by neetha Napew
While my staffers went to search for supplies, I walked over to Alunthri. “Why the big snarly kitty cat act?” I finally had the chance to ask.
“I have had to assume a more feral demeanor since being incarcerated,” the Chakacat said. “For purposes of self-defense.” It bared its fangs. “Actually, I have found it most stimulating. Dramatics are, after all, a true physical art form.”
It would think that.
The nurses proved incredibly resourceful. As Zella and I prepped the patient, they went through the Detainment Area, and came back with a small garment-repair kit, a thermal braising tool, and a pile of personal hygiene sponges.
I looked over the collection and hoped it wouldn’t kill my patient. “I still need a something with a blade.”
“They seized all the weapons when we were boarded,” Pmohhi said.
“A moment, wait.” Before I could stop her, Zella took the blunt end of the braising tool and struck herself in the face with it.
“Stop-what are you doing, you idiot?” I grabbed her furry face to assess the damage, but she shoved my hands away and put a paw in her mouth.
“Take this, here.” She worked it loose, then handed me a bloodstained chunk of one of her incisors. “It’s sharp, be careful.”
It was, I nearly sliced my hand open grabbing it. And the shock of what she’d done made me yell at her again. “God, Zel, we could have found something else!”
“Down, keep your voice!” She spat blood out onto the deck. “Use it, go ahead. Fine, I will be.”
I packed her mouth with a small hygiene sponge anyway.
“All right. Sterilize everything with that antiseptic. Pmohhi, section us off with some linens and make sure you keep everyone at least three yards away from us. I’ll need something undyed and as clean as possible for bandaging the patient after surgery.”
Zella tugged me off to one side. “With you, I must speak.”
“Okay.” I bent down. “What?”
“Dizzy or nauseous, are you feeling?”
“No, I’ve done this thousands of times.” Her fur was standing on end, why was she so damned skittish? No one was going to tear her into pieces. “Zel-“
“About it, forget.”
I went back to the table. The sedated patient didn’t flinch as I made the initial incision. Internally, the damage was thankfully restricted to the three-sided left kidney; I’d have been wasting my time if the bowel had been compromised.
“Sponge. Apply it there. Keep monitoring his vitals. That’s it.
I went to work. The surgery went slowly without a lascalpel, but I silently thanked the Medtech instructor who had insisted I learn to cut with traditional as well as modern instruments. Though I wasn’t sure that any surgeon in modern history had ever performed a procedure with another being’s tooth. Still, the incisor was the sharpest nonmechanical implement I’d ever used.
Two hours later, I finished sewing-literally-the abdominal incision and manually checked the patient’s vitals again. His signs remained weak, but steady. I had the feeling he’d make it, in spite of the crude tools I’d used to repair his body.
“He needs to be isolated,” I said to Zella, checking her mouth before she could stop me. The shiny nub of her tooth looked jagged and painful. “How do you feel?”
“Fine. Grow back, it will.” Dchêm-os turned to instruct the nurse, then froze.
“Very interesting work,” the Trytinorn’s bass voice said just above my head. “I see the Reedol intern is quite handy with a bladed weapon.”
A vicious blow from behind knocked me down.
Then someone tore the covering from my head. Once my ears stopped ringing, I looked up into little, mean eyes and an extremely large, yellow-and-black striped foot.
So this is how it feels, I thought, to become a rug.
“You must be Torin,” the Major said. “But Colonel Shropana told us you were Terran, not Reedol.”
“Maybe he got mixed up,” I said to the towering being.
The nurses all stood in place, their expressions a mixture of dismay and guilt. Dchêm-os stared at the Major, then at me, then she shrugged. Zella’s compassion meter just hit empty, I thought. It had been nice while it lasted.
“It was not enough that you sold the Fleet to the butchers,” the Major said. “You had to come here and do some carving of your own.”
“I operated on this man”-I indicated the patient-“to save his life.”
The Major turned and got louder. “The Terran traitor is here among us. What shall we do with her?”
