Tales of the Citadel # 32 - Core Charge Read online

  “I do. I want to get a grip on this, and holding the power will be the most difficult to master. I need time.”

  He nodded. “Right. Shall we adjourn to medical?”

  “Now?”

  “Now. He is waiting.”

  She didn’t have time to work out a good case of nerves. He walked her past the groaning Citadel staff and into the base.

  To her surprise, the surgery would take ten minutes and involved a small installation at the base of her spine. The longest portion of the work involved extracting the tissue from Nyral.

  Based on what she observed, it was not a comfortable process, but once he had offered up a sample of cells from his hip, Effin sealed him up and completed the preparation of the implant. The compatibility tests had already been run, and now, it was just a matter of getting the implant installed.

  “Open your suit to the hips, put on this gown and lie on your belly, please.” Effin smiled as he worked on the unit.

  She nodded and envied Stop his Masuo while she ducked behind the screen and did as he requested. When she emerged, her suit was loosely hanging from her hips, and she boosted herself onto the table to lie face down.

  Effin’s businesslike hands moved quickly to expose just the skin he needed, and he sterilised the spot he had scanned as a good candidate.

  “I can’t give you anaesthetic for this.”

  “I remember from the briefing. You need me alert so you can watch for signs of distress.”

  He sighed and swiped something cold against her back, just above her hip and next to her spine. She gripped the edge of the exam bed while he scanned for the precise placement.

  Nyral crouched in front of her with a wince and took her hands. “Breathe easily. In and out. It will be over in seconds.”

  She nodded and followed the flaring of his nostrils, breathing in and out with him. The direct feel of his skin against hers made her blush, but before she could look away from him, a searing bolt of pain struck her spine and fire reached through every inch of her pelvis within seconds. She gasped and shook, her body twisted and a charge built, but she held it in.

  Effin sealed the wound and began watching the effect of the implant on her.

  She could feel something happening, but Nyral kept eye contact with her, his dark swirling irises calm and concerned. He could probably feel the energy, but he didn’t let her go, he held on while she began to shake as the fire splashed through her limbs before slowly retreating back to the central point of the implant. It was in her centre of mass, and she felt different with it inside her.

  Effin said, “It appears to have successfully grafted itself to your spine and attached to your pelvis. If you have any side effects, come to me immediately or tell Nyral.”

  She was still keeping eye contact with the man in front of her. She nodded. “I will. Can I move now?”

  Effin stepped back. “Move carefully.”

  She inhaled slowly and pushed herself upright. She wanted to get dressed and walk, so she moved as fast as she could to remove the gown and put on her suit again. She was back as quick as she could be, and Effin was still turning back to the instrument tray with the injector.

  “Holy stars. That was fast.”

  Nyral came up and put his arm around her. “I will take her for a walk, and she will wear off the first surge of displacement.”

  Effin appeared shaken. “Can I put monitors on you?”

  She shrugged. “Will my energy short them out?”

  He grumbled. “Yes.”

  “Ask Nyral for a briefing. He is the only one who knows what is going on here.” Her limbs were shaking with energy. She really did need to get moving.

  With Nyral at her side, she left the base with huge strides, heading away from the tarmac and out toward the empty plain nearby.

  He kept pace with her and didn’t say anything.

  When she was far enough away from the base, she went down on one knee and sent a bolt of lightning across the ground, blowing up a shrub half a kilometre away. The relief of pressure was enough to make her sigh. “That feels better.”

  He chuckled. “You are handling it well.”

  “Thank you. It feels peculiar. Even the explosion seemed slower.”

  “You are running fast, that means that your perceptions will allow you additional time to absorb information from the world around you. You will learn to slow down.”

  “How will I learn?” she looked up at a descending ship, and it should have dropped like a stone at the speed it was landing.

  “You are planning to teach the children to play the harp? You will need to work on you timing there. Sound can only travel at the normal speed, so you will need to slow down to match it. It is a good training tool, and I didn’t have to think of it, so I am very pleased indeed.”

  She snorted and tried to listen to the world around her. She focused on the landing ship, and as she used the sound to calibrate herself, she took Nyral’s hand and started walking back to the base with him.

  “Nyral, what if you find a woman who suits you better than I do?” She felt it important to find out before anything started. Even before the implant, she had been drawn to him, and she knew it was reciprocated. She just needed to hear it.

  “It is nice to hear you say my name.” He chuckled.

  She thought about it and realized that she hadn’t used it since he had told her what it was. “It is a nice name.”

