That hurt. She didn’t want to hear the circumstances. It was a devastating rejection. As if the fragile familial bond between us had evaporated altogether. I had hoped for some small measure of understanding, but it seemed I was not to be allowed to give an explanation of the situation. She had just assumed the worst of me.
A spark of defiance flared up deep inside me. It fanned a sudden intuition that I would never to go back to Mallivan. “Fine. I won’t. However, you will please remove all my personal belongings from the ship as quickly as possible. The bailiffs will no doubt arrive very soon. They already went to Enifa.”
“Enifa? Whatever have the Enif to do with this?”
“Mother, just do it. I have many private documents on board Faraday. Oh! And please … can someone get Scout off the ship? I will pick him up as soon as I can.”
“Now you want me to look after a pet Geiga? On top of everything else?”
“Scout will not cause any trouble. He is ship-trained, after all.”
“It’s a Geiga. How trained can a Geiga be?”
I wasn’t about to get into a discussion about the finer points of keeping Geigas. She was never going to agree with me on that subject. She thought they were vermin. Their finer points had never impressed her, despite the loyalty they could show.
I had had Scout for nearly three years. There was no way I was going to let the Vaers take him. They would probably eat the poor thing. It was unthinkable. “Let me talk to Sibby, Mother. She will take care of him for me. After all, she has been feeding him every day since I’ve been away.”
My sister must have been listening to the conversation from the other side of the room, because she broke in. Her eyes were moist, but there was no hesitation. “Of course I will, Mall. No problem. I will go clear the ship immediately. And don’t worry about Scout. I will make sure he’s okay.”
I felt a glow of warmth. Sibby, at least, would know that something had happened to make me sign away Faraday. My sister and I had always been close.
I softened my tone. “Thank you, Sibby. I knew I could count on you. Take care of him for me, will you? And take care of yourself.”
“I promise. You all right?”
“Sure. I can’t talk more now.”
“OK, Mall. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
As the hololink faded I saw my mother glowering at my sister. Not that Sibby would care about that. She would know what to do.
I passed the hololink on to the two Enif. Both were dejected. They weren’t looking forward to giving explanations to their families on Enifa either. Seyal had passed on the possibility of contacting anyone on her home planet. She had sniffed and patted her bulging tummy. I don’t think she felt any ties to Rhyveka anymore. She seemed happier with us. From what I knew of Avarak society, I couldn’t blame her for that.
Chapter 6
The Tyzaran ship was waiting as the Sentinel dropped out of space in front of her. We thanked Commander Renfell and made our way from one ship to the other as soon as the interspace docking link was secured.
I carried Zenzara through the serpentine tubing, Seyal trotting worriedly at my side. I hadn’t seen the ship from the outside, but judging from the cavernous passageway, it was huge.
There were several crew members standing to attention, with three officers waiting in front of them. As soon as they caught sight of Zenzara in my arms, two of them stepped very smartly forwards.
“What happened to her?” The younger of the two glared at me.
“It wasn’t my fault!” I let them take her from me. She was placed carefully on a gurney and as they rolled her away we all tried to follow.
The tallest of the officers stopped neatly in our path. “Please to follow me. Zenzara Zylarian is in good hands. It would be useful if you could tell us what happened to her.” He made gestures to follow him. “We can do that while you eat and drink something. You will require refreshments after your journey.”
No kidding. We had spent the last days on the edge of starvation. I had almost forgotten what it was like to truly enjoy food.
“Welcome to the research vessel Aurynth. I am very pleased to meet you.” He looked around with interest. “My name is Denaraz. I am the spokesdesignate aboard.”
The ship didn’t look exactly like a research vessel, but I wasn’t about to complain about that. I introduced him to my companions.
He nodded his greetings. “Tell me about Ty Zylarian.”
I let Didjal explain to him what had happened to Zenzie on the outside hull of the shuttle. The Tyzaran asked me to tell him exactly what I had witnessed when I had joined them outside the ship.
I tried to repeat it verbatim. His face froze as I told him her words.
“Chyzar?” He looked stunned. “Are you sure you heard that word?”
“That is what I understood, certainly.”
“Please excuse me.” He got up so quickly that he knocked over the chair he had been sitting in. “Err … eat as much as you would like. I … I will be back shortly.”
He left the cafeteria at a run. We stared after him. Sammy immediately reached for one of the sugar-dusted delicacies. “What? Eat as much as you like, the man said. I’m just being a good guest.”
He stuffed the whole cake in his mouth and chewed with obvious enjoyment. That was all it took. The scene deteriorated very quickly into the nearest thing to a food orgy I had ever seen. Even our resident Avarak female joined in. We were soon feeling full, and very content. Nothing like sugar to take the edge off your problems.
Tyzarans kept poking their heads around the door and staring at us. We had obviously leapt to semi-celebrity status on the Aurynth. We smiled at the visitors and waved them in. None of them joined us however. There was a buzz of excitement on the ship that we couldn’t quite understand.
Around an hour later a young crew member actually got all the way through the door. “I have been asked to take you to your quarters,” he told us. “—if you would like to follow me.”
