Afterburn

by S. L. Viehl

  “It would have to be done off-planet,” Wupga warned. “The procedure violates the current colonial ban on alterforming, and I will not put myself or my staff at risk of detainment.”

  Of course he wouldn’t. Never mind what she was going to have to sacrifice. “I understand. There is an aquatic medical facility on Qi-iq, about half a light-year from K-2. All you need do is bring the surgical team; I’ll provide the necessary tissue and organs and so forth.”

  Wupga wasn’t convinced. “Forgive me, but I believe such harvesting is also illegal on your world now.”

  “Presently, yes. However, before the ban was made into law, I was able to salvage and cryonically preserve enough tissue, organs, and bones to do a hundred such procedures.” She had never considered using them for this purpose, but the only way to advance science was to keep an open, fluid attitude. An attitude that had to go both ways, even if this procedure could not.

  “You do not feel a conflict of interest here?” Wupga asked. “Do you know how people will regard you after this is done?”

  She would be despised and reviled, but not by anyone she cared about. The people she loved would understand her motives. If they didn’t . . . “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Very well. Please notify me when you have a target date and transport arranged, and I will assemble my team and meet your party on Qi-iq.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” Teresa grabbed the edge of the console as the ship lurched, and the sound of the shore lines being retracted buzzed outside the cabin.

  “We’re ready to launch, Terri,” Noel called from the helm. “Would you like to take her out?”

  Teresa terminated the relay, encrypted her notes, and saved everything to her personal database before walking out of the cabin. “I think you should do the honors, Captain Argate.”

  Noel grinned at her. “Take a seat, then, and fasten your harness.”

  The Briggs was the sleekest long-range expedition vessel Teresa had ever boarded. Designed to function under any sailing conditions, the ship’s gleaming arutanium deck stretched ten meters wide and twenty meters in length, with a Haazen free-form hull that could be altered to cruise, break through ice floes, or ride the wildest of waves. Outfitted with the newest League tech, the ship also carried four roomy surface inflatables and a sea-to-air shuttle, which could be used to evacuate the entire ship’s complement and an additional twenty under rescue conditions.

  Teresa didn’t know any of the crew, made up of MRD veterans who had served with Noel, but found them to be like most crews, a fairly taciturn bunch. On the other hand, the staff members she had selected to come on the ’shrike hunt were brimming with enthusiasm.

  “Have you been to the observation deck?” one of her researchers asked earlier. “The hull walls are completely transparent from stem to stern. It’s as if they put engines on the URD and launched it.”

  Noel took position in the command tower and slipped his hands into the master control grips as he powered up the ship’s engines. “Here we go.”

  They were launching out of the same inlet where they hoped to lure a ’shrike, so the hull was currently retracted to its flat, reef-skimmer form. As soon as they cleared the delicate formations and were in the open sea, Noel changed the hull to a pointed, wave-breaking plow.

  Teresa checked the console in front of her seat, which displayed the keel’s depth scanners. They had clear water ahead of them, and the twin pulse-screw engines were bringing the ship up to optimum speed. The wind whipped her hair back, salting it with spray from the bow plumes, and she felt a laugh bubble up in her throat. She had stayed too long on land; out here was the wonderful sense of true freedom that she hadn’t even realized she missed so much.

  Two streamlined forms, one dark, one light, breached through the starboard wake and dove back into the depths. Both were wearing special thermal wraps to boost their protection against the colder water of the open sea.

  “There are Jadaira and Onkar,” Noel called back to her. “I was wondering if they’d show up.”

  Teresa had, too. She knew that Dair had gone to confront her father, and she hadn’t been all that sure that her stepdaughter would keep her promise to help with the hunt afterward. The ’Zangians were as fiercely loyal to their parents as they were to their natal pods.

  I’m the only mother Dair has ever known, she told herself, fighting a new wave of guilt. She knows I’m right, and that’s why she chose to be loyal to me.