  He squeezed her hand and walked slowly across the plain with her, approaching the base at a restricted pace.

  “In answer to your not-so-subtle question, I have not chosen you; I simply know that you are designed to be in my life. I know someone for me when I see them. Mirin glowed softly when I looked at her, and you are a riot of colour to my gaze.”

  Gwiette kept pace with him and asked, “Why did Relay warn me about your manners?”

  He grinned and rubbed his jaw with his free hand. “When I met my first mate, I simply picked her up and walked off with her. She had to explain things to me, and my manners slip from time to time. The planet had been interested in keeping me alive, not polite.”

  “It must have been lonely.” She knew about being alone in a crowd, she could not imagine what it would be like with no one to speak to.

  “Living with a world speaking to you and sharing a portion of itself is a sensation I cannot describe. Yes, I craved contact with others like myself, but I was never alone.”

  “It seems peculiar to me, but I suppose we are only familiar with the worlds we have grown up in.”

  He smiled. “That is true.”

  A chime rang in the air.

  Gwiette looked around. “What is that?”

  “It is you. Your suit has a com unit built into the neckline. Activate it and speak.”

  She fumbled and found a button hidden in the seam. “Hello?”

  “Gwiette? Thank goodness. I wasn’t sure where you were. We have a situation and I know you haven’t finished training, but this is something you have already mastered. Will you help save a ship limping along with minimal life support?” Relay’s voice was urgent.

  “Sure. Where do I go?”

  “Stop will take you to the site. I will load the Hidden Victory with the necessary information.”

  Stop nodded.

  Gwiette said, “He is in, so we are on our way.” She turned off the connection.

  He grinned. “Shall we put on some speed?”

  She smiled and aimed for the base, running as fast as she could, which was quite a bit faster than a few hours earlier.

  When she arrived at the tarmac, she had to seek out the ship with the glyphs for Hidden Victory. Stop went directly to it; he could recognise it by sight.

  They climbed on board, and he sealed the ship while she settled in one of the front seats. The computer came online and the lights blinked slowly to life. Breathing deeply, she calmed herself down to a normal speed.

  Stop settled next to her and strapped in. “Take the tablet
and bring up the assignment information.”

  She grabbed the tablet and tried to activate it, finally seeing the flash of reaction in the screen. “Am I moving fast again?”

  “A little. We will get the tablet programmed for speed.”

  She snorted and an image sprang up, showing her a ship slowly rotating in space. “I guess this is my first assignment.”

  He chuckled and the ship finished powering up. He ran some checks and lifted off. The ship elevated slowly before darting forward in a rush of power.

  Gwiette leaned back and focused on the images in front of her as the wound in the ship was exposed. “Something hit this ship.”

  He nodded. “I will get us on the way, and then, I will read the file. From the location, I would posit that it was a Raider attack. They have been getting bolder.”

  She lifted her lip in a silent snarl. She had firsthand experience with the Raiders and their methods. Those few weeks had taught her what she could and could not stand. If she knew her family was safe, she could withstand almost anything.

  Chapter Eight

  Gwiette was never going to be a fan of the mechanism called jump, but once they had made it to their target, she felt her queasy stomach shift to excited butterflies.

  Stop made the call, and to her surprise, he announced her as Shock.

  “Shock?”

  “It is traditional to not let the casual observer know your species or original name. It is a safety factor for the families that are left behind. In some situations, they could be used as leverage for behaviour or use of talent.”

  “I understand that, but Shock?” She chuckled. “It is a little bald.”

  “It will make an impression and it radiates competence. Now, shall we?”

  The Raiders had not made the large hole in the ship. They had tried to harvest an asteroid and had gotten too close to the small riders in the gravitational wake. The ship had been crushed and the power systems crippled. They needed her to provide enough energy to limp them to a repair station.

  She brushed at her suit and smoothed imaginary folds.

  Stop reached out and clasped one hand. “Calm down and move slowly. I will be there to keep things under watch. You will be safe, just power the ship up and get it moving.”

  She grinned. “If it was that simple, you could have done it.”

  “Apologies. When we are locked in place, we will begin to drain their systems. They are waiting to take you to one of the internal relay stations. I will accompany you, and if anyone tries anything, they will be locked in place then wedged under a descending door.”

  “Charming.”

  Their ship snuggled up to the larger mining hulk and the hiss of the connection rang through their ship. In an instant, Stop had unbuckled his harness and hers, and hauled her to her feet. They went to the hatch, and the link between the ships flickered until it settled and strengthened.

