Telepath

  He paused a bare second for breath. “Amber’s utterly deadly with a gun too. She just scored a hit on me in her first ever duel. Only two other people have ever managed to hit me in a duel, and they were both experienced Strike team leaders.”

  Barrett hunched defensively in his chair. “Clearly there were strong arguments in favour of removing the imprint quickly.”

  Adika slowly sat down, but still oozed menace. I stared at him for a blank moment. He’d really meant what he said. He thought I could be a more deadly opponent than any of his Strike team.

  Barrett pulled himself together and started speaking again in a subdued voice. “We need to capture Elden and submit him as evidence to Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement. Systematic interrogation will force him to confirm our story. Tissue and bone trace analysis will be even more useful, providing a record of his physical location throughout his life. That will prove both his origin from Hive Genex, and the periods of time he’s spent in our territory.”

  Barrett smiled. “Hive Genex could claim Elden’s verbal statements were the result of delusion or brainwashing, but physical location evidence is impossible to explain away. Anyone transferring from Hive Genex to our Hive would never have returned home again. Personnel trades and transfers are irrevocable and permanent.”

  “Would the physical location evidence show if Elden has visited any other Hives?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Barrett made a dismissive gesture, showing his lack of interest in other Hives.

  I nodded. “So those Hives could be warned that Elden might have imprinted their future true telepaths.”

  “Yes,” said Lucas. “Proving our case to Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement would also make them deeply suspicious of any future requests for transfer by true telepaths or other key personnel. Hive Genex wouldn’t be able to use this method to steal people in future, and neither would any other Hives.”

  “Our Hive would benefit financially as well.” Barrett’s face took on a disagreeable, gloating expression. “We could expect Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement to impose severe penalties on Hive Genex, including making significant payments to our Hive as compensation for their action against us.”

  Adika’s forehead creased. “We have to catch Elden and hand him over to Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement then? We can’t deal with him ourselves? I was hoping to do something rather nasty to him.”

  Lucas pulled a face. “How sadistic were you planning to be, Adika? Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement will put Elden through destruction analysis. If you’re thinking of doing anything approaching that bad to him, then you’re a sick man.”

  I sneaked a look at Lucas’s thoughts, and wished I hadn’t. Destruction analysis meant using every possible technique to get information from someone, regardless of the physical and mental damage it caused. If Elden was lucky, he’d die early rather than late in the process.

  “So everything depends on us catching Elden,” said Adika. “Are we done here? It’s already dark Outside, so we could make a start on our trip now.”

  Lucas glanced at Barrett, and then stood up. “Are you ready for this, Amber?”

  I tried to forget that disturbing insight into what Elden would face if we caught him. I wouldn’t wish that agonizing, prolonged death on anyone, but I couldn’t let Elden and his Hive do to others what they’d done to me and my unit. “Yes, I’m ready.”

  “I’ll tell the Strike team that we’re moving in thirty minutes,” said Adika.

  I stood up. “One last thing. Nicole, return Barrett to Hive Trade. Tell them I don’t want anyone in my unit who forges Hive records to further his personal career.”

  I didn’t bother to look at Barrett’s face, just walked out of the room.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Lucas and I went back to my apartment in total silence. Once we were safely inside the entrance hall, I stopped and gave him a guilty look. “I’ve just destroyed Barrett’s career, haven’t I?”

  “Definitely,” said Lucas. “When Hive Trade get that message, they’ll double-check every move the man has ever made. Even if they can’t find anything suspicious, they’ll never trust him again.”

  “Do you think I should call Nicole? Stop her sending the message if it’s not already too late?”

  “Was your accusation true?” asked Lucas.

  I sighed. “Yes. When Barrett was thinking about trading personnel, I caught some of his fringe memories. He arranged several personnel trades after the last Lottery, including some complex five and six-way trades, where multiple highly skilled people were swapped around so each Hive in the deal got their vacancies filled. He didn’t exactly mess that up, but our Hive didn’t do as well as it should have done. Barrett faked the records of the deal to protect his career. He feels threatened because he knows his deputy is better than him at negotiating.”

