The Sands of Argurumal (Argurma Salvager Book 3)

by S. J. Sanders

  Heat flared through her, desire flushing her skin. At that moment, she couldn’t say for sure who was compelling whom.

  Larth’s smile widened into an Argurma grin, showing the tips of his fangs.

  “I look forward to hearing more of her species, then,” he rumbled, and Terri immediately felt for whatever woman he might manage to snare if he got to Earth.

  She had a feeling Larth was the persistent sort. Although that did seem to be an Argurma trait to varying degrees. Dreth might be at the shyer end of the scale—and given his determination, that was saying something—but Larth was noticeably at the other end… as was the male approaching from the side wearing a blue robe. He was hard to miss. Though muscular as any of the Argurma, he had a leaner frame as opposed to the bulk the males and even several females seemed to prefer. He had been hovering close for the last several minutes but hadn’t made any move to approach until now.

  Veral drew back slightly, making room for the newcomer, and inclined his head.

  “Medic,” he greeted the stranger, his expression as cold as the glaciers on Xalkilon. He really wasn’t keen on people he didn’t know. In fact, his brow was dropping into a scowl. “You are not Garalth,” he observed icily.

  “No. I am Medic Tarik,” the male corrected. “Garalth was my father. He now rests with our ancestors, drinking sweet water in the cool realm of Ehanel.”

  Veral’s expression didn’t lighten nor did he so much as twitch. Terri prodded him with her elbow. He glanced over at her before returning his attention to Tarik and grunting.

  “Garalth was a good male. His loss is a loss to the line,” he acknowledged. For about five seconds he was a sympathetic, feeling male, and just as quickly he shut it down. “You received my scans?”

  The blue-robed male gave a pleased smile, his vibrissae puffing out with pride as he gave an abbreviated nod.

  “Thank you. Yes, Ahanvala. My systems are currently updating with the biological specs you sent me for the human species. I will then begin to go over the data you have provided. I am eager to begin on this assignment.”

  His eyes strayed to her in an assessing manner… and lingered far beyond what even she felt was comfortable or polite. Unsurprisingly, Veral took exception to it and growled territorially. Vibrissae rustling in surprise, the medic’s eyes snapped away from her back to her mate. His mandibles tucked close and tight to his cheeks, his vibrissae twining together in an expression of embarrassment.

  “The human is fascinating,” he said abruptly. “I did not intend to exceed boundaries of politeness. I will not repeat that error…”

  “Do you have experience, Medic Tarik, in assisting females in birthing?” Veral asked suddenly.

  Tarik paused in surprise but soon found his voice. “Yes. Actually, I have assisted the birth of numerous offspring before I returned here.”

  Veral grunted. “Very well. Keep in mind, Tarik, that you will treat my mate with exceptional care regardless of your experience.”

  “Yes. Of course,” he replied.

  “Veral naturally worries for his fragile mate. A reasonable reaction for one tied to a weaker species, I assume,” a cool feminine voice broke in.

  Bristling, Terri turned to confront the speaker only to see Featha beside them, her expression and tight and possessing the bearing—and fury—of a queen. The corner of the female’s mouth slanted upward as she met Terri’s eyes.

  Unlike the few nobles who Terri had come across in her travels with Veral, there was nothing delicate about her, and that was more apparent with the previous Ahanvala looming over her. Featha was as tall as Veral and came close to possessing the same amount of muscle. Terri wondered if she had undergone training as a warrior too. If so, she wouldn’t be surprised. The female looked like she wanted to chew Terri up and spit her out but wasn’t sure if she wanted to sully herself with the actual chore of doing it.

  Terri met her hostile expression with a blank, unconcerned one that had the female’s vibrissae twisting through the air in annoyance.

