by K. Gorman
To the side, an older model of Fint stood next to the trees, its once-gleaming expense worn, but still exquisite against the deep red and green of its backdrop. Its ramp was up, but four slender limbs secured the craft in place, making it look like an elegant, geometric bird. Parked at its side was a newer model of ground vehicle, a slip of recent mud visible near its wheel wells from travel.
Soo-jin joined her side, along with Marc, Baik, Tylanus, Takahashi, Reeve, and Lieutenant Seki and Specialist Malouf. Both Tylanus and Takahashi had come with her from the Med bay. Marc and Soo-jin, she’d found on the Nemina when she’d gone down, and they’d both insisted upon coming. Baik, too, had been nearby. Reeve was still on probation, but she needed him to pilot. And Tillerman had insisted on Seki and Malouf as a security escort.
It was an…interesting party.
She’d also left Nomiki behind. Her sister had been otherwise occupied, and Karin didn’t altogether trust her not to kill Elliot Corringham on sight.
With Tia inside her, she needed to make sure it was her hands that did it.
Yes, Tia replied, catching wind of her thoughts. I can’t wait.
Well, you’ll have to wait a little longer. I’d like to talk to him first.
She felt a little regret at not bringing Nomiki along―her sister would, she suspected, also like to speak with him.
But Nomiki would live. Especially if Karin presented her with Elliot’s head on a platter.
Shit, maybe they could cryo-freeze it then resurrect him inside a computer, just like he’d done with Tia. Then Nomiki could kill him again and again, in a variety of situations.
It wouldn’t be quite the same as killing him first-hand, in person, but he wouldn’t know the difference.
Actually, that had been one of Tia’s violent fantasies about him.
The doctor had been…creative.
What can I say? I had a lot of time to myself, and a lot of hate to feed.
The wind picked up, driving the late fall cold into her hair and skin, and she shrugged the collar of her jacket a little farther up. Already, she was missing her armor, but her old clothes, a simple jeans, sweater, and leather jacket combo from the Nemina, were comfortable and familiar.
Takahashi stepped forward, his expression poised and curious as he looked around.
“I’ve always wanted to visit Japan,” he said.
“You’ve never been?” she asked.
“No. Only to Narita Airport, en route to the launch pad in Singapore. It was an enjoyable airport. However, it was still an airport.” He paused, taking it in. Then, he moved to lead the way to the door. “Well, let’s start this, I suppose.”
An old, gnarled wisteria grew from the middle of the pathway. Like many of the plants, it had lost its leaves to winter hibernation, but its limbs and vines snaked and twisted through a trellis above the water, joined by the thorny branches of a large rosebush and another vine-y bush that sprung over the far corner like a wooden weed. Several koi lounging in the pond drifted toward them, breaking the surface with their snouts in a clear sign of wanting food.
Takahashi pressed a button on a monitor holo by the door. A screen flickered upward into a square with a few Japanese characters visible, and a comms tone sounded.
A man answered after the fourth ring. “Yes?”
“Dr. Corringham?” Takahashi leaned forward toward the microphone. “I’m not sure if you remember me. My name is Soichiro Takahashi. We used to work together.”
There was a long pause.
“Sony?” he asked.
Takahashi’s nickname.
Inside, Tia was frowning.
That doesn’t sound like Elliot. His voice was lighter.
Maybe it changed? she replied. He is seventy years older. Gene mods and hormone treatments can have an effect on timbre.
Some of the Eurynome kids had experienced that firsthand.
“Yes, it’s me.” Takahashi injected a smile into his voice. “I apologize for not calling. I’m afraid we couldn’t find your contacts anymore.”
“I’ve had to keep a low profile. I think you understand. Actually, I’m surprised you did manage to find me.” There was another pause. “Why are you here?”
Takahashi hesitated. “It’s by request of one of your former patients. Karin Makos, Program Eos. She’s here with me. She’d like to speak with you.”