  Lucas shrugged. “In that case, you had no option but to warn Hive Trade.”

  “I know. Telling Hive Trade was the right thing to do, but … I didn’t give that order to Nicole for the good of the Hive, but out of personal revenge. I was angry about Barrett saying you should have left me controlled by the imprint for weeks. You worked to exhaustion point to help me, and he dared to criticize you for it.”

  “Perfectly justifiable anger,” said Lucas. “Criminally irresponsible suggestion. Involvement multiple representatives Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement in imprint removal process dangerous in extreme.”

  I instinctively dipped into Lucas’s thoughts to keep up with his gabbled speed speech, and caught him comparing Barrett’s suggestion to the destruction analysis planned for Elden. That was an overreaction, but Lucas was even more angry with Barrett than I was.

  Lucas smiled and went into full sentences again. “I’m delighted that Barrett will be demoted. Hopefully to protein vat scrubber. He can think himself lucky that Adika didn’t rip his head off his shoulders.”

  I started to laugh, but broke off as I suffered another wave of guilt. Every person in my unit was imprinted with facts about how true telepaths were rare, precious, and must be protected. Those facts influenced everything they thought and did. Barrett’s imprint must be all about putting a price on everything and everyone, and that would influence him too.

  I shook my head. “I took an instant dislike to Barrett, because of the way he thought of people as if they were just objects to be traded, but anyone doing his job would be the same. Lottery selects them to be like that, and their imprints reinforce their attitudes. Adika might be right after all.”

  “Query?”

  “Adika said I could be deadly. Maybe he was right. My position gives me a lot of power, and I just used it to break Barrett.” I moved on to the other thing that was bothering me. “What Barrett said about your father startled me. The only time you’ve ever mentioned your parents was back in Hive Futura. I’ve never even seen you think about them since then, so I didn’t know your father was traded to this Hive.”

  Lucas shrugged. “I rarely think about my parents because I’ve not had any contact with either of them for eight years.”

  “Eight years?” I stared at him. “I’ve been assuming the split happened after you went through Lottery.”

  Lucas groaned. “My parents divorced when I was six years old. My father failed to maintain contact after that. My mother dumped me at the earliest opportunity too. Understandable. I wasn’t an easy child.”

  I frowned. “If you haven’t had any contact with either parent for eight years, then the split with your mother must have happened soon after you moved to Teen Level.”

  “It happened three days after I moved to Teen Level,” said Lucas. “I found the adjustment difficult and ran back home like Gregas. That was an unfortunate error. I found I wasn’t welcome at my mother’s apartment any longer, not even as a visitor.”

  “I’m sorry.” I was no psychologist, but I thought I understood Lucas’s deep seated insecurities a lot better now. That much rejection as a child must leave scars.

  “Let’s f
orget about this now.” Lucas was obviously eager to move away from a distressing topic of conversation. “You did the correct thing with Barrett, preventing him from causing further harm to the Hive, and we need to get ready for our trip Outside. We’ll be wearing special outdoor clothing, because it’s supposed to be quite cold out there tonight.”

  Outside! That word was enough to make me forget everything other than our trip tonight. Lucas went across to a crate in the corner of the hall, pulled out two bags of clothing, and handed one to me.

  I checked his thoughts. Outside temperatures varied a lot. At the moment, they were getting colder because of something called autumn. More things I’d never known because I wasn’t imprinted.

  No, I corrected myself, that wasn’t true. I had to forget my old childish idea that being imprinted would tell me everything. Only facts directly relevant to your profession were included in an imprint. Those who worked Outside would be imprinted with information about autumn. Those few who went Outside by choice, like the ramblers, would presumably learn that information for themselves. The rest of the Hive …

  I wrinkled my nose. The rest of the Hive was deliberately left in ignorance of everything to do with Outside, so they’d think of it as a terrifying unknown place. Controlling knowledge was a way of controlling people.

