Sudden Storm [Tales of the Cidatel 21] (3 page)

The chirp surprised her. It showed her that her pickup had been in low orbit the entire time.

Vexa stumbled to her feet, and when the shuttle dropped and opened its door, she walked into it and followed the protocol they had drummed into her. A baggie of sorts was ready for her, and she stepped into it, sealing it and stumbling inside. She crouched on the floor while Burn took them off Neehash and back to the orbital station.

Once in the station, she was going to be boxed in a sealed decontamination unit until they were sure that she was clear. After that, she was free to move about the ship and resume her journey to Arcani.

Vexa had stored up enough energy and
food
on Neehash to last her a few days. Burn was going to be perfectly safe from her unnatural urges.

She wasn’t fond of the baggie, and she was less fond of the decontamination chamber. She was sprayed with chemicals that she didn’t like, and the air came in in bursts. It wasn’t enough. The moment she was pronounced safe, she took the air moving in the chamber, focussed it and blasted one wall to nothing.

The medics around her stood back, and she stepped out, careful not to touch anyone. She called out, “Burn!”

He popped around the corner with a grin. “You called?”

“Are we good to go?”

“You are clear, and the new outbreaks have halted, while others are recovering. You did a helluva job.”

“Good. I am not a science project, and I don’t like being confined.” She mentally muttered,
not anymore.

“Then, allow me to escort you home.” Burn winked.

He offered his arm, and she took it, weary beyond belief. She hadn’t moved that much air in a very long time. It had been a game when she first landed on Ki to move the air and try to bring pollen back to her after it did a circuit around the globe. She had been exhausted then too but had no one to lean on.

“You are very brave to offer me your arm.”

“I am sure you are both full and too tired to try anything. My virtue is safe.” Burn grinned.

She followed him through the halls of the station until they were once again on a shuttle with Recon at the helm. Vexa dozed off once she was strapped in and didn’t even feel the first jump toward Arcani.

When she woke up, they were already there.

She stretched in her harness and felt the unmistakable tug of gravity on her limbs. Recon was occupied with the command console, but Burn was sitting across from her.

“Good morning. We are in time for the noon meal, so we can grab lunch, meet the director and take a tour of your quarters. How does that sound?”

She unbuckled her harness and got to her feet. “You had me at lunch.”

Vexa followed Burn out of the shuttle and into the light of Arcani. The gravity was slightly different than that of Ki, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

A figure walked toward them, robes swirling in the slight breeze. “Burn, I see you found the prize.”

Vexa raised her eyebrows and waited for Burn’s response.

“Vexa, this is Turan, director of the Arcani Citadel. Turan, this is Vexa, the Sudden Storm.”

Vexa inclined her head, but she felt a sudden pressure on her mind. Out of reflex, she lashed out at the source and sent Turan flipping end over end with a sharp gust of wind.

Burn stifled a laugh. “He tried to read you?”

“He did. I felt a pressure and followed it to its source. Apparently, it was him.” She shrugged. “You mentioned lunch?”

His shoulders were shaking as they approached the flattened form of Turan.

He grimaced as he fought his way upright once again. “I apologise.”

She paused on her way and helped him up. “I accept your apology. I am pleased to meet you, Turan.”

He smiled and gestured for her to precede him.

Burn waited, and they moved under the welcoming archway together.

Vexa took in the bustling activity, the figures in robes and the large spire that reached to the sky.
So, this is a Citadel.
It certainly looked the part, but it had the feel of an educational centre rather than a bastion of defence. The air of Arcani was far more humid than what she was used to, and the people were friendly but far too close.

Turan explained, “We have arranged quarters for you off the main buildings. There are uniforms and some light casual clothes waiting if you would like a change.”

Vexa looked down at her suit. “This was designed for me. It does not degrade or suffer under high winds. Do the suits you provided?”

Turan smiled brightly. “They will protect your skin under all circumstances. The suits have been designed by one of the most powerful talents of our time.”

