by Stone, Layla
Yon hesitated for a moment before walking away. Once they were alone, Ansel told her, “You’re dehydrated.”
She nodded. She didn’t need a medscanner to tell her that she was thirsty.
Ansel moved the Minky screen away and grabbed a chair. He sat in front of her and pulled her feet off the bed to dangle in front of him. Several drawers were situated under the medscanner. Ansel opened one and pulled out a white package. He ripped off the top and then grabbed a set of pincher-looking scissors and then pulled out a white puff of cotton—or at least that’s what it looked like.
“Please hold out your left hand,” Ansel said. Once she did, he dropped the ball in her palm. It was wet, and she immediately felt the tension leave her body. The pain in her foot stopped throbbing, and the small ache in the back of her neck went away, as well.
She looked at the white puff with awe. “What is that?”
“Something to alleviate pain and inflammation.”
With the same pinchers, Ansel removed the ball and stuffed it back into the package. He got up and ejected it. When he returned, he asked, “Can I remove your boot?”
“I can do it,” she countered, already bent over and unlacing the footwear. When she finished, Ansel touched her ankle. “This is where the tendon was stretched.” Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device and held it up to her. “This is a medscope. It will heal the tendon.”
Ansel gave her a few seconds to accept that before he pressed the device to the spot he’d pointed out earlier. Less than a few minutes later, the dark discoloration of her injury was gone. The swelling was down, and she felt a slight jolt of energy.
Ansel removed the device and stuffed it into his pocket.
“That feels amazing. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The doctor didn’t move back, so she didn’t get up from the bed. In fact, he sat back and interlaced his fingers in his lap. “I wanted to talk to you about something else. Your scans say your illumia is blocked. I don’t know if Veeda did that when she changed you into a Flourg, or if it’s a biological anomaly. But I would like to help you get it working again.”
Yelena felt her jaw drop. “You could do that?”
“Yes, I can do that,” Ansel said confidently.
She was so excited that she almost forgot that she was isolated on a ship. But her mind caught up with her, and the dangers presented themselves. Her illumia could hurt the others if she weren’t extra careful. It didn’t dissipate quickly, and it could even affect the electrical components of the star carrier.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to heal me? There’s nowhere for the illumia to go if I lose control. It could hit someone accidentally. Get sucked up into a vent and filter anywhere on the ship.”
Ansel shook his head. “It’s—
Yon stomped back into the room with two bags of water and a fresh look of irritation, effectively cutting Ansel off. “What are you talking about?”
Neither she nor Ansel responded. Yon pressed further by saying, “I heard her say she could hurt someone accidentally.”
Yelena was going to explain, but Ansel beat her to it. “She was referring to her illumia. It’s a defense mechanism, specific to her race. There is an eccra-sack at the base of her neck that excretes bursts of electricity when she’s distressed. Those bursts are called illumia. If anyone touches too many, they will lose consciousness. I’ve read that two to four bursts can knock a full-grown male out for hours.”
This time when Yon looked at her, it wasn’t to see if she was telling the truth. It was as if she were an object to be inspected. His hands moved slowly when he handed her the water packages. “And you’re afraid you will hurt someone with it?”
“My illumia doesn’t work right now, and I was asking Ansel if it was a good idea to fix it.” Yelena took the packages and tried to open the first, but her fingers couldn’t get a good hold.
Ansel added by telling Yon, “On the scan, it looked clogged. There could be an infection inside. I know the medscope will heal most things, but if the infection is from something Veeda did to counteract the illumia, then I want to take a look.”
Yon saw Yelena struggling to open the pack. He picked it out of her hands, ripped off the seal, and then handed it back as if it were the most natural thing in all the worlds to do. Which it wasn’t, at least to her. But the fact that it was Yon who’d done it made it less awkward. “Thank you,” she said, but he didn’t respond.
What Yon did say was, “To be clear, you’re saying if she’s ever distressed, she can take down a grown male with these…bursts? And you want to fix that part of her?”
“I do, because that’s what I do,” Ansel said pointedly.
Yon moved to lean on the bed next to her so they were almost touching. She wondered if he realized how often he broke proximity with her. “Her job is to support the ship. She wouldn’t be out on any missions. Therefore, she doesn’t need that defense.”
“She might not use it, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t have the ability. It’s natural to Alluses.” Ansel pushed back from his chair and stood.
“I disagree.”
Yelena looked at Yon, not liking how much he disagreed. The conflict was that she partly agreed with him. It was dangerous. But she didn’t like him ruling out her ever getting her illumia back.
