Coeus? - Chapter 78: ~Shell Game.~

“

A sunray in the darkness will never be seen if there is nothing it has to shine upon.

”

-Unknown

***En route to Sol, Aether***

***Gideon***

“We have to catch her!” Ed paces up and down inside my office. “This is a unique chance which may never present itself again!” He looks up. “You are sure that nobody else knows about this?” I nod, but Cyla starts complaining. “I don’t understand why you want to keep this under such tight security? Surely it would be best to swarm the entire area with your agents? Sadina will surely pull out some kind of underhanded trick!”

“We can’t trust my bureau. I have no evidence, but somehow she continuously manages to evade us. She must have at least some kind of access to the law enforcement. Maybe it’s our servers or a hacked sprite, or a blackmailed faceless. There is no other way to explain that she evaded us so long.” Ed grumbles. “I can gather seven, maybe eight agents whom I trust completely to do this off the record. This chance is too valuable to give it away.”

I rub my eyes and try to think. “Okay. You say that she will be warned if we activate too many of the faceless. I get that much. Are there any other resources which we could use? Surely we can count on my immediate family? That would bring in six more people, including me.”

“Seven!” Cyla corrects me.

I turn to face her, then my eyes wander to her belly. Her current state didn’t reach the point at which her movements are hindered, but her second pregnancy is visible nonetheless. “I am sorry, Dear. You can’t join us on this adventure. You are-”

“I can and I will!” She crosses her arms in front of her chest and stomps the ground. “Try to stop me and we are sure to have our first domestic quarrel! That woman is nuts and she threatened my children. I’ll see to it that she is put into a small room with rubber furniture and foam for walls!”

“But-”

She interrupts me. “There is no ‘But’! We will catch her. Together.”

Ed raises a hand. “Cyla, maybe you should really stand down in this. Sadina is a dangerous and unpredictable person. It pains me to say so. She is dangerous. She needs help, but until we can give her that help we have to treat her like a real danger to our lives.”

Cyla glares at Ed, but says nothing. Apparently his earnest tone took the wind out of her sails. She grinds her teeth and after a few seconds of silent staring she nods.

Ed turns towards me. “But Cyla is right in one aspect. Sadina will most likely try to trick us. I want to believe that the genetic samples are her true aim, but we have to take everything into account and we have only a little more than two days left. We have to cover all angles, so how would you make the exchange if you were Sadina?”

I snort and call up a map of Aether on my office table’s display. “If I were her, I would avoid direct body contact altogether. She wants us near the old teleportation station. Most likely she will require me to place the samples somewhere and make the exchange via teleportation.”

Cyla shakes her head. “The whole of Aether is warded with sensors to stop people from teleporting around as they please. If she uses teleportation we will instantly know where she is. She doesn’t have a warrant of attorney like government officials.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I have a warrant of attorney for teleporting around as I please?”

Ed slaps a hand to his own forehead and Cyla puffs out her cheeks. “Of course you have. You do it all the time! Why do you think it is that nobody arrested you yet?”

I shrug. “Luck?” I wasn’t really thinking about it. But then again the few instances where I actually teleported without using the official teleportation chambers were emergencies.

Ed raises his hands in a calming gesture. “Sadina is on Aether. We know that. All we have to do is to stay in a state of lock-down as soon as we arrive in Sol. I can arrange that. We have to lure her out of her hiding place. Then we have to outsmart and catch her.”

That’s pretty obvious. But how can we do that if we don’t have the required manpower? “And how do you intend to achieve that? I understand that knowing a trap is the first step to avoid it, but Sadina is playing her own game right now. We are just invited guests who don’t know the rules.”

He looks up squints his eyes at us. “By the only means possible. We have to hide our plan inside other plans. And we need someone who is able to best Sadina’s hacking skills.”

I nod. “I might be able to do that if I get full access to Aether. But that requires additional authorities by the law reinforcement.”

“Think of it as done.” Ed answers.

***Sol, Aether***

***Melan***

“Gideon, are you sure that you want to go alone?” I ask with a little insecurity in my voice. “As much as I wish it were different, Sadina isn’t a part of the family any more. She is dangerous and jumping at this chance seems foolish.” I turn my gaze downwards to avoid his eyes, then I scan the crowd around us. We are close to Aether’s central square and it is about time to get new instructions from Sadina.

