Ryan’s belly turned a cold flip-flop. Though Krysty’s Gaia-linked empathic abilities were honed to detect danger, neither he nor she could deny they had been liabilities in the past. He immediately thought back to their encounter with the plant entity in England. It had used Krysty’s connection with the geo-energy of earth as a channel to temporarily take control of her. He had been forced to render her unconscious.
As if sensing his recollections, Krysty said, “No, it wasn’t like when the Other possessed me. This was on a deeper, far more primal level than that.”
Hesitantly, he asked, “Like the time when you were under Kaa’s influence?”
She wheeled, not responding to the question and hurriedly walked out of the alcove. Ryan turned off the water and went to the bench where he had left his clothes. Krysty was dressing quickly, worming into jeans, not bothering to dry herself. Her crookedly buttoned white sleeveless blouse clung to her wet breasts.
As Ryan pulled on his pants, he said, “At least you had enough presence of mind not to walk around the redoubt buck-ass naked.”
She didn’t respond. Her hair was tight at the back of her neck, and her lower lip quivered.
Impatiently, Ryan said, “Talk to me, Krysty. Something must have happened to you when we made the jump.”
Her eyes bored in on his face. “Why do you say that?”
“Because something happened to me, too. But it didn’t make me sleep-screw or spout poetry in the middle of it.”
She squinted. “I did that? Wait…I remember now. Not poetry exactly.”
“No, not exactly. I didn’t catch very much of it. Had to do with a god’s favors and some such overblown romantic shit.”
She smiled wanly. “You’re a true sentimentalist, lover. But you’re right—something happened to me during the jump.”
Ryan shrugged into his shirt. “Like what?”
She moved her shoulders uncomfortably. “I dreamed I was in a palace room, beautifully furnished. I was aching for my beloved to join me in bed.”
“Me?”
“Yes. No.” Krysty shook her head. “I don’t know. Anyway, I got scared. I called for you—”
Ryan’s eye widened. “I heard you.”
She drew in an unsteady breath. “I ran out of the room. Then I saw…him.”
“Him,” Ryan echoed. “Let me guess. He had eyes burning like the fires of hell.”
Her face registered her surprise. “Yes! You saw him, too?”
“Saw it,” he said grimly. “He had a skull instead of a face.”
Running a nervous hand through her hair, Krysty said, “That’s not what I saw. He was a big man. He wanted me.”
“Wanted you for what?”
Wearily, she answered, “I’m not really sure. Wanted me for his mate, for his queen. For his… mother.”
Ryan angled an eyebrow at her. “All of those in one package? He doesn’t want much, does he?”
“I can’t be sure of the impressions I received.” She looked fearfully around the room, as if she expected to see someone—or something—crouching in a corner. “There’s only one thing I am sure of. Whoever he is, he knows we’re here. He knows I’m here. He’s been waiting for me a long time.”
“Who?” A note of menace lurked at the back of Ryan’s voice. “Who has been waiting for you?”
Krysty’s eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head to one side, as if trying to listen to the murmur of unimaginably distant voices. Quietly, she said, “A god.”
Chapter Six
Mildred continued to examine the material that explained Dr. O’Brien’s role at the installation.
Phase One of Mission Invictus had been conducted on primates and was already a biological fait accompli before Connaught O’Brien joined the staff in early 1999. The subject animals’ cells and DNA retained their structural integrity despite exposure to radiation and its concomitant free-radical damage. The only side effect of the genetic recombination had been a bizarre pigment change in the eyes when the test animals reached maturity. For a reason the scientists could only speculate upon, their eyes turned red, though their vision was apparently unimpaired.
When Overproject Excalibur resettled the twelve mission personnel—eight men and four women, including O’Brien—in the isolated redoubt, the apes had to be put down. Though deeming Phase One a success, the overseers didn’t want a race of super-chimps running around the installation, like something out of a bad sci-fi movie.