I hung, waiting for the end.
There was a long silence. I held on to the sparse air in my lungs, though it was screaming to get out. It was burning into me and I knew that I would last only a few seconds more.
There was another sound, this time a sharp click. Wind rushed past me, now head on, and I risked a gulp of air. It was thin, but better than nothing. I panted, trying desperately to force enough oxygen inside my lungs to survive.
Then there was another click and the air suddenly became thicker. The wind stopped. My head spun, but I was able to get oxygen into my body now.
I felt nimble hands on my legs, then the thoria linking me to the cargo platform parted. I tumbled to the deck. It was only a few feet. Even so, it hurt.
The cargo shifter slipped overhead and settled onto the decking some meters away. A slim Spacelander figure jumped down from the heavy machine, accompanied by a much taller Tyzaran woman.
The Spacelander held out a friendly hand to me. “Hi. I am Neema. Neema Agazed Rubin. I am a friend of Sammy’s. My parents mine Agazed alongside his.” She indicated the Tyzaran woman standing beside her. “This is Anzany. She is the one who saved your life.”
Anzany’s crest lowered. “I simply did as you asked, Neema.”
“You did it pretty well, though. That use of the thoria was inspired.”
Anzany’s skin was taut, so she must be a fully mature female. That would put her at around a hundred years old. Old enough not to blush as she was doing at the compliment. I stared between the two of them. I was picking up a certain closeness that was surprising. Perhaps I was imagining it. Any sort of inter-species fraternization would be anathema to most Tyzarans.
Neema was looking at me quizzically. I got the impression she knew what I was thinking and didn’t mind. I raised an eyebrow at her and was pleased to see that she inclined her head. So! Interesting.
My lungs allowed me finally to speak. “My friends. Outside. In a PSA. Please help!”
Neema narrowed her eyes. She leapt back onto the cargo shifter and grabbed a communication device. I saw her speaking frantically into it. She listened, but I couldn’t quite make out what the muffled reply was telling her.
She was shaking her head as she came back to me. “It is complete chaos out there. All communications are cut. We will just have to hope somebody gets to them in time.”
I sank down to the deck, aware of blackness seeping up into my brain. I was done. Somehow, I had survived.
But had the others?
Chapter 9
I was first aware of a buzzing sound. Pain, all along my shoulders. Then some sort of consciousness crept in and I remembered the PSA. I remembered the explosion.
I sat up suddenly, a movement that caused my head to spin. “The others! Wha … What happened?”
A cool cloth was pressed to my forehead and one hand pushed my head back down. I was lying on some kind of stretcher. Neema’s voice sounded, close to my ear. “It’s all right, Mr. Mallivan. Your friends were rescued. They are safely aboard a Tyzaran warship. They were picked up only five minutes after the launch. And they escaped the worst of the shrapnel coming out of the blast zone. They have only minor cuts and bruises.”
A feeling of warmth began to spread through me. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. All the same, I knew many, many inhabitants of Tyzar had died in the last few minutes. There was nothing to celebrate here. Nothing at all. And I was still worried about the Tyzaran captain. Denaraz’s leg had looked to be in a bad way.
I grabbed Neema’s arm and squeezed it hard. “I have to get to them. Please!”
My hand was gently but firmly removed. “We are aware, Mr. Mallivan. Now, please lie back. You are currently waiting for triage by the station trauma doctors.”
I knew there would be many with far worse injuries than mine. I gave a feeble struggle against the hand still pushing my head back. The pressure increased.
“Please stay still.” The voice was not Neema’s. I squeezed my eyes under their lids to try to make my reluctant brain recall everything that had just happened. Finally it came up with a name to match the voice. The Tyzaran woman. Anzany. That was it. “You are damaged. You require medical attention.”
“It was all because of us.” The weight of so many deaths dragged my mind back to it.
Anzany gave a long sigh. “You were only the catalysts. The danger has been here for a long time. Our government hoped that it would simply go away, but in fact the lack of control over the main instigators has simply allowed them to indoctrinate others. It may have happened today because you were here. It would have happened sooner or later if you hadn’t been.”
Her words did help. Not a lot. But she was right. The Enclave had been a powder keg just waiting to explode.
“What will the Supreme Council do now?”
Anzany’s crest drooped. “I do not know. I am not important enough to be privy to decisions like that. I hope my government will act decisively against the Enclave. I feel even they cannot sweep destruction like this under the carpet, as you Spacelanders say.”
“Under the deck plating,” I corrected automatically.
“As you say.” The hand on my head attempted to smooth out my wrinkles of worry. It was not an unpleasant sensation. Neema whispered something in a fierce undertone and the hand stilled. I managed to open my eyes. The two women were staring at each other.
A large figure in a doctor’s uniform bustled over. He bent over me and cut the back of my space fatigues off. I felt strong fingers kneading the area of skin without abrasions. They were competent, if impersonal.
