Stardoc

by S. L. Viehl

  “It keeps my thoughts occupied.” He smiled slowly. “We all miss you, Healer.”

  “Hey, when I get out of here, I’ll be after your credits, too.”

  Xonea laughed, and squeezed my hand. “I accept your challenge.” Then, with a more sober air, he touched my cheek. “Grow strong, ClanSister.” He left me just as the Senior Healer approached to chase him out, too.

  As she took my vital readings, Tonetka looked after Xonea thoughtfully. Then I got the same speculative look.

  “What?” I thought she saw something wrong on the scanner. “Don’t tell me I’m going to be stuck here any longer.”

  “I plan to release you within the hour,” she said. I whooped with glee. “I await the peace and quiet with great anticipation. As well as the absence of certain pilots I have stumbled over several times a day.”

  “Xonea and Dhreen are just trying to cheer me up.”

  “Dhreen, yes, but Xonea—” Her shrewd eyes met mine. “He honors you greatly.”

  “Right.” I snorted. “He just wants to clobber me at the whump-ball tables.”

  “Perhaps.” Tonetka put down her scanner. “Now, I want to talk to you about your test results.”

  She had been keeping most of them from me. I steadied myself. “Tell me the bad news first.”

  She smiled. “It is not bad.”

  I didn’t trust her. She was being too nice. “There’s cardiac damage, isn’t there? Have I developed arrhythmia?” I sat up and folded my arms over my chest. “Go ahead, tell me. I can take it.”

  “My initial scans indicated some significant ischemic damage. Mitral insufficiency was probable, along with arrhythmia.”

  It wasn’t bad, I thought. It was terrible. Oxygen deprivation had affected my heart’s cells. Had killed them. “So I need a transplant.”

  “Cherijo, the last scans I performed were vastly improved. Ischemic damage is negligible.” At my gasp, she patted my shoulder. “The first series of scans may have been inaccurate. Or perhaps the ischemic cells are healing.”

  “Healing?” I made a scoffing sound. “Not possible in Terrans. Your scanner must have fused.”

  “It is difficult to say.” Tonetka handed me her scanner. “Check for yourself.”

  I read the data quickly. “This can’t be right. Not after two consecutive myocardial infarctions. There’s hardly anything registering.”

  “It may be explained by the unusual measures the League took in their attempt to retrieve you from the Sunlace.”

  This was news. I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your violent reaction to transition was caused by the League. Before Captain Pnor transitioned, cruisers began to attack the ship. We believe they tried to isolate you with one of their containment devices during transition. The physical stress triggered the episodes of heart and brain dysfunction. It was fortunate they did not succeed. The disruption of the flightshield would have caused the stardrive to implode.”

  They’d tried to take me off the ship? And kill everyone on board the Sunlace in the process? “Why didn’t anybody tell me about this?” I demanded.

  “You have been ill,” Tonetka said, then leveled a direct gaze at me. “Now, tell me, why would the League sacrifice a valuable treaty with Joren and exterminate every member of this crew merely to remove you from this vessel?”

  “I don’t know.” I had some ideas, but I wasn’t going to tell Tonetka.

  “There is more. Reports have come to us of a massive recovery operation initiated by the League. They will undoubtably try to pursue us, if they can ever locate the ship again.”

  I stared at my hands, which by now were white-knuckled. “They’ll never stop hunting me.”

  “You will need to plan your path accordingly, my colleague.” She sat down on the side of my berth. “Cherijo, I have spoken to you about my retirement. If you desire the position, I will recommend to Pnor that he appoint you as Senior Healer.”

  I lifted my face to watch hers. “Do you really think I can handle the job?”

  Tonetka was equally grave. “You will bring honor to it.”

  That was a sterling endorsement, in Jorenian terms. I couldn’t go back to Terra or K-2. The Sunlace had provided sanctuary for me, and now offered continued freedom and purpose.

  “I accept the position,” I said, and watched the big grin spread across her face. She turned and announced it to the entire staff, who within moments were crowding around and congratulating me, too.

