The Light-Field

  ‘Don’t keep me waiting.’ He clutched the back of her neck, stuck his tongue down her throat and, casting her off, walked brazenly out into the bedroom.

  ‘No,’ she hissed, fearful for Swithin, but when she ran out into the bedroom to hurry Khalid to the front door, he was already gone. In his absence she took advantage of the chance to have a silent gag and shudder. That done, she quickly dressed and hid her stone inside its armband under a long-sleeved shirt.

  In the pitch dark, Amie walked past Taren’s unit, torn as to whether to alert her to the fact that Khalid was here. All the lights were out and this was Taren and Lucian’s wedding night! What if Khalid is watching me? Best handle this one myself, she decided.

  She found Khalid down in the dry dock area, where the build had yet to commence. ‘So what did you find out?’ he asked as she approached.

  ‘Nothing?’ She shrugged. ‘There is nothing untoward about the project, it’s all on the up and up.’

  ‘So why did Anselm want to invest in it?’ Khalid demanded answers.

  ‘It’s a good project,’ she said. ‘Nothing more.’

  ‘But why invest his own money, when he has government funds he could have invested?’ Khalid wasn’t convinced.

  ‘Maybe he’s just interested in space exploration,’ Amie suggested the obvious.

  ‘I don’t think you’re trying very hard.’ Khalid approached and pulled Amie to him, so that he could look her in the eye. ‘Sure you’re not letting emotion cloud your vision?’

  Fortunately for Amie, there were only a few night lights around the dock and the area was fairly dim, so he could not see the spite in her eyes. ‘If there was something to see here, I would know about it. These people are ordinary science types to the extreme!’

  ‘Oh crap.’ Khalid let go and stepped back from Amie to draw a deep breath.

  ‘What is it?’ She tried not to smile, as he turned and threw up in the water. Amie was rather amazed; she’d never even heard of Khalid feeling ill before. Was this her stone’s way of protecting her from him?

  ‘Must have been something I ate.’ Khalid, too, appeared perplexed, as he wiped the vomit from his mouth with his sleeve and headed back toward her. ‘Now where were we?’

  The thought of kissing him now was truly too much to fake her way through, but he’d not even touched her before Khalid was running back to the water to be sick again. ‘Fuck it.’ After several attempts to resume his assault, he gave up and sat by the water. ‘You’re to forget you ever saw this,’ he instructed Amie, and she nodded dutifully. ‘What about the accountant?’ Khalid leant his head against the pier at his back.

  ‘She’s a scientist too —’ Amie began.

  ‘I know that,’ Khalid grouched, and then forced a smile, as he pulled a small contraption from inside his coat. ‘I’ve created a means to identify anyone with the Powers from one of Taren Lennox’s inventions.’

  ‘Wow.’ Amie played down the panic she felt in her soul. ‘How does it work?’

  ‘It reads the light emissions that people throw off, or don’t,’ he explained. ‘People with the Powers reject more light because their light-bodies are filled with light already. So, if I were to aim this at someone like you, who has Powers,’ he flipped up the screen, ‘the light field around your body would be larger than your average person, because of all the light your body is rejecting and emitting. Hold on?’ He hit the screen, as though it wasn’t working.

  ‘What is it?’ She became even more panicked and her arm beneath the stone began to ache.

  ‘You look just like a normal person.’ He was perplexed and before he had time to suspect anything, Amie darted around behind to view the screen.

  ‘Are you sure you’re using it correctly?’ She suspected the stone had something to do with the error, and so she reached inside her jacket and tucked the sleeve of her shirt between the stone and her skin.

  ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’ Khalid snapped. ‘Get back over there!’ He pointed and she complied, returning to stand before him. ‘There we have it,’ he was pleased and took a snapshot of the large light field that now surrounded her body. He turned the device around to show Amie the picture and she rolled her eyes, not impressed. ‘So did you just want a photo to incriminate me with, or is this all leading somewhere?’ Amie didn’t have to act pissed off, she was.

  ‘You’re my girl,’ Khalid taunted her, as he slid up the pier to standing. ‘If I dobbed you into the PMD, then I’d have nothing to hold over you, would I?’

