it made it even harder to cope with not seeing Eli. I whiled away some time scrolling through my phone, catching up with what everyone had been up to, then Zack was back.

  “Come on Zaph, let's go and see what our tasks are for today.”

  He sounded more upbeat, thank goodness. It was better for all involved, especially me. Shielding Zack's negative vibes was hard work and I was tired of it.

  Most people were already in the room, making me check my phone for the time, fearing we had somehow misjudged it and had turned up late. But that wasn't the case, so I relaxed. I walked over to Laura who came towards me straight away with a concerned look on her face.

  “How are you holding up, sweetheart? I could feel your sadness the moment you came in today,” she whispered gently in my ear, putting both arms around me in a rare gesture of physical affection. I nearly lost my composure, but managed to breathe through it and allowed myself to embrace her hug. She had been checking in with me a lot more than usual. She knew I was struggling with Eliza's isolation.

  “Keeping busy helps a lot,” I simply said.

  She nodded and rubbed my back briefly before she let go. Markus was about to start the meeting and I needed to focus, banning any thoughts about Eliza from my head.

  “There isn't a lot to report today on Rick's whereabouts. Frank told me he suspects there's a lot going on behind the scenes, but we're not getting any access to that at the moment. We are, however, close to having enough evidence to close down one of his money supplies. The drug pushers are quite sloppy and have made mistakes which we have been able to utilise. We are about to hand over to the police and hopefully they can make the right arrests. That will slow Rick down somewhat.” That was good news at least. “What we really need now, is someone on the inside who can find out exactly who's involved before we capture Rick. We need to be able to absolutely guarantee that we'll get to each and every one and deal with them. We cannot have a potential loose canon floating about, threatening to go off at any time, destroying our lives and community.”

  All of us nodded in agreement.

  Questions had been asked why Markus had not just gone in and captured Rick as soon as he was located, but it wasn't sensible. It had gone far beyond just a lone man's actions. Too many people were involved and it needed proper rooting out.

  “Laura, how's your investigation into our own people's state of mind going? Is there anything you have learned so far that could expose a way in for Rick?”

  He stood aside to let Laura take the lead.

  “Nothing major. We have some minor grievances that we have dealt with and there are a couple of things I need to talk to you about in private.”

  I glanced at Zack. I knew he was behind a push to have a more lenient approach to the monthly fitness tests. He's tried and failed several times to persuade Markus to agree that you shouldn't have to improve on your fitness levels when you're on a busy job. Just maintaining the same level should be enough. Everyone agreed with Zack as it was almost impossible to achieve continuous improvement. The consequence of failing was having to attend daily extra fitness classes at 6am in the morning till the next test. It was pissing a lot of people off and hopefully Laura's investigation had given a platform to reveal the extent of annoyance it caused. Zack deliberately avoided my glances, trying not to alert Markus that he'd been behind rallying everyone to mention it. He would get into so much trouble if Markus found out he'd been stirring.

  “Okay Laura, we can do that later today. Zack and Zaphire, I require you to stay after the meeting to discuss Eliza. Let me just talk to everyone about their tasks for today, then I'll be with you. Get yourselves and me some coffee and go to my office, please.”

  Zack and me looked at each other with a similar raised eyebrow expression which made me snigger slightly, earning me a warning stare from Markus. We made ourselves scarce quickly and headed for his office and the coffee machine.

  CHAPTER 2

  Eliza

  I was so mind-blowingly bored, I couldn't even describe it anymore. There were no words. I knew every little inch of my cell off by heart. The little scratch on the third brick to the right of the light switch, the piercing squeak of the door when it opened, and then a lower grinding sound when it closed, a ring on the table where someone once placed a hot drink and it never quite cleaned off. I could list a hundred things and more.

  I wanted to kick myself for having been given two extra days, though I still thought it was harsh of Zack, especially the first one. I'd only just been put in isolation and I hadn't realised that no talking, meant no talking, even to myself. Zack came down so hard on me, making me feel stupid and small and I felt furious with him for ages. The second extra day, I probably deserved. After about ten days I was so desperate for some company, I had tried to bribe one of the girls who'd brought me my dinner, for a little bit of conversation. She wouldn't have any of it of course and reported me immediately to Zack. I couldn't deny any of it, even if I wanted to, as CCTV was permanently on.

