The Deviance

Part 2 - Suspicion

There wasn't much time for Bastion to review the copied files, casting his doubts and suspicions aside, he spent his day off enjoying Nicholas' company. Given both of their work, it was rare to get a full day alone with his partner. Nicholas was a Journeyman, one of the handful of personal staff being trained by their planet's government for leadership. He was a skilled negotiator and often acted as an interplanetary trade litigator, and arbitrator, reporting directly to their planets Praetor. It wouldn't be long before he would be sent to rule over another planet, something that Bastion dreaded as it would mean having to choose between his own career and Nicholas. He still wasn't sure which he would pick, but it was a decision for later.

The spent the day at the highlands, to a hidden waterfall called Mia. It was half a day hike through the heavily forested mountain range, but it was worth it, the basin of the waterfall was nestled in a lush glade, the waterfall cascading down into a deep pool. The water was brisk but not too cold for swimming and animals came as they pleased into the pool to drink from it.

Both men were naked, glistening with water from their swim in the pool, they lay on the grass entwined in each other's embrace; nature was something that they both appreciated but never got enough of. "The Praetor wants to meet with me tomorrow, I think they're going to offer me my own praetorship." Nicholas said casually, looking into the water, not daring to look into Bastion's hazel eyes, for the first time in two centuries he ever felt doubt at a situation. Bastion reached out taking Nicholas' hands into his own, drawing him close, his dark ebony skin contrasting with Nicholas' lily-white, "We knew this day would come eventually.", he said gently, kissing his lover's hand, gently coaxing him to look him in the eye. "I resigned myself to this when I started loving you, yet it's come sooner than I hoped.", he shrugged, "But you were powerful then, so I guess I am not all that surprised. Look at me, lover." Nicholas turned his head, "I don't have to make any decisions now, but you know what this would mean for us?" Bastion kissed his hand again, "That I either become your concubine or a memory." He moved his kisses northward, towards his lover's lips, "I'm a powerful man to Mr. Thom-Kalina, maybe you're the one who needs to be my concubine!", he kissed him passionately to prove his point. "Make love to me now, we'll make the hard choices later.", he said withdrawing his kiss, "I see something else is hard my Bastion", Nicholas chuckled, "Let's see what we can do about it".

Bastion woke to an empty bed the next morning, and a flashing message caught his attention on his implants, the first from Nicholas, "Thank you for reminding me that I'm more than my work. See you at dinner." The second message was curious, "Mr. Bourin-Kalina, you are requested for a directors meeting at 9 am with the Director of Science of the Institute," the automated voice said, "Kindly acknowledge your receipt of this message and compliance." He accepted, and made his way to the shower, given what he did previously with his memory loop, he was extremely suspicious about this meeting.

Bastion arrived at the office on time as was his fashion. "Good morning Benjamin," he said to the man." Benjamin, the director of the Institute was unimpressive, he was neither ugly or attractive, tall nor short, smart nor stupid, he was the right kind of unimpressive to be dangerous though. Mediocre people were the most efficient tools of bureaucracy because they had no imagination. He was not alone, there was a woman sitting on his right, she was beautiful a beautiful blond, pixie cut dressed flamboyantly in a black velvet jumper which exposed her heavily tattooed arms. "Welcome Bastion, please have a seat, this is Crimson Cameron-Terra, she's here from Earth-observing our facilities and operations today." The woman stood and he extended his hand to her, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Cameron.", she smiled and shook his hand, "The pleasure is all mine Bastion, they told me you were smart but they didn't tell me you were also handsome!", she had the type of voice that was hypnotic, and he found himself blushing, "Thank you for the compliment, Ms. Cameron, I have to admit, a woman hasn't made me blush for quite a few decades." He saw a brief shimmer on her flesh as her characteristics started to full out into a more masculine appearance, "Please call me Crimson, and if you play nice, I can make you blush as a man to sweetie!", Bastian took his seat keeping a smile on his face and immediately started encrypting his memory banks, he was not just in a meeting with a Terran, some of the most reclusive members of the Authority, this particular Terran was a skin dancer, one of the shapeshifters the highest members of the Authority used as spies or assassins.

"Bastion, we called this meeting this morning suddenly I know, but we have some excellent news the Authority has been observing your casefiles and have sent their agent to meet you in person." Benjamin, "This is true Bas, you don't mind that I call you that right", Crimson said, she had reverted into her original form, "I could use a man of your talents on my team. I'm one of the original Mutare, and I'm all about the DNA baby, for the last millennia I've hand-picked a team of elite minds, like yours, to push the envelope of what we can do with the human genome.", she took his hands into his, "I've followed your work myself, that mind of yours babe, it's amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on it", she smiled and leaned back into her chair, crossing her legs. "I don't know what to say, I didn't expect this kind of offer when I got this meeting request." He replied truthfully, Crimson laughed a sultry laugh, "I make men speechless all the time honey. It's like my favorite pastime." She took a tablet off the desk and handed it to Bastion, "This has all the information you need about my team and the projects we do, I understand you have a partner, we made him a similar offer to replace the head of the Journeymen on Earth, so you can both have lucrative careers if you accept". He took the tablet, and knew this was a trap, he also knew for certain that the Authority had more access to his brain, because this little trap was a little too well packaged to appeal to his most recent desires.

"This seems amazing, do I have time to review this and discuss it with my partner?" he said, "Oh yea, take your time." Crimson said, "Not too much though baby, you never want to keep a girl like me waiting too long.", his director chimed in, "Bastion, you're invaluable to me and the institute, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I think you should consider seriously, you may go."

Bastion stood, "Thank you Benjamin, thank you both actually, I am honored.", Crimson stood and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Fuck honored, get excited handsome, I can't wait to see what's ticking up there." She looked down to his crotch, "And maybe down there too.", she winked at him then returned to her chair. He left the office without waiting for any further discussion, he had a lot on his mind, and he got the distinct impression that Crimson quite literally wanted his head on a platter.

He walked briskly back to his office, he knew that they were monitoring his everyone moved so he tempered his pace to seem excited by the offers, versus paranoid. Activating the tablet, he began reading about this assignment.

'Bastion Bourin-Kalina, we welcome you in advance to a life of genetic exploration in the service of the Authority! As you know, genetic and technological augmentation is essential for the growth and sustainability of our species, thus our most valuable work and research for the advancement of our team is undertaken on our first homeworld, Earth-Terra. On Terra, you'll be working with the founding geneticist of our society Councilor Tobias Reid, under the supervision of our lead Mature Crimson Cameron-Terra. Members of this team display a rare combination of technopathic ability and biokinisis, and after a review of your cases and baseline genetic testing, we find you capable of such activities. In addition to this, you've proven yourself to be a skilled analyst, capable of computing complex data without the need of your implants.

Should you accept this position, we will be relocating you to your own private suite and laboratory on Earth and equipping you with the most advanced forms of cybernetic enhancements available to the Mature."

As he arrived in his office, he realized a few things. Firstly, he was a latent kinetic which explained how he was able to hijack the authority's security protocols on his implants, he was not all that surprised. The second revelation made his stomach twist in knots, under the guise of a promotion, the "advance cybernetic enhancements" was a polite way of saying they were going to install a tighter leash on his mind. He was in trouble.