Bean's Heart (Hearts of ICARUS Book 7)

by Phillips, Laura Jo

  She watched as the helmsman tapped at the keyboard while Zain kept his eyes on everything the man did. “What is it?” Zander asked.

  “There’s some sort of sensor malfunction,” she said. “We’re entering a gigantic field of debris, or rocks, or something. It’s very dense. And huge. Larger than a dozen solar systems. We have less than a minute to change course before it’s too late to avoid it. If we enter even the barest edge of it, we’ll hit something and, at our speed, the ship will be destroyed before we can do anything to prevent it.”

  Zander glanced at Zach who was already making his way toward the navigational sensors station. Like everyone else on the bridge, the man stationed at that console heard what Bean said. He quickly checked his displays and verified that his systems were functioning just before Zach reached him.

  “They’re working fine, Commander, all systems and displays are normal,” he said in a low voice, not wanting to embarrass Lady BreeAnna by announcing she was wrong to the entire bridge.

  Zach looked at the man strangely. “Check them again, please, Mr. Lipton.”

  Lipton did as asked, taking his time, not wanting to make a mistake. “All navigational sensors are nominal, Commander. As you can see, the displays are active and clear--nothing bigger than normal interstellar dust for light years ahead.”

  Zach nodded, looked up, saw Kash Bearen and waved him over. “Kash, tell me what you see when you look at the navigational sensor display, please.”

  Kash glanced at the screens and frowned. “They’re completely offline, obviously. The displays are dark. Why do you ask?”

  “That’s what I see, too, but Mr. Lipton sees them as working perfectly. Active displays, no obstacles.”

  The man looked up at them, his face paling. “You see them as dark? Really?”

  “Yes, Mr. Lipton, we do,” Zach said. “This is no doing of yours, and I expect that within a very short period of time whatever’s happening to you will pass. Just try to relax, please.”

  Zander signaled to let him know the course change had been made and they were out of danger, which was an enormous relief. Zach remained where he was though, watching Bean until, after a couple of minutes, she turned to look toward him. He waved her over.

  “What’s going on over here?” she asked when she arrived with Zain and Zander behind her.

  “Mr. Lipton sees the navigational sensors as functioning normally, with no obstacles ahead of our previous course. Kash and I both see them as black. Offline.”

  “So do I…oh, there it goes,” Bean said.

  With navigational sensors offline, the ship had fired several Ultraluminem flares so that the location and extent of the debris field could be verified visually. They all looked and saw tens of thousands of what looked like rocks of different sizes, just as Bean had warned them about.

  “That’s even bigger than I thought,” she said softly.

  “How did I not see that?” Mr. Lipton asked, his voice shaking. “What’s the matter with me?”

  “Nothing’s the matter with you,” Bean said. “Chaos just messed with you and the sensors for a couple of minutes. It’s gone now.”

  “I’m grateful for that, Lady BreeAnna,” the man said. “But how will I know if it happens again?”

  “I’ll tell you,” she said with a reassuring smile.

  Once the navigational sensors were brought back online, and their proper functioning verified independently in several different ways, a new course had been plotted to avoid the monstrous obstacle. Satisfied that all was in order, the Falcorans took Bean to the dais at the rear of the bridge.

  “This is going to delay us a day or two,” Zain said.

  “Why so long?”

  “This debris field extends for dozens of light years. Since we can’t see clearly to the other side of it, we can’t create a Door to jump past it.”

  Bean didn’t need to think about how much time they had left. She already knew. “We only have thirteen days left.”

  “Once we get far enough around the galactic center to avoid interference from it, we can make a Door that’ll exit right at Kinah in one jump,” Zach said. “We can get there in thirteen days, Bean, I’m sure of it.”

