I stepped out of the bathroom and found Joan sitting at my computer terminal. She was casually using it, something that would have annoyed me had it been anyone else. Joan seemed to fit in here; seeing her comfortable and relaxed in my home eased the tension in my stomach a bit.
On the screen in front of her was a selection of home furnishings. While she was looking at traditionally masculine colors and patterns, it was certainly not bland. I knew her place was already decorated, so that meant only one thing: she was as comfortable in my home as I was in her company.
“I take it you’re not a fan of gray?” I said.
47
05-13-0067 — Lyshell
We left my apartment and headed for what she called the merchant section. I wanted to look that up as we walked, but she had begged me to leave behind my contacts and datapad. She gave no reason, just asked me to do it ‘for her’. It was an easy request, and I could see it mattered to her so I had complied, but every step we took I could feel them calling to me. It was crazy but, nonetheless, the feeling was there. I felt as if I’d left a part of myself behind again.
“What is the merchant section?” I asked, partly to hear her speak. She had a soft voice, one that you could hear clearly, but one that was comforting.
“Ever since the Wizard Kingdom raised our flag over the station, it has been growing. It’s no longer just a research hospital; instead it’s becoming a full-fledged city.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Several of the major trade consortiums have offices here, and it’s become known as a neutral space where trade can take place between otherwise untrusting parties. Families have started moving here, and it’s becoming just like a city in space.”
“That makes sense, but I assume that would require a massive project to expand the station?” I asked.
“The station was only about half full when we took over, and it was nowhere near the size it is now. There have been ongoing massive construction projects all the time I’ve been here, and there’s no sign of them stopping.”
As we walked, I could see signs of construction everywhere. A large number of Battle Wizards were on patrol. “Security an issue here?”
“Not anymore. The station has had a rocky past, from what I’m told. Basically, they’ve had to remain friendly with both sides in every conflict in order to stay neutral in the wars that have plagued this region since the fall of the Empire.”
I nodded. “How do those that lived through all of that feel about all this change?”
“I’m not sure. I know some have moved on, but most of the staff are still here. A few have started families, but I’ve only met a small number of them. Those I’ve met seem happy, but they do sometimes talk about the good old days.”
As we entered the merchant section, I could see why she saw this place as a small city. Everything was brand-new, but apart from that it could be a marketplace anywhere in the old Empire. People of all races were walking to and fro, while shopkeepers tried to lure them in. The noise and chaos of the crowds felt a bit like home.
“Where are we going to eat?” I asked.
“There’s a nice restaurant in the heart of the merchant section which Emily recommended to us for tonight.”
“Oh? When did she do that?” I asked.
“She sent a message while you were changing. She said she’d figured we’d want to eat out somewhere, and she absolutely loved this place.”
“Does she have good taste?”
Joan laughed. “Sometimes.”
“That doesn’t exactly foster confidence in this establishment.”
“Oh, I’m sure it’ll be great.” She smiled and wrapped her arm around mine, pulling me close. “If not, the company will make up for it.”
I jumped a little as her wrist comm. beeped, indicating that a message had come in. That was a fairly normal event for most people, but Joan shouldn’t need one. Something had changed drastically.
“Sorry, let me silence this thing,” she muttered as she let go, then chuckled. “Emily has now sent suggestions on what to order. It seems that the chocolate meltdown cake is to die for.”
When we reached the restaurant, a young Parrinian greeted us. “Do you have a reservation?”
I stepped around Joan and said, “I’m sorry, but I’ve only just returned from assignment. Do you have any open tables?”
He hesitated, then looked at my armband, smiled and said, “Of course! Right this way.”
A new emotion flooded through me, which I recognized as relief. It seemed I had guessed right about wearing the armband.
He led us to a secluded table and left to inform the staff that they had a new table.
“Looks like he’s put us in the officers’ section,” I commented. The area was expensively decorated, and all the tables were secluded. It was not normally a place in which I found myself, as it was reserved for those higher up the command chain.
“How did you pull that off?” she asked.
I pointed to my armband. “This indicates that I’m part of Master Raquel’s team and gives me a lot more pull than I should have, given my low rank. She has a reputation for being tough, and I have her ear.”
As I finished speaking, our waiter arrived. In a lesser restaurant the staff would be robots, but Emily had apparently steered us to an upper-class joint. It was probably way out of my price range. As I watched Joan discussing food options with the waiter, excited about trying some of the fancier delicacies, all thoughts of cost vanished. How could I put a price on that twinkle in her eye?
When he had taken our orders and departed, Joan asked, “How are you doing? Don’t just tell me ‘Fine’; I want a real answer.”
That was a hard question to answer. Everything was going so well, but digging back into that darkness would threaten the mood of the night. Her eyes met mine, and there was affection and concern in them.
I took a drink of my water and said, “Some days are great. I mean, I can do this now.” With a simple gesture, I raised her glass of water and cast a minor spell that turned the water into snow. “You have to admit that is cool.”
