The Light-Field (21 page)

‘No.' The chief put her mind to rest on that count, and Taren nodded, reassured.

‘It won't be long before he sends for you.' Hands on hips, she had to wonder. ‘Why are you being contained in here anyway?'

‘The MSS technology labs have developed a new weapon in the war against psychics,' he informed her. ‘A device that can identify those with the Powers by viewing the light field of their body … I'm not too sure how it works, I was kept in the dark on the development.'

‘Considering your latest crusade, I'm not surprised,' Taren admitted.

‘But it does work, as it identified me and they put me here.' The old man shrugged.

‘So, what are we going to do?' Jazmay asked and then looked to the door at the sound of it unbolting.

‘Disappear,' Taren advised, and Jazmay nodded — she got the drift.

The guards entered to find Ronan alone.

‘Shackle him,' Norward, the chief's long-time 2IC, instructed one of the four guards with him, who approached the chief carefully to clamp the psychic restraint around his ankle. ‘The new chief wishes to have a word.'

Two guards assisted to raise Ronan to his feet.

‘I know the way,' he barked, yanking his arms away from them.

Both men let go, stood back and then took up the rear, as the party filed from the cell.

As they marched the chief down the corridor, Norward in the lead, two guards, Ronan, and two guards behind him, the ex-chief of the MSS vanished into thin air.

 

‘That was longer than five,' said Jasper, whose frown turned to a smile as he spotted his father.

‘Oh shoot.' Taren released Zelimir and removed her helmet. ‘I have to go, but I'll be back as soon as I can.'

Yasper grabbed her arm to stall her departure. ‘Thanks, boss.'

‘You're welcome.' Taren laid a quick hug on him.

‘I nearly freaked out back there in the cell,' Jazmay admitted, ‘but that escape was a lot easier than I imagined. My Juju is much stronger these days.' She grinned.

‘It is. That reminds me.' Taren manifested in her hand a piece of Juju stone. ‘For you, chief.' She handed it to him, and the man appeared moved to tears.

‘You want me in your …' He didn't know what they called it. ‘… psychic circle?'

‘You have always been one of us,' she said with a smile, and felt compelled to kiss his cheek. ‘We've had our differences in the past, and yet you never betrayed my secret to anyone.'

Her statement seemed to hit a nerve. ‘That wasn't out of goodness.' Ronan felt compelled to be truthful, as the stone worked its magic on him. ‘Your father hid someone for me, as I hid someone for him.'

‘Who is your father?' Yasper was most interested to know. ‘And who did he hide for you?'

Taren refused to discuss it. ‘Better you don't know, just yet.'

The chief looked devastated by the question, which Yasper repeated, before Zelimir confessed. ‘Your mother.'

‘My mother!' Yasper was suddenly defensive. ‘You told me she died giving birth to my sibling.'

‘She did,' Ronan insisted that part was true. ‘What you don't know is that I discovered that your mother was a telepath.'

Yasper was looking horrified at this point. ‘Please tell me you didn't have her killed.'

‘I could not,' Zelimir confessed, happy that he'd lacked the backbone then. ‘But I could not stay married to her either. You were very young and had never shown any sign of psychic ability, so I kept you on Maladaan and sent your mother into the protection of Taren's father on Sermetica. She did die giving birth,' but the child she birthed lived.' Zelimir dropped the bombshell. ‘And still does as far as I am aware, for I have not been advised otherwise.'

‘Are you telling me that I have a full-blood brother or sister somewhere on Sermetica?' Yasper was excited and yet furious too.

‘Oh no, not Sermetica,' Jazmay whined, having no desire to go there.

‘I have to go.' Taren had been in the bathroom for fifteen minutes now. Lucian would be restless. But as the Ronans were deep in family drama, none of them noticed her depart the scene.

 

In her rush to get back to her dinner date, Taren returned to her bedroom before she'd even changed back into her dinner clothes. Catching sight of herself in the mirror, she gasped and immediately transformed her warrior guise into her dinner dress. Her hair wound up into a bun and she made a move toward the door that lead back into the dining room.

