Nemesis: Book Five Read Online Free Page B

now, they stared at him the way a dog does a piece of food—almost ravenously.
    "I need to know what they're capable of," he said. "I need to know everything you can tell me about them, what they're likely to do next, and what type of weaponry they'll use."
    Rigley nodded. "When?"
    She wanted this. She wanted to help. She wanted to keep pushing, to keep saving lives.
    Is that what you're doing?
    "We should start immediately."
    Rigley swallowed and closed her eyes. She thought the battle inside silenced for a moment during their conversation, but in the darkness of shut eyes, she realized that it wasn't leaving—that it might actually be heading toward its apex.

    * * *
    M orena saw Briten staring at her. Not her child, but her lover, the one lost.
    She hadn't seen him in … well, forever. Millions of years. The last time was when she put him in the ship, when she held him, before locking herself in.
    Where had he gone? The thought came to her as she looked at her dead husband. His body wasn't in the ship when it landed. She had been alone. No answer came to the question; perhaps The Makers knew, but Morena didn't.
    And yet, here he was, his red eyes finding her through his dancing aura.
    They stood ten feet from each other, and yet Morena couldn't move. She didn't feel weary, not like after her struggle with the Earth's core—she couldn't move because …
    You're dreaming, Morena .
    Something else she left behind on Bynimian. She didn't dream as she crossed the universe. None since she arrived here either; her mind had been silent, until now.
    You can't go to him because he is no more.
    Had she lost herself? Had she forgotten about him since showing up here? She left Bynimian, if not fully, then at least partly for him. And now, she came to this planet, this Earth, and hadn't looked for him at all. She let him fade from memory as she faced the problems of colonization.
    And what of him? Did you simply stop loving him because new pressures showed up? What about when the world was nearly collapsing on your neck—did he stop loving you, or did he sacrifice himself?
    Briten blinked in front of her, a single time. He didn't move either, only stood there with his perfect body, his god-like presence.
    They tried to save her world, together. They tried to live together, forever. All of that was gone now, with only her left to carry on—and looking at him now, Morena didn't know if she wanted to. She told her mother long ago what she would do to keep him, and now he was gone.
    "I'm sorry," she said, her voice barely escaping her lips. "I'm so sorry."
    Because he was dead, and she only saw a memory now; because she had let him go.
    "Please forgive me…."
    She stood and stared, for a long time, refusing to turn away and yet unable to go forward—all of her aching.

5
    Rigley's Mind
    T he paintbrush faced the floor , with red blood dripping to the white floor every few seconds. Sam squawked behind Rigley, an angry, hateful sound. None of the fun he possessed before. Rigley didn't feel much fun was left in this room; she certainly didn't feel that it contained the same qualities as when she first arrived: safety, security, a sense of home.
    The wall in front of her was a dark red, the color of dried blood. Yet, she couldn't quite see what she created; no matter how she turned her head or how far she moved forward or backward, the image appeared to be no more than a blob of red. Yet that wasn't what she had painted, and she knew it, even if she couldn't remember what it had been.
    "SHUT UP!" she screamed at the bird behind her. If Sam heard her, he didn't care; his incessant bleating continued.
    A large drop of sweat rolled down her forehead, caught briefly on her eyebrow, and then spilled to the floor, landing a few inches from the drying blood.
    It's hot.
    She hadn't thought about the temperature in here (Is that right? Didn't you notice the floor warming a little while ago?), but now it felt pressing. Because the room was heating