There was some gruesome suggestions, delivered by several angry shouts. The entire population of the Detainment Area began to close in on us. God, I hoped Alunthri wouldn’t have to see this. The gentle Chakacat was revolted by even the mildest form of violence. I waved a hand to get the Trytinorn’s attention.
“Excuse me? Major?” When he looked down, I smiled. “Before you tear me to pieces, would you have some of your men move this patient to an isolated spot? His kidney won’t take any more abuse.”
“Remove him,” the Major said, and the nurses helped push the makeshift operating table across the deck away from me.
Now I was standing alone, facing a ring of furious faces. Some of them I had treated only hours before. Guess League memories tended to run from short to nonexistent. No one moved, and quite frankly, I was tired, so I sat down on the deck.
The Major stepped forward. “Get up.”
“No.” I yawned, and rubbed my face with a tired hand. “My feet hurt.”
“Terran beast-lover,” someone shouted. “Stand and face your victims!”
“There’s an open mind,” I said to the Trytinorn. “You can feel the draft from here.”
“S-s-s-stop!”
That came from someone I hardly recognized. The long, lean feline’s fur was raised all along its spine. Long, dangerous-looking talons sprouted from all four paws-which it had dropped on. Sharp fangs glittered as it released a terrifying bellow.
Was that my nice, quiet, pacifist pal, Alunthri? Roaring? Some acting job.
Dchêm-os stepped in between the Chakacat, the Major, and me. She scanned the other crew members, her broken incisor bared in a exasperated grimace. “Me, you know. This Terran bitch dead, I vowed to see.”
“I don’t think that’s going to help, nurse,” I said. And what was this “vow” stuff? “But thanks for the thought.”
“This area alive, she will not leave,” Dchêm-os said. “Before we can make use of her, don’t kill her.”
Alunthri let out another feline screech for good measure.
“I would kill her for using my air,” the Major said.
“See?” I said to Zel. “Just get out of his way, you’re perpetuating his breathing problem. Take Wild Kingdom here with you.”
“Up, shut!” Dchêm-os yelled at me, then turned on the Trytinorn. “The wounded, she can treat. Until she dies, it won’t be long now.”
“Get out of the way,” Devrak said.
Finally something got through my preoccupation with getting stomped on by the Trytinorn. Until I died?
“We can’t trust her,” someone shouted.
“In a few hours, she’ll be dead.” The nurse swung toward the other voice. “Makes no sense, killing her now.”
“Go back to that part about a few hours,” I told Zella. At the same time, Alunthri gave the little nurse a decidedly ferocious look.
“There are other doctors!” a third voice said. Dchêm-os sent a look of antipathy in that direction. “Yes. All confined to Medical, they are.”
“I’d still like to know why I’m going to die in a few hours,” I said, feeling a little disgusted myself.
“Enough.” The Major spat out the word. “I will hear her bones grind under my feet.”
“No.” Dchêm-os grabbed my good arm and hauled me to my feet. “Mine to claim, her death is. Of my people, by the right!”
“Zel, I don’t think he’s going to let you keep
me alive until it’s convenient for you personally to kill me,” I murmured, eyeing the Major. The dizziness. Zel not wanting me to operate. “Or have you taken care of that, too?”
“Digitalizine,” the little nurse said without a hint of remorse. “Enough to kill three Terrans, I injected you with.”
That was interesting, I thought. That particular drug took a few hours to induce a fatal seizure. And all I’d felt was a little dizziness, now gone. Had my boosted immune system neutralized the toxin?
“You are League first,” the Trytinorn reminded the nurse. “Step out of my way, or share her fate.”
“I will sh-sh-share it.” Alunthri pushed past Dchêm-os and shielded me with its body.
“Thanks, Alunthri, but I can handle this.” I stepped around the Chakacat and eyed the nurse. “Get lost, Zel. Do some soul-searching. Maybe you’ll locate one.”
“Touch you, I won’t let them.” Her dark fur rose stiffly all around her nose. “Mine to kill, you are.”
She was determined to protect me until I dropped dead from the digitalizine. To her, undoubtedly a perfectly logical situation.
