by neetha Napew
I never went back to Reever’s quarters that night.
A few hours after the Hsktskt infants’ attack, I saw the back of the infirmary wall move slightly. Without hesitation I slipped behind a partition and into the hidden tunnel.
A tall, dark-cloaked figure pushed the crystal hatch closed behind me.
I didn’t wait to say, “Hello” and “How are you?”
“Where have you been? Do you know how long I’ve been trying to get in touch with you? Have you ever thought about checking in once in a blue moon?”
The hooded head turned toward me. “There are no moons around Catopsa.”
“Hmph.” I tried to sound disagreeable, but I was too relieved and happy to see him. “I’ve got problems, Noarr.”
“You are not the only one, woman.” He took my arm and started walking me away from the infirmary. “Come. We will talk along the way.”
“Along the way to where?”
“I have something I want you to see.”
As we made our way through the tunnel labyrinth, I filled him in on what I’d learned since FurreVa had released me. He didn’t seem surprised to hear about the League’s plans, or my creator’s latest treachery.
“This Terran, does he have that much influence with the Allied League?”
“He does if he’s promised to give them the secrets of an indestructible life-form.” That made him stop and stare. “Oh, I don’t know if it’s true. All I know is, I’m not aging anymore. Also, my immune system seems to get stronger and more aggressive every time I’m wounded. Take this stupid PIC they keep burning into me”-I jerked up the sleeve of my tunic to show him the unmarked skin-“the marks don’t last more than a few hours lately.”
He gently rolled down my sleeve and grasped my forearm with his flipper. “That would be enough to convince the League to attack the Hsktskt Faction.”
“Yeah, promise them immortality and they’ll jump through plenty of hoops to save one genetic freak.”
Now he touched my face. “You are not a freak, Cherijo.”
I could have stood like that for several years. “Okay. An immortal genetic construct. Now where are we going?”
“I will show you.”
He steered me through to the last passage. A pair of odd-looking garments and helmets sat by the final access panel. Some kind of envirosuit, I decided, and climbed into the one he handed me. He switched on an oxygen pack and donned the other suit, then opened the panel.
The tunnel led directly onto Catopsa’s surface.
Despite the suit’s thermal regulators, cold instantly seeped through my skin. I shivered as I walked through the opening onto the irregular surface of the asteroid, then glanced at my companion.
“Noarr, it’s freezing out here!”
“We are not far from the field.” The comunit inside the helmet made his voice sound slightly distorted as he raised one glove and pointed to a clearing beyond a range of free-standing crystal growths, several hundred yards beyond us. “There it is.”
It was slow going. The asteroid had less than one-sixth the gravity I was used to, and the effect made every step into an awkward sort of bounce. By the time we passed through the rows of transparent towers, I felt more than a little disoriented and slightly nauseated by all the jolting.
Then I saw what Noarr had brought me to look at, and forgot to breathe. “How... ?”
“I don’t know.” He led me out to the clearing, and to the first of the growths emerging from a fissure in the asteroid’s surface.
It wasn’t transparent, or symmetrical like the crystal towers occupied by the Hsktskt. Enormous, solid black spirals jutted in beautiful, erratic eruptions that flowered far above our heads. The smallest was at least fifty meters tall and had a variated diameter ranging from twenty meters to a half centimeter. Some of the formations reminded me of clouds; others resembled intricate veils of lace. It didn’t glitter like the crystal, either. It glowed with a faint oily sheen. I’d never seen anything so beautiful or so strange in my life.
“Have you scanned it?”
“Yes.” He reached out and placed one flipper on the surface of the black formation. A more intense glow surrounded his glove. “It absorbs heat, produces random vibrations, and is incredibly dense. So much so that I cannot take a sample of it back to my ship for analysis.”
“Okay.” An irresistible urge to touch it made me lift my glove and place it next to his. The icy atmospheric temperature leaking into my suit seemed to intensify. I snatched my hand away. “God, it almost feels like it’s-it’s-“
“Drawing the warmth from your body?”
