The Light-Field

  ‘Hello, cupcake.’

  The sound of Jadik’s voice sent a shiver down her spine, and she glanced back to see him and several of his friends emerging from one of the classrooms behind her.

  ‘What a piece of luck, you dropping by,’ he called after her.

  With fear pumping through her veins, Kalayna sped up her walk and collided straight into the arms of Jadik’s best mate.

  ‘Where’s your boyfriend?’ he asked, casting an eye about for Kale.

  Kalayna was so low from her misadventure with Kale this morning, that she barely had any fight in her. ‘He’s not my boyfriend,’ she felt compelled to say, as she attempted to wriggle free. ‘And if you don’t let me go you can kiss your degree goodbye.’

  ‘Is that right?’ He emphasised his lack of fear as he grabbed hold of her hair and began dragging her back toward Jadik. ‘Well, if you don’t start being a little nicer to us, we might just have to screw with one of your father’s pods, eh? How long do you think you’ll last here, without Daddy?’

  Kalayna had no comeback; she had no fight. ‘You bastards.’ Her tears burst forth and her body collapsed for fear of taking another step toward the leering men.

  ‘Aw, don’t cry.’ Jadik came forward to grip her shoulders and hold her up. ‘It’ll be fun,’ he assured her, as he muffled her attempt to scream and the group of men dragged her into the vacant classroom they’d just emerged from.

  The group, who were focused entirely upon ripping the overalls from Kalayna’s body, got rather a rude shock when they heard someone clear their throat across the room. All eyes turned to Kale, just sitting in a chair observing the proceedings.

  ‘What do you want, smart boy?’ asked Jadik, and Kalayna was so relieved when the onslaught halted, she was in tears and shaking from the shock.

  Kale merely shrugged in response to Jadik’s query.

  ‘Have you come to protect your girlfriend?’ Jadik sounded rather delighted about that premise.

  Again Kale shrugged. ‘She’s not my girlfriend, but she is my friend.’

  ‘Well.’ Jadik didn’t know what to make of him, and he was getting impatient. ‘What are you going to do about it? Fight all of us?’ He laughed that off, as Kale was the shortest guy in the room. ‘What are you, crazy?’

  ‘No, no, no …’ Kale laughed along with them. ‘That wouldn’t serve me at all. No, I’m just the witness.’ He smiled broadly in conclusion, whereupon Kalayna’s attackers all let her go and turned their full attention to Kale.

  ‘Is that a threat?’ It seemed Jadik wanted a fight even more than he wanted sex.

  ‘Abso-fucking-lutely.’ Kale grinned. ‘Whatever it takes to get your arses kicked off this campus, I’m all for that.’ He held out his hands to welcome their attack.

  Jadik was absolutely fuming, but, looking to the rest of his friends, he noted they were wavering. ‘What are we waiting for?’

  ‘They know that at beyond this point, they’ll have to commit murder, twice over, to have any hope of not being expelled and persecuted to the full extent of the law,’ Kale informed him, as Kalayna silently crept out of the room, hoping to reach security before they caught up to her.

  ‘He’s going to report us anyway.’

  Kalayna heard Jadik opting for the murder option. Someone threw a punch and an onslaught of fighting sounds immediately ensued. Hold on Kale, she thought as she ran barefoot through the halls to the security gate as fast as she was able.

  By the time Kalayna got back to the classroom with a security guard, he had to pull a weapon and fire it at the ceiling to stop the frenzy — they had beaten Kale to a pulp.

  ‘He started it!’ Jadik pointed to the bloodied guy writhing on the floor, as the guard called for backup and medics.

  ‘You fucking bastards!’ Kalayna collapsed on the floor beside her friend, too afraid to touch him for fear of causing him more pain. ‘Kale?’ She wept, feeling this was all her fault. ‘I should have stayed, like you said.’

  ‘No, it’s okay, I’m good.’ He forced a smile and spat out a bloodied tooth. ‘Call BA …’ he mumbled before passing out.

  ‘No, Kale.’ Kalayna clapped her hands in front of his face to try to keep him conscious, but there was no reaction at all. She was so relieved when the medics arrived to take him to hospital.

  Once she’d reached the hospital, Kalayna’s mental and emotional state really took a dive. Police and pod-link officials questioned her about the incident, but all she really wanted to know was how Kale was doing; no one would tell her anything because she wasn’t family.

