HeartFast

by Linda Mooney

  From the ground up to about fifty feet, the city and their world had survived. Beyond that, nothing existed. Buildings, which had reached far into the sky, were burnt stubs, trails of black smoke curling into the blue sky. Anything that had extended beyond fifty feet was gone, fried to a cinder and blown away into nothingness.

  The world held an eerie silence, the likes of which he had never encountered before in his life. Nothing moved. The city had come to a complete standstill in the aftermath of what it had been forced to endure.

  Hunter turned around to glance back at Guardian Command. Its upper two stories were gone, obliterated as smoothly as if the training facilities, Commander’s labs, and the atriums had never existed. Not to mention all of the communications towers and antennas. It was like some extraterrestrial hand had drawn a perfect horizontal line above their world, then scoured everything above that line.

  His power called to him. It told him to continue walking. That what he was seeking was just ahead, yet not too far.

  He moved with jerky movements, like a puppet under the control of a child with untrained hands. He followed her trail across the courtyard, around the inner ring that branched off to the meeting hall and the women’s quarters. He sensed a crossing of the path. She’d gone to her rooms to change into her suit, then returned to face the enemy. She ran this way. Not flown. She hadn’t flown. The doctors had told her flying might endanger their child.

  Hunter stopped, nearly swaying from the knowledge that Star had protected their daughter until the very last moment. Until that time she could no longer avoid the inevitable.

  Rounding the side of the building, Hunter found himself in the open area facing the perimeter. A hundred yards of wide-open space lay between the fence and Guardian Command. Just beyond the fence was the kiosk where the tour guides would assemble the public for the forty-minute tours.

  Beyond the fence he could see a burning shuttle lying in the street. A body was draped over its side. There was no movement he could see coming from the city on this side. The place was like a tomb.

  His power urged him forward, yet warned him his search was almost over. Striding over the immense slabs which paved the open area, Hunter kept his eyes downward, scanning for whatever his power prepared him to find.

  Almost halfway across the courtyard he spotted the wide puddle of blood pooled across the black rock. He didn’t have to touch it to know it was Star’s. He didn’t have to sniff it to detect her scent.

  Impotent rage surged through him, blinding and choking him until he fell to his knees. He hadn’t been there for her. He hadn’t been able to protect her, or to give her any comfort or love in her last moments.

  Still, the tears wouldn’t come. His grief wouldn’t release itself. Clenching his fists into tight, white-knuckled balls, Hunter let himself flow through his powers, and released all thought to the abilities which had never betrayed him. Until a tiny flame of realization caught, held, and grew brighter.

  She had bled. Where, then, was her body?

  He blinked away the darkening haze. If she had been a victim of the burning cloud, there would be residue. Charred remains, perhaps burned beyond any possible recognition, but residue nonetheless.

  Running his hands over the stone, he could see where the blood had been invaded. The puddle was not perfect; there were scuffmarks and smears inside, and rivulets running outside where the surface tension had been broken, allowing drops to overflow. Someone had removed her body.

  Hunter pushed his senses, searching, deciphering, hoping to detect anything that could give him a clue.

  There were footprints, no more than the barest imprint. The edge of a shoe.

  He concentrated harder.

  The tiniest scent of perfume. The tang of disinfectant.

  His heart rammed into his ribcage as his brain reacted. Perlakian. The doctor had been here. Whether she had returned to move in, to give aid, or to seek sanctuary from the horror taking place, she had been here. And she had taken Star’s body…

  …to the hospital.

  Hunter disappeared, appearing almost an instant later inside the hospital, and the total chaos within. Doctors and nurses were running in their haste to take care of the most critically injured. Interns and techs were knee-deep in triage. The pandemonium was nerve-wracking. Every floor above the third level of the building was gone, handicapping rescue efforts even further.

