"A handful." Annara turned her face away. Her posture revealed her embarrassment. "It's not been easy learning the old ways. Our peoples have not been educated to the level necessary to easily learn how to operate these machines. We have had to rely on the Deltans more than we've felt comfortable doing, but it is a temporary thing." She shuddered. "When I think of how the future of this world came down to the knowledge held by a mere handful of beings... One bad accident could've wrecked everything."
Olivia winced. "You're right, of course, but once you have the non-Pure Blood techs up to speed, the Portal operation won't be so vulnerable, and you can rely on their loyalty one-hundred percent." That is, if any individual can be relied upon all the time and under all circumstances. I'm too realistic to believe otherwise. Or have I become cynical?
"That's the plan." Hernando sighed. "For now, we observe our Deltan technicians closely and accept their expertise. So far, they've proven worthy of our trust."
Caveman returned to their group. His dark scowl indicated to Olivia that all wasn't well at Portal Control. "Dradix has spied that unusual spike of energy again. Once is an anomaly he says, twice a coincidence, but three times...? Well, let's say he's certain it means there is another Portal operating somewhere on BloodDark."
Olivia furrowed her brow. "How can there be another Portal on this planet? Doesn't the one we just used take enormous power? Where would anyone get such power?"
"From the same place the original Portal receives its power."
Olivia turned around and put a face to the cold, deep voice which interrupted their conversation. The Pure Blood scientist called Dradix wore his long, silver-white hair in a single braid that trailed to the small of his back. He fixed his turquoise-green eyes on her. They glittered like polished gems in his deathly pale face. From the way his nostrils flared and his eyes gleamed, Olivia knew Dradix had caught her virgin scent, and she suppressed a shiver of fear. The moment passed. Dradix looked like the kind of man who'd always have total control of himself. He held himself erect, his mannerisms giving off a detached air, his tone the same as a bored daycare worker addressing a group of four year olds.
"The geothermal energies in BloodDark's molten core have more than enough to power a thousand Portals and a million cities. It is only a matter of willpower and technical expertise needed to tap into the power beneath the planet's crust and create a new Portal device. I suspect this Portal we've noticed on our instrument is much smaller, but it is capable of doing the job for its owners."
"And they are?" Olivia raised an eyebrow and met Dradix's cool stare with one of her own. "Your kind, no doubt?"
"No doubt." He broke off his look and turned to Caveman and the others. "There is no one else on this world capable of building such a device at this time. The energy spike is difficult to pinpoint, but it is coming from the general area of the city. Of that I am certain."
"We'll have to do a house by house search." Annara sighed. "But I'm sure their spies will inform them and hide the device before we can catch them with it."
Dradix nodded. "It would be the most logical path for them to choose. It is what the Deltans would do if they were operating an unauthorized Portal device."
"You're absolutely certain it's not anyone from your clan, Dradix?" Hernando asked the vampire point blank. Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. At least someone else is thinking what I'm thinking.
"I would be lying to say I was one-hundred percent certain it was not a Deltan, but my instinct tells me otherwise." The scientist slumped slightly, a great burden of responsibility had fallen upon his shoulders. "We've made a pact with the ruling council. There is no reason for us to break our word. We have longed to have our positions at the Portal consoles returned to us after too long in Alphan hands, so we would not do such a foolish thing to jeopardize this opportunity."
Olivia sensed the inner turmoil lurking beneath Dradix's calm exterior from the slight twitching of his thin lips. Somehow I trust what he's telling us. He seems conflicted. Someone has broken his clan's code of honor. Maybe Pure Blood scientists are more loyal to their profession and clan than their race?
"Do you have any ideas on who might have built another Portal?" she asked.
Dradix lowered his voice and took a step forward. "I suspect the Alphans. They have the most Portal technicians outside our clan."
"And they have the most to gain from selling artworks under the table," Caveman said. "They don't want the new government to collect its export fees and regulate the flow of goods from BloodDark to Earth. They've pretty much said so in council meetings when pressed on the subject."
"They don't want us to know who they're bringing back from Earth, either," Annara added. Everyone looked at her oddly. "You know what I mean. They want the free flow of humans once again, and they're not going to wait for their mail-order brides, since they know the sentiment both on Earth and BloodDark is against such an arrangement."
I wouldn't be too sure about it. Olivia thought of how desperate Lauren and others like her were to travel to BloodDark to marry vampires. Their numbers could be enough to sway the U.N. into allowing at least some limited immigration. Perhaps a few valuable Alphan artworks had already changed hands and persuaded the right officials to the rightness of their cause?
"It makes sense." Hernando wrinkled his brow and rubbed his temples. "What a fool I've been! I've been ignoring the signs for too long."
Olivia touched his arm and felt
