He nodded.
“Well, they are kind of freaky to look at.” He paused. “I mean, to my eyes at least. Come to think of it I bet you think the same of humans.”
“Not all,” she said. “But some.”
He resisted the urge to ask if she found him freaky. He was pretty sure she already did, at least before Mitsugawa’s nanomeds healed his scars, and didn’t need to hear it.
“VoQuana are supposed to be telepathic,” she continued. “What do the Abyssians say about that?”
Daedalus had opportunity to study the phenomena in detail after his creation. In fact, he was created because of it, Prospero said.
“Is that a confirmation?” she asked.
“I think so,” Nero said.
“They are.” Athame appeared in the cockpit doorway behind them. She climbed up onto its lip and crouched down. “Daedalus confirmed their abilities to read and interpret the electromagnetic energy given off by neural systems. Dissections and vivisections discovered parts of their brains specializing in reading and transmitting electromagnetic energies that can harmonize with the brain waves of other organisms.”
“I’m sorry, did you say dissections and vivisections?” He shuddered.
“Daedalus required knowledge of their inner workings,” she responded.
“By committing war crimes.” He scowled. He shouldn’t have been surprised, considering, but it bothered him.
“We needed to win,” she stated.
Sorina leaned to the side, cocking her head so that she could see Athame. “They can read our thoughts?”
“Yours, yes, without this.” She tossed a ring about twenty centimeters across down to Sorina. She caught it in one hand and it hung loose around her fingers. “It has a thermo-electric generator built into its fibers. Your body heat will power it.”
“What is it?” She found the clasp on one side and twisted it open into a short length of what looked like a thick, black cable.
“It generates a field that interferes with VoQuana’s telepathic senses. It is effective against them as well as certain mind-reading cybernetic devices that operate on similar principles. You may think of it as a kind of jamming device,” Athame said.
Sorina nodded and put the cord around her neck. The moment she twisted it closed it cinched itself around her throat like a choker. She gasped but relaxed when it was apparent the thing was designed to avoid actually doing what the style of jewelry was named after.
“It will be active as soon as your body heat warms it up,” Athame said.
“I take it we don’t need those,” Nero said.
“I am a machine, and you have been designed with the express purpose of preventing outside influence,” she answered.
He frowned, remembering his encounter with the VoQuana Maskhim at the embassy. “One attacked me once and managed to mess with my senses somehow.”
“But you were still functional?”
He nodded.
“Certain VoQuana have specialized training and abilities honed past the norm for their species. They can penetrate your defenses and those of the device with concentration, but your minds will be concealed to the passive senses most VoQuana have.”
“So it’s not perfect, huh? That’s the best Daedalus could do?”
“Yes,” Athame responded.
“It is better than nothing.” Sorina didn’t sound happy.
“I have been collating the data from the station,” Athame said, switching topics. “I have concluded that none of the stations in orbit, nor Login, are actually in touch with Daedalus other than to deceive him with uneventful reports. If it were otherwise, we would be sitting in a cell awaiting the nearest annihilator to arrive and take us to Deep Hydra. Somehow the perpetrator or perpetrators responsible for compromising Login have managed to deceive Daedalus into thinking this system is still under his control.”
“How do you figure that?” Nero asked.
“If Daedalus loses control of a VoQuana system, the protocol is to send a ship to annihilate it. This planet is still intact, therefore, Daedalus assumes the Zov quarantine is still operating within acceptable parameters,” she answered. “We are on approach to a world whose quarantine has been breached.”
He scowled, the image of Taiumikai in his mind. He had no doubt who was responsible for this. “I see.”
“So we are dealing with persons unknown who are capable of deceiving Daedalus?” Sorina asked.
“I have calculated that the most likely culprit or culprits, as we stated before, are CELs or a group with a CEL member familiar with Daedalus’ systems,” she responded.
“Great.” He looked ahead through the windows. They were descending, headed for a platform beside a large, rectangular building made of cream-pink ceramic alloy. Beyond it fields of green crops stretched out towards gray mountains on the horizon. That caught his attention. Most farming in the Confederation was confined to agricultural colonies or large production space-stations. To see fields by a major city was a shock.
It’s not as though they have a choice. They are isolated here after all, Prospero said.
True, he agreed.
“Also,” Athame continued, “be careful who you do things in front of and what you say to any VoQuana. They subconsciously link to each other when in close proximity, and in large populations, such as cities, the entire group is linked into one collective.”
“They have a hive mind?” Sorina asked.
“Something like one, but it is subconscious. Daedalus’ files indicate that most of what one knows is largely ignored by the collective unless it is pertinent to what another is doing or thinking. However, tests revealed that the information is there for recall in the subconscious mind of each member of the collective. Even skills and memories are shared between them. As it applies to us,” she said as the Akanda’s landing gear touched the pad. “Assume that every VoQuana you see knows what you said and did in front of every other VoQuana.”
“What about the Isinari?” Sorina said.
“No such link exists with the Isinari, to our knowledge.”
“That is a comfort.” She shuddered.
