Deviation

by A. J. Maguire

  "C'mon, Darling," he crooned into the cockpit, beseeching it to stay airborne long enough to reach the nearest outpost.

  A yellow message flashed in his peripheral vision. Incoming Transmission from the Citadel. Jellison punched the commands to open the line before Hedric could order him not to and his mother's voice crackled into the ship.

  "Where is Kate?"

  Of course, he thought with icy bitterness. Business first.

  "Running hard and fast if she knows what's good for her."

  "Explain."

  "The terms of our contract, Priestess, was for Caresse Zimmerman," he muscled the yoke upward as the engines stuttered under strain.

  "That contract was breached. By you." Celeocia said. "Matthew Borden has Reesa now, thanks to you. Now where is Kate?"

  "If she's not already dinner for the Dromodus then she will be soon," Hedric said and shut off the communication line.

  His mother didn't call back and he refused to care. Jellison made no noise, no signs of disapproval at the communication. Hedric glanced at the soldier and frowned. While he was grateful for at least one loyal crewmember there was an unsettlingly blank look to Jellison's expression. Cold and almost as robotic as his mother, he thought.

  Hedric might have considered it blind faith, but given that he had no idea what he was doing anymore, the look on Jellison's face felt more like an empty screen to him. It was a heavy, awkward burden that he'd never felt before, not in all his years as a leader and Hedric muttered another curse. Outpost 9 came into view and he headed for it.

  Reesa was alive.

  Why was Borden keeping her? That seemed odd. Unless the man also thought Reesa was some kind of prophet.

  He thought of Kate, the way she'd stared up at the Dromodus, terror evident in her face. But she hadn't screamed. She'd found the courage to move when she had the chance, to run when Myron had told her to. And in that moment, she really had been Mesa.

  His fingers tightened on the flight sticks.

  He should turn back. He should fetch her and take her someplace safe. But there had been that other moment, he thought. Back at the Temple, when she had leveled a weapon at him, frightened by whatever she saw on his face.

  Hedric snarled and kept the ship on its path.

  ***

  Celeocia slammed her fist into the control room's wall. She felt bones pop on impact, felt a jolt of pain run straight through her arm, but did not cry out. Instead, she glared at Captain Bonsway and Eanmar, who wore identical expressions of shame. The others in the room kept studiously to their tasks, avoiding all contact with the scene.

  "Captain, take your team down to Mars and get Kate," Celeocia said.

  Bonsway nodded once and fled the room.

  Celeocia watched the woman go and fought for her composure. Things were out of control. No one was behaving in a rational, logical manner. Reesa was dying and gone, thanks to Bonsway's stellar performance as a guard. Kate was lost on Mars, due to yet another blunder on Hedric's part.

  Any moment now the Makeem were going to make their second attempt on Kate's life. If they could find her. The Community was demanding an interview with Kate, along with a full physical evaluation to confirm that she was an unaltered female. They'd allotted Celeocia three days to recoup after the attack on the Temple, but she knew they were sending their own team of Field Arcs to guarantee the woman's safety.

  She could only imagine the repercussions the Novo Femina would suffer if the Community's team arrived before Celeocia had Kate back on board. They were already under heavy scrutiny because of the galaxy wide announcement she'd made. But that was nothing compared to what the Makeem must be planning.

  It was time, she thought. Their only chance at survival was to make their stand now. When the Community's representative arrived, Celeocia would make her demands. And then, if they still did not listen, she would make sure the female race was heard another way.

  "Eanmar," she said and straightened. "Send communications to all Novo Femina that it is time to prepare. And then give the order for all of our fighter ships to be fueled and readied."

  Eanmar bowed and left.

  *

  "The Correctional Facility based in Tacoma, Florida has been scheduled for an investigation by the Community next Friday. The murder-suicide conducted by Jennifer Vance last Tuesday has officials "concerned" about the rumors of maltreatment circulating. Among those scheduled to conduct the investigation are the ARC soldiers from the Lothogy I, whose efforts at maintaining the safety of civilians have become galaxy-renowned." A.P. March 18, 2996

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  "It's progressing faster than normal."

  Matthew heard his brother but didn't react. Standard procedure forced them to quarantine Reesa inside a clear, Plexiglas room. The only way in or out was through a small decompression chamber, also clear, where Matt stood, gazing at his wife. She'd lost consciousness on the Io, just after Newbill reported the general location of where the Lothogy had crashed. The communications they'd intercepted between Hedric and the Priestess indicated that Kate was still on the planet.

  Hedric seemed to be making a habit of marooning women in dangerous places.

  The Priestess had already launched a rescue attempt for Kate, but the Fomorri could beat them to the crash site if he gave the order soon. But something kept him stationary, watching the doctors plug Reesa into machines.

  She looked weak. Worse than weak. And the pain he felt at the sight of her was nothing short of staggering. He'd known when he met her, listening to her fantastical tales about time travel and novels, that she would profoundly affect his life. It was all too bizarre to be forgotten. But he certainly hadn't expected this. This tight, squeezing pain in his chest; the flicker of hope for her survival, so small compared to his doubt and yet, the only solid thing he could hold on to as he watched her.

