“Team status report,” I said. “Megan?”
“I’m recruiting a few more maintenance people. The unit will be operational soon, so we can’t keep calling in outside staff every time we need minor repairs.”
“Please,” I said. “No more heavily muscled, black-haired men.”
I was drowned out by everyone laughing. Everyone except Fran, who gave her usual rigid, artificial smile.
“You’d prefer them slightly skinny, with light-brown hair?” Adika asked, with a fake air of innocence.
I blushed. I’d been right to keep quiet about the Forge issue. My weird fascination with him had vanished like smoke being sucked into an air vent. I’d no idea what had cured it. I could only guess it was the result of me reading his mind so much.
Whatever the reason, Forge was just a member of the Strike team and an old friend now, while Lucas … The fascination of Lucas’s glittering Carnival mind, which had as many levels as the Hive itself, could never fade.
Back in Hive Futura, I’d tried to encourage Lucas into a relationship, but he’d shied away, expecting me to fall for one of my Strike team. Since then, he’d been watching closely as I failed to pair off with anyone. As he watched my actions, I’d been watching his thoughts, an amused bystander in his head as he analyzed the situation and considered possible tactics and outcomes.
Three days ago, my Tactical Commander had decided the probability of success, with its projected benefits, now justified taking risks. He’d been blatantly chasing me since then, and I’d been teasing him a little in revenge for his reluctance in Hive Futura.
Lucas, of course, had worked out exactly what I was doing, why I was doing it, and that his target had every intention of being caught in the end. He also knew that I was busily reading his thoughts and plans, and was constantly picturing wicked images to tease me in return.
Lucas grinned hugely in response to Adika’s remark. “I hope she does.”
Megan made a choking noise and hastily started talking again. I risked one glance at Lucas’s dark eyes, saw he was laughing at me, and pointedly turned my face away from him to concentrate on Megan.
“I’ve got the candidates standing by for when you have time to interview them, Amber.”
“I’ve been wondering about something,” I said cautiously. “Normal accommodation levels have decorations and wall paintings, but our unit walls are all plain white. Would it be possible for us to have a resident mural painter to brighten the place up?”
Megan nodded. “Law Enforcement has its own mural painters, the same way it has its own cleaners, electricians, and other general staff. We can easily get one assigned to us. Would you prefer paintings of people, or flowers, or …”
“Actually, I really liked the paintings done by someone on Teen Level,” I said. “Her name is Sofia. She’s just come out of Lottery as a Level 1 Mural Painter.”
Adika had been gazing across at the resting Strike team, but now he turned to stare at me. He obviously knew that Matias was pining for a girlfriend called Sofia. I was relieved when he didn’t say anything.
Megan frowned and tapped at her dataview. “Sofia’s clearly an incredibly talented artist to be rated Level 1, but she isn’t allocated to Law Enforcement.”
I gave a heavy sigh of disappointment. “Is there such a big difference in the imprints that it’s impossible for her to work here?”
“No, it’s purely a security issue,” said Megan. “I could get Sofia’s personality profile checked to see if she’s suitable for transfer to Law Enforcement. That might involve extra tests on discretion and …”
I smiled. “Please ask Sofia if she’d like to be considered for a transfer.”
If Sofia agreed and was approved for a transfer, then she and Matias could be happy together here. The other member of the Strike team who was pining for an old girlfriend was Forge, but I couldn’t work out how to fit a Level 9 Media Presenter into a Telepath Unit.
I dismissed that thought for now, and turned to Lucas.
“Tactical team is fully operational,” he said, “and in continual data exchange with Tactical teams in the other Telepath Units. We’re shadowing Keith’s team on the suspect area around 600/2600, and getting their full data feeds about it. They want to hand that area to us as soon as the rest of our unit is operational. Keith has said there’s nothing wrong there, and it would take a massacre before he’d admit to making a mistake.”