There is no way to know what she planned for us, so all we can do for now is to go along and hope that some of our safety measures work. At least I hope that we have all angles covered. From teleportation, to a private shuttle, to an escape through the sewers. Unless Sadina managed to hack an inter-system teleport station I have no clue how she intends on getting off of Aether.

Gideon draws in a deep breath. “Look. Sadina is practically a ghost. Nobody knows how she gets around, how she hides her tracks inside the network. She is non-existent.”

He crosses his arms in front of his chest. “I’ve been waiting for fifteen years to get my hands on her and this is a chance. Maybe the only chance. She is definitely getting bolder and it could prove to be her undoing. If we let it pass, we might have to wait another twenty years. Just make sure to trail me out of sight. If Sadina smells that anything is wrong she might not show up. You are the only one on Aether who controls that hiding spell as well as she can.”

The muscles of his jaw start working. “I’ve to be the one who is responsible for the handover, so I can’t be the backup.” He points at me. “That means only you can do the job.”

I sigh and cast my cloaking spell to hide myself. “If you wish. I’ll make sure to cover possible escape routes. I want to catch her as much as you do, maybe even more. Though I find it particularly hard to fathom why she would instigate this. So much time without even a hint of her whereabouts and then we catch her because she got cocky? It’s too good to be true.”

***Sol, Aether***

***Gideon***

After watching Grandmother disappear inside her cloaking field I start walking down the street towards central square. I just hope that this doesn’t turn out to become some glorious fuck up! Our greatest problem is figuring out what’s going through Sadina’s mind. Up until now her actions were always reasonable. At least in a twisted kind of way.

Her goal is proving that techno-mages aren’t weak. For that reason she created me. So it stands to assumption that she isn’t an extraordinary fighter. She may be good, but not outstanding.

So why has her attention shifted from aiding me, to furthering her genetic research? Or is it something different altogether? Maybe she really just wants to check on my current state since I underwent some unforeseen circumstances?

But why doing it this way, instead of stealing the genetic material somehow? I am sure that she could find some hair or skin samples anywhere I have been. Closing my eyes, I ponder over the situation.

Her claim that getting the samples directly from reproductive cells is necessary somehow doesn’t connect with my understanding of genetics. Does it really matter which cells she uses in her experiments?

I enter the central square and as if on cue I get a call. “Yes?”

“Turn right and walk to the public trash-bin.” Sadina’s voice answers me in a casual manner.

I do as I am told, scanning the crowd with my eyes. Surely she hacked a public security camera to notice my arrival. A quick mental command to the network starts a search and I get a list of camera devices in the area. Another instruction activates one of my previously manufactured tracing programs.

I arrive at the trash-bin and take a look inside. Empty. No Sadina. Would have been too funny if she had waited in there. It is one of the big ones, certainly big enough to house a human being.

“I am there.” I answer a little bored.

“Good. Drop the samples into the trash-bin.” Her voice sounds eager and I hear a scraping sound over the connection.

I gnaw on my lower lip, thinking. The tracer needs more time. Will she teleport the samples out of the trash-bin? I thought that’s not possible. “And then?”

Again the scraping sound. “Then I’ll tell you where the virus is.”

“Sure.” I answer, but don’t make any attempt at giving up my cargo.

She sighs. “You don’t believe me?”

Isn’t it obvious? “No. I want the virus first.”

“Then you won’t give me the samples?” She answers and I hear the scraping sound once more. Is she crawling through some kind of shaft or tunnel? Or is she submitting the sound on purpose to trick me. Techno-mages use mental communication. At least I don’t have the need to transmit irritating background noises to my interlocutor.

“I don’t think that it is my truthfulness which stands to be judged.” I pull out the box with the vials. It doesn’t exactly contain mine and Cyla’s genetic materials. There is no reason at all to take the risk of Sadina getting her hands on those. The farce will be over soon after the exchange is made.

“I don’t think that mine does either. Have I ever lied to you?” Sadina answers with a superior tone.

I squint my eyes at the trash-bin and think hard. “No. But you haven’t told the complete truth either. This isn’t a game, Sadina.”

