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  “Don’t worry, she can’t hear me,” Kristi announced.

  “You startled me,” Conor answered using telepathy.

  “Sorry,” Kristi replied sincerely. “I should have announced myself earlier. But I was hoping that you would have noticed my presence without me telling you.”

  “I was preoccupied,” Conor answered.

  “I can see that,” Kristi stated.

  Conor smiled as Kathryn returned to the table.

  “So, where were we?” she asked.

  “She was telling you how cute you are,” Kristi’s voice whispered in Conor’s mind.

  “Stop that!” Conor stated sternly to Kristi. “I can’t carry on two conversations at once.”

  “We were discussing Michael,” Conor stated out loud to Kathryn. “I still think that we should trust Alex on this one.”

  “Maybe, but it has been my experience that there are three types of people in the universe,” she continued. “Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who don’t know what hit them until it is too late. Alex is one of those who make things happen. Therefore, it doesn’t make any sense for him to suggest that we just sit back and do nothing.”

  “Maybe he is planning something and has not told us about it yet,” Conor stated.

  “How sweet!” Kathryn stated smiling broadly.

  “What?” Conor asked.

  “That was the first time you referred to us,” she answered. “You and me, together. A team.”

  Conor blushed, not realizing that he had done that.

  “Since we are now a team,” Kathryn continued. “I will follow your lead on this one. As a sign of our new partnership.”

  Kathryn stood up and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Conor asked, following Kathryn to the doorway.

  “I have an appointment,” Kathryn answered. “Besides, there’s nothing left for me to do here. Thanks for breakfast. The rest is up to you. You have my number. Call me if you are willing to join me. I am going, with or without you. But as I said, it’s better if you join me.”

  “I’m still not sure,” Conor answered.

  “Trust me,” Kathryn said as she slipped out the front door. “Besides, it will be fun. What’s life worth living for if you don’t have some fun?”

  Chapter 16

  CONFESSIONS

  Conor wiped sweat from his forehead. They had been walking at a very brisk pace for quite a long time and he was wondering if they would ever reach Brandix’s personal suite. He also wondered if they were making a mistake.

  “As long as there are no holoreeds, we should be fine,” he thought, trying to convince himself that everything was going to be alright.

  Just as he finished that thought, the tunnel lights went out.

  Sensing that Kathryn was in a near panic, he reached out, touched her hand, and whispered, “It’s alright, there is no one else in the tunnel except us.”

  “How can you tell?” Kathryn asked, tapping a chemical light bar strapped to her belt. Its luminescent organic materials glowed brightly, chasing the darkness away.

  “Call it male intuition,” Conor stated. “Trust me on this one. There is no one else in the tunnel except us.”

  “But without any mechanical detection devices, you can’t be sure,” she answered.

  “I am sure,” Conor stated confidently. “We are alone.”

  Kathryn took a long look down the tunnel in front of them.

  “There doesn’t seem to be anyone coming,” she stated.

  “I told you,” Conor replied.

  “Okay,” Kathryn responded, taking a step forward. “It was probably just a burnout or something. Things like that happen. The lights will probably come back on in a few moments.”

  Kathryn looked down at Conor’s hand which was still touching hers, looked up into his eyes, and slipped her hand slowly from his grasp. Conor sensed a subtle increase in her heart rate and her face turned slightly red.

  “Hormones,” he thought. “Her hormones just kicked in.”

  Kathryn turned and continued on down the tunnel. Conor followed, wondering if he should tell her that he liked her too.

  “What if she laughed at me?” he thought. “Did I misread her? What if something else caused that reaction?”

  Conor grabbed Kathryn by the arm and pushed her into a small indentation in the tunnel’s wall.

  “Kill the light!” he whispered emphatically into her ear. “Something just entered the tunnel up ahead and is headed this way.”

  Kathryn tapped the light bar on her belt and held her breath as darkness enveloped them. After a moment or two of silence, she turned her head toward Conor and whispered into his ear, “Are you sure? I don’t hear anything.”

