“You’d better be sure,” Banner said. “If you fail, he’ll only become more of a problem.”
“Trust me,” he said.
M’kou ushered them into Kezule’s office.
“Good morning,” said Kezule from his desk at the other end of the room. “Please make yourselves comfortable on the seats there, I’ll be with you in a moment. I’m just reading through the report from Security.”
Kusac took the first easy chair as Banner headed for the sofa opposite him. A few minutes later, Kezule joined them.
“So far, Security have drawn blanks,” the General said. “The female, whoever she was, disappeared without leaving any clues as to her identity behind. Lab coats are sent to the main laundry to be washed—anyone could have walked in there and taken one without being noticed. No meds of that kind were issued to anyone in the last three days, and none are missing from either sick bay. Since you were unwilling for tests to be taken last night, we really need a description if we’re going to have any hope of finding her.”
“I was asleep when she came into my room,” he said, forcing himself to meet Kezule’s gaze. “I was so drugged that I thought I was dreaming. It wasn’t till Dzaou flung the door open that I realized what was happening.”
“Can you describe her, Captain?” Kezule asked. “Was there anything about her that you remember? Any distinguishing features or markings? Her scent or the way she talked? Did she wear any jewelry?”
He shook his head. “No, nothing. She only said a couple of words, not enough to be able to identify her.”
“Then, unfortunately, I am at a loss as to how to proceed. Security have kept their inquiries low-key so as not to draw attention to the incident since hardly anyone outside your crew and the Security personnel themselves know about it. However, if you wish, we can question everyone, but I have grave doubts that anything useful will be achieved.”
“She shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this!” exclaimed Banner.
“I deplore what happened as much as you, Lieutenant, but there’s nothing more I can do.”
“What did Dzaou see?” he asked.
“He was kind enough to tell us that all the females look alike to him,” said Kezule wryly. “He didn’t get a good look at her because as soon as he opened the door, she attacked him and ran off.”
“Dzaou was saying that your Security personnel were so busy trying to apprehend him that they totally ignored her,” said Banner. “Where were they when Dzaou was inside Kusac’s suite?”
“They were in the lounge,” said Kezule. “As I said last night, you have to appreciate that having a female in your room was not considered as important as apprehending the person they’d seen trying, then succeeding, in breaking open your door and who had attacked them. They didn’t believe his allegations, and given the evidence of Dzaou’s subsequent actions, who can honestly blame them?”
“What did Dzaou actually do when the night watch came on the scene?” asked Banner.
Kezule picked up his report and leafed through it. “Dzaou was pressing the number pad, trying to gain access to the Captain’s room. When challenged, he demanded that the Captain’s door be opened as he’d seen a female entering it illegally. When the guard refused to believe him,” Kezule looked up briefly, “for that I think we can assume it reads laughed at him, Dzaou grew angry and began to use force on the door. He was then apprehended, and started a fight, which resulted in a second guard coming to the assistance of the first.”
Kezule stopped to turn the page, then continued. “By that time, Dzaou had forced the door open and entered the suite. As they followed him in, they called for reinforcements. This was the point at which Dzaou was sent flying by the female and she came running out. The guards apprehended Dzaou as you,” he glanced up at Banner, “came out of your room and into the Captain’s suite, demanding to know what was going on. Reinforcements arrived at this point, and you know the rest,” he concluded, putting the file down on the low table. “I can have copies of this made for you if you wish. It includes Dzaou’s statement, taken when he was booked into the brig.”
“Please,” said Kusac, looking across at Banner. In one way, he was glad the female couldn’t be found. He’d no wish for the whole Outpost to know what had happened to him. He had his own suspicions about her. “I don’t think there’s much else you can do,” he said. “As for Dzaou, I’ll punish him. He’s one of my crew and answerable only to me.”
“I disagree,” said Kezule. “He attacked two of my officers, and seriously damaged property, that makes him answerable to me and the rules governing the military side of Kij’ik.”
“I told you when we arrived that we would not be bound by your rules,” Kusac said, his ears tilting forward and sideways in the beginnings of anger. “We’re independent of you, Kezule. I will discipline my own people.”
“What would your punishment be?” asked Banner. “A month in the brig? We can devise something far more useful.”
Kezule sat back in his chair and surveyed them both. “Continue,” he said.
“Two weeks on fatigues, working in the kitchens at mealtimes, and the laundry the rest of the time,” said Banner. “Double shifts. He doesn’t go off duty till eighteenth hour, your 22:00 at night, then he’s confined to his quarters until the following morning.”
“It has appeal,” said Kezule, a spark of amusement showing in his eyes. “It would also free up two people to help the salvage crew.” He thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Agreed. He can be released into your custody now, his punishment starting immediately.”
Kusac nodded. “Thank you,” he said, getting to his feet.
“The brig’s on your level. If you go to Security, they’ll fetch him for you. I’ll have copies of the report ready for you to pick up from Security when you come off duty today,” said Kezule, standing up. “Doctor Zayshul is waiting for you in the sick bay. I’m sorry we couldn’t do more to find your attacker, Captain. You have my sympathy for what happened.”