  As soon as Noel eased back the engines to cruising speed, Teresa unfastened her harness and joined him in the command tower. “I’ll go below and monitor the mass tracker,” she told him. “Once I lock on to a ’shrike, I’ll signal Dair and Onkar. I want them out of the water before we release the bait. They are strictly for backup at the extension wall when we return to the inlet.”

  “Ten minutes into the expedition, and you’re already worrying something will go wrong,” Noel teased.

  “Habit. I’ve been doing it since the day my kid was born,” she told him. On impulse she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

  He touched the spot with one hand. “What was that for?”

  “For saving the people I love, and for not being such a selfish dolt anymore.” She looked back, but she could no longer see the coast. “We’re really going to do this. Catch one of these things.” She shook her head.

  Noel’s smile faded. “Don’t tell me you’re having doubts at this stage of the game.”

  “That’s just it. It’s not a game.” She dragged a hand through her hair. “This is as real as it gets, Noel. People’s lives are on the line. So is the future of an entire species.”

  He nodded. “Then let’s get to work.”

  Graleba kept her word to Burn and hovered and questioned Liana until she thought she might utter a continuous pulse of shrieking frustration.

  Are you hungry? Shall I clean you? The older Ylydii made as if to touch her fins. If you are still cold—

  I am not hungry, or dirty, or cold, she told her attendant. I do not need a grandmother.

  I know you do not, my lady. Graleba gave her a hurt look. I was so worried when that ’Zangian brought you back. Your fins were covered with ice. Do you know that you might have died out there?

  Yes, she might have, no thanks to the ’Zangian.

  If only a ’shrike had found her before Burn had. All she had wanted was a fair exchange, and a swift end to her misery. Was it so much to ask? Now she would be watched and followed and controlled every moment she spent on this world.

  Everything Liana had done had been for nothing.

  Graleba stayed with her until the night guard came, and only then did she reluctantly agree to go to feed and rest. I will return in the morning, my lady. Sleep well.

  Liana, who had been restlessly circling the chamber, said nothing. There was nothing to say, but at least now she could be alone with her thoughts. Thoughts of the one, of what could not be said, of the utterly useless thing she had been reduced to.

  No, not yet.

  If she was lucky, the guard might not be as vigilant as Burn. Liana edged toward the opening of the chamber, trying not to disturb the water. She could see the outline of him—another huge male—and stopped breathing in as she eased around the corner behind him. He was paying no attention, and if she allowed herself to drift all the way to the bottom, surely her coloring would blend—

  Without turning around, the guard said, Going somewhere?

  Liana froze, and then darted back into the chamber. And then darted back out again to face him. What are you doing here?

  Preventing yet another act of idiocy, Burn said. He inspected her. Recovered from the last one, have you? Well, my lady, you can haul your little tail back in there, because you’re not getting past me.

  Her gillets bristled. You are offensive.

  Offensive is better than stupid. He cocked his head. Maybe I should petition the summit and see if they’ll make me the next leader of Ylyd.

  Liana started
back into the chamber before circling back to him. I do not require a night guard who disparages my government and my person. You are dismissed.

  I don’t take orders from you.

  In that moment, she wanted to kill him. I am your superior.

  You probably are, but that doesn’t matter. It’s me, he said, and pointed toward the surface, or a week in a tank. You choose.

  Liana surged forward and hit him as hard as she could. Burn didn’t flinch, didn’t grunt, and to add insult to injury, didn’t even move. I don’t need you, she told him in her coldest voice, and I’m not afraid of you. Go away.

  Burn lifted one of his fins and Liana closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. It never came.

  The ends of his fins had been altered to function more like humanoid hands, with articulated digits that mimicked fingers. These he threaded through the gillets on one side of her face, very gently, and lifted until she opened her eyes and looked directly into his.

  You can beat me bloody if you like, but I will never hurt you. I will never let you hurt yourself.

  Everything hot and tight and outraged inside her collapsed into a muddle. She wanted to nuzzle him, and take refuge against his warmth again, and stay there until all the storms in her life had passed. And she couldn’t.

