| Phase 27 I glanced over at Devon and Matik, who slept soundly, an empty bowl in front of each. Then they wouldn�t be hungry. Good, because I was. I took the first tray and the two containers and sat back. I love breakfast. It must be the best mealtime ever because I love all the different styles of cooked egg and just about everything else that goes with it. Unfortunately, I don�t remember ever getting breakfast until I joined Bart. Maybe that�s why I love it so much. I began to eat and it wasn�t too long before Bart registered the scent of warm food in the vicinity and woke up. He watched me eat, then made a pouty face and blinked large, puppy-dog eyes at me. I set my tray out of his reach and climbed over him again to get the other tray and drink containers. � Where did this come from?� � I don�t know. They were here when I woke up.� Bart twisted to look at his alarm clock. � Hm? I don�t remember having it like that.� He spun it around so its face was toward him. � I thought so. Sig�s fattening us up for execution.� It was eight-forty-five a.m. Two hours and forty-five minutes after we should�ve been up. Uh oh. We finished our food and dressed for the day, then went on a manhunt. No one had seen Sig since breakfast and Citan seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet as well. Maison, as usual, knew exactly where both of them were. (How does he find this stuff out? He almost never leaves the gunroom!) � Master Sigurd and the good doctor are questioning the assassin caught last night.� We thanked him and headed down to the Prisoner�s Hall. The door to the first room was open, but we didn�t try to go through it. The dull hum of electricity kept us back. Bart stood right outside the doorway and looked in, but I stayed to the side. I wanted to eavesdrop and besides, I didn�t want the woman to see me and try to kill me again. � Come on, Kris.� � Bart, shh!� I hissed. He tilted his head and blinked cutely, then smiled. � Oh, don�t worry. This electric field makes us invisible and inaudible to anyone inside. Just don�t touch the field. Not only will you get shocked, but everyone�ll know you�re here.� I stepped out from the wall, standing slightly behind him. He put his arm around my shoulders and drew me closer. I settled down right away and relaxed. We watched the questioning go nowhere and watched Sig get increasingly frustrated with the woman. � This is the last time I�m going to ask you,� Sig grated. � Why are you trying to kill her?� The woman snorted. � That was my order. I don�t know specifics.� Sig let out an angry yell and pulled his right arm back, swinging full force at her face. At the last second he shifted and his fist just grazed her cheek, but it was enough to knock her onto the bed. She lifted her hand to her face and looked up at Sig in surprise. � I . . . I never thought you�d do that.� She sat up, massaging her cheek absently and staring at Sig. � My, you�ve changed.� � That was pretty cool,� Bart commented. � I don�t think Sig�s ever lost it to that degree.� � Ana, please,� Citan pleaded with the woman. � I do not want to see you in a coma, but I cannot stop him. You are making our jobs very difficult and we have a right to know why.� � Your job? What does this have to do with your job?� � If you kill her, �he� will awaken and slaughter the rest of us. I am sure you agree that it is not worth your own life just to slay an innocent girl.� � Look, Hyuga, I don�t care about your job. My job is to get rid of her. That is a direct order from the Ministry. And as for her being innocent . . . the ungrateful brat nearly murdered Kahr!� � He provoked her!� Sig snapped. � Did he just expect her to sit back and watch while he killed her brother? And besides, what does she have to be grateful to him for?!� � He saved her!� � He kidnapped her and ran tests on her and put a Control Chip in her head! She has nothing to be grateful to him for! She almost has no childhood because of him! She can�t remember anything!� � That�s better than being alone!� � I think she would�ve preferred being alone!� � He kept her from getting killed!� � Yes, so he could nearly get her killed himself! He put a proven-deadly virus in her and left her to die! He had Dominia come down here and give her a doubled dose of Drive! She was on the edge of death for weeks both times and he never did one damn thing to help her!� The woman sighed and shook her head. � She�s a Lamb. She�s expendable.� � I�m a �Lamb�! Why didn�t he test everything on me?! A few more tests wouldn�t�ve hurt! At least I understood that Solaris is too chicken to test their stuff on themselves! She had no idea! She was terrified!� � Your powers aren�t particularly spectacular. They�re average. The tests needed to be run on someone who was extraordinarily strong.� � And that�s why you�re trying to kill her?! Because the Ministry thinks she�s going to go after them next?!� � Exactly.� � She can�t even get to them! How do they expect her to do that?!� The woman shrugged. � They apparently think that she will find a way. They don�t want to underestimate her.� Sig sat back down in his chair. � So that�s it? That�s the whole reason?� She blinked in surprise. � . . . How did you do that? I�ve stood against all types of torture without speaking and you . . .� � That�s my secret,� Sig told her. � Just think of it as a trick I picked up a few years ago down here on the surface. You can now say you have been cheated by a lowly Lamb.� � Who am I to tell? I was told that if I failed this time, I was to be terminated. I won�t go back until I complete my task.� � Then you�ll be here in isolation until you either agree to leave her alone or go mad.� � What if I escape?