by 1
Hardcore grinned and led the way into the shuttle.
They were on their way in under five minutes and Zeyan had no idea what they expected her to do.
Chapter Seven
Her voice was flat. “That is Heschell. I can’t land on Heschell.”
Panic rose in her throat as she replayed that drive from the holding centre to the spaceport, everyone around her filled with rage and fear.
Orenn’s mind touched hers and he didn’t send her calm, but his emotions were a brick to support her if she needed it.
Green was looking at her partner. Hardcore merely shrugged. “We aren’t taking you down. Neither of us is sure we are immune and getting a suit to fit around Green’s wings is a tricky proposition. We will hand you over to Guardian and Pax. They were the ones to summon you.”
Zeyan looked down and saw Orenn’s hand clasping her own. “Where are they?”
Green lifted one hand from the controls and pointed at the large object immediately in front of them.
“The Sanctuary is the largest Sector Guard ship so far. It belongs to Udell base for emergencies such as this, has a complete diagnostics lab as well as room for thousands.”
It was part warship, part space station.
Zeyan had never seen anything like it before. While she took in the huge machine, Green got clearance for docking and brought them inside.
A silvery Guardsman and a woman with ivory hair met them in the docking bay. “Zeyan? I am Guardian, this is Pax. We need to brief you on the situation down below and commit to a plan of treatment.”
She clung tightly to Orenn’s hand and nodded for Guardian to lead the way.
“Nine days ago, a plague broke out on Heschell. It struck here and here.” Guardian brought up a map and pointed at the Neduskar mountain range.
“I don’t see how you think I can help.”
Guardian pressed a button and a medical technician came into the boardroom with a selection of syringes.
“Our techs have come up with the means to immunize you. It will be effective against the strain within hours.”
“Ah, because I am of Heschell.”
“Guardian and I are both immune, but we can’t guarantee immunity for any other races. Rupture is with Phase on crowd control outside the hospices. They were both able to take the shots with little side effect.”
“Have you tested it on one of my kind?”
Guardian scowled and shook his head. “No. They have refused to allow us to test it, even though their population is falling to it exponentially as time passes. In a few days, only a handful will remain untouched.”
Zeyan grinned. “I come from a stubborn and insular people.”
“We have been trying to find the parent race so that we can run tests on samples, but no one on Heschell is cooperating. We have no idea how your folk originated, do you?”
The hiss of the hypo made her flinch, but the icy fluid creeping through her veins made her shake. “Uh, no. I am not aware of the specifics. I know we were a group of protestors who took to the stars but not sure where we came from. It is a closed section of our history.”
Orenn held her hands as she started to twitch. “What is happening?”
Zeyan tried to hold steady, but her body was spasming. “I am guessing that I am having a reaction to the shot. You should get one. This is fun.”
She stared into his eyes as the medic scanned her and administered shot after shot until she fainted.
Her mouth tasted metallic and Orenn was at her side the moment she woke.
He brushed the hair away from her face and smiled. “You lied. That wasn’t fun.”
Her voice was a croak. “It was fun for a while.”
He helped her sit up and supported her while she sipped at a cup of water.
“How long was I out?”
“Three hours. I have gotten my inoculation and am ready to go when you are.”
A doctor came in with a data pad and smiled. “Zeyan, we managed to pull a ton of information off the monitors while you were out. Thanks to your violent reaction, we now have a much better idea of what we are dealing with.”
Orenn perked up. “What is it, Helsin?”
The brightly coloured doctor brought up a display and it showed Zeyan’s DNA with the genome of the plague next to it. “This wasn’t chance. This disease was designed to kill your people alone. Any variation in the genes and the disease would not be effective.”
“Well, I am glad that you know that much. Can you create an inoculation that won’t make folks sick?”
His royal blue face split in a grin. “It’s already done. We used your violent reaction to pinpoint the proteins that were targeted as well as the neural transmissions. You are now immune to the plague killing your people.”
“Oh. Good. I thought the day was a total waste.” Zeyan deliberately kept her tone light, but the images of her family dying were foremost in her mind.
Orenn kept her hand in his. “It is all right to fear for them, Zeyan”
“I know. I know that my family wants me dead, but I just can’t…”
Helsin inclined his head. “Perhaps you should know a little about how the plague kills before you arrive on the surface.”
She dragged in a deep breath and nodded. “Go ahead.”
“The victims feel lightheaded, then collapse and while they are in a coma, our psychic specialists have determined that the mind-body connection has been broken.
“After four days in this state, the body passes away. We have no idea what happens to the separated consciousness.”
She groaned. “Four days is the limit for a living soul out of the body. The dead can stay longer, but they are linked to the world and their loved ones. How many are in comas right now?”
Helsin checked his records. “As of two hours ago, seven hundred and forty-six.”
Zeyan smiled up at Orenn, “Then get me to the surface, so I can keep them safe until the treatment is perfected to get them back in their bodies.”
“Whatever you want.”
“Oh wait. Dr. Helsin, do you know if there is still a warrant on my life?”