This time, the pause was longer. When the man spoke again, his tone had dropped.
Tia’s frown deepened.
“Yes, I remember her.” He sighed, the sound audible over the speaker, and Karin could hear his wince. “Yes, I suppose I owe her that much. Is her sister here?”
“No,” Takahashi said.
So, it was a good thing I left Nomiki behind.
Nerves racked through her, but the anxiety quickly abated, pushed under by the logical processes of her mind. She took a breath and closed her eyes, feeling the sensations running through her. When they finished, she opened them again.
The world had turned sharper again, and power fluctuated through her blood. Symptoms of Tia’s mood.
She released a breath and forced her tensed fists and shoulders to relax, letting it go.
We need to talk to him first.
There was a rustling sound on the speaker. “I see there are others with you?”
Yes, they’d brought quite a party.
“Karin’s friends and bodyguards,” Takahashi said politely. A wry smile touched his lips. “They helped find you.”
Karin pushed a smile onto her face and let out a chuckle, stepping next to Takahashi’s shoulder to tilt her face at the camera.
“I work for the Menassi Tri-Quad Alliance from Alpha Centauri. They’re a bit paranoid about my well-being, these days, with the Shadows and all. Actually, I can heal the Lost, and the powers you developed helped find a reproducible cure for them.” Her lips twitched again. “I guess you’re probably retired by now, after the incident my sister and I caused, but I know about three governments that would like to figure out how you did it.”
There was a pause.
“Unfortunately for them, I don’t do that anymore. Eurynome is behind me now. But, give me a moment. I’ll let you in. I think I owe you some answers, at least―and I would like to know how you are doing. It sounds like you’ve been up to quite a lot since we last saw each other.”
On the call, there was a groan of creaking leather, as if someone were getting out of a chair, and the line cut.
The holoscreen retracted back into its base.
“‘The incident my sister and I caused,’” Soo-jin quoted. “That’s quite a tip-toe. Any way he might not know what you two did on your way out?”
“Not a chance,” she said. “And I expect him to be wary. But I’m not going to waste this chance.”
Marc shifted behind her. His hand came down on her shoulder, rubbing into the edge of a muscle with his thumb. She swallowed. Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door. She tensed, grinding her teeth as she heard the lock scrape.
When it opened, all of the color drained from her face.
Bernard Corringham stood in the doorway, looking over them with an expression of cautious curiosity.
Chapter Forty-One
“I thought Elliot was living here?”
Takahashi’s voice seemed to come from far away. A dull roar filled her mind, rushing through her ears like the thunder of a raging river. Adrenaline surged into her blood, and her hands began to shake. She stared, keeping the smile from before firmly plastered across her lips, dully registering the note of surprise in Takahashi’s manner while her mind ripped itself apart in dizzying panic.
Then, slowly, her new modifications kicked in.
One by one, like watching a worker flip switches on a line, her mind closed the door on her panic.
Within seconds, she was present again, with only a slight tremor in her chest and a shallowness to her breath.
She blinked.
Bernard was watching her, h
is expression harboring more than a little wariness. He was taller than she remembered, and thinner, but it didn’t look like he’d aged. Not like Tylanus had, and certainly not like Sasha had.
More than gene extension therapy at work, she’d wager.
He was about half a foot taller than her, with brown hair a shade darker than his brother’s dirty blond.
And he looked…normal.
Then again, so did she. Out of the armor, she was just another well-muscled blonde woman.
He wore a white collared shirt under a thick tan cable knit, and a pair of comfortable-looking jeans. The white socks on his feet stood out against the dark slate tile of the floor.
“Yes, he is. He just isn’t here at the moment,” Bernard answered, his gaze finally slipping from her to the rest of their group. His searching eyes quickly found Tylanus, and his frown deepened, mild shock hitting his expression. “Aren’t you Eva’s son?”
