“Goddess?” Shakily he raised one hand as if to reach for her or for the flowers, he wasn’t sure which.
“Reede? Is everything okay?” He whirled to find Fallyn behind him, rubbing her eyes but ready to fight beside him or flee with him, whichever the situation required. “Why are you outside in the rain?”
“I heard a predator’s roar,” he lied, stepping into the shelter of the cave and keeping himself from embracing her with gritted teeth. Fending her off with one hand, he said, “I’m drenched and you’re dry. We can probably leave in another half hour—the storm is on its way out of the area.”
Fallyn pulled the ration bars from her pocket. “Good thing these are wrapped in watertight packages. Time for a snack.” She handed him one and opened her own. “I did catch a few winks, and I feel a lot better, thanks.”
Unease was growing in his mind as they methodically ate the dry ration bars. Chewing the final bites of his, he paced to the cave entrance and peered out. It was raining but he gaps in the clouds off to the east heralded the end of the storm. “I think we should go.”
Fallyn joined him. “Yeah, I have an itching between my shoulder blades, soldier’s instinct. Time to move.” She scratched idly at the wrist where the neurocontroller sat. Catching him staring at her with narrowed eyes, she laughed. “What? This itches too.”
“Seven hells.” He swore as he became aware of a sensation in his own wrist, under the controller where he couldn’t reach it. “Grab the supplies and come on, we don’t have much time.”
Without hesitation, she ran to snatch up the makeshift bag and rejoin him. Reede dragged her outside and ran in the opposite direction from the lab.
“What’s the matter?” she asked as she sprinted across the grasslands at his side, making a valiant effort to keep up.
“The bracelets—we’re being summoned to the lab,” he said. “Enishiggama must have changed her mind or else something new has happened. The pain will ramp up until we do arrive on the muster line, or we’ll die. We have to reach my men, get past the fence and get these damn things off.”
“I don’t understand.” She sounded confused and rubbed her forehead. “Damn pain makes it hard to concentrate.”
He paused to pluck her into his arms and put on a new burst of speed, faster than they’d been moving before. After a surprised, instinctive attempt to shove free, she relaxed against him. “Sorry for not asking your permission,” he said.
“Didn’t you say the edge of this preserve was hours away? We won’t make it, will we?”
The pain was ratcheting up in his arm radiating to his shoulder. He could barely hang onto Fallyn and the smoothness of his stride was affected. He sent a message to his waiting team. Need you to breach the fence and meet us. They’ve activated the bracelets.
On our way, came the smooth, reassuring answer from Darik, his second in command on this mission. But we’re at least two hours away at top speed. Do you have that long?
Unknown. Reede stumbled, nearly dropping Fallyn but recovered his balance and accelerated again. She was holding her arm in a tight, awkward grip across her chest.
“This—this really hurts now,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Hang on, the intake summons usually increases in intensity over a period of hours.” Not this time though, he thought to himself. The pain was escalating much more rapidly than normal. Someone wanted them back at the lab rather badly. He concentrated on covering the miles at an efficient pace, trying to make himself into a running machine unhindered by the pain coursing through his nervous system. If he hadn’t been one of the most powerful Badari in the pack, he doubted they would have made it.
She didn’t know how Reede was forcing himself to run. The pain in her body was pretty close to intolerable and she was employing all the techniques and mind tricks the military had taught her to resist torture. And all she was doing was being carried. He was the one fighting the pain to get them both to safety. Fallyn kept watch on their back trail as Reede toiled up a hillside, heading toward the energy fence, which could be seen in the midmorning light as a sparkling ribbon of power, locking them in. “Are you sure your friends are waiting this time?”
“See for yourself.” He gestured with one hand, pointing out three soldiers now waiting on the other side of the barrier.
“You guys are good at camouflage,” she said in admiration. “I didn’t even notice them before they broke cover.”