  “We don’t actually have that much time to get there, Zach, remember? We have thirteen days to get there, and get all of the Kinahns off that planet. According to the graphics you sent me, we still have three more jumps to make to get to where we can make the Door you’re talking about, not counting this scenic detour we’re on now. That’s six more days right there. If it takes us two days to get around these proto-solar leftovers, that’s eight days. I think we’ll need at least two days to get the Kinahns onboard, which leaves us with a leeway of only three days. I have no idea what Chaos might do next, but I have no doubt that something will happen to delay us further.”

  “You’re a bit of a worrier, aren’t you?” Zach said, smiling a little.

  “Now you sound like Iffon,” she said, but there was enough of a smile on her face that they knew she wasn’t upset.

  “It’s a comparison I don’t object to,” Zach said. “You’re right about the days and distances, Bean. But this is something you need to let us worry about. It’s our responsibility to get there by a certain time, and we’ll do it. Trust me on this, please.”

  Bean looked into Zach’s bright blue eyes and nodded. “I do trust you, Zach. I really do. It’s Chaos I don’t trust.”

  “Nor should you,” Zander said. “But Zach is right, Bean. We’ll get us where we have to be, in time to do what we have to do.” Bean took a deep, calming breath, then nodded. “Is everything all right now? Here on the bridge, I mean.”

  “Yes, everything’s good. For now.”

  “Wherever you’re going, we’ll walk you.”

  “I was on my way back to my room to work with the marbles,” she said, turning around.

  Once they were off the bridge and alone in the corridor, Zander asked the question that had been burning in his mind for a while now. “Have you discovered what you have to do after the Kinahns are off of Kinah?”

  “No, I haven’t,” she replied worriedly. “I wish I knew, but I don’t. All I know is that my sisters and I have to do something.”

  “How about taking the stairs with Air?” Zander asked. She looked up at him warily. “What is it?” he asked. “I haven’t seen that look in your eyes for a while now.”

  “Except for Iffon who’s been with me my whole life, sometimes my parents, and occasionally one of my siblings, I’m not used to physical contact from anyone other than my third grade students. When you carried me the other day up to the bridge, it was the first time I’ve consciously chosen to let someone pick me up since I was about six or seven, and that was an emergency.” As she spoke, Zander led the way to the elevators and pressed the button.

  “Do you have an aversion to being touched?” Zach asked.

  “No, I’m just not used it.” They looked at her a little oddly and she realized that she really wanted them to know and understand her. They stepped into the elevator and the doors closed.

  “I lead a solitary life,” she said. “By choice. A month into my first year of college I rented an apartment and lived there alone until graduation. For the past year I’ve lived alone on Sheara 3, but in a little cottage instead of an apartment. Well, alone except for Iffon. Even though I know the other teachers well enough to chat occasionally, I don’t socialize with them, or anyone else, outside of school. I’ve never been comfortable in social situations, so I tend to avoid them as much as possible. I have no one in my life I’m close enough to, or know well enough to have physical contact with.”

  “Why?” Zach asked after they left the elevator.

  “Why don’t I feel comfortable in social situations? Or why don’t I touch other people?”

  “The first one,” he replied as they stopped in the middle of the vacant corridor, forming a small circle. “I’m curious because you don’t seem to be overly shy or withdr
awn. You’re intelligent. You have no trouble making yourself understood or expressing your thoughts and opinions, and I mean that in a good way. People like you, Bean, and you seem to like them, too.”

  She thought a moment, frowning. “My first impulse is to say that I don’t have to pretend when I’m alone, and that people make me nervous. But for some reason, both reasons feel a little hollow to me.”

  “Hollow?” Zain asked as they continued up the corridor, stopping again in front of her room.

  “Yeah, like they’re not real. As far as I can remember, I’ve never really given much thought to why. Odd as that seems.”

  “It’s not so odd,” Zain said. “We rarely look in the mirror and wonder why we are the way we are.”

  “No I guess not,” she said. “But I have a feeling I need to try to find the answer to that question. Maybe Chaos has something to do with it.” She turned around, reached up, and pressed the square panel mounted on the wall beside the door. The door slid open, she felt a flash of unbelievable heat, and nothing more.

