by Elin Wyn
“Did anyone else notice similar markers during combat?” General Rouhr asked.
“Everyone I fought was definitely bigger and stronger than any human I’d fought so far,” Karzin agreed.
“Same for me,” Vrehx agreed. “I didn’t notice anything about the eyes, though.”
“I think I have a theory.” The voice of the human woman I didn’t know was soft but still permeated the room. Everyone quieted to listen to what she had to say.
“Go ahead, Mariella,” the general nodded.
“We first have to look at the situation from the radicals’ point of view,” Mariella began.
Everyone, including me, cast a doubtful look at her.
“Hear me out.” She lifted her hands. “We have to remember that these people think they’re the heroes of the story. If you were overtaken by an enemy much bigger, stronger, and more powerful than you, what would you do?”
“Get more power,” Sk’lar volunteered.
“Exactly.” Mariella turned to look at Leena. “What would an individual use to make themselves bigger and stronger? Something that also ups their rage threshold.”
Leena considered for a moment before her face lit up. “Mari, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Mariella nodded.
“Care to clue us in?” The usual measure of humor was back in Vidia’s tone. I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or she was doing it for our benefit.
“Steroids.”
“What’s that?” Sk’lar asked.
I didn’t know either.
“It’s an old drug from Earth,” Leena explained. “There were a few different kinds. It was used successfully to treat a number of human medical conditions when prescribed by a doctor.”
“But there was a recreational element, as well,” Mariella added.
“People would use it to make themselves gain muscle faster. It also had a tendency to make users irritable and more prone to fits of rage,” Leena concluded.
“Sounds like what I saw,” Sk’lar agreed. “But where would they get an old drug from a dead planet?”
“I can reach out to some of my contacts in the underground,” Nesta offered. “Maybe someone there will know what the radicals are using to beef themselves up.”
“If you find something, bring back a sample for me to test?” Leena asked.
Nesta nodded.
“Excellent,” General Rouhr approved. “Now, as far as the election is concerned-”
“I’ve already told you, Rouhr,” Vidia sighed. “I’m not giving up. These radicals aren’t going to beat me and they aren’t going to make me stop fighting.”
“I can impose additional security measures,” I spoke up.
“You’re already doing more than enough,” Vidia said.
“Clearly not if a riot was able to break out. We need to interrogate the instigators and up our security based on the info they give us. For the next debate, I want snipers posted at every viewpoint.” I turned to Sk’lar.
“Load their guns with tranqs. If anyone starts something, take them down and drag them in for interrogation before anything can get out of hand.”
“That’s one possible plan, Phryne,” Vidia said. “But what will that look like if I’m trying to present myself as an ally to the people but surround myself with armed non-humans? It sends the wrong message.”
“Your safety is more important than how you’re perceived.”
“If I’m perceived as someone who will sell humans out to aliens, am I really any safer?”
I opened my mouth to speak but then closed it. “We’ll form a plan that works for both of us once we interrogate the instigators,” I decided.
Vidia nodded in agreement.
“That’s all for today. Get some rest.” General Rouhr dismissed us before ushering Vidia away for a private conversation.
Sk’lar and I walked out together. When he turned to walk toward the exit, I followed him. Originally, I was going to go back to my station and read incident reports, but another idea struck me.
“Done for the day?” I asked him.
“Done until I get word about the interrogations.”
“Want to go for a drink?” I asked before I could rethink it. Sk’lar lifted his brows in surprise.
“It’s just that I could use a little fun,” I explained in a rush. “I forget to pull myself out of my work and take a breath every now and then. It’s bad for the job.”
“Right.” Sk’lar gave me a knowing smile.
“You’re fun,” I shrugged. “But I’d like to remember it this time around, if that’s okay with you?”
Sk’lar chuckled. “Do you really think I have the power to stop you from doing anything once you’ve decided to do it?”
“Probably not,” I grinned. “But it’s been a surprising week.”
Sk’lar
At least I wasn’t on security detail. While running another supply drop wasn’t exactly my idea of a fun assignment, it was better than security detail.
This way, I got to travel a bit, see what this planet had, and potentially meet new people.
Unfortunately, I was being sent to the Kangefi wetlands where the Aurora had originally landed months ago.
Fen and the other Urai, not being terribly fond of the heat of the desert, had moved the remains of the Aurora back to the wetlands using rifts. Apparently, the Urai preferred the humidity over the dryness.
Not that I could blame them. At least in the wetlands, they had trees and greenery. In the desert, where they had crashed during the final battle with the Xathi, there had been nothing except tiny bushes and something the humans called ‘weeds’.
They were green little plants that smelled disgusting, had tiny little barbs all over them, and seemed to grow everywhere after even a small amount of rainfall. Not to mention trees that could walk and tried to eat you if you weren’t careful.
As Tyehn and I flew the supply shuttle out to the wetlands, I thought back to the riot. There was just something not right about what had happened there.
