So you haven’t found him. Terian stared at the ceiling. Did anyone recover the body? ...My body, he clarified.
“Of course. The team is already working on it, brother. Estimate 141 days minimum to clone and reconstruct.” The old doctor sat in a chair beside the bed, looking oddly anachronistic as she squinted at readouts over cat-shaped bifocals. “Full re-load in 167 days.” She smiled at him again, taking the glasses off her veined nose, exposing pressure marks from the frames. “You won’t be disappointed, Terry.”
Is this one a temp? Terian sent. I don’t remember it.
“A temp,” the woman said. “Yes.” She smiled at him in a grandmotherly way. “Would you like the same personality structure as the body he killed? It is no trouble at all. I have the base characteristics loaded now.”
What’s available?
“This is a seer’s body, so you have access to that biology and the requisite skills—”
Intelligence? Problem-solving? Can I boost them at all?
The doctor made a low clucking sound, a modulation of the sharper, more aggressive clicking common among seers.
“There are limits, Terry. You are fairly well dispersed right now.”
I can’t lose any of the others?
The old woman chuckled, even as she gave him a sharper look. “All are on assignment, Mein Herr. If you remember, you are using a significant amount of your problem-solving skills with body number nine already.”
Terian frowned inside his mind, staring up at the ceiling.
He could see no solution, and it bothered him.
The doctor offered, “I can add creativity. A slight warning...it would be associated with a form of sociopathy that can be a bit unstable.”
Terian didn’t hesitate. Do it, he sent. If he could have moved his lips to smile, he would have. And if he kills me again, I’ll blame you this time, Xarethe.
She smiled, but when she turned that time, her eyes were hard as glass.
“Whatever story keeps you hard at work, my fragmented little friend.” Rising to her feet, she adjusted her glasses back on her nose, peering again at the machine. “I may have some words for you, at that, if you ruin another of my bodies so quickly.”
She glanced down over the bifocals, giving him a harder stare.
“I will deny I said this,” she said. “But do us all a favor, Terry. Kill that son of a bitch already. I am tired of this cat and mouse game with him.”
Terian’s lips twitched in humor.
I don’t think that would go over well with the big boss. His face creased painfully with another attempt at a smile. I would have liked to see you in your prime, Xarethe...
The old seer looked at him, and for an instant, her eyes flashed a hard white, her lids falling to half-mast, until they appeared almost reptilian.
No, she told him. ...You wouldn’t.
Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure, Magic
7
ESCAPE
I stared out the dirty window of the bottle-green Plymouth, watching trees and rocky coastline slide by, now broken by low-hanging clouds and fog. We were still on Highway 1, nearing where it merged with 101, not far from the Oregon border.
I hadn’t been on this stretch of road since I was a kid.
What took minutes on Highway 5, or even 101 North from San Francisco to Eureka, took hours along Highway 1, making the twisting two-lane road hugging the jagged coastline feel endless. But Revik wanted us off the main highway, at least until we crossed state lines.
Even within seaside towns, he took side streets, avoiding the main “strips,” if they could be called that in towns that maybe had four bars, a salt-eaten motel, a greasy spoon, a church, a head shop and one drive-through coffee stand.
Somewhere near Fort Bragg, he uncuffed me from the door.
I suppose I should’ve been grateful for that, but as my hands and ankles remained bound, my gratitude was limited. I watched the sun slink into the Pacific as pelicans skimmed by, beating long wingspans.
I felt him looking at me.
When he didn’t stop after a few minutes, I exhaled sharply, facing him.
“What?”
He turned the worn, leather-wrapped wheel of the Plymouth, sliding onto the main street of another seaside village whose name I didn’t know. We passed a few bars and an auto shop. His pale eyes shone in the neon signs as night approached.
“We are low on gas. Can I trust you?”
“Dehgo...whatever your name is...”
“Revik.”
“Right. Are you going to tell me? What that guy meant about me ending the world?”
He exhaled. “Terian was trying to unbalance you. But it is true that they...” He amended, “...We believe you to be someone important.”