A moment later she stood as close to the barrier as she could safely go, while Reede and one of the waiting soldiers exchanged a few rapid words. Her hypno implants struggled to find a match for the language and then smoothly kicked in.
“She’s the person we’ve been searching for,” Reede was saying. “Hurry up and get us out. We need these damn bracelets off so the Khagrish can’t track us any further. Where’s MARL 20? Is he being difficult about this?”
“Coming right up.” The soldier, who Reede referred to as Camron, pointed at the edge of the forest and Fallyn gasped as she watched a shiny metallic ovoid float over the brush in their direction.
“What the seven hells is that?” she asked, retreating a step.
“Fallyn, meet MARL20. He’s—well, he needs quite a bit of explanation but for now let’s say he’s part of an alien artificial intelligence and an ally.” Reede drew her to the side a foot or so. “Let him work.”
“Does this human possess the navigational data we require?” The AI morphed through several vivid shades of green and turquoise, with a bit of orange.
“We believe so,” Reede said. “But if you don’t make us a hole in the damn force field her knowledge won’t do us any good.”
“No need to be impatient.” The AI floated into the edge of the force barrier and arcs of red lightning shot from its body.
As Fallyn watched in astonishment, the fence sizzled and a hole large enough for a person to walk through opened up around the AI. Reede gave her a gentle push. “You first.”
She scrambled to go through the opening and as soon as she reached the other side, one of the soldiers used a controller to unfasten the black bracelet from her wrist. The abrupt cessation of the pain brought her to her knees and the third soldier stepped in to keep her from falling. The first soldier tossed the bracelet to another man, who zapped it with his blaster as Reede stepped into the clear. His bracelet was treated the same way and then the AI extracted itself from the force field. The soldiers were hustling Fallyn away toward the forest but she craned her neck to look over her shoulder, both to check on Reede and to see what the AI was doing.
Reede had shaken off both the hours of agony and the exertion of running with relative ease. He was already in motion, coming toward her.
“Do you need us to carry you, ma’am? Any injuries we should be aware of?” asked the soldier on her left as he kept her from stumbling over a tree root in her path.
Redirecting her attention to the terrain in front of her, she said, “I’m fine, thanks and you can call me Fallyn. Where are we going?”
“I’m Darik and we’ve got a temporary camp established in the lee of an escarpment about a mile ahead.”
“Any enemy activity?” Reede asked. He was jogging easily next to her now. She noticed he’d acquired a pulse rifle from one of his comrades.
“All quiet,” Darik reported. “Nothing aerial, nothing from the lab.”
“Give the lady a sidearm,” Reede said.
One of the other soldiers handed over a well-worn blaster, which Fallyn accepted gratefully. The heft and firepower was reassuring, even if the team apparently wasn’t in any immediate danger. Her nerves settled even further, being armed and able to defend herself if the Khagrish arrived. These new Badari were built on the same scale as Reede—massive warriors standing over seven feet tall, and each breathtakingly handsome—but he was easily the most impressive and clearly in charge.
When she and her escorts reached the camp, skillfully hidden deep in a grove of trees and well camouflaged, Fal
lyn was directed to sit on a fallen tree trunk and a man introducing himself as Timtur the healer, did a quick, superficial exam, before he said, “I’d like to give you a treatment, put a little energy into your system. My powers don’t work too well on humans but it will help. You’re a bit debilitated from the neurocontroller.”
“Tell me about it—the damn thing is right up there as far as instruments of torture. Sure, go ahead.” She’d decided to trust these guys, based on her experience with Reede. Struck by a thought, she said, “Wait a minute.” Grabbing his arm, she nodded at Reede. “He suffered more than I did, treat him first.”
Timtur laughed gently. “Trust me, Reede has his own reserves of power. He wouldn’t appreciate me prioritizing you last in terms of care.”
Although puzzled by what the healer said, Fallyn relaxed as Timtur ran his hands in the air over her body, paying special attention to her head and spine. Residual pain she’d had since awakening from the crash ebbed and the nagging headache disappeared. Darik came to offer her several ration bars and a bottle of nutrient drink, which she accepted gratefully. “I appreciate all the help,” she said to the two Badari.
