Ash’s eyes shot open.
He looked out at the roof of the trike with a contemplative look and sighed. He didn’t want to be Ashoka Stalin anymore. And yet…
“Ash?” Sheetal shook him and asked “Are you okay?”
Ash closed his eyes and felt the dozen balls buzzing around him leave one by one. He smiled at Sheetal and asked “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be.”
“Because you were just having a seizure.”
“Seizure? No.” Ash had cleared his throat and continued “I just took a nap.”
“Ash!?” Sheetal said in a threatening tone.
“What?”
“Will you stop passing out?”
“Passing out? I don’t pass out.” Ash responded in an indignant tone.
Sheetal gritted her teeth and continued “And when you wake up from passing out, will you stop lying to me?”
Ash leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.
What could he say? He needed to come up with a convincing lie because the fun was over. And he had to go back to work again. But he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to be Ashoka Stalin again. He liked this place and everything inside him rebelled against the idea of being a rook in a game of kings.
“Ash?” Sheetal asked in concern.
Ash looked at the man in the robot armour in front of him. T. He liked the man. But that was what his furniture was. Trying to hide in plain sight with powerhouses always looking over your shoulders.
“Ash!?” Sheetal called to him again.
He could always go rogue. A part of him said. And the rest of him homed into that thought. This wasn’t earth. He didn’t have a psychopathic mother who wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of him here. But there were others. Others who didn’t know him. Maybe he should be himself for a change. Make his own decisions. Scheme for himself and more importantly scheme to keep Sheetal alive.
Ash paused and thought about that last thought. He tasted it on his tongue. And he liked it. Sheetal was fire and he liked her. Did he trust her to do the right thing for them? Heck no. Did he expect her to destroy the world? With the hints he had gotten from her wayward thoughts, heck yes.
Why did everything either blow up or get crushed in her mind? And why didn’t she ever think about getting laid? That would distract her and help her mellow down. But no, she had to use science and numbers in everything. One of the things she was thinking about was how she could use her wind shard to light the air on fire. The only thing that was stopping her from testing it out was one she didn’t have enough potentiality, second she was worried that she would light the whole atmosphere on fire and third she wanted to do a little testing in a safe observation sight.
And Ash didn’t know what to do about it. The things running through her mind sometimes scared him. Oh who was he kidding? Sheetal’s mind terrified him, period. But She was fascinating, entertaining and there wasn’t a moment he wasn’t thrilled to be next to her.
So, yes he would take her to the top because he was awesome and then he would find twenty hot people to have an orgy with, in the open, with people serving him meat and grapes while he laid naked and entangled with his lovers. Just like in those old European paintings. Now all he had to do was to convince Sheetal to not destroy the world.
Sheetal floated out of the trike, cleared the winged door connected to the vehicle that looked like a strange mix between Tesla’s cyber truck and a formula one car. She lowered herself lower and looked behind her at Ash.
“Ash!”
Ash blinked and looked at her blankly.
“We have stopped.” Sheetal stated.
The annoying boy grinned at her weakly raised up a thumb. Sheetal furrowed her eyebrows and fumed. From the side of her vision she caught movement. A strange woman with a trench coat was walking to them. She could wait. Right now she had something more serious to deal with.
Ten minutes ago, Ash had been a panicky mess. Then he started spasming. That’s when T had finally moved. The man had cursed and flung himself to the other side of the console hitting knobs and switches. Restraining Ash inside the slippery gel. That hadn’t stopped him from going catatonic. Sheetal had yelled, screamed, and almost passed out when she felt pain from her little…
No, she didn’t have time for that. She didn’t have the time for whatever it was that was putting these protective feelings inside her. Right now, she only had the time for clear answers and she had the perfect tool to clear her mind. Just like she had done earlier.
Sheetal reached inside herself and switched on her mental shard. It had become instinctive, like curling up a finger. It didn’t clear her mind but helped her focus. And right now she needed that because she was worried and frustrated.
