Beyond Varallan

by neetha Napew

  A bubbling sound interrupted our conversation. I looked down to see one of the adult Ichthori clinging to the trader’s leg, the notched fins clutching his boot. Her mouthace remained buried in the mud below our footgear.

  “My mate,” he introduced me. My vocollar wouldn’t translate the sounds he made into anything but bubbles.

  “Hello,” I greeted her. I noticed a swollen sac protruding from one of her legs and frowned. “That’s a bad tumor she’s got there.”

  “It’s not a tumor,” the Ramotharran said, and gave his mate a glum look. “It’s our second child. At least, I think it’s mine.”

  We took a lift to one of the larger tree-house structures, where six of the Ichthori leaders (all clearly half-strains) had assembled. In our honor, the half dozen males had propped themselves in a half-slouch on some benches and invited our party to be seated. All six wore standard wrist corns.

  There was no table between us, nor did the Ichthori wear any manner of garments. I got an up-close view of the anatomical varieties that offworld gene strains had afforded. The mud stains on my tunic sleeve, I quickly decided, were much more riveting.

  One large, green-yellow Ichthori with less facial fringing than his colleagues stood for a moment. He had three pairs of visual organ stalks protruding above his feeding polyps. Unlike the others, he wore a sort of girdle that didn’t cover anything but sported a number of bladed weapons.

  “Krugal,” he said, and pointed a flipperIhand toward the triple clusters of broad nipples on his chest. I darted a look down. Yep, three of everything else, too. “We hear you want to talk.”

  Salo, as the appointed Jorenian representative, stood and made a brief bow. “We are honored you have taken time to speak with us.”

  Krugal plopped back down and waved at Salo. “We have fed well today. There was nothing better to do. Tell us, have you come to trade, or simply marvel at life on our world?”

  Marvel? My jaw sagged. Did this bottom feeder actually use the word marvel!

  “Our interest lies largely in surveying and recording data about Ichthora,” Salo said, his expression diplomatic. “We will have to return to our ship very soon.”

  Yesterday couldn’t be soon enough for me, I thought.

  “Sit, sit. Our kinsman Phorap”-Krugal nodded toward Rogan-“tells us you travel to Varallan. That is quite a distance from our divine Ichthora. Why not stay, enjoy the pleasures of our world? Life is good here.” His eye stalks bobbed, their ends glowing bright red.

  Salo sat down. Diplomacy was beginning to wear on him. The good life on Ichthora, I suspected, had very little in common with a Jorenian’s view of the same.

  “We thank you for your gracious offer of hospitality. However, as our people have responsibilities, we must depart.” Salo made an eloquent gesture. “I am certain you understand.”

  “No, I don’t,” Krugal said, and yawned. I wished he hadn’t. Who would have guessed teeth could sprout all the way back there? “That blue skin of yours is unusual. Can we buy you from your Captain?”

  It took a lot to shock a Jorenian warrior, but that did the job. “Our crew is not for sale.”

  Krugal didn’t stop there. His six red eyes inspected Reever, then me. The Ichthori leader grinned. If you could call what he did with that gaping hole a grin.

  “Terrans don’t often visit Ichthora. We would welcome the opportunity to learn more about your species.”

  Reever shook his head. “No, thank you.”

  I was no diplomat. “Not even if you drugged me.”

  “Dr. Torin bears the burden of being a true Terran,” Rogan said. “She is a hostile xenophobe.”

  “You always say such nice things about me, Phorap.” I gave him a sweet smile.

  Salo rose. “Our time, as I have indicated, is limited. If you will excuse us, we will complete our surveys and return to our vessel.”

  “Sell her to me,” Krugal said.

  Salo looked from me to the Ichthori. “What say you?”

  “The Terran female-she is not one of your species. I’ll buy her from you. Name your price.”

  “Salo, let’s go,” I said, rising to my feet. My guard and Reever flanked me.

  “I must refuse your request,” Salo said through his teeth. “Excuse us.” He looked at Dhreen, who had just entered the structure. “Pilot, prepare the launch for departure.”

