‘Thank you seems so inadequate, doctor,’ said another young woman, her eyes filled with tears. ‘My children will have a mother, thanks to you.’
‘This is a miraculous supernatural phenomenon,’ an older lady said. ‘Your field truly exists!’
Taren was overwhelmed by their expressions of gratitude and their claims that she’d performed a miracle! Indeed it was, for them, although she felt she was just proving a theory correct.
‘Okay, time to say goodbye.’ Frank got them to bid farewell, then went back to his office where it was quiet and they could talk.
‘Let that be a lesson to you. I always tell the truth.’ Frank sat down in front of his monitor once more. ‘Either space has a profound effect on one’s ability to change the past or your psychic talents have increased about tenfold.’
‘And I haven’t even done the healing yet.’ Taren laughed in a nervous kind of way. What would account for such a resounding success? Was it space itself? Was it her stay on Oceane, or had her brief association with Azazèl-mindos-coomra-dorchi had something to do with it?
‘Does anyone else know about this?’ Taren wanted a chance to analyse the results herself.
‘Well…’ Frank cringed, motioning vaguely in the direction of the hullabaloo in the patients’ rooms, ‘it has been a little hard to keep quiet. But the institute isn’t going public about this, if that’s what you mean.’
‘Could you send me—’
‘My full report is already in your inbox,’ Frank assured her.
‘Keep—’
‘I’ll keep monitoring the group and let you know if there is any change.’ He grinned.
‘Could you be any more efficient?’ Taren rolled her eyes and smiled.
‘I’ll have a follow-up report ready by the time you get back,’ he winked.
Taren told him that that could be a little sooner than expected as AMIE was making an unscheduled return to Maladaan.
‘I’ll see you soon then.’ Frank ended the transmission and Taren sat back at her desk and clenched her fists triumphantly. ‘Yes!’
‘Success?’
Taren was startled by Zeven’s voice and swivelled her chair around to find him leaning in the doorway. He waved, looking a tad unsure about his visit.
‘Mr Gudrun?’ She checked her watch to be sure she hadn’t lost track of the time. ‘What are you doing up at this time of day?’
‘I got a day off and figured this was the only chance I’d get to actually make contact.’ He shrugged in conclusion. ‘Do you have time to get something to eat?’
Taren felt really put on the spot—Aurora was at her desk across the room, and was no doubt watching. ‘I can’t right now. I have an isolation chamber booked for an experiment I’m—’
‘Some other time then.’ He moved to leave without further ado.
Taren felt really terrible…he’d obviously put his whole sleep cycle out of whack, just to see her. ‘It is really important that I do this—’
‘I understand, really,’ he said, trying to sound convincing. But when he gave her a sad half smile as he slowly moved off, her heart couldn’t stand the thought of letting him leave with nothing to show for his effort.
‘I’ll be free in a few hours,’ she mentioned, wanting to kick herself as soon as she said it.
‘Cool.’ His smile was warm with sincere happiness. ‘How about takeaway at my joint?’
That was a more private engagement than Taren was expecting. Obviously, he wanted to talk, and perhaps privacy was for the best. ‘I’ll come as soon as I’m done.’
‘Excellent,’ he said, ‘see you then.’
Taren waved, and as soon as he was gone she headed to the doorway to see if Aurora was watching. Of course, she was.
As the pilot passed her desk on his way out of the offices, she rose with a pile of papers to file.
‘Wow.’ Zeven noted Aurora was wearing a classy dress and heels and as he was in such a good mood, he thought he’d pay her a compliment. ‘You look hot today, Rory.’
‘Thanks,’ she replied, and walked into Lucian’s office without serving him a second glance.
Her lack of interest took him aback for a second, but he shrugged it off and continued along his merry way.
When he was gone Taren went dashing across to Lucian’s office, and knowing he was on R and R for a few days, she entered to speak with Aurora. ‘Did you see how Starman looked at you just then?’ Taren was delighted. Aurora was not.
‘He asked you out, didn’t he?’ She wasn’t hostile, just disheartened.
