“Where’s that?”
“I’m a member of the Brotherhood, and your sword-brother,” he said, looking up. “It’s not who I was, but it’s who I am and want to be now.”
Kaid clasped him gently round the neck, his thumb rubbing the edge of his jaw affectionately. “You’ll do,” he said, his voice low. “You’ve come a long way since Haven.”
He leaned into the caress, grateful for his friend’s steadying touch. “You and Carrie gave me the strength to do it. Without our Triad, I’d have been lost.”
“But you weren’t,” said Kaid, holding him close and rubbing heads with him. “Thank Vartra you weren’t. Carrie’s here. Will you see her?”
He laughed shakily. “Of course!” Then felt her arms around him too. “Take care of each other if anything should happen to me,” he said, flicking his tongue across both their cheeks before pushing them gently, but firmly, away. “We’d better go. I’ve kept Kzizysus waiting too long already.”
*
Annuur greeted them at the air lock, and led them through into the shuttle’s lounge where Kzizysus was waiting.
“I forget the need to be with family first,” he said apologetically, gesturing to the floor cushions and couches. “Sit and ask Kzizysus what you need to know.”
In deference to Carrie’s pregnancy, they sat on a couch, the slope adjusted into a flat plane by Annuur.
“Kusac’s been bothered by headaches and unable to wake properly in the mornings,” said Kaid. “Will this affect the treatment?”
“No. Brain fever made him ill. This expected during recovery.”
“Does the treatment involve implants?” he asked, looking at the TeLaxaudin. “I won’t have an implant of any kind.” He felt Carrie move closer, take hold of his hand, squeezing it gently in reassurance.
“Understanding this. No implants,” Kzizysus’ translator assured him. A prolonged burst of static followed, then silence. The TeLaxaudin mimicked a Sholan gesture of apology.
“No translation,” explained Annuur, settling himself on his own couch. “Nearest to your medical terms is drug therapy.”
“What’s the procedure?” asked Kaid.
“Two drugs. Infuse tendrils, as you call, to kill. Test you for damage, then next drug. It increases neural connectivity, reconnecting what was lost. You practice skills to reinforce.”
“Damage?” asked Carrie sharply. “What damage? From the tendrils or because of their removal?”
“Both,” said Annuur succinctly. “Need diagnosis at that stage to determine next. Cannot do earlier. This procedure I contribute to also. You call it joint effort.”
“Could this leave me worse than I am now?” he asked. “I’ve managed to find some peace at last.”
“Unlikely,” said the TeLaxaudin, tilting his head to one side and regarding him thoughtfully. “Degree of cure depend on damage, no more.”
There was so much he needed to know, but he didn’t know what to ask.
“Can you restore his psi talent no matter what the damage?” asked Kaid.
“Yes,” said Kzizysus. Once more static issued from the translator.
“Again, degree of restoration depends on damage, but speak with mind and hear he will again,” assured Annuur.
“Side effects?” asked Kaid.
“Some fever anticipated. Difficulties during period of adjustment, then no problem,” said Annuur, not waiting for Kzizysus to reply.
He took a deep breath. “When do we start?”
Annuur sat up, mouth curling into a smile. “Good! We start now. One thing. We do here, not in Vanna’s hospital as suggested. Equipment here, we here.”
He nodded. It didn’t matter to him where he was. “How long?”
“Five days you be here. Need isolation, no visitors.”
“I’m staying with him,” said Kaid, his tone uncompromising.
“Apologies, Kaid. You cannot,” Annuur said firmly. “You not know equipment or procedure. Your medicals skills no use for this. But need Tirak’s help. He be your eyes, tell you how it progresses.”
He glanced at Kaid, aware of his friend’s body stiffening when Annuur had said no. “I’ll be all right,” he said. “You trusted Tirak before.”
Kaid’s ears had rotated sidewards in anger but now they began to lift slightly and swivel back. “You’re sure? Five days is a long time, and there’s the fever. If you have more fever dreams…”
“We treat,” interrupted Annuur. “Patient distress not acceptable. Knowledge of Sholan physiology we have, and Sholan medical database.”
