A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (15 page)

“I…” he sighed, and let out a pathetic
laugh. “I apologize...I’ll be straight with you, I’m concerned
about you and your team. When someone spiritually awakens half the
Sprawl, you start thinking less about the numbers, and more about
the fallout. No problems with Denni?”

She sat up and placed both hands flat on the
desk, facing him directly. “What is this really about, sir?” she
asked slowly.

Farraway knew he couldn’t avoid the subject
any further, and looked her straight in the eyes. “I’m worried
about you,” he said. “And that the ritual may have triggered some
not-so-pleasant memories.”

She pursed her lips and hid her anger. “None
that I know of,” she said warily. “Denni’s okay…everything’s
fine.”

That answer appeased him. A smile took its
time crossing his face, his head still hung low. He was gripping
his hands tightly. “That’s good to hear,” he said. Finally, he
pushed himself up and headed back to the door, only to stop a
second later. The joviality had completely left his face. “That
shockwave hit a hell of a lot of people in our city, Caren. I know
it reached all the way up your end of town. I’m concerned about the
two of you.”

Caren remained aloof. “Really, sir. All is
fine. Poe’s grumpy as hell and I’ve been biting people’s heads off,
but you know how we get when we’re overtired. All’s well, sir.”

Farraway nodded. “That’s good to hear,” he
said. “You guys have kicked ass the last few days, don’t think I
haven’t noticed. Thanks, I definitely appreciate it.”

The compliment took her off guard. “You’re
welcome, sir,” she said with a blush.

He shook his head at her. “Come on, Caren,
stop with the ‘sir’ already. I’ve known you since you were a kid.
‘Dylan’ is good enough.”

Like that would ever happen! “Sure thing,
sir,” she winked at him.

He laughed, waving as he left.

*

The audiophone on the desk
rang, something that had not happened for at least two years. Caren
stared at it, letting it ring a few more times, wondering who had
gotten a hold of this private and secure interoffice number.
Matthew? No…he never used these things anymore, he would have
hacked the vidmat instead.
I didn’t even
know this thing still worked,
she mused,
punching the speakerphone function on. “Alien Relations Unit,
Special Agent Caren Johnson,” she answered.

“Eh...” The caller
stumbled, as if not expecting her to answer. “This is
emha
Caren Johnson?”
Caren frowned. The voice sounded familiar, even calm and soothing,
much like a soulhealer's. She caught the well-mannered tone of the
voice and huffed quietly at the title he’d given her. Humans rarely
took a Meraladian title unless it had been earned and especially
rare if given by a Mendaihu. She hadn’t come even close to earning
it at all.

“Agent Johnson will do,” she said as nicely
as she could. “May I ask who's calling?”

“This is Kindeiya Shalei, from DuaLife,” the
man said pleasantly.

It’s about time he
called,
she thought. She tapped the pen in
her hand softly on the desk. “I appreciate your call, sir,” she
said as confidently and amicably as she could. “I understand you
may have a busy schedule, but I have a few —”

“Agent Johnson,” he interrupted. “By any
chance, were you related to Agents Aram and Celine Johnson? Didn’t
they also have a second daughter…Dennise, I believe?”

The unexpected question
hit her squarely in the gut. Goddess, that was blunt! What the hell
did that have to do with anything? She very nearly slammed the
phone down on him, but instead, as she was trained to do, she let
it go. She took a long breath, two of them, and answered in a very
quiet, forced tone as a hint to
never
bring that up again
. “They were my
parents. Sir.”

“Oh...!” he gasped, suddenly aware of the
faux pas. “I do apologize.”

“Accepted, edha Shalei,” she said.

She swore he could hear his courteous smile.
“Please, emha, call me Kindeiya. So — down to business, then. I was
contacted by Agent Kennedy in the past half hour, asking for
information on one of our employees, and said I could pass it along
to you.”

“Wonderful. Please, call me Caren.” She
weighed how much information to give him, and decided not to put
everything on the table just yet. “We're looking into one of your
associates, Nehalé Usarai, part of the Re-Gen Therapy department.
We have reason to believe he might have information regarding the
unsanctioned ritual.”