  Conor leaned close and whispered, “I heard something ahead. Something mechanical. It is getting closer. Whatever it is, it is headed in this direction.”

  “Kristi!” Conor shouted using telepathy. “Help!”

  Kathryn leaned her head out into the tunnel. She couldn’t see or hear a thing.

  “What are you doing?” Kristi’s voice announced in his mind. “I thought that I made myself very clear. You were supposed to talk her out of going. Not join her. Are you out of your mind?”

  “There is no time to explain,” Conor answered. “Something is coming down the tunnel. Can you help?”

  Sizing up the situation, Kristi announced, “It’s probably just a maintenance robot investigating why the lights went out. If we combine our telekinetic powers, we can create a shield that will make you invisible to its sensors. My mother taught me how to do that a long ago, but I cannot guarantee that it will work. My mother’s powers are very strong and we were standing side-by-side when we did it. Plus, we hid ourselves from a domestic housecleaning robot’s sensors, not a commercial-grade maintenance robot. If this fails, destroy the robot and get out of there as fast as you can. Do you understand?”

  “Understood,” Conor answered.

  “Now what?” Kathryn asked.

  “Quiet,” Conor whispered. “Trust me on this. Something is headed this way, probably a maintenance robot. I have a way to make ourselves invisible to its sensors. It’s like a holoreed, but it works on robots. Top of the line, top secret stuff.”

  Kathryn was about to speak when she heard the distinctive whirling sound of a maintenance robot rolling down the tunnel. Leaning her head into the tunnel, she saw a beam of light sweeping the tunnel in front of them. Conor placed his arms around Kathryn’s waist and they held on to each other as the light beam headed in their direction. They held their breath as the robot illuminated the indentation and then rolled past without stopping. They both took a deep breath and suddenly realized that they were pressed up against each other, in a tight embrace. Kathryn looked up into Conor’s light blue eyes and moved her lips toward his. Conor was in a near panic as Kathryn pressed her lips against his and kissed him. He kissed her back as best he could, but he knew that he wasn’t doing it right. Before he had a chance to say a word, Kathryn slipped out of his arms and stepped back into the tunnel. Tapping the light bar on her belt, the darkness receded and she started up the tunnel once again, leaving Conor standing alone.

  “Come on,” Kathryn’s voice whispered through the tunnel. “What are you waiting for?”

  Conor, shaking like a leaf in the wind, answered, “I’m right behind you.”

  “What are you doing?” Kristi’s voice echoed in his mind. “Get out of there right now! We got lucky that time. Stop taking unnecessary risks. Turn back while you still can.”

  “You tell her,” Conor answered. “I wouldn’t be here if I had a choice. She was coming with or without me. I just thought that she would have a better chance of not getting caught if I was with her. Plus, now that you are here to help, we can do this. I know that we can.”

  “Use your head,” Kristi answered sternly. “Not your heart. If you really do like her, knock her out and get her out of there, right n
ow!”

  “We had better hurry up,” Kathryn announced. “The meeting is supposed to start in just a little while and I don’t want to miss it.”

  Conor hesitated a moment, and then followed her down the tunnel.

  “I don’t believe this!” Kristi shouted. “Are you insane?”

  “No, I am not insane,” Conor answered. “Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. We can do this. I know that we can. Kathryn is right, everyone has to take a risk now and then.”

  As they rounded a curve in the tunnel the lights came back on. Kathryn tapped the light bar on her belt, turning it off.

  “Must have been that maintenance robot,” Conor stated, walking up to Kathryn’s side. “It was probably deployed to fix the burnout.”

  “Probably, but I don’t like it,” Kathryn responded. “Burnouts hardly ever happen. Why would a burnout happen the very moment that we are in this tunnel? I don’t like it at all. My intuition is telling me that something is wrong.”

  Conor reached out to take hold of her hand, but just as he was about to touch her Kathryn moved quickly over to the wall on their left.

