Pearl Cays, Caribbean

Meridian could feel the sweat tickling down his back and he heard the words that Shadowstar was speaking but he was far more interested in what he was seeing and feeling as he slowly ran his fingers across the side of her naked body.

The two them were still in bed. They had been making love off and on for hours, one of the true advantages of being a nova. In addition to superhuman stamina their healing powers turned lovemaking into something that could potentially last for days. However the reality was that at the very least they had to stop and eat occasionally. Meridian had literally packed the Caribbean cabin with food before their little vacation and now it was almost gone. More than once they had tried to combine the eating and lovemaking … with mixed results. He smiled at the memory.

“You are not listening to me at all, are you Rob?” Shadowstar asked him.

“Actually I was. I had no idea that Hinduism was like you were describing. I had this kind of half formed idea that it pretty much just involved worshiping little local deities. Just goes to show you how dangerous and potentially embarrassing making assumptions can be. I’m really interested in how some of the beliefs and values parallel Christianity so closely.” He replied while letting his hand wander a bit more.

She gasped and then said, “You are just trying to distract me Rob!”

“Seems to be working.” He quipped as he moved his mouth to kiss a particularly sensitive spot he had discovered a few days earlier.

It was some time before the talking resumed.

*********

Washington DC, USA

Special Agent Flemming sat very still in the chair across from Director Harris. He wanted to pound his fist as he made his points, or at the very least raise his voice to let the anger he was feeling show. However if he did that then his last chance would be gone.

“Sir I respectfully request that you put me back on the case.” He said.

Director Harris stood up from his desk, turned around and looked out the window. “Cory, I know that you want back in on this one, but your supervisor turned you down.”

“Sir, I believe that I am the best man for this job. No one else was able to keep up with Insider until I was put on the case.” He responded.

To which the Director responded. “You may or may not have kept up, but you have lost your partner, 6 agents, 3 civilians, and a neighbor who was apparently mistaken for you when you sent him to walk your dog during your interrogation. That’s 11 people dead or as good as because of your actions.”

Flemming nearly did pound his fist and shout out at the unfair accusation. However he schooled his temper and calmly replied. “12 people. One of the injured civilians has died. Sir, I fully accept responsibility for the fate of the men who were under my command and the innocent people who died on my watch. Arnold I just want another chance. You’ve seen the reports. No one could have foreseen that ambush and even a nova agent with twice the men under his command would have been taken out by that attack.”

“Yes. Even a nova agent would have been ‘taken out’ by the ambush, but you were unharmed.” The Director mused.

“Arnold, I’m not asking you to send me directly after Insider. I fully support the decision to put Special Agent Ilia Zinovy in charge. Having one our telepaths go after him is sound strategy. What I want is a crack at the guys who tore my team up. Finding and identifying the novas who perpetrated that attack is critical. It can be and probably should be separated from the Insider investigation proper.” Flemming argued.

The Director had been pacing as Flemming spoke. He sat down and said, “OK, Cory. I owe you and you know I owe you. I can split the investigations and put you in charge of that one. But that is it. It will be up to you to prove that you deserve this second shot. You will have to show some kind of results and quickly.”

********

Pearl Cays, Caribbean

Shadowstar’s fingers were threaded with Meridian’s as the two of them lay on the beach looking at the stars. It had been a magical week. One she would never forget. She was so happy. She regretted that they had to go back to their old lives in the morning.

“What are you thinking?” she asked him, giving his hand a squeeze.

“I’m thinking that I need to learn to speak Hindi.” He told her. “If you and I are going to be spending more time together like this I want to be able to talk with your folks and better understand the culture you came from.”

To say she was surprised would have been understating the matter. “I mean that much to you?”

“You do.” Was his simple reply. “I’ve never had a friend like you. I never thought that our friendship would blossom into something like this. You mean more to me than I can tell you.”

She rolled onto her side and kissed him.

“So what were you thinking?” he asked in return.

She looked down shamefaced. “I was thinking that I was not looking forward to going back to Utopia in the morning.”

He nodded. “I can understand.”

“Can you?” She mused. “Rob, I sacrificed a lot to leave my country and join Utopia. I have truly been happy there. I have done many good things with them. But now, if it is true that some small group of people within the project are managing this research of putting taint into diseases, and it seems beyond doubt now, I wonder if I should stay with them. Are all my good works tainted by association with such evil minded people?”

“No, they are not. I’ve seen some of the differences you have made. I’ve seen first hand some of the other good deeds that the project has done.” He assured her. “Remember what Pratima told us after our first little trip to India together. ‘Utopia is a collection of individuals. Individuals make mistakes.’ Utopia is simply not perfect no matter how much they try to appear so. That fact doesn’t devalue what you have done, but it does leave you with a choice. Are you going to ignore the problems are try to fix them? If you want to fix them, do you do that from within or do you quit and try to change them from the outside? You need to decide where and how you stand.”

She smiled at him. “Rob, one of the things I love about you is that you make me face the hard choices that I might otherwise avoid. And you do it without making me feel inadequate. Thank you.”

He gave her a serious look. “Triyama I want to be clear. I don’t think you should ever think of yourself as ‘inadequate.’ You are a good person and a capable one. I respect you. I respect the things you have done. I have confidence in you and I believe that whatever your decision is about Utopia that it will be the right one.”

The words felt good. She simply lay back on the beach silently being one with the moment.

Her brothers had never had many kind things to say to her. She loved her father, but he had lavished most of his attention on the boys … until her eruption. These days he had plenty to spare for her when she saw them. She knew that part of him could not help but to see her as a goddess. She was not sure that any man had ever told her something like that free of ulterior motives.

She thought back on all the things Meridian had done for her. He had started their friendship by taking her back home when she missed her family. He had helped her do her charity work in India by getting her too and from her workplace many times. He had not buckled when Utopia had seemingly made her choose between her friendship with him and loyalty to them.

She had done little things for him in return. Bringing youth back to his parents as she had done for hers had been one. Giving Killjoy a little payback for them both had been another. But thinking back he had yet to ask for her aid the way she seemed to keep asking for his.

