Lingering discord, p.1
Lingering Discord, page 1
NIRANJAN K
First published by Geetha Krishnan 2022
Copyright © 2022 by Niranjan K
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Niranjan K (Geetha Krishnan) asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.
Editing by Fair Editions
Cover Design by Christian Willmanns (Taurus Colosseum Front Row)
Formatted by Fair Editions
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prelude
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty one
Twenty two
Twenty three
Twenty four
Twenty five
Twenty six
Twenty seven
Twenty eight
Twenty nine
Thirty
Thirty one
Thirty two
Thirty three
Thirty four
Thirty five
Thirty six
Thirty seven
Thirty eight
Thirty nine
Forty
Forty one
Forty two
Forty three
Forty four
Forty five
“T
hat’s a futile exercise you know.” The voice that spoke was refined, precise, enunciating each word clearly. “You cannot get drunk. Not on that.”
Toshi lifted his eyes from the glass he was holding to the speaker, his brows furrowing in confusion and warning bells ringing in his head as he saw the tall figure and met the green eyes that held sympathy. He didn’t understand that expression and that made him wary.
“Lane,” he said, surprised that he felt no anger, and that there was no heat in his tone. “Some nerve you have, showing up here.”
Lane slid into the opposite chair, pushing a small bottle towards him. “Try this. A friend made it for me once. It can help even someone like us get drunk.”
“It can’t poison me in any case,” Toshi murmured as he pulled the bottle towards him and opened it to sniff it. “What in the four planets is this stuff?”
Lane shrugged. “Never asked, but I have the recipe. He gave it to me since he knew he wasn’t going to be around to make it for me forever.”
Toshi poured some into the glass in front of him and drank it straight. “You’re right,” he said, grudgingly. “This does do something.” He paused. “I could arrest you. Why are you here?”
“I heard about what happened,” Lane said quietly, his voice softening. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Toshi turned his face away. He didn’t know why he didn’t strike out in anger, why he didn’t yell, why he didn’t tell Lane to go fuck himself.
“Just that, eh?” he asked, instead.
Lane rose. “And to bring you that. It can bring a temporary oblivion, but in the long run . . .” He shrugged, placed a light hand on Toshi’s shoulder. Toshi nearly jerked away, despite wanting to lean into the warmth. He had felt nothing but cold of late. “I’ve had a similar loss, so I thought you might need oblivion, at least for today.”
He walked away, and Toshi stared after him before turning his attention back to the bottle. Not for a second did he think Lane’s motives were altruistic. But he was not in the mood to figure out what they might have been. Even if Lane was attempting to poison him, even if it worked, it didn’t matter. Not anymore. He might even welcome death if such a thing was possible for him anymore. He wasn’t sure how Lane had learned of Misaki’s death, when no one was supposed to know.
What did it matter anyway?
He poured himself another glass. Lane was right. It worked. He was already slightly drunk. The bottle was more than half full and the night was young. He poured more into the glass. Oblivion was all he had to look forward to right now, and it took him faster than expected, before the bottle was empty.
When he woke, he was still in the bar, with a crick in his neck, and a numbness on one side of his face from where it had been resting on the metal surface of the table all night. His mouth felt like sandpaper, and his head felt as if it was being cut open. He cracked open an eye and winced, closing them again as the brightness hit his eyes.
“Fuck!” he muttered under his breath. He should have known better than to trust Lane and his gifts. He hadn’t had a hangover in ages, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with one. But it still took his mind away from the pain that threatened to break him, away from Misaki’s memories, from the recollection of her eyes, glazed over in death, and the expression of terror on her face.
What a fool he had been! To think that he could protect her, that he could keep her a secret, that they could have a life together. Nothing escaped the Ruler, and that bastard Mason . . . he hadn’t even hesitated as he had spiked her . . .
Toshi opened his eyes and sat up, shaking his head. He didn’t want to think of all that. Wasn’t that why he was drinking in the first place? To get away from all that? He waited till his eyes adjusted to the too bright light of the day. Wasn’t Hafi supposed to be darker than this?
The owner of the bar shuffled over to him, placing a glass in front of him and a small device that he recognised as a communicator. “The man who was with you last night asked me to give these to you, sir,” He sounded nervous.
“What is it?” Toshi barked.
“He said it was a hangover remedy,” the man said, his voice and whole frame trembling.
Toshi downed it in one and grimaced. His throat burned as it went down. “Fuck!” he said aloud, but his head felt less heavy and the headache lessened considerably.
