Endurance

by Richard Chizmar

  The surprise on the Hsktskt OverSeer’s face would have been hilarious, had she not been dragging a pair of severely beaten League prisoners on each side of her.

  “OverLord!” She halted in her tracks, then saw me and bellowed something my headgear wouldn’t translate.

  Reever took a step toward her, inadvertently placing his body between me and Helen. “Perhaps the OverSeer would care to explain how these slaves came to be in this condition?”

  “Yes. Explain, FurreVa.”

  The OverSeer dropped both men to the deck to come after Reever, and I decided that was my cue. Zella and I edged past the furious Hsktskt and got to the injured men. One was in such bad shape I had to signal for a gurney.

  “Nice work,” I muttered under my breath as I packed a torn limb to stop the bleeding.

  Behind us, Helen of Troy was ranting on about the escapees and how she was going to find them if she had to personally dismember the rest of the prisoners and, if necessary, the Perpetua in the process.

  TssVar waited until she was through. “You interrogated these slaves without authorization, OverSeer.”

  “I—yes, OverLord.” FurreVa held her bulky form in a stiffly erect pose, then dropped her head back in a bizarre manner. The stance revealed the paler, thinner scales under her jaw.

  Baring her throat, I thought. To be ripped out?

  “You will be disciplined accordingly. Report to launch bay in one hour.”

  “Yes, OverLord.” The big female stalked off.

  I’d done what I could for her victims, so I went back to Reever and TssVar. “I have to perform some minor surgery to repair an arm over there.”

  “I would know how you learned of this, SsurreVa.”

  “Oh, you know.” I gave Reever a disgusted look. “Slave gossip, patients with multiple fractures, that sort of thing.”

  “I intended to investigate the matter personally.” My ex-bondmate’s lips thinned. “Dr. Torin precipitated my inquiry.”

  I pointed to the door panel leading to the Detainment Area. “I have a friend in there. Alunthri, the Chakacat. It’s been abused because of that friendship, and needs to be transferred to Medical for comprehensive therapy.” That lie sounded very realistic, even to me.

  “I know of this animal. The centurons consider it extremely dangerous,” TssVar said.

  Alunthri was proving to be a terrific actor. “It won’t be when I get through with it. Which will make it only more valuable when we reach Catopsa. Let me take it to Medical.” I held my breath while he thought about it, then sighed when he nodded. “Thank you, OverLord.”

  “Report to launch bay in an hour, Doctor.” Off TssVar went.

  The same time Helen had been ordered to report. I turned to Reever to ask him why, but he’d disappeared.

  One of FurreVa’s victims required a substantial infusion of neuroparalyzer before I began piecing back together his splintered radius. As some patients do, he got chatty as soon as the medication took effect.

  “I’ll be okay, right, Doc?” the male told me as I made the initial incision. He tried to get a look over the surgical shroud. “Thought he’d tear it off this time.”

  “She. OverSeer FurreVa is a she.”

  “No, not her.” He uttered an intoxicated chuckle. “I know her. What a face. But she’s not so bad. She pulled us out of there the last time, too.”

  I stopped cutting and lifted my head. “Are you telling me that the female who was dragging you back to Detainment didn’t interrogate you?”

  “No. It was the one with the flat ridges and dirty teeth.”

  I finished the work on the battered prisoner and went down to the launch bay. Reever met me at the door.

  “I’ve got to talk to TssVar,” I said. “FurreVa lied. She didn’t interrogate those prisoners.”

  He didn’t look happy. “She admitted to it. There’s nothing you can do now.”

  I went through the door. “TssVar will listen to—What’s going on here?” I walked in, and saw nothing but wall-to-wall lizards. An uneasy foreboding spread inside me, coiling up in my stomach. “Reever? Am I in trouble again?”

  “No. Stay back and remain silent,” he said as he guided me through the crowd of waiting Hsktskt.

  Why would I jump in on anything the beasts were doing? I wondered, then saw FurreVa, the position she was in, and stopped in my tracks. “Hold it. You don’t mean they’re going to …” Foreboding turned into dread. “I want to talk to TssVar. Now.”

