Page 10

I think that the therapists at Z-Corp can make the arrangements. Or we can just ask Zera for an active who can exchange sensory information while remaining distant from it. Cadence smiled. Helen is one that springs to mind.

Zera nodded. When do you want to do this?

Sooner rather than later. She seems to have built a construct where the entire family was against her, but that wasn t me. That never could be me. I just wasn t allowed to speak.

Raek said, I will come with you. Kritz can run me through his machines again.

Im-bar came in, and Raek caught her up. She nodded. Arcady s behaviour was very much that of a child trying to keep attention, which must have been awkward for Cadence as I was giving her a very delicate and potentially painful insertion.

Kritz said his goodbyes to his wife and said, Arcady can t directly have children, and my sperm are being difficult. We can t get a living embryo.

Cadence looked to Raek. He answered, Show her the files. She can help.

Kritz paused. What?

When we are at your lab, give her an egg and a sample to work with and see what happens.

Zera blinked. What can she do?

Cadence sighed. Harmony, but I have to be naked while I work.

Raek chuckled. Her pulse will make the sperm behave and make the egg receptive just as she did in your lab the first time. I watched the footage.

Zera blinked. Is that why the other attempts didn t work?

Cadence looked to Kritz. Is your semen silver as well?

He nodded slowly.

I should be able to manage it, but it will risk an egg. Did you have any left from the first collection?

We still have ten left. Arcady has named them all.

If she will risk one, I can try and work with it.

Zera blinked. You will lock them together?

No, I will slow one and speed up the other until they are working at the same frequency. They will be compatible from there.

Raek chuckled. I would offer to help, but my harmony is wrong. It s too slow for what you need.

Salmet blinked. So, it s true. In theory, a harmonic could bring peace.

Raek looked at Cadence. Well, I could not, but I believe that Cadence has the capability that will grow over time.

You have a lot of weird fantasies about an activation that just got to be itself today. She looked back at him.

What did you do with Maximus?

She sighed. Practiced. He was hostile when I got there. We worked things out.

He nodded. That falls within what I expected.

Im-bar said softly, When he was young, he tried to make things get along, but he couldn t change their impulses. Having read Cadence s file, she does that in every project she touches. All of her campaigns are presented without any conflict, as long as she is in the room.

Cadence shifted on Raek s lap. It is harder through clothing that hurts. The effect doesn t go as far.

Zera blinked. I don t understand why it hurts.

Raek lifted his hands and held them a foot apart.

If her energy moves like a particle and a wave, it leaves her body and strikes the non-cooperative surface, which sends it back to a different place on her skin, which rejects it, until her entire body is wrapped in what feels like fibreglass.

It is constant, and she has gotten used to it, but it does not mean that she can work normally through it.

Zera cocked her head. What are you wearing?

Im-bar smiled. It is a triple-brushed cotton that I made for Raek so he could rest at home. It is very kind to the energy waves they put out.

With some of Maximus s fibres woven in as the thread.

Salmet asked, Who is Maximus?

There was a woof from outside the room, and then the door flew open. Kritz jumped to his feet, Salmet turned silver, and Cadence smiled. Oh, come here, my big, brave boy.

Maximus walked over to them and lay on the ground, putting his head on her lap.

Raek smiled. I found him in an Erradian wasteland and took him home. He s some sort of wolf or something crafted by a Urradan bomb or both. I keep him in a harmonic dimension, but Cadence likes him, and I think he will make a good companion for her.

Im-bar smiled. Raek raised him, and aside from the tremendous food bill, he s very easy to have around.

Maximus settled at her feet.

She smiled and felt very safe for the first time in her memory. Raek s energy was pulsing with hers, he had her back, and Maximus was between her and danger. She felt something and paused, looking at Raek.

He smiled. I felt it.

She relaxed.

Im-bar cocked her head. It s moving?

Just a little flutter.

Raek smiled. But it has started. Thank Salat and his Khytten for me, please.

Cadence sat and waited for the next flutter. She grinned when it happened.

Zera smiled. I am relieved for you. So many actives lose the pregnancy early.

Raek asked, They do?

It has risen to sixty percent. Power mismatch is the suggested culprit.

That is not the case here; we blended beautifully on first contact.

Cadence looked at him. No additional contact without pizza and a movie.

He grinned and hugged her.

Zera snorted.

Cadence frowned. I am learning to date. What is funny about that?

