Chapter 16 #2
Stifling her instinctive jump, Gus held still. A wise decision as it turned out, as several people entered the hexagonal cell next to hers.
Gus frowned as she listened to the conversation being conducted in Tuann. Not the human standard she was expecting.
“I can’t take their arrogance a second longer. I’m going to kill them. See if I don’t,” a woman growled.
“Endure a little longer. Remember why we’re doing this. To bring the empire back on course.”
The woman made a disgusted sound. “That doesn’t mean we have to work with monsters to do it. You saw them. They’re abominations.”
“They’re necessary.” The man who’d spoken waited a beat before emphasizing his point. “Our former children are necessary for our plan’s success. No one else can bring us what they can.”
“And what’s that?”
Gus’s ears perked up.
“Credibility.”
A second man started speaking. “Those children may be tainted, but they’re our best chance for destabilizing the empire and ending the Elden bloodline that has oppressed us for so long.”
Sensing the tension in the other room, Gus wished she could see the faces of those speaking.
“You will keep a civil tongue in your head when interacting with those two,” the man continued. “They may be insolent little shits who are just as interested in using us as we are them, but they still serve a purpose. I don’t want anything scaring them off. Am I understood?”
There were murmurs of assent.
“The Osiri’s puppets are inbound to take possession of the children we procured for them. I don’t want anything going wrong between now and then.”
“What about Roake’s commander? What do you want us to do with him?”
Gus glanced at the wall separating her from the speakers.
“You don’t have to worry about him. Another controls his fate. They should arrive soon to take him.”
Gus clenched her hands.
“Where are you going?” the woman asked as a set of footsteps began receding.
“To brief the Marshal. He’ll need an update.”
The woman and her companion waited until they were alone.
“He gets more arrogant and presumptuous every day,” the woman complained. “We’re supposed to be equals.”
“Someone has to lead,” the other man said in a tired voice.
The woman harrumphed. “More like he got a taste of power and liked it. If I wanted to be ordered around, I wouldn’t have betrayed my House.”
“Where does Asanth think you are?”
“On a supply gathering mission to Edros.”
“They won’t miss you?”
“Those idiots are still gathered around the Overlord’s sick bed, more preoccupied with his fate than the crisis that is currently at our doorstep.”
“I remember a time when you would have been one of those idiots,” the man mused.
“That was before my eyes were opened.”
“If you say so.”
“Where are you going?” the woman demanded.
“You heard Pieter. Someone will be arriving soon to take care of Roake’s commander. This place is a maze. They’ll need a guide.”
Gus’s heart lurched. If what the Tuann said was true, there was a chance he would lead her straight to the commander. No more wandering around like a lost child, hoping to stumble on the people she’d come here to save.
Not questioning the impulse, Gus dug into one of the interior pockets of her cloak, withdrawing a small packet of seeds that she kept on her for times like this. Pouring a couple of them into her palm, Gus held them up to eye level to examine.
They were tiny and very similar in shape to a dandelion seed. With a parachute-like top that enabled them to catch the wind and ride its currents. A small, oblong seed was attached to the bottom.
Gus wrapped her fist around the seed, concentrating briefly as she infused it with her soul’s breath.
In the next chamber, she heard footsteps beginning to recede. Her window of opportunity was closing. Without this seed to guide her way, she’d find it hard to track him through the labyrinth of the honeycomb.
Hurry.
Relief filled Gus’s chest as she finished. She brought the handful of seeds up to her mouth and blew. They floated off her palm, catching the air current Gus directed their way via her ki.
For a moment, they coasted. Then the air caught them and sent them careening around the corner. Two tiny specks dancing around each other. Virtually invisible to all but the most aware.
This trick probably wouldn’t have worked on her siblings, whose paranoia made them unnaturally vigilant.
These two, however, hardly struck Gus as being among the Tuann elite.
Their skills were passable at best. Even if by some miracle they spotted the seeds, chances were they’d pass their presence off as an oddity and not look further.
Taking a chance, Gus peeked around the edge of the opening to make sure her seeds were on the right track.
It took only a moment of searching to spot her target.
