"You know her?" I ask him.
"Uh...yeah. Of course, I know her. I work with her," he says. "Roxx, what's going on? You disappeared like two weeks ago."
"Umm, what exactly happened?" asks Astraea.
"You tell me. We were all waiting for you at Monsoon's, but you never showed up," he answers. "Miz said you went back to work to grab something."
"I work here?" she asks.
"What is wrong with you?" he asks. Then he turns to me. "Did you wipe her memory or something, man? Hahaha. Just kidding, friend. Name's Levinson. People call me Lev."
He extends his hand, and I shake it.
"Nice to meet you, Lev," I say. "I'm Nyyx."
"Okay, back up," says Astraea. "So I work here?"
"Well not anymore, man," he says. "Your ass got canned after your third straight no-show."
"So Lev, I'm assuming you know Kyle as well?" I ask him.
"Yeah, of course," he says. "I'm doing night duty until they can find a replacement for him. Roxx and Kyle disappeared on the same night. We all thought you guys did the deed in the barn and then ran away together."
"So you haven't seen him?" I ask.
"Naw, sir," he says. "Not since two weeks ago."
"You got access to the security cameras?" I say.
"Yeah, why?" Lev asks.
"Can we look at them?"
"You a cop?" he asks.
"I’m a concerned friend," I say.
"Please, Lev," Astraea says. "We need your help. We think something really bad happened to him, and we have to find him."
"What do you mean? How bad?"
"Pretty bad," I say.
"Then go to the cops!"
"They haven't been here?" Astraea asks.
Lev shakes his head. "No one's come looking for him. You guys are the first."
Makes sense. I'm sure Kyle's coworkers, and bosses were concerned for a day or two, but not enough to file a police report. He's a grown man. If he wanted to run away, he could.
"Well I'm not sure the cops can help anyway," I say. "Look, Lev, I know I'm a stranger, but I need to find him. We're the only ones that can help him."
He looks to Astraea, and she nods at him.
"Please," she says.
He makes one more scan of both Astraea and me before saying, "Okay, I guess now I'm kinda curious what happened to him too."
"You mean you haven't looked?" I ask.
"Privacy, man," he says. "But you guys are making it sound like this is a life and death thing right now."
"It could be," I say. "But the sooner we find him, the better."
"Okay. Then follow me."
Lev slides one of the barn doors aside to let us in. Six machines are waiting to be serviced. Three harvester combines, one baler, and two tractor plows are lined up in two rows of three machines with a central walkway between the two rows. The inside of the rectangular structure is fifty feet wide, and a hundred feet long. There are work tables, littered with various tools and spare parts, arranged along the walls. Near the back, at the eighty foot mark, fifteen feet up from the ground floor, is a loft. Stairs leading up to it are along the side walls. Beneath the loft is a smattering of different parts — a storage space for mechanical do-dads.
Lev leads us to the stairs, and walks us up to the barn's second-floor loft. The loft runs the length of the barn from the eighty foot mark to the hundredth, and is fifty feet wide like the rest of the barn. Like the first floor, work tables and benches, with several computers and holographic display cameras, are arranged along the walls. A mess of comfortable couches and a coffee table with a television projector occupies the center space.
Lev takes us to a desk and boots up the computer. A holographic screen and keyboard appears right in front of him on his desk.
"Okay. Let's see what we got."
Lev types in his password first, then once he gets access to the system, he opens the appropriate windows to get to the security cameras. He types '06-06-2502' into the search field. June sixth; the night Kyle and 'Roxx' disappeared.
"Okay, so what time should I cue the video to?" Lev asks.
"Start at 8 pm," I say
Lev pops up the video, and fast-forwards it to the appropriate time signature. The three-dimensional video is crystal clear. We can even zoom in and look at what someone wrote down on their desk. We can also balloon the video up, so it takes up the entire barn, and we'd have an augmented reality overlay on the actual barn itself. It would look as if Kyle is here doing whatever he was doing the night in question, and we could walk in step with him as we watch.
