“I wouldn’t be me anymore,” he said to no one.
A few moments later Cadet Milastow arrived.
“Can I help you, Doctor?”
“I am feeling a bit drained from some events today, Cadet, and would like for you to cover my shift for its duration.”
“Of course.” Milastow frowned, her large, maroon ears perking slightly. “I have to admit, doc, I’ve never known you to be ill. I do hope you get better.”
Dr. Ludd patted her on her third appendage, which sat relaxed, wrapped around her elongated neck. “This fatigue has plagued me for quite some time, but I will get the rest I need and be fine.” He paused before he exited. “Take care of them.”
“You can count on me. Goodnight, Doctor Ludd.”
“Goodnight, Cadet.”
Dr. Ludd floated through the dimly lit deserted corridors to the cargo room with the escape pods. No one could leave the ship without consent—a protocol introduced years ago by Commander Xiven—but Dr. Ludd knew a way around it. Executive orders could be bypassed by the head physician. The process had been instituted by Jacin Jaxx—a safety-net, in case the commanding officer wasn’t available. Trey didn’t know the bypass existed.
Dr. Ludd punched in the override code and wobbled off his gravlift, sliding his massive body into the shuttle. Once settled, Dr. Ludd started up the shuttle, opened the cargo room doors, and shot out into space. He plotted his course and settled back for the standard week-long trip to meet his new ship, the Nuadu. He’d managed to link with the previous attacking pirate ship and “piggybacked” a signal to a nearby medical freighter. Dr. Ludd put in a request for new work—they asked few questions, desiring a capable medic over credentials. Coordinates had been exchanged and Dr. Ludd sped on his way to meet his new ship, his new crew, and to start his new life.
The Horizon
sped out of view and Dr. Ludd thought once more about Daith. There was nothing else he could do for her now. But hopefully, she would dream….
Chapter 28
The galaxy stretched out in front of Daith, its hugeness dwarfing her. She raised her arms to touch the stars. They bowed, extending their points of light toward her, bleeding into their surrounding darkness.
She laughed, feeling fire pour from her fingertips into the vacuum. Her hair stood on end, floating all around her, like she was suspended in liquid.
“Come to me,” she cooed. “Come and play with me and I will rewrite everything.”
The stars trembled, but their light reached closer. She turned the reaching beams into diamonds and flame and dewdrops and tears. The sky whirled into shadows of lilac and blue, crimson and gold. The stars no longer shone like chips of white, but stretched and bent in shades of liquid silver and flesh.
“The galaxy is beautiful,” Daith said, the words taking shape in wisps of web-like smoke. “And it is all mine.”
“You mustn’t.”
Daith turned, her hair swirling.
“Who are you to keep me from my destiny? This galaxy is mine.”
She filled her lungs, her veins, her whole being with fire and unleashed her power upon the intruder. Pain, pure pain shot from her hands, engulfing the one who’d spoken.
“This galaxy is MINE!” she screamed.
The fire died. A body lay limp on the floor, small compared to the vastness of space.
Daith overturned the corpse with her foot, to stand triumphant over the one who would stop her.
Eyes white. Skin reeking of burnt meat. The taste of smoke in the air. Bone exposed through black, curling flesh.
And yet she still knew the face’s identity….
Daith bolted awake. She shook so hard beads of sweat quivered on her arms. The image of Dru’s dead body lingered in her mind.
She jumped at the sound of her room chimes.
“Who is it?” she called out, her voice cracking.
“It’s Dru.”
Relief rushed through. He was alive. “Come in.” The door slid open. Tousled and uncombed hair reflected Dru’s tired appearance.
“Is everything okay? I heard you scream.”
“I did?” Daith asked. She wiped her sweaty hands on the blanket.
Dru sat next to her on the bed. “I was on my way from the mess hall to my office when I heard you.”
Daith grasped at the remnants of her dream—the stars, the flames, the pain she inflicted. “It was terrible. I know the dream wasn’t real but—”
“A dream?” Dru’s eyebrows furrowed with concern.
