by S. L. Viehl
“We saved you,” I reminded the men, “and this is how you would repay us?”
“Nothing personal, Healer,” the man said. “Captain’s orders.”
Davidov’s crew escorted us to one of the melee simulators, where red-brown skies and lush vegetation revealed that the Itan Odaras jungle program was again running. I noted several custom modifications had been made, like the simulated Tingalean guards surrounding Drefan, Keel, and the rest of the staff. A wide pool of ice blue water also took up nearly half of the grid area, although what purpose it served escaped me.
The men followed us in and immediately barricaded the entry. Reever and I were directed to join the Gamers staff. Drefan greeted us with a nod but didn’t speak until Davidov’s men had left the immediate area.
“They took over the dome shortly after security issued the alert for Davidov,” the games master told us. “They had all of our pass codes and knew exactly where to seize weapons, control rooms, and key personnel. It was all done so quickly and efficiently that I almost think it was rehearsed as a potential scenario.”
“Tya,” Reever said. “She has been gathering information about the colony for Davidov for months. We heard them talking in the tunnels between here and Swap’s dome. He just ordered her to shut down the environmental controls for the entire colony.”
“He’s controlling her with some sort of implant,” I said. “When she refused to cooperate, he did something that made her have a seizure.”
One of Davidov’s men came over and tossed a wristcom at Drefan. “There is a fool outside demanding admittance. Tell him you are closed.”
Drefan turned the wristcom over in his hands. “And if I do not?”
The man raised his rifle and pointed it at Keel’s head. “I will kill one of them every minute until you do.”
Drefan switched on the wristcom and said, “There will be no games today. The arena is closed until further notice.”
“I don’t want to play with you, cripple,” Posbret said. “I want that Terran scum, Davidov.”
“Didn’t you hear the security alert?” Drefan asked. “He escaped my custody.”
Posbret made a spitting sound. “You Terrans hate everyone but your own kind. How do I know you aren’t hiding him in there?”
“Because he took my Hsktskt with him,” Drefan replied. “Maybe you should scan for her life signs. They are quite unique.”
Posbret suggested Drefan do something anatomically impossible with his stumps and withdrew into the access way along with his men. Drefan switched off the wristcom and tossed it at Davidov’s man. He threw it too hard, however, and it landed in the water with a splash.
“Sorry,” the games master said. “My aim was a little off.”
“Try that again,” the man said, “and I’ll burn a hole through your belly.”
Once the man retreated to join the other crew members, Drefan turned to me. “What would Davidov want so badly that he would go through the ruse of selling Tya to me?”
I shook my head. “Tya only said something about him wanting revenge.”
“He blockaded the colony to keep the Sovant from leaving,” Reever said, “and he sent Tya here to hunt it. When she failed to find it, he lured us here and forced us to crash so that we would draw it out of hiding.”
Drefan looked fascinated and appalled at the same time. “He offered four million stan credits for you and your wife, when all he intended was to use you as bait?”
“It was a setup,” my husband replied. “Drefan made sure everyone in the colony received the signal broadcasting the bounty. He had no intention of paying it; he only wanted the Sovant to know about our physiologies. The prospect of taking over an immortal body must have seemed irresistible to it. He also knew that if Tya failed, ingesting Jarn’s blood, tissue, or bone would poison it.”
I stared at him. “You knew this all along, and you said nothing to me?”
“I know what Alek seeks to avenge,” my husband corrected. “The rest are logical conclusions.”
“Well, this is just great,” Mercy said.
We all looked over as she and Cat were forced at gunpoint to join us.
“This is absolutely the last time I break into Omega Dome because I’m worried about some Hsktskt eating Drefan,” Mercy told the Omorr. “If I ever mention doing it again in the future, slap me.”
“The Hsktskt isn’t interested in devouring me,” Drefan told her.
“Yeah, well, you’re not exactly rolling in skin,” she snapped back.
