So, at first glance, I thought that Owen and Lugh had emanated. This was completely unexpected, but hey, different husbands show up all the time. I’ve learned to be flexible. Even though I was just starting to get something good going with Seth. Oh well.
And then I realized that there was something just a bit off. Lugh hadn’t shaved. Rather than being neatly quiffed, his hair was slicked back messily, spilling into his face. He wore a rough denim jacket.
Owen, on the other hand, looked more pulled-together than I had ever seen him. His hair had been trimmed smartly, with groomed sideburns. He wore a simple black jacket and jeans, sleek and stylish. He, too, had not shaved, but in his case, it gave the impression of intentional edginess.
“You aren’t Lugh and Owen?” I asked.
“I’m Ethan,” said the Lugh doppelganger.
“I’m Barnabas,” said the other.
“Lugh and Owen were kinda having a disagreement about whether or not to emanate,” said Ethan.
“I think the Mover got impatient,” said Barnabas. “There is work to be done.”
“Work?”
“Experiments in transmitting nul-energy through a wormhole and into the Draco Dwarf,” said Ethan. “Owen was setting up an experiment, but Lugh didn’t want to emanate.”
“Lugh’s lazy,” said Barnabas. “He’s a mining engineer too, but he’s never worked a day in his emanation.”
“That’s not it. Lugh was worried that I’d want to have sex with Owen,” I replied. “Which I wouldn’t, unless I cleared it with him first.”
“Well, for whatever reason, we’re here to take their place,” said Ethan.
“That’s exactly the problem. Emanations aren’t expendable, Ash. They aren’t disposable, either.”
Barnabas looked nervously at Ethan. “Well, we aren’t taking their place in every way. I mean…”
“Barnabas is saying that we’ll do anything you want us to, of course. But we aren’t perverts by nature.”
This time, I remembered. I remembered the horrible things my temper had done to Patrick. I remembered the horrible things my temper had done to Aran. I remembered the horrible things my temper had done to Ari. “Why don’t you two get to work?” I said, forcing a smile. “I have some important things to write in my journal. I’ll have Ross file the necessary paperwork for your disclosures the next time he emanates.”
Ethan and Barnabas went on their merry way. I sat at my desk to write important things in my journal.
Like this:
FUCK YOU ASH.
Ash, my love, I want to kick your ass into stationary orbit. Except that in your mothman form, you don’t actually have one. Couldn’t you have given Owen and Lugh the time to work it out?
Ugh, I can see trouble coming a mile away. Why can’t you? This is only going to make it harder for them to solve their differences. Now we have a new, improved, “non-perverted” set of brothers. Owen and Lugh are going to feel alienated and redundant.
And I’d like to say that to them, except this isn’t Barnabas and Ethan’s fault. How many times have I written something like this? Why are you always putting me in awkward situations with your emanations?
*****
Maybe the new pair sensed that my mood wasn’t good because they kept out of my way for most of the day. I went to the High Council meeting by myself. Then, just before we recessed for dinner, Barnabas threw open the door of the council chambers. “They’ve got Ethan!” he yelled.
I don’t have to ask. I know. Why did you have to put out two rookie emanations now, Ash? Couldn’t you just wait a bit on the mad-scientist experiments? Mickey or Cillian never would’ve been taken. Or Aran, for that matter, because what he lacks in experience, he makes up for in raw power. It’s almost as if…
…as if you’re trying to bait Lilith. “She didn’t see you, did she, Barnabas?”
“I was behind a matter-antimatter coupler when they jumped him. We actually thought it was you coming into our lab with some woman. Then she pulled out a gun with one of those nullets in it. They made Ethan go with them by pointing it to his head.”
“Esau was telepathically camouflaging himself. He projected your own image of me back at you. But why didn’t you use alchemy to neutralize the gun?”
“Human babies just don’t start walking, Tara. You’re forgetting that we’re only a few hours old. We haven’t had any chance to practice, and trying it out on a gun pointed at us probably isn’t the best experimental condition.”
“I’ll accept that,” I said, remembering the pile of shredded plastic in the bathroom waste bin. “So he went with them peaceably, but they didn’t see you.”
“I don’t think so…”
I nodded. Important experimentation my battle-trained butt. You were playing the “two emanation” trick again, weren’t you, Ash? After all, it worked so well against the SongLuminants.
“Where is he, Barnabas?”
