by Bianca D'Arc
“I’m powering up the rails in three…two…one.” Wally flipped the switch, and the lights in the tunnel station dimmed for just a second or two as the rails hummed to life. The pod lifted and swayed slightly before stabilizing, and Wally gave them a thumbs-up. “And we have levitation. Have a good trip, folks!” He waved them on with a huge grin as Jim hit the accelerator.
The pod started slowly out of the station, gliding above the electrified rails. The magnetic field generated by the electric current allowed the pod to hover in a frictionless adherence. Gina didn’t know how it all worked, but once they got going, the ride was smooth with only a little sway side to side as they followed the gentle curve of the rails and gradually picked up speed. They left the station and the people behind and were soon out into the old tunnel, lit here and there by a string of widely spaced light bulbs.
Jim concentrated on getting the pod going at first, but then switched it over to automatic drive. Wally had assured them the path was clear of obstructions for at least the first two stops. Scouts had been in the tunnels as recently as a few days ago, so there was little to worry about.
Gina felt Jim’s eyes on her as he shifted in the pilot’s chair to watch her. She wanted to resist the pull of his gaze but was powerless against his allure.
“Now what?” She turned to face him, deciding offense was a much better strategy than defense.
“Now we get where we’re going. And we get to know each other better.” He reached out and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. She nearly shivered at his gentle touch but did her best to hide the reaction. This man set her senses on fire, and she wasn’t used to it at all.
“I really liked your family,” Jim startled her by saying. His eyes spoke of regret and sympathy. “I was cocky as a young agent. I thought I had it all over ninety-nine percent of the rest of the world. Your father showed me how wrong I was. He took me down a peg or ten, then rebuilt me into something better. He taught me humility and the value of so many things I’d taken for granted before. He was a good man, and the best teacher I ever had.”
The softly voiced words touched her heart. “I miss him.”
“I know,” Jim answered simply. She hadn’t meant to show her vulnerability, but it had been so long since she’d been able to talk about her father with someone who’d actually known him. “I never knew my father,” Jim went on. “He died in the war before I was born. He was a special ops soldier, and it was because of him that I went into the service in the first place. Then the Company approached me and by that point I believed I was invincible. They sent me to your dad, and he taught me the truth. I looked up to him. He was the father I never had for the year I studied with him. I think of him all the time and wonder what he would have done in my current situation. His teachings still guide me.”
Tears gathered in her eyes. “He would have been proud of what you’ve accomplished here, Jim. I know he really liked you. So did my brothers.”
“They were good guys, Gina. It was because of them that I ignored you. You were too young, but I couldn’t help but watch you. Your brother Paolo caught me looking once—just once—and he didn’t even have to say anything. He had that stone face of disapproval down pat. One look and I knew he didn’t like me watching you. After that, I made sure to keep my eyes to myself. At least when he was around.”
She grinned, remembering her eldest brother. “He sure could glare, couldn’t he?” A little laugh slipped out of her mouth. “Peter and I used to call it his death glare.”
“Peter was like lightning in a bottle. He had the fastest punches, blocks and kicks of anyone I ever sparred against. The only one I thought ever had a chance of beating his speed was you, Gina, when I watched you in the Olympics.”
“You were there?”
Jim nodded. “I was working a case in Prague, but I made time and bought scalper tickets at ridiculous prices to get in to most of your matches in Antwerp. You were poetry in motion. A credit to your family and one of the most elegant and commanding duelists I’d ever seen. You inspired a lot of kids to take up martial arts. I thought you were a great spokesperson for what was becoming a dying art.”
Gina was touched that he’d come to see her during the most important sporting competition of her life. Since those long ago days she’d fought more desperate battles, of course. The fights in the Olympic ring had been sparring only. Nobody really wanted to kill the other fighter. There were rules and a referee. Since the cataclysm, she’d learned how to really fight. Life or death, no holds barred, no referees and no second chances. She’d become harder. Faster. Tougher.
“I sometimes wish…”
“What?” His gentle tone coaxed her to speak.
“I wish I could go back to those simple days when a fight was for fun, not for survival.”
Jim sighed long and hard, turning back to scan the rails zipping by in front and underneath them.
“We all wish that, Gina. The trick is to not get caught up in dreams of what was. It’s good to remember, but unhealthy to dwell. We have to move forward, not back, not stay in place.”
“So that’s why you agreed to this journey? I was a little surprised you moved so quickly on the information I brought you.”
Jim looked at her, a smile in his eyes. “You’re not the only one who knows a precog. Tory isn’t completely sane with her talk of angels, but she’s been right about too many of her oddball predictions for me to ignore her. She’s been telling me for weeks, in her veiled way, that I was going to take a trip somewhere cold. Canada is north, therefore cold in Tory-speak. I figure this is the trip fate has in mind. It’s a bonus that I get to go with you—a ghost out of my past whom I thought long dead.”
“I’m not a ghost, Jim.” She didn’t like his wistful tone. He made it sound like she was haunting him—in a bad way.
