12. Patience and Deception

RageChild always followed her heart, and it seemed over the last few months, someone was following her. She couldn't pin down her reasoning why she felt that way, but she knew it. So did Airgoidh. Of more important matters, together they had attempted to learn as much as they could about the whereabouts of Gaelbhan, their Paratwa sister.

Those months ago, at the Temple of Unity, the two sisters had woken to find Gaelbhan gone. A message waited for them in the NeoCom, and they activated the indicator simultaneously. Their sister’s voice spoke to them through the gel, into their minds and they cried.

“Sisters, the dreams of the Matari are convoluted and the skies of our worlds are polluted with the stench of Amarri slavers. I am confused, and I am dismayed. I must away to the Amarr to settle something of importance, but do not fear for me. This will be a short journey, and I will return.”

The voice continued, their sister now seemingly far away in a thick fog. “Sisters, I find myself the Sun and my goal the ground, but I am lost. Is the horizon real or an illusion?”

Their sister’s short journey had turned into a nightmare for them. From reports, her Blackbird had been reported fired upon by PIE. No further news of their sister came to them until Airgoidh felt her blood-sister jumping into the Amamake star system with them. Too late they reached her, Gaelbhan having taken action to stave off a politically motivated war. When little news came their way since then from sources legitimate and otherwise, they took to living in the Emperor's Station in Sehmy. It was their only way to be as conspicuous as possible without too much effort, all the while maintaining contact with their resources in the terrorist cells to keep the Amarri eyes trained on many fronts.

As it was, Amarr security guard followed them at every turn, soon no longer attempting to even hide the fact. The two women rented a room at the station, paying enormous fees of course because of their heritage, and then roamed the market and offices of the Amarr without concern.

The looks of disgust that the Amarr gave them as they passed filled them with happiness, and sometimes as they wandered the market they would simply push the Amarr out of the way, even if they weren't always in the way. The guard would stop them, admonish them for being a nuisance, but quickly evaporated into the crowd when neither would reply to their issue.

It was then that RageChild began to feel more of the presence of her stalker, a shadow that never seemed to disappear even in full station lighting. As they transacted their business in the markets, buying and selling various components to build up their reserves, RageChild and Airgoidh would post each other so that one acted as bait while the other watched from a hidden nook.

Nothing.

News of the terrorist, Gaelbhan Wulf, being captured by Amarr forces became a GalNet exclusive for about three days, and then faded as the next event became more pertinent. Every so often, the Ministry would release a blurb that terrorists were being rounded up because of the information that Gaelbhan Wulf was revealing under torture, and that the Amarr systems were as safe as ever.

Lies of course, but RageChild and Airgoidh listened to the news anyway. They could still feel their sister in their thoughts, but only as a flickering light of passion that ebbed and raged and fell silent for moments before reawakening. She lived. She knew they looked for her, but escape was never a possibility. RageChild had tried to connect with her tway, but something blocked even the Paratwan share-mind. She tried even now, walking through the market, to reach her sister.

"Over there," Airgoidh said into her ear, the two of them turning the last corner of the market before heading down the passageway to the turbos. "A man is following us."

"At last." RageChild and Airgoidh walked the passageway just as they always did, pushing Amarr out of their way. Just down from the turbos, they took a turn instead and rounded the far corner of the market just as the man started into the passageway altogether.

They followed for a bit, seeing that he had no idea as to where they had gone. They stepped up behind him, taking his arms and without a struggle they moved him into a turbo. The lift began its assent into the common quarters.

The Ammatar looked at them, but didn't say anything. They took him from the lift, down their corridor and into the room. In a moment, he was pushed up against the far wall, face into the cold metal.

"We don't like stalkers or pervs," RageChild said while Airgoidh did a thorough search of his clothing.

"Just admiring the view," he said, a smile wide enough that it could still be seen even with his face pressed against the wall. RageChild kicked him, and he dropped to his knees.

"Let's start again," she said, holding his hands behind him, pushing her body against his.

"Name."

"I'm Jocu. I'm just supposed to . . " She hit him on the back of the head, and he yelped.

He was a young pilot, gruff, maybe twenty, and not particularly bad looking.

"When I want more from you, I will ask."

"All right." He shrugged, and got another slap on the head.

RageChild watched as Airgoidh flipped the items he had in his pockets onto the table, but nothing of note. Not even a PAD.

"So, Jocu, now you may tell me what you were just supposed to do."

He pushed a little against her hold, but she pressed him more firmly into the wall. He gave up a moment later. "Just supposed to follow you. I'm not going to hurt you."

