Chapter 3-2
1785 Words
Sometimes they took him out to the gym for a workout. Supervised, of course. And he was the only one there, if you didn"t count his guards. We wouldn"t want the murderer getting his hands on a potential hostage. There was even talk of letting him visit one of the many cafes on the station, under supervision, of course. In the first few months of his captivity, Jack Hunter had made it a point to visit regularly, but the man seemed to have found other things to occupy his time.
Pay attention, Leo.
Pay attention, Leo.The voice.
He hadn"t heard it in quite some time. He was beginning to think that the Inzari had abandoned him. The voice had lost interest in whispering sweet little tidbits into his ear. Come to think of it, that seemed to stop shortly after Jack stopped visiting.
Get dressed.
Get dressed.He stood, slipping on a pair of pants and buttoning them. A simple black t-shirt came next, his head popping through the neck hole with some effort. “Where have you been?” Leo spat. “Why have you waited so long to make contact?”
His body still felt a little sluggish, though it wasn"t nearly as bad as it had been in the early days of his captivity. The doctors said that they had weaned him off Amps, and the sluggishness was all in his head.
He paced across his cell.
The door slid open, bright light making his eyes smart. The silhouette of a short and slender woman stood in the doorway. “I have been instructed to deliver you to our mutual friend. Stay with me, and keep quiet.”
“Are you a Justice Keeper?”
The shadowy figure shook her head. “Many people serve the Inzari, but only a few have been granted the honour of carrying a symbiont. We have no time for questions. You must come with me now.”
Out in the hallway, he saw that this was a woman in a short, sleeveless dress with a checkerboard pattern. Her green hair was parted in the middle with black roots showing. “Hurry,” she said. “Come with me.”
Leo followed.
She led him through the Detention Centre"s reception area and then out to a hallway in the bowels of Station Six. There, he found a familiar face waiting for him. A face that he didn"t think he would ever see again.
Nurse Kari Tenar stood in the middle of the corridor, dressed in a sent of dark blue scrubs. Her brown hair was cut short in a bob, bangs falling almost to her eyebrows. We must move quickly, Leo.
We must move quickly, Leo.The voice!
Her voice.
Her“It was you,” Leo said, nodding to himself. “You were the one who whispered all those dirty little secrets in my ear! Where have you been?”
The woman looked up at him with brown eyes that seemed to drill a hole into his skull. Are you that much of a fool? she asked without speaking. I told you that we must move quickly. Stop staring at me like some boy at his first dance and focus on the task at hand.
Are you that much of a fool?I told you that we must move quickly. Stop staring at me like some boy at his first dance and focus on the task at hand.“Do not presume to lecture me-”
Grief so profound it seemed to swallow the sun clouded his mind. He fell to his knees, touching his fingertips to his forehead. “Stop it,” he whimpered. “I will do as I"m told! I promise I will do as I"m told!”
Just like that, the pain was gone.
He looked up at her with tears on his face, cheeks burning with his chagrin. “I will remember this,” he promised her. No one humiliated him in this way. “Come…Take me wherever you wish to go.”
She led him through hallway after hallway, always keeping to the lower levels of the station. Not once did they pass another living soul, and Leo suspected the woman"s telepathy was at least partly responsible for that. Mind-readers. He"d heard about them, but he never thought to meet one.
Leo narrowed his eyes, focused on figuring out what this woman was up to. Mind readers, he thought at her. You know I used to think you were a myth? A story young boys told about the wonders of the distant galaxy.
Mind readers,You know I used to think you were a myth? A story young boys told about the wonders of the distant galaxy.A glance over her shoulder was the only reply she offered, her lips pursed as she studied him. I assure you, we are quite real, Kari sent. Hundreds of us spread across the galaxy, serving the Inzari.
I assure you, we are quite real,Hundreds of us spread across the galaxy, serving the Inzari.Doing what?
Doing what?A tiny smile revealed the dimple in Kari"s cheek, and she chuckled as she thought up an answer. You need not concern yourself with that, she sent. Just take comfort in the certainty that we are on your side. We are everywhere, Leo. There are even some among us that Slade doesn"t know about.