“Yes you are, Gina. You were the girl I could never have. For all of Paolo’s death glares and all the respect I had for your dad and family, I still couldn’t help myself. I watched you when they couldn’t see. Even after I stopped training with your dad, I followed your career. I took time off from a vital national security case to go watch you win Olympic gold. I watched you from afar.” He didn’t seem pleased with the memories. “And now you’re not so far away anymore, and everything’s changed.”
“You don’t have to sound so happy about it,” she muttered. If this was some kind of declaration, he was really screwing it up.
“I’m saying this badly.” He turned in his seat to face her fully. “Gina, I can’t help my nature. I can’t help the need I feel to watch over you and make certain you’re safe. I know intellectually that you can take care of yourself, but the caveman in me wants to lock you up and make sure nothing ever harms you again.”
Okay, this sounded better. Her temper began to subside as he bared his innermost thoughts.
“When this trip is over, I want you to come live with us in Colorado. Your family is gone, but I’m here and I want to take care of you, Gina. I need to take care of you.”
Well. She didn’t know what to think about that. Did he mean like a sister? Or something more? She couldn’t tell from the earnest look on his face, and he didn’t even try to touch her. Did he want to be her lover or just her friend?
She thought she could handle the former, but being only a friend would drive her batty after the pleasure he’d shown her. She sensed that had been only the tip of the iceberg of what could be between them—if he wanted her. And that was a big if from the way he was looking at her.
He didn’t look like a man declaring undying love. Then again, he didn’t even look like a man who wanted to get into her pants. He sat there looking more like a friend and that depressed the hell out of her.
“We’ll see.”
“Gina…” He almost growled at her, and she knew he didn’t like her answer.
“Look, Jim. You have a duty to your people. I have a duty to mine. The Zxerah are my family now. The Patriarch looks after us. He sen
t me here and after this mission is complete, I have to report back to him. In all likelihood he’s already plotting where to send me next.”
“Is he your lover?”
The accusatory tone surprised her. Maybe he was thinking in more intimate terms after all. He sure sounded jealous, but she wasn’t able to read him that well. Still, she had to laugh at the idea of her and the Patriarch as a couple.
“He’s good looking enough, I suppose, but if you ever meet him, you’ll understand why that idea is ludicrous. The Patriarch is even scarier than my dad was. He’s the best martial artist I’ve ever met, and he’s the nearest thing to a holy man—like those old Tibetan monks, or the Dalai Lama, or something—that you’ll ever meet. He’s a force of nature. And completely out of my league. Besides, he’s Alvian. He has no feelings, though I’ve seen him struggling to understand.”
“You’re close to him,” Jim accused.
“He’s a good friend and an insightful leader. I’d follow him to the ends of the Earth and so would any member of his clan. He inspires that kind of loyalty.”
“Sounds like a cult leader,” Jim scoffed.
“Not on your life,” Gina was quick to defend. “Every member of the Brotherhood is there because they want to be. We chose life with the Zxerah, and there’s definitely no mind control or drugs involved. We don’t have to worship the Alvians or even agree with everything they say. We’re free among them, and they protect us from their fellows.”
“So what’s in it for them? Why did they take you in? They could have just left you to rot or be captured by the goon squads.”
“It’s not the Zxerah way to let other beings suffer.”
“And yet they’re assassins.”
“Some are, yes. And I’ll admit that’s the main value the Council sees in keeping the Brotherhood around. But even when they are sent to kill, they do it swiftly and silently. There is no honor in making a being suffer unnecessarily.”
“Are you an assassin, Gina?”
The look in Jim’s eyes was bleaker than she expected. The thought that he’d believe she could be so cold made her realize he didn’t really know her at all. Not the woman she’d become or the values she still held close to her heart.
“None of the human Zxerah have ever been asked to kill. We won’t do it. For that matter, only a very few of the Brotherhood—those who are already part of the Alvian military machine—have ever been sent on such missions. As a general rule, the Council doesn’t rub out every thorn in their side with a bullet. They have a lot of political muscle they can bring to bear on those who dare oppose them.”
“You stick up for them. Gina, I don’t understand how you can feel safe with them. They’re aliens.”
She had to find a way to make him understand. Too much was riding on gaining his—and eventually all humans’—understanding of Alvians and how they could all live together.
“Soldiers are different from most Alvians, and Zxerah are a cut above that. It has to do with their genetic lines. Soldiers were left with the echoes of aggression that was completely obliterated from the rest of the population. They can almost feel. It makes them question and think more deeply than the worker bees in the city. They want to understand. I think it’s because they’re kept separate from the rest of the population. All that time for introspection and study. Many of the soldiers are well read and highly educated. They’re the thinkers of Alvian society, regardless of what the scientists believe.”
“You know a lot about them.” Jim’s tone was neither accusing nor warm but she figured at least he was listening.
“I’ve been with them a long time. I was the first human to encounter the Patriarch and his men, not long after the Alvians landed. I was the first to be invited to their compound, but certainly not the last. Human martial artists often join the Brotherhood, but no human is turned away from the clan. The clan protects the weak and helpless, the workers and the nurturers, so the Brotherhood can perform its tasks.”
“Who decides what tasks they perform?”
“The Patriarch.”
