The Belter's Story (BRIGAND) by Natalie French, Scot Bayless Page A
Authors: Natalie French, Scot Bayless
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impact. But we did nothing except lie immobile and drool red.
Kittar's booted feet appeared in front of our eyes and his grainy rumble filled our ears. "What do you want to do with him?"
"Take him of course. You know how important this is." Neeshta's voice was flat and businesslike.
We felt the sting of an injector and darkness began to close from the periphery of our vision. As we faded toward unconsciousness, we heard another voice. One that only we could perceive.
"Jase, Cromley, this is very important. You must not tell. Don't let them know I'm here."
Laena.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
She soothed our horror and stilled our anguish. The Jase and the Cromley were overcome at first. To lose and then regain something so precious… There wasn't any need for words. All that we were, each part of us, was laid bare to every other. We knew, with infinite trust, the simple purity of our motivations. Each of us cared for the other without pretense or reservation. Our atonement was automatic and complete.
Love does indeed forgive everything.
Once she was joined with us we understood it all. The Laena's parents had, of course, engineered our meeting. In the beginning, it had been an innocuous enough deception. Cromley had become famous for his ability to sniff out the nexi. Someone powerful wanted to know why. Because Laena had known him when they were young, because she was beautiful and bright, she was the perfect foil. She would uncover Cromley's secrets. Nothing more.
But after that first time, when we had fed from her, when we had shown her what we could see, everything changed. What neither of us knew was that they had been watching — all of it and that Laena became expendable, bait in the trap. She'd had no idea at the time of course, but she had been sacrificed by her own parents long before she was the agent of our betrayal.
And so we became a slave.
We weren't like the Morgs, who sweated and died because they were cheap, but we toiled and suffered all the same. Kittar and Neeshta were with us. They were slaves as well — or perhaps taskmasters. The whip hand. The serf who stands above the peons, privileged but no less in thrall.
They studied and measured. They probed and they tested. Although, sometimes their immediate goals were obscure, they never concealed their intent. Under their scrutiny, we came to understand the energy of living things in ways we could never have imagined, an unexpected benefit of our servitude. We saw them so clearly. Each creature had a specific collage of colors and emotions that we came to recognize.
And we helped them build things — a device that could block energy sources within a few meters. They called it a 'neutralizer'. From that, they engineered a scanner that could detect beings like us, anyone with the capacity to manipulate the energy of life. We were a means to an end. When they understood what had happened to us, what made us, what we could do, they would dispose of what was no longer required and move on.
We needed a plan. It helped that the Laena knew where we were — one of the orbiting research habs above Europa. There were transports, mostly to the Belt. If we could find a way onto one of those ships, we might have a chance to disappear.
How we might accomplish such a feat, we had no idea. We were confined — a small room with bed and sink and toilet. They were careful about getting too close to us, especially Neeshta. That was understandable. And sometimes we did wonder what it would feel like to kill again, what it would feel like to grab hold of the blackness that enveloped her, breathe it in and suck it from her completely. But we would never do to her what we had done to Laena. The thought of Neeshta invading our union was so abhorrent that we would have gladly died before taking her life that way.
To gain time, we kept our value high. We cooperated. We complied. We waited. Eventually, we earned a few privileges. A smattering of educational sensos, limited
Kittar's booted feet appeared in front of our eyes and his grainy rumble filled our ears. "What do you want to do with him?"
"Take him of course. You know how important this is." Neeshta's voice was flat and businesslike.
We felt the sting of an injector and darkness began to close from the periphery of our vision. As we faded toward unconsciousness, we heard another voice. One that only we could perceive.
"Jase, Cromley, this is very important. You must not tell. Don't let them know I'm here."
Laena.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
She soothed our horror and stilled our anguish. The Jase and the Cromley were overcome at first. To lose and then regain something so precious… There wasn't any need for words. All that we were, each part of us, was laid bare to every other. We knew, with infinite trust, the simple purity of our motivations. Each of us cared for the other without pretense or reservation. Our atonement was automatic and complete.
Love does indeed forgive everything.
Once she was joined with us we understood it all. The Laena's parents had, of course, engineered our meeting. In the beginning, it had been an innocuous enough deception. Cromley had become famous for his ability to sniff out the nexi. Someone powerful wanted to know why. Because Laena had known him when they were young, because she was beautiful and bright, she was the perfect foil. She would uncover Cromley's secrets. Nothing more.
But after that first time, when we had fed from her, when we had shown her what we could see, everything changed. What neither of us knew was that they had been watching — all of it and that Laena became expendable, bait in the trap. She'd had no idea at the time of course, but she had been sacrificed by her own parents long before she was the agent of our betrayal.
And so we became a slave.
We weren't like the Morgs, who sweated and died because they were cheap, but we toiled and suffered all the same. Kittar and Neeshta were with us. They were slaves as well — or perhaps taskmasters. The whip hand. The serf who stands above the peons, privileged but no less in thrall.
They studied and measured. They probed and they tested. Although, sometimes their immediate goals were obscure, they never concealed their intent. Under their scrutiny, we came to understand the energy of living things in ways we could never have imagined, an unexpected benefit of our servitude. We saw them so clearly. Each creature had a specific collage of colors and emotions that we came to recognize.
And we helped them build things — a device that could block energy sources within a few meters. They called it a 'neutralizer'. From that, they engineered a scanner that could detect beings like us, anyone with the capacity to manipulate the energy of life. We were a means to an end. When they understood what had happened to us, what made us, what we could do, they would dispose of what was no longer required and move on.
We needed a plan. It helped that the Laena knew where we were — one of the orbiting research habs above Europa. There were transports, mostly to the Belt. If we could find a way onto one of those ships, we might have a chance to disappear.
How we might accomplish such a feat, we had no idea. We were confined — a small room with bed and sink and toilet. They were careful about getting too close to us, especially Neeshta. That was understandable. And sometimes we did wonder what it would feel like to kill again, what it would feel like to grab hold of the blackness that enveloped her, breathe it in and suck it from her completely. But we would never do to her what we had done to Laena. The thought of Neeshta invading our union was so abhorrent that we would have gladly died before taking her life that way.
To gain time, we kept our value high. We cooperated. We complied. We waited. Eventually, we earned a few privileges. A smattering of educational sensos, limited
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