Ghosting the Hero (2 page)

Simry looked down into the swirling vortex of N’kad’s representation of his mind.

“Huh. It is smaller than I thought.”

He gave her an evil look. “Perhaps it is cold in here.”

She snickered and looked for the motor cortex. Sure enough, he was paralyzed.

“It is a psychic paralysis, not a physical one.”

He blinked. “What?”

“You see those bands there? It is a psychic virus. It looks like it was designed to target someone with your mental structure.”

“Well, that is obvious.”

“Not really. Different species have minds that are truly unique. They would have to know how to target your particular system. Ah well. At least I can get around it.”

She wasn’t sure how to ask her next question, but she blurted it out. “What is it that makes you a Guardian? What is your physical talent?”

“That is a personal question.”

“I am staring into your mind right now. How much more personal do you want to get?”

“Kiss me.”

Simry blinked and stared into those brilliant eyes. “What?”

“If you are really here, I would like proof. If I kiss you, I will know that you are not part of my mind. I have never seen a creature like you, so there is no chance you are a fantasy. Kiss me.”

Simry twisted her lips and finally exhaled and moved close to him. She placed her hands on his chest, finally appreciating the differences in their height. Simry went up on her toes, and she settled back down in frustration. “Lean forward, please.”

He smiled and bent toward her. She quickly brushed her lips against his and backed away. “There. A kiss.”

N’kad gave her a searching look. “You are correct, it was. Not a very good one.”

Simry pushed away from him. “I didn’t recall you demanding a certain technique.”

He chuckled. “You are correct. I did not. I manipulate geomagnetic energy. If I could move and knew which way to aim, I could be out of here in moments.”

She wrinkled her nose again. “I need to learn how you trigger your talent.”

“I don’t think it is something I can teach.”

She inhaled sharply. “I know.”

She jumped into his arms and kissed him, pressing herself to his mental avatar as fully as she could.

He held her and returned the kiss, which allowed her to use his arousal to pick his brain.

Twice before, her career as professional ghost had necessitated her picking someone’s brain, but they had been lying unconscious, and she had used her hands. With her already inside his mind, she had to get close to him. When his tongue slid along the seam of her lips, she parted them and used his distraction to learn how he used his talent.

She tried to lean back, but he held her against him. His body solidified more and his antique-gold and smoke skin became visible. She couldn’t make him let go, but she could get out of his grip. She ghosted through him, and when she stumbled to the other side, she kept moving.

He turned and his eyes were narrowed. “What was that?”

“That was me running through you.”

“You kissed me.”

“I did, and then, I had what I needed so I tried to get loose, and I did.” She smirked.

He narrowed his eyes. “Why? What did you need?”

“I needed to learn how your body works when you use your talent. Just because you can’t blast your way out of here doesn’t mean that I can’t. I can at least buy you more time.”

“You are going to take over my body?”

“Yes, but don’t worry. I won’t do anything weird. I just want to get some air in here. You are in a sealed chamber after all.”

“You can do that?”

“I can. It isn’t comfortable, but I can.” She shivered. “Wearing boys is weird.”

“When will you do it?”

“Are you fine if I go now? There is no point in waiting. I promise I will return as soon as I finish.”

N’kad nodded and he swallowed. “Please come back.”

She wanted to take a step toward him, but she pulled herself out of his mind and inhabited his bones, muscles and skin.

The power trigger wouldn’t be under her control for long, so she blinked his dry eyes and looked for the cave-in site. She couldn’t move much of him, but she could move his arms, and with the arms aimed toward the very stone that had sealed him in, she triggered his talent and bored a tunnel through the stone and to the surface.

His arms returned to his sides and the loose rocks tumbled, but fresh air followed. She felt the easing in his chest as air came to him, and she was thankful that the paralytic had not worked on his involuntary muscle movements.

She closed his eyes and withdrew back into his mental plain. She wasn’t surprised to find him waiting.

