Cracked Control

  Abduction, genetic modification, and a nap that crossed decades is just the start for one of the first Volunteers to enter the Citadel, thirty years late.

  Addy was a lost Terran. Her ship was captured on the way to the Alliance training centre, and she and the other occupants were held for experimentation.

  Months of agony with her fellow humans dying under the test-to-destruction methods of the researchers ended the day that Addy was taken to the edge of her limits. A rescue operation came to save her and the other survivors, and she was sedated for the trip back to the Alliance.

  Addy lay in stasis while the world she had set on its path to destruction shattered and the rescue shuttle fought for its own survival.

  Thirty years later, Addy is woken to find that the world has changed, she is alone at a base, and she has the power in her cells to break the world under her feet. No pressure. Ha.

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  Cracked Control

  Copyright © 2017 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-1601-0

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc orp

  Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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  Cracked Control

  Tales of the Citadel Book 60

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Addy huddled in the back of her cage, and she hoped that she wasn’t picked for experimentation that day. She really wasn’t up to it.

  “Hey! Addy. I am guessing it is nearly Christmas at home.” The prisoner from next door called out.

  Kelly had been next to her on the shuttle that was approaching the jump ship, right before it was swallowed by a hole in space. Out of fifty human Volunteers on that vessel, there were only nine left alive.

  Kelly had lost her sight after the third week, so her experience of the world was via other senses. If she said it was nearly Christmas, it was.

  Addy sighed. “Happy holidays, Kelly.”

  “Merry Christmas, Addy.”

  Addy hated to ask, but she did anyway, “Kelly?”

  “Yes?”

  “How long have we been here?”

  “Six months, three days and five hours.”

  “Do you think anyone is looking for us?”

  Kelly’s voice had a smile in it. “Yes. They are looking. They are also very close.”

  Hope flickered in Addy’s chest. “Do you think they have coffee?”

  Kelly laughed, and Addy sat with her back against the wall that she shared with Kelly. It was the closest thing to a hug that they could manage.

  Their laughter and smiles faded as they heard the footsteps in the hall. They were here for a subject, and Addy and Kelly were the only two in this section.

  Addy held her breath as her door was swung open. The stun bolt knocked her to the floor, and she was dragged out of the cell and down the hall with her nerves screaming and her muscles jerking.

  The two handlers hauled her about a kilometre, her toes dragging until they bled. She was just getting her limbs under her control again when they strapped her down.

  Racks of coloured fluids, equipment that had application pads to electrocute, probes and scanners were all lined up.

  She looked at the alien medics and researchers around her. “Gentlemen, shall we tango?”

  The first injection hit, and the next six hours were her trying not to scream and focusing on time with family and her memories of home. The holidays were a good focus, and it was only when the decorated tree in her mind started to shimmy and buck that she came back to her body.

  She opened her eyes and watched the displays tipping over, the vials and chemicals smashing. One of the men was screaming for someone to shut it down, but the riot of energy wouldn’t stop.

  If Addy wasn’t strapped down, she would have fallen over. As it was, the exam table she was on was jittering across the floor.

  A thunderous crack started outside, and the lab split down the centre. Three of her persecutors fell into the rift and everyone else ran.

  Whatever world they were on was coming apart around them, and Addy was strapped to a fucking table!

  Another wedge was carved out of the flooring, and she heard metal uncoupling in the walls as they heaved upward. Gas flew out of the walls, but it wasn’t properly directional. Addy coughed slightly but didn’t feel anything but mildly dizzy.

  “Volunteer Hathaway?”

  A voice came from behind her. She waved a hand like a flipper. “That’s me.”

  “I am part of your rescue party. Kelly sent us to find you.”

  Addy smiled and relaxed, while another fissure opened up in the room. The only solid floor was the piece she was resting on. “I am glad she’s safe. I don’t think you can get to me.”

  “I can. Do you know the cause of the tremors?”

  “No. Maybe they are on a fault line?”

  The voice was soft. “No, they have activated a latent talent.”

  “What is a talent?”

  “You are. I know you have been sorely used, but I need to sedate you to stop the tremors. We need to escape, but the only way we can take off is if the ground is stable.” He paused. “Please.”

  She thought about it. “So, Kelly sent you?”

  “She did.”

  “What colour are her eyes?”

  “Black. She also has freckles across her nose.”

  Addy sighed and leaned back. “Okay, do what you have to do. I will just take a little nap.”