And unlike Ash, Sheetal had found that she could nudge all the pain and even some of her external sensations away when she used her mental shard. All she needed to do was concentrate on not feeling that side of her mind. Her mental shard activated and did that but the longer she held onto it the harder it was. Like flexing a muscle. The longer you kept it flexed the more it hurt. And when you released it the pain didn’t go away. In fact, just like a muscle, her shards kept trying to work and keep her mind in a state of absolute concentration.
It had already helped her make some essential discoveries. Back in the trike, she had switched on her shard when she had her hud open. Amongst all the numbers, dialogues, and reading was data that her mind hadn’t grasped.
In that moment, when her mind was supercharged, Sheetal had focussed on every detail of her hud and processed every single thing she had missed. That included the slight increase of brightness in the shards. When she had noted that fact, the system had helpfully populated the hud screen with small vertical bars next to the shards. Most of them were just ten to twelve percent full but her polar forces shard was almost at twenty nine percent. And her gravity shard was at twenty six.
What did that mean? Those two were obviously the two shards she used the most. Had her use helped them grow. What were they growing with? And what would happen when they grew?
Sheetal had a case study for her last question. From the conversations of the Superb Seven she had picked up that Ash had levelled up one of his shards. The one in his heart. That meant that Ash had filled one of those bars and that had turned him into, well, a skinny, girlish boy.
Would it change her? What had Parvati M said, something about a soul superimposing itself on the body and changing it. Or at least something like that. Could she walk if she levelled up her shards?
Sheetal’s mind went from her internal thoughts to Ash. The last three minutes she had tried to ask him questions to assure herself that her little friend was okay, while he acted like nothing had happened. And now that little shiz was giving her encouraging smiles and thumbs up gestures.
Sheetal closed her eyes and took in a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke. It didn’t work.
“Ash! Talk to me you… you… flipping fudge cake!”
Ash blinked at Sheetal and then looked at the cyborg lady standing behind her. Standing was the wrong term. She was now looming. Ash recognised the woman. It was that woman from the dashboard hologram screen thing. The one with steel hair. The one who bossed around T.
Ash considered his response. Should he see if he could push her buttons? That always revealed a lot about a person. No, right now he needed more information. Also, he had just decided to be a different person. So, for the time, nice Ash it had to be.
Ash raised his hand to greet the strange cyborg in a trench coat and said “I am sorry. Give her a moment. She will soon talk to you. Making her stop will be the problem.”
Sheetal looked at Ash talking past her and ignoring her. She flipped out. This little fudge tard was ignoring her. After she had been worried about him. She was going to teach him a lesson.
Sheetal reached for Ash and grabbed him using her powers. Ash yelped when he felt the pressure push against him. But before he could say or do anything he was yanked out with his limbs flailing around
Ash yelped when he hit his leg on the handle of a chair but decided to dangle lifelessly in front of Sheetal. It was the safer alternative. Speaking of which, he decided to protest his discomfort.
“Aaooouch!” Ash whined.
Sheetal grabbed Ash’s torn t-shirt and looked him in the eyes “Stop that.”
“Stop what?” Ash asked and stopped when his confused eyes suddenly locked on to Sheetal wet ones.
“Oh dang. She. Relax. It’s okay. You are okay. I am awesome. We are good.” Ash said while gesturing for Sheetal to calm down.
“What happened?” Sheetal almost growled.
In a soft voice he began “Promise me you won’t laugh?” Ash saw Sheetal open her mouth to scream at him again and quickly continued “I am just embarrassed. I saw something and panicked. And then had a panic attack.”
Sheetal blinked “A panic attack?”
“Yes. And now I am getting more embarrassed with you bringing it up again.”
“You, have panic attacks?” Sheetal asked in a measured tone.
Ash leaned closer to Sheetal and in a tense whisper muttered “Yes.”
Sheetal frowned. She had felt him panic. But she had also felt his pain. Which meant he wasn’t telling her everything. Sheetal looked at Ash, she saw his eyeballs dart to the woman behind her and then back. It was such a small motion that Sheetal would have missed it if she wasn’t completely focussed on Ash.