  “No,” Rogan said, and got up at once. He held a small weapon in his hand, and pointed it toward me. “None of you are leaving Ichthora just yet.” His four lips stretched. “Except the good Doctor.”

  “I’m going to kill Xonea when we get back to the ship,” I said as Reever’s fingers plucked at the knotted vines around my wrists. “I knew Rogan had it in with the League. I knew it.”

  Reever sighed. “I cannot do this if you keep twitching.”

  “I’m not twitching, I’m agitated.”

  “Stop being agitated. Krugal said he would return shortly.”

  We stood tied together, back to back, locked in one of the small chambers away from the center of the colony. Salo, Dhreen, and the others had been hauled off to similar structures. They left me and Reever tied together on Rogan’s orders.

  “Keep the humans together,” he told some alert-looking half-strain Ichthori. About a dozen of them had come in with weapons and taken all of us hostage. “Krugal wishes to interrogate them both.”

  That had been two hours ago. Now Reever was patiently loosening the last of the intricate knots binding my wrists to his.

  “Hurry.” My own patience was in short supply. “He’ll be back any minute.”

  “It is almost done. There. Try to pull free.”

  I strained, and my wrists slowly separated. Quickly I worked them from the vines until I was free. The return of unrestricted circulation made numbing pain shoot up both arms. I whirled around and began working at untying Reever’s hands. Too many knots, not enough time. I looked around the interior for anything I could use as a weapon.

  “Krugal is coming,” Reever said.

  I turned, put my arms behind my back, and pressed up against him. My fingers continued plucking at the knots.

  “Whatever you do,” I murmured, “don’t let him know I’m loose.”

  Krugal slid through the door and propped himself in front of us. His body left a trail of slick brown mud. The swamp smell rolled off him. He appeared highly pleased with himself.

  “I’ve fed well tonight in celebration,” he said as he awkwardly rose to his vertical stance.

  “How nice,” I said. “Celebrating what?”

  He shuffled over until he was only a foot from me. His body wasn’t the only thing that was erect. “Our triumph over you, my kinsman’s enemies.”

  “We saved your kinsman’s life, and brought him here to Ichthora,” Reever said. “Do you consider those the actions of an enemy?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said, and rubbed his handlippers together. “Phorap says the League will pay handsomely for this female.” He stepped closer to me, which made it necessary for me to breathe through my mouth.

  “Leader Krugal, the beings you believe to be your friends are dangerous,” Reever said. “They will take Dr. Torin without paying the Ichthori.”

  “Then we will tie some of them up until they do.” Krugal didn’t seem concerned. He studied the way my tunic fastened. “You know, I’ve never had a Terran before.”

  “Don’t hold your breath, lover boy,” I said, and let go of Duncan’s hands.

  He laughed. “She is eager to fight. Good. That adds zest to the play. Our females are too passive.” His flipper reached for my tunic.

  Just before he touched me, I swung my fist out. I drove it low, hard, and directly into the three things Krugal seemed to treasure most.

  “Aarrggghh!”

  I followed through with my other fist. Air bellowed from his lungs. A strange, high-pitched whine emerged from his fringe.

  “How’s that for zest?” I asked as he sank down t
o the flooring. I waited until I saw his eyes stalks wilt, then bent to retrieve one of the blades on his belt. “I’ll just borrow this for a moment.”

  With a rapid series of slashes I cut Reever’s hands free.

  “You’re very capable with a blade,” he said, and rubbed his arms briskly.

  “Trained to be.” I handed the knife to him. After I took the belt from Krugal’s unconscious body, I slung it over my shoulder. “You never know when you’re going to be somewhere without a lascalpel.”

  After we tied up and gagged the Ichthori leader, we slipped from the small chamber. Confident, indolent, and negligent to the bone-if they had any-the Ichthori hadn’t even bothered to post guards. We went from tree to tree until we found and released every member of the sojourn team. I turned Krugal’s belt over to Salo.

  “You left him unconscious?” he asked. He had pulled out one of the blades from the belt and was fingering it with a lover’s caress.

  “Not now,” I said, and grabbed his arm. “We’ve got to get to the launch and get the hell off this planet. Rogan signaled the League mercenaries and offered to sell me to them. They’re coming.”