  She heard a weird, leathery sound and the heavy beating of wings. She turned her head as much as she could with her forehead strapped down, and she must have gone bonkers. A man with huge bat-like wings was leaning over her, his uniform would have done credit to any superhero of her imagining, and the slow lashing of his tail added to the image.

  He held up a hypo spray and pressed it to her waist. The world grew fuzzy around her, and she faded into restful sleep as the ties were removed.

  * * * *

  Rokar grabbed his unconscious bundle, and he flew back the way he had come. The shuttle was loaded with the damaged, surviving Terrans, and the one in his arm was out for hours.

  The ground was still cracking and twisting, but he didn’t need to run. He flew to the ship and folded his wings as he ran inside. “I have her, lock it up.”

  The ship shuddered and lifted off as one of the retrieval team locked the hatch.

  The Terran named Kelly was sitting with a medic, and she turned her head. “Is she all right?”

  “Yes, though they managed to trigger her.”

  Kelly nodded, “Right. The earthquakes. I wondered how long it was going to be before something fired up. She is al
l right? Why isn’t she talking?”

  “I needed to sedate her to stop the breaking of the room around her. She was close to tipping into a fissure.” He smiled tightly at the woman, though she couldn’t see him.

  He caught the gaze of another one of the medics and carried his burden to the rear of the ship. The medical cryo pod was ready, and he placed the woman carefully in the embrace of the machine.

  “She is sedated, will that be a problem?”

  The ship rocked to the side, and the medic quickly closed the lid and activated the mechanism.

  “She will be fine. It will keep her alive and her heart will beat once a day. Nothing to worry about.”

  The ship’s shuddering ceased as Volunteer Hathaway stopped breathing.

  Rokar looked at the young woman and saw the drawn features, the marks of torture and the surprisingly cute upturned nose.

  Through his ear com, Rokar could hear the pilot frantically giving the warship that had escorted them instructions to take them on board and get the hell out of there. The planet was going to blow.

  * * * *

  Kelly sat and gleaned information from around her. Addy was alive, but she was very cold. The man who had gone to get her when Kelly refused to leave without her moved like he had a leather coat on, but he smelled warm and wild.

  “What is wrong with her?”

  The man sat close to her while the medic worked on giving her injections to combat the vitamin deficiencies and massive dehydration that she was experiencing.

  “Your friend is an activated talent. Her talent rose while we were landing, and it set a cataclysm in motion. The world you were on is tearing itself apart.”

  “That isn’t possible.”

  “You knew we were coming when we were two systems away. I believe that that should not have been possible either.”

  Kelly cocked her head. “I suppose you are correct. Are those really wings?”

  “You can see them?”

  “Sort of. I can put all the hints together to end up with the logic that I didn’t hear your feet on the ramp, or coming through the door. You flew in.”

  “Correct. You and Volunteer Hathaway are friends?”

  “Sort of. I have never seen her, even before they burned my eyes.”

  “Your eyes are not burned, they are black. Think of being in a dark room with your pupil expanded to let in light. Your entire being is looking at the world around you, but your body is still in that dark room.”

  Kelly blinked and smiled. “A nice way to think of it.”

  “The right way to think of it. Your sight wasn’t taken, it was expanded. You just haven’t learned to focus yet. Yes, the process was horrific, but the end result is expanded consciousness.”

  Kelly tried to look at him. “You are older than you look, and you are planning on getting the hell out of here the moment we land.”

  He chuckled. “See? Your vision is getting better already.”

  She sobered, “What about Addy?”

  “She will be kept in a state of suspended animation until a plan can be created that will let her gain control over her talent. It is too violent to experiment with, so a lot of consultation will be involved.”

  Kelly nodded. “Do you think I will be able to stay close?”

  He didn’t comment on that, but he said, “You will need to gain control of your own talent. Watching out for your friend might not be the best use of your time.”

  She nodded again and turned her head toward the back of the ship where Addy was. “I hope she isn’t dreaming.”

  The rescuer didn’t comment on that either.

  Chapter Two

  Addy woke with a gasp, sitting up and finding herself on a neatly arranged bed in a small room.

  “Relax, Addy. You are fine. Everything is fine. They just needed to find a safe place to wake you up.”

  “Kelly?”

  Addy swung her legs to the side of the bed and stood up. Her limbs were wobbly, but she could hold her weight. The weird thing was that the cuts, marks, and other bruises were gone. Her skin was whole again.

  “You guessed it. Now, I need to warn you that you have been asleep for a while.”

  Addy blinked. “How long is a while?”

  “More than a day, less than a hundred years. Now, there is a food system in front of you, go and get something to eat.”