That look was also tainted by a spike of emotion she felt from the bond they shared. Sheetal focussed on the feelings with her mental shard. She listened to the feelings she was getting from Ash. Trepidation, anticipation and wariness of the woman behind her. Also he was feeling quite smug about something.
Sheetal squinted at “You were embarrassed?”
“I was embarrassed.” Ash nodded.
“Oh, for fuds sake.”
Ash gestured to the woman waiting for them and muttered “And you are not helping, bringing my problem up in front of others.”
Sheetal looked back in annoyance and started “Listen, I need some…time… to…”
Sheetal’s eyes met the cyborg woman’s eyes. And she stopped. One of the eyes flickered in and out of view revealing a dull lens behind. The woman caught Sheetal’s look and raised a metal arm to tap the side of her head. The finger made a metallic sound on impact and the eye appeared again.
“Sorry, the dust storm must have gotten into one of my projection clusters.” The cyborg responded.
Sheetal stared at the woman for a long moment and dropped Ash.
Ash fell and tried to roll, only to land sideways with an “Uff!”
Sheetal dismissed Ash and his discomfort and turned to fully face the cyborg. The woman was a work of art. Her hand was all gears, leavers, pistons, and hydraulics covered with a transparent crystal.
“May I look at your arm?” Sheetal asked while moving towards the woman.
The woman held out her arm and started introducing herself “I am Assault Commander Athena A07. I am also known as the Aug Queen.”
“Do you have two arms in there?” Sheetal interrupted the Aug queen.
Athena A07 closed her mouth and looked at Sheetal. She tried to pull her hand back but Sheetal who was holding on to her arm with a death grip pulled it back. All the while her face was pressed into the crystal.
The Aug Queen blinked at the surprising display of strength “As I was saying…”
“Oh my gods Ash.” Sheetal exclaimed “Those are four bones. Two Ulnas and two Radiuses. That means you literally have two arms tucked away in there. Wait, are both of your arms like that?”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Athena A07 looked from Sheetal who was circling her to Ash.
Ash got up to his feet and shrugged “Told you.”
Athena looked at Sheetal who was turning her other hand over and then at the boy warder “How is she doing this?”
Ash shrugged “She understands how a world works? That’s all she told me.”
“Ash!” Sheetal screamed “Her torso below her rib cage is cybernetic. That means her legs…”
Sheetal, who had one half of Athena’s trench coat in her hand, dropped the leathery fabric and moved behind her.
“She?” Ash sighed.
“What?”
“You are circling the scary robot lady like a shark.”
Sheetal looked at Ash and then at Athena A07. She seemed to fight an internal battle for a second and then stated “She doesn’t mind. If she did, she would have said something by now.”
Ash looked at the Aug Queen “Please say you mind.”
Athena A07 frowned. This meeting hadn’t gone according to plan. The woman warder was surprisingly strong. She had thought about overpowering the hold that Sheetal had on her limbs but that would require her to show her strength and this wasn’t the time for that.
Athena looked blankly at Sheetal as the woman did her third lap around her. She turned to the boy warder, he looked different from before. But the features all matched up to her enhanced vision. Just to be sure she brought up her ascended’s hud and lined it up with her Magitech.
Warder Ash
Human
Class - 0
Warder
He gave her a weak smile and raised a thumb again. Was that some sort of greeting? Well she wasn’t going to reciprocate it. If someone wanted to greet a continuum aug they needed to greet them in the aug way.
Instead Athena pointed at Sheetal and asked the boy “Why is she looking at me like that?”
“She is a mad scientist who wants to walk. You have robot legs. So you are her new favourite person, I think.”
Athena A07 raised her eyebrows and smiled “Then I can help her. But we need to discuss your presence here.”
“I know.” Ash sighed and in a louder voice called “Hey, She. She!”
