Soul Eyes

CHAPTER TWO: GENOBLA NEBULA

The remainder of the trip to Sanctuary's space station, FireFall, was uneventful. Tharun kept out of Jaysa's direct line of sight for the most part after they had departed the shopping station. Jaysa was glad of it, he was too distracting and she hated that she had warmed to his personality. He was still a Mystic and while Jaysa did not approve of how they were treated as a group, Tharun had stepped over a line by locking her up like that. She assumed he was contemplating his next move, staying in one of the guest cabins and did not make a sound. He had also unplugged the camera to his chosen room, bristling Jaysa's nerves but at the same time, there was no reason to spy on him at this point. They had come to an understanding that day over their sandwiches. Stay out of the others way. Their brief camaraderie after the shopping trip had puttered out. Plus Jaysa spent her time searching for information regarding the oval that was still tucked away in her room. So far she had turned up empty.

Jaysa pulled up her contacts and video called Rhies. It had been a while since they had talked and Jaysa was not sure how this would go but she had to talk to the only one she wholly trusted.

The line rang once before Rhies face appeared on screen. He had not aged a day, having explained to Jaysa that the Star Readers had slowed the aging genome, funded by Dominion, but that this technology was not open to the general public. Jaysa herself was not supposed to know but Rhies held a soft spot for Jaysa and Dominion secrets.

"There's my girl!" he clapped his hands together, sitting back in his swivel chair. His office was decorated with trinkets from all of his exploits.

Jaysa smiled brightly, her mood already improving as she stared at her bonus father, "Hey you," she laughed. "I think I see some gray stubble there pops."

Rhies stuck his tongue out before jumping straight to the point, "What's got you in a pickle?"

Jaysa shared a photo she had taken of the oval to his screen and asked, "Any idea what this is?"

Rhies narrowed his eyes and took a few moments to exam the picture, lips thinning like they always did when he was in thought.

"Hmmm," he began. "Where did you get it?"

"An antique store, mostly full of Old World stuff," Jaysa answered. "But this isn't from Earth is it?"

Rhies shook his head, "No but I can't tell you what it is without physically seeing it. Whereabouts are you?"

"Almost to Genobla, making a delivery," she replied, glancing behind her to make sure Tharun had not sneaked into the bridge.

"You okay?" Rhies asked, concern filling his voice.

Jaysa pushed her hair behind her ears and nodded, "Yeah. Just tired. Haven't slept much. Elran hit me with this last minute run. I had just gotten back from a delivery too."

"When can you meet up?" he asked.

"Is a week okay?" Jaysa asked. "You're still stationed on Wilsha?"

Rhies nodded in answer.

Jaysa ended the call after a few more minutes of catching up with her mentor. Rhies had continued his research under Dominion supervision. They had moved him all over the galaxy to desolate planets needing logging to see if they could withstand human life for an extended time. Wilsha was covered mostly in water but Rhies had designed a mobile lake house, it was three stories tall and had every gadget he could need. Mostly paid for by himself too. Dominion supported his research until it came to budgeting.

"Who was that?" Tharun asked from the lift, stepping off of it.

"Just a friend," Jaysa replied flatly. "We'll be at Genobla in the next hour. You have your stuff together?"