  Please, Burn. If orders wouldn’t work, perhaps demeaning herself and begging might. Please go away. Please leave me alone.

  No, Liana. He put one of his fins across her back and led her into the chamber. If you want anything, I’ll be right outside. Rest now.

  “Honey.” Ana closed the door panel. “I’m home.”

  Liam looked up from the medical chart he was reading and frowned. “Is the summit over? I thought you had another week.”

  “It isn’t. Norash decided that the most overworked and underappreciated official presiding over the summit should take the night off.” She set down her case and held out her hands. “Come and appreciate me before I fall unconscious.”

  “I don’t know whether to kiss you, or admit you for exhaustion.” He came over and, after making a show of checking her pulse, brushed her mouth with his. “Dare I ask how things are progressing?”

  “We’re making a little headway, despite Ambassador Carada’s best efforts to derail every discussion. She’s been in high dudgeon since her daughter blundered into the outer currents. Two ’Zangian sentries disappeared three days ago while they were guarding the Ylydii; Major Valtas thinks they may have been attacked and killed.” She sighed. “Did you do the smart thing and not check messages?”

  “No, I was stupid. Three hundred or so signals came in just today. Two hundred and ninety-nine are mostly bureaucratic nonsense, but there is one I think you should hear.”

  Ana sighed and went to the companel, where Liam had queued a signal.

  “What’s wrong with Teresa’s lab chief?” she asked, and then answered herself. “Oh, right, T’Kaf went to have a look at that barax colony.” She enabled the recorded message and listened as the N-jui chemist described the disturbing changes with the barax and the direction their new hive was taking.

  “Send a copy of message T9843 to Security Chief Norash,” she told the companel. “Mark urgent, highest priority, and encrypt for his pass code only.” She glanced at Liam. “Does spicewine induce insomnia?”

  “Not unless they’ve changed the ingredients.”

  “Good.” She went to the prep unit and prepared a server for each of them, and then went to sit with Liam on the sinfully comfortable couch. “To invading insects,” she said, lifting her spicewine in a toast.

  “To the availability of competent exterminators.” He clinked the edge of his server against hers. “T’Kaf sent a wrill specimen over to me and asked me to look at it. It was riddled with some sort of parasites that aren’t Hlagg and can’t be identified by our species database. I sent it down to Pathology for our bright new resident Omorr to have a look. We’ll have to isolate them and find out what they are before they attack the aquatic population.”

  “One by land, one by sea.” Ana took a large swallow of wine and slipped off her footgear. “Do you ever think about transferring to someplace a little safer to live? Say, the Hsktskt homeworld?”

  “Before we start packing, we’d better find out why the barax intend to undermine and attack the colony.” He saw her expression change and put his arm around her shoulders. “Ana, what is it?”

  “I had a funny feeling when I read the initial report, but now I think I know.” Ana felt chilled. “The barax began building their hive in a gnorra grove.”

  It didn’t take him long to make the connection. “The Core.”

  “Since barax bore into root systems, there’s little doubt they came in contact with the Core.” She stared down into her wine as memories of thousands dying crowded into her mind. “Well, that’s it, then. Another plague.”

  “Not necessarily.” His hand stroked her upper arm with a soothing motion. “We negotiated directly with the Core. They understood that our removing them from the trees was accidental. They promised to let us live here in peace.”

  “The barax didn’t. If they’re under Core control now . . .” She didn’t want to complete that thought. “I wish Duncan Reever were still here. He was the only one who could communicate with the Core directly. I’ll have to send in orders to have the entire area quarantined until we figure out what to do.”

  “We can’t make it public knowledge,” Liam said, his expression grim. “The last time the Core were removed from their environment, they killed thousands of colonists.”

  “Trying to escape the bodies in which they were trapped,” Ana pointed out.

  “I don’t think anyone will remember that part of it.” Liam picked up his planner and made a note on it, then looked down at her. “You need to go to bed.”

  Ana could barely keep her eyes open, but she had wanted to spend at least a few minutes with him.

