Nikol stopped in his tracks and frowned. There it was again!
He was sure he’d felt the earth quake like that as he slept. It was small, nothing more than a tremor but it was cause for concern wasn’t it? He frowned staring the the palace ahead suspiciously. He hadn’t spotted hide nor hair of Pras since he’d awakened. That was unusual, although things being what they were, it was hard to know what to expect of him anymore. He scratched his head ruefully. Was it more like Pras had no idea what to expect of him?
Even Nathaniel--the enigmatic leader of the Guild, had repeatedly pointed out that Nikol’s matter-of-fact responses to most situations were confounding at best. He sighed. It would seem that Pras wasn’t the only one who had some explaining to do.
Once inside, he wandered around a bit but it didn’t take long for him to happen upon the access point to the underground chamber. From where he stood, beyond the threshold, there was only darkness. The way had been left open, presumably by Pras... for Nikol to follow? He stepped unto the flat surface, letting out a startled whoosh of breath as it descended rapidly into the chasm. Once his feet touched real solid earth again he gave the light of day that he’d left behind, one last, longing glance before choosing to follow the dim lights that activated with each step he took deeper into a seemingly endless corridor.
His eyes widened when the passage opened into a massive chamber. He whistled appreciatively at the astonishing artifact that waited there.
“Oh my! Oh my....”
Forgetting everything, he trotted up to the carefully streamlined and massive thing of beauty. She was perfection, a relic from a time when ships were built for both aesthetics and functionality. The hull was shiny. He ran his palm loving over the filigreed swirls and patterns. His fingers tingled at the warmth. His grin was full of childish glee. What kind of metal, he wondered, would feel so--
There was a disembodied and unmistakably female chuckle. “Don’t you think you should introduce yourself before you do any more touching?”
He pulled his hand away as if burned. “My mistake. I assumed this was...” When he turned around there was nobody there. He cast his eyes about searching. “Who said that?”
“Maybe you really are stupid.”
When he only frowned in confusion, there was a dramatic sigh. “Great hulking mass of metal, dead ahead. I’d be Pandora.”
Nikol’s mouth fell open. “A mind? A ship with a mind!”
He touched the hull again. He ran his fingers along the strange patterns. Again and again. “You’re a living legend! Do you know?” He murmured reverently. “How many historians would kill to be where I’m standing right now?”
“Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”
His fingers froze. “Sore topic?”
“Ask the idiot who left me languishing down here for centuries.” She answered dryly.
Nikol perked up. “Where might said idiot happen to be right now?”
There was a pause. “I’ll tell you but only if you promise to kindly remove him for a while.”
He nodded eagerly. “Consider me your humble servant.”
An opening appeared to the far left. “He’s in my control module making a nuisance of himself--and hiding from you,” she added meanly.
Nikol paused at the threshold. “Hiding. Why?”
“Why do you think?”
He boarded, looking around avidly. When he stopped to run his palm along another data console absently, Pandora finally gave in to her own curiosity.
“Do you do that a lot? Touch things compulsively.”
Nikol’s hand froze. He hesitated. “Sometimes I don’t realize... a childhood habit I’ve never been quite able to break,” he murmured. “Does it bother you?”
“I’m more curious about the fact that you seem to behave oddly, for a human.”
“What would you know about that?” Annoyance crept into his voice for the first time.
“Well, I was human once, you know.”
Nikol’s face was a comical mask of surprise. “But how...?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’d like to hear it.”
Pandora laughed, “One of these days, maybe. Right now, I want you to take two steps to your left and stand completely still for a moment.” She marvelled when he complied without hesitation. “Do you also have a strange tendency to always do as you’re told?”
“Huh?”
He frowned up at where her voice streamed out of speakers then yelped at the sudden, blinding flash of light and burst of electric energy that flooded his body. It only lasted for a fraction of a second but it made his bones hum and his hair stand on end.
“What the hell did you just do to me?”
“Only an imbecile would be so trusting.”
His narrow gaze slid sideways. “You know, you really didn’t strike me as such an evil sort,” he retorted. “My mistake.” He stalked down the next passageway grumbling.
“Relax, it was just a scan.”
He scowled. “What for?”
“Oh, don’t be churlish. Turn left now, there’s a lift with access to the bridge. When exactly were you hardwired with a psionic inhibitor? I can’t imagine anyone would volunteer for something as horrendous as that.”
Nikol stepped on the lift, which was nothing more than a cylindrical tube wide enough for two people at the most. There was an initial jerk but the motion was smooth afterward. For the first time since he set foot on the ship, his demeanor grew really serious. “You’re a clever one, aren’t you?”
“I’d like to think so.” She waited a few heartbeats. “Well?”
“It happened when I was a child, all right? I caused some... problems. It’s not exactly something I like to talk about.”
Pandora wasn’t quite satisfied though. “Why didn’t you have it removed when you became an adult?”
He smiled tightly. She was a persistent sort, wasn’t she? “It wouldn’t exactly be an asset in my line of work, would it?” He stared down a his open palm. “Just a little when I need it is enough, I think.”