She blinked. “Interesting. I look forward to trying them out.”

Burn chuckled, “First, let’s get some food in you. I am not eager to see you get hungry again.”

Vexa admired the marks on his skin as he settled her at a table with Turan. She asked the director, “What does Burn do here?”

The director smiled eagerly at her interest. “He teaches classes on self-control in matters of radiological emissions. We have many types of classes and courses here if you are interested.”

Vexa felt a slight smile cross her lips. “I will look and see. I am still trying to keep my calm with all these people about.”

“Is it difficult for you?”

“I have spent close to seventeen hundred years alone. Guess.”

He blushed.

She sighed, “So, what will I do for the Citadel Arcani?”

“We would like you to go out on missions like the one you were just on and do what you can to move the elements around to save lives. What do you need from us?”

Burn returned with a tray covered with small plates, and he deposited them on the table before he left again to get more.

“I need a place to live, some high concentration of elements to feed on when I get hungry, a terminal so I can learn about the modern world and my place in it. What I would like is an active purpose on a daily basis. A means to mark my time, and if it is possible, I would love to meet the Destroyer. She was just on the drawing board when I was moved to Ki as far as I know.”

Burn returned and sat down as he distributed his second load of small plates. “Seriously? There were actual schematics involved?”

“The Rain and I were asked to put in our comments on what we would like our lives and bodies to be like. We asked for the ability to sleep when we were not active. Even at rest, our minds do not turn off. We register everything around us, and we live for a very, very long time.” She rubbed her forehead. “It can be a little overwhelming at times to see and register everything, no matter how small.”

Burn started reaching for tidbits from the plates. “I can imagine.”

Shrugging, Vexa followed his example and made her selections based on size, colour and smell. One by one, she tasted her picks and smiled happily when she had a success and frowned deeply when there was a failure to deliver what the scent promised.

Turan looked very nervous when he happened to lock gazes with her, but he kept his mouth shut until they finished their lunch and dining room staff had removed the plates. “How long do you think you will live?”

Burn spluttered as he drank his tea. Apparently, the question surprised him.

Vexa shrugged. “I will live until I don’t. There is nothing more to it. If I have food, water, air and heat, I will probably be able to regenerate my body infinitely. If I don’t, I could be dead next week.”

Turan nodded and turned to her companion. “Burn, can you show her to the promontory? We have built a small home there for her that will allow her privacy and proximity to the Citadel.”

Burn nodded. “Of course.”

“Try not to offend her.”

Vexa started laughing and didn’t stop for several minutes. When she finished, Turan was gone and Burn was watching her with his chin propped on his fist. “Are you finished?”

She shrugged and wiped her eyes. “I think so. Offending me is the least of your worries. I agreed to come here, the problem now will be getting rid of me.”

He grinned. “Once you agree to stay, you lock in, right?”

She nodded. “Something like that. I wasn’t emotionally attached to Ki because there was nothing there. It was home, but it was simply shelter until the Ichadra reassigned me. They disappeared and I was left.”

“Well, then, should we see your quarters?”

Vexa got to her feet. “Please. It will be interesting to be where I can see light.”

He extended his hand, and she placed her fingers in his. “I have been admiring the lines of your markings. They are heat sinks, aren’t then?”

He chuckled. “You are very bright. Yes they are. They keep my heat on the surface and reduce the stress to my system.”

They chatted softly as they walked through the Citadel, up a path on a hill and to a small cottage parked on the hilltop. Burn smiled at her and waved for her to precede him.

She opened the door, and he said, “Welcome home.”

Chapter Five

The clothing that had been provided was nice for casual wear, but it was the armoured bodysuits that attracted Vexa. She wore a new suit out of her collection every day for four days until Turan called her and asked her to go on assignment.

Vexa was seated in his office and reading the specs of the world he was sending her to. “Why do you need me?”

“The people have moved to avoid flooding, and they simply have nowhere else to go. They need a dam that will not break. Can you leave immediately? There are two jumps and six hours involved.” Turan blinked and smiled. “Can you leave now?”