Also he was so serious about mastering his powers, and here she was, supposedly much more gifted in terms of the scope and magnitude of her own power, passively following the occasional advice from her Utopia trainers.

Maybe he felt that she was worthy of his respect … but maybe in reality she still had a ways to go.

Triyama resolved then and there to make herself worthy of both his respect and her own.

*********

Kolkata, India

The cowled head nodded respectfully. “All is in readiness. The request for services has been sent and your schedule confirmed.”

Narcosis ran one hand almost tenderly across the baseline quivering in the bed she was standing next to. “It is a pity that they can take so little pleasure before their brains just shut down. Still what she’ll remember will stay with her for life.” She observed.

Then she turned to the cowled nova, “Perhaps you have a bit more tolerance, Nameless.”

Nameless shook his cowled head. “I might … if I could still do as you would wish. For me that is no longer possible.”

She shook her head and smiled. “You underestimate my creativity.”

*********

Pearl Cays, Caribbean

Meridian took one last look at the island to lock it into his memory. This time and place had become one of his greatest treasures.

However, now it was time to go. The world called them. Shadowstar had her normal duties with Utopia and they both had a responsibility to track down the men and women responsible for the research into tainted microorganisms.

Shadowstar already two leads to follow up on. She was to discover the identities of the two people who had obviously been overseeing her investigation.

He suspected that Insider was already investigating the facilities in Rome, California, and Japan that Rob had been able to tell him about.

Rob wasn’t quite sure where that left him. He had neither the powers, the skills, nor the inside presence at Utopia to assist either of them. During the week he had thought of two possibilities. The first was the Aberrants. They obviously knew something about this research and might be able to point him in a new direction. The second was the Teragen. The surprise attack in Denver was unlikely to have anything to do with the research mess on the surface, but the coincidental timing bothered Rob. It was just possible that there might be a deeper connection.

Which was all fine in a nice theoretical way, but the reality was that he really didn’t have any idea where to start. He didn’t know anyone who was an admitted member of either the Aberrants or the Teragen. All he had to go on were the same rumors that everyone else had heard.

He and Shadowstar had talked about all this. Over the next few weeks he was going to try to track down a few of those rumors. He was most intrigued by the Aberrants, but he also felt like they would be the most difficult to find. The Teragen had seemed interested in recruiting Shadowstar and him at one point so they might be a bit easier to find. However both he and Shadowstar had reservations about that.

As if summoned by the thought of her name she came out of the house they had stayed in. She looked a bit different somehow. She had put on her makeup differently and the style of her EuFiber was subtlety changed.

He studied her as she walked up. “I think I like it. That is a good look on you.”

She flashed him a smile. “Good. I am glad that you do.”

He took her hand and looked in her eyes. “Are you ready to go?”

She sighed. “Ready, but not entirely willing.”

He smiled sadly. “Me too.”

Then he concentrated and created a Disk Portal leading to her flat back at Utopia Asia HQ.

He had planned on passionately kissing her goodbye but didn’t want to muss her makeup, so he planted a tamer kiss on her forehead instead. “Keep safe, Tri.”

She hugged him hard. “I will see you again soon Rob. You also take care.”

He let her walk through the Portal.

Next it was his turn. Time to head home and see if Insider or anyone else had left him a message and then he would start looking for leads.

********

Rome, Italy

Insider wandered through the ruins of the coliseum. He could feel the history in places like this.

He could also feel his tail. The Directive had gotten creative about trying to locate him recently. Insider had finished taking care of business here in Rome with regards to tracking down his missing research and had decided to see how interested in him the Directive still was.

He had identified the account that the agency had used to trace him previously and he had redirected its funds elsewhere to a place that he was sure the Directive could track if they really wanted too. The move made it look like he was trying to cover his tracks but left him a string he could pull from time to time and perhaps trigger one of their traps.

The results had been interesting. They had sent a telepath after him. She was good too. Had he not been looking for someone from her agency to show up he would probably have missed her.

The Directive telepath had systematically tried to find where he had tampered and pin down who he was. Today she was quietly probing a random tourist he had manipulated just to see if she would catch it. She had. He liked her style.

However she had been unable to locate him so there was no need for the drastic measures that he had used the last time. He could keep this body, but he had a few more stops to make just in case they were playing a more subtle game than he thought. And when that was taken care of he would avoid using this body for a long time.

One could never be too careful.

********

Denver, USA

Meridian looked over his house. It was exactly as he remembered it. But in addition to seeing the familiar this time he also saw how quiet and lonely it was. It had been easy to get used to Shadowstar’s constant presence and now that he was without it he missed her.

However he had seen other love struck guys in his college days and was determined that he would not talk incessantly about her to everyone. He could think about her all he wanted to but there was no need to make others as irritated at him as he had been at his love struck buddies back then.

Sitting down at his terminal he looked at his OpMail.

He immediately noticed that his terminal took him to a different program that it usually did. It was a new OpMail program and account her realized. There was a messaged from someone named ‘Overload.”

‘Mr. Douglass we have a mutual acquaintance who asked me to set up a more secure way for us to communicate. I have redirected the Directive monitoring software and hardware that they so thoughtfully put in your house and on your computer. They will get regular data, but be unable to monitor our communications without alerting me.

Our acquaintance asked me to let you know that he had checked out Rome and taken care of a few things there. He wanted to thank you for the information.

We also felt that it would be wise to introduce you to a very interesting OpNet board we found some time ago. Our acquaintance and I have seen many interesting conversations there and several self proclaimed Terets seem to post there.

We will be in touch.
-Overload’

It was interesting, especially the part about the bugs, but not really very helpful about deciding him on what he was going to do next. He was disturbed that the Directive had done this to his house, but not entirely surprised. It was interesting how America was not always as free as you might think it would be. Travel had given him a new perspective on his home country. He still loved it, but he didn’t take it for granted like he once had.