  Some of the transport beds held victims whose bodies were almost totally burned. Others lay stretched out on the floor. The less injured sat propped up against the walls of the corridors, waiting for medication or a fresh dressing. Hunter knew the rejuvenation tanks would be filled to capacity.

  A doctor rushed by, not seeing the Guardian in his haste to answer another emergency call. Hunter snagged his arm and pulled him out of the flow of traffic. “Where’s StarLight?” he almost growled at the harried man.

  It took a moment for the physician to recognize the man holding onto him. “Master Hunter! Oh, thank the heavens! They took StarLight to rejuvenation unit two—”

  It was all Hunter needed to hear. Before the man had the chance to say more, Hunter popped out.

  Eons ago, after the nebula had sterilized over half the world’s population, all medical facilities had begun extending their labs and storing other critical equipment below ground level, in the event of another catastrophic fallout. The rejuvenation tanks were on sublevel six.

  He materialized in the vast, dark hallway. Down the corridor he could see each set of double doors which opened into the medical units containing the life support systems. unit four was to his left, three to his right. He quickly began walking toward two.

  As he neared the doors leading into two, Hunter became aware of a figure standing just outside in the hallway, features hidden in the dim light. When he got closer, he saw her standing there, as if she had been waiting for him. Knowing without a doubt he would come looking for the woman lying just inside the double doors. He couldn’t read her expression, but her voice stopped him cold.

  “Hunter, prepare yourself.”

  “I … I can’t sense her, Devorah. Why can’t I sense her?”

  “I have her on life support. It was a miracle I found her as soon as I did, but her heart had already stopped. I don’t know how long she’d been without air.”

  “What about…” He held his breath, thinking he was prepared to hear the worst.

  “She lost the baby,” Devorah whispered.

  He thought he could steel himself against the knife slicing into him, but he had been wrong. Somehow he became aware of the physician’s arms encircling him, and Hunter pressed his forehead to her shoulder until his body stopped trembling.

  “Hunter. Hunter, she saved our world. She was willing to pay the price, so that the rest of us could live.”

  Gradually, he found he could stand on his own. Turning toward the doors, Hunter entered unit two.

  She was lying in a horizontal tank. Her body lay submerged beneath the clear, gelatinous, sterile fluid that slowly undulated over her skin and muscles, keeping her hydrated and protecting her against outside germs and diseases. An oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth. Tiny tubes disappeared into the veins in her neck and shoulders, feeding her body and circulating her blood.

  Her skin was an ugly, brownish-gray color, mottled with dark purple bruises where blood had oozed through her pores. Her face was flat against her skull. Her eyes were sunken. Her entire body skeletal. She had given everything to stop them.

  Moving closer, Hunter bent down to gaze at her lying unconscious inches away. “Why can’t I sense you, my love?” he whispered, knowing she had no way to hear him.

  The rejuvenation tank was keeping her alive. She was clinging to a very slender, very fragile thread, and the part of her that was Terrin was so deep inside her, Hunter could no longer grasp her essence.

  “What happened?” he asked the doctor standing a few feet away. When he got no immediate answer, he turned to look at th
e woman. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  “All I can tell you is that there was this big black thundercloud coming down. I thought it was a really bad storm. We all thought that. I was busy packing, and thinking I might have to wait until tomorrow to move over to Command, when I heard the first screams. There was this ugly hissing sound of things burning, only it was louder. Like when you stick something hot into something cold. The air was full of smoke and cinders. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t see much of anything, except for this cloud overhead that was getting bigger and bigger, and closer and closer. I-I found a shuttle and managed to take it back to Guardian Command. I was hoping to find someone there, but the place was empty.”

  “How did you get inside?” Hunter asked, eyes narrowing.

  Devorah pulled the comm link that Commander had given her out of her lab coat pocket. “I remembered what Star said to disable the outer perimeter sentries. I tried it, and it worked. I began looking everywhere for some sign of you. Somehow I found the transport bay, and I saw that the biggest ship was gone. That’s when I knew you had all departed, but I couldn’t believe Star had left against medical orders. So I kept looking.”