“Downright freezing,” she agreed.
I let the glass gently settle back on the table. “Other days can be hard.” I sighed and tapped the side of my head. “It gets lonely in here; you know?”
She nodded. She was the only one I knew who understood. For most of my life, as long as I could remember, I had had information streaming into my head nonstop, and now there was nothing. The silence in there was deafening at times. I wanted to scream and scream into the silence and make it stop.
I shrugged. “There’s no going back now, so I just get through those days as best I can and carry on: the faithful soldier.”
“Have you talked to anyone about this?” she asked.
I nodded. “I see a counselor named Shea every few weeks.”
“Shea the priestess?”
“The same. You know her?”
“Not personally, but she is a legend around here. What’s she like?”
“She is the nicest, kindest person you could imagine. She’s not from our realm, but is an immigrant from Korshalemia. Everyone loves her and trusts her completely. It’s easy to do; she has a way about her that makes you want to trust her.”
Joan’s body tensed up at that. Jealousy? By the Emperor, how do I handle that? “But she can’t really understand what it’s like.” I looked up and caught her eye. “In all the universe, only you can.”
She smiled a little sadly. “Next time you feel lonely like that, call me. Don’t worry about the time of day; I’ll be there for you.”
“Thanks.”
I caught sight of her wrist comm and even though she was ignoring it, I could not. “Joan, why do you need a wrist comm?”
She sighed, but before she could answer our food arrived. We started eating in silence. It was as I’d feared, a damper had fallen on the mood. For a while we remained silent, and I was thinking about asking my quest
ion again when she finally started talking.
“It happened shortly after I arrived. I was walking down one of the corridors in the hospital when a voice boomed in my head. It was giving me orders and trying to download my databanks.”
She had started to cry, and instinctively I took her hand in mine. It was warm and soft in my palm, so unlike my own dry skin.
“Oh, Ly, it was horrible. As this was happening, Dr. Leslie came around the corner and the voices told me to kill her. I screamed and started pounding the wall but it didn’t help; the voices were fighting to take me over. I tried to throw myself to the floor, but they started to gain control and forced me to rush Dr. Leslie.”
She reached for her water glass, but it was still mostly snow. I quickly gave her mine. She took a long swig from it and went on. “I’m not sure what happened next, but I found myself fighting with two Battle Wizards. Despite my superior strength and speed, they were able to use their magic to restrain me. I remember screaming, but that’s all.”
“What happened?”
“They brought me to a shielded room, and the voices left me. Dr. Leslie downloaded the logs of my implants and discovered that the Cyborg Nation had attempted to take control of my implants.”
She shuddered as she said that and paused again, this time to dab her face with a napkin. “Ly, it was horrible. What if they’d succeeded? I’d be a puppet again, and a murderer as well!”
“They didn’t; you succeeded in escaping them. What happened after that?” I fought hard to keep the edge out of my voice. My whole body was tense, all the joy and comfort stolen away by this story. Whoever this Cyborg Nation was, I would find a way to make them pay for hurting her.
“I asked Dr. Leslie to remove all my implants, every last one. I couldn’t stand the thought of even a single wire in me.”
I swallowed. She knew exactly how I felt, and I knew how she felt. There was no way that either of us would return to that life of perpetual slavery to those who controlled our implants. I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it. Her skin was warm to the touch and sent a little tingle through my lips. The table seemed like a barrier to the comfort she needed just then, so I slid my chair around so that she could lean against me. I put my arm around her and breathed in the scent of her hair as we sat in silence.
As she sat beside me, her body against mine, the tension eased out of us. The muscles in my back relaxed and we curled in tighter. The room fell away, and for a moment there was just us.
Eventually a thought occurred to me. “You wanted me to leave those contacts behind because the Cyborg Nation might try again?”
She nodded. “Your contacts use the optical nerve to interface directly to the brain. It is quite possible that they could use that to try to take control of you, too.”
It was my turn to shudder. I would destroy those things the moment I got back to my quarters. I would not go back to being a puppet. Never!
I returned my seat to where it had been so that we could finish eating, mostly in silence. Joan needed me as much as I needed her, that was plain to see. I was beginning to understand everything I’d missed in our previous relationship. She obviously hadn’t had the emotional numbness that my implants had given me. I supposed it would be hard for her to blend in as a nurse if she was emotionally dead.
I leaned back and took notice of her again. She was tall for a human woman, perhaps only a head shorter than myself. Her skin was the light brown that seemed to be most common among humans in the Empire, much lighter than mine. She had clear brown eyes that seemed to see right through any front I put up. When I had held her, she had felt soft and comfortable; her body next to mine had brought a kind of warmth that I hadn’t felt before. It seemed right to hold her like that, more than right: desirable. I could easily see us spending many more hours together like that, perhaps cuddled up with a movie. It didn’t matter what we did so long as we were together.