‘When were you going to tell me about this double life of yours?'

Lucian's voice from behind her made the hairs on the back of Taren's neck stand on end. With her heart beating in her throat, she turned back to find Lucian sitting on her bed. He did not appear angry with her, more concerned and a little disappointed.

‘When I knew you well enough to trust you.'

‘It certainly explains our amazing escape this morning.' He raised both eyebrows, and Taren flashed a grin. ‘So, who are you
really
… who are you working for, and what do you want with my project?'

Taren's mind boggled at walking the fine line between what he needed to know right now, and all that she really wanted to tell him. She believed everything happened for a reason; she'd wanted Lucian to find her out because she needed a confidant, so was this a sign from the cosmos that he was ready to be brought on board? He certainly didn't seem to be running for a communicator to call the Psychic Monitor Database, so — so far so good. ‘Where's that wine?' Taren returned to the dining room, grabbed her glass, and then headed out onto her balcony to get some fresh air.

‘This is scary for me,' she said, as Lucian joined her outdoors. ‘It's all happening ahead of time, you see? And I think that is a good thing? That it is supposed to happen this way, this time around, but then … maybe I'll blow everything, telling you too much too soon.'

Lucian was clearly perplexed by her rambling. ‘If you're afraid of scaring me off, or that I might betray you,' Lucian offered, ‘I would have done so the other night, when you and that mercenary type appeared before me in your lounge room.'

Taren was flabbergasted. ‘You
were
awake?'

Lucian nodded. ‘Was he your lover?'

Taren shook her head, considering all that had passed between them since that incident; what must he have been thinking about her? ‘He is my uncle,' she was happy to advise, and Lucian's smile told her that he was very relieved to hear it. ‘There is only one lover for me,' Taren added bravely. ‘You asked just now who I was working for —'

Lucian nodded, getting the picture and appearing very unimpressed by it. ‘Same man,' he concluded for her.

‘Indeed,' Taren concurred, and he must have thought her so cruel as she approached to tell him. ‘You, Lucian … I am working for
you
.'

‘Are you being cute?' He was delightedly confused. ‘Or are you avoiding the question, perhaps?'

‘No.' Taren shook her head. ‘You know I have the Powers.'

He nodded.

‘Well, I don't just teleport from place to place in the present, I can see into the future and I can
change the past
.'

The poor professor's brain began to melt down at this point. ‘You've come from the future to guide this project, is that what you're saying?' He appeared to so want to believe her, as she nodded, but clearly it was difficult for his logical mind. ‘So where were you just now? Does it have something to do with Anselm's missive earlier?'

Taren nodded, and finished off the wine in her glass before answering. It had been a huge day, and the stress of it all was starting to take a toll. ‘Who I am and what I do, even the highest, most secret echelons of government don't know about.'

‘Bar Sermetica.' Lucian assumed from her alliance with Anselm.

‘I have to trust Anselm …' Taren choked on the words, her tears pending as one of her greatest secrets begged release. She moved in close to Lucian to whisper in his ear, ‘He's my father.'

Lucian was shocked and looked to her in disbelief until he saw her trembling in fear.

‘No one can know,' she whispered.

‘My lips are sealed,' he said. ‘Is that all the secrets out of the bag?'

‘I wish I could say it was,' Taren told him, ‘but that is just the tip of a very large iceberg, I'm afraid.' She noted how close she was standing to him and moved to back up, but Lucian took hold of her upper arms to prevent it — his right hand coming to rest on the armband that held her Juju stone.

‘To tell you the truth, Taren, I really don't care what you are hiding. I just want into your life, whatever that entails.'

Taren was still gaping at his words when he kissed her and the energy surge that passed between them was intense — she had to stop it, he had to know! ‘No, I can't let you do this.' She pushed him away from her.

‘Do what?' Lucian appealed, wavering on his feet. ‘Love you?'

‘To love me is to expose your psyche to my power,' she blurted out. ‘Which will in turn enhance your own dormant psychic powers.'