Megan made that choking noise again. Even though the deeper levels of her mind felt Keith’s negligence had led to her husband’s death, she still wasn’t comfortable hearing a telepath openly criticized.
“We’ve been suffering some glitches in getting our research information,” continued Lucas, “but we’ve built up profiles on a large number of areas with low level suspicious signs. We’ve already discovered about thirty where the guilty party is obvious, and referred them on to be dealt with by borderline telepaths or nosy patrols. Others are on the list to be checked when our unit is operational. We’ve also got one area that’s just plain peculiar. The area 500/5000 shopping area on Level 1 is being plagued by ducks.”
We all stared at him. Area 500/5000 was the centre point of the Hive. On any level, the 500/5000 shopping area was the biggest and fanciest. The one on Level 1 was the finest shopping area in the entire Hive. I’d promised my mother we’d go shopping there one day, but so far I’d been much too busy.
Everyone had the same question in their thoughts. Adika gave in and asked it. “Ducks? Real ducks?”
Lucas shook his head. “Pictures of ducks, fancy golden ducks, keep appearing on walls. A practical joker must be sticking them up, but nobody has caught him in the act yet. It’s hardly threatening. In fact, people are finding the duck plague so amusing that the shops have started ordering matching toy ducks to sell themselves.”
Megan laughed. “I must go shopping over there and buy one.”
Adika came next. “Strike team’s basic training is nearly complete,” he said. “I’ve got two or three team members who aren’t up to Chase team fitness yet. They’re working hard, so it’s just a temporary issue. In two days’ time, we’ll be ready to move from training to limited operational status, checking simple suspect areas. A week of that, and we should be ready to go fully operational and handle emergency runs too.”
Those words gave me a shiver of nerves. I knew everyone was impressed by my abilities as a telepath, I could read that in their minds, but so far I’d only done training exercises. I’d no idea how I’d cope with reading a genuine wild bee, or even if I’d be able to recognize one. I’d lived for eighteen years as an ordinary girl. I still felt like an ordinary girl. Could I really do what the Hive needed? If I couldn’t, people might die. If I couldn’t, what happened to Olivia and York might happen to me.
I forced that thought away, and faced Fran. She immediately burst into resentful speech.
“I object to that snide remark from Lucas about glitches in getting research information. Liaison has complied fully and promptly with every request for data.”
Lucas sighed. “You’ve been refusing to accept calls from me for the last two days, Fran. Claiming you’ve complied with every request for data may be technically true, but since you’re blocking me from making the requests in the first place …”
Fran gave him a look of open disgust. “I merely suggested you route all data requests through your deputy, Emili. A necessary measure due to your offensive attitude.”
“Yes, you made that suggestion,” said Lucas, “though frankly it sounded more like an order to me. As I told you at the time, we can’t work like that.”
“What’s been going on here?” asked Adika sharply.
Lucas sighed again. “During emergency runs, the Liaison team have to evacuate bystanders without creating panic. My team threw a few practice scenarios at them, situations like a dangerous target heading through a medical area, so they could come up with appropriate responses. They did well, inventing some very cre
ative cover stories. I made a light-hearted joke about them being excellent liars. It was meant as a compliment, but Fran was annoyed.”
I checked Lucas’s thoughts for extra details. His memory showed Fran had been much more than annoyed, startling him with an explosion of anger.
I tried to smooth things over. “Fran, I think you misunderstood Lucas’s joke. He was genuinely impressed by your team’s response to the practice scenarios.”
“It was more than this one incident,” said Fran. “Lucas’s entire attitude is frivolous and completely inappropriate. I refuse to work with him until he becomes more professional.”
“I agree that Lucas can be frivolous,” said Adika, “but you can’t blankly refuse to work with him. I’ve just said that Strike team are only two days away from checking genuine suspect areas. Lucas will be the one calling our tactics. At any moment, he may need Liaison to supply extra information, co-ordinate outside assistance, or organize evacuations.”
“He’ll have to get Emili to make those requests,” said Fran.
