by S. L. Viehl
“Where would the power be stored during the draining process?” the Omorr asked.
My fingers flicked. “Tech details. Who cares. Let’s say the killer stockpiles the energy until he has enough to do this thing that kills the victim. After he attacks, the drain stops. The engines go into an immediate surge. Hence the engine rattle Roelm heard after the attack on Fasala and the two educators.”
“An interesting theory,” Reever said. “For which you have no evidence.”
“Your support is appreciated, Reever.” I glared at him. “What I can’t figure out is how the transductors are involved. This two-meter circle of light, does it come from them? Or is it supposed to be some sort of artificial junction? Does it convert the power? Focus it?”
“Doctor.” Squilyp sounded pained. “We must begin. Oblige me by tabling this discussion for the moment.”
I obliged. “Did you secure the doors?”
“Yes, for the third time.” He checked the monitor connectors and stroked his gildrells. “You are certain you want to do this?”
“No one else is going to die.”
“Cherijo,” Reever said from the exam table next to me.
“Calm yourself.”
I remembered something else. “I forgot to tell you about the stuff Barrea found in the engines.”
“Not now, if you please,” the Omorr said. “We can’t leave the ward unsupervised for too long. The nurses are already suspicious.”
“Oh, all right. I’m ready.”
“NE levels are reading normal,” Squilyp said as he checked the monitor display. “Limbic system neurotracer portals functional. Initiating continuous vital scans.”
“Be prepared to apply cortical electristim.” I lay down face-up. Reever turned on his side toward me. “Let’s go.”
The Omorr took his position by the monitor. “You may initiate the coupling.”
Cherijo.
Reever, I thought back. I didn’t even blink this time.
We improve with practice. Yield to me now, Cherijo.
As we had before, Reever and I entered the recesses of my memory. It wasn’t as frightening this time.
Think of the third visitation. When you were injured. Remember, you are in control.
Someone had said that to me before.
Xonea’s voice.
Take control of the dream, Cherijo.
Take control.
Take take take—
I was back in the golden, glowing chamber. I couldn’t breathe right. It was there. I could feel it wrestling with me for control of my mind.
Look at the presence, Cherijo. See the face of your attacker.
Laughter mocked Reever’s quiet command. “You think you see me, little human?”
It was different this time.
Reever? I called out, unsure of what to do.
Face your attacker.
I squashed the fear and turned back to the presence. My words were the same as they had been before. Get it over with. Again I watched as Ndo’s busy image appeared.
“Pnor never knew Ndo’s envy. Ever loyal, steadfast Ndo. Now only a speck on the face of a star. The one, true path.”
The ring of light. The shattering attack. Ndo’s collapse. The convulsions. Death.
I’ve been here, seen this. Come on out and face me.
“You are braver than before, little one. Remember our last encounter? I enjoyed watching your body writhe beneath my fists.” The voice gloated. “Almost as much as I enjoyed caressing you.”
You’re a sick, twisted monster.
“Oh, yes.”
I watched as an image of Yetlo appeared. He never opened his eyes, but deep inside me I sensed he knew he was dying, and fought for his life.
Yetlo. You did understand.
“You corrupted him. Diverted him from the true path. I gave him his greatest wish.”
You murdered him!
Cherijo, you must open your eyes.
“Yes, little one. Open your eyes.”
Anger gave me the last push I needed. I opened my eyes.
Xonea stood before me. His open hands dripped with green blood. “Here I am, my Chosen.”
Xonea?
“What say you, Cherijo? Is this not what you wanted? The truth?” He came toward me. “I am here for you, my Chosen. Here to divert your path.” For a moment, he seemed to hesitate.
Reever was trying to break through some barrier between him and the two of us. Cherijo, it is not Xonea.
Sure looks like Xonea to me. I wasn’t going to let him get away with this. He’d played me for a fool more than once. I went toward him, and was surprised to see him take an uncertain step backward.
What’s the matter? Afraid of the little Terran now?