‘Actually he asked me in.’ Taren wanted to be up front about it.
‘He invited you back to his place!’ Now Aurora was devastated. ‘You’re a goner.’
‘No, I’m not,’ Taren insisted, ‘but it does give me the perfect opportunity to tell him I’m not interested, in private. I really don’t want to hurt him, or you, I just want to get past this so we can all move on.’
Aurora drew a deep breath to bury her feelings and smiled. ‘He said I look hot.’
‘He did.’ Taren smiled back.
‘Thanks,’ Aurora said. ‘For someone I’ve only known a little while, you’re a real good friend.’
‘Ditto, girlfriend.’ Taren gave her a squeeze and then noted the time. ‘Oh gosh, I’m going to be late.’
‘Good luck with the break-up,’ Aurora whispered as Taren rushed to her appointment with an isolation chamber.
Taren was feeling wonderful in the wake of her two-hour meditation, throughout which she had been sending her intention to heal the people that she had already healed. Having the effect precede the cause gave her ultimate confidence in her abilities. It was like a composer hearing his musical masterpiece before he writes a single note, leaving no room for doubt that he will finish the composition. Taren was thinking she should have some tests run on herself to see if there had been any change in her physiology since the medical she’d had before boarding the craft. Her experiment had been a huge success. Now she just had to figure out why.
She was in a real dilemma about what to wear on this date of hers—pants were definitely the order of the day, but she didn’t want to look like she was dressing up for him, or show up looking like a complete dag either. She found a modest top, a bit of jewellery and just a touch of make-up—which she only ever donned for social occasions.
As she walked out of her living quarters and headed towards next door, Taren saw Lucian walking down the hall towards her.
‘Where are you off to looking so fabulous?’ he commented on his way past.
I look fabulous? Taren panicked on the inside—it was not the impression she’d been hoping to give—and she found herself completely lost for words. Why did this man always make her feel like a blithering idiot?
The door to Zeven’s quarters opened. ‘There you are.’ She was startled by his sudden presence, and glanced back to catch Lucian’s reaction.
The look on his face was one of wry amusement. ‘I see…have a good evening,’ he said, and moved on.
Taren badly wanted to tell him it was not how it looked. ‘Damn it,’ she muttered under her breath and looked at Zeven, who appeared most confused by her reaction.
‘What’s wrong?’ he inquired innocently.
Taren gave him the evil eye, although she did smile to lessen the sting. ‘You know damn well what is wrong.’ She raised a finger and beckoned him to follow her into his quarters.
‘This is not going to be romantic, is it?’ He paused before entering, not quite as eager to be alone with her now.
She shook her head and, releasing a huge disappointed breath, Zeven entered and closed the door behind them.
Taren had envisioned a really awkward confrontation, ending with her walking out and Zeven never speaking to her again. Instead, he respected her decision to concentrate on her work while she was here on AMIE.
‘But once we are not stuck on this bucket of bolts, you have to let me take you out to dinner,’ Zeven proff
ered.
‘If you still want to by then…sure,’ Taren agreed.
So they ate, watched a movie, had a few drinks and quite a few more laughs than Taren had expected. When he wasn’t trying to chat her up, Zeven was a seriously interesting and funny guy who had many fascinating stories to tell.
In the end, Taren thanked him for a great night and left with their friendship still intact, and no chance of a relationship on the immediate horizon. She’d managed to maintain the status quo and it was a great relief indeed.
Swithin was waiting in the pod bay to meet Kestler on arrival, just as he had promised his brother. Lucian had made the urgency of releasing this sample very clear, so he ordered the ground crew to give Kestler’s pod top priority.
He was waiting in the hangar area observing the pod being lowered to ground level in its cradle, when a large black hovercar pulled up and stopped close beside him. At the same time the handset in his pocket started ringing. Swithin knew it was Lucian calling, so he switched the handset to his message service.
‘Gentlemen,’ he greeted the unofficial government officials wryly. ‘What can we do for the MSS this fine day?’
