Hurricane (Hive Mind Book 3) Page 16

  “In that case, we’ll fly to the sea farm tomorrow morning,” said Lucas.

  “If you’ll be leaving that soon,” said the Admiral, “I’ll stay at the Hive tonight, and fly back to the sea farm with you.”

  Lucas turned to Melisande. “Gold Commander, we used seven general transport aircraft on our trip to Hive Futura. We’ll need seven similar aircraft this time, and preferably flown by the same pilots as before. I’d also like a couple of squadrons of fighter aircraft to escort us to the sea farm.”

  Melisande raised her eyebrows. “Tactical Commander Lucas, are you expecting the sea farm to suffer a major attack from the forces of another Hive?”

  “No. The fighter aircraft are merely intended to help us make a dramatic entrance. They will escort us to the sea farm, do some conspicuous flying displays, and then return to the Hive.”

  “Please explain what you’re trying to achieve by that,” said Melisande.

  “You said the sea farm population needs to be reassured that the Hive considers their problem important and is taking action to deal with it. If we arrive at the sea farm with a massive airborne display of force, it will be a powerful visual statement that the Hive takes the sea farm’s problem extremely seriously, and is prepared to commit whatever resources are necessary to solve it.”

  “I see your point that such an arrival would be very effective,” said Melisande, “but it would also be a radical departure from the standard inconspicuous methods used by Telepath Units.”

  “Telepath Units normally work hard to deal with incidents quietly, and then cover up the fact they ever happened,” said Lucas. “We’ll have to adopt a totally different approach at the sea farm though. It’s impossible to cover up attacks when people have been aware of them happening for months. We can’t work unobtrusively because a crowd of strangers will be hugely conspicuous among the small sea farm population.”

  Lucas sighed. “Wherever we go, whatever we do, people will be watching us and talking about us. We have to accept that, embrace it, and use it to our advantage. My plan is to make sure our dramatic entrance is seen by the whole population of the sea farm, and follow that by making an announcement. Is there a way for the Admiral to broadcast a message to the whole sea farm?”

  Admiral Tregereth nodded. “The sea farm tradition is for their Admiral to make especially significant announcements by a live broadcast from the Harbour seawall. People will be expecting me to do that when I return to the sea farm. Would you like us to make the broadcast together?”

  “That seems the best arrangement,” said Lucas. “My aim is to convince the people of the sea farm that we aren’t strangers but powerful guardians of their safety. We’re fighting on their side, prepared to use any methods necessary to defend them.”

  Lucas paused. “Ideally, people will grudgingly accept one of those methods is using nosies to read their minds, but if not …”

  He pulled a face. “If the sea farm population is unrelentingly hostile to us, then we’ll have no choice but to evacuate. Should we find ourselves in that situation, I’m hoping our arrival with the fighter aircraft will have established us as being sufficiently terrifying that we’ll be able to leave without an outright battle with a mob.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  My Strike team and I had gone to the Level 67 beach to help Morton with a target. Now my whole unit was going to the sea farm to ensure he could have the operation needed to save his life. Gold Commander Melisande had been right about the members of my unit being willing to volunteer. The handful of people who had to stay at our unit, such as our park keeper, seemed disappointed to be left behind.

  When we arrived at the aircraft hangar, we found Admiral Tregereth was already there. Lucas went to discuss arrangements with him, while I stood watching a scene of frantic activity. Megan was organizing people into groups, and the Strike team were busily loading crates and assorted other luggage into our seven transport aircraft.

  I always felt useless at times like this. There were a hundred basic, organizational jobs to do, but nobody ever let me help with any of them. I noticed Buzz was sitting on one of a group of crates at the side of the hangar, and went over to sit next to her.

  She pulled a rueful face at me. “Megan won’t let me help with anything because my leg is still healing after the accident on the way back from Hive Futura.”

  I grinned. “Megan won’t let me help with anything because I’m the precious telepath.”