  “Nothing survives well on Argurumal except Argurma. Those aliens who serve in our markets do so only because of special habitats constructed for them. How will this human survive? We do not have offworlder habitats here. Like the rest of our planet, there is nothing here but sand and stone. There is a high probability that you will have plenty of opportunities to observe the harm, medic, as I am sure that she will regularly be in your care. Veral will be very occupied just to keep his little alien mate alive,” she observed.

  “Enough, Featha,” Veral rumbled in warning. “I have already warned you about insulting Terri. Why are you still here?”

  “It is not an insult if it is fact,” the female replied firmly. “You are Ahanvala now, Veral, and I will concede to your decisions just as I am here to give my oath to protect your mate and offspring. Be aware, no matter what oaths are given, they will never belong among us or to this household in any meaningful way.”

  Veral’s eyes narrowed. “Acknowledged. You will, however, be proven wrong. My mate is stronger and more resilient than you assume.”

  “We will see,” Featha murmured before stepping away.

  Robes swirling around her legs, she slipped into the crowd, leaving them staring after her. The oath wasn’t unexpected, but Terri wished that she would have had some kind of familial support from that quarter. She should have known that it was too much to hope for that his family would treat her as their own. At the very least, Featha was not going to be in any hurry to, and Terri suspected that her opinion carried considerable weight in the household.

  Terri had the feeling that she was going to be avoided like a plague.

  “However often you require to see me is acceptable,” Tarik offered. “As your mate, Terri’s health is a priority, and I will see that she receives the best care. We can begin now. Follow me. I will escort you to the medical unit and we will…”

  “No. You will not,” Larth interrupted slowly, his deep voice cutting through the medic’s chatter. “As the head of the Ahanvala Guard, I am the Ahanvala’s guard,” he continued. “As such I will escort him where he requires to go, or any other guards as I deem necessary. Go back to medical, and I will bring them once they are ready.”

  Tarik glanced at Veral, but with no objection coming from that quarter, he bobbed his head again and strode away, his spine stiff. Despite the creepy staring, Terri felt bad for him. Of everyone in the household, he seemed the most genuinely concerned about her welfare even if it was out of a fair amount of scientific curiosity.

  Larth chuffed after him.

  “Tarik is a good male and a good medic. Loyal, too. It is necessary to remind him that there is more to our lives than just his work,” he said with another chuff as he gave Terri a smile. “We will get you to medical quarter soon, after the tour. Knowing the layout of the main points of the compound is necessary, and it has been a long time since Veral was here.”

  As good as his word, he led them from the main room through several large corridors. Weapons room, kitchens, goods storage in case they required anything for their chambers. He even pointed out in passing several assigned wings for various tasks to maintain the household. Although everything was dark and one hallway seemed to blend into another, she was still surprised when Larth stopped outside of a doorway and gestured them inside.

  “Medical quarter,” he said.

  Terri glanced back at him as she started to walk in with Veral, her sudden stop bringing her mate to a halt.

  “Aren’t you coming?”

  Larth smirked down at her. “No need to go into medical if I am not sick. Nanos take care of most things. I will be waiting here when you are finished.”

  “Okay,” she said as she allowed herself to be led inside.

  9

  The medical quarter of the compound was more than what Terri had expected given what she was used to on the Wanderer. It was a true wing, with several sterile rooms designated for the healthcare of the Monushava line. T
he tranquil blue of the walls was even more unexpected. It was a surprising contrast, given that the dark walls seemed to be standard everywhere she looked—albeit broken up by the panels that tapped into the system controls and large holographic screens that cycled through images that she could only guess were of the family.

  Tarik greeted her with mellow smile as she stepped inside, Veral crowding in close behind her. Although he dropped his head in a respectful nod, he slid by Veral, practically brushing him aside and ignoring the threatening growl that rose from her mate as he gestured toward the med-bed.

  Although bigger than the one on the ship, this at least was familiar. Terri shot a quick glance at Veral. He glowered at the medic but huffed as he stalked over to the far side of the med-bed where he settled against the wall, close but out of the way of the medic who circled the bed making adjustments in passing. She gave her mate a brave smile in an attempt to comfort them both before she climbed up onto it without comment and stretched out with her hands folded just above her belly.