In the video, Kyle is at a worktable on the first floor tinkering with a gizmo in his hand. Then a holographic desktop monitor pops up on the desk accompanied by the sounds of a trilling electronic phone. The words on the monitor read, "Incoming call: Nyyx Mara."
Kyle presses a button on his earbud applicator, and I appear on his desktop screen with a holographic visor over my eyes.
"Ah," Kyle says. "Well if it isn't the Bearer."
Lev turns around, recognizing me from the video. "Hey, that's you."
"That's right."
"What's a Bearer?" he asks.
"He's a Bearer," Astraea answers. "Well, at least he used to be. Now he's a sidekick."
Lev shrugs his rounded shoulders. "Whatever you say, man," he says. Then he turns back to the monitor.
"So, no one else has seen this?" I ask Lev.
"Nope,” Lev says. “Nothing was missing or anything. They only look at this stuff if there's been an accident, near miss, or if there's a theft or any other kind of criminal investigation. Nobody's come looking for either Kyle or Roxx, so this is pretty much the first time anyone's accessed it."
"Are you sure?"
"Let me double check," he says.
Lev pauses the video we're watching right at the point where Kyle is about to terminate his call with me. Then Lev does some opening and clicking of files. He brings up a small window. There are two entries. One is ours.
"Hmm..." he says. "It looks like someone watched this video the following night, on June 7."
"Can you tell who?" I ask him.
"Way ahead of ya."
Lev starts typing, pointing, and clicking. Once he finds what he's looking for, he sucks in a breath.
"Oooh," he says.
"What? Who was it?"
"Well I don't know who did it, but I was able to trace it back to the computer they used to view it."
"Okay, and where was the computer?" I ask.
Lev grimaces, knowing I won't like the answer. "The Halcyon Compound," he says.
Son of a bitch. Well, that's going to be hell. With all the cops rummaging around in there, fine chance Astraea and I have of also sneaking a peek.
"Ah, crap," I say. "So there's no possible way you could figure out who the person was who watched the video at Halcyon, huh?"
"Well, I don’t want to say it’s impossible,” he says, “but it’s pretty damned close. They got feds going through those databases right now, so if I start looking around in there..."
"You risk getting caught, gotcha."
I think on it for a moment, and carefully frame my next question in my head.
"So how many credits would it take for you to take that risk?"
He spins around in his chair and smiles.
"Now we can talk," he says.
"How much?"
He exhales through pursed lips. "For something like this, I can't go below thirty thousand," he says.
"Done." I reach over and shake his hand.
"Shit, I shoulda asked for more."
"Shoulda,” I say. “Play the video."
Lev un-pauses the video. Kyle hangs up on our call and goes back to doing some work. Three minutes later, Astraea points to the screen.
"Hey! That's me!” she says. “There I am!"
Sure enough, Roxx is sliding the barn doors open to peek her head in. The shoulder-length left side of her raven black hair is brushed stra
ight and curls up at the ends. The bobbed, right side of her hair does the same.
"Hey handsome," she says to Kyle, twisting her mouth in an alluring half smile.
Kyle beams at the sight of Roxx, places the thing he's working on down on his desk, and stands up from his work station.
"Oh, you're back. This is quite the surprise, my love," he says.
In the video, Kyle and Roxx walk to each other and unite in a single soft embrace. His green eyes engage with her luminous blue ones. Their noses dance around each other in small orbits, their lips edging closer together. Then they share a kiss. Soft at first, but increasing in intensity. Roxx pulls away first before their passions overtake them.
Lev is glued to the screen. I am hunched over him, watching with equal fascination.
I gotta say, way to go Kyle. In all these years, I've never known him to be with a woman. It wasn't one of those things we ever discussed as friends. Matters of the heart weren't what we based our friendship on. Probably 'cause I haven't been with a woman in over a century. God that's so sad to admit, but it comes with the territory of a long life. It's never been one of those things I needed to get done before I got old. I wasn't racing against a human biological clock.