  Addy looked at the machine, and the alien symbols translated themselves in her mind. She picked some soup and bread.

  “Good choice.”

  “Where are you?”

  Kelly sighed. “I am close by, but it was thought that I give you the briefing before I showed up in person.”

  “Why? What’s wrong?”

  “Well, you have had some walls built in your mind by specialists. They have managed to put your new talent aside and keep it from touching your conscious mind. If things go well, you can reach through it to use the power that woke.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Eat your meal and watch the monitor.”

  The monitor in question descended from the ceiling, and a video began to play. Addy ate her meal and paused when she realized that the woman being hauled into the room was herself. It was that day.

  “I am going to fast forward a bit of it, but pay attention.”

  The first few hours of torture were a blur, and then. Addy’s video body began to fight the restraints.

  The sadists high-fived each other and then turned back to her, but she was still arched against her bonds. She was locked and still, and then, the world around them quivered.

  The men trying to ignore the results was obvious, but when the shaking became more violent, they put their attention to her. Addy’s eyes were wide, and she was screaming, but there was no sound. A wave of something came from her. It looked like the sonic interference from a speaker, but it moved out and then down into the floor beneath her.

  Addy pushed her bowl aside and watched as her body on the exam table was isolated by fissures while the idiots died or ran. It was a familiar sight, and she did remember what happened next.

  A figure arrived at the edge of the monitor’s view and spoke to her. She spoke back, and the man with wings moved into full view as he sedated and then unbuckled her.

  “Great, Kelly. That was yesterday, so what happened next?”

  “You were stored at the Alliance Archive and that is where you remained for thirty years.”

  The soup roiled in her stomach. “What?”

  “You were in stasis for thirty years. I visited you when I could, but I had to earn my keep out in the great unknown.”

  The ground under Addy’s feet began to move.

  “Calm down, Addy. Take a deep breath and calm down. They could only block so much. Your talent is definitely wired into your lizard brain. If you panic, feel anger or pain, you are going to destroy the world under your feet.”

  “My feet? Where are you?” Addy snarked it while she tried to breathe slowly and deeply. The quivering under her slowed and stopped.

  “I am in an orbital station, watching the seismograph and hoping that you can get yourself under control.”

  “Why can’t I see you?” Addy was suspicious. Kelly couldn’t be watching anything. She was blind.

  “Because I am thirty years older and you are still the little psycho that I met and that kept me sane all those years ago. It hurts every time I see you.”

  “I want to see you.”

  The display flickered, and a woman in her fifties was sitting, wearing a weird set of robes, and her eyes were still the midnight black that Addy remembered from the open files in the lab.

  “You said you could see.”

  Kelly waved her hand from side to side. “It is more like sense, but the seismograph has an audible readout. When I say I see you, I see an imprint of you. It is like you made an impression on my mind, and I compare that to the new image every time I am ne
ar you.”

  “Why did it take so long to get me awake?”

  “The Citadel only just got a healer who could slow their mind to match yours in the stasis chamber while building fast enough to create a usable barrier.” Kelly clicked her tongue. “It was not easy.”

  “Why bother to wake me at all?”

  Kelly grinned. “Terrans are all the rage. We are in the Sector Guard, the Alliance worlds, the Nyal Imperium, and a few hundred have joined the Citadel. You have to pay for your upkeep, but you get to travel and do things you never imagined.”

  “So, we have turned into collector’s items?” Addy snorted.

  “Something like that. We are a trendy accessory. Now, you are in a small complex on Iratho. Iratho is a sentient world, and he will stop you from doing too much damage.”

  “Sentient, so there are other folks here?”

  “Sentient, as in the ground under your feet is awake and aware. He has an Avatar that can speak for him, and you will meet him once you are settled.”

  “So, I am on a world with just one other person?”

  “Yes. Iratho is trying to decide on his environments, so the world is relatively empty with all the water beneath the surface. If you go outside, wear a suit.”

  “What?”

  “A suit. An environmental suit.” Kelly smiled, “You will need it to keep the wind from scrubbing at your skin like the exfoliant from hell.”

  “This just gets better and better.” She paused and gave the digital Kelly a look. “Why can I read this language?”

  “The healer who built the scaffolding in your brain added standard languages, so that you could survive on your own.”

  “I thought you said it was barriers.”

  Kelly raised her hands in surrender. “Fine. I have no idea what they did in there. I know that the facility stopped shaking when he finished what he was doing in there.”

  “Was it the guy on this world?”