Playing around with the new program he found that he was able to direct all of his existing OpMail accounts to it. That was a good thing since Overload had removed his other mail program.

Nothing much interesting presented itself when he glanced at the public account. The volume of a weeks worth of mail in it convinced him that he needed to hire someone to manage it. Checking his other private accounts he saw that his parents were still in Mijas Spain. He had known that they would like the small hotel there on the mountainside overlooking the town of Benalmadena and the Mediterranean. They invited him to drop in any time as they would be there for another week or two. It was tempting, but first he wanted to finish this.

The next OpMail was from John Argyle. Apparently the Argus Agency needed him for a contract.

He made a call and was soon looking at John’s face on the screen. “Hey old man.” He joked.

“Hiya Boyo!” John shot back. “I’d be needin’ a favor of ye. The agency is in a bit of a pinch money wise. Naught we’ll not be out of soon, but I’ve gotten a request for a portal maker like you, and if we seal the deal then things would be a mite easier ‘round here. Evac’s already out on contract so we need ye Meridian.”

“What are the details?” Meridian felt no harm in asking.

“Its an interestin’ one. Part time for 5 days startin’ Monday. Ye’ll be workin’ for that Indian starlet Narcosis. She’s apparently needin’ to be in two places at once for the next few days. I’m offerin’ $100,000 a day US plus expenses up to $1,000 a day. Ther’ll be the usual bonus if you see action. They’re sayin’ that ye’ll only be needed a few hours each day.” John told him.

“I’m in.” Meridian told him.

It had taken him fractions of a second to decide. Narcosis was rumored to have connections to the Teragen. If she did Meridian might be able to find out whether the attack last week had anything to do with the research he was investigating. India was also rumored to be one of the potential homes for many of the Aberrants. Given India’s friction with Utopia it was a real possibility. Finally, like he had told Shadowstar, he wanted to learn her language and religion. What better way to do that than to spend some time in her home country?

John grinned at him. “Ye’ll ‘ave lots o’ folks envyin’ ye boyo.”

Rob grinned back. “They’ll have no reason to.

********

Mumbai, India

Luminous was bored.

At first it had been cool hanging out at Sin Eater’s pad. Luminous had sometimes thought that he/she was a bit freaky, but had never guessed just how warped some of those famous movie people and rich bastards really were. The downside was that they had to hide in the back whenever a paying customer came. Sure it let one seek some interesting shit, but hiding while cooped up with just Gemsaw and Stick Maam got old fast. At least they got to party at night with some other righteous Terats.

Last night he/she had met a member of Pandemonium who had been fascinated with the possibilities offered by Luminous’ multiple gender sexuality. They had agreed to meet today. It was something of a risk, coming during the day, but was well worth it to not be cooped up with Gemsaw for yet another afternoon.

Feeling liberated already Luminous slipped out the door and off to his/her rendezvous.

********

Talaud Island, Indonesia

Shadowstar rummaged through her Quantum Powers Training books. Most of them were in English which she could read, thanks to her eruption granting her that skill, however she had never bothered with them much before. Growing up she had never been to the kinds of schools where books were used more than occasionally and so had never really seen the need for them. The only times she had ever really ‘trained’ in the use of her powers had been when instructors were available and at the clinic where she and Meridian had met. The books had mostly gathered dust, except when Meridian had asked her specific questions in the course of his own training. Now though she needed something from them.

Her existing powers had grown since joining Utopia all those many months ago, however they had grown mostly from the regular usage that her assignments seemed demand. Unlike Meridian she had never really tried to manifest an ability that she had not ever done so before. Her existing powers over darkness and night were already broader in scope than many novas ever achieved. They were still broader than what Meridian had despite all his work. However now she needed to be able to do something new … and she didn’t want anyone in Utopia to know that she could do it. Meridian had learned on his own so she could too.

Finding what she needed she began to read.

It was hard though. Reading was foreign to her to begin with and the subject was difficult. Also she was tired. Catching up on work after her vacation with Meridian had kept her busy and she had been obliged to use her Quantum talents quite a bit. Being tired made it difficult to keep her concentration focused and the material demanded it.

Eventually she put the book down and brought out pen and paper. These were not frequent tools for her either, but she felt far more comfortable with them than with the computer so far. She had mastered talking to her parents and sending the occasional OpMail using the electronic device, but she usually was thinking so hard about how to use it that she usually got muddled when trying to actually do anything else with it, and that was on a good day. On the paper she made cryptic notes. She was working out a set of exercises that should, according to the book she had read, let her eventually master the ability she was thinking about.

She finished and then crawled into bed. She was sure the new ability would aid her in learning who the two individuals who had been running the investigation she had so recently been on were. And eventually that would lead her to the truth about who in Utopia knew about the unethical research.

Her last thought before sleep claimed her was that she missed Rob’s warmth beside her.

*********

Hypersonic Jet Flight 105, over the Pacific Ocean

Special Agent Flemming smiled softly to himself. He was pleased.

The Directive did not have much of a presence in India. However lady luck had smiled on him again. One of their regular informants had not only spotted Luminous, but had remembered the APB and had notified HQ.

Equally miraculously word of the sighting had been passed to him in a timely fashion and Flemming had been able to catch this plane. The next suborbital flight to India was not scheduled for a few days. He would have been stuck on a much longer flight had he not been able to make this one.

He was seated in first class which gave him enough room and privacy to read the Directive notes on the novas that had been involved in the attack in Denver.

In some ways Luminous was both the least and most interesting of the bunch. Most interesting because his/her past prior to eruption was completely unknown. Least interesting because his/her current activities were the most predictable. Luminous seemed to almost always get into fights everywhere it went. They were usually silly fights too. It had killed quite a few normals, but it had also taken out a nova or two.

Gemsaw was fairly unknown. He had been a small time gambler. Now he was a big time problem for Flemming. As a nova Gemsaw had been far less predictable than he had as a normal. Also more than either of the others he would be a problem to take out. His major nova powers seemed to be strength and toughness and ‘Cipsidol didn’t work very well against that.

