Page 17 of Advance and Retreat (Dark Empire #6)

T he entity wearing Cassidy’s image wasn’t quite identical to her. The second Cassidy wasn’t pregnant. Instead, she cradled a tiny baby in her arms.

“I have a question for you, Dr. Hamilton.” The tone continued to be quiet, confidential.

“Yes?” Cassidy whispered, as if from the depths of a dream.

“Should you discover the child you carry might become as vicious as those you call Darks, would you kill it too?”

Cassidy slowly stood, her gaze centered on the naked infant. It was a girl, her head topped by a shock of jet-black hair. Her Kalquorian purple eyes watched her with the same clinical consideration as her other self. From a great distance, she heard herself croak, “My emperor?”

“Yes, Doctor?” Egilka’s polite but distant tone indicated he was coming out of his own fog, probably because he was deep in concentration. It was followed by a surprised shout. A crash informed Cassidy his stool had tipped and fallen to the floor.

She recovered from her own shock enough to interrogate her doppelganger. “The All. Is it your child...or a creature of your making? Is that what you’re telling me by your question? Is that why you haven’t destroyed it?”

The second Cassidy, no doubt a representative of the Other, ignored her inquiry. Instead, she said, “You won’t defeat it. Many more advanced than the species of this dimension have tried.”

“Have you ?” Cassidy challenged. Motion at the corner of her vision told her Egilka was hurrying around their shared worktable, trying to reach her in the probable effort to keep her safe.

“We’ve had no need to oppose the All. It can’t touch us.”

“Us? Then you aren’t considered a single unit like— shut up !” Cassidy turned her head to shout at the imprisoned Darks, which were clamoring wildly in her skull and making it hard to think.

Egilka uttered another wordless yell as he joined her. She returned her focus to where her double stood, only to find she’d disappeared.

––––––––

I n a matter of minutes , the lab was full of people. Most of them were the grim, red-armored Royal Guards. Cassidy had to bite her tongue to keep from telling the glowering Nobek security contingent to stay clear of her equipment.

“Can we safely assume Dr. Hamilton was speaking to the Other?”

Cassidy could understand Empress Jessica’s insistence on confirmation, but the concerns of the Imperial Clan and her clanmates could be restated only so many times before it wore on her nerves.

Ease up, moody pregnant woman. Forcing patience to the fore, she answered, “As there are no known entities capable of assuming another’s identity, I have to presume we can. The Darks Emperor Egilka and I were working on were beside themselves when my double showed up. They demanded I kill it.”

“Really?” Emperor Bevau’s stunning face appeared impressed. “Sounds like a rousing endorsement of a potential ally to me.”

“The second Cassidy didn’t speak as if she was sympathetic enough to help us defeat the All. She sounded as if she didn’t care.” Jessica’s elfin features creased in a frown.

“She cared sufficiently to warn me twice to come to terms for the end of our civilization,” Cassidy said. “It seems important to her. Or him. Them? Remember, the Other took on Emperor Egilka’s likeness also.”

“Why show itself to you?” Her Nobek clanmate Lidon’s tone was quiet.

It was the kind of quiet that betrayed he was furious.

He stood with an absolute stillness that put the implacable Royal Guards to shame, another hint he was inwardly raging.

Not a single muscle of his composed features twitched.

No doubt she and Tranis were in for a major blowup later as to why he hadn’t been told Cassidy had been approached by the Other previously.

She set her chagrin aside. “Because I’m experimenting on the Darks? There’s been evidence of interest where my work is concerned.”

“Or because you’re pregnant.” Her Imdiko clanmate Degorsk was scowling. His temper tended to be flashier than Lidon’s, but he too was holding it together for the moment. “It’s brought up the baby each time...and even appeared as you holding a baby.”

“It seems to regard your attempt to find a way to destroy the All at odds with creating life,” Jessica mused.

Cassidy thought the empress might be right. The Other did act as if it found the dichotomy curious, if nothing else.

“I wish it had answered the question on whether or not it and the All are somehow connected,” Tranis mused.

“I don’t get the sense the Other truly cares about the fate of the All despite the questions it asks,” Cassidy told them.

“It’s so detached in mannerisms, but maybe it isn’t used to emotions as we experience them.

When it held out the baby for me to look at, it was almost as if it was showing me an object it had picked up off the ground.

” She reconsidered as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

“Or something it believed I’d respond to.

I think it wanted to gauge my reaction to the baby. ”

Emperor Clajak ran fingers through the thick waves of his steel-gray hair, his handsome features troubled as he drew up straight. All attention immediately riveted on him, though he hadn’t spoken yet. His simplest gesture commanded the room.

Cassidy thought the Dramok ruler had aged significantly since the advent of the All.

He wasn’t elderly by any means, and he certainly didn’t appear old, but he possessed a careworn sense not present a year prior.

She noted how his clanmates’ expressions tightened slightly, as if they too were concerned over the grave responsibilities weighing on him.

When he did speak, his tone was threaded by quiet strength. No sign of doubt. He smiled at Cassidy. “Whatever the reason the Other has decided to communicate, it remains we must be in readiness for their next visit. Even if they won’t help us, they have information that could prove useful.”

“They don’t seem willing to share anything,” Degorsk muttered.

“But they have. They told us the Other can’t be touched by the All and the species of its dimension did fight it.”

“And failed,” Egilka sighed.

“It’s intelligence we didn’t have,” Clajak insisted. “We also know your and Dr. Hamilton’s work won’t lead to the All’s destruction.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because the Other went through her files, and they still insist we won’t defeat it.”