“I will crush your bones to dust,” my ClanBrother said.
I reached with a mental hand and grabbed the front of his tunic. With a tremendous effort I tried to swing my other arm, but he jerked out of reach. A handful of fabric remained in my fingers. The tear revealed a jagged purple mark over his heart.
Xonea doesn’t have a birthmark on his chest. I came at him again. Who the hell are you?
“Death.”
Reever broke through the barrier and thrust himself between us.
Remove this false image, he ordered the presence. Reveal your true face.
“Not yet,” the voice whispered. Xonea’s image melted into a yawning, empty hole. “But soon. For now, here is something with which you can remember me.”
This time Reever shouted as we were jolted from the link back into reality.
Cherijo!
“Doctor!”
My eyes opened. The Omorr was pinning Reever to the exam table as he went into violent convulsions. I rolled off and tried to help him. Forgot about the hookups. I ended up sprawled painfully on the deck. By the time I untangled myself and stumbled to Squilyp, he had sedated Reever.
Someone began pounding on the outer side of the surgical suite’s doors.
“Visitors,” the Omorr said.
“Cherijo! Open this panel!”
“My ex-roommate.” I sighed. “You got those weapons Reever asked about, right?”
I’d never realized what a propensity for claustrophobia I had. Or that I knew that many bad words. Of course, I’d violated my superior’s orders before. I’d just never been thrown in jail for doing so.
Captain Xonea took his sweet time in coming down to the detainment cell. By then I knew it was approximately forty-feet wide. Thirty-feet long. Twenty-feet high. Driving me nuts.
I heard my two guards speaking quietly to someone, then Xonea appeared outside the barrier.
I stopped pacing. “This your idea of poetic justice?”
He turned his head. “Deactivate the locking mechanism.”
I thrust my hands in my tunic pockets. “Don’t I get to speak to my judicial advisor before you start beating me up?”
Cool white eyes inspected me. “No.”
“Ha, ha, ha.” I sat down on the edge of the rock-hard sleeping platform. “Go ahead, Captain. Yell your head off, slap me around, whatever you want. It won’t change the facts. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You knew my orders regarding unauthorized psychic experimentation, Senior Healer,” he said. He stayed by the barrier. Xonea was becoming a careful man. Maybe there was hope for him. “You disobeyed me.”
“Yep. I did. How is Reever? Is he okay?”
“He has recovered. Why did you disobey me?”
“To find out who the killer is, Captain. And we did.” I rubbed my eyes. “Though Reever says I’m wrong.”
“Who was it?”
I dropped my hand. “You.”
The astonished horror on his countenance almost—almost —made up for what he’d done. The indignity of being arrested and escorted from Medical. Being pushed in a cell and locked up. Almost, however, was not good enough.
“Did you beat me? Try to rape me?” I rose. “Did you kill Roelm and Ndo? Did you ki
ll Yetlo?”
“No!” Xonea said. He backed up against the barrier. Knocked into it with his shoulders. Guess he was appalled.
“No? You had plenty of motive,” I said. “Everyone knows how jealous you are where I’m concerned. Maybe you saw them all as a threat. Whoever has been attacking me obviously has an obsession with me. You nearly got yourself exiled for the same reason. This monster enjoyed hurting me. You tossed me across a room just the other day.”
Xonea dug his hands into the barrier mesh, fighting for control. “Cherijo, I would embrace the stars before I would harm you.”
“Sure you would. That’s why I’m currently enjoying these luxury accommodations, right?”
The Captain-of-the-Sunlace mask slid back over his face. “You are being detained for violating my orders.”
“Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. The first time Reever and I tried to access my memories and reveal the killer’s identity, you stormed into Medical. You never did tell Pnor how you knew we were linking. Same thing happened today.”
“That is not how I knew what you were doing!” he shouted. “The information came to me through another source. I did not tell Pnor because it was a matter of honor!”
That was more like the Xonea I knew and wanted to push out a pressure lock.
