Sorry, Red thought in Aliana’s mind. Too loud. I go away. His mind receded from hers.
The Jagernaut spoke quietly to Red. “You’re strong. Maybe a seven on the Kyle scale.”
Tide’s gaze turned hard as he scowled at the Skolian. “You’re a psion?”
“All Jagernauts are,” the man said. He lifted his hand toward the corridor they had been following. “This way.”
Aliana didn’t know what to make of this, either Red yelling in her mind or the Jagernaut’s reaction. What scale? Whatever it meant, it seemed to work in their favor. She felt the change in the Jagernaut’s attitude as if a switch had toggled in his mind. He was no longer wary of Red. He wasn’t sure about her yet and Tide he definitely didn’t like.
Aliana caught something else, too, something unexpected. The Jagernaut was nervous. He had never dealt with a situation like this before. She picked up his mind more easily than she did with most people, except Red. The man knew he had to be careful, that the embassy was isolated in the midst of a hostile empire, and one very valuable member of that empire wanted help. Red was valuable to them! He would help Red. He didn’t know if they would help Aliana, though. But she knew. She was like Red. She needed to let this Jagernaut know. But how? Well, Red had yelled with his mind, and that seemed to work.
Aliana mustered all the mental force she could imagine and thought, Help me, too!
“Ah!” Red pressed the heels of his hands to his temples.
The Jagernaut spun around, his mouth open. “Gods almighty!”
“What?” Tide again looked from Aliana to the Jagernaut to Red. “What’s going on?”
No one answered. Red was scowling at Aliana as if she had rudely screamed in his ear. The Jagernaut stared as if she had grown a second head.
Then, very clearly, the Jagernaut’s words came into her mind. Can you hear me?
Aliana’s pulse jumped. “Yes,” she whispered.
“Yes?” Tide asked. “Yes what?”
Answer in your mind, the Jagernaut thought to Aliana.
She tried to think more forcefully. I don’t know how.
“Ach!” The Jagernaut winced. “Can you moderate that?”
“I don’t understand,” Aliana said.
“Neither do I,” Tide muttered.
“You too loud,” Red said, glaring at Aliana.
“Are you a provider?” the Skolian asked Aliana.
“No!” She crossed her arms and met his gaze defiantly.
“Were your parents?” the Jagernaut asked. “Is that why you have gold coloring?”
She wanted to sock him. Yet one more person going on about her skin. Sex slave baby. “The hell with you.”
“I don’t mean to offend you,” he said. “Can you tell me where your parents are?”
“My mother is dead,” she said shortly. “I never met my father. My stepfather is an asshole.”
The Jagernaut exhaled, then flicked more panels on his gauntlet and spoke its comm. “Quaternary Gainor here.”
A woman’s voice came out of the comm. “This is Lensmark. What’s up, Gainor?”
“I have three people asking for cross-cultural,” Gainor said.
“Two,” Tide said. “I’m not staying. I was never here.”
The Jagernaut didn’t look surprised. “Make that two, commander. One is about seven on the scale. I don’t know about the other. Maybe even more than a nine.”
The woman’s voice cracked with tension. “Bring them to my office immediately.”
“Copy that, ma’am.”
“What’s going on?” Tide asked when Gainor lowered his arm.
“Secondary Lensmark is the ranking ISC officer at the embassy,” Gainor said. “She can expedite your visit.”
“I not provider,” Red said. Then he added, “I am not provider. Not anymore.”
“Not in here, you aren’t.” Gainor regarded him steadily. “The moment you went through that doorway, you were in Skolian territory. No one can own you here, young man.”
Aliana didn’t believe it, but at least this Jagernaut hadn’t threatened them. She caught an odd reaction from him, as if he thought, There but for the grace of the gods go I. She imagined a shroud over her mind, wishing she knew a more reliable way to cut out the moods and thoughts of other people. She picked up random bits and pieces, as if her mind were a ragged, leaky mesh.