She really was beautiful, and strong in ways that no other person could understand. Twice now she had thrown off the bonds of slavery and mind control. She had faced more challenges than any civilian should have to and overcome them. She deserved a man who would be there for her, and I couldn’t be.
As we nibbled at our dessert, I said, “Joan, I don’t know how long I’ll be stationed here or how often I’ll be away.”
She raised her hand to stop me. “Stop, just stop. I waited a year for you to come out here, and before that I watched for years, helpless, while you were trapped in the system. I can handle this, and I am not letting you go.”
48
05-14-0067 - Stones
I sighed as I rolled out of my bunk and donned my armor. I would have liked to sleep in, but I was due for my shift and someone was scheduled to sleep in the bunk after me. ‘Hot bunking’, they called it; the practice was strictly prohibited in the Battle Wizard Navy, but I was a long way from there. The hot bunking was just another unnecessary reminder of the bad call I’d made when I’d followed that sorcerer through the gate. The foolishness of it was obvious in hindsight, but nothing could be done about that now.
It had been a week since I’d been separated from my wing and it would be several months before I made it back. I stumbled bleary-eyed into the mess hall, grabbed some coffee and grub to consume now and some more to stuff in my pack for later as I headed to my post.
I wondered how Dave was doing. He and I have never been apart since we started in the academy. Even when we were assigned to different squads or teams, we still saw each other nearly every day. He was a good guy, but I was worried about him being out there alone. He was somewhat naïve and a bit too kind-hearted, a combination which made him very susceptible to conmen.
The long, metallic corridors of the Jerov stretched out in both directions, seeming to go on forever. I was alone on this route, near the outermost hull of the ship. My armored boots made a clunking echo that might have lulled me back to sleep if not for the harsh lighting. There was nothing distinctive about anything on this vessel, and I had learned to count doors and corridors to prevent getting lost.
27 … 28 … 29.
The twenty-ninth door led to the service-way that circled the innermost layer of the outer hull. I was assigned to patrol it and watch for any problems. It was by far the most boring, mind-numbing and sleep-inducing post I had ever held, but I was grateful for it. This long, boring march was bring me home, even if it did feel like walking all the way back to the Wizard Kingdom through the nothingness of interstellar space.
As I stepped onto the walkway, a large Zalionian approached.
“Hey, Nadar,” I said.
He grunted and left the walkway. The two of us split the day patrolling out here, but he had never spoken to me. I shrugged and started my patrol. None of the guards on board conversed much, at least not in the outer section of the Jerov.
The Jerov was a massive trade vessel that acted both as a haulage vessel and a mobile galleria. When the Jerov reached a destination, a docking arm would connect it to the station and customers could walk back and forth between, buying or selling goods. When docked the ship was full of activity and all guards were deployed to make sure thieves couldn’t ply their trade on board, while keeping the merchants safe from any unhappy customers.
In deep space, as we were now, everything was locked up and stowed away. Most of the merchants stayed in their quarters, and the guards were scattered about on patrols that often felt as if they were designed to kill us through sheer drudgery. I suspected they were intended to keep us busy so that we wouldn’t get into trouble.
Still, I thanked the Weave that I’d landed this job. I was sure that showing up with my own armor and weapons put me ahead of the other people looking for work. They didn’t recognize my uniform, but the fact that I had one probably helped, since it spoke of training. I had acquired mundane weapons on the station to help disguise the fact that I was a magus. So far as I could tell, no one had guessed it yet.
All that mattered was that this
trade fleet was heading for the Hospital Station. All I had to do was keep myself from dying of boredom until we got there; then I could report in and take the gate home.
It would take me ten hours to walk my section of the loop. There were other guards patrolling different sections and several in my own section, but we were spaced out so that we never saw each other, except for the shift change.
The ship’s hull was heavily armored and reinforced. I imagine that even if a shuttlecraft was to crash into it, it wouldn’t be breached, but a big part of our duties out here was to use a handheld scanner to randomly check sections of the hull.
“Robots would be much more efficient and effective for this work,” I mumbled to myself again as I used the scanner on the closest section of the hull. “But then they would have nothing for us to do en route, and we might cause trouble if we were allowed to gather and be idle.”
My voice echoed around me, and I wondered if I were the only one who had taken to talking to himself out here.
The hours and meters of armor ticked by at a speed that would make any snail look fast in comparison. The mind-numbing work made me sure that I knew what it felt like to be a zombie.
Walk, scan, walk, scan and then walk some more.
“Just call me Sisyphus,” I mumbled as I pushed the scan button one more time.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
What was that beeping? Could it be the scanner? It’s never done that before.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The screen on the scanner was yellow instead of the normal green. In the center of the screen, a red 5 flashed rapidly. This had never happened before and I didn’t know what it meant.
I tapped the control on my wrist comm and said, “This is Stones in section 31571, and my scanner is showing yellow.”
Mage Hunter (Lost Tales of Power Book 8) Page 24