"Nell!" Bei attached the last of his clips to her built-in uniform harness. Their fall swept leaves from her hair and blurred the pink granite walls. Her arms hung useless down at her sides. Had the sedative worked? Or was it the branch that had knocked her unconscious? And who the hell would plant trees on the walls of a canyon?
Cradling her head against his chest, he verified they were safely away from the trees and, with his free hand, pulled the ripcord of his low-altitude parachute.
Fabric rippled seconds before the guy lines snapped tight, and they were yanked upward.
He grabbed the steering handles and caught an updraft driving them between the sheer walls of the canyon. Below his feet, the rapids gurgled and foamed against the rock face. Nell's head drooped to her shoulder at the same time he registered the blood on his hands.
Swearing under his breath, he activated the emergency medical beacon on his pack. Nell and him swung under the chute's canopy as he searched for a place to land besides in the rushing water. Steering the chute around a bend in the river, he spied a tan beach.
"Admiral," Doc's voice crackled through the com embedded in Bei collar. "I'm right behind you. Is she badly hurt?"
Bei didn't bother glancing over his shoulder to check for the medic. He needed to focus on that patch of sand. They were losing altitude fast and this seemed the only place to set down. "Nell cracked her head right after I gave her the sedative." He consulted the sensors relaying information through his uniform. "Her heart rate is erratic and breathing is depressed."
Bei pulled on the steering lines, deforming his chute. Damn, he was going to overshoot his landing pad.
"Could be a reaction to the sedative." The tremble in Doc's voice wasn't reassuring.
"Or her cerebral interface is deciding she needs to join Bastard in death." His heart raced at the thought. She couldn't die on him. At twenty meters above the ground, Bei released his parachute. Fabric snapped behind him as he clasped Nell in his arms. He hit the ground hard, the impact jammed his legs into his hip sockets. Giving in to momentum, he pitched forward, twisting as he went. His shoulder dug into the sand, before he flipped onto his back on the bank.
Splayed on top of him, Nell groaned.
His fingers probed her skull, and he winced at the softness.
Water splashed and waves rippled over the shore.
"Shit!" Doc trudged from the river and shook water from his black hair. "Guess my paratrooper skills are a little rusty."
"Nell definitely has head trauma." Sitting up, Bei shifted her onto his lap. Could it have been prevented if he hadn't drugged her? Guilt dogged him and he cradled her closer.
Doc dropped to the ground in front of him scattering the crablike creatures crawling along the bank. His knees dug deep in the sand as he shrugged off his medical pack and flipped it open. "You're going to have to let me have her, Bei."
With heavy limbs, he laid her flat on the ground but couldn't bring himself to let go of her hand. Her skin was so soft, her bones so fragile. He had gone after her to save her, buy her time until Doc found a way to remove ET's interface. To lose her now? His vision swam. Damn. Doc must have screwed up his optical lubrication sensors when he'd messed with his head.
"Her interface has been damaged." Doc rolled her onto her side.
She winced as her head moved.
"What does that matter? She's biologic." Bei stopped himself from punching his medic. Instead, he held her head and gently smoothed the hair out of her eyes, noting the bruising and her bandaged hand. She'd been through Hell. His was just beginning.
Doc frowned at the gelatinous screen in his hand. Her life signs bounced all over the place. "True, most organic organs don't require an interface, but she's apparently grown dependent on it. Starflight 1, what is your status?"
Commander Keyes's voice came over the com. "Descending now. Why the hell are there so many trees?"
Bei took a deep breath. Once Doc got her to the infirmary, Nell would be fixed. She would live. She had to. "Her interface has shutdown then?"
"More like shattered." Doc's forehead wrinkled in thought. After pushing up his sleeve, he opened the compartment on his forearm and removed leads. He quickly plugged them into the screen now wobbling on her belly, then began threading the wire ends under Nell's skin. "If I can get her stabilized, we may be able to use that to our advantage."
"And if we don't?" Bei asked, despite already knowing the answer. Damn the fleet and her crew, both Syn-En and civilian. He'd fought hard to get here for a future with Nell.
Doc stood up and shaded his eyes against the sun. "Where is the Commander?"
"Doc?" Bei shooed the crab-like creatures away from Nell.
The shuttle silently rounded the curve in the gorge and hovered above them. The river crashed in waves against the shore. The silver ship turned briefly exposing her open crew compartment. Lashed to the interior by a black tether, Chief Rome leaned toward them.
"Help me get my patient on board, sir." Doc accepted Chief Rome's hand and climbed aboard.
Bei picked up Nell and handed her off to Rome before joining them in the narrow space.
Nell lay stretched out on the bench seat, her tattered uniform scattered on the floor. The scissors in Doc's fingers flashed as he cut off the rest of her clothes.
"Is she going to be okay?" Bei winced at the bruises on her pale skin. The blue ones from locking his armor protectively around her and the more recent ones. The scabs on her hand stopped him. Did Bastard bite her? Leaning forward, he eyed the read out on the screen. Her heart rate was still too slow.
Doc sighed and faced him. "Just let me work. This is more complicated than snap and click, and I don't want to mess up."
The doors closed as the shuttle gained altitude.
"America, this is Doc Cabo. Prepare for a biologic casualty. Code Red. I repeat, Code Red."
Bei collapsed on the opposite bench. Come back to me, Nell. Just come back.
The Syn-En Solution (SciFi Adventure) Page 26