Deadly Designs (Design Series) by Dale Mayer Page A

didn't need to think about that. "We ask it. But the more we ask of it right now, the less it can rejuvenate."
    "What then?" Eric raised an eyebrow in question.
    "Then we ask Paxton's stylus what it needs."
    Eric sat back, a frown on his face. "Oh. That makes sense."
    "Can we sit somewhere? I'd like to grab a sketchbook and see how the stylus is doing."
    Eric pointed to the table where she'd sat toward the end of the celebration they'd had the night before. She stopped. Night before? Surely it had been longer. And it might have been. Time had become beyond screwy.
    Leading Tammy over, she pulled out chairs for both of them and showed Tammy how to use one. Tammy grinned and bounced on the chair several times. Only stilling her antics long enough to watch curiously as Storey opened her bag to remove a sketchbook. Tammy grabbed it and tried to bite the end.
    "No. This isn't food." Storey dove back into her bag and pulled out a red apple. She handed it to Tammy who looked at it and frowned. Storey took a bite, showed Tammy the inside. Tammy immediately bit into the apple. Her eyes grew rounder and she bounced several more times.
    "I think she likes it," murmured Eric.
    "Good thing. We know what happens when there's something she doesn't like." She hurriedly looked away as the skorl took a bite from the other side of Tammy's apple. Shudders rippled across her back. She so didn't want to share her meal with that thing.
    Opening her sketchbook, she pulled out her stylus and studied the markings on the side. Now if only she knew what they meant. Something she'd have to ask her stylus about later.
    "Stylus, we need information." She held her hand over the corner of a blank page of her sketchbook. "What do you need to get to full power?"
    Time.
    "Why is it taking so long?"
    Damaged.
    "Damaged?" Eric and Storey both bent to study the pencil. Twisting and turning it, neither could see any damage. "What kind of damage?"
    Souls. We are getting older. Will need a new soul soon.
    "Soon? As in how soon?" Storey frowned at Eric.
    Within the next decade.
    Storey and Eric both relaxed. "Good. That gives us a little time to figure that part out. Somehow. So it takes longer for you to recharge once we've been separated. Do the other styluses need new souls too?
    Yes.
    "Are the ones in there still alive?" Storey couldn't imagine their existence.
    We are always in stasis. New souls will blend and all will be well.
    Eric looked at Storey and shook his head. "I don't think so."
    Storey studied his features. "Don't think what?"
    "It's not all going to be well. We don't know how to blend souls into the stylus anymore, and even if we did, it would be against our laws to force someone to do so."
    "What about volunteers? Chances are someone would be interested in living forever."
    He scrunched his face in disgust. "Not me."
    Storey frowned. "If my life was almost over, it would be a heck of a way to extend it. To help out my people."
    "Go for it. You're not locking me inside a pencil forever."
    Storey had to laugh at the way he said it. It might not be right for him, but if her people were involved she could see a long line forming almost instantly. Especially those with a terminal illness. To live forever was a much sought after goal with her people. The novelty alone would peak interest around the globe. She could see riots happening as people vied for the dozen odd positions.
    Eric glanced over at Paxton working away on his codex. "It's not an issue right now, anyway. We need to find the correct codes to take Tammy home. Can the stylus help us do that?"
    "Probably."
    The longer Tammy was with her, the less she looked like a Louer and the more she resembled a normal child. Speaking of which…
    "I haven't seen many children in your dimension?" Eric's face twisted curiously. "Don't you guys believe in families?" she said.
    The faintest pink color washed over his face. "We do, but not large ones and many people are choosing to have no children."
    She didn't