“I don’t get it…” I shook my head. “If you’re right and he’s one of these nesters. Why come to the compound? The more I think of it the more it seems like it was us he was looking for, but that doesn’t really explain how or why. He did say he knew about the biometric key which might have something to do with it, but that leaves a lot of questions unanswered.”
“He knows about the key?” she seemed surprised. “The resistance and the nesters do share common roots so I guess it’s possible that some of their leaders might know about it. They’d have to know quite a lot if they knew to send him to Het’ma to find you guys.”
“Yeah,” I agreed stroking my chin as I mulled it over.
Assuming Rayland really was a nester who had come to the compound looking for us then that must mean the nesters were monitoring Qharr communications and knew about the destruction of the resistance. Otherwise why send someone to come find us? They must have reasoned if there were any survivors we’d want to find my sister so that we could unlock whatever damned secrets the key must have to reveal. If they knew enough about the key to know that my sister could activate it then it stood to reason they knew more. I just wish I knew for sure that Rayland could be trusted.
“Lily?” I asked suddenly a thought suddenly occurring to me. “How exactly is it that you were able to tell that Rayland was a nester?”
“I grew up in a nester shelter,” she said glancing at the floor before looking me in the eyes. “Everything about him just screams ranger. They’re the guys responsible for keeping the nesters safe. I can’t really explain it, but I’m almost positive he’s one. It’s just something about the way he holds himself that tells me he’s had military training.”
“Along with hunting for food and gathering whatever supplies the people might need, rangers serve as the protectors of the community. If the nesters were looking for us I think it’s a good bet they’d send a ranger.” she added after catching my blank look.
I stared up at her with wide eyes then glanced back at the door where my sister was waiting. As much as I wanted to press Lily for details I knew that for the time being it would have to wait. “We’ll talk later and maybe you can tell me all about growing up as a nester, but for now I think the others are probably wondering where I am.”
“And,” I added glancing back at her with a pensive frown, “as for Rayland let’s see what the doctor says before we confront him.”
She nodded then slowly withdrew to take her over-sized seat at the navigation console, “Believe me, I’ve wanted to tell you about the nests for a long time now. It’s just complicated. I’ll call you guys up once I think we’ve reached a safe distance then we can decide on a place to hide and once we can get some privacy I’ll tell you everything.”
I agreed, then hesitated a moment before planting a brief kiss on her lips then spun around and made my way to the doorway where my sister’s head was peeking out from the other side. She stared at me with wide-eyes then a slow smile crept onto her face as she watched me approach. I didn’t say a word as I stepped into the corridor and made my way toward the infirmary, but that didn’t stop Becca. “So you and Lily?”
I nodded. “It’s sort of a new development.”
“She’s cute,” my sister replied. “Not much of a figure on her, but you could do worse. Really though I gotta know, what’s wrong with her eyes? And that blue hair does she dye it or is that natural?”
I grinned and shook my head, “There’s nothing wrong with them. Lily’s like me, her hair and eyes are like that because the symbiote changed them.”
“You know,” Khala muttered from beside me. “With your mission into the compound being over I could change our hair and eyes back.”
Was it my imagination or did Khala sound eager? I shook my head and glanced off to my side. “Not just yet.” Strangely there was a part of me that missed them, but a big part of me liked looking like a regular human again even if I was still stuck as a female.
“Not just yet for what?” Becca asked staring at me blankly.
“I was just talking to Khala she wants to change my hair and eyes back to look like Lily’s.”
“I think very soon, you’re going to have to fill me in, but for now… I guess we probably ought to go see this doctor of yours,” she said reaching out to touch my cheek.
I nodded and reached up to catch her hand, “Once we’ve gotten somewhere a little safer I’ll tell you absolutely everything.”
“Come on follow me,” I added glancing down the hallway in the direction in which the others had disappeared. “It’s just a little way down the corridor. I’m sure the doctor will want to take a look at you. Just as a precautionary measure.”