“And who pulls his strings?”
Chapter Ten
Gina was uncomfortably aware of what Jim was driving at, but she had to speak the truth.
“The High Council is the only entity aware of the Patriarch’s existence. They give him and his men orders directly.” She saw Jim’s jaw tighten and his gaze harden.
“But—” she added quickly, “—the Patriarch has always been a power unto himself. He plays a deeper game than even the Council realizes. He has his own agenda, and I believe he plays them as much as they try to play him. The time is coming when the Zxerah will come out of hiding. They’ve kept the rumors about the ancient Brotherhood alive in the populace, enlarging their role to mythic proportions among regular Alvians. When the Zxerah show up on Earth after generations of secrecy, the rest of the Alvian population will sit up and take notice.”
Jim was silent a long time, watching the railway ahead. She could almost feel his thoughts flashing through his mind.
“It’s an ingenious idea if this Patriarch of yours is interested in creating a monarchy or a dictatorship. He’ll hold a lot of power if and when he pulls off his coup.”
“It won’t be like that,” Gina said quietly. “If you knew him like I know him, you’d understand. He guides. He protects. He never dictates, and he doesn’t seek power for power’s sake. He knows the Alvian people are driving themselves toward extinction, and he has some comprehension of the horrors his race has visited on humanity. Soldiers feel more than any other Alvian line. He has echoes of emotion—not much—but enough to tell him something’s terribly wrong with the status quo.”
The pod started decelerating, and Gina realized they’d been talking for close to an hour. Wally had told them it would take some time for the pod to come to a complete stop as it slowly lowered toward the rails as the magnetic field became weaker toward the turning point. The first leg of the journey was the shortest according to the maps. Once they got the pod onto the next set of rails, there would be a few hours before they had to stop again.
“I’ll be honest, Gina, I don’t understand how you can be so close with Alvians, no matter what kind they are.”
“We have time.” She watched the rails in front of them, illuminated by an overhead string of bulbs that created a flashing effect as they passed. “I want you to understand them, Jim. I want you to realize why I think they’re vital to our survival as a race—as a joined race.”
“I’ve heard rumors of a human woman who married an Alvian, but I still don’t understand how it’s possible. They said that guy had emotions. I’ve never met an Alvian yet who did.”
“You’re talking about the Chief Engineer and his mate. Funny, I was just talking to someone who knew them both rather well before I came here—a warrior named Grady Prime.” She felt warm thinking of the serious man who’d learned how to cope with new emotions. “He said Davin—that’s their Chief Engineer’s name—had always had emotions. He was what they call a throwback. He was born with emotions and was considered a bad experiment genetically, but he was so talented with their crystals, they let him live, though they would never let him reproduce. Then he found Callie, a human girl. Grady Prime said they were true Resonance Mates, which is something rare and special among Alvians.”
“What’s a Resonance Mate?”
“You probably have realized by now that the Alvians planned the crystal bombardment from space to change the resonance of our planet so they could survive here. They resonate on a higher level than us. We can’t hear it, but their voices, their brains, their bodies, their very cells, operate on slightly different frequencies than we do. That vibration is something they need to survive. They chose our planet because we had a lot of what they call untuned quartz crystal deposits. The bombardment was the fastest, dirtiest way they had to sort of wake up our crystal deposits and get them resonating to their frequency. People like Davin take the raw crystal and tune i
t so it can be used for everything from powering their cities to communicating over long distances. Almost all their technology is based on crystals. That’s why Davin has so much power and was able to defy the Council and take a human mate.”
“I heard they tried to kill him not too long ago.”
“You heard right. Rogue members of the Council activated a Zxerah assassin. They wanted him to take out Davin, but the man they sent had recently retired so he could take part in a genetic study. He was the first to be treated with a gene-altering agent that changed his DNA on a molecular level. He gained emotions. When it came time to pull the trigger, Sinclair Prime—the assassin who’d been sent to kill Davin—couldn’t do it. He missed on purpose and has not been seen since.”
“So that’s what happened.” Jim watched the rails carefully as the pod continued to slow. His thoughts were racing though, if the look on his face was any indication. “We only hear disjointed reports of what goes on with the Alvians. It’s something I’d like to remedy, but we have to be careful to keep a low profile.”
“Good tactic, but if we’re successful, perhaps new avenues of information will be open to you.”
“There is that.” One side of his mouth lifted in a slight grin as he looked over at her. “So tell me more about their experiments with emotion.”
“The man I told you about before¾Grady Prime¾he was part of the next group to be given the treatment. He has feelings, and he was…”
“What?”
“He was different from any other Alvian I’ve ever met. He has feelings, Jim, and he isn’t nearly as cold or indifferent as they always are. He was actually nice.”
“Just nice?”
Was that jealousy in his tone? She couldn’t be sure.
“More than nice, if you want to know the truth. He was warm and gentle and considerate. He had a quick mind and when he touched my hand, he had this look of wonder on his face. He said we—” She broke off as she realized she was saying too much. She still didn’t understand her feelings for Grady and it was hopeless anyway, given her mission, but he held a place in her heart, nonetheless.