  Buzz laughed.

  We sat in companionable silence for a moment, and then I frowned and pointed at where Zak was sitting in a powered chair next to our medical staff. “Why is Zak coming to the sea farm with us? He’s supposed to have three more days of complete bed rest, followed by a week restricted to light duties.”

  “Zak’s coming with us because he couldn’t be left alone at our unit without any medical staff to monitor his recovery,” said Buzz. “Megan wanted to have him admitted to a nearby medical facility, but he refused to go.”

  “Why does Zak need to have medical staff monitoring his recovery?” I asked. “I thought his knife wound wasn’t serious.”

  “His wound isn’t serious,” said Buzz, “but it was inflicted with a blade that had been used to scrape sea creatures and filth from the wave tank mechanisms for years. It has to be carefully monitored for signs of infection.”

  “And what happens if it does get infected?” I asked anxiously.

  “There are perfectly effective treatments, but you’ll have to ask one of our medical staff if you want to know details about them. My imprint mostly covers psychology and sociological information, with only a limited amount of general medical knowledge.”

  I relaxed again. “It’s quite heroic of you all to volunteer to leave the safety of the Hive. I know you’ve done it before, but sometimes things are harder rather than easier the second time.”

  Buzz gave me one of her generously wide smiles. “You seem to be including me in the list of heroes, Amber, but not yourself. Why is that?”

  “Is this turning into a counselling session?” I asked.

  “It might be.”

  “We can’t have a counselling session in the middle of an aircraft hangar.”

  “We can have counselling sessions whenever and wherever you need them. Why didn’t you include yourself in the list of heroes, Amber?”

  “Things are different for me.”

  “I’d argue that things aren’t different for you, but worse for you,” said Buzz. “Lottery assigned almost everyone in this unit to work that was ideally suited to them. On a rare occasion like this, people may be asked to do something unusually demanding, but their work usually fills them with joyful satisfaction. There are only two exceptions. Two people with abilities unusual enough that Lottery assigned them to particular roles whether they were suited to them or not. You and me.”

  I blinked. “I hadn’t realized that you’re in the same situation as me. I knew Lottery found just under a thousand people a year who were borderline telepaths, and the Hive used them in Law Enforcement roles like counselling and forensic psychology. I didn’t think through the fact that meant they wouldn’t be considered for any other posts. You always seem so happy.”

  “I am happy. The Hive needs its borderline telepaths to fill certain specific posts, so Lottery is very limited in the posts it can assign us, but there are enough options to make most of us contented. We’re all imprinted for Law Enforcement counselling roles, but we can also be temporarily assigned to carry out other related work in the Hive. I love talking to people, so I enjoy counselling work. My post may not be entirely perfect, but the Hive rewards me in other ways.”

  She gave me a wicked grin. “I have the status of being Level 1, live in a luxurious apartment, and can indulge myself with all the fine clothes that I adore. Moving to your Telepath Unit to become your counsellor means facing some new challenges, but there’s the opportunity to develop my role in whatever way I wish.”

  “I’d n
oticed you weren’t just listening to the comms on our last run, but taking an active part in events.”

  Buzz laughed. “Yes, I’m hoping to persuade Lucas that my expertise could be of regular use to the operational side of the unit.”

  I was sure she’d succeed. After all the issues with Megan doing my counselling, Lucas was deeply relieved to have found an acceptable replacement counsellor to help me with the pressures of being a telepath. So long as Buzz’s first priority was my counselling, he wouldn’t object to her doing whatever other work she wanted.

  “I think my role here could be expanded to be deeply fulfilling professionally,” added Buzz, “and on the personal side there’s the advantage of you having so many deliciously handsome young men on your Strike team.”

  I frowned at her. “I thought you were in a relationship with Forge.”

  “Forge is the most deliciously handsome of all your Strike team, and we’re having a lot of fun.”

  “So you are in a relationship with him?”

