Aurora Rising (10 page)

Tankin had no time to react. Rori threw up her hands as if she could block it. The debris stopped just shy of the sled and dropped to the ground, but she had no time for relief. The percussion wave hit the sled with a jolt. The line on Rori went taut, pulling her from the catwalk. Tomma, in fear of being left, sprang for her. His movement was the final shift the walkway could take. Metal screeched as it ripped free.

Rori willed herself forward. Stretching out, she seized Tomma’s arm grappling for her. The weight of Tomma’s body jerked her over and threatened to rip him from her hold. With her other hand, she reached down and snagged the back of Tomma’s shirt as he started to slip.

Rori clung to Tomma as Tankin jockeyed the sled, bringing it under control. Over the pounding of her heart, Rori finally made out Tankin calling to find out if she was all right. “Yes, I have him.” That was all she could seem to get her mind around was, somehow, she had him. “You’ll have to lower us down. I can’t reach the controls.”

“On our way down,” Tankin’s reply came back to her.

They swung gently over the port back toward the original landing spot. Tomma’s eyes remained shut tight as they’d been when he dived for her. When they were only a few feet off the ground and Rori was no longer worried about Tomma falling, Rori released her hold on his shirt, arched her back and gripped the line over her head, righting herself.

A second later, her feet touched the ground, and she moved out of the way for Tankin to land. Tomma was locked tight in her arms. His eyes finally open, looking up at her face.

“You know,” she smiled down, “we were supposed to use the harness. It makes it much easier and then you can enjoy the view.”

A smile lit the boy’s face in answer. She let it melt her for a moment before she became serious. “Will you promise me you’ll never do something like that again on a dare?” He nodded and she hugged him tight.

A shiver snaked down her back making her gasp. Her lungs tightened. Rori took several steps forward unable to stop herself then pulled back. Her head rang as pressure began to build.

Her gaze locked on a man in the crowd. Tall, good-looking, dark hair and eyes, he was older, nearing middle age. His arms were crossed over his chest as he watched her then he extended one hand out. Rori started to step forward. Catching herself, she pulled back and shook her head. The compulsion hit her again.

“I saw him.” Tomma’s voice jerked her out of the haze her mind had started to slip into.

“What?” She looked down at the boy in her arms.

“The man, I saw him, another man and the lady before the explosion.” Tomma glared into the crowd.

Rori followed the gaze and saw the man with a woman and another man moving away. Rori felt a stirring of recognition and knew the other man and woman. They were the ones from the transport dock. Forgetting the boy in her arms, she started to go after them when a hand dropped on her shoulder, making her jump. She spun and faced a massive chest. Her gaze shot up to meet Tankin’s wide smile.

“That was some rescue. You all right?” A look of concern shown on his face.

Rori slumped in relief as the pressure in her mind disappeared. “Yeah. Quite a ride though.”

“Hey, never let it be said I don’t know how to give a lady a good ride.” A playful twinkle lit his eyes.

“I will be the first one to attest to that.”

“You all right?” he asked, turning his attention to Tomma who starred up at him wide eyed.

He nodded and Rori took over answering for him. “He’s not going to be climbing towers again anymore, right?”

Tomma shook his head.

“Good decision.” Tankin reached over and ruffled his hair.

A med-tech appeared at her side.

“Tomma, this man wants to check that you are all right.” Rori handed the boy over to him. “I’ll come back and talk with you in a minute.” She looked to the tech to make sure the man understood her meaning.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” the man answered. “We’ll be just over there.”

Rori watched them walk to a rescue ground sled before turning back to Tankin. She caught sight of Cassie and Bass by the unit with the worker they had rescued. “How is it?”

“Keyen, Sansa and Ultin are sealing off the last hot spot. Sensors show no other energy leaks, containment complete. The worker they pulled out has a broken hip and several leg fractures, but he’s going to make it.”

Relief spread over Rori as she looked around. There were no more energy sparks or explosions. “Shall we go help tidy up a little?”

