9. HYRAN
9
HYRAN
MedBot713: Butler Bot 35, TowerAI tells me you are hosting the Argentean Team Three. I am contacting you on behalf of all nurse bots who interacted with Guardian Vin since the first time he came here and was treated for his injuries.
Butler Bot 35: Thank you for reaching out and thank you for taking care of Guardian Vin. He has since recovered well. May I inquire about Conduit Coldis’s condition after the Battle of Starlit Stage?
MedBot713: Guardian Vin has forcibly moved up the Conduit’s release. He has threatened several nurse bots since he first arrived. We thought it was due to his injuries at first, but we are not so sure now. One of the new nurse bots said Guardian Vin threatened to cut it open.
Butler Bot 35: I don’t think Guardian Vin meant that. He simply likes his personal space.
MedBot713: None of us wants to judge a Guardian. We decided to reach out to warn you. That is all. And watch Conduit Coldis. The Conduit is a stubborn patient, and Guardian Vin enables him.
Butler Bot 35: That does sound rather judgmental, MedBot713, but I will of course keep an eye on my team.
MedBot713: Please do. One of the physicians in training is in need of some calming tea after interacting with Guardian Vin. I must see to him now.
Butler Bot 35: Of course. I have to prepare for my team’s arrival as well. Thank you for reaching out and sharing your observations.
(GroundsChat, bot network of the Grounds)
The protector his mama had sent along to run errands had indeed found them and had delivered Col’s torn and filthy dress and shoes. Hyran had taken advantage of the eager protector and had asked her to go to his place and pick up a few things.
“You will be staying here, Guardian Mana?” she’d asked.
I’ll be wherever he is.
It was true, but what Hyran wanted to do was take his Conduit home, get to know him better, beg him for channeling again, because Col’s channeling was unlike anything he’d ever experienced with another Conduit. It was like the best run along a straight stretch of road when he was at just the right speed and a blur to everyone else. When the world around him was crisp and clear only to his Guardian senses.
After the protector had left on her mission, Hyran had sat back down to watch Col push his half-eaten pancakes and unfinished coffee aside before heading to the room he’d taken and clearly shared with Taros to get his larger screen.
Hyran hadn’t said anything, hadn’t done anything but follow Col, because letting him out of his sight, he could not, not with all these people around Hyran didn’t know and trust yet.
The room Col had shared with Taros was large, but there was only one bed. It had been made, leaving no trace of what—if anything—had happened there, but Hyran couldn’t see any obvious division of space anywhere in the room.
He doesn’t live here though. This is temporary housing for them, nothing more.
Still, Hyran couldn’t help his thoughts tumble. Taros and Coldis had chosen to bed down together in a strange city. What if they lived together back in Argentea? Did they share a bed there each night as well? What Col had said—convenience of sexual encounters—didn’t sound like that, but Hyran could understand why Col might want to keep the details to himself.
Hyran looked at two pairs of shoes, one large and belonging to Taros, the other small and thus Col’s. The left shoe of the bigger pair—shiny and with a substantial heel—had fallen over, lay on the smaller pair. Hyran sighed.
“What?” Col was looking up from his screen, the one he had retrieved from Vin.
“Nothing.”
“I’m moving to a new room, obviously.” Col looked at a chest of drawers. “I’ll just change out of these ugly yellow pants first.” He dropped the screen onto the bed and pulled a drawer open. “You are still wearing your uniform.”
Hyran could only stand in the bedroom and feel awkward. “I didn’t want to leave you to change.”
“They would have given you these elegant yellow rags at the clinic if you’d asked nicely. We’d be matching now.”
Hyran huffed. “You look gorgeous, Col.”
Col pulled out soft-looking house wear, white pants and a blue shirt several shades darker than his eye. “All imprinted Guardians are such charmers.”
“It’s the truth.”
Hyran watched in silence as Col got undressed and tossed the pajamas in a corner. It was the shower all over again, but Col wasn’t as vulnerable now. He took his time with the shirt and watched Hyran right back, not inviting, just assessing. For some reason, that calmed Hyran, made him want to please the Conduit and do whatever Col asked of him.
“Thank you for letting me stay here.”
Hyran swallowed. “Of course.”
Col got dressed quickly after that, grabbed his regular screen and a larger device, and headed back to the living space.
