Shadows In Still Water

by D. T. LeClaire

  “I’m on the station,” Aurelia replied. “I should be showing on your screen with my usual designator of Ace. You don’t need to know anything else.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Patching comm-link signal now.”

  A red blip appeared on Aurelia’s screen along with a map of Zarnek. The blip indicated the spot where the students were trapped.

  Aurelia glanced at her companion. “Can you navigate?”

  Radif nodded.

  “Good. Make yourself useful.” She pulled away from the space station and hit the thrusters.

  The planet looked quiet from this perspective. Most of the ships in orbit around Jidal when the Pasteur had first arrived had already pulled out. The Valerians were still there along with two small Sclarian ships, a couple of freighters she couldn’t identify. She assumed there were still a few more out of sight behind the planet.

  Aurelia kept her mind rigidly on flying the shuttle. Frightened, panicked thoughts scittered around the edges of her consciousness. She had no idea what to expect on the surface. The worm, twisting in her leg, reminded her of the last time she had been under fire.

  Aurelia felt a tiny ball of sweat go sliding down the underside of her arm. I’m never going to get out of this alive, she thought. They’ll be shooting anything that moves. Feel the heat first then the oxygen will be sucked out of my lungs... no sounds not even my own screams and... Shutup Aurelia. She shifted in her seat just to hear the squeak. Pulling in a deep breath, she focused on the dark planet before her.

  They entered Jidal’s atmosphere at a spot just above Zarnek. The time was about 2200. It was about 2205 when Radif informed Aurelia that they were being followed.

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Jak paced back and forth in the tunnel. The deathsmell hung heavy in the damp air. “The Phoenix just took off,” he said aloud. “Now what?”

  Co-Lanen waved her antennae at him from her position still on the floor. “The best thing would be to stay here for now. I could think of several things to pass the time.”

  Jak stopped. He touched his sore antennae. Had he heard right?

  “Your reflexes used to be faster, Ja-ka-thon.”

  Her voice held a definite teasing note.

  Looking around at their surroundings, the dark, dirt walls, the puddles of murky water, Keller’s body, he shook his head. “You always did have a strange sense of timing.”

  His heart responded to her smile, the first real one she had offered him in years. Dropping to his knees before her, Jak slid his right antenna, the good one, down hers. Sweet warmth flooded his body. He felt her arms go around his waist.

  A prickling in his back reminded him of Keller. Frap! He had been around humans too long.

  “What’s wrong?” Co-Lanen asked as Jak pulled away.

  “We can’t stay here, Lanen. And we have to do something with Keller.” He said it with a groan.

  Her beautiful face had a bewildered look. “Why? Just leave it here. Or there’s an incinerator not far away.”

  For Kaprinians, death left a useless shell to be discarded without another thought. Jak shook his head. “Humans get a little funny about their dead bodies. They like to take them home to their families.”

  Cursing himself for an idiot, Jak watched Co-Lanen become “official” again. She gave him a light push away from her then stood to her feet. Her antennae crossed at the ends in proper position.

  “Why don’t you call Dr. Aurelia,” Co-Lanen said. It was almost a command.

  Nodding, Jak stood as well and pulled out his comm-link. He kept his eyes on Co-Lanen’s stiff back and hated that old sick feeling that shivered through his soul. It took him two tries to form a reply to Kincaid’s greeting from the Pasteur.

  “This is Rialus. Where is Aurelia?”

  “Sorry, sir, she’s left the ship. Would you like...”

  “Never mind,” Jak interrupted as the incoming call light on his link flashed in his face. “I have a call from her now. Rialus out.” He switched to Aurelia’s call. “Rialus here.”

  “How far are you from Kraylar Court?” Aurelia asked without preamble.

  Jak glanced over at Co-Lanen who turned around and mouthed the words, “Ten minutes.”

  “We’re about ten minutes away. Why?”