  "Matt!" David snapped.

  He looked at his brother. Something on his face made David pause and there was a tense moment before the man spoke again.

  "Matt, I need to start counter measures if I'm going to save her."

  "No experiments," Matt said.

  David growled and made an angry gesture at the door. "Do you see her?"

  "Of course I do."

  "Do you see how quickly she's fading?"

  Matthew didn't answer. He looked down at the one item the Fomorri had managed to get out of the Citadel. It was a paperback book with Reesa's name on it. He rubbed his thumb across the smooth lettering, oddly comforted by this further proof that his wife was not insane.

  "This is my battlefield, Matt." David pointed at the glass again. "And I'm losing. I know what I'm doing here, but if you don't let me do my job she will die."

  No, she wasn't insane, he thought. She was dying.

  "I can't trust you, David."

  David blanched and opened his mouth in shock. Matthew nodded at the quarantine room and continued; "If she survives, she will stand in direct opposition of you and your fellow Makeem. What possible reason could you have to save her life?"

  "Matt ... you know me," David stammered. "I'm no fanatic. I'm a scientist."

  "You're a scientist who has been furthering a biological weapon against women."

  Matt ignored the startled glances several doctors sent their way. David glanced in at Reesa, his face flushing. It was wrong for Matt to say such a thing in public, but he'd lost the will to care. He needed something from his brother, some sign to prove that he could trust him with his wife, even if it took bald honesty to get it.

  "I thought I could help," David said. "If we could control it, maybe we could reverse it."

  "The Makeem would never have allowed you to try that."

  "That's why I came to you! I knew you could balance things out. You're so straight-laced and implacable. I figured I could push that research through the company as soon as I had the cure."

  Matt frowned. He knew better than to believe all of that. David was too driven to be altruistic. Bu
t there was a ring of truth to the first half of his brother's statement. David didn't like delving into religious fanaticism any more than he did, so it was possible that David had sought him out as a means to keep balance.

  But was it enough?

  Through the Plexiglas he saw Reesa open her eyes and give the attending doctor a weak smile. She really was dying. This would be the strongest he would see her until the Mavirus finally killed her. He would have to watch as she withered away in front of him, too sick to eat and too tired to stay awake.

  Unless he trusted his older brother, Matt thought.

  "Make it painless," he said at last.

  David breathed a prayer of thanks. Air hissed as the inner door opened and David walked into the quarantine. Matthew waited for a moment before he turned. He let the computer scan his body for traces of the illness, waited for the outer door to release him and finally called for his Fomorri.

  Saving Kate was preferable to watching Reesa wilt away. And if she died while he was gone, he believed Reesa would have wanted her friend rescued.

  ***

  Reesa was unfamiliar with the sense of loneliness that greeted her. At first she'd thought it was an aftereffect of the drugs that had been pumped into her body but she knew better now. Normally she enjoyed the quiet but the large, plastic quarantine room she'd been placed in made her feel small; small and alone.

  She could see doctors and nurses wandering to and fro outside her encasement. David Borden was among them, sitting at a complicated lab set adjacent to a large computer screen. His face was absolutely unreadable, which made Reesa more uncomfortable.

  He's Makeem, she thought. He'll try to kill me in the end. He can't let me live, not with what I know.

  The IV hooked into her left hand looked strangely normal. She stared at it, lifting each finger to watch bone and sinew flex around the tape and tube. It seemed odd that so much technology had advanced and yet, when it came to the medical paraphernalia, scientists still relied on certain familiar things. Reesa imagined that there was simply no better way to access the body's bloodline than the needle-tube approach. And of course, if you wanted a patient to breathe there was the plastic oxygen mask that sat to the left of her little bed.

  Her eyes caught on a dark red, plastic-encased button embedded in the table beside her.

  Reesa paused as she realized what it was; the euthanasia button.

  For patients with terminal illnesses, the choice of life or death was as simple as pressing that little button. Twenty seconds after activation, the quarantine room would fill with gas and the patient would drift to sleep and finally death. Reesa squinted down at the button, weighing her options.

  Three months of the Mavirus or a peaceful end?

  "Don't even think about it," David said through the intercom. Reesa jumped a little, startled to find him at the decompression entrance. "You haven't even given me a chance yet," he said as the doors opened and he walked inside.

  "I'm surprised you're even making an effort," she said quietly. "Even if you cure me, you know they'll order you to kill me."

  David's surprise was short lived. He began working with the terminal at her bedside, punching in commands that would order the medicinal machines to provide one type of drug or another. She watched him, frowning because his expression seemed resigned rather than irritated.

  "I do confess, dear sister, that there is a certain charm to you," he said after a moment. "There is a unique quality in your ... shall we say ... independent nature? Though I highly doubt my brother tolerates so much from you out of mere affection. What exactly is your motivation in this marriage?"

  She'd just implicated him as a Makeem assassin and he was interrogating her on her marriage? What was going on here? The arrogant David Borden that she was used to seemed to be gone. In fact, he didn't seem at all upset about her brash statement. He must have come to expect her to be uncouth by now, but instead of ordering her to show him proper respect, he just went about his work, humming to himself occasionally as he found something he liked.

