by neetha Napew
I deliberately gazed around me. “I don’t see any Council members around here, do you?”
“They can be signaled,” the Captain insisted.
“Our communications array is not functioning, Captain.” Salo came down to stand beside me. “I believe it will take several days to perform the necessary repairs.”
“We are not in the middle of a conflict,” Reever pointed out.
I’d anticipated that, too. “HouseClan Jado goes to negotiate peace in the League/Hsktskt conflict. By doing so, Joren enters the war and under those conditions, I am obliged to protect our people.”
“Say what you will, wife,” Reever wiped some blood from his eye. “You are not joining their Council.”
“By announcing the intercession, I already have.” I shook my head at him when he would have responded, then turned to the crew, “Duncan Reever has prevailed, and by doing so has the right to divert Clan-Leader Torin’s path. However, our people must have a ClanLeader who understands the war we have entered. As there is no Torin with more experience in dealing with the League and the Hsktskt, Xonea cannot be replaced. The law reads that the needs of the Clan are more important than any one of the House, and by that law, I declare this challenge is ended.”
Reever stared at me for a moment, then limped out of the environome.
“What would you have said if I had prevailed?” Xonea asked me.
“The HouseClan also needs allies willing to help them prevail over their enemies,” I said, and handed the book to Salo before slipping my arm around the Captain. “In case you haven’t noticed, Reever is the best ally we have.”
His pain-filled eyes met mine. “I knew you would not wish to join the Council. Why did you do this?”
“You left me no choice, and we’ll talk about it later. Let’s get you to Medical.”
“You will serve Joren well,” one of the crew said as he passed us.
I smiled, only a little bitterly. “Now that I have no choice, I guess I’d better.”
I confined the Captain to a medical berth and a dermal regenerator for the night. “You’re not scaring my kid by letting her see you like this,” I said when he objected. “Sleep. We can discuss the hows and whys of this tomorrow, when you’re apologizing to me.”
He took my hand in his before I pulled the regenerator over him. “I regret my actions provoked your bondmate, ClanSister.”
“Me, too.” I bent over and kissed him. “Good night, champ.”
I had the feeling Reever wouldn’t go back to our quarters looking the way he did, so I took my medical case and went to his second-favorite place on the ship. It meant taking a gyrlift all the way down to level thirty-five.
Beneath the transparent panels of the observation dome, a lone figure sat in the dark, staring at the stars. He didn’t turn around when I stepped off the lift. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to watch you sulk.” I switched on the lights, then sat down beside him to survey the damage. “And bleed.” I pushed his head to one side to get a better look at a nasty gash above his ear. That and a dozen other small wounds were still oozing, so I opened my case. “Xonea looks worse, if that helps.”
“Xonea lost.” There was some deep, primitive satisfaction in the way he said those two words.
“You would have killed him out of jealousy over me.”
“No. But I would have killed him for changing who you are.”
I stopped blotting up blood and sat back. “What?”
He lifted a swollen hand, and brushed a piece of hair from my face. “Xonea is a warrior. He wishes you to become a warrior. To be truly Jorenian, like his people. He wants you to lead them, to fight for them.”
I chuckled. “Boy, is he going to be disappointed, because I don’t have to-“
He pressed his finger against my mouth. “He will teach you to kill for them, beloved. That is the truth of why I challenged him. That I cannot allow.”
It hurt me, oddly, to hear him say that. “Don’t you trust me to do the right thing?”
“When I was enslaved by the Hsktskt, I tried to do the same. Each time I prevailed in the arena, I refused to kill. The centurons forced me to watch as they executed my opponent, then they beat me for defying them.” He looked out at the stars. “The Hsktskt do not encourage disobedience, and the beatings became increasingly vicious. After several bouts, I knew I would not be able to physically endure another and prevail again in the arena. I wanted to live. So I killed my next opponent, to save myself.” He closed his eyes. “I felt his blood on my hands for years.”
I wrapped his hand with a sterile dressing while I tried to conceal my horror and think of how to reassure him. All I could come up with was, “I’m not a slave anymore, Duncan. I’m a physician, and I won’t kill.”
“There are many types of enslavement, and many ways to kill.” He got up and held out his bandaged hand to me. “Let’s go home.”
The Sunlace left Oenrall space and headed for the planet we now assumed was Jxinok. I didn’t have much time to contemplate what would happen when Reever and I went down to the surface during that interval. Hawk’s psychosis wasn’t responding to dose-limiting him on antipsychotics, and Dhreen had become so manic that restraints were required around the clock.
“The latest series of toxicologies show no sign of pathogenic infection,” Savetka said as she handed me the lab results on our two patients. “No similarities between the cases have been identified, either.”
“There has to be something that triggered this. Something in the environments.” I thought for a moment. “When do the probes get back?”
After I explained my theory, Reever had supervised sending off the remote drones to Oenrall and Taerca. Like Squilyp, he wasn’t sure my environment theory was viable-biodecon always took care of native bugs-but didn’t offer a debate. Neither did the Captain when I requested permission to launch the probes. In the aftermath of the bout I’d stopped, we were all trying to be extremely civilized.