Rori moved off with Tankin, but her thoughts remained on the three people and what Tomma had said about seeing them before the explosion. It didn’t take long to store the gear. When Rori saw Keyen, Sansa, and Ultin headed their way, she went to meet them.

“Everybody okay?” Keyen asked as Cassie and Bass joined them.

Affirmative answers came from all around.

“So much for you just observing.” Keyen turned his attention directly on her.

Rori felt heat prick the air but just shrugged. “It was something I could do to help.”

He nodded, seemingly appeased as energy crossed her senses before it backed off. “Good job, all of you. That could have been a lot worse.”

“Do they know what caused it yet?” Rori asked the question plaguing her.

“Not yet,” Keyen answered.

Ultin took over. “They’ll have to get an investigative team in, but if you ask me, it looked like it started in several locations.”

“There are no other explanations for the spread,” Cassie started and Bass finished the thought. “Safeguards should have been enacted making it impossible.”

“I think we should talk to Tomma, the boy we pulled off the tower,” Rori spoke up.

“Why?” Sansa asked.

“He saw three people before the explosion. They were in the port. They’re talents.”

“How do you know that?” Sansa eyed her suspiciously.

“I saw them. I recognized two of them from before.”

Keyen was the only one not studying her with an odd expression. She didn’t need her talent to know they thought she was delusional, but then again, Keyen was the only one who knew of her previous experience.

“Let’s go talk to the boy.” He motioned for her to lead the way.

“He’s fine,” the med-tech said as they approached.

“Thanks,” Keyen acknowledged, before turning his attention to the boy.

“Hi, Tomma, I want to introduce you to a friend of mine, Keyen,” Rori said but the boy was already gaping at Keyen.

“I know you. You’re the Captain of the Guardians.” His voice was filled with awe.

“That’s right.” Keyen smiled.

“Wow.” Tomma’s gaze went to Rori. “Are you a guardian too? I haven’t seen your picture before.”

“She’s the newest member. You’re her first rescue with us, though she was on a different rescue team before.” It was Keyen that answered for her.

Tomma’s look of adoration shifted to her. Rori quickly pressed down feelings of embarrassment. “Tomma, can you tell me about the man you saw? The one you pointed out to me in the crowd.”

The boy fidgeted. “He and the other man and woman were in the power port. I saw the other man first when I snuck in. I hid because I thought he was a worker, though he wasn’t dressed like one. When I got to the top of the tower, I saw the one guy talking to the woman by the back wall. Then the first guy came up to them, and they went out the gate. Then everything started to explode.”

“What do you mean everything? Was there more than one explosion?” Keyen squatted down to be at the same level.

Tomma was already nodding before he finished the question.  “The big tank blew. It was so loud and knocked me from my feet, then there was one by the bottom of the tower. I thought it was going to collapse. The ladder fell down. I was going to die. I was going to fall. Everything was exploding then.”

“You sure they left before the explosions started?” Keyen probed, aware Rori was pushing out little nudges of comfort.

The boy’s head bobbed up and down.

“How did you get in?” The thought came to Rori.

“The side gate was open.” He looked sheepish. “We didn’t break it honest. We found it open. I knew we weren’t to go inside. Gerroom said we shouldn’t but I wanted to see inside and the view from the tower. Gerroom said I wouldn’t dare.”

Keyen laid a hand on his shoulder. “Are you going to do that again?”

“No, Sir.”

“Good. I know you were high up, but can you describe the people to me?” Keyen urged.

Tomma was just finishing the descriptions when a woman pushed her way through the crowd. “Tomma!” she cried. Panic flared in her eyes.

Rori slipped in front of her, holding up a hand. “He’s all right, just learned a powerful lesson today.”

The hysterics faded from the woman’s face, and Rori moved out of the way, letting the mother get to her son. Tears still came but they were not overwhelming. Keyen sat to the side letting the reunion take place before he drew the woman’s attention. “Ma’am, I need to ask Tomma one more question. Would you mind giving your information to the tech here while I finish up? Someone will be over to talk to Tomma some more.” He turned his attention back to Tomma. “Tomma, you’ve been doing very well. I want you to think. Were they carrying anything?”