  Amie forced a grin. ‘What a sweetheart.’

  ‘I want you to take this device and secretly photograph everyone involved in the project. Make certain no one catches you, or gets their hands on this unit.’

  Normally this order would have seen his instruction followed to the letter, but Amie was no longer under his control. When Khalid handed over the device to her, Amie could hardly believe her luck. ‘If anyone comes up all shiny, I’ll let you know.’ She took the device from him and then turned it on Khalid.

  To her surprise, his light field was perfectly ordinary. He always found her so easily — she’d always strongly suspected that Khalid had a Power and was hiding it, but perhaps she was wrong?

  ‘I told you. Perfectly normal, perfectly legal,’ he taunted and held his arms wide as if he had nothing to hide.

  Arsehole. Amie folded the device and placed it in the inside pocket of her shirt, and at the same time she pulled her sleeve from between the stone and her skin. ‘Later.’ She turned to walk off, but Khalid grabbed her by the arm.

  ‘I didn’t dismiss you.’ He turned her about and raised a hand to slap her down, when he had to turn and run for the water again.

  ‘Look, dismiss me already, so I can get back before my husband awakes!’ Amie appealed, jumping out of her skin to leave.

  ‘I’ll be back for that photon-camera, real soon,’ he spat, between heaving. ‘Puppeteer dismissed.’ He waved her on.

  ‘I’m gone.’ Amie returned to her own apartment, where she intended to stay until she was sure that Khalid had left the area.

  Her stillness as she lay there on the bed was unnerving; these trances had always scared Lucian in the past.

  It was so odd suddenly having about ten years more memory than he’d had a couple of days ago. He could now sympathise with how Taren must have felt when she stole back her memory from the MSS. Only in Taren’s case she’d restored her stolen past, and in Lucian’s case he was remembering a future that would never happen — and yet it had. All the experience he’d gained in that other life he’d retained, with none of the consequences. They had a chance to really get it right this time, as they were heading into the future with their eyes wide open. Although their circumstances would play out differently and throw them new challenges, at least now they had some idea of what they were up against, and a plan and team to help them pull off a revolution, as, in the end, no less would be required.

  Taren appeared quite dead and there was no muttering like someone having a nightmare that might indicate what she was seeing …

  The house through which she moves is very grand, yet she is rushing past majestic room after majestic room, searching for the source of the voice that is calling out.

  ‘Tymea, Tymea, I must speak with you.’

  ‘Where are you?’ Taren cries frustrated, the grand palace is never ending.

  ‘The House of Vidor, I swear it.’

  The voice is close and turning her gaze in to the next room, Taren sees a frail old woman in a high-backed chair, overshadowed by someone.

  ‘I’ll bring down every last one of them … starting with you.’ The voice is that of Khalid Mansur, and he plunges the dagger into the already frail woman.

  ‘My release …’ The old lady grabs Khalid and pulls him close. ‘Marks the beginning of the end for you, and your beastly father.’

  Khalid casts her off roughly and she keels over in her chair. ‘Silly old crone!’ He vanishes with the murder weapon.
r />   Taren is stunned a moment, as the spirit of the dead woman arises from her body, appearing youthful and joyous. She turns to Taren to address her.

  ‘It was the only safe way for us to meet.’ She waves her closer and Taren is compelled to join her.

  ‘You were calling for someone —’ Taren does not know why she answered the summons.

  Her smile broadens. ‘I called for you and you came. Tymea is your true name, and no one must ever know it. Evil can find you as easily with a name as it can with an image; guard both these things with your life! Tymea was the name your mother gave you at birth, which in Phemorian means Time. Born into the line of the Protectors — Anselm — you are the protector of Time or more to the point, Timing.’

  ‘Who are you that you could know my real name?’

  ‘I am your great, grand aunt, Maiara Vidor. And it was I who stole you away from your Phemorian mother at birth, at the request of your father, for I was the only person with PK he could trust.’

  Taren’s sight shifted from the beautiful young spirit to the old woman slouched in the chair. ‘The Dowager Duchess of Sermetica! You have just been murdered?’

