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Adika gave one incredulous look at Zak and Rafael, then strode wrathfully towards them.
“What are you two doing?” he demanded in a voice of thunder.
Zak and Rafael broke off their kiss and faced him. “We’ve just started a relationship,” said Zak.
“We understand that the rule against having relationships with someone on the same Strike team means one of us will have to leave the Alpha team,” said Rafael.
“If you understand that, why did you still choose to have a relationship with each other?” Adika waved his arms in despair. “You could have taken your pick of the men on the Beta team without a problem. You could still do that.”
“I don’t think they’re attracted to me,” said Zak, in a strangled voice.
“And I’m perfectly sure I’m not attracted to them,” added Rafael.
Adika let out his breath in a sound of pure exasperation. “We’ll talk about this later. Where are you holding this urgent team meeting, Lucas?”
“In meeting room 4,” said Lucas.
Adika turned and strode off towards the operational section of the unit at high speed. Lucas and I exchanged expressive glances, then followed him at a more normal pace.
“I assume you’d noticed what was happening between Zak and Rafael,” I said.
Lucas laughed. “I’m not a telepath, but I’m a highly skilled behavioural analyst. Zak and Rafael’s attraction for each other was clear from the way they were carefully avoiding touching each other.”
“I knew they were planning to break the news to Adika about their relationship,” I said. “I’d discussed it with them. What I don’t understand is why they decided to do it at a moment when he was already furious.”
“Because they had no choice,” said Lucas. “There’s currently one vacancy on each Strike team. Zak and Rafael know that whichever of them is dropped from the Alpha team has to get the Beta team vacancy or leave our unit entirely. Once Adika mentioned moving Tobias to the Beta team, they had to tell him about their relationship right away.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. I was obviously too tired to think properly. I’d known about Zak and Rafael needing the Beta team vacancy. I’d heard Adika mention moving Tobias to the Beta team. I hadn’t thought through the fact that those two situations were going to come into direct conflict with each other.
“However angry Adika is about Zak and Rafael forcing him to drop one of them from the Alpha team, there’s no doubt about his decision,” I said. “They’re two of his best men.”
“Agreed,” said Lucas. “Adika won’t sacrifice either Zak or Rafael to keep Tobias in the unit.”
“So you think Adika will go ahead with dropping Tobias from the Alpha team even if it means firing him entirely?” I asked unhappily.
Lucas stopped walking and faced me. “Read me, Amber.”
I linked to the mind that still took my breath away every time I read it. The staggering number of glittering thought levels raced past at express belt speed. Some of them analyzing today’s run, others planning for the meeting ahead, but the pre-vocalized thought level was aimed specifically at me.
I know you’re protective of your Strike team members, Amber, but you must realize Tobias has become a severe problem.
“I’m protective of my Strike team members because they risk their lives to defend me.”
I appreciate that, but we’ve reached the point where you can’t save Tobias from the consequences of his own actions. He’s been falling behind the standards of the rest of the Alpha Strike team ever since he came out of Lottery. It isn’t because of injury. It isn’t because of illness. It definitely isn’t because of an error in the Lottery testing process. I looked up the full details of Tobias’s test results myself when you were on your way back from the emergency run.
I blinked. “You did?”
Yes. It’s part of my job to watch for failures in Lottery testing. I cross-checked Tobias’s Lottery test results with the records of his sports career on Teen Level. Everything was consistent. Tobias is physically capable of keeping up with the rest of the Alpha team. He’s created his own problems by skimping on the personal training, and now he isn’t even following the basic rule of keeping his equipment with him at all times.
I didn’t like revealing the secrets I discovered when I read minds. “There is a personal factor in Tobias’s behaviour.”
Adika told me about that last week. Tobias’s brother is imprinted as a Strike team leader, so Tobias was disappointed to only be imprinted as a Strike team member. Tobias claims his brother has been making the situation worse by taunting him, but he could be overreacting to innocent remarks. You regularly read the minds of all your Strike team, so probably know the truth.
I grimaced. “It’s impossible for me to know the truth about something like this. Whenever I encounter someone’s memory of a conflict, I experience it from their viewpoint, complete with their feelings and personal bias about the events.”
Whether the brother is deliberately taunting Tobias or not doesn’t really change the situation. This is a classic example of why the Hive encourages teens to end old friendships when they enter Lottery. Differences between Lottery results fuel resentment, and what was a friendly rivalry can become intensely destructive.
I was confused. “Tobias isn’t involved in a conflict with a friend, but his brother.”
It’s basically the same problem. The only difference is that the Hive doesn’t pressure people to break close family ties. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, a break with close family would be hugely psychologically damaging to many people. Secondly, the knowledge that they’d have to break contact with their children when they went through Lottery would deter people from having children at all.
“I’d never thought of that second point,” I said, “but you’re perfectly right.”