  BA and her father were a sight for sore eyes.

  ‘Back off, all of you,’ BA insisted, as Trayan moved in to comfort his daughter. He hugged her close and could feel her trembling.

  ‘Your time will be better spent questioning the men who attacked my daughter and put another employee in a hospital bed.’ Trayan looked to the company representative, who was one of the bigwig carpet walkers at pod-link.

  ‘How is Kale?’ Kalayna asked BA.

  ‘I haven’t seen him yet, but they tell me that he’s in a stable condition,’ BA assured her. ‘How are you, is more the question?’

  ‘I’m fine, thanks to him.’ She dissolved into tears. ‘If Kale hadn’t shown up …’ She didn’t even want to imagine what state she would be in by now.

  ‘We’ll come back,’ the local policewoman suggested, and left them to talk.

  ‘Here’s the thing,’ said the pod-link rep. ‘One of the boys involved in this incident is the son of one of pod-link’s major investors, who obviously doesn’t want this incident to become public. He would like to cut a deal to prevent charges being pressed, but once charges are laid, the damage is done, so …’

  ‘The damage is already done!’ Trayan stood enraged. ‘That boy just tried to rape my daughter!’

  ‘Yes, I understand you are upset.’ The rep backed off, remaining calm.

  ‘Upset is an understatement!’ Trayan imposed his disgust on the representative.

  ‘Dad, wait.’ Kalayna stood to confront the pod-link rep. ‘What kind of settlement are we talking here?’

  ‘A tidy seven-figure sum,’ he advised with a smile, obviously feeling that she would jump at the deal. ‘But you would be required to resign from pod-link —’

  ‘What?’ Kalayna snapped, angry. ‘How about this instead? Half that sum, expel the boys involved and then replace them with local people, with a preference to girls needing a scholarship?’

  The fellow from pod-link was appearing very frazzled. ‘I’m really not authorised —’

  ‘And,’ she added as an afterthought, ‘tell your associate and his son that should any fatal accident befall myself, my father or Kale during our time at pod-link, this incident and full details of this deal will be made public immediately!’

  ‘I’m sure that is not necessary,’ the representative was taken aback. ‘And as I said, I really don’t —’

  ‘Look.’ Kalayna found her fighting spirit. ‘That’s the only deal I will agree to. Your associate has two hours to make up his mind. I want this agreement on paper and signed by them, or Jadik and his buddies are all going to jail, which is exactly where they belong. I will, however, be taking out restraining orders against all of them, despite any deal we make — so it will be impossible for them to work in the same building as me — got that?’

  The fellow did not look at all pleased, but he nodded. ‘I’ll get back to you.’

  ‘You do that.’ Trayan took his daughter under arm and gave her a squeeze as the pod-link rep left.

  ‘Can we see Kale now?’ Kalayna looked to BA, who nodded and tipped his head to invite them to follow him.

  When they entered the room, Kale was laid out, bandaged and cleant up. It was a nice surprise to find him conscious, but as he was bruised from head to toe, he lay perfectly motionless.

  ‘Can I go home now?’ he mumbled, due to his fractured jaw.

  ‘I don’t think so.’ BA approached
the bed, a little teary eyed at the state he found his son in.

  ‘How’s Kalayna?’

  ‘I’m here.’ She came around the other side of his bed to speak with him. ‘I’m absolutely fine.’ Kalayna gently took hold of his hand, smiling through the tears of sympathy and appreciation that would not stop rolling down her face. ‘Why didn’t you fight them?’ she asked, having seen him train. ‘I know you could have kicked all their arses!’

  He reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek. ‘Then we would have been booted out and not them,’ he said, and the selflessness of his act only made her cry harder. ‘They are getting expelled, right?’

  Kalayna only nodded, unable to speak.

  ‘We’re working on it,’ Trayan assured him, on her behalf, as he assisted Kalayna up to leave. ‘How about we get a coffee, and leave these guys to talk?’ he suggested and she nodded, but kissed Kale’s cheek in leaving.

  ‘I don’t know how you got to me so fast,’ she whispered, ‘but thank you for being there.’

  ‘Welcome.’ Kale attempted a smile, but aborted it due to the pain.