Stick Maam had been a housewife in Kansas before her eruption. She had had a banker husband and three kids. Now she had left them behind and was associating with international terrorists. She had been involved in several incidents involving suspected Teragen members, however Denver had been by far the bloodiest in her time as a nova. Her group teleportation powers were something he was going to have to take into account when dealing with her.

His first priority was to observe the three. It was hoped that they could lead him to the fourth nova who had been in on the Denver massacre, however he had been authorized to take them out if necessary. He had declined having a team assigned to him and had decided to rely on the local contacts. A team would have stood out too much. One Caucasian could get by, but having 7 Caucasian men hanging out in India was bound to raise suspicions.

Fifteen more minutes and he would be on the ground and able to do something about these nova terrorist freaks who had made his life so miserable.

*********

Kolkata, India

Meridian was in his black and green signature clothing as he stood waiting in the Pandemonium headquarters lobby. He wasn’t in the media spotlight often and that was fine by him. However working with Narcosis would ensure that at least a few cameras would be rolling in his presence. It was likely that a media interview would be the result, either during his contract or afterwards. Either way Meridian knew that he needed to be recognizable if he wanted to take advantage of the exposure later business wise.

He was kind of interested in the idea of meeting Narcosis. Meridian knew that many novas either went into the entertainment business or hung out with the rich and famous. They tended to capitalize on the constant media exposure. He on the other hand had tried to stay out of the spotlight for the most part. The OpMails from all the groupies and ‘fans’ who really knew so little about him had seemed false and cloying. He had seen no reason to encourage it.

However with this contract he was going to plunge headlong into that world. He would be able to see what might have been and might still be there for him if he wanted it. He was looking forward to discovering what exactly the experience was like.

The possibility that Narcosis might have Teragen ties was rarely out of his thoughts as well.

“Meridian, Narcosis is ready to see you now.” Said the woman behind the desk.

The woman was attractive and dressed revealingly, though professionally. The same had been true of many of the men and women he had seen working here. It seemed like a fun working environment but all that flesh might be a bit distracting he though. Meridian was glad that Shadowstar didn’t dress that way, else he would never have been able to concentrate around her.

Meridian stepped through the double doors and into an office. There were several people there already. The office seemed to be decorated in a wildly creative way. He liked it.

Then he saw Narcosis. To say she was stunning would have been an understatement. He had never seen any of her movies, only a few still photos, but they did her only partial justice or maybe he just hadn’t been paying attention. Her long black hair framed a face that was perfectly beautiful in a way a non-nova could never hope to be. Her body was perfectly proportioned and as she stood to greet him he noticed that she moved with catlike grace. Her clothing was loose but incredibly thin. He couldn’t quite see through it but he had the impression that he could if he looked long enough. Sexual energy vibrated around her.

Meridian could easily see why she had been so successful and knew that he was going to have to work at maintaining a professional demeanor around her.

“Welcome to Pandemonium Meridian.” She told him shaking his hand firmly. “Eshen and Pam will go over my schedule with you. There are several spots when we have known times and locations for needed transport, but there are also a few times when I will need you to be ‘on call’ and things are a bit more flexible for me. You should have plenty of time to find some fun on your own and you are free to stay at all of the parties and events I am going to this week. Make sure you have fun while working for us!” And with a smile she was gone.

He watched her walk away feeling bemused. He hadn’t even had a chance to get a word in.

*********

Mumbai, India

“Well then why don’t you two go then?” Luminous asked Gemsaw.

Gemsaw signed, obviously forcing back anger, and responded, “Because the message told us that we ALL should clear out. If we fucking leave you behind then this place might still have it’s cover blown.”

“I have somewhere else I can stay now.” Luminous told him. He had had enough of living with the gem encrusted oaf.

“Let him rot then. I’m going now.” Stick Maam said, electronic static popping with anger.

“Fine.” Said Gemsaw with a sneer and followed Stick Maam through her gateway.

Luminous couldn’t help but to grin as the two vanished. He was so sick of them and their whining. Tonight he/she was going to have some fun!

*********

Kolkata, India

Meridian watched Narcosis at work. Her body was swaying as she sang into the studio microphone. While not in Alejandra’s league her voice had a sultry quality the Mexican nova’s lacked. He had wanted to be a bit early for the first transport, both to see what exactly narcosis was doing and so that he could plan on how much time leeway he might need for future transports.

She seemed loose and relaxed as she walked up to him after finishing the recording. “Are you ready, Meridian?” She asked.

He nodded. “Pandemonium Bollywood coming right up.” With a moments concentration he had created the Disk Portal leading to the first stop on her schedule.

As she stepped though she paused, touching his hand lightly and told him. “It is so much easier working with a nova like you Meridian. I much prefer this to riding planes all the time. You are going to make a big difference in how much I am able to get done this week.”

“It will be my pleasure.” He told her sincerely following her through.

He had had time to visit some of the temples in Kolkata, including the huge Dakshineswar Kali temple, and arrange for language lessons, but he wanted to see what Mumbai had to offer too.

The schedule was pretty light this first day. He had several hours to kill before she would be done with the movie shoot and ready to go to a huge party in the evening. He would be providing transport to and from that event. Then he would be free again until around noon local time the next day.

*********

Talaud Island, Indonesia

Shadowstar concentrated. She could reach out and manipulate shadows at will but now she was trying to feel them … to become one with them. She could feel her node stirring occasionally in response.

After a time she ended her meditation, satisfied with her progress so far.

Her other activities were not going so well though. She had no idea so far who the woman was and had been unable to find any clues. She was slightly better off with the heavyset man. She suspected that he had an office here at Asia Theater HQ. She intended to find out for certain in a few days.

Sighing she sat down at the Terminal. Meridian seemed to love communicating by OpMail. Sure enough he had left her a message, she could have read it last night had she checked, not that she ever wanted to do much with the computer she thought dryly. However she straightened up with alarm when she read it.

‘Hey Tri!