“One of the nurses, I suppose.” I dropped back on the platform and reclined. The deck above me had seventy-six individual panels and a small stain to the right of the third cross section of rows fourteen and fifteen. “You’ve had one of them keeping an eye on me.”
“I cannot discuss the matter with you.” His voice drifted closer. Soundless as always, Xonea crossed the thirty feet of deck until he stood next to the bunk. He looked bigger and meaner and more handsome than ever. “Cherijo. Do you remember when you came to me here?”
“This conversation is over.” I closed my eyes. “Go away, Xonea.”
He knelt beside the platform. “I was prepared to die. You shielded me.”
“I have lousy judgment.”
One big hand reached out, encircling my throat. “When you came back from Pnor, and I touched you—”
My eyes flew open. “Forget it, Xonea.”
Fingers began releasing the front fasteners on my tunic. “I did not wish to stop touching you.” He pushed his hand beneath the open edge. “You pledged yourself to me.”
“Get your hands off, now.”
He didn’t. He was so close I could feel the heat coming in waves from his huge body. He wanted me. Maybe locking up a woman tickled his libido.
“I honor you, Cherijo. I desire you more than my life.”
“Well, I hate to disappoint you pal, but—” I yanked his hand off my breast and sat up. “Desire someone else.”
The warrior replaced the lover. He seized me, hauled me off the platform, dragging me up every hard inch of his body.
“You want me,” he said. “I can see the change in your eyes. Feel the heat of your body.” He buried his face in my throat. Anger made his claws emerge. “You will be mine.”
He wanted to get rough? Fine.
I put my lips next to his ear. “Maybe I’m still warm from being with Reever.”
This time a sleeping platform didn’t break my fall. My face did. I flew through the air, bounced off the detainment cell wall, and slid to the deck. Shock and pain made it hard to breathe.
Maybe my mouth would get me killed one day.
I touched my face with trembling fingers. Blood was running from my nose, mouth, and four shallow gashes on one cheek. Those claws were really sharp.
“Cherijo.” Now Xonea was picking me up, his face all distorted. As if he was the one who had gotten up close and personal with the plaspanel.
“Guards,” I called out, wincing as that made the cut on my lip split wider.
The guards appeared outside the barrier. When they saw what Xonea had done, they jerked open the access door and hurried inside.
“Captain, the Senior Healer needs to be taken to Medical,” one of them said. He looked ready to shoot Xonea in the head.
“I will take her.” The other one actually raised his rifle toward Xonea. “Release her, Captain.”
It was an excellent opportunity to instigate a mutiny. Or observe my guards as they gutted the commander of the ship.
“No,” I said to both of them. I had deliberately provoked him, knowing how angry he was. “I’ll be all right. Get me a first-aid case, and get him out of here.”
Squilyp and Reever came for me not fifteen minutes after the guards escorted Xonea from my cell. Both reacted to the sight of my bleeding face. The Omorr exclaimed loudly and pushed the guards out of his way.
Reever simply stood, quiet and watchful. His eyes had never been that color before, I thought. Raw ice crystals had more warmth.
“I’m okay,” I said when the Resident crouched down and began scanning me. “Just some bumps and bruises.” I let him clean and dress the lacerations, then reached for Reever. “Give me a hand, will you?”
Scarred hands carefully lifted me from the deck. I hadn’t moved since I landed there. I didn’t want to know what was broken and what wasn’t. I moved my arms, legs, head, and bent over. No fractures. Lucky me.
“We’ll take you to Medical,” the Omorr said.
“Can’t.” Talking hurt my face. “I have to stay here. I violated the Captain’s orders.”
“The Captain ordered that you be released.”
“He did? How considerate.” I’d been giving the entire situation a great deal of thought. I looked at Squilyp and gingerly touched the dressing on my face. “How good are you with cardiac electristimulators?”
The Omorr looked confused. “I’ve used them dozens of times during training sessions.”