“Great, a whole society of tattle-tales and know-it-alls.” Nero frowned. Through the window he could see someone approaching the pad from the building beside it. “Let’s not lose focus. We’re here to find information about the Katozi Slynn, Captain Faen, and what’s going on with the quarantine, in that order. As far as I’m concerned, if we don’t get to that last thing that’s Daedalus’ problem—”
Except that we are sworn to protect the Confederation against the VoQuana threat, Prospero interjected on their shared link.
“He is correct, unless you care to override that command,” Athame said.
He glanced down at Sorina, seeing a concerned look in her eyes.
“All right, yes, you’re right. I guess we need to investigate this as well, but I want to know where Faen is, don’t forget that.”
“As you will, Nero.” Athame stood up.
“Let’s get moving. I take it because of that collective sub-whatever thing if one VoQuana saw Faen then they all know it? Does that mean we can interrogate anyone and get the info?” He got out of his seat and headed after her down the corridor.
“I do not think you will find a VoQuana willing to talk to us,” she responded.
“What about the Isinari?” Sorina came up behind him. “Do not they hate the VoQuana?”
“The ones here either chose to stay behind when the quarantine went into effect, or are the offspring of those that did. We may find it difficult to locate one who has the information we need and is willing,” Athame answered.
“But the odds are better we will find that among the Isinari than the VoQuana,” Sorina stated.
“True,” she answered.
Nero wondered about that. He could feel his heart beating against his ribs by the time they reached the cargo bay. His eyes fell on the empty storage area where the shell he carried around since Savo
rcha once stood while Prospero dropped the access ramp. First he lost his car, and now his armor was gone too. Considering what he lost on Taiumikai, it was nothing, but he couldn’t help but think this mission’s cost now included an important part of his past as well.
Gray-white light spilled up the ramp as it touched the landing pad. He started down ahead of the others but stopped when he saw the individual waiting on the tarmac. The silver-ringed eyes of Praetor Login stared back at him.
“What the hell?”
“I thought you might need a guide,” Login responded.
“Normal Abyssians are all iterations of a type,” Athame said. “This is an iteration of Praetor Login, like the one we met on the station above.”
“One Praetor per system, but many bodies,” Sorina said.
“Precisely,” Athame responded. “Only one Praetor is needed.”
“Well, that’s creepy,” Nero said.
The copy of Praetor Login held up his hand and spoke before he got a response to his comment. “Praetor Athame, Praetor Graves, Agent Khepria, welcome to Zov.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ikuzlu City, Kosfanter
Diplomatic District
41:2:30-41:2:31 (J2400:3157-3158)
“I can tell you want to talk about it,” Giselle said once they were alone in the lift car. They were on their way down to the sub-level that would allow the horizontal transfer to tower one.
“I have nothing to talk to you about unless it’s related to the mission.”
“Sure you do. You’ve been simmering about it since it happened.” Giselle hooked her diamond-blond locks behind her ears.
Cygni frowned and looked the woman in the eye. “You mean how you shoved me into a limousine with an Orgnan and Baroness Cronus?”
“I told you before, I only told her about you so I could get you out of that CSA interrogation cell. I don’t really expect a thank you at this point, but you could at least try to see that I was helping you.”
“By threatening me with enslavement?”
“They won’t do that.”
“Yes, they will. I exposed the cartel on Minlea IV. I got several of them sent to prison colonies. The Khargs don’t forget something like that.” She glared.
“Do you think they’ve been that pissed at you?” Giselle snorted. “If they were, they’d have grabbed you off the street by now. You’re a media personality, you can’t hide from them.”
Cygni shook, old fears rising up to chill her skin. “Not in the capital, they can’t. They’d never get me off-planet.”
Giselle laughed.
“This isn’t funny.”
“I’m sorry, Cygni, but the Khargs are more powerful than you realize. How do you think the phytrophor gets into Ikuzlu? Or that cube of kalkoa you have on you?”
Her hand strayed to her jacket pocket. “How—?”
“Do I know? That’s not the point. The point is that the Khargs have an interstellar smuggling operation. They can get anything anywhere. Anything or anyone, got it? They just haven’t wanted to go through the trouble of snatching you. They get caught and sent to prison all the time, and besides, the ones you got arrested weren’t big fish.”
“How do you know that?” She took a step back from the woman.
The car swayed as it slowed and shifted to lateral movement.
“I know it because my employer knows it,” Giselle responded. “She tells me a lot, actually.”
“What are you to each other?”
“Old friends, believe it or not.”
“What?” She was shocked. “Baroness Sophiathena Cronus is corporate nobility. How the hell does she know someone like you?”
Giselle cocked a smile. “We met at Venus University.”
She looked the woman up and down. “Only heirs go there.”
“Heirs and a handful of Confederate citizens chosen for scholarships. It looks nice in the media when the school does that. I won one of those spots in high-school. I fought hard for it, and like everything else in life, I expected VU to be difficult. It was, in a way, but the strangest thing happened my second year. Heiress Sophiathena Cronus, one of the most elite of her class, deigned to talk to me.” Giselle backed up until her shoulders were touching the wall.
