Telepath (Hive Mind Book 1) (20 page)

“Amber, lock the door,”
said Eli.

I ordered the front door
to close and lock itself. Lucas helpfully opened the bedroom door, and stood
aside to let my bodyguards run into the room.

“Relax everyone, emergency
over.” Adika’s voice came from both my ear crystal and the emergency link. He
sounded much calmer now. “Matias hasn’t been stabbed, but he’s only semi-conscious
and in a lot of pain. I think he’s got appendicitis.”

Megan’s voice broke in.
“Medical team on the way.”

I felt an utter fool.
“Sorry. It felt like a knife was stabbing Matias in the stomach. All my
training is about checking for injury, so I never thought about illness. I
should have waited and …”

“No!” Adika interrupted
me. “You never wait, Amber. When you sense something that may be an attack, you
sound the alarm instantly. If we have an intruder, then seconds count. How did
you spot Matias was sick, anyway?”

“I woke up. I had the same
itching I had on the last run, so I started checking minds.”

“A good thing that you
did,” said Megan. “I’m with Matias now. The problem is definitely his appendix
and he needs emergency surgery.”

“Well, in addition to getting
vital medical help to Matias, this has been a useful emergency drill,” said
Adika. “Amber, can we have a full unit meeting at nine to go over a few points with
everyone?”

“Of course, Adika. Meeting
at nine for the entire unit. Goodnight everyone.”

My bodyguards said their farewells,
and gave speculative glances at Lucas before leaving. I checked the emergency
sound link between my apartment and Adika had been shut down, and took my
crystal unit out of my ear.

Lucas gave me a worried
look and gabbled in his speed speech. “Woken up by intruder alarm, people being
attacked, concerned for your safety.”

I nodded. “I quite
understand why you came into my bedroom.”

“Situation possibly gave
misleading impression to bystanders.”

“Quite possibly, yes.”

“Denial potentially
worse.”

I lay back on my sleep field,
and laughed. “Very true. What time is it now?”

“Six in the morning.”

I jumped back to my feet.
“I need breakfast. How about you?”

“Starving,” said Lucas.

Our meals yesterday had only
been hastily grabbed snacks, so I ordered us both substantial breakfasts from my
kitchen unit. We were in the middle of eating, when I got an incoming call. I
glanced at my dataview.

“Waste it! Lucas, hide!”

“Hide?”

“Yes, hide,” I said. “I
don’t care if my entire unit is speculating on you being here at night, but my
mother’s calling me. Get under the table or something.”

Lucas pointed at the food
on the table. “Two meals.”

“Good point.”

I sprinted into the next
room to take the call. My mother’s sleepy and worried holo image appeared.

“Amber,” she said. “Sorry
to wake you, but it’s an emergency. Gregas just arrived on our doorstep. He’s
run away from Teen Level!”

At nine o’clock, everyone in the
unit gathered in the park. Adika stood on a picnic table to address the crowd,
explaining that everyone except the Strike team should stay locked in their
apartments during an intruder alert. Liaison team members, cleaners, and electricians
shouldn’t be roaming the corridors trying to find out what was going on.

Adika felt strongly on
this point, and he expressed himself fully and fluently to the offenders for
the next ten minutes. When he’d finished, I headed off to deal with my family
crisis. I’d decided to take Lucas along with me. My mother wanted me to talk my
brother into going back to Teen Level before his absence was noticed. My theory
was that Lucas would have a much better chance of achieving that than I did. When
it came to dealing with Gregas, Lucas had two obvious advantages over me. He
was imprinted as a tactical expert, and he wasn’t a nagging Level 1 big sister.

Adika insisted on going
with us, and bringing two of the Strike team as well. This seemed an overreaction
to me. I was going to visit my parents in 510/6120 Level 27, which was a full four
zones away from the suspect 600/2600 area.