  It took nearly an hour before we located the launch in the darkness. No one attempted to stop us or even question why we were loose. What few Ichthori we stepped over simply kept on feeding or snoring or whatever it was they were doing. Perhaps Krugal hadn’t been missed. Maybe rio one cared if their hostages escaped.

  Or not.

  “This is too easy,” I said to Reever.

  My suspicions were confirmed when I saw the launch was waiting with the hull doors still open. I grabbed Sale’s arm and waved Dhreen over to us.

  “Dhreen?” I whispered. “Did you secure the launch after we disembarked?”

  “Of course I did, Doc,” he whispered back.

  “It is a trap.” Salo said something else to the other Jore-nians, too low for my vocollar to translate. He pulled all the blades from Krugal’s belt and distributed them, then turned to me, Dhreen and Reever. “We will board the launch. Stay here and keep watch. The natives move quickly, when they have reason to.”

  Salo and the others melted into the shadows. Reever indicated a sheltered spot by a tree and we huddled there. Dhreen took position on the other side of the launch. A choked cry, cut off in the middle, floated from the launch cabin, and I winced.

  “The Ichthori are coming,” Reever said, and pointed. A long line of prone bodies were crawling through the muck toward us. In the middle of them was one figure, walking upright.

  “Rogan.” I started toward him. Reever jerked me back into the shadows.

  “No, Cherijo. We must warn Salo.”

  I nodded with regret. I had a knife, Rogan still breathed. Life wasn’t fair. “I’ll go, Reever. I don’t think you want to see Salo’s handiwork.”

  With as fast a sprint as I could manage, I avoided the tidal pools and crossed the distance to the launch. Cautiously I looked inside. And immediately regretted it. “Oh, my God.” Salo paused for a moment. Large pools of blood covered the deck around his feet. I swallowed hard. Remembered not to look at what the other Jorenians had done.

  “Excuse me, Salo.” I averted my eyes from the grisly thing hanging limply from his big hands. “We’ve got company.”

  Salo dropped the dead body of the mercenary he was ... decorating, and wiped the excess blood from his strong hands on the front of his victim’s tunic. “We have to but dispose of the bodies, and we can depart.”

  “Hurry,” I said, then climbed back down the docking ramp- I waved toward Reever, then hurried around the launch to find Dhreen.

  I saw him struggling with an Ichthori female who had attached herself to his leg and was trying to pull him down into the mud. I kicked her, yanked his arm, and pulled him free of her grasp.

  “No time for romance, Dhreen,” I said, pushing him in front of me toward the launch. “We’re leaving.”

  He shuddered with relief, “j Jxmt time.”

  “We want the Terran,” I heard Rogan shout. “The rest of you can go. Leave her.”

  Oh. good. I didn’t have to leave this waste heap without getting a shot at Rogan after all.

  Silently I motioned to Dhreen. “Here.” I handed him one of the smooth round stones I had picked up near the tree houses. “Watch.”

  I dropped down and dug my hands in the brown muck. Dhreen imitated my actions. When we were armed, we darted across the open ground for the shuttle.

  Pulses of energy smashed into the mud all around us. Rogan was only a few meters from us now, firing at our legs. Didn’t want to damage the merchandise, I thought. We danced around the beams, but it was obvious we weren’t going to reach the launch.

  “Surrender!” Rogan yelled.

  “Okay! We surrender!” I called, approaching Rogan slowly. I kept one hand behind my back. Just a little closer. “I give up! Let the others go!”

  “Krugal is very unhappy, Doctor Torin. You may be on your back for days.” Rogan leered. We were close enough now to catch a whiff of his stench.

  “I don’t think I’m going to assume that position, Phorap,” I replied. I nodded to Dhreen. “Now!”

  We volleyed our mud balls directly at Rogan. Mine hit him in the head with a solid thunk. Dhreen’s curving pitch delivered his to the side of Rogan’s thick neck. The heavy rocks we had packed in the center of each sphere did the job, and Rogan landed facedown in the muck. He wasn’t going to be feeding for a couple of hours.