“Hey, Sk’lar?”
“What is it, Tyehn?”
“Why are we doing a supply run to the Aurora? Don’t the Urai have their own food stores?”
I looked over at him. “They do, and since their digestive needs are different than virtually everyone’s that I’ve ever heard of, they don’t need to eat much. But they have a bunch of human scientists living with them, learning from them and using the Urai tech to study.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” Tyehn said with a nod. “I had forgotten that the scientists were still there, to be honest. I figured they had all left when Fen moved things out of the desert.”
“Why would you think that?”
He shrugged. “They were studying the desert, last I heard. I figured they were staying in the desert after the Urai left.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it.
It wasn’t a bad hypothesis. The humans had been studying the desert, so with Fen moving the Aurora out of the desert, it made sense to believe that the humans might choose to stay to continue their studies. “I guess they figure that they can just rift over.”
“I guess,” he said as he turned away. “We’re almost there.”
I turned to look. What had once been a sleek vessel that looked more luxurious than anything I had ever seen before was now a small village.
Different sections of the Aurora had been turned into small buildings and were spread out. Little huts had been erected between each of the ship sections and a massive solar station was soaking up the rays of the sun to the western side of the village.
“Welcome to the village of Aurora,” I said with a flourish of my hand.
“Really? They named it after the ship?”
I shrugged. “The Urai apparently aren’t that imaginative with naming things,” I answered.
“You sure it was the Urai, or did the humans pick the easy name?”
I pursed my lips. “You know, I’m not sure. Do
es it matter?”
“Not really,” Tyehn said as he gently landed the shuttle in the small clearing meant for us. “Just curious.”
I grunted. “Come on, let’s get this stuff unloaded.”
As we unloaded the boxes and crates of supplies, with some help from the ‘natives’, I noticed Fen walking over.
More like floating over. I would swear, all the way until my final breath, that even though their legs moved and it looked as though their feet touched the ground, they really did that simply to mimic the rest of us. The Urai were capable of floating across the ground, they had to be. No one was that smooth when they walked.
“Lady Fen. It’s a pleasure for you to come greet us on a routine supply drop,” I said with a minor bow. I didn’t know why I always bowed to her, it just felt natural.
She returned my bow and spoke. I noticed that she no longer had to touch the voice box hanging from her neck to speak out loud to us. Actually, there wasn’t a voice box hanging from her neck. It had been replaced by a small pendant half the size of my palm. “My friend Sk’lar. It is a pleasure for me, as well, to welcome you to our humble home. I wish to thank you for these supply drops. Our human friends will appreciate them.”
“I’m grateful we can help,” I responded.
“Maybe you could ‘help’ a little more,” Tyehn grunted behind me. He was pulling a large crate from the shuttle and he was losing control of it. I rushed over and helped him balance it as we wheeled it out of the shuttle and onto the receiving pad. “What’s in here?” he asked with a heavy grunt as we set it down.
“I think these are the replacement parts for some of their equipment that’s been malfunctioning lately,” I answered.
“That is correct, friend Sk’lar and friend Tyehn,” Fen responded. “Tell me, is everyone in satisfactory condition after the disturbance during the debate two nights ago?”
“How did you hear about that?” I asked.
“I am in communication with Lady Vidia daily,” came the answer. That seemed about right.
“Well, as for the humans, we still have two in the hospital dealing with injuries they sustained,” I said in answer to her question. “Luckily, they aren’t bad. Nothing a few days of rest won’t fix.”
“That is good,” Fen said. “What about the perpetrators? What is the status regarding them?”
“Well,” I started. “A few of them are still in custody. They’re spending a little bit of time in prison, but they’ll eventually be released. We don’t have enough room to hold them all for too long, so we’re hoping this keeps them out of trouble and calms them down a bit.”
“I see.” The Urai didn’t have facial expressions, at least none that I’d ever been able to catch. And you couldn’t really trust the synthetic voice that translated her thoughts to speech. But something felt off.
“Is anything worrying you?”
“Just concern for my friends’ continued well-being,” she replied politely. “But if there is nothing unusual in this encounter, than I shall trust all is as well as it can be.”
I helped Tyehn move another crate before answering. “A few of them seemed stronger than humans usually are, but Leena and her sister seem to think the anti-alienists might be experimenting with old human drugs to increase their muscle mass.” I frowned. “But that wouldn’t explain the flash…”
“What flash?” Fen interrupted, her synthesized voice forceful and urgent.
“Uh,” I hesitated a bit at this sudden show of emotion in her voice. “While we were fighting, there was a flash in his eyes, as if a flash from a bright bulb went off and reflected from inside.”
“Are you sure of this?” Her voice was even more urgent now.
I nodded, then looked at Tyehn. His face reflected my own confusion.