I stood up. “We would like to see Zenzara first, if that is possible. How is she?”
He looked scared. “She is still being treated. However, I believe that she is responding well. Spokesdesignate Denaraz will visit you in your rooms shortly. He is in attendance with Ty Zylarian at the current time.”
We could hardly have forced our way into their sickbay, even if we had known where it was. We did the next best thing: follow placidly in the spaceman’s wake and try to settle ourselves into what were very sumptuous quarters. I took advantage of their water showers, and dressed myself in the soft garments left out. My crusted old clothes went into the washing chute. I could get used to living like this.
We were all billeted in the same general area, with a small lounge common to all our rooms. That was where Spokesdesignate Denaraz found us.
He came in dressed in a captain’s uniform, together with two other officers.
We stared at him, scared to ask how Zenzie was. His face seemed very solemn. The Tyzarans came to a halt in front of us and they bowed very slightly. It was not a subservient thing at all. In fact, I got the impression it was to reaffirm their own importance, their own consequence.
Mel was unaffected. “Are you going to stare at us all day?”
Denaraz coughed. “I apologize. She is well. In recovery.”
“There will be no lasting effects?” I frowned, aware that he was holding something back.
“Oh, there will be lasting effects. She will never be the same again.”
Seriously? He thought that was useful? I contemplated knocking his teeth down his throat.
Maybe I grunted; I don’t know. The man looked at me. He knew exactly what I was thinking.
His nose twitched in dislike
and he tutted slightly, which didn’t help. “We believe that Ty Zylarian was visited by a Chakran.”
“Yeah. That is what she said. But what does it mean?”
He gave me a pitying look. “You do know what Chakrans are?”
“Of course I know what … well, I know about the legend of the …” I sighed. “Why don’t you tell me?” He would anyway. I could see it in his face.
He seemed to enlarge. He was going to talk for a long time. I glanced at Sammy. His eyes had glazed over too. I yawned a bit, turning it into a cough.
The Tyzaran didn’t notice. He was still in the introductory stage. “… So, the Chakran entity or entities—nobody is sure which, although there has been much research on Tyzar about precisely that point, are pure quantum beings. They consist of individual cells, tiny cells, which although separated by hundreds or thousands of light years in spacetime, can communicate just like cells in our own bodies do. Of course, for centuries it was believed that they were not real. Indeed some species – the more backward ones,” he looked meaningfully at Sammy, who stiffened, “still find it hard to credit their existence. We, the Tyzarans, are aware of them because on occasions they have been known to communicate with us. Naturally such communication is on a different level to what you, as Spacelanders, would have experienced. These are beings attuned to the vacuum energy, aware of life at the Planck-level scale. They are not about to discuss their favorite dish on the lunch menu.” He paused and Mel managed a suitably toned laugh. He inclined his head in her direction before going on. “On very rare occasions Tyzarans have been affected by a Chakran cell. Some of these people have gone on to claim that the Chakrans can communicate with them. Historically this was not found to be credible. For many generations they were simply thought to be extremely eccentric, indeed, in many cases, deranged.”
“What has this to do with Zenzara?”
“Ty Zylarian.” He emphasized the honorific Ty, used generically for Tyzarans of any importance. He didn’t like me using her given name, and he didn’t like the interruption. “If you will allow me to finish …”
I felt another yawn coming on. “Please do.”
“As I was saying, only in a handful of cases have the hosts honored in this way been able to understand what the Chakrans were trying to convey. The last to successfully do this lived over two hundred Sol years ago. Such Tyzarans who can communicate with Chakrans are known as Chyzars. They are addressed always by the honorific title ‘Chy’. Chy Saphezzaraz was our last Chyzar.”
“Zenzara is now a Chyzar?”
He gave me a patronizing look. “Zenzara has absorbed a Chakran atom. This indicates that she will probably become a Chyzar, although only around one individual every four hundred of your Sol standard years does so.”
“Is she in any danger? How could one small atom or molecule have such an effect on her?”
“There is always a period of adaptation. The weakness occurs because the Chakrans are attempting to force compatibility. The atom must be isolated by the host, and neural interconnections woven around it. Such connections are tenuous and difficult to interpret. There is about a fifty percent success rate. In Chy Saphezzaraz’s case, it took ten years before the Nexus was able to form in his mind and he was able to act as a conduit for the Chakran conscience.”
I blinked. “Zenzara will be like this for ten years?”
He permitted himself a small smile. “No, no. She will be up and about within a few days. She is young, and we now know what measures work in such cases. It is only the initial shock which causes the organism to reset itself. She needed several massive doses of a specific type of kinase injection, and she will have to take such injections regularly for the rest of her life. But it may be many years before it is known whether she is going to become a Chyzar or not.”
“So there are no other Tyzarans going through this same process at the moment?”
“There are not. Nor have there been for centuries. Ty Zylarian is … special.”
This would be the perfect excuse to stop her from following me all over the universe, at least. It seemed probable that the Tyzarans would want to keep her as close to them as possible. From his tone, it was obvious that the man in front of me considered these Chyzars as almost mystical beings. I felt better. Zenzara would be safe and well-cared for. I need have no misgivings. I grinned at Denaraz.
