Ultima was very unhappy about theentire incident.
It had started sopromisingly!
And then ended on a very sour notethat seemed to make everyone feel bad—or angry.
Tau and Quan were angry. They made nobones about allowing Xi to know it.
Ultima was embarrassed, horny, andfelt guilty because Xi got punched for doing something to her whenshe was pretty sure she’d hurt herself trying to mounthim.
And Xi seemed to be suffering fromguilt about the incident.
But she’d told them it was her faultand she’d hurt herself. She didn’t know how much plainer she couldbe that it was no one’s fault but hers.
Chapter Seven
Under the circumstances, Ultima wasglad to see the tower when they were close enough to view it in itsentirety.
Not that she had a clue of what Tauhad in mind—or even if it was something of human origins orsomething from his own world.
The thought gave rise, again, tocuriosity about them.
She hadn’t indulged it before becauseshe hadn’t wanted to risk alienating them by being too curiousabout things they might consider security risks. Or to cause themany pain if she touched on something that was emotionallypainful.
After the confrontation about whatshe’d caused, and potentially cost them, she hadn’t wanted toremind them of anything she’d done.
She was curious, though.
More curious the longer she was aroundthem instead of less the better she got to know them.
Truthfully, she’d only had the vaguestof impressions that there was any connection between their peopleand hers when she’d repeated the theory of consciousness being aforce that belonged to another dimension. But the more she thoughtabout the fact that it was connected to a part of or entirely the‘soul’, the more difficult it was to just dismiss it.
The human soul, as ‘photographed’appeared to be a light—without form—and when it left the body, itleft a lifeless shell.
There was a correlation, shefelt—although, as a scientist she was obliged to admit that itwasn’t unheard of when things that appeared to be connected in someway transpired not to have any connection at all.
It still gave her a sense of kinshipand she thought that was probably because she wanted it thatway.
There was a nearly intact buildingbeneath the tower and they all went inside to examine it foroccupancy—or previous occupancy. When they’d ascertained that therewas no wildlife present larger than insects and that it was afairly solid structure, the guys withdrew to examine the outsideand left her to stare at the wall.
She got up after a few minutes andlimped around the interior in search of anything that might beuseful. Beyond empty cans that might be used for drinking orholding food, she saw nothing but trash and brokenglass.
She hobbled finally to a windowopening that was bare of glass or window frame and stared out of itat the countryside.
When she’d been a child, the world wasa different place.
Her memories of it, she thought sadly,were already fading.
She was fortunate, she supposed, thatshe hadn’t had a lot of time to mourn all of the losses, and yetshe felt cheated that she was losing even the memories.
She was so deep in thought that shedidn’t realize Xi had come to keep her company until she heard thefaint scrape of his boot against debris on the floor.
“I startledyou?”
She smiled wryly. “Thankfully youaren’t an enemy cyborg. I would have been dead before I knew I wasin its sights.”
He met her gaze. “We may seem …distracted ….” He shrugged. “Well, we are, but we are alsowatchful. You are safe here or we would not have left youalone.”
Ultima digested that withself-depreciation. “I’m a soldier.”