  I thought that was the end of it. I got dressed, bid everyone farewell, and went to see my cat. Dhreen kidnapped me practically the moment I walked in my quarters. He informed me Jenner had been staying with Alunthri, and that I had to come with him at once.

  “Where are you taking me?” I demanded with a laugh as the Oenrallian hauled me down to the central corridor.

  “Be patient, Doc. Here we are.” He stopped at one of the environomes that were located throughout the ship. The self-contained modules’ dimensional imagers could be programmed to simulate virtually any environment in the ship’s vast database. Tonetka had told me they were used primarily for recreational and training purposes.

  Dhreen’s spoon-shaped fingers tapped the controls, then he pulled me through the opening door panel. A flying bundle of silver fur jumped into my arms.

  “Jenner.” I buried my face in his fur, and chuckled as his rough tongue rasped against my cheek. “I missed you, too.” Then I looked up. “Oh, Dhreen. It’s beautiful.”

  I was touched to see the imagers had been programmed to create a formal European garden I had once described to Alunthri. New friends and old were waiting to welcome me as the new Senior Healer.

  “In training,” I said as Jenner and I were swept off. Gentle hands delivered us to Xonea, who was waiting by an elaborately scrolled gazebo. A huge buffet had been arranged inside. Alunthri waited there, too. The Chakacat accepted my thanks for caring for my pet, as well as the exquisite program design.

  “Did His Majesty behave himself while I was in Medical?” I asked, smiling indulgently as my cat left me to give a plate of Jorenian fish his exclusive attention.

  “He was most distressed over your illness,” the Chakacat said with a pained look of remembrance.

  “Don’t tell me. I can imagine what he did to your furnishings.” I gazed around at the lovely gardens. “This is so amazing, Alunthri. How did you do it?”

  “The dimensional imagers are quite advanced,” it said as it selected a vegetarian variety of canapé from the buffet. “I was intrigued to see if my calculations would produce such a result. Jorenian technology is very precise.”

  I enjoyed the party immensely. The food was imaginative and plentiful, Jenner ate until he was nearly gorged, and Dhreen told his funniest stories. The Torins were particularly effusive with their praise for the beautiful landscape, and a group of programmers got into a technical discussion with the Chakacat. By the end of our meal, Alunthri had become the center of attention. Which was fine with me.

  I left the gazebo and drifted through the gathering, exchanging pleasantries, enjoying the company. It was a nice change from being stuck in Medical for days. I scanned the surroundings to look for Reever—not that I wanted him there—and my eyes met a familiar gaze.

  Xonea was smiling at me. In that moment he looked so much like Kao it almost broke my heart. Some of what I felt showed, for he came to my side and took my arm.

  “Walk with me, Healer.” He led me a small distance from the party, where we halted beneath a lattice of thick vines heavily laden with brilliant flowers. “You were thinking of my ClanBrother just now, were you not?”

  I was not going to cry. Not at my own party. “Xonea . . .”

  “I understand,” he said, and regarded the blooms above us. “The path has been difficult for you, has it not?” I didn’t answer. I was too busy blinking hard. “Healer, my ClanBrother and I were very close. I would have you be the ClanSister he would have given me, in Choice, in bo
nd.”

  “Yes, well, Kao’s dead.” I scuffed the toe of my footgear against the simulated grass beneath us. “I’ll just have to be your adopted sister.”

  “We are HouseClan.” He released my hand and plucked a rose from a vine above us, handing it to me. “You are Torin now, bound to us all. Yet you keep yourself apart.” I gave him a perplexed look. His brows drew together. “You had no ClanSiblings in your life before?”

  “You mean, brothers and sisters? Back on Terra?” He nodded. “No. I was an only child.” Thank God, I added silently.

  “I would be your ClanBrother, Healer.” He made a beautiful gesture with both hands. “In heart as well as name.”

  I regarded him suspiciously. “If I say yes, do I have to put on a robe and stand up in front of the whole crew again?”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “No, I promise you, no more robes.”

