“No matter. Right now she’s in no immediate danger. I will contact Doctor Xiven and ask him what happened. I’m sure he’s…busy.”
After the officer left, Dr. Ludd shook his head in disapproval. He pulled a medical blanket up to the young woman’s shoulders and placed one of his pink, flippered hands on her warm, sweaty forehead.
“What are they doing to you, my dear?”
Chapter 12
Trey’s communications panel lit up with a soft ping. He lowered the engine report he’d been reading at his desk.
“Yes?” he answered.
“Commander, this is the bridge. You have an incoming transmission from Cadet Roilster’s ship.”
“Patch it through.” Trey rubbed his weary eyes.
“Commander Xiven?” A voice crackled over the com. Static hissed in the background.
“Yes.”
“I request permission to board the Horizon.”
Trey’s shoulder muscles relaxed. “You were successful on all three parts of your mission then, Cadet?”
Cadet Roilster hesitated. “I successfully erased the memories of all individuals investigating Miss Tocc’s disappearance and those of the sister, Valendra Tocc. However, I was unable to locate the witness to Miss Tocc’s retrieval.”
Trey’s jaw tightened. “What happened?”
“Commander, when I followed up on the witness’s whereabouts, I couldn’t find anything. There hadn’t been any other reports filed about missing persons other than the one from Valendra.”
“Did you check the local hospitals?”
There was a pause. “Hospitals, Commander?”
Trey clenched his hands around the arms of his chair. “The witness was injured during the altercation, which means he or she was probably hospitalized.”
“I-I didn’t think to. It didn’t occur to me to—”
“Enough.”
The com fell silent. Trey spoke again, his words sharp as knives, while his fingers moved to a small circular panel on his left.
“I am disappointed, Cadet Roilster. You showed promise. I gave you this assignment so you could prove yourself to me. And prove something you did.”
“Commander, I—”
“You proved you are worthless.” Trey punched in a code and pressed the execute button. “Failure is not tolerated under my command. If I can’t depend on you…”
“Commander! My instruments! They are malfunctioning! I…Commander! I—”
“…then you are no longer of use to me,” Trey finished.
Static hissed into silence. The computer informed Trey his connection had been terminated.
Trey’s intercom lit up again. “Yes?”
“Commander Xiven, this is the bridge. I’ve lost communication with Cadet Roilster’s shuttle. Would you like me to reestablish a connection?”
“Not necessary. Cadet Roilster has been dismissed. Communications out.” Trey rubbed his temples as a headache grew. I can’t even rely on my own crew.
Failure surrounded him. Ineptitude encircled him. Trey had hoped he could do everything himself, but not with such an inexperienced crew. He had to change tactics. And quickly. His partners wouldn’t wait.
He needed a bounty hunter.
Kircla would be the best choice, but she wouldn’t be easy to find—and she’d be expensive.
Trey’s head throbbed. It’ll be worth it.
He put out a communiqué to search for her and turned off his computer. Glancing at the reports on his desk, he pushed them aside, scowling. He couldn’t read one more datapad. He glanced at his time-reader—Dru and Daith’s first session should be over by now.
Trey straightened the few things on his desk and left his office to check on their progress.
*
Dru gasped. He had just read over the results from Daith’s simulation test. The graph line representing Daith’s power output spiked at 400.
He couldn’t believe it. Through all his studies, the highest mental energy output rank from a student topped out at 143. His own test peaked at 110. Daith should have been dead at 250. And yet this proved she had surpassed this point and still lived. He ran the program through an error check and got the same results.
“This can’t be.”
“Talking to yourself?” a voice behind him asked.
Dru spun. Trey hesitated in the doorway before swaggering in, picking his way carefully through the messy office. “I guess some things never change.”
Dru ignored his brother’s jab. “These are the results from the energy tests I did today. Look at her chart. Her readings are off the scale.”
Trey studied the graph carefully. “Where is she now?”
Dru scrunched up his face, anticipating Trey’s anger. “In the medical wing.”