  “Hey, look at these!” she exclaimed. “It’s a robocar floatation station, and there are several robocar floats inside. I haven’t ridden one of these since I was a little girl.”

  Kathryn reached into the floatation station and removed two translucent bags of what appeared to be a soft gelatin-like substance.

  “These things are great!” Kathryn announced, placing the bags on the ground. “Come on, let’s go. We will get there in plenty of time now.”

  Conor just stared at her.

  “What?” Kathryn asked.

  Conor continued to stare at her.

  “Haven’t you ever ridden a robocar float before?” she asked.

  “No,” Conor admitted. “I have never even seen one before.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Kathryn said with a laugh. “Where are you from? The outer spirals?”

  Conor smiled and just shrugged his shoulders.

  “Okay,” she stated. “They are pretty easy to drive. Just watch and learn.”

  Kathryn sat on the bag, crossed her legs beneath her, and pressed both of her hands into the bag’s sides. The bag swelled up and lifted slowly off of the floor. A big grin enlightening her face, she floated in the air, about waist-high above the floor.

  “This is going to be fun,” Kathryn announced. “Your turn. Just repeat what I just did.”

  Conor climbed onto the bag on the floor, crossed his legs as Kathryn had done, and pressed his hands into the bag’s sides. In an instant he was hovering above the floor next to Kathryn.

  “You control it by body motion,” Kathryn announced. “If you lean forward, it will go forward. The more you lean forward, the faster you go. If you lean to the right, it will go right. If you lean to the left, it will go left. Got it?”

  Kathryn leaned forward and floated slowly down the tunnel. Conor leaned forward and followed her. They were soon flying down the tunnel at a fairly steady pace. Although he felt a little awkward at first, after a while he got the knack of it. Fortunately, the tunnel was fairly straight and he didn’t have to negotiate many sharp turns. They soon came upon a large cavern-like opening, lined with corridors heading off in all directions.

  “This is it,” Kathryn announced as she withdrew her hands from her robocar and gently floated to the floor. “Each of these corridors leads to a Justice’s personal suite.”

  Conor withdrew his hands from his robocar and floated to the floor.

  “What do we do with these?” he asked, picking up the two now deflated robocars.

  Kathryn pointed to an indentation in the wall and stated, “Put them over there for now. We can pick them up on the way back. We should return them to where we found them when we are done. No sense in leaving any evidence of our visit.”

  Conor placed the robocars into the indentation and followed Kathryn as she inspected each of the corridors in the tunnel.

  “What are you looking for?” Conor asked.

  “Directions,” Kathryn stated, matter-of-factly.

  “You mean that you don’t know which of these corridors leads to Brandix’s suite?” he asked accusingly.

  Kathryn turned toward Conor, placed her hands on her hips, and said, “I got us this far, didn’t I?”

  “Use your senses,” Kristi whispered in Conor’s mind. “See if you can tell which one leads to Brandix’s suite.”

  “Maybe I can help,” Conor stated as he walked past Kathryn and approached the first corridor on his left.

  “Just what do you think you are doing?” Kathryn asked.

  “Listening and smelling,” Conor answered, stepping into the first corridor.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Kathryn asked.

  “No,” Conor stated as he reappeared from the corridor and moved onto the next one. “But if you would be quiet for just a moment, maybe I can detect one at the end of this corridor.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Kathryn stated as she followed him from one corridor to the next. “What are you using? Another one of your top secret gadgets? Did you forget about the tunnel’s electronic detection devices? If you are using anything mechanical or electrical, security will know that we are here.”

  “This one is organic,” Conor stated with a smile. “No one is home in this one. Come on, maybe we’ll get lucky in the next.”

  Kathryn followed Conor into the next corridor and immediately knew that something was up because Conor knelt down and touched the floor.

  “What is it?” Kathryn asked.

  “Three humanoids and a reptilian,” he answered. “They are meeting at the end of this corridor. The reptilian is very angry. They are arguing about a contract.”