His hug was just bordering on painful when he finally released her.

“You have air. Now, we just have to wait until they come to rescue you.”

“Will you stay with me?”

She stared up at him. “I will be honest. No. When they send me the signal that they are in the vicinity, I will return to my body and they will help me integrate again. It is rare that I have been away this long. It will be painful.”

“Is your presence here dangerous?”

Simry pressed her lips together. “Yes and no. This is my job. I know the risks. Coming to help you was worth the risk.”

He scowled. “That is my job. It is up to me to take the risks.”

“Not this time, hero. You need help and not accepting it is arrogance. Don’t be a twit.” She patted his chest.

“How long have we been here together?”

She did a check. “Thirteen hours.”

“It feels like seconds.”

“That is the joy of mental interaction. I never know if it will expand or contract time. It depends on your partner.” Simry laughed.

“As do many things.”

She was about to figure out if he was serious or being a little flirty when there was a sharp tug on her mind.

“N’kad, your ride is here. I am going to go and send them to the precise location. Be good and don’t worry if you don’t remember this. Few people do.”

She kissed him quickly, pulling his head down to hers and releasing him when she was pulled again. “Gotta go. Nice meeting you.”

In a bright rush of energy, she was pulled out of him, quickly sent the Guard ship the location of their target and followed the path back through the relays and into her own body.

Simry heard Reset groan in relief.

“She is back.”

Riasa muttered, “As soon as she is awake, I am going to kick her off the central tower. Twenty-six hours. She has never been gone that long.”

Simry opened her eyes. “It felt like thirteen.”

Her throat was hoarse, and Reset was fussing with her bio signs and a scanner.

“Simry, stay still and let me hook up the IVs. You are integrated but your body was working slowly, even for you. You are dehydrated and lacking a lot of nutrients. I don’t know what you were doing, but your tether was so thin that Finder could barely see it.”

Simry thought of the kiss and her pulse speeded up.

Riasa smirked. “Oh, that.”

“I wasn’t doing that, but N’kad was in a horrible position, and I am waiting for confirmation that they have him.”

“They have him. The notice came through while you were fighting to integrate. He is in rough shape, but he is alive and on his way here. Reset has a chamber prepped for him, because he has to go through full decontamination and quarantine.”

“Good. They infected him with something.”

Ri nodded and went to massage Simry’s feet at Reset’s instruction. “We are aware of it. He was the test case. His people are currently being threatened with the same infection.”

“Oh, dear.”

Reset chuckled. “No kidding. That is an understatement. We need N’kad to remain infected while we work on a cure.”

Simry gasped. “You can’t be serious.”

“He has the only living sample of the virus. If they had been able to kill him directly, I am sure they would have, but they didn’t think he would be found.” Reset worked Simry’s fingers and brought the feeling back into her fingertips.

“Isn’t M’rin here today?”

Reset smirked, “We thought that since you had risked yourself and your sanity, you might appreciate having me here in case anything didn’t quite line up right.”

“The thought was nice, but I am a professional.” It was a little hard to feel like an adult with two women working on her circulation and rubbing her hands and feet.

Simry lay back and let them finish. “I want a cookie.”

Riasa chuckled and said, “As soon as you get to the commissary, you can have whatever you like.”

Simry grinned. “Good. I have plans to scare the kitchen staff.”

Simry was playing something that the Terrans called basketball out in the courtyard when the ship carrying N’kad arrived.

When she paused, the herd of players thundered past her. She watched the shuttle land with the beacon of the familiar mind blazing brightly to her senses. She exhaled in relief and rejoined the game. He was alive and he was on Teklan. Reset could take care of all of the rest.

She grabbed the ball and dribbled it down the court, heading for the hoop with focus. Exercise was part of her physiotherapy. Her body lost touch with her mind on some days, and things like this kept her focus.

