by Viehl, S. L.
I scanned it. “The alloy dissolved the crystal. It’s reverted to its liquid phase.” I monitored the sample for a few minutes. “The crystal isn’t growing. It’s gone inert.”
“That may explain why the tribe uses so much wood to adorn themselves,” Reever said. “Their luck carvings may be protocrystal repellent.” He tapped the bracelet I wore. “That may be what saved your life in the pit.”
I paced back and forth as I thought it out. “I can’t inject him with a copper alloy. He’s not a tree; even a small amount would kill him.” I studied my bracelet, and the gleaming slivers of wood between the green beads. “I have an idea.”
Convincing the guard to send for Trewa took Reever some time, but eventually he brought the oKiaf woman to our shelter. With Reever as my interpreter, I told her about Jylyj’s condition in simple terms, and asked for her help.
She stared at the Skartesh for a long time before she replied.
“She says he is being punished for waking the crystal,” my husband translated. “But because we’re strangers, and we didn’t know what would happen, she doesn’t believe he deserves to die. She will go to the other women in the encampment and collect what she can.”
Trewa left us, and I began putting together the equipment I needed. I couldn’t build a complete dialysis unit from scratch, but with some tubing, an empty IV unit, and parts of an infuser, I was able to put together a crude, portable version of one.
Trewa returned with a basket of the tiny heartwood carvings the women used for their ornaments, and Reever scanned them.
“They all contain traces of the Cu2Au alloy,” he confirmed.
“Bring them here.” I could only fit the smallest of the carvings into the empty IV unit, but there were enough to fill it halfway. Once I evacuated the air from the lines, I inserted the needle at one end into the radial artery in Jylyj’s right arm, and the needle at the other into the artery in his left. Once I enabled the infuser port, which I had rewired to work in reverse, it began drawing the Skartesh’s blood into the line attached to his right arm.
I watched his blood travel up to the IV unit, where it began to drip over the heartwood carvings inside the bag, and then fed down into the line that ran to his left arm.
It seemed to take longer than it did. I kept running a continuous scan on the amount of protocrystal in his blood supply. Gradually, the growth rate slowed, and then finally stabilized.
“It’s working.” I looked up at Trewa and nodded. “Tell her that she has saved his life.”
As my husband translated, Trewa touched the moonstone necklace I had given her. She replied in a soft voice, gesturing to the Skartesh and then gently cuffing my left shoulder.
“Trewa claims no one has ever survived going into the forbidden places,” my husband told me. “She says Jylyj lives because of you.”
The oKiaf woman ducked her head and twisted it from side to side, repeating two words several times.
“What is she saying?”
“I think she’s given you a proper tribal name.” Reever smiled a little. “Among the oKiaf, you will now be known as Crystal Healer.”
Auto-infusing Jylyj with blood filtered through the heartwood carvings kept the crystal infection in check, and I felt confident enough to begin preparing him for transport.
The guards came for Reever shortly after midnight to meet with Dnoc and Uorwlan’s shuttle pilot, who had arrived and was negotiating with the chieftain for our release.
“Wake everyone and have them prepare to go,” my husband told me. “I don’t think this is going to take very long.”
It didn’t. By the time Uorwlan and the rest of the team were dressed and packed, Reever returned with the pilot and an armed escort.
“We have to hightail out of here, Captain,” the pilot, a very nervous little humanoid with pale green skin, told Uorwlan. “The Elphian are in total meltdown. They’re talking about shutting down all the trades now and keeping everyone out.”
“I’ll smooth things over with them,” she promised.
Uorwlan’s pilot had brought a litter from his shuttle, and as we shifted Jylyj from the sleeping platform onto it, he opened his eyes.
“Blood,” he said, gazing at his arms and then up into my face. “Whose?”
“It’s all yours.” I secured the IV to the side of the litter and fastened restraints across his chest, abdomen and hips. “We’ve stabilized the infection. Once I get you back to the Sunlace, we’ll start cleaning the crystal out of your system.”