They continued down graceful hallways, walking past polished stone sculptures, all of it oddly beautiful, as if the Skolians weren’t monsters. Nothing seemed horrific about this Jagernaut, either. Of course, she knew nothing about Jagernauts. Maybe he turned into a monster when the moon came out. Or something.
A realization came to Aliana. Red had denied being a provider. She hadn’t thought he could do that. Then again, he’d run away, which he supposedly couldn’t do, either. To her, a provider had always seemed like an incredibly expensive jewel owned by an Aristo, nothing you were allowed even to see, let alone touch. Red was turning her assumptions upside down.
They stopped at an archway, this one inlaid with blue and green mosaics designed to look like triangles around exploding gold suns.
“Nice,” Red said.
Gainor smiled, but Aliana felt his tension. It was so strange: she and Red scared this intimidating man. He didn’t consider them dangerous; if anything, he felt protective toward them. He feared what would happen to the embassy because they were here, but he never once thought of turning them away. She wished she understood better. Everything was off balance.
When Gainor turned to Tide, his demeanor changed. It was subtle, but she recognized the difference. Gainor distrusted Tide.
“If I take you in there with us,” Gainor told him, “Lensmark will want to question you.”
“I’ve nothing to tell her,” Tide said.
Gainor nodded, some understanding he and Tide seemed to share. Odd, because Gainor was Skolian and Tide was a Razer, so neither was human according to the Aristos. Yet they were alike somehow and both seemed more human to Aliana than the partial Aristos she’d met.
“Do you guys know each other?” she asked them.
Gainor shot her a baffled look. “Of course not.”
“Why do you ask?” Tide asked.
“I don’t know. You just seem to understand each other.”
Tide’s posture altered subtly, as if he were tensed to defend himself. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Uh—okay.” Why was he mad? Maybe he and Gainor understood each other because they were both military.
Oh. Of course. Tide didn’t want them to know he was a Razer. Well, he should trust her. She wouldn’t tell anyone.
“We’ve never met,” Gainor said.
Aliana felt the truth in his words. He was having the same effect on her as often happened with Red, heightening her erratic perception of moods. Apparently she could pick up thoughts on the surface of some people’s minds. It was distracting and confusing.
“You can learn to control it,” Gainor said.
“Control what?” Aliana felt as if she had wandered into the middle of a play where she didn’t know the plot or any of her lines.
“Your mind,” Gainor said. “Your Kyle abilities.”
“I don’t know what Kyle means.” She wished they would all stop looking at her.
“You will,” Gainor said.
Tide shifted his weight back and forth. “I should go.”
The Jagernaut nodded to him. “We’ll look after them.”
“Do you have to go, Tide?” Aliana asked. “Can’t you come with us?”
His voice softened. “I wish I could, babe. But I can’t.” He gave her a crooked smile. “You remember everything I taught you. You’re one hell of a fighter.”
“You bet.” She wanted to sound cocky, but it came out sad instead. She also wanted to hug him, but of course they never did that. They were too tough. That blurring of her sight, that was because the air in this bizarre place was bothering her eyes.
/>
Tide started to raise his hand as if he would touch her. Then he let out a breath and turned to Red. “Good luck.”
“You too,” Red said.
When Tide glanced back at Aliana, she again had the sense he wanted to touch her. She was on the verge of throwing her arms around him, entreating him to come with them. But neither of them did anything. He just nodded to her and took off down the hall. At the oddly square corner where his hall intersected another, he paused and looked back.
Aliana raised her hand. “Be well,” she whispered.
Tide lifted his hand. Then he turned the corner.
Gainor spoke gently. “What are your names?”
“Aliana call me Red,” Red said.
“Do you have any other names?” Gainor asked.
He shook his head. “Just that.”
Aliana turned back to them, despondent. “I’m Aliana Miller Azina. I was named for a chemical or something.”
“A chemical?” Gainor smiled. “Aliana is a shortened version of Aliana-Lia. It’s a popular Skolian name.”
“I’m not Skolian!”
Red frowned at her. “But Tide say—”
“Stop it!” Aliana told him. “I don’t care what Tide says.”