  “Do you know why our relationship is so perfect? We’re both sleeping through it. Hey.” She clutched at his shoulders as he swung her up into his arms. “Keep this up and I may just marry you.”

  “Oh, you’ll marry me,” he assured her. “You like sleeping with me too much.”

  Ana didn’t think anything could have woken her up that night, until she heard Liam’s voice as she had never heard it, hoarse and desperate, calling out in the darkness.

  “I won’t let her die. She can’t die,” he was saying, over and over.

  Ana sat up and saw that Liam was rigid, his hands fisted in the bed linens, but he was obviously still asleep. The emotions radiating from him were so strong they made her gasp. He was in agony, trapped in a nightmare with a dying woman he couldn’t save.

  He’s dreaming about Rosalind. Very gently she shook him. “Liam, wake up. It’s only a dream. Wake up, darling.”

  Liam came out of the nightmare with a terrible cry, and for a moment looked at her blankly. “Oh, dear God.” He jerked her into his arms and held her tightly. “It was so real. I couldn’t do anything. I tried, but nothing worked.”

  Ana knew her lover had lost his first wife to a brain tumor for which she had refused to seek treatment, and had blamed himself for her death ever since. Her heart wrenched as she stroked his back with her hands and tried not to feel jealous. Rosalind was only a memory; she couldn’t fight that.

  “Forgive me for disturbing you,” he said after a long time. “I don’t know what brought that on. I haven’t had nightmares in years.” He looked down at her. “Thanks for waking me up.”

  “You know, if you ever want to talk about her, I’m always here and ready to listen.”

  “Her?”

  She moved her shoulders. “Rosalind. It might help to resolve things if you talk about it.”

  “Sweet Ana, I didn’t have a nightmare about losing Rosalind.” He wrapped his arms around her and shuddered. “It was you. I dreamt that the Core plague returned, and I was standing in the hospital, watching you slip away. Some fool had sealed
you in an isolation room and I didn’t know the codes. I couldn’t get to you.”

  They had both been among the last colonists infected with the Core, and Ana remembered only too well how many friends she had watched die before her own lungs began to fail. “I want to get married,” she said suddenly.

  “We will.”

  “No. I want to get married today. Tomorrow. As soon as we can.” She pulled back so she could meet his startled gaze. “I don’t care if we have thirty years or three months or seventy-two hours left to live, but I’m going to live them as your wife.”

  For three nights Liana tried to escape her chamber, but each time she tried Burn was outside, waiting for her. He wouldn’t obey her orders, and he only laughed at her threats. She hadn’t tried physical violence after her first, pitiful attempt—he was too strong—and so was trapped not only in the chamber, but in the slowly tightening noose of her own frustration. To make matters worse, the strong emotions she had been suffering had shifted her body into full estrus. Ylydii females could mate at any time, but in this state she wouldn’t be gentle, and she wouldn’t care with whom she mated.

  In this state, no male was safe around her.

  The sensible thing to do would be to request she be removed to the Ylydii ship, or summon one of the Ylydii males and get it over with. Liana was open, having mated with a select number of males from the synchrony in the past, although she had never caught a pup. Some said it was the affliction; others that she was meant for higher things. Liana had never experienced any pleasure while taking one of the little pipsqueaks, but she had done her duty.

  Duty had nothing to do with how she felt as the sunslight disappeared and night came over the ’Zangian sea.

  Is there anything more I can do for you, my lady? Graleba asked before she left for the night.

  No. Liana retreated to a corner, and didn’t move again until her attendant had gone. She would stay inside the chamber tonight and meditate; sometimes that helped calm the rush of need.

  Her resolution shattered the moment she tasted Burn’s dark, delicious scent on the water.

  The ’Zangian hovered outside the chamber in the usual place, his back to her, his eyes moving as he scanned the open water beyond the caverns. For a moment Liana simply watched him, admiring the differences between him and a typical Ylydii male. His size, strength, and speed no longer seemed so bizarre to her, although she had more difficulty accepting his dominant personality.