‘My apologies,’ Fay said, her mouth twisting into something like a smile. It was sort of like her facial muscles did not normally assume that arrangement, but she had learned to imitate it around humans. ‘Formally, I am Fayktoktarth Gagaknit. However, my clan cast me out so I no longer use my clan name, and “Fay” is quite an acceptable shortening of my full name. I believe I prefer it to the clumsy designation my parents gave me.’
‘I’ve never heard of the Gagaknit clan,’ Jay said. He gave a sort of conciliatory facial shrug and added, ‘Not that I’ve actually heard the names of many filarax clans. It’s usually the bigger ones that attack human colonies, so I guess not knowing yours is sort of a good thing.’
‘Gagaknit is not one of the major clans, no. It is an offshoot of one, and not an old name. Our ships have attacked human vessels and colonies. One such attack was what caused me to be aboard the Oracle.’
‘Thea said they sort of rescued you,’ Kaya said.
‘They did. The ship I was navigating for found a human vessel and attacked it. I knew better than to object when they slaughtered everyone aboard, but they saw my… disquiet and said it was the last thread. They took me to an uninhabited planet, gave me a fifteen-minute head start, and began hunting me. They knew I was no warrior and that I would die, probably quickly. The Oracle was nearby and saw the unusual behaviour and Thea chose to investigate. With Jinny, she killed seventeen warriors in honourable combat and accepted me onto the crew.’
‘Seventeen?’ Jay asked. ‘I mean, Jinny has those pistols of hers. I guess–’
‘Thea killed eleven, by hand, using a sword. I did not see her until she came upon three who had cornered me, wounded me. I do not believe any of her prey saw her until it was too late, until those last three. One of them died before they knew she was there. She decapitated my captain before my eyes. And then she asked whether I could walk on my wounded leg. I believe she would have carried me if I could not.’
‘Huh. She’s not someone to take lightly, is she?’
‘Not if one wishes to see another day, no. I must return to my duties. I should check our flight path against the sensor data on the rift.’
As Fay lifted gracefully to her feet and padded off toward the entrance corridor, Kaya considered the story and the exchange which had followed it. Jay had taken away from it that Thea was a badass who could wipe out filarax warriors without breaking a sweat, and it was a valid thought. Kaya had wondered at the compassion shown to an alien woman who Thea would have every right to believe might kill her in her sleep. Thea, Kaya believed, was a contradiction and something of an enigma. Okay, so Kaya was supposed to be paying for this trip, but no price had ever been mentioned and there was the odd feeling that money really had nothing to do with it. Thea did things for her own reasons, so what reason did she have for helping Kaya?
~~~
The elevator door opened and Kaya stepped out onto deck four. Cassandra had asked that she visit one of the other members of the crew, a man named Geogracus. Exactly why had not been mentioned, but Cassandra had said that ‘Geo is our physician’ so presumably there was some medical concern, but what that could be, Kaya had no clue.
The layout of this floor was different to the accommodation decks above, but there were, apparently, rooms on this level. The floor had four cabins, a biology lab, and the ship’s infirmary. The cabins were there for the medical staff, but the only medical staff on the ship was Geogracus so he had an entire four-suite block to himself and, as Kaya walked down the corridor toward it, she realised that he was making good use of that.
A sign hanging from the ceiling of the corridor warned her to ‘Beware gravity gradient.’ Unused to such things, Kaya almost tripped as she walked past the sign and felt the compensation field suddenly step from standard to a much lighter simulation of gravity. If it was a tenth of standard, she was surprised. She shifted to the bouncy, semi-hop that seemed to be the best way of moving in very low gravity and kept going into the communal lounge area.
There seemed to be no one around and Kaya was just about to ask Cassandra which room Geogracus was in when a door opened and the man himself emerged, and Kaya could not help but stare.
