Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps (22 page)

“This is Brother William,” Justin told them. “He can be trusted.”

Brother William smiled glowingly at each, as they were introduced .

“Brother Matthew! I have heard so much about you, and it’s a pleasure to finally meet.”

Matthew nodded, but as he reached to take the monk’s hand, his legs wobbled.

“Please, our pardon!” Brother Justin said, reaching for Matthew. “Of course you need rest, food, medical care.”

“No time,” Matthew said.

“It will take time to arrange your travel,” Brother William soothed, “certainly a few hours. You will be safe here until then.” Matthew nodded reluctantly.

“Come, Matthew,” Brother Justin said. “Let me take you and Stephen to clean up and eat. Brother William will make certain Ms. Temple has the privacy to do the same.”

“Thank you, Brother Justin,” Matthew said. He took Fiona’s hand. “It’s okay. You can trust them.” She nodded, and turned to follow William. They left the sanctuary and began moving though Human-cut corridors.

Brother William glanced over at her.

“I was sorry to hear about Monkey.”

“Thank you.” She wasn’t really surprised. The Church was one of their staunchest allies, though very cautious of the aid it gave them. Monkey had dealt often with them.

“Well. He left something here for you. Would you like to see it?”

“Left it? When?”

“Long ago.”

“Please. I’d like to see it now, if I may.”

“First bathe and eat. I’ll bring it to you soon.”

“Now, please.”

William shrugged.

“If you wish.”

“Damn, that feels good,” Stephen said, easing into the steaming water. “Double damn.”

“I agree,” Matthew murmured from his own tub a few yards away. He closed his eyes and lay back. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Helping Fiona. Stopping the Psi Cop from-“

“Hey, my pleasure, believe me. So, Matthew. Are you a part of this resistance, too?”

“Sometimes.”

“Is that how you and Fiona met?”

“No. We met in the holes.”

Stephen sat up.

“I thought the holes were isolation cells.”

Matthew nodded.

“They put us too close.”

Matthew’s tattoo was just showing. A P 12. At the sight of it he felt a surge of resentment, and Matthew noticed it.

“Sorry” Stephen said. “I’m just a lousy P8.”

“None of us can help how he is born,” Matthew said. “It’s what we do with what we have that’s important. And you-without you, things would be very bad for Fiona and me right now. Very bad.”

“I don’t know. Fiona’s quite a gal. She would’ve come up with somethin’.”

“She is amazing,” Matthew agreed, and Stephen found himself disliking his tone, too.

The image was a little blurry, as if the crystal was not quite compatible with the reader. Or perhaps it was the film of tears she kept wiping away. Grandpa Monkey’s face filled the screen. “Fee, if you’re lookin’ at me here, it means I’m dead. I’ve left a few of these around for you, not knowin’ when and where you’ll come across ‘em, but 1 do know they won’t get handed out till I’m on the slab. So. “I’ve raised two kids in my life, Fee, neither of ‘em my own. The first one was your father, the second one was you. I’m sorry you missed your father-I know I haven’t talked much about him. When I found him, he was just a little thing. It took me years to learn what happened to him, what made him like he was. His mother died holding him, killed by normals. They were both telepaths, and I think … I think she took something with her when she left, and left something else behind. I’ve never known anyone so driven and so passionless all at the same time. Anyway. “I lost him for a while, and when I saw him again he gave me you. I don’t know anything about your mother at all, Fee. And your father-” He scrunched his face in unaccustomed lines of pain, or regret, or both. “Your father didn’t want you in Psi Corps. He was absolutely clear about that. Clear. And you know how I feel about the whole thing. Anyway, I promised him I would take care of you, though the last thing 1 wanted was to raise another brat. “You turned out to be a good brat, though. You’re everything your father wasn’t. You have passion, kindness, love, honesty. Your pop wasn’t a bad guy just cold, very cold. I think him givin’ you to me was the closest thing to love he’s ever been able to do-well, maybe the second closest thing. So take it as a compliment. “I’m rambling, and I hate thinking about my own mortality, which this damn morbid business is doin’-so, two things. “One: If I’m dead, and you’re not-surprise, kid, you’re the leader of the resistance. I’ve been puttin’ this damned thing together for umpty years, and it’s finally gettin’ a little steam behind it. So I’m goin’ to tell you where to find all the information I probably just blew up-the cells and their contacts, the underground railroad routes, all the good restaurants along the way, yadaBabylon yada-yada. You may want to do this or you may not. If not, pass it on to someone else-I’m dead, I don’t care.” He paused again, and his brows arched in amazement. “Well, whadaya know, I do. Look, Fiona, this is important. A hundred and fifty years ago, there were no telepaths. This is still the start of things, but things have a tendency to get set in their ways in the beginning. Listen, Fee. Telepaths are from every country, every ethnic group, every religion. But they are your people. We are becoming a people, that’s inevitable, because normals will never accept us entirely. We have to find a way to hang together. Psi Corps—they found one answer to that, but it’s the wrong answer. Very wrong. “The resistance isn’t an answer, Fiona. It’s the search for answers . It’s an effort to create possibilities, to give us many roads to choose from. When I was young, I didn’t think anything was important . I just loved to cause trouble. I thought of myself as chaos, spreadin’ anarchy just for the hell of it. Live and learn. Now I want my people to have choices. Given choices, some of us will eventually hit on the right path for teeps. There’s a very simple word for what I’m talking about, but simple words tend to lose their meanings when you say them too much. Freedom. That pretty much sums it up, when you do the addition. “So, there, that was One, and a very long One at that. Here’s Two, not quite so long. “Two: I love you, Kid. Go get ‘em.”

