Spliced

“I just can’t figure it out.” Cat sat perched on the edge of the desk in Coal’s office. “They must have had a materiokinetic because walls were moving and all sorts of shit but what I don’t understand is how they were watching us. There were these weird screen mirrors but I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“A seer? Clairvoyant? Maybe the mirrors were a just an infusement,” Coal suggested. He stood at the other end of the desk, a little annoyed by the fact that Cat sat perched on top of it.

“No way, a seer couldn’t have relayed all the information for a materiokinetic to be able to do all that so accurately. Not even a good one.”

“How about a technopath?”

Cat frowned. She shook her head, running one hand through her dark black hair. “I didn’t see any cameras and we were all over that place.”

“Maybe they were very tiny.”

Cat gave a laugh. “And millions of them. Also mirrors, not computer screens. If she was a technopath she would've used a screen, and that dead woman was definitely doing whatever it was that made them show stuff.”

Coal shrugged. He paused and offered a different suggestion. “Maybe she had two powers?”

“Nobody has two powers.”

“That you’ve met.”

“That’s a myth. I like your cameras idea better. Besides, there were at least two people in that room. Could have been others earlier. And then there were her statements before she carked it, she talked about 'not moving them all', but moving what? People? The walls? Files? Something else?”

"Probably just ramblings of a dead woman. So, are you keeping it?”

“Keeping what?” Cat frowned confused.

He nodded towards her belly.

Cat stiffened. “How’d you know?”

Coal gave a small but satisfied smile. “I have my ways.”

Cat rolled her eyes and sighed. “I don’t know.”

“What are you going to tell Baz?”

Cat gave an indignant snort. “What makes you think it’s his?”

Coal just gave her that smile again.

“I don’t know, nothing yet, not that it’s any of your business.”

“As long as it doesn’t affect your work.”

“Don’t you worry about that.”

“Good,” Coal sighed, and walked around to the back of his desk. “Well I guess that’s that then.”

“And payment?”

“You’ll have your cut by the end of the week.”

Cat nodded, satisfied and made her way out leaving Coal alone.