“Tya is going to shut down the environmental systems to all the domes,” Reever said to the pair. “We have to find her before she does.”
“She’ll have to go down into the old mines to get at the support equipment,” Cat said. “We relocated it there a few years back to prevent visitors from meddling with the temperature settings.”
“I know Tya’s scent,” Keel said. “I can track her.”
“Sounds great,” Mercy said. “Now all we have to do is sneak you three past the seventy guys with all the weapons. Any suggestions?”
While we were quietly discussing how to create a suitable distraction that would allow Reever, Cat, and Keel to slip out of the grid through a maintenance passage hidden behind the vegetation, two of Davidov’s men came over.
“That raider is back, and he wants to search the dome,” one of them told us. “He’s threatening to blast his way in. He’s probably got the Sovant with him and doesn’t even know it.”
“We need the Hsktskt,” the other said flatly. “She’s the only one who knows how to kill that thing. She can protect us.”
“What do you expect us to do?” Drefan asked. “Help you? We’re your prisoners.”
“You send some of your people to find Tya,” the first one said. “Bring her back here.”
“Or what?” Mercy demanded.
“Or we start shooting,” the second man said, and pointed his weapon at Mercy and Drefan. “Starting with you and him.”
At my request, Drefan convinced Davidov’s men to allow me out of the melee room so that I could check on my surgical patients. I asked that Mercy be allowed to accompany me.
“I may need some assistance with changing the surgical dressings,” I lied. When the man in charge accused me of using the wounded as an excuse to attempt an escape, I shrugged. “Very well, I’ll stay here. But if they die of dehydration or infection, their blood will be on your hands.”
“Maybe she’ll go and kill them so that the captain will blame us for their deaths,” another man said.
“She’s a doctor. She can’t hurt anyone, you dim-wit, “ Mercy said. “They take an oath to do no harm.”
After a short debate the men sent two guards with me and Mercy to the simward. When the guards would have followed us in, I smiled. “I’m delighted to have the extra help. Which one of you would like to empty the bedpans?”
Both guards elected to stay outside.
“So what’s the plan, Doc?” Mercy asked the moment the door panels closed.
“I plan”—I looked pointedly at the room monitor, with which the guards outside could watch us— “to check on my patients.”
I went over to the first, who was sleeping but had developed a low-grade fever. “This one needs an infusion of antibiotics. There should be a syrinpress in the top of that cart over there. Bring it to me.”
“You really take this medical stuff seriously.” She brought me the instrument and watched as I dialed up the dosage. “Anything else I can do? Mop the sweat off their faces, or maybe rub their feet?”
“Now look.” I grabbed her tunic and used it to pull her close. In a bare whisper, I said, “You can gather up the other instruments from the cart and conceal them in your garments. Pretend you are tidying up the cart. Take anything that has a sharp edge or a power cell.”
“You’re a genius.” Mercy turned her head and kissed my cheek. In a louder voice, she said, “Okay, okay, you don’t have to bite my ear off. I’ll straig
hten up things.”
I tried not to think about Reever roaming the tunnels in search of Tya as I carefully removed the patient’s dressings and inspected the surgical site. I took a moment to change the chest drain and rearrange the tubing to reduce the inflammation before I moved to the next patient.
He woke as soon as I touched his cool brow. “My fourth leg hurts,” he complained.
“I’ll give you something for the pain, but don’t try to move or touch it,” I warned as I adjusted the bonesetter attached to the limb. “You had two compound fractures of your front izlac bone, and it needs time to heal.”
Once I had him comfortable, I went to the cart to see what Mercy had appropriated. She had done well, taking almost everything that we could use as weapons to defend ourselves. I picked up three more syrinpresses and surreptitiously tucked them under my garments before going to the room panel.
“What are you doing?” Mercy asked, following me.
“Adjusting the bedding.” I input the data required to alter the projections, and looked back at the cart. Holograph versions of all of the instrumentswe had removed materialized onto the cart. “That should help them sleep a little better.”