One of the hands hovered over my skull and beckoned to a nursing assistant. He gave fluid instruction in a tight voice before departing to check on another patient.
The assistant came over to me and busied himself at my back. I was aware of tingling and some sharp pain.
Neema peered behind me. “They are using a portable triage unit. You have torn ligaments in your back and damage to your upper arm. This will help.”
“Thank you. Both of you. You saved my life.”
Neema reddened but Anzany simply nodded. “We did.”
“Why me?”
“We were on the watch for your group,” Neema explained. “Sammy had contacted me and explained some of what was going on. I had come to the bay hoping to get a chance to speak to him, and when the insurgents attacked we knew that your group would be the target. After the first explosive device, we suspected it would only be a matter of time before they targeted the outer skin of the space station.”
Anzany picked up the story. “We grabbed a cargo shifter that was lying around and headed upwards. We thought we might be in time to evacuate all of you. At least, at first we did.”
“Then the second explosion came and we knew we were too late. Neema had already turned away from the superior levels and towards the exit airlocks at one end of the bay when we saw you throw yourself off the platform.”
“You fell like a stone. Then the final detonation went off, and it was so big that it punched a hole the size of a shuttle through the outer skins.”
“You were in front of us, and you seemed to hang in space, just for a few moments.”
“So Neema was really quick. She brought us almost alongside and I managed to get a thoria around your legs.” Anzany gave a faintly disbelieving shake of her head. “I just had time to belay one end around a stanchion when you dropped past us again.” Her eyes stared into the distance, seeing the past again. “And the thoria held!”
“I’m amazed you were able to get out. Hadn’t safety doors come down?”
Neema inclined her head. “Sure. But it turns out that there is a separate cargo passageway that has safety airlocks. They are automatically keyed to the cargo shifters. We were
let through without having to do more than point the bows of the thing at the exit.”
“Well, thank you. Will you come with me to find the rest of my group?”
The two women hesitated.
“Please?”
“All right.” Anzany managed a faint smile. “I guess we won’t be missed for a while longer. The whole of the station will be in complete chaos.”
“Appreciate it.”
Neema managed a grin. “It will be nice to say hi to Sammy again.”
“He has a girlfriend now.”
Her eyes opened wide. “No! Little Sammy? No way!” Her eyes danced. “His father will go spare!” She leaned in towards me. “Tell me more!”
Unfortunately we were interrupted in our gossip by a Tyzaran spokesdesignate who had been dispatched to find me and take me to a new hanger for transport up to the ship which had found my crewmates. Neema gave me a signal which clearly stated that she would demand full discovery at a later date, and then stood respectfully to one side.
“I am to accompany you to Ty Denaraz,” the newcomer told me with a stiff face. He did not appear happy to be sent on a mission of shepherding visitors around when he could be helping the casualties. He looked over at the two women dismissively. “You may go,” he told them, making little shooing movements with his hands.
I moved to protest, then gave a grunt. It hurt to move. I gasped in more air. “They are to come with me.”
His eyes flashed. “Why? Who says so?”
“I say so. These two ladies have just saved my life. They are to accompany me.”
Both of his crests twitched. “I know nothing of this.”
“If I go, they go.”
He frowned and considered. He must have decided that it wasn’t his problem, for he gave a brusque nod and turned to lead the way. I thanked the doctor’s assistant who had just completed his ministrations, then the two girls helped me to my feet. I was glad of their support. My head spun as I stood up. We hobbled without much dignity behind our guide. Our conversation ground to a halt, in my case because it took all my energy to force air into lungs which protested at every step.
We were escorted out of the service passageway and into a second large hanger. This one was still intact, which allowed me to see just how impressive the Tyzaran space station really was.
Unfortunately the decks were covered with prone bodies and even more people milling around. It looked as if, although many had been killed, many more had managed to escape the worst effects of the terrorist attack. That was a relief.
Our guide picked his way through the bodies, many of whom were groaning and appealing to us for help. I lowered my head; guilt about being the partial cause of all this carnage overwhelmed me for a moment. I wished I could help.
We were taken up the stairs, rather than via the bank of lifts. It took all of the stamina I had left to get my body up the steep steps. I felt as though my legs were matchsticks and my body a bloated bag. The muscles above my knees groaned at the task of staggering towards the platform. I really thought I wasn’t going to make it, but then Neema and Anzany each shoved a shoulder firmly under one of my arms and I was quickly womanhandled upwards with no more fuss. It was painful and more than a little embarrassing.
Security at the platform had been intensified. I was reminded of ancient sayings about closing stable doors and bolted horses. Still, it did indicate that we would be far more secure now than we had been before. That had to be a good development.
We were held back at the airlock as news of our arrival was communicated to the Flight Deck. We stood silently. I tried to be discreet about dragging air into my overworked lungs and propped myself up against the railings to dissimulate the rubbery leg syndrome that was threatening to drop me to the decking.
There was a flash of movement and the guards brought their weapons up as something shot past them.