Argus Agency had a contract waiting for me when I got back. I’ve decided to accept. I’ll be providing transport for Narcosis. Yes, that Narcosis. I’ll be in and out of India for several days. By now you’ve probably had time to get your schedule in order, but now mine is up in the air. I’ll give you a call after I know my full schedule. I want to get together, how about Wednesday night? I’ll be in touch before then to make sure that it works with my schedule, but wanted to give you a bit of advance warning.

Rob’

She could immediately see why he had taken the contract. Narcosis might be a key link in getting him introduced to someone in the know in the Teragen. But Narcosis was a very high profile person. It was doubtful that her superiors here at Utopia would be unaware of his actions. They might very well question her about them. Triyama also didn’t like the idea of Meridian being around a woman like her for a several days.

She felt more than a little possessive of him these days. He had better be well behaved she thought.

*********

Mumbai, India

Narcosis was kissing Fred ‘Knightfall’ Jones. Their bodies were pressed closely together and her dress had parted to revel quite a bit of leg.

“Cut!” the Director yelled. “That’s a wrap. We will finish the scene tomorrow.”

Meridian watched as the actors and crew scattered in various directions. Narcosis motioned for him to follow her as she walked back to her dressing room. “We’ll need to leave as soon as they have me ready.” She told him. “Wait in here with me and then we can pop over to the party.”

Her dressing room was filled with clothing. He was vaguely surprised that she didn’t just use EuFiber.

She seemed to sense his unspoken question. “I do wear EuFiber quite a bit, but it would be a shame to let other’s creativity go to waste. A lot of these outfits would never have crossed my mind to create with EuFiber and some of them have other benefits as well.”

With shock he realized that she was disrobing in front of him. He caught a good look at her unclothed body before he managed to turn and face in the other direction.

She just laughed. “Don’t worry. You wont be seeing anything I haven’t had filmed before.”

Glancing back he saw that she was facing him arms akimbo and legs slightly spread without a shred of clothing. His breath caught.

She just smiled at him and turned to pick from among her various outfits. He couldn’t help but to watch her naked form as it moved up and down as she would stretch to reach something high or bend down to pick up something from the floor.

He was very glad when a young woman stepped past him and started assisting her into her chosen ensemble. Then as Narcosis sat very still the young woman’s hands became a blur and in seconds Narcosis had new makeup and a new hairdo.

“Let’s go stud.” She said winking at him.

*****

Special Agent Flemming sat in the back of an unremarkable van. He had managed to tag Luminous with one of their state of the art bugs. He now had both continuous location feed and audio. He was watching the rogue nova and its companion walk up the street via an unobtrusive camera that was on the roof of the van.

He already had the bad news. Luminous and the others had parted ways. Luminous had seemed to delight in telling his new friend about how happy he was that it had worked out that way. Flemming had considered trying to capture him then but two things stopped him. First he wasn’t sure if the second person was a nova or not and second Luminous’ friend had invited him to a major Pandemonium party this evening.

The two were about to enter the party. Flemming knew that he wouldn’t have video then, but he was looking forward to seeing if they could get anything on audio. It would be a nice feather in his cap if he got any solid evidence of the suspected link between Pandemonium and the Teragen.

*****

Meridian let the Disk Portal fade behind him as Narcosis and he walked up the carpet path to the party. Reporters were everywhere. He had never seen a crowd of them like this and felt a little like he was surrounded by sharks … or maybe he thought glancing at Narcosis who was working them with aplomb it was the two of them who were the sharks in a crowd of guppies.

Then his sensitive hearing allowed him to listen to one reporter saying, “Our database has identified Narcosis’ new companion as Robert ‘Meridian’ Douglass. He replaces Claudia Shepherd who only lasted two evenings. As our N! viewers know Narcosis paramours rarely last long, so we will all be watching to see if Meridian can outlast the current record holder Francis ‘Pulsation’ Xu. We will have more for you later tonight about who Meridian is and his exciting exploits as a member of the famous Argus Agency.”

Meridian groaned to himself. Shadowstar was not going to be happy about this.

*****

Luminous was enjoying him/herself. The Pandemonium crew really knew how to throw a party. With any luck his new friend would have made the proper introductions and Luminous could join them as a full time member.

He popped a few of the pills on the table next to him and felt the drugs fighting their way through his system. He knew the high would follow soon. You could count on righteous folks like this to have all the proper things on a nova only buffet table.

Off in the distance he saw his friend talking to Narcosis and some guy next to her. Soon he would be part of the club. He laughed.

*****

Meridian could feel his head buzzing. He felt slightly detached from his body. God only knew what was in that cocktail he had been drinking. Narcosis had gotten it for him and he hadn’t asked. Not much could affect his nova metabolism but in parties like this they were bound to have something that would.

Sometime during the evening Narcosis had developed a habit of touching his shoulder or hand when pointing out other things or people of interest at the party. He had not expected her to stay near him long, but she had apparently adopted him and was trying to make sure that he was having a good time.

They had danced some, she was phenomenal, and had eaten some truly incredible food. Once or twice she had left his side to talk with one person or another, but she had always returned. Several times She had also spoken to several people in another language, Hendi he suspected, but in any event he had not understood what they were saying. But even then she had smiled at him occasionally or given him some other sign that he was not forgotten.

On the one hand it was heady having her near so often. On the other he wondered if having her there was actually preventing him from finding any Teragen members present. It was going to be awfully hard to find out if the guys from Denver had had any connection with this whole Taint research stuff.

He realized that she was speaking to him again. Shaking his head he laughed and agreed with Narcosis’ suggestion that they dance again.

*****

Flemming was getting frustrated. Luminous had indicated that something would be happening this evening. Flemming suspected that he thought that he was going to be invited to actually join an inner circle of the Teragen. If so recording that moment would be huge.

The big surprise of the evening so far had been seeing Meridian appear with Narcosis. There was nothing in his file that linked him with the Teragen so Flemming wondered what the connection was. He had folks back in DC checking on it.

