Mind Sync

by Kirsten Harrell

  Max didn’t say anything, but his chin dipped and his eyes lit up, clearly impressed. After a few moments, a door-sized part of the wall vanished allowing the group to enter the holding units.

  “What the fuck kind of prison is this? You guys seriously should have called me before you built this nonsense.” Bree’s eyes widened at the sight of the cells. ‘Cell’ being a gross understatement. Each unit looked more like a luxury apartment or a five-star hotel suite. No walls separated the units from the hallway. “What the fuck keeps them inside their cells?”

  “This isn’t a prison, Bree. It’s our Restoration Center. We no longer use isolation cells or punishment the way humans do. Individuals stay here while they participate in a program to restore their Spirit and commitment to our Primary Protocol. We believe -” Iziqa stopped mid-step in front the second unit on the right. She blurted a stream of Kusharian words.

  “No, he is not deceased,” Ipeshe answered.

  “What? What the hell are you talking about?” Bree demanded, moving toward the opening.

  “Be still.” Iziqa shot an arm out to stop her. “Let me access the cell.”

  A shimmery wave rolled from the ceiling to the floor, then Iziqa and Ipeshe rushed into the unit.

  Bree met Max’s wary gaze and without a word, they each slid a toe into the room to test the force field. When neither one of them felt anything, they nodded and moved in.

  “What the hell happened here?” Bree blurted when she found Kozeb on the floor behind a table. She and Max drew their weapons then checked the rooms in Kozeb’s unit for intruders. “Clear!” Bree yelled as she emerged from the bedroom.

  “Clear,” Max called out, making his way around the kitchen and back to the living area.

  “Kozeb is alive.” Ipeshe looked up at Iziqa. “However, his brain comp is blown and he is in extreme danger.”

  “Who the hell did this?” Max demanded.

  “I do not know.” Iziqa paused. She looked off and to the right, probably getting information through a mind sync with someone. “No one has entered his unit.”

  “Okay. You need to tell us what the hell is going on. All of it. Now!” Bree holstered her weapon and shot a wicked glare at Iziqa. Her anger pushed toward rage.

  The Commander glared back. Their eyes remained locked for a few heated moments. Iziqa then let out a big breath and dipped her head. “Someone tried to access this unit remotely while we were upstairs. Our system detected the attempted breach and signaled security. No one gained entry. Our system is secure, as I assured you.”

  Bree shook her head and gestured toward Kozeb. “Yeah, right. If no one entered, what the hell happened to him?”

  “I assure you no one entered this unit.” Iziqa measured her words, her tone steady. “Our system would’ve registered an intruder. I have no idea what happened to him.”

  “I don’t think he’s just napping, so someone got to him,” Bree snapped.

  “What about the Karma Guards?” Max asked. “Could they have popped in and knocked him out and fried his brain?”

  “No. These units are not accessible via transportation,” Iziqa answered. “The only access is through the secure doors we just came through.”

  “We can discuss all of this later.” Ipeshe interrupted. “I need to get him to the medical unit right now or we will lose him.”

  Iziqa nodded, then a Karma Guard appeared beside Ipeshe. He put his big hands on Ipeshe and Kozeb and the three of them disappeared.

  “What the fuck? You just said that the KGs couldn’t transport in.” Bree clenched her fists, struggling to keep herself in check, her distrust of the Commander reignited.

  “I disarmed the security for this unit to allow faster access.” Iziqa turned and headed out of the unit.

  “Fucking shit on toast. This just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?” Bree looked at her uncle.

  Max shrugged and followed Iziqa.

  “Motherdick, this day sucks!” Bree jogged to catch up with Max.

  Back in the conference room, Max updated Nina and Jason about finding Kozeb passed out cold.

  Nina looked at Iziqa. “What have you heard from Ipeshe? Is Kozeb going to make it?”

  “He remains unconscious and is currently in one of our healing chambers.” Iziqa didn’t look up as she spoke. “He’ll likely need a new brain comp. Ipeshe has never seen this type of damage before.”