  ‘You’re my new personal hero, son,’ Trayan confirmed. ‘Words cannot express the gratitude —’

  Kale raised a hand to stop all the fuss. ‘The pussies didn’t even break anything, I’ll be right as rain as soon as all the bruising is gone. Kalayna is my friend so … enough said, eh?’

  Trayan nodded, admiring Kale’s attitude, as BA showed them to the door. ‘That’s one amazing son you have there,’ Trayan told Kale’s father and the sentiment BA felt for Kale was all over his face, as he nodded to concur.

  ‘He does me proud.’

  Mythric closed the door and turned back to face Zeven, who was looking chuffed with himself. ‘Now don’t let all this praise go to your head ego-maestro … but you did do good today.’

  ‘I know.’ Zeven was grinning despite the pain in his face.

  ‘A bit too good, on second thought.’ Mythric frowned as he wondered out loud, ‘How did you get to Kalayna so quick?’

  ‘I have a little secret.’ Zeven pointed to the glass on his bedside table and it rose up off the table, turned upside down without spilling a drop of water and then landed right side up on the table once more.

  ‘It’s back,’ deduced Mythric, shocked and delighted, as Zeven nodded. ‘And you still didn’t use it to take out those guys?’

  Zeven shook his head and Mythric was truly astounded.

  ‘Now that’s impressive.’ He placed a hand on Zeven’s shoulder and was relieved to feel the essence of their guardian spirit once again flowing through his son.

  Zeven was clearly proud of himself, as his smile could not have been broader. ‘I’m getting it, aren’t I?’

  ‘You surely are,’ Mythric agreed, ‘welcome back.’

  ‘Damn relieved to be here,’ Zeven assured him, and heaved a great sigh of relief to be back among the ranks of the Zagriata.

  10

  THURAYYA VIDOR —

  THE ADAPTORT

  Kalayna got her deal, and their work and study life became a whole lot easier. Unfortunately for Zeven, Kalayna was twice as doe-eyed toward him as she’d been before, but she was not pressing the issue. As she was not daily under threat of being bullied, they no longer spent all their free time together.

  At year end, Kalayna and Zeven both applied to do the first and second unit exams. Although they had yet to learn how they fared, Zeven had gotten through both the written and practical tests with relative ease, so he felt sure Kalayna had completely aced both tests.

  During the semester break from university, the students at pod-link still had work shifts to perform, but Zeven did actually find himself with a few days off, with nothing better to do than laze about on the front deck in a hammock.

  This particular morning was the first of three entire days of rest, so Zeven didn’t even feel pressed to hit the books and get a jumpstart on next year’s units. He intended to just lay here until he baked and then fall in the water and lay here all over again.

  ‘Juice.’ Mythric joined him on the veranda with two large drinks filled with green stuff and ice.

  ‘What’s in it?’ Zeven knew some of Mythric’s juice combinations were a bit hit and miss.

  ‘Good stuff … don’t be such a girl.’ He shoved the drink in his son’s hand, noting the sound of an incoming craft. He looked up to see there was a rather elite powerboat headed straight for their jetty, with a very good-looking blonde on board. ‘Speaking of girls … I think we’ve got company.’

  ‘Kalayna?’ Zeven placed the juice aside without trying it, or raising himself.

  ‘No …’ Mythric sounded a little unsure as he watched the boat pull up and a couple of crew jump off to secure the boat and aid the lady out onto the jetty.

  When Mythric whistled in approval, Zeven sat up to attention. ‘I do believe your girl is here.’

  ‘Aurora!’ Zeven sprang to his feet and semi-tripped his way out of the hammock, as he stood to see for himself.

  She looked like something straight out of a high-end fashion magazine, in her white sleeveless dress that hugged her shapely upper body and then flared to a full skirt that fell past her knees. There was a red polka-dot scarf tied around her short blonde locks — red sunglasses, lips and heels.

  Zeven’s heart had leapt into his throat and he was finding it hard to breathe — Aurora was a woman!

  ‘Hi, boys!’ She waved to them, grinning broadly, as one of the crew passed her a large basket, and other crew members placed the rest of her luggage on the jetty.

  ‘You shouldn’t have brought lunch,’ Mythric commented. ‘We’re more than happy to feed you.’ He headed out to meet her, as Zeven was still stunned by the sight of her.