The news was like a lightning bolt to the heart for Lucian; she could see it on his face.

‘These Powers will not fade,' she warned in all honesty, ‘once you are plugged into the universal field there is no disconnecting, and you, like me and many others, will become embroiled in a secret war that is being playing out behind the scenes of every government within the United Systems.'

Lucian had gone pale and quiet.

‘
We
were not supposed to meet for ten years yet,' she repeated her earlier rambling, which she felt now would make much more sense. ‘I tried avoiding you and putting you off, but …' She threw her hands up in the air at the situation in which she now found herself. ‘I so
want to tell you everything,' her words were heartfelt, ‘but trust me when I say that you do not love me enough to cope with all of truth right now.'

Lucian snapped out of his dazed state. ‘Then why do I dream about you every time I close my eyes?'

Taren melted into a smile, thinking his sentiment sweet.

‘I'm not talking about daydreams here.' Lucian was rather more alarmed than enchanted. ‘When I sleep I see us in places, the like of which I have never seen anywhere in the known worlds.'

Taren's heart gave a ping of hope and joy.

‘I've imagined us on AMIE in the future, and in an amazing underwater room —'

Taren's gasp cut him off.

‘What is it?' Lucian was hopeful that she might be able to help — he hadn't had a dreamless night since they'd met!

‘Sorry, do keep going,' Taren urged. ‘What else have you seen?'

Lucian was clearly well out of his usual conversation comfort zone. ‘Do you think it's significant?'

‘Completely,' she stated surely, and so Lucian continued.

‘I've seen a lake house, and a place where water falls hot from a rainbow light storm in the sky, and lately …' Lucian appeared a bit hesitant to mention this. ‘I had a dream that was different to the others.'

‘How so?' Taren prompted, curious to know.

‘Well, since I started having these dreams, in them I am always with you, but the other night I dreamt that I was married to Dr Nardone, who then accused us of having an affair.'

Taren's gasp near took her breath away this time — clearly Lucian could easily misinterpret these visions, if he wasn't brought up to speed on the truth soon! This was the sign from the universe she had been waiting for. ‘Those are not dreams you've been having, they're memories.' She was truly amazed, but Lucian was alarmed.

‘I was married to Amie?'

‘In the future.' Taren nodded. ‘But she betrayed you, and you made me promise that when I went back in time that I would destroy your marriage.'

‘Yes!' Lucian lit up like a capital city on new year's day, ‘I remember that!'

‘But as it turned out, I ended up having to come further back in time than expected, thus I have hopefully prevented your ill-fated marriage altogether! Amie was always meant to be with Swithin,' Taren explained as Lucian processed the epiphany. ‘At the same time I was able to steer the project away from unwanted government influences that would eventually lead AMIE to ruin. That's why our contract was so perfect, Lucian: I already knew exactly what you wanted. What I don't understand is how you could possibly remember something from a future, parallel time line?' She was thrilled, as this required psychic skill.

‘So, what you are saying is that I already have the Powers?' Lucian summarised as Taren nodded — the choice of becoming embroiled in Taren's secret war had already been taken out of his hands.

‘But this is not one of the Powers I knew you had. In fact, I don't know of any psychic who can see across time and dimension!' Taren declared. ‘But I guess it makes perfect sense, that if I can move through time, space and dimension, that you can perceive the same?'

As Lucian thought back over their conversation, he had to smile. ‘So if the man you work for is the man you love —'

‘— I love you,' she confirmed, her heart welling to bursting point just to be able to say so.

Lucian was thrilled and returned her unsure smile with one more hopeful. ‘Then I'll take that cosmic upgrade now, if it is all the same to you?'

‘No, it's not all the same to me.' She burst into a huge smile and hugged him for the first time in an age. ‘You can't know how I've missed you.'

‘I think I have some inkling,' Lucian said, although he suspected he still didn't know the half of it. ‘I wish I remembered more than just fragments.'

‘You can,' Taren pulled back from him to say. ‘There is a way, if that is what you really want?'