Page 37 of Soros
“This is shit!” Nerix complained and it made me ask, “What’s going on and who is included in this communication?”
Lios answered, “Get up, Soros. Captain Malliko is with us. He communicated with Tania over the phone and just reached out to tell me that they’ve been kidnapped.”
His words brought my brain into focus. We were on Earth looking for Ko’roz. I had heard about Malliko. He was the former captain on theGreat Defenderand now worked on Earth as a speciologist, but I didn’t understand what he referred to about the kidnapping.
Nerix, however, caught on fast and asked, “When you saythey,do you mean Tania and Star?”
“Yes,” Lios replied while Malliko elaborated. “I was on the phone with them when they got mind clouded by Ko’roz. I told Tania not to get too close, but he must have noticed her and Star following him around.”
“What do you mean they followed him around?”Feeling disoriented, I got out of bed and pulled the curtains aside. I squinted at the bright light that bathed the hotel room. It was afternoon local time and humans were moving around the city on the streets beneath my window. “How did Tania and Star get in contact with Ko’roz?”
Malliko didn’t get a chance to answer because Nerix interrupted. “Why didn’t Tania call one of us? We have phones too.”
“I don’t think they knew that. Did you give them your numbers?”
“What numbers? What are you talking about?” Nerix asked.
“The phones operate by numbers. You can only call a person if you have their number.”
I rubbed my neck, trying to stay calm despite the knot of panic in my chest. I couldn’t believe that Ko’roz had found Tania and Star. It seemed so strange that I had to be missing something.
“Tania had my number and so she called me and asked me to reach out to Captain Lios, which I did,” Malliko explained.
I pulled on my clothes and repeated my question with confusion. “How did Ko’roz find Tania and Star?”
“He didn’t. They found him. Star recognized him in the crowd, and they followed him. In Lios’ defense, I didn’t think it was statistically possible for something as random as that to happen so I probably would have made the same decision.”
“What decision?” I asked and moved to the door. Nerix was already outside with Lios and as soon as they saw me, we started walking out of the hotel while the arguing continued telepathically.
“What decision?” I repeated and with a sideways glance, Lios admitted, “Malliko contacted me and said that Tania and Star believed they had found Ko’roz. It seemed unlikely so I dismissed their request for us to join them in the hunt.”
“They called for our help, and you chose to dismiss them as liars?” Nerix fumed.
“That’s not what happened!” Lios protested and Malliko was quick to support him.
“Captain Lios never said they were liars. He just made a valid point that the chance of Tania and Star running into Ko’roz was so tiny that he didn’t want to wake up you two from your sleep.”
Nerix was running down the staircase in the hotel with Lios and me right behind him. “You should have told me. I would have gone immediately.”
“Me too,” I said and felt angry that we hadn’t been asked.
“I’m telling you now, so let’s stop fighting and focus on getting them back,” Lios responded.
“How? We don’t even know where they were taken from. You’re a complete disaster as a captain.”
“Stop!” Nerix’s harsh and insulting words made Lios push a strong energetic boundary into the conversation. “If you can’t control your emotions and stay focused, I’m cutting you off from this communication and assignment. Soros and I will search for them ourselves then.”
Nerix turned his neck and glared at Lios. “Don’t you dare. I have a right to be furious. You’re the one who failed two women under our protection.”
“You can be as furious as you want, as long as you can stay focused on the task ahead and follow my orders. Can you do that?”
Nerix didn’t answer telepathically, but he muttered under his breath, “This would have never happened if I was in charge.”
“Malliko, tell us exactly what they told you,”I requested while battling the panic I felt, knowing that Tania was in danger.
Malliko told about the conversation he’d had with Tania in detail and how he knew that they had met Ko’roz. “I could hear him speak to Tania. It was eerie to hear how she surrendered to his will without any resistance. He mind clouded their minds in a fraction of a frollon.”
My spine stiffened and I communicated with deep frustration. “But I showed Tania how to defend herself back when we were together. Why didn’t she use any of that?”