Simry kept playing with the others until her exhaustion drove her to the side of the game and another eager member of the Citadel ran forward to take her place. They didn’t really keep score, they were just happy to have something to do on lazy, sunny days.

She glanced over her shoulder at the elegant spire of the new Citadel and tried to figure out where her office was. She could never manage to count up to the seventeenth floor. Her attention always wandered by twelve.

“Why so distracted today, Sim?”

Leodar sat next to her, his torso gleaming with sweat.

She made a face. If she had been interested in him, she would have been over the moon, because he seemed to be fixated on her and he was well worth a second look. The spots that trailed down his back made Simry want to follow the line over his pert backside, and it was the same for the spots running down his chest. His feline attributes were mixed with stunning masculine features that synched with his main animal.

As it was, she appreciated him as a friend and nothing more than artistic appreciation went through her mind when she looked at him.

“I was distracted by the incoming shuttle. I recognised one of the occupants.”

He smiled at her. “An old friend?”

She shook her head as she thought of N’kad. “No, I think he is a new one. I am not sure though, he may be a little perturbed with me.”

Leodar’s face went flat. “Why would
he
be?”

“I sort of left him alone and stranded on an empty world.”

He chuckled. “And now he shows up here? He must be a glutton for punishment.”

Simry thought about what she knew of the Guardian. “I think he is a man searching for a purpose.”

“Are you going to be that purpose?”

She stared at him as if he had grown a second head—which she had seen him do—and she slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t be stupid. I am not a field agent, not like he is.”

“And you won’t ever be. Don’t forget that.”

Simry was shocked. She got to her feet and muttered, “Nice pep talk.”

He got up and tried to follow her. She hit him with a stunning blast from her mind, and she sprinted into the Citadel. If she couldn’t relax, she may as well work.

“What are you doing here?”

Rinway came in while Simry was buckling into her seat.

Simry tapped at her screen with angry fingers. “I am going to run some systems’ scans on the unmanned relay stations.”

“Those aren’t scheduled for two weeks.”

“I know. I have some time today, so I thought I could knock out the worst of it.”

“Do you need a monitor?”

“I would like someone to check on me every hour or so.”

“Done. Keep an eye on yourself as well. Those stations can be tricky.”

Simry nodded tersely and gave the supervising administrator a smile. “I will be fine. I just need to be somewhere else.”

“Right. Fine. Log your time and keep track of where you have been. Those stations have been cracked for their power packs, so keep an eye on any weird security readings.”

Simry checked the furthest location and she nodded. “Will do. Off I go.”

She settled back, clipped her monitor onto her wrist and neck and relaxed in the chair, sending her mind through the top of the spire and through the web of relays to her destination. She could always lose herself in work.

* * * *

N’kad woke with a rush of pain, sending the woman next to him tumbling backward. The Kozue warrior at his side gently pushed him back down to the table.

“Easy, Guardian. You are on Teklan Base. You are with the Sector Guard.”

The woman approached again. “I am Reset, and I took samples from you before I healed you. We will be able to analyze the toxin if they try to use it again.”

N’kad groaned and put his hand to his forehead. “What is that pain?”

The warrior chuckled. “My wife’s hands have a healing touch, but she is more about speed than subtlety.”

The woman grinned, her deep blue hair shivered in a wave across her shoulders. “This is my husband, Mist.”

“I am pleased to meet you. I am at the Guard base?”

Reset smiled and nodded. “General Brodin would like to speak with you and offer you a position if you are interested.”

He looked down at himself and was unsurprised to find that he was unclothed. “Is there something I can wear?”

Reset blushed. “Of course. We had to put your body and clothing through quarantine and sterilization. The fabric didn’t stand up to the process.”

Mist chuckled. “A suit is being delivered outside our isolation unit. I will retrieve it for you.”

N’kad watched as the warrior disappeared into a cloud of tumbling vapour that left the room and spilled through a seal in the door, to reform on the other side.

“He is...” N’kad didn’t have the right term.