Thunder Struck Read online

  That made Ked pay attention like nothing else. “Right. I had better get some rations and food together.”

  “That’s my girl.” Halwis stroked her hair. “Now, let me show you where you are going.”

  They activated the projector and were staring at a large world covered in swirling storms.

  “They were experimenting with tectonic control and caused a volcanic event that ripped the world open and filled the atmosphere with heat and particulates. More disaster followed and they called for help.”

  “And the Sector Guard is sending it?”

  “They called the Citadel, didn’t they?” Halwis stroked her hair again.

  Kedna smiled as she realized that it meant her. “Then, I suppose I should get ready so I can answer.”

  “Being ready is always best.”

  It was the mantra that they lived by ever since the great flood generated by Kedna’s turning a lake into a cloud formation. The city had been flooded for days until she had moved it all along, but it had only been Halwis’s forethought that allowed them to keep their power. Everything important was on the second floor.

  With her nerves jumping, she went through all possible scenarios while she packed her bag with bodysuits, robes and rations for two weeks.

  If she couldn’t get the job started a day after she arrived, she wouldn’t be able to do anything at all and she would be home within the week. She wasn’t sure what she was hoping for.

  Haedock didn’t look anything like his ancestress. His skin had a soft gold finish and his hair was a deep brown, brushed away from his broad forehead to fall in feathery waves to his shoulders.

  She fidgeted with her Specialist robes and inclined her head as she entered the galley. “Um, hello.”

  Pilot was at the helm, jacked into the system. The Class One was a solid ship designed for peace and nothing else.

  The galley contained the Minder and no one else.

  Haedock lifted his head from his focus on his data pad. “Hello, Kedna, is it?”

  “Kedna. Yes. Do you mind if I sit?”

  He shifted his documents aside and shook his head. “Of course not. Do you enjoy living with the Avatar?”

  She chuckled and got herself some tea from the dispenser. “That was very direct.”

  “It was. So, do you?”

  Ked sat and sipped at the tea. “It has taken getting used to, but I do enjoy it. Iskan is an excellent teacher and Halwis is very patient with me.”

  “There was an uproar when we found out that Iskan was putting off our return for a few more centuries because of you.”

  Her enjoyment and anticipation drained away. “I didn’t know that.”

  “The storms you generate are city killers.” He gave her a sneer.

  She jerked away and pulled her thoughts inward. With a few stumbled steps, she left the galley and headed for the cockpit.

  When she realized that she was seeking help from Pilot, she stopped and instead returned to her quarters. She closed the door and tried to calm her heart.

  Her inner self wailed. His words highlighted her deepest fears. She was hurting other people just by being herself.

  She sat on the bunk and folded herself into a meditative posture. She needed to get herself under control or she would be useless when they arrived on the world she was supposed to work on.

  If Haedock wouldn’t help her, she would have to reach into herself. That might drain her, but she was sure that even a man who hated her would help if she were dying.

  She hoped that everything was going to go well, but in the meantime, she had to keep the storm inside her, inside her.

  * * * *

  Haedock winced at the reaction of the young woman but what did she think she was doing, pretending that she could change a world?

  He had just reached his twenty-fourth year and knew precisely what he wanted from life. He wanted to join the Sector Guard and represent his people to the best of his ability. This stupid assignment was taking him away from a tryout on Keral.

  What was his ancestress thinking calling for him specifically for this assignment?

  The frail little thing was probably sobbing in her quarters now. He sighed and got to his feet. A flash of light got his attention, and he slowly sat down.

  In her teacup was a storm complete with lightning and waves. He stared into it as the lightning flashed and the clouds roiled three inches over the surface, confined by the edge of the cup.

  As he watched, the storm slowed and dissipated. Stunned, he opened his mind and sought out his charge.

  She held herself with a will forged in pain and exhaustion so deep he flinched away from it. To his shock, he found out that she wasn’t just a slight alien as others had reported from Citadel visits to Iskan. She was a young woman but still much of a child.

  She was a child and he had just told her that she destroyed everything she touched.

  “Haedock, you are an asshole.” He groaned and removed his thoughts from hers. He needed to present a calm demeanour to her and offer her what support he could. He would apologise after she had completed her mission, if she could complete it. She was just a girl. How strong could her talent really be?

  Chapter Three

  Wrapped in her furred cloak, she raised her arms once again to move the air. The third time was the final stroke. The wind moved and she brought currents back in alignment.

  This world had been confined to the beginning of an ice age for three months before she had been deemed strong enough to stop and start it.

  The ice hadn’t completely covered their globe but it had made good progress. All she could do was stop the process and restart the normal system. They would still have to deal with the change in the mean temperature, but it would get warmer over the next decade. There was no quick fix for a planet.

  Storms flushed the skies and left bright clouds when they passed.