“We’d decided the matter ourselves,” Cassidy said. “We’re soon to move on to biopsies of tissue samples. I wonder what the Other will think of when we do so.”

Clajak grinned. “I’m interested in the response as well. More importantly, the Other has chosen to communicate with Dr. Hamilton. Those lines of communication must remain open. Let’s talk about how we can invite the Other to give us information...and maybe convince it we’re worth helping.”

* * * *

A lpha Space Station

Stacy cleared her throat as the floor director for the broadcast crew counted the interviewer down until they went live on air. She straightened in her chair and let a gentle smile settle on her lips.

Blythe Nelson, her pixie features disarmingly innocent, beamed at the vid recorder as the floor director stepped back, indicating they were transmitting the feed.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Blythe Nelson speaking to Governor Stacy Nichols, coming to you live from Alpha Space Station, orbiting Earth Two.

” Exhibiting an ease that brought Stacy a pang of jealousy, Blythe smoothly turned to her.

“First and foremost, Governor, how are you almost two weeks after the vaccination against the virus devastating humans, popularly known as Dark Death?”

As a reporter, Blythe had been a thorn in Stacy’s side more times than she wanted to remember.

It wasn’t because the lovely blonde was particularly aggressive, but she gave no quarter when she smelled a story.

Though she was currently wearing a friendly and encouraging expression, Stacy was on her guard.

“I’m doing quite well, thanks. I’ve been posting a live diary each day to show my constituents how the vaccine’s been treating me.”

“Yes. You had a couple of rough days following the injections. How intense were the side effects?”

“I won’t pretend it was fun and games,” Stacy chuckled. “A slight fever, severe fatigue, and a bit of a runny nose, which is why you might hear me cough on occasion. Fortunately, the doctors and researchers have given me the all-clear. I’m excited to return to Earth very soon.”

Blythe addressed the vid recorder again.

“I’d like to note despite broadcasting from the Kalquorian station orbiting Earth, it’s an all-Earther crew working for me.

We had to prove we were free of infection and Dark influence through a very strenuous boarding procedure.

We’ll be repeating a similar check before we’re allowed back on Earth. ” She glanced at Stacy.

“As is proper, given the current state of things.”

“Despite these safeguards, you specifically asked for us and not the Kalquorian vid crew to do the interview. Why?”

“I want to promote how comfortable I am to return to Earth and be among my fellow humans again. I’m ready to be released from quarantine.

” Stacy chose to grin at Blythe. “Anyone who’s seen me field your questions in the past knows you cut me no slack, Ms. Nelson.

I couldn’t think of a better reporter to challenge the validity of the new vaccine for the benefit of those who have voiced doubts. ”

Blythe laughed. “We have had our moments, Governor. As a subject of the trial, you’ve actually been exposed to Dark Death to see how effective the vaccine is. How did it go?”

“I came up positive for it a day after I was exposed. The consequences were the same as those of the vaccine’s side effects: slight fever, fatigue, and coughing. But the symptoms were significantly less. Two days later and ever since, I’ve tested negative. The vaccine works.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Are you aware of how your fellow test subjects did?”

“For this round, it was much the same. A few had symptoms worse than me, and some had no symptoms at all. No one was ill enough to require hospitalization. At the extreme end, three people spent a couple days in bed.”

“How soon can we hope to see the vaccines available to everyone on Earth?”

“Final testing and production are being fast-tracked to protect our people. Our hope is to begin inoculating the public at large in a couple of weeks, a month at the latest.”

“You seem excited about it.”

“I’m thrilled for us to get better and return to our lives.

The researchers who made this happen are heroes.

” She turned down the voltage of her smile to acknowledge the sober aspects of the situation.

“I only wish more could have been saved. We can celebrate the end of Dark Death’s fatal run, but there is a lot of mourning to be done in the coming weeks and months. ”

Blythe nodded. “The tragedy won’t be forgotten any time soon. You’ll be returning to Earth tomorrow, you said. It will be your first day as elected governor, at least on the planet. I want to ask you...”

The reporter’s voice faded to the background as Stacy noted over Blythe’s shoulder that Kuran, who was present as always as her bodyguard, was moving from his post. His expression was intent, which on his handsome but feral features, left him looking ferocious.

He slid noiselessly behind the three vid production techs manning their console, where they adjusted vid and audio levels as needed.

“Governor?”

Stacy ignored Blythe’s prompt for her to answer the question she’d missed. Something had raised Kuran’s hackles. She lifted a hand to quiet the reporter.

Perhaps her attention on the tech on the right, the young man Kuran had zeroed in on, made him realize he’d been caught. His gaze lifted to Stacy’s as he reached beneath the production console.

“Blaster!” Kuran shouted at the same instant he moved.

Stacy dove for Blythe. “Get down!”

She knocked the reporter to the floor and hit the ground herself as shouts rang out.

There was a scream of pain. The women looked up from where they’d landed to see Kuran slamming the tech to the ground.

A member of station security, who’d been near the door, grabbed a small human-sized blaster a few feet from them.

Kuran must have knocked it out of the would-be assailant’s hand when he’d grabbed him.

Blythe glanced at Stacy as she allowed her up. The damned woman appeared excited rather than terrified.

“I realize you probably won’t continue the interview, but do you have a comment on what just happened?” the reporter invited.

“Lady, he could have shot you trying to get at me.”

“Yeah, thanks for getting me out of the way, Governor. Definitely a heroic moment, and we got it on camera. I owe you, especially since he was on my crew. New guy, so I can’t tell you much about him. So...comment?” Blythe practically wiggled from eagerness.