Page 120 of Cage of Starlight
It’s easy to blame Kirlov, but Kirlov never played at being a friend.
“Sitdown, Arknett.I will inform you when you’re free to go.”
But he can’t. He’s not sure his legs would bend for him if he tried.
“He’s fresh from a slaughter, Colonel,” Helner says. “The only person who survived with him isdead.”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? Arknett, how are you sure he’s dead? Before you left him, did you check for pulse and respiration?”
“I—” Tory’s spread hands blur and waver on the table. The room grows smaller.
A hand seizes his arm. Helner? “We’re leaving. This is going nowhere. Track the corpse if you need it so badly.”
“I might. But we’re not finished here. Once he’s calmed down, bring him back.”
With any luck, Tory will be long gone by the time Kirlov thinks to accost him again.
They make it to the door before Kirlov’s voice stops them.
“Arknett.”
“What?”
“Do you intend to leave your pack here?”
Adrenaline sears him. Tory snatches the pack from the floor and stalks out with Helner at his side, Kirlov’s eyes following him the whole way.
*
Helner tracks him down after his shower. His hair’s still dripping into his eyes, skin livid pink with the blistering heat of the water.
“Sorry to hit you with this, but for once in my life, thanks to some of the reports we’ve received of your performance in the field, I’ve gotten permission to run you through some exercises to see whether you’d be useful in the sword corps. I don’t plan to waste the chance.” She leads him down the hall as he towels his hair dry. “I really do think, if the generals stopped defining Seeds in such restrictive ways, we could change things for the better. Can you imagine Fielders doing offensive maneuvers? Creating a dome forcefield around a group of enemy soldiers and—” She makes a dome with her hands and collapses it with an accompanying squishing noise. “—justcrushing them?There’s more to all of us than they think.”
She pauses, steps slowing, in front of a door. “I’ll have to leave you here for a minute while I gather some things. I truly wasn’t expecting to get permission this time—”
Her voice dies in her throat as she tugs the door open.
Tory’s traitorous heart lurches at what’s inside.
A dark-haired officer stands inside the room. Familiar undercut, dress uniform. A familiar stance.
But the officer turns, and he’s too short, and too solidly built, features squished onto a mundane face. His expression is flat, lips pursed like he’s bored. “Ah, Doctor. I’m sorry to interrupt, but you won’t be performing your experiments today.”
Helner’s eyes narrow. “Won’t I?” Her hand doesn’t fist at her side. The fingers narrow to a spear-point, like she’s considering Reaching into the officer’s throat and pulling out his trachea.
“Change of plans,” the officer drawls. “I was ordered to accompany a shipment of prototypes by the Grand General himself.” At this, he stands straighter and gestures to encompass the high-ceilinged gray room. At the back, a massive pile of boxes has been stacked. A large, round target with red and white concentric circles has been mounted above the boxes, and a small group of Seeds stands facing the back wall. One wears a strange, bulky vest, like the one the Grand General wore when he visited.
Tory’s knees knock. Back then, he didn’t know how to recognize the static-sharpness of Sena’s energy, but it’s a beacon, bleeding off everything in those boxes. Off the target. The vests. He was never anything but an object to these people.
The officer gestures to the boxes. “You were informed they’d be arriving.”
“A lot’s happened since then.”
“Well. General Vantaras’ priority is to test these against battle-trained Seeds and see how they hold up. I’ve spoken to the sword corps and called away a few of their Kineticists to start.”
“Why not do that in the capital?” Helner says, the kind of sweet that hides a sharp point.
“The other STAR compounds house Seeds with primarily non-offensive abilities. STAR-7 is our best bet at getting proper feedback.”
