Makki squirmed and Col put her down. She walked over to the Citadel instructor and stared up at him for a long time. She nodded after her assessment was complete. “Good. She needs all the help she can get.”
Col had suspected that her niece harboured a talent, but for her, this cinched it. It seemed to be psychic, so Makki was safe. Colah smiled as her niece returned to her side.
The small hand slipped into hers and Col felt a sense of peace wash over her.
Mak grinned. “You are going to be fine, Auntie. You can trust him. Now, go before they try and keep you here.”
She hugged her niece and sister one more time before she walked to stand in front of Ysyr. “Well? I am as ready as I am going to get. Shall we be going?”
He reached out and placed his hand, palm up, in front of her. With a grin, she took his hand and together, they walked through the armed guards, across five hundred yards of salt flat and into his shuttle.
“Welcome to the Egrin Bor, one of the fastest ships designed by the Kalorda. Take that seat, strap in and hang on. I don’t know when or if the Resicor will rescind their hospitality and I want to be in the air if they do.”
She looked at the crowd of folk who were watching the shuttle and did as he said. “You and me both.” Being in the air had never seemed like a better idea.
Chapter Six
They made it off world without incident and the moment that they were free of threat, he applied the engines and fitted a halo to his head.
Col was shaking. She had done it. She had left the dome behind and a life loomed ahead of her that would let her fly.
“Master Instructor Ysyr, what is that halo for?”
“It is my link to the jump engines. We are about to make the first of three jumps to Morganti. Each jump uses technology to move us from one empty spot to the other. There are a finite amount of jump points available in any system and so you must find one before you can jump.”
She chuckled and fiddled with her harness. “You are beginning with the instruction already?”
He smiled, “No time like the present. Prepare for jump.”
Colah held her breath and when a series of lights tracked across the command console, she had the peculiar feeling of being two places at the same time.
They settled and Ysyr turned to her. “How do you feel?”
“Weird but fine.” She took a quick mental inventory and nodded. “Yup. Fine.”
He laughed. “You are doing very well for your first time into space. We are two hours from the next jump point, so tell me about that suit.”
She looked down and blushed at the expanse of skin that was exposed by the pattern. “It is grafted to my skin. They give us the suit to contain our talents. It has a suppression system in it that is set by our activity levels. Once set, it will remain that way for the rest of the wearer’s life.”
“You can’t take it off?” He frowned.
“No. It takes care of bodily disposal for me as well as sweat and oil, I only need to wash my hair and hands.”
“So, your body is completely cut off?” There was an intensity to his question that she didn’t understand.
“I believe so. If you mean sex, it has never been a concern before, so I can’t miss what I haven’t had.” She was staring out and watching the planets drift to the side as they sought the next jump point.
She could see him visibly jerk as she spoke and he turned back to the monitors. She barely heard him mutter, “We will just see about that.”
Her lips twisted, but she gasped as the lights flashed again and they moved from one point in space to the others.
“What, no warning?”
He chuckled. “Sorry, I was distracted.”
“More flying, less flirting. I am not going anywhere.” She laughed.
Ysyr nodded. “You are right, of course. I am sure that Fixer could manage something. Not that your suit isn’t very fetching, but it is far more confining than I would like.”
She chuckled as they moved through the next star system to the last jump point. “It is a design to keep two things from happening. The first is that they don’t want the physical talents reproducing and the second is that several of the physical talents were not above using their power to coerce the opposite or the same sex. Remove access to the genitals and the reproduction ceases as well as the reason for coercion.”
“Interesting. So the suit is a living thing?”
“Apparently it is a mix of living being and technology.”
He nodded. “Similar to the Masuo with a twist.”
“What is Masuo?”
“A living plant-like creature that sprouts pods which can be trained into shapes that are used for boots and clothing. They bond to the wearer and change shape to suit the mood of their host. They perform in a similar manner to your suit if you choose to have them as a complete wrap.”