  Reever simply hauled me farther down the line, until we stood a few yards away from TssVar’s centurons.

  They’d stripped FurreVa down to her scales, and hung her upside-down on a plasteel post, the back of her body facing outward. Only one reason they’d do that.

  TssVar entered with deliberate, prolonged formality, pausing to speak to some of the senior beasts before taking a position in front of the post. He didn’t look at the upside-down guard; for all he cared she could have been invisible.

  Four limbs rose, which brought everyone snapping to attention. “Members of the Faction. OverSeer FurreVa has submitted herself for discipline.”

  The other Hsktskt hissed and clicked, probably their approval. Reever finally let go of my arm, and I was briefly tempted to stomp on his instep in retaliation. Then TssVar continued and distracted me.

  “FurreVa interrogated slaves without approval. No one may overstep their rank and my authority. Discipline is required. Discipline will be administered.”

  “What kind of discipline?” I said to Reever, under my breath.

  He grabbed me again, this time around the waist. “Shut up.”

  Someone brought TssVar what I thought at first was an energy emitter. Closer scrutiny made me catch my breath. Reever’s arm tightened.

  I twisted around to look up at him. “He isn’t seriously going to use that thing on her.”

  “Not another word,” Reever said, and held his hand up, evidently ready to clap it over my mouth.

  TssVar centered the unit on the deck just in front of FurreVa. I knew what it was—an agricultural separator. Also known as a thresher. I’d seen botanical scientists using them back on K-2. The unit emitted bands of high-energy waves, which, when applied to newly harvested crops, separated the grains and rendered the remaining chaff into small, ground-up matter to be used as mulch.

  Applied to the unprotected flesh of a helpless being—

  “Five minutes of discipline for each damaged slave,” TssVar said.

  I forgot Reever’s warning and bucked against his arm. “That will cut her to pieces!”

  “She is Hsktskt, Cherijo. She will survive,” Reever said against my ear. “Do not attempt to interfere.”

  Five minutes for each prisoner. I’d have to watch that thing slice into FurreVa for a half hour or more. And she hadn’t beaten them—she’d saved them.

  I didn’t interfere. I yelled my head off. “No! Stop it! She didn’t hurt them!”

  An deadly hush fell over the launch bay, and every pair of yellow eyes in the place swiveled to focus on me.

  So did their commander. “HalaVar. Bring the Terran to me.”

  Reever didn’t have to drag me. Just the reverse. He ran after me and hauled me back just before I would have thrown myself at the OverLord.

  “She’s innocent—you can’t do this!”

  TssVar went around the post and looked at FurreVa. “Did you interrogate those prisoners without authorization, OverSeer?”

  She didn’t even hesitate. “Yes, OverLord.”

  “She’s lying!” I fought to break Reever’s hold. “TssVar, for God’s sake, you’ll kill her!”

  TssVar activated the unit. “Restrain the doctor, brother.” His tongue slid out once, twice. “Ensure she observes the entire discipline.”

  For the next thirty minutes, Reever held me there and forced me to watch as the thresher slowly and methodically flayed the OverSeer’s back.

  The displacer bands worked over her like a flail edged
with a dozen individual blades, rising and falling. A rhythmic hum vibrated from the base of the unit, one that pulsed against my ears and sent my fingers digging into Reever’s forearm.

  Scales began to shred. Then the bands cut into the underlying tissue.

  At first the Hsktskt made no sound at all. Her bulky body didn’t move, either. I thought she’d fallen mercifully unconscious, until the bands falling across her raw flesh made FurreVa twist and jerk.

  Bile surged up my throat, over and over. I’d never seen anyone tortured before, so I had no point of reference. My experience as a surgeon was useless; the ghastly scene was an affront to my training and a fisted blow against my humanity.

  She’d lied to protect GothVar—but why? Why would she endure this to cover for him?

  My outrage made me a minority of one. I jerked my head around, saw the faces of the centurons and the OverLord as they watched the thresher tear into their comrade. No one averted their gaze. No one twitched a muscle.

  GothVar stood in the front row. He appeared to be enjoying himself, following the movements of the bands with intense concentration.