He nodded. “We had them rescind it for this mission. They agreed to let you help if you could.”
“Fine. Let me get up, clean my teeth, have a snack and then round up the loose souls and keep them healthy until you guys can fix their bodies. It’s going to be quite the afternoon.” Her bright smile hid a wave of unease.
Orenn drew the correlation between her attitude and the situation. “One hundred and forty-seven dead so far, Zeyan. We need to get down there to stop if from climbing.”
“Fine, Orenn. Feed me on the way down.” She moved her legs off the side of the bed and stood up slowly. When her body remained upright, she smiled brightly again.
Orenn wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her lightly. “Brushing your teeth is an excellent idea.”
When she punched him in the ribs, he laughed. In half an hour, they were on their way down to her home world and laughter was the furthest thing from her mind.
Chapter Eight
Zeyan grabbed Orenn’s hand and burrowed against his side. The souls rushed at her, forcing her to set up a mental blockade to keep them out.
“Oh.” There was no other word that could make it through her throat. She had to think and she had to think fast.
Orenn wrapped his arms around her and she felt the strength that he offered her. “Take it easy, Zeyan. Do what you can.”
She wanted to take them all in, to keep them safe, but with over five hundred souls clamouring for sanctuary, she needed another place to keep them. “I haven’t done this before.”
“There is a first time for everything. Now, do what you can.”
She stood and stretched her hands out about two feet apart. She focussed on creating a bubble between her hands, a safe zone for the souls to rest. The globe glowed blue, an invitation to all of those lost without a body.
She held her arms high, raising the or
b to the heavens and inviting all those confused and alone to a safe place.
Zeyan called the souls to her, offered them safekeeping and soon, they were all protected within the orb.
“You have them all?”
“Everyone who has come to me. For those newly separating from their bodies, I will have to go to them.”
Dr. Helsin followed them out of the shuttle. “You have them gathered? Already?”
Zeyan nodded. “I am missing five souls. I can feel them loose in the area.”
The doctor gave her a peculiar look. “Can you get them to safety?”
“It will mean leaving the spaceport and entering the emergency centre outside the walls and someone will have to carry their bodies.”
With the thoughts of the population easing from a frantic agitation to a calm relief within the orb, she was able to give attention to the area around her.
The familiarity of the air caused a surge of memory. It had to be nearing winter. There was a crispness in the atmosphere that was unmistakable.
She also acknowledged the fear in the living populace outside the walls of the spaceport. “They are going to mob me on sight.”
Dr. Helsin waved at a figure approaching them from the one of the other shuttles. “We have a solution for that.”
A woman approached with a smile, a Sector Guard uniform with a fascinating twisting pattern marking her as one of that elite grouping. “Zeyan? I am Phase. Rupture is my partner and he told me of your problem here on Heschell. I made this for you.”
The woman lifted an armload of fabric and dangled a mask from her fingertips. “The mask should help keep them from realizing who you are and the cloak will help you with the weather. Snow seems to be in the air.”
“Thank you, Phase. Time moves in a peculiar way at the Citadel. I did not realize that it would be this close to winter when we arrived.” The mask fit snugly on her face, covering her from forehead to jaw line, leaving only her nose, lips and chin exposed to the air.
The cloak swirled around her, warming her bare shoulders and covering her hair. It swayed and slid around her ankles as she moved and she smiled at Phase. “It is wonderful and very lovely. Thank you.”
“Design used to me my day job. Now, I use it to work off the stress of seeing and doing things no one should have to.”
Zeyan hugged what she knew was the closest thing to a kinswoman she would be allowed. Kahlia returned the hug fiercely. Phase was the woman in the uniform. Kahlia was the woman inside.
The orb holding the souls remained stationary over her head. When she and Phase parted, she looked up at the orb and smiled. The occupants were content and calm.
“They are stable. I think that we can gather the missing who have been hidden by their families.”
Helsin’s yellow eyes widened. “What?”
“You know that the Heschell do not trust outsiders. It would be within cultural norms for a family to hide the infected.” She tried to be analytical, but she knew what they were trying to do, protect their own.
The deep-seated need of the Heschell to protect themselves from the species around them was ingrained in each and every citizen. Zeyan had no idea where that locked-in education came from, but she knew that it was taught in every home and school.
None of the Heschell elders admitted to their species being elsewhere before their arrival on the planet three hundred forty-one years earlier. Zeyan had begun tentative inquiries into the origin of her species but had not gotten beyond the basic requests for her genetic template from the Citadel staffers. She had had the template for five days but had no idea how to go about comparing it to available species and race samples.
“Can you identify the locations of the infected?” Helsin was eager.
“Of course. Can you give me personnel to carry the sick?”
“I will. Wait here a moment.” The doctor took a few steps away and pressed a nodule at his collar. He spoke quietly while Zeyan waited. He turned to look at her. “How many of them are there?”
She held up her hand and indicated five.