The Major removed Dchêm-os by picking her up with his long, prehensile lipInose and setting her down ten feet away. Others forced her away from the inner circle, which left me and Alunthri facing the towering giant being.
“I have my orders from the Colonel,” the Major said as he started toward me. “You have to die.”
Alunthri sprang at the Trytinorn, and landed on his broad back. I heard the Major’s surprised gasp of pain when the Chakacat sank its claws into his tough hide. Devrak couldn’t shake it off, not without trampling some of his people in the process.
“Alunthri.” I spoke low and softly, to get its attention. “Do you remember promising to return the favor when I set you free on K-2?”
The Chakacat’s tail switched back and forth as it gazed down at me. Reluctantly it gave me a single hnk.
I’d take that as a yes. “Enough physical art form, okay? I want the favor now. Get down from there. Go watch over the man I just operated on.”
For a minute, I wasn’t sure it was going to work. Then, with a slow, mesmerizing grace, the Chakacat sprang down from Devrak’s back. Then Alunthri lifted a hind paw and urinated on the Major’s leg.
“Alunthri,” I said, trying not to grin at the gesture of supreme feline contempt. I failed.
The Chakacat gracefully padded off toward my patient.
Devrak didn’t seem to be concerned about the small puddle he was standing in. Or maybe he was just trying to act nonchalant. “Now we will finish this.”
“Be my guest.” I sat back down on the floor and deliberately examined the deplorable condition of my fingernails. Why was it that doctors were unable to maintain a decent manicure? I had no idea. The working conditions?
“Get up and defend yourself,” the Trytinorn said.
Against a being several hundred times my size? What, was he kidding? “I’ve sworn an oath to do no harm to other life-forms. Do you really think I could take you in a fight, anyway? Pick on someone your own size.”
“I dislike killing cringing cowards.”
“I’m not cringing,” I told him. “I’m sitting. And wanting to do no harm doesn’t make me a coward.” I raised my voice so all the mob could hear me. “Hurting people who can’t or won’t defend themselves-now, that’s more like what a coward does.”
Suddenly everyone seemed to notice how big the Major was, and how small I was in comparison. People who a minute ago wanted to stomp me into the decking now shuffled back or looked away.
“Perhaps the nurse is right,” someone said. “We could use her skills, until our plan can be-“
“Silence!” The Major looked back down at me. “This is your last chance, Terran. Get to your feet.”
“No. If you’re going to kill me, be my guest. If you’re going to stand there and argue with me all day, I’d rather take a nap. Make up your damn mind.” I smiled. “Coward.”
I knew from dealing with Trytinorns back on K-2 that the Major’s species had very rigid views about honor. He couldn’t bring himself to strike the killing blow. I had been counting on that. The only problem was he was League, and had learned the fine art of delegation.
“Lieutenant Wonlee!” the Trytinorn shouted.
A slender, heavily clawed being pushed his way through the crowd. He wore a specially designed uniform which allowed hundreds of thin, sharp spines to protrude. Hugging must not be big on that guy’s homeworld. “Sir?”
“Kill this Terran. At once.”
I watched as the Lieutenant, whose prickly species evidently had no problem at all with situations of honor, came walking toward me, his many talons extended.
Odd thoughts crossed my mind at that moment. My surrogate mother Maggie had died nearly three years ago. Kao had died in my arms on the Sunlace. Jenner was safe with Kao’s family, HouseClan Torin, back on Joren. Alunthri, no stranger to slavery, would find a way to survive. They’d given my life true meaning, and I’d been privileged to love them all.
I kept my eyes open and my head up. I might be resigned to death, but I wasn’t going out a coward.
CHAPTER FOUR
Aksel Drift Nine
Before Wonlee got within clawing distance, some interesting things happened.
Dchêm-os, and two of the nurses I’d rescued, had quietly circulated through the crowd of detainees. Now they and whomever they convinced to help them charged the inner circle, shouting for my release. At the same time, Alunthri sprang over a lot of heads and landed practically in my lap. It stayed there and bellowed at anyone who got within a foot of me.