  Perverted ghoul. Enjoying this butchering session, knowing he should have been up there, taking the punishment.

  I lost it halfway through the session, and shrieked something vile at TssVar. Reever clamped a hand over my mouth and kept it there from then on. I sank my teeth into his palm, several times. The taste of blood pooled in my mouth, and I didn’t know whether it was mine, or his. I didn’t care. All I could do was watch, and pray it would be over soon.

  Still the thresher bands rose and fell.

  FurreVa started to grunt after each blow. Gobbets of shredded derma hung from her back in long peels. Rivulets of blood ran down her back and shoulders. The shreds became chunks. The rivulets became steady flows.

  Ultimately, her grunts became howls.

  Toward the end, Reever had to hold me caged in his arms, simply to keep me upright. Tears of rage and helplessness blinded me, but I still heard what I could no longer see clearly. No escaping the gradually weakening shrieks, the thresher’s efficient hum, the sound of a body being torn apart. The nauseating smell of blood thickened and changed when the Hsktskt lost control of her bladder and bowels. A moment later, I closed my eyes, and wetness streaked over my cheeks and plopped on Reever’s hand.

  My conscience immediately attacked. No. Don’t shut it out. Remember this. Remember you made this happen to her.

  I opened my eyes, blinked to clear them, and made myself watch. At last, after an eternity of horror, the hum abruptly ended. TssVar had finally deactivated the unit. By then FurreVa hung loosely in her bonds, unconscious, and bleeding copiously.

  The back of her body glistened, raw and tattered.

  Slowly Reever let go of me, and I staggered to the nearest disposal unit and vomited as quietly as I could. Behind me, a few of the centurons made repelled sounds.

  They could watch a helpless comrade be chewed to pieces, but one Terran having the heaves upset them?

  Once my belly settled, I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and headed toward the OverSeer. The clinical part of my brain registered the damage: the thresher had effectively removed all the scales, subderma, and the majority of the upper muscular layer beneath it. Bits and pieces of the Hsktskt’s body had fallen in clumps around the base of the post. An ever-widening pool of blood met my footgear.

  I bent down to where she could see and hear me, and lifted a numb hand to her carotid. Slow and feeble, her pulse throbbed like a soundless moan against my fingertips. Then I looked up and collided with the clear, cold gaze of the Hsktskt Commander. Beside him, GothVar gave me equal attention.

  “She is dead meat,” he said, and flicked his tongue toward me. Wanting to taste my fear, my despair, or whatever gave his chemoreceptors a thrill.

  “Not yet,” I whispered, making an instant pledge. “Not yet.”

  No one stopped me when I got up and went to the console to signal Medical, or made Reever and two other Hsktskt help me cut her down. The medevac team arrived just as we prepared to lower FurreVa’s heavy weight to the deck.

  “Lift her up there. On her front, yes, like that,” I said, directing the centurons as they placed her onto the grav-unit. I went over to the console again and signaled the duty nurse. “Set up a foam cradle in an isolation room. She’s big, so suspend it with a couple of traction rigs.” The nurse was inspecting me with visible revulsion. “What?”

  “You’re covered with—with—” She gestured at my tunic, and I glanced down.

  Hsktskt blood and bits of tissue made splotches and stains all down the front off me.

  I heaved a sigh. “I’ll change. Now, move it.”

  As we moved FurreVa from launch bay to Medical, I stayed at her side. I didn’t need to scan her to know her injuries were life threatening. Then I saw her lift her head and stare up at me.

  “Let me die,” she said.

  “You lied to your commander, and I know it.” If I was going to have any chance of saving her, I needed to give her a reason to fight. “So kiss my Terran ass.”

  Once at Medical, we moved her into the isolation unit and sedated her. I couldn’t use skin seal on such massive stretches of flesh, and there wasn’t compatible synthetic grafting material available. I’d have to grow new skin and scales for her from her own cells—the database indicated her body would automatically reject any live donor tissue—but for now it was vital I simply keep her alive.