That means every individual has to find their own solution to the problems Lottery results cause within the family circle. Tobias needed to do one of two things. Either work at overcoming his jealousy of his brother, or break off contact with him.
I wrinkled my nose. “I can see why Tobias wouldn’t want to break off contact with his brother. It would mess up all the rest of their family relationships.”
In which case, Tobias needed to work at overcoming his jealousy. He hasn’t done that. In fact, he’s actively refused offers of counselling, choosing to wallow in his resentment instead. That has inevitably soured what should have been delight in his Lottery result, which is why he hasn’t bothered to put in the effort needed to keep up with his teammates.
“I accept that Tobias hasn’t helped the situation,” I said. “What I don’t understand is how there can be such major issues when the brothers had virtually identical Lottery results. Both incredibly successful. Both rated Level 1. Both assigned to a Telepath Unit Strike team. There’s only the tiny difference between them that Tobias’s older brother was imprinted for Strike team leader and Tobias wasn’t.”
The fact the brothers had virtually identical results is what’s caused this problem. You were on Teen Level with Forge. When you came out of Lottery, and discovered he was assigned to your unit’s Strike team, was there ever any hint of him wishing he was in your position as telepath?
“Of course not. Being a telepath means having a Strike team constantly protecting you from danger. That’s a far more difficult situation than it sounds. I know that in a truly disastrous situation, my Strike team will give their lives to save mine. I know that I would have to let them do that, turn my back on them, and run away to safety because the Hive can’t afford to lose me.”
I rubbed the back of my hand across my eyes. “It’s hard enough for me to know that, Lucas, but Forge ... He loves pushing his body to its physical limits and taking risks. He was ecstatic about being assigned to the Strike team, and now he’s been promoted to lead the Beta Strike team his life is perfect. Forge would find the cosseted, protected existence of a telepath unbearable.”
Exactly. Forge could never be jealous of you. He has his ideal life on the Strike team and would find being a telepath unbearable. Tobias and his brother got virtually identical Lottery results, because they are virtually identical people, and want the same things in life. Add in the factor that Strike team members are naturally competitive, and jealousy about getting the imprint for the higher-ranked position becomes a serious problem.
“I see.” I hesitated before mentioning a nagging worry of my own. “You can imagine how my brother Gregas felt when I came out of Lottery as Level 1.”
He’d inevitably be thinking that whatever he achieves in Lottery will be a disappointment compared to his wildly successful older sister.
“Yes. Ever since I admitted to my family that I actually ran some sort of Hive Security Unit, Gregas has been alternating between being thrilled and jealous. I’m worried that when he goes through Lottery himself, he’ll have the same sort of issues as Tobias.”
Gregas has over four more years on Teen Level before he enters Lottery. That’s plenty of time to adjust to the idea of being rated lower level than you. Lottery will give Gregas work that he loves, so if you and your parents praise his result then there shouldn’t be a problem.
“I hope you’re right.” I groaned. “Well, the immediate issue isn’t Gregas, but Tobias. When I read Adika’s thoughts, I share his anger at Tobias. When I read Tobias’s thoughts though, I feel his emotions, and sympathize with him.”
I appreciate the problems of feeling the emotions of both sides in an argument. You’ve good reason to hate any conflict in your unit.
“Yes, I hate any conflict, and I don’t want this one to end in Tobias being fired.”
Lucas started speaking aloud for emphasis. “Megan is in charge of the everyday running of the unit, and I’m in charge of unit operations, but you’re the overall head of our unit, Amber. You make the final decision on everything, and you could block Adika from firing Tobias, but you have to think through the enormity of what happened today. A wild bee reached your location as a direct result of Tobias’s incompetence.”
I shook my head. “But Tobias wasn’t on that run.”
“Exactly,” said Lucas. “Tobias had missed the lift. Alvin managed to get through the net of men closing in on him, and use the tool lift to get to ground level, because Adika had one man too few to cover every escape route.”
I frowned. “I didn’t know that. I’m always running circuits during a strike, so I only get a very fragmented view of what’s happening.”
“Adika has asked Hallie to send him her holo recreation of the target breakaway,” said Lucas. “The minute he watches that holo, he’ll see that he’d positioned his men perfectly, and they’d all performed as well as humanly possible. There simply weren’t enough of them.”
“Oh,” I muttered.
“Once Adika realizes Tobias missing the lift was the key factor in what happened, he’s going to fire him. You really need to let Adika do that, Amber. Think what could have happened today if we’d been dealing with a wild bee who was more physically dangerous. The wild bee would have been killed. One of your bodyguards could have been injured or killed in your defence. You could have been injured or killed.”
It wasn’t the words that defeated me. It was the emotion that swept through Lucas’s mind as he pictured the ultimate nightmare of losing me.
“I accept your point,” I said.
I pulled back out of Lucas’s mind, and we walked on towards meeting room 4 in silence. When Lucas opened the door, I saw my other three team leaders and my counsellor, Buzz, were already there waiting for us.