“I don’t know. I followed them into the hallway, but they were fast.”
“Yes, but you should be able to feel where he is.”
“I can’t. When we’re both emanated, it’s like we’re separate people.”
“You can’t feel him directly, but the other emanations can. Just ask them.” Argh. Don’t the Goliath emanations know anything?
“Wait. Mickey says he knows the station pretty well, and they took him down to the docks on the Pleb Level.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere. I’m going down there with two dozen SSOps operatives.” I turned to Lieutenant Graysal, serving as the head of my personal guard. “Get me a lightweight, rapid-fire, hand-held plasma cannon, please.”
“Shall I summon military backup?” asked General Lemkht. He and Naveeta were there for the High Council meeting. The more I thought about it, it was a really stupid time to attack. Eirelantra was chock-full of people armed to the teeth. Unless Esau and Lilith were total idiots, they had to have a plan that was a little more sophisticated than putting a gun to Ash’s head.
“On standby,” I said. “They may not have recognized that Ethan is part of a dual emanation. We might have the drop on them. Admiral Naveeta, issue emergency orders to close down all ports. I want Eirelantra sealed off. I’m betting they want to get out of here as soon as possible.
Graysal handed me the cannon. “Let’s go.”
Barnabas stood in my way. “I can’t allow that.”
“Are you looking to get your ass kicked into orbit? Despite your omnipotence so-called, you have been absolutely worthless in this Lilith business, Ash. I’m going to fucking take the bitch out.”
“She’s your daughter.”
I stopped up short. “You’re not trying to protect me. You’re trying to protect her. I don’t care if you pollinated because of me. She doesn’t have my genetic material. I didn’t raise her. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve extended the hospitality of my house to her and granted her a royal title like I did with Ashkaman. That’s because she’s your child, Ash, not mine. But she’s gone too far. She’s a bad seed, and I’m the weed whacker.”
Barnabas stood there helplessly, arms dangling at his sides. Then he grabbed me and hoisted me over his head.
“Put me down! Guards! Help me!”
Barnabas had his fingers hooked firmly into my waistband and my collar. I was propped by his hands pressed against the small of my back and my collarbone, held at arm’s length away from him. He was doing a magnificent job of keeping me balanced whilst I struggled futilely, with nothing within reach of my arms or legs to hit at. I wriggled like a seven-legged starburst crab flipped onto its backside.
Now pretty much the entire High Council was staring at us helplessly, arms dangling at their sides.
“Whom do we obey, the Matriarch or the Archon?” Battlequeen Escharton whispered to Lord Danak.
“He’s not the bloody Archon!” I screamed. “His emanation isn’t disclosed yet. He isn’t even legally my husband.”
“Don’t stand there like idiots, get to the docks on the Pleb Level!” Barnabas shouted at the guards. “I want the woman unharmed. As for the telepath, I’ll take him in however many pieces are left.”
“Go!” said Lord Danak. “I’ll help Her Eminence.” As the guards poured from the room, Lord Danak turned to Barnabas. “Milord,” he said, “I must respectfully ask you to return Her Eminence to the floor.”
“If you don’t stop thrashing,” Barnabas said, “the microcams are going to get an undie show.” I was wearing a voluminous ceremonial dress, in retrospect, probably not the best attire for battle. But I hardly had time to return to my quarters and put on full dress armor, did I?
A comm klaxon pinged. “Graysal here. They’re gone, Your Eminence. Somehow they managed to elude…”
“On a fucking cargo elevator headed upward,” snarled Barnabas. He dropped his arms, and I plunged precipitously. An instant later I was caught, cradled in his arms. He swung me gracefully to the ground. “Lemkht, I want troops stationed on every floor near that elevator’s exit point.”
Lemkht shot a glance at me, and I nodded. “A sensible thing to do,” I hissed. I turned on Barnabas. I must’ve been a sight. In fact, I know I was, since the image of me, hair and skirts disheveled, snarling in a predatory pose, gripping a Magma 678b miniautocannon in one hand and the Staff of the Matriarch in the other was at the top of the evening’s media push.
Suddenly, Barnabas collapsed to the ground, howling. My fury changed to panic. I dropped to his side, discarding the gun. “Cage,” he gasped.
I remembered. Lilith had said something about a cage. She had said it hadn’t been charged to full power. “Is it some kind of force field?”