There, they settled back at the large table where Col began by simply gathering every piece of information about the attack he had. Hyran was admiring all of it, down to the program Col’s office AI was using to create a timeline of events. It was an efficient process that showed the major events, how and when the celebration had gone wrong, the first deaths.
“So, about your mother,” Col said, tapping an item that read “Municipal security” and reading the bulleted information.
“I can ask if one of them is available. The last I heard was that all of them were very busy.”
Col nodded, then glanced at his screen when it pinged. “What the—oh, fuck.”
“What now?” Taros asked. The Guadian was on his own screen, sitting at the table across from them.
“I was looking for the psionomancers. I had to go to the Ferrean Judiciary AIs to figure out they were holding all the insurrectionist Guardians, of course, but that’s mostly all they’re doing. They haven’t had any psionomancers talk to them yet.
“There’s a reason for that. Two of them’re dead, and the other one is in the clinic in a healing coma.”
“Were they at Starlit Stage?” Vin asked from the couch.
Col frowned. “I’m not sure. But the timestamps from the security bots’ reports don’t match the attack. The psionomancers were discovered dead before it happened, and the survivor was brought to the clinic about an hour prior to it.”
Hyran tensed. “Where were they? Maybe they saw something and were trying to stop it.”
Col shook his head and turned his screen so Hyran could see. “I don’t know the addresses, but this one is a private residence, and that one says ‘Conduit training.’ The other one was in the G&C Center, in a bathroom of all the places.”
“But how—I don’t understand.”
Taros snorted. “Again, Ferrea. Not my favorite city.”
Col tilted his head. “Tar-Tar, I’m sure if you ask very nicely, Hyran will tell you where that restaurant is. Maybe we can even all go together while we are still here.”
“If you feel up to that,” Hyran heard himself say.
Col gave him a beautiful little smile. “If you just give in, Taros will never overcome his stubbornness. He’ll torture you forever.”
Taros dropped his screen before crossing his arms. “I’m not stubborn.”
“You know what your brain feels like when even you know you’re telling a lie?” Vin asked. “Mushy. Uncomfortably mushy.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Hyran saw the small Conduit, Yamara, sit up straighter. “You can tell when someone’s lying? Then you can take over for the psionomancers. Make sure the Golden Indigos are sentenced quickly.”
Col turned. “Well, they aren’t high on my list, and Vinnie won’t be able to get anything a Judiciary AI will value like a psionomancer’s statement, but you’re right. He can tell when someone’s lying.”
Vin’s boring gaze settled on Col, which appeared to creep out Hyran more than Col himself. “You want to talk to Alesa.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not,” Hyran said. Everyone looked at him, but it was the pinch of hurt in Col’s eyes that smarted. “I mean, what Judiciary AI would let you talk to him? It would be wrong. If he has a history of accosting you—”
“Sometimes, when you puppeteer someone too hard, it leaves brain damage,” Vin mused, and Hyran felt a sudden kinship with the creepy Guardian. Not that he would willingly turn his back on Vin, but he agreed with him on the benefits of brain damage for certain people.
Col just looked at Hyran, long and hard. Insensitive Hound-fucker. The words he’d called him echoed in Hyran’s head. He wanted many things between himself and Col, was willing to beg for most. Spite wasn’t one of them.
“Would you call your mothers? We’ll talk about the psionomancers later. Please.”
Hyran nodded. “Of course. I just—I’ll call.”
Col nodded. He looked worried about something, bit his nail before shooting to his feet suddenly. “I’ll go talk to the Op-AI.”
Hyran stood, screen in hand. “I—”
Col smiled up at him. “Can you wait here, please? I’ll just be…well, I’ll actually go and pick another room. There are enough in this place. Yamara—”
“I’m in the furthest on the left.”
“Right. Please, just wait here, Hyran. Talk to your mothers.”
He nodded, but as soon as Col had vanished down the hallway to the bedrooms, his skin was itching and every instinct he had told him to run to Col. He bit his tongue until he tasted blood. I wish I’d never touched him, met him. No, I wish I’d met him first. I could have spent all my life loving him and showing him I love him.
Hyran could tell the two Guardians and the Conduit were watching him. He didn’t care. He knew he should be calling his mama at least, but he couldn’t move, not without his Conduit.
With no better option, he stayed still.