Shadow Seed 1: The Misbegotten by Richard M. Heredia Read Free Book Online Page B

pay.”
     
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~ Chapter 3 ~
    (Earth Summer – 2385)
     
    The Aegis Synod
     
    Estefan Ernando, the Keeper of the Aegis Synod, sat there looking anywhere but at her – the wall, the floor – anywhere.  It was taking every fiber in his body not to look.  He didn’t want to make things worse.  Why does this have to be so damned hard?   Absently, he placed his hands upon his knees and slouched, a valiant attempt to hide the frustration, turning ever closer to anger.  All I ever wanted was to sit aside and watch mankind hang itself upon a noose of its own making.  Why do they ask me to remove the rope?   I have no desire to do so!  I will never help them!  Never!
    An ancient thought came to mind and made his head come up of its’ own accord.  I miss you, mama…
    She was waiting patiently, though she wasn’t his mother.
    His eyes found hers finally.  He had to take a deep breath to keep his composure.  She was sitting so complacent, calm, while inside his guts churned and clenched, powerful emotions of the present combined with primordial stirrings of the past.  They made him sick.  How could they ask this of me and my family?
    An hour earlier, they had screamed into the VIP section of parking bay 167, the signature of their Glide-car enough to gain them entry without human discourse.  Estefan’s homing beacon took them directly to it.  It hadn’t taken them long to access the mobile Null-unit, which looked no different than a Glide-hauler on the outside.  It was what lay beneath the paint and the fake company logos that differentiated its’ true nature from everything else around it.  It was formed from a compound so secret and so rare – not to mention expensive - only the highest echelons of society could afford it.  Its’ technology was so incredible; the true reach of its application had yet to be realized.  This was despite the fact it had been discovered back in 2074.  All this time, only the Keeper and his Aegis Synod knew its secrets, only they profited from the enormous advantage technology of this sort could bestow upon its’ owners.  It was Null-tech, a hybrid helix of conjoined elements that could thwart Muto powers – all of them.  It was so vital to the Synod’s existence, it accounted for nearly fifty-seven percent of their annual profits.  It made Diatainium mining look like pawn shop sales by comparison.
    Once one stepped within a confined space surrounded by this compound, they couldn’t be found.  They were simply “nullified” from the world around them.  Not even the greatest Fermonist could find them.  He could be standing in the very next room or skulk beside a similar mobile Null-unit and never catch a single sense his prey were mere inches away.  Null-tech was the skeleton that kept the Aegis Synod upright, if not uplifted, above all their competition.  They guarded it with more firepower than all the terrible weapons conceived by the two superpowers during the age-old Cold War.
    The two of them had ditched their Glide-car, bolted for the rear of this new, wondrous vehicle.  They had subjected themselves to the same sort of verification required of all Synod owned technologies and entered.  Inside, they found themselves in a long room, apartment-like, complete with all the accoutrements therein.
    Once the door had sealed behind them, the Null-unit activated, invisible to the world. No one could hope to find them.  They were gone.
    The Null-unit’s localized programming had kicked-in and the entire vehicles had lurched from its’ parking space and lumbered from the bay.  Within minutes, it had joined the throng of traffic Angel Free Town was famous for having upon its’ thoroughfares, highways and sky-paths.  It was just another Glide-hauler among millions, driving about the fifteen levels of the megalith.
    They had a minimum 24-hour stretch within th is strange vehicle as it moved randomly about the city, choosing