  Haedock helped her back to the ship, pushing her down to the medical bed and pouring fire through her neurons. She gritted her teeth and breathed through the pain, it was just like Halwis’s power, the burn was nastily familiar.

  He finished and rubbed his hands together. “Did that help?”

  She sat up and nodded. “Yes. Thank you. Good work on stabilisation as well.”

  Haedock chuckled. “I didn’t think you could do it, but I felt it. The weather is returning to normal.”

  Ked rubbed at the back of her neck. “Can we go home now?”

  “Pilot is already working on it.”

  She watched as he shifted from foot to foot. Ked couldn’t tell if he was conflicted or had to use the lav.

  She pushed past him and headed for the galley. “I don’t care if we are lifting off right away, I am eating.”

  Kedna heard him follow her, but she warmed her meal pack and settled onto the bench with her eating prong shovelling food in her mouth as fast as she could. The engines started up, and they lifted off in considerably calmer conditions than they had landed in.

  Haedock sat across from her and he blurted out, “I am sorry.”

  She finished her first ration pack and got up to retrieve the second. She sat back down and kept eating. “Sorry for what?”

  It was mumbled around her meal but he understood her.

  “I shared a judgement that my people hold with you, without knowing more about the situation. I have learned via our connection that there is much more to the story than my folk know. I will set them straight when I get home.”

  She spluttered, “Don’t do that. I can do my thing just fine with them thinking I am hogging an entire world. Iskan decides who does or does not live on his surface and I had forgotten that for a moment. Your people have had their time and the environment that Iskan is designing isn’t for you.”

  “Is it being designed for you?”

  She shrugged. “No. I don’t know what it is for, but I think it is more of a general environment sort of thing. I hav
e never asked Halwis-Iskan about what they have planned, and they have never volunteered it.”

  “Aren’t you curious?”

  Ked shook her head. “No. They have told me that I will have a place there until my training is complete. I trust them.”

  Haedock sat back. “You are a very unusual young woman.”

  She shrugged. “You are not the first to say it.”

  Inwardly, Ked was delighted. She had fulfilled her obligation and survived the experience. It was definitely the best result she could have hoped for, but now, she just wanted to get home.

  * * * *

  Life passed by in a series of short journeys into the surrounding systems with a Minder at her side. Haedock had been accepted into the Sector Guard and was busy with basic training on any number of worlds. Kedna had no idea. After two assignments with him, it was decided that she no longer needed to have a healer on hand. A regular Minder worked just fine once she got the hang of things.

  Seven years had passed since that first assignment and Kedna had gotten used to being picked up and swept away by the shuttles that came for her, but she wanted a ship of her own. Unfortunately the way her talent worked meant that she could not fly away once she had completed her exertions. It was a pain but part of the reality of her situation.

  She sat in the education centre and used her hands on the projection to tear down a jump engine and build it again. Her talent for mechanical devices had gone unused, but she knew it was there. Like a lot of the skills she had learned in theory, it would wait until it was needed.

  “That is the twelfth time this week, Ked. You are going to wear out the hologram.” Halwis smiled at her from the arched doorway.

  “If I ever need to know it, I would rather have the information than not.” Ked smiled back.

  “Your family is coming for a visit. I have had your bots doing housekeeping in the city so that they will have comfortable quarters.”

  Ked sat up, delighted. “That’s wonderful. Why now?”

  “Because your birthday is coming. This year it is time for something special.”

  Kedna blinked. “Why?”

  “You sound like you did when you first came here. I will tell you, but your family has only been given the sketchiest of briefings.”

  Kedna sat up straight. “You have my full attention.”

  “Since the Sector Guard project was first considered, I have been dwelling on the possibility of hosting a base, but dealing with those new species has not been something that I have excelled at. You have a knack for dealing with the new races that I deeply admire.”

  Ked blinked as it dawned on her what was being said. “You are going to be Sector Guard Base Iskan?”

  “Guard base and Citadel training world. This space will be crawling with talented people in need of a home and you are their leader.”

  Ked rubbed her eyes. “Me? In charge? Has Halwis been standing too close to volcano fumes again?”

  The Avatar laughed. “Very funny. No, I want you to know that you always have a place here and putting you in charge is my way of doing that.”

  “So, my gift is being responsible for an entire base?”

  Halwis-Iskan beckoned her over. “Come with me.”

  They walked down to the main floor and out to the empty gardens. Just beyond the garden wall was a flat plane and on that plane were a shuttle and a personal skimmer. Both were wearing a tag that said Thunder Struck.

  Ked looked to the Avatar. “They are for me?”

  “I don’t know of anyone else who matches that description.”

  Absently she said, “Technically, it was lightning.”

  She was suddenly so excited, she didn’t know what to do, so she hugged her friend with as much strength as she could muster and ran to the machines. “Can I?”

  “They are yours, take them for a spin.”

