The Rogue Wolf Read online

  “But if you were to guess?” Inertia asked.

  “I’d say the sortens,” Carmen answered without much thought.

  Gungnir nodded slowly. “There’s an old Earth saying that is appropriate here. ‘Follow the money.’ Charon, by all rights, may as well not even exist. None of our contacts can track him down,” he remarked with a bit of frustration . “As I said, Charon is the most visible element of the puzzle, but I doubt he’s a critical piece. If he is connected with the sortens, the need to capture him for more information could be circumvented by dealing directly with them.”

  “So, what will you be doing while we’re dealing with the sortens?” Carmen asked.

  “Widget and I will be here, waiting for Charon to show himself. Charon could make a mistake or another attack that we can capitalize on if we are in position to act,” Gungnir answered.

  Carmen paused and then turned to look at Widget. The woman waved back with one hand, gave her the finger with the other, and smiled broadly.

  She turned away sharply. “Wouldn’t it be better if I stayed here?” she asked. “All things considered,” she added with a wayward glance Widget’s way.

  “No,” Gungnir said forcefully, which caught Carmen off guard. “Inertia is as strong as you are, but whoever goes will be going into the lion’s den alone with no assistance. I need the two of you.”

  She thought of Gungnir and, more distressingly, Widget standing up to Charon as he wielded the same army of Clairvoyant clones he attacked the facility with. This is a stupid plan. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in any position to object.

  “Just follow Inertia’s lead, and the two of you should be fine,” Gungnir continued.

  Carmen glanced at Inertia, who gave her a nod. If he had any doubt, it didn’t show. Unfortunately, his confidence did nothing to hearten her. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then let it go slowly, reminding herself that this was the best and only course available.

  “So, what now?” she asked.

  “Now I’ll discuss details with Inertia before you both depart. You, however…” Gungnir said, turning his attention to something behind her.

  Carmen gritted her teeth. You’re looking at Widget, aren’t you? she guessed. She took a step forward before turning around.

  Widget didn’t adjust her position to be practically on top of Carmen as was her plan. She simply recognized Carmen’s preemptive measure for what it was and frowned. “I’ve seen more flying unicorns than surprised Clairvoyants,” she muttered to herself.

  “What color were they?” Carmen muttered back sarcastically.

  “Were what?”

  Why do I do this to myself? Carmen wondered. “Never mind.”

  Widget smiled and then slowly shook her head, and Carmen now knew exactly what Gungnir meant by not knowing if the woman was toying with her or not. The idea of mentally teasing a Clairvoyant was strange, but it didn’t seem intentionally harmful, if that was worth anything.

  “Me come with girl of less years than petrified rats,” Widget said.

  Carmen followed close behind, rolling her eyes the entire way, though their destination was just across the room. Widget stopped at a table against the wall. Carmen hadn’t noticed it before. Widget turned around after picking up a suit off the table.

  “This is for you,” she said.

  She took it and gave it a quick look-over. The body armor was a bit on the heavy side, but it wasn’t unexpected, nor was its amazing flexibility. She thought back to the incident with Artemis at Crystal Palace Mall, when she had worn similar. Then she thought of Artemis. No one knew what happened to her after her escape. It was like the galaxy had swallowed her entire existence. All that remained was memory.

  This armor was dark grey in color with lighter grey parts that gave it a texture similar to fur. Rogue Wolves, Carmen thought. She expected the suit would fit her perfectly after laying it against herself for a quick check. She didn’t remember Gungnir explicitly asking her for her measurements, but she paid it no mind. She handed the suit back to Widget, who replaced it on the table.

  Carmen’s eyes noticeably widened, however, when the woman picked up the next item on the table. This prompted a smile from Widget. It was a long sword, and Carmen couldn’t remember the last time she’d even been near one. It had to have been several years at least. She removed the weapon from its sheath and noted that, once again, it seemed tailored for her. Its length, weight, and hilt—everything about it about it—just felt perfect. She looked at Widget for a second or two before the woman spoke.