  “How do you know that?” Kathryn asked.

  “I can hear them,” Conor answered.

  “How?” Kathryn asked.

  “Trust me,” Conor answered, walking down the corridor. “Come on. Follow me.”

  They found a very large, double-hung metal door at the end of the corridor.

  “This is it,” Conor whispered.

  Reaching into one of her pockets, Kathryn took out what looked like a medical stethoscope. She was about to place it around her neck when Conor smiled and told her using telepathy, “You won’t need that.”

  Kathryn was about to answer him when she realized that Conor hadn’t spoken to her at all. She looked at him wide-eyed, not certain what to do or what to say. Conor touched her hand, gently rubbing it with his own.

  “I have been meaning to tell you about this,” Conor reassured her.

  “It’s Kristi, isn’t it?” she stated in her thoughts. “You talked the mystic into helping us. This is amazing!”

  “Don’t tell her!” Kristi’s voice shouted in his mind. “Michael will go through the roof if you tell her.”

  “Kristi is helping us,” Conor continued.

  “Good!” Kristi stated emphatically. “Remember, no one is to know about your powers.”

  “But she is not doing this,” he continued, addressing Kathryn. “I am. It is supposed to be a secret, but I wanted to share it with you.”

  Kathryn sat on the floor, dumbfounded.

  “You?” Kathryn asked. “You can read minds and project thoughts?”

  “Yes,” Conor answered. “I can hear your thoughts very clearly. And I can hear what they are saying in Brandix’s suite. Would you like to listen in?”

  “Of course,” Kathryn answered. “That’s why we are here.”

  Chapter 17

  BRANDIX’S DEAL

  “I don’t care about your problems!” Brandix shouted. “You are not going to get any credits out of me until the job is done. Is that clear? That was the agreement. I don’t pay for promises, I pay for results.”

  “I’ve done a lot of things for you!” the reptilian shouted back. “A lot of things! Things that you don’t want anyone to know about.”

  Bra
ndix walked over to a large, wooden desk, opened a drawer, grabbed a laser pistol, and pointed it at the reptilian’s head.

  “Are you threatening me?” Brandix asked.

  The reptilian backed away until the bony plate on his back was pressed firmly against the wall.

  “You can’t kill me,” he stated defiantly. “I have files on you. Copies too. I have files on all of you.”

  Brandix lowered the pistol and stated diplomatically, “Who said anything about killing you?”

  Turning to George Respoola, who was sitting on a couch on the far side of the room, Brandix asked, “You haven’t ordered Mr. Cressla’s death, have you?”

  “No,” Respoola answered, with a grin. “I would never even think of such a thing. Not after all he has done for us. Besides, he has files. Copies too. Files on all of us.”

  A large, muscular man with a thick, black mustache sat quietly in a chair next to Respoola. Brandix turned to the man and asked, “How about you? Have you ordered Mr. Cressla’s death?”

  “Of course not,” the man answered, an evil grin spreading across his face. “I would never do that.”

  “As you can see, you are in no danger here,” Brandix continued, turning his attention once again to the reptilian. “You will be paid once the job is done. That was our agreement. Our business here is concluded. You are not getting a single credit from me until the job is done. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, it is clear,” the reptilian answered with a sneer.

  As the reptilian left the room Brandix turned to the man with the mustache, lifted his right index finger to his own throat, and made a swift, slashing motion. The man nodded, typed in a series of numbers on his wrist transponder, and spoke into it, “Trey, we have a job for you. There is a bonus if you get it done by nightfall. I will forward the details to you shortly.”

  The man looked at Brandix and stated, “Just for the record, I did not order his death, you did.”

  Respoola laughed so hard he snorted.

  “Now that he is taken care of we can get down to real business,” Brandix continued. “Casseday is on his way over here as we speak. I want to make absolutely certain that we don’t give away more than we have to. What’s the latest on Vesperie?”