CHAPTER FOUR

 

Ti’ann stared at the place where Val had stood a heartbeat earlier, but her mind flinched away from accepting what she saw.

Where a pretty, petit, young woman had once been, now stood an amazing, golden-skinned Shifter.

The Shifter’s body was long and smooth, its limbs slender. It didn’t have a mouth or any visible ears, but its eyes were large swirls of green and yellow. It tilted its head to one side in a gesture that reminded Ti’ann of the woman Val. A moment passed before her brain recognized the woman and the Shifter were the same being.

Beside her Nathan cursed under his breath. The rest of the tent fell into another heavy silence. She glanced at Krin to see him supporting himself against a table, his eyes wide with shock.

Val’s voice disrupted the silence and snapped Ti’ann’s attention back to the golden creature. The Shifter still stared at them, but a mouth had formed in its otherwise featureless face.

“This is the real reason we require your secrecy. I can’t be sure how the rest of your team will react to a Shifter in their midst. I’ll keep up the guise of Val Hyde while I’m here.” It moved its gaze to focus on Krin. “To answer your question, I felt it was important to let you know, to establish a level of trust between us.”

The Shifter moved its unblinking gaze between Ti’ann, Nathan, and Krin. “I’m what’s called a Keeper of the History. We’re one of the oldest surviving lines. Our history goes back long before humans settled on this planet and named it Narava. I’m one of the few Keepers to hold information from so long ago.”

“That’s why it’s so important Val’s identity remain secret,” James said. “If certain parties in the Senate were to discover the existence and identity of Keepers of the History, the Keepers would be immediately targeted for extermination. We’re placing a great deal of trust in you at the moment. I hope it’s trust well-placed.”

“Why?” Ti’ann spoke before she realized she would. Shock still thudded through her. She looked directly at Val when she asked, “Why are you trusting us? We could be anybody. We could be a danger to your entire species.”

The mouth in Val’s golden face lifted in a grin. “Your nature…emanates from you. I can be fairly certain you’re not a danger. At least, you wouldn’t aim for our destruction.”

“My nature emanates from me?” Curiosity got the better of her again. The conversation fascinated her. With a creature whose intelligence was still being debated! How could anyone who’d met one of these amazing beings think them predatory beasts?

She stopped in mid-thought and paused to consider. She couldn’t doubt Shifter cognizance now, not when Val was standing there destroying any preconceived notions she might have had. But were they predators or prey? Val claimed they were prey. But the ability to shift would be useful to both. Which was more likely? With their intelligence, they’d make deadly predators. That was very reason those original humans were terrified enough to destroy an entire Shifter city. Was there something to their fear? Should she be afraid of Val?

Before she realized what she was doing, she found herself leaning toward Nathan and the security he represented. She gave herself a mental slap and straightened, annoyed that she kept turning to him every time she got nervous. She was not that big a ninny, damn it. She’d been standing on her own her entire adult life. She did not need a man who didn’t even remember her to keep her safe.

Val interrupted Ti’ann’s thoughts. “I’m sure you’ve heard the reports of our telepathic abilities? That’s our primary form of communication. In fact, it took us years, nearly a generation, to learn how to communicate with a mouth and a word-based vocabulary.”

“You mean your vocabulary isn’t word-based?” Krin moved away from the table and stepped closer to Val.

“Telepathically, words are quite limiting. Our language is…beyond words. It’s difficult to explain without showing you. Unfortunately, except for Mr. Longfeather—” everyone followed Val’s swirling gaze to look at Nathan, “—none of you have the necessary telepathic trait for me to give you an example. And his talent is limited. Perhaps with training…” Val trailed off, head tilted in consideration.

“Fascinating,” Krin said. “So when you say our nature emanates from us, do you mean you’re able to read our minds?”

Krin didn’t sound nearly as disturbed by the possibility as Ti’ann felt. She’d heard Shifters could communicate telepathically, but it hadn’t occurred to her they might be able to read human thoughts. Outside of her own discomfort at the idea, that information further complicated the predator versus prey debate. Being able to hear ones prey would be a huge advantage to a predator. But it would also be useful to a hunted species.

She thought back to the way Monroe and Val had stared quietly at each other and realized he must be able to talk with Val telepathically. It made sense, given his position as the head of the group. Could any of the others talk with her…it…mind to mind?

“We don’t read your minds,” Val assured Krin. “Not without permission. But as a species, you don’t have much control over your thoughts so sometimes they leak out. In any case, we can generally feel your intentions and natures without having to read your minds. I think you would say we ‘sense’ things.”

“It’s a bit like empathy,” Juanita supplied. “Though not nearly as precise. Shifters can be fooled.”

Krin smiled, ignoring Juanita’s underlying warning, his eyes wide. “Val, would you mind?” He held out his hand. “I’ve always wondered what Shifter skin feels like.”

