Page 26 of Guiding Reason
Hyran watched in silence as Col got undressed and tossed the pajamas in a corner. It was the shower all over again, but Col wasn’t as vulnerable now. He took his time with the shirt and watched Hyran right back, not inviting, just assessing. For some reason, that calmed Hyran, made him want to please the Conduit and do whatever Col asked of him.
“Thank you for letting me stay here.”
Hyran swallowed. “Of course.”
Col got dressed quickly after that, grabbed his regular screen and a larger device, and headed back to the living space.
There, they settled back at the large table where Col began by simply gathering every piece of information about the attack he had. Hyran was admiring all of it, down to the program Col’s office AI was using to create a timeline of events. It was an efficient process that showed the major events, how and when the celebration had gone wrong, the first deaths.
“So, about your mother,” Col said, tapping an item that read “Municipal security” and reading the bulleted information.
“I can ask if one of them is available. The last I heard was that all of them were very busy.”
Col nodded, then glanced at his screen when it pinged. “What the—oh, fuck.”
“What now?” Taros asked. The Guadian was on his own screen, sitting at the table across from them.
“I was looking for the psionomancers. I had to go to the Ferrean Judiciary AIs to figure out they were holding all the insurrectionist Guardians, of course, but that’s mostly all they’re doing. They haven’t had any psionomancers talk to them yet.
“There’s a reason for that. Two of them’re dead, and the other one is in the clinic in a healing coma.”
“Were they at Starlit Stage?” Vin asked from the couch.
Col frowned. “I’m not sure. But the timestamps from the security bots’ reports don’t match the attack. The psionomancers were discovered dead before it happened, and the survivor was brought to the clinic about an hour prior to it.”
Hyran tensed. “Where were they? Maybe they saw something and were trying to stop it.”
Col shook his head and turned his screen so Hyran could see. “I don’t know the addresses, but this one is a private residence, and that one says ‘Conduit training.’ The other one was in the G&C Center, in a bathroom of all the places.”
“But how—I don’t understand.”
Taros snorted. “Again, Ferrea. Not my favorite city.”
Col tilted his head. “Tar-Tar, I’m sure if you ask very nicely, Hyran will tell you where that restaurant is. Maybe we can even all go together while we are still here.”
“If you feel up to that,” Hyran heard himself say.
Col gave him a beautiful little smile. “If you just give in, Taros will never overcome his stubbornness. He’ll torture you forever.”
Taros dropped his screen before crossing his arms. “I’m not stubborn.”
“You know what your brain feels like when even you know you’re telling a lie?” Vin asked. “Mushy. Uncomfortably mushy.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Hyran saw the small Conduit, Yamara, sit up straighter. “You can tell when someone’s lying? Then you can take over for the psionomancers. Make sure the Golden Indigos are sentenced quickly.”
Col turned. “Well, they aren’t high on my list, and Vinnie won’t be able to get anything a Judiciary AI will value like a psionomancer’s statement, but you’re right. He can tell when someone’s lying.”
Vin’s boring gaze settled on Col, which appeared to creep out Hyran more than Col himself. “You want to talk to Alesa.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not,” Hyran said. Everyone looked at him, but it was the pinch of hurt in Col’s eyes that smarted. “I mean, what Judiciary AI would let you talk to him? It would be wrong. If he has a history of accosting you—”
“Sometimes, when you puppeteer someone too hard, it leaves brain damage,” Vin mused, and Hyran felt a sudden kinship with the creepy Guardian. Not that he would willingly turn his back on Vin, but he agreed with him on the benefits of brain damage for certain people.
Col just looked at Hyran, long and hard.Insensitive Hound-fucker.The words he’d called him echoed in Hyran’s head. He wanted many things between himself and Col, was willing to beg for most. Spite wasn’t one of them.
“Would you call your mothers? We’ll talk about the psionomancers later. Please.”