I looked at him, and nodded slowly.
“I think it does.” He dropped his flipper and turned to sweep one arm around the entire clearing. “Whatever it is, it is ancient. Readings indicate most of these growths are more than a billion years old.”
“Noarr. Why did you bring me here?”
“I found more of these. Inside the compound. They’ve started appearing in some of the outer tunnels.”
I had no idea of what to say. It was possible the black growths were some kind of seismically generated magma, which had frozen upon emerging onto the surface. But logic dictated that the oldest would have crumbled millions of yeas ago. There wasn’t even regolithic dust on any of them.
And no magma I’d ever heard of absorbed heat from a living being.
We returned to the compound, removed our suits, and went to the tunnel where Noarr had discovered the first of the new growths. They were smaller, but just as bizarre and stark and mysterious as the ones on the surface.
I should have thought they were beautiful, but all I could summon up was a steady sense of aversion.
“The Lok-Teel seem to dislike them,” I said as I watched one of the busy fungi give the growth a wide berth, and went down to give the little house cleaner a fond caress. “You’re worried they’ll collapse the tunnel network.”
“Yes.” Noarr didn’t touch the Lok-Teel, but paced around the growth. “At the rate they’re appearing, the tunnels will be destroyed or rendered impassible in a few weeks.”
That meant no more slaves would escape Catopsa. “I’ll see if I can figure out what’s causing it. Now I have to get back, or I will be missed.”
“Woman.” His cloak swirled around me as he put an arm around my waist. “When I leave Catopsa, you are coming with me.”
My jaw nearly hit my chest. “What?”
“You can no longer remain here. The Hsktskt will either kill you, or turn you over to the League.”
“I can’t just fly off and pretend none of these people exist,” I said, trying to step out of the embrace.
“And me? You have no attachment to me?”
That was the whole problem. Somehow I’d managed to transfer all those disastrous emotions I’d had for Reever to this slave-runner, who I knew next to nothing about.
“Don’t be an ass,” I said, not sure if I meant him, or me.
Noarr pressed his mouth against my throat. “You’re coming with me.”
He had a very talented tongue. “No, I’m not.”
The fabric of my tunic bunched as he ran one rough fin up from my waist to the nape of my neck. I felt the edge of his teeth, the strength of his grip. When he bit me, it didn’t hurt. Somehow I understood the inexplicable need. Marking me as his, I thought. His woman. Kao had done the same.
Kao, I realized with a start, would have liked Noarr. A lot.
“Look. I’m flattered, but we hardly know each other,” I said. “Stop nibbling on me.”
“Why?”
“Because...” I couldn’t think of a single reason. I couldn’t think, period.
Noarr stripped my tunic away, spanned my waist with his long fins, and lifted me up. His tongue caressed the stiff peaks of my nipples, the lines of my ribs. My breasts felt painfully full, and swelled even more as he rhythmically stroked them with his flippers.
“Noarr.” I took in a deep breath as he pressed
me against his full length. We fit together, without a single gap between us. “Much as I would like to...”- God, would I have liked to-“... this isn’t the time or place.”
“Very well, Waenara,” he said, then replaced my tunic and let go of me.
“What’s that mean?”
He hesitated. “A term of affection.”
“What’s the corresponding term for a guy?”
“Osepeke. “
“I’m taking a raincheck on this, okay? Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.” I smiled. “Osepeke.”
Noarr led me back to the infirmary, where I made final rounds before leaving to get some sleep. True to his word, Reever was gone, which suited me fine.
I was exhausted, worried about the threat to the tunnels, and ready to bang my head against the nearest hard surface. Surely nothing else could go wrong.
Before I could drop onto the berth, however, Gael Kelly slid out from under it and gave me a cheerful grin.
“Pull your socks up, dote. Haven’t seen you in donkey’s years. Howya?”
“Gael.” Guilt over leaving him behind in the crying chambers rushed back over me. “Did SrrokVar release you?”