Daith wrapped her arms tight around her body to stop from shaking. “More like a nightmare.”
“You’re still having nightmares?”
“No. In fact, this is the first dream I’ve had since the day we met.” Daith watched Dru scan her room. “What are you looking for?”
“Hmm? Oh. Where are your nerve pills?”
Daith frowned at the abrupt change in subject. “Doctor Ludd told me earlier today I didn’t need them anymore. Why?”
“You stopped taking them?”
“Yes.”
“And Doctor Ludd told you this was okay?”
Fear crept into her belly. “Why? Am I supposed to still be taking them?”
Dru chewed on his bottom lip. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t aware he’d changed your medication.”
“He said my tests all seemed fine.”
Dru’s forehead creased. He stood and headed toward Daith’s communications panel. He sent out a request for Dr. Ludd to respond. When no response came, Dru asked the computer to locate the doctor.
“Doctor Ludd is in the medical wing,” the computer answered.
Dru turned toward the door to leave. “I’m going to see what’s going on. It’s not like Doctor Ludd not to answer a call. He doesn’t need to sleep and he’s always in his office. But maybe he’s in surgery…” Dru trailed off. “Regardless, you need to go back to sleep.”
“Yeah right,” she countered, searching for her pants. “Like I’m not coming with—”
“Doctor’s orders.” He touched her shoulder, stopping her.
“But—!”
“We still have another session tomorrow and I want you at full strength.”
“You expect me to sleep after this?”
“Yes. I bet if you lie down you’ll be asleep sooner than you think.”
Stubborn, she sat, blanket clenched tight around her waist. His hand remained on her shoulder, gentle. Energy poured from him.
“I’m not tired and I want to know what’s going on.” The words came, but her eyes felt grainy. His touch soothed her. She blinked repeatedly.
“You’ll know tomorrow.”
“But—” Daith tried again, but the statement lacked conviction. The adrenaline rush from her dream drained out of her. And at the expression on his face, full of concern, she knew she didn’t want to do anything else to hurt him. Not after what she’d done in her dream.
“Sleep,” he said. “I’ll see you soon.” He left.
Daith lay down, remembering the feel of his fingers on her skin, afraid one day they’d be flaky and burnt and the fault would be hers.
“I’ll never let that happen,” she whispered into the darkness, her eyelids sliding closed. “Never.”
*
“He’s what?”
“He’s gone.” Dru spoke to Trey over the communications panel. “I’m in his office right now. The computer says he’s here, but there’s no sign of him. I don’t understand how—”
Trey tuned his brother out. Dr. Ludd—gone. How? HOW?
“Dru,” Trey interrupted his brother’s words, “get down to my office.”
The moment the panel went silent, Trey smashed his hand into it. The buttons bowed inward with a pop. Static hissed from the broken console. He paced while he waited for Dru.
How could this have happened? And when? Doctor Ludd was under surveillance like everyone else on this ship.
Trey went over to the communications panel and hit one of the brok
en buttons. “Commander Xiven to—” He cursed at a loud squeal from the panel, followed by a puff of acrid smoke. He’d have to go to the bridge himself after his brother showed up.
As he thought it, his chimes rang.
“Enter!” he bellowed.
Dru strolled in, shaking his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Trey dismissed the comment with a wave. “It doesn’t matter, it’s already done. I will figure out what happened later, but first I want to know how this affects Daith.”
“He took her off the dream-deflectors and she had a nightmare. When I went into her quarters to check on her, she seemed distraught, but all right.”
Trey chewed his tongue. Dru was in her quarters?
It doesn’t matter. Focus!
“We should get her back on them immediately.” Trey headed into the room adjacent to his office. He returned shortly with a large bottle of pills. Opening it, he shook several into Dru’s hand. “These are extra dream-deflector pills.”
Dru raised an eyebrow, but took the pills silently.
