He arrived at his sector identified by the blue flags dangling idly from metal stakes. His crew was also going to be stationed there. They were busy going about their business of setting up camp and spared him no more than a wave as he passed.
He flagged his radar tech down as he passed carrying a shovel and a pick, and already dirty and sweaty from his labors. “Hey, Joe. Did you guys save me a spot here or am I going to have to beg another sector to take me in?”
Joe paused and set down the tools, wiping the sweat out of his eyes with the back of his arm. “Cap’n, we saved the best spot for you! You’re the closest to the new outhouse. Convenient, huh!”
“Oh, thanks, Joe. I hope I’m upwind. You know, I really don’t mind if you have that esteemed spot instead of me. You should think of Suzie. Women are always getting up in the middle of the night, and I’d hate for her to have to walk very far.”
“Oh, it’s no problem, Cap’n. She was more than willing to sacrifice her comfort for that of her esteemed captain. I’ll take you there since I’m headed that way anyways. That’s what I’m digging.” He picked his tools back up and set off slowly. “We just finished one on the other side of our sector for red sector. They have more families there and we figured they could use the extra help. The creek runs past us on this side so we should build the outhouse in from the very edge of our sector a bit. We’ll be just far enough away that we won’t have to worry about the waste leaking into the creek. Green sector is on the other side of the creek and then yellow is on past them. Here’s your spot Captain. I’ll be just over there, but I doubt you’ll need me with these two young fellows to help you.”
The Captain motioned for them to set his trunk down by the corner stake. “I want you guys to put my tent over there in the far corner as far away from the outhouse as I can get. I’ll be over here with my neighbors. When you’re done setting up, come let me know.” He could hear them muttering as he left, but he didn’t care. With power comes privilege, he thought with a smile.
Rakhabi noted some slates scattered haphazardly across the crystalline shelf at the end of the room and she was rummaging through them when the healer and her nlaikha entered. She quickly sat back down on the bed as she waited for them to arrange the floating tray against the wall under the shelf. It locked right into the wall and seemed a part of it when they stepped away from it to address her.
“Sorry for ignoring you; we’re a bit distracted at the moment. I am Healer Amoni and will be checking you over to make sure you’re O.K. after today’s bizarre happenings. What did happen?” she added almost as an afterthought, but Rakhabi could tell that she was bursting at the seams with curiosity. Healer Amoni gently laid Rakhabi back on the bed and motioned to the nlaikha. “Get the core rod for me and the recording slate. Maybe you should start at the beginning, dear. What brings you, an Arborer, to Kipero?” She took the rod from the nlaikha but stood waiting for a response from Rakhabi.
As soon as Rakhabi cleared her throat and began to speak, Healer Amoni began to brush the rod slowly over her in small circling motions. Rakhabi watched as the pure white rod flickered with streaks of color over its surface while she talked. “My soul mate and I are from Kwilani. We came here seeking medical advice because we have yet to bear any children and our healers are unable to help us. We had heard that there were skilled here that may be able to fix the problem we have. Perhaps that rod can find the problem? What does it do? I have never seen one.”
“Indeed?” Healer Amoni raised her eyebrows and glanced at the nlaikha. “I thought… Your healer should have been made aware of a tool as simple as the core rod. Well, no matter. You were saying…”
They stared at each other until Rakhabi gave a sigh and continued. It was odd that Healer Amoni wouldn’t even answer a simple question. “We came through the gate from Tigreye this morning. Well, it was morning when we left anyways. We were going to Kipero so we started walking just behind the guards and were making good time. When they stopped for lunch, so did we. It was then that the loud drumming sound hit us and startled us, we got up and were looking around to find its source. Then we saw the guards looking up and when we too looked up, we saw a ball of fire or meteorite or something coming right at us. We dove for cover, but it hit about 200 meters from where we were. It should have hit harder and we would have died if it did. It doesn’t make any sense. Anyways, after it hit, we followed the guards over to it.”
“There were some other guards that showed up too, but I don’t know where they came from. Anyways, while we were walking around this thing and the guards were putting the fires out, part of it fell off almost crushing us. Out of the hole that remained, one of those creatures crawled and fell practically at our feet.
“Now I’m not a healer, but I am skilled enough to read a body, so I tried to help it and keep it alive. It’s a lot different than we are even though it’s pretty much the same size and shape as we are. It was terrible! It had been burned, had lots of broken bones, was having problems breathing and was bleeding profusely.” She started sobbing. Healer Amoni handed the rod to the nlaikha and took her in her arms to comfort her, she released all that pent-up stress and was racked with sobs uncontrollably until she fell back into an exhausted sleep.
“You will stay here,” Healer Amoni ordered the nlaikha. “Attend to her needs should she awake, and continue to monitor her at least once per mark on the dial.
“As you will healer,” she said sitting down on the stool beside the exhausted woman’s bed. As Healer Amoni strode to the door, she trailed her hand on the walls dimming the effused light and changing it to a deeper blue shade. The door slid aside and she walked through, glancing once again at the exhausted Arborer before the door slid back into place.