“It was an Awakening ritual,” he said
without preamble. “And an enormous and powerful ritual at that.
Something of that intensity is mostly used offworld, on some
CNF-sponsored minor planet perhaps. Despite its connotations,
however, it’s not a religious ritual — spiritual, yes, but not
religious.” He stopped. His pause was almost leisurely. “To answer
your question, my dear: I know for a fact that Nehalé Usarai was
directly involved.”

Caren opened her mouth, then shut it again.
How the hell could she respond to that? She was torn between
surprise and distrust. Why would he reveal the truth so openly like
that? If he knew Nehalé was involved, he should have reported it to
the ARU already — hell, he should have reported it before it ever
happened! What was Kindeiya hiding?

She chose to err on the side of caution with
this man. “Nehalé is involved, you said?”

“Yes, emha. Still is, to some extent.”

She started reaching for her pager to
contact Poe. “How so?”

She could hear the smile on his face. “He
was the one who performed the ritual. I must say this, though:
Governor Rieflin has it all wrong, it’s not a terrorist act at all.
It’s the start of a new consciousness.”

“A new…wait. What?” She covered herself by
backtracking to the previous comment. She had to regain control of
the conversation, and quickly. “How do you know he performed
it?”

“My friend edha Usarai is a very integral
part of the Regenerative Genetics Department here at DuaLife,” he
said. “He is our Supervising Soulhealer for recuperating patients
going through Re-Gen. Fascinating work. He uses his Mendaihu
abilities to teach Re-Gen patients how to get in tune with their
bodies as well as their spirits…he teaches them how to heal
physically as well as spiritually when they have Re-Gen surgery
done. He’s got a ninety-nine percent success rate.”

Caren hid a grunt of annoyance. “That’s
impressive, but it doesn't tell me anything I need to know, edha.
Please answer the question.”

Kindeiya's voice suddenly turned apologetic.
“I am truly sorry, emha Caren, but it is actually a very integral
part of the explanation behind Nehalé's actions. I have known him
both as Meraladian and Mendaihu for many years. And he has always
been destined to begin the Great Cleansing.”

Oh, shit.
Caren let out a long breath of frustration as a
chill ran down her back.
We’re going
there, aren’t we?
Nehalé had considered
himself the next prophet with a mission to awaken the One, just
like Poe had suggested.
She sighed quietly and continued.
“Are you sure this is a spiritual cleansing? For all we know, he
may just be a renegade Mendaihu willing to cause a bit of expensive
anarchy.”

“No, not Nehalé,” he said. “He does nothing
without reason. He has only begun the process of Awakening.”

Caren shook her head,
annoyed at this constant glorifying. “Okay, okay. Let’s say for the
moment we’ve already established that. Now we need the
why
.”

“The
shimshiya
, emha Caren, as they
called it so long ago. An endgame. The time when the Shenaihu and
the Mendaihu band together for peace.”

Peace…?
She really wanted to scream now. “We haven’t had
an insurgence since the last Embodiment of the One, Kindeiya. I
believe we still have that peace.”

“You truly believe that?” he asked.

Caren faltered, despite her convictions. She
may have Mendaihu blood within her, but she couldn’t bring herself
to follow its spiritual flow. There were just too many unanswered
questions, too many indefinites. To be brutally honest with
herself, she really didn’t know what to believe at this point. She
was too afraid.

“Ah…dear me,” he exhaled. “I believe your
silence would answer the question, I’m afraid.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry, edha Johnson, but I can’t accept
that the ARU believes that.”

