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“I took that into consideration when I punished you,” Jobek told her. “If you lie to either of us again, the penalty will be harsher. And if you run, it will be severe.”
She nodded, thrilled that the session was finally over. “May I please get dressed before we continue the interrogation?”
Jobek’s gaze narrowed and it looked as if he’d refuse. But something made him reconsider. He nodded and set her on her feet.
Tandor had already gathered her garments and he handed them to her. She quickly put on everything but her boots. Her jeans weren’t tight, but the coarse material irritated her tender bottom, reminding her how easy it had been for Jobek to take control.
They returned to their earlier positions. Ansley and Tandor sat across the aisle from each other while Jobek returned to the front of the ship.
“There are a total of six founders, four male and two female?” Tandor resumed as if the last half hour had not taken place.
“Yes.” She was only repeating what Jobek had just told her. She’d done her best to protect Mistress Neeva. But like everything else she’d tried recently, it hadn’t worked.
“There are four females who are older than the conduits but younger than the founders. What role do they play in your community?”
“They’re dorm counselors. They supervise us at night while the founders are sleeping.”
“Are the six founders actually two power triads? Have you ever seen them use their abilities?”
She shook her head. “I thought the same thing when I first learned about all of this, but Mistress Neeva said no. They all participated in power triads, but not all of them were bonded to each other. Neeva and Director Ratan are brother and sister. Mistress Jayne is bonded with Dr. Lorish but the other two are just close friends. The dorm counselors are all blood relatives of the founders. Two are the daughters of Dr. Lorish and Jayne.”
Apparently satisfied with whatever system he’d just checked on, Jobek returned to where Ansley and Tandor were sitting.
“You are clearly not afraid of us,” Jobek pointed out, “so why did you run?”
She couldn’t tell them the truth. She had no way of knowing if she could trust them. At least when Neeva told Ansley the truth she had offered tangible proof. All she had from these two was their word. “The founders asked me to try and get help. They knew it was a long shot, but it was better than just giving up without a fight.”
Jobek and Tandor exchanged disbelieving looks.
“Help from whom?” Tandor asked, followed quickly by Jobek’s, “Then why were you hiding in that cave?”
“I wasn’t able to reach anyone, so I ducked into the cave. I camp out there sometimes so I knew there were basic supplies.”
Tandor looked at Jobek and shook his head. “She’s a good liar, but a liar none the less.”
The first time they called her a liar it had been obvious she was avoiding the truth. How had he known this time? “It’s not a lie. I had a message I needed to deliver, but I failed.”
After a long, tense pause, Tandor said, “Now, that was true.”
“Are you empathic or something? How are you… doing that?”
Not giving Tandor time to answer, Jobek asked, “A message about what?”
She glared at him. “It doesn’t matter. I never made it off the island.”
“Watch your tone,” he warned.
Sucking in a steadying breath, she looked into Jobek’s dark eyes. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m tired and concerned about my friends. Will you please tell me what’s happening to them? Are they being subjected to… this sort of thing?”
“You didn’t seem to mind ‘this sort of thing’ a few minutes ago.” Jobek paused to consider something she’d said. Then he turned around and returned to the front of the ship. He retrieved her daypack from the compartment and rifled through the contents until he found the quilted pouch. He held it up and asked, “What is this?”
Ansley cringed. She was in serious trouble now. He opened the pouch and pulled out the device. Ansley had only seen it briefly as Neeva tucked it inside. About the size of a credit card, it had long, narrow protrusions along two sides. The entire thing was made of a translucent blue material that Ansley had never seen before.
Without explaining what he was doing, Jobek fit the device into an indentation on the control panel. “The data is encoded. It requires DNA authentication. Will your DNA give us access to the data or were you supposed to pass it to someone else?” Jobek moved back to where Ansley sat and tilted her head back. “Answer those questions right now.”
“I can’t, Commander.” Her voice shook, but she managed to meet his gaze. “I don’t know if I can trust you so I don’t dare say any more. You could be the enemy I’ve heard about all my life. I honestly don’t know.”
Jobek’s gaze bore into hers for a long, silent moment, then he lowered his hand and looked at Tandor. “You were right. We can’t accomplish this in a few hours. Is Outpost Two occupied?”