There.
On the far side of the room. On the threshold between this chamber and the next.
Manipulating the air molecules and sending another tendril of ki toward the seeds to correct their course, Gus nudged them on a flight path that would intersect with the male.
Then, she waited.
The seeds drifted.
Closer.
Closer.
Gus caught her breath.
Touch down.
Just in time, as his companion seemed to sense something.
Gus ducked back out of sight and plastered herself against the wall. Her heart pounded, adrenaline flooding her body as a weird ringing filled her ears.
Had the Tuann seen her? Was she even now stalking in Gus’s direction?
Gus held perfectly still, trying not to faint from all the adrenalin rioting through her veins.
Every moment that slid by sawed against Gus’s nerves. She felt exposed. On edge. A feeling that didn’t go away even when the woman gave a long, weary sigh. “How did it come to this? Working with the enemies of our forebears? Our vows twisted? Chains by which to be enslaved?”
The honeycomb was conspicuously silent. If she was expecting an answer, the Tuann wasn’t going to find it here.
Gus counted to one hundred in her head, waiting until long after the other woman was gone before stepping out from her hiding spot.
When no one jumped out at her, she relaxed slightly.
Of all the things she’d overheard in the last few minutes, the only thing that really concerned her was the news that the Osiri were sending a representative here.
Gus was betting a general, but it could be someone even higher up.
Either was bad news for her.
“That doesn’t give me much of a window,” Gus whispered.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that her sister was enroute after all. If Gus was lucky, Kira and the general would be so preoccupied trying to kill each other that no one would notice her sneaking about.
Gus kept to an easy pace as she tailed her prey. She wasn’t in a rush, wanting her quarry to stay ignorant to the fact that he was being followed.
The seeds glowed in her mind’s eye like miniature beacons. As long as he had them on him, she could follow him across star systems.
It was a nifty little ability she’d discovered quite by accident a few years ago when a group of youths had done willful damage to her garden on deck five.
Gus treasured her gardens, a fact Titan was very much aware of now, but back then, not everyone had gotten the memo.
This particular garden had housed the product of an experiment.
To see how feasible it was to pollinate certain species of Tuann flowers with human ones.
She’d been successful, crossing a Tuann vilaiti with a species of rose.
The resulting creation had been a feat of genius. A singular existence in a universe full of unique things. Its beauty eclipsed only by its rarity.
Never in her wildest dreams did Gus expect someone on Titan to possess enough knowledge about botany—and the rare plant black market—to become a danger to her resulting creation.
She’d been shocked when she stopped by only to find the bed dug up and rosa vilaiti (the name she created for this new species) gone.
Unfortunately for the would-be thieves, she’d used ki on that particular specimen and so could track it all the way across Titan.
Gus had never been quite sure why. As far as she knew, her siblings had shown no signs of being able to do the same with objects or people touched by their soul’s breath.
It was just that things touched with her ki remained part of her mental map.
If she concentrated, she could sense each individual spark of life. Even when separated by vast distances.
It was a handy skill, made all the more so by the fact that most Tuann had trouble detecting her ki unless she used it in large quantities.
Something squelched underfoot, making her forget about the glowing brand in her mind for a moment.
Gus backed up to see what she’d stepped in. She crouched to get a better look. After a moment of observation, she reached down to touch the substance and grimaced at the tacky, sticky sensation. “What is that?”
The substance clung to her fingers like a viscous oil. Or really thick honey.
“So gross,” Gus said in the midst of wiping it on her pants when a sound from her left made her freeze in mid motion.
Spotting a dark shape out of the corner of her eye, she slowly turned her head and nearly fell on her ass when she got a good look at what was waiting for her.
“Mother corn cockle!”
A Tsavitee war drone. A class one from the look of it. She could tell by the lack of horns.
Often considered more dangerous than a class two due to their higher level of intelligence, the war drone was humongous when compared to her shorter than average height, looming over her by a good two or three feet at least. Like the class two, the class one was considered digitigrade, meaning it walked on its toes rather than its heels like other species, including humans.
This allowed for greater speed and quieter movement, making the alien surprisingly adept at stealth despite its large size.