“I believe they were programmed to return within the week.” Savetka stared at the chart in my hands. “Is something amiss, Healer?”
“No, why?”
She nodded at my hands. “You are leaving marks in the casing.”
I glanced down and saw my fingers were digging into the chart so hard that I was leaving nail marks in the plas. “Sorry.” I handed it back to her. “I think I’ll take a break. Signal me in the galley if I’m needed.”
Walking down to get a cup of tea-I wasn’t hungry-didn’t seem to burn off the extra energy I was feeling. Neither did three games of whump-ball or beating the two administrative assistants who played against me.
I found myself standing in front of an exterior viewer, watching as the ship assumed orbit above a small, sandy-colored world.
Go home, Cherijo.
The server I’d absently carried from the galley slipped from my fingers, and smashed on the deck. My hands were up and pressing against the plas panel separating me from the cold, instant death outside the ship, and still I heard my fingernails screech across the unyielding surface. A vague throbbing started in my temples as I pressed my brow harder and harder against the viewer.
Go home, just go home-
“Healer?”
I snapped out of my self-induced-trance and looked to one side. “Yes?”
Qonja, who now had no reason to hide his real job as my personal advisor and all-around bodyguard, bent down to pick up the pieces of my ruined server. “You seem disturbed.”
“Impatient,” I corrected him, and knelt down to help. “I want to get to this over with as soon as possible.”
“The Jado will arrive shortly, as will the representatives from Oenrall and Taerca.” He took the shards from my hand and carried them over to a nearby disposal unit. “We should discuss how it will go for you, as a Council representative.”
“I thought all I had to do was listen.”
“You will be Joren’s final authority. An open relay with
the remainder of the Council will be maintained, of course, but there is no guarantee any signal will go through without mishap.”
“Then I may get to decide the fate of two or three worlds.” I went back to pressing my head against the viewer. “They didn’t cover this in Medtech.”
He looked as upset as I felt. “We can review historic precedent, if it will make you feel more at ease with your duties.”
“Narcotics wouldn’t dent my discomfort at this point.” I eyed him. “How would you feel about doing some sparring with me?”
“Will you be using that staff of yours?”
I grinned. “Not if you give up your swords.”
Sparring with Qonja helped release some of the odd tension I’d been feeling, and made me more receptive to the news Duncan brought home from work that day.
“Sensor sweeps show no indications of past conflict on the planet’s surface,” he told me as I stepped out of the cleanser. “It is also a very ancient world. More than six billion years in existence.”
I took the towel he handed me, and rubbed my face in it. “So when we go down there, we won’t see some wasteland of blasted, lifeless rubble?”
“There are some very old ruins which appear to be the last traces of whatever civilization occupied the world. They are slowly being reclaimed by the rising water table.” He took another towel and began to dry my hair. “Other than a variety of small mammals and benign botanicals, the planet is uninhabited.”
“When do we go?”
“Tomorrow.” He stopped rubbing and moved my hair to one side, away from a bruise on my shoulder. “You’ve been sparring again?”
“With Qonja. He knows almost as much as Wonlee does, and I don’t have to worry about stumbling into him and getting spiked.” I turned in his arms, and rubbed my cheek against his bare chest. “He’s only teaching me self-defense.”
He was quiet for a minute, then he tossed the towel aside and lifted me up into his arms. “Someday I want to see all these new moves of yours.”
We nearly made it to the bed when the door panel chimed. By the time I was dressed enough to answer it, Marel had woken up and gotten to the panel ahead of me. Garphawayn stood on the threshold.
My daughter yawned as she pointed up at Lady Cestes’s unhappy face. “Parkwy wady here, Mama.”
“Thanks, sweetie. Go back to bed for me, okay?”
Reever appeared, and led our kid back to her chamber.
“I do not wish to intrude.” Squilyp’s ex-fiancée swept her hand to the side, making ornaments jingle. “I will come back tomorrow.”
Normally I wouldn’t have argued with that, but something told me she was in trouble. “No, that’s okay. Come in.”
She declined my offer of a drink, and sat down gingerly on the edge of my favorite chair. Since it was his, too, Jenner came over to sniff at her foot and give her the eye. Strangely, his close proximity didn’t make her sneeze.
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck before sitting across from her. “What can I do for you, Garphawayn?”
“Lord Maftuda has refused to reinitiate contract negotiations.” She adjusted one of her gildrell rings. “I find I cannot bear to linger on this vessel another day.”
“From what I understand, the Omorr can’t come and get you until we leave this quadrant.”
“They cannot. That is why... I would like to know...” She paused as Reever came out of Marel’s bedroom, and moved to stand behind me. As he placed a hand on my shoulder, her expression became even more miserable. “I wish to accompany you and the sojourn team tomorrow. Would you permit that, Council representative?”
Although she might prove more of a hindrance than anything, I didn’t have the heart to turn her down. “Duncan, have we got room on the launch for one more?”
“We can accommodate several passengers. Lady Cestes is welcome to join us.”
I nodded. “There’s one thing you should know- Alunthri, our Chakacat friend, will be going with us.”
