Allie's War Season Four (128 page)

As it turned out, it’s a good thing I didn’t.

When I saw Balidor standing by the door, soon to be followed by Chandre, Pagoj, Chinja and Jorag, I must have given them a pretty blank look.

“My gods, Alyson!” Balidor walked towards me, holstering his gun, even as he motioned to the others in the room to check it. “What did he do to you? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine...” When he didn’t slow his steps, I raised my voice, and my hand, indicating for him to stop. “‘Dori, I’m fine.”

“You said it was virtual,” Balidor said. “How did he lock you to the wall? Did he take control over the organics of the room...?”

“He didn’t do this,” I blurted.

Balidor froze, stopping in mid-motion as he’d been about to reach for my cuffed wrist.

I stared up at him, momentarily speechless as I realized what he’d assumed––what they’d all assumed upon seeing me locked to the wall after a breach alarm went off and I told them that Terian had projected himself into the cell. It occurred to me, even as the thoughts sifted through my mind in a disjointed stream, that I couldn’t get out of this one.

I couldn’t get out of explaining this part of it to any of them.

Or, well, maybe I could have...but that moment had already departed.

Looking up at Balidor’s suddenly tense face, I shrugged with my free hand, seer style, then returned it back to gripping the sheet around me.

“It’s all right,” I said. “Really, ‘Dori...I’m okay.” Hesitating, I stripped my voice of even more emotion when I added, “The breach was purely virtual. No Barrier contact that I could feel. He had access to the electronics, including the power source. He must have piggybacked the signal. That’s how he got to the alarms and the electricity, too, I’m guessing...”

I trailed, still fighting to keep my voice as businesslike as possible.

Even so, I felt my face grow hotter, the longer I spoke.

“...Everything’s fine in here,” I finished lamely. “You should probably go talk to the hacks.”

Glancing up, I realized Balidor remained half-bent over the headboard by my cuffed arm. When I caught his gaze that time, though, he straightened rapidly, moving as if he’d been burnt. Or maybe as if I’d told him I might explode.

When he still didn’t speak, I sharpened my voice.

“You don’t need to be in here,” I said. “It was a network hit. That’s tech. Right? He used the monitor, but other than the ID, there’s nothing in here that can help you.”

I bit my lip, once more out of words.

The room fell silent.

Even Chinja, who’d been speaking quietly into her headset from the other side of the room, froze as she was about to open an access panel into the wall organics. I saw her stop speaking in mid-sentence to whoever she had on the other end of the line, her face turning sharply towards me with wide, orange-tinted eyes. I saw those eyes click back into focus right before she murmured some excuse into the headset and clicked it off.

Averting her gaze, she flushed, rearranging her hands on the rifle she held.

Somewhere in that, I looked down at myself.

I knew, as soon as I did it, that it was a mistake.

I felt their eyes follow mine down to my relative state of undress, then up to my arm cuffed to the wall. I felt my skin turn a few different shades of red as I felt it click for them abruptly, for every seer in the room, what it was they were really looking at.

Of course, I saw Balidor’s face change, too.

He backed away even more from the bed.

I saw his gray eyes flicker down over me in the pause, saw him take in the length of my body where I sprawled, obviously naked under the single sheet I’d only managed to half-assedly wrap around myself, even now. I hugged that sheet to my chest, unable to hide in any way the wrist obviously cuffed to the wall.

As I watched Balidor’s face, I couldn’t help thinking the Adhipan leader quite possibly turned even more different colors of red and pink than I had. Although, yeah, I couldn’t exactly see myself right then...to compare the two of us, I mean.

“I’m okay,” I said, when it became clear that they weren’t going to speak. “Really. You can go. The breach happened through the network...not in here. Go take care of it.”

I trailed, feeling my face flush hotter when none of them moved.

Glancing around at faces, I felt my jaw harden, too.

Jorag was openly gaping at me. He’d also flushed, but I didn’t get much of an embarrassment vibe on him, not the way I did with Balidor. Jorag looked more like he’d just walked onto a sound stage in the middle of a porn shoot and was hoping he might be called in as an extra. I saw his eyes focus on my bare feet, poking out from under the off-white sheet. Feeling my face warm more, I pulled them closer to my body, along with my legs and my one free arm.

Chandre averted her gaze a lot faster than Chinja or any of the three men. Even so, I saw her cheeks flush dark red, which may have been a first, at least from my perspective.

When none of them spoke, I cleared my throat.

“Revik’s not here,” I said, unnecessarily.

Balidor wasn’t looking at me anymore, either. He cleared his throat, too. If anything, his skin turned even darker than before. He glanced at Chandre, then Jorag and Pagoj, even as he began backing rapidly away from the bed.

“Apologies, Alyson.” Balidor cleared his throat again. “...Esteemed Bridge. We were concerned for you. We thought you were under attack...”

“Aren’t there, like, sensors...?” I said, my voice more openly testy that time.

“He shut them off,” Balidor began. Trailing, he made a vague gesture with one hand in my direction, his voice still at a loss. “...Before. I imagine.”

“Before what?” I said. “Who shut them off? Terian?”

“The Sword,” Jorag blurted.