  “If you haven’t noticed yet, it’s also conductive to your particular energy signature and resistive to everything else.”

  Carmen hadn’t noticed, but she was quite curious now that she was aware. She wasn’t exactly sure what energy conductivity meant or what she could do with that ability—all questions for later—but she wondered if the sword could do something easy like transmit heat. She tried to do so pyrokinetically, and the sword responded in due course, warming with little of the resistance expected for a piece of metal its size. Neat. But it was too tiring to be practical. It had always been easier to project heat than to simply set something on fire. She had no real idea why. With that in mind, she had the idea to place her finger on the blade and try the exercise all over again. The metal responded again, but this time with less effort. Neater.

  “How?” she asked.

  A Clairvoyant’s energy was as unique as a fingerprint. She hadn’t seen Janus in years, but if he was in the next room, she’d know he was there. There were machines that were able to track and catalogue the telltale signatures; the detectives at the facility had such devices. She knew it was possible to make materials sympathetic to a certain Clairvoyant. She’d just never seen a working example. Much like with the suit, she also couldn’t figure out when or how Widget had been able to get enough data on her energy signature to make the sword.

  “How do I do my job so badly, or how do birds fly loops?” Widget asked.

  Carmen gave a soft groan. “Guess,” she said.

  “Birds can’t fly loops, silly. They’d just flop in circles.”

  Carmen rolled her eyes and then smirked. “You’re not unpredictable when you pick the obviously stupid choice,” she pointed out.

  “When did I do that?” Widget asked with a bit of distress. Carmen let go a small laugh, which made the woman smile. “What shock. You can frown,” Widget pointed out. Carmen felt her mouth, and indeed she was smiling. It had to have been on Evonea that the expression last graced her lips. “You have to be one of the most studied Clairvoyants to ever live,” Widget continued more seriously—for her at least. “Remember when you played Patty-cake with Artemis? I had to have thrown up on that video twelve times.”

  She nodded, and Widget kept talking, even though Carmen was no longer paying attention. Everything she said was complete nonsense anyway. She instead marveled at one of Widget’s hairs, which floated freely in the air, as if by magic. Then it was pulled out suddenly with a quick jerk.

  “Ahhh!” Widget screamed more out of surprise than anything. “Which one of you did that?” she yelled across the room at Gungnir and Inertia, who were still casually talking. They completely ignored her.

  Carmen’s mouth fell open. In that one brief moment, the muddled ridiculousness of Widget’s mind coalesced into sharp, unwavering clarity. It was enough that Carmen couldn’t help a quick read. It ended a few seconds later as the dams were rebuilt.

  “I hate it when you guys do that,” Widget said as she turned back to Carmen.

  “It’s blue,” Carmen said simply.

  “What?” Widget asked.

  “Your underwear. It’s blue.”

  The woman paused as her face turned white, her eyes widening with actual fear. Then her cheeks flushed a shade of pink. “See? See! I’m right to be paranoid! That’s all you people care about.”

  Carmen grinned. “At least I know it goes both ways,” she said as she telekinetically p
layed with a clump of Widget’s hair. The woman screamed, and Carmen laughed lightly. She had never thought of messing with someone like that before. All the opportunities I missed… she mused. “What else do you have to show me?” she asked, forcing herself to be a bit more serious.

  Widget sneered at her, though the look seemed more playful than angry. She also glanced at the rifle still sitting on the table in the next room. Carmen very much doubted she’d use it and figured it was just another in the long line of actions Widget took for effect.

  “You people won’t be happy till I shave myself bald,” she grumbled as she picked up another item from the table.