Stephen lay looking at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Everything seemed to be going according to plan, but something was bothering him, something itching in the back of his brain. A few moments later, he gave up, stepped into the loose pants the monks had provided him, and padded out into the corridor. He found the sanctuary again. It was night, and the only light was cast by the candles at the altar. So far, so good. He had accomplished his first two goals-won Fiona’s confidence and gotten them out of the reeducation camp. He was as good as in with the underground. So what was bothering him?

The camp had gotten to him, maybe more than he wanted to admit. He didn’t really have sympathy for rogues, but nobody deserved that kind of treatment. Still, when the Corps was stronger, they would surely correct the situation. The camps were bad because they were controlled by normals. TealMontoya-he was just a bad apple, a typical petty chieftain, exercising what he saw as his prerogative. Hell, if he had been in Montoya’s place, ordered to get a child on Fiona, wouldn’t he have done the same thing? He felt a sudden flush of anger and shame at the thought, and that took him by surprise. He liked to think of himself as a pragmatic fellow, who did the things that needed to be done. He had rarely felt guilty in his life, most certainly not for a lascivious thought. But Fiona-he sighed. He was no dummy. He had to admit that he liked her, perhaps more than liked her. He had been ordered to protect her, but he would have done it regardless, because it felt right. Which would make it tough to betray her, when the time came. But according to the game plan, that time was still in the future , perhaps the distant future. He could worry about that later, couldn’t he? None of that was what bothered him.

He was still trying to trace the source of his unease when he saw shadows moving among the candles. Fiona rose and dressed, followed the silent call in near darkness . She found Matthew waiting for her at the head of the corridor , just outside of the sanctuary. For a long moment, they stood a yard or so apart, just looking at each other, saying nothing. His eyes were polished iron, translucent jewels-That’s your own reflection, his mind wisped. She felt her blocks snap up, shutting him out.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” he whispered aloud. “How our faces and bodies get in the way?”

“It’s just -1 mean, it’s all so fast. This is the first time we’ve really met.”

“No. It’s the first time we’ve drawn apart.”

He held out his hand, his gaze so steady on hers she couldn’t bear it, so she closed her eyes. But his were still there, only brighter, deeper, and then she really did see herself in them. Her own features, the ones she hadn’t been able to picture clearly in the hole. She had seen them in mirrors, of course, evaluated them, wondered if her nose was too small or her eyes too wide apart-but now her face blazed, and it was beautiful, and she wondered how she could have ever forgotten what it looked like. Gently, like silk sliding to the floor, her blocks went down, and she touched his hand. He stepped forward, his hand cupping gently behind her head, but she was hardly aware of that. They were already kissing when his lips touched hers.

A hundred feet away, Stephen felt the kiss like a knife in his heart. Pretty damn good for a guy who did nothing but lay there while I saved her, he thought. He nurtured the anger for a moment, turned it this way and that until it made sense. Fine. This would just keep him from being a damn fool. It would allow him to do what he had to do. But it still hurt.