First of all, there was the fact that he was huge. Not tall, maybe three centimetres taller than Kaya’s one hundred and seventy-seven, but enormously obese. His body was a great bag of fat, his breasts were possibly larger than Kaya’s, his legs were short, but his thighs looked as big around as Kaya’s torso. His arms did look to have some muscle hiding under the flab. To add to the body-horror, he was wearing only a leather kilt which was clinging to his hips under his overhanging belly in a manner that probably defied physics. Oddly, his face looked rather haggard. His nose was big and fleshy, but hooked. There was a pronounced cleft in his double chin and he did have jowls. Yet there was something thin and drawn about his features, almost as if a thin old man was trying to push his way out of the fat one. He had high, arched brows over dark eyes which looked too small for his face, and a high, domed head which sported the same shaved design that Cassandra wore, though his hair was a plainer ash blonde. The haircut did not help his head look a better shape.
And to add to all that, Geogracus was floating twenty centimetres above the carpet, his feet hanging limply below him. He had to be a telekinetic. If he could lift his own weight like that in normal gravity, then he had to be a pretty powerful telekinetic.
‘You’re Thea’s latest infatuation then?’ Geogracus asked, though it sounded more like a statement. He had a rather rough voice, and he seemed to have a lousy attitude for a doctor too.
Kaya still found her cheeks colouring at the suggestion. ‘I’m not sure I’d say I was an infatuation. I’m Kaya. Cassandra said I should come down and–’
‘Yes, yes. Just shut up and stand there looking decorative.’
She stood, feeling distinctly uncomfortable as his rather beady eyes stared at her for a few seconds. She had the distinct feeling that he was unwrapping her in his head and wished she had asked Cassandra about the fabricator before now. She made a mental note to ask the tattooed woman about that as soon as she got back upstairs. But then she saw Geogracus’s expression shift to one of mild puzzlement and Kaya’s train of thought derailed: if a doctor was looking at you like that, it could not be good.
‘I’d like to get a sample of your blood,’ Geogracus said. ‘Come.’ And he began to float, at a slow walking pace, toward the corridor Kaya had entered through.
Kaya had a fleeting moment of abject terror as they climbed out of the low-gravity zone and Geogracus dipped until his toes touched the floor. But he rose back to the same height quickly and, much to Kaya’s relief, his kilt stayed firmly affixed around his hips even if his flab was now hanging lower.
‘I was born on a world with just under half standard gravity,’ he said. She figured he felt the need to explain the field in his living quarters. ‘I find lower gravity far more comfortable.’
‘Uh, my home has slightly above standard gravity,’ Kaya replied. ‘Abertine was lower and I occasionally missed my footing when I first got there. You’re a telekinetic?’
‘Obviously, but my biokinesis is more useful in my profession.’
‘Oh! I’m a biokinetic. Though, uh, all I can do is diagnosis.’
For some reason, Geogracus’s tone had changed slightly. He was still brusque, but there was less annoyance behind it, as though he had suddenly and inexplicably warmed to her. ‘Diagnosis is a good first step, a common one. I’m quite sure you can learn other techniques with proper tutoring.’
‘That’s why I was on Abertine. I was–’
He waved a dismissive hand. ‘The university there is adequate. They’ll do their jobs.’ He floated across the corridor and down another, and Kaya realised that they were going to the labs instead of the infirmary. ‘Not afraid of needles, are you?’
‘Not really.’ Walking along beside him was actually something of a chore: he did not move fast. ‘Uh, why do you want my
blood anyway?’
There was a short pause, barely there, but obvious. ‘A side project of mine. I’m studying genetic drift in humans. You represent, I believe, the second native generation on a relatively isolated colony.’
‘Oh, right. Well, I’m happy to help. You’re all helping me find out what happened to my family.’
‘Thea got you in the sack yet?’
Kaya strangled off a squeak. ‘No! I don’t… I’m not… She hasn’t even suggested–’
A wave of Geogracus’s hand cut off Kaya’s outraged blustering and also opened the door ahead of them. Beyond it, she could see benches and chemical glassware. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I’d tell you to roll up your sleeve, but you don’t have any. Or anything much of a shirt.’
Glowering at her feet, Kaya followed the fat man through into the lab and prayed to the Universal Mind that she never needed his services as a doctor.
Oracle of Zanar, Sadrine’s Drift System.