Sheetal, who focussed on Athena at the words help and legs, jolted “Huh?”
“Stop staring at the robot lady. It’s rude.”
Sheetal shot a look at Ash “She is cyborg Ash. Not a robot.” and went back to looking at the woman.
Ash gave an apologetic look and then asked “Do you have some water?”
The woman took out a bottle and threw it at Ash and then turned “Follow me please. Our high councillor would like a word with you both.”
Ash caught the bottle, raised his and drank deeply from the bottle. The water was cool, not chilled with a hint of mint in it. He brought the water down and looked at it in appreciation. He looked at the woman who had given him the bottle and saw Sheetal gliding after the woman like a creepy ghost, peppering her with questions.
Ash closed his eyes and calculated. The water. Why would a cyborg who didn’t have intestines need to carry around water. Yeah, she had flesh and that must need hydration but a whole bottle? No, this was meant as a carrot. That means the stick was about to land.
Ash looked around him. There were quite a few continuum soldiers walking around. Most of them were just on their way but a few were keeping an eye on him. Ash brought the bottle to his lips again and considered his options. Right now, the careful move would be to slip into the background, use Sheetal as bait, and gather as much information as he could. But that was a move he would have made if he didn’t care about Sheetal. Also, didn’t he had just decided to not be the old version of himself?
So be it. He wouldn’t slip into the shadows anymore. He would walk in through the door under the spotlights. He would be free. He would be himself and those who had a problem with that, could come and talk to his tonfas.
Ash with his eyes closed felt shards around him light up in the dark. They were afraid of him. That was good to know. That meant Sheetal and e had some leverage. Ash smiled and opened his eyes. He lifted his hands away from his tonfa and showed his empty palms to anyone who was looking at him. He was the people hiding in the crowd of soldiers who relax and look away.
Ash nodded to a armoured man who held his gaze for just a moment longer than others and jogged to Sheetal and the steel haired lady.
“Are those cylinders on your legs hydraulic or air pressured?”
The cyborg glanced at Sheetal and answered “Hydraulic.”
“Water or gas?” Sheetal continued.
“Neither.” Athena A07 responded in a disinterested tone and then seeing the eager look in Sheetal’s eyes replied “Molten titanium.”
“How does that work? Sheetal quickly shook her head “Actually that doesn’t matter right now? Tell me how do you maintain balance with just one eye? Mechanical gyroscope or sensors and cameras?”
“Neither.” The cyborg woman sighed “We use perpetual motion.”
“Perpetual motion? How would that…”
“She! Can you stop bugging the…” Ash stopped nest to Sheetal and looked at the cyborg “I am sorry, I didn’t catch your name earlier. I was literally hanging in the air worried I was going to go flying again.”
“I am Athena A07. The Aug Queen. You can call me A07.”
Ash looked at the woman for a moment and then shrugged “Athena? Fine, why wouldn’t there be a South Indian woman named Athena A7 in this weird place?”
Athena smiled “I was created and raised by an AGI. It gave up on the scientist trying to create the perfect leaders and named a full batch of babies Athena after an obscure goddess from a dead religion.”
Sheetal finally looked up from Athena’s legs “Raised by an AGI? How is that even possible?”
“Seriously?” Ash asked in a whisper and continued “She just said that they have goddess named Athena and you are more interested in what pop song she was listening to when she was growing up?”
Sheetal gave Ash an annoyed look and then stopped when his words broke through her focussed mind. Sheetal shook herself and stopped feeding potentiality to her mental shard. Her racing mind slowed, and her thoughts that were trying to compile and collect as much data as they can lost precious information points.
Sheetal’s hands went to her temple as a throbbing pain momentarily disoriented her. She felt Ash’s arms wrap around her and steady her. The pain slowly dissipated, and Sheetal opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that they were standing in front of a light curtain. The kind that was installed in the superb seven’s transport truck. This one was a lot larger.
Athena reached out and touched a spot on the curtain and the light parted to reveal a large mess hall.
