Log 1 Matter | Antimatter by Selina Brown Page B

the
mission.
    Psychology was his weakness, the thing he
avoided so that he didn’t have to face his own demons.
    They had mentioned something else too.
    What was the Safeguard?
     

Sub-Log IX
     
    Iota
    Station: Perza
    Galactic System: Sarato (Spiral Galaxy)
    Planetary System: Saratoga
    Homestead
     
    Ara touched her face, feeling the warmth.
    It was a glorious, sunny day and getting
warmer. Dad was busy checking his fields of tall things, and moving
the cattle to another paddock. Ara liked the cows but not the tall
things because she got lost in them one day and Marc had to save
her. She had to use her “big girl’s voice” to tell him of her
impending death and how sad he’d be, but Marc told her Maya had
sent him an emergency log. When they returned to the homestead, Mum
was waiting at the foot of the steps, and her expression was one of
annoyance. “Ara, you aren’t supposed to use Maya as your personal
communications device.”
    “But Mum—”
    “Ara.” Pen’s voice came hard.
    “I almost died in there.”
    “Stop exaggerating.”
    She mumbled, “Nuts.”
    “To your room, young lady.”
    “I’m not a lady!” She stomped her foot trying
to make Mum understand that.
    “Now!” Mum pointed up the stairs. “Or no
playground.”
    Ara glanced up at Marc to save her but he
held out his hands. She grumbled and stomped up the stairs,
emphasizing with each step that she wasn’t a lady.
    Marc turned to Pen. “We need to talk about
that log.”
    She nodded. “Ara seems to be able to tell the
Cardinal Unit and Maya what to do. It’s unprecedented.”
    Marc sighed. Technically, he shouldn’t be
getting logs from the CU anyway, but he reported it to Jamie who
told him that Ara had been sending her guards logs via the CU,
ordering them around. Marc groaned aloud over that bit of news.
Jamie didn’t answer to him but had given him that news for a
reason, probably to remind him that Jamie was “The Sentinel”, not
the Aether. He passed along the message to his parents as they sat
discussing Ara in their little office near the lounge.
    He linked with Ara’s bright mind, sensing
something odd. She was grumbling over being confined to her room
when a malign presence tried to connect to her but she brushed it
away. Marc jerked upright, and began to run up the stairs, hearing
laughter echoing in Ara’s mind. “You’re a strong little thing,
aren’t you?” She poked her tongue at it, mentally, and then
imaged the flipping of her fingers at it. Marc missed a step
landing heavily on his knees laughing at himself and at Ara’s
actions.
     
    Iota
    Station: Estancia
    Galactic System: Milky Way (Spiral Galaxy)
    Planetary System: Earth
    England
     
    “Cheeky brat.” Viper watched two raggedly
dressed characters leave the café by climbing the rail. He hated
his current body. It was too thin for his tastes. He also noticed
when he was close to Cobra they began to sync in a sense of what
they felt and thought. Only Krait seemed to be able to maintain his
individuality.
    “Who?” Cobra glanced at the retreating
figures.
    “Ara.”
    “Ah. Listen, I’ll be on Sparta Prime most of
the time, building up some mischief there.”
    Viper sipped his drink. “Does this coffee
taste alright to you?”
    “It’s not coffee.”
    “That explains it. What is it with these
ridiculous clothes?”
    Cobra, as usual, looked at ease, handsome,
and his blue eyes were amused. Cobra shrugged. “It’s the 1500s.
These are high-class clothes and, besides, I like the leather
jerkins.”
    “Well, I consider this body too thin so it’s
making me look a little manlier.” He rapped at his codpiece.
    Cobra smiled but returned to the topic. “This
is just one part of the plan, I have my finger in the Avatara pie,
here on Earth, Sparta Prime, the Three Empires and Grands”—Viper
was surprised—“and more.”
    “And I have the Establishment and sub-Maya
and Cardinal Units. Together we’ll keep everyone focused here. Ara
will be