Eighteen
"The Covonian transport has been found by the Hive,"
Boris said on a private, internal channel.
Gorlon paused in the middle of a security briefing in
the security command center. When he fell silent, all eyes turned
knowingly away. The Techs of Security Command politely waited for
Gorlon's critical moment of distraction to pass.
Gorlon's guts turned to ice. "She's dead, then,"
he spoke among his own thoughts.
"Her death remains a calculated certainty,"
Boris
replied in the same manner. "The transport, however, was derelict."
From an exterior perspective, the Techs saw Gorlon
tense.
"Shesel!"
The call was internal as well as external and
Shesel's external response instantaneous. "Gorlon?"
Gorlon regained control of his panic and spoke
internally. "She's still alive! Hive
forces found the transport! Abandoned! The fools still think she's
dead!"
"Gorlon, you're going too fast for me," Shesel
murmured aloud.
Gorlon weaved through the torturous possibilities
that led again and again to the foreboding corners of his darkest fears.
"Shesel, the child was a ruse herself all along! Khalin Nome's ruse! The
child is not a child! For the love of the gods, she's not even human!"
"Gorlon, I don't understand what you're talking
about!"
"The Dalikor technology, based on the Mysaelia
polymer biochemistry native to the Mysaelia system, carbon-based using a
self-contained, recycled fluorine chemistry!"
"But that's what Dalikor was,” Shesel said from the
depth of her confusion.
"It’s what she is as well! Don't you see? Myla
Rhodes must have died in the Hive attack upon her parents! Nome replaced
her using the forbidden Dalikor technology! He’s keeping the Dalikor
technology alive in case something happens to him! That's what all his
fawning over the girl was about! He was trying to hide her from us! He
has to replace her body from time to time to provide the illusion of
physical growth! The fool! It's the worst of everything I ever feared
would happen! I can't imagine what possessed the man!"
Shesel had nothing to say, or did not dare speak.
"The Hive can't touch her! Shesel, she's going to
get away!" Gorlon looked up and about the utterly silent command
center and nodded calm reassurance for everyone waiting for his focus to
return to the demands of physical reality.
"Shesel, I need you. Don't interrupt your usual
routine. At your earliest opportunity, wait in my quarters. Better yet,
wait in the dream for me. We need to discuss this in utmost privacy."
"Nobody else knows about this?" Shesel ventured
hesitantly.
"We are still alive,"
Gorlon said. "As long as we are alive, nobody else knows,
because they will most certainly destroy us when they find out."
