The Watchers: A Space Opera Novella Read Online Free Page B

It’ll go over terribly, he was sure. But, what if they could switch the babies at birth? Would the parents know? Make the switch the first night, when the parents slept? He’d talk it over with Alec when he got back.
    Sumiko, stood, chest heaving, blood running down her leg. “Karon? Baby?”
    “Take— take him. Leave.” Blood bubbled from Karon’s mouth. His left lung, punctured and filling with blood.
    “Karon— Karon, I can’t. I need you.”
    Branden cries. It is so bright and cold in here. There is no warm surrounding fluid. Instinctively, I dim his optical nerves and increase his thyroid for heat. He quiets.
    “Hurry, they’re coming,” Karon pleads. “I’ll find you. The vehicle—”
    No, they’re already in the building. The window .
    “The window, Sumy … the window. Go.” He hefts the gun. Time, he needs to give them time.
    Slip .
    ***
    “ Nooooo!” I scream at Official Delphine standing over me, disengaging me from the projector.
    She taps the timer. “Four hours, that’s the limit.”
    “Send me back!”
    She rips one of the neural patches off my scalp, a quick tight burning sensation lingers.
    It only infuriates me more. “Stop it! Four hours is the standard, not a limit.” I take the patch back, and attach it to my skull. “Power it back on. Now. Let’s go! There’s no time to waste.”
    “No. Four hours, that’s the rule.”
    “Who’s the Watcher here? You want information? Then do your damn job and get out of the way!”
    Ka-tish . The door opens. Renya rushes in. “What’s going on? Emre, are you well?”
    “No,” I say. “I need to go back, I wasn’t done.”
    She stands there for a second, her brows furrowed as she takes me and the official in. “Official Delphine, could you please excuse us?”
    “No,” Delphine says. She folds her arms in front of her. “I am not to leave this room under any circumstances.”
    I consider attacking her. Her left knee looks weak.
    Renya rushes forward to my side, placing herself between me and the official. Her hands are cool against my arms. Can she read my mind ? “Emre,” she says soothingly, “calm yourself, breathe—”
    “But—”
    “Breathe.”
    I breathe in through my nose, focus on keeping it steady, out through the mouth. I close my eyes.
    “Keep your eyes open. Stay here.”
    I obey and continue to breathe. The ‘keeping the eyes open’ comment was both to keep my eyes open and to remind me that we’re being monitored. After several minutes, I feel calmer, but I can’t stop worrying about Branden.
    When Renya sees I’m calmer, she says, “Now, let’s debrief. Come.”
    I slowly and deliberately remove the rest of the neural patches and stand. I stretch my back, crack my neck. Without looking at the official I walk out of the room with Renya behind me.
    The official moves to follow us, but Renya turns back. “You’re not allowed to leave this room, remember?” I couldn’t see Renya’s face, but I hear the smirk all the same.
    The official stops, clearly torn. She settles on moving back into the room toward the communicator.
    Renya catches up to my side, and we start walking through the stark, sterile hallways. She fiddles with her forearm display. “We’re now acoustically cloaked, their sensors cannot detect what we’re saying. We need to keep moving to avoid suspicion, and while they can’t hear us, they can still see our lips moving.”
    “Understood. And … uh.” I look at her forearm.
    “The dampener hardware is hidden in your quarters and the software is a small part of the next patch upgrade, that can be downloaded at any point. But I suggest waiting until you have the hardware, there seems to be an issue with the bio-driver syncing before the hardware is there.
    “Now, what was that back there? You almost attacked her.”
    “I— I—” I shake my head. “I don’t know, I just panicked.”
    “You went too deep again didn’t you? How many?”
    “One—”
    “One! Damnit, you