M’kou escorted them back to the elevator and left them there. “There’s nothing more he could have done, given the situation,” said Kusac, breaking the silence as they waited for the elevator. He was well aware that Banner was more angered by the incident than he was.
“I know, but I don’t have to like it,” Banner growled. “A serious crime was committed against you last night. We shouldn’t let them minimize it.”
“I don’t think he is,” said Kusac.
Banner sighed. “I suppose. At least we have Dzaou back.”
“Do we want him?” he asked with an attempt at levity.
“Not really,” Banner grinned. “Still, he’s got two weeks of hard work ahead of him, and a change of room.”
The elevator doors opened and Kusac hesitated before entering. “Are you off down to the landing bay for your shift now?”
Banner nodded. “You take this one, I’ll wait for it to return.”
“I’ll see you later, then,” he said, stepping in and pressing the pad for his level.
Once more back up on the Officers’ level, Kusac headed for sick bay reception and was directed to the treatment rooms.
“You can cut through the door over there instead of going round, Captain,” said the medic, pointing to the door opposite. “Doctor Zayshul’s in the one nearest the lab.”
“Thank you,” he said.
Zayshul looked up as he entered. “You don’t look any the worse for last night,” she said as he came over to sit on the chair beside her desk. “Are you all right? How do you feel?”
“Fine,” he said. “Annoyed that I got caught again like that.”
“Any headaches, residual nausea, blurred vision?” she asked, reaching for her instruments. “Why wouldn’t you let me take tests last night?”
She pushed his short tunic sleeve aside and reached for his upper arm. The prick of a needle made him start.
“None. And you know why,” he said, watching as she withdrew a blo
od sample. “I couldn’t cope with you even in the same room. Whatever she used, it was powerful.”
“Then why didn’t you let Ghidd’ ah,” she began.
“Look,” he said firmly, putting his hand over hers when she’d pulled out the needle. “I didn’t want any females near me, just leave it at that.”
As he let her go, she flushed and turned away. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I should have realized.” She handed him a swab to place over the tiny wound. “Shaidan sensed something happened and was distressed when I got back to our quarters.”
His ears flattened themselves to his skull. He’d forgotten about his son’s ability to sense his strong emotions.
“He was fine as soon as I told him you’d just had a nightmare,” she reassured him. “There was nothing you could have done for him last night, Kusac.” She got up to go over to her console and insert the sample in the analyzer slot. “I can still get samples from the sheets,” she said, coming back.
“Thank you, and no,” he said very quietly, still pressing the pad against his arm. “We can’t take that risk. I forgot to change them after you were with me the night before. I took them off and put fresh ones on—they need to be incinerated.”
“Oh,” she said, taken aback. “There’s an incinerator here. If you can get them to me, I’ll destroy them. You realize it means we’ve no chance of identifying her, though. Unless you could recognize her scent again.”
“She smelled of you, Zayshul, because of the lab coat,” he said. “I know we’ve very little chance of finding her, but I’ve my own theory about that.”
“Which is?” she asked, turning to the screen on her desk as some results began to come through.
“The method she used was the same one you did—some kind of sedative and then a drug she had on her skin.”
“It wasn’t me,” she said flatly.
“I know that,” he said, flashing her a slight smile in reassurance. “But where did she get that information from? How did she know what to use on me?”
Zayshul turned round and pointed to the wall behind him, at a notice on the drug cabinet door. “There,” she said. “A list of meds we can safely use on you, those that have some side effects, and those that are unsafe.”
He looked. “That throws that theory out the window,” he said with a rumble of annoyance.
“Not completely. It could narrow it down to someone working in the sick bays or labs. I’ve been trying to work out why anyone would do that to you. They must have known you’d be aware of what had happened when the drugs had worn off.”
“I know there was a purpose behind it,” he said, checking under the wipe then throwing it in her waste bin. “I just don’t know what, but I’m sure Kezule’s involved. The way she did it, down to using a lab coat of yours to get the smell right, is just too meticulous.” He was finding himself more than a little distracted this morning, especially now he was this close to her.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, turning round again. “Why would he do that? It’s more like something Dzaou would set up to try and force you out of command in favor of Banner.”
He digested this for a moment then shook his head. “No, not Dzaou. He’s not that popular with your people. He’d never be able to persuade anyone to take that kind of risk for him.”
“There is another solution,” she said. “Someone who does want you that badly but knows that with my scent marker on you, you’d never look at her.”
“I doubt that,” he murmured, ostensibly leaning forward to look at her screen, but in reality just wanting to be closer to her. “I think you have a result.” Something in what she’d said niggled at him, demanding more consideration.
She looked back, and punching a few keys, waited for the information to collate. “She wouldn’t be expecting to get caught. My bet is she’d have sedated you fully so that when you woke in the morning, you’d have thought it was a dream, a very vivid one, but a dream. Just like you did last time,” she added hesitantly.