One of the darkly clad foursome, who carried a briefcase, removed his dark eye-bands, to look Swithin in the eye. ‘Ask not what you can do for us, but what we can do for you.’ He handed over the keys to the hovercar and the briefcase. ‘Your off-world craft awaits you at the Central Bay port. Have a great trip.’
Swithin opened the case and after closely scrutinising the large bundles of notes within he was a little confused. ‘Don’t you want me to wait around until you secure the sample?’
‘No need.’ The agent smiled. ‘We know the sample is on board and intact. We’ll take it from here.’
Swithin was the only person who knew the substance was volatile, but as time was short to escape the consequences his brother had warned him about, he wasn’t going to argue.
‘Where will you go…the Maratosh system?’ the agent inquired as Swithin made for the vehicle.
‘A tropical environment could be real nice for a while.’ Swithin didn’t commit.
‘It’s a shame your lovely partner in crime was so unexpected taken out of the equation, Swithin,’ the agent commented. ‘Who will share paradise with you now?’
Swithin forced a grin at the implication that he’d had Amie killed. ‘I’m sure I’ll find somebody.’ He hopped into the driver’s seat and closed the door.
‘Don’t count on it.’ The agent watched the vehicle speed out of the hangar doors.
As soon as he was in the open car park, Swithin stopped the hovercar, grabbed the briefcase of money and bolted for cover inside a neighbouring hangar that was not currently in use. The MSS vehicle exploded behind him, hurling Swithin into his hiding place. He looked back to find that there was nothing left of the luxury hovercar. ‘Fucking bastards.’ He got himself to a seated position and, pulling a handset from his pocket, called for his own pilot to pick him up at their designated meeting spot in ten minutes.
In a dark corner of the hangar he uncovered a hoverbike, helmet and a backpack containing a change of clothes that he’d organised the night before. A quick change, helmet on, and out the gate on a guest pass—no one was any the wiser that he’d left the premises. After all, how could he have left? Swithin Gervaise was now officially a dead man.
Early the next morning Taren was eating breakfast while skimming through the report Frank had sent through, when Kassa entered the cafeteria. Taren waved to her, wishing to have a word.
The doctor picked out a small breakfast and then headed over with her tray to take a seat at Taren’s table.
‘How are you doing?’ Taren hadn’t bumped into Kassa since she’d had her collapse. ‘I heard you were out for a couple of days!’ Taren had kept a check on her progress, but she’d been asleep at the time Kassa had finally come around.
‘I’m fine.’ Kassa waved off any concern, and then whispered, ‘The biggest problem I had was trying to explain it.’
‘Obviously, Lucian now knows,’ Taren wondered what had gone on whilst she’d been stuck on Oceane.
Kassa nodded. ‘I couldn’t leave you stranded there,’ she shrugged. ‘But Lucian has left it to my discretion who knows and who doesn’t.’
‘Well, thank you,’ Taren said.
Kassa forced a smile. ‘He believes I should tell Leal.’
‘Lucian said that?’ Taren was surprised as he didn’t seem the type to interfere in other people’s personal affairs.
‘He didn’t have to,’ Kassa said, sounding disappointed in herself for being such a coward about it.
Taren’s pager went off, startling them both. It was Lucian, requesting that Taren come to his office as soon as possible.
‘I’ve got to go.’ She stood up. ‘But I need you to give me a physical today, if possible.’
Kassa nodded. ‘Sure, just page me with a time.’
‘We’ll talk then.’ Taren knew Kassa wanted help with her moral dilemma and Kassa nodded gratefully.
‘Dr Lennox.’ Ringbalin caught Taren on her way out the door.
‘Call me Taren, please…we’re practically living together,’ she joked.
Ringbalin was very pleased, but it was not her sense of humour that had him so excited. ‘I need to speak with you about our tundrell. I think I’ve discovered something amazing—’
Taren’s beeper went off, alerting her to the fact that the monitor satellites on Oceane had detected a change in the anomaly. ‘Damn it! Not now, sorry,’ Taren hurriedly said to Ringbalin. ‘I’m sure it’s incredible, but the captain has summoned me and our being is getting ready to depart Oceane.’
