orange light flickered to life. The room was small, maybe ten feet by ten feet. She blinked but held her shoulders stiff until the door closed behind her, and the lock clicked. She waited until the sound of footsteps faded, then she sank to the floor.
What have I done wrong?
Chapter Five
“Remember that two-legged tigers and crocodiles are more dangerous than those that walk on four.”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Elvira Yang blinked as she walked away. She wouldn’t let herself feel, but the look on Destiny’s face as she stepped into that cell would haunt her forever.
She took a deep breath. She needed to stay strong for a little while longer. Soon this would be over, and she would be free to join her family. All the same, she could try to help. While she’d kept her distance over the years, something about Destiny had always tugged at her. Perhaps because Destiny was her creation. She had molded her. Human, but better than nature could ever create.
She headed up the stairs to the first floor. Here the corridors were wide, and sunlight flooded in through the windows. She knew her way around and went straight to the office. Silas stood outside the door, no doubt protecting his boss from unwelcome visitors. Which didn’t include her.
“Can I see him?” she asked.
“I’ll check.”
She liked Silas. He appeared to be one of those rare things—a decent human being—apart from his total loyalty to Luther Kinross, of course. One day she would ask him where that came from. Luther was larger than life and possessed the art of inspiring loyalty, until you got to know him. Then you realized what a ruthless bastard he really was.
Back on Earth, Luther had been a billionaire, a powerful man who’d appeared to have no urge for the limelight. Instead, he kept to the shadows, happy to control from behind the scenes.
He had interests in a number of fields, and he’d funded her research for many years. Also, one of his companies had had the contract for selecting and training the crews for all the fleet. She presumed that was how he had managed to get her a place.
Here, he was making a more overt bid for power. But then, with the destruction of the Trakis One, right now, everything was up for grabs. The Trakis One had carried Max Beauchamp, the president of the Federation of Nations and intended leader of the new world. Until his ship had crashed into a black hole. As far as she was concerned, it was no loss to the human race. In the years before their departure from Earth, Beauchamp had put an almost complete ban on any sort of medical research, claiming all resources needed to be focused on the escape plan.
While Luther couldn’t have foreseen the black hole, he appeared to have set everything in place for this, including her presence on the Trakis Four, years before the fleet even left Earth.
Silas spoke into the comm unit on his wrist and gave her a nod. “You can go on in.”
The door slid open, and she stepped into the room. It was set up like an old-fashioned library from a stately home. Bookshelves with real paper books, a Persian rug on the floor, a big mahogany desk across the far corner. Luther stood at the window, staring down at the planet below, but he turned as she approached.
He was a handsome man with blond hair and sharp blue eyes. Tall, with not an ounce of spare fat on him—he was an ascetic and proud of it. And while he was in his late eighties, he could easily pass for a man in his prime. Thanks to the results of all that research he’d paid for.
“Elvira, how pleasant to see you,” he said. “And how is your charge? Is she here?”
“She is.”
“Good.”
She considered what to say next. She had to be careful; Luther wasn’t a man who liked his decisions questioned. “Is it really necessary that she be locked in a cell?”
He pursed his lips. “It seemed a sensible precaution.”
“Destiny understands her duty. She’s not going anywhere.”
He waved her to the upright seat in front of his desk and took the big leather chair opposite, steepled his fingers on the wood, and studied her. She’d become very good at hiding her feelings, and she allowed a small smile to curve her lips, her hands resting loosely on her lap.
“What have you told her?” he asked. “About her duty?”
Elvira shrugged. “Not