Ria's Visions (Hearts of ICARUS Book 6) Read online

  Ria’s Visions

  The Hearts of ICARUS Book Six

  by

  Laura Jo Phillips

  Copyright © 2016 by Kathleen Honsinger

  Cover art/design Copyright © 2016 by Kathleen Honsinger

  All rights reserved.

  Look for previews and coming release announcements at:

  Facebook:

  facebook.com/laurajophillipsauthor

  Other Books by Laura Jo Phillips

  The Dracons’ Woman

  Book One of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Lobos’ HeartSong

  Book Two of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Katres’ Summer

  Book Three of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Bearens’ Hope

  Book Four of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Gryphon’s Dream

  Book Five of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Vulpiran’s Honor

  Book Six of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Falcorans’ Faith

  Book Seven of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Tigrens’ Glory

  Book Eight of the Soul-Linked Saga

  Quest for the Moon Orb

  The Orbs of Rathira, Book One

  Quest for the Sun Orb

  The Orbs of Rathira, Book Two

  Quest for the Heart Orb

  The Orbs of Rathira, Book Three

  Secrets Kept

  Mixed Blood, Book One

  (Available under the name Kathleen Honsinger)

  Secrets Told

  Mixed Blood, Book Two

  Nica’s Legacy

  Hearts of ICARUS, Book One

  Tani’s Destiny

  Hearts of ICARUS, Book Two

  Rayne’s Return

  Hearts of ICARUS, Book Three

  Salene’s Secrets

  Hearts of ICARUS, Book Four

  Vari’s Choices

  Hearts of ICARUS, Book Five

  Jenna’s Cowboys

  Books by Harvey Phillips and Paul Honsinger

  To Honor You Call Us

  Man of War, Book One

  For Honor We Stand

  Man of War, Book Two

  Brothers In Valor

  Man of War, Book Three

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Epilogue

  Ria’s Visions

  Chapter 1

  Ria Lobo paced back and forth across the tiny bit of floor space available in her stateroom. It was just enough to allow her four small steps each way, but she’d become so used to it during her time aboard the Leaper that she barely noticed anymore. She stopped at the wall beside the bed, turned, and walked back, looking up before turning in front of the door.

  Her eye caught on the shift calendar she’d hung on the back of the door, reminding her that in less than one week the Leaper would dock at the Jasani skyport. As if I need a reminder, she huffed to herself.

  Over the past couple of weeks, she’d considered a wide variety of plans for what she’d do once she reached Jasan. Every single one of them involved both lying and running away. Lying she could do. She’d developed the skill at a very young age as a means of self-protection, a fact she was both grateful for and ashamed of.

  It was running away that she had a problem with. For one thing, it was cowardly. For another, she’d seen firsthand how difficult it had been for Aunt Lari when Tani had disappeared, and she simply couldn’t bring herself to do that to her parents.

  I might be the least favorite of the bunch, but that doesn’t mean I love them any less.

  She had no problem with going home to Dracon Ranch and pretending she was the same person she’d been three months earlier. Before she’d accepted the job on the Leaper. Before the Doftles hijacked the ship. Before…well, just before.

  Her parents wouldn’t notice; she was sure of that much. Bean might notice something, but if she did it’d be easy enough to put her off. It was Vari she couldn’t face.

  She laughed, a short, sharp sound that more closely resembled a sob than anything remotely connected with humor. The one person in the Thousand Worlds she wanted, needed, to see most was Vari. But she was also the one person she didn’t dare get close to. The irony was almost too much to bear.

  Vari would never deliberately break her promise not to read her mind, or Bean’s. Ria knew that. But Vari was a Class 6 Omni telepath, and it just didn’t get any stronger than that. Psionic jammers allowed Vari to venture out into the galaxy and have a somewhat normal life which, in Ria’s opinion, made them worth ten times their weight in star diamonds. But the jammers weren’t perfect, and sometimes things snuck through. That was a risk Ria couldn’t take.

  Ria’s head went up, her feet stopped mid-step, her eyes widened as an idea lodged itself in her mind. She barely breathed while she turned it over, looked at it from all sides. If her memory wasn’t playing tricks on her, this idea could work. She needed to do some research though.

  She glanced at her hand terminal on the bedside table, but it was useless. The Doftles had done something to shatter the crystals of every communication device on the Leaper when they hijacked it.

  There’d only been enough spare crystals on hand to fix a small fraction of the Leaper’s comm devices. That didn’t include the vid terminals in the library intended for passengers’ use, and it definitely didn't include personal devices belonging to the fourteen thousand surviving passengers, crew, or employees.

  It did, however, include the vid terminal in the infirmary. And she had the night shift rotation this week. Alone. Not only could she do her research, she could send that letter to the med school. For the first time since the Doftles’ hijacked the Leaper, Ria was anxious to go to work.