He grunted noncommittally, sitting back again as he tried to follow his own train of thought. “Say there was someone interested in me,” he said slowly. “Could she replace your marker with hers?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never even thought about that,” she said. “Probably not. There wouldn’t be much point to the marker if it was possible, would there?”
“Replacing your marker would be a motive, though, and one that would suit Kezule,” he said, doggedly returning to his feelings that the General was behind this.
“Don’t talk rubbish,” she said sharply. “Kezule wouldn’t stoop so low! We’re talking about rape here. That’s a criminal offense here under his laws.”
“Believe me, I know that! If not Kezule, then would someone else do it for him?”
“I think you’re on the wrong trail completely,” she said, reading the results off the screen. “There are traces of three compounds in your blood,” she said. “Chaiu and laoe, which when combined, make you very amenable, and kyiu, which is a general anesthetic we use for surgery. That is unexpected.” She turned her chair away from the screen to face him. “I expected to find the chaiu and laoe. The kyiu must have an aphrodisiac effect on you in a smaller dose. She couldn’t have used a normal one or she, never mind you, would have been out cold.”
“What do the first two do?” he asked.
“Chaiu is a local anesthetic and laoe a strong analgesic. I used both of them on you when I was treating the bite you got during the hunt. Alone they’re not a problem for your species, but in combination they do have a kind of hypnotic and suggestive effect on you. Basically, it would make you do what you were told without questioning it.”
He nodded. “That would tie in with the effects I felt. I was having to fight against that when you all arrived.”
“What is surprising though is how little of it is still in your system. To make you as groggy as you were when I saw you, you must have had a fairly high dose of the first two.”
He frowned slightly, remembering doing something the night before to try and neutralize the drugs in his system—had he actually succeeded?
“You know, at least with us, the brain is a remarkable organ, Kusac. It can repair itself, find new pathways when the usual ones are blocked or destroyed. Is it possible that your mental abilities are coming back? Have you ever done anything like this before?” she asked, following his train of thought with uncanny accuracy.
Damn! He had to be more careful, he realized, strengthening his shielding. She was reading him a bit too closely for comfort. “My mind isn’t capable of healing itself,” he said shortly, suddenly remembering how on Ch’almuth he’d been automatically adjusting his body temperature in order to stay cool. “The damage was too extensive.”
She nodded, not pursuing the matter any further. “I’ll run some tests on the blood sample you gave me and find out exactly how it reacts to kyiu. We ought to know in case we ever need to do major surgery on any of you.”
He nodded and got to his feet. “I better get on with my work,” he said. “Let me know your findings.”
“Meet me in the rec later,” she said as he headed for the door. “Oh, and if you bring me the—objects—you need destroyed at lunchtime, I can do it here.”
He looked quizzically at her.
“My tests won’t be finished till tonight. I can tell you my findings then,” she said. “I think you should know as soon as possible, and tell the rest of your crew.”
“You have a point,” he conceded, moving toward the door.
As he did, it slid open to admit Giyarishis. “Good, here you still are,” the small bronze being’s translator said. “Speaking with you I am needing.”
He hesitated, then obeying an impulse that came from his feelings of unease about their last encounter, he said, “Sorry, I’m late for work,” and brushed past him.
Giyarishis stood there, hands flapping in distress, watching his retreating figure.
“Was it importa
nt?” Zayshul asked, glancing at him.
“Will wait,” he said and stalked off despondently.
Kezule arrived in her lab not long afterward. “I need to have a few words with you,” he said, coming toward where she was working. “Can you stop what you’re doing?”
“I’m only waiting for the results of some simulations,” she said, turning aside from her data analyzer to look at him. “I found out which drugs were used on Kusac.”
“Oh?” he said, perching on a tall stool beside her.
“What I expected. A mixture of a local anesthetic and a strong analgesic, coupled with a general anesthetic. Apart from the analgesics, the other two are only available to medics working in one of the sick bays and myself.”
“I wonder how she got hold of them,” said Kezule.
“I wonder, too, because she left no tracks in either sick bay. There’s nothing missing on the inventory, and we do keep it rigorously up-to-date.”
“Sounds like you think it may have been one of your staff.”
“It could well be, considering a lab coat of mine was also taken. But then again, maybe all that is window dressing just to put us off the scent.”
He frowned, the skin around his eye ridges creasing. “Why would anyone go to such lengths?”
“I wondered that, too,” she agreed, watching him carefully. She could feel his uneasiness. “I’ve been trying to think of a motive, and the one that seemed to fit best is that perhaps it is someone jealous of my marker on him, someone who wants him enough to drug him so he’d pair with her. She could then replace my marker with hers.”
“Sounds rather convoluted,” he said, not meeting her gaze. “I think you may be onto something with the jealousy, though. And I remember something about a still-unclaimed bet concerning the Captain. Perhaps that was all the motivation she needed.”
“I don’t believe that, and neither do you!”
“Jealous yourself, Zayshul?” he asked, raising a brow at her. “Why shouldn’t other females be interested in him? Isn’t that part of what the marker does? I know my daughter Zhalmo has been interested in him from the first.”
Between Darkness and Light Page 65