  I don't think I had seen Zack so angry before. He was outraged that I had tried to get one of the young girls in trouble and he made me feel deeply ashamed of myself. It had been selfish and I promised myself I would not sink that low again. I wrote a grovelling letter of apology to the girl and hoped that she would forgive me. He read it in front of me, stony eyed, which made me feel all hot and embarrassed again, but he did agree to pass it on.

  Three days to go and I was literally counting down the hours. I had to make sure I didn't oversleep again as I really did not want to spend another extra day in here, Zack's warning still ringing in my ears from this morning. He would be here after lunch to invigilate my last exam. I think the exams have kept me going at least, looking forward to each and every one of them. I don't think many people could say that!

  It had been hard to focus on the content of what I was studying as I kept thinking back to that horrifying moment when my father decided to strap the explosives to my leg. The reality had hit me

  hard, realising this man would stop at nothing to reach his goal, even sacrificing the health of his own daughter. What made me feel sick though, was the fact that I still felt so incredibly connected to him and wanted to find some sort of solution where he wouldn't end up dead. I didn't understand my own feelings and was scared to tell anyone for fear they would see it as a sign that I couldn't be trusted. The only person I possibly could tell was Zaphire, but it would put her in an awkward position, and I really didn't want to do that. However, for my own sanity, I had to open up to someone. Zack just seemed too unapproachable now, and I knew it was because he was meant to be like that, but I still found it hard to accept. I thought he would find it more difficult to shut me out completely, but he seemed to have found it quite easy to move on from whatever feelings he had for me. I had noticed several times he carried different scents on him that I didn't recognise. I assumed he was seeing other girls and there was no doubt in my mind that he had slept with them. Those scents tend to linger. The first time it had happened I must have emitted signals that I'd noticed as he stared me defiantly in the eyes and walked off without saying a thing. I don't know what I'd been expecting, but it hadn't been that.

  I couldn't wait to see Zaphy again. I fantasised about our reunion daily but actually was getting more than a little apprehensive now it was imminent. What if it didn't live up to all the expectations I had created, or worse if she didn't feel the same anymore. What if in the mean time, she had found someone else to love, or had forgotten about me. What if I hadn't read Zaphire's signals right and there was nothing to explore? In my lon
eliness I had built up a whole relationship with her and it could be shattered in an instant. I feared the words “just be friends” or “I don't like you like that” as much as “I don't want to see you again”. It would crush me. Something had been unleashed inside me that had to be taken care of. I'd never felt the burning sensation of a desire so fierce, I could not physically deny it. I wanted Zaphire more than I'd ever wanted anything else before.

  A soft knock on the door followed by the clanking of the keys disturbed my musings and I jumped to my feet, standing ready to receive my lunch. They were always brought to me by the sixteen year olds who had just started being operational. This time it was a slightly chubby boy who I hadn't seen before. I'd started assigning animals to people again to entertain myself. I used to do it all the time, before I was plunged into the Sensorian way of life. This boy moved like a cute fat Guinea Pig. His nerves filled the room and I assumed it was his first ever task and he was eager not to mess it up. He glanced briefly at me, but quickly looked back at the table where he placed my food.

  “You may sit down to eat,” he mumbled quickly, barely audible, before scuttling out of the room again, nervously dangling the keys.

  Poor boy. That performance would not have pleased his trainer, if he was being observed. At least he hadn't forgotten to give me permission to eat as had happened once, when I had to wait about twenty minutes before anyone had noticed. Luckily it had been a sandwich so at least it hadn't gone cold. I suspected the girl had been given a telling off as, when she came back to inform me I could eat, her face was tear stained. I'd felt sorry for her and narrowly stopped myself from saying something comforting. She must have felt my compassion because she did give me the tiniest of smiles and a little nod. I hoped to God that her trainer hadn't been watching her.