“Yah,” the ship answered dryly. “And otherwise, Pras might have noticed that you’re an empath.”
He cringed as he stepped out of the lift. “Please don’t use that word.”
“Hmmm. I suppose I still don’t have my answer then.”
Nikol halted. “What else is there to ascertain? You already figured out my Big Secret.”
“Oh that,” she chuckled. “No. What I was trying to determine was, Pras or you--who’s the bigger idiot?”
When he simply stood rooted to the spot, before the open entryway--completely dumbfounded, she snorted drolly. “Well, don’t just stand there. Pry him loose and be gone already!”
 |
 |
The interior of Pandora’s command module was surprisingly pristine, considering that she’d lain dormant beneath the earth for so many centuries. Nikol’s natural curiosity ran amok. The command terminal’s screen was filled with a myriad of symbols and glyphs, some language too old for him to recognize. Pandora’s technology was so different from anything he’d seen before. It was completely alien both in form and function; he could tell with just a glance. He had to rein himself in tightly, to keep from rushing this way and that examining everything. He’d made a deal and he wasn’t entirely confident that she wouldn’t flatten him if he reneged.
The immortal was kneeling over a jumbled mess of wiring. He’d tied his hair back with a loose strip of wire when it had started to become a bother. His profile was awash in pale blue light. He bent to examine a connection he’d just altered, completely absorbed in his task. He spoke companionably with Pandora, as though she weren’t pointedly ignoring him.
“If I can get the nodes here to cooperate, I think we could increase output of the Zyan crystals considerably. The raw material was a bit hard to find when we first came to the Outer territories, wasn’t it? It would be best if we could find a way to extend their life cycles--”
“Pras.” Nikol knelt beside him, saw the way he tensed and his busy fingers stilled suddenly.
He seemed so calm and collected, otherwise. It was somewhat irritating. Nikol’s fingers captured a few loose strands of dark, silky hair. He was immediately assaulted by a messy jangle of nerves that made even his stomach roll. His mouth tilted. The immortal had no idea how transparent he really was.
Pras set his equipment down carefully. He shot Nikol a rueful look. “The two of you became fast-friends, did you?”
Nikol considered the abrasive personality he’d just encountered. “Friends? I wouldn’t go that far,” he muttered, still smarting just a bit from her neatly aimed remark.
“Pandora let you on board without even telling me,” Pras mused. “That’s unusual.”
“Seems we have a few things to discuss.” Nikol nodded towards the mess that Pras had made. “This can all wait a little while, can’t it?”
Pras glanced up towards Pandora’s sensor point uncertainly. The entry doors flew open, clear indication that he and Nikol were to leave. Immediately.
Nikol laughed. “I guess that’s decided then.”
As they took the access tube Nikol had utilized earlier to exit, Pras regarded him quietly. “You seem to be taking all of this rather well.”
Nikol suppressed a grin. “I seem to be, don’t I?”
Once back at ground level, Nikol led the way out to the garden that Pras had made. He made a beeline for the massive tree that dominated the otherwise sparse landscape. A glassy ocean of amber beckoned from a dizzying distance below the cliff side. He shuddered slightly. This place was doing strange things to his sense of equilibrium. It looked as if a particularly strong gust of wind was all that it would take to send him tumbling over the edge to a watery death, yet where he walked, the surface felt perfectly aligned. The hostile garden’s effect was purely psychological. No one who summoned the nerve to walk here would actually fall, he suddenly realized.
Nikol stepped carefully over the massive roots, came to a stop at the tree’s base. He ran his palm along the the knotted bark. It was warm to the touch, sturdy despite its age. He glanced back at Pras who had stopped short and was now staring at him oddly from a short distance up the incline.
His breath hitched. A very long time ago, Pras had felt the need to make this obscenely unwelcoming space. Save for the grass that carpeted the ground, he’d planted just a single tree in it. What had driven him to that? Had he manipulated the earth there at the edge into collapsing as well? This, Nikol realized was what made Pras truly dangerous. The man was completely ruled by his emotions, violent and creative alike. Nikol took a deep breath and leaned back against the trunk. Despite it’s sheer beauty and vitality, there was something palpably tragic about it being so ageless and so isolated all at once.
“I’ve been wondering why you never attempted to control my thoughts and actions before yesterday.” he commented. “Did it never cross your mind?”
At Pras suddenly stricken expression, Nikol laughed. “Seriously?”
Pras sat down a short distance away from where Nikol stood. “I’m not proud of deceiving you but you should know I’m not very sorry either.” A wind stirred up above the surface, whipping the water into froth. “It was fine, wasn’t it? The way things were. I realize it was an illusion but I liked knowing that you felt at ease in my presence. I preferred that you didn’t know enough about me to be wary. That you didn’t realize --”
“How dense do you think I am?” Nikol interjected incredulously.
He gestured grandly. “Have a look around. Anyone with half a brain would wonder how you ended up living in place like this, all alone. You’re so out of place in this world. A grand city dominates the other continent but you’ve completely sealed yourself off from it. You’re a strange man, Pras. I’ve never been unaware of that.”