“I shall take another dose of antihistamine prior to launch.” Garphawayn rose majestically. “I extend my gratitude to you both, and will intrude on your privacy no longer.”
I beat her to the door panel. “Are you all right?”
She kept her head up and her spine straight. “In time, perhaps, I shall be.” She looked down at me. “Your concern is unnecessary, Lady Torin. I do not believe I deserve it.”
“I disagree,” I said, smiled, and opened the panel for her. “Try to get some rest.”
After she’d gone, I noticed Reever was smiling, too. “What’s so funny?”
“You despise that female, and still you offer her sympathy.”
“She may be the biggest pain in the posterior I’ve ever met, but she’s hurting. And she took an antihistamine before she came over.” I went to check on Marel, then took Duncan to bed. “She’s in love with Squilyp, you know.”
He rolled me over on top of him and held me against his chest. “I know.”
I lifted my head. “We difficult females have to stick together. Especially when we fall in love with difficult males.”
“I’m easy,” Duncan assured me.
“If you only knew.” I bent down to kiss him.
From the moment the launch left the Sunlace, my nervous tension escalated, until I had to slip out of my harness or start shrieking. Garphawayn watched me curiously as I paced the interior passenger cabin.
“Are you well, Lady Torin?”
I knew she was paying me a compliment, addressing me as an equal, but I was no lady. “Cherijo, please. I’m fine. Just a little jittery.”
The female Omorr looked down at the other end of the cabin, where Alunthri was sitting, and sniffed. “As I have already taken the required dosage of allergen medication, perhaps you could convince your feline friend to join us.”
“Alunthri.” I gestured, and pointed to a seat on the opposite side of the female Omorr. “She’s taken medication, so it’s safe. Come on over here.”
The Chakacat smiled as it slipped from its harness and joined us. “I was hoping to have an opportunity to speak with Lady Cestes regarding art on her homeworld.”
“You are an admirer of art?” This was said with a certain amount of skepticism.
“I have devoted several years to the study of it.” Alunthri went on to describe some of the cultures and art forms it had collected photoscans, recordings, and other data on.
“I had no idea a-a feline entity would have such an awareness of the subtleties involved with self-expression,” Garphawayn said. “I must tell you about the many forms of personal embellishment we have cultivated on Omorr.”
That discussion would have put me to sleep, but Duncan was busy calculating the proper trajectory angle to enter the atmosphere, so I didn’t bug him. Something else was wrong, though. I’d gotten to the point where I felt like I might jump out of my skin.
“How much longer is this going to take?” I muttered.
“It is a routine planetary expedition, Doctor.” The female Omorr covered her face with a membrane, and sneezed. “Forgive me, Alunthri, but due to the amount of dander in the air, I believe I must have another dose of medication.”
The Chakacat sniffed the air, then slipped out of its harness. “That is not from me.” It tracked whatever it was smelling to one of the lower storage containers, and opened it.
“Hi, Wundri!” My daughter crawled out, holding Juliet and two kittens. “Surprise, Mama!”
“Marel.” My jaw sagged, then snapped closed. “How the hell did you get in here?”
“I wan come wid you.”
I swiveled toward the helm. “Reever.”
Duncan looked over his shoulder, then made an abrupt turn. “I’m heading back to the ship.”
“Good.” I grabbed my kid and strapped her into a harness. “I don’t know you managed this one. Sweetie, what were you thinking? Do you know how dangerous this is?”
“Daddy said room for more.”
; I rubbed my brow. “Oh, boy.”
“She must have overheard us speaking last night.”
Garphawayn hopped over and sat down beside my daughter. “You have frightened your parents, child. You should apologize for your impulsive behavior; it is not good to distress those you love.”
My little girl almost gave her The Pout, but Garphawayn only raised her brow ridges. Marel bowed her small blond head. “Sorry I noddy, Mama.”
“It’s okay.” I glanced at the Omorr. “Teach me how you did that.”
“It has been my observation that children as precocious as your daughter respond well to firm authority. You would do better to establish that with her yourself.” Garphawayn covered her face and sneezed. “Alunthri, if you would be so kind?”
The Chakacat took all three cats from Marel and secured them in a container at the back of the launch. I went to the helm to see how far we had traveled.
“Fifteen minutes, and we’ll have her back on the ship.”
“And grounded for another week,” I said. “Duncan, you performed a pre-launch inspection, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then would you mind telling me how in blazes she got in here?”
“I have some ideas.” He didn’t look too happy about them, either. “We’ll discuss them with our daughter after the sojourn.”
When I went back to the passenger cabin, Alunthri was still securing the cats’ container, and the female Omorr was listening to Marel as she prattled on about the “pree dars” and “fwowers.” The launch shook, then the engines made a strange sound.
“Watch her,” I said to Garphawayn, then returned to the helm.
Reever was struggling to stabilize the launch, so I strapped into the copilot’s harness and activated the board. “Duncan, we’re losing power to the engines.”
He performed another rolling manuever and turned the launch back toward the planet. “I’ll have to land it on the surface. Signal Command.”
I tried to relay our status to the Sunlace, but the communications array had also lost power. “Transmitter’s down. I can’t get through to them.”