  ‘Not yet, but soon.’

  In a flash the time on the clock is brought to Taren’s attention. 8.13 a.m.

  ’Tomorrow.’ She is calm. ‘You are precognitive, remember?’

  ‘I can stop this —’

  ‘No,’ the duchess insists, ‘that is not why you are here. And quite apart from that I have had my fill of earthly life and am ready to move on.’

  ‘But I can protect you —’ Taren offers, but Maiara rejects this with a shake of her head.

  ‘I am not one of your soul group, child … but the last of the wave of Zagriata who went before you … who, unfortunately, made quite a mess of things. Once again our soul-mind of change, progress and revolution at all cost, leaves your soul group of justice, love and harmony to clean up the mess.’

  ‘Sorry?’ Taren is baffled at this point, and the late duchess waves off her explanation as unimportant.

  ‘Our time is done and yours has come,’ she concludes more simply. ‘But I too am a prophet and a remote seer, and I need to pass on a little insight to you before I die.’ Her bright, indigo eyes capture Taren’s vision, as a telepathic transference forms an impression in Taren’s mind.

  It is a horrid dark place that Taren recognises as Dead Man Downs — having been kidnapped and dragged there herself once. But the human remains around her now are not long deceased — fresh blood and body parts are splattered everywhere, including all over Khalid and the semblance of a man who is addressing him.

  ‘If Anselm went missing, Sermetica would remain anti-psychic, and Frujia would go with the majority …’ advised the creature, to Taren’s great horror. ‘… two less planets to hide out on, and Phemoria won’t give citizenship to men.’

  ‘And Anselm is so slack with personal security that it really won’t be hard,’ Khalid concurred. ‘That will leave Sermetica looking for a new president and the United Systems looking for a new chairman.’

  The nightmare slips away, returning her consciousness to the House of Vidor. Taren is shocked as she looks to Maiara, fearing that Khalid may have the means to perceive them as clearly? ‘How did —’

  ‘I perceive them?’ Maiara raises both her brows, having pre-empted the query. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Khalid cannot find anyone who carries your stone, or anyone deceased. It is not he who sees, but the ghosts of the beast you saw, who is behind Khalid’s ambitions as surely as he was responsible for his conception.’

  ‘You know how he was conceived?’ Taren is intrigued.

  Maiara nods. ‘Satomi witnessed the act, and confided in me recently.’

  ‘But Satomi is dead?’

  ‘Yes, she is,’ Maiara confirms, amazing Taren yet again.

  ‘How many Powers do you have?’

  ‘I had many …’ She glances at her corpse. ‘… All too weak to be of much use anymore, and all ancient history soon.’

  ‘So, how can you see Khalid, without him … sorry, his father, seeing you?’

  ‘There is one great universal truth.’ Maiara fixed her sights on Taren. ‘Light can penetrate darkness —’

  ‘— but darkness cannot penetrate light.’ Taren knew the theory.

  ‘Even though there may be vastly more darkness in the universe,’ the duchess says, ‘it can only retreat from the light, and can never overcome it.’

  Taren felt her perception of Maiara fade. ‘No, don’t go.’

  ‘Save Anselm … and your cause will prosper.’

  Taren woke with a start to find Lucian on her bed watching over her.

  ‘Good to see you,’ he said.

  The urgent matters that she had learnt about in her trance state were playing through in her mind, compelling her to act swiftly, yet she knew better than to attempt to sit straight upright. ‘How long have I been out?’

  ‘A few hours,’ Lucian replied, more concerned than she’d seen him in a while. ‘What is it? What did you see?’

  Taren held a hand out so that Lucian might assist her to an upright position. ‘Khalid is going to attempt to kidnap and murder my father,’ she advised, as he pulled her up toward himself and held her there. ‘Note I say attempt …’ Her voice went husky with disdain. ‘He will not succeed.’

  ‘You have a plan?’ Lucian assumed.

  Taren nodded and roused a cocky grin. ‘I haven’t introduced you to our new security team, have I?’

  ‘Anyone I know?’

  ‘You remember Jazmay Cardea?’

