Page 2 of Shattered Silence

But unlike the others, he couldn’t sleep. His mission had been an endless sequence of watching, stalking, and fighting, with only micro-snatches of rest in between. Any ordinary mortal would have welcomed the prospect of a deep, dreamless sleep, but since being infected by the Tharian, Enki hadn’t been able to sleep properly—deeply—for fear the thing would take over his body.

So he usually just rested with his eyes closed, entering a meditative state that was somewhere in between between quiet watchfulness and true sleep.

The empty place.

That was what he called it. Whenever he entered it, the Tharian went quiet.

But this time, Enki had struggled to reach that state. Unable to tolerate the confines of his assigned quarters, he’d come up to the navigation room to watch the stars. Thankfully, Lodan and Nythian had retreated to their own pods, leaving him alone.

That was how he preferred it. No conversation, no questioning looks, no tension.

Just silence.

He drifted…

Zzzt.

Until a soft, almost imperceptible buzz forced him to open his eyes and glance at the sylth—the ship’s navigation system.

One of the holoscreens was awash with blue light. The screen flashed soundlessly.

Someone was broadcasting a signal, and it was within the Virdan X’s range. That wasn’t saying a lot, because the ship’s transmission range was huge, but it was strange, to say the least.

The Universe was so vast that traveling ships rarely crossed paths, and they almost never broadcast open signals, because that was an invitation for disaster.

He should just ignore it. Anyone stupid—or brave—enough to send out an open signal in the Outer Sectors wasn’t worth his time, and engaging with aliens was always such a hassle.

But what if it was something else? A warning, a threat, or a distress call? Perhaps it wasn’t foolishness, but desperation.

Enki closed his eyes again, hesitating to make a decision. The sylth flashed incessantly, its blue light bleeding through the thin skin of his eyelids. The Virdan X continued to move through space at impossible speed, soundless and undetectable, the perfect stealth vessel.

At the back of his mind, the Tharian seethed, trying to break free of Enki’s mental bonds. As usual, its irritating flailing sent an electric tingle over Enki’s scalp and down his spine. A warning ripple of pain shot through his body as the nanites in his bloodstream seethed, ready to emerge at the smallest suggestion of danger.

Do not disturb me, he snapped, desperately wanting to be alone inside his own head. Kaiin’s hells, the thing could be infuriating sometimes. It didn’t help that all Tharians wished eternal death upon the Kordolian race, his parasite included.

It might be living inside his brain, but Enki never, ever forgot that this… being was his mortal enemy.

How could he forget? He’d been on fucking Tharos when the entire Tharian civilization had been destroyed. He’d been there when over three-quarters of the Tharian species had lost their physical bodies and entered the second stage of their lifecycle.

The phantom stage.

And who had done the destroying? His people, of course. Who else?

Ah, but you were also betrayed, weren’t you? Where is your anger, Kordolian?

Be quiet. Enki sat bolt-upright, his eyes snapping open. Oh, he was angry, but he kept that particular anger tightly reined in, because releasing it would mean…

The sylth was insistent now, and it wouldn’t stop until he gave it a command.

Ignore.

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