Hunting a Soul Read Free

fit.
    To her surprise, a young girl with brilliantly striped yellow skin came to her and offered her escort to her quarters.
    “Thank you.”
    “Zeeba. My name is Zeeba.”
    “Thank you, Zeeba. My name is Leadra; you can call me Lee.” She got to her feet and lifted Krix in her arm.
    “This way, Novice Lee.” Zeeba took her free hand and tugged her along.
    “Have you been here long?”
    “Two years. I was born here. I age at four times the normal rate for my mother’s species, but the doctors say I am stable.” She repeated her diagnosis with direct charm.
    “That is good, isn’t it?”
    “It is very good. I have hopes of being a healer myself one day.”
    They entered a common area, and Leadra was surprised by the number of children running around and out to the gardens.
    “Why are there so many children? No offense.”
    Zeeba sighed. “The Raiders were trying to breed more and more talents, so the Citadel and Sector Guard on Balen went out and brought home those who had been experimented on. That meant a lot of women who were going to have babies.”
    Leadra backed quickly away from the topic. Some of the children looked even older than Zeeba, so there must have been some tampering involved.
    Zeeba led her up the steps and to the fifth floor of the building. “You need shielded quarters so that your mind won’t open up when you sleep.”
    That was sound logic. “I guess that medical is shielded?”
    “Definitely. Can you imagine training empaths dealing with all that pain?”
    “Uh, no, I can see how that would be horrible.”
    “It would. Here is your room. You can key it to your palm print for now and your psychic print later.” Zeeba smiled and waited.
    “Are you coming in with me?”
    “Yup. You need to learn how things work. The other four talents from Resicor needed the same information yesterday, so I will wait until you can run everything from the wardrobe to the com system.”
    Bemused, Leadra let her in and the tour and tutorial began. Leadra had to admit she was glad of the instruction. All Krix wanted to do was check out his stairs to both his bed and hers.
    “Is the Yaluthu bed a standard thing?”
    “No, but they are common enough that there are always spares in the quartermaster’s office.”
    Leadra ordered a snack, made some tea and demonstrated working knowledge of all the features in her bathroom. The final item was the com unit, and just as she was getting the hang of using call codes and attaching them to people, there was a knock on her door.
    Zeeba bounced out of her chair and pressed a panel that displayed a large, grim-looking man with spots surrounding his features and running into the heavy leather of his tunic. She bounced up and down. “It’s N’ran.”
    She opened the door, and the grim features shifted into a soft smile. “Hello, Zeeba. Is Novice Leadra here?”
    Zeeba nodded. “She is, but she hasn’t changed yet. Can you wait for her?”
    N’ran smiled, his brilliant purple eyes sparkled. “Only for three minutes. You had better dress your dolly.”
    Zeeba frowned. “Then, you had better stay outside.”
    She closed the door in his face and turned to Leadra. “We need to hurry.”
    Krix bounced up and down as Zeeba pulled out a dark bodysuit and white robes.
    “Put these on as fast as you can. N’ran doesn’t like to wait, and he would leave without you if he could.”
    Leadra grabbed the clothing and headed into the bathroom to change. She peeled out of the baggy suit before removing the dome suit. It felt good to wear something else, something that fit but didn’t cut her off from the world around them.
    The suit was deep red, and it had patches on the sides that accentuated her waist. When she slipped on the robes, it covered the details on the suit, but she still knew what was under them.
    She flipped her long hair down her back and headed out into the main room. Zeeba clapped excitedly and opened the door again. “She’s ready.”
    Krix hopped