Mercy looked startled, and then grinned. “Oh, yeah, I’m sure it will.”
A moment later one of the guards came in. “You two have had enough time,” he said, going over to inspect the cart before motioning toward the entry with his weapon. “Let’s go.”
When we returned to the melee room, Mercy and I silently distributed the instruments to Drefan, Keel, and some of the other staff. I preset the dosage on each of the syrinpresses so that they would deliver a potent but nonfatal dose of neuroparalyzer.
“How much time do you think we have before Tya reaches the envirocontrols?” Mercy asked me as she eyed Davidov’s men.
More than an hour had passed since Reever, Cat, and Keel had left. “If the men have not found her yet, not long.”
“After she cuts the air and heat, we’ll have only an hour.” Mercy looked down as Drefan pressed something into her hand, and then immediately pocketed it. “I thought you threw that ’com in the water.”
“I threw Cherijo’s,” Drefan said, making me glance in surprise at my empty wrist. “The one I just gave you still functions.”
Mercy kept an eye on the guards. “Who do you want me to signal?”
“If they panic and start to make good on their threats,” Drefan told her, “signal Posbret and tell him how to get in.”
Her eyes widened. “You want me to let the raiders into the dome.”
“Only as a last resort.” Drefan turned his glidechair around so that he faced the water. “Hope-fully Reever and the others will find Tya soon.”
An hour passed, and then another. Sitting and waiting for something to happen made everyone’s nerves stretch thin, so we remained quiet but watchful.
Mercy took a pair of eyeshades out of her tunic, smiling as she saw my quick look. “Cat fixed it for me, but don’t worry. You can’t use it for playback unless you’re in the fantasizer.” She caressed the device with gentle fingers. “Which is where I’d love to be right now.”
I held out my hand and, when she gave me the mindset, studied the inside of the device. The neuron circuitry was more sophisticated than I had imagined. “What happens if you use it on playback without the fantasizer?”
“I don’t know.” She thought about it. “The fantasizer is the data stream storage and transmission unit. I guess it would play back nothing, or maybe scramble your brains.”
“They’re not happy,” Drefan said, interrupting our conversation. He nodded toward several of Davidov’s men, who were arguing in low, ugly voices.
I pocketed the mindset. “What can we do?”
“If things deteriorate, I want you and Mercy to position yourselves behind my chair,” he said. “It will shield you from a direct blast.”
“James.” Mercy caressed his cheek with the back of her hand. “You were the first Terran I ever bedded, the only trick whose credits I ever refunded, and one of the only two males that I’ve ever loved.” She turned her hand around and gave him a small slap. “So quit telling me to use you as a fucking body shield, all right?”
Drefan steepled his fingers and looked over them at me. “If they start shooting, please pull her behind the goddamn chair, Cherijo.”
I nodded. “Why did she refund your credits?”
“Maybe she doesn’t like being talked around like she’s invisible,” Mercy said. “Ever think of that?”
Drefan gave her a fond look. “I taught her that sex isn’t all business.”
Something pounded at the door panel, and after consulting with the man in charge and the corridor monitors, the men opened it.
At first I didn’t recognize the injured animal that came stumbling in, so much blood covered it. Beside me Drefan said, “Keel?”
The Chakacat dropped at the feet of Davidov’s men, who scattered in fear as if it were the Sovant.
I ran to it, bracing myself for the worst. But silvery fur still covered its lean frame, and it looked up at me with one eye. The other eye, along with part of its face, had been clawed away.
“Cherijo.” It spat out some blood and a few tooth fragments. “I fear that I lost my first fight.”
“We will ask for a rematch.” I opened my case to take out what I needed. “Are Reever and Cat with you?”
“No. I picked up the scent of the Hsktskt and went ahead of them.” It shivered. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Keel?” Drefan’s glidechair stopped beside the Chakacat, and the games master heaved himself down onto the floor. He held the feline’s narrow shoulders with his one arm, lifting it gently onto the stumps of his legs. “What happened? Who did this to you?”