Adika’s face changed from irritation to outright fury with startling speed. “You’re seriously suggesting that Emili has to repeat every order from Lucas before you’ll action it? During genuine operational runs? Even the simplest check run can turn unexpectedly nasty, and we’ll be responding to full emergencies soon. I’m not having your sulking causing delays that endanger my men’s lives.”
Fran glared at him. “I’m not sulking, I just insist on …”
I stood up and interrupted her. “I’ve had enough of this, Fran. I’m in notional charge of this unit, with two deputies who do the actual work. Megan is in charge of everyday running of the unit. Lucas is Tactical Commander in charge of unit operations. That means Lucas is your boss, Fran. You have to follow his orders.”
Fran stood up too. “Oh yes, we all have to grovel and obey Lucas because he’s sleeping with you. I don’t know how he can bear to touch a freak like you, let alone …”
“Shut up!” Megan screamed the words at her.
Everyone was standing now, and there was a strange, shocked silence. Even Fran didn’t seem to believe what she’d just said, but there could be no denying or forgetting those words. There was only one thing I could do now. The thing I should have done when I first read Fran’s mind. I forced myself to speak and did it.
“Fran, you’re fired.”
She took a step towards me. “Freak!” she yelled. “Ugly mutant freak!”
Adika was between us in an instant. He grabbed Fran’s arm with one of his hands, covered her mouth with the other, and dragged her off.
I watched them go, then buried my face in my hands for a moment. I’d thought that Fran shifting her disapproval from me to Lucas was a sign she was learning to accept me. I’d been horribly wrong. She daren’t openly show her hostility towards me, so when she realized I cared for Lucas, she’d made him the target of her hatred instead.
When I lifted my head again, I saw Lucas frowning at me. “You didn’t know Fran felt like this?”
“The one time I read Fran, she hated it,” I said. “I’d loathed nosies myself as a child, so I understood that and instantly pulled out of her head. I didn’t know her feelings were this strong.”
Adika handed Fran over to the Strike team, and came jogging back to join us. “Fran is being escorted out of the unit.”
“I know this is my fault,” I said. “I should have read Fran properly, realized her hatred of telepaths was at an uncontrollable level, and rejected her. I messed up.”
“Yes, you messed up, Amber,” said Lucas savagely. “You let someone into your unit who wasn’t just a problem, but a potential danger to you. How could you have been so stupid?”
“Lucas!” Megan shrieked his name.
I was busy reading Lucas’s thoughts not hers, but I could see them in her appalled face. You never criticize the telepath. You definitely don’t tell her she’s stupid. I’d fired Fran, and now I’d fire Lucas as well, and that would be terrible for the unit and the Hive.
The stress of the situation must have been having an odd effect on me, because I shocked everyone, including myself, by laughing. “Calm down, Megan. Lucas is saying those things because he cares about me. He’s scaring himself to death right now, picturing what could have happened if I’d been alone with Fran when she lost her temper, imagining her stabbing me and him finding my bloodstained corpse.”
I paused. “Yes, I was stupid, but you were all stupid too. I have to check every member of my unit, not just to see if I’m comfortable with them, but to make sure they aren’t a personal threat. Why didn’t you tell me that at the start?”
Megan shook her head. “Because it isn’t true. Nosy patrols are deliberately set up to be frightening, with the nosy appearing inhuman behind their mask. Most people in Law Enforcement will have gone into Lottery with a mild dislike of nosies, but that dislike vanishes once they’re imprinted with the facts about nosy patrols being fake, and true telepaths being rare and vital to the Hive. Lottery would never imprint someone with a serious hatred of nosies for any post in Law Enforcement, let alone a post in a Telepath Unit.”
“Fran came out of Lottery twenty-five years ago with Sapphire,” said Lucas. “She must have gained her prejudices since then.”
His mind finally stopped visualizing my bloodstained corpse. “If Fran’s imprint covers Telepath Unit Liaison team leader, why wasn’t she given a post in a Telepath Unit years ago?”