More insidious was the possibility that there was a connection between Luminous and Meridian. If so maybe the whole Denver thing had been a big setup and Insider and Meridian were in on it.

*****

Meridian felt slightly dizzy. It was a novel sensation. He had not felt that way since before his eruption.

He realized that his mind was wandering and that Narcosis had lead them away from the other guest. In fact they were alone in a room he thought as she closed the door behind her.

“You move well out there on the dance floor.” She complemented him as she closed the distance between them.

“Damn, but I’ve never danced with anyone like you.” He told her truthfully. “You have got to be the hottest woman ever.”

She smiled at him and pulled him close as she had done several times on the dance floor. Then before he knew it they were kissing. He felt her hand unzip his pants. At that moment he wanted her more than he wanted life itself. He couldn’t have stopped even if he had wanted to … and he had no thought of even trying to stop.

He groped her as fiercely as she did him and their new dance built towards its inevitable conclusion.

*****

Luminous was expecting Narcosis to come over and greet him any time, confirming his/her new status, so he/she had been keeping an eye out for the woman. It was hard to do in a party like this but Luminous tried.

He/she saw Narcosis head towards the back rooms with the same guy she had been hanging out with earlier. Lucky stiff Luminous thought. Then Luminous finally got his/her first good look at the guy.

It was the bastard nova from Denver. That son of bitch had hurt him/her badly. Why the hell was she taking HIM aside? This was suppose to be my night Luminous thought. Rage flashed through his/her body and without thinking he/she ran after them, light flaring erratically.

*****

Through the haze of lust and drugs Meridian didn’t realize what the tingle of warning in his spine was until the door burst open and the blast of light nearly took off his head.

Fumbling with his powers as he had not in months Meridian raised a Disk Shield between him and his attacker and tried to clear his head. After a moment he recognized their assailant as one of the Teragen novas from Denver. Up close he was able to see what he had not then. The light wielder was a hermaphrodite.

The light nova seemed to be attacking recklessly, but who knew how long that would last. Meridian, head clearing faster by the moment, was able to dodge easily while still shielding Narcosis with his body. He needed to get the fight away from her, he thought, so he pulled his pants up with one hand as he summoned his personal shield and a Flight Disk.

Then, right after a blast that brought down his original Disk Shield, Meridian slammed into his attacker and took them both through the roof. The city lights blazed below but not as brightly as the nova Meridian was struggling with. Spotting the new activity scores of cameras that had been focused on the party swung around to film the fight.

Luminous finally tagged him with a light blast. Meridian could smell his burnt clothing but did not think that he was too badly injured. In response, at point blank range, he unleashed his Razor Disk attack.

As his foe fell in two pieces to the ground Meridian realized that whomever it was had forgotten to shield itself.

As his pants slipped he grabbed them again and wondered how he was going to explain this.

*****

Flemming had monitored the whole thing. He ground his teeth in frustration. This seemed to rule out cooperation on Meridian’s part, but now he had no link to the others from Denver.

It was then that he heard Luminous’ last words. “Damn. <Cough>. Should have gone to Sidney with the others….”

He started making the calls to get him there.

*********

Venezia, Italy

Delta-H awoke groggily to the sound of an incoming call. She rolled out of bed and hit the accept button. Shadowstar’s face filled the screen and before Delta-H could even mumble ‘hi’ the Indian nova started in on a tirade.

Delta-H tried to sort through it and eventually woke up enough to catch the thread of what her caller was saying.

“… and there he was mid-air with his pants falling down. I could kill him! What could he have been thinking?! Damn man was probably was not thinking!” Shadowstar ranted.

“Shadowstar!” Delta-H interrupted. “What is this all about?”

The other woman managed to calm down long enough to say, “Look at the N! site and search for Narcosis.” And then there was only a stony silence on the line.

Delta-H’s face paled as she watched the video of Meridian and Narcosis entering the exclusive party and then video of the fight. Damn stupid man. If she remembered right this was the guy Shadowstar liked so much.

“Hmm. That does look more than a little compromising.” Delta-H finally extemporized. “Why was he even there with her?”

Shadowstar grimaced. “Argus Agency contracted him out to her for transportation this week.”

“Then give him a chance to explain it to you first. Who knows he might actually have a good reason for this.” Delta-H said while thinking to herself that she doubted it. When a man was caught with his pants down it usually wasn’t because he was going to the bathroom.

“And if he is screwing around on you then I will personally help you hunt him down.” Delta-H added. “I doubt that he’ll last longer than Killjoy did against the two of us.”

Shadowstar finally laughed. “Oh, thank you my friend! That was just what I needed to hear.”

Delta-H grinned. “I was serious you know.”

Shadowstar grinned back. “So was I.”

*********

Denver, USA

Meridian groaned as he woke up. His head was pounding but the memories from the night before hurt worse.

Narcosis and several others had vouched for him and smoothed things over with the Indian law enforcement guys. Pretty much everyone agreed that it was self defense but that didn’t change the pictures that has been broadcasted over N! and several other major networks.

He was now infamous for his connection with Narcosis and that could be used to his advantage should he care to, but he knew that he was in deep shit with Shadowstar. His parents wouldn’t be happy either.

He checked his messages. There was one from his parents but nothing from Shadowstar. That latter boded ill.

He showered and dressed to clean out the last of the cobwebs. Then he decided to go flying and think for a bit.

Soon he was gliding above the clouds looking down at the mountains below. It was gorgeous up here and better yet he was free of interruptions.

He though long and hard about what had happened with Narcosis the previous night. He remembered the lust he had felt from the moment he had met her. He thought back carefully about her actions leading up to the evening. She had been reeling him in he realized. But why? Had she been in on the ambush he wondered. No, she had been as surprised as he had. In fact she had seemed enraged afterwards that they had been interrupted. He had created a Disk for her to go home, but had not followed and he thought that she had seemed dissatisfied with that arrangement.