A muscle in Trey’s jaw twitched. “Is she all right?”
“I’m sure she’s…actually…” Guilt hit Dru. He’d completely forgotten to check on her. How could he be so insensitive? He’d been so wrapped up in the success of her test and thinking about how happy Riel would have been…. “I don’t know. She fell unconscious after completing stage five. But I’m sure they’d notify me if—” His communications panel lit up. Dru opened the channel.
“Hello, Doctor Xiven, this is Doctor Ludd. Miss Tocc is stable, but I’d like you to come to the medical wing when you have a moment.”
“I’ll be right there.” Dru started to rise.
Trey pushed him back into his chair. “Actually, Doctor, I’ll come and check on her.” He closed the communications channel.
Dru’s chest swelled. “She’s my patient, brother. I have the right to visit her.”
“You’re the one who put her in the medical wing with your program,” Trey snapped. “Until you figure out exactly what happened and how you can prevent any further complications, I don’t think I’d care to call her your patient. Figure out what went wrong.”
“You don’t understand,” Dru said. “Nothing went wrong. The safety protocols for the program shouldn’t have allowed this. It’s designed to shut down if there are any problems with the mental safety of my patients, which means Daith didn’t reach her full mental energy output. She just physically couldn’t handle it.”
A hunger touched Trey’s stormy eyes. “Does this mean she is who I thought?”
Dru shifted in his chair. “Daith has Jaxx’s potential, but this one test doesn’t prove she’s related to him. Certainty would only come if we had a genetic sample for comparison or if she had her memories back.”
Trey dismissed Dru’s irritation with a wave of his hand. “She is his daughter. When we first brought her onboard we gave her a lie-inhibitor and she told us all about her kinship to Jacin Jaxx. Then we erased her memory.”
“What? You told me you didn’t know who she was.”
“I didn’t know if she was the real thing or not. She could have been a decoy. She could have been trained to tell us she was Jacin Jaxx’s daughter. I needed confirmation and only proof of his abilities would suffice. These tests you put her through can’t be faked.”
“You could have told me—”
“I didn’t want it to skew your data.”
Dru clenched his jaw. Anger burned in his chest, even if his brother was right.
“Keep perusing through these charts,” Trey continued, “and let me know if you find anything else of value. I assume it’s safe to say you plan to continue your work with this girl?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then make sure you change your parameters so this doesn’t happen again. I will check back with you later.”
*
“Hello, Doctor. I am here to check on Daith.”
Dr. Ludd glanced up. “Ah, Commander Xiven, please follow me.” He floated over the top of his desk, narrowly missing the stacks of datapads, jotted notes, and pictures of his family. Trey followed him into the patient ward.
Dr. Ludd glided toward a set of white curtains and opened them. Daith lay there, unconscious. Swe
at coated her face. Her eyes raced beneath their lids. They matched the click of the monitors connected to her, following her pulse and respiration.
“She’s been in this state since my assistant brought her in,” Dr. Ludd said, “but she seems to be stable. The only discrepancy is her core body temperature is running a bit high. All her systems are functioning and her brainwave patterns are still active, but it’s as if her brain and her body aren’t connected—like her body is waiting while her mind figures out what it’s going to do.
“Because of the unusual tests Doctor Xiven is performing,” Dr. Ludd continued, his words rough with displeasure, “I can’t give you any reasonable diagnosis on her condition except if you expect her to come out of this without serious damage, she’s going to need constant medical surveillance and I don’t see her leaving the medical wing for at least three months. I’d like to keep her—”
“Three months?” Trey interrupted, his face ashen. “No, no. I need her back on her feet in three weeks. Max.”
Dr. Ludd gurgled. “Three weeks? You can’t be serious. Her brain waves are extremely unstable. I could perhaps get her normalized in six or seven weeks if I used steroid stimulants, but I wouldn’t want to risk it. Medically speaking, she needs to stay here and—”
“I’m telling you to have her well in three weeks. There is a timetable to be kept, Doctor.”