  When she didn't answer him, he went on. "Of all the women I've treated, you are the most determined to die. I've seen death so often that I recognize when a subject has given up. You, Reesa Borden, never put up a fight."

  Reesa felt an icy sensation push through the IV and frowned again. "I'm not sure what point you're trying to make."

  The chill continued up her forearm and the room began to swim.

  "Two points," David watched her, shrewd eyes unfaltering on her face. "One, whatever motivations you had in marrying my brother, you should at least hope for survival on his account. He seems genuinely attached to you."

  "If I survive ... " her tongue was thick and clumsy and she sank deeper into the pillows. It was just as well, she had no idea what she'd meant to say.

  "And two," David gripped the sideboard table and pushed it away from her bed. She saw the deep red of the euthanasia button smear in her vision. "I'm not going to let you die. So you'd best resign yourself to this fact and start fighting back."

  ***

  David double-checked her vital signs as she drifted off. He hoped that something he'd said might encourage her. He'd seen enough proof that people with strong will could pull through amazing feats and he needed Reesa to have that. She was right, of course. If the Makeem found out about her they would order him to kill her.

  Fortunately for both of them, Matthew's security had more than doubled since his arrival. David couldn't receive, or give, any sort of communication to General Erid. For the time being, he didn't have to worry about a confrontation. All he had to worry about was keeping Reesa alive.

  He thought of the way Matt had stared at her through the chamber and frowned. Reesa meant something to his little brother, even if Matt wasn't going to admit it out loud. Their relationship had never been plagued with brotherly affection, but even David could see that Matt had gone out of his way to help cover up the mishap on Outboard Jupiter.

  David tried to think of what their father might have done in Matthew's place and sighed. Their father would have turned David over to the Community for judgment; there was no doubt about it. He'd probably have laughed while he did it too, thinking this was payback for David's choice to study science rather than business.

  No, he thought. He owed it to Matthew to at least try to save Reesa. He could find the cure. If the Makeem killed her later, that would be on Matt's watch, not his.

  *

  "Officials announced Thursday that they could find no evidence of foul-play within the ranks of the Novo Femina. While Makeem Loyalists still argue that their "unnatural" wealth remains suspect, those among the investigative team are steadfast that there was nothing amiss within the Temple's financial documents." - A.P. January 2, 2292

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  "You can't be serious," Kate stared up at him as he pulled himself into the giant banyan tree. Huge, tubular roots hugged up against each other, curling around the massive trunk. There were many different crevasses and grooves and had she not been a thirty-something mother of one, she might have jumped at the opportunity to climb it. The young girl inside of her itched to follow Myron in his vertical ascent, but she frowned and kept her propriety about her. After all, Myron wasn't suggesting just a climb, he was suggesting a bed. As fun as it might have been to race up the tree, Kate really couldn't imagine sleeping up there.

  "Of course I'm serious," Myron paused and craned his neck to squint down at her. "You don't want to sleep down there. The rats might get at your toes."

  "Rats?" Her attention snapped to the ground.

  "Yes, rats," Myron sounded truly amused. "I'll fetch us one for dinner but you're going to have to set up the bedding for the night."

  "I am not eating a rat." Kate scowled up at him as he returned to climbing.

  He shrugged. "Suit yourself. It's not my preferred last meal but I won't be dying hungry. And come the morning we have a 4 kilometer trek to the nearest outpost. You'll want energy."
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  A distinctly cool breeze caught her attention. The dark plume of storm clouds was just visible beyond the branches, and by the feel of the wind Kate knew it was heading their direction. If she was in charge of bedding as Myron said, then she imagined they would need cover. She wondered where the Martian ocean was located. She knew there had to be one, precipitation required a large body of water to work with, but she couldn't remember where Reesa had put it on the Martian map.

  "Best we hurry, Kate," Myron said. His gaze had found the clouds as well and for a moment he looked concerned. Then he looked down at her and flashed a charismatic smile, "I hate getting wet."

  Resignation forced her to grip the trunk of the tree. With everything so alien around her, the familiar scrape of bark against her hands, the very action of climbing reminded her of childhood and home. Myron helped her at the last bit, dragging her up and into a strange, bowl-like growth high up on the tree. It didn't exactly look comfortable but at least they were less prone to falling out.

  "The robes are not the best fabric for keeping out water," Myron said with a grunt. "But if you can secure some of the leaves as a roof that could work."

  Kate eyed the dramatically large leaves shading them and nodded. He pointed to the bowl-shaped declivity and suggested more leaves for padding and then lowered himself over the edge again. Kate blinked in surprise.

  "Where are you going?"

  "To catch a rat, of course," he winked at her. "You'll be safe enough up here."

  "What if that dragon thing returns?"

  He smiled grimly. "Then here is as good as the ground, Kate."

  He disappeared, dropping down from their perch with fluid agility. Kate exhaled, slow and controlled, and turned her mind to the task she'd been given. She wasn't dead yet and with everything Myron had given up for her safety, she wasn't about to quit.