  Buzz laughed again. “Amber, you don’t have to worry about me hurting your old friend. As I said, Forge and I are having a lot of fun. We’re both still dealing with some past emotional wounds, so we’re not building expectations about what’s happening between us.”

  I knew Forge had been hit hard by the ending of his relationship with Shanna, but it surprised me that carefree Buzz had past emotional wounds too. Buzz and I had an agreement that I wouldn’t read her mind, so we could keep our counselling sessions like two ordinary friends chatting about their lives. I waited to see if she’d say more about her past, but she returned to talking about Lottery assignments.

  “I’m genuinely happy, but there are still times when I have an insight into someone else’s mind that shows they have an extra level of pure delight in their work, and I envy them. You must be even more strongly aware of that than I am, because you aren’t limited to a meagre second or two of insight.”

  I grimaced. “It’s true that when Lucas solves a mystery, Adika catches a target, or Nicole successfully covers up an incident, they experience total elation. People don’t feel that way all the time though. They’re mostly concentrating on commonplace things like what to wear or eat.”

  “You just said we were in the same situation, Amber, but everything is taken to a greater extreme for you. Lottery didn’t choose the ideal post for me, only the best from among a very limited set of options, but you were assigned incredibly stressful work without any consideration at all for whether it suited you.”

  Something about this discussion was making me uncomfortable. “Why are we talking about this?” I asked.

  “Because the Hive uses luxuries to compensate us for these problems. You face vastly greater difficulties than I do, so your reward in luxuries is correspondingly greater. I’ve been aware for some time that a luxurious lifestyle was far less important for you than for me. When you came back from your last emergency run, you were looking blissfully happy with a Level 67 beach dress and the remnants of a cheese meal deal.”

  Buzz paused. “The thought occurred to me that you might actively dislike luxuries. Some people do prefer simplicity, so what the Hive intended as a reward might actually be punishing you. Would you be happier with a smaller, more basic apartment?”

  I ran my fingers through my hair. “I don’t think so. When I first arrived in my unit, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to cope with doing the work of a telepath. I thought my lavish apartment was intended as a bribe to persuade me to do that work, so it seemed to add to the pressure on me. I’m well past that stage now though, so it’s more what you said about importance.”

  I hesitated, trying to work out the best way to explain this. “I’d hate to go back to my life on Teen Level, living in one small room, and constantly having to work out what meals I can afford on my miserly allowance. I don’t know how I’d cope without Hannah cleaning and tidying up after me either. Forge must have told you how dreadfully untidy I was on Teen Level.”

  Buzz gurgled with laughter. “He’s made a few comments about it, but I’m sure he was exaggerating.”

  “He probably wasn’t. Anyway, only some aspects of the luxury lifestyle are important to me, but I don’t dislike the others. They just don’t matter one way or another.”

  “In that case, I have to consider another possibility,” said Buzz. “Are you pining for an ordinary, stress-free life? Do you wish you could run away and be an ordinary, low level member of the Hive?”

  I remembered the trip to the Level 67 beach, how I’d thought about the life I’d be leading if I wasn’t a telepath, and felt a sudden stab of guilt. There was some truth in what Buzz was saying. I had been pining a little for the ordinary life I might have had, but I didn’t want to run away to it.

  It wasn’t just that I’d gone through too many life-transforming experiences to change back into an ordinary Hive citizen again. How could I ever want to run away from the people in my unit who’d volunteered to go to Hive Futura and the sea farm with me? How could I ever want to run away from the Strike team who would give their lives to save mine? Above all, how could I ever want to run away from Lucas?

  “So you sometimes have wistful thoughts about the life you might have had, a life where you could be an ordinary girl and merge into the crowd, but you’d never want to run away from Lucas,” said Buzz.

  I gave her a stunned look. “You had an insight into my mind!”

  She gave that gurgling laugh again. “No. I’m convinced that borderline telepaths can never have a genuine insight into the mind of a true telepath. I just saw the wistful expression on your face and the way you turned to look at Lucas.”