Once we were inside the
lift, it became clear Adika was planning to make the most of his time on this
trip. “Rothan, Eli, since you’re both candidates for my two deputy positions, I
didn’t want to criticize you in front of the whole unit.”

Rothan and Eli looked
nervous.

“Rothan first,” said
Adika. “I’m not asking what you were doing in the park when the intruder alert
sounded. I’m not asking who you were doing it with either. I approve of the
fact you had your body armour and your gun with you, and you made it to Matias’s
apartment quickly. Next time, however, I suggest you run round the lake instead
of falling into it.”

“It was very dark,” said
Rothan. “The park suns don’t turn on until seven o’clock in the morning.”

“Moving on to Eli now,”
said Adika.

Eli cringed. “There’s no
need to tell me. I already know.”

Adika intended to tell him
anyway. “Very fast response to safeguard Amber, and you remembered your body armour
and gun. Minor point. Next time, try to take at least one item of clothing as
well. Body armour is a protective mesh. You can see through it.”

He paused for a second. “Amber’s
safety obviously comes above all other considerations, but you had to wait one
minute for the rest of the bodyguard team to arrive before she opened the
apartment door. You could have used that minute to get dressed before you
dashed into her bedroom. You will now apologize to Amber.”

“Sorry,” said Eli glumly.
“When I realized, it was too late to go back for clothes.”

“That’s all right,” I
said. “I didn’t notice.”

They all stared at me.

“I had other things on my
mind,” I said. “Matias was in agony, and I was searching for a target.”

“You didn’t notice?” Adika
laughed. “Everyone else did. Well, that’s put Eli firmly in his place.”

“In a crisis, I tend to operate
telepathically rather than visually,” I said, “so I have my eyes closed most of
the time.”

Our lift doors opened on Level
27, and I led the way to the nearest express belt.

“Think yourself lucky,
Eli,” said Adika. “Now, Lucas.”

“Me?” Lucas was clearly
caught off guard by this attack. “I don’t suppose it helps if I point out I’m
your boss.”

“Not in the slightest,”
said Adika. “You told me that you were woken up by the alarm and fell off
Amber’s couch, hitting your head on the floor. That’s a very impressive bruise appearing
on the side of your face.”

“Thank you,” said Lucas.

“You then dashed heroically
to defend Amber, without your body armour or gun. In future, wherever you fall
asleep, your body armour and gun falls asleep with you.”

“I’m not Strike team,”
Lucas pointed out.

“Explain that to any armed
intruders you meet,” said Adika. “See how well it works. I suggest you pick up
a duplicate body armour and gun, and leave them anywhere you might fall asleep regularly.
Now, Amber.”

I sighed. I’d been encouraging
Adika to treat me like a human being, rather than a telepath who was above
criticism, because I wanted to know when I made mistakes and learn from them. Adika
had adjusted to this approach, but it made Megan extremely nervous, so he
didn’t inflict his famous sarcasm on me unless she was well out of the way. This
was an ideal opportunity.

“Spotting Matias was in
trouble was amazing, and you did exactly the right thing by hitting your panic
button. Fine so far, but …”

I’d had a feeling there
was a “but” coming.

“Your safety is our top priority,
Amber. We give you body armour to protect you. Hannah hangs it lovingly in your
bedroom, within reach of your sleep field. Why didn’t you put it on immediately?
Why did a stray tactician have to fall off your couch, come dashing into your
bedroom, and hand it to you?”

“I’ll try to remember another
time. Approaching scene now,” I said pointedly, as we got off the belt near my
parents’ apartment. “We’re visiting my parents and my irritating kid brother. Be
very careful what you say, because they mustn’t find out I’m a telepath. Eli,
keep your clothes on.”

Eli blushed.

We reached my parents’
door and I pressed the chime button. When my mother opened the door, I saw she was
wearing the necklace of golden beads that I’d given her. She gave a startled
look at the crowd.

“Please come in,” she
said.

I led the gang into the
main living area. My father and Gregas were already sitting there. They seemed stunned
by the invasion.