Jylyj seized my wrist in a surprisingly strong grip. “You can’t remove it from my body. It could infect the rest of the crew.”
I exchanged a look with Reever. We knew the protocrystal was dangerous, but we hadn’t considered what might happen after I removed it from the Skartesh’s body.
Jylyj said my name, and I smiled down at him. “We’ll deal with the crystal later,” I promised him. “Right now we’re going on a little jaunt.”
Qonja, Hawk, the pilot, and Reever carried Jylyj through the camp, with Uorwlan in the lead. Every adult in the erchepel came out of their shelters to watch us go. As we passed some of the tribeswomen, they bowed their heads and murmured the tribal name Trewa had given me.
“Crystal Healer,” I heard Jylyj murmur. “They think you are the legend.”
“You never told me that story,” I said, hoping to keep him conscious for the jaunt.
“When the Star Wolf died to create the tribe, the abundance of the world divided itself, too. Time became day and night, summer and winter, birth and death. The stars could not repair the division, so they made a promise to the tribe that one day a healer would be born, one who could make everything right again.”
“How?”
“The myth doesn’t specify an exact course of treatment,” Jylyj said, his tone dry. “After the Crystal Healer is born, he—or she—becomes separated from the tribe and wanders alone through the wilderness for many years. There the healer falls into a long slumber and dreams. When the tribe has made enough sacrifices, the dream becomes time, and the healer travels through it to find the Star Wolf and heal him. As they are joined, so are the night and day, and light and the darkness, and all that has been divided from what it was. The crystal healer brings the Star Wolf back to life, and together they re-create the tribe from the dreams they share with each other.”
“It sounds like a lovely romance,” I joked.
“It is why the oKiaf have never objected to the mataerel or litaerel,” the Skartesh said. “It has always been believed that the Crystal Healer and the Star Wolf were both males.”
I chuckled. “Well, I am very flattered, but obviously I am not a male, and I don’t think I can suture day and night back together.”
“If you try, I want to assist.” He coughed and closed his eyes.
Uorwlan’s shuttle had landed in the same clearing the station pilot had left us, and while small, the vessel appeared well-armed.
“Are you expecting trouble?” I asked the Takgiba as I nodded toward the oversized pulse emitters mounted on three sides of the hull.
“A girl can’t be too careful, especially when she hauls cargo.” Uorwlan stopped as the door panels opened and a loading ramp extended. “Linag, did you leave the ship on auto?”
“I couldn’t say no, Captain.” The pilot’s fearful eyes darted toward the shuttle. “They held a rifle to my head. They said they’d kill me if I didn’t.”
A group of men in battle armor poured out of the shuttle. All of them carried pulse rifles, which they trained on us.
“Who the hell are you?” Uorwlan shouted.
One of the men fired at the ground in front of her, and then raised his weapon and targeted her face. “Shut up and get on board. All of you. Now.”
“Mercenaries?” Uncaring of the threat, the Takgiba turned to her pilot. “You let mercenaries hijack my shuttle?”
I felt air sweep over my back as Hawk took off. Some of the men fired at him, but he flew too fas
t for them to bring him down. A moment later he disappeared around the side of the mountain.
I reached for my blades, but Reever put his hand on my wrist and shook his head.
“Too many to fight,” he murmured. “Do as they say.”
We were marched onto the shuttle and herded in the back cargo area, where one of the mercenaries confiscated our weapons. Another reached down and yanked the needles out of Jylyj’s arms, then pushed him off the litter in order to remove that.
“Stop it.” I rushed over to the Skartesh. “He’s badly injured. He needs that IV.” I tried to grab it back, but the mercenary hit me so hard I fell to the deck. When he drew his foot back to kick me, Reever came at him and knocked him across the hold.
“Back away,” the other mercenary said, shoving the end of his rifle into my husband’s belly when Reever kept advancing toward the semiconscious merc. “Back away, or I’ll cut you in half.”