The scene in the main room that she walked into was one of confusion and organized chaos. The mlaikha were skittering in and out of the back entrance on one errand or another. Where the room she had just vacated was practically the embodiment of tranquility, now that Rakhabi was asleep, this one was full of loud commands and debate between the various healers. Some wanted to just attempt to stabilize their unwary alien customers and experiment on them while the others believed firmly that their permission for such exploratory procedures must be granted by the aliens themselves.
Healer Laina was the least vocal, but she was the only one that seemed to actually be doing anything with the injured so it was to her that Healer Amoni went first. Unlike Healer Amoni, Healer Laina was a larger boned lady with a more than ample girth. Her level of skill with healing was probably as great as that of any two other healers in the room except for herself.
“Rakhabi is in a healing sleep at the moment and a nlaikha is watching over her. How are things going out here? It looks like a madhouse.”
“It is a madhouse with that lot going on like they are.” Healer Laina looked her over as she talked. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you around. Are you ready to give me a hand?”
“I won’t be needed back in there for some time. She was injured; she just exhausted herself trying to help these creatures beyond her abilities.”
“Good! Well, if it wasn’t for her crude help out there, these would probably be dead already. As it is, the chances of them recovering are very slim. There are three females and one male. The male is practically in the grave already. I want to get someone to mind delve him before he dies. Maybe we’ll be able to find out something useful like what their intentions are.”
“I just overheard Healer Palano saying that he wanted to experiment on them. Why don’t we give him the male and the other healers that want to actually heal can help us with the women.”
“That’s a good idea Healer Amoni, why don’t you go get him and anyone else that thinks like him and direct them to the male’s bedside. I’ll gather the others and get started actually helping somebody.”
“I’ll get them started, but I’m not going to stay with him. I will be back to help you with the females just as soon as I can.”
<
br /> She wove her way through the bedlam to where Healer Palano was arguing with the other healers.
“I heard there are more where they came from though, and we need to know more about them so we are not caught off guard if their intentions are not good. We…”
Healer Amoni stepped in front of him. “Excuse me, please,” she said, looking over her shoulder at the others even as Healer Laina walked up to them. “Healer Palano, please follow me,” she grabbed him by the elbow and turned him to walk with her. “The male creature is in this corner over here and Healer Laina says that he’s all but dead and there is nothing we can do to help him. Find any others that are like-minded to you and you can delve him to find out as much as you can before he’s gone. If there’s a way to preserve his mind to give us more time to find out more, do it.”
“Who… What…”
“Don’t worry about all that,” she interrupted quickly. “You don’t have much time. I suggest you work quickly or you’ll have no more than a corpse to look at.” She tipped her head as she spoke as though she was looking down her nose even though he was the taller of the two of them. He looked as though he were going to say something, but when she lifted her eyebrow; he rolled his eyes and bustled off to gather his team. With a sigh, Healer Amoni watched him walk off. She hated doing that to people, but she didn’t want to take the time to explain everything or he’d probably start the arguments all over again. She’d had to step it up by being decisive and overbearing.
When she got back to Healer Laina, they were just finalizing which injured they would each be working with.
“Healer Amoni, you can work with me on the one in the worst condition. It will be a challenge, but we’re up to it, right?” Healer Laina didn’t wait for a response but started shooing them off to their new stations. “Healer Amoni, we need to establish a base reading of her vitals so you can do that. Healer Iboneisi, you start scanning for broken bones and any damage they might have caused. I’ll start checking out her organs and mental faculties.”
All three of them with a team of mlaikha set to work scurrying around fetching various empowered crystals and recording slates and rags and bowls. Each patient could have used its own separate room, but they made the best use of their space as possible. The chaos of mere moments before turned into a weird dance in the middle of an impromptu skit. The mlaikha whirled around each other with arms high and low to keep their various cargos out of each other’s way. With all the activity and personnel crammed into such a small spot, they opened the doors and louvered vents to help the air flow better. Soon there were trickles of perspiration on all their foreheads and their elbow-length sleeves soon hung damp from mopping themselves constantly.
Vitals were recorded as core rods were hovered over their bodies and the results filed sequentially on recording slates. As specific injuries were discovered, the 3D images of those injuries were recorded in parallel with the vitals so that the context of the injuries and the resulting condition of the bodies could be reviewed at a later date. It was not long before Healer Laina made the startling discovery that the patient had two heartbeats.
“Healer Amoni, I believe that this patient is with child. I need you to start another parallel recording of the vitals of the child. Even in the womb, the lives of both of these creatures are important to us.”
Healer Amoni grabbed the nearest nlaikha and shoved the core rod into her hand. “This is already live and recording on my slate, but I need you to continue to hover it over the body about a hand high and move it constantly between the heart which is here and the mind here.”