“I’m sure,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”
*
He didn’t want to watch them go so, after giving Kaid his pistol and knife, he left with Kzizysus before they did.
Tirak was already in the sick bay, sitting at the far side of the room on the edge of a bed designed for a non-Cabbarran. He got up, shutting off the comp pad he’d been reading, and stowed it on the night table.
“Welcome to the torture chamber,” he smiled, coming over to him. “With me as your nurse, it will be, I’m afraid.”
He managed a weak grin in response. At least there was no smell of antiseptics.
The room was small, with walls and floor a uniform off-white color. Immediately to his left was a door into a room within the room, and on his right, the nursing station with a work surface and sink. As he ventured farther in, he saw two low Cabbarran sleeping couches next to the bed that was to be his. It was almost stark in comparison to the sick bays he’d been in recently.
“That’s the operating theater,” said Tirak, pointing to the internal room. “The head’s next door, in case you were wondering, but you’ll be staying in bed for the next few days.”
“Prepare him, Tirak,” said Kzizysus. “I return shortly with Phratry Leader Annuur.”
“Phratry Leader?” he asked, glad to have something to talk about.
“Annuur’s important among his own people,” said Tirak, taking him by the arm and leading him over to the bed. “Equivalent to one of your Clan Leaders. You undress while I get things ready.” Tirak left him there and went over to the work area by the nursing station.
Now he was beside it, he realized the bed was also an IC unit. Like a douche of cold water, he remembered Tirak’s reference to the head. “Tirak, we’ve different anatomy from you.”
“It’s been taken care of, taiban,” the U’Churian said gently, turning round. “I’ve been working with Annuur since Kzizysus arrived. I’ve also passed Kaid’s and Vanna’s paramedic course as part of my training here. We studied both Sholan and U’Churian physiology.” His tail began to move gently. “Trust us, Kusac. You’ll be all right. I’m not really that bad a nurse. Just stow your clothes in the night table there, and don’t forget to take off your psi damper.”
He took off his wrist comm, then undressed, putting everything in the cupboard. Perching on the edge of the bed, he wondered idly how beings as small in stature as Kzizysus and Annuur could treat him on a bed this high. He presumed that was why Tirak was involved.
Tirak returned carrying a metal treatment tray which he placed on the bed beside him.
He flinched away, remembering his time on the Kz’adul. The cold sweat of fear was beginning to gather on his palms and back as Tirak began unsealing an antiseptic wipe.
Tirak looked up immediately. “Kusac, you’re in the heart of your own Clan here,” he said. “I swear you’re safe. And you’re in the care of more than just our navigators. Annuur’s no ordinary sept leader, he’s leader of all the septs that work with our family. That’s nearly a thousand Cabbarrans. They’re more than navigators as you’ll find out while you’re here. Trust us.”
“It’s not that,” he said. “There’s been too many sick bays and hospitals recently.”
“I understand. Hopefully, this should be the last of them. You’ll need to be sedated during the treatment,” Tirak said, parting the pelt on one side of his neck before rubbing it with the antisept
ic wipe. “So you won’t even be aware of me fitting the catheters.”
“I ate first meal,” he said, remembering.
“Doesn’t matter with this drug,” he said, picking up a hypo spray.
A brief sting and it was over. Almost immediately he began to feel relaxed and drowsy. He clutched hold of Tirak’s arm as the U’Churian eased him back onto the bed. “Don’t leave me alone,” he mumbled as his consciousness began to fade.
“I’ll be with you the whole time, Kusac,” Tirak said. “Just relax and let us do our job.”
*
Tirak flicked the sheet back over Kusac’s feet when he’d finished clinching the ankle restraints into place. “Are you sure this is necessary?” he asked.
“Positive,” said Annuur. “Must not move during treatment, especially head. Cause brain damage otherwise. Is anesthetic feed connected?”
“I did that after his pre-med.”
“Good. Take torc to Toueesut. Say need it day after tomorrow. Then collect blood for him from Vanna.”