“And she just talked to you out of the blue?”
“No, not exactly.” She folded her fingers together over her waist. “It’s more like she took note of me after seeing what I could do.”
“What you could do?” Cygni frowned.
“I have a few hidden talents, and she recognized them. To be honest—” Giselle paused as the lift shifted back to vertical movement and accelerated upward. “—Sophi’s the whole reason why I was able to get involved in the career I have. She paid for a lot of my upgrades, and introduced me to important people. You could say there were a lot more options with her backing me.”
“I bet.” Some things, like Giselle’s attitude, made more sense now. She had to wonder if she got it from living in the barons’ world or if it was there to begin with.
“So that’s the story. Now it’s your turn.”
“My turn?”
“To tell me something,” Giselle said.
The lift slowed to a stop. Cygni glanced over at its holographic display. They weren’t at the top of the tower yet. The doors slid open and a man in a business suit moved to get in with them.
“Take the next one,” Giselle said in a firm voice.
He stopped mid-stride and looked up into her eyes for a moment before backing away. The doors slid shut.
“Shit,” Cygni said. “He saw us.”
“He saw me and a technician he doesn’t know. For that matter, he doesn’t know who I am either.”
“But—”
“But nothing, he won’t remember us.”
“And what if Revenant discovers what happened and starts looking for who did it? You don’t think that guy will remember our faces and—”
“No, I don’t. What’s wrong with you, Cygni? You’re the best investigator I know but you’re acting like a nervous child right now. What’s gotten into you?”
“I—” she stopped, realizing Giselle was right. She was behaving like an amateur. “Shit.”
“So, tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“Tell me what’s got you so wound up? Is it that dreamy dirt-ball?” She cocked a blond eyebrow upward.
“What?” It took her a moment to realize what she was talking about. “You mean Biren? He’s not a dirt-ball. That’s pretty offensive.”
“You’re Miss Sensitivity now? You?” She chuckled. “Something’s got you half-ruined, I can see it in your eyes.”
“Fuck off.”
“I’m not the enemy, Cygni. I’m one of the best friends you have. I know you’re bent about what happened in the limo, but we need to move past that, right? You don’t have to forgive me, but it hurts me that you won’t—”
“Bullshit.” She glared.
“Okay, I’m going to disregard your lack of respect for my feelings and say this: Forgive me or not, we’re in this together. We’re taking on one of the most powerful men to ever live, and unless we have our shit together, he’s going to kill us all. Does that register?”
She shrank further away from the woman. She didn’t want to work with her, and she didn’t want to forgive her after what happened, but she was right. “Yes.”
“Good. Working together is going to be a lot easier if you forgive me, but if not, you at least have to move past what you think was my betrayal. Okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded, taking deep breaths.
“Now, what’s bothering you?” Giselle asked in a gentle tone.
“I don’t think it would be appropriate to say.” She frowned. Giselle looked so earnest, so caring all of a sudden, that she felt compelled to share.
“It’s all right. Remember, my loop-jammer is still operating. No one will hear you but me.”
“Shkur left me. He came in and tho
ught I was kissing Sanul after I got home. Now he’s gone.” She took a deep breath. It felt strangely good to say it, to share it, though she wasn’t sure the present company was the one she wanted to share this with. “I don’t know what to do, and things are coming apart. I don’t want to work for the baroness, or Thuban, or anyone. This was supposed to be my big story, the thing that made me the superstar I’ve always wanted to be. It was going to put me in the middle of it all, and now, thanks to your friend, it’s all gone. My job at the ‘Herald will be gone too once Ax’Xoa finds out what’s happened with the baroness. If I have nothing to stream I’ve got nothing. Do you get it?”
Giselle locked eyes with her and pushed away from the wall. A moment later she found herself wrapped in the other woman’s arms with the smell of her flowery perfume up her nostrils. She didn’t want it to, but it felt good. After a moment she returned the hug.
“There, that’s better.” Giselle released her. “Sometime later you’re going to have to tell me what you meant by working for Thuban Vargas, okay?”
“Okay,” she nodded as the lift car came to rest.
“Later,” Giselle said again.
The smell of old wood and potpourri hit her when the lift doors opened. It was almost overpowering, like someone was trying to cover up something rotten. She didn’t want to step out into the modest reception room, but Giselle touched the center of her back, and she found herself moving out onto the black marble floor. A stone facade with deep grooves covered three of the four walls. The fourth was a floor-to-ceiling window with a breathtaking view of the city. She thought she was on top of the planet in the water-room when Revenant first called her upstairs, but it was evident that this was much further up. She felt like she was walking among the clouds just looking outside.
A lithe, naked android with black marbled skin stood between them and a gray door with its palms touching the slight curve of its hips. It was beautiful, Cygni mused. The white and gray lines in the marble blended into the definition of each muscle group to create a feast for her eyes that she couldn’t help but take the time to consume. She was almost convinced that the thing before her was a statue when its eyelids snapped open.
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