  ***

  “Siphonophores,” Dr. Michael Davis said, shaking his head slowly. “I would never have guessed such a thing of an intelligent species.”

  “Why not?” Lariah asked, helping Suly gather the lunch plates from the table.

  “Independent thought,” Michael said. Vari nodded, but Lariah and Salene looked perplexed. “Imagine that the two of you are individual components of one organism. Just as you are, with your own minds and personalities. Now imagine that you can’t take a step, scratch your head, decide what you want to eat, or even when to eat. Your entire existence, everything you do, is governed by a collective intelligence that is, for the most part, concerned only with survival. You, each of you, are utterly insignificant as individuals. You aren’t even a cog in the wheel. You’re a tooth on the cog in the wheel.”

  “That doesn’t sound too appealing,” Lariah said with a grimace.

  “No, it doesn’t,” Michael agreed. “I’d really like to know what type of creature the Doftle siphonophore was.”

  “Didn’t you say it was a jellyfish, Vari?” Salene asked.

  “The form it takes now, in space, looks a lot like a jellyfish to me,” Vari said. “But a jellyfish can’t survive as a land animal. They don’t have a skeleton of any sort, not even cartilage, and no way to a
mbulate. On land, a jellyfish is just a blob of glutinous tissue. The Doftles’ siphonophore had to be something else.”

  “Fascinating,” Michael said. “Not only did they choose to remain connected to each other even after they reached the freedom and safety of space, they also chose a new form for themselves. I’d love to talk to one of these Doftles.” He looked up, feeling the eyes of all three women fixed on him. “Well, a sane one anyway.”

  “If I can ever access all of the memories Rodnil gave me, you may get something close to that,” Vari said.

  “I can’t imagine what it would be like to have someone else’s mind inside of mine,” Salene said. “Everything they ever learned or saw or felt. Especially if the mind belonged to a sentient being so different from myself. Not to mention one that was at least ten thousand years old. I think it would be overwhelming.”

  “It is,” Vari said. “That’s why I can only access bits and pieces of it at a time, and only when I need it.”

  “Have you learned anything about the Doftles themselves?” Lariah asked. “Not what they are or how they came to be, but the Doftles as a people.”

  “I have, Aunt Lari,” Vari replied. “The most surprising thing I’ve learned is that Doftles…the sane Doftles…are a peace loving race. The form they take now is big enough, and strong enough, that they’re no longer seen as prey. Other species they come across in space give them a wide berth, and that suits them fine because they have no need or desire to fight with anyone.

  “They crave knowledge, which is one reason they’ve remained in their current form for so many eons. It allows them to float through space, examining and learning about different worlds and beings as they go. When they’ve seen and learned all they can from one galaxy, they just move onto the next.”

  “How big is their space form?” Michael asked.

  “From the image Rodnil showed me, I’d guess about twice the size of Jasan.”

  Michael whistled in surprise. “Rodnil hadn’t seen it for ten thousand years though, right?”

  “That’s right, but you can’t gauge current size by averaging population growth for Doftles. They don’t reproduce that way.”

  “How do they reproduce?”

  “I don’t know,” Vari said. “Not yet, anyway. I do know that they live indefinitely because they cured aging long ago, and that if and when they decide to expand their numbers to increase their overall size, it’s a precisely calculated decision. I also know that the Tentacle here, in the Thousand Worlds, can’t reproduce. Nor can they clone themselves.”

  “I don’t remember seeing that in the report,” Michael said.

  “It wasn't in the report,” Vari said. “It’s new information that I woke up with this morning.”

  The discussion halted as Suly came in to place a tray of desserts on the table for them to choose from. Then she walked around the table to hug Vari again because, as she said, she had a lot of hugs to make up for. As soon as she left, Michael picked up where he’d left off.

  “The information just…appeared in your mind for no reason?”

  “No, not exactly,” Vari replied. “I’ve been trying to find a way to determine how many Doftles there are in the Thousand Worlds. No matter which way I come at it though, there’s simply not enough data to work with.

  “When I woke up this morning I realized that a new chunk of information had been freed in my head. So far I haven’t had a chance to process much of it, but I did get that they can’t increase their numbers. That’s why they need so many Nomen and hybrids.”

  “That answers a question I’ve been wondering about for a while now,” Salene said. “It’s so hard to kill the crazy little blue thugs that it’s heartening to know another dozen can’t spring up to take its place.”

  “What’s the other question that’s troubling you?” Vari asked.

  Salene gave her a look, but Vari shook her head. “I know you, Salene. That’s all. I didn't read your mind.”

  “Sorry,” Salene said, but Vari waved a hand, dismissing it. “We’ve raided three storage planets so far, and have identified three more that will be addressed soon. There are so many hybrids, so many clones, so many creatures. There’ll be tens of millions before we’re done, I know it. So my question is, how do the Doftles plan to get those creations from the storage planets to wherever they intend them to attack?”