� � You won�t. No one can come down here unless they have the proper authorization codes and there are plenty of individual security systems that are activated in different ways. You may get into the hall if you�re lucky, but to get any farther you�ll have to be in a body bag.� Sig stood. � I don�t think you really want to get out that badly.� He came to the door and looked at us. � You can let me out now.� Bart put a code into the panel beside the doorway and the field dissipated for a minute. � How�d you know we were out here?� � You two are snoops. I knew you�d come looking for us and then eavesdrop to see what you could find out.� The woman saw me and leapt up, rushing at Sig�s back. Citan moved too late to catch her. I broke away from Bart and ducked under Sig�s arm into the room. I met her head-on and drew back my right arm to punch her. She caught my fist as I expected and tried to knock my feet out from under me. I hopped up and pulled my left arm back, socking her square in the face. She staggered backward and leaned against the wall, stunned. She came after me again, but Citan caught her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. Bart did the same to me and Sig stood between us to keep us from kicking at each other. Bart drug me out of the room and Citan spun around, releasing the woman to the smaller half of the room where she couldn�t reach me without going through he and Sig. Sig and Citan exited the room and the door slid shut. Sig turned to me. � That was infinitely stupid, Kris.� � She was going to hurt you to get to me. I thought I�d save her the trouble and meet her half way.� � It�s possible she could have killed you. She finds ways even in a room like that. If nothing else, she would have strangled you.� I stared up at him for a few seconds, then blinked. I was immediately submerged in emotions and memories. Blinking again, I said, � Do you care about her so much that you have to threaten me?� � She�s not afraid of death,� he replied quickly. � And you think I am?� I turned and headed to the elevator. � Sometimes I wish death would come and take me.� I got in the elevator and spun. � From the story you tell, I should�ve died at least four times by now. I think Death owes me for waiting this long.� The doors closed and I went to the top floor. Opening the hatch, I climbed up onto the deck. The Yggdrasil was already beached from last night�s travel and I saw a large house with a windmill and a fenced yard. Must be that young Etone�s orphanage . . . Yep. The noise of wildly screaming children is unmistakable. Listen to me. �Young Etone�. From what I understand, the kid isn�t much younger than me and I�m talking like I�m an old woman. Well, might as well check the place out. If the Etone doesn�t mind, it could be my secret retreat or something when I needed time . . . How ironic. An orphan using an orphanage to hide from the world instead of find a place in it. With Devon trotting at my heels, I made my way up to the place and stopped outside the open gate. A small blue dragon sat at attention, watching us. I knew that getting past it would be impossible unless it approved of our presence. Friend or foe? he demanded. Friend, Devon answered. I am Devon and this is my human, Kris. We are exploring and happened to see this place. May we enter? Wait here. The dragon ran inside and was gone for a few minutes. He returned with the Etone who I recognized through Bart�s description (I didn�t want to go into the �Ethos� headquarters, so I�d missed meeting him). He was about my height and wore a blue trenchcoat with a large light green bow and rather exotic boots. His hair was a light steel grey and his eyes were a piercing green. I could see that a lot of bad things had happened in his life. � May I help you?� the Etone asked politely. � Well, I didn�t think my being here would bother everyone so much,� I replied with a small shake of my head. � The day�s been really rough so far and I happened to see this place and I thought I�d stop by and be a little nosy if nobody minded. If it�s not convenient for you, I�ll leave.� He shook his head in reply. � You may look around if you like. I have nothing to hide here. Synek is just very protective of the children.� Synek . . . �Priest�s Faith�. How appropriate. He frowned thoughtfully. � You look familiar. I think I�ve seen you somewhere before.� What? How could he have seen me if I�ve never seen him? � Beg your pardon?� � . . . I�m sorry. I know that sounds strange. Oh! You look like the man I got permission to have treated at the headquarters!� He paused. � At least, I thought he was a man.� I laughed. � You were not mistaken. My brother is still unconscious.� He seemed relieved. � Are you twins?� � No, we just look a lot alike. We�re a little more than year apart. I�m seventeen; he�s eighteen.� � Boy, I hope I don�t get you two mixed up.� I shook my head. � After a while, our differences become very apparent. He�s three rhals taller than me and only has one of these.� I pointed at my identical bang locks. � Actually, besides our hair and facial structure, we�re nothing alike.� He nodded. � And since I can look you in the eye, that means we�re about the same height. I�d have to look up at him, wouldn�t I?� � Yes, but not much.� He looked down at his dragon, then at mine, then winced. � Oh! Sorry! I forgot to introduce myself!� I waved it off. I wasn�t offended. I wouldn�t give my name out to anybody who walked up to my home either. � It�s all right. I�ve been told that I can make a complete stranger feel like they�ve known me for years.� � Rest assured, they weren�t lying!� He held out his hand. � Billy Lee Black. You can call me Billy.� I shook his hand. � Krista-Lyn Wong. I prefer Kris. Very few use my full first name unless they�re mad at me though.� He again frowned thoughtfully. � Your name is familiar, like I�ve heard it before . . . No. I�m sorry. Must be my imagination.� <--Phase 26 Phase 28--> |