Page 23 of Agrippa's Acceptance

Warmth spread through her body and her ryhov swam lazily through her skin as he continued to kneed her sore muscles.

“I will keep trying, but the time is getting short.”

He lifted her face towards his, with a forefinger under her chin. “Let me worry about the time left. All you must concentrate on, is the cloak.”

“And sergeant Bjorn’s sadistic training.”

“His sadistic training might save your life. I would have stopped him, but the harder he pushes you, the better trained and the safer you will be.”

He kissed her, a sweet kiss that turned passionate, until she squirmed and moved to straddle him.

Afterward they’d tested the chair with their lovemaking, she lay in his arms, the only place she has ever felt safe. “I am not afraid of dying. I should be, but I am not.” Agrippa traced the grey folds covering his muscled chest and smiled when he shivered. “But I am so scared of going near the clones. I know I should not be, but I hate them and I’ve seen them do such terrible things.”

His grip tightened. “I will not let anyone hurt you. I am not afraid of dying either, but I am afraid of seeing you die.”

She held onto him for dear life. “I can’t see you die either. It would end me too.”

They clung to each other, both trying to sleep and rest and both of them failing.

Amelagar called everyone together a few days later. He did not waste time with niceties. “The general and the earth president want this mission to go forward. The hybrid ship have to be tested in space.”

Colonel Farnham lifted his hand. “What about the cloak?”

He hesitated, glanced briefly at Agrippa and said, it’s not working yet, but Agrippa and Anatu will keep trying.”

“We’re doing the mission without the cloak?”

“Yes, though Agrippa and Anatu will continue to work on it after we launch.”

“They will see us coming. Space is not an easy place to hide in.”

“If we go without a working cloak, we will try to plot a course that keep us behind a planet and out of their sight until we reach the clone ships.”

“That would put years to our journey.”

He nodded at Colonel Farnham, who stepped forward. “Within the next few days we will have our marching orders. Say your farewells. I know you know this, but it bears repeating. Nobody talks about this mission. That will be all.”

In spite of having gotten their marching orders, as Colonel Farnham put it, Balthazar and the President still debated if the mission should go forward if they could not get the cloak to work. Agrippa knew this because Amelagar told her.

Anatu and Agrippa doubled their efforts. Determined not to be the reason this mission failed. They sat on the floor of the bridge, looking down at the space beneath the floorboard where the cloak was installed.

Agrippa bit her lip and then confessed. “I must make this cloak work. Too many people will die if we go on this mission without it.”

Anatu stared at her, then squared her shoulders and pointed at the space below them. “Let’s check everything.” She sighed “Again.”

They went down and checked every wire and connection. Still it didn’t work and that night she cried in Amelagar’s arms.

Then on a Monday after the marines had run Agrippa ragged, Anatu made some adjustments on their tablets. “Pray to the goddess we can make this work Agrippa.”

Agrippa did pray to the goddess and held her breath as Anatu clicked the screen of her tablet to start the cloak. Agrippa had been told she was gifted her whole life, but Anatu’s skill was extraordinary. She had learned more in a month working with her than she had in a year of training with the clones.

A low hum sounded. They stared at each other.

“It’s working.”

One minute, two, five, seven minutes.

A beep and the cloak stopped working. Anatu swore in a mixture of English, Russian and Tunrian. Agrippa started checking code. Half an hour later the cloak hummed again. This time it remained stable, but only because Anatu solved problems as fast as they arose.

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