Orange, bright, flickering. Coaxing the tiny fire into life, and the excitement building. Can’t do it here. It’s not safe here. Mum will be back soon. It’ll be different when I have my own place. Next year on Teen Level, I’ll be able …
“Target is north of us,” I said. “Age twelve.”
“Male or female?” asked Lucas.
With Lucas sitting right next to me, hearing him speak was enough to make me link back to his mind. Its normal glow had been dulled by anxiety, but now his thoughts flared out, shining dazzlingly bright with exhilaration and relief. I spent a moment basking in the warmth of his delight before forcing myself to concentrate on my job again.
“Target is male. Fires excite him. His name is Perry. He’s at home now. Alone at the moment, but his mother is due back soon. I don’t think he has any weapons.”
“We have a location,” said Nicole’s voice through my ear crystal. “Five cors north, one west of you.”
“Call for medical assistance,” said Adika, “and tell them to wait for us at the end of the corridor. Four of us should be more than sufficient to deal with an unarmed twelve-year-old boy. Forge, Caleb, Rothan, come with me. The rest of you stay here.”
Adika had drilled it into my head that seemingly simple situations could go horribly wrong. I dutifully ran circuits on the four minds until Adika announced the target was secured, then relaxed and turned to look at Lucas.
“What will the medical staff do with Perry?”
“Probably give him a little therapy to control his fascination with fires during his time on Teen Level. Once he reaches Lottery, he’ll be allocated work that involves fire, and his obsession with it will become a useful asset.”
I saw an image in Lucas’s mind. A man watching a red-hot furnace, where a tangle of discarded metal objects were melting into glowing liquid.
I hesitated for a moment, and then switched off my ear crystal. Lucas raised his eyebrows, but turned his crystal off as well.
“Why are we having a secret conference?” he asked.
“I was just wondering what will happen to Callum.”
Lucas shrugged. “A forensic psychologist will study his case, and assess ways of making him into a productive member of the Hive.”
I waved my hands in despair. “No one can make Callum into a productive member of the Hive. He stabbed people.”
“Callum seemed to believe his wishes were paramount, and he had the right to do anything he wanted to other people,” said Lucas. “If that’s a long term, deeply ingrained attitude, then treating him may be extremely difficult, however he escalated in behaviour very quickly. It’s possible his attitude is a recent development, in which case it may be possible to reset him.”
I’d no idea what Lucas meant by that, so I checked his thoughts and gasped in shock. “They’d take away Callum’s memories of stabbing people, and send him back to live on Teen Level again!”
“It’s much more complicated than that,” said Lucas. “I only know the very basics about this, but they’d reset Callum’s mind, unravelling his personal experience chain to take him back to the point where his ego problem either didn’t exist or could be treated with appropriate medication and therapy. Once he’s cured, he can …”
“Who decides he’s cured?” I interrupted. “Who decides it’s safe to let Callum live on Teen Level again, and what if they’re wrong?”
“In a case this serious, either Sapphire or Morton would make that decision,” said Lucas. “Eventually, you’ll be assessing reset cases too. Patients have been known to fool even a borderline telepath psychologist into thinking they’re cured and referring them for telepath assessment. No one can fool a true telepath though.”
“Oh.” I frowned as I thought that over. “I suppose that might work, but it doesn’t seem right that there’d be no consequences for Callum at all. Not even guilt. He stabbed people, he could easily have killed someone, but he’d go back to live on Teen Level without even remembering what he’d done.”
“It would be far more difficult to treat Callum if he remembered stabbing someone.”
“But if the girl doesn’t remember what Callum did either, he could end up dating her again.”
“That wouldn’t be allowed to happen,” said Lucas. “Reset cases are always relocated to a distant area of the Hive, because close contact with someone involved in their past behaviour could trigger remaining fragments of memory.”
He paused. “It’s better to salvage someone than to waste them. Better for the person. Better for the Hive.”
“I suppose so,” I said doubtfully. I wasn’t sure what I thought about this. I wasn’t even sure what Lucas thought about it. How much of what he was saying were his own ideas, and how much came from his imprinted data?
Lucas was studying my expression. “Amber, the reason I don’t worry too much about these things is because I know the Hive has no shortage of borderline telepath experts to treat people. The huge problem is it only has five true telepaths to catch wild bees before they hurt people. Yesterday, you saw what happens when we fail to do that. Today, you saw what happens when we succeed. It’s better, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Far better.”
“Our unit is operational now. If we focus on doing our jobs, and help the Hive get more stable, then there’ll be fewer emergency runs. That’s the real answer to your concern, Amber. We can make sure there are fewer cases like Callum and more like Perry. We can make sure no one needs their memories of traumatic events removing, by preventing those events from happening in the first place.”
That definitely did make sense. “You’re right.”
Lucas switched on his ear crystal again. “I’m hungry.”
I switched mine on as well. “I’m starving.”
“The rest of us would like to eat too,” said Adika’s voice through my ear crystal.
Lucas jumped up. “There’s a restaurant over there. After we’ve eaten, you can help me buy socks, Amber.”