“Hello.” I attempted a
casual smile. “I’m afraid my unit had a security alert last night, so my Security
team leader insisted I bring an escort. This is my Security team leader, Adika.
My bodyguards, Rothan and Eli.”

I gestured at people in
turn, hesitating when I got to Lucas. He smiled hopefully.

“Lucas is another of my
team leaders,” I said. “I’ve brought him here to talk sense into Gregas.”

Lucas sighed, and there
was a ragged exchange of greetings.

“The idea was that we’d
have a private family chat.” My mother gave me a meaningful look.

“Don’t worry,” I said.
“Their lips are sealed. If word gets out about Gregas running away, I’ll demote
them all to Level 99 Sewage Technicians.”

My parents gazed at me
with horrified faces. I didn’t need telepathy to tell me what they were
thinking. I’d always been a quiet, dutiful daughter, shyly fading into the
background when their friends visited. Now I was back in their apartment for
the first time since Lottery, an elite Level 1 marching into their home with a
whole set of intimidating bodyguards, and casually threatening to demote people
to Level 99. I hadn’t believed Lucas when he told me I’d changed since Lottery,
but now I could see it was true.

“That was just a joke
about demoting people,” I said hastily, and turned to my brother, who at least
looked sulky rather than scared of me. “Gregas, you have to go back to Teen
Level. Lucas, you tell him!”

Gregas glared at me first,
then threw a bitter look at Lucas.

“Don’t mind me, Gregas,”
said Lucas, “I’m only another team leader. I’d hoped to be a boyfriend, I’d
thought I was at least a friend, but it turns out I’m only another team leader.”

He flopped into a chair
with an exaggerated expression of despair, and my parents gave him bewildered
looks.

I held back a laugh. “Lucas,
stop playing the clown. You and I and Gregas are going into the next room to
have a nice chat.”

Lucas gave a long-suffering
groan and stood up again.

“I don’t want to talk to
him,” said Gregas. “Even if he is Level 1 like she is!” He gestured resentfully
at me.

“Gregas, manners!” said my
father.

“I don’t want to talk to
you either, Gregas,” said Lucas. “Your sister is making me do it. I nearly got
fired yesterday, but she said she’d come up with an alternative punishment
instead. I think this is it.”

Gregas blinked at Lucas in
disbelief, and followed me into the bookette room without any more argument. Lucas
and I sat down, but Gregas remained stubbornly on his feet and stated his
position.

“I don’t want to talk to
you. I don’t want to go back to Teen Level. I hate the place. I don’t see why teens
have to go there.”

“Reason implicit Lottery,”
said Lucas.

“Full sentences, Lucas,” I
murmured. As far as I knew, Gregas couldn’t read minds, so he’d need all the
help he could get to keep up with Lucas.

Lucas started again. “Gregas,
your time on Teen Level is vital preparation for Lottery. You learn to live
alone in a sheltered and helpful environment. You gain social skills. You gradually
distance yourself from your parents’ level in preparation for being assigned
your own level as an adult. You experiment with a host of different sports,
crafts, and activities. When you’re eighteen, Lottery will allocate you a
profession based on the needs of the Hive.”

“Which isn’t fair!”
snapped Gregas.

“It may not seem fair,”
said Lucas, “but it’s the best thing for the Hive, and that’s indirectly the
best thing for you. Lottery ensures there are never too few or too many workers
in any area, and a job is always done by someone talented at it. That means the
Hive does well, and we all benefit as a result. We may not get to choose what
we do, but the optimization stage of Lottery makes sure that we’re given work we
enjoy.”

Gregas pulled a disbelieving
face.

“It’s true, Gregas,” said
Lucas. “I could never have chosen my job for myself, because I didn’t even know
it existed, but Lottery did and knew it was perfect for me. Lottery will allocate
you work that you love too, but it can only do that if you spend your years on Teen
Level establishing your own individual likes and dislikes. If you stay living
at home, heavily influenced by your parents, then you’ll end up being allocated
work that they’d like to do but you’ll probably grow to hate. Is that what you
want to happen?”