I felt two sharp pushes against my chest and was bowled over, tumbling to the silvery plating with something light on top of me. What little breath was inside me expelled with a whoosh.
“You are alive!”
I disentangled Zenzie with my one good arm, holding her off me so that Neema and Anzany could pull her away. “I was until you knocked me over!”
“We were sure you were dead!” she wailed. “I failed the Savior Protocols!”
“I was the one who tossed you in the PSA. It was hardly your choice!”
“Yes, but I should have known you would do that!”
I grinned. “Slowing down, Zenzara?”
“Certainly not!” Her wrinkles sagged. “You tricked me!”
I was rather proud of the fact. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Well you won’t do it again!”
I nodded to Neema to set the young Tyzaran girl carefully back onto her feet, and waved to the guards to indicate they could stand down. “You are now one of the most important Tyzarans there are. Of course I will try to make sure you are safe.”
Her crest drooped. “But it is my job to look after you. Because of the Savior Protocols.” She stamped one foot. “You know it is!”
“Mmmm.” I can’t say I had much sympathy for her problem. The idea of an eight year old Tyzaran protecting a thirty year old Spacelander was ridiculous. “I’m glad you all made it too, Zenzie.”
“We nearly didn’t. The PSA was caught by a large piece of shrapnel and holed. Some of us had the onset of space-swell when we were picked up. Denaraz has had to have a small part of one of his crests amputated.”
I knew that was a terrible thing for a Tyzaran. “Are the rest of you ok?”
She nodded. “Sammy’s leg is playing up, but apart from that we all made it through, though Seyal is in the medical bay under observation to make sure that her baby suffered no harm.”
“What about Denaraz’s leg?”
“It was not as bad as it looked. He was put in a Zeroth chamber but is already out and about. He refused to stay there for three days, which is what they recommended. He said the triage chambers would be needed for people much worse off than him.”
A clatter of shoes announced the arrival of several newcomers. Mel and Sammy appeared, together with the two Enif. Even Didjal looked pleased to see me.
Sammy was the least effusive. “What’s up, Rye?” He spotted Neema. “Yo, Neems, nice to see you again. How are the family?”
Neema was eyeballing Mel with more than a casual interest, having noticed that Sammy’s hand had been touching Mel’s fingers. Her eyes slid to me and I gave a small nod. Her own eyes glinted. “Sammy! Everyone is fine. Who is this?”
Sammy introduced Mel, who hung back in an embarrassed kind of way. I bent to give her a peck on the cheek. “You ok?”
“Fine, Rye. You?”
“Thanks to these two. They saved my life.”
Mel shook hands with the two girls and Zenzara also turned to nod in their direction. I presented them to the Enif. Anzany held out one hand to Eshaan and then froze as she realized the Enif might not have hands to give back. She looked like a hunted animal caught in headlights. I couldn’t help laughing.
Eshaan examined the hand held out towards it, giving a slight shiver of distaste. The Enif use their long digits to transmit conversation through their very sensitive forearm skin and are protective of them. In addition, Eshaan’s fingers were the tools he used for painting. That made them even more special. Anzany’s action would be invasive to it. The Enif considered for a quick second, and then bent to Anzany, inclining itself from the middle section of its abdomen.
Anzany withdrew her hand as if the air in front of her burned and bowed back, her face wrinkling in embarrassment, crest drooping in mortification. “Pleased to meet you.”
“As are we.”
&nb
sp; “So what happens now?” I asked Denaraz, who had limped up behind them.
The spokesdesignate looked uncomfortable. “I am awaiting instructions. Due to the … situation on the space station, it is unlikely that Ty Zenzara can be properly protected here.”
We agreed on something then. I stared at him. “And …?”
“I am afraid I do not know. I am not in contact with … my superiors.”
I bet it cost him something to admit that. His crests deflated. I stared at them. There was a bite-sized chunk missing from the back of the one on the left, though it still moved in tandem with the first one. The wound had been cauterized, and was edged with black skin.
I nodded towards the young Tyzaran girl. “Zenzara can’t remain here on the station. She is in even more danger here than she would be with me.”
“I do not think the Supreme Council will listen …”
A small figure pushed me to one side and faced off with Denaraz. “You can’t stop me from staying with Mallivan Bell!” Zenzie’s crest was vertical and her wrinkles so deep they hung off her small face. “I won’t go with you!”
I glared at her back. She had nearly pushed me over again. Luckily, Neema had grabbed out at my shoulder to steady me. “Thanks, Zenzie,” I muttered darkly.
“I am not going to stay on Tyzar!” She stepped back and regarded us both. “I will throw myself out of an airlock first, and then where will your precious Chyzar be?”
“You cannot do that!” Denaraz went two shades paler. “How can you even say such a thing?”
Zenzie put both hands on her hips. “Either the Savior Protocols are prime mandates or they are not. You can’t switch things around just because it suits you. Can he, Mallivan Bell?” She looked at me.
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