“Follow me and you will get your answer.” Athena A07 stated dispassionately.
Sheetal looked at the tent entrance still a bit disoriented. Ash looked at her, nodded and walked in as if he owned the space. Sheetal wiped her watery eyes and a moment later heard him whoop in excitement.
“Hey, She, get in here. They have air conditioners and orange drinks and… Is that lamb?”
Sheetal looked at the woman behind her. She was gone and now there were two beefy enforcers looking down at her with their angular faces.
Aditya A 383
Class 1
Augmented Human
Continuum – Augmented Faction
Aditya A 541
Class 1
Augmented Human
Continuum – Augmented Faction
“Hello?” Sheetal asked tentatively.
One of the men raised their hand to direct her to a table set at the back. Sheetal stopped when she was a metal skeletal finger connected by corded wire to the palm.
Sheetal’s moth went dry. She nodded and quickly floated into the tent.
Well at least, Ash was right. The indoors were temperature controlled. They were also huge, Most probably designed to seat the continuum soldier in their armour. She saw people here and there, walking back and forth between a large buffet tables and benches.
The deeper Sheetal floated the décor changed. The benches turned into metal tables and chair. The lighting became warmer. Then the metal tables turned into wood and the chairs turned to cushioned sofas. And the sound of light string instruments playing in the background drifted to her.
The whole thing reminded her of an Indian politicians wedding she had attended with her father. There was an unvoiced protocol that the attendees were supposed to follow. She had been guided to the end with her father and sat with the political class. But all the while she had looked at the people tip toeing around their section, trying not to raise anyone’s ire. It had felt classist and elitist. It had felt wrong then and now.
From the side Ash walked into her vision. He had a big goofy grin on his face. He walked straight to the end of the large mess where a man was sitting with his fingers steepled next to his face.
Taran 45
Class 1
Human
Continuum
Faction – Thive
Rank – High Councillor
Ash saluted the man with a fork full of something while two formally dressed waiters and an automated cart followed him with a platter of pastries followed him.
“I hope you don’t mind talking while we eat.” Ash said as if he was the host and the High Councillor was an unannounced guest.
“Hungry, are we?” Taran 45 responded in almost a growl.
Ash nodded “Yes? A lot.”
Taran 45 squinted and asked “Speed shard I guess.”
Ash took in a mouthful of something creamy and swallowed “Yeah, four of them.”
“Four!?” Taran 45 jolted upright.
“Hmm…Hmm” Ash licked off cream cheese from a sweet bread he was holding and turned to look at Sheetal. With a head tilt he gestured her to sit down next to him.
Sheetal looked at the cream stuck to his chin and rolled her eyes. She threw him a napkin and took a seat next to him.
“Wipe of your chin Ash.”
Ash winked at Sheetal with a grin and wiped his face.
“A moment supreme leader.” Ash nodded at Taran 45 and then turned to Sheetal “She, I am going to be the guys with the hairy feet. You be the grey guy.”
“What?” Sheetal asked.
“I’ll do the emo youngling. You do the Darth She. Okay?”
Sheetal looked at Ash and tried to make sense of his words. She gave up and decided to concentrate on his feelings.
Ash was putting on a show of being unconcerned but inside he was worried and concentrating on every movement, twitch and word of Taran 45. Sheetal turned to look at the High Councillor.
The man looked like just a middle-aged man. He wasn’t muscled like the soldiers, but he was fit and bit paunchy. He had a dignified look to him. That was until you looked in his eyes. His eyes were eager almost anticipatory. And he had those eyes turned on her.
Ash cleared his throat and grinned maniacally at food filled table. He pushed a glass a water at Sheetal and turned back to Taran 45.
Sheetal took a sip and realised how thirsty she was. Before she knew it she had downed two glasses of water and was pouring herself another.
She looked up and saw Taran watching her.
With a slight head nod the man introduced himself “Hello. I am Taran...”
Sheetal blinked “Yeah, I know. We just met a Taran.”