  12

  Thresholds

  Carmen felt a tingle along her spine that caused her tongue to go numb for a moment. It was hard for her not to grin. She knew absolutely nothing about starships, but she did rather enjoy being around them. Their power existed in her perception like an ultra-dense but utterly raw explosion. It couldn’t really be sampled like most other energies, but it could be sensed. The intensity felt like walking on the surface of the sun. She sat in the bridge of The Lady, marveling at how it was even possible to harness so much in seemingly so little. Math had never been her strong suit. Her understanding of engineering fared even worse. Still, it was obvious that it wasn’t just Clairvoyants who harnessed the energy around them to their own ends. She had always found the technology that adorned her daily life more amazing than any talent a Clairvoyant could possess.

  For now, she just waited. Inertia was in some other part of the ship, doing what she did not know. She would have helped if she could. When he started giving her instructions on how everything worked, though, she was so confused that an egg could have been fried on her forehead. Things were moving, at least. Actually, things were moving faster than she expected. It was only a matter of minutes after the meeting that Gungnir told her to get ready to go.

  The body armor Widget gave her fit perfectly, as expected. Carmen’s other new toy rested comfortably next to her on the floor. She glanced at the sword from time to time, wondering when she’d need it and, more importantly, if she could bring herself to use it. A distant look came to her eye as she considered her new path. Inertia entered the bridge a minute or two later and, fortunately or unfortunately, ended her thoughts on her many probable futures.

  “We ready?” she asked as he took the seat next to her.

  “Yes,” he said simply, looking at her. His gaze lingered, though he said nothing else. It didn’t take long for Carmen to realize she was being evaluated yet again.

  She pursed her lips in a small frown. “Why do you keep looking at me like that?” she asked, her tone more curious than annoyed.

  Inertia didn’t even blink. “You aren’t going to fuck me over, are you?” he responded.

  Carmen paused, unable to answer right away. There was no anger or even worry in his question. She didn’t know what he thought of her. Still, and she had no idea why, she didn’t think his opinion of her was anything negative. His question caught her off guard anyway.

  “I hope not,” she finally said, which was the most truthful answer.

  Inertia nodded slowly. “You’re in this all the way?” he asked.

  Carmen looked away from him for a second and then nodded sharply when she looked back at him again.

  He nodded slowly one more time and then turned his attention to the ship, fiddling with something on his console. She had no idea how any of the systems in the starship worked. A few seconds later, the ship started humming to life. Her pulse quickened and she swallowed hard. Inertia noticed.

  “Gungnir told me you’re doing this for your charge?” he asked, glancing at her briefly as he spoke.

  Carmen nodded, even though he was no longer looking at her. His attention was divided between her and the ship. She could only assume The Lady was relatively easy for one person to operate. It didn’t seem like it was designed to accommodate a crew of any real size.

  “Do you think that’s stupid?” she asked coyly.

  “No,” he said. “I wouldn’t do it. But it’s not stupid.” He paused. “It might be the only thing in this whole operation that makes any sense.”

  “What do you mean?” Carmen asked.

  Inertia gave her a quick glance. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

  She made no reply but looked at him intently. He cracked a wry grimace in return. “It’s just a few musings here and there. Grumbles, really. As I said, nothing to worry about, at least for now.”

  Carmen looked away and her eyebrows furrowed as she considered everything he said. “You don’t think the plan will work?”

  “I didn’t say that,” he said simply. “However, I have experience in these sorts of things. And this mission seems like a rathole if there ever was one,” he continued. Then he looked at her just as intently as she had earlier. “The problem with ratholes is that, once you stick your arm down one, you never know what you’re going to pull out. What you want, though, and why you’re here is simple, direct, binary.”

  “I see,” Carmen muttered softly. “How many ratholes have you stuck your arm down?”

  “Many.”

  She sat quietly for a few seconds. “And how bad were they?”

  “I think I know what you’re asking. It’s probably better that you don’t know,” he said without looking at her.

  Carmen nodded glumly. Inertia looked at her then, and she caught his concern out of the corner of her eye. “I’m in this all the way,” she remarked, raising a hand to hold off the question again. “It’s just...why do you do this?” she asked. “This job. I don’t get it.”

