Distortion Offensive by James Axler

Mariah?” Kane asked. The authority had gone from his voice, replaced instead by kindness.
    â€œI’ve been better,” Mariah said, clearly uncomfortable in Kane’s presence.
    â€œDomi had to do it, you know,” Kane told the geologist. “She didn’t want to. I’ve taken a few wounds in my time. I know what it feels like and it’s not good.”
    Mariah blurted a single laugh at that as she reached across for the crutch she was now using to help her walk. “‘Not good’ is an understatement. It hurts like…heaven knows. Makes it all the worse when I think how Edwards came out of it without a scratch.”
    â€œYeah, well, luck can be an insensitive bitch sometimes,” Kane grumbled. With that, Kane made his way to the door, glancing back at Mariah as she rose slowlyfrom the bed. “You work on a painkiller addiction for me, okay?”
    Finally relaxed, Mariah giggled, her blue eyes twinkling bright. “I’ll do that, Kane. But only because you asked so nicely.”
    Â 
    B RIGID SAT WITH B ALAM in the interrogation room, a smile forming on her full lips as she watched Little Quav bounce the inflated rubber glove against her doll’s head and laugh in delight.
    â€œShe seems happy,” Brigid stated, taking in Balam’s own somber expression.
    Balam nodded once, his pale, bulbous head moving down then up like some bizarre perpetual-motion executive toy. “She doesn’t know the danger that she is in,” he observed quietly. “I have shielded her from that all her life.”
    Brigid began to speak, but she stopped, allowing Balam’s words to sink in. “Do you believe that she’s in danger right now?”
    Balam gazed at the innocent child with his dark, fathomless eyes. “She has been in danger since the day she was born,” he stated, “and indeed, before then, when she was conceived. You know her position in the Annunaki pantheon, Brigid Baptiste. I hardly need remind you, of all people, of the dark path of destiny that stretches before her.”
    â€œNo, of course not,” Brigid agreed. She had been there when Little Quav had become a bargaining chip in the hostilities between Annunaki Overlord Enlil and the Cerberus team, was well aware of how Balam’s intervention and graceful solution had saved countless lives. Still, there was something in Balam’s voice, theway he had raised this point now, that nagged at Brigid’s mind, even though she could not put her finger on it.
    â€œWould this Ontic Library have any bearing on Qua—Ninlil,” Brigid corrected herself, using the child’s predestined Annunaki name. Little Quav glanced up for a moment at the start of her name, then turned back to her game.
    In answer to Brigid’s query, Balam nodded solemnly again, his lips sealed.
    â€œHow?” Brigid asked, the question barely a whisper.
    â€œThe knowledge held in the library would doubtless show of her renewed existence and would be sufficient to locate her,” Balam stated, balling his fingers into a fist, “and hence take her. Potentially, an individual with that knowledge could fold space, reach for her out of the ether like some astral kidnapper.”
    Brigid felt suddenly cold, as though someone had stepped on her grave. A few feet before her, the light-haired three-year-old girl continued to play, singing to herself now and then as she drummed her palms against the medical bowl Reba had left her in lieu of other toys. As if sensing Brigid’s eyes on her, the blond-haired girl turned and handed her the inflated rubber glove. Brigid bounced the five-finger balloon from one palm to the other before knocking it in the air and batting it back to the laughing little girl. “Here you go, munchkin,” Brigid said quietly, the last word so subtle that it was almost indistinguishable from a breath.
    Brigid had had a child, a little girl called Abigail who