Page 112 of Star-Born Anomaly
Inhaling a deep breath, she stepped into a silent corridor.
Chapter forty
For hours now, the sound of other Calypsons filled Iax’s mind. Though it had been only days since he had left, the empty silence in his skull had made it seem longer. The first taste of others’ thoughts, the first whisper, had been as welcoming to him as Wynn Lambdin’s embrace.
Those who knew him well reached out in recognition. Then others, sampling that initial connection, had reached out too. The quiet murmur had grown.
Now the chatter crashed against his skull, filled his brain in an aching way, and he could no longer filter out individual voices. A communal question rose above the rest, curiosity over Wynn and where she had been, and how she could live without coexisting mind-to-mind. Tension crawled up Iax’s spine the more he listened and absorbed.
He had forgotten how loud it could become, a normal state of existence that no longer felt natural.
Layered on top of the noise, Wynn’s emotions pushed and pulled at him. It eased the ache in his head and allowed him to focus on her, the volume of chatter turning into background noise. And when he focused more, he could force that noise further out of his head, cloaking it—even when The Four reached out to him directly.
His full attention on Wynn, he tugged her closer. She fixed her gaze downward through the transparent construction of the corridor.
“It feels like I should be falling,” she murmured, her fingers flexing in his, then her gaze lifted, eyes full of questions.
Her curiosity pulsed at him and soothed his lingering restlessness. He focused on that, on the way she calmed him, and tucked her body under his arm.
“It is a grown material,” he explained, “organic, but also manufactured.” He inhaled deeply, relishing the thickness in the air.
She tipped her head to stare at him, her jaw slack, then blinked. “I’m going to need more explanation than that.”
He felt the corners of his mouth twitch. “You can receive all the answers you want later.” He rubbed his cheek against the top of her head, needing more contact with her body. She curved into him, and he breathed easier. “But first, we need to speak to The Four.”
They were the loudest voices in his head, and the ones who were most… discontented with his continued silence.
Wynn’s throat bobbed in a swallow as she stared up at him. After a long moment, she nodded, and he guided her forward.
The corridor curved upward in a spiral, then darkened as it integrated itself into the decks of theCalypso. Clumps of illumination hung from the overhead, glowing red to light the way. A few more steps and the solid construction of theCalypso’shull surrounded them.
Wynn leaned her head against him, her arm wrapping around his back. “This is creeping me out. It’s too dark.” Her nervous energy fluctuated.
Iax pushed a thought through the constant babble in his head, and the luminosity in the corridor brightened.
She jerked against him. “Did you do that?” she asked in a whisper, her words echoing off the walls.
“In a manner of speaking,” he said with a small nod. “We all work together to accomplish tasks.”
“I’m not sure that explanation helped with the creepy factor,” she said, finishing with a stilted laugh that died as fast as it started.
They continued to walk upward. The deck curved gently, making it hard to see what lay ahead. He had never thought of it as creepy before this, but he could understand what she meant. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that this was his home, even if seen through new eyes.
“Why is it so quiet?” Wynn whispered. “You said that you missed the noise, but I hear nothing.”
He tipped his head. “For me, it is loud.”
She opened her mouth to say something, when her attention caught on a different sort of light glowing from ahead, chasing away the darkness. They climbed the last section of the incline, this one steeper, and stepped onto the shiny deck of the originalCalypso. White light brightened the corridor, similar in design to Wynn’s outpost and the warship. Calypson outgrowth poked through the metal composite in dark, thick bands, holding everything together.
It might have been the light, or the familiar corridors, but the farther they walked, the more Wynn’s shoulders relaxed. Her energy shifted, a nervousness still existing within her, but the frequency changed. And the more comfortable she became, the more he could accept the voices in his head.
She slowed her steps as they neared a door, then murmured, “Engineering,” as they passed the entrance.
“Yes,” he agreed. Though they had not used it for that function in over a century.
She licked lips, then smacked them together. “Why does the air taste like that?”
“Like what?” He mimicked her actions to better answer her question.
