Dark Matters_ Ghost Dance (Book 2) - Christie Golden [54]
Gath gasped. His body tingled. He felt as if he were on fire. The pain, the pain...! And then it was gone. He stared at the blood still on his hands, and the blood stains on his robes.
"What have I done?" he whispered, but he knew. He remembered everything. Remorse welled inside him, an alien sensation, but one he embraced like a drowning man might a lifeline. He rushed into the room, where the broken girl shrieked and cringed away from him.
"Mirta, please, please forgive me. I don't know why I did these awful things to you. I am so sorry. Here, let me take you to a doctor."
There were a few stray bits to gather on this planet: dark matter that had killed an ancient tree, that had turned a fresh rivulet into poison. The Entity found them all. With a sense of deep satisfaction, it moved on.
CHAPTER 13
JEKRI FOUND, TO HER SURPRISE, THAT IT WAS DIFFICULT to be her old self in front of her crew. For the last few weeks, she had been practicing the Vulcan mental disciplines that Dammik R'Kel had taught her. She had achieved a sense of inner calm that dampened her normal fire. Things did not irritate her as they used to, and she had to put on a show of snapping and growing irate at small errors.
While she was pleased that there was a definite effect from her meditating, she did not know if the most important aspect had succeeded. Until someone tried to read her thoughts, she would not know if her mental blocks were effective.
No one had suspected anything. Jekri answered to
no one save the Praetor and the Empress. The Praetor, who appeared, at least, to still be an ally, had done nothing to contact her, and the Empress-
Jekri frowned as she sat at her console. This, at least, she did not have to feign. As chairman of the Tal Shiar, little was withheld from her. There was the occasional clash between her offices and that of the military, but more often than not she was the victor in such confrontations. Now, however, she was looking at an encrypted message that had been intercepted a few hours ago. It was not one of the dozen or so codes with which she was familiar.
"Kaleh to Sharibor," she said tapping her communications badge.
"Sharibor here, Chairman."
"Which do you value less, your job or your life? Because I am inclined to eliminate one or the other at the present moment. I'm in a good mood, so I'll give you your choice." She was joking, of course, but only by a hair.
"Chairman?"
"I have before me an encrypted message. I can't even determine who sent it or to whom it was sent. Are you not my chief of decoding?"
An uncomfortable pause. "My entire team has spent the last few hours on this, Chairman. I passed it along to you in the hopes that you might have an insight that we lacked."
Fury rose in Jekri like a red wave. Almost at once, the mantra she had learned at Dammik's feet came into her mind: Anger serves no master. Tame it, and control it. She didn't want to. Jekri kept her position
through skill and intimidation. But other words Dammik spoke came to her.
We can begin with this-controlling your outbursts. I imagine such a skill would be extremely useful to the chairman of the Tal Shiar.
My temper is under my control.
Perhaps, when you deem it to be useful. Perhaps when you are negotiating with an ambassador, or the Praetor, or the Empress, you can control what you say and how you behave. But you must learn to control it at all times. You must not insult a child whose plaything has made you trip, or a servant who has prepared the wrong food.
Or, thought Jekri now, a loyal underling who has tried but failed.
"In the future, Sharibor," she said, her voice calm, "I wish to be notified. I do not wish to be surprised with this information and your lack of progress."
"Certainly, Chairman." Jekri wasn't certain, but she thought she detected a note of relief in Shari-bor's voice.
"I will notify Sub commander Verrak. We will meet you at your station. Perhaps more brains working on this puzzle will