  “Okay. Long story short version. Medical students are trapped in a warehouse somewhere around Kraylar Court. Can’t pinpoint it exactly at the moment. I’m on my way but some jackass is right on my tail. Get over to Kraylar and find those kids. Miller has phinotheria. Got it?”

  “Got it. What...” Jak paused at a hollow thumping sound from Aurelia’s end follwed by a stream of colorful language then the link clicked off. “That didn’t sound good.” He glanced at Co-Lanen. “Can you take me to Kraylar?”

  Co-Lanen nodded. “We will have to be careful though. We may run into someone around that area.”

  Jak carefully pulled Keller’s body to one side knowing they couldn’t take it with them. “We’ll have to come back later,” he said, “Let’s go.”

  ***

  Bridget held her hand over both mouth and nose. The atmosphere in the closed-in warehouse was getting quite putrid. Steve had begun moaning interspersed with swear words. Fredrichs was silent except for the grating of each breath. Torp and Miguel were back at the search for a non-existent door.

  Bridget waited.

  ***

  Aurelia glanced over at Radif. His dark, furry, inscrutable face suddenly became an oasis, steadying her own nerves.

  Whoever was behind them was insane but a hell of a pilot. He had bumped them twice already and Aurelia knew she wouldn’t keep ahead for long.

  She had to relax her clenched teeth to let her words out.”Can you tell who it is yet?”

  Radif twisted himself around, crawled over the seats to peer out the hatch porthole.

  Aurelia ground her teeth again.

  “Two men,” the Berellian spoke at last.

  Aurelia blew at the piece of hair hanging in her face.

  “You are bouncing the shuttle too much.”

  “I can’t help it. This thing wasn’t built for sustained speed. Can you see who they are?”

  “If you slowed down...”

  She laughed.

  Radif climbed back into his seat. Slipping on his harness. “Our pursuers would appear to be Captain Zelan and Arbiter Conlin.”

  Aurelia slammed her fist against the brake control. With a pop that sounded like fire snapping, their shuttle bucked twice, dropped about two feet and stopped. Aurelia’s head smacked against the console. Radif grunted.

  The other shuttle skimmed over their heads in a serpentine fashion as if the pilot, Zelan most likely, was fighting his stick.

  She wrestled with her headset to find their commlink frequency. “What do you think you’re doing?”she screamed into the link.

  Whether they were running without the CL or were refusing to respond, she couldn’t be sure. Whatever the two men had wanted, they apparently gave up as they continued ahead.

  Steadying her shaking hands by wrapping them both around the control stick, Aurelia put the shuttle back into flight mode. “Damn, I thought they were Sclarians for a minute. But what the hell were they doing?”

  “I believe they were trying to kill us,” Radif said in a gentle voice as if explaining to a child.

  “But why? I know Conlin hates my guts but he couldn’t be fool enough to think he could get away with it.”

  “On a war torn planet?”

  Aurelia felt every sore muscle from yesterday tighten again.

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  Millie sat up. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she threw back the sheet and stood. She hesitated as her legs buckled slightly then she walked to the door.

  In the hallway, Millie turned to the left. The service car at the end of the hall stood open and she entered.

  A minute later the car doors opened onto the enginee
ring section. Most of the crew, even those supposedly off duty, were here. People waved and greeted her but all were too busy to stop.

  Millie walked along the outer wall then headed to the bank of computer terminals at the far end that were used as reserves only. She was about to sit down at one when someone behind her called her name. Millie stopped, blinking, turned to stare at Chief Rekhaan.

  “You are all right, Millie?” Rekhaan asked.

  Millie stared down at her bare feet, feeling the chill of the metal deck. “I’m not...” She passed a hand across her eyes. “I don’t know...” What was she doing in engineering? She tried frantically to think. The last she remembered was being kissed by Neal. Lifting her hand again, she pressed it against her forehead. She didn’t feel feverish but if she was she wouldn’t be able to tell.

  “I think I had better walk you back,” Rekhaan suggested.

  Millie nodded.