  “Oh.” I blushed.

  “It’s barely eight months since you came out of Lottery, Amber. You had to deal with the shock of discovering you were a telepath and learn how to control your talent. Then you had to work on surviving the constant strain of reading troubled minds. It’s only now that you’re in a position to reflect on what’s happened to you.”

  Buzz shrugged. “I don’t think you’ll want to discuss your thoughts about the life you might have had with anyone else. You’ll be afraid of worrying them. You can talk to me about it at any time though. You don’t need to be afraid of worrying me, because I’ve often discussed this subject with other borderline telepaths.”

  I fought to hide my jealousy. Buzz could freely meet and talk with other borderline telepaths like her. My only contact with other true telepaths was the occasional furtive call.

  “Borderline telepaths are caught between two worlds,” said Buzz. “We are neither true telepaths nor ordinary members of the Hive. There are those who feel cheated by not having the full abilities of true telepaths. Others find that even their partial talent is a heavy burden.”

  She sighed. “Some borderline telepaths experience a lot of anger and resentment. I know true telepaths can feel that way too. Keith is frustrated by the way his ability fails at crucial moments. He tries to bottle up his emotions, but they burst out in fits of rage that cause huge problems for his unit members. If you’re experiencing similar emotions, Amber, please talk to me about them.”

  “I admit I’ve had a few wistful moments, but I don’t think I’m either angry or resentful. The thing that bothers me most is not being able to tell my parents the truth about my life. I keep having to cancel arrangements to visit them, and …”

  I broke off my sentence, groaned, and buried my face in my hands.

  “Is something wrong?” asked Buzz.

  I lifted my head again. “I’d forgotten I was supposed to take my mother on a shopping trip this afternoon. I’ve promised to take her shopping half a dozen times before and had to cancel at the last minute. Now I’ve got to call her to cancel yet again.”

  Buzz stood up. “I’d better leave you to call your mother then.”

  She headed off to join the group waiting by the aircraft designated Aerial seven. I took out my dataview, tapped at it, and my mother’s face appe
ared. I could tell from her resigned expression that she knew what I was going to say before I spoke.

  “I’m very sorry to cancel our shopping trip, but there’s an emergency. I hope you understand.”

  “I understand, Amber,” she said sadly. “You came out of Lottery as Level 1, and your father and I are only Level 27, so this was bound to happen.”

  I stared at her in horror. My mother thought I kept cancelling arrangements because I was Level 1 and didn’t want to keep in touch with my Level 27 parents.

  “This is nothing to do with the level difference,” I said urgently. “I have to cancel our trip because there’s an emergency at the sea farm. I’m taking my whole unit there to deal with it. Look at the aircraft!”

  I turned my dataview screen to show my mother a view of our transport aircraft, and heard her gasp. When I turned the screen back towards me, her face showed a mixture of shock and relief, which suddenly changed to fear.

  “You’re going to the sea farm? That means flying through Outside!”

  I needed to hide the fact I was a telepath from my parents because they’d always hated nosies. My current story was that my unit was some sort of Hive Defence unit dealing with enemy agents. Now I tried to reassure my mother about the risks of flying Outside, and made a silly mistake.

  “We’ll be flying to the sea farm, but we’ll be safe inside our transport aircraft, and we’ll have an escort of fighter aircraft as well.”

  “Fighter aircraft?” My mother gasped again. “You’re going to fight another Hive?”

  “No,” I said hastily. “The escort of fighter aircraft is just to impress some people at the sea farm.”

  My mother seemed slightly less frightened now, but extremely confused.

  “I can’t explain exactly what’s happening,” I said, “but there’s no need for you to worry about me flying through Outside.”

  She didn’t look convinced.

  I decided that I’d better end the call before I made things even worse, said my farewells, and gloomily put my dataview away. Despite what seemed like a continuous stream of emergencies, I must find time to go shopping with my mother soon.