  I went into my bedroom, stripped off the outfit I’d been wearing, and dressed in my body armour. Once I’d put on the clothes from the bag, I was uncomfortably hot and looked as shapeless as a bread roll. I thought of my old friend Shanna, with her perfect face and hair, and the alluring clothes that fitted her like a second skin. She’d rather die than dress like this.

  I sighed, grabbed my crystal unit from its shelf, and went out to face Lucas. I found he was wearing similar clothes to me, but holding the jacket instead of wearing it. He laughed at my disgusted expression.

  “I suggest you either undo that jacket or carry it until we’re Outside.”

  I thankfully took off my jacket. We headed for lift 2, and found it was unusually crowded. The Strike team were dressed in similar special clothing to us, and wearing startlingly large backpacks that took up almost as much space as they did.

  I gestured at the backpacks. “What is all this stuff?”

  “Camping equipment,” said Adika.

  I remembered Rothan talking about camping Outside. “We’re taking tents with us on this trip?”

  Adika nodded. “Also food, drinks, and other supplies. If you’re able to adapt to the Truesun, then we’ll be making a long trip Outside. Rothan is going to help us prepare for that by giving us some camping training.”

  As always, I felt a throb of panic at the mention of the Truesun. Lucas must have noticed me tensing up, because he took my hand.

  “I’ve made careful plans for tonight, Amber. You’ll be totally in control of your exposure to daylight. You can see the Truesun for as little as a second, or not at all. If there’s the slightest problem, then you can be back inside the Hive within minutes.”

  The lift doors closed and it started moving down. I frowned. “Why are we going down?”

  “We have to go down to start with because our unit security defences are in full operation,” said Adika.

  After only a level or two, the lift doors opened, and then we rode a belt for a few minutes. It felt strange to be with the Strike team when my ear crystal was turned off, but Lucas was sticking to the same rule as before. We had to be able to talk in perfect privacy while we were Outside.

  We jumped belt and went into another lift. This one took us upwards to the heavy double doors of a Hive exit. I found it difficult to force myself to go through them. The problem wasn’t that I was walking into the darkness Outside, but because I’d be staying out there to watch the Truesun rise.

  I’d no idea how I’d react to seeing that. Removing the imprint should have reduced my fear of the Truesun, but to what level? Had I been left with just a hollow, powerless memory of past terror, or would I run, screaming hysterically, from a waking nightmare?

  Lucas gestured at a strange object in the darkness ahead of us. “Rothan put our tent up earlier today.”

  When we reached the tent, Lucas bent his head to go through an opening, and tugged me inside after him. It was even darker in there. I heard Lucas struggle with something, mutter something rude, and then call out.

  “Rothan! How do I close this thing?”

  The shadowy figure of Rothan appeared, there was a whispered exchange, and then something blocked out the faint light from Outside and things went utterly black.

  “I’m going to turn a lantern on,” said Lucas. “Don’t get worried. It’s not the Truesun coming up.”

  There was a sudden burst of light, seeming very bright after the blackness, and I blinked.

  “What does this place feel like to you?” asked Lucas.

  I looked round at my surroundings, and saw the lantern was hanging from a peculiar sloping ceiling. “It’s a very small, very oddly shaped room. Is that the door?” I pointed.

  “According to our camping expert, Rothan, that’s called the tent flap. I’ve sealed it closed.” Lucas smiled. “We’ve got our own tiny Hive here, Amber. We can shut out everything. The night sky, the nosy Strike team leader, the muscle-bound Strike team, and the Truesun as well. You’ll be safe in here, and in total control.”

  My tension went down a notch.

  “I remember you telling me that you coped in the aircraft coming back here from Hive Futura because that counted as being inside,” said Lucas. “Does this count as being inside as well?”

