Tales of the Citadel # 32 - Core Charge (5 page)

She cocked her head. “Have you ever asked Gant to ask Dolothun?”

He blinked. “No, I have not. I might send that request.”

“Do. It couldn’t hurt.”

“I will. Now, when Mirin began to die, we came across the possibility of a marrow injection under the skin. It would be held in a permeable membrane under your skin and provide you with the power you require to move four or more times faster when you need to.”

“I will do it. Do we know how it would affect my regular talent?”

He shrugged. “No clue. This is a chance and a minor surgical procedure for you. If you are up for it, I will contact Dr. Nywyn and make the arrangements.”

“Do it. If it can make me more effective when the time comes, I will do anything.”

Stop rubbed his thighs again. “There is one other thing.”

“What?”

“This is binding. If you have the implant, we are bound. You cannot pursue a relationship with any other men; I will feel it.”

“I currently have not met any other men that I would start a relationship with. I have a mission, and you know what it is. We should get along just fine.” She smiled.

“Are you sure? I have not been linked to another person in over a century. It is an intense bond.”

“How intense?”

“The connection will go both ways. With Mirin, I felt what she felt and the same for her. It is a joining beyond the genetic.”

“So, you don’t want to do this?”

He smiled. “You know better than that. I told you that I felt the connection with you the moment I saw you pinned in that web of wiring.”

“Speak to Dr. Nywyn. I will be in my room.” She smiled and got to her feet.

“I will let you know what he says.”

She smiled and inclined her head, leaving him alone and exiting his quarters with her mind spinning. Again.

In her quarters, she paced and her hands clenched and relaxed in a slow rhythm. She wanted to play an instrument, but there was none to be had.

She sat at the desk and turned on the com unit. If shopping was possible, she would try to locate something to play with to blank her mind. Until her talent bloomed, her life on Resicor had consisted of playing with a variety of bands and orchestras around the country. Not having an instrument nearby caused an ache in her.

“How do I get money?” she bit her lip. A music shop in the nearby village had a selection of instruments, and she could see a few stringed items. Now that she had control of her talent, she wanted to try to play again and see if she could find the same peace that she remembered.

She worked her fingers over the keyboard and nodded when she found Relay’s contact information. She put a call in.

“Hello, Gwiette. What can I do for you?”

“I was wondering how I can lay hands on some funds.”

“What for?”

“I want to buy a harp.”

Relay chuckled. “Go and see Fixer. She will make one for you and alter it until it is perfect.”

“She can do that? She can make a harp?”

“She can do just about anything. I will send her the request, and you can head off to her workshop. She doesn’t have any deadlines right now.”

“Just like that? I can just go and ask for a harp?”

“Just like that.” Relay’s voice was amused. “Fixer likes to do things a little different now and then. This is the perfect opportunity.”

“Um, thank you.”

“Any time. I mean it. Call me anytime. Effin is used to it.”

“Thank you again. I might take you up on it.”

“Have a good day, Gwiette.” Relay disconnected the call.

Dismissed, she got to her feet and headed for the workshop. She couldn’t find any chronometers around and had to depend on her stomach or the sun in the sky to let her know what time it was. Since her talent had risen, timepieces had not enjoyed her company.

She smiled as she entered the workshop because the sounds Fixer was making led clearly to her location. “Um, Fixer?”

The butt that faced her tensed, and the thud that came from inside the cupboard was distinctive.

“Oh, Gwiette, I had hoped to find this before you got here.” She got out, rubbing her head and brandishing a case with elaborate seals on it.

Fixer was covered with grime, but there was a triumphant gleam in her eyes. “I have been wanting to find a project worthy of this. It was a gift from a world with sentient trees.”

Gwiette followed her to a pristinely arranged counter top. “What is it?”

“Wood, of a sort. How large do you want the harp?”

Gwiette spanned the size with her hands and Fixer took measurements while bringing up a schematic on a large screen. The design was that of a harp in a classic style with double strings and detailed carving running around it.

