the rest. “Yes. You’re supposed to be comfortably ensconced in a big, shiny office with shelves of tea sets and antique books, not in the middle of a war zone on a command ship that’s weaponized like a destroyer.”
“Ah. Fair observation, I concede. But while my work may have appeared relatively tame to you for some time now, I assure you, I have seen battle, Alex. More than once.”
“I know you have. Just be careful.”
“I could say the same to you, and I will. Be careful. This isn’t your fight.”
Why did everyone keep saying that to her? It unequivocally was her fight. But many of the reasons why it was her fight were intertwined with the revelations she wasn’t yet divulging, so she ignored the comment for now. “I think we’re heading to Romane for the night. We’ll drop Kennedy and Noah off, check on Mia and see what the world has in store for us in the morning.”
“Good. My preference would be for you to remain there, but whatever you do, don’t visit Earth right now. I know you want to go home, but it’s not safe. In fact, it is extremely dangerous. Winslow almost certainly has security watching your loft.”
“That bitch.” Her mom actually laughed a touch; she’d take it as a win. “I won’t. Promise. Now, stop letting me distract you and go work.”
Alex signed off but didn’t swing the chair around to face the cabin. Kennedy and Noah had been whispering behind her for the last minute, and she needed a chance to prepare for the presumed result of their conference.
…But she wasn’t going to get it. Kennedy showed up in the cockpit and plopped down in Caleb’s chair with exaggerated flair.
“You spent half an hour telling me all about your adventures, yet you neglected to mention the fact you’d discovered how to enter an altered state of consciousness with your ship ?”
“I was planning to get around to it. But I thought it would take longer to fully explain, and the aliens, Amaranthe, the Metigens and so on were all more important.”
“Possibly valid, if still suspect.” Kennedy dropped her arms to her knees, leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Are you okay? Because you don’t seem okay. And Caleb….”
She glanced to the rear of the cabin where Caleb was inspecting Noah’s new biosynthetic arm, twisting it around and poking at it with one hand while he sipped on a beer with the other.
“He didn’t act entirely happy about what he called your new trick.”
Alex stared out the viewport at the blur of the superluminal bubble, fighting the palpable need to touch it with her mind. For the briefest second. Her eyes began closing…she blinked.
“It’s not the ‘trick’ so much as…I guess I have been indulging in it a little too often, and it’s easy to lose track of time when I’m in that space. Also, there’s a bit of a hangover effect for a period afterward. He’s right when he says I should lighten up on it.”
“How long?”
“Hmm?”
“How long has it been a problem?”
“It’s not a problem , really.”
“Uh-huh.”
She had nowhere to retreat to escape Kennedy’s too-perceptive gaze. Since the spectacularly disastrous run at the Amaranthe portal. Valkyrie insisted her brain hadn’t suffered any lasting damage, but she’d felt wrong ever since.
“Not long. I’ll be fine .” She donned a facsimile of a grateful smile and stood. “It looks as if the guys are doing more drinking than cooking. We should get in on that.”
What she couldn’t say aloud was that slipping into the elemental realm made her feel less wrong. The cosmos opened up to her, welcomed her into its arms as if she were part of it. What was a tiny headache in comparison to such wonders?
INTERMEZZO I
MOSAIC
E NISLE T HIRTY- E IGHT
S PECIES A SSIGNMENT: F YLLIOT
S ALOTE C HAE FRETTED ALONG THE PATH from his empty, barren home to the Life Garden, and shortly back again. Several more such journeys did not elicit the serenity he sought.
He had
“Ah. Fair observation, I concede. But while my work may have appeared relatively tame to you for some time now, I assure you, I have seen battle, Alex. More than once.”
“I know you have. Just be careful.”
“I could say the same to you, and I will. Be careful. This isn’t your fight.”
Why did everyone keep saying that to her? It unequivocally was her fight. But many of the reasons why it was her fight were intertwined with the revelations she wasn’t yet divulging, so she ignored the comment for now. “I think we’re heading to Romane for the night. We’ll drop Kennedy and Noah off, check on Mia and see what the world has in store for us in the morning.”
“Good. My preference would be for you to remain there, but whatever you do, don’t visit Earth right now. I know you want to go home, but it’s not safe. In fact, it is extremely dangerous. Winslow almost certainly has security watching your loft.”
“That bitch.” Her mom actually laughed a touch; she’d take it as a win. “I won’t. Promise. Now, stop letting me distract you and go work.”
Alex signed off but didn’t swing the chair around to face the cabin. Kennedy and Noah had been whispering behind her for the last minute, and she needed a chance to prepare for the presumed result of their conference.
…But she wasn’t going to get it. Kennedy showed up in the cockpit and plopped down in Caleb’s chair with exaggerated flair.
“You spent half an hour telling me all about your adventures, yet you neglected to mention the fact you’d discovered how to enter an altered state of consciousness with your ship ?”
“I was planning to get around to it. But I thought it would take longer to fully explain, and the aliens, Amaranthe, the Metigens and so on were all more important.”
“Possibly valid, if still suspect.” Kennedy dropped her arms to her knees, leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Are you okay? Because you don’t seem okay. And Caleb….”
She glanced to the rear of the cabin where Caleb was inspecting Noah’s new biosynthetic arm, twisting it around and poking at it with one hand while he sipped on a beer with the other.
“He didn’t act entirely happy about what he called your new trick.”
Alex stared out the viewport at the blur of the superluminal bubble, fighting the palpable need to touch it with her mind. For the briefest second. Her eyes began closing…she blinked.
“It’s not the ‘trick’ so much as…I guess I have been indulging in it a little too often, and it’s easy to lose track of time when I’m in that space. Also, there’s a bit of a hangover effect for a period afterward. He’s right when he says I should lighten up on it.”
“How long?”
“Hmm?”
“How long has it been a problem?”
“It’s not a problem , really.”
“Uh-huh.”
She had nowhere to retreat to escape Kennedy’s too-perceptive gaze. Since the spectacularly disastrous run at the Amaranthe portal. Valkyrie insisted her brain hadn’t suffered any lasting damage, but she’d felt wrong ever since.
“Not long. I’ll be fine .” She donned a facsimile of a grateful smile and stood. “It looks as if the guys are doing more drinking than cooking. We should get in on that.”
What she couldn’t say aloud was that slipping into the elemental realm made her feel less wrong. The cosmos opened up to her, welcomed her into its arms as if she were part of it. What was a tiny headache in comparison to such wonders?
INTERMEZZO I
MOSAIC
E NISLE T HIRTY- E IGHT
S PECIES A SSIGNMENT: F YLLIOT
S ALOTE C HAE FRETTED ALONG THE PATH from his empty, barren home to the Life Garden, and shortly back again. Several more such journeys did not elicit the serenity he sought.
He had
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