Page 4 of Accounting for Drakes

He nodded. “So, you picked a target that couldn’t feel you. Right. We need to find someone that you can link your mind to without fear. I am going to look as fast as I can for a candidate.”

“I want something to do. I need something to do.”

“I will make sure there is something for you to do.” He cupped her cheek and grinned. “Now, how is inventory doing?”

She grinned, clutched her clipboard as she walked with him, and told him about the twenty-nine items that were running short, and all were used in the maintenance of the pools in the spa. Someone wasn’t logging their parts.

Mbrak smiled at her attention to detail. Her mind was designed to navigate through the stars, but she hadn’t learned anything about people in the last twenty years. Now, he understood something he hadn’t before. She needed another mind to graft to and would give her an anchor point. He wished he had known about the link to Styra before, but he had been watching for an attachment to a psyche, not a symptom.

Ah well, it was time for dessert.

* * * *

Abil hummed happilywith the promise of overhauling the records for the cargo-handling area. They kept horrible records, and she was looking forward to looking for weak points.

A figure loomed ahead of her. She stopped in her tracks and clutched her clipboard.

“Hello, little one.”

She stared at the man from the simulation. She nodded.

“Mbrak has ordered me off the station after issuing an invitation to take on one of his bloodline.”

Abil took a step backward.

“He also mentioned that you had an alternative upbringing.” He took a step toward her.

She nodded and eased back again.

Abil felt a touch on her mind, and she froze, shaking her head. “You should not be doing that. It is dangerous.”

He moved closer. “Little one, I don’t intend to hurt you.”

She frowned. “Not for me, for you.”

“What?”

“Dangerous for you. I attach my mind to yours and pull your power, and you just offered yourself to me. It is very stupid.” She felt her mind sending contact points to his, and he was surprised.

His eyes widened, and he reached out for her while she continued to break into his mind and examine everything he knew about drakes and transformation.

She heard a familiar voice calling her and stopped her audit of the emperor.

She backed up and looked at her grandfather. “He started it.”

Mbrak cupped her cheeks and looked at her. “Are you still connected?”

“I let go; he is still hanging on.”

Mbrak growled. “Yorath, I thought you were on your way.”

“I... had to see her. I understand now.”

Abil nodded and said, “Please excuse me. I need to go to an airlock.”

Mbrak blinked. “Why?”

“Because I know how to do it now, and she really wants to stretch out.”

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