  The physician paused, lowering her face until she was no longer looking at him. “I heard screaming outside. I found a door and went outside, and that’s when I saw the spaceship above us. I went back inside and called for Star, hoping she would hear me. I found another door leading outside, but I was too scared to leave the safety of the building. Somehow I felt that if I stayed inside, I would be safe. So I kept running.”

  The woman threaded a shaking hand through her russet-colored hair. It was then Hunter noticed the smears of blood on the woman’s coat and pants. Star’s blood.

  “I heard … I heard this … I don’t know if it was a sound, or if it was a feeling. I just knew that something was happening outside. Something bad. Then I heard the most awful … the most horrible sound I’d ever heard in my life, and I started crying. I was in this little room with a lot of little vidscreens in it. I fell against one of the chairs, and I was crying. When I managed to look up, in one of the screens I saw Star. She was outside. She had her suit on, and her arms and legs were spread out, like she does when she flares, only she was lying on the ground. There was blood coming from her mouth, and ears, and eyes, and…

  “I heard a rumble, like a deep roll of thunder, then everything was quiet. I waited another minute, to make certain I couldn’t hear any more of the hissing sound of things burning. Then I went outside to find Star. When I finally found her, she was bleeding out. I did what I could to give her immediate aid and stop the bleeding. I was able to get her on the shuttle and bring her here.” Biting her lips, Devorah admitted, “I told them Star had saved us all. That there was no one else at Guardian Command. We put her into the rejuvenation tank, and I’ve placed myself in charge of all her needs. I’m not leaving this unit until I find out, one way or another, whether she’ll make it. I promise you, Hunter.”

  He lowered his head until his forehead rested against the side of the tank. Closing his eyes, Hunter tried to imagine what Star must have been thinking before she faced the Ombitran mothership.

  “Where were you?” Devorah’s voice floated to him. Her tone was accusing.

  “We got an emergency summons from the Tor Sigura system. The Ombitra were sighted there, and prepared to attack. But when we got there, we realized the mothership was not among the others. It had been a trap. We’d been tricked into leaving Command and the planet, so that the mothership could take our world. Only … only they never expected Star to be here. Or that she would be able to bring them down.”

  “Were you able to defeat the Ombitra at Tor Sigura?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded slowly. “Yeah. Their fleet is decimated.”

  There was silence between them; silence which extended into long minutes. Finally, Devorah dug her hands into her coat pockets. “I’ll go get another chair,” she told him. “It’s going to be a long night.”

  When she had left, Hunter’s eyes went back to the still figure inside the tank. There was a foot of gel between him and Star, but it might as well have been the universe between them.

  “My love, remember what I told you before I left?” His eyes told him the emaciated figure inside the tank couldn’t be the same woman he had caressed a few hours ago. His heart knew differently. She wasn’t dead. Not yet. Unless there was a miracle, she would be. With time, her body would begin to fail, until no amount of mechanical stimuli or medical treatment could bring her back.

  “I told you I love you with a passion that wouldn’t end, even after you and I were both gone. I mean it, Terrin. Even if I never see your beautiful eyes looking at me again. Even if I never hear your voice speak my name again. Even if I never hold you in my arms again, I will never stop loving you.”

  Reaching up with one hand, Hunter touched the side of the tank as the gates inside him finally opened, and he wept.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter 31

  Investigation

  He had shut down his powers, literally leaving himself blind and deaf to everything around him except for the figure floating inside the rejuvenation tank. Yet, when the hand touched his shoulder, he didn’t flinch or react with any surprise. Sooner or later he knew they would find him. His headset he’d tucked into one of his tunic’s pockets would have led them to him.

  “We saw Devorah outside. No change?”

  He replied with a slow shake of his head. His concentration remained fixed on Star, on her breathing, her pulse, on that emptiness inside of her that needed to be filled with her bright spirit.

