by KT Belt
“I meant is he like that with all of you?” she asked again.
“Forgive me,” Rauon said. “I misunderstood. But, of the project leader, I’ll say—”
“Why didn’t this Clairvoyant kill you all as he said he would?” Inertia interrupted.
Rauon wasn’t prepared for his entry into the conversation and visibly jumped when Inertia spoke. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask him,” he answered after he regained his composure. “Caelus found it quite interesting, in his amused sort of way. I’m sure he has detailed notes of every encounter, much like what he’ll be writing about what happened here. But I will say that whenever Charon got completely frustrated, he’d get really quiet and then he’d look at us all and say one word. Wait,” Rauon added after pausing to look at them both. “I’m quite happy he won’t be back here for some time.”
Carmen couldn’t help a soft groan when she heard that. “So, what now?” she asked no one in particular.
“If you’ll allow it, I’d like to show you to your room,” the sorten answered promptly, to which she stood immediately.
Rauon’s quick response to that question only served to make Inertia smile. He finally came to his feet when Carmen turned, obviously curious about his lack of haste. The trio left the room with no further delay. Mugal left as well, walking slightly in front of them. He eventually departed down a different corridor and was gone. Carmen watched him leave, but he didn’t even give them a backward glance. She guessed that meant they had passed some bare minimum level of trust to be left alone with only the head technician.
“I must say that this is a very different experience from what I expected,” Rauon said as they entered an elevator.
“What do you mean?” Carmen asked. Inertia listened intently.
“If you don’t mind me saying, you’re some of the most docile Clairvoyants I’ve ever met. Nothing like Charon. He was very cold, very calculating. The only time I took him at his word was when he said he was going to kill me. Obviously, he never did,” he said. Carmen nodded, and he continued. “It’s hard to know what to expect with your kind. Caelus councils us that the more powerful Clairvoyants are finicky—his exact words. All of our copies behave similarly to each other, so the transition can be difficult.”
The elevator opened, and they started down the corridor. It was as similar and nondescript as every corridor in Solitary.
“How many copies do you have?” Inertia asked.
Rauon didn’t answer right away. The delay continued, and Carmen wondered if he was contemplating whether to answer. “I’m not exactly sure,” he finally said. “There’s another facility capable of manufacturing Clairvoyant Constructs in addition to this one.”
Carmen shot an alarmed look in Inertia’s direction. His features hardened from the news. “Another facility? Is it like this one?” he asked. The tenseness and edge in his question was only partially reined in, but Rauon didn’t seem to notice the sudden interest.
“I don’t know anything about it, other than that it exists,” the sorten said casually. “I didn’t even know it existed till Charon mentioned it offhandedly,” he added with some degree of bitterness.
The two Clairvoyants glanced at each other. No words or thoughts were explicitly shared, but the doubling of their task was keenly seen in the worry on Carmen’s face and the seriousness on Inertia’s. The reality that she might never find Phaethon made her shudder.
“Here is your room. Once again, I’m available for anything you need. I’ll come for you in the morning,” Rauon said.
Carmen simply nodded. Her thoughts were too disjointed to pay attention to much of anything. She entered the room with Inertia a half step behind. It was relatively empty only the bare necessities. In comparison, her room in the facility back on New Earth was a luxury apartment. None of that, however, actually mattered for the moment. She placed her sword down and sat on a table opposite Inertia.
After taking a deep breath, she rested her head on her hand. “What do you think?” she asked.
“A lot,” he replied. “But I know what you’re asking. For now, we play the hand we’ve been dealt.”
“Yes, but for how long?” Carmen asked.
“That I don’t know, and that is the tricky part. If and when the moment comes, I imagine it will happen rapidly. You need to act accordingly,” he said.
She took another deep breath and thought about their situation before she turned to him again. “What makes you say that?” she asked simply.
Inertia shrugged. “A hunch. Nothing more.”
Carmen nodded. “What should I do till then?”
“Just be yourself.”
“I don’t think Caelus believes my act, though,” she pointed out. “You heard what he said, how he talked to me.”
“I know, and I’m counting on it.”
Carmen looked at him for a moment, noted that he was being serious, and sighed. “Okay,” she said simply.
“Get some sleep. We might need it for whatever they have planned for us.”
She nodded again and said to herself, “I hope Phaethon’s okay.”
16
Deceptive Foundations
Waking up was never a quiet event for a Clairvoyant. Their bioelectric fields, energized by irrational dreams and nightmares, raged madly though invisibly while they slept. Then, by the slightest stir of the conscious mind from its stupor, the fields exploded into spectacular disarray. Visible sparks coursed along both of their bodies, getting wilder and wilder till they eventually filled the corner of the room where they slept. The two Clairvoyants’ respective fields played with each other, challenged each other, retreated, and gave way like a superhuman duel between two angry specters. And then it stopped. The only evidence that remained of the monster within was a slight whitish-blue tint to their eyes when they were opened, but it went away after a second or two.
