Co-Lanen’s eyes glinted in the half light as she turned her head. “You ready?” she mouthed the words.
Jak nodded. He had no idea where they were going but intended to stick close to his partner. He couldn’t see what she did but the grill slid open. Reaching above her head, Co-Lanen pulled herself through the opening. When she was clear, Jak placed his hands on the rough sill, hoisting himself out of the bunker.
Gedden help us, he sent up the frantic thought as acrid smoke touched his eyes and nose. He felt Co-Lanen take his hand. He ran behind her, aware only of the smoke and crushing din of explosions and rafter fire. Then they were through an open doorway.
Groping along the wall, Jak hit the panel to close the door. Sharp, burning pain lanced down his left antenna. He slapped the panel twice--open and closed. He sank to his knees. He couldn’t even cough the pain was so bad.
Co-Lanen, coughing herself, leaned over him. “Are you all right?” she yelled.
He nodded. Gingerly, he felt his antenna. “Caught...the tip...in the door,” he gasped out.
“I thought you had been shot!” Co-Lanen collapsed beside him. “Don’t scare me like that.”
“It hurts bad.”
“I know. Let me see it.” Her cool fingers were soothing on the bruised tip.
“At least it cut the noise down.”
“That shouldn’t last long,” Co-Lanen reassured him. “There’s no permanent damage though it might swell a little.”
As the pain slid back up until it was just an ache at the tip, Jak got to his feet. Sounds were still dimmed as if he were wrapped in a thick blanket. Glancing around, he saw they were in a small, dingy clothing store consisting of a room filled with clothing racks and an ancient cash register. Beyond that hung a bright yellow and purple curtain over the opening to a back room he presumed.
“This probably isn’t the best place to stay for very long,” he said.
“Come on,” Co-Lanen said, getting to her feet. She took his hand again pulling him across the room and through the garish curtain. “Most of the buildings on Zarnek are connected through the lower levels. We should be able to get from here all the way to Olgdon Court.”
Jak felt for the handheld laser crossbow he had shoved on his belt at the Rotunda. The solid feel of warm kedellium reassured him. “What if the Sclarians get the same bright idea?” he asked.
“Most of them don’t like it down here,” Co-Lanen replied. They were in the dark little back room now and she was lifting a trapdoor cut in the floor. Jak reached out to help, gagging at the black sewer smell that rushed up from the opening.
“I can smell why,” he said. He gulped in fresh air then followed her down the narrow metal ladder.
***
The room had that quiet, darkened feel of midnight as Millie opened her eyes, trying to orient herself. The soft orange kesium glow over the door was the only light. She winced as she moved her fingers. They felt heavy and stiff like the time she had been bitten by a larop beetle and her hand had swollen to twice its size. In fact, her whole body felt like that.
Cautiously turning her head, Millie saw Aurelia standing by her IV machine “Hey,” Millie called, her voice coming out in a croak.
Aurelia leaned over her, automatically checking the wrist monitor. “Well,” she said, “are you through scaring us?”
Millie lifted one corner of her mouth--all she could manage as a smile. “Could I have some water?”
Aurelia went to the sink across the room and returned with a full glass. She gently slipped a hand behind Millie’s head to help her raise it and held the glass as she drank. Millie had never before been on the receiving end of Aurelia’s bedside manner. It was rather a strange sensation.
“Thanks,” Millie said, laying her head back on the pillow.
“How do you feel?”
“About the size of the Mars Metro-Dome.”
Smiling, Aurelia patted her shoulder. “It’s not quite that bad. You will be swollen for a couple of days though.”
“What is it? Risanthum?”
Aurelia nodded as she re-checked the IV connections. “I’m going to keep you on the syntholin for a few more days. We don’t want pneumonia on top of it. You won’t feel like eating much.”
Millie moved to sit up and felt the air catch in her throat. She spent the next five minutes coughing and choking up phlegm. Aurelia held the Pearson container for her until she fell back, exhausted.