Dr. Ludd’s jaw flapped open. “Commander, with all due respect, your timetable doesn’t matter. If I push her that quickly, it could produce many problems, including severely reduced physical capabilities, diminished mental capacity, and lack of emotional control. Or it could have the opposite effect, causing her brain to over-stimulate and produce an even larger energy release. Even worse—”
“A larger energy release? How large? What else would she be capable of?”
Dr. Ludd gawked at him. “Have you been listening to me?”
Trey flicked his fingers. “Yes, yes. But talk to me about this energy release. Would it be stronger than the first? And could I get her to perform more than once?”
Dr. Ludd motioned for Trey to follow him back to his desk. He turned on his medical log screen with his flippered hand. A blue-tinged three-dimensional graph appeared, rotating slowly in front of them.
“This is Daith’s brain-wave pattern. Use of steroid stimulants will change the chemical balance in this part of her brain.” He pointed. “Usually, this type of stimulation is used sparingly to help boost the patient’s reflex response until they can match the wavelength themselves. If I do what you suggest, she would become totally dependent on these stimulants for simple everyday motions. Her natural recovery process would have no way of equalizing the chemical reaction so quickly—”
“But she will still be able to release these large amounts of energy, correct?” Trey asked, his gaze on the doctor, not on the graph.
“Technically,” the doctor said slowly, “it could be done. But I cannot stress enough the danger of what you are asking me to do. I don’t think—”
“Don’t think, just do it,” Trey said. “Unless you want to find a job somewhere else? I’m sure a different crew would be ecstatic to work with a former doctor of the Aleet Army.”
Dr. Ludd lowered his gaze. If he couldn’t practice medicine...
“She will be ready in three weeks.”
“I know.” Trey paused. “You will send me a report every eight standard hours on her condition and notify me immediately if there is a change. Don’t forget to add in dream-deflector dosages so she doesn’t dream while she’s unconscious. We still don’t want her memories to resurface, now do we?”
“No, Commander.”
“And one last thing, Doctor,” Trey said the title with a sneer. “If she dies, you die.”
Chapter 13
Trey’s pulse raced, his fingers trembled, his breath came in ragged gulps. Daith’s first exhibition of power and she had ended up in the medical wing. He must be insane to think he could pull this off. He had no idea what he was doing and at the rate things were going, he would damage beyond repair the only being in the entire galaxy who could help him.
Trey willed himself to calm down. There must have been something he’d missed. But what? He had Dr. Ludd—one of the best medical physicians caring for her, Dru—one of the only doctors to ever work with someone of Daith’s caliber guiding her, and the only crew that wanted her safe protecting her. But these abilities of hers, no one could predict everything—her triggers, her limits, her feelings.
No one except her father. And he was dead.
Trey paused mid-thought. Jacin may be dead, but not his memories. Those were lodged inside his own subconscious.
For the first time in years, Trey purposely didn’t take a dream-deflector pill and lay on his bed to sleep. Granted he didn’t know what type of dream he’d have, but since Daith had come on board, they’d all been about Jacin. If Trey could figure out his secrets, who knew what he could learn.
Trey’s head felt heavy on his pillow, the weight of the day pulling him into the sleep his body desperately desired. In moments he swam into the realm of dreams.
Trey stood in front of a tall building. Mugg General Hospital printed across the front in shiny letters. He remembered the place—but since the structure appeared intact, then this had to be before the riots—before Jacin Jaxx revealed his gifts to the galaxy….
Jacin stood in front of the brand-new hospital with a sense of purpose. He and his family had moved to the capital city, Mugglie, on the planet Mugg two weeks before. Determination to help others filled him now that he knew what he could do with his abilities.
He could be a healer.
Jacin marched through the doors, their gold-colored plaque glistening in the glare of the planet’s hot sun. He met with the administrators and shared his thoughts on how he could help the hospital staff. Skeptical at first, they soon marveled at his gifts after several demonstrations.