  Grinning with glee, Ked stepped into the small skimmer and settled in. As her hand touched it, the vehicle sprang to life and lifted inches off the ground. She grabbed the controls and zipped around the city before settling it back next to its big sister.

  The shuttle wasn’t for flying in space, but it would do just fine for cruising around the planet. Again, the machine came to life with a touch of her hand. Biometrics were lovely things.

  The shuttle wobbled a little until she got the hang of it, but it took her to the volcano fields, the ice fields and over the ocean before she returned to the city and she settled it neatly on its original parking pad.

  The moment the engines were quiet, she left the shuttle and ran to Halwis-Iskan once again. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.”

  “You are welcome, little storm. Raising a daughter has been quite the adventure at my age, but I have truly enjoyed it. This is just a sign of my affection.”

  “I love you too, Halwis-Iskan.” She smiled and there were tears in her eyes.

  They both got their composure back together and started discussing the bases. From personal experience, Ked said, “I am going to need a lot of domes.”

  “Why?”

  “Horticultural talents mean well, but they very often lose control of their plants when they are learning. Weather talents do well in a confined space as well, as you know.”

  Halwis chuckled. “It did help you get under control when you were a little wild.”

  “It did. I am just lucky my lightning was just strong static.” She fought the urge to rub her butt in memory.

  “Right. Domes. I think that the Kalwer plains would be a good place to put them.”

  They returned to the library and opened a world map, pointing out areas that would be ideal for the situation that was coming upon them. The designs and the list of required materials were forwarded to the Sector Guard and the Citadel respectively.

  A week after the announcement, Ked’s family arrived and everything was ready for them.

  She hugged her parents in turn and then swung Lira up and around before greeting her older siblings. Hugs of welcome were standard amongst their people, but Kedna had never felt the welcome coming out of her more than she was feeling at this moment.

  She sniffled. “I am so happy you are all here. Halwis-Iskan, this is my family. Everybody, this is the Avatar of this world.”

  Her mother embraced Halwis and her father did the same. Her siblings introduced themselves one by one and Kedna couldn’t stop smiling.

  Halwis finally inclined her head. “I will leave you with Kedna. I have matters to attend to and I will join you for dinner.”

  They waved farewell as Halwis simply rose in the air to fly off over the city walls.

  Her mother asked, “Does she do that often?”

  Kedna grinned. “Often enough. Wouldn’t you if you could? Now, on with the tour.”

  She showed them the main square, the gardens and, finally, their quarters.

  Lira looked around. “Where do you sleep?”

  Ked pointed through the open window to the old city hall. “Over there. That is where we will be having our meals as well.”

  “It looks like you did well for yourself.” Lira’s tone was a little snide.

  Ked gave her a narrow look. “I was dropped here, just as you were with the Citadel. The difference is that there was no one to help me get a grip on my talent. I had to be somewhere I couldn’t hurt anyone. It has just been me and Halwis-Iskan here this whole time. No one has been visiting, no one else lives here.”

  Lira’s eyes widened and Ked felt a push on her mind. Out of reflex, she pushed back and Lira stumbled into the wall. The wind died down in an instant.

  “Lira, we have outgrown that. Do not make the mistake of thinking I am the sister you used to push around. I will push back and you won’t like it.”

  Kedna was a little sad that Lira was still a bully. She left her sister to nurse the bruises to her ego and her shoulders and spoke to her mother, explaining where she was going to be when they wanted to come and se
e where she lived.

  She walked to the open window, and with Lira watching her, she stepped off the edge and let the wind carry her over to her home.

  Chapter Four

  Her mother came up next to her during the tour. “So, Lira says you can fly now?”

  Ked shook her head. “Of course not. I just heat the air under me and use a following wind to propel me. I travel on the wind. I don’t fly. I can’t get unlimited height.”

  “That is impressive.”

  “No, that is part of my talent.” She shrugged. It made her uncomfortable to discuss the one thing that had separated her from her family to begin with.

  “Be proud of what you have achieved. You are going to be the youngest base manager in history.”

  Ked nodded. “Have you agreed to the contract?”

  “Yes. Your father and I will be delighted to move here to Iskan. I believe Lira will remain at Thoola until she has completed her training.”

  Ked looked at her mother and was amused by how similar they looked. Her mother did not look old enough to have her eldest child thirty-five years old.

  “When do you think you will make the move?”

  Keeba Kencort grinned. “When will our facilities be ready?”

  “The research domes are on their way. They should be ready in the next sixty days. We also have to lay in commuter vehicles and temporary housing near the research points.”

  Her father, Weller, came in to the library. “Is this where you do your research?”

  Kedna smiled at the familiar and worn features of the Master Healer that she had been lucky enough to be born to. “Homework. This is my library. Iskan is insistent that every moment of every day be spent doing something useful or informative. I have a number of degrees in everything from cooking to jump engine design.”

  Weller frowned. “You didn’t mention that on your visits.”