Stones: Experiment (Stones #3) by Jacob Whaler

can’t wait. The things I’ve thought of making. If only I had the time and resources.”
    “You will. Now, let’s go over the specifications on this wonder machine you’ve built.” Ryzaard’s hand instinctively goes up to his chest and strokes the three Stones in his black leather chest harness. “I want to make sure you have understood and incorporated my needs into the killing device. This is the key to the next phase in my grand plan. The way we will go from three Stones to eleven.”
    “Sure,” Jerek says. “It wouldn’t hurt to go over the design one more time to make sure I’ve captured your ideas.”
    “Good.” Ryzaard adjusts himself in his seat. “Let me start at the beginning. The purpose of this machine is allow me to kill the other Stone Holders.”
    “Right,” Jerek says.
    “Which is no easy task.” Ryzaard slips one of his Stones out of its slot and holds it up for appraisal. “The difficulty lies in the fact that it’s an easy matter for a Stone Holder to jump away when confronted. In order to properly kill them, you must be able to hold them in place.”
    “Which is precisely what I’ve done.” Jerek leans back with arms folded neatly in the lap of his white lab coat. “I’ve adapted the design for the Null Box, which we’ve successfully deployed in the past to dampen the power of the Stones and make it impossible to jump away. I’ve miniaturized that technology, made it portable and built it into the base of my killing machine. Anyone with an exposed Stone within a couple of meters will find their power largely diminished. Except yours, which will remain unaffected.”
    “Precisely what I wanted,” Ryzaard says.
    Jerek drops his elbows to the table in front of him. “When you deploy the device, you will insert your Stones into the slots in the device I’ve prepared so they’ll be protected from the Null Box technology.”
    “Understood. What about the actual killing mechanism?”
    “I’ve decided to go the route of good, old-fashioned poison. Based on what you’ve said, poison is difficult to detect even for a Stone Holder.”
    “I used that approach to get my first Stone from Varanasi, the holy man in India.”
    “But it will require that you use your own Stones to create a sphere of plasma encapsulating the victim. Both to hold in the poison and to protect yourself from any energy fragments they throw at you from any residual power left in their Stones.”
    Ryzaard nods. “No problem. Can I see the device now?”
    “Just one last caution. You’ll need to handle the poison carefully. I’ve developed a procedure that will protect you from accidentally inhaling any of it.”
    “Good,” Ryzaard says. “It sounds like you’ve thought of everything. Let’s give it a go.”
    “I’ll need your Stones.”
    “All of them?”
    “Yes, of course. The device draws on their power as a portable energy source.”
    Ryzaard pops the three Stones out of loops on his leather chest harness and places them one by one on the table between them.
    “It will be necessary for me to handle them.” Jerek moves his fingers closer to one of the Stones. “Do I have your permission?”
    Ryzaard nods. “By all means.” His eyes follow Jerek’s fingers. “Do whatever is necessary. But only what is necessary.”
    Jerek picks up a Stone. He eyes it carefully, moving slowly as he turns it in his hand. “So beautiful,” he says.
    “Move quickly, my friend.”
    With a nod, Jerek leans closer to the killing machine, shaped like a foot-high version of the Eiffel Tower, made of a clear outer shell that shows a mass of internal solid state components. Multiple open slots are spaced evenly on the base.
    “Looks like the inside of a jax,” Ryzaard says.
    Jerek nods. “In essence, it’s a communications device, so there
are
similarities.” He slips the Stones into three open slots, the pointed end dropping in first. When all the Stones are in place, a clear glass covering slides over the