Keystones: Altered Destinies Read Online Free Page B

been like missing a limb. Baldstone was only in the periphery of his vision as he looked at the device. It was a small tablet model, similar to others that he’d used. Not powerful, but functional. He was certain that it had been released since he’d been jailed. He also knew that it was more than he needed for whatever test she had in mind. “What do you want me to do?” he inquired.
    “This Uplink is password-protected. There are two accounts in my name at two different banks on Callisto. One has no funds; the other has ten thousand dollars in it. I want you to transfer the money from one account to the other without tripping any alarms.” She cleared her throat and nodded at him. “You are to do this through that door without touching the Uplink.” She pulled up a timer on the Uplink’s screen. “You have less than a minute.” Her finger pressed the screen.
    Cay didn’t know how to explain his power. He simply reached toward things with his mind, and they did his bidding. Not having been able to practice in a year, he worried for the briefest of moments that he was out of practice. As his mind concentrated on the Uplink, the familiar touch of quantum-photonic circuits banished all such concerns.
    The encryptions meant to keep him out were weak things, somewhat like an army of newborn puppies assigned to stop a tiger. It felt so good to interface again. Cay’s desire to impress competed with his desire to continue interfacing, but the former prevailed.
    When Baldstone’s finger hit the timer, it failed to start. She looked at it confused and tapped it again.
    Cay coughed into his hand and said, “Done.”

The Unlocking

    Before his imprisonment Cay had never thought that he could be so excited about anything, but seeing a man cut open his cell door had been bliss. He’d hopped from one foot to another as he waited for him to finish.
    Helena Baldstone had been waiting for him with an itinerary, and she’d taken him from his cell to a spaceship with no stops in between. Cay had been surprised to find out that his assignment wasn’t in the Callisto habitat. It was in the Oort Cloud. He’d never left Callisto, but he was out of confinement and could use his ability again. That was all he cared about.
    Small though it was, the ship on which he was berthed was much larger than his home for the past year. During the trip he was given an endless supply of files that were considered difficult to decrypt, but they weren’t. The files’ contents were junk, but the thrill of using his ability again after so long was electric. He was also given a simulator for a spaceship with a very strange configuration. Cay couldn’t figure out why something so small that it required passengers to wear EVA suits would be at all desirable.
    Reveling in his freedom, Cay didn’t mind the travel time or the new people, new food, new clothes, new codes, and new rooms. Every day spent not staring at a ceiling was a great day.
    After a month in transit he was still delighted by his new circumstances, but even more delighted to reach their destination, FAME Station 5. Upon disembarking he was surprised by just how minimalist it was. It was as though the designer of his cell had been asked to design a space station. There were no decorations or frills. Everything was purely functional and devoid of aesthetic considerations.
    Other small things threw him as well. For example, the lights were a different color than he was used to. On Callisto all of the lights in public spaces were a uniform color; the same was true here, but it was a different color. It was a small thing, trivial even, but it kept him aware of just how far from home he was. The air tasted and smelled funny too, another change that he’d not expected.
    Cay had noticed such disparities on the ship but had been willing to put them down to the vagaries of shipboard life. He could have asked someone about them, but he didn’t want to draw attention to his inexperience or