“It is lovely.”

“Your harp will be a little different, but I needed to work on dimensions and string placement. Since I am aware of your talent, this will be customised with your energy pattern in mind. Oh, if this works, will you teach the kids here? Isabi plays lute, but the girls’ arms are too short still.”

“Um, sure. Do you need me here for this?”

Fixer smiled. “Of course, but since this is fairly involved, could you go to the dining hall and say you need a cart for me? They will set it up.”

“Of course. Now?”

“Please. This is going to take a lot of minute adjustments. I am going to need fortification.” Fixer was grinning and rubbing her hands together. She might be talking of work, but she enjoyed it.

Gwiette left and went to the dining hall, asking respectfully for a cart for Fixer. With those words, the staff flew into action. Platters appeared and covered every inch of the cart. Carafes of beverages were tucked into small spaces, and when it was finally ready, they nodded and smiled.

Trundling the cart back to the workshop, those that passed her gave her a smile, which indicated they knew who all the food was for. It was a joke that all of Morganti Base was in on.

Fixer had laid out the pieces into a shape that was very similar to that of a harp. When Gwiette arrived, Fixer took a sandwich and munched while she stared at the assembly.

Around her meal, she mumbled. “Now, I just have to get it to do what I want.”

Gwiette pulled up a stool and watched as the master crafter went to work, connecting and easing the wood into position. The frame seemed to move on its own when they formed the structure.

Fixer sighed. “Now for the hard part.”

The food began to disappear as the strings were inserted with the tensioning pegs. Getting the strange strings through the wood was difficult, but after several hours, Fixer held the harp up in triumph. “There we are.”

Gwiette took it when it was handed to her. “Shall I try it out?”

“Please. If I need to tune it, I would like to try it now.”

Gwiette set the harp between her knees and smiled at the familiar pressure. To her surprise, the frame shaped itself to her legs. Blinking, she automatically tucked the instrument in place and ran a scale. To her amazement, the notes rang clear, and the few variations she heard fixed themselves as they faded.

“Let me try that again.” Gwiette smiled and ran a scale, faster. The notes hung in the air and faded away with the shimmering ring of crystal.

Fixer sat down and poured tea for both of them. “Can you play something?”

“I will try. I haven’t been able to play for years. I am a little out of practice.” She settled and flexed her fingers. “It is hard to play a harp when you electrocute those around you when you touch metal.”

Fixer smiled. “Anything you can do is better than my best effort.”

“All right. You asked for it.” Her fingers touched the strings, and she lost herself in the music for the first time in a decade.

It was the first time in years that she felt normal.

Chapter Seven

The next day, she spent the morning stunning volunteers and working her way through the Citadel staff. By the time Stop called a halt, the Healers were sweating and the volunteers were flinching when she looked at them, and Gwiette could stun someone from fifty paces.

Stop came up to her and said, “Effin will do the transplant if you still want to proceed.”

“I do. I want to get a grip on this, and holding the power will be the most difficult to master. I need time.”

He nodded. “Right. Shall we adjourn to medical?”

“Now?”

“Now. He is waiting.”

She didn’t have time to work out a good case of nerves. He walked her past the groaning Citadel staff and into the base.

To her surprise, the surgery would take ten minutes and involved a small installation at the base of her spine. The longest portion of the work involved extracting the tissue from Nyral.

Based on what she observed, it was not a comfortable process, but once he had offered up a sample of cells from his hip, Effin sealed him up and completed the preparation of the implant. The compatibility tests had already been run, and now, it was just a matter of getting the implant installed.

“Open your suit to the hips, put on this gown and lie on your belly, please.” Effin smiled as he worked on the unit.

She nodded and envied Stop his Masuo while she ducked behind the screen and did as he requested. When she emerged, her suit was loosely hanging from her hips, and she boosted herself onto the table to lie face down.