“Of course, you disagree, Yon. Because that’s what you do.”
“Can you remove it altogether? Then you can remove the clot and save the crew from that issue.”
Yelena stuffed her hands in between her thighs, forcing herself not to react. They were deciding her fate right in front of her.
“If that’s what she wants, I can do that. But that’s something Yelena will have to decide.”
Yon crossed his arms over his chest. His big, hulking size felt even bigger, and though she knew he couldn’t affect the air, it almost felt warmer. “Yelena?”
Keeping her eyes focused on her thighs, she said, “I don’t know. I will have to think about it.”
“Take all the time you need,” Ansel said.
“Or not. She needs to get the clog looked at. There’s no reason to hold off on that.”
Ansel argued, “There’s no reason to do two procedures. I can wait.”
Yelena liked Yon’s idea to at least get the clog looked at. “I would like you to see if it’s infected.” With her right hand, she reached back and felt the base of her neck and the small knot there.
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
Ansel pressed his lips together for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. Well then, let’s make sure this ankle is good to go, and you can come back tomorrow afternoon.”
Yon was by her side as she stepped down on her foot. It didn’t hurt, and it was glorious. She thanked Ansel and Yon before throwing away the first empty packet of water. When she was on her way out, she stopped to open the second.
Once more, Yon was there. But this time, he held out his hand and waited for her. When she placed the water in his hand, she said, “I promise I know how to open them. My fingers can’t hold on tight enough right now.”
Yon didn’t comment after he’d opened it. When they reached the elevator, she expected him to choose another floor. He didn’t. “Are you going back to your cabin?”
He looked down at her when he said, “No, the night’s not over. You need planet-side training. Something you should have gotten before you left, and something you’re about to take now. I’m going to walk with you to your room and make you watch the training video. I’ll be there to verify that the instruction was understood.”
He was going to watch a training video with her? In her room? Yelena hoped he didn’t notice the blush in her cheeks when she replied, “Oh, okay.”
7
Where are the Mountains?
Yon led the way back to Yelena’s cabin. Dutifully, she followed behind him. He didn’t usually watch training videos with his crew, but this was intentional for seve
ral reasons. First, she needed the training. Secondly, she was saying things that had him even more curious about her than before.
Was being mated a big thing for her? Was that why she was on the ship? To find a mate?
He didn’t like those who joined the Federation for the purpose of blitzing between partners until they mated and then took a family discharge from their job. Yon’s philosophy was: if you’re in, you stay in until your time is up.
He had served his time. He remained because being a commander was what he was good at.
Yon stopped in front of Yelena’s door, letting her use her palm to unlock it. The door slid back, and Yelena walked inside first. As he followed, he scanned the room, taking in every inch, memorizing everything.
The bed was made, the floor was clear of clothes, boots, and trash. The shelves were lined and organized with packages of water and nutrient bars. Everything looked almost identical to his quarters, except her Minky screen was on—as if she kept it on while she was gone. The screen was not on the usual message prompt. Instead, it showed a single large image.
A mountain range with tall peaks and a dusting of snow at the top. At the base of the mountain was a lake that had light green grass on one side and a forest of trees on the other. The sky was light blue, and a single puff of white drifted in the distance.
Yon didn’t recognize the place. “Is this your home planet?”
Yelena was drinking the second water pack that he had given her. She swallowed to answer. “No. I found it in the archives.”
“The ship’s archives? Or the Federation’s?”
“The ship’s, I think.” She finished the water packet and ejected it through a small tube. “It reminded me of home, so I keep it up as my default screen.”
Yon looked back at the image and thought for a brief second what his life would have been like if he had been raised in a place as peaceful as that. He shook those thoughts away because they didn’t matter. Life was what it was, and he didn’t dwell on the past.
“Do you think the Garna stops at this planet? If so, I’d like to see it for myself.”
Yon had been to all the port planets, and he was sure he didn’t know this one. He touched the Minky screen and looked at the details. The information section was empty.
“I looked under the details, too,” Yelena said behind him.
He heard her and thought he could do better than just looking at the details. He selected further information to get the name of the individual who’d uploaded the image, but a window popped up denying Yelena access to do so.
“I tried that, too.”
Yon pulled out his Minky and tapped the screen to power it on. With a few clicks, he found the same image, went to the personnel records, and entered in the person’s identification numbers. The data popped up, and he read the person’s name and Federation station.
Ekhov, stationed on Garna the star carrier.