“Interesting.” She smiled at the way his mind was working. He was going to get her out of this suit if it killed him.
She sighed and watched the constellations shift as they moved through another strange system. “Why did you come for me?”
“It was my turn. I was scheduled on recruitment duty and so when they told me about you, I got into my ship and here I am.”
Col swivelled her chair and stared at him. “I mean why you? You know what I mean, don’t you?”
He paused with his hands over the controls. “You feel it too?”
“The strange hum every time you touch me? Yes. If we weren’t alone, I wouldn’t say this, but you gave me the confirmation that I was attracted to men. I wasn’t sure up until you.”
His shock was enough to make her laugh. It was a deep cackle that she couldn’t stop. “You should see your face. I am sorry. I am a little overwhelmed with new things today and I thought it would be fun to give you the absolute truth.”
Ysyr turned to her and took her hands in his. “I don’t know what Turnari’s plan is for you once your training is completed, but you will never be far from me. Kalorda keep their mates close at all times, whether they have consummated the connection or not. Now that I know you exist, you are not going to leave me for long.”
She tilted her head. “I don’t understand.”
He grinned and pressed a kiss to each of her hands. “Kalorda are notorious hunters. Once we are on the scent, our prey never escapes.”
In that instant, she met his gaze and there was a whisper across her thoughts. “You are taking an imprint of my mind.”
“Very good, Colah. If you are ever lost, I will find you. It is one of my many talents.” He pressed two more kisses to her hands and she felt the flick of his tongue.
“Tasting as well?”
“That was just for my own entertainment. Prepare for jump, we are on our way to Morganti.”
She folded her hands in her lap and turned to watch the process of jumping from one star system to the next.
The principal seemed to be that at some points, the star systems lined up like a sort of three-dimensional board game. The computer calculated the connecting points and the speed of thought was needed to activate them at the precise moment for the transfer to take place.
She watched the data stream across the screen and when they were again in two places at the same time, she watched the after image of one system fade and the Morganti system take its place.
With a slingshot manoeuvre, he whipped them around a small moon and then he hit the thrusters. For better or worse Col was about to get a new home.
Chapter Seven
“The tower on the right is the Citadel outpost, the base on the right is the Sector Guard Base. We will be landing at the Guard base and their physicians will give you an exam to determine your species’ specifics.” Ysyr was all business.
“Will it hurt?” She bit the inside of her cheek.
“No. They are just going to take baselines of your resting levels. That way, if you are ever injured in the line of duty, you can be healed at any Alliance facility.” He smiled and a light dawned in his eyes. “I think we will be taking a trip to Teklan base in the near future.”
“We?”
“Yes, we. You don’t know how to pilot a ship and this shuttle is my private property.” His grin was fleeting. “I have to call in and announce us before they send Star Breaker up here to blast us out of the sky.”
He quickly raised the base on the communicator and received clearance to land on the first active Sector Guard base in existence.
His hands moved the controls with elegant power, taking them through the atmosphere and into the base itself. The Egrin Bor moved like it was designed for him, which she supposed it was.
As they landed, her limbs protested the hours of confinement. She knew that she had to put up with the exam first, but the moment she got the authorization, she was going to be up in the air.
Colah fought the harness for a moment, but when it was unclasped, she rose to her feet, swaying slightly.
Ysyr was out of his chair in a flash, holding her by the elbows and supporting her. “Are you all right?”
She smiled, “Fine, I am just not used to being confined for so long. Even before the dome, I was used to moving for most of the day.”
He laughed. “Come with me. I need to get my post-assignment check and you can get your scan done at the same time.”
They left the shuttle and walked across the tarmac. Col inhaled deeply as she experienced the air of a new world for the first time. “It is so different.”
“What is?”
“The air, the wind, the ambient currents that move the weather patterns, it is all different.” She was smiling and her senses were on high alert.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and she felt that peculiar hum in her bloodstream again.
They walked through the halls of the administration building and before she knew it, they were entering a door marked MEDICAL.
