Page 30 of Destinies of Diamond
Yes, I did, but I was too afraid to say that, too afraid to rely on them again. “No. I’ll be okay. We should go back to the academy now. If you’re here, I’m assuming you didn’t find anything either, but we still have to report in.”
My lovers shared a telling look, but didn’t argue with me. “All right, Selene. We’ll do things your way. Let’s go home.”
I almost wanted to laugh at Brendan’s words, because I didn’t feel I had a home anymore. But that didn’t mean all hope was lost.
I couldn’t just give up. If I didn’t have a home, I’d build one, for myself and for my child. Maybe it wouldn’t be as strong as I’d have liked, but it would be there anyway.
Pocketing my glass figurine, I left the shelter without looking back. I knew now what my next step had to be.
I needed to talk to Commander Wesley Trevor.
****
Wesley
“Sir, I know you’re not satisfied with the answers I’ve given you, but there are no other answers here to find. It was a natural anomaly. There’s no sign of any outside intervention.”
I glared at the technician, feeling the sudden urge to throttle him. The generator failure itself was a sign of outside intervention. Yes, there was a chance that this might have been a natural phenomenon, but it was infinitesimal at best.
I scanned the area with my implanted systems and what I found disheartened me even more. We were standing a mile away from the main generators, but even from here, I could distinguish the heavy damage. It would take at least a couple of days for them to be up and running again, even at a limited capacity. Right now, the back-up generators were picking up the slack for the shields and the most important life-support systems. But secondary services would likely be suspended. Temperature regulation would suffer, as would hygiene facilities.
At least half the drones would have to go offline. We’d have to rely on the chimeras to do the heavy lifting for fixing the power plant, and they were weapons, not construction equipment. And then, there was the population of Tartarus City. The drones monitored security there and kept the sex workers safe and the people from running amok. Without that, we could have a disaster on our hands.
I couldn’t afford to keep looking into the causes of the accident, no matter how suspicious I thought it was.
“Very well,” I told the technician. “Focus on the repairs for now. We’ve already redirected the back-up power to where it’s needed most, but we need to get the main plant up and running as soon as possible.”
As I spoke, my back-link beeped, announcing an incoming transmission. I didn’t bother activating the regular mechanism. Instead, I took the call directly in my brain. As expected, the call was from Prince Archibald. “Wesley, how are we doing?”
“The damage is worrying, Your Highness. We’ll have to deploy some of the guards stationed at the academy to Tartarus City. The remaining drones won’t be able to supervise it properly.”
“Yes, I’m already doing that. If push comes to shove, we can also rely on the infantry units of students. But I don’t think it’ll be as bad as all that. The Tartarus City inhabitants will understand this is a serious situation and won’t use it for their benefit.”
Normally, I’d have deemed his words too optimistic or even naive, but knowing Archibald, I was well aware of the threat he posed. I had no doubt that he planned on putting the fear of Tartarus into the people. I whole-heartedly agreed. “May I suggest a temporary limit imposed on activities in the Titans’ Pit?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Archibald mused. “We should probably be sealing Persephone’s Plaza, at least for a few days. It’s too dangerous down there without proper security. I’ll leave that in your capable hands.”
That was one job I was happy to handle, but before I could do so, the Ocypete landed by my side, still covered in soot and space dust. “We’ve retrieved all the casualties and injured from the power plant, Commander,” Scott Argyle said. “They’re being treated as we speak.”
“How many dead?” I asked.
“Just three. The automatic units received most of the damage. However, there are at least a dozen more people who will be incapable of working for the foreseeable future and might even need limb replacements.”
After having seen the damage to the physical structure, I’d expected more dead. I was glad I’d been wrong about that, but at the same time, it made me even more suspicious than I’d already been. It almost looked like someone had deliberately focused the damage on the building and avoided exposing too many people to the blast.
I didn’t say that out loud. “Very well. You’re going to be in charge of further operations here while I report in with His Highness.”
“Yes, Sir. We live to serve.” Instead of returning to his task like I’d told him, he hesitated. The mild tremor in the Ocypete’s wings suggested he was nervous.
“Was there anything else, Flight Lieutenant Argyle?” I prodded.
The inquiry, while abrupt, encouraged the young man.“Yes, Sir,” he replied. “I hope I’m not being too presumptuous by asking this, but I just can’t get it out of my head. Was this an apsid attack? A Terran terrorist? What could have caused this kind of damage?”
“Right now, our information suggests this is nothing more than an accident, a natural phenomenon. But even so, be careful and guard the perimeter. You never know.”
“Of course, Sir.”
Leaving Argyle in charge of the generators, I headed back to my shuttle and flew toward the city. As expected, I found chaos. Prince Archibald had done his best and like he had said, the human staff of the academy had taken over operations. But despite all our efforts to do damage control, the people simply couldn’t compensate for all the absent drones.