My new life was one where chasing knife-wielding wild bees intermingled with buying socks. Lucas grabbed my hand, pulled me to my feet, and towed me into the restaurant. As we sat down at a table, groups of Strike team members strolled in to join us.
A smiling girl arrived and handed us menu cards, before hurrying to deal with her sudden rush of muscled, black-haired, male customers.
Lucas studied the menu. “I’m afraid they don’t have melon juice here.”
“I can survive on other drinks.” I remembered something. “Eight levels.”
“What?”
“Your head currently has eight levels between pre-vocalization and the subconscious.”
“You’re reading me again?” He grinned. “Speeds discussion. Level content?”
“The level seven content is totally unsuitable for an open sound link. Level eight … I’m not even going to hint at level eight.”
“Lucas has a filthy mind?” asked Adika’s amused voice in my ear crystal. “I’m profoundly shocked to hear that.”
“His mind is a slime vat that needs scrubbing out with disinfectant,” I said.
Lucas laughed.
Chapter Eighteen
I stood outside the gym, furtively watching Sofia work on her latest mural. She’d painted several dazzling flower designs in the accommodation area of the unit. Those had been scanned into the Hive records, to be copied by other mural painters or even traded to other Hives. This mural was totally different, a wickedly accurate caricature of Adika scolding a cowering Strike team.
Sofia took a step back to scowl fiercely at her painting, finally noticed I was there, and waved an impatient paintbrush at me. “Go away!”
I hastily retreated in the direction of the park. Sofia didn’t like people watching her working, and had a habit of blobbing paint on people who didn’t leave fast enough when ordered, whether they were lowly office cleaners or illustrious telepaths.
Once inside the park, I walked along the path by the stream, listening to t
he soothing sound of the water while enjoying the warmth of the suns overhead. Our unit had been fully operational for three weeks now, and it felt like three months or three years. We’d done a dozen relaxed check runs, and handled seven tense emergencies.
The old voice of self-loathing that lurked in the corner of my mind hadn’t vanished entirely, but it was far quieter now. When I learned I was a true telepath, I’d naively set out strict rules for my future behaviour. I’d broken all those rules by now because they were impossible to keep, but I’d saved over twenty lives already, and I knew I would save many more in future. That had earned me some grudging self acceptance.
The shadows of Olivia and York disturbed me less often too. I thought I’d made it past the main danger points for a new telepath, and the pressure on me and the other telepaths should gradually ease in future. With my unit fully operational and helping the others, there were already signs that the Hive mind’s downward spiral into chaos had been reversed.
I just had a couple of minor worries now. It was much harder to arrange for my parents to visit me now that my unit was operational. If they witnessed me heading off on an emergency run, the cover story of me heading a research unit would fall apart. I had to settle for arranging last minute visits during the mandatory twenty-four hour recovery time after an emergency run. I’d blamed the problem on the demands of my mysterious research work, explaining to my parents that I only had free time when a long experiment was running, and so far they’d accepted that without asking too many questions.
The other concern was Forge. The weird effect he’d had on me in the past had vanished without trace. It must have been an ordinary teen crush after all, and had faded away because of my developing relationship with Lucas. Now I wanted to tell everyone that I’d known Forge on Teen Level, but Forge was still nervous of pointing fingers and accusations of favouritism. He wanted to be sure he’d proved himself, to Adika as well as his team mates, before we told them the truth. I hoped Forge wouldn’t insist on us waiting for much longer. I didn’t feel comfortable hiding things from Lucas.
I sat down on the grass by the stream’s edge, and closed my eyes to think of Lucas. It was a couple of months now since he’d walked into that room in Hive Futura, and I’d first seen his amazing mind. Since then, he’d let me roam freely inside his head, and I knew him better than I’d ever known anyone in my life. Lucas had thrown open the door to the apartment of his mind, and told me to explore wherever I liked.
He’d shown me all his memories, good or bad. He’d applied the logic that he was no saint, but no especial sinner either. There was nothing there that was worse than I’d see in any number of other minds, and he trusted me not to judge him harshly. He’d accidentally walked into my bedroom, seen me naked, and the discarded clothes littering the floor. I’d seen much more intimate things about him.
I was a private, defensive person, and the sheer openness of Lucas stunned me even more than his brilliance. He’d told me that he had no secrets and he truly meant it. His feelings for me weren’t just constantly in his thoughts for me to read, he was advertising them to the amused audience of the entire unit. I didn’t understand how he could put himself at risk of laughter and ridicule like that.
Lucas had been totally and utterly honest with me, and if he found out I …
A warbling sound filled the air and a computerized voice spoke. “Unit emergency alert. Unit emergency alert. We have an incident in progress. Operational teams to stations. Strike team to lift 2.”
I jumped to my feet and sprinted for my apartment. Once inside, I left a trail of garments on my way to the bedroom, grabbed the body armour and the set of clothes that Hannah had hung with it, dressed, and snatched my crystal unit from its place on a shelf before running for the lift. When I arrived there, I found the entire Strike team were already inside, including the two who were officially on down time today.
I put my ear crystal in place, and heard the familiar routine start up as the doors closed and the lift headed downwards.