Don’t say it…
she reminded herself.
Don’t tell this guy off. Don’t let him get to
you
…
hra khera, hra mehra…
“Kindeiya...let me speak truthfully. If, in fact, you believe
edha Usarai is some harbinger of doom or the messiah of
enlightenment, it's hardly anything the Alien Relations Unit can go
on. I hope you can understand, edha…as much as we understand and
appreciate the spiritual undercurrent of this event, edha Usarai
has broken the law. He may have performed a miracle with the
Awakening ritual, and the Ninth Embodiment may already be here…but
it was not sanctioned, and in the process he may have endangered
the citizens of Bridgetown. That’s not just a handful of people,
edha…that’s millions of people. The ARU’s primary objective is to
serve and protect those people — Earthers, Gharné, Meraladhza,
Shenaihu or Mendaihu,
all
of them. We cannot get personally involved in
spiritual politics. If you can come down to our Branden Hill
headquarters and give me a written statement on your knowledge of
Nehalé’s involvement, then I have no problem. You do know that if
he readily admits guilt, we're talking,
easily
, life imprisonment on Runeia.
He's just lucky he has the Mendaihu to back him up, or it could be
worse.”

He hummed introspectively. “Well, emha —
”

Damn it all!
“And another thing, Kindeiya. Please know that
I'm not Mendaihu.
Miss
Johnson or just plain Caren, okay?”

He seemed shocked at that admission, and
waited a beat before he responded. “My apologies, Caren. When
another Mendaihu assumes...”

“Right,” she
grumbled.
What a prick.
“Carrying on…”

Kindeiya let out a very long sigh that Caren
took immediately as snobbish disdain. “Caren, as much as I would
like to give you the pertinent information regarding Nehalé and the
Awakening Ritual, I am afraid there is little you can do with it at
this time. For you see, it is information only a Mendaihu would be
able to understand, for there are many levels and nuances. An
untrained Mendaihu would not be able to grasp it, let alone retain
it.”

Oh, for the love
of...
Caren huffed. Poe was right, he was
one of
those
Meraladians...
Well, if he wants to
pull spiritual politics into it...

“Fine,” she said, adding a nice frost to her
words. “You need a Mendaihu? You got one. Two, to be exact. I'll
have Agents Akaina and Ashyntoya Shalei from NewCanta Province
contact you. They're on board with us in this investigation. I'm
sure they'll be more than willing to explain it to us.”

The names took him by
surprise, causing yet another change in his tone of voice. She
wasn’t sure how, though…lighter? Calmer? “I see,” he said
eventually. “That does make things easier, emha — I’m sorry,
Miss
Johnson.” She
couldn't be sure, but that perfect voice seemed to waver. “Have
them call me at their leisure. Again, I apologize. My intents are
only to assist the ARU and ensure the safety of the citizens of
Bridgetown.”

Goddess.
She slammed the pen flat on the desk blotter. She
was glad he couldn't see her on vidphone, as she had a strong
temptation to gesture obscenely at him. “Apology accepted,
Kindeiya,” she said as evenly as she could. “I shall have the
Mendaihu agents contact you as soon as they possibly
can.”

He gave her his courtesies for a few more
moments before hanging up. She cursed and exhaled, frustrated with
herself. It should not have been that easy to get her that riled
up, but he’d pushed all the right buttons in quick succession right
from the start by mentioning her parents. Kindeiya Shalei had to
have been an expert-level soulhealer…he’d used his own voice as a
calming device, and used it so deftly that she hadn’t noticed she’d
been diverted until much too late. She was mad at herself now;
she’d been trained to deflect aural influence like this by her own
parents over a decade ago, so why had he done it so easily? What
kind of Mendaihu was he? Unable to sit quietly now, or even
concentrate on paperwork, she buzzed Poe. He picked up after three
rings, much longer than his usual wait. “Hey,” she said. “What took
you so long?”

Poe chuckled. “Fancher is just giving me the
usual problems up here. I swear he treats Records like the
Schœnsfeld Museum. He just shooed me out into the hallway because
my comm went off.”

“Any luck?” she asked.

“I just got here a few minutes ago. I got a
weird call from Sheila…she didn’t give too many details, but said
Dispatch sent them over to Saint Patrick’s to investigate a
possible B and E. That, and Farraway stopped me in the hallway on
the way up, asked me if everything was going okay.”

Caren frowned. “He did the same to me.”

“Huh — well, I’m just about to pick the info
up now, I’ll be down in a few minutes or so.”

“Well, make it quick. I've got one hell of a
story to tell you. I've just had the most blessedly frustrating
conversation I've ever had since I teamed up with you.”