Panic leapt in her chest, but Tia clamped it down. Behind her, Marc had gone very still, his fingers tightening on her shoulder. She glanced to the side, exchanging a tight look with Soo-jin. Beside her, the woman’s face had shuttered, going dead serious.
Not good.
Fortunately, Tylanus was a better actor than the rest of them. Though his body posture showed a small amount of tension through his shoulders and back and the arms he’d crossed over his abdomen, he played it off, unfolding his arms and hunching with a guilty expression as he replied.
“Yes, sorry. I’m a bit of a tag-along.” He shot a grin at Bernard. “I heard Karin was coming to see you, so I invited myself onto her ship.”
“Her ship?” Bernard asked speculatively. His gaze drifted back, presumably taking in the Nemina behind them.
She laughed, the sound stilted and tense to her ear, and glanced up at Marc behind her. “Technically, it’s his ship, but I’m its usual pilot.”
Gods, this was so fucked up. Were they just going to stand there, talking as if they were long-lost friends?
Everyone knew the history. And yet, they were dancing around it.
But, as they kept standing there, and Bernard kept looking them over, the moment dragged on into awkwardness.
His gaze flicked back to her, making her heart skip―apparently, not all of her fear and panic had left this time, though Tia was doing a good job of keeping them down and behind the usual glass. His gaze flicked to Marc and Soo-jin before pausing on the two cyborgs in the back.
“You’ll have to forgive me if I seem rude, but I am cautious. Your sister killed quite a lot of people during your escape, and not all were precisely necessary. You killed, too, if I recall.”
“Doctor, if I wanted you dead, I would have had someone shoot you from orbit by now.” She shook her head. “No, I just want to talk. There’s a lot of unanswered questions about my past that only you can fill.”
It was a lie, but it came out smoothly, as if she’d lied every day of her life. She shot him another grin, then stepped around Marc and toward Malouf and Seki.
Both cyborgs looked mildly uncomfortable. Fortunately for them, the expressions fit well with their armor and their current position as bodyguards.
She reached up and rested her hand on Malouf’s bicep, feeling the tension in the muscles underneath, and kept her smile firmly in place as she looked up to him. “Specialist Malouf, you and Lieutenant Seki can go back to the ship. Tell Tillerman where I am and whatever else she wants to hear. I know how she likes to keep tabs on me.”
His gaze flickered down to her. By his expression, he’d overheard enough on the bridge to know who Bernard Corringham was and what danger he represented.
“Are you sure?” he asked, glancing back to Bernard. “We can stay, if you wish.”
“That won’t be necessary. Thank you, Specialist.”
The two soldiers gave her a nod and a quick bow and turned away. Lieutenant Seki looked back once, then turned an inquisitive expression toward Malouf and asked a question, but he made a dismissing gesture and said something in Centauri.
They both headed back to the ship.
When she turned back, Bernard was staring at her again, his blue eyes intense.
Then, to her surprise, he inclined his head and bowed away from the door. “Come in, then. Let’s talk. I’ll have Grace put on some tea.”
That was too easy, Tia thought. Something is wrong. I think he knows.
She had to agree. That had been too easy.
If he’d been a regular person, knowing the history between them, he would have slammed the door in their faces and sicced whatever security program he had on them while he either made a break for it or holed up in a panic room. She swallowed, exchanged a look with Takahashi, and followed Bernard and the rest in.
They entered through a small mud room, exchanging their outdoor shoes for slippers provided on a small shelf inside, as was common in Japanese houses, and stepped up with Bernard through a small hallway to an open space. A living area with a fireplace and holoscreen setup sat on the left down a set of two stairs, looking out on a continuation of the wisteria-laden walkway from the front of the building and the side yard of the house, and a kitchen opened on her right. Everything had an expensive, understated touch.
He gestured to the seats in the living room. She never took her eyes from him.
Baik just called someone, Tia whispered. He has a transponder in his pocket.
Do you think we can beat him? she asked. If it comes to a fight―and I think it will―do you think we can win?