Davidov’s men opened the door panel, and Cat hopped in. The Omorr appeared unharmed, but my husband was not with him.
“Where is the Terran?” I heard one of our captors demand.
“We were separated in the tunnels,” Cat replied. “He should be bringing the Hsktskt here shortly.”
That cheered the men, who allowed Cat to come over to us. He swore when he saw Keel’s head injuries. “You shouldn’t have gone after her, you idiot feline.”
Drefan’s arm tightened. “Tya did this to you?” “No, it was a braael.” The Chakacat shivered violently, and I tore off my jacket and covered its body. “I cornered the Hsktskt in the processing plant. She didn’t try to hurt me, Drefan. When she charged me, I think she was only trying to get away. She didn’t use her claws or bite me when I jumped her. I reacted badly, I know, but I have never hunted before this.”
I sponged the blood away from the claw marks running down Keel’s face. There were only two of them, but they were deep and vicious. The odd thing was that they seemed to have been inflicted backward, as if Tya’s claws had caught Keel under the jaw and raked up.
I applied pressure to the side of its face as I used a light to inspect the remains of its eye. It had not been clawed out, but was so badly lacerated that I doubted it could be saved. “Keel, I am going to give you a painkiller. I need to clean and suture these wounds.”
It grabbed my wrist. “You have to warn them about the braael. If it comes here, it will go berserk and not stop until everyone is dead.”
Cat started to say something, and then shook his head.
“I do not know what a braael is,” I said to Keel, humoring it. “What does it look like?”
“It is all black hide and spines, and has fiery eyes. Orange eyes.” Keel’s voice shook so badly it stopped speaking to gulp in air. “Two curved teeth in the bottom of its jaw. Long, sharp red spines running down its back, and two more at the end of its tail. It has two mouths, one for killing, and one for eating.” It rolled away from me and retched.
I held it until it had finished heaving, and then modified the syrinpress to administer an antinausea agent along with the local anesthetic. Keel drifted off into semiconsciousness
.
“You should warn the others about this braael,” I said to Cat as I gently irrigated one of the gashes. “It sounds like a very dangerous creature.”
Cat and Drefan exchanged an odd look.
“I would, Cherijo,” the Omorr said, “but there are no braael on Trellus.”
I gave him an ironic look. “Obviously there’s one.”
“What he means is, there can’t be a braael on colony,” Drefan said. “They are native to Chakara.”
I saw something imbedded in the second gash and reached for a probe. “So is Keel.”
“Chakacats are not extinct,” Drefan said. “The braael are. The species died out a hundred thousand years ago.”
I removed the remnants of what appeared to be shrapnel from Keel’s face. On closer inspection, I recognized it. “Drefan, did you have Keel implanted with a locator beacon?”
“No. I would never do that to any being.”
I took out my scanner and passed it over the small, twisted bit of tech. It matched only one record on the medical database. “This is Tya’s implant.”
“It was the braael,” Keel said, opening its eye and digging its claws into my arms. “It was going to eat my head.”
As I calmed the Chakacat and finished treating its injuries, an idea began to form in my mind. I asked Davidov’s men to allow me and Cat to move Keel to the simward.
Once more we were sent there under guard. After I had the feline resting comfortably, I passed a syrinpress to Cat and pointed to a spot on my throat. He nodded and hopped out to where the guards waited.
“Are you finished—” The guard went still as I infused him with neuroparalyzer, and then dropped.
Cat did the same thing with the other guard, and we dragged them into the simward.
“I need to go to the lab,” I told the Omorr. “Can you stay here and watch them?”
He nodded. “Be careful.”
I hurried through the empty corridors to the lab, where I carefully scanned the remnants of the implant I had removed from Keel’s wound. Aside from the Chakacat’s blood, there was DNA from a second source. The DNA did not match any other species on record in the database.