  “That’s just fucking great! Did you ever plan on letting us interrogate him? First you let him escape. And now, what… you make up this shit to keep us from him?” Bree stood up, headed toward the door. “Enough of this bullshit. Take me to him, now!” She tried to open the door with her mind, but it wouldn’t respond.

  “Sit down!” Iziqa roared.

  Bree spun around and narrowed her eyes on the Commander. Her whole body tensed. Her fists clenched and released.

  “I’ve had enough of your attitude and your accusations. I’ve done nothing to help Kozeb. I want answers as much as you do.” Though Iziqa was still clearly angry, she lowered her voice. “If you won’t release your prejudice against my people, will you at least trust Ipeshe and me? We’ve done nothing to deserve your anger and suspicion.”

  The room thick with tension, Jason and Nina sat frozen, gaping at Bree.

  Max stood up and positioned himself between Bree and Iziqa. A total dick move.

  Breathing loudly through clenched teeth, Bree attempted to contain her rage. Where did this bitch get off calling her prejudiced? “I’m not racist. Or a xenophobe. I don’t hate your people because you’re from another planet. I hate the Kusharians and KGs because you descended on our planet and took control of everything and ruined millions of lives, including my own.” A tingling in her brain distracted Bree from her tirade.

  “Ipeshe is trying to sync with you,” Iziqa said, her tone still sharp.

  Maybe Iziqa had a point. Maybe she could trust these two Kusharians. But, fuck the EUC and the IKS and the rest of the Kusharians. For now, she’d hear what the healer had to say. The tingling increased.

  Ipeshe’s message flooded her mind. This is not our fault. Kozeb was attacked. I will do everything that I can to save him so that you… WE can question him. Iziqa and I honor you with the truth. By the name of my mother and on her honor, I am telling you all that I know. Please, stay there and work with Iziqa to figure out how someone was able to get to Kozeb, and I will do what I can here.

  Bree sensed Ipeshe’s honesty. She rubbed her head trying to ease the pain and took in a deep breath. Fine. I’ll stay. For now. She’d kept her return mind sync message brief. Partly due to the pain, and partly because she hated admitting that maybe, just maybe, she’d been wrong. Bree hated to be wrong about anything. Ever. She glared at Iziqa, but took her seat at the table again.

  Max sat back down as well. “Ok. Good. Now, let’s figure out what the hell happened down there.”

  Jason and Nina both relaxed.

  “What do you know about the attempt to access Kozeb’s cell?” Max asked.

  “Security tracked the point of attempted access to a terminal in this building. Someone attempted to unlock the security doors. It wasn’t a sophisticated attempt and, therefore, was detected and immediately thwarted.”

  “Hmmm… maybe a distraction,” Max suggested.

  Anger, still too close to the surface, threatening to boil over, made it difficult for Bree to concentrate. She either needed to pound the shit out of something or let it go. Bree shifted in her chair and despite a burning desire for the former, she chose the latter option.

  Bree gave a small nod in Max’s direction. “Keeping security occupied with the failed breach, while someone else made their way into the cell and took Kozeb out.”

  “Why would they want to take him out?” Nina asked.

  “Most likely to keep us from finding out who Kozeb was working for.” Iziqa tapped on the table top. “Here is the image stream from his restoration unit.”

  A holographic imag
e filled the conference room. Fascination filled the eyes of Bree and her companions; they now appeared to be sitting in the middle of Kozeb’s holding unit. Kozeb sat in one of the floating chairs, his eyes focused on a paper-thin reading device. Then suddenly he looked around the room and spoke out loud. “Who’s here? Where are you?”

  “What is he talking about? Does anyone see anything?” Jason spun around, trying to find what Kozeb saw or heard.

  Nina answered first. “Uh, no. I don’t see anything.”

  The rest shook their heads, still watching Kozeb.

  “I have not and will not give them the answers they seek. I’m honor bound to remain silent.” Virtual Kozeb shrank into his chair.

  “Who the hell is this assclown talking to?” Bree snapped.

  “Wait. Did anyone else see that? There’s a distortion.” Nina pointed to an area in front of Kozeb. “Right there.”