“Take another drink.”
Millie obeyed. Closing her eyes, she relaxed against the pillows. A strange feeling of cold crept over her. She jerked herself awake.
“You okay?” Aurelia asked.
“I don’t think I want to go to sleep just yet. I had such strange dreams.”
Rising, Aurelia walked to the computer monitor. “I’ll order you some phenodol to help you relax.”
Millie nodded. She lay quietly, watching the doctor type in the order. “I did dream about my mother though. You know after all these years I still miss her.”
She idly watched a muscle twitch in Aurelia’s jaw. Millie continued in a dreamy voice, “She used to sing to me. She had a good voice, not as good as yours but she’d had some training.”
Aurelia walked back to her side.
“There was a song about a bird and a girl...Raman I think...I can’t quite...”
Aurelia hummed a few bars.
“That’s it. What’s it called?”
“Kar’Kedare. It’s a ballad about the Raman queen, Jalina Lenlar. It was a popular request.”
“You should sing more often.”
“Singing has never been a pleasure for me.”
Millie yawned as far as her swollen face would allow. “That’s a shame. Such a beautiful voice.”
“I suppose I should be grateful. It saved me from being a colo.”
Not daring to move, Millie waited for more but Aurelia had turned away to pick up the hypogun. Aurelia’s past tended to come out like that--in brief snippets of pain.
Millie closed her eyes and reopened them when Aurelia took hold of her monitor. Something black on the doctor’s wrist caught her attention and she tried to focus on it.
“What’s that?” she asked.
Aurelia looked at her a moment as if debating her answer then said, “They think I may have murdered someone.”
“Murder!” Millie had to cough again.
The door slid open, admitting Monnie with a cartridge of phenodol. Taking the cartridge, Aurelia snapped it into the hypogun.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” Aurelia said and pressed the gun into Millie’s arm. “Go to sleep, Mil.”
“I’m out of it a few hours and you...” Millie blinked rapidly, feeling the cool trickle of the drug in her veins. “What else is going on?”
“Quite a lot actually.”
Millie felt the firm pressure of Aurelia’s hand against her shoulder.
“Relax. Go to sleep. That’s an order.”
One more try but the darkness behind her eyes at last pulled her into unconsciousness.
***
Aurelia pounded her fist on the table. “Shut up!” she bellowed at the others seated across from her. Normally, the heavy, oval, obsidian-like table accommodated twenty people. Today, only seven seats were taken. Doctors L’Ruh and Michaelson, Zimbin, two lab techs, a crew tech and Chief Rekhaan had assembled in the conference room at Aurelia’s request. She was beginning to wish she hadn’t ordered a staff meeting.
L’Ruh leaned forward. The pink blob of her face reddened in intensity. “You’re putting an armed starship down there? Might as well throw yourself on the front of a Sclarian battle cruiser.”
“I’m putting the Phoenix down to help us get our people off the planet. I don’t anticipate any problems.”
“Yeah, right,” Michaelson muttered.
L’Ruh made a wide gesture with one of her tentacles.
Aurelia gave her a lo
ng look. “I know the Gidellian language.”
“I know you know it,” L’Ruh retorted.
Aurelia looked over at Rekhaan. For once, he was the only one not arguing with her. She remembered he was the only one of the senior staff besides Millie and Jak who had been with her on Feloria. She had avoided a massacre of her crew then, and she was damn well going to do it now.
“Chief, is your crew in place on the Phoenix?”
He nodded. “They will be taking off in five minutes.”
“Good.”
“I didn’t call this meeting to ask for your opinions. I merely wanted to keep you informed of what’s going on. The Phoenix will shuttle our people off the planet. End of story.”
LRuh’s voice grid hummed as if she was about to say something.
Aurelia stood up. She pressed her palm against one of the nerve clusters along LRuh’s tentacles. Just enough to make it tingle. “Don’t even think it.”
LRuh ignored her. “What about the station? There has to be shuttles there.”
