Page 32 of Perfection

“An accidental occurrence? I don’t buy it.” Avery let loose a derisive snort while raising a brow at York. “You believe in chance?”

“Not at all.” York was too cynical for that.

Vi tilted her head to the side and muttered, “Well, I do.”

“We can’t just wait to find out.” York squeezed her shoulder. “We need to discover who wanted to hurt B-Gastion bad enough that they’d kill his daughter.”

“If that’s what happened,” Vi countered.

“No press on this. I’ll see to that.” Avery returned to his desk and tapped the inlaid screen on the right of his desktop.

“It may be too late. Finn is already trapped in a damn political straitjacket. Someone has an agenda. We need to find out who that someone is. He or she may be our killer,” York said.

Avery nodded. “Hell,everyonehas an agenda. You two split up and cover the angles.”

York nodded. “I’ll take B-Zaika to B-Gastion’s home. She may have better insight into all this. Plus, if there’s the spiritual connection element…you know.” He checked his watch.

“How about you, Vi?” Avery asked.

Vi got to her feet. “I’ll do some digging into who is behind us being thwarted at the morgue and investigate if anything like this has happened anywhere else. Check my black market contacts to see if anyone other than the usual suspects has recently picked up the kind of equipment it would take to manufacture a virus outside of a regular lab.”

“I’ll talk to the doctor and flip you a list of what she thinks would be needed to do that,” York said.

Vi nodded.

“Cal is digging into both GEI and Coders who may have issues with the regional director, including people from Seville Center,” York said. “And Captain, you may want to do an announcement that GEI should activate the health app on their nanny robots. Just as a precaution. B-Gastion didn’t have it on. If he had, it may have saved the child’s life.”

Avery swiveled his chair and drilled them with a hard stare. “Okay. Good. Contain this thing.”

* * *

Kindra sat in the middle of the unity room assuming a lotus pose. Focusing, she levitated her body and rotated upside down. This was her favorite position. It was like standing on her head in midair and it provided great blood-flow to the brain.

She closed her eyes. Her body relaxed. Her thoughts turned to how a D Generation child might react in a session if a virus was ravaging his or her brain. Of course, a child that age wasn’t nearly as advanced as an adult was. Perhaps a little more accomplished than York Richmond was yesterday. At least he’d tried.

Kindra contemplated the differences between GEIs and Coders. Almost all GEIs liked to experience unity. They were driven to it in the same way they were driven to seek knowledge. It was a desire built into their genes. But she wasn’t sure about Coders. They had the same capabilities, she supposed. She hadn’t given it much thought. It was time she did.

She felt the shift of energy as soon as the door swirled open. She was pleased Seville offered perks such as the unity room, but the downside was the workplace afforded no privacy. Muscles along her neck tensed in anticipation of the intrusion.

She blinked as Comp Nine automatically brought up the lights, illuminating the room in a soft golden glow. Careful not to depart from her meditative plane or jeopardize her floating inverted lotus position, she considered the porthole with a sideways glance.

Her lab assistant stood at the entrance. “Lieutenant Richmond is here again. How much longer should I advise him your session will last?”

“God, Harry, this is the third interruption this week. Do you get your zappies from seeing me suspended upside down, or what?” Kindra shut her eyes to block him out. He was ruining her session yet again. Couldn’t she just have a few minutes to get her bearings before informing the Committee that they needed to eradicate a rogue virus?

She tripped past her irritation with B-Watson as she realized what he’d just said. Her eyes shot open. A dead child. A virus. The police department at her door. All promised disaster.

And just like that, the cement-block-in-her-stomach feeling was back.

“How long?” Harry asked again, impatience in his voice.

“Minutes.” Oh, yeah. She desperately needed to hold on to the tranquil and serene before she saw Lieutenant Richmond again.

Focusing, she pushed troubling images of dark hair and menacing eyebrows aside and pinpointed a beckoning light far down the corridor of her mind. The memory of her daughter’s desire to give her a flower nudged away the tension. She smiled.

Andhappywas a good thing to be. It helped counteract the stress that threatened to overwhelm her.

B-Watson’s presence impinged on her awareness. The calm feeling of oneness with the universe she’d been searching for melted away and the iridescent bubble of purity, goodness, and beauty dissolved. Gone.