Page 131 of Return of the Nine

She crossed to the open part of the room and began to pace. Daphne quietly got to her feet, drew the curtain and turned off the light.

Apolan’s gasp was harsh.

“Daphne has told me that my being upset is striking. Normally, I am completely neutral, but when I get like this...” She held up her hands and stared at the swirling glow of light and dark energy.

Daphne turned the lights on again, and Vida concentrated on balancing her mind. It was a delicate operation. The hole in her life left by her parents was something she felt every day. The burning ache of her twin half a world away was something else.

Ianka had a talent for the physical while Vida worked on the psychic level. They had argued all of their life, and their parents had let them do it, knowing better than to get between their stubborn brood. Their house was perpetually dark. None of them needed light to navigate in their home, but Ianka had craved daylight, fresh air and the stimulation of others... until the Tokkel attacks.

Their parents were at the lab on the day it was raided. No oneknew what was happening, and Vida could only stare skyward. Ianka had shaken her into alertness, and they had begun to seek out those who had been pinned under rubble, while avoiding the Tokkel troops on the ground.

Vida created a mental template for the Tokkel and used it to hide those around her while Ianka rounded up survivors and brought them back to their dark home. Vida kept watch for six days until her body and mind were at the shattering point, and then, the Nine fought the Tokkel off in the skies above.

Vida had spent every spare moment on the ruins of the lab where the best and brightest of Gaia had been taken without a whisper of warning. Other ships had taken Gaians from surrounding areas, but the scientists had been first to disappear, and they had been the only ones that had never been traced. No bodies, no wreckage, no sign that they had ever existed, except for the families left behind.

She could feel the power crackling along her skin, but it was still within normal ranges. She didn’t need to discharge a bolt quite yet.

Daphne nodded, “What happened yesterday, Vida?”

“I was attending to my morning errands when Detective Morser found me and told me that the murderer we had been tracking before the attacks had surfaced again. This time, he didn’t play games. He took me to where she had been before she was taken and I was able to follow the path. The officers pulled up with all fanfare, and he came to the window before I could alter my vision to normal. The bolt knocked me to the ground and the officers were able to rescue the proposed victim before she had been more than kidnapped.”

She carefully touched her wound with her fingers. “Those grafts worked really well.”

Apolan got to his feet, looked at his wife and nodded before returning his gaze to Vida. “The shuttle will be here at noontomorrow. Be ready to travel.”

“Thank you, Ambassador.” She smiled and bobbed a quick curtsy. With steady steps, she walked to the window, opened it and exhaled. The light was dimming and the pent-up energy of her frustration came out in a mist of power that floated out and over the gardens below.

Daphne came up beside her and rubbed her good shoulder. “I am glad that you are fine, Vida.”

Vida turned and leaned her forehead against Daphne’s shoulder while she bawled. She was the farthest from fine that she had ever been.

Chapter Three

Vida was sitting quietly in the boots and modest dress that Daphne had given her. The shuttle pilot wasn’t the chatty sort. He simply engaged the engines and lifted off.

She wanted to bite her nails, but instead, she folded her hands in her lap and concentrated on breathing. In, out.

The pressure of the acceleration shoved her back in her seat. Breathing took up her entire world until they released from the atmosphere. The mother ship glowed in the sky.

Vida watched as the shuttle she was in approached a minute port in the metal hull. It was amazing to think that she was heading toward the largest collection of aliens that the Gaians could ever have imagined, and they had a greater right to the planet than the current colonists.

They had landed eons earlier and evolved their own distinct adaptations to the world until they had travelled out into the universe to split up and become distinct societies from one parent species.

Knowing and learning all she could about the Nine was her hobby. Vida had known deep inside that they would be the key to her quest. Now, she was about to test that theory.

The shuttle glided into position and lined up with a series of lights inside the ship. It cruised inside, and she stared out the thick plexi window at the hundreds of fighter ships parked in bay after bay of the inner workings of the giant vessel.

The moment that the vehicle settled, she could see a walkway extending along the side a moment before she heard the thunk of contact. Her harness released itself, and she took that as a hint to get to her feet.

Her legs wobbled and her body didn’t feel quite right. Vida used the seat backs for support as she walked toward the door she had used to enter. It hissed and popped open before she reached it, and a familiar face poked around the corner.

“Vida!”

Vida grinned and ran to her, bumping in to the cushions and careening into Ziggy’s arms.

Her friend had changed, Ziggy had added more power to her already considerable energy, but her innate signature was unmistakable.

In the time after the Tokkel attacks, Ziggy had become a friend. Ianka had enjoyed the scent of flowers as a break from the blood and smell of fear, and anything that kept her sister happy had made her happy.

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