We’d had such an exhausting time lately, that I wasn’t surprised to see Nicole’s long, red, flyaway hair was hanging limply around her shoulders, and she’d come to the meeting in her powered chair rather than on foot. Megan, my Senior Administrator, was sitting at the table next to her, organizing some trays of drinks, chopped fruit, and tiny pastries.
Adika and Buzz were both standing at the far end of the room, watching a holo that showed skeletal shapes of tanks and walkways, with glowing dots moving around them. After Lucas’s explanation, I understood why Adika had such a grim expression on his face.
Lucas went over to join Adika and Buzz, but I shamelessly dodged an unpleasant issue by sitting down at the table and raising my eyebrows at Megan. “We don’t usually have food at team leader meetings.”
“We don’t usually have team leader meetings directly after an emergency run.” Megan glared her disapproval at Lucas. “You haven’t eaten since breakfast, Amber, so I arranged for us to have some snacks during the meeting.”
“Nobody else has eaten since breakfast either,” I said.
Megan’s sniff implied that whether anyone else had eaten or not was irrelevant. Only the telepath mattered. This was the most exasperating thing about Megan. She was so unwavering in her devotion to me. However often I was unreasonable, ungrateful, or outright rude to her, she continued to smother me with care, and I was left feeling dreadfully guilty.
It had taken me a long time to work out why I found Megan so annoying. I’d tried blaming it on multiple things. The disastrous counselling sessions I’d had with her before we brought in Buzz to take over as my counsellor. Megan’s clashes with Adika in the early stages of their relationship. The way she kept trying to act as a substitute mother to me when I didn’t want anyone replacing my own mother.
Now I knew the real issue was that Megan had been the one who told me I was a telepath. I’d had no idea there was anything unusual about me until that moment, because telepaths instinctively blocked their skills as babies to protect themselves from the hundred million minds in the Hive. Learning the truth about myself had been a terrible shock, and part of me had blamed Megan for it.
I’d moved on from that initial shock now and accepted my telepathy, but the life of a telepath was full of highs and lows. I was constantly reminded of Carnival and Halloween, the twin Hive festivals of light and darkness, of life and death. When I linked to Lucas’s mind, plunging into his dazzling thoughts was like being in a joyous crowd celebrating Carnival. Linking to the mind of a wild bee could be the exact opposite, hitting me with all the most monstrous images of Halloween.
There were moments when I loved being a telepath, but there were also moments when I hated it, and felt I would crumble under the pressure of knowing how many lives depended on me. Those were the times when I unconsciously blamed my problems on Megan. Sometimes I only had to look at her painstakingly styled blonde hair, precisely applied makeup, and rigidly figure-controlling clothes to feel furious with her.
I knew I was being deeply unfair to Megan. When Lottery testing revealed I was a telepath, someone had to tell me the news and give me my initial training. As my Senior Administrator, with an imprint that included medical and counselling information, doing that was part of Megan’s duties. She wasn’t guilty of anything more than serving the Hive to the best of her ability, just as everyone else did. It seemed impossible for me to change my feelings about her though, so I was working on the alternative strategy of just changing my behaviour.
Megan handed me a glass of melon juice, and I forced myself to smile at her. “It was very thoughtful of you to arrange the food, Megan.”
She looked so pathetically pleased by my words that I felt guiltier than ever. I picked up a bite-sized pastry and popped it into my mouth. As I munched and swallowed it, my fake gratitude became entirely genuine.
“I hadn’t realized how hungry I was.” I ate another pastry.
Lucas, Adika, and Buzz came to sit down as well. Lucas chose a pastry that was a worryingly bright purple, but Adika just glowered at the food.
“Perhaps Lucas will finally explain why this meeting is so urgent,” he said.
“Apologies for not explaining earlier,” said Lucas. “I didn’t want to distract people during the emergency run. When Morton’s unit shuts down to allow him to have his surgery, there’ll be at least three months where the Hive only has four Telepath Units to keep order. My Joint Tactical Meeting earlier today was spent discussing plans for that period with the other Tactical Commanders, and I need to pass on some details to you all.”
“I still don’t see why we need to have this meeting right now rather than in the morning,” said Adika. “We’ve got seven weeks before Morton’s unit shuts down.”
“That’s one of the things I need to tell you,” said Lucas grimly. “Morton’s doctors have reported a sudden change in Morton’s condition.”
“Morton’s condition has worsened?” demanded Adika anxiously.
“It’s actually improved a little,” said Lucas. “I don’t understand all the medical issues, but the improvement means his surgical team can perform a preliminary operation ahead of the main surgery.”
He paused. “I’m told that’s excellent news. This preliminary operation should mean the main surgery is more effective. However, it also means Morton’s unit will be shutting down earlier than expected.”
“How much earlier?” asked Nicole in alarm.
“Immediately after the New Year festival,” said Lucas. “We now have less than two weeks to prepare for being without Morton’s unit.”