Val grinned and stretched out a long hand to him. They linked fingers and Krin laughed. “So smooth.”

Ti’ann found herself rising and moving closer to Val, her curiosity getting the best of her. She would have attempted to touch the Shifter, too, if Nathan hadn’t held her back with a hand on her arm. His touch shocked her more than the impersonal contact should. She gasped as electricity zinged over her skin, raising the small hairs on the back of her neck. He dropped his hand quickly, breaking contact, but not before she felt her world tremble.

“How do your cells maintain cohesion?” Krin asked, his attention riveted on the Shifter. His comment pulled Ti’ann back to the conversation. “Does it take a great deal of energy to maintain this form? Does changing shape require a lot of energy? How do you eat? What do you eat?”

“Dr. Freemont, I’m sure Val will be happy to answer all your questions about Shifter biology later,” James interrupted. “For the moment, we have other issues to deal with.”

Val grinned at Krin and shifted back to the petit blond woman while still holding his hand. He gasped but his grin widened.

“I’ll be happy to talk with you, Dr. Freemont—”

“Please, call me Krin.”

“Krin. But James is right. This thing you and Dr. Jones have discovered is…it may well be a truly significant find to your people and mine.”

“You’ve told us about your cities for a reason,” Ti’ann said. “Do you think this is an abandoned Shifter complex? Maybe one sunk during an earthquake?” She felt excitement bubbling up at the prospect. Worry over the predator-prey debate got buried under the possibility of discovery. Then she remembered the new scan. “But how could it have changed? There haven’t been any tremors or activity of any kind that might have altered the shape.”

“I’ve a suspicion it’s an old Shifter city. But like you, I know that wouldn’t explain the change in the structure. Unless it’s a living city.”

“A living city?” Ti’ann breathed. The possibility was more overwhelming, more awe-inspiring than anything she could have anticipated. She’d hoped their anomaly would be a significant discovery, but this… A city, a living city full of Shifters? If she’d thought discovering a Shifter graveyard was going to draw attention, this news could change…everything. “That deep underground?” she continued. “Is it common for Shifters to build underground?”

“No. An underground city has never been recorded in our history. We typically don’t dwell in caves or beneath the soil.”

“Typically?” Ti’ann asked.

Something in the way Val said the word made Ti’ann look closer at her…it…

Ti’ann groaned inwardly at having to make the correction again. Shifters were asexual so Val wasn’t a he or a she, but she’d met Val Hyde the human woman and, right now, looking at that human woman, Ti’ann found it hard to think of Val as an ‘it.’

“I wouldn’t want to jump to any conclusions yet, Dr. Jones. I think we’d need to excavate first.”

So Val wasn’t prepared to claim the anomaly was a living city yet? Ti’ann found the Shifter’s hesitance reassuring. She didn’t want to leap to false conclusions either. The fact that it might be a city period was overwhelming and exciting enough.

“Would there be a natural entrance, one we could access without having to dig?” Krin asked.

“I don’t know. As I said, we don’t normally bury our cities,” Val answered.

Ti’ann tapped her fingers against her thigh as she considered their options.

A city.

A Shifter city.

Even if it wasn’t living, this was an amazing find. Who knew what they might discover inside? Her mind strained against the sheer magnitude.

They’d dig, she decided. How could they not? She briefly considered calling in an archeologist friend from her undergraduate days but dismissed the idea with an unconscious shake of her head. Until they knew what they had, the less people here the better.

“What is it?”

Nathan’s voice made her jump.

“Sorry?”

“You shook your head. What’s wrong?” Nathan asked.

“Oh. Nothing. I was deciding whether or not to call in an archeologist friend for the dig but decided against it. We’re not sure what we have yet.”

“And I’d prefer if no one outside this tent knew what we expected,” Val reminded them. “For the moment.”

“I’ll need to tell my people something. They’ll want to know what to look for. And the diggers will need to know what not to cut into.”

“Tell them it’s a graveyard,” Mike said. “That theory should satisfy their curiosity. We can say our natural historian here—” he nodded to Val with a smile, “—was able to pinpoint a rare reference to such things from early colonial times.”

“You think they’ll buy it, Krin?” Ti’ann turned to face him, watching his expression as he thought.

“I think so. We can put the graveyard forward as the most workable theory.” He pushed his hair off his forehead and nodded.

“Okay then,” she said. “We’ll use that story. Although, Val, if it is a city, why is there DNA mixed in with the other elements?”

Val’s brow creased. “We’ll know more when we’ve excavate.”

Ti’ann frowned at Val’s evasive answer. There was something Val wasn’t telling them… something was left unsaid. Ti’ann didn’t think it was anything dangerous, or she was sure Val would mention it rather than put Monroe and the others at risk. Ti’ann was determined to excavate the anomaly. But anxiety mixed with her excitement and curiosity. What was Val hiding? What the hell would they find?