Log 1 Matter | Antimatter (47 page)

It was cool in the massive courthouse. It was
so big; she could barely make out faces on the top tiers across
from her let alone those below. Ara’s nerves were so fragile she
kept feeling a tingling in her hands. Rubbing at them made no
difference. After a moment, the irritation went away and she forgot
about it. This first part was just preliminary and they’d learn
nothing new here. They were made to sign, swear, and listen to
numerous speeches with the last one being the most serious.

“This case is Level Gold. Under no
circumstances are you to pass information to anyone who is not a
Pure-Gen. You are to block all telepathic links to these sessions
and shield your thoughts with the security you will be issued with
now.”

Ara took her tab—liquid data—without
hesitation. The last thing she wanted to do was to leak information
after reading that five attempts had been made to break into the
security and all perpetrators had been killed. There was one leak
too, from a meeting on another planet, and that king had been
executed. The news was guarded but known to Pure-Gens. The
warlords, who weren’t Pure-Gens, were very busy.

By the end, Ara felt sick already and she
still only had her theories. They were told for the vote they could
bring their special guards who had top security. Interestingly
these did not need to be Pure-Gen but had to meet very tight and
high clearances. Ara rubbed her head. Vin had already mentioned
them, they had to undergo a painful transition bombarded with
matter and energy. She hoped none of her guards had gone through
that.

Afterwards she walked in the gardens enjoying
the last rays of sun. After a half hour walk past her block, and
nodding—she forgot how many times—to others walking, the recreation
building assigned to her block loomed ahead and to her left as she
followed the path. The trees thinned enough for her to see the
building properly.

Walking inside she looked around the foyer. A
sporty looking male offered to provide a quick tour. She found her
way back to a climbing wall but it was booked. Watching for a half
hour distracted her for a little. There were twenty different
levels of walls; the one she wanted to try was advanced, with
overhanging ledges. There were two changeable walls, made of a
special granular Lygon, but it was popular. She wasn’t aware so
many liked to climb.

She really didn’t feel like reading or
exercising and, while she mulled, Kavela found her.

“Ara.” His eyes travelled up and down her
body, she felt every nerve lighting up.

“Hello, Kavela.”

He smiled. She sighed over his exceptionally
well-made body, and he was wearing only shorts, showing off his
smooth, tanned skin with tattoos. Her fingers itched to touch
him.

“I hear Caleb is reaping the benefits after
your Virgo.”

Ara was shocked, hurt and didn’t know what to
say.

“Don’t overthink it, my lovely, you’ll hurt
yourself.”

Her mouth dropped open; his eyes were wary,
but the mental image did not validate his words. The mental flash
was
“Don’t overthink it, you’ll get hurt.”

And then she realized the hurt was what he
was doing to her, not about Caleb. Was he in some kind of danger?
Everything screamed out that he was and Trickster’s comment about
her enemies took a stranglehold.

She closed her mouth and said weakly, “Rumors
were right. You really are an arse.”

“Yes well, we need to work on your riposte.”
But there was relief in his eyes. “You’re intelligent enough to
develop the cutting wit that most Pure-Gens wield.”

He took her by the arm and directed her to
the wall, the third most advanced. “I have this part booked, would
you like to join me?” He flicked his hand at a male who gave her a
smirk. “We will be master and mentor soon.” His eyes said they’d be
a lot more, contrary to previous words he had uttered, but she was
unable to deflect him. Before she could say “no” he helped her with
a harness and an attendant brought her climbing shoes. They had
their safety speech and then Kavela offered to belay first. She
still considered leaving but, with his eyes only, he challenged her
to undo the harness. After a half hour, she found him to be a good
climbing partner.

“I’m sorry.” It came out husky and the
expression in his eyes begged her to forgive him.

Since her mind had cleared of fog, so much
seemed wrong in the world and she couldn’t work out what it was.
And since she was sure she was right with her assessment of Kavela,
she played along. His relief was her answer. So, for two hours, and
during a break, he was his usual charming self and suggested a race
to the top. At the end, she was smiling naturally, getting through
her fear and enjoying the little competition. Kavela must have
known how to help her. He was unusually witty, sometimes almost
cutting when speaking of others. Of course, this was during the
race as he tried to distract her. She still won two out of four
races. She mentioned her earlier thoughts to Kavela about climbing
being popular.