  As the light indicated a solid link, Stop opened the door and urged her through to the other side.

  She opened the door when he closed the hatch to their ship.

  The air inside was stale and very thin. She looked back at Stop, and he nodded for her to continue.

  A grimy miner met her and smiled. “Are you Shock?”

  “I am.”

  “Thank the great ship. The relay is this way. If you can power us, we can limp home in a day.”

  “I should be able to power you. I might need a break though.”

  “That is fine. If you can get us moving, we can get into the right position. Momentum is an amazing thing.” He smiled. “I am Tovoricaniak.”

  “Pleased to meet you. Lead on.” She didn’t attempt to pronounce his name.

  Stop was behind her, and his clothing was swirling in that peculiar way again. She could see waves of it scooting up next to her before it drifted back. It was both creepy and comforting.

  The relay was a gutted panel with large silver plates to press her hands on. Shock flexed her hands and smiled at her escort. “You might want to step back. Will you let them know when I have the power on?”

  He nodded nervously while Stop took up a post where he was in her field of vision while watching the room.

  She sucked in a deep breath and pressed her palms to the plate, sending a steady stream of power into the ship. It was the beginning of a very long assignment.

  Thirty hours later, she was shaking with fatigue under Stop’s arm as he escorted her back to their little ship. Lights were on all over the mining craft and a gathering of inhabitants came to cheer her off.

  She waved tiredly and headed into the shuttle as quickly as she could. With power a valuable commodity, none of the inhabitants had bathed in several days and Shock’s nose was about to cave in.

  She staggered into the shuttle and strapped in. Nyral paused next to her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Well done, Gwiette.”

  “Thanks. Can you aim us for Morganti again? I think I need to nap a little.”

  She leaned back in the chair and everything went dark.

  The blanket was soft and tucked in up to her face. Gwiette stirred and looked into Nyral’s slowly swirling eyes.

  “Morning?”

  “Evening, two days later. You were out for over forty hours.”

  She looked around and jerked in surprise. “Why am I in your room?”

  “Because you don’t need to be in medical, and I wanted to keep an eye on you without creeping everyone out.”

  She twisted her lips. “It isn’t that bad.”

  He laughed. “I know what I am.”

  She reached out and stroked his cheek before pulling back with a squeak. “Where is my suit?”

  “In the cleanser. It takes a lot to get them grubby, but you managed it.”

  She shuddered. “It was all the hugging. I know they were in dire straits, but the smell was wearing on me.”

  She tucked her naked shoulder under the covers and considered her options.

  “Wait, you ran me through a solar shower as well.”

  He chuckled. “I wanted to make sure you woke up comfortable.”

  “Um, can I have my suit?”

  He sighed and rolled out of bed. She watched as his Masuo went from being a band on his leg to slowly creeping up his body and transforming into his suit.

  While the Masuo moved, she couldn’t help but admire the bands and bulges of muscle that it covered with glacial slowness.

  “Why can’t I have Masuo again?”

  “You would shock it into a puddle and leave yourself naked at the most inopportune time.” He grinned as the clothing covered his chest.

  “Right. Why don’t you react to my electricity?”

  He grinned. “I am very well grounded and my temporal nature isn’t as easily affected by your static.”

  “Static? I managed to power an entire mining vessel for over a day with static.” She huffed and he snickered.

  “You did very well. I filed the mission report when we arrived. You were out cold, but breathing evenly with normal vital signs. I thought a nap was definitely well earned.”

  She shrugged. “You were correct. I don’t yet have the stamina for that sort of assignment.”

  He brought out her suit with a flourish. “Here you are. We will work on your stamina. If you can hold a charge, you can transport a larger amount of energy with you instead of generating it all in a live setting.”

  She pulled the suit to her and wrestled it under the covers. She had always hated changing in front of her sister, and they had shared a room when she was a teen. She had perfected dressing under the blankets.

  Nyral looked disappointed when she squirmed out with only a few inches of the closures unfastened. She rectified the gap with a swipe of her hand. “There. Now, I am rather hungry. Lunch?”

  “Dinner. Fixer has asked that you play for the children this evening if you woke. You have, so I am passing along the request.”

  “I think I would enjoy it.”

  �
�Good. Now, let’s get you some sustenance. You are paler than usual.”

  She snorted and took the arm he offered to her. He was fully dressed and so was she. Her hair would have to take care of itself.

  It was amazing what one successful assignment did for her ego. Her head was high, her shoulders were back and she had been able to use her talent in public without being arrested. It had been a good day on that mining ship, despite the smell.