‘Welcome to the Sadrine’s Drift system,’ Cassandra’s voice announced over the speakers.
Kaya looked up to see patterns of stars in the view screen which were not exactly familiar, but closer than anything she had seen since leaving home. ‘Can you see anything–’
‘At this range,’ Cassandra interrupted, ‘sensors are unable to pick up anything interesting concerning the planet. We are twenty-five light seconds away and even my passives are not that good. Active sensors would alert the interdiction stations that we are here.’
‘Oh, uh, yes. Sorry.’
‘Have you been trained in the proper use of ships’ sensor equipment, young lady?’
‘Well, no.’
‘Then stop apologising. Everything is a learning experience.’
Kaya blushed and nodded even though she was not sure Cassandra could see her. ‘How long until we know more?’ She jerked as the ship began to accelerate. Probably another four-gravity push, if she were any judge.
‘As you can undoubtedly tell,’ Cassandra said, ‘I’ve set us for approach. Transit time will be just under eight standard hours. We’ll be in orbit at approximately six-thirty tomorrow. I have had time now to determine one interesting fact, however.’
‘Oh? What’s that?’
‘The hyperspace communications relay buoy which should be in approximately this area of space is gone. I can see no sign of it. It should be transmitting an active signal to ensure that no one collides with it, and I am picking up nothing.’
‘It’s been destroyed?’ Jay asked, paying attention to the conversation suddenly.
‘A far more thorough survey, which I’ve no time to perform, would be needed to determine whether it was destroyed, or picked up and stood down.’
‘You think Security could have done it to isolate the colony?’
You could imagine, almost see, Cassandra shrugging. ‘I suspect we’ll know more when we get closer to the planet.’
‘Yeah, about that… How are you going to get past the interdiction stations?’
There was audible laughter over the speakers. ‘Automated weapons platforms, Sor Colder. Please don’t insult my capabilities.’
Jay looked about ready to ask what that meant when Thea walked in using the exaggerated walk she employed when fighting the compensation field. Her gaze fell upon Kaya. ‘Shall we put you under again? Aside from anything else, it’ll stop you worrying about what we’re going to find when we get there.’
Kaya had been going to say she would manage on a respirator until Thea had mentioned that last part. ‘Yes. Yes, that sounds like a good idea.’
Thea smiled and started toward Kaya’s cabin door. ‘Besides, you haven’t dreamed for a couple of nights. It’s always good to catch up.’
‘I haven’t?’ Kaya knew she had slept quite soundly, but she did not always remember dreaming and had no memory of it for a few days.
‘No one dreams in hyperspace. I actually hate to think what would happen if you did.’
‘Oh.’ Kaya walked into her suite and headed for the bedroom, starting to undress as she did so. She let her top fall to the floor, noticing in passing the weird shapes it made as the compensation field and their acceleration fought over the flimsy cloth.
Kaya turned before undoing her shorts and her eyes fell upon Thea who was unpacking the sleep box. Today, Thea had dressed in something she presumably found comfortable: a top not unlike Kaya’s with string straps, though Thea filled hers out more fully and the garment was a pale-fawn shade, almost grey to match the very short skirt, and a pair of knee-high boots with a block heel. There was also a silver chain around Thea’s neck with a pendant stone hanging from it, a pale, almost icy blue, like her eyes. Kaya’s mind flashed to Geogracus and his comments and she felt herself start to blush. She had never really thought of women that way before, but now the fat man had suggested that Thea might want to…
‘Are you okay?’ Thea asked.
Blinking, Kaya flashed her a smile. ‘Yes. Just… the acceleration, I guess.’
Thea nodded and reached up to attach the cuff around Kaya’s arm. Kaya backed into the bed’s field and immediately lifted off her feet, hanging, relaxed in the air. There was the cold breath of the analgesic and the pressure of the needles, and Kaya’s eyes began to droop.
‘Sweet dreams,’ Thea said, and her voice seemed to be coming from such a long way off…
53/1/483.
Thea hung in her own gravity bed wearing a respirator and nothing else. She did not need drugs to assist her sleeping on most journeys because she was used to the effects by now, but the respirator helped her breathing stay regular despite the pressure on her chest. She was not sleeping anyway; she was talking to Cassandra, just not in the conventional way.