  Jason shifted forward. “Oh, I see it too.”

  The scene reversed, and then stopped right after Kozeb asked if someone was there with him.

  “Yes. There is an anomaly in the energy in front of Kozeb.” Ipeshe, who’d transported in via a KG, moved to the area where they’d seen the shimmering - similar to the haze above the highway on hot days. She walked around the anomaly, looking puzzled.

  “There’s no way for anyone to access his unit,” Iziqa stated.

  Max’s upper lip twitched. “Well, it looks like someone found a way past your security system.”

  “We’ll address that; however, first we need to watch the rest of this image feed. We need to find out what happened to Kozeb.” Iziqa’s eye swirls slowed, revealing her stress.

  The scene played again. Kozeb appeared to be talking directly to the shimmer in front of him. “I did everything that was asked of me.” Kozeb stood up. “When will I get my reward?” His emerald eye swirls stuttered and nearly froze. “Who… what are you? What’re you doing?”

  Bree and Max exchanged a glance.

  “She promised. Why are you doing this? Stop it! I’ll remain quiet. You have my honor.” Kozeb fell to his knees and grabbed his head. “Please.” Still holding his head and crying out in pain, he toppled to the floor, mumbling in Kusharian.

  Fear emanated from Nina and Jason when Kozeb fell silent and his body went limp.

  The shimmer disappeared.

  “Well holy mother of fuck! What just happened?” Bree drilled Ipeshe and Iziqa with her eyes.

  “Someone was clearly trying to clean house and shut this guy up,” Max said.

  “Yeah, but who? Or what?” Jase asked. “How do we find out who was in there with him?”

  Bree gave him a small nod.

  “Our security team is analyzing this now,” Iziqa said. “They’re currently at an impasse. They’ve ruled out Kusharian and Karma Guard energy signatures.”

  “What’re you saying? You think a human did this shit? No way.” Bree’s chair shot up. She glared down at Iziqa. “What’d you do that for?”

  “I did nothing,” Iziqa answered. “You might try releasing some of that hostility and maybe your chair will come back down.”

  “Screw you.” A surge of anger flooded Bree. Her chair floated up another foot or so. While it had a certain appeal, towering over everyone was a bit awkward. Bree rolled her neck back and forth, relieved when a few vertebrae popped. Her chair jolted down a bit. A few calming breaths and her chair drifted slowly back down to rest at the same height as the others. She kept her head down to hide her embarrassment over the very visual display of her emotions.

  “How do you know it wasn’t a Kusharian or a KG?” Max asked.

  “Our system tracks energy signatures as well as DNA. Whoever was in there with Kozeb did not match anything in our database. The technicians say they have not seen readings like this before.” Iziqa turned her focus on Bree. “Obviously, we know it wasn’t a human. The information is being reviewed by General Shiruvu as we speak. Hopefully we’ll have more information soon.”

  “Well, fuckety fuck,” Bree mumbled. “This pissy day just keeps getting pissier.”

  Nina chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone cuss as much as you.”

  “It’s a fucking gift.” Bree winked at Nina and grinned.

  The group laughed, dissipating some of the tension in the room.

  30

  “While we wait for your people to get back to you, let’s review what we know.” Bree looked around the room; everyone nodded their approval. “We have two opposing groups. One group - the dumbfucks, Sun and Prema, who worked with Vashaz to build the Monk Brain Generators. They swear their intentions were to help the advancement of humans and avoid an invasion by the T’Lalz bastards.” Bree took a sip of the Lhox that Ipeshe had put in front of her and nearly moaned with pleasure.

  Okay, Bree… focus, focus.

  “As for the other side. We know that the son-of-a-dick Nick was hired by Kozeb to sabotage the MBGs. Kozeb was hired by a female who promised him wealth and escape to some faraway planet. We have no clue who that female is. Then to top it all off, some unknown, invisible, brain-scrambling fucker took out Kozeb to keep him from talking. That sound about right?”

  Max nodded. “Yeah, that sums it up.”

  “And you’re a superhuman badass,” Jase added, beaming at Bree.