“The younger man, I saw at first, he had a tool bag. That’s why I thought he might be a worker.” He thought a moment. “They didn’t have anything when they went out the gate.”

“You’re certain?”

He nodded.

“Thanks, Tomma. You be good now and take care.” Keyen patted his shoulder and stood, his gaze going to Rori. “You got that?”

Rori realized he was talking to someone on his communicator.

“All right, we’ll meet in your office then.” Keyen shifted his attention to her. “Let’s go.” They fell into step. “You’ve been doing that all your life haven’t you?”

“What?” She glanced at him.

“Giving little nudges of comfort like you did to the woman. I bet you didn’t even realize you were doing it. It’s natural. That’s why you had no problem doing the crowd. It isn’t new to you. You’re used to it. It’s just stronger now, or maybe not stronger, you’re just more aware.”

Reaching the others, he left Rori to think about what he’d said and asked, “Ready to take off?”

“All set,” Ultin returned and they headed up the ramp together.

Rori barely dropped into her seat when a food bar landed in her lap. She looked up to find Sansa standing over her already tearing off the wrapper of hers, the others doing likewise. “That’ll hold you until we can get back, clean up and get to eat. We missed lunch a long time ago.”

“Thanks.” Rori realized she was famished. Glancing at the time display, she was stunned at how late it was.

“By the time we get cleaned up, we can catch the early dinner.” Cassie leaned over.

“We have a meeting after we eat in Hiymm’s office,” Keyen said.

“So then we can catch the late dinner too.” Tankin took the seat next to Rori as Keyen took the controls.

It was only a of couple minutes before they docked back at Guardian Central. Cassie led Rori into the woman’s locker room, explaining the defect-showers they used to make sure no harmful substances ever remained on their bodies and showed her where extra uniforms were kept.

“In truly toxic situations, we spray off before we get back on the sled. That’s not very often. I’ve only had to do it once. They’re pretty careful with us even though it seems we are in a lot of high danger situations,” Cassie explained as she undid her suit.

“I can tell after today.” Rori smiled, amazed at how well planned everything was for them.

“Yeah. You did real good out there. I think you’re going to fit in just fine.”

“Thanks.” Rori felt a warm comfort as she went in to clean up. She’d done well. She tilted her head up, feeling the rays work over her body like warm puffs of air massaging her.

***

When they arrived at Hiymm’s office, he directed them right into the conference room. Two women and four men were already seated in the room. Rori recognized some of the faces from pictures in her grandfather’s study. They had been there when her grandfather was over them. Two had even been on a team with her grandfather. They were on the other set of Guardians stationed there.

Greetings were being exchanged and attention shifted to Rori. She smiled as Hiymm took over the introduction. “This is Aurora Straye, and yes, she is Jattin’s granddaughter.”

“Quite an initiation today,” a man in his late forties, who wore the insignia of their team leader, said with a smile.

She returned it. “Yes. Nice to meet you Commander Orn.”

“A pleasure. It looks like you will do your grandfather proud.”

“Thank you. I hope so.”

“Let’s get on with this,” Hiymm interjected before anymore could be said, motioning to the table.

“You never addressed me as commander.” Keyen leaned over to her as they settled into their seats.

Rori had no time to answer as Hiymm started talking.

“The reason I called everyone in is because we now have enough evidence to make you aware of a threat against you and our society. We’d been picking up disturbing patterns for some time, but in the last couple of weeks, they have been coming to a head, made evident in the attempted kidnappings on Aurora and the attack today.”

Shocked silence covered the room. Rori was aware of flittered glances her way, but most of the attention remained focused on Manning Hiymm.

The commander of the other group was the first to break the silence. “What do you mean?”

“There have been several,” Hiymm paused, “occurrences on all teams where you have responded that I believe were more of a test, for a better word. And these tests are getting larger and more dangerous.”