Effin’s businesslike hands moved quickly to expose just the skin he needed, and he sterilised the spot he had scanned as a good candidate.

“I can’t give you anaesthetic for this.”

“I remember from the briefing. You need me alert so you can watch for signs of distress.”

He sighed and swiped something cold against her back, just above her hip and next to her spine. She gripped the edge of the exam bed while he scanned for the precise placement.

Nyral crouched in front of her with a wince and took her hands. “Breathe easily. In and out. It will be over in seconds.”

She nodded and followed the flaring of his nostrils, breathing in and out with him. The direct feel of his skin against hers made her blush, but before she could look away from him, a searing bolt of pain struck her spine and fire reached through every inch of her pelvis within seconds. She gasped and shook, her body twisted and a charge built, but she held it in.

Effin sealed the wound and began watching the effect of the implant on her.

She could feel something happening, but Nyral kept eye contact with her, his dark swirling irises calm and concerned. He could probably feel the energy, but he didn’t let her go, he held on while she began to shake as the fire splashed through her limbs before slowly retreating back to the central point of the implant. It was in her centre of mass, and she felt different with it inside her.

Effin said, “It appears to have successfully grafted itself to your spine and attached to your pelvis. If you have any side effects, come to me immediately or tell Nyral.”

She was still keeping eye contact with the man in front of her. She nodded. “I will. Can I move now?”

Effin stepped back. “Move carefully.”

She inhaled slowly and pushed herself upright. She wanted to get dressed and walk, so she moved as fast as she could to remove the gown and put on her suit again. She was back as quick as she could be, and Effin was still turning back to the instrument tray with the injector.

“Holy stars. That was fast.”

Nyral came up and put his arm around her. “I will take her for a walk, and she will wear off the first surge of displacement.”

Effin appeared shaken. “Can I put monitors on you?”

She shrugged. “Will my energy short them out?”

He grumbled. “Yes.”

“Ask Nyral for a briefing. He is the only one who knows what is going on here.” Her limbs were shaking with energy. She really did need to get moving.

With Nyral at her side, she left the base with huge strides, heading away from the tarmac and out toward the empty plain nearby.

He kept pace with her and didn’t say anything.

When she was far enough away from the base, she went down on one knee and sent a bolt of lightning across the ground, blowing up a shrub half a kilometre away. The relief of pressure was enough to make her sigh. “That feels better.”

He chuckled. “You are handling it well.”

“Thank you. It feels peculiar. Even the explosion seemed slower.”

“You are running fast, that means that your perceptions will allow you additional time to absorb information from the world around you. You will learn to slow down.”

“How will I learn?” she looked up at a descending ship, and it should have dropped like a stone at the speed it was landing.

“You are planning to teach the children to play the harp? You will need to work on you timing there. Sound can only travel at the normal speed, so you will need to slow down to match it. It is a good training tool, and I didn’t have to think of it, so I am very pleased indeed.”

She snorted and tried to listen to the world around her. She focused on the landing ship, and as she used the sound to calibrate herself, she took Nyral’s hand and started walking back to the base with him.

“Nyral, what if you find a woman who suits you better than I do?” She felt it important to find out before anything started. Even before the implant, she had been drawn to him, and she knew it was reciprocated. She just needed to hear it.

“It is nice to hear you say my name.” He chuckled.

She thought about it and realized that she hadn’t used it since he had told her what it was. “It is a nice name.”

He squeezed her hand and walked slowly across the plain with her, approaching the base at a restricted pace.

“In answer to your not-so-subtle question, I have not chosen you; I simply know that you are designed to be in my life. I know someone for me when I see them. Mirin glowed softly when I looked at her, and you are a riot of colour to my gaze.”

Gwiette kept pace with him and asked, “Why did Relay warn me about your manners?”

He grinned and rubbed his jaw with his free hand. “When I met my first mate, I simply picked her up and walked off with her. She had to explain things to me, and my manners slip from time to time. The planet had been interested in keeping me alive, not polite.”