She flicked out a finger, “Firstly we probably wouldn’t agree with the reason it was trapped in that form, to begin with.” She opened a second finger, “Secondly, it’s the only way we are really going be able to get any answers.” The put up a third finger, “Thirdly, you need those answers before you make a decision on the creature’s fate.”
She looked up at the man she had come to love, “Finally, the only reason you haven’t already made a decision is that you are delaying the inevitable. You really need to make a decision before tomorrow night Boris. Bethany Anne wants a report on your plan at the very least within 48-hours. I’ve seen enough from her to know that she won’t be upset if you’ve taken the initiative. What other decision is there to be made, really?”
Boris glared at her, the glare men use when a woman takes apart their anxieties and their dithering’s with surgical precision. She returned the glare with the look of serenity, knowing that any other expression she could give would only aggravate him.
She did love him, she reminded herself, despite the fact that he could be an ass sometimes.
Finally, grudgingly, he nodded at her with a sigh. “You’re right. Dammit, I just don’t like the entire issue. We have all these groups of human nations wanting to meddle around with alien technology, but we’re stuck here if something goes wrong. If the Beast turns out to be some sort of psycho or lunatic, we are the ones who will face it.” He looked around, not looking at what he was seeing, but the past. “But you’re right, and the risks seem small and embarrassing compared to many of the risks we’ve taken recently.”
Janna chuckled lightly. Boris had taken on a third generation vampire by himself and defeated it. From the descriptions of how fast he had moved, and what Gabrielle had known about Konrad, he had been a pretty powerful third generation vampire.
Talking about her abilities of the past, the time Before Bethany Anne, Gabrielle had been confident that if she had been in training for combat, she would have been able to take him down in a face-to-face encounter. She had also admitted that with how lax she had gotten in her training before her father had recruited her to aid Bethany Anne. She was not quite so certain she could have dealt with Boris, it was more likely without the training it would have been a draw. She had been somewhat slack in her training for a couple of centuries. Beyond that, the modifications that Bethany Anne had made to her nanites had pushed her abilities far beyond what they had been before Bethany Anne.
A slow grin started spreading across Boris’ face, and he shook his head ruefully. “What did I ever do without you, Janna? “He asked
A wicked smirk spread across her face “You made a mess of things and got yourself into a great deal of trouble from what you and Paul have told me. Although, in nowhere near as much trouble as Paul managed to get himself into from the stories I’ve heard.”
Boris grinned at that. If there was ever someone who was better at getting himself in and out of trouble than Paul, he had yet to meet them. It was probably the fact that he was such a capable survivor that allowed Boris to put up with all his quirks.
In his long life, Boris had learned to never bet against a survivor. A slow inner belief was planted as he thought that. After all, what else had Michael been, if not the consummate survivor? A small seed, that thought was, then he pushed it aside.
He had more pressing matters and concerns to deal with.
“So, when do you think we should do this? “He pointedly asked Janna. “After all, you’re the one with all the reasons as to why it should be done.”
“Well, “she said with a mischievous smile, “you know the saying, there is no time like the present, “Boris grunted stood up and grabbed the device that TOM and ADAM had sent down with the radio signal to reprogram the beast’s unique nanites.
Boris and Janna stood outside the cage in which they had placed the Beast. Boris glanced at Janna as if to say ‘are you sure this is a good idea still?’ She simply tapped a foot impatiently, shrugging slightly, he pressed the button. At first, nothing seemed to happen, then the beast lay down on the ground and started shaking its head as if in confusion. Finally, it let out a low rumbling roar of distress and fell unconscious.
Boris slid a sidelong glance at Janna and said, “Is that how TOM said it was supposed to work?”
She shrugged and said “TOM wasn’t exactly sure how it was gonna work. But it is one of the plausible scenarios. Think about it, he has to input energy into anyone who goes through the changes in the pod. Here, the nanites are probably drawing on energy directly from the Etheric through their host. The redirection of that energy can cause loss of consciousness to any creature not used to it. But the changes are minuscule compared to changing someone for the first time, with no risk of the sort of damage that was done to me. We’ll come back in a couple hours and see if it is up and about. If anything happens in the meantime, there are cameras on the Beast, the guards will call us.”
As they headed back to the cave which had become their quarters inside the system, Janna could feel the worry and guilt flowing off Boris. Once they reached their room, Janna sat Boris down on the bed and hugged him. She whispered reassurances that in none of TOM nor ADAM’s projected outcomes that what had nearly killed her would happen to the beast.
“It’s nowhere near the same process, Boris.” She was surprised by his reaction. He hugged her tightly to his chest, like a shipwreck survivor to a piece of flotsam in the sea, and she felt the warm wetness of his tears dampening her hair.
He said “I remember how terrified I was of losing you. I’d finally found my mate and almost lost you. It’s not just that. I make decisions for the town, and its people, yes, but I know many of them, and they accept my role. What I just did was make a decision for a person that I simply don’t know the same way. Is hard, making such decisions outside of battle. In battle, it is you against them. Often, to live, you must decide to kill them. This is no fight. This is someone I hope can help us. I do not want to hurt the Beast in any way.”
Gyada saw the two beings that had been responsible for caging her walk up with what looked like a black square cut rock with a glowing gem on the top. They talked to each other in the language which she was slowly learning, but she couldn’t comprehend exactly what they were saying. She was shocked when she saw the man push the gem into the black box. She had a sudden burst of buzzing in her head, and slowly, exhaustion crept into her bones. Her last thought before unconsciousness took her, was that these beings weren’t human. They had mastered the technology of the being that had changed her and had found a way to kill her without violence.
It had been just over two hours when the intercom that had been set up throughout the cave system called them back to the cage. Apparently, not only had the beast woken up but to everyone’s surprise except Janna’s it had managed to change into its human form… that of a woman. TOM and ADAM must have failed to tell Boris that the beast was female. At least based on his reaction to the announcement of her form. Boris released Janna and rushed down to the creature’s cage. Janna followed as closely as she could behind him.