“I’ll leave their administration up to you, doctor. With Doctor Ludd gone, she is entirely your patient.” Trey put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “She is at a critical point and I need you to see this through. I’m counting on you.”
Dru hesitated, but he set his jaw and nodded.
Once Dru left, Trey made his way to the bridge to find out exactly what had happened with Dr. Ludd—and who would take responsibility for this mistake.
Chapter 29
The following morning, Daith rang the chimes to Dru’s office. She wanted answers. Once she’d fallen back asleep, she’d slept restlessly. Dreams of a blond man lying in a hospital bed plagued her. She knew he could tell her who she was, but he wouldn’t respond. Once she awoke, the concern and confusion she’d felt about her medication and Dr. Ludd flooded back and the images of the blond man bled away. Why didn’t anyone else know the doctor had left? Why had he stopped giving her those pills? And why had Dru been so worried about it?
Daith came back from her thoughts at Dru’s invitation to enter his office.
“Morning,” he said. “How did you sleep after your nightmare?”
“Night—?” Daith’s mouth went dry. She’d forgotten. Her control over the stars, her desire to remold the galaxy, her retaliation at Dru for wanting to stop her. She backed away, colliding into the wall behind her. Images of his burnt corpse filled her mind.
“Daith!” Dru grabbed her. “Daith. Focus on my voice. You are in my office. You are safe. You are with me. You are not dreaming. You—are—safe.”
The dream faded and Daith stumbled into Dru’s arms.
“It was awful!” she blurted out. “You were dead and I-I killed you. I don’t know—everything is turned around like your death already happened, but it couldn’t have happened because you are here and alive and…” Daith burst into tears. She clung to Dru.
“It’s okay. You’re safe with me. It’s okay.”
Daith’s sobs subsided and she pulled back from Dru. “It felt so real!”
Dru led her to one of the chairs. “It was only a nightmare.”
Daith shook her head, but didn’t say anything.
“I know it’s hard,” Dru said, “but talking might help.”
“I was molding space around me, but you didn’t want me to do it. And then I felt so angry, and there was heat, and flame….” She couldn’t bring herself to tell him what had happened, what she’d done to him.
“Let’s not push it. I’m here. I’m okay. And you’re here and you’re okay. Right?”
Daith let out a ragged breath. “Right.”
“Do you still want to work today?”
She nodded, looking into his gray eyes, so relieved they shone alive and healthy. “I could use the distraction.”
Dru gestured for her to lead the way and they strolled through the corridor toward the simulation room—a path she now knew quite well. They stood outside for a few moments as the program loaded before Daith remembered why she’d shown up early at his office to begin with.
“Dru?”
“Yes?”
“What happened with Doctor Ludd last night?”
Dru acknowledged a passing crewmember. “Ah, yes. A miscommunication. My brother forgot to inform me Doctor Ludd had left. No one told me you didn’t need to take the nerve-dye anymore.”
“Oh.” Daith’s gut squirmed. Something didn’t seem right. “They didn’t think to tell you?”
“His departure was sudden. Trey said he’d planned to tell me in the morning.”
“Oh.” Her next question died on her lips as the scents in the simulation room hit her in a waft of mixed fragrances. A multitude of flowering plants reached into every corner—some higher than she could stretch, others peppered around her feet.
“Little heavy on the perfume, don’t you think?” she asked, clearing her throat from the pungent smells.
Dru smiled. “Different senses are controlled by different parts of your brain. Today we’ll be working on focusing your senses when one is over stimulated.”
“Let me guess, sense of smell is first?”
“Can’t put anything past you, can I?”
*
Dru completed his report back in his office. Fingertips found their way to his temples to ease his headache. The sheer effort of continually opening up to her while keeping his thoughts blocked, drained him. But the headaches and fatigue were worth it.