  Tarik leaned over her and ran a handheld device down her body. Veral had done this often enough that she knew that he merely used it to take her vitals. Although he hummed a bit with the rapid vibration of his mandibles, the process was over quickly. He set the device on the small table to her right and placed his hand on a panel on the side of the med-bed. A blue holographic shield popped up above her. In that field, she could see the holographic image of her baby curled within her.

  “The scans you gave me were recent?” Tarik asked Veral abruptly.

  Her mate nodded. “Yes,” he replied gruffly. “They were taken just five rotations ago. At first, I was doing scans daily until it appeared that the gestation was proceeding normally for Argurma breeding. Even with the sudden acceleration in the growth rate of the fetus, nothing else registered as abnormal. Without any way to conclusively interpret what was happening, I decided not to distress Terri with further tests, given my lack of skill in this area.”

  The medic hummed again as he shifted data around in the hologram.

  “She is growing at an astounding rate,” Tarik agreed after a moment. “Exceedingly fast. Other than that, you are correct—she appears otherwise normal. Her nanos are already thriving through her bloodstream, although there is a presence of something else that appears to originate from the mother’s body.”

  His lips thinned minutely as he magnified his view of her daughter. Immediately, he moved up and magnified the area of her arm. There she could see the strange, steady internal pulse of her symbiont glowing like a jewel in the hologram. Within the magnification, however, she could see a thin glowing line that seemed to weave into her.

  “This is the symbiont you mentioned.”

  It was a statement rather than a question, but Veral inclined his head again in silent agreement when the medic looked his way.

  Tarik’s eyes narrowed at the symbiont intently. “It is unlike anything I have seen or anything in the medical databases that I have access to via my processors,” he stated flatly. “Our cybernetics amplify the general muscle or muscle group which they are designed to augment, or specific functions of our brains, but this symbiont is connected not only to the female’s tissue, but deeply imbedded in her nervous and vascular systems. There is a particularly bright, thick thread here,” he observed, tracing a claw over a pulse thread of light. “It is the same line that I see accessing your offspring through the blood exchanged between mother and offspring via the uterine lining. It is tapping directly through your offspring to this…”

  He turned the hologram to an angle that hadn’t been achieved by their med-bed on their starship and magnified her baby’s arm until she was able to see a small glowing jewel that appeared to be growing off of her baby’s forearm. It also had a visibly bright thread.

  Terri swallowed back her nausea. How had that gotten there, and why? Veral seemed to be of a similar mind because a low, threatening growl rumbled from him as he stared the tiny symbiont growing on their daughter.

  “Has that thing infected my offspring?” he hissed.

  Tarik tilted his head curiously, not looking away from the holograms. “Not at all. It is replicating itself to pass on its protections to the offspring that it is programmed to protect. It has not infected your offspring but is providing more immediate protection to the developing young. It is no more invasive than our own nanos that our offspring inherit from us to make them stronger, healthier, and longer living. In truth, it is far more advanced than any of our cybernetic modifications that must wait until after maturity to be added in phases beginning in adolescence.”

  “So it won’t hurt her?” Terri asked, desperately needing the clarification to set her mind at ease.

  Another mellow smile was directed at her, and the medic shook his head. “There is low probability of that. My calculations indicate that the environment it is creating with the nanos is modifying your offspring, causing a quicker growth. In our species, she already possesses all her organs, and so this is merely a rapid acquiring of mass that would have happened later anyway, but at an accelerated rate accomplishing in weeks what would take lunars. It could be a response to the mingling with the human species’ naturally shorter gestation.”

  A low sigh escaped her mate and his eyes closed wearily, making her heart swell with emotion. Veral did not confess worries, but clearly he had been just as concerned as she was.