His smile turned supercilious. “Ara, there
are over four million Pure-Gens here and this is the only climbing
facility. Most people here are locals.”

“Oh.”

He smiled as they packed away their gear and
took out a hand towel to wipe his face. “Get some sleep, Ara. Or
join me for the night?”

The suddenness of the invitation startled
her. Confusion reigned within her mind and heart.

“Ara!”

She turned to find Ziana smiling at her.

“We’ve organized a table for dinner.”

Kavela bowed to Ara slightly. “I will leave
you then.”

“Thank you for inviting me to climb,
Kavela.”

He had an erection, noticeable in his tight,
black climbing shorts. And her own reaction was telling. She was
wet between her legs and an ache made her want to accept his offer.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Just ask to find my
suites.” He gave her the hand towel.

She wanted to be suave, not salivating.

“We can talk, Ara.”

“I will.” But she didn’t want to talk, even
after his rude words. What was wrong with her?

With a quick nod to Ziana, he left them.

Ziana touched her arm. “We weren’t sure
whether or not to interfere.”

Ara went with Ziana. “I’ll just shower but,
yes, I’m glad you did. I fear my hundred-year apprenticeship will
contain many lessons I will not want to learn.”

The concern on Ziana’s thin face gave her
pause but Ara squeezed her arm.

“I’ll meet up soon.” Ara saw the chasm now,
deep and dangerous. She was about to step in hoping she didn’t die
in the action.

“Ara, don’t you like Kavela? He was your
Virgo choice so I’m not sure I understand?”

“He’s… I’m just not accustomed to receiving
attention from one as esteemed as he is.” It was lame but Ziana
seemed to accept it. Whatever was up with Kavela she couldn’t
endanger him and as she turned she spotted a thin male with black
hair leaning on a wall near a busy table watching her. He gave her
a look of sheer hatred that startled her, and not just a look, she
felt it. He really hated her! He wanted her dead. With heart
pumping, she saw the male turn away and join some sandy-haired male
with his back to her. Ara’s mouth was dry, her vision swimmy.

She flushed as Kavela’s initial greeting came
back to her. She crossed her arms in front of her and unconsciously
dug into her skin.

“…he’s well regarded and he’s offered to
assist you over the course of this case.”

“Oh. He didn’t say.” She tried to focus but
that hatred! What had she done to deserve that? Why did he want her
dead? The dark eyes held hers but Ara excused herself, not wanting
Ziana to think she was critical of Kavela. She wasn’t. She felt
like crying, and tweaked her skin to ensure she kept herself
together for the walk back. It wasn’t as effective so she had to do
it twice and finally gained some control over her emotions.

“That was stupid.”

Viper shrugged and leaned back on the grassy
hill where they met. “She will soon forget it.”

Cobra shook his head, still annoyed. “This is
operation critical; her strength will be weakened here, opening her
for more attacks….”

“Not unless you also find her weakness!”

“I did. You were too busy almost ruining our
plans to see it. I’ve got Tarus misbehaving on one end almost
helping Nyx’s cause and then you almost messing up our cause.”

Viper sat up in the dark, trying to make out
Cobra’s face in the moonlight. “Sorry, you’re right. Go on.”

“She pinches herself when the pain gets too
much.”

“Ah. I didn’t take Ara for self-harm. Do you
think Tarus has seen that and hasn’t reported it?”

Cobra rubbed his arms. “No.” His voice died
off near the end as he mused over it. “I’m sure he would have
mentioned that because it is a new avenue. Since I spoke to him I
see where he’s drawing our boundaries, seeing Caleb as old game
that shouldn’t be abused, but I told him we will have to cross some
of the boundaries and reuse the old games such as Caleb and Ara’s
relationship. He’s agreed to stay out of it but will voice his
concern if we are losing our decency in the fight.” Cobra scratched
his head. “But that will happen eventually. We can’t do what we
must and be bloody virtuous. Nyx agreed to the Dictates, that’s
what we have to remind ourselves. Just keep in mind he’s being
affected by the Lacuna as well, corruption is leaching through all
of us.”

