Page 20 of Advance and Retreat
Cassidy had been warned by her physician clanmate Degorsk not to work late during her third trimester.Actually, the overly protective Imdiko had pestered her inclination to work too much since she could remember, but his admonitions had grown in insistence and volume since she’d gotten pregnant.Despite her arguments that fretting about the work she wasn’t getting done caused more stress than the work itself, he refused to hear them.
Perhaps his attitude was why she took such pleasure when she checked the time and found the hour growing late.Degorsk and the rest of her clanmates were tied up with their own important positions tonight, giving her carte blanche to sit in her lab and indulge in studying her notes on the Darks.
Reading couldn’t be construed as working hard, could it?She was reasonably sure Degorsk had nothing to complain about simply because she did so in the lab rather than their quarters.
No virus or bacteria injected in the subjects have resulted in their illness or death.Cassidy sighed to see the results printed on her holo screen.She and Egilka had so little to show for their experiments thus far.She loved her work, but when each day ended and they were no closer to defeating the All—
Her ruminations were cut cleanly off as the file began scrolling swiftly before her eyes.Though her hands were folded on her almost non-existent lap beneath her swollen belly, she looked at them anyway to make sure they hadn’t somehow drifted to the keyboard of their own volition.
Shocked into momentary thoughtlessness, her gaze returned to the holo screen to see it reach the end of the file.Immediately, another came up, and it also scrolled too fast for her to follow.A second holo screen bloomed over the lab table and an additional file was accessed.Then a third screen shimmered.And a fourth.
When her brain reasserted itself, her first notion was her system had been hacked.It wasn’t possible, however.Her computer, as well as Egilka’s, was a self-contained unit unconnected to other systems for security’s sake.Any access or sharing of their files could only be accomplished by saving the information to data chips and physically plugging them into another computer.
Cassidy remembered the strange hallucination of Egilka standing behind her days ago.This wasn’t an odd offshoot of baby brain.Someone had been there.Someone or something was here now.
“Who’s doing this?”she shouted, looking around the room she seemingly was the sole occupant of.
As if startled by her cry, all but her first screen disappeared.The remaining holo went blank, registering as a shimmering black rectangle hovering over her keyboard and computer unit.
Belatedly, she remembered her handheld sitting next to the computer.“Vid record the room,” she ordered it.A green light appeared on the device, signaling it did so.
“Who are you?”she repeated, her tone challenging and unafraid.Her scientific curiosity was too roused to allow space for fear.
Words in white letters abruptly materialized on the black background of her holo screen.Cassidy’s jaw dropped as she read.
Those you call the All and Darks have wiped out every sentient being in their own dimension with the exception of one.They’ll wipe you out too.
Her heart quickened.Quickly, she sorted through her potential responses before speaking out loud.“Are you the sole survivor of the All’s dimension?Are you the entity or entities the Darks refer to as Other?”
The answer was a punch to the gut.Experience shows you can’t win against the All.Your efforts are in vain.Make your peace now.The end is coming.
Chapter Five
“That was the end ofthe communication?”
Cassidy nodded.Her clanmate, fleet admiral Tranis, sat back in his chair in his office after she’d played the vid she’d recorded of her strange interaction.
