Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendant (37 page)
Read Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendant Online
Authors: J. Gregory Keyes
Tags: #Space Opera, #Fiction, #Science Fiction, #Adventure, #Telepathy, #General, #Media Tie-In
“Nothing. Still no word from the Icarus. They’ve declared her lost, with all hands. They lost the original probe, too.”
“So that’s Donne, too. Two lost, Kelsey. Such a shame.”
“Yes, sir.”
She couldn’t entirely hide how she really felt, however. She was ambitious-she envisioned herself filling the vacuum that Byron had left.
“Thank you, Kelsey. Leave me now.”
She did.
He turned back to the sandstorm. It had nearly arrived now. He could see the lower front it was pushing along ahead of itself, like a giant scuffing up dirt with his boots. The work went on. The work went on. In the end, perhaps, his mistake was to rely on individuals to provide him any personal sense of worth. It was ironic, really-the first true lesson that the Corps had taught him, only now revealing the depths of its truthfulness. His role wasn’t that of child, brother, apprentice, lover, husband, or even mentor. He had never been meant for any of that. His role was the Corps’ role-watcher, protector. Not of the one, but of the many. He was the father, the mother, to all of them - the telepaths in Psi Corps and, whether they wanted and appreciated him or not, the telepaths outside of the Corps.
Some of them needed a sterner hand than others, it was true… He remembered something Bey had told him. My father slapped me once. Actually, he slapped me twice-once with the back of his hand, and then, quickly, with his palm. Later, I understood. The first blow was a rejection - he was rejecting the thing I had done, I don’t even remember what it was now. The second blow-with the palm - was to take me back.
“I reject you - but I take you back.”
That was his message. It was a good lesson. Sometimes there had to be punishment, but there must always be reconciliation in a family. There must always be a gathering back in, a second slap with the palm.
Family. Bester sat back at his desk and looked over his new orders.
He couldn’t imagine them coming at a worse time. Another one of Department Sigma’s messes. Jason Ironheart, one of the subjects for the stable telekinetic project. It seemed that they had been somewhat too successful. Well, maybe a challenge was what he needed right now. A hunt. Something to keep his mind off of other things. And he had never been to Babylon 5 before. It ought to be interesting. He began to look forward to it.
Outside, Mars vanished into rusty opacity, and even through the dense dome, he could hear the shriek of the wind.
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Table of Contents