  “It does now. I can’t be sure how I’ll feel when the Truesun appears Outside.” I touched one of the tent walls and felt it move under my fingers. “What is this stuff? Rothan said tents were made from cloth, but this doesn’t feel like cloth.”

  Lucas sat on the floor, gestured for me to sit next to him, and put his arm round me. “Rothan has been going on camping trips since he was a small child. Apparently, there are two sorts of members of the Ramblers Association. Rothan and his parents are traditionalists, who use archaic cloth tents and get wet when it rains. They look down on the soft, comfort-loving modernists, who use the state of the art tents made for Outside workers.”

  He paused for a second. “Despite Rothan’s protests, Adika and I have decided the Strike team are going to be modernists. Rothan can bring his own cloth tent if he insists on being uncomfortable.”

  I forced a laugh and relaxed a fraction more.

  “That’s better,” said Lucas. “This is a flexi-structure tent, which has been specially modified for us. The usual material has been bonded to an inner layer of two thicknesses of the mesh used to make body armour. Adika’s idea, naturally. In theory, the entire Strike team could shoot at this tent for an hour and it wouldn’t bother us in the slightest. The downside is it makes the tent much heavier, but I’m planning to let the Strike team do the hard work of carrying it.”

  My laughter was genuine this time.

  “We’ll go Outside while it’s still dark,” said Lucas, “and watch a little of the dawn. The second you get nervous, we’ll come back into the tent and shut the tent flap. You’ll be in total control.”

  I nodded, and gave a sudden shiver.

  “You’re cold,” said Lucas. “You should put your jacket on, or try this.” He picked up one of a heap of mysterious objects at the far end of the tent, and shook it. Something silver unfurled, like a Carnival cloak but bigger. “This is a heat sack. You get inside and it traps your own body heat to keep you warm.”

  I touched the material doubtfully. “It’s very thin.”

  “It works though. I checked out the tent and tested a heat sack earlier today.”

  I tossed my jacket into the corner of the tent, and tried sliding inside the heat sack. “I was thinking about my old friend, Shanna, earlier. How she’d hate dressing in these clothes and looking like she was wearing a sack. Now I’m wearing a real sack.”

  “It’s highly unlik
ely that Shanna will ever join the Ramblers Association. The more relevant issue is how Emili will feel about going camping, and whether Rothan will make her suffer in a traditional cloth tent.”

  I frowned at him. “You know about Rothan and Emili!”

  “Of course I know. Emili is my deputy team leader. I’d be a pretty poor behavioural analyst if I couldn’t work out why my own deputy keeps mysteriously sneaking off. I don’t understand why they’re hiding their relationship though. It’s not as if the telepath has staked a claim on Rothan, or has she?” Lucas gave me a teasing look.

  I stuck my tongue out at him. “Rothan doesn’t feel he’s good enough for Emili. He’s only a novice Strike team member fresh from Lottery, while she’s a year older and a deputy team leader. Emili’s finding the situation deeply frustrating.”

  Lucas shook his head. “I don’t see what Rothan’s worried about. He’s got a very mature head on his shoulders, and his expertise in conditions Outside has given him a huge advantage over his rivals for the deputy positions. If Adika hasn’t got Rothan lined up to be his deputy in charge of Alpha team, I’ll eat the Strike team’s camp fire cooking.”

  “Their what?”

  “Rothan is going to teach them to cook food over an open fire. I’m planning to stick to protein bars myself. Much safer.”

  I laughed.

  “Warmer now? Relaxing?” asked Lucas.

  “Yes. Surprisingly this heat sack works. The tent floor isn’t like a sleep field, or even a couch, but it’s a bit soft.”

  “Another benefit of modern tents over the ones that Rothan favours. Able to read me again now?”

  “Yes.” I reached out to Lucas’s familiar mind. “I know it’s stupid, but when I’m scared I tend to huddle away inside my own head.”