  ‘That’s good to hear because, I’m starving!’ she exclaimed. ‘And this isn’t lunch.’

  ‘So, what’s in the basket?’ Zeven pushed past his father to get to Aurora first.

  ‘Your daughter.’ She laughed, as she predictably stunned them both to a standstill with the news.

  Zeven felt a ball of realisation, excitement and awe, explode inside of him. ‘My daughter?’ he squeaked, thrilled to tears.

  ‘Ah-huh.’ Aurora pulled the cotton cover back to reveal their sleeping baby girl. ‘Meet Thurayya Gudrun.’

  Zeven was just breathless at the sight of her fine dark hair like his already growing on her head. ‘No,’ he corrected Aurora, ‘her name is Thurayya …’ he leant in close to whisper in her ear, ‘… Vidor.’

  The royal name made Aurora gasp, and as Zeven pulled back to look her in the eye, he found her teary also. ‘I love you,’ she said, and Mythric took hold of the basket, as the lovers engaged blissfully in their long awaited reunion.

  ‘Thurayya,’ echoed Mythric, admiring his granddaughter, ‘now that’s a name I have not heard in a long, long time.’ In Sermetic the name meant ‘desired power’, in Phemorian it meant ‘power proof’. ‘I wonder what you do, hey, little one?’ He stroked her tiny soft head, and once he had the basket in the shade, he lifted her out. ‘Hey, Satomi,’ he said quietly to his wife’s ghost. ‘What do you know, we have a grandchild.’ The wee babe did not even wake, as he held her up to admire her and kissed her warm little forehead.

  ‘How did you find us?’ Zeven queried, once they satisfied their initial need to smooch.

  Aurora tapped a finger to her head, by way of explanation.

  ‘You can still see me remotely?’ he whispered and she laughed at how cautious he was when there was no one around to hear them.

  ‘You and anyone else I set my mind to,’ she assured. ‘I’ve been in training. I’m working with Anselm and the Sermetic secret service on a new task force.’

  ‘Whoa.’ Zeven was taken back, but delighted. ‘And you had a baby … you rock!’

  ‘You’d better believe it.’ She kissed him again, and it was during this moment that Zeven ran his hand down Aurora’s arm and noted the ornate red armband she wore and felt it
s spark.

  ‘You have a stone?’ He was surprised — Taren hadn’t even met Aurora in this time line.

  ‘You have one too?’ She noted the plain black band on his arm. ‘Did Anselm give you one too?’

  ‘The boss is way ahead of us.’ Zeven looked to Mythric, who was also stunned.

  ‘What’s new?’ his father replied, going back to admiring his granddaughter.

  ‘Anselm told me it was for protection, but I feel it is more significant somehow.’ Aurora had always wondered about the origin of her happy stone — at least that is what she’s always called it, because it made her feel so revitalised and happy.

  ‘No, it is for psychic protection,’ Zeven assured her, and as they neared the veranda where Mythric was sitting with their daughter, Zeven’s attention turned her way.

  ‘Hey, Thurayya, it’s me, Dad.’ Zeven took possession of his daughter. ‘Whoa, that sounds weird.’ Yet, for someone with zero experience with kids, it didn’t feel at all uncomfortable to be cuddling this child.

  ‘I just call her Ray.’ Aurora shrugged.

  ‘Interesting choice of name,’ Mythric noted, ‘why did you choose it?’

  ‘I didn’t,’ Aurora admitted. ‘I just looked down at her when she was born, and asked her what her name was. Thurayya was the name that popped into my head.’

  ‘You know that Thurayya was the name of the Phemorian queen responsible for the sexual revolution on Phemoria?’ Mythric said, and Aurora tensed her jaw, a little perturbed to hear that.

  ‘No, I didn’t know.’ Aurora laughed and waved it off.

  ‘Clearly, she’s a charmer.’ Zeven had hold of her tiny sleeping form around the middle and was holding her up in one hand. ‘My little Ray of sunshine.’ He kissed her cheek, tucking her in close to him, and looked to Aurora, completely besotted. ‘How long can you stay?’

  ‘A few weeks.’

  ‘Excellent.’ Mythric was very pleased, and clapped his hands together. ‘Female company is always welcome around here.’ He headed down the jetty to collect the rest of Aurora’s things. ‘And of course breastfeeding is most welcome too.’