  ***

  Zander felt himself thrown backward into the far wall of the corridor. The explosion had happened so suddenly that it took all of them by surprise. He heard Zach and Zain both roaring in fury, but his eyes went first to Bean, who was lying crumpled in front of her door.

  “Cease,” he growled to his brothers as he shoved himself away from the wall, ignoring the burns he felt on his face and hands. He went to his knees beside Bean and felt his heart stop in his chest.

  She had massive burns on her face and neck that were so deep he barely recognized her. There were more burns on her arms and hands that were equally serious, and her clothing was blackened and burned away in some places. Tears fell from his eyes as he struggled to think through his shock. Zain and Zach fell to their knees on the other side of her, horrified at the severity of her injuries.

  Zander looked at his brothers and saw the dark red burns on their faces and hands. He felt the same injuries on himself, but as they were already healing, and not even close to being as severe as Bean’s, he dismissed them. “We need to convert her,” he said.

  “We can’t, Zander,” Zain said sorrowfully, tears welling in his eyes. “We don’t have mating fangs yet. This is my fault.”

  “Zain, stop, please,” Zander said as gently as he could. “We’ll put her in a healing tank for a couple of weeks until your meds wear off. Once we get our mating fangs, we’ll convert her.”

  A light of hope shone in Zain’s eyes. “Yes, excellent idea.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Zach said hoarsely. “Iffon’s healing her.”

  Zander returned his attention to Bean and, after a few moments, he saw that Zach was right. She was being healed as they watched. “Call Kyrus.”

  Zach stared at him uncomprehendingly. “Shouldn’t they have been alerted to the explosion by the security cam?” he asked even as he reached for his vox.

  “Yes, but something tells me they weren’t.” Zach nodded, got to his feet and made the call while he went to check the cam in the light sconce.

  “Should we take her inside?” Zain asked Zander.

  “No, I don’t want to move her or interrupt Iffon’s concentration.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t even think of that,” he said, then turned toward the door that was just behind him. He leaned down to look at something more closely but didn’t touch anything. “There it is,” he said softly as he stood up to examine the door frame higher up.

  “What?” Zander asked, barely taking his eyes from Bean long enough to look up.

  “There’s a trip beam here,” he replied. “It looks like a tiny bit of paper was stuck in the door pocket and folded over so it covered the receptor, preventing the beam from connecting. The moment the door opened, the paper was released and fell to the floor, allowing the beam to hit the receptor, which caused an incendiary device to explode.” He fell silent for a moment, then spotted what he was looking for. “There’s another one up here. Shaped charge incendiaries--they were aimed so that they flashed outward at shoulder height, causing no damage to the door, the doorframe, or anything else other than the person, or people, standing in front of the door.”

  “Why?” Zander asked, his voice a deep growl. “Why would anyone want to hurt her? This makes no sense.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Zach said, kneeling beside Zain. “The Bearens are on their way.”

  “She’s almost healed,” Zain said with relief as he gazed down at her. “Iffon is even more powerful than I thought to heal such devastating wounds so quickly.”

  Zander nodded, not taking his eyes off of her. A few minutes later her face looked pink and healthy, with no trace of the burns remaining. Not long after that, Bean’s eyes fluttered open. She looked up at them in surprise, then hissed softly before raising her right arm. The deep, dark burns that covered it from above her elbow all the way to the back of her hand began to fade away as they watched. Before long they were gone without a trace.

  “Is that all of them?” Iffon asked so they could all hear.

  “I see no more,” Zander replied. “Do you hurt anywhere, Bean?”

  “No, I’m fine now. Thank you so much, Iffon.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you better, Bean.” They all heard the regret and sorrow in his voice.

  “We did less than you, Iffon, but we’ll all be more careful from now on,” Zander promised, his voice cracking as he spoke.