She bit her lip. “Just promise me that you’ll stay with me.”
“I promise.” I smiled and without another word I led her down the corridor.
“Ah!” the doctor proclaimed, his arms flailing all about as my sister and I stepped into the infirmary. “Welcome welcome welcome! Vakrexid is most pleased to see you again Lexa and you, new female, you must be this sister I have heard about!”
Becca’s eyes looked about ready to pop out from her skull as she stared at the doctor. “Dear lord! What is it?!”
Vakrexid cocked his head back and forth with what passed for a perplexed look on his face, but didn’t say a word as my sister slowly backed away. It hadn’t even occur to me to warn her about the doctor because he’d always seemed so harmless to me that I didn’t actually think anyone would react to him that way. I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but it was Farris that spoke up first.
“Don’t worry, the good doctor here isn’t anyone to worry about. He’s a Dexagarmetrax he wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
The doctor blinked. “On the contrary Vakrexid would hurt a fly. I find them delicious.”
“Doc,” Farris palmed his face then ran his hand through his hair. “Couldn’t hurt a fly is an expression. I was trying to tell her that you wouldn’t hurt her.”
“I understand, Vakrexid apologizes your language sometimes confuses me,” he said then suddenly turned to Becca. “Vakrexid promises I will not cause you any avoidable pain. When Vakrexid became a doctor I took an oath to do no harm to any intelligent self-aware beings.”
Becca bit her lip, and I could see the hesitation on her face. “Avoidable pain?”
“Sometimes in order to help a patient Vakrexid must cause them pain,” he responded bobbing his head.
Rebecca nodded then took a few tentative steps forward and stared up at the doctor, “Well Vak–”
“NO!” the doctor yelled out cutting her short. “I am a doctor, call me that, but please never use Vakrexid’s name! To the Dexagarmetrax names are sacred and must be spoken only by the one who owns the name or else the merblek’s life partner.”
She bit her lip and for a moment I thought the doctor had further agitated her, but then she threw her head back and let out a long throaty laugh. I hadn’t heard that laugh in so long and I was beginning to think that I’d never hear it again. Whatever had happened to her since we’d been separated my sister had changed a lot. ‘But then again’, I thought looking down at my breasts and felt my cheeks burn ever so slightly, ‘so have I and in more ways than one.’
“Did Vakrexid say something amusing?”
“No,” my sister said with a chuckle trying her best to contain her mirth. “All the aliens I’ve only ever known were oppressors and to meet one who is a so obviously–” she trailed off as if thinking of a word to say, “–benign it just seems so strange.”
“How perplexing Vakrexid does not believe I shall ever understand your kind,” he muttered pinching his finger around the end of one of his facial tubes. “Fortunately, Vakrexid has no need to understand you to provide medical treatment.” He turned away and pressed his hand against a small portion of the wall. Instantly, a panel slid away and what I initially took to be some type of sled slid out from the remaining gap in the wall.
Farris, Rayland and Kaya were all forced to move out of the way as it extended out from the wall.
When it finally settled in place I examined the protrusion realizing immediately that my original impression had been very wrong. The ‘sled’ was in fact some sort of platform which was about a foot tall. There was a snap-hiss as a number of tubes shot out from the base of the platform and with a loud clang embedded themselves into a number of indentations in the ceiling.
“Jay– Lily,” Vakrexid corrected himself. “Was most kind to disable the biometric sensors here within the infirmary. Vakrexid has yet to master all the implements, but among them the body scanner is one of the more simpler to use and Vakrexid is certain I will be able to interpret the results.”
“Doctor!” Kaya said suddenly cutting him short. “This is all very fascinating, but would you please take a look at my shoulder!? The damn wound is killing me!”
“Killing you? Vakrexid hardly thinks that would be possible!” he replied and then after catching a cold stare from Kaya continued. “Step up onto the platform and place your hands on the bars then I shall perform a scan.”