Viper nodded. “So we know her strength and
weakness, we will target her critical vulnerabilities, the
self-harm, by continuing attacks to undermine her strengths.”

“We need her off balance but not alert.”

“You’re using military tactics on a
person!”

“She is not a person; she is a Mobile
Unit.”

“Good point. Let’s talk about Nyx.”

“The only person who can kill Nyx is Nyx, but
we need Ara, the Vanguard.” He sneered the last word.

“You think it will be easier to wear down her
will to live this way?”

Cobra nodded.

“We should approach Aven. She has her
memories still of life outside. She hates Nyx too. I think she
hates Ara as well and has been tweaking the Cardinal Unit.”

“I’m not sure about that, let’s wait a little
longer.”

The way Nyx had publically humiliated Aven in
the Consortium Annual Games left many feeling sick. The magistrate
had disciplined Nyx but then Aven said Ara had done something to
her as well, and Aven had come close to killing herself. It seemed
odd to Cobra that Ara should be following the same path as Aven
when dealing with pain. He knew Aven hadn’t told Nyx about the
self-harm or about what Ara did. Maybe Aven had messed with Ara’s
biosuit as a form of revenge when Nyx went missing after being
inserted into that other biosuit? Aven had the skills to embed a
certain behavior. He thought that maybe Trickster had raised Nyx on
his own.

“How’s the alliance bit going?”

“All arranged.”

Viper nodded, pleased. “And the next phase
will be driving the Mobile Unit to death.”

“Kavela is bucking but we’ll have him back
under control. A little bit of torture here, threats there,
accidents, poisoning, you name it.”

Ara met up with her group, and was enjoying
her night, a little. It became uncomfortably noticeable that, as
much as Kavela wasn’t aware of her, he was. She saw his energy
continually ease out and entwine with hers. At one point it became
sexual and she had glanced over at him, seeing him quiet at his
table, not looking at her, but she knew he knew what he was
doing.

That night, papers arrived despite the
strange feelings.

It was her apprenticeship papers.

He had filled in the details and all she had
to do was sign.

She felt a strange resistance to signing them
so she didn’t. He’d annoyed her anyway. Make him wait. There was no
rush. She put down her stylus. She now sensed relief. It was so odd
so she looked around the room. Was it possible the shadow guards,
that Randy/Korbet assigned to her, were influencing her? And now
her mind was clear, she remembered that she and Caleb had been
rather naughty in how they had learned about the shadow guards.
Maybe Korbet, as Prince Randy, never organized it.

“Hello?” she asked, glancing around.

Then she felt silly.

Ignoring the feelings, however, she found
herself walking down the halls, knocking at Kavela’s door. He
opened it and smiled when he saw her. “You look edible, Ara.”

After she entered they didn’t talk at all
except at the end when they were lying naked on the bed when he
asked about her dalliance at the HaV coordinates. He traced his
fingers around the blue flower on her arm a few times but didn’t
say anything.

“I don’t know who it was. Maya fed me the
information.”

“Hmmmm, well, just take care my lovely. I had
a strong urge to be there to protect you and we’d only just entered
HaV.”

She was appalled. “That’s dangerous.”

He stroked her hair and tweaked her nose.
“Then don’t scare me like that again.”

A. Is everything okay?

She didn’t expect him to use short ArT but he
did.

K. There is so much to tell you but please,
Ara. Trust me?

A. Yes

He kissed her again.

K. Pretense for why we aren’t talking

A. Of course … hmmmmm

Much later, as they splashed in the bath, he
smiled at her and his foot found hers.

K. If you feel certain urges, don’t fight
them

She stared at him.

A. Like not signing the apprenticeship
papers?

He smiled. “Exactly.”

A. The flower?

His eyes narrowed a little.

K. Not mine, the container was left with a
note to give it to you and, before you ask, I don’t know why it
wasn’t given to you and I don’t know who Nyx is