“We’re glad you’re here, ma’am,” Darik said. “Someone who knows the astronav data between here and the Sectors is without a doubt the most important person on the planet right now.”
“I wish to acquire the data with no further delay,” MARL20 said, startling her as it floated closer.
“I’m not sure I can spit out the vectors and co-ordinates on a moment’s notice.” She stifled a laugh at the mere idea. “We don’t program the ship by doing math in our head.”
“Pity.” MARL20 drifted around her in a circle, his surface greens with orange lines. ”I could be doing computations.”
“Give her a break,” Darik said, resting one hand on top of the AI. “It takes a while to reacclimatize after getting out of one of the damned labs. We’re flesh and blood, not alien circuits like you.”
Reede stepped into her field of vision. He’d gotten rid of the ill-fitting sweat pants and now wore boots, camo utility pants and a tight black T shirt leaving no doubt as to his superb musculature. “All right, break camp and move out. We’re going to pull back to our original drop point because this is still too close to the damn lab for my comfort. Then we’ll call for evac and be on our way to the valley.” His manner was crisp as he checked in with her. “You up for a hike?”
“To get away from the Khagrish? Of course. But what about the other human prisoners?” Her gut clenched at the idea of leaving an unknown number of people behind.
“Nothing to be done right now.” Reede gave the answer she’d expected. “We’ll add this lab to the priority list for liberation but your safety and transportation to the valley are the mission objectives here.”
Reede dispersed his small force, sending Darik to take point and Timtur to watch Fallyn’s six, while he and Camron covered the flanks and the fourth soldier brought up the rear. The AI floated serenely above the challenging terrain, remaining close to Fallyn, who kept a wary eye on the ovoid as she hiked. She had no chance to speak to Reede, which bothered her, as much time as they’d spent together up till now. Last night had been so intimate and she missed their previous rapport. Timtur marched silently and didn’t seem disposed to answer questions.
It was several hours before they reached the next camp, established high in the foothills and guarded by another pair of Badari soldiers.
Fallyn sped up to catch Reede by the arm as he entered the small, well-hidden base. “Did you call for the evac flyer yet?”
He stared at her from his imposing height. “Not yet, why?”
“I’ve been thinking about what you said and the AI said and I think we have a misunderstanding going on.” Adopting a wide stance as if to physically bar the path, she was determined to clear the air.
His face gave nothing away. “I’m listening.”
She decided getting straight to the point was her best approach. “Yes, I have a general knowledge of where this star system lies in relation to the Sectors—and it’s a hell of a long way, let me tell you—but I’m no astronavigator. Even my captain couldn’t do the course through hyperspace on his own. The ship has a special module on the command deck to do the actual charting when we go on missions. We’d need the module or the data it contains to have the most complete and accurate information for your AI here to develop a course, especially if we’re going to use a ship that isn’t Sectors military.”
Darik, who’d been standing nearby let loose a loud guffaw. “Truer words were never spoken. Try Chimmer-built.”
Thinking at first she’d misheard the soldier, Fallyn did a double take. “You—you have a Chimmer ship? How in the seven hells did you manage that? If you can take down the Chimmer, what do you need my help for?”
Reede gave the still chuckling Darik a glare. Unabashed, the soldier shook his head. “Capturing the ship was a series of lucky breaks and a long story.”
“Dinner’s ready,” said one of the other soldiers. He offered Fallyn a mug filled with a steaming beverage that smelled terrific. “Try some tea while we dish up the food.”
“All right, we’ll eat and you can explain this navigation issue to me,” Reede said. “I didn’t mean to keep you standing here.”
She sipped the tea, which tasted remarkable and provided energy to her entire body. Reede drew her deeper inside the circle of the encampment and escorted her to the side of a cozy fire.