“Not the same guy, She.” Ash spoke with his mouth full.
“I know. Our Taran was younger, and this one has greying on the sides.”
“Ah!” Taran nodded “You have met one of my brothers. To clarify, I am Taran 45. One of the oldest people around in the continuum.”
Sheetal stopped and looked around just to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. The superb seven had told her that they were clones but still she needed to see it to believe it. Her eyes darted from table to table, slowly catch and cataloguing peoples faces. Beyond the scars, the augments and the accessories they had the same features.
Sheetal’s eyes fixed on a man that looked like a boyish version of Taran smiling at a woman who looked at a woman who looked eerily similar to Ruby from Super Seven. In that moment, sitting in between clones and cyborg clones, it finally hit her. She was out of her depth.
“You are clones.” She muttered.
Taran smiled “Yes. Biologically, yes. But our cybernetic augments and our shards are different.”
“And you are older.” Ash mumbled with a mouth full of fruit covered in cream.
Taran looked at Ash for a moment “How could you tell? The greys?”
Ash shrugged “No. It’s the laugh lines and the crow’s feet. Do you have Botox here? I recommend it if you want to blend in.”
Sheetal reached for a pastry to do something with her hands and felt a slap across the wrist. She snapped out of the internal struggle she was having and looked up with pursed lips only to see Ash glaring at her.
“Go get your own food. This is mine.”
Sheetal looked down at the platters of pastries and then back at Ash.
“Mine!” Ash restated with a scowl and continued to shovelling desert in.
Taran looked up and ordered “Chef, we will need more desert here. Also send us some of that spiced rice lunch for the lady warder.”
A green light blinked thrice on top of the robot with the tray. A muffled voice responded from the speaker of the robot.
“Yes sir, high councillor.”
“Wait a minute chef.” The high councillor called with a thoughtful look on his face.
The robot that had started rolling towards the kitchen stopped until Taran 45.
Taran turned to Sheetal “What shards do you have?”
“Polar Force, Gravity, Wind…”
“Stop. She.” Ash dropped his fork, looked at Taran 45 and asked “Why?”
The high councillor smiled and continued talking to the robot “Chef, send us some of that fish, mushroom rice, with a side of salad. And don’t forget the Orange Blast.”
The light on the small cart blinked thrice again and the robot rolled away.
Ash stared at Taran 45 and the high councillor steepled his hands in front of a smile.
“She, is off limits.” Ash stated.
“Protective of her, aren’t you?” The councillor asked.
“No, I am scared what she will do if you mess with her. You don’t want to know what’s going through that brain of hers.”
Taran 45 nodded “A warder can be a terrifying force. But you are just babies. You need to gather power and fast if you want to stand up to anyone.”
Ash scowled “Maybe. But what is it to you?”
“A powerful warder is good for all.” Taran stated and watched as the serving robot served Sheetal her food.
Sheetal watched the two men stare at each other in a contest of wills. The two were barely muscled and still she could smell the testosterone in the air. Sheetal rolled her eyes and dug into her food. It was good. The fish was buttery and the lemon really added to the texture. Minutes later, Sheetal was munching on a cold leafy salad and still Ash and Taran 45 were locked in their struggle.
Sheetal sighed “We are fate bonded. You mess with one of us. You get both of us tearing you down. So don’t try me bucko!”
Ash cringed “Bucko?”
“Hey, I am trying not to curse. It makes me sound funny.” Sheetal whispered.
Ash looked down, speared a bite of something with syrup and asked “And bucko was the answer you came up with?”
“Alright. Good to know. Then you wouldn’t mind telling me which shards you have?” Taran sked Ash.
Ash chewed while looking at Taran “Why do you want to know?”
“To find a better dietary plan for you.” Taran smiled.
Ash chuckled sarcastically “Really? That’s what you are going with?”
“You know I can find out in an instant, right?” 45 asked
“Then do it.” Sheetal challenged
“Marshall Lara what shards does our guest possess?” Taran 45 grinned.