“Good question,” said Adika. “If Fran was imprinted for team leader, it meant she was one of the most able Liaison candidates. She should have automatically been given a post as team member, just the same way that I automatically included everyone imprinted for Strike Team leader in my preferred candidates for Alpha team.”
Megan moistened her lips before speaking. “Fran was one of the preferred candidates for Sapphire’s Liaison team, but Sapphire rejected her. I didn’t think that was a black mark against Fran. Sapphire’s notoriously choosy about the people she has in her unit, and rejects lots of candidates.”
“Fran had to wait twenty-five years to get her second chance at a Telepath Unit posting,” said Lucas. “She’s spent all that time hating Sapphire for rejecting her, and that’s extended to hating all true telepaths.”
“It never occurred to me that someone could put their own grievance ahead of the needs of the Hive,” said Megan miserably. “If Fran had a personal issue with telepaths, then she shouldn’t have accepted this posting.”
“Fran’s very ambitious,” said Lucas. “She wouldn’t want to give up the prestige of a post as team leader in a Telepath Unit.”
Megan groaned. “This is my fault. I recruited her. I resign.”
I felt like I was drowning in guilt. I’d been given perfectly simple instructions and chosen not to follow them. Now I was watching Megan tear herself apart, seeing the horror in her mind that she’d made a mistake that put a true telepath at risk. She’d lost Dean, all she had to cling to in life now was her work, but she was going to give that up and leave because of my mistake.
“Not you,” said Lucas. “Me. Any competent Tactical Commander would have recognized that Fran wasn’t just reserved and formal, but fighting to contain her hatred of telepaths.”
Chaos, Lucas was blaming himself now and planning to leave as well. I’d have Adika resigning too if I didn’t do something quickly. “Oh, shut up!” I yelled at them. “Nobody is resigning, and that’s an order!”
They all looked at me in stunned silence.
“I misled you all by letting you think I’d read Fran properly,” I continued. “You naturally assumed I’d have mentioned any rabid hatred of telepaths. If I’d read Fran’s thoughts properly, or even told you the little I’d seen, she’d have been replaced on her first day.”
I turned to Megan. “This was totally my mistake, Megan. I need your help to sort this out.”
Megan gave a helpless gesture with her hands. “What? Yes?”
“I’ve fired Fran. Tactical team is operational. Strike team is in final training phase. We can’t handle operational runs without Liaison. What’s our best option for replacing Fran?”
Megan ran her fingers through her hair, wrecking her elegant hairstyle. “We either bring in an alternate candidate, or we promote her deputy. Nicole is imprinted for Liaison team leader position. She only had a year’s experience at team member level before coming here, but she had very high assessment scores.”
I hadn’t had much contact with the Liaison staff apart from the initial interviews. I vaguely remembered Nicole. A girl with long, red, flyaway hair and an anxious expression, who used a powered chair to travel round the unit. “Can we make Nicole temporary team leader, see how that works?”
“That’s the best solution,” said Lucas. “We can’t delay going operational while we look for a new Liaison team leader. The current health of the Hive mind means our unit is urgently needed.”
I was alarmed by that sentence. “What do you mean, Lucas?”
“Things have been difficult for the last few years since Claire died,” he said. “Only four true telepaths. Morton has physical limitations because of his age, Mira finds emergency runs stressful, and Keith has his own particular issues, so Sapphire has been left carrying far more than her share of the load. She’s held the line bravely, kept the Hive functioning, but she’s gradually losing ground. Any telepath needs a full day of rest after an emergency run or the casualty rate among the Strike team soars.”
He pulled a face. “The problem is that too many areas with warning signs aren’t being checked before their wild bees hatch. That means the number of emergency runs is increasing. In turn, that means even less time to check areas with warning signs, but once our unit is operational it will swing the balance back in our favour. We’ll make progress with check runs again, and the situation will rapidly become more stable.”
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