“Won’s recycler crew smuggled me out of there a few days ago.” He glanced around and rubbed his flat abdomen. “I could use some scran, if you can spare it.”
“Of course.” I rushed over to the prep unit and quickly prepared him a meal. He didn’t bother to sit, but devoured everything in short order.
“Ah, that’s a gift. I’m knackered.” He rubbed a hand over his weary face. “Barreling about dodging the thicks has me flah’ed out, dote.”
I didn’t need a translation of that. “These are Over-Master HalaVar’s quarters. Not exactly the best spot in the compound to lay low.”
“Eejit won’t be finding me.” Gael put down the servers. “I can have a kip in the back of one of the storage units...” He glanced at the berth. “Unless I’d be intruding on you and your old man.”
“Please.” I snorted. “The only thing you’ll be listening to is the sound of me and the old man snoring.”
A signal came in over the console, and I motioned Gael to hide. He dropped and rolled back under the berth. Once he was out of sight, I answered the signal.
“Doctor.” It was TssVar.
“Change your mind about vaccinating the prisoners?”
“I require your presence in the guard barracks.”
He motioned to someone, and I thought I saw Reever walking past one edge of the screen. “You will accompany me to the arena games.”
“Can I refuse?”
He didn’t bother to say no. “A centuron will escort you.”
I terminated the signal. “Stay out of sight, Gael. I’ve got to go watch helpless prisoners beat each other to death.”
The Terran’s muffled voice drifted out from under the berth. “Don’t be letting them get you up to ninety, dote.”
“Up to ninety?”
“Ready to explode.”
“Too late.” I was way past ninety already, and speeding out of control.
OverLord TssVar and I were given deferential seating in the makeshift arena’s gallery, and I sat beside him in absolute, stony silence. GothVar, I noticed, was busy handpicking which of the assembled slaves would fight each other, and seemed to be having a good time.
Reever was nowhere in sight.
“The first match should be of great interest.” TssVar sat back as someone led a huge figure out from another chamber.
Devrak.
Someone pushed a mild-looking humanoid female from the group of slaves GothVar was currently terrorizing. She wouldn’t last long against the Tryti-norn, I thought, and leaned forward, my hands gripping the chair. “OverLord, does anyone even care to make these challenges equitable. Look at her, she’s too little. That jumbo bully will flatten her in about two seconds.”
“Appearances are deceptive, SurreVa.” TssVar’s tongue flickered out. “Observe.”
GothVar and the guards cleared everyone out to stand beyond the quad parameters, and someone shouted for the combatants to begin. Devrak stood looking down at the small female, obviously unwilling to step on her.
Good to know he wasn’t a complete bastard, I thought, slightly startled.
In contrast, Devrak’s opponent only waited a moment before snarling and launching herself at the Trytinorn. She must be suicidal, I thought, until I saw two whiplike extensions shoot out from the sides of her abdomen and slash across Devrak’s sensory organs. She completed her attack with a flawless vault up onto his broad back, where she clamped powerful legs around the Trytinorn’s neck.
The League Major trumpeted his pain and fury, and began stomping around the quad, trying to shake her off.
“Uh-oh.” Now I sat back. “This isn’t going to be pretty.”
TssVar made a hiss of agreement.
The Major and his tiny opponent fought on. I cringed as the female’s whipping appendages cut into the Trytinorn’s thick hide. Much as I disliked Devrak, my hands still clenched the edge of my seat until my knuckles bulged under my skin.
“OverLord.” A centuron appeared beside us. “We have received a signal from SubHanar HssoVar.”
“Excuse me, Doctor.” The Hsktskt lumbered off out of the arena with the centuron, leaving me alone in the gallery.
For about ten seconds, anyway.
Quietly I rose and picked my way through the shouting, cheering crowd of lizards, until I stood on the edge of the quad. Devrak was starting to weaken, and his shuffling steps pounded slowly in front of me. I waited until the pair were on the other side of the arena, then crawled under the plasteel cords and up onto the quad platform.