Zera paused. Oh. Well, with your sister being Arcady, I assumed you had more of a social interest.

Cadence looked at her. I don t. Didn t. My social interaction is so limited as to be non-existent.

Zera blinked. Really. Oh. That will disappoint some of the patrons who were hoping you would progress to working in a more front-facing role for the BDC.

No. Not ever.

Zera sighed. Your department misses you.

Cadence scowled. You brought me this contract, you persuaded me to take it, and now you wish I were still at work? My head hurts.

Zera leaned back.

Raek murmured, If you are trying to persuade her to take other men, if they don t have her frequency, one of them will be injured, and I know which one I want it to be.

Salmet cleared her throat. Zera wants to have it all. It hurts her to see a useful potential escort get away. She will get over it.

Cadence stroked Maximus s fur, and he went boneless against her, his jaw on her lap.

Raek chuckled. Is there anything else we need to discuss?

Salmet paused. Now that we have upheld our end, will you return to duty?

When I am back in condition. I have been asleep for a while. I should be mobile in three or four weeks. Do I have to qualify?

If you wouldn t mind. Salmet smiled. We are hoping you would take a placement on our international team.

Not yet. I will be on standby for it, but I am not going to be the first response. If it is necessary for me to go, I will, but I am about to be a father. I am not leaving for weeks on end. Cadence does not need that.

Cadence smiled. Can I invite a friend when you aren t here? She looked at Im-bar as well, and she nodded.

Of course. Just give Im-bar the name and information so she can run credentials and confirm clearance.

She would think that s hilarious. Leska Haring.

Salmet blinked. She s human?

She s human. She s been my friend since I was taking courses. She also works for Z-Corp s accounting department. She s good with numbers. She picked up her com and typed a message on the screen, warning Leska that the probe was gonna happen.

Leska replied immediately. Oh, thank goodness, I was worried when you stopped coming into work, but since no one was worried, I guessed it was a company thing.

Cadence bit her lip. Sort of. I am surrogating. So, if you want to see me in the next nine months, you have to come to me. Hence, the security check.

Gotcha. I won t make up a colourful history. Promise.

Cadence smiled. She s good with the check.

Im-bar started working on her tablet. She paused. She really is human. Raised in foster care. She works out at the gym and does volunteer displays at schools and other events.

Raek asked, What kind of displays?

Cadence smiled. She does niche gymnastics that are like ballet in the air, to show kids that if they don t develop an activation, it isn t the end of what they can do. Also, it reinforces that a strong body has an easier time adapting to an activation. She sighed. It s beautiful.

Im-bar gasped. Oh, that is lovely. It s like she can fly.

Salmet got up and went to look at the tablet. Oh, I have seen her! She is at the performances for scholarships to some of the active training schools.

Zera got up and looked. Do you think she could teach that to some of the escorts?

I don t think so. They have plenty of active trainers to choose from. Please don t pick on her at work.

Zera paused. Fine. But this kind of talent should be shared.

And she is sharing it, for education and charity. Plus, anyone trying it has to be able to lift their own body weight with their fingers. It limits applicants to learn.

Oh. Right. I don t remember her.

Cadence yawned. She s a human working in accounting. Of course you don t.

Zera looked a little embarrassed. Right. Well, it looks like it has been an eventful day for you.

A few days, yes.

Raek whispered in her ear, Just the one, please.

Ah. Right. Meeting Maximus was the highlight of my week.

The dog huffed and wiggled happily. It was a lot of wiggling.

She covered her mouth as she yawned again, and Raek simply got to his feet and said, I will return in a moment.

He carried her with an ease that made her doubt that he needed recovery time. Maximus followed them, and she yawned again.

She leaned against Raek. Growing a person is tiring.

Especially when you have had an exciting day.

He carried her to the second floor and to the room where she had been directed when she arrived. He set her on the floor next to the bed. Raek kissed her forehead and said, Get some sleep. I have to discuss things with the prefect.

Okay. Thanks for coming to get me after you threw a tantrum. She smiled.

Thanks for agreeing to get the child to the safe zone.

He smiled and stroked her cheek. Let Maximus sleep in here with you. It will give me peace of mind until I share your bed.

She nodded. He and I are bed buddies already.

I will have to have a chat with him about territory.

She yawned. Not tonight. I have to brush my teeth and get some sleep. The baby pulled the power from me.

He kissed her cheek and left her. She went to brush her teeth under guard by a huge canine. She was a woman of her word after all.