Ascension

The effort made him cough, and he tasted blood in his mouth.

Hendel rook a moment to gather himself, then drew upon his own biotic abilities, releasing them a second later as he threw up a powerful high-gravity barrier to shield him from flying furniture and further biotic attacks from Gillian.

Crouching behind the shimmering wall of the barrier, Hendel fumbled with the stunner at his belt. His right hand was still numb from the blow to his elbow, and he had to reach across with his left to grab the weapon.

'Please, Gillian, don't make me do this!' he called out one more time, but the girl couldn't hear him above the sound of her own screams.

There was a sudden burst of light and heat a few feet to his side. Snapping his head around, he saw an astonishing sight: a swirling vortex of concentrated dark energy was launching vertically in a pillar toward the ceiling, building to a critical threshold before collapsing in upon itself.

A biotic with advanced military training, Hendel instantly recognized what had happened: Gillian had created a singularity — a subatomic point of nearly infinite mass, with enough gravitational force at the center to warp the fabric of the space-time continuum. The nearby tables and chairs began to slide across the floor, drawn inexorably toward the epicenter of the cosmic phenomenon that had suddenly manifested in the middle of the space station's cafeteria.

Moving on instinct, Hendel popped up from behind the barrier, fighting to aim his weapon against the rapidly mounting gravitational pull emanating from the singularity. Locking on his target, he fired. The stunner found its mark and the singularity vanished with a loud clap and a sharp outrush of trapped air. The girl's screams cut off instantly as electrical impulses shot through her. She appeared to stand up on her toes, her head thrown back as her muscles went rigid. Then her body convulsed, sending her limbs into a brief spastic dance before she collapsed unconscious to the floor.

Hendel rushed to her side, calling on his radio for medical backup.

Gillian muttered something in her sleep. Kahlee, sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, instinctively reached out to place a comforting hand on her brow, only remembering at the last second to pull it back.

She wondered if the girl was waking up. Nearly ten hours had passed since she'd unleashed her biotic powers in the cafeteria, and the doctor said it would take six to twelve hours for her to regain consciousness after being hit with the stunner.

Kahlee leaned in and softly whispered, 'Gillian? Can you hear me?'

The girl responded to her voice, rolling over from her side onto her back. Her eyes fluttered then snapped open wide, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings with confused terror.

'It's okay, Gillian,' Kahlee assured her. 'You're in the hospital.'

The girl sat up slowly, looking around, her brow wrinkled in confusion.

'Do you know how you got here?' Kahlee asked her.

Gillian folded her hands in her lap and nodded, her eyes lowered so she wouldn't have to look at Kahlee.

'The cafeteria. I did something bad. I hurt people.'

Kahlee hesitated, uncertain of how much detail the girl could handle. There had been a lot of property damage, and a number of twisted ankles and swollen fingers from people in the fleeing crowd who had fallen and been stepped on. The most serious injuries were to Nick, who had suffered a concussion and a bruised spine, though he was expected to make a full recovery.

'Everybody's okay now,' Kahlee assured her. 'I just want to know what happened. Did someone make you angry?'

'Nick spilled my milk,' she answered, though Kahlee already knew this from talking to the boy.

'Why did that make you so angry?'

The girl didn't answer. Instead, she said, 'Hendel was yelling at me.' She frowned and crinkled up her brow. 'He was mad at me.'

'Not mad. Just scared. We were all scared.'

Gillian was silent, then nodded, as if to say she understood.

'Do you remember anything else about what happened, Gillian?'

The girl's face went blank, like she was slipping deep inside herself, trying to dig up the answers.

'No,' she finally answered. 'I only remember Hendel yelling at me.'

Kahlee figured as much. They'd taken readings from Gillian while she was unconscious, pulling the data from her smart chips to see if it could tell them anything. But what they'd seen didn't make any sense. There was a sudden spike in her alpha wave activity in the days leading up to her outburst, but no logical explanation for the increase. Personally, Kahlee thought it could have been some emotional trigger: her alpha levels had climbed the day after her father's visit.

'How come Hendel's not here?' Gillian asked, her voice guilty.

Kahlee answered with a half-truth. 'He's very busy right now.'

As the security chief, he was still dealing with the fallout of what had happened in the cafeteria. All attempts were being made to downplay the incident: a statement had been released to the media, staff and students were being debriefed, and parents were being notified. As a further precaution, Grissom Academy was still in full emergency lockdown. Yet as busy as he was, she knew there was something else keeping him away right now. It could have been anger, disappointment, or even guilt. . quite likely it was a mix of all three. However, she wasn't about to try and explain all that to a twelve-year-old.

'When will he come see me?'

'Soon,' Kahlee promised. 'I'll tell him you're waiting.'

Gillian smiled. 'You like Hendel.'

'He's a good friend.'

The girl's smile broadened even further. 'Will you two get married some day?'

Kahlee laughed out loud in spite of herself. 'I don't think Hendel wants to get married.'

Gillian's smile slipped, but didn't disappear completely. 'He should marry you,' she insisted, matter-of-factly. 'You're nice.'

This wasn't the time to explain why that would never happen, so Kahlee decided to change the subject.

'You have to stay in this room for a few days, Gillian. Do you understand?'

This time the smile vanished completely and she nodded. 'I want to sleep now.'

'Okay,' Kahlee told her. 'I might not be here when you wake up, but if you need anything you push that red button over there. A nurse will come help you.'

The girl glanced over at the call button dangling from the side of her bed and nodded again. Then she lay back down and closed her eyes.

Kahlee waited until Gillian was asleep before she stood up and left her alone in the room.

Ten

Kahlee remained seated at the desk in her room and ignored the knock at the door. She continued to stare at the computer screen trying to make sense of the numbers they'd pulled from Gillian's implants. There was going to be fallout from what had happened in the cafeteria. Over the next few days people would be screaming for answers. They'd expect Kahlee to tell them what had happened, and why nobody had seen it coming. So far, she hadn't found any explanation to give them.

The knock came again, more insistent.

'Door — open,' she said, not bothering to get up.

She expected to see Hendel, but it was actually Jiro who had come calling. He was dressed casually, in a blue, long-sleeved button shirt and black slacks. He had a bottle of wine and a corkscrew in one hand and a pair of long-stemmed glasses in the other.

'Heard you had a rough day,' he said. 'Thought you could use a drink.'

She was on the verge of telling him to come back later, but at the last second she nodded. He stepped in,