Kaya nodded, then climbed up onto the platform and reached out with her good hand to grip one of the bars. The bars were pretty far apart since they were designed to be used by a Qharr, but they were still spaced close enough that a human could reach them. Kaya gritted her teeth then reached out with her injured arm to grip the second. “Can’t you give me something for the pain, doctor?” she grunted.
“Not yet, and perhaps not at all,” he tooted. “The only painkillers that Vakrexid has that are powerful enough to be of any help are topical and I would not use them without first determining whether there is nerve damage.”
“Why?” I asked suddenly.
The doctor jiggled and let out a long mournful whistle. “The pain killers could do further damage to her nerves and she could lose her sense of touch in her arm. If she had done as Vakrexid had insisted this would not have happened at all! Vakrexid cannot understand why anyone with her condition would put oneself in such danger!”
“Condition?” Farris asked suddenly. “What condition?”
“You said you would tell them,” Vakrexid stared at Kaya with unblinking eyes. “Why did you lie?”
“Tell us what?!” Farris demanded rounding on the doctor.
Kaya sighed and closed her eyes. “I was going to tell you guys soon and I would have had to eventually. I guess, I don’t really have much choice now. I-I’m pregnant.”
The room turned suddenly silent and I looked about to gauge the other’s reactions. Becca and Rayland seemed a bit confused, but for the most part the news didn’t have the same impact that it did to Farris who looked as if he’d been hit in the face with a heavy skillet. “You put yourself in danger knowing that you were pregnant?! Are you insane?!”
Rayland smirked. “Don’t tell me, Farris here is the father?”
“Actually,” I bit my lip and gripped Kaya’s good shoulder, “I’m the father.”
Rayland coughed and stared at me in disbelief. “Excuse me, but correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t you a woman?”
I folded my arms across my chest and blushed, “Th-at wasn’t always the case. I used to be a man.”
“How the hell could someone like you manage to undergo a gender reassignment procedure? I mean don’t get me wrong, you’re quite lovely, but frankly you’re a slave. The Qharr don’t seem the types to really care about the well-being of their property. A procedure like that would require a ton of gene re-sequencing and cell manipulation. I kind of doubt that the resistance has the sort of resources to– ” Rayland asked staring at me with pursed lips and raised eyebrows.
I stopped him short and held my hand up. “It’s not what you think. This wasn’t done to me by the Qharr nor the resistance. It’s complicated, but let’s just say that it was not something I asked for.”
I half expected Khala to speak up and protest, but instead she remained silent.
“Vakrexid can confirm that she is indeed speaking the truth as xefurpigic as such a thing may seem,” the doctor responded absently before jamming his hand against a raised area of the wall.
The bars that had extended from the body scanner suddenly flared with light and Kaya gasped in surprise and closed her eyes against the sudden brightness. Then just as abruptly the illumination faded away and I assumed that the scan had been completed. She gasped then collapsed to her knees atop the scanner platform clutching at her injured shoulder.
“Doctor?” she asked looking up at Vakrexid. “Can you do something about this damn pain now?”
The doctor stared at her, then turned to the wall the control panel on the wall which was illuminated. “Vakrexid is afraid not! There is nerve damage as I feared. Vakrexid has a means of treatment, but I would prefer to render you unconscious before doing so as it will be quite painful. These Qharr implements are not designed to spare any pain for the patient.”
Kaya nodded, “Do whatever it take doc… just get it done and get it done fast. I don’t know how much longer I can take it!”
“Indeed,” he responded then looked about the room. “Leave, and Vakrexid will get started immediately.”
“You want us to leave?” I asked staring at him with my hands spread out in disbelief.
“Vakrexid does not remember how you would say it. Ah, yes! I do not wish to work with you standing atop my shoulders!” he proclaimed reaching up to dust off his shoulder almost as if he were expecting to find one of us perched atop them.
Becca giggled and shook her head. “I think you mean standing over your shoulder.”