Then he thought about Shadowstar. Oh, sure he lusted after her too, but what he felt was also much deeper than that. He cared for her in a way that he had not felt for anyone else. He trusted her completely. When they made love it was more that just lust there was the passion and sharing of love. He was going to have to do some major damage control with her. He decided that his best bet was to follow her lead. He would simply send her an OpMail confirming their meeting tomorrow night then he would explain in person. Hopefully she would trust him as much as he did her. He was going to have arrange an apology gift or two as well. He added shopping for her to his mental agenda.

Which left just one big problem. He was contracted to spend the next 4 days with Narcosis. How in the hell was he going to avoid more situations like last night if she kept coming on to him. Meridian knew that while he was stronger than any normal could hope to be that there were novas who were far and away physically stronger than him. Narcosis was in the same boat, but instead of being physically stronger had social abilities that could easily overwhelm him in most circumstances. If he were around her for any length of time his resolve was likely to crumble in response to her wishes.

He could break the contract, but that would put John in a real bind. He couldn’t do that to his friend and major employer, never mind what it would do to his own reputation.

So he would keep the contract and in doing so he would be fighting on her battlefield. Meridian made no mistake about it. He felt like he had been a badly mauled emotionally last night as he had been physically on his first battlefield and heading back would put him in just as much danger. So he had to think strategically and come up with some specific tactics of his own.

OK first off he was going to have to limit his contact with her. That would not be easy if he were trying to contact the Teragen. But was he? The light nova had been the one he had fought in Denver. If the others felt the same way was he really likely to get any information from them? He suspected not, which meant that he needed to focus on the Aberrants. If he clicked with any real Teragen then that would be a bonus. This whole thing with the Teragen had been a longshot anyway. No sense in risking his relationship with Shadowstar over it. Her investigation was the most promising anyway. The less she had to worry about him and what he was doing the better.

He was going to have to limit his exposure to the parties and be more careful about what he did ingest while he was there. That would help him keep his head on straight.

Finally he was going to need the discipline that he had been working on in the dojo. It would not hurt to meditate when he could during the next few days to keep his true desires and purpose firmly fixed in his mind.

Looking at his watch he realized that he had time to call his folks and time to make his first Hindi lesion before seeing Narcosis that day.

Casually he performed a complex flip to reverse direction and headed home.

*********

Tokyo, Japan

Insider sighed. He had not yet resorted to telepathic scanning, but he didn’t think he would need to. Against all expectation he had been able to talk his way into meeting Dr. Himoto. The man was more than happy to talk about what he was working on and, while it was a derivative of the Taint research that Insiders own biolabs had produced this one was pretty far removed. Dr. Himoto was working on ways to mass produce a certain protein that had been discovered in the course of the previous work. For reasons unknown this particular crystalline molecular structure was particularly sensitive to Taint energies. It absorbed such readily from its surrounding biological environment. Dr. Himoto was planning on testing the protein as a drug to treat novas affected by Taint. He had already sent out papers for peer review and had a patent pending.

This work was a bit far along for Insider to easily cover up and it did not seem to have the sinister applications that some of the others did. Given that he would simply monitor the situation. He made a mental note to have Overload get an agent in here. Maybe he could arrange things such that the trial went poorly and simply buy the patent back.

Yes, that might be best for all concerned.

*********

Mumbai, India

It had been a long day.

He has spoken with his dad after his flight. The elder Douglass had been disappointed in his son, but glad to hear that he had ideas for doing better in the future. Interestingly he had seemed more concerned about the repercussions with Triyama than he had been about the incident itself. That only reinforced his desire to tread carefully with her.

He had decided to call Shadowstar suspecting that she would already be out and about. When she did not answer he left her a video message letting her know that he really wanted to talk with her, apologized for not trying to contact her sooner, and let her know that Wednesday night was still good for him if it was OK with her. He let her know that he would make time if she wanted to talk with him in person sooner and that she could call him anytime.

Next he had started in on his Hindi lesions. He had gotten homework and had spent much of his off time during the day practicing to the vast amusement of all the native speakers who heard him.

It was Narcosis that had him worried. This day and Thursday were her busiest. He had several predetermined transport times set up and was ‘on call’ for a good chunk of time in the afternoon. As a consequence he had to spend more time near her than he would have liked.

She had started off the day with a smile to him and had kindly asked him if he was OK after the attack of the previous night. She never mentioned their aborted encounter and seemed to be acting like it had never happened.

Today he had gotten to hear her sing a very racy song, see her simulate a love scene (it had been so realistic that he wasn’t entirely sure that it was pure simulation), and had had to be on hand in her dressing room three times while she changed. Every time his body had reacted just as it had yesterday and each time it required a greater act of will to keep from acting at all on those impulses. That final time in the dressing room had almost been too much. She had asked him his opinion about several outfits and had maneuvered the conversation such that he usually ended up talking to her when she was only partially dressed.

However at other times she seemed to be displaying no overt sexuality at all.

During a lunch break she had invited him to eat with her and had asked him lots of questions about work with Argus Agency. In turn she had talked about some of the many things she did with Pandemonium. It gave him a fascinating glimpse of just how much she juggled to make the corporation work.

During most of their transports she had talked to him about various things or asked his opinion on several matters. Never once did he feel the overwhelming lust from the previous night at these times.

In fact she seemed to be going out of her way to be nice to him. It made him nervous. If there was a common theme to her questions or comments he couldn’t find it. He felt like he was working in the dark. Everything appeared to be above board. She was just being herself with someone she happened to feel comfortable with as far as Meridian could tell. If there was a deeper game he couldn’t see it. It made all of his suspicions and planning seem misplaced.

Now it was time for another party. This one was in Seoul Korea. Meridian was ready to create a portal for her, but she had wanted to delay a few minutes, ostensibly to make a more impressive entrance. To kill the time she was talking with him.

“Poor Pam,” Narcosis said gesturing at her assistant. “These long days get to her. Watching her makes me glad that my Nova metabolism keeps me going.” She grinned at him, “I would hate to miss all the fun that is going to happen tonight. You are coming, aren’t you?”