‘Excellent, I’ll get back to my workstation. I want to see this.’ He rubbed his hands together.
‘Tape it for me, just in case,’ Taren requested, as she backed up the corridor.
‘Sure,’ Ringbalin said. Although obviously bursting to tell someone about his discovery, he accepted the delay with a smile.
‘Thanks a million. I’ll catch up with you later.’
‘Do I need to make an appointment?’
‘Not usually.’ Taren gave a laugh, thinking she had been exceptionally busy since her arrival on AMIE.
‘You haven’t seen my greenhouse yet,’ Ringbalin chided.
‘Today, I swear!’ Taren held up a palm to seal her vow, before she waved and turned to resume her course to the captain’s office.
In retrospect, she felt she had been rude not to ask Ringbalin what he was so excited about and now wished she had, as he had made her curious. She was just nervous about being summoned to Lucian’s office; it usually meant that either she, or the project, was in trouble.
‘Good morning, Aurora. You look lovely today.’ Taren smiled as she approached, and received a smile in return.
‘How did it go?’ Aurora whispered.
‘We are still friends and nothing more,’ Taren was pleased to say and Aurora squealed with delight until they heard Lucian clear his throat.
‘Sorry to interrupt, but this is rather urgent.’ Lucian beckoned Taren into his office. Intrigued by the serious look on his face she complied with the greatest of haste.
‘What has happened?’ she asked, remembering that this was the morning that Kestler’s pod was due on Maladaan. ‘Is something amiss with the sample? The being is preparing to leave, you realise?’
Lucian pointed to a spare monitor displaying the event, and Taren immediately moved in to take a closer look.
The bright mass of coloured electromagnetic gas had detached itself from Oceane and was now floating well apart from the planet it had nurtured. The being had formed into a sphere, leaving a large continent of green amid the oceans of blue on Oceane. The new landmass could only been seen in part, due to the dense cloud forming from large-scale volcanic activity that had erupted on the planet’s surface in the wake of the entity’s departure.
‘Wow,’ Taren uttered, spellbound.
‘Ind
eed.’ Lucian agreed. ‘I’d love to be able to tell you what is happening with the sample in Kestler’s pod on Maladaan, but my brother won’t answer his phone and it’s been too early in the morning to catch anyone in the office.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘We are attempting to get a living body in front of a monitor as we speak.’ Lucian glanced sideways and was shocked to see Taren’s horrified face.
‘You entrusted Swithin with releasing the sample?’ Taren gasped.
‘I have no proof of Swithin’s involvement in this beyond sending you to us, which he freely confessed to me,’ Lucian explained, rather put out that she would question his judgment. ‘Swithin’s first conclusion was that you had killed Amie.’
Now Taren was insulted, but held her tongue. It seemed Lucian changed his mind about her as often as he changed his clothes. ‘Have you spoken with anyone at the pod bay? Has Kestler landed?’
Lucian shook his head, but just then Aurora advised from his workstation screen, ‘Patching you through to pod bay seven, homeside, Captain.’ Lucian smiled at Taren and took a seat. She strolled around the desk to view the screen.
‘Pod bay seven, Cato Paley speaking.’ The engineer seemed rather overwhelmed when he discovered who the caller was. ‘Professor Gervaise, sir.’ He looked around him, obviously searching for a superior he could fetch to speak with the professor.
‘I am wanting to confirm that Eleazar Kestler’s pod has landed,’ Lucian queried.
‘Yes, professor, it did land.’
‘Was my brother, Swithin, there to meet the capsule?’
‘He was here,’ the engineer confirmed, while seeming reluctant to continue. ‘But…there was an incident…I’m going to patch you through to the office—’
‘No—’ But before Lucian could delay him, the engineer was gone. The next thing they knew, Swithin’s secretary was on screen wiping tears from her face.
‘Professor Gervaise.’ She collected herself to address him. ‘I am so sorry to be the one to inform you…but your brother has reportedly been involved in a freak car accident.’
‘What!’ Lucian was shocked, Taren was not.