[LEGACY VERSION] The Enemy of Time (Book 2 - The Kaireyeh Chronicles)

Chapter 38 - Damon

In the chaos of the bridge, Damon stood apart. A few paces away, Alexi answered Campa's terse questions on what the Aezthena could and could not do. Alexi and Campa were in conference with Kalec; Kalec's face, and Kosef's, and those of two other Armada admirals, filled the front screens now. They interrupted Campa and Alexi every few seconds to ask them to explain some point or other. Behind Kalec, Damon could just make out Talina, shifting in and out of view. Damon didn't have to read her thoughts to know her tension.

He absorbed everything around him without focusing on any one thing. Kaireyeh still hummed in the bones of the ship, not as strong now but growing again. He could almost sense what it was thinking.

He'd heard the thoughts before when the ship had given him the Kaireyeh coordinates that brought them to Kalec. That had been by design, but by whose design? The ship's? Kaireyeh's? Or the Aezthena's?

But the feel he got from the ship--or Kaireyeh or whatever it was--was still peaceful. No, that wasn't the right word. The ship stabilized him, but the ship also wanted something from him, and that something was growing in urgency.

Alexi's head snapped around. "What is it?"

The ship wanted to enter Kaireyeh.

The thought hung in Damon's mind, and then expanded. The ship wanted to enter Kaireyeh and take all of them with it. All of Kalec's fleets, all of Kosef's.

Then the ship showed him how to do it.

Damon blinked. Could he trust the ship? The ship had brought them here. The ship had appeared in the Resistance hangar, and then proceeded to write that fact out of all of their conscious minds, including Alexi's--scary thought.

How can I trust you? Damon asked the ship. You're showing me peace, you've helped me stay calm, but you brought us here. You have your own plans. What are they?

"Damon," Alexi said, stepping closer.

Trust, the ship whispered back. But it wasn't just the voice of the ship. Damon knew that voice, that feeling, not from his own memories, but from Barenin's. That was Kaireyeh.

This is the way, Kaireyeh said. Less words and more of a feeling. This is the way. Trust.

Damon recoiled. He had Alexi/Barenin's memories, including those of when Alexi had thrown himself into Kaireyeh at Andavar. That had pushed Alexi to intrude on Damon's mind. Which had made Damon what he was now.

On the screen, Kalec craned his neck as if he could see past what his own displays showed him. "Is that Damon?"

Damon hesitated, then stepped beside Alexi. With Aezthena senses, he felt the light electronic brush as the holocam added him to the conference.

One of Kosef's admirals--Miyute, Damon plucked from Campa's thoughts--choked. The other pulled in a short breath.

"You have one of them?" Miyute asked. "That's not an illusion?"

Damon let it pass. "Prince Chevani." And then he stopped. He had almost started to explain how they should go into the Eddies.

Alexi. The ship is speaking to me. Kaireyeh wants us to enter the Eddies.

Alexi drew in a sharp breath. Open your thoughts. Let me hear what you heard.

Damon reluctantly cracked open his walls.

Yes, Alexi said. That is Kaireyeh. But I don't trust the ship.

"Yes?" Kalec asked. "What do you make of this, Damon?"