I tried to push it out of harm’s way. “Alunthri, get out of here!”
“I think not, Cherijo.” The Chakacat grinned at me, then turned and snarled at an approaching crew member.
Now there was a perimeter of bodies shielding me and voices shrieking defiance. I saw the claw-carrying Lieutenant sail through the air as someone flung him away from me. The Major trumpeted his fury, but was so hemmed in by smaller crew members that he couldn’t twitch, much less move in on me himself.
People, as they always do in these situations, began to brawl.
Dchêm-os worked her way over to me and snarled at Alunthri, who reluctantly allowed her to come closer. “To protect yourself, can’t you even try? Of all deities, for the love?”
“It’s that silly oath I took,” I said, then winced as I saw two crew members beating each other senseless a few inches away. “Why are you worried? He’s just finishing the job you started.”
“Enough of the drug, I must not have given you,” Zella said, her tail thrashing impatiently.
“Shame, isn’t it?”
Two more nurses appeared out of the battling masses, both disheveled and panting. “We’re going to get you out of here, Doctor,” Pmohhi said.
“Unless you can override the door panel controls, that’s unlikely.”
“No, we have an alternate route-“
“Attention, prisoners!” a drone voice unexpectedly blared. “Cease and desist all violence at once!”
No one paid much attention, they were all busy having fun. Which quickly turned into cries of pain as their detainment cuffs started jolting them. Oddly enough, mine didn’t.
A squad of armed Hsktskt entered the Detainment Area, led by none other than Duncan Reever. I pushed the Chakacat off my lap, ducked around some prisoners attempting to pry their cuffs off, and tried to hide. Reever spotted me within seconds and motioned for the centurons to head my way.
“Here come the really bad guys,” I told Dchêm-os, who was crouched over, rugging at her own cuff. “Get moving.”
I tugged the writhing Zel toward the open entrance panel, hoping to get around Reever and his pals before they got to us. A few more feet, and we’d have access to the corridors-
Cherijo. Reever’s voice echoed inside my head.
I made a strangled sound as my body went into com
plete shutdown. My hands fell to my sides. Dchêm-os dropped to the deck and painfully pushed herself back up.
“Stand there... Doctor... don’t just...”
Already too late, I thought desperately. Come to beat me up personally, Reever?
Reever arrived and motioned to the centurons to restrain the dark nurse. He himself swung me up into his arms, and made sure through the telepathic link that I couldn’t resist.
The Chakacat sprang at Reever, but was given a severe jolt by one of the Hsktskt centurons, and fell down to sprawl senseless at his feet.
Alunthri!
It is not hurt, Cherijo.
This can’t be much fun for you, OverMaster, I thought acidly. Where’s the sport in rendering your victims unconscious?
“Shut up,” Reever said quite clearly against my hair. To the centurons, he ordered, “Return the nurses to Medical. I will deal with the Terran.”
Oh, and what are you? I inquired as he carried me out of the riot and into the hall.
The only hope you have, was his calm reply. Why were you in the Detainment Area?
1 was helping those three nurses I told you about. You remember, the ones you couldn’t be bothered with? I pictured OverSeer FurreVa and her cohorts, lying on the snowy deck. I could have killed them, but I didn’t. I want those nurses left alone and returned to their duty stations in Medical.
Reever’s arm tightened briefly. What do I get if I agree to arrange it?
I won’t start another riot.
Reever took me to my quarters, and dropped me on the sleeping platform. At the same time, a signal came in over the console. He checked it, then glanced back at me. “I must return to Command. There will be a centuron stationed outside the door panel.”
“What about my nurses?”
“If you agree to keep away from the Detainment Area in the future, I will have them returned to Medical.”
“Okay.” Finally in control of my own body again, I sank back against the pillows. “I’ll stay out of Detainment.”
I got up to find a scanner as soon as he left, then ran a hematological series on myself. The readings confirmed my suspicions-either Zella hadn’t injected me with enough digitalizine (doubtful, she was an experienced nurse) or my genetically enhanced immunities had nullified the dose. My blood was clean.