He picked up the device and looked at it with interest. Whatever else Lane was, he was a genius. The thing was tiny, and if Toshi hadn’t been working in the communications wing of the State before his ascension to the Elite, he wouldn’t have known what it was. He had no doubt that it couldn’t be tracked or tapped into either. But he would need to get away from this bar. There were no cameras there, but the man was still standing in one corner, and Toshi didn’t want to kill him for nothing.
He rose, glad to notice that his hangover was all but gone. What the hell was in that glass? He probably didn’t want to know. He put the device in his pocket and after a moment’s hesitation picked up the still not empty bottle from last night and downed its contents. He had a feeling he would need alcohol to get through the rest of the day.
He walked to the car, his hand fiddling with the device in his pocket. He was a fool to even consider talking to Lane. He was one of the few who knew about Lane. The first immortal. His blood was probably the key to making more of them. The Ruler was desperate to get his hands on him. If he learnt Toshi had had the chance to capture him, but he hadn’t . . . Toshi shrugged. What could he do to him? Misaki was already dead. Toshi had no family or friends. Perhaps he would throw him in Cryo. Would that be worse than the gaping hole inside him? The ache in his chest that was almost physical? Toshi rubbed his chest, but the ache wouldn’t go away.
He got into his car. He would need to get somewhere private, somewhere the State couldn’t watch him.
He would call Lane. Perhaps get the recipe of that drink from him, and the hangover remedy. He was going to spend at least this week getting drunk. Surely, no one would begrudge him that.
And then he would ask what Lane wanted. Knowing Lane, it was certain to be something illegal, but Toshi no longer had faith in legal things. It was no crime to love, to fall in love. When he was made an Elite, the Ruler hadn’t said he wasn’t allowed to have love. That rule had been told by Mason just after he had spiked Misaki.
Toshi set his face into its impassive mask. It wasn’t Mason. It was the Ruler. Mason was only the weapon. Thaxter was the wielder. If all he could do was help keep Lane out of Thaxter’s hands, that would still be a small victory for him, an act of revenge for Misaki. As for Mason, he had time to deal with him. After all, he was an immortal now. He had all the time in the world.
Perhaps Lane would help him get his revenge, just as he had been able to give him the oblivion he had been craving last night.
A
s soon as the stasis chamber opened and he stepped out, Niek knew something had gone wrong. They were not in any familiar place. Th ey were not even in a building. He couldn’t even tell which planet they were on. The sun was shining, and they were in a large space surrounded by cliffs on all sides. The ground was also rocky with unfamiliar shrubs and bushes here and there. The baby in his arms was still sleeping. As the other cells opened and the children started stepping out, Niek could see the fear and confusion on each face.
“Paige!” he shouted. He had to find her first. All these people being scared could freak her out.
“Niek!” Paige rushed towards him, weaving between the stasis cells and the other children, all of whom were silent and standing still, staring around.
He caught her and hugged her with his free arm. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head, his left hand gripping hers tight while he balanced the baby on his right arm. “But this isn’t where we are supposed to be.”
“And where do you think we’re supposed to be?” Mike Travis asked, panic evident in his wide eyes and shrill voice.
“We were supposed to be in a safe house,” Irene said, her glance at Mike almost contemptuous.
“Where are we again?” Rance Travis asked, trying to sound calm. He and Niek were the oldest of the children, and he stepped closer to Niek.
“I’ve no idea,” Niek said. “Nor how long it’s been.”
“Transportation through Nishati is almost instantaneous,” Rance said. “And the time for the stasis cell is preset, so I would say it has been only around the fifteen minutes it took for the cell to open. But I don’t know how it happened that we are somewhere else.”
“I’m hungry,” one of the smaller children said. Niek didn’t know her name, but remembered that Paige used to play with her.
“Here,” Paige released his hand to take out a bar of chocolate from her pocket. It was a bit soft and squishy, but the other girl accepted it without any complaint.
“Niek,” Rance said. “We need to make a decision here. We are the oldest. We need to take charge. The children are going to be hungry, and none of us know anything about where we are or about finding food or anything. We need to see if there’s a way to contact any of our parents.”
“I’ll take that baby,” Irene said. She was listening to them. “And technically, I’m the oldest, and an adult.”
“Okay,” Niek said. “That’s fair. So, have you any better ideas?”
“Not at the moment,” Irene said, taking the baby from Niek, careful not to wake her. “But we should at least find some shade, and perhaps try and get these stasis cells out of sight.”
Niek looked around for any sort of shelter, but he could find none.
“Where do you think we should move them?” he asked. “There’s no place where they could be hidden.”
“There’s some shade under those rocks,” Rance said. “But I think we might need them more than those cells. Besides, they might be heavy.”