He spoke into his collar for another minute before returning. “You will have twelve staff members with you in addition to Orenn—two to guard you from attack and the others to carry the infected into the treatment camp.”
The camp was visible on the far edge of the spaceport. Only the Sector Guard and Alliance shuttles were present, everyone else was locked off world. They hadn’t needed much convincing. A plague was not something most traders were willing to risk.
Orenn looked at the orb and then back to her. “How long can you hold that?”
She grinned. “I used to hold the whole planet. This, I can do forever if need be. If Helsin can keep their bodies alive and flush out the virus or toxin or agent, then I can release the souls either one at a time or en masse.”
“That is impressive.”
She chuckled. “You have known me for months and you think this is impressive? You should see my needle point.”
The service personnel from Udell were each from a different species—large, angry species. Every other one of the tall and intimidating carriers was holding a collapsible gurney. The two Guardsmen that volunteered to come with them were out of Teklan base. Mist and Reset were impervious to any virus or bacterial agent. They were the perfect team for an outbreak.
Reset asked, “Do you know where you are going?”
Zeyan nodded, smiling grimly behind her mask. “First stop is the mayor’s home.”
Orenn nodded at the Guardsmen. “Zeyan knows where she is going.”
They nodded in return. Reset gestured to the gates. “Lead the way, Soul Keeper.”
Zeyan raised her eyebrows, but they couldn’t see it behind the fabric encasing her features. Shrugging, she led the way into the city.
The citizens of the largest city on Heschell were scared. Their souls radiated with the panic of the unsure. They wouldn’t attack the newcomers, but then, they weren’t fighting to keep sick family members at home and away from the aliens.
The path to the mayor’s house wasn’t familiar, but Zeyan knew exactly where it was. It was the largest house in the city and all citizens knew it by rumour if not on sight.
Zeyan knew the location and its occupant because of the arrogance of the soul she was seeking. She had felt that contempt before and it only had one source, Ehnyin Skarrol. She whispered to Orenn, “Our first target will be the most difficult. It is the mayor of this fair city and he has no interest in off-world trade.”
“If he is sick, won’t his family want help?”
“Not if they think it isn’t what he wanted. I will ask him and we will see.” She straightened her shoulders and led their merry band toward the house of the man who wanted to see her dead rather than banished from her home.
Chapter Nine
They didn’t knock on the door, they simply walked through the doors with Mist and Reset on the alert. The other ten guards and medics followed Zeyan as if she was walking through an open field and not into a lushly appointed mansion with gaping servants.
She didn’t need directions, the burn of the soul called her.
They marched into the bedchamber where family surrounded the mayor.
The mayor’s wife stood and bristled at them. “What are you doing here? We are trying to attend to my sick husband.”
Zeyan stood straight and stared at the figure on the bed. He was much less threatening with his body barely breathing. “He has been infected by the illness sweeping through the population.”
His wife was shrill. “He is getting better.”
Reset moved toward the bed and elbowed the smaller Heschell out of her way. “His body will be dead in six hours without intervention.”
One of the mayor’s sons raised his hand to strike Reset as he hissed, “Alien bitch.”
Zeyan reacted with an aspect of her talent she had never used on a living soul. She froze him in place. “No respect for those who would save his life. Bravo. He
raised you well. Let us ask him what he thinks about death.”
The soul was hovering near the bed and she poured energy into him until he was visible to the untalented eye.
“Ehnyin Skarrol, what do you think of your death in the next six hours?” She stared into the bright eyes of the man who had urged her family to kill her.
His voice was a whisper of sound, but she could hear him clearly. “You.”
“Soul Keeper. Agent of the Citadel. I will address you by your title, Mayor, if you address me by mine.”
Anger crossed his features, but he nodded. “Soul Keeper. I would speak to my family alone.”
She smirked. “I am afraid that will not do. It isn’t your will that makes you able to speak, it is mine. Without me in the room, your soul has no voice and I will not make myself vulnerable to your family.”
He wasn’t used to being denied. “Release my son.”
She blinked. She hadn’t realized that she was holding him in place, arm raised to strike.
Reset was standing next to Mist and watching the proceedings with interest.
“I didn’t realize I still had his ill-tempered soul in my possession.” She released him and the young man collapsed on the floor.
The Sector Guard personnel were behind her, beside her and guarding the door. She was safe from any random attack, for now.
She turned up the volume of the mayor’s voice. “Speak, they will hear you.”
He folded his spectral hands together. “I know that you are aware of my feelings toward off-worlders. In this instance, I would ask that you disregard my earlier statements about dying rather than dealing with talents or aliens. I want to live.”
His wife paled. “My husband wouldn’t say this. He would rather die than suffer the dishonour of accepting help from the members of the Alliance. This is a trick!”
“Bishya. Please. Remember the day that Morcryn was born? I was in meetings all day, eating in the boardroom and when I came to the medical centre to see you, I had tea and condiments on my tie. You were upset because it was the way that our baby first saw me and I told you that he wouldn’t remember it and he sucked the tie into his mouth and started crying because of the spice.”