  “Somebody has to,” he replied.

  “That’s not an answer.”

  “No, it’s not,” he admitted. Then he turned his entire body to face her, which prompted her to do the same. “But why are you here?”

  She looked at him, confused. “You know why. To rescue my charge.”

  “But why you?” he asked again.

  Carmen paused as she realized where he was leading her. “Somebody has to. No one else would.”

  Inertia nodded. “Let me ask you this, Edge. You want to save a life, and that’s very noble, but how many will you take to save it? I hope you don’t expect me to do it for you.”

  “No, I don’t expect you to do it for me,” Carmen said quickly. “As for the rest, I hope I don’t have to take any. Don’t think I’ll be that lucky, though,” she added under her breath.

  He nodded again. “I have taken many lives. I don’t count,” he began. “I guess it can be thought that I have saved many lives as well. I’ll never know. I don’t really think about it,” he added with a shrug. “But, if you need a reason, I guess that why I’m here isn’t too dissimilar from why you are here. I just can’t give a name to who I’m saving.”

  Carmen got a faraway look in her eye. She signaled her understanding with a nod when she realized he was still watching her. “I think I understand,” she said softly.

  Inertia went back to tending to the ship. “Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the rats down this hole are going to be particularly vicious,” he said calmly.

  Carmen said nothing to that as she slouched in her chair with a look that while not defeated, betrayed growing apprehension. She regained herself after a moment. Then her gaze moved around the bridge, taking in all the details of The Lady and where, exactly, she was. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  “I’m in this all the way,” she mouthed silently to herself. She steeled herself with another deep breath after a pause. “So, where are we going now? Gungnir really didn’t say in the briefing.”

  “We’re going to get recruited,” he replied.

  “How?”

  “We ask, of course.”

  Carmen looked at him for a few seconds till her tensely pressed lips broke into a slight smile. So, everyone has a sense of humor, she thought as she rolled her eyes. Either way, it lightened her mood, which was a welcome change.<
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  “You’re not like Widget, are you?” she asked. Inertia, confused for a moment, looked at her hard. “Didn’t think so,” she muttered. “So, how are we going to do this?” she asked again.

  “Just a second. Almost done,” Inertia said as he turned his attention to the ship once more. A minute or two passed before he spoke again. “As I said, we just ask. Most really aren’t shy about seeking out Clairvoyant talent.”

  Carmen frowned. “So…we just look in the classifieds? That sounds too simple.”

  “It isn’t. We aren’t looking here,” Inertia said. “We need to be recruited by sortens. The problem with that is we need to find them. And if we find them, we need them to trust us. The last part will be difficult. It is very rare for a Clairvoyant to openly work for or with sortens.”

  Carmen nodded slowly. “Where do we find them?”

  Inertia didn’t answer her right away and instead pressed something on his console. The Lady began trembling. She gasped as the starship’s power started to flow. Her skin tingled. In this case, she couldn’t use any of the energy she felt. It wasn’t direct enough. She still enjoyed being around starships, though, and this was exquisite.

  “Not many people know this, but there are freighters that travel throughout the galaxy that are beacons and a source for…what I guess we’ll call the less savory,” he said. “These ships are cheap and nondescript, and it doesn’t take much to convert their decks into a veritable city. They can also move to another territory if a local government gets too curious or pushy. The UTE doesn’t really make much effort to stop them when they enter our own space.”

  “Why is that?” Carmen asked.

  She could feel the inertial inhibitor power up. They were moving. She glanced at the console in front of her. She couldn’t understand half of what it said, but she did see a button marked EXTERNAL VIEW. Inertia had never said she couldn’t touch anything. A quick tap on the touch screen changed her display to a rather close-up view of the wall of the dormant volcano that housed the base. The wall scrolled downward slowly. We’re flying out, she realized.