You need not concern yourself with that,Just take comfort in the certainty that we are on your side. We are everywhere, Leo. There are even some among us that Slade doesn"t know about.Leo crossed his arms, walking along with his head down, hissing air through his teeth. Slade, he thought. That man owes me some answers.
Slade,That man owes me some answers.You will be told what you need to know.
You will be told what you need to know.I decide that I need to know.
decide that I need to know.She looked over her shoulder, and her dark eyes smoldered when they fell upon him. Do not presume too much, she cautioned. You are a valued servant, but the Inzari have many tools.
Do not presume too much,You are a valued servant, but the Inzari have many tools.A little while later, they came to a door in the wall that Kari opened by pressing her palm to the hand-scanner. Inside, Leo saw an empty room where a control panel faced a tall, gleaming SlipGate. The metal triangle seemed to entice him, beckoning him to come forward. Did it have that effect on everyone?
He strode across the room with a heavy sigh, pausing right in front of the Gate. “I take it this is my escape?” The prohibition against speaking surely didn"t matter now that he had arrived.
Leo rounded on her.
Kari stood behind the control panel with her lips pressed together, staring intently down at the screen. “Our contacts have arranged for transit,” she said. “You will be told more after you arrive.”
Thrusting his chin out, Leo stared down his nose at her. Did this woman honestly believe he was that stupid? “You expect me to travel through a SlipGate with no clue as to where I"m going?”
that“The alternative is to stay here.”
“Very well.”
Kari activated the Gate.
A bubble surrounded Leo, distorting his vision of everything else around him. The room was blurry, and Kari herself was a vaguely human-shaped fuzzy image. Suddenly, he was yanked forward through what seemed to be an endless tunnel.
The bubble came to a halt in a much smaller room that would make the bravest man a little claustrophobic. When it popped, he realized that he was standing inside one very cramped cargo hold with boxes on the floor.
“Greetings, brother.”
Leo jumped at the sound.
When he turned, he found a man in unrelieved black standing by the door that led to the rest of the ship, a tall and fit man with dark skin and short, buzzed hair. “I see they have freed you as well.”
Leo turned on the man with his arms crossed, his face burning with fury. No one startled him like that. “Who are you?” he demanded. “And who are they? Someone better start giving me some answers.”
they?“I am called Arin,” the man said.
“Is that supposed to mean something?”
The other man grinned and looked down at the floor, his body trembling with soft laughter. “Lord Slade has given you a gift,” he said. “A great honour.”
Leo found it with no difficulty – a saucer-shaped device not much larger than your average dinner plate. There was a green LED on the top and a small keypad. Now, what exactly was he supposed to do with this?
Leo dropped to one knee on the floor, head bowed as he studied the device. “What is it?” he demanded. “If Slade wanted to kill me, he should have done it like a man. This seems…cowardly.”
“We have no desire to kill you,” Arin replied. “I"m afraid this gift is not optional. If you wish to serve the Inzari, you will need to accept. The code to open it is 54971.”
With some reluctance, Leo took the device and typed in the code that he had been given, causing the LED to change from green to red. A strange gas began to rise from the device, one that enveloped him.
Something joined with him.
joinedWhen he lifted his hands, he saw that they were glowing, brilliant light streaming from the tip of every finger. It felt like the Fire of the Gods itself was burning within his veins setting every nerve on fire.
But the sluggishness was gone; he could feel that much. Whatever it was that had joined with him was suddenly there in his mind, a presence he could feel if he focused on it. And its hatred was nearly strong enough to match his own.
“Excellent,” Arin said. “There is much to do. I"m afraid I have my own assignment that will not allow me to join you, but you have been granted the opportunity to seek out recompense for what was done to you.”
“Where are you taking me?” Leo demanded.
“To Leyria, of course,” Arin said. “Now come. I will brief you on everything you have missed over the last year.”
- Writer