What was happening here? Even some of the humans and Urai that had come to deal with the supplies looked at Fen oddly.
“You must examine that human immediately. Tell your doctors to examine the human’s brain, and to examine as deeply as they can,” she told me quickly. She then turned to the humans and Urai nearby. “Quickly, you must unload their supplies as quickly as possible.” She turned back to me. “You must contact your medical personnel and examine those humans now. Have them send me a copy of their examination scans, as quickly as they can.”
“Why?”
“Just make it happen. Go, use your shuttle’s communication systems now, and tell doctor Evie that she must examine those humans’ brains as deeply as possible.” She was highly agitated now. She even put her hands on my shoulders and turned me.
“Go,” she fairly shouted as she pushed me into the shuttle.
So much for not being able to show emotion.
I was confused as to what was happening, but I got to the shuttle comms and made the call. “Evie?”
“I’m here, Sk’lar. What’s up?”
“I’m not sure,” I answered. “I was talking with Fen about the riot and I happened to mention how my opponent’s eyes flashed.”
“Yeah?”
“Well, that sent Fen into a bit of a fit and she told me to tell you that you need to do an immediate brain scan of each of the rioters, as deep and detailed a scan as you can. Then send the results to her.”
“Did she say why?” Evie’s pointedly concerned voice came over the comm.
“No, she didn’t. She turned me around and shoved me into the shuttle without answering.”
“Wait, she touched you? She shoved you?” Evie asked. “Really?”
Tyehn jumped forward to answer. “Yeah, she did. I watched her push him. Hi, Evie.”
“Hi, Tyehn,” she answered. “Okay, tell her I’ll start scans as soon as possible and send copies of the results to her.”
“Thank you, Evie,” I said. I clicked off the communications and looked at Tyehn.
He looked at me and immediately put his hands up. “Not me.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not the one that’s going to relay any messages to Fen,” he said. “I don’t want her to be agitated with me.” His voice dropped. “She’s always been a little spooky. This just bumped that little bit to a lot.”
My shoulders drooped and I sighed. “Can someone just tell me what the skrell is going on?”
“You and me both. I’m going back to unloading. Nice, normal crates to unload.” With that, he was out of his chair and back to helping with the unloading.
I looked out the back of the shuttle to see Fen staring at me. Those blank eyes of hers were the most unnerving thing I had seen in a while.
I gave her a thumbs up, something I had picked up from the humans, and she nodded in return. She turned and walked away, leaving me more confused than ever.
Phryne
The moment I walked into work that day, I knew Vidia was up to something.
For one thing, she was sitting at my desk when I came into my office. For another, she was wearing casual clothes and walking shoes. I knew what she wanted the moment I laid eyes on her. I didn’t wait for her to speak.
“Absolutely not, Vidia.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“You’re going to ask me to escort you around the city,” I supplied. “To which, I repeat, absolutely not.”
“We used to do it all the time!” Vidia protested.
“That was before people started hating you for associating with aliens and doping themselves up on power drugs. Sk’lar returned from a supply run yesterday, with a strange report on the Urai. Everything is a bit weird now.”
“That’s hardly a reason to hide myself away,” Vidia scoffed.
“That’s the best reason to hide yourself away.” I pressed my palm into my forehead. Vidia placed her elbows on the desk and smiled.
“Phryne, how long have you known me?” she asked.
“Since I turned eighteen.” I knew where she was going with this.
“That’s a long time.” She leaned back in my desk chair. “I’d say you know me prett
y well, right?”
“I suppose.” I clenched my teeth.
“And when have you ever known me to shy away from something?”
“Never.”
“Exactly.” Vidia stood up and stretched her arms over her head.
“Are you about to tell me what an excellent opportunity this is?”
“Yes,” she beamed. “The anti-alien radical bullshit will only get worse if someone else steps into power. I need to make sure people know that I’m not afraid of a bunch of bigoted morons hyped up on steroids.”
“We don’t know for a fact that it’s steroids,” I corrected. “It could be something far more volatile and dangerous.”
“Could be. Might be.” Vidia waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “The point is, I’m not going to isolate myself from my passion projects and the people I’m trying to serve. Unless you physically restrain me, I’m going out to talk to people.”
Vidia was testing me. We were about the same size, but years of military training gave me a distinct advantage. That didn’t mean I wanted to hog-tie my only friend.
“Fine.”
“Thank you!”
“But if I think anything is off the mark, we’re leaving. No questions asked.” I gave Vidia a stern look.
“No questions asked,” she repeated.
“Does the general know about this?”
“He’s just so busy with everything going on.” Vidia wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I don’t want to add one more thing to his pile.”
“You don’t want him to freak out and say no.”
“Exactly.”
“You’re terrible.”
“I prefer to call myself determined.”
Vidia and I left the office together after I changed into civilian clothes and loaded myself up with concealed weapons. I didn’t tell her about that second part.