Gainor spoke carefully. “What branch of the military did Tide serve in? The navy?”
“He wasn’t military.” Aliana didn’t actually know if Razers were part of ESComm, but she wouldn’t tell this Gainor regardless. He was trying to trick her.
The Jagernaut glanced at Red. “Did he work for the Aristo who owned you?”
“I not know,” Red said.
Aliana could tell Gainor wasn’t convinced. An alarming thought hit her: if she could pick up his emotions, he might be picking hers up as well.
Gainor spoke, again using that unexpected kindness so incongruous with his formidable presence. “With you, I get some moods, but only a rare thought, and only if it’s unusually strong and on the surface of your mind. Like that last one. If you want to protect your mind, imagine a shield around it.”
Heat flushed in Aliana’s cheeks. This was mortifying. She imagined a fortress surrounding her mind with locks designed to keep Gainor out, out, OUT.
He inhaled sharply. “Careful! Don’t use it as a weapon.”
“Weapon?” She hesitated, uncertain what he meant. She covered her fortress with mist.
Gainor’s shoulders relaxed. “Yes. Better.”
Another strange thought came to Aliana. It wasn’t to his advantage to reveal that he could hear some of her thoughts. He even told her how to protect herself. If he had wanted to trick her, he would never help her that way.
Gainor motioned to the archway. “My commanding officer is in the room beyond this door. She will ask you both about why you came to us. Answer the best you can and you’ll be fine.”
“All right.” Aliana wished this was over. Red stood at her side, steady and silent.
Gainor tapped a code into a tiled panel, and the archway shimmered and faded away. As he ushered them forward, Aliana had an odd sensation, as if an invisible membrane slid over her skin. Maybe the “door” was still there, just changed so they could walk through it.
The room beyond was big. A woman sat at a desk, her dark hair pulled back, her face like an austere statue. She wore a uniform similar to Gainor’s, black and sleek, but like Gainor, she had no slave collar or wrist cuffs. So strange. She stood as they came in, her gaze intent on Aliana.
Why look so hard at me? Aliana wondered, but she hid the thought within her mental fortress.
“Welcome,” the woman said. “I’m Lyra Lensmark.” She motioned to several chairs set about her desk. It disoriented Aliana; she was used to cushions on the floor, scattered around low tables. But she and Red sat down, and Gainor did, too, while Lensmark settled behind her desk. Aliana perched on the edge of her seat, ready to bolt.
“This is Aliana and Red,” Gainor said. “They’ve come to ask for asylum.”
“Not political asylum, I take it.” Lensmark considered them. “You’re both psions?”
“Yes,” Red said.
Aliana felt painfully vulnerable, unprotected, ready to burst. “I don’t understand this psion thing. Everyone keeps saying it like I should know what it means.”
“Provider,” Red said.
Not again! Aliana jumped to her feet. “Damn it all, quit calling me that fucking name!”
Lensmark’s voice snapped out. “Sit down, young lady.”
Startled, Aliana dropped into her seat.
“When you are in my office,” Lensmark told her, “you will use courteous language, not cuss like you came out of a sewer hole. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Aliana’s cheeks were burning. “I’m sorry.”
“All right, let’s start over.” Lensmark spoke to Red. “You know you’re a psion?”
“Yes. I provide—” He looked at Aliana and stopped.
“A provider for who?” Lensmark asked.
“Nobody now. He throw me away.”
“Who threw you away?”
“Admiral Muze.”
Lensmark’s face paled. “Which Admiral Muze?”
“I only know one,” Red said. “Joint Commander.”
“Gods above,” Gainor muttered.
Lensmark let out a long breath. Then she spoke to Aliana. “You have a Skolian name.”
No, no, no, no. Aliana wanted to groan. Really, she wanted to cry, but she couldn’t do that, not here, not in front of Skolians, not in front of anyone. “It’s a chemical. My father worked in an azine factory. My mother worked for a miller. That’s why I’m Aliana Miller Azina.”