After completing the paperwork with the administrative office, which included his own consulting office and sleeping quarters, Jacin threw himself into his work. Nothing else seemed to matter. Jacin’s wife, Elor, expressed her displeasure at having her husband away so many nights, but her concerns seemed trivial compared to his accomplishments. The thrill of helping others, saving lives, dominated him.
For the first time, he felt as if he’d found his destiny.
Weeks slipped by. Jacin, so involved in his work, didn’t realize he’d begun to make a name for himself. Word spread about a man who could heal the sick without surgery. Beings from other planets flocked to Mugglie to meet this man.
Jacin’s focus extended only to the virus wreaking havoc in the patient’s body in front of him.
After a few moments, Jacin opened his eyes, and let the flow of warmth inside him recede. “You should be fine, now,” he said to a young woman, the disease now eradicated.
“Thank you,” she gushed, turning to her weeping family.
Jacin excused himself and left the room. He stumbled into his own office, his head pounding. The twentieth patient of the day and he hadn’t eaten a thing.
In fact, his workload had doubled in the past few days. His time in the hospital existed as a blur of mashed-up faces, strange body parts, grotesque insides, and gratitude.
The drumming in his head cinched it. He needed a few days off.
Jacin stepped through the automatic doors of the hospital and onto the street.
“There he is!”
Jacin stopped mid-step. The crowd turned at once, like a massive trembling wave, engulfing him. Several individuals tugged at his arms, begging for his help, offering rewards. One woman actually fell at his feet and kissed them, thanking him for healing her daughter.
Panic stricken, Jacin raced back inside, his clothes torn by the gripping hands. The doors closed behind him. Bodies pressed up against the glass while security tried to keep them at bay. Trapped, Jacin ran to the rear entrance of the hospital, but the crowd’s thickness remai
ned. A mass of writhing individuals surrounded the hospital, their wails and cries deafening, their body odor seeping through the cracks of the door, filling his nostrils, nauseating him.
Jacin felt desperate. He had to get out. The hospital staff called Central Authority, but their task force couldn’t even get to the front door. Claustrophobia set in. Jacin’s throat tightened and he couldn’t breathe.
Plowing straight into the crowd, he pushed and shoved, clawing his way through the masses. Bodies somehow moved away from him, even if he didn’t touch them. He kept pressing forward, determined to get home. With one last stumble, he broke free, into the fresh, sweet air. Jacin took off at a sprint. He ran faster than he’d ever run before. Through parks, past stores. Houses blurred until he burst through his own door.
Elor jumped out of her chair. “Jacin!”
“Pack your stuff. We’re moving back home. Now.” Jacin moved her toward the stairs.
“Why? What happened? You look terrible. Jacin, talk to me!”
“I’ll tell you on the way. Where are the girls?”
“They’re next door.”
“I’ll get them. You go upstairs and pack. Then, vidlink an Anywhere and You’re There! vehicle and have it come here right away.” After collecting his two daughters from the neighbors, Jacin found Elor waiting with three large bags.
“I couldn’t take everything, but we can come back later,” Elor said.
“No, we probably can’t. But don’t worry, whatever we leave behind we can replace,” Jacin reassured her. As they waited for the vehicle to arrive, Jacin began to tell Elor what had happened at the hospital, when he glanced at their viewscreen, which was still on. A newscaster reported about the hospital.
“Creatures and beings, I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Hundreds have gathered around Mugg General Hospital, the one where Jacin Jaxx was reportedly last seen. Many are chanting and praying to Jaxx, waiting for him to heal them. They say…oh, my! Creatures and beings I can’t believe what I’m seeing! A small group has rushed the security guards and broken into the hospital. Everyone is streaming inside to get to Jaxx. They’re throwing rocks, breaking windows. The hospital’s plaque above the door has been pried off the building—they’re using it like a battering ram. I’ve never seen such mayhem. You there, may I have a word with you?” The newscaster approached one of the beings in the crowd, his silver skin shining in the bright sunlight. The being held a little girl in his arms—her skin a dark silvery-gray, her head lolling like a broken doll. “What is going on here?”
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