“I was thinking about going for a bit. I wouldn’t want to miss the fun either, but I am going to have to leave early tonight. I was planning on swinging back by to pick you up and get you home.” He told her. He didn’t actually mind the idea of missing some of the ‘fun’ but he was not sure that he wanted to be at the party if Triyama tried to call him and he also wanted to poke around and see if he could find any leads to the Aberrants. He had not had much of an opportunity to do so that day.

Narcosis looked disappointed. “Are you sure? Kim gives some of the best parties in the hemisphere. Invites are hard to come by even for someone like me. I haven’t worn you out too today have I?”

He couldn’t help but smile. “No I’m not worn out. Not yet anyway.”

Narcosis grinned back at him. “Isn’t it great!” She pointed out the window at the ever present crowd that seemed to follow her. “They love us for all the things we can do yet they don’t really understand that it is the small things that ultimately make us so different form them.”

“Are we really that different?” Meridian had to ask.

Narcosis looked at him seriously. “That’s something we all have to decide for ourselves. I think so and they do too.” She said pointing out the window. “If they thought that we were just like them they wouldn’t be there now and Pandemonium would not be the success it is today.”

Meridian didn’t have an answer for her.

She seemed to suddenly perk up. “Well it’s time for us to make our grand entrance now! Don’t let me down.”

*********

Talaud Island, Indonesia

Shadowstar frowned. She was watching N! Meridian and Narcosis had just stepped out of another one of his Portals. She looked at him carefully. He didn’t seem to be paying as much attention to the woman at his side as a lover might. In fact he seemed to be scanning the crowd. She wondered if his duties included guarding her. If so it might explain a little bit.

The commentator was babbling on about some of Meridian’s exploits under Argus. She hated their assumption that he was Narcosis’ new toy, but had to admit to herself that last night had given them plenty of reason to assume that.

She was also aware that as Meridian he was getting a lot of publicity out of this. His services would likely be in demand for some time and Argus Agency was likely to get a few more clients as well.

She shut the device off after seeing him walk through the door with Narcosis. She didn’t need to see any more.

She had been planning on waiting until their meeting to talk with him. She wanted her explanation in full and without any misunderstanding due to a long distance chat, however after seeing him she couldn’t help herself and sent him a quick text message on the hated computer letting him know that Wednesday was fine with her and that she was looking forward to talking with him.

It was true. She wanted him to tell her that everything was OK and that the incident had been an innocent one. She needed to know that their relationship was real and that he had not just casually cast her off.

She also wanted to tell him about her discoveries.

With a grin to herself she concentrated directing her node down this new path. She felt her flesh seem to melt as her body flowed into the shadows. It felt like as much of a lover’s caress as anything that Rob had done to her. As her thoughts wandered her control slipped and her body returned to normal. She still had work to do in mastering this power. Her shadowform was still weak, but now it was only a matter of time before she could truly become one with the shadows she controlled. And once she did that she had two places that she needed to visit.

For in addition to mastery of her new powers she had learned a way that she might discover the woman’s identity as well. Security kept a record of everyone who entered the building and, thanks a favor done for one of the guards children, she now knew how to access that list from the guard station.

She smiled as the memory of the child’s delight at having her malformed foot fixed came back to her. It reminded her of her own carefree joy when she had been young too.

*********

Kolkata, India

Meridian savored the sights and sounds of the streets around him. It was still early morning here and people all around him were getting ready for their busy days. In a restaurant he passed he could smell breakfast cooking, so delightfully different that what he was used to eating. It was very tempting to drop in and eat, but he was on his way to his Hindi lesions and he didn’t want to be late.

The previous night had been a disappointment. The party had been every bit as fun and interesting as Narcosis had promised. He had really hated to leave early, but had forced himself to. It had been a waste though. He had had no luck in finding the Aberrants. Not that he had really expected to anyway. If they were hiding from Utopia and all its novas then the odds of one lone independent finding them were not exactly high.

Stepping through the door of the studio where his lesions were taught Meridian came up short. The light was different in the room today and he didn’t hear the sounds of book pages turning or the occasional gentle cough that his teacher usually made.

Then his node stirred. There was another nova in the room.

He did not sense outright danger, so he did no throw up his personal shield, but he did round the corner cautiously at full alertness.

Sitting at his instructors desk was a tall golden skinned nova with 6 arms and a halo of light around his head.

Meridian sighed with a bit of relief. “You must be Ashish, Triyama has told me about you.”

The nova stood and said, “Yes I am sure she has. I also know that you have been looking for us. However let us first talk about Triyama.”

Uh-oh Meridian thought. I’m in trouble now.

“We have seen footage of your recent escapades with Narcosis. I was under the impression that my cousin was quite fond of you. Was I mistaken?”

“No, you aren’t.” Meridian sighed. “I care more about Triyama than I’ll ever be able to convince you of. What happened is that I got in over my head. I was fishing for information about a possible connection between a Teragen attack in Denver and the research you and Triyama talked about last time you met.”

Ashish looked a bit surprised. “What made you suspect a connection?”

“Timing mostly. I was meeting with the nova who initiated the research in the first place. It seemed rather convenient that a firefight would break our between the Teragen and a Directive team at that particular time and place.” Meridian told him.

Ashish nodded. “I suspect that you are correct. I had passed on what little information we possessed to Triyama hoping that it would help keep her safe. I have since learned that one of our major sources for this data also has ties to the Teragen. When factored in with the fight you mention that does raise more sinister concerns. However it does not explain why of all the Teragen novas in the world you chose Narcosis in your bid to gain more information.”

“It was a contract. Narcosis had posted a contract to the Argus Agency that only someone with my skills could have filled. I knew that she was rumored to have Teragen ties and thought that even were she not a member that I might meet one by being around her.” Meridian knew how silly that sounded now.

“Did it ever occur to you that it might be a trap?” Ashish asked.

Meridian shook his head as all the pieces tumbled together. One by one the facts clicked. “Oh shit. It had to have been. It is all just too conven