  The prone Ichthori swarmed around Rogan, making bubbling snorts and trying to prop him up. Dhreen and I raced for the hull doors. The engines were already firing. Two of the team members literally dragged us through the closing panel.

  “We have them, Salo!”

  Dhreen and I were thrown to the bloodstained deck as the launch ascended sharply upward. When we cleared the upper atmosphere, the Oenrallian caught my hand and squeezed it with his spatulate fingers before he helped me up.

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  I squeezed back. “You’ll have to teach me that curve pitch someday.”

  We arrived back at the Sunlace in time to see the crew making final preparations for transition. Salo and I exchanged a few words before I took a gyrlift to Medical Bay.

  Squilyp barred my path before I had taken six steps through the door panel. “Doctor! What has happened?”

  “Did you prep the patients for transition? I-“ I glared at him. “Get out of the way, Squid Lips.”

  “You are filthy,” he said, his dark eyes eloquent.

  I looked down. Ichthora muck covered my tunic. “Squilyp-“

  “I can smell you, Doctor.” He shuddered. “The bacteria alone...”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll go get cleaned up. Get the patients ready.”

  I ran down to my quarters. Jenner hissed as I darted inside.

  “Just me, pal,” I said as I stripped off my clothes and jumped into the cleanser. Two minutes later, I stepped out, free of dried mud and dripping all over the deck.

  “Here.”

  Reever stood there, holding out a towel. I snatched it from him. Dried off fast. Wound it around me. Thought of where I’d like to hurt him.

  “My door chime not working?” I asked.

  “I didn’t use it,” he said as he sat down. I pulled my clothes on, awkwardly keeping the towel in place until I was covered. I had gotten used to living alone again, that was all.

  “Why?”

  The door panel opened before he could reply. Xonea stood just outside, along with Salo.

  “That is why,” Reever said.

  “May we come in, Senior Healer?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Invite some of the crew. We’ll have a party.” Neither man reacted to my sarcasm. “Aren’t we supposed to be transitioning right about now?”

  “We cannot leave yet,” Xonea said. “Fasala Torin is missing.”

  “There was no place for her to stow away on the launch,” Dhreen said as we checked the interior for the thi
rd time. “I went over the storage holds myself. They were empty, except for the gear.”

  “What about Dr. Rogan?” Reever asked. “He was carrying a heavy pack.”

  “Not large enough,” I said. “Fasala is nearly five feet tall, and weighs almost as much as I do. Even if she was tied up, Rogan’s pack didn’t have enough room in it to carry her.”

  Salo appeared, carrying rifles. “Here.” He tossed a weapon to Dhreen, then Reever. “Arm yourselves. The mercenary fleet is approaching.”

  “Fleet?” I reflexively caught the rifle he tossed to me.

  “Twenty-two ships. Half are comparable to the Sunlace.”

  I carefully put down the weapon. I healed people, I didn’t shoot them. “We have to get out of here.”

  Salo nodded. “If Fasala is on Ichthora, we will come back for her.” He said it with all the hopelessness of a parent unable to protect his child. “I must go to Darea.”

  “I’ll go with you,” I said.

  He nodded. “She may need some... professional aid.”

  As we hurried through the corridor, we checked with the other search teams we encountered. No one had found a trace of the child, who had disappeared just before the launch left the Sunlace for Ichthora.

  Darea was waiting in their quarters, in the event Fasala came home. When Salo told her we had not found their ClanDaughter, tears streamed down her beautiful face.

  “Is there nothing we can do?”

  Their door panel chimed. Darea shot to her feet and had it open before I could blink. She sagged as she saw who it was.

  “Oh, come in, Navigator.”

  Hado Torin entered, and his good arm went around Darea. They hugged briefly, then the older man helped her to a chair.

  “She will be found, my ClanCousin. Have no fear of that.” Hado glanced at me. “Senior Healer, perhaps you can leave us? I will sit with her until Fasala is found.”

  “Yes, please.” Darea nodded. Salo went to her and would have taken her in his arms, but she stepped back. “Go look for our child, Salo. I will wait for your signal.”

  He lifted her hand to his lips. “I will find her.”