Free The Glorious Becoming by Lee Stephen Page B

care to notice that?”
    “Ess...”
    “Just pointing out the obvious. Where’s the bloody gray? I want to get this over with.”
    The gray Esther was referring to was Ei`dorinthal, or Ed as those in Confinement called him. He was an Ithini of fairly cooperative nature, so far as the typically bull-headed Ithini were concerned. Ed was the whole reason Esther was there.
    Ever since the incident in the forests—Scott’s negotiation with a Bakma via Ithini connection and the subsequent rescue of Captain Gabriel and Pelican Squad—he’d been determined to have each member of the Fourteenth connect with an Ithini in the safety of Novosibirsk Confinement. Scott’s first connection had made him violently ill, resulting in his passing out on the battlefield. The thought of any of his operatives losing their awareness, and their stomachs, due to an unexpected Ithini connection was too big a risk. One by one, he’d been bringing members of the Fourteenth into Confinement to experience a connection for the first time. It had taken Scott only two connections with Tauthin to completely rid himself of all ill effects. Now, his connections were seamless.
    Despite the fascination Scott felt in sharing a mental bridge with an alien, not all of his comrades had been thrilled about the prospect. Esther had been one of his staunchest holdouts. On a day when Scott wanted nothing more than to distract himself from the drama of Viktor and Varvara, the prospect of breaking Esther in had all the fun potential of a grade school field trip.
    Behind them, Ed the Ithini marched obediently into the cell. He was what the chief scientist, Petrov, called an IB—an Ithini captured with the Bakma. According to Petrov, they differed greatly in intelligence and personality from ICs—those captured with Ceratopians.
    Ed may have been a cute moniker, but there was nothing cute about Ei`dorinthal. IB or IC, he was an Ithini nonetheless. Vast intelligence. Prone to vagueness. More prone to near-comatose despondency. The Ithini brain was an evolving, booby-trapped riddle. Even for a particularly cooperative specimen, such as Ed, deciphering the motivations and thought processes of any Ithini was a lesson in frustration. IBs were just the watered-down variety.
    Attached to the head of every captured Ithini—from Novosibirsk to Sydney —was a small cluster of wireless electrodes. Their purpose was simple: detect when the Ithini were using their telepathy. The section of their brain that controlled telepathy was under constant surveillance in the event that a captured Ithini attempted to conspire with fellow inmates. Whenever that section of their brain came to life, it registered on a computer console. If the activity was unpermitted, the Ithini was dealt with—harshly.
    As Ed neared them, Esther’s breathing increased. Scott placed his hand on her shoulder. “It’s all right. You’re braver than this.”
    “I don’t want my thoughts read,” she said, her voice shaking. “I don’t want to do this!”
    “It’s okay.” He squeezed her softly. “Just stay calm—Ed’s not going to violate anything. He’s just going to let you and Tauthin understand one another.”
    Wiping sweat from her forehead, she drew a deep breath. “Get it over with! Let’s just get it over—” Suddenly, she froze.
    A quick glimpse to Ed revealed the cause of Esther’s rigidness. The Ithini’s eyes were wide, focused. Just like that, Esther and Tauthin were connected.
    “Taku`ush nakai,” said Tauthin gruffly, tilting his head toward the scout. “Nuka’resh tavidaash da naas`dak shanuun, baka?”
    It was an odd place for Scott to be, in the role of observer, having no idea what the foreign language meant, though knowing that the connection brought understanding to the connected. He watched Esther closely.
    She swallowed and answered the alien. “I don’t know. It’s not about you. Can you even understand this?”
    “Gaas,” Tauthin said, nodding. “Nekiish