Abhuman: Revelation (The Covenant - Book 1)

Chapter 6 - Umbral

VENATOR OSGAR HAD BEEN SURPRISED to find the tunnel. There were not supposed to be any structures built on Krijese, yet, here it was. And Dr. Foehner's ac-beacon was somewhere beneath the mountain. Why had Vox Castus not told him about this place? Surely he knew? He mulled over the possibilities as he stood, back flat against the stone wall, just to the right of the titanic blast doors. The active-camouflage of his hunter-suit engaged, he would be virtually invisible to any passersby.

He'd waited for three days, standing absolutely still. Such a feat was beyond an Artaldean, but not for the highly engineered Venators.

He felt a vibration in his feet then heard the great doors rumble to life, grinding sideways. Bits of dust fell from the top of the doors and settled on his hunter-suit, it tried to compensate, but the suit too was vibrating from the motion of the doors.

Six armed and armored Artaldeans filed out of the gigantic doors and marched up the long tunnel to the surface. Who were these people? They were not Covenant. The markings on their suit were unfamiliar to him. He'd have to file that image for Vox Castus.

Osgar waited until the doors began closing and slipped in. He had a job to do.

∞ ∞ ∞

Supper was a family affair at the Sanctuary, and truly, that's how these former strangers were starting to feel to her. Call it shared suffering, or whatever, but they had a bond. She smiled as her eyes took in all the twenty smiling faces per side of her table.

Cheska had to admit to herself; despite the weight of all the knowledge she now carried in her head, coming to Sanctuary had been a blessing. No, not a blessing, she had to purge that kind of thinking—attributing all good to some Savior, which turned out to be an illusion created by a psychotic race of aliens. There had been saviors in humanity's past, and there had been benevolent gods—or at least the stories of them. The Christians had one, the Jews, the Muslims, and the Hindus had many—the list was as long as human history. But did they really exist? Would she ever meet one? Maybe they could help overthrow the Tarbizhad ...

"What are you thinking about?" Taro asked, startling her.

"Nothing important."

"You know, that I know, when you're lying. Right?"

She rolled her eyes. Score two for Taro. The comps—she and Taro—also had a telepathic bond. Not full on telepathy like Felicia had, but they could sense each other's emotions—even from vast distances. He placed a hand on top of hers. She closed her eyes to soak up that simple, powerful touch. He gave her hand a squeeze then picked up his fork again, taking another bite of salad.

Dr. Foehner was asking Delfina how she'd been discovered as an Abhuman, so Cheska tuned in to that conversation.

Delfina took a deep breath. "Well, an Abhuman's powers emerge along the lines of their natural gifts. For example, Cheska, you have a knack for physics. Your abilities seem to revolve around the control of time. That's not by accident. Our benefactors amped up the genes we already had, rather than introduce something totally foreign which the Tarbizhad might have detected. Back to Dr. Foehner's question- "

"Call me Madchen, please," Dr. Foehner said. "I think after all we've been through we're on a first name basis?"

Cheska now knew that Madchen meant maiden in the old Germanic languages. She enjoyed these little flashes of insight. Language was so fundamental to a culture—to erase language was to truly erase the people, as the Tarbizhad had intended.

Delfina smiled. "Madchen it is. I worked as a genetic and engrammatic engineer. Very rarely, we had cases where a fetus presented with some defect—perhaps caused by the mother's exposure to radiation on assignment, or even random mutation. My job was to fix those. And given the rarity of that role, I also specialized in engrammatic resequencing."