  ‘Well, yes I do.’ Lucian was perplexed. ‘But last I recall she was working for the MSS.’

  Taren shook her head. ‘She is on our side now, ever since she helped me save Yasper’s life,’ she concluded, awkwardly — but he had to know.

  ‘So, that’s why you came back so far in time, to save your ex?’ Lucian clearly felt a little betrayed by this.

  ‘It was on my list,’ she replied, ‘and as it happened he was meant to be with Jazmay. I agreed to help her save his life, if she helped me rid the project of the MSS. Saving Yasper’s meant I could cut the deal with his father, the chief of the MSS, that got the MSS off our backs, with my memory still intact. It also brought about the initiative between Chief Ronan and President Anselm to decriminalise psychic power.’

  Lucian was not looking as hurt, now that he had a clearer understanding of what had gone down before he’d met up with Taren in this time line.

  ‘Those negotiations are at a vital stage right now,’ Taren further enlightened him. ‘Chief Ronan has already been taken out of the game on Maladaan, and if Khalid takes out my father on Sermetica, that bill of rights will have no hope. Every planet will again turn against those with the Powers and we’ll all be outlaws again.’

  ‘Looks like we are spending our wedding night with your ex-nemesis and ex-boyfriend, preventing the president of Sermetica from being abducted.’ Lucian would have laughed, had it not been so typical.

  Taren raised both brows apologetically. ‘I told you, once you were plugged in there was no tuning out.’

  ‘I’m not complaining.’ Lucian grinned. ‘I’m just grateful to not be standing on the outside of your life and wondering why.’

  ‘Well, in you certainly are.’ Taren kissed him, thankful for his understanding. ‘I believe we’ve been handed a golden opportunity here, so we need to move quickly.’

  ‘Golden opportunity?’ Lucian could think of many things to call this instance, but that wasn’t one of them.

  ‘Trust me,’ she urged, rising to take a shower and hopefully regain her sensibilities in the wake of her psychic episode and way too much champagne.

  This would be their final showdown, but the grand old duchess did not feel betrayed by her imminent murder — she felt empowered!

  Khalid was not a man with a choice in how he treated others; he was the product of a vile act and was not empowered by any higher intelligence. To come from
an unnatural force that derived its being from a base desire to destroy all women and ultimately all creation, meant Khalid knew and wanted only the worse for everyone — bar himself. The man was soulless, and as he was never meant to be, he could only exist in the universal scheme for as long as the souls of the tortured men of Dead Man Downs chose to serve him.

  Maiara was not privy to the ancient Phemorian dark magic that had kept Chironjivi’s body alive and kicking for so many more centuries than usual. But what she did know was that the revenge-filled captain needed fear to sustain his earthly body and supernatural power. Without Khalid to bring him victims, Chironjivi would finally perish, as he should have done over a thousand years ago! He would then join the mass of tortured souls at Dead Man Downs and all the fear in the United Systems would not bring the ousted Prince of Phemoria back to life. Once Chironjivi’s unnatural earthly body was gone, he could not spawn any more offspring.

  Dressed in her best for the occasion, Maiara was seated in her regular chair by the window, facing out toward her favourite view. Her unnatural demise would be the signal to the Timekeeper that Khalid was about to make his move on Anselm, and in that knowledge she was content. As the duchess considered all that would come to pass beyond her death, a satisfied smile crossed her face.

  ‘Dear Nanny Mai,’ Khalid announced his arrival. ‘You were expecting me?’

  For once, the sound of his voice didn’t make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end — she didn’t fear him anymore. ‘Of course.’ She turned her eyes his way, knowing her calm and a lack of bodyguards was making her guest nervous.

  ‘I was expecting a bit of a fight, to be honest.’ He sounded a little disappointed about that.

  Maiara grinned at this. ‘I’m sure you’ll get one … but not from me.’

  ‘You are going to tell me who is running these light freaks and who stole my captive?’ He took a seat on the coffee table facing her, and the duchess’s tray of morning tea toppled onto the floor.

  ‘I’ll give you a name,’ she teased. ‘Zagriata.’