My synapses were fired up, and I could already visualize the device working at full capacity.
“This is a masterpiece,” Amal murmured. “We went past the distance barriers with the physical augmentations. Well done, Sister.”
“Well done, yourself!” I replied, smiling. “Your circuits look extremely efficient in theory. The blast radius on this baby will go past the initial five-hundred-mile mark we’d talked about.”
She pointed at the power source on the screen. “We’ll need something huge for this.”
“Serium. Concentrated. But how much would be enough? And how much would burn it out?” I asked. There was a risk of overloading the mechanism, if we weren’t careful.
“It takes time to compress serium into concentrated sticks,” Amal said. “More than we have.”
“Okay… So, what do we do? If we want a wide radius, which we definitely do, we need a lot of power, and fast,” I replied. Several possible scenarios darted through my head, but none fit the timeframe we had to work with. “Once we get out of here with the device, we’ll need to act fast and activate it, before an entire army descends upon us.”
Amal thought about it for a while, then quickly transferred the blueprint to a small, portable tablet—perfect for a tunic pocket. She gave it to me, then smiled.
“Keep it safe. We need a few more parts, and they’re not here. I’ll have to get to the Creation Labs and bring them in without anyone seeing me,” she said. “As for a quick and potent power source, I’m thinking of the Hermessi.”
That made sense. Only, they weren’t fully awakened yet. “How can they do it? They’re still in a dormant state. They’re not strong enough without the one thousand and one fae,” I replied.
“We’ll have to speak to Vesta or one of the other fae, so they can talk to them. The Hermessi could power a serium bar to the levels we need, if they’re strong enough. They’re pure, natural energy, after all. They could do it as soon as they take what they need from the one thousand and one fae,” Amal suggested.
I nodded, trying to fully analyze this option before actually voicing my agreement. “It might work. But it’ll have to be you talking to the fae in the dome,” I said. “I can’t be seen anywhere near them right now.”
And I hated that. I longed to see Ridan again. I worried about him, knowing how miserable he was without his freedom. Captivity harmed everyone, but no one was more affected than Ridan—my dragon, designed by nature to soar through the skies, not languish in a diamond cage.
As if reading my mind, Amal gave me a warm smile. “You’ll see him again, you know.”
“I’m hoping. We have absolutely no certainty that this plan will work,” I replied.
“We can’t go into it with that kind of mindset,” Amal said. “We have to be determined to succeed. Don’t let doubt erode your resolve. Dammit, you left and forged your own path in this new world, and you were fearless throughout. Don’t let Ta’Zan make you think you can’t make it. I need you. Ridan needs you.”
As if seeing my sister for the first time, I felt myself overcome by a warm feeling of bewilderment. Amal could see and understand more than most, especially where I was concerned. Amal knew me best, and she’d learned to read my expressions before I even opened my mouth to speak. It was her most endearing quality, and I became determined to never be without her again.
Ta’Zan had driven a wedge between us before. This time, however, we were walking out together. And we were taking the outsiders with us, too.
“I’ve missed you,” I murmured.
Amal grinned. “I know.”
“Go, now. Get what we need. I’ll start working on the frame and the wiring first,” I said.
“I’ll get the output circuits and a transformer unit,” Amal replied, then turned toward the door.
Just then, as if summoned by misfortune itself, Ta’Zan walked in. His brow was furrowed, and there were faint but dark circles under his eyes. He was stressed out of his mind, and he was clearly having trouble keeping it together.
Amal froze, but offered him a weak smile. “Father. How can we help?” she asked.
“Prepare another batch of pills for Derek. I’d like to take him out again, tomorrow morning,” Ta’Zan replied.
“Of course. I’ll have them ready in a few hours,” Amal said.
I slowly shifted in front of the work table. I didn’t want him to see the tools and parts we’d already placed on it. Not that he knew what we were up to, but I didn’t want him thinking that I was doing anything other than what he’d ordered. He wasn’t stupid. On the contrary.
He looked at me, and I could almost feel him digging into my soul, the claws scratching away at my conscience and clutching my throat. “Help your sister, Amane,” he muttered, then left.
The silence he left behind gave me quite a headache. There was something different about him, an intensity of sorts that I’d never seen or felt before. He wasn’t like this. This version of him carried a dark energy that turned my legs into chunks of lead.
“There’s something odd about him,” I whispered, staring at the door.
“He’s been injecting himself with some of the bio materials we used to develop the Arch-Perfects,” Amal replied.
“Well, he’s made himself as difficult to kill, that much I know.”
“Hm… It’s not just that. He hasn’t told me, but I’m sure there’s more to it. We don’t have an inventory of the genetic materials, though, so I don’t know what he used,” Amal explained. “All I know is that I’m getting a bad vibe from him. He’s been like this since they first took down the comms blockers and bombed his ships.”
“Genetic modifications on himself? As a live specimen?”
“Probably. But I wouldn’t know what, exactly, what works and what impact it’s having on him,” Amal said. “However, it does work in our favor a little bit. He’s already frustrated and distracted. Whatever physical changes he’s going through, it has to be tough.”
“Okay, let’s do his pills and get cracking on the memory wiper.” I sighed. “What pills are we making, exactly?”
Amal stared at me for a moment, her eyes wide. “That’s right, you weren’t here when he devised the cocktail,” she mumbled.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll show you,” she said, then took a deep breath. “It’s nothing complicated. It’s just to help Derek deal with sunlight when he goes out with Ta’Zan.”
Ta’Zan was a brilliant chemist. When it came to drugs, cures, and treatments, he knew his stuff, combining biology with chemistry and even genetic engineering, if necessary. He’d devised all the treatments for both Perfects and Faulties, and he’d been the one to come up with a healthy and efficient acceleration process for the embryo development, shrinking the pregnancy term from nine months to mere hours.