Dru had studied Jacin Jaxx’s file and ran through a listing of all Jacin’s abilities: the power to heal damaged living tissue, the ability to pull apart objects, the technique he used for implanting thoughts, the way he could feel others’ emotions, even Jacin’s description on how he could remain connected with other minds even when they weren’t in the vicinity—sometimes for years.
Through each of their sessions, Dru had tested Daith on each of these abilities with interesting results. She had the ability to heal living tissue—she had demonstrated that with her recovery from her coma. Like her father, she could not reconstruct inanimate tissue, shown by her failure to reconnect the broken board, metal rod, and rope. Unlike Jaxx though, she didn’t seem to be able to sense emotions, which Dru knew was a good thing. If Daith could feel the crew’s emotions or even his own…
Dru sighed. He thought of how he’d handed Daith the dream-deflector pills after their session—this time under the guise of sedatives to help her sleep through the night. The pills had rattled inside their new bottle. A fake label printed across the side explained how often and how much of the medicine to take. The rattling sound now echoed in Dru’s mind.
He pushed his chair away from his desk, nauseated. Get yourself under control. Those are the same pills she took before.
Dru caught a reflection of his face in the shiny surface of his desk.
“Do you want to keep doing this?’ Stray thoughts flitted through his mind.
I don’t want to hurt her.
Can I can keep lying to her?
I can’t let Trey down.
Remember what Trey said. This could give Daith a second chance at life.
“Yes. I want to keep doing this,” he told his reflection. He would keep a close watch on her to make sure she stayed within healthy limits. He would only lie to her if absolutely necessary. And if he succeeded, perhaps this would help him and his brother find peace.
Chapter 30
Trey stared at the report, eyesight grainy, unsure exactly how to feel. He re-read everything uncovered about Dr. Ludd’s ‘escape,’ from the microchip left with his genetic imprint so the ship would still think he was on board, to the way he’d gotten off the ship by using an old medical emergency code, and finally the encrypted messages sent to a passing transport ship to pick him up after he’d jettisoned from the Horizon. On top of everything else, Dr. Ludd had wiped both his and the central ship’s computer of all his reports, his patient’s files, and his surgery results.
&nbs
p; Trey sat back in his chair. Dr. Ludd had outsmarted him. And since so much time had passed, pursuing him would be useless.
He’d have to increase security, of course. He’d have to scour the computer for any other old codes still active and install more security cameras, with a personal review of each recording. He’d pay more attention to his crew, judge any hesitation or resistance on their part, and then make sure they couldn’t be a threat. He would eventually find Dr. Ludd and deal with him accordingly.
He could do it.
He could because he couldn’t rely on anyone else.
Trey nodded at his resolve, but the motion caused him dizziness. His head spun, too full, and his body overrode his mind’s plan to stay awake. Trey’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell forward onto his desk, sound asleep….
Jacin stood at the front of the Enforcer—he and the crew he commanded were headed to Milla Vance IV. Before they arrived, Jacin received a disturbing report.
His daughters could not be located on Lameer.
Concerned, Jacin made inquiries to the soldiers on watch.
“We aren’t sure what happened, Commander. The day before they were home with their mother and the next day, they were gone. We searched all the logs for departing ships, but none held records of anyone matching the two girls’ descriptions. We questioned their mother, but she refused to answer and demanded we leave the premises.”
“Tell the captain to plot a course for Lameer. The other ships may continue on to Milla Vance IV. We’ll catch up with them later.”
“Aye, Commander.”
Jacin sat in his chair, puzzled. What could have possessed Elor to send away his guards? Didn’t she know they were there for her protection? Maybe she’d been forced to. Maybe someone kidnapped the girls. Perhaps held them hostage.
Jacin’s mind crawled with ideas. Flesh and bone would be no obstacle when he found those who’d hurt his family.
Five standard hours passed before the shuttle docked at Lameer’s main bay. Jacin and two of his guards caught the first Anywhere And You’re There! vehicle and headed to his family’s house. When they arrived, Jacin ordered his guards to remain outside.
Eomix Galaxy Books: Illusion Page 18