“Excuse me?”
I glanced at the speaker system in the corner of the room.
Computer had broken protocols many times in the past but he had never inserted himself into a private communication before.
“Emma,” Computer pressed on. “Vai’s fated mate. Perhaps if you were to show her in her sleeping quarters on the ship you sent her back to Earth in, Vai could feel more comfortable about the whole situation.”
The Surgeon smiled amiably.
“I’m afraid we don’t keep cameras inside the sleeping quarters of our exclusive shuttlecraft. It would hardly fill our customers with confidence. Now, if you don’t mind, I really must be getting on—”
“Then how about video footage of when you transferred her onto the shuttlecraft?” Computer said.
The Surgeon peered into the monitor.
“Who is that with you?”
“Computer,” I said. “He has a few… teething malfunctions.”
“I see,” the Surgeon said, narrowing his eyes. “I suggest you get them ironed out before any serious issues happen.”
His tone shifted from friendly to brittle in a matter of seconds.
Letters appeared on a monitor on the wall behind the Surgeon’s hologram:
HE’S LYING.
Computer was communicating with me.
I kept my focus on the hologram.
“I’ll get right on that. In the meantime, I’d like to see the footage he mentioned. It could lay my concerns to rest.”
The Surgeon rolled his eyes.
“I have over a million satisfied customers. They all report similar phantom sensations. I suggest you move on with your life without dwelling on this. The sooner you can move on, the better. End call—”
I took a step forward.
“You should have the information right there on your computer. It will only take a moment for you to show it to me.”
The Surgeon’s eyes flicked to the corner of his office and back again.
“If not, I’m sure a quick call to my father will sort everything out.”
The Surgeon smiled but it had the same warmth as a shark.
Computer was right.
Something was up.
The Surgeon dabbed his brow with a folded handkerchief.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll prepare the video and send it to you.”
“When?”
“The moment I have it prepared.”
“Send it now. It will only take a second.”
“I’m afraid my files are a little disorganized. I’ll have to get my secretary to find the right one—”
“You walk following a white line in the middle of the halls. I don’t think your filing system will be very chaotic. But let me tell you this. I need to get to the bottom of this quickly, so I’m going to call my father and ask him to send a military ship to your business within the next twenty minutes or so. They’ll lock down your business until you cooperate. Thanks for your time today. Computer.” And I said the following with deliberate slowness. “Please end the call—”
“Wait!”
For the first time since I had met him, there was a very real sense of fear in his expression.
“Please, don’t do this.”
He was afraid.
And now, so was I.
I maintained an air of calm and clutched that throbbing bulb in my chest and took great relief from it.
“You were never supposed to learn the truth,” the Surgeon mumbled.
“What? Speak up. I can’t hear you.”
He spoke a little louder but not much.
“You were never supposed to learn the truth.”
My heart was in my throat.
“What truth?”
The Surgeon paused before glancing at the camera.
At me.
“I need your word that you won’t take action against me or my business.”
I searched the hologram’s eyes.
Even with the holo’s fuzzy shimmering light, I saw how haunted they were.
“What have you done?” I said.
All pretense of confidence broke.
The Surgeon broke down, his face falling into his hands.
“Please forgive me,” he said. “The Shadow… They broke through the Rift some time ago. They came to my business with a deal offer. Either follow through with their plan or they would destroy me and everything I had built.”
“What deal?”
“The Procedure. It doesn’t exist. It makes lots of noise, lots of bright lights, but it does virtually nothing. It dulls the bond for a short time and knocks the participants unconscious. That’s all. We can’t Sever the bond. You’re a fool if you believe we can.”
Okay, so that was the last thing I thought I’d hear him say.
“But… all your advertisements. Your commercials. You’ve carried out the Procedure on millions of M’rora and their mates…”
“Yes. And they were all a sham. We Severed none of their bonds.”
It took a moment for the full truth of the situation to coalesce and take form in my mind.
And when it did, it hit me so hard I could hardly breathe.
I bent over double and threw up over the floor.
“You pretended you completed the Procedure. You warned the participants they would feel a phantom bond with their fated mate for up to twenty-four hours later. Just enough time for the Shadow to take them back to the Shadow Realm and claim them in the mating ceremony.”
I felt lightheaded, sick, and wished the Surgeon was in the same room as me now so I could wrap my hands around his throat.
Because of him, Emma had been put in jeopardy.
And so had millions of other innocent creatures.
“How could you do this?” I said.
“It was the Aror’m. They threatened to destroy everything I’d built if I didn’t comply with their demands.”
My anger was overshadowed my fear of what would happen to Emma if I didn’t reach her soon.
“You won’t tell anyone, will you?” the Surgeon said. “It’ll be our little secret.”
Unable to even look upon this creature I had once thought of as one of the greatest M’rora in the empire, I turned away.
“Computer, end call.”
“Wait. You said you wouldn’t tell. You gave your word.”
“No, I didn’t.”
I manually ended the call, feeling as cold as ice.
“Block all calls from the Surgeon and his business. And send a copy of this communication to my father. And speed up the engines. We need to reach the Rift as quickly as possible. I only hope I won’t be too late.”
Emma
For the longest time, I just stared into the pitch-black darkness.
I got
