gaian consortium 06 - zhore deception Read Online Free Page B

but not others.” A smile, one that didn’t fool Trinity a bit, and he continued, “Which is why we need you, Trinity. You see, one vital piece of information we’ve discovered is that the Zhore, while not precisely psychic, are a highly empathic race. Someone like Blake could never move amongst them undetected, because his talents lie in a different area. But you — you have powers that are similar to Blake’s, and yet you also are highly sensitive. This makes you a perfect candidate.”
    “Candidate for what?” she asked, her tone guarded. Despite her question, it really wasn’t too difficult to look past all the compliments and get to the meat of what he wanted.
    He wanted her to be a spy. But that had to be impossible. Even though the Zhore seemed to wear their hooded cloaks at all times, that still didn’t mean it would be safe for her, a human, to mingle with them. She’d be sure to be discovered, psychic powers or no.
    Gabriel shot her a knowing look, one that told her he could tell she’d already guessed what he wanted. And Blake was smiling slightly and rocking back on his heels, as if in anticipation at watching and sensing her reaction to what was coming next.
    Asshole. But at least he wasn’t actively intruding on her thoughts at the moment.
    “Simple enough, Trinity. We want you to go among the Zhore and observe them. For exactly how long depends on how well you integrate into their society. Using the data we’ve gathered from the specimen in our possession, we’ll perform a series of bio-mods that will make you visually indistinguishable from any other Zhore.”
    Bio-mods — well, anything beyond correcting vision problems and other congenital issues — were illegal, and had been banned ever since the Yangtze Outbreak in 2127, but Trinity had a feeling Gabriel Brant knew that and didn’t care. After all, it wasn’t as if the Consortium didn’t have a long history of overlooking its own laws whenever the situation called for it. Beyond that, though, her insides seemed to congeal into an icy mush at the thought of having her appearance, her very identity, erased so she could become some alien…thing.
    Not a thing, she told herself quietly, not caring if Blake Chu was listening in. A person. But not human. Not you.
    Her hands curled into fists at her sides, and she asked, “And if I refuse?”
    “That’s always your prerogative. As it’s ours to send you to the MaxSec on Titan and find a nice deep hole for you. Not too deep, though. Not so deep that the guards there couldn’t have a little fun. I’m sure they’d enjoy that. It’s not every day they get sent a pretty young woman, after all. And it gets lonely out there beyond the rings of Saturn.”
    She hadn’t been expecting anything other than that sort of response, but even so, the cold at her center seemed to intensify. Not much of a choice, was it? Be turned into something other than herself, or become a plaything for the prison’s guards. Part of her wanted to believe that wouldn’t happen, that even if she was sent to Titan, its personnel would be too professional for that sort of thing.
    There was a joke.
    Okay, then, she’d have to play Gabriel Brant’s game. How he ever expected her to pull off such an insane plan, she had no idea, but she supposed he’d delight in telling her, detail by excruciating detail.
    And if the worst happened, and the Zhore discovered she was an impostor?
    Seeing Gabriel’s self-satisfied smile and the expression of barely concealed glee on Blake Chu’s face as they both stared at her, Trinity had a feeling the aliens couldn’t do anything worse to her than her own government already had.
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    “You did not take your sabbatical,” Leizha said.
    Zhandar hadn’t even heard her approach. It had felt good to stand here in this rooftop garden and smell the flowers and the fresh breeze all around him. In that moment, he’d wished he didn’t have to be swathed in these robes, that he could let