  “Right, thanks for reminding me.” Bree’s nostrils flared. She clenched her teeth to keep from yelling at her baby brother. A big gulp of Lhox helped dislodge the lump in her throat. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to push the quagmire of emotions back down. She’d deal with her feelings later… or preferably never. “As for the players in this fucked up drama, did I leave anyone out?”

  “I believe you included everyone we currently know about. We shut down the MBG experiments and you destroyed Kozeb’s laboratory. We have all the known participants in custody or accounted for.” Ipeshe did that head bobble thing. “Now we await the information about the entity who injured Kozeb and the one who tampered with the security system that likely served as a distraction from the intrusion into Kozeb’s holding unit.”

  And don’t forget that you and I need to talk about Phase-fucking-Two of IK. Bree shoved this thought at Iziqa through the mind sync.

  We must focus our attention elsewhere at this time, Iziqa sent back.

  Fine, but I will get the information from you. At some point. We can do it the easy way or the hard way. Bree gave a quick and sharp glance in Iziqa’s direction to punctuate her point.

  “Where do we go from here? Is there anything I can do?” Nina asked.

  Bree looked at Ipeshe. “Unless Ipeshe needs you for something, I don’t think there’s anything for you to do right now.”

  Ipeshe smiled at Nina. “We can continue to monitor Bree’s progress together, but there is nothing you need to do at this time.”

  “In that case, I do need to get back to Sedona,” Nina said, “so I can get some sleep before my next shift.”

  “It would be wise for all of you to return to Sedona,” Iziqa stated. “It’s late and it’s been an exhausting day. Bree, your brain needs rest in order to heal and integrate with the brain comp. I’ll do some investigating and then come to you tomorrow as soon as I know something.”

  Before Bree could even begin to shoot that plan down, Iziqa continued, “you cannot come with me to talk to the General. She can’t yet know that we’re working together. You need to trust me to do this. Our healing staff will keep me informed about Kozeb’s status. And, if he regains consciousness, we can arrange to speak to him together.”

  “You can shove that plan right up your ass.” Bree folded her arms across her chest. “Oops, did I say that out loud?” She feigned surprise with a hand in front of her mouth.

  “Yes. Indeed you did.”

  Jase smiled at his sister. “Maybe we should just all go home and get some rest. It’s been a really long ass day.”

  Bree dipped her head in acknowledgment, grateful that her brother h
ad said it and she didn’t have to. She didn’t want to admit how much she wanted to get home. Food sounded good - human food. Human drinks. And a shower. Yes, a long hot shower would be awesome.

  “Are there any restrictions or directions we should know about for Bree’s recovery?” Max asked, standing up.

  “It is best for her to rest. The fact that she is doing this well so soon is a very good indication that her brain is accepting the brain comp. I will do an assessment in the morning to gauge her healing progress.” Ipeshe turned to Bree and said, “please, listen to your body and rest. I will give you a supply of Lhox to take with you.”

  “Fine, but I’ve got some other food and drink in mind. Human things.”

  Ipeshe laughed. “The Lhox is only to supplement your regular diet. Your body will still want and need the regular nutrients. However, your brain needs extra nutrients and the Lhox will supply that.” Ipeshe cocked her head to the side in the bird-like way of the Kusharians. “And, yes, you can still consume alcohol. However, I do recommend moderation.”

  Bree laughed and stood up. “No problem.” Moderation is a very subjective term.

  Three Karma Guards appeared in the room. One KG took Nina and the other two transported Bree, Max, and Jason back to Max’s place.

  “Holy piss. God damn. Fuckballs.”

  Jason reached toward his sister. “What? Are you okay?”

  “No! I’m fucking NOT okay. I have a damned Kusharian computer chip in my brain. In MY fucking brain. So don’t even try to tell me everything will be okay. Neither of you stinking shitholes had enemy tech planted in your brains. Oh wait, neither of you numbskulls have any grey matter to implant any alien tech into.” Every muscle in Bree’s body tightened with pent up tension. She clenched and released her fists a few times, then started pacing.