“I’ve been trying to talk to the governor. He won’t answer.”
“With the Phoenix we can make one trip, “Rekhaan put in.
Aurelia blinked at his show of support.
“I’m worried about our people too,” said Michaelson. “but we could get into real trouble putting the Phoenix down there.”
“Let’s worry about one thing at a time. Dismissed.” Aurelia walked out before they could say anything else. Next stop--Governor Arnott’s office.
Chapter Thirty Six
Snapping on his ring light, Jak flashed it around the room they had descended into. It was a small, bare basement with an unfinished, damp floor. He had almost forgotten the flood; he hoped they didn’t run into a lot of water along the way.
Turning to his left, he followed Co-Lanen through an opening in the wall into another basement. This one was crammed full of furniture, tools and other odds and ends. It too had an opening in the left wall which they passed through. They went on like that for awhile. Sometimes walking through a narrow passage for a long stretch then coming to a room or sometimes the passage would be short with a series of basements following. Many of the doorways between were locked and they had to force them open with an R.O tuner Co-Lanen had brought along. They came across a few puddles but nothing major. It was becoming drier the farther they went.
“Are we there yet?” Jak asked as they stopped once again for a locked door.
Co-Lanen spoke as she fiddled with the R.O, “Almost. See the orange line on the door?”
Jak nodded.
“That means we are at Findae Court. The next one over is Olgdon.”
As the door slid open, his antennae tingled as if something was about to happen. Then again maybe it was just from getting pinched. He touched the left tip to check if it was still swollen. It seemed worse since the last time he checked it. He knocked into Co-Lanen who had stopped at the next door.
“Did you hear that?” she asked in a furious whisper.
“I told you I can’t hardly hear anything. And don’t whisper.”
She reached up to put a hand over his mouth. “I think someone’s behind this door.”
Jak groped for the crossbow. Passing him the R.O, Co-Lanen pulled her rafter off the holster and held it ready.
Releasing the safety, Jak pulled in a breath and opened the door. No one was there. He jumped as Co-Lanen placed cold fingers on his arm.
“What’s that over there?” she asked, pointing down the passage to a dark lump on the floor.
Jak’s ring light revealed a dark head of hair. The crossbow was back on his belt and he was bending over the body before he had time to think or hear Co-Lanen’s warning to wait.
Tugging at the damp jacket, he carefully rolled the limp form over. Rob Keller! The head lab tech’s face was gray with a thin film of perspiration. From the smell, it was clear bodily function control was gone.
Jak felt for a pulse, waiting several seconds before feeling the slight beat beneath his fingers. No blood. No apparent wound. He took out his scanner, blanching at the results. Keller’s myelin sheath protecting his nervous system had been almost completely stripped away. The man should not have been alive.
“How is he?” Co-Lanen asked, still whispering.
Jak shook his head.
Keller opened one eye but gave no sign of recognition.
“Rob,” Jak called, close to the tech’s ear. “Rob, it’s me, Jak. Can you hear me?”
The dying man’s mouth moved. It took several minutes before Jak could figure out what he was saying.
“Tahk.”
“Althan Tahk?” Jak asked. “Did he do this to you?”
Keller slowly closed his eye then reopened it.
Jak took that as a yes. “Why?”
“Water.”
Co-Lanen had a small canteen and crouched down to hold it to Keller’s lips. Most of the liquid dribbled out the side of his mouth.
“Didn’t want...kill kid.” Fresh sweat beaded on his forehead as he strained to tell them.
“What kid?”
“Miller.”
“You killed Steve Miller?”
“No!” Rob was agitated now, trying to move his head but only managing a fraction of an inch. “The other...father. He not...give weapon. Tahk wanted...kill Steve too.”
Thick veins stood out on his neck, darkly red against the gray.
Jak squeezed his shoulder although Rob probably couldn’t feel it. “Don’t try to talk, Rob. We’ll get you out of here.”
Drops formed at the corners of Rob’s eyes. “Too late.”
