Kaine's Regret by D.M. Pruden

Author:D.M. Pruden [Pruden, D. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989341506
Publisher: Fuzzy Slipper Publishing

Revelation

“Are you trying to tell me that Cora is dead?”

Pavlovich’s face was drawn, the lines around his mouth etched deeper than Hayden could recall. It was as if the news had aged the man in a moment.

“I’m not sure,” Hayden replied hoarsely. “Not in the normal sense, at least.”

The admiral buried his face in his hands, and his shoulders sagged. Kaine didn’t know if any words he might come up with could blunt the pain of the news. He held his tongue and waited for the older man to come to terms with the loss.

His large hands still covering his face, Pavlovich said, “Tell me again what happened.”

Hayden stifled a sigh of frustration. This would be the third telling. Each time he relived the event, it felt like a deeper layer of skin being peeled from him, exposing new aspects of the horror and loss that he had yet to process. He regretted refusing the sedative Emma had offered him. Doing so would have perhaps given him time to reconcile his own feelings, but the associated delay in relating the news to his old captain would have been unacceptable. He respected Pavlovich too much to permit that.

Steeling his courage, he related every detail of what had happened, careful to avoid any mention of his own hallucinations of Stella; he hadn’t even told Emma about them. He hoped that was the only reticence he was guilty of. He was too close to what happened to be sure he could be objective. But he didn’t want to believe his own negligence caused Cora’s demise. He knew he’d have to tell the truth at some point and face the full consequences. But now wasn’t the time.

When Kaine finished, Pavlovich sighed and uncovered his face. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were wet.

“Did this Archive explain what happened to Cora?”

“Yes, but the answer was cryptic at best. It said she’d been subsumed to facilitate transference.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Hayden shook his head. “I asked the question several different ways, but all I got was the same answer.”

Pavlovich’s eyebrow arched. “That sounds like nonsense. The answer was the same each time?”

Kaine paused to recall. He clearly remembered his battle to contain his anger and grief in the moment, but the words exchanged were a more slippery recollection. He’d already caught himself several times rewording the recollection as his interpretation of its meaning evolved. “I think so. Yes.”

The admiral grunted. “What was Cora trying to achieve?”

“I don’t know. She believed something was off with her connection to the Glenatat. She was determined to verify Gabriel’s stories about her being a danger to us.”

Pavlovich studied him carefully. “I know you well enough to be able to tell when you are holding something back. Spill it, Kaine.”

He sighed. “Cora sensed that the warnings, or premonitions, or cautions she had about the Glenatat were being communicated by Stella.”

“The same voices that Gabriel claims to hear?”

Hayden shook his head. “Not voices. Neither of them claimed that, but they both were certain whatever was being communicated to them came from her.

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