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Tranis eyed Lidon. He liked to think he was over the jealousy of Piras being Lidon’s former promised Dramok. After all, Tranis had sent his clanmate to guard Piras while Kila was off discovering Bi’is had become a planet of the dead. Nonetheless, familiar tension filled him to hear Lidon suggest he be brought in.
“What can Piras do we’re incapable of in this matter? I could as easily send you chasing Hobato around.”
“As an operative based on Kalquor, I’d eventually be missed. Besides, it isn’t having Piras on hand to watch Hobato I’m thinking of. In fact, it isn’t Piras I want to come at all, especially given the danger he’d be in from fellow Kalquorians, should his presence be discovered. However, I doubt he’d allow his clanmates to visit without him.”
Tranis got it and wondered why he hadn’t thought of it himself. “Chief Engineer Lokmi. And perhaps Matara Hope?”
“We don’t wish to merely learn if Hobato is being ridden. If he is, and if possible, we have to trap and hold the Dark entity infecting him. It requires devising a means how to do so in two dimensions, and using some sort of containment yet to be invented.”
“Lokmi is the man who perfected the phasing devices,” Tranis told Degorsk, whose mouth kept opening, as if dying to ask a question, if he could figure out the question to be asked.
“Ah. And Matara Hope is a mechanical and engineering mastermind herself, if I remember correctly.”
“You do.” Lidon said. “It was Lokmi who suggested the Darks might be traveling between dimensions at will. Hope’s nanospy technology is being adopted by the spy division, and she’s constantly upgrading her programs…it’s as if the day after a new version is released, she discovers a way to improve it. If there was ever a pair likely to discover how to capture such a creature, it would be Piras’ clanmates.”
Tranis clutched at the thin thread of a chance his Nobek had offered. “I’ll com Piras now.”
* * * *
Alpha Space Station
Piras joined his clanmates in their home’s common room. He’d reluctantly called them together after Tranis’ com…reluctantly because he and Kila were barely speaking after his Nobek had learned Lidon had been Piras’ bodyguard during the mission to Bi’is.
They’d be going to Kalquor to verify a Dark had taken Hobato over. As he’d feared, Kila hadn’t greeted the news well. “I take it Lidon will be a big part of this mission.”
“He’s once again a member of the spy division, this time on the ground. He, Tranis, and Dr. Degorsk are apparently the only people aware Hobato’s behavior isn’t normal…not counting the anonymous tipster who sent Tranis the warning,” Piras amended.
“It sounds like I’ll be merely taking up space. You won’t need me to guard you, since Lidon will be there and does such a good job of it.” Kila’s deadly sneer added to the insult in his voice.
“Kila—” Hope began, her tone sharp.
Piras’ growl overrode her. “You’re welcome to remain on the station, Kila. In fact, due to your attitude and the fact this isn’t clan but fleet business, I might insist on it.”
“As you wish,Admiral.” Kila was out the door before they could react. The hiss of a distant door told them he’d left their quarters entirely.
“He has to get over this shit.” Lokmi’s Dramok attitude had woken. “I have half a mind to play the part of clan disciplinarian and beat his ass.”
“All it would do is increase his sense of being treated poorly,” Piras sighed. “I knew he was jealous, but I had no idea he was this bad. What have I done to make him believe I’m still hung up on my ex since he and I clanned?”
“Nothing I’ve seen.” Lokmi threw his hands in the air in frustration. The tension between Kila and Piras had become a major issue. “He has to come along, Piras. Otherwise, he’ll sit on this station and wonder if you and Lidon are meeting in dark corners.”
“This is ridiculous. If he keeps it up, I’ll find a baseball bat and club some sense into him.” Hope glowered.
Piras couldn’t ignore the sick feeling in his gut. Somehow, he’d messed up long before Lidon had played bodyguard and he’d put off telling Kila. There was no other explanation for his clanmate’s lack of trust.
He shook off the issue with effort. “All clanships have their ups and downs. Kila and I will work out our differences, or perhaps kill each other trying. Meanwhile, I need you two to not worry about us. Focus on the plan to trap a Dark.”
Lokmi’s tone was reluctant, but he conceded to the bigger concern facing them. “We’ll require a containment capable of functioning in simultaneous dimensions, and more importantly, the between-area I theorize lies between them, an interdimensional overlap.”
“First, we’ll have to learn how to fully access this second dimension,” Hope countered. “Who knows how different it is from ours? And what’s the shift like between our space and theirs?”
Piras allowed their discussion to wash over him. A great deal of what they said was beyond his expertise. Despite his remonstration they apply themselves fully to the problem of containing a Dark entity, he couldn’t force himself to focus on the subject.
What did I do wrong, Kila? What besides not telling you Lidon was here for a few weeks has you believing I’d want him as my Nobek instead of you?
* * * *
There was an observation deck on the space station. Its popularity was no surprise; it resembled a bubble clinging to the end of the station, affording those who visited a view of nearly three hundred and sixty degrees. The flooring running the circumference of its center was transparent, maintaining the infinite vista of the universe. Vast space displaying its glowing worlds and stars and the closer green-and-blue globe of Earth II was a breathtaking sight, even for a jaded Nobek.