“Didn’t we agree that you’d call me mother?” Again that scraping sound. “You get the virus, I get the samples.”

I drop the box into the trash-bin and concentrate. As soon as she teleports it away I have to follow. Ed gave me access to the sensors which prevent improper use of teleportation. Just let’s hope that she didn’t manage to block them despite all my efforts.

Suddenly the trash-bin’s bottom slides open and reveals a long, dark and narrow shaft. It gulps down the box.

I curse and immediately kick the trash-bin, uncovering an opened vent to the lower levels! We thought about sewers and other possibilities where a humans could hide themselves, but not about the lower levels of the colony. Down there are just automated machines, nothing else.

She destroyed the grid which protected the vent and pulled the modified trash-bin over it! I open a connection to the whole team. “Sadina is on the lower levels! Most likely the farming areas!”

“That can’t be! I and two of my men spotted her two streets from central square just now! We are pursuing.” Ed’s baffled voice answers me.

“I also ran into her! Right this moment! I am following!” Hedeon’s voice sounds over the public connection.

I furrow my forehead and look around, surveying the surrounding crowd. How is this possible? Are there multiple Sadinas? Suddenly a woman bursts out of the crowd of people and tackles me. I feel a sting in the back of my right arm and reach for it. My fingertips come up blood stained. The bitch knifed me!

I follow the running figure who takes a short look back at me. It’s a face I know very well. Sadina’s avatar! “Melan! It’s her!”

A man a few metres to my left stumbles and other people are shoved aside as an invisible figure forces her way through the crowd.

That’s when the alarm inside the modified box is triggered. I stop dead in my tracks and call up a map of Aether to follow the shaft to its end. Then I teleport, reappearing inside a warehouse.

Another version of Sadina has the box in her hands and is about to close a cover for the ventilation shaft. I blink, trying to make sense of the situation. Am I affected by a confusion spell?

Impostors? No. Clones?

Sadina number three tries to make a run for it, the small box in her hands. Enough of this! I grit my teeth and raise a hand to fire a spell at her. The conjured ball-lightning flickers and bridges the distance between me and her in an instant.

A scream escapes the woman’s lips as one of her legs evaporates in a red cloud of blood.

***Sol, Aether***

***Sadina***

I wince as I lose one of my facsimiles. Nice, little Gideon pulled off the gloves. To simply blast his own mother with a lethal spell. So sad. That leaves me down to seven copies as distraction.

Now where was I? Yes, right. I needed samples. Putting my hand on the mansion’s door I force it open while suppressing the signal which would have caused an alarm.

According to the mansion’s sensors there are two entities present. Aurelia and the sprite who is baby-sitting her. The others are all outside to hunt me, which leaves this place widely unguarded. Probably Gideon thought that his new security measures made this place safe. But he forgot that I lived here for a long time myself. During my youth I added dozens of additional gadgets and wireless connection points to this house.

I stroll through the entrance hall, monitoring the hunt of my facsimiles. “Gideon, is it fun to pursue ghosts?”

“Not as funny as you think. How many clones of yourself did you create?” He grumbles. “You know that we will catch all of them?”

“Oh, please. Just one is enough to get away with a sample. And it’s wrong to call them clones. A real clone has a mind of its own. That’s not the case with the tools you are hunting right now. I call them facsimiles. They are really just extensions of myself, controlled by my mind. Nothing more. They don’t even have a functioning brain.”

The staircase to Gideon’s floor is just as I remember. Mother never changes the house. She said that she wants something which the family can come back to. I sigh and try to shake off the memories. That’s not what I am here for. That life is in the past.

I enter the corridor to the living room where the sensor’s reported the sprite and Aurelia. It takes just a few steps and I am there. Another command locks down any communication inside the house. I don’t want the sprite to call for reinforcements.

Inside the living room I find the sprite hovering above Aurelia’s cradle. It immediately turns to focus me with its eye-lense. “What are you doing here? You have no permission to be on this property.”

I raise an eyebrow and lift a hand to zap the hovering sphere while walking forward. My little energy bolt is reflected and chars the left wall without affecting the sprite.