  That was a relief. “Then, what do I have to do?”

  “Allow me to share your path and your burdens, when you have need.” Serious once more, he handed me another rose. “Honor me with the same.”

  “Okay. I’ll try.” I’d never had a big brother before. Kao would have liked this. He had spoken of Xonea with such affection. The pain swelled, suddenly beyond my control. My voice broke about the same time that I crushed the two roses in my hands. “Oh, Xonea. I miss him. I miss him so much.”

  “I know, Cherijo.” He pulled me into a gentle embrace, and pressed my head against his chest. “I do as well.”

  I tried to return to duty the next day, but Tonetka chased me out of Medical with a threat to put me in a berth if I showed my face again for the next three rotations. On the way back to my quarters, I nearly walked into Duncan Reever.

  He was thinner. He didn’t look as if he’d been sleeping well, either. I stepped back, and opened my mouth to say something inconsequential. Nothing came out.

  “Dr. Grey Veil.” He studied me as one would an uninteresting leukocyte. “You have recovered from your illness.”

  Yes, I thought to myself. That I had. I moved around him without responding. Of course, Reever followed after me.

  “I thought you went back to K-2,” I said as he caught up and walked beside me.

  “It was not in my best interests to do so.”

  “Why not?”

  “The Allied forces were not pleased to discover I could board the Sunlace when they were barred from it.”

  I gave a short laugh. “I bet they weren’t.”

  “There was some discussion of the exact placement of my loyalties.”

  I stopped for a moment. “Exactly where are your loyalties, Reever?”

  “As I have none, the question is rhetorical.”

  Of course he had no loyalties. I was being hunted down by the League, he was just on board because it was the prudent thing to do, and if I didn’t walk away I was going to start yelling at him.

  “You are upset.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “What will you do?”

  I stopped in front of an available environome. “Try not to wreck this equipment permanently.”

  “I will accompany with you,” he said. I wondered if I had hallucinated the link with him during my illness. He was the old Duncan Reever once again. Passionate as an exterior hull panel. Possessing as much warmth.

  I activated the entrance console and selected a preprogrammed file. Jorenian technology had advanced beyond what I knew as familiar, and I really didn’t want to wreck the equipment with my fumbling. I should have expected to be dazzled. Still, I was startled to find that in natural habitat re-creation, Kao’s people once more exceeded the League. By light-years.

  Within the chamber was an unspoiled vista of an alien world. Dominating the scene was the remarkable re-creation of a purple sea rushing up to lap gently against deep amber sands.

  “Where is this place?” I asked out loud.

  “Environome file designated HouseClan Torin Marine Province, Joren, Varallan Quadrant,” a drone automatically answered. “Please select desired amplifications.”

  “No amplifications desired,” I told the drone, and walked into the sea territory of Kao’s homeworld.

  I could smell the sweet tang of the water, feel the cool, soft air against my skin. The crackle of the spiny, feather-leafed plants fringing the shoreline blended with a melodic hum emanating from clusters of enormous scarlet flowers. I trailed my fingers over the velvety petals of a tiny, star-shaped plant that grew in staggered levels. I closed my eyes for a moment. The sea even sounded like those back on Terra. Rushing, ebbing, eternal.

  That last thought snapped me out of the pleasant trance. I didn’t want to think about eternity. I wanted to stop thinking altogether for a while. I strode down the sand.

  “You have agreed to take over as Senior Healer,” Reever said just behind me.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin, whirled around, then forced myself to calm down. I’d forgotten I had company. “What?”

  “I said, you have—”

  “Never mind, I heard you. Yes. That’s the plan.” I knew I was being unpleasantly curt. I wasn’t going to apologize to someone who invented the technique.

  “You won’t return to Kevarzangia Two.”

  “No, and I’ve had my fill of interrogations, Reever.”

  “There is something I must discuss with you.” He put a hand on my arm. “It will not take a great deal of time.”

  “Good.” I shook off the hand. “What is it?”

