Series: Zandian Brides Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
“I heard!” She seems thrilled by my trivial recollection. “And about the other things, too. You clearly have a really phenomenal memory. Daven said you have some things you recalled about ships that the Ocretions discussed? He said that talking it over with us–with me–maybe would help you recall more?”
“I’d be happy to try,” I offer, genuinely praying I can uproot something beneficial from my rattletrap of a skull.
“Let’s sit down! Tell me more about yourself,” she enthuses, leading me to the hoverseats.
I can tell that she’s trying to make me comfortable, but with all the Zandians staring at us, I feel on display. I clutch my arms across my chest and bite my lip.
“Um.” Is all I can manage.
Mirelle looks at me then shoots a look to her commander who tilts his head then nods. He suggests, “Daven, how about we leave the two humans alone to converse? Mirelle is more than capable of recording anything critical.”
The Zandians confer, then all of them leave the two of us alone. And I feel immediately more relaxed.
Mirelle laughs. “It can feel sort of intimidating at first, I know, so many Zandians around.” She has a gorgeous smile. “But you’ll get used to it.”
“How did you get here?” I’m so curious about her story.
Her face clouds briefly, and as she tells me her history, I ache. Every human female in this galaxy has a world of pain in her past, and Mirelle is no different.
“But I understand that you are remembering lots of interesting things about the Ocretions?” She asks it in an open-ended way, leaving me room to talk.
I nod. “Well, yes. Recently, I’ve been having some memories about new cloaking protocols?”
She leans in, eyes sparking. “Really? Because that’s so critical, Sia. Right now the Ocs don’t have the best cloaking around, and we can still find their craft even when they think they’re hidden. But if they improve,” she shakes her head, face somber, “that could be disaster. We rely on being able to locate them at all times to keep our planet safe.”
I clench my gut and close my eyes. If I do it just right, I can get my chip to play back what I want, while not allowing it to record anything new. It does require that I focus in a powerful way, and sometimes, I lose the threads. “Should I draw the things they were showing?”
“Why don’t you just tell me what you overheard?”
“Well, it was more me watching. They were pulling up blueprints on a holo while I was in the room. I think I can recreate it for you.”
“Um, sure?” I can tell she doesn’t expect much from the disappointment in her voice. “If you think you can.” She doesn’t think I’ll be able to draw anything valuable. After all, how could a random human just be able to draw engineering diagrams from memory? It does sound crazy.
But she hands me a tablet. I take the stylus and close my eyes for a second.
“Okay. The first thing was this.” I start at the upper left corner, closing my eyes every so often to clarify the details. Then it’s just like copying. “They put these equations down, see, like this?” I cipher faster, as I get used to looking at my brain–as if it’s a flat screen–and then transferring it to the tablet. “Sorry some of this is sloppy, these are symbols I don’t use or understand. I’m trying to put them down like I saw them.”
I keep going, filling up screen after screen. “And then this diagram, here.” I work hard to get the lines and angles right, and I’m not sure it’s perfect, but at least I’m doing what I can.
When I glance up, Mirelle’s face is slack with wonder and intense with concentration. “Sia, how are you doing this?” She sounds almost scared as she points at my work. She pulls the tablet closer. “Veck, this is new tech. I think they’re–oh stars, I need to get this to Master Seke immediately.” She speaks into her wrist device. “Domm, Daven, you need to get back here. This is critical information that Sia remembered!”
She looks back at me. “How can you possibly remember all this if you’ve never studied it?”
“I don’t know. Daven asks me that too. I just do. Maybe it was one of the enhancements they did to me. Gave me a better memory.” I can’t tell her about the chip, of course.
But after such concentration, my head aches. I was able to prevent the chip from recording, but it tried several times, and fighting it wearies me.
“I need to rest.” I lean back on the hoverchair. “That hurts my brain.”
“Here’s fluid. And fruit.” She brings me some snacks and sits beside me. “Sia, what you just did–I don’t know any other humans with memories like that.”