The Dark Imbalance Read Online Free Page B

questions?”
    She held his gaze for a moment, then let it wander back to the screen. “On the way here, I talked to Maii. She told me in detail everything she’d picked up from the irikeii before he died. She says...” Roche sought the words, not sure she herself understood everything the young reave had told her. “She says that the irikeii was like a pit, sucking in thoughts. For him, minds were lights, or suns, and he was the black hole dragging them in. He experienced the universe through the minds around him, like a reave but with less selectivity; he experienced everything at once, all at once—which was why the Kesh and Linegar Rufo had him kidnapped. Once Palasian System had been enclosed he was able to search it thoroughly. And nothing could hide from him.”
    “Not even a clone warrior,” said Cane.
    Roche nodded. “In theory.”
    “It makes sense,” Cane went on. “Had it worked, the advantage might have outweighed the inevitable backlash.”
    “It did work. To the irikeii, Jelena Heidik and you stood out like supernovae, by far the brightest things he had ever seen. He called you ‘The Shining Ones.’ “
    “We radiate thought,” mused Cane. “Is that what he meant?”
    She studied him closely; he was still frowning, although now apparently at the puzzle posed by the irikeii, not at her. “Possibly,” she said. “But we have no evidence to back it up.”
    “So...?”
    “So there’s more to it than that.” Roche leaned forward slightly in her seat. “Maii says that one of the irikeii’s last impressions was of your mind while under the influence of Xarodine. He was aware of a dark space behind the glare—a dark space similar to the one inside his own mind. He thought you and he might have had a lot in common.”
    “I don’t see how that follows.”
    “Obviously the metaphor is strained.” She couldn’t tell if Cane was prevaricating. “As far as I can understand it, he thought that you too could absorb thoughts from the people around you. You’re a sponge, soaking everything up. And the glare he described—”
    “Was just a form of camouflage?” Cane finished. “Something to hide our epsense ability?”
    Roche nodded slowly. “Something like that, yes.”
    “I am unaware of any such ability, Morgan,” Cane said evenly.
    “But how can I be sure you’re telling the truth ? How do I know you’re not reading my mind right now?”
    “Because I give you my personal assurance, Morgan.”
    She studied him for a few moments. He was perfectly still, hands folded in his lap, eyes not leaving hers for an instant. Even at rest, the air of strength remained with him. She had seen how fast he could move; she knew what he was capable of. And having witnessed what his siblings could do if they turned against the people around them, she was reluctant to trust him without reservation. She needed reassurance.
    “That’s all well and good,” she said, “but I still can’t help wondering. Heidik knew we were coming here; she even knew when. I can’t believe it was just a good guess—so who told her? The COE squadron we left behind at Palasian System might have sent word to expect us, but how would she have got hold of that information? We were less than a day behind her. That’s not long enough to infiltrate the COE presence here. We haven’t even found them yet.
    “And I keep thinking of that dark speck—and Maii. She’s proof that epsense ability can be bioengineered. If you were made to blend in and to fight, what better way could there be to gather intelligence than to act as an irikeii —passively absorbing data from the minds of the people around you? Even if you couldn’t actually read minds, you could at least see and hear through them—and maybe even communicate with others like yourself. If these black specks linked up somehow, you could share information, talk, plan, whatever you needed without anyone knowing.”
    “Yes— if ,” said Cane. “But ask yourself