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No, you won't. You can't find someone who doesn't exist.
"You're stil looking for your mystery woman?" she asked.
He nodded.
I'm sitting right here. "What's so important about her?"
He sat up. "Have you ever seen a silver shark?"
"No."
Ven reached for her tablet and pul ed up the console.
His fingers flew over the keys. A large digital screen ignited in the opposite wal . It was intense, deep blue, suffused with rays of pale green light, and she realized she was looking at the depths of the ocean.
Something stirred far in the distance. A hint of movement shifted the water.
A pale silver star winked in the distance.
Another ignited close by it.
Claire leaned forward.
More stars ignited and shimmered with nacre fire, shifting through the entire rainbow spectrum. A serpentine shape swam to her, graceful, beautiful, sheathed with silver scales and rippling with color. The sleek creature paused in front of the camera and coiled, displaying a multitude of wide fins bristling with spikes. There was something hypnotic in the way its body moved, sliding its coils through the water.
"This is what she was...?" Claire asked.
"Yes. It's a silver shark serpent off the Coral Coast.
Except she was more like this." Venturo tapped the tablet.
The sea serpent grew, swel ing, fil ing the screen. Her head sprouted ivory horns, tinted with intense electric azure. A mane of silver and blue sheathed her spine, flaring around her head. Some of her fins widened, turning into razor-sharp blades, others grew into wide wheels, rippling with iridescent rainbows. A line of pale blue lights ignited along the serpent's body. She gathered herself.
The lights pulsed.
Sharp blades of ice exploded from the creature, freezing the screen.
That's how he saw her... "How did you get this image?"
Claire said, her voice barely above whisper.
"I drew it with imagining software," he said. "From memory. It doesn't do her justice. She was incredible. I wish you could've seen her, Claire."
The admiration vibrated in his voice and suddenly she was intensely jealous of herself.
"I've never seen anyone like her," Ven said. "Every psycher sees the bionet in his own way. I see it as shal ow ocean with islands. I was patrol ing when I got a ping from one of the Security Forces instal ations."
"I didn't know Guardian had any Security Force contracts."
"It's not a fact they want us to advertise," he said.
"Anyway, I swam that way and saw her. She had accessed a coral tree - the instal ation's data banks - and was coming back. She had to slither down a spike-studded channel barely wide enough to hold her. Thirty centimeters in either direction and she'd be skewered. It was insane."
He sounded obsessed.
"How do you even know it was a woman?" Claire murmured.
"A feeling I got. I brushed past her mind and it seemed familiar somehow. I've met her before. I've been breaking my brain trying to recal where and nothing." He rubbed his face.
She couldn't help herself. "May be she came to apply for a job."
"No. I would've remembered."
Oh you idiot.
"And I would've hired her." Ven sighed.
Claire set her now empty teacup on the table. "Just out of pure academic curiosity, what are you planning to do if you find her?"
"I'll drop to my knees and propose marriage on the spot."
What?
He leaned back and laughed. "You should've seen your face. I final y managed to rattle the imperturbable Claire Shannon."
She almost hit him. "Al this time in the bionet clearly altered your thinking patterns."
"If I see her, I'll try to buy her," he said. "Or kil her. I haven't decided."
"That's a bit extreme."
"If DDS finds her, they will do the same," he said. "Not only is she Grade A psychic, she's been trained. She has the kind of combat expertise that takes years to master.
During our fight she cloned herself. She actual y made copies of herself and they moved independently of her.
They lasted only a second or two, but it would be very useful in a fight. I've been trying to figure out how she did it."
It's not that difficult really. You shed copies of your outer thoughts within milliseconds of each other. Same process that produces your shadow. Claire clamped down on that thought before it turned into words.
"Well, good luck in your quest," she said. "I think I'll go home now. I've spent too much time in this building this week."
"That's an excel ent idea." He rol ed off the couch and stood next to her. He was half a foot tal er and he was standing too close. If she raised her hand, she could touch his face. "Come on a trip with me."
What? "Where?" she asked calmly.
"To the provinces. I need to see a friend of mine anyway, so we can pretend it's a business trip."
"And what would it be real y, if not a business trip?" she asked.
He leaned toward her a fraction of an inch. His eyes laughed. "It would be me and you getting away from this building."
What did that mean, exactly? "Your aunt wouldn't approve," she said.
"I can go whole days without giving a damn about what my aunt thinks. Weeks even. Come with me, Claire. You've never been to the provinces and Celino's wife is a fantastic cook."
She hesitated, stil not sure if the offer was genuine or if there was some hidden catch.
"It's not an order," Ven said. "Just an invitation from a friend. Whether you accept it or decline will have no bearing on your position with this company. I don't want you to feel obligated."
"I don't," she said. "How far is it?"
"About an hour by aerial at top speed. I promise to have you home before midnight."
"Why midnight?"
"When you take a young girl out with her parents' permission, it's understood that you must return by midnight." He shook his head. "It's just an expression.
Forget it. Come with me."
"Are you sure your friends won't mind my presence?"
"I'm sure," he said.
"I need to get my bag."
"I need to shower. Tenth floor deck in fifteen minutes?"
Fourteen minutes later she climbed into his aerial. Ven grinned at her. He wore civilian clothes: a dark pair of pants and a light grey shirt that molded to his chest and arms. His hair was stil wet from the shower and she smel ed a faint hint of his soap. She didn't know the name of the scent, but it made her want to kiss him and see if she could taste it.