She laughed. “I seem to be cursed by well-labelled doors.”
He didn’t know what to make of that, but he led her into the room regardless.
“Dr. Effin Nywyn, this is the newest Citadel recruit, Colah Geering of Resicor. She needs her baselines done.” Ysyr’s hand was still warm on her back.
The male turned and smiled, his teeth were sharp, his features feline and she wracked her brain for a species identity. “You are Wyoran?”
He nodded. “Very good. You can call me doctor or Effin. Or Dr. Effin if you choose. Please remove your clothing and put on one of those gowns.”
She paused. “That is not possible.”
He blinked. “What?”
“The suit is grafted to my skin. I have tried to remove bits of it, but the skin goes with it.”
Effin blinked as he absorbed the information, but he moved to gather some hand scanners. “Hold still. That is utterly bizarre.”
She held still while he ran the scanners past her body.
“They have created a hybrid of living tissue and energy and programmed it.” Effin whistled softly. “If you would come here and stand on this unit, it will complete a full body scan without touching you. For a tech analysis, you will have to see Fixer. This is a little outside my normal expertise.”
She did as he asked and held still as the scan ran over her. The first scan tingled, the second ached and by the third pass, her skin was on fire. “Stop it! Please, stop it.”
Effin moved swiftly to cut off the scan, but Col fell to her knees.
Tears tracked down her face as the burn that covered her skin ached and slowly receded.
Hands cradled her and held her while she recovered. Low tones murmured over and over. Col slowly gathered her composure and sat up, looking into Ysyr’s eyes. “I am getting better. You can let me go now.”
He frowned but stood up and held her until she had her balance. “Are you truly better?”
She sniffled and smiled brightly. “Of course.”
Effin looked worried. “I am going to call in a specialist. This is beyond what I can deal with here.”
Ysyr asked, “Fixer?”
Effin shook his head. “This will have to be a joint effort between Fixer and Reset and based on these scans, it will not be pleasant.”
Col asked wearily, “It has bonded to my nervous system as well as other systems, hasn’t it?”
Effin nodded. “You knew.”
“I suspected it. There would be no other way to restrict the power that a talent’s body generates naturally. It would have to become part of the body.” She ran her hand down the
sleeve
of her suit. “I tried to cut it off on my second day. The pain was intense and it bled as I did.”
Effin nodded. “When Reset has arrived, I will send word to the Citadel. For now, you have a clean bill of health and as soon as I run my checks on Ysyr, you can be on your way. Your body is fine, but the skin they grafted on will have to be removed if you are to gain your full power.”
She nodded and sat on the chair he held out for her. Ysyr stepped onto the same scanner she had just been tortured on and after six passes, he was set free with no ill effects.
She scowled at him and he smiled.
“Jealous.”
“Yes. It isn’t fair, but I suppose that it will be my destiny to make sure that you pay for this moment of inequality.” She grinned. “Thank you for your help, Effin. I look forward to meeting the two who will assess whether my freedom can ever be achieved.”
Effin straightened, “This is the Sector Guard, Colah Geering, your freedom is my guarantee, but it might not be pleasant.”
She twisted, “Being bound isn’t pleasant. One day of pain for a life of freedom is a fair trade.”
He grinned, “I like your attitude. I will make the request immediately.”
Ysyr wrapped an arm around her waist. “Thank you, Doctor. We are thankful for your help.”
Effin stifled a laugh and inclined his head. “Have a good day.”
They left medical and Col looked up at her companion, “What was that about?”
“Sorry, I am a little touchy when other men become too friendly with you. It will be moderated at another stage in our relationship.”
She blinked as they walked into the sunlight. “So, your mood is dependent on access to my body?”
He shrugged and she could swear that his skin darkened slightly. “Apparently.”
“How are we getting to the Citadel?”
Ysyr started to remove the long robe that concealed him. “Skimmers are traditional, but I prefer to run. If you carry my robes, I can carry you on my back.”