Nikol sighed. He leaned against the massive branch, threw his head back. He brought one hand up, shielded his eyes against the glare of the sun. “You’re probably the shadiest person I’ve ever met.”
“Why in the stars did you keep coming back here, then? You knew I was hiding something but not once, did you ask what that was? Kindly explain that.”
“We were both content with things as they were. I saw no reason to --”
“Explain it to me!”
“Haah?” Nikol’s ire surged. “You were human once so you understand already, don’t you? What exactly are you demanding that I explain?”
Pras glared at him in consternation. His mouth opened, snapped shut after a moment. “I’m not entirely sure,” he muttered after a moment. “I have no clue what’s happening here!” he scowled.
This was going neither as well as he’d hoped or as badly as he’d feared. In fact, this whole conversation seemed to be going sideways. His eyes swung toward his companion and it occurred to him that for the first time that he could remember, he was alarmed--truly alarmed. Nikol’s attitude had knocked him completely off balance. How was that even possible?
The pilot studied his profile obliquely. “Maybe you have forgotten. You’re entitled to your secrets, Pras. Lies, secrets--we’re all brimming with them. Mine, I’m not inclined to share with anyone. Not even with you.”
Pras’ eyes narrowed into sharp little slits. A growl erupted in his throat. Without thinking, he moved in the way of his kind. In a flash, he was right before Nikol, eyes glittery and terrible. His palm was pressed squarely in the middle on the pilot’s chest. With his back against the tree, Pras had him immobilized.
“What was that?”
He’d moved so fast, Nikol’s eyes hadn’t been able to keep up. Not only that, his whole countenance had changed, in the worst possible way. He felt Pras’ anger coming at him in sickening waves. His palm on his chest was oppressive and heavy, filled him with dread. He couldn’t seem to breath. His fingers curled around Pras’ hand.
“Back off,” he uttered through gritted teeth, then a little more forcefully. “Now!”
He’d summoned every bit of energy he had for that monumental attempt to overcome the inhibitor’s limitations, even in such a small way. Like always, he was going to have to pay for that dearly later. The first signs of a headache scratched at the insides of his skull. He breathed a little easier when Pras stumbled backwards frowning at him in consternation.
“You're far too accustomed to always having your way.” Nikol spat. “I am neither puppet nor acolyte. Acquaint yourself with that notion for a blasted change!”
It was strange enough that Nikol seemed to be in distress. Stranger yet, that Nikol was shouting at him now. Pras stared, confounded. Had Nikol forced his own will on him, moments ago? Pras frowned down at his hand. He really didn’t think he’d used that much force. Why was Nikol’s breathing so labored now? He rushed forward but stopped in his tracks when the pilot glared at him. His arms hung uselessly at his sides.
“I didn’t mean to be so rough,” he declared baldly. “Have your injuries not healed completely?”
“My injuries healed just fine,” Nikol griped, sinking tiredly to the ground. “It’s dealing with you that seems to be doing me in.” Nikol’s ire rose even as he spoke. “Being what you say you are--shouldn’t you have at least been able to discern that?
Pras frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Nikol fixed him a droll look. He really was an impossible sort, wasn’t he? “Give it some thought,” he muttered evenly. “I’m sure it’ll come to you eventually.”
When Pras stood abruptly, glaring down at him accusingly, Nikol sighed. “I didn’t set out to hide anything from you. Fact is, if you hadn’t been so busy trying to pretend you were someone else, you might have noticed already.”
He watched the immortal stalk away. Nikol closed his eyes and groaned as the throbbing in his head bloomed into full-fledged agony. “I didn’t realize that you were such an egotist, Pras. Why are so annoyed with me for doing the very same thing that you did?”
Nikol shuddered. His vision blurred as another wave of nausea hit. He clutched at the sides of his head with his hands. It has been such a long time since he’d made an attempt to forcibly overcome the inhibitor; something that was ill-advised at best. Well, the damage was done and now he had to pay the price. He reached inside his shirt, twisted the top off the metallic amulet that hung from his neck. He let one of the three remaining three medicinal ampules fall into his palm.
He toyed with his wrist console for a bit before removing two flat, iridescent discs from a small compartment. One, he pressed to the base of his neck, the other to his forehead between his eyes. He studied the readings on his console for a few seconds, before he opened a communication link to Pras’ ship.
“Pandora. I assume your scan earlier included detailed mapping of neocortical activity? Would you compare those results with the readings I’m transmitting now?” He murmured thoughtfully. “I usually have Dorian do this for me but my guess is, you should have some idea of what this entails.”
There was a pause. “Are you asking me to confirm signs of or to merely determine the extent of cellular deterioration?”
A shadow of a grin passed over his lips. She was a sharp one wasn’t she? “Extent.”
“I see...”
He closed his eyes and swallowed the bitter capsule. “I’m going to sleep for a little while. Could you be a gem and not mention this to Pras just yet?” He was already drifting away in the next instant and didn’t hear whether or not she answered.
