Read The Persistence of Memories - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe for Free Online

off the
curb, someone had recently stenciled the words here lies
fate in large, dripping letters. There was exactly one tire
tread through the words, yet no blotting of the paint on either
side. Smartpaint, perhaps?
    “You weren’t listening, were you?” Poe
said.
    Caren shook her head. “I’m sorry, what?”
    “I said, Denni’s rituals were communal rather
than individual. People tend to be more relaxed when they know
they’re not the only ones dealing with a tense situation.”
    “So you’re thinking there’s more to it than
just an extension of the soul?”
    Poe winced and nodded forward at the changing
light. They proceeded across the intersection, the graffiti already
forgotten. “Not so much an extension,” he said as they reached the
other curb. “More like a connection.”
    “An interconnection,” she mused. “Meraladians
have that spiritual link between one another, once they’ve met,
that stays with them. I think we Earthers just took the next step
towards that.”
    “Speaking of which,” Caren said, nodding in
the direction of the Tower. “Just up to the Sector boundary and
back. Three more blocks, then we can head back.”
    “Okay,” he mumbled, suddenly distracted.
“Huh. Is it me or did it just cool off all of a sudden?”
    She lifted her head and cast another sensing
thread, reeling it back quickly in alarm. The temperature had
indeed dropped considerably...and unnaturally. She focused on the
civilians nearby; the unawakened felt nothing, but the sensitives
had also felt the change. They had all picked up on the change in
energy. Some had quickened their pace but others had stopped
completely, already picking up on the changes and preparing
themselves for a confrontation. Caren shook her head, cursing
quietly. There were Shenaihu nuhm’ndah nearby, no doubt.
    “It did,” she said to Poe, and keyed the comm
attached to the epaulet of her overcoat. “ARU Branden Hill, this is
CJ-one-twenty-two, you copy?”
    Cilla, their unit’s head communications
operator, answered the call. “Copy that, CJ-122. Target you and
Agent Poe at Guyton West and Sandison. What’s going on, eichi?”
    “Cilla, do me a favor — read our location and
do a wide scan, will you?”
    “Sure thing, CJ,” she answered. “Commencing
scan now.”
    Somewhere miles above the Earth on Tigua
Space Station, the Edwin-Akandia Energy Sensor Device started the
task, found and latched onto the energy readings of Poe and
herself, and made an ever increasing spiral sweep of the area
around them. The ESD read Light energy much like normal radio
telescopes would pick up radio waves; the ARU had been using it for
at least two decades, oftentimes relying on it like a crutch, but
it had been a lifesaver on numerous occasions. Caren feared this
may end up being one of them.
    “You’ve got a lot of sensitives in the area,”
Cilla said. “Mostly newborns. A few Mendaihu and Shenaihu...wait.”
She paused, but did not take her hand off the mike key. “Looking at
two — no, one — wait a minute. Either there’s two nuhm’ndah close
together, or this guy is enormous. Zooming in now.”
    “Location?” Poe asked.
    “Should be right in front of you,” Cilla
said. “Fifty yards or so. One nuhm’ndah, repeat — one nuhm’ndah, and he’s off the damn charts. Proceed with extreme
caution.”
    Caren scanned the immediate area and saw
nothing out of the ordinary. She reached for her stunstik anyway,
and just to be on the safe side, set her pistol to undo its safety
upon handreading. “Slipping in, Poe,” she said. “Back me up. Going
to get a bead on them.” She blinked twice, and everything around
her became sharper, more intensely real. Ghostlike auras shimmered
around people and animals that passed by her.
    “I don’t see anything,” Poe said, craning his
neck, continuing his straight visual scan. “You?”
    “Still looking,” she said. “Damn crowded down
here to — wait a second.”
    Nuhm’ndah.
    Caren