Page 116 of Border Control

I bare my teeth at them.

“He’s awake,” one of them intones, putting his veralash away. Judging from the throb on my scales, he must have whipped me with it to shock me into my body.

“He wasn’t asleep, he was away,” the Apex mumbles. His Bases grab hold of my legs, forcing me to face the psychic. “Batch number 8774-3D0M, I’m here to extract your confession of murder.”

“You won’t find anything,” I tell him.

The Apex shoves into my mind none too gently, as if he was expecting a massive shield up against him, and crashes into the mind-sync between me and Law-rah.

That I won’t allow. I spit at him aloud, “Get out.”

‘Who are you?’Law-rah snaps.

The Apex is shocked silent, his Bases gasping in a ripple as they too see Law-rah.

“You synced with a female?” one of them breathes.

“Yes.” I bite off the word. “Get out of the connection, respect her privacy.”

‘Get out of him entirely,’Law-rah snaps back.

The Parthiastocks fall to their knees with a clang in the metal cell.

‘What is it with Parthiastocks and their knees?’my human mutters.

One of the Bases presses his face to the floor.‘Female, we regret we have orders from the Prif. We cannot obey you.’

‘We will each take ten lashes in penance,’the other adds.‘Now, 3D0M, open your mind to my Apex. He’s none too gentle with those who resist.’

‘I’m open and willing—’I begin, when Law-rah hisses.

‘He’s not saying—or thinking!—anything without his lawyer present. What questions do you have for my client?’

The Bases cower from Law-rah's sharp voice, but the Apex comes forward.‘Give me all your memories surrounding your mission to rescue Katyen Al Aura and any interaction with said esteemed female.’

I'm about to comply when Law-rah slams up a shield between us and him. It's a small shield, something an Apex could mentally step over without issue, but the fact she threw one up makes me stumble. She's improving.

But Law-rah doesn't seem to notice, saying,‘The best thing here is to establish exactly what type of information they're requesting, so we don't give them everything but still comply with their inquiry.’

I suppress a smile.‘Or, I can do this.’

Letting go of all my barriers is hard when I'm in pain suspended above hostile Parthiastocks who won't hesitate to kill me, but easy when I'm sharing with Law-rah. I let the memories slam into the Apex because he can handle it, and gently guide Law-rah above the rush so she can see without being overwhelmed.

Ilia saying we have a new mission. Gara trying to isolate what she needs by sniffing a sample from the female, theninhaling deep lungfuls of air on whatever planet we land on. Nevare, Arik and I keeping watch for sentient life forms, navigating around clusters of intelligence. Arture piloting us tirelessly, desperation rising with each planet hop. Soon Ilia orders us to take useful resources so we can return with something at least, but then the dreaded call comes.

We’d failed. She'd died. We had to return to Oloria.

‘But how is it your fault?’Law-rah asks, puzzled.

‘It isn't,’I agree with her.

The Apex sifts through the memories.‘Nothing here to suggest poison. No contact with the female Katyen Al Aura at all.’

‘Good, at least there's that.’Law-rah's mental voice simmers, her anger building up.

Anger on my behalf. It's endearing, seeing her get ready to fight for me, a mere Base.

‘You’re not a mere Base.’