“Duncan, he’ll do it.” Uorwlan hauled Reever by the arm over to me. “Take care of your wife.” She turned to the mercenary, who was helping his dazed companion get to his feet. “What do you want? Cargo? Credits? Let’s work this out and no one has to get hurt.”
“We have what we want.” The mercenary shoved his companion out of the hold and then backed out himself, closing and securing the door panel as soon as he was on the other side.
Reever helped me up from the deck. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” I went back to Jylyj, who was curled over on his side. “Who are they?” I demanded of the pilot. “How did they get on the shuttle?”
“They intercepted me in orbit,” he said. “They used some kind of docking clamp to immobilize me.They were on board before I knew it.” He gave Uorwlan a helpless look. “They took out the transceiver and grabbed Pellan and took him on their ship. They said they’d kill him if I warned you.”
“Raiders.” Uorwlan began to curse softly and paced around the cargo hold.
Qonja took off his cloak and covered Jylyj with it as I checked his vitals. “Can he survive without the IV?”
“Not long.” I braced myself against the deck as the shuttle began to lift off. “They must be after the bounty. We have to convince them to leave Jylyj and the others at the station.” An unexpected jolt nearly threw me to the deck again. I barely righted myself before the ship rocked violently again. “What’s happening?”
Uorwlan ran over to the viewport. “The shuttle’s surrounded. They’re firing at the stabilizers.”
“Who is?” Reever demanded.
She turned and looked at him. “The oKiaf.”
Pulse-fire bursts began to hammer on the outside of the hull, and something exploded at the back of the shuttle. It dropped back to the ground and lurched to one side.
“There go my stabilizers.” Uorwlan looked around the hold. “Linag, remind me to stow some weapons in with the cargo next time.”
“We’re all going to die,” the pilot muttered, cowering and covering his green head with his four arms.
I heard shouts and the pounding of footsteps as the mercenaries tried to get off the ship. More pulse fire erupted, along with terrible screams. After a long silence, someone opened the door to the cargo hold and ordered us out.
Reever went first, shielding me and Qonja with his body as we supported Jylyj between us. Uorwlan followed. We stumbled down the damaged loading ramp and found the ground outside the ship littered with the bodies of dead mercenaries. A small group of survivors stood to one side, their hands clasped behind their heads.
A ring of oKiaf in League battle armor and carrying pulse rifles completely surrounded the shuttle.
“Thank you,” Reever said to the tribesman who stepped up to us.
“Be silent.” The oKiaf pointed his rifle at my husband as several light shuttles began descending all around the clearing. “You will come with us now.”
The strange oKiaf herded us and the surviving mercenaries onto their shuttles, dividing us up as they did so. I protested as Jylyj was taken from us by two of the tribesmen, but they ignored me.
“Let me go with him,” I said to the leader. “He’s hurt, and I’m a healer.”
“We will care for him,” was all he said.
We were directed to sit in the passenger area of the shuttle, where two guards stood watching us. A few minutes later, the oKiaf launched back into the air, flying away from the clearing and into the mountains. Although they didn’t try to harm us, they refused to speak to us and made it obvious that they considered us their prisoners.
“It seems not all the tribes abandoned the evils of technology,” I said in a low voice to Reever as we inspected the two oKiaf standing guard. “Those rifles are new. So are these vessels.”
“They must be the Elphian watchers left behind to guard the tribes on-planet,” he murmured. “They probably use surface scanners to monitor landings and launches.”
“The attack was none of our doing,” Qonja said. “Surely they will be reasonable about this.”
“They have the rifles,” I pointed out. “They can be as unreasonable as they like.” I glanced through the viewport at the launch where they had taken Jylyj. “I have to talk to their healers as soon as we land.”
And explain what happened before the crystal infection spread.