  From the corner of his eye, Hunter saw Corona approach the tank. The woman had been crying. Her eyes were puffy and red. “I can’t believe she could do that to the ship,” she murmured.

  The remark pricked him, reminding Hunter he had no idea what Star had done to stop the Ombitra mothership. Looking up at the man standing beside him he frowned. “Do what?”

  “You didn’t get a look at what was left of the Ombitran vessel?”

  “Sorry. My … mind was on other things.”

  Deceiver pulled a comm link with a viewscreen from his vest pocket. After punching a few commands into it, he handed it over to Hunter. “The security cameras caught all of it.”

  Devorah had said she’d hidden inside a small room filled with vidscreens. Hunter knew she meant the observation room, which was used to check on the security cameras located around and outside the courtyards. Because their antennas were internal they hadn’t been affected by the burning cloud.

  Taking the link, Hunter watched the hastily edited scenario on the tiny monitor.

  There was Star, running off-camera, toward her quarters, as he had suspected. A moment later, by editing time, she was running back the way she had come. This time she was wearing her body suit. The cameras watched her round the corner of the far west wing, on the opposite side of Command Central, and stop to stare at the darkness engulfing the city from above. The picture was foggy and getting harder to pick up because of the cloud and the smoke thickening the air. But he could see her start to flare, her arms and legs spread out the way Devorah had said she’d found her.

  Suddenly she stopped and pulled her arms in, crossing them over her chest as she bowed her head. For a moment her shoulders shook, and Hunter groaned softly to see her stroke her abdomen with one slow hand. A goodbye to their child they would never see.

  Throwing her arms outward, above her head, she pulsed, sending out an invisible magnetic bubble to see what she was fighting. She pulsed a second time, even stronger. And a third time, to the point where her face went white from the strain.

  Slowly, Star opened her eyes, and there was no mistaking the terror and finality in them. Hunter’s hand was shaking as he watched her lie down on the black rocks and arrange her body in the one formation that would maximize her power.

  She couldn’t use the sun, as it was blocked out by the clo
ud and ship. Therefore she was left with one last alternative—to soak up the magnetic fields surrounding her from within their planet, siphoning it into herself until she could release it in one enormous push.

  The ship was coming down, drawing inward. She would have to give everything she had to push it away. The craft was drawing its strength from their sun. Star had to use the planet’s.

  She closed her eyes, concentrating. Then, without a sound, the camera vibrated violently.

  One push. One attempt. One chance.

  Her body arched slightly before sagging to the ground. A puddle of blood slowly began to form underneath and around her.

  The view shifted, more quick editing. This time it was the Ombitra mothership, hanging like the finest jewel of fire in the heavens, with a roiling black cloud of death clinging to its underside. The camera zoomed in when a puff of wind parted the cloud a tiny bit.

  No. Not wind. Wind didn’t affect the cloud. It was Star’s pulse.

  Her second pulse flattened the cloud, a visual confirmation telling her she was on the right track. The third pulse was strong enough to reveal a small portion of the underbelly of the ship. Hunter’s eyes widened to see the craft hesitate a fraction of a second.

  A fraction. It had been all the proof she’d needed.

  The cloud parted, revealing a neat hole in the center. The magnetic reverse thrust slammed into the silver hull like a giant invisible fist. Sections of the understructure buckled, and the craft wavered.

  It tried to right itself. Tried to regather the burning cloud that had been secured under it. But whatever the ship had used to keep its weapon focused on the planet was no longer working. Somehow, that delicate hold had been lost, and now the cloud was rimming the ship, eating it an inch at a time.

  The camera caught the mothership careening into a cluster of buildings on the edge of the city, brought down by its loss of control. There had been no sound on the video feedback, for which Hunter was grateful. Handing the comm back to Deceiver, he turned his gaze back on the figure in the tank.