Tirak nodded, triggering the mechanism to lower the bed to a more comfortable height for the two doctors before picking up Kusac’s torc from the night table.
Annuur examined the controls on the bed’s side panel, then activated the body imager. A transparent panel, the length of Kusac’s body, began to extrude from the lower part of the bed, curving upward and over him. As it did, an image of his internal organs and soft tissue began to form on the surface.
Kzizysus approached the open side and peered down through the panel, trying to locate the precise point to insert the catheter into his patient’s neck. It had to go into the original site of the implant. “Prime scent marker, what do about it?” he asked as he checked the head restraint before gently inserting the needle under Kusac’s ear.
“Leave marker. Has purpose later,” said Annuur as he tapped the feed line from the drug delivery unit set into the side of the bed, making sure there were no air bubbles.
“Catheter ready,” said Kzizysus. “Wait. Is something else here.” He studied the image carefully. “Need scalpel. Has bio-monitor implanted.”
Annuur picked up a scalpel from the trolley behind him and passed it to the TeLaxaudin. Moments later, Kzizysus stepped aside. “Done. I destroy.”
Annuur connected the feed line to the catheter, then bent down and switched the device on. “Now we watch and wait,” he said.
the Couana, Zhal-S’Asha, 21st day (October)
“It can’t have been an easy decision to put yourself into the hands of the surgeon who’d been involved in fitting the implant to you in the first place,” said Banner, handing him a fresh mug of coffee.
“Kzizysus didn’t fit it,” he said quietly, accepting it. “It was Chy’qui. Kzizysus only adjusted it to my system rather than a Valtegan’s.”
“I thought only the TeLaxaudin could fit them.”
“Normally, but Chy’qui wanted me implanted and he knew Kzizysus would refuse.”
“You know that for sure?”
He nodded. “No other reason for Chy’qui to fit it himself.”
“What Tirak said about Annuur leading a thousand people was rather an eye-opener.”
“Kaid almost worked it out. Tirak’s mission to Jalna was vital to them, they wouldn’t just send some trading crew to do a deep cover mission like that. And if Tirak was important, then it followed Annuur would be too. Annuur was their medic, but when you manipulate certain kinds of matter on a cellular level for medicine, space travel and planet regeneration, it kind of takes you out of our league of paramedicine, doesn’t it?” Even as he said it, he stopped, wondering how he’d known.
“Completely. It’s getting late. Perhaps we should think about getting some sleep soon.”
“No. I need to talk about it,” he said slowly, taking a sip of his coffee. Banner was purposely downplaying what he’d just said. Why? “I know what’s ahead tomorrow. I need to get this out of my system now.”
Banner leaned over his side of the bed for a moment, then reappeared with a pack of cookies. “Take a break for a few minutes, then. Have one of these. I brought them with me.”
“Thanks,” he said, taking one. How could he know what was obviously highly classified Cabbarran information? After Annuur’s surgical procedure, he’d been with Naacha, but when he tried to think about the blue tattooed Cabbarran and what he’d been taught by him, he found his memories blurred and vague. But he did know that his knowledge of the Cabbarrans capabilities must remain secret— for now.
Stronghold, Zhal-Oeshi, 28th day (August)
“Alex! We have to go now!”
“You don’t need to yell,” said Alex as she bounced across her bed to where he stood impatiently by the door. “I heard you the first time!”
“This isn’t a pleasure trip, Alex,” said Rhyaz sternly. “We should have been in Lijou’s office for the briefing five minutes ago.”
“I needed my comp pad. You’re the one wanting me to study on this trip!”
“What the hell are you wearing?” he asked, actually seeing her jeans and T-shirt for the first time.
“Something wrong with your eyesight?” she muttered mutinously. “I’m not wearing that black outfit.”
“You should be wearing gray, we’re on active duty,” he said, irritated. “Get changed and join me at the briefing. I’m not keeping the Father waiting any longer.” He stalked out of the bedroom and headed down the corridor for Lijou’s office, meeting Kha’Qwa on the way.
“I’ll handle this,” she said placidly. “You go and start briefing Lijou.”