Jak shook his head. Although he had to agree, he had been trained too well by Aurelia not to give up as long as any sign of life remained. He reached for his comm-link.
“Wait. You have...to know.” Rob gave a weak, gasping cough. Co-Lanen offered him more water. “The Company...some planned...Tahk sabotaged the Pasteur.”
Jak remembered his encounter with Tahk on the Pasteur. Was it only a few days ago? He should have realized something was wrong. An electric surge of frustration and anger swept through him. “So what’s the plan? And who in the Company is behind this?”
His one good eye closed, the lab tech lay still. His occasional gasp for breath echoed through the tunnel.
Jak shook the man’s shoulder roughly enough to make Rob’s head wobble and droop to the side.
“Come on, Keller,” he demanded, “You’ve got to tell me. What’s the plan?”
“Jak, the man is dying,” Co-Lanen reprimanded. It was the first time she had spoken and her voice seemed to bring Rob around.
Opening his eye, he looked up at her. “I’m scared.”
Still frustrated, Jak sat back on his heels as Co-Lanen bent over Rob.
“You are passing into a new state of being,” she told him, her voice gentle and soothing. “You shall see the universe as it really is.”
“Didn’t want to kill...”
“I know. You will find a way to make up for it.”
Rob rolled his eye in Jak’s direction. “Supposed to use weapon...on the Pasteur. Phoenix will retaliate.”
“Why? What’s the purpose of destroying the ship?”
“Company wants...army. Operation East India...ask Rekhaan. Want...sell arms...” Rob’s voice trailed off into a loud gasp. His eye was still fixed on Jak. It took a second before Jak realized the man had stopped breathing.
“Gedden,” Jak swore. He felt for a pulse. Nothing. He started chest compressions. One...two, three, four, five. Breathe. “Come on, Keller!” One...two... Blood spurted from every orifice.
Co-Lanen stumbled sideways against the wall.
Jak sat back on his heels, breathing fast. “Poison. If I get my hands on Tahk...”
Co-Lanen sat up, pushing her hair away from her face. “Why don’t you call the Pasteur? We’re not going to find him down here by ourselves.”
Jak pulled out his comm-link, tapping in number one. The link beeped then the display read “This number is no longer functional.”
Swearing again, Jak keyed in the comm-tech number.
Fran answered the call, “Pasteur C.C. how may I direct your call?”
“This is Dr. Rialus...”
“Just a minute,” Fran interrupted. “Let me patch you through to Dr. Aurelia.”
A pause then: “Where the hell have you been?” That was Aurelia’s voice.
“Your link isn’t functioning,” Jak retorted. Their words to each other were tense, unsettled, even beyond the obvious frustration. It was the first time they had spoken since he had pulled her from the river.
“I’ve got a new one. Number 457. And don’t change the subject.”
“I just found Rob Keller...”
“Rob Keller! He had my comm-link. Let me talk to him.”
“He’s dead.”
“He can’t be. How can he be dead?”
“Hydromylex. Look, I need to talk to you on a secure channel.” Jak was getting impatient.
“Secure...what?!” Aurelia’s voice faded a little as if she had turned her head. “Oh, not you. Jak, I’ll have to call you back. Do not go anywhere,” she abruptly signed off.
The tunnel seemed suddenly quiet. Jak stared down at the bloody corpse. The rotten fruit smell of hydromylex was beginning to permeate the air.
“Do you believe all that?” he asked out loud.
Co-Lanen looked up at him from her position still on the floor against the wall. “Believe all what?”
“What you told Keller. About Gedden, the other state of being. Everything our parents believe.”
Co-Lanen closed her eyes. “I would like to think I am something more than my physical parts. That something of me will live on.”
Jak slumped against the opposite wall. “So would I.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Snapping her comm-link back on her belt, Aurelia turned to face Radif. She was standing by the Pasteur’s security desk about to enter the corridor between the ship and the space station. She scratched at the cuff on her wrist.
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