“Strike team is moving,” said Adika.
Lucas’s voice spoke in my ear crystal. “Tactical ready.” He was safely in the office with the rest of the Tactical team.
“Liaison ready. Tracking status green.” Nicole sounded tense but calm. She’d settled in well as Liaison team leader.
I checked my dataview. All the Strike team were on my circuit list, including the two who’d chosen to come along with us rather than go shopping or visit family. “Green here too.”
Lucas started briefing us. “We have an emergency call about an incident, definitely strength four, potentially six or higher.”
I was already tense, but my nerves stretched tighter. Strength six was a death. What was worse than dead people?
“A child is missing,” Lucas said. “A girl aged three.”
How could you lose a three-year-old? Children were tagged with unbreakable tracking bracelets until they were ten, so parents could always check up on their location. Having your bracelet removed was one of the significant stages in growing up. You got increased privacy, new rights, and the responsibilities that went with them.
“The girl’s bracelet is no longer functioning.”
Lucas was in briefing speech mode. Explaining clearly, using all the words, his voice calm and relaxed to build his listeners’ confidence in our ability to handle whatever crisis was being thrown at us this time. There was something different from previous emergency runs though. He had an unusual edge to his voice as he continued speaking.
“It’s possible this was a freak bracelet failure at a bad time, but you should assume the child was abducted and the bracelet deliberately sabotaged by a target or targets. Incident location is 601/2603 Level 80.”
Now I knew why there was that odd edge to Lucas’s voice. He’d been worried about the area around 600/2600 for months. Keith had been there twice and found nothing. I’d been there once myself, found nothing either, and had another trip planned for next week. That return trip had arrived ahead of schedule.
“Warning signs have been appearing in this area over a long period,” said Lucas, “but they have no discernible pattern. You should assume your target, or targets, are extremely dangerous.”
Adika started talking. “First priority, always, Amber stays safe. Second priority, finding the child. Group assignments are …”
He rattled out names and groups. I glanced at my dataview, and was startled to see eight names listed to be my bodyguards instead of the usual five. Lucas had infected me with his worries about area 600/2600, and he’d obviously got to Adika too.
“Incident location is a park,” said Nicole. “People in the area are getting upset. They’re demanding a telepath to help find the child.”
“Send in one of the fake nosy patrol groups to calm them down,” said Lucas.
I frowned. “Lucas, I can’t work with people’s minds screaming numbers at me. You remember what happened when I was out last week. A nosy patrol got too close, I lost my target, and it took nearly an hour to find her again.”
“People won’t be hostile this time,” said Lucas. “They want that child found, so the nosy will be welcomed.”
“Sending nosy patrol,” said Nicole. “There’s one nearby. They should be at the location in a couple of minutes.”
We were out of the lift, riding an express belt, when Nicole reported again. “The nosy patrol is getting a good reception from the crowd.”
“Now ask people to leave the immediate area,” said Lucas. “Tell them the telepath is looking for a very small child, who may well be hurt, even unconscious. The young mind will be very weak and hard to hear. The telepath needs people to move out of the area so they can concentrate.”
“Making announcement.” Nicole was silent for couple of minutes before speaking again. “People are leaving the area. We’ve persuaded the parents to move to a distance too. Hasties at the scene are trying heat detectors with no success so far.”
“Adika
, please make your final approach by lift,” said Lucas. “We’ve just asked everyone to leave, so we don’t want you seen coming in.”
Adika got us to jump belt, then took us into a lift and down a few levels to Level 84. We rode the belt there for a bit more, before swapping back into another lift.
“Approaching scene,” said Adika. “Crystal units to visual.”
I adjusted my ear crystal so the camera unfolded, and touched it briefly with my fingertips to check it was correctly in position by the right side of my face.
“Visual links green for all Strike team,” said Nicole.
My eight bodyguards clustered round me, guns in hand, as the lift opened. They were really tense about this run. I was too.
Chase team left the lift first. When they’d formed a defensive perimeter, my bodyguards hustled me across to a nice solid tree trunk and formed a human wall round me. Something silver caught my eye. I instinctively looked upwards, and glimpsed a silver and gold balloon caught in the branches of the tree above us.
“Amber, you’re at the child’s last known location,” said Lucas.
I forgot the balloon, huddled into a ball, and shut my eyes. Everyone was acting like I was in mortal danger, but I had to ignore that and sit defenceless with my eyes closed. For the first time, I wished I carried a gun like the Strike team, but I wouldn’t know how to use one if I did.
I had to forget about the danger. I could trust my team to keep me safe whatever the cost. My bodyguards would die for me. That fact was clear in their heads right now, too strong to miss. They’d kill to defend me. They’d die to save me. I’d never been hit with that so directly before, and I felt a surge of emotion in response. I loved them. All of them. My Strike team were my brothers, my friends, my family. They’d defend me to the death, and I’d care for them in return.
I forced that emotion away, and made myself concentrate on my job. If we were in danger here, then I mustn’t waste time. I reached out past the familiar minds, and encountered the thoughts of the nosy squad. They were feeling frustrated that they could only pretend to be useful rather than actually help.