Rhoe’s Request by Viola Grace Page B

to know who you were looking for instead of seeking her around every corner.” He sighed heavily.
    Rhoe reached out and put her hand on his. “You know me well, Father.”
    He grinned. “I should. Now, you are being picked up at dawn, so get to bed.”
    She kissed his cheek and headed to bed with the data pad clutched in her hand. She finally had the face that blended with her father’s features to create her. Proxy breeders were common enough for the sake of carrying on genetic lines. If something happened to Rhoe, Rhand was still young enough to try again with another child if he needed to.
    It was a grim thought, but she was going to learn how to fly using mechanisms. The reality was about to smack her face first.
     
    The skimmer trip to the city of Nathrin was far quicker than she had estimated. She was wearing underwear and the tunic and trouser combination that Lagala had created. It had her settlement crest on the shoulders and was in her standard black and silver.
    Her skimmer pilot was silent. He wasn’t a man who enjoyed casual conversation. She didn’t even know his name. He was wearing a rank insignia, but it wasn’t Athuunan. She hadn’t ever seen someone like him before, but he had less than no interest in her.
    Instead of the port, he took her directly to the defense centre and parked in front of the yard. He broke his silence with a statement. “Colonel Whisk would like to see you.”
    Rhoe swallowed heavily, and she picked up her bag. “Lead the way, please.”
    He nodded and stared at her for a moment, his snow-white hair braided tightly down his back in a long tail. “This way.”
    He took her through the halls, past checkpoints and into a hall lined with offices. Rhoe’s hands were sweating.
    He opened the door with Colonel Whisk on it and gestured for her to enter. Swallowing hard, Rhoe stepped into the room and walked to stand a respectful distance from the desk. The door behind her closed, and she waited.
    The woman at the desk raised her head and did a quick double take. “Oh! I didn’t know you were here already.”
    The smile was familiar, the nose bore a scar that hadn’t been in the original image in the file and her hair was a deep brown.
    “Colonel.” Rhoe inclined her head respectfully. She wasn’t in a cadet uniform yet, so that was as respectful as she was allowed to get.
    The colonel got to her feet and came around her desk. To Rhoe’s surprise, her mother was shorter than she was by four inches.
    “You have some of your father’s height.”
    “And your skin and features.” Rhoe smiled tightly.
    “You are lovely.” Colonel Whisk smiled and extended her hand.
    Rhoe placed her hand in her mother’s and felt the peculiar callouses against her skin. A bright spark of genetic recognition ran between them.
    “Colonel Whisk, may I ask you which species you are?” Her mind was opening and her knees buckled.
    “Ah, I am officially a Tekkani, but in reality, I am an Edinar.” She smiled, “And so are you.”
    Rhoe blinked rapidly. She was one of the psychic races that was being hunted to extinction by the Coalition? It did explain quite a bit.
    “Why are you telling me this?”
    The colonel tugged her to one side of the office and tugged her down to the couch. “As long as you remained at the settlement, there was no need for you to know. Now that you are in the defense headquarters, you are going to be surrounded by folk who do not have the mental coordination of shifters. You will need to remain impassive and ignore what you sense.”
    “What if I sense someone dangerous?”
    “You smile and walk on by. Call security and say you saw the person acting suspicious. By that comment, I am guessing that you already have awareness of the minds of others?”
    “I do, but I thought it was linked to my father’s shifting ability and the mental communication that is so common in the shifted form.”
    Colonel Whisk sighed in relief. “Oh thank the stars. I was afraid that