“Can we see her?”
He hesitated. “You may, I suppose. It is true that she has been asking after you. I hope I can rely on you not to overtax her.”
“Of course.”
He ushered us in front of him and we were escorted up a long straight corridor, finally entering a pristine medical bay.
Zenzara was stretched out on a grey hospital cot, attended by a large group of Tyzaran medical staff. She was awake, but clearly rather groggy.
I walked up to the bed and she reached out to touch my arm. I frowned down at her. It had felt like a warning. Sure enough, her eyes, almost lost in the worried folds of flesh surrounding them, were telegraphing something to me.
I perched on the side of the cot. “Zenzara. How are you?”
“I am fine, thank you, Ryler Mallivan Bell. I will soon be well enough to travel with you again.”
“Yes. About that …”
I was aware of another small movement of the girl on the cot, at the same time as the tallest of the Tyzarans present spoke out severely.
“Chy Zenzara will of course be staying with her people now. Things have changed.”
There was an approving mutter from the doctors and nurses around the bed.
I opened my mouth. “Of course, I … ouch!”
Zenzara, Chy or not, had kicked me. Her small voice sounded out clearly in the resultant hush. “Nothing has changed. The Savior Protocols may not be put aside just because I may or may not have become a Chyzar!”
The female Tyzaran who had spoken before stiffened. “Chyzars have always lived on Tyzar! Unthinkable that one wouldn’t!”
“Well, this one won’t … can’t.”
“Can’t?”
“My first obligation is to care for Mallivan Bell. The Protocols are more than clear on this.”
I looked over at the tall Tyzaran woman. Her crest was almost perpendicular to her skull. She glared in my direction. “I shall take this to council!”
“Of course.” Zenzie was prepared to be magnanimous. I could tell that she thought she had won.
Her opponent gave a small shake of her head. “Unthinkable!” she muttered under her breath. “A Chyzar out there in open space!” She gave an involuntary shiver of distaste.
Zenzie bristled. “Chyzars don’t have to be restricted to their compounds forever, you know.”
“It has always been that way.” The thin lips compressed.
I was beginning to see where Zenzie was going with this. She was not the type to be shut up indoors to commune with the universe. Especially if she would be surrounded by Tyzarans like this one. No wonder she was prepared to fight to stay with me. She figured I would offer looser constraints.
I could have spoken out. Perhaps I should have. But I did feel a little sorry for her. She hadn’t asked for any of this, and I really couldn’t bear to see her shut away in some sort of gilded cage for the rest of her days. She might be a whole heap of trouble, but she certainly didn’t deserve that.
So I kept my mouth firmly closed, earning a grateful smile and another small squeeze on my forearm from the patient.
I got up. There could be no candid conversation in front of this gaggle of Tyzaran staff. “Get well soon, Zenzara Zylarian.”
“I intend to, Ryler Mallivan Bell. You will not be kept waiting here for long.”
I must have frowned again, for the pleading expression came back into
her eyes.
I sighed. “Very well.”
“Thank you.” Her eyes flickered around the rest of us. Everyone had wanted to see how she was. “Thank you all.”
We shuffled out of the room, glad to escape. There was a silence between us as we made our way back to the area reserved for us. I think we were all feeling sorry for Zenzie. It couldn’t be much fun to be surrounded by twenty or thirty people all your waking hours. Not something anyone would enjoy. No wonder she was railing against being confined on Tyzar for the rest of her life. It was hardly something to look forward to.
But we never made it back to our reserved area. Spokesdesignate Denaraz intercepted us. Mel, who was in the lead, stopped abruptly.
The Tyzaran man inclined his head, managing to look imposing. “I wish to speak to you, Mallivan Bell. About Zenzara Zylarian.”
“Speak.”
“Perhaps this would be better … ah … alone?”
“Perhaps not.”
His crest twitched. But he smiled as though he weren’t affected by my response, giving a slow nod. “As you wish.”
“I am listening, Spokesdesignate. Please go on.”
“I think there may have been some slight misunderstanding here. About what the Savior Protocols really entail.”
“Really? A misunderstanding? In what way?”
“As you know, Tyzarans have some convoluted laws. In fact, many of them are not applicable to aliens such as yourself. We may have been … hasty in telling Zenzara Zylarian that she would be bound by the Savior Protocols.”
“I see.” I could sense where this was going. Now she was a Chyzar, they were retrenching. She had suddenly become a valuable commodity. One they had practically given away to an alien. No wonder they were feeling ambivalent about their previously unbreakable Savior Protocols.
“You mustn’t feel you are bound by our laws. How could that be? It would not be at all logical would it?” Denaraz saw my raised eyebrow, for he hurried on. “We would not wish you to be … inconvenienced … by our local rules and regulations.” He stopped to take a deep breath. “I have been authorized to tell you that we do not consider you bound by the Protocols, and that you can safely leave Zenzara here with us. She will be well taken care of, I assure you.”
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