“Warder Ash’s shards are Speed. times four. Sense. Density level one. And Channel times two.” Lara’s voice came from somewhere above them.
Taran stiffened and looked up “Confirm that please.”
“Confirmed.”
Taran reached in his pocked and pulled out a pair of glasses. He carefully put them on and a pulse of power shot out of him.
Ash stiffened and then visibly restrained himself from doing anything.
Sheetal felt the power. As soon as it made contact with her, it got sucked into her shards and seeped into the growing ball of power in her soul. Taran gave her a passing glance and then stared at Ash in open mouthed awe.
Sheetal felt eyes on her back and turned to look. The cyborgs had gotten to their feet. They were looking at their table with hands reaching for weapons. Sheetal looked from them to Ash in growing apprehension.
“Lara! Is that you? Are you back?” Ash asked in a jovial tone.
“Yes. Warder Ash.” The disembodied voice replied and continued “Councillor, please contain yourself. You are causing a scene.”
Taran 45 lowered his glasses and looked around. That awe filled look in his eyes turned to a stern one. He cleared his throat and addressed the room “Everyone, as you were. We are conducting an investigation here.”
Sheetal felt the looks disappear and people took their seats but nobody started a conversation. They just sat in tense silence. The music didn’t even come back to lighten the tension.
Taran 45 smiled to diffuse the tension and stated “You weren’t lying. You do have four speed shards.”
“Why would I lie?” Ash smiled back.
Taran 45 nodded “Don’t mind me saying this. But that is the worst combination of shards I have ever seen.”
“No, it is awesome. I float like a butterfly and hit like a bee.” Ash tuned to look up “What do you think Lara?”
“Please call her Marshal.” Taran 45 asked.
“Nope. I like her.”
Lara chuckled “Thank you.”
“So, Lara.” Ash stopped “What do you think?”
“From the footage I have reviewed, it is inelegant, but it works for you.”
“Interesting.” Taran 45 rubbed his hands “That density shard is something else.”
“Is it?” Sheetal asked carefully.
“Yes. Don’t you get it he has eight shards, and he isn’t even close to reaching class one yet. I had heard that warders have a different soul structure but the ability to create a combination base on more than powerful shard is a dream every ascended has fantasised about.”
Ash bit into a dumpling that spouted a red liquid everywhere. With a full mouth he asked “I thought you already knew that?”
Taran 45 straightened “Knew what?”
“That warders have a different soul structure. Your people keep talking about Jay Chandra. Their warder.”
“Yes, he is a hero of the continuum. But, we lost him. And his soul structure…” Taran 45 paused and turned his head upwards “Marshall, what shards does the girl have?”
“Unclear. Her shards are packed together in a cluster. Getting a clear reading out of them is difficult.”
Taran 45 nodded “A constellation structure like Jay Chandra. So, the boy, is different.”
“It would seem so.”
“Why are you so interested?” Ash asked.
With an insincere grin Taran 45 replied “Dietary reasons. Didn’t I say so earlier?”
Ash showed his teeth “Well then I hope you keep feeding your hostages this well.”
Taran 45 laughed “Oh, we will feed you, but you aren’t hostages. You are prisoners.”
“Prisoners?” Sheetal who had been silent watching the tension creep up asked in a heated tone.
“Yes, you did kill a veteran continuum soldier. One who was well liked.” Taran 45 replied dismissively.
“Yes, after he tried to sell me to an asura.” Sheetal responded with a glare.
“And two.” Ash quickly jumped in and raised two finger in the air.
Taran 45 looked at Ash with an amused look “Two?”
Ash nodded “Two. I killed that angry Ruby girl. In my defence she was trying to kill me.”
“I see.” Taran 45 nodded “Well, don’t worry. We will treat you well. I am sure the silver city will be happy to pay us blood price for their deaths. Until then you are our guests.”
Ash snorted “Yeah. but you know that we have no allegiances to the Silver City.”