“Hey. Hey.” I waved my arms to get the female’s attention. A reptilian limb made a swipe at me, and I skittered forward to avoid it. “Down here.”
The female paused long enough to peer over the dome of Devrak’s skull. She yelled something that sounded like, “I’m not finished with him yet,” just in a completely alien tongue.
I inched closer. “Devrak, are you okay?”
“Do I appear okay to you, Terran?” The Trytinorn lifted his long nasal appendage, but stopped short of grabbing the female. “I don’t wish to harm her.”
My cue to be brave and bold. I walked over and placed a gentle hand near one of Devrak’s lacerations, then squinted up at the female prisoner. “He needs medical attention,” I said, and used my hands to convey my meaning. I pointed to the medical insignia on my tunic. “I’m a doctor. Let me help him now.”
The centurons weren’t amused. One of them fired a warning shot from a pulse rifle close to my legs.
“Get out of the quad, Terran.”
Devrak lowered his head, and carefully knelt down on the quad. I assumed a sitting position, and held my breath as his female opponent sat very still, her legs still clutching his neck. Then, with a soft sigh, she slid down and off the Major’s back, and sat on the quad beside me.
I raised my palms in the universal gesture of peace. “Good for you, lady.” What we needed here was a good, old-fashioned Terran sit-in. I turned so all the other slaves could see my hands, and made the appropriate motion. “You don’t have to fight, any of you. Sit down. Don’t let them bully you.”
Enough of them got the message, and murmured to each other. Slowly, one by one, they began sitting down wherever they stood. After a minute, there wasn’t a slave left standing.
The Hsktskt didn’t like that. The lizards began shouting and prodding the prisoners, making threatening gestures with their weapons. I was counting on the fact that no one would actually kill the prisoners for not fighting-they were valuable merchandise, after all. Okay to lose some, but not the whole shipment.
It worked.
I didn’t have time to crow over my victory. GothVar clambered over the quad boundary cords and yanked me to my feet.
“You have interfered for the last time, Terran!”
Someone fired ano
ther pulse blast, but this one came very close to hitting FlatHead’s lower extremities.
A low, savage growl erupted behind us. “Release the Doctor, OverCenruron.”
I glanced over FlatHead’s broad shoulder to see OverSeer FurreVa standing at the entrance of the arena, flanked by six heavily armed centurons.
“Hi, OverSeer.” I yelped as GothVar dropped me, and I landed on my backside. “Boy, am I...” The big Hsktskt female reached up and tore the surgical dressing from her face, and I stared at the results. The corners of my mouth tried to reach my ears. “Am I glad to see you.”
What had once been a grotesque nightmare now had become a balanced, appealing visage. She’d never meet humanoid standards for charm and allure, but to me, FurreVa simply looked beautiful.
Every Hsktskt around me had their gazes riveted on her new face. You could have heard a dust mote land.
I do good work.
“As you see,” FurreVa said, “I am fully restored.”
I opened my mouth to tell her she should have spent another week in her berth recovering, but I realized she wasn’t talking to me. She advanced on GothVar, who stood there gawking like the rest of the guards.
“You cannot resume your rank. You have a brood to nurture,” FlatHead said, then took a step back as she got closer.
He was afraid of her, I thought. Which proved he had some brains, much to my disappointment.
“My young return to the homeworld with TssVar’s mate. She agrees to nurture them.” FurreVa activated her weapon and raised it, aiming directly at Goth-Var’s nonexistent brow plate. “Stand down, Over-Centuron.”
For a few seconds it looked like someone was going to the infirmary with a big, ugly wound. At last FlatHead pivoted away, lumbered into the crowd, then disappeared.
FurreVa turned full circle as she addressed the guards. “There will be no more arena games, now or in the future.” When a cluster of four males grumbled out loud, she whipped her new face around to stare at them. “I shall administer discipline personally to the first centuron who disobeys my order.”
If Hsktskt could pale, every guy in the place would have been flat white. Almost in unison, every male in the arena area dropped his head back slightly, in effect bowing to her will.