  Bean reached up and touched his arm gently. “I’m fine, guys. There’s no need to beat yourselves up.” She frowned when she noticed the burns on Zander’s face. She turned to look at Zain and saw burns on his face as well as his clothing. “You guys are hurt, too,” she gasped, her eyes glossy with sudden tears. Tears, Zander noticed, that she hadn’t shed for herself.

  “We’re healing, Bean,” he said gently. “Just give us a few more minutes and we’ll be fine.”

  She stared at him for a long moment, until she saw that he was, in fact, healing. Satisfied, she pushed herself to a sitting position with a little help from Zain. They all turned at the sound of the elevator, stiffening until they saw the Bearens hurrying toward them.

  “I’ll move you out of the way,” Zain said, sliding his arms beneath her and picking her up as he spoke. He carried her to the other side of the corridor and leaned against the wall where they could both watch as the Bearens examined the door and the devices that Zain had found.

  Once again Kyrus went over everything with his scanner, and once again they discovered that the security cams had been disabled. Between the extensive healing Iffon had done, and the level of tension coming from all the men, Bean was soon exhausted.

  “Kyrus, will you guys check my room again, please?”

  “Sure, Ausreba,” he said, turning toward her. “You all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Not a scratch on me.”

  “Maybe not, but from what I hear, you were burned severely. The state of your clothes indicates just how badly.”

  She looked down and blushed. Her clothes were blackened and even burned away in several places. Luckily, none of them were critical places.

  “Thanks to Iffon, I’m fine now,” she said. “And very tired. I just want to take a shower and fall into bed.”

  “You can’t want to sleep in there,” Zain said.

  “Why not?”

  “It’s not safe.”

  “Whoever did this didn’t get inside my room,” she pointed out. “Therefore, it’s safe. Besides, what difference does it make where I sleep? Whoever’s doing this knows enough to disable security cams that no one is supposed to even know exist.”

  Zain frowned, but he could see by the look in her eyes that arguing further would only distress her more. He looked up at Zander, who nodded.

  “Very well,” he said. “But only if the Bearens are unable to find a trace of anyone other than you in there.”

  “Agreed,” she said, relaxing a little in his arms. “Zain, would you
mind ordering something for Iffon to eat?”

  “Not at all,” he replied. “What should I get?”

  Iffon slid into view on Bean’s forearm as he spoke, then unmelded. “Thank you, Bean, for thinking of me.”

  “How could I not after what you just did for me?” Iffon leaned over and rubbed his head against her jaw. “I think an omelet, meat and cheese, would be best. I need protein.”

  “I’ll order two for you,” Zain said.

  “Thank you, Commander,” Iffon said. “How about you, Bean? Are you hungry?”

  “No, just really tired.”

  “I’ll make the call since your arms are full,” Zach offered, already tapping his vox.

  A few minutes later the Bearens came out and announced that they could find no scent of anyone else, nor could they find any sign that her room had been tampered with. Bean thanked them, then Zain carried her into her room, stopping a few steps in. Iffon flew up to a perch with a water dish and began drinking thirstily. Zain watched him for a moment, then looked down at Bean.

  “I ask that you allow me to remain in here until after you shower in case you need anything.”

  She looked into his bright yellow eyes for a long moment and saw what it meant to him. “Sure,” she said. “I’d appreciate that.”

  “Thank you,” he said with real relief. He turned and carried her into the bathroom, then set her on her feet, hovering until he was sure she was steady. “Do you have everything you need in here?”

  “Yes, I do, thanks.”

  “I’ll be right outside, so if you need anything, just call.”

  “I will.” He turned and left, closing the door behind himself. Zander was standing just inside the room, a worried expression on his face.

  “How is she?”

  “Okay, I think,” Zain replied. “I’ll stay until she’s in bed. Even though I know she won’t like it, I think we need to have guards outside.”

  Zander nodded. “I’ve already called her cousins. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  “Good. I’ll stay here until they arrive, at least. And until Iffon’s food arrives, too, so I can set that up for him.”