  “I don’t know, Salene,” Vari said. “I’ve wondered the same thing, of course. I think we all have. We haven’t even been able to determine where they build their space stations, or the ships they use, or their own equipment. As far as we can tell, not even their hand terminals are made by anyone in the Thousand Worlds.”

  “Exactly,” Salene said. “They must have planets that hold factories for all of that. Planets like the storage planets, that are manned by prisoners and watched over by guards. We know Doftle do things the same way over and over so it makes sense. I think they’re stockpiling things for their creatures to use when the time comes. Ships, weapons, computers, tools, everything.”

  “I agree,” Vari said.

  “The council agrees, also,” Michael said. “The question is, where are they?”

  “I’ve been wondering if maybe we haven’t been able to find them because they aren’t here,” Salene said. “Not in the Thousand Worlds, I mean.”

  “We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes open for any sign of Doftle held worlds. It won’t be easy given their use of Blind Sight, but maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “Luck is probably the only way you’d come across one,” Salene said with a sigh. “Just like the lucky break I had in crash landing on one of their storage planets. Unfortunately for all of us, the Doftles are crazy, but not stupid.”

  “Speaking of their sanity, or lack thereof, do you think it’s physiological or psychological?” Michael asked before taking a bite of Suly’s famous apple pie.

  Vari frowned as she considered the question, and the reason behind it. “You think if we can do something to cure their insanity, they’ll leave us alone.”

  “It’s a thought,” Michael said, smiling.

  “I think it’s both, but it doesn’t really matter.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because there’s more at work here than science can pin down and put under a scope, Dr. Michael.”

  “Magic?”

  “In part, I suppose. I don’t know what to call it, exactly. Fate. Destiny. Chaos. Take your pick.”

  Michael nodded. It was still difficult for him to factor magic into his work because it was such an unknown. He’d had years of careful study get tossed out the window because of magic. Living on Jasan, surrounded by magic every day for so many years had taught him to accept it and move on. “You’re right,” he said. “All that really matters right now is how to stop them.”

  “That is the important issue at the moment,” Lariah agreed.

  “Have you been able to figure out why we can’t transport them?” Salene asked Michael.

  “I think so, but we’ll need to wait for the Leaper and the bodies it carries to arrive before we can test it.”

  “What’s your theory?” Vari asked.

  Michael smiled at his former student. “Do you recall the source of that arm?” he asked instead of answering.

  “Rajne,” Vari breathed. “I should have thought of that.”

  “Sorry to be the slow one in the group but, huh?” Salene said.

  Vari rolled her eyes at Salene who was nowhere near slow. “The Doftle arm that Rayne brought back,” she said, then waited for Salene to nod. “She transported it from the Doftle space station to the Bearen-Hiru’s ship.”

  “Demii,” Salene said, shaking her head. “We all know that. I was there, for pity’s sake. Why didn’t I think of that? Why didn’t any of us think of that?”

  “Maybe because you’ve all been preoccupied with other things,” Lariah said mildly. “You know, fighting the Doftles, freeing prisoners, staying alive. Things like that.”


  “You forgot macramé, gardening, and bird watching, Mom,” Salene said, smiling.

  Vari frowned. “Macra-what?”

  “Vari, trust me, you do not want to know,” Salene said deadpan.

  Grinning, Lariah stood up, kissed Salene on the top of her head and went into the kitchen for a fresh pitcher of juice. Salene exchanged smiles with Vari, then turned back to Michael.

  “You think they have transport disrupters,” she guessed shrewdly.

  “I do,” Michael replied. “Implanted disrupters that block all but the Doftles’ specific transport signal.”

  “Why do you think they’re implanted rather than something they wear, like we use?”

  Michael looked at Vari, who turned to Salene. “The Bihotza is much faster than the Leaper, as you know, and we really wanted to bring at least one of them back for the Council to start on. Kai removed all clothing and devices from one of the bodies on the Leaper, but it still wouldn’t transport.” Vari looked back to Michael. “Which brings up a small flaw in your theory, Dr. Michael.”

  “Which is?”

  “The Doftle Kai tried to transport was…um…well, he was detached from his head.”

  “Detached from his…,” Salene repeated, then grinned and returned Vari’s eye roll with interest. “You and Tani. Honestly.”

  “Well, it’s not like I had a choice,” Vari said, hiding her own grin. “Those things are safest when dead, and as you noted earlier, they’re damned hard to kill. I figured it was best to get it done before they discovered I was there.”

  “Not gonna argue with that,” Salene said, her golden eyes suddenly solemn.

  “Anyway, his head was separated from his body, so why didn’t the head transport?” Vari asked. “Or the body? Whichever part doesn’t contain the theoretical disrupter.”