Page 35 of Dreikx

“Oh yes, we need it,” Tamey confirms. “At my house.”

I groan and approach the med bay’s room small window. The West Coast certainly is beautiful. I’ll miss it when we leave. I wonder if Tamey will have us keep the house in the same way the queen mother keeps a residence in Ohala, away from the Regha capital.

As I muse over the future, I keep returning to the puzzle of the red armor and Omega bonding. I have bonded an Omega. Her empathy seems to have reached a new level and so should my telepathy, then. Aha! I need my optimal thinking space. Spinning around, I bid the Omegas farewell, leaving Tamey in good company and safe up here on the main ship.

Blue lights light up the hallway, and I stand by the elevator, my crew members arriving from a mental training room. They greet me, eyes on the metal on my head. I’m unsure if I want to remove it yet or leave the ornament on for a day. I cannot wear it all the time. Accessories aren’t necessary and therefore should be removed.

In the lift, in front of the mirror, I fix the crown so that it sits at a perfect angle. The crew stares at me, questions in their eyes. I pretend I haven’t been crowned a prince of Regha, mainly because I haven’t digested the position yet. Whereas they disembark on deck two, I proceed to the ship’s control room on the top deck. For security reasons, only necessary personnel is allowed up here, so the lift scans me, then opens. “Etilo Rei,” I bid my crew a good morning as I do every morning. Then pause and remember it’s well after noon.

“It is well after noon,” the pilot corrects me. Holograms showing different areas of the ship surround the bright room. There are no walls or any empty unused space. The largest holo scans the coast for Mike, his picture in the corner of the screen in front of my chair.

I sit at the helm and enjoy the quiet way my crew works, the calming buzz of the engine we’re currently upgrading, and I let my mind wander as I watch the city on the large hologram before me. Several minds, namely my crew, come in contact with mine. I withdraw from them before they realize I’ve intruded. Okay, so I slipped past my walls easily, let my mind wander with more force than before. I’ll need to develop new systems of containment.

“Engage long-range sensors,” Nemrdew, the new head of communications, says.

We’re on a relentless search for Mike. It’s a mix of long and short signal readings. Thermal scans won’t help us with him, but the communication scans might. Teleans speaks with an accent, as do all Regha people. We’re searching for speech patterns in thousands of phone calls or other means of communication throughout the coast. “Mike made contact with me,” I say.

Heads turn. Activity ceases.

I continue, “Go ahead and scan my personal line.” I provide the date and time.

Nemrdew stares. “That was ten days ago.”

“Excellent math skills,” I deadpan.

“Why didn’t you say anything right after the call?” he asks.

“Because I was busy.”

“With the Regha Omega.”

“No, with the Regha princess.” I turn away from the screen and lock eyes with him. “Questions?”

Nemrdew is young, a relatively recent acquisition from Regha. Loven picked him up from the Ohala market where Nemrdew tried to sell him a malfunctioning vacuum. I asked for the youngster, offering him a menial com maintenance job on the ship, but soon came to find Nemrdew’s skills would be best served at the higher position. He worked directly under Mike and now has replaced him. “The council never approved the union,” Nemrdew says.

“The council has no say in my private affairs.”

“But this union matters.”

“Certainly. We’re going to Canada.”

My head of com smiles. “Well done, sir.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you a prince now?”

I give him my finest bored stare.

Chuckling sounds in the room, but nobody wastes much time on me and my princehood. They’re all back at their stations and working. Efficient, my people are.

“Sir, I have a district, but no specific location.”

“On screen.”

The district two layout appears on the holo. The Horde patrols in the districts have decreased as Raven focused his males on the beach and the perimeter, especially now that Seer is plowing through the land. Mike would’ve slipped past the Horde easily once or twice, but it would be difficult to slip past the Horde every day on the street. This means he is likely stationary, staying inside a well-stocked place, maybe guarded, maybe not.

Something nags at me.

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