  The chief took her arm and steered her to the elevator explaining as they stepped in, “We will have all our systems operational shortly.” He dabbed at his brown face with an already oily handkerchief and sighed. He leaned against the back wall of the elevator.

  Millie nodded politely. She was clenching her teeth to keep them from chattering. She had the strangest sensation that someone was draining her blood and refilling her body with liquid nitrogen.

  Just get me to my room, her mind chanted.

  She had a bad moment when the elevator doors opened at deck 12 and her feet refused to move. With a gasp of breath and Rekhaan’s helping hand, she made it into the hall. A few feet more and she fell on her bad arm, sparking tears.

  “Millie!” Rekhaan cried. “I will call someone...”

  “No. I’m okay just help me up.” She managed a smile, “Guess I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed yet.”

  Why had she?

  Back on her feet, Millie walked more slowly, gripping Rekhaan’s hand. At least the pain seemed to have caused the cold sensation to lift.

  With relief, she crawled back into her bed. It took some doing but she finally convinced the chief that she was fine and he left her alone.

  Once again she found herself counting dots in the ceiling but this time the counting was background noise to her brain trying to figure out what had just happened. Maybe I’m going insane, she thought. Or I’m sicker than we figured.

  Should she call someone? For some reason, she did not want this for public consumption. Hopefully, Rekhaan would say nothing. He would be preoccupied with his work. The only doctor presently on board that she might ask was Sh’nn L’ruh. Then again L’ruh would be either overly concerned or underly concerned and make flippant remarks. No. She would wait for Aurelia.

  Turning carefully on her side, Millie began counting the green tiles on the wall. She ignored the growing ball of fear in her stomach.

  Chapter Forty

  A strange sound at the door brought Bridget to her feet. “Hey, somebody’s outside!” she yelled at Miguel and Torp.

  Miguel jumped a stack of boxes to reach her side. “Is it Dr. Aurelia?”

  “I sure hope so.”

  Torp beat them both to the door. He rapped his fist on it. “Doc, is that you?”

  Bridget held her breath. No answer.

  “Maybe she can’t hear you. Yell louder,” Bridget urged.

  “Doc! Hey, Doc, we’re in here!”

  Silence. Then a whirring sound sort of like rotor blades and a thump against the door.

  “She could at least say something.” Bridget sucked in a breath to yell herself, choked on the exhale when Miguel clamped his hand over her mouth.

  “Shutup,” he whispered. “Don’t yell again. Come away from the door.”

  “What?” Bridget shoved his hand away as he dragged her back from the door.

  “I don’t think it’s her.”

  “It has to be,” Torp protested though he whispered too.

  “She’d be smart enough to bring an RO not an ion cutter.”

  “Who else could it be?” Bridget asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

  “Sclarians maybe.”

  “They’re only after Kaprinians right?”

  Both boys just looked at her.

  Torp pulled out his comm link. “There’s one way to find out.”

  “Wait, she had a different number last time,” Bridget interrupted.

  “What was it?”

  “I can’t remember.”

  “Well look at your link!”

  “Don’t snap at me,” Bridget hissed as she fumbled for her link. Her hands were shaking. The grinding sound at the door was growing louder.

  She jabbed at the recall button but the readout screen stayed blank.

  “What’s the code?”

  “Recall 77,” Torp whispered, “and hurry up.”

  Miguel shook his head,” No, it’s 79.”

  Bridget glared at them. “Which is it?”

  “Try ‘em both just hurry.”

  “All right. Shutup.” She punched in 77, was rewarded with Aurelia’s number on the screen, dialed that in.

  “What?!” Aurelia’s bark sounded as if it were coming through clenched teeth. A great deal of static and background noise made it difficult to hear.

  “Where are you?” Bridget asked.

  “About five minutes away if I don’t get killed first.”

  “Somebody’s cutting through the door now,” Torp blurted.

  “Thank them kindly and run like hell.” Aurelia clicked off.

  A carrumph from the door then a tiny ray of light rushed through the small hole. Bridget choked back a scream.