Red shot her an apologetic look, then spoke to Lensmark. “Tide say Aliana is Skolian.”
“Who is Tide?” Lensmark asked.
“He’s just a friend,” Aliana said quickly. “He brought us here.”
“Your boyfriend?” Lensmark asked.
Aliana’s cheeks heated. “No!”
“He’s a lot older than they are,” Gainor said. “Military, I’m almost certain.”
“Not military,” Red said.
They all looked at him.
“He not,” Red said.
“How long have you known him?” Lensmark asked.
“I meet yesterday,” Red explained.
She raised an eyebrow. “And in your lengthy acquaintance with this man, you can say for certain he isn’t a military officer?”
“Yes.”
Lensmark considered him. Then she turned to Aliana. “How long have you known Tide?”
Aliana shifted in her chair. “About three months.”
“How did you get involved with him?”
“I’m a bouncer at a holo-club. He was teaching me how to fight.”
“A girl your age was a bouncer?” Lensmark stared at her. “Where are your parents?”
“My mother is dead.” Aliana gritted her teeth, then made herself relax so she could talk. “My father left her before she knew she was pregnant. It was on a hinterland world. Tide says my father might have been a Skolian soldier working as a spy. My stepfather is a half-Aristo asshole.”
“What you just told me,” Lensmark said, “is astounding in so many ways, I hardly know where to start.”
Aliana just wanted to leave. It was all she could do to stay put. And damn it, she’d cussed in front of Lensmark again. She hadn’t meant to. The Skolian woman hardly seemed to have noticed, though, she was so distracted by whatever Aliana had said that was so astounding.
“I’m nothing special,” Aliana said.
“Did your mother have gold skin?” Lensmark asked.
“Not even close. I don’t know about my father.”
“A lot of providers have metallic skin,” Gainor said.
“My father worked in a factory.”
Lensmark rubbed her chin. “How tall are you?”
“I don’t know.” Aliana squinted at her. “You got height restrictions in Skolia?”
&nb
sp; Lensmark smiled. “No restrictions. But you’re unusually tall and muscular, and I’d wager you aren’t done growing yet.”
“Does that matter?”
“Your size is related to your parents.” Lensmark was being careful again. “It might help us find your father, if he is Skolian. Or was.”
Or was. Was. Until that moment, Aliana hadn’t realized she’d always assumed her father was out there somewhere. On the heels of that unwanted self-knowledge came another: she’d always hoped to find him. Now she didn’t know what to do. Did she need to know if her father was a dead Skolian? Hell, she would be Skolian soon, if these people let her. She didn’t want this, didn’t want to leave everything she’d always known, but she couldn’t go back. They would find her, the women and men who served the Muze Line, and she would even rather be a Skolian than become their prisoner.
“I would never do that.” The man standing on the holostage in Kelric’s living room looked as if he were here in the room instead of many light-years away on Earth. Only the slight wavering of his body every now and then revealed he was a projection. Red hair tousled over his collar, and he looked like a kid, hardly more than twenty. Kelric knew better; physically, his brother Del was in his late thirties.
“Dehya checked it herself,” Kelric told him. “The leak on that song came from you.”
Del crossed his arms and regarded Kelric coldly. “If you believe I would release ‘Carnelians Finale’ to destroy the peace process, the hell with you.”
A woman’s voice came from behind Kelric. “Del, calm down. That’s not what he means.”
Startled, Kelric looked around. Dehya had entered the room, a delicate woman in a blue jumpsuit. She seemed too ethereal for the huge, spare living room, which was all smooth stone walls except for the gold silhouette of desert horizon that glowed at waist level.
“Aunt Dehya.” Del lowered his arms and his voice warmed. “My greetings.”
She smiled as she came up next to Kelric. “It’s good to see you, Del. And we know you didn’t deliberately release the song. It appeared to come from you, but it was done without your knowledge.” Then she added, “Just like Kelric killed himself in the Kyle without realizing it.”
Well, damn, Kelric thought. She would have to mention that.