Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (books for 20 year olds .txt) 📗

been a blip in the annals of history, an anomaly only to be remembered for your strangeness and nothing more.” She didn’t say these things with malice, only the straightforward tone I had come to know from these beings. I had to admit she was right. Human dominance over much of the planet was something of an evolutionary mystery.

“These came in handy I guess.” One of the men in the group waggled his thumbs.

“Indeed.” Rakhee didn’t share the man’s amusement. She touched a finger to her temple. “We have some people who would like to talk with you. Would it be agreeable for you to relinquish the rest of your group to the care of my colleagues? I promise you that they’ll get the chance to continue their tour around the city and we will answer any and all questions they have.”

I looked to Alan and Marcus for guidance. Marcus nodded enthusiastically but Alan shared my concern. He didn’t say anything, only raised a hand and waggled it back and forth in a gesture of uncertainty. I raised my eyebrows at Eliza. Ultimately it was her choice.

“All right. I only ask that you hook my tablet into whatever information sharing system you have so that my people can contact me in the case of an emergency.” There was no way for Rakhee to deny the request without raising suspicion. I had to hand it to Eliza, it was a clever way of getting what we needed without tripping any alarms.

“Of course.” Rakhee held out her hand to take Eliza’s tablet from her and keyed in a series of commands faster than my eye could track. “All you need to do is press the shortcut I’ve installed on your screen. It’ll open a channel to every human in possession of one of these tablets. Give it a try.” A channel to every human who had one of the tablets? They had to know that there were hundreds of these tablets sitting back at the colony; they were standard issue for everyone in the shelter for personal use. If it could reach them...

My tablet chirped and feedback from the microphone screeched from its speakers as Eliza held her tablet to her lips. “Testing, testing.” She grinned. The channel was almost certainly monitored, but she didn’t care. If the message had reached home, I bet that a few dozen people were trying to figure out why their tablets had just spoken to them.

“The program will spread to the others’ tablets through our intranet. It only take a few seconds and then your people will be able to reply.” Eleanor, Tenzen, and Zohei had appeared by the corner of a building and waited silently. Rakhee gestured to them. “Just you, Ms. Ivanov. You are the leader of these people, yes?”

“Yes, but—“

“Then we only require your presence.” Eleanor softened her expression, trying to maintain the appearance of the kind matriarch.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Eleanor. Fiona will accompany me.”

“Your mate will not be necessary for this meeting,” Eleanor said, inclining her head to me in a gesture of acknowledgment. “We only require you as the leader of the humans.”

“Fiona will accompany me anywhere I wish.” Eliza grabbed my hand in a fierce squeeze. “Or you won’t be granted an audience with jack shit.”

The androids glanced at each other. Their eyes moved back and forth rapidly as if holding a conversation but they didn’t say anything. My guess is that they were weighing the consequences of offending the one human who would entertain interacting with them. Their databases were at least as extensive as Gabriel’s were; they had to know that offending Eliza meant the deal was off.

“Fine. But we would ask that Ms. Alvaro exercises discretion when it comes to our discussions. Things are...delicate between our peoples.” Understatement of the century. I rolled my eyes. “We would appreciate it if your spouse understood that.”

I cleared my throat. “I’m a big girl. I think I can handle what not to talk about in front of the kids.” More confused looks from the androids.

This was going to be fun.

I had never been to a mediation—such things were relics of the far past by the time I was born—but if I had to envision one, this was it. Eliza and I were brought to another sterile room with a table and chairs. Eleanor, Tenzen, and Zohei seated themselves across from us. Their postures were comfortable; neither tense nor overly relaxed. They vaguely reminded me of what a store mannequin might look like if they had been staged to look mildly interested. I let Eliza take the lead, even in her body language. She sat forward, her weight on her forearms as I kept my hands in my lap. Underneath the table it was impossible for the androids to see my fingertips tapping against my thigh.

“To ‘cut to the chase’ as your people say, we have a problem.” I appreciated that we were dispensing with the formalities; I had suffered through enough of them already. “Your presence is not playing well with many of our people. They see that Jacob sits in their city, completely unharmed, and they’re calling for blood. I’m sure you can understand.”

“I’m not sure I can.” Eliza narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, just enough to bely her annoyance. “As far as I’ve seen so far, we were invited into your city at your own behest. None of my people have even raised a finger to protest your herding us around. I can understand why you take issue with my father-in-law. Believe me, he and I aren’t exactly friends at the best of times. But I take issue with the fact that you’re holding a hundred people hostage while you seek justice from one man.”

“There are some who would hold your entire race responsible for Jacob’s crime.” Zohei stared at me, crimson eyes unblinking.

Oh, shit.

Chapter Fifteen

“It was the only way I could convince the others not to slaughter you the instant you came