He nodded his thanks, allowing himself to relax slightly as he passed her.
Five minutes later, Alex, wearing an oversized gray uniform jacket over the top of her fatigues, preceded Kha’Qwa into Lijou’s office.
“Problem solved,” his mate said as Alex made her way over to join them. “Seems you didn’t think to offer her a jacket, Rhyaz, so I gave her one of yours for now. She can pick up a couple of her own from the duty office on your way out. And you have no objection to her wearing her own clothes when she’s off duty, do you? I’ve sent them downstairs with one of the juniors.”
Rhyaz didn’t get the chance to answer before Lijou sent to him.
Think of it from her point of view, Rhyaz. She was running away from enforced military training, now she’s in a relationship with you. Uniforms are our choice, not hers. Compromise with her.
I’m constantly compromising with her! Including her in this briefing is one!
She’s making concessions too.
“Hey, stop talking about me when I can’t hear you,” complained Alex, sitting down in a chair.
Rhyaz sighed, knowing Lijou and Kha’Qwa were right. If only she didn’t make life so difficult for him, it would be easier for him to make concessions. “You can wear what you want when you’re off duty, Alex, I should have told you that. And if you wanted a jacket, why didn’t you ask for one?”
“Didn’t know I could,” she said, exploring the multitude of pockets.
“Anchorage,” Lijou prompted him.
He gathered his thoughts again and looked back at Lijou. “We have four Valtegans in custody,” he said. “We’ve used the Prime idea of encounter suits. They never see or smell us at all. Our scientists are ready to start limited trials of the drug when we arrive. We know what to expect from the computer simulations, this is our final field test.”
“How many tests are they planning to do?” asked Lijou quietly.
“As many as necessary,” said Rhyaz, standing up. “I like it as little as you do, Lijou, but it needs to be done. I’ll call you as soon as I have any news. You’re in charge until I get back. Yaszho can help you if necessary.”
Lijou got to his feet. “Take care. You, too, Alex. Remember, it’s your first time as a representative for Stronghold. Please be careful when you’re in public.”
“Like he’ll let me forget,” she muttered, getting up.
Lijou pu
t his hand on her shoulder as they walked to the door. “You said you wanted to get out more,” he said. “Not many folk your age go on any missions, let alone one of this gravity, you know.”
“I’m only exchanging here for a ship,” she said. “Big deal.”
Rhyaz could appreciate her point, and decided to tell her what he’d planned to keep her amused— and out of his hair— during their voyage to Anchorage. “Your skills seem to lie in handling data processing and information systems. I thought you might like some time training on the bridge of the Chazoi,” he said, following them out into the corridor.
“You’re kidding!” she said, twisting round to see him.
“I’m serious. I had intended to tell you when I came for you this morning.”
She stopped, turning to look back at him. “Thank you.”
See? sent Lijou. Kha’Qwa and Ruth were right. Stimulate her, catch her interest, Challenge her, and she’ll stop fighting you. We do it all the time here when we try to motivate the juniors.
I know, but it’s not so easy when you’re involved with one of them! replied Rhyaz as they made their way downstairs.
*
News of their Guild Master’s acquisition of a Leska had stunned the community at Stronghold, but as Lijou had predicted, it was a short-lived topic of gossip, surviving for only a few days after they reappeared. The news hadn’t yet penetrated beyond their mountain fortress, but it was about to, with this, their first public outing.
They stopped at the duty office for Rhyaz to collect extra ammunition and to pick up Alex’s two jackets. He handed them to M’Azul, his adjutant, along with her off duty clothes and told him to wait for them on the aircar.
“Issue her with a stunner and belt knife, Chaddo,” Rhyaz said to the duty officer as he stowed a couple of extra power cells in his belt.
“You’re trusting me with weapons?” she asked, watching the elderly Sholan return to the safe.
“All Brothers and Sisters are armed when they leave here on a mission,” he said. “Your scores on the shooting range are more than adequate.”
Chaddo handed her a pistol and a black-bladed knife. “Here you are, Djana.”
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