“A violent attack! I have to remove you by force!” The sprite flips two spikes out of its body and green energy lances towards me.

I draw a sharp breath and barely evade the attack! Gideon equipped his babysitter with disruptor beams! That’s illegal!

The weapon slices into the wall behind me and I dance closer, turning around my own axis and swatting the sprite out of the air. It is smashed against a wall and falls to the ground, lights flickering out. Only then I realise how close I came to being cut in two. If I had been just a little bit farther away I would not have been able to reach the sprite in time. That wasn’t within my calculations. I expected some form of enhancement, but not illegal weaponry.

My attention returns to Aurelia who is sleeping in her cradle. She is sleeping so deeply that she didn’t awaken. I bend down and pick her up. “So I finally get to meet you in person, Granddaughter. You are a good sleeper.” Her drooling face touches something inside me and I pinch her cheek, smiling. “You are so cute! I am tempted to take the whole of you with me. A bigger sample allows for more tests!”

I start fumbling for the syringe inside my jacket when a small disturbance in the air around me catches my attention. Then I realize that I am suddenly surrounded by dozens small gravity distortions. The room is filled with them!

A step backwards saves me from being crumbled into a neat little brick like Aurelia’s cradle.

“~Hi.~”

***Sol, Aether***

***Cyla***

The woman turns around and I hit her point blank in the face, not holding back and putting all my weight behind it. Something gives way. Maybe I broke some of her teeth, but the nose is most certainly broken.

She falls backwards like a felled tree and I hurry to catch Aurelia. My daughter doesn’t even wake up.

I put her down on the ground and rearrange my grip on the brass knuckles in my hand. Then I take it out on Sadina, making sure that not a single bone remains unbroken! She may be out cold right now, but she will feel everything once she wakes up! “Nobody takes my baby! I’ll make sure that nobody heals you before you wake up! I’ll savour your screams!”

My arm starts tiring after a few punches and I switch hands. That cloaking spell which Gideon taught me worked really well. Sadina didn’t notice my presence at all. Luckily I decided to stay at home. If everyone else is outside to hunt that vixen, nobody can take care of Aurelia. It was too much of a bait and hiding my presence added to the scenario.

While Gideon was always occupied by his job as a governor I managed my little company from home. I had a lot of free time due to my pregnancy and then taking care of my daughter. Since I am a techno-mage I was bound to find the mansion’s hidden network devices sooner or later. The important hint came from Gideon since there was always a little discrepancy in the mansion’s energy consumptions and the energy which should be needed by the running devices.

Gideon never cared much for the mansion’s network since he spent a lot of time at school and after his graduation he went on his trip to fulfil his dreams. So I guess this place wasn’t of much interest since he invested a lot of time in designing the Coeus. Ah, that ship. We have to go on a little cruise when we have time. It’s still in one of Aether’s hangars.

My other arm starts tiring and I switch sides again, ignoring the broken nail. Maybe I am overdoing it?

Then I remember that she touched Aurelia and said something about taking her. So I start working with renewed vigour.

I am about to switch hands again when someone catches my hand and I look up to find Gideon above me. Behind him in the entrance to the living room are Melan and Ed, followed by the faces of other family members. They all look a little pale.

My attention returns to the living room which got a little crumbled and messed up by my ability. Keeping it in check is hard when my feelings are soaring high, so I sometimes lose control.

I look down the pale woman to my feet. Aside from the treatment I gave her she looks skinny and certainly more than a little undernourished. Her unkempt hair makes her look more like a wild animal than a human being, but that escaped me during my frenzy.

If she hadn’t touched Aurelia she could be seen as a poor, brutalized victim. At least her swollen face isn’t recognizable by now.

“Sadina!” Melan calls out.

“Is it the real one?” Hedeon asks from behind her.

Ed furrows his brows. “Good question. It’s hard to tell with all that blood.”

Damn! I guess a mother can always recognize her children. I decide to put up a brave front and smile at the audience. “Is there a problem?”

I take off the brass knuckles and push them into a pocket, trying to clean my hand on Sadina’s clothes. But to be honest, it’s hard to find a spot which isn’t bloody. Maybe I went too far? Isn’t she something like my mother in law?

At least Aurelia didn’t wake up.

.