  “Brid, see if you can find some kind of weapon in these boxes,” Miguel took charge. “Torp, help me move Steve and Fredrichs.”

  The boys easily moved Fredrichs by lifting his box he was lying on by its anti-grav units. Searching frantically, Bridget suffered two broken nails and a scratched finger before she decided the boxes were hermetically sealed. Instead, she started shoving them against the door.

  More light poured in. Whoever was out there must have powerful lights as Bridget realized it must be night by this time. It seemed they had been in that warehouse for a lifetime.

  Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the boys were having trouble with Steve. He was on his feet now, his eyes gleaming with fever.

  “Get behind these crates, Miller,” Torp commanded.

  “I’ve got to find Dad. Leave me alone.” Steve’s words sounded slurred.

  Bridget ran to help. She grabbed an arm and pulled while Torp and Miguel pushed. “Get down, Steve” she begged. “They may come in shooting.”

  They all heard the crack as it reverberated around the warehouse. Now the only things between them and whoever was outside were a few boxes.

  ***

  With her right hand, Aurelia tugged at her shirt to unstick it from her sweaty back. The shirt was soaked. She had a feeling she would never get her left hand unclamped from the stick.

  They were weaving in and out of the streets of Zarnek now. Several beings, whether Sclarian or Kaprinian she couldn’t be sure, had taken pot shots at them. She wished the governor’s shuttle had a white cross painted on the underside but even that probably wouldn’t stop them.

  She turned to look at Radif. Her neck cracked; that felt better. “You don’t have to go in with me,” she told him.

  The Berellian folded his arms across his chest. “You’re still my prisoner.”

  “One track mind,” Aurelia muttered.

  The console beeped at her. With another beep, the navicomp pad lit up with a more detailed street map of Zarnek and a blinking green light that told Aurelia the exact location of the medical students, or at least the location of Bridget’s commlink.

  Looking up, she saw a shuttle parked in front of the targeted building. The rest of the street was deserted. Although it was quite dark by now, Aurelia thought the shuttle looked like the one ch
asing them earlier.

  Aurelia sucked in her breath with a backwards whistle. “What is Conlin up to? I swear it’d be just as easy to lop off his head and have done with it!”

  She guided the shuttle to a parking spot behind the other. Punching in a two letter password to lock the controls, she left the engine running.

  Aurelia’s hand came away from the stick successfully as she stood up but it was stiff and sore. “Do you have a weapon?” she asked, kneading her knuckles.

  Radif patted his utility belt.

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  Aurelia pushed out the side gull-wing door, banging it against its hinges. It almost came back in her face but bounced up again. As she hopped to the ground her boots skidded against gravel. There was carbonized rubble in the open doorway that she stepped over.

  3-D poster gallery, was her first thought when her eyes adjusted to the light from two Lumair44’s in the hands of Renner Conlin and Nicholas Zelan. The kids, two of the humans and the Raman, stood behind a double stacked row of crates, their faces white mimes hung in mute protest. The two men loomed behind the light, counterpoints in black. The characteristic rotten egg-coconut smell of phinotheria enhanced the 3D effect of the picture.

  “Family portrait time,” Aurelia announced, her hands planted on her hips. She was aware of Radif’s presence behind her and was glad.

  Conlin and Zelan both swung around in her direction. Now she could see they held Strafe pistols as well as the Lumairs.

  “No one’s going to invite you to the next office picnic, Renner.” Meng was right, she wasn’t any good at being flippant.

  “Ahh, my favorite surgeon.” Conlin’s smile touched only his lips, showing his enormous teeth. “Who’s your friend?”

  Aurelia hoped Radif was baring his fangs. “The local gendarme,” she replied. “How convenient I brought him so he can arrest you.”

  Conlin laughed, an annoying, honking sound.

  Raising an eyebrow, Aurelia watched a bead of sweat form at the arbiter’s brow, roll down his forehead, slant to the right around his eyebrow and slide down his cheek. “What’s this all about, Renner?”