That all depends on how much power he has accumulated. Remember: your body was literally built for modification. His was not.
Yes, and yet, she was the one getting headaches and nosebleeds, while Bernard looked just fine.
Maybe he didn’t make himself a god. Maybe he was really just the same.
But…why would he allow them inside, then? And why would Sasha lie about it?
No. He had been planning this since Tia had been alive.
He was modeling himself after Ophion, right? The snake that was Eurynome’s husband? There’s a story where Eurynome kicked Ophion’s teeth out for insulting her. Maybe we could win?
Yes, I believe he was, although he wasn’t going for an accurate representation of Ophion, but instead an all-encompassing monotheistic god that was a combination of every single mythological archetype the Cradle had to offer.
Which means that it is all dependent on who he managed to get into his Cradle.
Yes. And I don’t see a Cradle yet.
It’s a big house. I bet it’s here.
They all sat down in the living room. Bernard stopped by the fireplace to put another small, split log into the wood stove. “So, Tylanus, last I heard, you and your mother went to Nova?”
“Yes, we were in Nova briefly, but she found it too stifling―you know how she is. Seirlin offered her a spot in one of its Fallon facilities, so we’ve been between Chamak and one of its moons for the past little while.” Tylanus shot her a look from where he’d sat in a small armchair close to the veranda door, the light from outside gleaming on the blackness of his eyes.
“Chamak? Beautiful planet. I took a trip through one of the northern jungles once. Absolutely stunning.”
“It is,” Karin said. “Did you hear what Dr. Sasha got up to recently?”
“No. I haven’t been following. What is it?”
“Well, it turned out she was the one behind the Shadow attacks. Do you know anything about the ruins in Macedonia? We’ve been trying to figure them out.”
“Can’t say I do.” He didn’t sit like the rest of them, instead heading close to the doors and leaning against the wall on the other side of the window from where Tylanus stood. “You were always quite fond of them, as I remember.”
Gods, he actually remembered that?
She didn’t remember him. Not really. Just a slip of a fractured memory.
“Yes,” she said cautiously. “I always found them interesting. Magical, really, though o
ur scans show otherwise.”
“You should try an archaeology department for those. They have one at the university in Skopje.” He glanced up and to the side. “Ah, Grace, there you are. Could you put some tea on for us, dear?”
A woman had appeared in the hall from the back of the house. Dressed in a simple, elegant combination of slacks and a blouse, she was of middling height and held a mixture of East Asian features, with a narrow face and thick black hair that she kept pinned in a tight bun at the back of her head.
Karin’s jaw slackened, and something inside gave way.
The woman looked just like Tia.
She was on her feet before she knew it, staring. “What the fuck?”
Bernard glanced to her, startled. “Pardon?”
“You―you leave me to rot in a tank, and you make yourself a god-damned clone?” She sputtered. “What in the fuck is wrong with you?”
The woman froze, eyes wide. Karin took several steps forward, mouth agape. Cold shock flowed through her.
Then, anger.
When she turned, Bernard was staring at her. Everyone was staring at her. Her body shook, rage lining her mind with hot lead. Power fluctuated through her fingers. She turned slowly, her lips twisting into a sneer when they met Bernard’s eyes.
He was frowning, his stare boring hard into her.
Then, it clicked. The frown dropped from his face, replaced by shock.
“Tia?”
“In the fucking flesh,” she spat. “Gods. You―You actually did it. You actually fucking did it.”
“Well, fuck,” Soo-jin muttered from her chair. “Guess that cat’s out of the bag.”
Slowly, her powers were awakening, Eurynome’s strength and mind coming into more and more prominence as Tia took control. She shook her head, squinting as the room seemed to flicker around her. Wherever she looked, a strange static began to rise. She stared at the nearest potted plant, an ornamental ficus, a living version of the dead ones they’d found in the abandoned Eurynome Project office on Nova, and reached out to touch one of its leaves.