Taran 45 got up from his chair “You might not but every warder falls under the Silver City’s jurisdiction. I am sure they will work something out with us.”
Ash dropped his fork on his plate and got up to keep his eyes on Taran 45. Sheetal floated herself up and saw the two men who had tailed her earlier approaching. Ash suddenly snapped his fingers.
”Ah! The side boob lady movie.”
“What?” Taran 45 asked.
“Not you.” Ash waved at Taran dismissively and looked up “Lara I just realised why I liked you? You remind me of Lara Croft.”
Sheetal blinked “Seriously, you remember that out of the movie?”
Ash sighed and looked at Sheetal “Yes, why do you not?”
“Because it was originally a game series and the movie sucked.” Sheetal replied while looking at the two men from the side of her vision.
Ash reached for her hand and squeezed it once. Then he turned to look at Taran 45 “Okay high councillor, you can send us to our jail cells.”
“It is not a jail cell. It is a detention suite made for foreign diplomats and politicos. You will find it quite comfortable.” Taran 45 responded with a disarming smile.
Ash nodded and began to move.
Taran raised his hand and snapped his fingers to stop the departing warders “One last thing warders. And don’t lie. I will find the truth anyways. When you gather potentiality, does it enter you, or do you share it?”
Sheetal looked at Taran 45 and replied when Ash didn’t respond “Both of us.”
Ash looked at Sheetal warningly.
“He is right Ash. He will get to know soon enough. Remember war mode? You and I were at the top of the graph. We were sharing potentiality, and the rest was trickling down to the others. He will get that graph from the superb seven.”
Taran 45 smiled “Thank you. I will.”
Ash gave Sheetal a blank look and mouthed “What graph?”
Sheetal grabbed Ash by his hand and turned him around “You would know if you kept your hud up.”
Sheetal turned around with a sigh and began to float to behind the Aditya who had taken the lead “I’ll explain it later. I need to sleep of that lunch right now.”
Ash watched the other Aditya guy began to tail them and smiled. He followed Sheetal as she yawned and took in the path from the mess to deeper into the building. Sheetal and Ash walked in silence for minutes. Sheetal wondered how to raise her concerns without being obvious to the men around them.
Ash tapped his finger on his chin. Lost in his own thoughts.
Sheetal finally gave up and asked “So, what did you get from him?”
Ash looked Sheetal and chuckled “It took you long enough.”
Sheetal gave Ash a sharp look.
“Oh, come on She. When you are caught, you should expect to be monitored day and night. Privacy becomes a thing of the past. So, say what you are thinking. Don’t be bothered with them.”
Ash waved at both the men keeping an eye on them.
“And are you going to tell me what you are thinking?”
Ash shook his head “Nope. I am better at this than you.”
“What kind of answer is that?” Sheetal asked indignantly.
Ash sighed “I think Taran 45 is like you.”
s me of you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. When you get a new toy, I mean a piece of technology, you can’t wait to break it down to see how it works. And I am his new toy.” Ash said with a complicated look on his face.
“I am not that bad.” Sheetal grumbled.
Ash just looked at Sheetal.
“I am that bad.” Sheetal repeated with annoyance in her voice.
Ash kept his piece.
Sheetal wasn’t satisfied “Say, I am not that bad, or I will put you in that wall.”
The two men stopped and hit a wall panel. One of them pointed inside.
Ash looked at Sheetal and raised his eyebrows “It was a joke She.”
Sheetal nodded and then pulled Ash into a hug.
“What are we going to do?”
“We wait. We watch.” Ash responded with his head tucked into Sheetal’s chest.
Sheetal cleared the lump in her throat “At least the room’s nice.”
Ash freed himself and looked in. In an offended tone he stated “There is only one bed.”
“Yeah, we can share it.”
Ash tuned to look at Sheetal aghast “You talk in your sleep.”
Sheetal blinked “Wha… How do you know that?”
Ash looked at Sheetal for a long moment, side stepped her and ran into the room.
“Ash! Oh heck no. You will answer my questions right now.”