  Duncan Reever’s eyes went from my face to the horizon, and back again. His face didn’t show what he was thinking, but his hands clenched. Whatever it was, it was important to him. I owed him a great deal, I acknowledged grudgingly, in Kao’s memory. I could try to be patient and a little less hostile.

  “Duncan, just tell me.” Okay, I’d have to work on patience.

  “The Jorenians have offered me passage to the Varallan Quadrant in exchange for my services. I wanted to know if that is not acceptable to you.”

  “You want me to tell you to get off the ship?”

  “Is that what you want?”

  I hated it when he answered a question with a question. “I don’t think it’s any of my business.”

  “My presence causes you discomfort.”

  I shrugged. “I’ll learn to live with it.”

  “Will you?”

  “What do you want from me, Reever? My blessing?” His expression never changed. Not that there was much of one to start with. “Fine. Stay on the damn ship. It doesn’t matter to me!”

  “I don’t matter to you.”

  “No—” I let out a pent-up breath. “No, of course not. All I’m saying is what you choose to do with your life is your decision. I won’t interfere. I have no right to interfere.”

  “And if I gave you that right?”

  “Gave me—what are you talking about?”

  “Link with me.”

  Oh, no, not that again. I whirled away and started back down the shore. A few steps away from him, I felt the power of his mind reaching out to me. I started to run.

  “Cherijo.” He was following me again, shouting after me. “Stop! Please!”

  It felt wonderful. I thought I could run forever. Run away from Reever. From the League. From everything and everyone. Just lose myself in the sea. I barely registered the shock of the cool water when the first wave splashed against my legs.

  Reever’s ability to link with me evidently had no limit on distance. From across the environome I felt him initiate the connection. Cherijo. Don’t run from me. Wait. Listen.

  Go away, Reever. And don’t paralyze me. I’ll drown.

  I dove under the water, and began to swim with rapid strokes out from the shore. At a distance I heard running steps approaching, and the splash Reever’s body made when he hit the water.

  You are possibly the most intractable female I have ever encountered, he thought as he swam toward me.

  Get out of my brain.

 
; You must allow me this.

  He was an excellent swimmer, far better than I was. He caught me in his arms without a great deal of effort. I didn’t fight him. We floated together in the dark water of an alien world, our minds sifting into each other.

  I can’t go, Reever told me as the blinding light of his thoughts swept over me. I have tried. I want—

  An image of the one time we had sex immediately came to me. I felt him harden against my body as he shared the memory. I was faintly disgusted to feel my own senses stir to life.

  You aren’t doing that to me again, pal.

  Reever didn’t have an alien life-form controlling him now. He released me at once. No, Cherijo. I won’t force myself on you again.

  I thought of Kao, of what my father had done to me. I thought of how little I really knew about Duncan Reever.

  The link broke like a line snapping in half.

  I was oddly shaken by his sudden withdrawal. He put an arm around me and guided me back to the sand. When our feet touched bottom, we both stumbled together, soaking wet, to drop onto the golden beach.

  Reever didn’t touch me again. “I apologize.”

  “Don’t, Reever. I think I’m actually getting used to it.”»

  The chief linguist pushed himself onto his feet. He stood over me, his fair hair streaming to his shoulders. For a moment he looked like something out of a dream.

  “Doctor.” He inclined his head, and trudged away and out of the environome. I stayed on the sands, my arm flung over my face, and listened to the sea rushing up, trying to touch me.

  Captain Pnor had made a point to visit me in the Medical Bay during my convalescence. Since I knew he was one of the busiest Torins on board the Sunlace, it was a definite compliment. He was about the same age as Tonetka, and had an acrid wit that reminded me of William Mayer.

  When I returned to my quarters, I was even more surprised to see him there in the hallway, as if he had all the time in the universe to spend waiting for me. I invited him in, and left him to change into dry clothes. He amused himself playing a game of dangle-the-ribbon with Jenner.

  “You seem completely recovered from your illness, Healer,” Pnor rose and examined me with a practiced eye upon my return. “What did you think of environome seven?”