It also had the advantage in reach with longer than normal arms and possessed an ape-like strength that a human and most Tuann couldn’t hope to match.
This war drone wore a cuirass with breastplate and backplate to protect his torso and vital organs, designating him as some sort of leader. A low-level officer, perhaps. The average grunt would never have been given armor, and the top line officers owned equipment of much better quality.
That didn’t make the war drone any less intimidating.
In fact, it was quite the contrary. Gus would have struggled with a common class two.
Let alone a class one who was intelligent enough to secure a spot in the Tsavitee’s hierarchy.
No easy feat considering their culture heavily favored survival of the fittest and believed the best way to earn a promotion was by slaughtering your competition.
The most concerning thing about the class one was the semi-melted state of the amber resin wall keeping it in suspended animation. That’s what Gus had stepped in a second ago. Its hibernation goo.
Half of one arm and part of its head had already been freed. The resin dripped toward the floor like wax placed under a warm lamp for too long.
The Tsavitee blinked. Its eyes shifted to focus on her.
Gus squeaked and jumped, nearly falling on her ass for the second time in as many minutes. Her legs tried to slip out from under her. She saved herself by putting one hand down on the floor. At the slightly warm, sticky sensation under her palm, she jerked her hand back up almost instantly.
The Tsavitee’s fingers twitched. Its hand opening and closing.
This time Gus managed to stifle her squeak, maintaining an outward calm despite the way her heart was pounding in her chest.
No need to panic. You have time. It can’t move yet. It’s still trapped.
For the next few minutes anyway.
The Tsavitee’s gaze reminded Gus of a ravenous monster as she examined its stasis pod for an explanation as to why the honeycomb was suddenly showing signs of life. It felt awfully convenient that this was happening just as she was passing through.
Why now? Why this moment?
Gus studied the blinking symbols to the right of the Tsavitee’s stasis chamber.
Thaw protocol initiated, Gus read.
Well, that answered that. Someone woke him up.
Gus swallowed hard, feeling slightly sick to her stomach. Only one person had come this way before her. The Tuann she was following.
There was no way. He couldn’t have known he was being followed. She’d been so careful. Not even someone of Caius’s skills would have picked up on her presence. There had to be another explanation.
She was still lost in thought as something moved across her peripheral vision. Gus jolted as shapes elongated on the wall to her right, reaching distorted proportions before stabilizing into something familiar.
People, Gus realized. The resin of the walls in this section must be thinner than others. She was seeing their shadows through the walls.
Could they also see her?
She didn’t think so. From the way they were moving, quickly and without delay, as if they were on a mission, it was obvious that they hadn’t noticed her presence. And probably wouldn’t as long as she maintained her distance from the wall separating them.
There was a low murmur, but Gus couldn’t make out what was being said. The words were too indistinct and garbled. They moved out of sight a second later.
Gus thought she understood a little better why this Tsavitee had been woken up.
A quarter hour ago, the Tuann she was following had undergone an abrupt course correction.
The tactical strike team on the other side of that wall must have been the reason for his detour.
He must have stumbled across their presence and decided to wake the Tsavitee as a means of dealing with them.
Gus just had the bad luck to stumble across it before it could complete its task.
The class one pushed against the walls of its prison. They stretched outward like sticky taffy.
Gus probably needed to do something about that.
“One of these days, I really need to stop sticking my nose into things that don’t involve me,” Gus grumbled, grabbing a vial from one of the pockets lining the interior of her cloak.
She dumped the powdery substance into the palm of her hand and waited for the Tsavitee to stick its head out of its prison.
It didn’t take long.
His ravenous eyes on her, the Tsavitee opened its mouth on a triumphant roar and promptly choked on the powder she blew into its face.
There. Done.
The Tsavitee convulsed, not quite dead, but getting there, as she walked away, careful to brush any powder residue off her hands. Wouldn’t want to accidentally kill Anandra or Caius when she found them. This stuff was quite toxic.
“I guess I no longer have to worry about Kira making it to the party in time,” Gus murmured, leaving the cell behind.