  Working on the Hsktskt over the next several hours wasn’t pleasant. The mess and smell were, well, without parallel. Two nurses got sick and left. Interestingly enough, Pmohhi, one of the nurses I’d rescued from FurreVa’s clutches, stayed. Vlaav the Saksonan intern stuck at my side, too—although his lumpy skin turned a number of interesting colors during the treatment.

  “They said you watched them do this,” Vlaav said when we were finished sealing off torn vessels.

  “Yeah.” I changed my gloves for the fourth time. “It wasn’t like I had a choice.”

  The nurse shifted, peering down at the big female with a queer expression. “I would have liked to watch.” Then she did something even worse.

  She laughed.

  The front of her tunic got in my hands. Next thing I knew, she was jammed between me and a monitoring unit, and I was in her face.

  “You think this is funny? Want to volunteer next time, do a little whipping yourself?” She shook her head, terrified. I shoved her toward the door. “Get out.”

  Pmohhi fled. Dchêm-os appeared a few moments later as replacement.

  “A mess, this one is.” Dark fur rose slightly around her muzzle as she stopped inspecting the patient and started on me. “Unkind to Pmohhi, you were.”

  “She’ll live,” I said. So I was snarling. The shrew could relate to that. “Get that setup tray over here.”

  We treated FurreVa much the same way we would a third-degree burn patient. Fragments of pulverized osteodermic matter had to be removed, then wide swaths of aerated antibacterial dressings applied over her torso and legs. I annotated what areas would require deep skin-flap transplants, and hoped there was enough flesh left on her lower abdomen and appendages to harvest what I needed.

  “God, I feel like I’m piecing her together with tweezers,” I said as I stripped my mask off and finished my notes.

  “May I assist with the plastic surgery?” Vlaav asked.

  He’d been reading FurreVa’s chart over my shoulder. “Why? You want some cheap thrills, too?”

  “No.” His pocked, sallow face sobered. “I would like to comprehend your methods, and learn the techniques.”

  I carefully set down the chart and considered his solemn expression. It appeared I had a potential cutter on my hands. “Fair enough.”

  The damage to the back of her skull gave me justification for a full scan series, and I confirmed what I’d suspected—someone had in the recent past tried to split her head in two with some sort of heavy, bladed weapon.
The articular and quadrate bones of her jaw were crushed, with additional comprehensive damage to the structure of the dentary plate.

  “See that?” I showed Vlaav the readings. “Good thing her species has a kinetic skull, or she would have starved to death. Among other things.”

  My main concern was the damage to the cerebral hemisphere. Reptilian life forms had small brains to begin with, and judging from localized damage, this female had lost more than twenty percent of her higher functions. That particular area of the Hsktskt brain, I discovered, also controlled personality.

  “No wonder she’s such a harpy.”

  It amazed me that she’d lived through the experience. I also discovered another, urgent reason FurreVa and I needed to have a little chat when she woke up.

  If she woke up.

  At last Vlaav and I shifted her to the foam cradle, which groaned under her weight, but held. I instructed two orderlies to reinforce the frame and put the intern on constant monitor.

  Dchêm-os came out after cleaning up the treatment room to inquire what to do about Alunthri, who had been transferred from Detainment.

  I was covered with a fresh coat of Hsktskt blood, and in no state to greet my highly sensitive friend. “Give me a minute to clean up.”

  I noticed Shropana’s berth was empty on my way to the cleanser and grabbed his chart. “Who discharged this patient?”

  One of the nurses gave me a wary look. “He discharged himself, as soon as we brought the Chakacat in.”

  Which, when I thought about Shropana’s basic wimp capacity, made perfect sense. “Have him report for follow-up in the morning.”

  In the clean-up room, I was forced to strip down to my skin and sluice the stains away with a sprayer. Diluted maroon blood ran down and vanished into the duct as I watched without blinking.

  You made this happen.

  I’d wanted the ruthless Hsktskt to get a taste of her own brutality, but not like this. Not knowing I was the cause. And my guilt had only worsened, knowing what she’d been hiding from everyone. The damage to her head would require substantial work—comprehensive bone grafts, cartilage transplants, and possibly open cranial repairs….