And yeah, it sounds like I'm trying to rationalize my crappy sex life so that I sleep better at night, but I am not. Elves are the same way. They live for so long that procreation and ensuring genes pass on isn't high up on their list of priorities. It's the reason their population is shy of ten million worldwide, while the human population is sixty billion, and rising.
I watch for a few more moments as Kyle and Roxx share pleasantries between kissing each other. Then I hear a faint sob coming from behind me. I turn around, and Astraea has backed away ten feet from Lev and me. She has tears welling up in her eyes. She quickly wipes them away when she realizes I'm looking at her.
"What's going on?" I ask her.
She answers with terse shakes of her head, sobs again, and then covers her mouth. Her breaths are short and labored.
Lev spins around in his chair. "Is she okay, man?" he asks.
Astraea inches away from us, and closer to the arrangement of couches in the middle of the loft.
"Roxx, are you all right?" Lev asks.
"Don’t call me that!" she says.
"What do you mean?" Lev asks.
"I'm not Roxx," Astraea says, the color rising in her face. "I'm not that woman."
"What the — have you gone crazy? Roxxanda Snow. That's your name," Lev says.
“Lev, take it easy. Don’t push her,” I say.
"I am not Roxx," says Astraea.
"Um, I have no idea what this guy has been giving you, but you're Roxx,” Lev says. “We've like hung out a bunch. I mean not as much as you and Kyle, obviously, but enough for me to know that you are Roxx. Roxxanda Snow. That's who you—"
"I told you to stop!"
Astraea lunges at Lev with arms reaching out, and her fingers curled into claws. Her facial features squeeze into that of a snarling beast. I manage to get myself in between them, holding Astraea back. Lev falls backwards in his chair.
Lev rebounds up."You've gone crazy, man! If you ever touch me, I swear to all that is holy; I'll have your ass thrown in jail! Do you hear me? ROXX!"
Astraea growls and pushes herself off of me. Then she unsheathes The Destroying Angel accompanied by the sweet ring of sharp steel scraping tough leather. Lev's expression changes from bravado to fear as Astraea lunges forward, sword in hand. I manage to stop Astraea again, taking her back, and holding her tight around her waist.
"Astraea, please calm down," I say to her ear.
Her lips retreat, flashing straight white teeth. I've been there before. I’ve been out of control. It doesn't take much to set her off in her state.
I let go of her waist, and spin myself in front of her, my hands pressed against her shoulders, squeezing them together.
"Astraea, look at me."
She grunts then looks into my eyes.
"That's it," I say, as if I'm calming a skittish horse.
"Astraea?" asks Lev. "Who the hell is Astraea?"
Astraea snaps her eyes back to Lev and growls.
"Shut up, Lev!" I say. Then I turn my attention back to Astraea. "Okay, listen to me; focus. Focus on my voice. Be calm; breathe. That’s it."
She slows and deepens her breath. She closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, her eyes flutter, and her knees buckle. I catch her to keep her from dropping. It is as if she is waking up from a sleepwalking trance. She looks at me with a sad recognition and drops her sword to the ground with staccato clangs. Then she buries her face in her hands and falls to her knees sobbing.
"You're both mental," Lev says.
"Lev, one more word, and I swear I'm going to let her kill you."
I look back at the holographic monitor on the desk. The three-dimensional video is still playing. It shows Kyle and me watching the video of me fighting the three not-ogres in the back of a delivery truck.
"Pause that," I say to Lev.
Lev pauses the video. Then I kneel and put my arm around Astraea.
"There, there," I say. "Are you okay?"
She nods in assent but is sniffing all the while.
"What have I done?" she asks. Her voice cracks. "That girl whose body I took. She's got a life. She's got...I took it from her. Now I'm stuck in here, and I feel so—"
She's sobs again.
"I know," I say. "It's okay. A lot is going on with you right now, and you haven't had time to adjust. We're going to take it easy, and I'm going to guide you through it, okay? It'll get better. I promise."
I tighten my embrace. That's when the lights go out. I guess it's not going to get better any time soon.