“This is what I’d have liked to provide for you last night,” he said softly. “Please, sit, and give us a debrief.”
Timtur handed her a plate of savory rations and she set her mug down. Taking inventory of the abundant and inviting plate of food, she drew a dramatic deep breath. “I don’t care what kind of meat this is, you have no idea how wonderful it smells after the horrible Khagrish mush.”
The men all laughed in a good natured way. The healer said, “Unfortunately we have years of experience eating their swill. We did some hunting while we were waiting for Reede to find you, and the fresh game mixes well with the other rations our chef sent along.”
Not sure if she was being teased, Fallyn did a double take. She possessed huge amounts of data about any number of the colonists in her enhanced memory and facts on other people who’d disappeared over the years, since there’d been a thick briefing packet downloaded to Fred and herself along with the assignment. As a result she was aware of the woman who ran a restaurant at the Amarcae Seven colony but not in such glowing terms. “You have a chef?”
“Five stars no less,” Darik said, smacking his lips and spearing a gravy drenched morsel with his fork.
Apparently her briefing might have been a bit lacking in detail, but right now she didn’t care. Fallyn took a big bite of the stew, sopping up sauce with the thick bread and closed her eyes in happiness. “This is insanely delicious.”
“We can exist on the damn Khagrish rations, but we prefer real food,” Reede said. “Now, tell me again about this nav module.”
“Are you incapable of providing interstellar references without access to this module?” MARL20 asked bluntly, floating right in front of her. Tones of brown and orange appeared and disappeared on his surface.
Wishing she dared to shoo the AI aside like an overgrown insect, she swallowed her last bite and took a sip of tea. “I can provide a rough idea of where we are in reference to the Sectors but the module contains our exact course, as well as information for crossing the interstellar border safely once we arrive, which might be a good thing to have if we’re going to fly a Chimmer ship.” She stared at her small audience. “I’ve never been trained to pilot an enemy vessel.”
“We have pilots who can.” Reede waved away the problem. “Good point about the perimeter defenses and security codes, however.”
“Do we know if the wreck is reasonably intact?” she asked working hard to problem solve for her new allies. “It must be accessible if the Khagrish retrieved me from th
e scene.”
Reede checked with Darik, who shrugged. “A day’s solid hike from here. No idea what state the ship would be in.”
“Can we call for a flyer, make an easy in and out?” Reede asked. “The Khagrish must have used a flyer when they investigated.”
“I’d advise against it. Might attract too much attention,” Darik said. “A few men climbing up there on our own can be much more discreet. Don’t forget the Khagrish will be hunting for the two of you. ”
“Depending on whether Enishiggama got over her head cold yet,” Fallyn said with a laugh. “I don’t think the others care too much.” She tilted her head toward Reede. “Except for the technician who hates you.” He grunted to acknowledge her point and she went on. “Won’t they assume we’re out in the Preserve? Maybe our bracelets malfunctioned? Do they track prisoners in the Preserve constantly?”
“Not usually, no, because they expect their captives to report to the lab promptly when the pain starts.” Darik’s brow was furrowed. “The chief scientist was sick?”
Reede helped himself to seconds on the stew and added more to Fallyn’s plate as well. “She came back from her conference with a cough, looked pretty rocky.”
“Several of the guards were coughing by the time we left,” Fallyn said. “Most be a pretty contagious virus.”
“Didn’t Camron say the Khagrish pilot of his flyer crashed after becoming ill?” Reede asked Darik. “He mentioned mountain fever.”
The soldier chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. “You don’t think they managed to give themselves what broke loose in the lab where I rescued Nicolle, do you? Awww, that’d be sweet poetic justice, done in by their own germ warfare. But the virus there killed within a few hours—the contagion tore through the workers at the installation like wildfire.”
“Well luckily there’s no virus which can affect us,” Reede said. “And the humans are immune to the Khagrish bug as far as we know. Probably too much to hope for their creation getting away from them.”
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