When I looked at Jorag again, I saw he hadn’t stopped staring at me. His blue eyes looked nearly distant now, and it struck me that I was in pain, which probably wasn’t helping...nor was Revik’s absence, considering it probably only made that pain worse. Since Jorag and I currently shared a construct, however briefly, I felt pain on him, too, enough that I grimaced, averting my eyes when he didn’t avert his. Looking back at Balidor, somewhat incredulously that time, I tugged the sheet higher up my body, gripping it with my free arm.

“Um...get the fuck out?” I said, letting them hear my annoyance that time.

For a second, all six of them just stared at me.

Then they all seemed to move at once, shuffling backwards and sideways and essentially walking into one another and banging their rifles together to get back through the door to outside. It might have been funny if I hadn’t been handcuffed to a wall. As it was, I could only sit there, watching them, feeling like I’d been transported into some black and white slapstick comedy, like my dad used to make me watch with him about a hundred years ago.

I don’t think I let out my held breath until the door shut.

I watched the light over the door as it turned from red back to green, indicating that the seal on the construct was back in place. I was still lying there, staring at the ceiling in a kind of disbelief, when the earpiece I’d tossed on the table let off a low tone.

Rolling my eyes, I let go of the sheet, half crawling to that side of the bed so I could scoop the danged thing up in my hand.

“Hello?” I said, my voice deliberately annoyed that time.

“Alyson, I sincerely apologize...”

“I know, ‘Dori...forget it.”

“No, I am very, very sorry. I should have contacted you via the transmitter before we broke in. You had already told me it was a virtual invasion. We have the tech team working on it, of course, but I thought you might be in danger, especially if––”

“‘Dori, forget it,” I said, sighing. “Does Revik know yet?”

“I do not know. I saw him upstairs earlier, but not since the breach. He said he had some errands to run before he went downstairs. I told him I needed to check some of the sensor units inside the tank...”

“You told him you were coming down here?” I said, hiding my annoyance less well that time. “And he let you? Seriously?”

“No,” Balidor said quickly. “No...not in the way you mean. I did not specify
when
I would be doing this. We spoke of other things, too, tests of his light, and different dates were proposed for those, as well. So, it is natural that he assumed––”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Okay. I get it.”

Even so, I knew Balidor. A little, anyway. Even when I couldn’t feel his light, which rarely helped me to read him, anyway, I could sometimes tell when something was up with him.

“So why
did
you come now?” I said. “...You obviously were coming down here to check the tank now, right? That’s why you were handy when the breach alarm went off, instead of being upstairs?” I paused, feeling my jaw tighten as I remembered our conversation of the day before, out on the dock. “I mean, you waited until Revik was out, right? Were you thinking I would be out, too, ‘Dori?”

Silence fell over the link connection.

Before he could answer, I let out a more expressive sigh.

“What is it?” I said. “What’s going on?” Remembering Terian’s words, I felt my jaw harden. “You know something, don’t you? About Revik’s light?”

“No, no, Alyson...nothing like that.”

“Then what? Clearly you don’t want Revik to know, whatever it is.”

At the other man’s silence, I exhaled again, clicking in overt annoyance.

“I see. And am I supposed to keep this secret from Revik, too? Because you know how well
that
goes over, when he finds out. And he always does, you know...find out...sooner or later.” Biting my lip, I added, “I’m already in the doghouse for keeping things from him. Even when I’m dead, apparently, this pisses him off. I don’t really want to do it again. Not unless there’s a damned good reason, ‘Dori.”

The silence on the line deepened.

That time, I strongly suspected he was exchanging meaningful looks or actual thoughts with the seers who accompanied him into the construct cell. When that pause finished, Balidor cleared his throat.

“Are you going to tell me what Terian said to you, Alyson?” he said.

I let out a snort. “Really? Really, ‘Dori?”

“You know what I mean,” Balidor said. “I am asking, could we discuss this later, Esteemed Bridge? In private? Perhaps in the same conversation where I tell you of my own concerns, and the reason I went to your husband’s quarters while I thought them unattended? I will say, in preface to that discussion, that my actions were precautionary only, in the wake of what occurred in Macau, and prior to our discussions around Dubai. I merely wished to not alarm the two of you by creating an issue before I had any reason for true concern...”

Clicking under my breath, I exhaled loudly, in open irritation. “Fine. When?”

“Are you available later today?”

Looking up at my cuffed wrist, I felt my jaw harden. “I can only hope.”

That time, I heard the other man let out an involuntary snort of laughter, along with what had to be a smile. “You know you’ll never hear the end of this, right?”

Rolling my eyes, I retorted, “Yeah, well...you know Revik has a tendency to be a bit
traditional
when it comes to his subordinates seeing me in compromising positions. Maybe you and your pals should just
restrain
yourselves. For a change.”

“Are you threatening me with your husband, Esteemed Bridge?” Balidor said. “Perhaps you envision a duel of some kind? Is he fighting battles for your honor these days, too?”

“Just stating the facts, ‘Dor,” I said. “So you might want to think about
that,
before you and your pals start talking smack...”

Another surprised-sounding laugh burst out of the Adhipan leader.

The laugh sounded real that time, and I couldn’t help but fight back my own smile.

Balidor still sounded amused when he replied, “As long as you recognize I am responsible for no one’s tongue but my own, Esteemed Bridge. Chandre is likely too traumatized by what she saw to speak of it any time soon. But you must, at least, be aware that Jorag won’t be able to control himself...”

“Tell Pagoj I’m telling Neela, if he backs Jorag’s story up,” I retorted. “You’ve got to know that I’ll deny everything.”