Carmen sat up in bed and then glanced at Inertia waking up next to her. “Good morning,” she said nonchalantly.
“Yeah,” he muttered back.
They were forced by the circumstance of their ruse to sleep in the same bed. Neither she nor Inertia knew if sorten couples slept together, and they certainly didn’t know if the sortens knew it was odd for a terran couple to not sleep in the same bed. Thankfully, it was easily large enough for both of them to forget that the other was there, so their modesty didn’t have to suffer much.
She got out of bed and wondered how she’d get ready for a day that could bring anything. The first step, of course, was to get fully dressed. She heard Inertia casually stir as she went for her change of clothes the sortens had been kind enough to bring from The Lady.
“What do you think they’re going to do with us?” she asked.
“I don’t know. It’s difficult to say,” he answered. “We still don’t have their full trust.”
Carmen agreed with a nod. “Well, I’m hungry. There’s nothing in here to eat,” she said. Inertia shrugged in response, and she was quick to recognize that when they were fed was quite out of his control. “What do you think about what Rauon said about there being another facility?”
He didn’t say anything. It was obvious he was thinking hard.
“Well?” she asked again after a minute or so.
“Oh…yeah,” he muttered as if distracted. “I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like the sortens are ever sloppy with anything they do,” he said. He remained in bed after he spoke, obviously still thinking.
Carmen looked at him for a moment. He sat unmoving and barely breathing, lost in thought. “All right…” she muttered, her voice trailing off. Then she continued getting ready.
There was no question as to whether she’d wear the body armor. The sortens might not trust her, but she certainly didn’t trust them. She wasn’t all too keen on eating their food either, but she needed to keep her strength up. If they had mind to poison her, it was a risk she had to take. Carmen sighed at that thought and then turned her attention back to
her partner, who still sat in bed.
“Are you going to get ready?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Inertia responded and slowly started getting up. Small as it was, she was pleased with that small progress in their mission.
“Should I bring my sword?” she asked.
“I don’t think you’ll need it,” he said simply. But his attention was so obviously elsewhere that she was surprised he even heard her.
She looked at him sidelong. “Is—”
“No, nothing’s wrong,” he said, cutting her off.
Carmen nodded and reminded herself that even an unfocused Clairvoyant was still aware. She tied her hair into a ponytail and was pretty much ready. Inertia moved slowly, so she took a seat and waited.
“What’s on your mind?” she asked, her tone calm but curious.
“Charon,” he said.
Carmen nodded. “I was thinking about him too.” That was a bit of an understatement. She thought about him all the time. “Where did he come from? What do you think he wants?” she asked, voicing only a few of her many questions.
“I don’t know. It’s damn strange,” he responded.
“Even the sortens were surprised that a Clairvoyant wanted to work with them,” Carmen continued.
“Yes, it doesn’t make sense,” Inertia agreed.
She nodded again and then thought about another thing that troubled her. “In the medical center, did you notice something?” She waited, but Inertia made no response. He didn’t even look at her. She continued anyway. “Every Clairvoyant in there was a copy. They’ve had other Clairvoyants here—they must have. Brought against their will, of course. But I wonder what happened to them? I wouldn’t be surprised if they dissected them or something, considering how they treated us,” she added, stopping short of mentioning that fate for Phaethon.
Inertia glanced at her as he walked across the room to retrieve his body armor. His mind was clearly still racing with what she didn’t know, but she could discern some worry. She didn’t think he had much care for Phaethon, if she were honest, but it was undeniable that being dissected was a terrible fate.
She thought about her charge, imagining him being brought to this forsaken place beaten, broken, and lonely. She wondered if the sortens would even be humane enough to kill him before they started cutting him up. She didn’t have any real firsthand experience with sortens. The stories she’d heard when she was younger spoke of their unending ruthlessness. Kali had several personal examples. Everyone Carmen knew who wasn’t a Clairvoyant treated Clairvoyants like they were violent animals too, though. How true were stories? It was difficult to say.
What she did know for sure was that one sorten in particular was obsessed with Clairvoyants. Caelus, she thought. She wouldn’t put any horror past him, as long as it could further his research. Who knew? Maybe Phaethon needed to be screaming in agony for Caelus to get the data he needed. She shook her head as her thoughts strayed to even darker depths.
“If Phaethon isn’t here, do you think we could get them to transfer us to the other facility without arousing suspicion?” she asked, unable to keep the question from coming out. “Maybe Charon is there too.”
Finally ready, Inertia took a seat across from her, still thinking. “I doubt it,” he said simply.
“But what if what we’re looking for isn’t here?” she asked quickly, though she wasn’t exactly sure what they were looking for. She didn’t think Inertia knew either. “What if Charon attacks again while we’re waiting for something to happen here? We have to think of some way to get to the other facility if we need to. The sortens wouldn’t take us to their main site if they don’t fully trust us,” she added, not believing he could be so unmoved by the possibility.
“That is not our central issue,” he said.
“Then what is?”
