Sudden Storm [Tales of the Cidatel 21] Read Online Free PDF Page A

the medical bed and breathed herself into the trance state that she used instead of sleep. She could maintain it for years if necessary, so a few hours shouldn’t be a problem.
     
    Hands gripped her arms and fought to remove her bodysuit. Vexa opened her eyes, took in the two strange men, the strange shuttle and the hypo in one man’s hand, and she blasted him back, away from her body.
    “What are you doing? Where am I?” Vexa tried to be firm, but she couldn’t see Storic around anywhere.
    The man holding her, trying to unfasten her armoured suit, pressed on her with his mind. What he did manage to convey was that he was not doing this for her benefit.
    She did what came naturally. She cooled his body and stopped oxygen from flowing into his lungs. She treated his friend on the floor to the same experience. When they were both out cold and not moving, she burned through the straps they had tied her with.
    If they were trying this with her, she had to find Storic. The Novice was a Seeker in training and was no match for whatever had taken them.
    Vexa looked around again, and it wasn’t a shuttle after all, it was a tiny medical cell. She opened the door and took a few steps out before she was faced by another couple of males who had threatening postures. She knocked them out by the expedience of removing air from their systems, dropping them to the ground.
    It was the beginning of a trail of attackers who lunged for her, fired at her and a few who tried to use psychic manipulation. She followed the trail to a command centre and used their own computers to find Novice Storic.
    The image of the Novice shackled to the wall filled her with triumph. She had never done anything like this before, but it appeared she was good at it. She double checked the location in relation to the control room and went to retrieve her pilot.
    Her hunger was growing. Using the talent without putting anything back was causing her flickers of distress. As she moved through the station, absently knocking out those who tried to stop her, she admitted that she was not cut out for being in space. It took too much effort to do anything.
    The area where Storic was being held was a torture chamber. A man had been approaching her pilot with a glowing rod and it caused Vexa to lash out. He burned to ash in seconds.
    Storic looked up with one eye swollen shut. “Specialist, you came?”
    “I did. I can’t touch you now, so this won’t be too comfortable.” Vexa went to the control unit and released the ankle cuffs and then the wrist cuffs that held Storic to the wall. “Can you walk?”
    “No. They burned my legs.” Storic’s voice was calm, but the pain came through in her posture.
    “Right. Well, I can’t help you, so stay here, I will be right back.”
    Storic stared at her in shock. “What?”
    “I can’t touch you. It goes back to that hungry thing. I will be right back.”
    Vexa left the torture chamber and walked to the cells that had been on the monitors. She opened the cells and held up her hand. “I need two people to carry my pilot. Can I get some help?”
    Fourteen battered, bruised and listless people suddenly came to life. Four put their hands up.
    “She is in the torture chamber. Do you know where that is?”
    They winced and headed through to the room where Storic was on the ground.
    The nearest woman came to her and reached out to hug her.
    Vexa held her back with a blast of air. “I apologise. It isn’t safe to touch me. Come along. Let’s get out of here.”
    Half a dozen armed men charged the freed prisoners, so Vexa knocked them out. A hissing started almost immediately.
    Gas coiled toward the group as they drew even with Storic and her assistants. Vexa took the lead and created a column of breathable air that kept them all upright and conscious.
    Vexa picked up one of the weapons and used it as food, absorbing the metal into her skin. It wasn’t as wholesome as rock, but it kept her from eating the prisoners