Gregas frowned. “No, but I
can’t go back to Teen Level. I don’t fit in with the others on my corridor. They
all go off and do things together, and I’m left sitting in my room by myself. You
won’t understand how horrible that is, but I’ve been having a dreadful time.”

“You’re entirely wrong
about that,” said Lucas. “I understand perfectly. In fact, I’m an expert on the
difficulties of not fitting in on Teen Level. You wish to become part of your
corridor social group?”

“Of course I do. I’ve
tried my best to make friends, but it’s not working.”

“I can fix that. From what
I’ve seen so far, you just have the relatively minor problem that you aren’t naturally
outgoing and get defensive talking to strangers. We’ll assess your personality,
work out what roles you could fill in the social group, and decide which would benefit
you most. Then I’ll explain tactics that should get you established in that role
within the next two weeks.”

Gregas looked at him uncertainly.
“Can you really do that?”

Lucas nodded. “Once you’ve
made the initial start, it will be easy to keep going. Group expectations will
keep reaffirming you in your chosen role.”

Gregas glanced at me.

“You can trust Lucas,” I
said. “He’s an expert tactician.”

“I’ll need some information
from you, Gregas,” said Lucas, “but I doubt you’ll want your sister listening
while I ask personal questions.”

“I don’t!” said Gregas.

I laughed and retreated to
the next room. I found my parents nervously entertaining the Strike team
contingent.

“Where’s Gregas?” asked my
mother.

“He’s still talking to Lucas,”
I said. “They’re working out a plan to make Gregas the leading social star of Teen
Level.”

“Amber, I’ve just had a
message from Megan,” said Adika. “Matias has had his operation and is doing
well.”

“I’m glad Matias will be all
right,” I said. “I hope this won’t affect his team spot.”

Adika’s eyes flickered towards
my parents, and he chose his answer carefully. “With accelerated healing
treatment, Matias should be recovered within a week or two. We have to expect
illnesses and work round them. Megan said that Forge is cleared fit for duty
again, so we won’t be too short staffed.”

“Forge is an unusual name,”
said my mother. “That’s not the Forge you knew on Teen Level, is it Amber?”

I was telling enough lies
to my parents already. I wasn’t going to lie about this as well. “It is actually.
By pure fluke, Lottery assigned him to my unit.”

“I hadn’t realized you two
were old friends,” said Adika. “So that was what Forge meant when he said …”

He broke off. I automatically
checked his thoughts to pick up the end of his sentence, and saw him busily speculating
on the fact the entire Strike team bore a strong resemblance to my old friend
from Teen Level. Given Lucas had been in a foul mood yesterday, but had spent
last night in my apartment, Adika had half a dozen exciting theories about what
might be going on.

“Drinks.” My mother
hastily got to her feet. “I forgot to offer you any drinks.”

I realized I was reading
Adika’s mind in front of my parents. I mustn’t do that. My parents shouldn’t be
able to tell what I was doing just by looking at me, but it would be horribly
easy to answer a question that Adika hadn’t asked aloud.

I pulled out of Adika’s head,
and offered to help my mother with the drinks. She seemed disconcerted by the idea
but I insisted. I needed to reassure my parents that although I was Level 1,
with my own unit and a set of bodyguards, my place in the family hadn’t changed.
I needed to reassure myself as well.

So we handed round drinks,
and plates of small savouries. Adika and Rothan seemed uncomfortable about their
telepath acting as a waitress, but Eli brightened up at the sight of the food. By
the time he’d enthusiastically gobbled down two plates of the savouries, explained
to my mother that he’d missed breakfast because of the security alert, admired
the necklace I’d given her as a present, and discussed whether he should get
one like it for his own mother, the atmosphere had got a lot more relaxed.