He was turning to go when he noticed someone else moving in the sanctuary. At first he thought it was one of the priests, but something about the way he moved, pantherlike, triggered something in him, and it all clicked into place. Brother William. He had seen the monk before, at the academy. He was Corps.

CHAPTER 10

He snaked across the sanctuary, wishing he hadn’t left the pistol with his other stuff. Where the hell was his mind, anyway? The only saps bigger than he were Fiona and Matthew, obliviously locked in their French hello as at least three Hounds converged on them. He was still ten yards away from the Hounds when they noticed him. The Corps is mother, the Corps is father, he sent. They paused, and he leapt, muscles exploding like uncoiling springs. A pistol flashed, a silencer masking its deadly bark, and he felt a sirocco breathe past his ear, but then he was there, driving his fist straight into the Hound’s face. He let his momentum carry him over with the toppling man, as another gun whistled. He rolled, came up in a crouch, and launched himself at the second shadow, chopping hard at the extended wrist and spinning to throw the full weight of his charge into his elbow. He felt it crush larynx, and then-Stop or die. The thought was so certain, he did, actually feeling the aim on his heart. He turned, slowly, to see “Brother” William, pistol in hand. A third Hound was covering Fiona and Matthew. The two he had hit still lay on the ground.

“That’s enough,” Brother William said. “I don’t want to kill any of you, but I certainly will if I have to.”

“Don’t do this,” Matthew said.

William laughed harshly.

“Spare me. And don’t count on Justin or any of the rest for help. They are-indisposed.”

“If you’ve hurt them, I’ll = Matthew stepped forward, fists balled.

“You’ll nothing.” He gestured with the gun. “But not to worry. Justin and the others are safe, for the time being. They’ll stand trial for their crimes, of course, and in the end may wish I had killed them here and now.”

“How long?” Fiona asked. “How long have you-“

“It seems like an eternity, my dear, and not an eternity I’ve enjoyed . I hold you and O’Hannlon responsible, damn you both. We had hoped to get him when he ran, but of course the miserable creature blew himself and one of our best officers to kingdom come. Still, we knew he’d left the crystal for you. It was keyed to your bioident, of course, so we couldn’t open it. We were going to send it to the reeducation camp–but you’ve solved that problem very nicely. The terminal you read it on copied the pertinent information . Now, I would prefer to keep you alive, in case the other information is similarly protected.”

“The hell with you.”

“Not yet, my dear, and I don’t believe your defiance will last very long. I’ve read TealMontoya’s report on you and Mr. Dexter here, but your little display of a moment ago made it quite unnecessary . You’ll cooperate or I’ll take Mr. Dexter apart, a bit at a time, and I’ll make sure you feel it as he comes to hate you for what you’ve done.”

“That won’t happen, Fee,” Matthew said, low. “He can do anything he wants to me-I’ll never hate you. Protect the resistance.

William shrugged.

“You’d be very surprised what changes sufficient pain can incite in a person’s personality. It’s no matter, really. There are other things we can do if that fails. With proper drugs and deep scanning, Ms. Temple will do whatever we want her to do, though it might not leave much of her mind. A pity, but she’s proven she’s unredeemable, anyway, so=’

Then Stephen felt it, like a hole opening in his heart. Fiona was tensing to spring, to make the Hound kill her. The Hound felt it, too, and his finger tightened on the trigger. Stephen leapt, hurling himself at the Hound, knowing he would be too late-And something caught at his limbs, froze them, and he crashed to earth. An instant later, his limbs unfroze, and he climbed slowly to his feet. William stood like a statue. So did the Hound. For a moment he didn’t understand, but then he saw Matthew, eyes like glass, his whole body shuddering.

“Hurry,” he said, gritting his teeth. “I can’t-only a second or two=’

Stephen and Fiona understood at about the same time. She leapt for the Hound, and he jumped William just as Matthew groaned and staggered back. William swung the pistol straight and true, but he just didn’t have time to fire it. He might be a Psi Cop, but the monastery had made him slow and lazy. Stephen hit him very hard, went down with him, and made sure his neck snapped before he rose. When he was finished, Fiona had two guns and the Hounds were all on the floor.