Waking Dream [Tales of the Citadel 23] by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online

that her expressions match her features.”
    “Not a problem. Now, what is next?”
    He grinned and led the way.
    Hydel’s quarters were set aside from the main Citadel. He smiled warmly. “So, I hear you have already been to see the boss lady.”
    “We have. She looked good this morning, needs a bit more sleep though.” Burin’s tone was smug.
    “You saw her? Wow. Your new partner must be something special.” Hydel grinned down at Wiyra.
    “I am special or at least that is what my mom used to say. It ticked my sister off to no end.”
    Hydel took her measurements and nodded as it coincided with information on his data pad. “I started working on something this morning, but then, Shesali mentioned you needed some kind of energy restrictor for travel. So, can I see what you do and will you put on monitor pads while you do it?”
    His green features looked so hopeful, she nodded. His skin was leathery with dark brown hair that was tied into a long tail, banded at six-inch intervals. She thought she knew his species but couldn’t name it.
    He gently set the monitor pads on her and activated them. She took a seat in a chair and left her body. She walked around the workshop while Hydel read his scans and finally settled back in her body.
    “Can you do it again?”
    She exited and entered her body again, and he nodded with a smile. “Got it. Now, get back in your body, and when I say go, try to leave it.”
    She settled in her body and said, “Back in.”
    The monitor pads made a high-frequency noise, and he said, “Go.”
    She lifted out of her body. Well, most of her did. Her arms and legs lifted off but her head and neck were firmly in place. She snapped fully back in. “Ow, damn it.”
    He winced. “Sorry, I didn’t know if your whole body would be affected or not. I am guessing not. So, I need to wire a network through your suit with broadcasting nodes. I should have a prototype in two days. I will let the coordinator know so that she doesn’t try to dispatch you.”
    She peeled the pads off her neck and head. “Thank you. That will be most helpful.”
    Burin helped her to her feet. “Are you all right?”
    “I think so. I really want to hit something right now.”
    “Excellent. Tero is waiting for us, and then, we can go for a light dinner.”
    “What is Tero?”
    “Oh, he is our hand-to-hand combat specialist. Don’t be afraid to hit him, he can’t be hurt.”
    On that bright note, she took his hand and let him lead her to the place where she was about to pick a fight with a total stranger.
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Nine
     
     
    Tero was shy, quiet and had a slow smile that immediately captured a soft place in Wiyra’s heart.
    As he ran her through her paces, checking her reflexes and allowed her to hit him, provided that he could hit her back, she held onto the fond memory of the first impression when she wanted to find a knife and gut him like an invader on the platform.
    She grunted as she jumped back to avoid his strike and suffered a short flare of satisfaction when her leg sweep knocked him on his ass.
    Burin was watching it all from the safety of a chair, sitting and sipping water.
    Tero blocked her next hit and grinned. “You are very good.”
    Wiyra chuckled. “You are better.” She struck again.
    “I am a mutated Oefric from Dender colony. I have been fighting since I could walk.” He took her hit without flinching and used her momentum to pull her off balance. “It isn’t that I don’t register the pain, it is just that it fades immediately. My body heals instantly, which is a handy skill when everyone around you can shift into an animal shape.”
    She dodged a hit to her abdomen and swung away. “You can’t shift?”
    “Nope. Shifting requires a change in physiology, the healing that my body undergoes locks me into this shape.” He turned her and pinned her arms against her sides. “Enough. We are good.”
    Burin set his water aside and brought her a bottle. “Well