“They aren’t,” Niek said, sighing as he remembered David talking about them. He would never see David again, and the thought made him sadder than he had thought. He looked at Paige, and he lifted her up to hold her. Did she miss her parents still, or had she forgotten them? He didn’t know and he didn’t want to ask. “We can cover them with some of those shrubs, I think. That ought to be concealment enough.”
As they were covering the cells with the shrubs and bushes, Niek’s eyes fell on a small dark object on the ground. It was rectangular with a smooth surface which looked like a screen and numbers were blinking on the screen. Niek picked it up, noticing the tiny device attached to its other side. He knew what it was. He checked his watch for the GPS co-ordinates and they matched the numbers blinking on the screen.
“Of course,” he said, wanting to kick himself for being so stupid. “They used Mr. Beltram’s tech without Quinn, and got the co-ordinates wrong somehow, which is how we ended up here instead of wherever we are supposed to be.”
“How do you know they’re wrong?” Rance asked, curiosity on his face.
“They used Mr. Beltram’s technology,” Niek explained. “If Quinn were there, they wouldn’t have needed this device.” He showed Rance the screen. “Quinn can transport wherever they wanted, he can set the co-ordinates himself, but unfortunately, we had lost Quinn, so they had to enter the co-ordinates manually. Now, on an interplanetary travel, it’s very difficult to get the co-ordinates accurate, like super accurate to the last decimal so it would go where you want it to. Manual inputs have limits on the decimals, and that’s probably how they got it wrong.”
“Oh, I see,” Rance said at the same time as Irene asked. “What happens if it isn’t that accurate?”
“I don’t think it was,” Niek said. “And because of that, it is possible we are on the wrong planet, even.”
“Can we use that device to leave?” Irene asked. “Do you know how to operate it?”
“Of course, I know,” Niek said, feeling a bit offended. Alexander was his guardian, after all. How could anyone think he had lived three years in the man’s house without learning these things? “But unless we do know the actual co-ordinates where we should be, we can’t use this to leave.”
“Let’s get everyone to the shade first,” Rance said.
Niek didn’t argue. It was hotter than any place he’d been in. Ignis might be hotter, but Niek had never been there. Both Prith and Aeras were cooler, the sun not so fierce in either of those planets. That left only Hafi, but it was even far away from the sun than Aeras, so it was unlikely that this planet was it. But he was getting a GPS signal, so the planet must be one in their solar system. Or perhaps it was one of the moons. Niek was grateful that the air was breathable, at least.
It was cooler beneath the rocks, but not by much. Niek could feel his thirst. Without water or food, none of them was going to last long. He was just as lost as the rest, but like Rance said, they were older. The least they could do was pretend they knew more, and to act brave, even as his heart hammered, and his legs turned to jelly.
“We need to decide on what to do,” Niek said, managing to keep his voice steady, and firm. “We don’t have any food, and I don’t think any of us have any idea how to get food in a place like this.”
“Agreed,” Rance said. “What do you suggest we do?”
“If we know the co-ordinates of the place we’re supposed to be, I can try and get us there,” Niek said.
“You know how to operate that device?” Irene asked, looking surprised.
“Of course,” Niek said. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
“You know how to operate the stasis cell too?” Rance asked, sounding awed.
“You all do know that Alexander Selwood is my guardian, don’t you?” Niek asked.
“Yes, but–” Irene paused and laughed. “Okay, I thought you wouldn’t be interested in all these things. My mistake. But I don’t know where they were planning to send us, so, no, no idea about the co-ordinates.”
“All right,” Niek said. “Then we can transport to Alexander’s house.”
“Do you know the co-ordinates for that?” Rance asked.
“No,” Niek said. “But it is saved in my watch. I can find it, but it will take some time.”
“And you can enter those manually?” Irene asked. “Without getting us lost again?”
“I’ll have to find a way to link my watch to the device,” Niek said thoughtfully. “My watch has the exact co-ordinates, so if I can link the two, no need for manual inputs.”
“And you can do that?” Irene asked again.
Niek bit his lip. He knew how to in theory, but he had never tried it. “Yeah,” he replied. What had he to lose anyway?
“It’s the best plan,” Rance said. “You try that. In the meantime, I’ll just see how the young ones are.”
The earth shook and a roaring sound filled the cavern they were in, and Niek nearly fell, but managed to keep his footing. He had no idea what that was. Was that an earthquake? Where in the name of all the planets were they?
L
ucas dropped his hand. He had been gnawing on his finger nails. Amir had failed to find any trace of Niek, and it had been hours. Quinn had tried to access the places he had fled from, but had shut down immediately, requiring Amir to recover him again. After a couple of failed attempts, they had not asked Quinn to try and contact any of the others.