She then grabbed a second core rod and began to calibrate it, tuning it to the tiny life inside the mother. Her face flushed with excitement and she opened yet another parallel data stream that would record the baby’s vitals in sync with that of the mother’s.
“This is one active little one,” she said to Healer Laina as she contorted herself to keep the moving baby in focus. “Its little heart is beating more than twice as often as its parent. Have any of the others noticed whether their patients are with child as well?”
Healer Laina straightened abruptly. “I don’t know! They need to know!” She grabbed a nlaikha to hold her core rod and bustled off to check on the conditions of the other patients. Healer Amoni half reached out to grab her before she went running off by herself, but she caught nothing but air. She settled in for a long wait as Healer Laina assessed the other patients. She was starting to see the big image of her patient, and it wasn’t looking good. Her heart rate had grown quite erratic and if she was reading the core rod correctly, the unborn child was in a certain amount of distress. If they had been normal patients, they would have needed to be separated and stabilized or they would both be dead by the end of the day.
She looked up to send a nlaikha after Healer Laina but stopped short when the Mwene himself walked through the door with his retinue.
He looked a bit disheveled but still carried himself regally. There was a sense of coiled power about him that caused anyone but the least perceptive to be respectful and cautious, not just because he was the Mwene, but because he exuded power. The room grew quiet as he entered (at least quieter than what it had been). With lives at stake they could not all stop what they were doing, but those who could did.
Knowing this, Mwene Crisópraso motioned for all to continue as they were before approaching the nearest patient to observe.
Healer Amoni’s heart almost stopped as he approached her and she tried to bow her head again in a formal curtsy while continuing to scan the baby with the core rod.
“Continue on about your business,” the Mwene said. “You are recording everything, I see. Good. Summarize the patient and its condition.”
As Healer Amoni began to spout off her patient’s condition she all but forgot to whom she was speaking and she relaxed markedly. “The patient is a female. She is in extremely poor condition physically. Many of her bones are broken and her organs damaged. Her bone structure is of a different material than ours and is not responding as well to our attempts at melding them back together again. She does not have a focal crystal in her forehead, and her mental signals are extremely weak, though whether that is because of her structure or her current condition is unknown. One more factor in all of this is that she is with child. Her situation is degrading rapidly and the child in her womb appears to be following the same path. I fear that if they are not soon separated, they may both die. There is only one male patient. He’s over there with Healer Palano. He is in much worse condition and Healer Palano is trying to delve him before he is totally gone.”
“You are very thorough Healer Amoni,” the Mwene said with an approving smile. “What do you lack to complete the separation you recommend?”
“What we lack is a willing host for the baby and a suitable location tied to the realm of the yulupalexa to make the transition possible. If we try to do it here, the host would surely reject the child.” Her eyes lit up as an idea came to her mind. “Actually, your Excellency, we may have a willing host. The Arborer that was helping us earlier said they came here seeking aid with the problem of barrenness! Surely she would be willing!”
Healer Laina came up as she finished and gave a deep bow to his Excellency the Mwene. “If it pleases your Excellency, I have more information that bears on the current situation.”
“Go ahead,” he said hardly seeming to notice the way his guards bristled at her forwardness. They could be so particular about protocol. If he had any say in it, he’d live in a house like everyone else rather than in a palace with a city of mlaikha running around underfoot.
“The other two females are with child as well,” she said, squaring her shoulders and trying to ignore the guards as well. “We no longer need to find just one host, but three. Both of the other patients are in a little bit better condition physically, but their bodies are shutting down because of the damage to their internal organs combined with the injuries that are highly likely to have been made t
o the infants as well. Perhaps a nlaikha or two could be used, but the prestige that would give a nlaikha would be unprecedented.”
“I know a stargazer that was a witness to the incident today whom I am sure would be willing to participate. That leaves just one more host to be found. I think that having a nlaikha be that host would complete the balance. Then there would be one host from here, one an Arborer, and one a nlaikha. Yes,” He nodded half to himself. “From the mouth of the Mwene—so shall it be. I shall speak with the other; Laina, you find a suitable nlaikha, and Amoni, you convince the Arborer if she needs convincing.” He waved his guard closer as he spoke. He was no longer the observer, he was the Mwene and events would walk after his footsteps. “Ready the transportation center for a facelift. I want a full detail to line the walls with their focal staves in hand. Go now. The shadows are walking. Laina and Amoni, gather the tools of your trade and bring the first patient with you to the transportation center within a mark of the dial.”
Laina and Amoni looked at each other in stunned silence as the Mwene turned and strode away. “Laina, if you could begin to gather what is necessary, I will speak with Rakhabi and her soul mate. It could take me a while, but if possible, I will be able to help you when they are on board with us.”
Laina nodded her head and waved her off. “You go right ahead. The condition of the host is as important as everything else that we do in this. Her soul mate was taken through that door over there.” She didn’t wait for Amoni to respond but hustled off to begin organizing the mlaikha.
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