“Yes, yes, that is it,” he replied with an absent wave of his hand. His attention was focused on the display and seemed to lose all awareness of us as he continued to work the controls.
I bit my lip before glancing down at Kaya and smiled at her sympathetically before turning back to Farris and the others. “I guess that’s our cue to leave.”
“Alright then, we’ll do this thing later then.” Farris muttered letting out a long sigh.
We all shuffled out of the room and I took the opportunity to excuse myself along with my sister so that the two of us could have some alone time. Farris and Rayland left and returned back to bridge. A part of me really wanted to go with them so that I could spend time with Lily, but for the time being my desire to speak with my sister was the most prevalent of my desires. My budding relationship with Lily was new and exciting, but I had only recently found my sister again after being separated from her for so very long.
I guided Becca to the crew quarters and we each took a seat opposite one another a top the first bed along the wall on the right side. Becca pursed her lips and looked about the room before locking gazes with me. “So, tell me everything!”
I did as she suggested and began to tell her my story starting out where we’d last departed. After Duvak was promoted to High Inquisitor he left Het’ma. Even then he’d been fond of my cooking so he took me along with him as his personal cook and servant, but since he only been allotted room for one personal servant on his ship he was forced to leave Becca behind. Frequently cooking for Duvak meant preparing meals inside the galley of his ship, but often times it also meant intruding on the cooks at whatever compound we happened to be staying at. While, Duvak’s position did require him to travel a lot, compound Het’ma was not a part of the area he was responsible. I never had the opportunity to see my sister during this period.
Finally, after nearly five years of traveling around with Duvak, he was promoted to Corrector and I was forced to make a new home at compound B’eld. For a while I continued my duties as Duvak’s personal cook, but then the compound’s then head cook fell ill and died. The new Corrector chose me as a replacement and a little under four and half years later I met Kaya.
I didn’t really go into much detail up that point because, let’s face it, the life of a slave isn’t very exciting, but when I got to the part where I was caught up in the f
irefight between, Kaya’s group, Duvak and the Overseer I started getting more specific. She had me stop several times to ask me questions or to comment on what had happened. She was particularly upset and very sympathetic when she learned the way in which Kaya had deceived and rejected me. When she learned about the way Khala had changed me she was furious, but I soon calmed her down and resumed our story. Finally, I got to the end and she stared at me with wide eyes obviously at a loss for words.
Finally she spoke. “Oh Jeff, I’m so sorry. I’m not really sure what to say you’ve through so much. I just can’t help but think if I’d been there it might have been easier for you and… I have to admit I really would have liked to see Aunt Mara again.”
I noted her slip up in calling me by my old nickname, but I let it slide as I reached up to touch her face. “I’ve missed you. For the longest time I’d given up hope of ever seeing you again, but here you are sitting across from me. Tell me about your life… tell me everything that happened after I left.”
She nodded and her lips started to tremble as she spoke. Her life hadn’t had the same excitement that mine had had in recent days, but in many ways it had been worse than what I’d gone through. Just a few short months after I left Jerem became an Enforcer. He made a pass at my sister, but Becca had no interest in him and flat out rejected him. After being rejected he left her alone and my sister assumed that nothing more would come of it. Years later she would learn just how wrong she’d been.
Another year passed and there came a rather large arrival of new slaves and among them was a man by the name of Coran Quinn. My sister was drawn to him almost immediately and within a short time she fell hopelessly in love with him. They were together nearly a year before they got married and a few months after that my sister discovered she was pregnant. Another three months passed, and Jerem became head Enforcer after his predecessor, a man by the name of Kel Patronas, died of a heart attack. From then on out, Becca’s life turned into a nightmare. His predecessor had been an even handed man whose sole interest had been keeping the peace and to spare as many human lives as possible. He had stayed Jerem’s hand and Becca believed that Kel had kept him off her back.
Battle For Earth Page 29