Thirteen
The barn goes dark. Astraea is in front of me. My hands remain on her shoulders as her breathing evens out. Lev scurries around behind us, clicking, rummaging, and pressing everything around him in the dark.
"Lev, what's going on, buddy?"
"Hey, don't look at me, man," he says. "You and whoever that lady is or isn't are the anomalies. I'm the only one that's supposed to be here, so if there's any weird shit happening it's on both y'all."
Fair point. Lev is moving around going from desk to desk, knowing where everything is. How is he doing that? I can't see anything.
"Hey Lev, you got the Daylight app?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I downloaded it as soon as I got moved to overnights."
Makes sense. Smart guy. I press a button on my earbud to activate my visor. I download the Daylight app for myself, and as soon as I activate it, the entire barn looks as if it's bathed in candlelight. Lev is moving around nervously, sweating and busily clicking things off and on. He moves to the back of the loft where there is a mechanism about three feet tall, and a foot wide. It's a black box with rounded edges. He lifts it in the air and shakes the crap out of it in frustration.
"No luck?" I ask.
"No," he says. "Whatever the problem is, it's with the main power supply."
"Does this place have backup generators?"
"Yeah," he says. "They're supposed to kick in twenty seconds after the main power goes out. Something is wrong."
"Hmm, twenty seconds. That's impressive,” I say.
"It'd be more impressive if they worked," Lev says.
The air pressure changes in the barn. There's a weird energy shift — heavy and tingling against my skin like the feeling before a storm. I press a button on Astraea's earbud to activate her visor. And since she's using my applicator, I activate the Daylight app for her and try to get her attention.
"Astraea," I say. "Look at me."
Her breathing has calmed a bit, and she looks up at me with blue eyes behind an orange visor.
"Do you know what's happening to me?" she asks.
"Yeah. It's the sword,” I tell her. “It's making your hormones go bonkers. All of them, adrenaline, oxytocin, dopamine, you name it. It did that same thing
to me when I first took it up. Add that to the fact that you've never been human before, and we have a ripe old mess."
"Is it ever going to stop?" she asks.
"Eventually," I say. "But not in the next five minutes."
"What's going to happen within the next five minutes?" she asks.
"Something is coming," I say. "Something big. Can you stand?"
Astraea and I both stand up. She picks up The Destroying Angel and sheathes it at her hip. We both look around the barn — little snakes of pulsing electricity flash here and there, barely noticeable at first. The air thrums with reverberating energy. Purple flashes of electricity curl off and on along Astraea's raven black hair.
"This is not good," I say.
The barn doors explode, sending shards of wood flying into the barn. I dive, lying flat on my stomach on the loft floor, taking Astraea with me. I shield her like a turtle shell on her back. I look behind me. Lev did the right thing by diving down under a desk.
"Lev, you okay?" I ask.
"Yeah. What the hell is happening, man?" Lev asks.
"I don't know if I want to find out," I whisper to myself. "Stay here," I say to Astraea.
I crawl forward, on my belly, towards the edge of the loft floor. I'm overlooking the tractor plow on the first floor of the barn. I look at the entrance and wait. The air pressure changes again, magical energies setting the molecules in the air hither and thither. My muscles tense and tighten. There is a stiffness in the insides of my elbows.
Three large, black, wolves enter the barn eighty feet away from us. They stand four feet from paw to the top of the head — twelve hands tall. They stalk into the barn and spread out. One is going down the middle, while the other two wolves circle the farm machinery and move alongside the work tables lining the barn walls. Their growls echo throughout the dark barn, lips retreating from bared teeth. Their shoulder blades roll up and down as they pad towards the back of the barn, sniffing the ground. As they get closer, I can spot little tongues of flame flitting up and down their black fur. Swirling black and blue energy surrounds them like wispy smoke.
I press a button on my earbud applicator.
"Local live stream," I say softly.
Letters pop up across my visor which read 'Preparing to stream...' then it reads 'live' after a few moments.
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