Airgoidh laughed, but she wasn't laughing at what he said as much as the hardcopy photo of a woman, pulled from his possessions. "I suppose this is your mother?"

The Ammatar didn't say anything, and RageChild felt sorry for the kid. She let him up. "Yeah, I guess she's his mother."

She watched him slump back from the wall, rubbing his wrists and grabbing at his jaw. He was young all right, and hardly a threat physically. "All right Jocu, tell me who hired you and where I can find them. Maybe we'll let you walk out of here."

He shrugged again, but seeing they weren't falling for overly dumb-kid routine, he added, "I don't know his name. I was visiting Amamake VI when he made contact. He wanted me to find and follow you. He gave me a lot of money . . . you can have it if you want, just don't kill me, all right?"

RageChild and Airgoidh looked at each other, at him, and said nothing as he talked about the old Matari who had hired him. Juco told them of the information the man had given him about their whereabouts, coded messages and such concerning where he might find them. It had taken a while for him to find them, and the old Matari appeared to be getting frustrated until the two of them had settled in the station.

"Where on Amamake VI?"

"The settlement in the desert . . . the Greater Desert. The one by the . . ."

"Yes, the one by the Mounts of Amake'Son." The two of them finished his sentence, wondering why it was the bartender of Luci's Bar was having them followed. Who else could it have been?

"Get out," RageChild said, giving him only a moment before lunging after him. He bungled his way through the door, getting caught up on his own two feet and spinning out into the corridor. The door shut on his surprised face, the Amarr he bumped into on his way out even more surprised.

**

Jocu picked himself up, paying no attention to the Amarr who were angry at his sudden exit from the room. He pulled his clothing straight, and mussed with his hair. Looking back to the Amarr, a woman and two men, he smiled. "Still here?"

They stepped back as he leered at them, then took a fast walk away toward their destination. Probably to the police too. Jocu shrugged, turning back to the lifts, and fingering the sub dermal implant behind his right ear.

"News?" The voice said into his ear, audible only to him.

"Your package is alive and well, and she's not very pleased to have met me at first."

"You did good, kid. Didn't make it too obvious about following them though, right?"

"Nah, they believed me about the bartender anyway. When do I get paid?"

Silence a moment, then, "Our benefactor is providing payment right now as a matter of fact."

Jocu prepared to cut the connection, but the voice continued. "Remember kid, being an Angel pilot means you keep your mouth shut. Don't get it in your head to blackmail our benefactor. I'll slice you myself."

"I'm still to meet their ship tomorrow then, though, right?"

"Yeah, and be civil. The Amarri Heir doesn't like impudence. Your brother is an example of what the wrong attitude can do to a person."

Jocu stepped out of the lift, and as he prepared to disconnect, he said, "Yeah, I know. I'm not my brother. I'm not interested in being jettisoned in a can."

"Good attitude kid. Get back to work."

**

Airgoidh and RageChild waited only a moment before packing their things. The market transactions were settled in any case, and they weren't going to learn much more about Gaelbhan sitting here.

The corridor was clear, and they moved with passion to the hangar. They took the lifts to the market, and as they stepped off RageChild stopped dead. "We're still being followed."

They moved into the market just in time to see Jocu buying a confection from an Amarri trader. The place was sparsely populated at that time of night, a few traders maintaining a late night work ethic. "It's not him. Maybe a partner."

Airgoidh agreed, and they continued to the hangar lifts. The presence of the stalker faded, but they felt their neck hairs standing on end. The flicker of light that all they could feel of their sister became a dull ember as the adrenaline pumped, blocking out their more rational, contemplative minds. Then, instantly, her presence became a disruption like a stellar electrical field. RageChild seemed on the verge of collapse as the hangar lift doors closed. The light of their sister grew so bright in their mind, it was hard for them to tell whether the light was real or imagined.

Airgoidh took her sister-of-faith under the arms, and they moved to the landing pad. The ground shuttle whisked them along to the rifters, each powering up as they keyed in the activation sequences via their neural implants.

The connection with their sister ended abruptly, causing them to hesitate. "We've got to move!" The connections to the ship seemed to reinforce their strength. The Emperor's Station became smaller as the thrusters moved the rifters into a stable flight path. Airgoidh didn't say anything as they undocked, and remained silent as the ships began their warp to the Amarr stargate. The feeling of being connected with their sister ended as they engaged the warp engines. No light remained of her in their minds, and they became numb. The connection with the ships’ autonomic systems did nothing to steade their minds.

What had happened to their sister? What could have caused a genetic connection to their sister to have so radically failed?

cont...