“Containment field,” he stammered. “Nul-energy can’t escape. Can’t feel Ethan anymore, but…the Mover…stuck. Half-in, half-out. Like a bear trap.”
They hadn’t designed the cage with a dual-emanation in mind. That meant Ash was not entirely powerless. On the other hand, Ethan was trapped, and they planned to use him for nefarious experimentation. Déjà vu- this was altogether too much like what had happened to Owen.
“Ash, do not, I repeat, do not gnaw your own leg off. Even half of a dual emanation is not expendable.” But I knew that if it was a matter of your life, you might have no choice but to sacrifice Ethan. We had to figure out where they had taken him, and fast.
The cage was probably on the cargo elevator, set up to be moved. If things had gone smoothly, Lilith and Esau had probably intended to move it to a ship in the dock. But things had not gone smoothly, and so they had to have a backup.
“Graysal,” I said, “call up the classified station plans. Look along the elevator path for any nearby areas which would have access to high amounts of energy.” Based on what Lilith had said, I was guessing that there had to be a certain power-cost in running that containment field.
He responded a moment later. “Over twenty levels, my lady. A significant number of station utilities and research facilities are positioned near the elevator for easy access to large supply and equipment transport from the docks.”
Barnabas pulled himself to his knees. “Seth says…ask Bradley.”
Of course! The Twist were everywhere. “Hey Bradley!” I called. “Where’s Ethan?”
“PETRINA HERE. BRADLEY LEFT INSTRUCTIONS.’
“Volume, Petrina.”
“Sorry, sorry. Ethan is in the executive science suites, room 421.”
“421.” I repeated. That sounded familiar somehow. And then I got it.
“Expect trouble from unexpected quarters,” I said. “Ash doesn’t have a monopoly on being an overprotective father.”
*****
I went alone, with only a handful of SSOps agents trailing at a safe distance. But I didn’t go to the science suites. I went up to the elite level, to an all-too familiar flat.
Clive answered the door. “I should’ve suspected something was up when you didn’t stick your nose into the council meeting,” I said. “We need to have a little talk about the son of the man you were never really, and the daughter that isn’t actually mine.”
“I can’t say as I understand it,” Clive said. “Esau betrayed Edom St. John to CenGov. St. John died as a direct result of that. And yet there’s something in me that just can’t…I tell you, if I were 100% Clive Rivers, I would’ve shot him dead the first time I saw him. But I still have all of St. John’s memories. I can remember holding Esau as a baby. I can remember sending him off to school.”
“Look, I don’t care about Esau. I just want to find Ash.” For now. I couldn’t see a long-term outcome where we could let Esau survive, however, and Clive probably knew it.
“I told them I would neither abet nor hinder their kidnapping scheme. I merely promised to shelter my son – Edom’s son.”
“We think they’re using some kind of containment field impenetrable to nul-energy to hold him,” I said. I didn’t think it wise to reveal our entire hand to Clive. I was never certain how much I could trust him in the first place. Clive purported – and acted with – logical motivations. But a part of him was still Edom, a part that reacted with unexpected emotions at inconvenient times. In certain ways, Edom was more trustworthy than Clive. In others, less so. Edom was probably responsible for saving my life a few times when Clive would’ve cut his losses. On the other hand, Edom felt things like fatherly love. Or…jealousy. Edom had been in love with me. It was just possible that Edom wanted Ash to die.
“You could always cut the station power,” said Clive, disingenuously. “That would stop any containment fields.”
Like I was going to completely disrupt Eirelantra, a hub of commerce and diplomatic activity. Like I was going to draw more attention to this situation, the details of which were being carefully concealed from the media. Of course, Clive knew that.
But Clive didn’t know that I knew they were in his lab. “I can’t do that,” I said. “You don’t know where they are?”
“I haven’t seen Esau since he left this morning,” said Clive. Which was probably true, but meant nothing. So that’s how far I could trust him.
“Consider yourself under house arrest,” I said. “Partly for your own safety. I’ve got search teams on every level, and if you try to contact Esau, they might very well shoot you.” I wanted him well out of the way. I was pretty that if he were directly involved, he would feel obliged to protect Esau. On the other hand, I didn’t think he would hold any actions I had to take against me.
Clive nodded. His face was unreadable, as usual, but his eyes had a distant focus. I don’t know whether he was willing Esau’s escape, or hoping that perhaps I would kill St. John’s son, eliminating his dilemma.