“I never heard of it happening before, but there must be some reason for it—”
“What? Reason for what?” Carmen asked, cutting him off. It was like he was talking to himself.
Inertia glanced at her. “Charon.”
“What about him?”
“Rauon said that Charon threatened to kill them several times but never did. Why?” he asked as he rubbed his chin.
Carmen looked at him, her eyes glazed over in disbelief. “Come again?” she muttered.
“What kind of Clairvoyant does that—promise an action but not follow through? It doesn’t make any sense,” he said, looking away from her.
She gazed around the room and took in her surroundings. She contemplated the fact that she was literally in the middle of some forgotten planetoid lost in a forgotten sector of the galaxy. She remembered why she was here: to rescue her charge and to stop a maniac from harming anyone else. Carmen also reflected on the grim reality that she was surrounded by aliens who had more than half a mind to kill her, and who had trained for most of their adult lives to do just that. In the midst of all this, her only ally in the maelstrom, her only guide and the only person she could trust—and even then just barely—was searching for clues with tweezers in a darkened room.
“Does it really make any difference?” she asked him. “Maybe Charon just changed his mind? It’s not like I never have.”
Inertia looked at her hard, and Carmen felt every molecule in her body freeze in that brief instant. “Clairvoyants don’t do that,” he said simply but with a slight edge to his voice. “We change our minds, sure, but there is always a reason for it. We don’t make a threat, change our minds and not carry it out, make the same threat again, and not carry it out yet again.”
She considered his words and could see what he saying. Now that she thought about it, she’d never acted that way ever in her life. “Clairvoyants aren’t all the same, though,” she said. “Yes, we have similarities, but weren’t not completely alike in everything. Clairvoyants don’t work for or with sortens, for instance, yet Charon has.”
“And I’m sure there’s a reason for that as well. Just because we don’t understand it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” he said. “It might even be connected.”
Carmen looked away for a moment before she turned back to Inertia. Rauon was coming. The discussion would have to wait for another time.
“I still don’t think it’s important,” she said.
“Perhaps it’s not.”
Just then, Rauon opened the door and stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the light in the corridor. Carmen gave a subconscious shudder.
“Greetings. I hope you slept well,” the sorten said. Neither Clairvoyant answered. “Are you ready?”
“When are we going to be fed?” Carmen asked.
“I apologize, Psyche, but not for some time. Hunger gives more accurate test results,” Rauon replied.
“What type of tests?” Inertia asked.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” he answered simply. “It would distort the test results. I must also ask that you don’t read me for the same purpose.”
Carmen glanced at Inertia, who gave the silent go-ahead. She stood and went to retrieve her sword.
“Your weapon is not necessary, Psyche,” Rauon said.
She frowned but said nothing, and the two Clairvoyants obediently followed the sorten out of the room. Four guards waited for them in the corridor. They were heavily armed. They weren’t, however, at the nervous hair-trigger as most guards were when near Clairvoyants. She didn’t see the point; the sortens had to know the soldiers were no match against them. Despite that, the group started walking with the guards trailing slightly behind.
“What’s with the company?” she asked, unable to stay quiet.
“Oh, that’s Mugal’s doing. They are here to observe you,” Rauon said.
“For what?” She turned to look at them, and a pair of guards simply watched her, completely stone-faced. The other pair watched Inertia with equally as much poise.
“Treachery,” the head technician answered.
Carmen glanced at Inertia, who shared her look. She th
en looked at Rauon, who walked in front of them and couldn’t see her interest.
“Do you suspect anything?” she asked casually.
“Do I personally?” Rauon questioned, turning to look at her.
She shook her head. “No, I mean all of you in general.”
He looked forward again and called for the elevator. Then he turned to face the Clairvoyants as they waited. “I don’t want to speak for anyone,” he said, “but…in general, there is no real reason we should trust you. Clairvoyants speak quite openly of their animosity toward us. It would be prudent to be cautious.”
Carmen nodded. “That does make some sense. What about you, though? What do you think?”
Rauon paused for a moment. It didn’t seem like he was ready for the question just yet, but then his face slowly turned more serious, almost meditative. “Your kind terrifies me,” he said frankly. “They have always terrified me.” Carmen looked at him curiously, which prompted him to elaborate. “I remember when I was first shown the training vids,” he continued. “They were made back when we first discovered you. In one of them, we had a Clairvoyant child of about five or six of your years old in a room with a tau beast—”
“What’s a tau beast?” Carmen asked.
“Fearsome creatures. We genetically engineered them to control an invasive introduced species on one of our colonies. They’re about the most cunning animal you could ever face. Their claws can gore even steel,” the sorten answered. She nodded, and he continued once they stepped inside the elevator.
“The test was simple. Could the Clairvoyant survive? I watched the video with a group, and no one expected much. I assumed the child would survive only a short moment at most. Indeed, one swipe of the tau beast’s claws ripped off half of the Clairvoyant’s face.” He paused for a second. “I distinctly remember one of his eyeballs swaying back and forth by the optic nerve.”