And what does Geo say? Thea asked silently, sending the thought out to Cassandra’s mind.
He says he needs further time to study his results, Cassandra replied. I did press him. Her genome is zanari, but he says that there are some peculiarities about it.
Peculiarities? That sounds like he’s hedging.
He possibly is, but I went over his data and he is right. There are the usual markers we would find in your genome, or mine, but there are signs of, well, tampering. There are a number of non-random, repeating sequences in her introns.
Thea, her eyes still closed, raised an eyebrow. I would remind you that I’m not a genetic engineer.
Introns are sequences of genetic code which do not encode a protein, essentially. They play a part in gene expression regulation, but they are, to some extent, ‘junk’ code. It is possible to perform a number of tricks with introns when engineering an organism, such as encoding messages into them. However, the pattern we see in her follows no encoding scheme I am aware of.
Are you saying she’s been engineered?
Cassandra’s mental tone took on an exasperated edge. I am saying no such thing. I am saying that we need more time to analyse the data.
The first thing Thea thought was ‘bloody scientists,’ but she made sure she did not send that to Cassandra. We need answers, Cassy. Preferably fast ones. If she’s really a zanari, we need to know how she stayed hidden. If she’s been engineered… We need to know who did it and why.
I am aware of that, Thea, Cassandra replied. We are working as fast as we can. Perhaps you can find some answers tomorrow, on her home world.
Maybe. Don’t hold your breath.
It isn’t like I can…
Oracle of Zanar, In Orbit, Sadrine’s Drift.
They were still decelerating into orbital velocity when Kaya made her way back into the communal lounge, but that deceleration was markedly lower than what had been used for the transition in-system and she could walk without too much difficulty.
Thea was in the lounge, as was Jay, and they were watching the screen which showed a partial view of the planet’s disc and a space station. It was not the converted asteroid Kaya had flown up to for her journey to Abertine: this one was far smaller, more like a large satellite. Peering a
t it, Kaya could make out the shapes of turrets mounted around its bulbous central hull. This, she thought, was one of the interdiction stations, but it did not appear to be doing anything.
‘I don’t understand why they aren’t shooting at us,’ Jay said as though voicing Kaya’s unspoken question.
‘Cassandra has a way with machines. She added our registry to the list of approved craft.’ Thea seemed entirely blasé about it, as though hacking a military satellite across several thousand kilometres of space was just something one did.
‘That’s… some trick.’
‘She did say not to underestimate her capabilities,’ Kaya said. Jay turned sharply to look at her. Thea seemed less surprised by the interjection. ‘Do we have any more information?’
‘Little,’ Thea replied. ‘The comms buoy is not the only thing missing. The spaceport station is gone too. We don’t have enough information to determine whether it dropped out of orbit or was destroyed, but there’s no indication of debris at present.’
‘Oh…’ Kaya walked around to sit down beside Thea. She had discovered, when she had emerged from her sleep, that someone had put out some new clothes for her. There was a top like the one she already had but clearly fresh, a short jacket, and denim jeans cut to fit over a new pair of ankle-high boots with block heels. She had to admit that the boots were more practical than her thigh-high ones and they gave her the height boost her ego still felt it needed. Thea smiled as Kaya sat down, and Kaya flashed a grin before turning her face away quickly; the blush was primarily due to the dreams she had had while she was under, dreams which had meant she really needed her shower after waking up.
‘Kaya,’ Thea said, sounding a little hesitant, ‘I’m going to take Jinny down to the main settlement as soon as we have a stable orbit. I want you to stay up here.’
‘What? Why? I need to–’
‘First, there’s no more than two hours of light left. I want to do a fast survey to see what the situation is and go back in the morning. We can go straight to your farm then. Second, we’ll be going down in environment suits and I’m guessing you have no experience of them. Third… we don’t know what’s down there, Kaya. If it’s something bad, I’d rather you weren’t just exposed to it, that you have some warning.’
Children of Zanar 1: The Zanari Inheritance Page 7