  “I am pleased to know this,” he said at length. “With there being no danger to my mate, I will make plans for imminent departure within the next three days. That should be enough time,” he said thoughtfully.

  “I did not say that,” Tarik replied evenly as he terminated the holographic shield.

  The sudden disappearance of the light made Terri blink to adjust her eyes as she slowly sat up in the med-bed. Veral was at her side, his arm spanning around her to assist her out of the bed as he glared once more at the medic.

  “Then speak plainly,” he growled, his vibrissae whipping.

  Tarik didn’t look any more flustered by the display than he had throughout the entire exam, his own vibrissae twining in a relaxed state around his shoulders. He met Veral’s eyes, and his brow plating rose a little.

  “Although the symbiont and the nanos are helping your daughter’s and your mate’s bodies absorb the stress of the accelerated changes, your female will become more easily tired and need to feed regularly. Large amounts of food are going to be needed for both of them… quality food, not replicated food,” Tarik added when Veral bristled indignantly.

  Terri didn’t blame her mate. He did make sure that she had plenty of food to eat, keeping their replicator stocked, and kept the disgusting axna fruit.

  “Replicated food carries all necessary nutrients. It is not inadequate,” Veral objected with an annoyed snarl.

  Unperturbed, the medic initiated a sanitizer over the med-bed.

  “It may contain some of the basic nutrients, but it is inferior to fresh foods obtained here on Argurumal. Also, it would be better for your offspring to have some exposure to our planet’s gravity for a period, in my estimation. There is also the fact that females often have difficulty in birthing—we are not beyond risking our females in death from birthing. We still lose some occasionally, even now. I would advise that you allow me to oversee her delivery. I will be able to make the right notations to record her birth for legitimacy purposes in our records and can do so without setting off suspicion. If you want your daughter of the line to have any chance of truly inheriting, she will need records of birth filed.”

  Veral drew back slowly from where he was standing nearly toe-to-toe with the other male and huffed.

  “I do not like this,” he grumbled.

  Terri wasn’t thrilled either, but her overactive imagination kept coming back to the horror of delivering without a medic on their ship, or even being one of the rare casualties of childbirth. The odds would be a lot higher if they were traveling alone on The Wanderer. The idea of giving birt
h in general terrified her. She knew that Veral would do everything he could to help her and wouldn’t leave her side, but the idea of having a large family and a trained medic at hand was suddenly very appealing.

  “Veral, I think we should follow Tarik’s advice and stay,” she interrupted.

  His vibrissae puffed out as his eyes whipped to her.

  “Why?” he demanded. “We do not need to hide in fear when we are on The Wanderer. We go where we wish, take the work that appeals to us and provides many credits. You like being alone on the starship with me just as much as I do.”

  “Yeah,” Terri hedged. “But this shit scares me, okay? When I thought of my pregnancy, I thought I still had a lot of time before I had to worry about giving birth, but now it’s just weeks away and I’m scared. Anything can go wrong out there, and as much as I love it… and love the adventure of just being out there with you… I really want to be here where there are others to help us. Just in case the worst happens,” she added.

  Her mate eyed her skeptically but let out another, far wearier huff and nodded. Stroking a hand down her cheek and along the curve of her jaw, he leaned forward and settled his plated forehead against hers.

  “I worry of these things, too. But I also worry of remaining where our enemies are so close.”

  “Your mother-kin will help you. We will guard you,” Tarik reminded him. “Regardless of the worries and opinions they may possess on your mating and offspring, we understand our duty to each other. I cannot think of anyone who would betray your presence here and not make certain that your mate and daughter are cared for.”

  Veral grunted. “You speak convincingly. Since when does an Argurma have a quick tongue and persuasive manner like a Vashinakar merchant?”

  An amused chuff escaped Tarik, and the corners of his mouth upturned into a smile. “It comes from studying interstellar medicine on one of the galactic space stations before I was called home to take my place as the medic of the Monushava line.”

  “You could do that?” Terri asked, immediately fascinated.