Dangerous Designs Read online

  ***

  Eric's jaw dropped.

  Paxton stood in place, wringing his hands. "Oh dear. Not good. This is not good."

  Eric blinked, then blinked again. She'd done it. Even after he'd said she couldn't. How stupid could he be? And not just him. His people were just as guilty. She'd been right. They'd been locked into the surety of knowing what worked and what didn't. Therefore, they'd never questioned the boundaries of that knowledge.

  Storey hadn't been bound by the same restriction. She'd taken the steps to find out just what she could do.

  Unbelievable. Shocking really. He pulled himself out of the dangerous bout of admiration to study the doorway Storey had opened, then backed up several feet. She'd drawn a hallway, as if the picture on the wall was a portion of the wall itself. Using the doorway to her bedroom as the vanishing point in the distance, she'd created a long hallway to her room. A perspective drawing with her room as the single point in the center.

  Brilliant, really.

  Eric turned to face his mentor and received another shock.

  Paxton was terrified.

  He'd never thought to see fear on Paxton's face. Consternation, even worry, anger, but fear, now that was a new one. One he didn't like.

  "Oh, dear. What are we going to do?" Paxton held his hands together and stared at the wall.

  "What's going on here? Where's the girl?" His father bellowed from the doorway.

  Eric stiffened. Maybe it was Storey's influence, or maybe, he was just seeing the light for the first time. He pulled the sketch off the wall and folded it

  "The girl? Storey has gone home."

  Eric braced for the storm to hit.

  "What? You took her home? How dare you? You will be punished for this."

  Years of being educated in a military type of school was all that held Eric back from letting the words spill over. He could only stare in disgust at his father, a father who'd been absent from most of his life. "I didn't take her back."

  "Not directly, but you let her leave," Paxton cried out in anguish. "Oh, dear. This is terrible."

  "She was never a prisoner, Paxton. She came at my request. To show you her picture. Realizing that no one here would listen to her or wanted her help, she decided to go home."

  "She was supposed to have been your prisoner. And if she wasn't, it's your fault," snapped his father.

  "Why? I was told to retrieve the stylus. Nothing about trying to keep Story. Not that I could have," he added thoughtfully, staring at the wall."

  "You could have used chains and the dungeon. At least they'd have gotten the job done."

  Cold settled into Eric's chest. The dungeons were for the worst of the worst. Dark, wet and miles underground where prisoners went insane or, more often than not, died. If they'd planned that for Storey, he was glad she'd escaped. Since when had his people been so harsh, so unforgiving? Being on the inside, he'd never questioned his way of life or those in power. No one did. Everyone had what they needed. Why worry? "Dungeons have always been for the worst criminals in our society. I hardly think Storey's actions warrant such a punishment."

  "Well, possibly not the dungeons." His father backed down on that point. "But we can't just have her running around loose on the other side. Who knows whom she'll tell? What damage she'll do?"

  Eric shook his head in disbelief. "She's just a kid."

  "She's already caused damage." Paxton came to Eric, as if willing him to understand. "You have to see the truth here. She can't be left to do as she pleases."

  Eric cocked his head, fear for Storey and a deep-seated anger slowly building, twisting into a fury he'd never known. "What is it you're planning to do?"

  "You must bring her back, of course. Even a dimwit like you should be able to see the sense of that." The sneer on his father's face sharpened.

  The fury boiling behind his self control was going to kill him. He swallowed hard. "Really. I'm to bring her back so she can be your prisoner? So you can take away her memories, force her to be a lab rat for you to study?"

  Paxton suddenly rose to his full height. "Don't use that tone with me. Of course she must come back. She still has the stylus."

  "Which is soulbound to her. They can't be separated anymore."

  "We don't know that. Sarcov has almost recovered. He might be able to bond with it again."

  "It can only bond with one person at a time."

  "Right. So now you see how important it is to get it back," his father snapped.

  Eric stared at the two men, his anger being quietly drowned by fear. "You can't take it away from her unless she dies or, as in Sarcov's case, it appears as if death is imminent. Storey is neither of those."

  "Oh, don't be naive. She's dangerous. Of course, she's going to have to die - eventually."

  No. No, surely that's not what he was hearing. Eric shook his head slowly like a bull with a red flag being waved in his face. "You want me to bring her back so you can kill her?"

  "Well, I wouldn't put it that way." Paxton tried to smooth the harshness of the conversation over. "We might need her."

  "Her name is Storey. The least you can do is give her the respect she deserves."

  "Deserves? What are you talking about? She's one of them." His father's outrage boiled over. "They don't deserve our respect. They're animals. Mindless in their actions, eating and killing their way through life with no consequence for their future."

  Eric reared back. "And what's so different about what you do? Didn't you just tell me to go and get her, so you could kill her?" He sneered. "How dare you put yourself on a pedestal above her and her kind? Is this what you've raised me for? To view myself as better than the others just because they live on the other side of the veil?"

  "We are more advanced than they are. Our technology is superior, so are our energy capabilities. We must protect our way of life." Paxton tried to appease him. "Even you should be able to see that."

  "We don't have any information on what they can or cannot do. Storey said something else that's true. We've gone over to her world time and time again, bringing back anything we wanted or needed to develop our technology. That's the only reason we've developed beyond them. We've never once shared what we've learned, including the new medicines and healing lasers that have wiped out illness here. No. She's right - we've stolen everything from them."

  "Nonsense. We're doing what we've always done. We've lived like this for centuries. How can you start to judge our ways now? That girl is dangerous. Look at how you are speaking to me. You've never talked back before." His father snorted at him.

  Eric frowned at the truth of his father's words. When his father had said to do something, he'd done it - blindly. Regardless of right or wrong. There'd been a time or two when he'd wondered at the wisdom of the orders, but had followed them regardless.

  How horrible was that? Shame filled him for his past actions, or lack thereof, and for his own treatment of Storey. She deserved better. He hadn't even given her the respect she'd deserved. He'd tricked her into coming over here and then hadn't even taken her home again.

  "Now, I want you to go there and bring her back." His father drew himself up to his full height which, being a full foot plus shorter than Paxton at his side, made him look ridiculous. "And I want you to go now."

  Eric tilted his head and studied him. Paxton waited, holding his breath. Eric ignored him. "And if I don't? Then what?'

  His father's face turned beet red and absolute rage shone from his eyes. He gritted his teeth and stuck his jaw out. "What did you say to me?"

  "I asked you what the penalty would be if I refuse to commit murder." Eric raised his eyebrows. "That is what you are asking of me, isn't it? If I bring her back, you will kill her. That makes me an accomplice in the eyes of the law."

  "No. I am not going to argue about this. This person, this girl, has threatened national security. She doesn't get a trial and there won't be any charge of murder laid. She is a danger to us all."

  "Says
you."

  His father went seriously quiet. When he spoke again, his voice was flat and dark. "I am going to make myself clear right now and we will never speak of this again." Steel shone from his eyes. "I am ordering you to go to the other side of the veil, retrieve the girl, and bring her back here. Should you fail to do so, you are guilty of the same crime of which she is accused. And then..." he paused for effect, "a team will go over there and do what you weren't willing to do yourself - by force if necessary."

  Paxton closed his eyes and bowed his head as if the worst had happened.

  A chill swept over Eric. This was his father. The father he'd idolized growing up. Had respected all through his brief years. His father was ordering him to bring Storey back to be killed - or be killed himself.