Read Online Shadow Seed 1: The Misbegotten by Richard M. Heredia - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Richard M. Heredia
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face at ninety degree angles precisely where her eyebrows ended. Her digital lipstick, mascara, and eye shadow matched her hair. She looked like deadly viper hiding behind the veneer of an Emo-girl. Her appearance didn’t quite match the intensity in her blue-grey eyes. They were the only color about her, all else was black and white.
Even though, she was five hundred miles above him, Estefan could feel her trying to read his thoughts, his scalp tingled with the tell-tale signs she was using her Mutation to garner information from him. Ramona was an Old-Timer like the rest of them, but she was also a Sniffer, a Human Celeste capable of discerning another Celeste’s Mutation through thought, which was most likely due to the fact she was also the most powerful Empathist the Keeper had ever seen. With her mind, she could unearth, read, and sometimes even manipulate ones’ emotions. By combining it with her Sniffer ability, she could come very close to reading minds, especially if the subject were willing.
At this time, though, Estefan was not, and that seemed to bother her. She hated it when he withheld information from her.
Welcome to the club, my sweet Mona. No one gets to know the whole truth this time , he thought as he nodded at her and let his eyes flick to the small diminutive woman projected to her left.
The tiny woman was very far away from them currently, having been “exiled” to Dark-side Mercury 7, a secure facility the Synod had built in a stationary orbit above the planet Mercury. The highly shielded base was forever moving in counterpoint with the rotation of th at mostly metallic sphere, so it stayed in constant shadow, protected from the devastating Solar Winds of the Sun.
Her name was Tirza. She stood there in what appeared to be a bathrobe and slippers, her hair bundled in a huge towel, towering above her, made so, because she was so small. For as long as he had known her, Tirza had been one of the shortest women he’d come to know. She was dwarf-like in stature and being a Human celeste hadn’t changed any of that. She was a mere four foot nine, even in the half-inch slippers she was wearing. She had an oval face with smooth cheeks, a tiny angled nose and a squared, but delicate-boned chin. Above those features, set close together, were large, ovoid eyes – dark brown – below thick, eyebrows, colored the same.
She smiled warmly at Estefan, flashing her fingers with lightning speed. Being as old as they were , their mastery of sign-language was complete, so much so they’d altered the delivery and structure of the signs over the years; thus, they’d practically invented a whole new method of communication only they could comprehend. And, those they cared to teach as well, but they were in very short supply.
“Our daughter is well,” she had signed.
Estefan’s face softened at the thought of the precocious, eight-year-old daughter he shared with the miniature woman before him. Patricia was the youngest of his offspring borne to him of the Aegis Synod itself. He had younger children, but they had come from other women and, therefore, had lesser status. Only those carried by the women before would be fit to rule beside them. All the others were well cared for and were never left wanting. They would always have a place within the Keeper’s vast holdings, but they would never be a part of the inner circle – never.
Leda, the woman next to Tirza, had seen others’ fingers flash and understood the message. She turned toward the smaller woman, her hands moving with alacrity. “Does she like Dark-side?” she wondered with her fingers.
Tirza’s smile drooped. “She misses her brothers and sisters…”
Leda’s expression mimicked the other woman’s. “This will all be over soon, and then we can all be together again,” she signed, trying to lighten the others’ mood.
Estefan let his eyes wonder over Leda’s three dimensional
Even though, she was five hundred miles above him, Estefan could feel her trying to read his thoughts, his scalp tingled with the tell-tale signs she was using her Mutation to garner information from him. Ramona was an Old-Timer like the rest of them, but she was also a Sniffer, a Human Celeste capable of discerning another Celeste’s Mutation through thought, which was most likely due to the fact she was also the most powerful Empathist the Keeper had ever seen. With her mind, she could unearth, read, and sometimes even manipulate ones’ emotions. By combining it with her Sniffer ability, she could come very close to reading minds, especially if the subject were willing.
At this time, though, Estefan was not, and that seemed to bother her. She hated it when he withheld information from her.
Welcome to the club, my sweet Mona. No one gets to know the whole truth this time , he thought as he nodded at her and let his eyes flick to the small diminutive woman projected to her left.
The tiny woman was very far away from them currently, having been “exiled” to Dark-side Mercury 7, a secure facility the Synod had built in a stationary orbit above the planet Mercury. The highly shielded base was forever moving in counterpoint with the rotation of th at mostly metallic sphere, so it stayed in constant shadow, protected from the devastating Solar Winds of the Sun.
Her name was Tirza. She stood there in what appeared to be a bathrobe and slippers, her hair bundled in a huge towel, towering above her, made so, because she was so small. For as long as he had known her, Tirza had been one of the shortest women he’d come to know. She was dwarf-like in stature and being a Human celeste hadn’t changed any of that. She was a mere four foot nine, even in the half-inch slippers she was wearing. She had an oval face with smooth cheeks, a tiny angled nose and a squared, but delicate-boned chin. Above those features, set close together, were large, ovoid eyes – dark brown – below thick, eyebrows, colored the same.
She smiled warmly at Estefan, flashing her fingers with lightning speed. Being as old as they were , their mastery of sign-language was complete, so much so they’d altered the delivery and structure of the signs over the years; thus, they’d practically invented a whole new method of communication only they could comprehend. And, those they cared to teach as well, but they were in very short supply.
“Our daughter is well,” she had signed.
Estefan’s face softened at the thought of the precocious, eight-year-old daughter he shared with the miniature woman before him. Patricia was the youngest of his offspring borne to him of the Aegis Synod itself. He had younger children, but they had come from other women and, therefore, had lesser status. Only those carried by the women before would be fit to rule beside them. All the others were well cared for and were never left wanting. They would always have a place within the Keeper’s vast holdings, but they would never be a part of the inner circle – never.
Leda, the woman next to Tirza, had seen others’ fingers flash and understood the message. She turned toward the smaller woman, her hands moving with alacrity. “Does she like Dark-side?” she wondered with her fingers.
Tirza’s smile drooped. “She misses her brothers and sisters…”
Leda’s expression mimicked the other woman’s. “This will all be over soon, and then we can all be together again,” she signed, trying to lighten the others’ mood.
Estefan let his eyes wonder over Leda’s three dimensional
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