The launches didn’t land in a clearing or anywhere on the surface, but flew through a series of narrow passes and finally down to a lake at the base of a roaring waterfall cascading down the side of one enormous mountain. I caught my breath as they plunged through the falls and into a wide, long cavern that had been converted into a launch bay.
I saw dozens more launches on the deck of the bay, and hundreds of oKiaf working on them or moving around them. I also spotted well-stocked racks of weapons and other ordnance before I turned to my husband. “Duncan, this is a military base.”
He glanced at the guards. “They behave like well-trained soldiers on patrol. Now we have to find out what their orders are.”
It didn’t take long to do that. As soon as the shuttles landed, we were ordered out of the ship and escorted across the deck to where three oKiaf in strange-looking uniforms waited.
The tallest one in the center spoke first. “We are the Valtas. You are in violation of our laws.”
“We were attacked by those men and taken prisoner as we tried to leave the planet,” Reever said, and nodded toward the group of mercenaries being herded toward a passage leading away from the bay. “We came to oKia as part of a scientific expedition. We have no interest in committing violence or engaging in any conflict with you.”
The Valtas leader didn’t seem convinced. “You will be held and questioned.”
“I’ve been trading peacefully with the tribes for years,” Uorwlan said. When the leader didn’t reply, she added, “You’re not putting me in a cell.”
“You’ll do as you’re told. Cooperate, and you will not be harmed.” The leader gestured for the guards.
“One of our team members was taken to another shuttle,” I said quickly. “He is badly injured. I am a healer, and I can take care of him.”
“We have our own healers.”
As one of the guards took my arm, I said, “He’s infected with the liquid crystal from one of your forbidden areas. I know how to keep it from killing him. If you’ll just let me talk to your healers, I can explain the treatment to keep him stabilized.”
Now I had his attention. After he studied my face for a few moments, he inclined his head a few degrees. “I will send someone from medical to speak with you.”
We were taken from the launch bay through a passage that ran straight through the dark red stone of the mountain and into another, much larger cavern. Here a small city had been built, but in a much different fashion than the abandoned places we had seen on the surface.
Triads of kiafta-shaped permanent shelters made of alloy and stone took up nearly every inch of the cavern floor, interspersed here and there with what appeared to be modified storage
buildings. Instead of roads, a complex system of rails hung over the city, on which small glidecars traveled. Everything appeared to be compact, to make the best use of the space available, but it was obvious from the visible activity that thousands of oKiaf inhabited this strange underground settlement.
“They didn’t leave their cities,” I said to my husband. “They just hid them.”
“All these years I’ve had to bunk down in the dirt with the tribes, when I could have stayed here.” Uorwlan looked disgusted.
The guards took us to a glidecar and drove us across the city railings to a structure in the center of the cavern. Unlike the triad dwellings, this building stood alone and had guards posted at every entrance.
From the glidecar we were taken in through a side entrance and down a series of corridors to a row of rooms not unlike the quarters on board the Sunlace. The guards then tried to separate us.
“The women stay with us,” my husband said.
The guards conferred with each other, and then allowed Uorwlan to go with Qonja, and me to go with Reever.
“Do not try to escape,” one of them warned as we entered the room. “If you are found outside this room without a proper escort, you will be shot on sight.”
Uorwlan backed away from the room. “No,” she said in a strangled voice. “I won’t do it.”
“They’re not slavers,” Reever said quickly, trying to go to her. When the guard stepped in his way, he grabbed his arm. “She used to be enslaved. When she disobeyed, her owner would lock her up and starve her, sometimes for weeks. She’s remembering that. Let me go to her. I can calm her.”
“I’m not afraid.” Now Uorwlan sounded furious as she swiped her claws at the guard trying to force her into the room. “I didn’t break the law. Let me out of here.”
The oKiaf guard slung his weapon over his shoulder and grabbed the Takgiba, who drove her head into his chest and then up, smashing her skull into his jaw. That broke his hold, and she knocked him over onto his back, ripping into him with her claws.