She nodded. “Of course. Who is my pilot?”

“Novice Storic. Burn and Recon are busy elsewhere.” He nodded in dismissal.

Vexa paused. “Burn won’t be with me?”

“No. He is teaching today.”

She was unsure. She really needed him as a safety measure. “Can I wait until he is finished?”

Turan scowled, his pale features and dark brown eyes were confused. “No. You are needed immediately, he is not. Go.”

Vexa bristled at his attitude, but she turned and left his office, muttering quietly to herself about upstart Terrans and their addiction to power. Arthur Turan had been in charge of Arcani for three years, and the power seemed to have gone to his telepathic head.

The novice was waiting for her in the launch yard, and after cursory introductions, they lifted off to their first jump point.

Storic was a competent pilot, and seven hours later, Vexa was standing on the edge of the peninsula and assessing the obvious paths of the incoming water. There was nothing else to do.

With the villagers watching from their high-ground shelters, she set about saving their homes as water came rushing toward her. It was a twofold effort. She lifted and held the water back while pulling a column of rock and dirt into a high levy.

Holding back the water was hard, but easing her control over it so that it didn’t crush her new levy was harder. She breathed in and out, using wind to push the water back, gradually letting it climb up the wall of her floodway.

To her distraction, a shuttle dipped out of the cloud cover and skimmed near her work zone. She was about to bat it with wind, but it took off and disappeared. Vexa didn’t have any more attention to give it. She needed to surround the village with a secondary wall.

Humming idly as she pulled the earth into an embankment, she had to admit that having an appreciative audience did add to the satisfaction of a job well done. The cheers and cries when she completed the initial dam were gratifying, so she created a semi-circle arc around the village that led up to the higher end of it where it backed against the hill. They would have to hike up and over to get into and out of their village during flood season, but they would have homes to return to when they did.

The village headman came to her and bowed. “Thank you, Specialist. We are in your debt, but…how do we get into the village now?”

She chuckled, crouched down and used her finger to burn a map in the grass. “You get in through this pathway here. It is the only way to get in and out for now. After the rainy season, you can make up to three openings in the levy, here, here and here.”

She jabbed at three points in the grass, the smoulder of the burned greenery made her cough lightly for effect. “Next rainy season, sandbag these levies closed again. Fill them with dirt and hunker down for the dangerous time.”

He cleared his throat. “With the primary dam, why do we need the secondary?”

She stood up and pointed. “Do you see what is coming?”

He nodded. “Water.”

“In that water are uprooted trees, volcanic rocks and a thick slurry of debris. The levy will need maintenance by your people. The sludge and debris will build up on the far side and push the water up and over in a few years. That will flood your homes. Use the time I have bought you to build up your own protections and move your homes to higher ground. Tradition may be important but so are the lives of your people. No house is worth dying for.”

He frowned, and she stepped a few feet away before she thought to ask. “May I eat here?”

The village head scowled. “We were not told to provide for you.”

She sighed, “Never mind. Novice Storic, time to go.”

On the shuttle with hunger starting to ripple through her system, she asked, “Storic, did you notice the shuttle that appeared when I was creating the larger dam?”

She shook her head. “No, I was watching you work. Was there one?”

She tilted her head. “I do believe so. It was strange. It came down, examined my work and took off. It is hard to imagine that you didn’t see it.”

A distress call came through the com, and Novice Storic answered. They were being redirected to pick up a candidate for Citadel Arcani.

Vexa closed her eyes as hunger swirled. “How long will the reroute take?”

“Sixteen hours.”

“I am heading to the medical bed. I am putting myself into a trance, but if you wake me, do it from a distance.”

Storic blinked in surprise. “Why?”

“I am getting hungry after my exertions, and you are made of heat, water, earth and air.” At Storic’s appalled expression, she said, “Let’s just pretend I didn’t just say that. Let’s pretend I said I am tired.”