I turned to Reever. “I want to access the cultural and judicial databases in Medical. I need you to find something for me in the Jorenian HouseClan laws and traditions.”
He inclined his head in agreement. “How does this relate to cardiac equipment?”
“I’ll tell you after we find the data I need.”
We took a newly repaired gyrlift back up to Medical. Squilyp gave me a status report on the ward. Reever wouldn’t let go of my arm. We passed a number of crew members, who reacted with varying degrees of concern and anger when they saw my face.
The mutiny might just happen without me saying a word.
“Clear an exam table,” I told Squilyp. “Prepare for a cardiac case. I want you to make a full vid/audio record of this procedure. Set up the monitor over there.”
Before he could ask me the dozen questions that order provoked, I took Reever into my office and shut the panel.
“Access the databases.”
“What, specifically, are you searching for?”
“Laws governing the Jorenian right to Choose. I need to know exactly what is required to break a Choice.”
Reever accessed the judicial database, cross-referenced with cultural, and found the applicable laws within minutes.
I stood beside him and read it for myself. I was right.
“Download this”—I pointed to a case reference—“onto a disc.” I told him the rest of what I wanted done and suggested he get Salo to help. He didn’t say a word until I finished and tried to go back out to the ward. Reever pushed past me and blocked the way.
“I cannot permit you to do this,” he said.
Now he was telling me what to do. “Get out of my way.”
“Cherijo, you cannot—”
I pointed to the gashes on my cheek. “Look at me, Reever. I could have lost an eye. Or half my face. It ends, now.”
He put his hands on my shoulders. “I want to stay with you.”
“Okay.” I let out a breath. “I’d like that, too.”
We walked back out to the cardiac berth Squilyp had just completed preparing. I climbed up on it.
“Senior Healer!” The Omorr sounded horrified. “Are you experiencing angina? What—”
“Power up the stimul
ator, Squilyp,” I said as I strapped my legs into the restraints. “Adaola?” I called out. “Are you on duty?”
The nurse appeared at the berth side. “Here, Senior Healer. What has happened to your face? Why are you—”
“I need two Jorenians.” I waved at another nurse, who hurried over, then addressed her and Adaola. “You are my witnesses. You may be required to testify before the ruling Houses as to what you see here today. Do you understand?”
Both nurses nodded. I turned my attention to the Resident.
“Squilyp, I want you to charge up and hit me with a full stim.”
The Omorr nearly toppled over from shock. “That will stop your heart!”
“I know. Once my heart has stopped, pronounce my death, wait three minutes, then revive me.”
“Absolutely not.” Squilyp dropped the hookups and hopped backward. “I won’t do it.”
“Okay.” I turned to Reever. “Reever, you have to make sure the monitor reaches—”
“Stop it!” the Omorr shouted, and grabbed my arms with his membranes. “You’re insane if you think I’m going to let this man kill you!”
The two Jorenian nurses came to my aid then. “The Senior Healer has the right to embrace the stars, Resident.”
I grinned at them. “I never thought I’d like that damn custom, but it does have its uses. Now either you do it, Resident, or Linguist Reever does. You know my survival chances are a lot better if you handle the procedure.”
“I know I should save myself some grief and not revive you,” he muttered as he took position by my berth. His dark eyes were tormented. “You’re sure about this, Doctor?”
“It’s the only way I can free myself of Xonea.”
When Adaola heard what I said, her eyes widened.
“Adaola. You were the one feeding Xonea the information about me and Reever, weren’t you?” I asked.
“He is my ClanBrother, Senior Healer,” she said. “I could not refuse him.”
Well, learn something new every day, I thought. She and Xonea had kept that from me.
“That makes you Kao’s ClanSister, right?” She nodded.
“Then you’re my ClanSister, too. Do you think you extend some of that loyalty to me today?” Evidently ashamed, she nodded once more. “Good. All right, people, see you in a few minutes.” I nodded to the Omorr. “Anytime you’re ready—”