Yelena stepped a little closer, trying to look over Yon’s arm. Focusing back on the task at hand, he selected the person’s Minky connection and initiated a voice call.
Two rings later, he heard the male’s voice. The same one from the bar on Lotus Adaamas. “Hello, Commander Yon.”
“Ekhov, you uploaded a picture to the archives without filling in the information. It’s of a mountain reflected by a lake. Where was the picture taken?”
“The one with the snow? That was…Mountain Rive on Eldon, sir.”
Yon looked at Yelena and shook his head. Now he understood why he had never seen the mountain before. Eldon was not a port planet. It wasn’t even a basic race planet. It was a mixed planet that allowed anyone to be a citizen so long as they followed the planet’s rules.
Yon didn’t want to explain that with Ekhov on the line, so he ended the conversation with, “Get it updated, Ekhov. And any other photos you uploaded.”
“I will, sir.”
Yon terminated the call and powered off the Minky pad before putting it back in his pocket. To Yelena, he explained, “The Garna was sent to Eldon a few months ago to respond to a planet-wide outbreak. A sadistic Numan named Calum had sent a ship of pirates to nebulize it. Everything was burned. It’s unlikely anyone will visit the planet in the next thousand years due to the radiation.”
Yelena looked at her Minky screen with a disappointed frown. Then she touched it and began sliding through the images. He recognized a few, but he didn’t know what she was looking for. “Are you looking for vacation spots? This ship isn’t a luxury liner.”
Ignoring him, she scanned the current screen of twenty two-by-two images. Once she turned the electronic page, she told him, “I am not looking for a vacation spot.”
He watched her delicate hand and fingers and wondered how someone so small would be an efficient mining slave. He couldn’t imagine she was strong enough to lift half her weight. But he didn’t speak those thoughts. Instead, he asked, “Then what are you looking for?"
Yelena stopped scanning, selected a single photo, and enlarged it. It had lots of grass, separated by large walls of concrete. It almost looked like a maze. That one he knew. “That’s on Bolark. One of the main cities. Not the best place to visit if you’re not green. We don’t usually stop there.”
She minimized the image, scanned the rest of the screen, and flipped the page.
He didn’t like being disregarded, so he asked again, “What are you looking for?”
She selected another image and enlarged it. Mostly all water with one large, white building floating on the ocean. He told her, “That’s Port Meno. Mostly water. The land is hot, humid, and full of bugs but…it’s pretty. We do go there.”
She minimized it. “It doesn’t have any mountains.”
She was looking for mountains? It didn’t make any sense. If she were just looking for a nice photo, then she could have kept the one from Eldon. But it was like something else was driving her search. He wanted to know what. “Why is this important?”
Flipping screens, she grumbled. “Because it is.” He noticed the last few pages of images were mostly tall buildings and cities. She exited out of the library. Her finger stabbed at the screen as she pulled up the training directory. “Never mind, it’s not important. Which one do I have to watch?”
Yon folded his arms and leaned down, irritated that she had yet to answer him. She may have thought that saying “because it is,” was an answer, but not to him. He wanted an explanation. “What’s so important about mountains?”
“I…miss them.” The confession cleared his irritation. He could understand that and wondered why she hadn’t admitted that earlier.
“Please tell me what training name.”
Her politeness affected him inwardly. However, his voice always had a rough harshness to it when he wasn’t purposefully trying to lighten it. This was one of those moments he didn’t force it into submission. He was invested in finding her something. He understood what it felt like to miss home.
Not that he was referring to Lotus Adaamas.
“The training can wait another minute.” Yon touched the screen and pulled up images, doing a direct search to find one he’d taken a long time ago. It was of a tall mountain covered in blue ice and snow. Only a few black ridges poked up from the white blanket. At the base was a frozen lake, surrounded by rounded boulders. Yunkin. It had been his favorite spot on the whole planet when he lived there.
Yelena’s head tilted as she looked at the picture. “That looks cold.”
“Yunkin is a cold planet.” Mostly ice, and the winters were bitter. Not even the animals lived aboveground during those months. “This is a commonly traveled mountain that cadets in the academy hike. This ship is bound to stop there from time to time. I can find you a guide if you go.”
Yon still had a few people on the planet that would do him a favor. He loved that hike and figured that Yelena would enjoy it, too.
Knowing that he would never see it again didn’t usually bother him, but he would have liked to take Yelena. He cou
ld have shown her the best spots along the way. But he had been exiled from the planet years ago.
Astonishingly, Yelena shook her head. “I’m not a fan of the cold. Thank you, though.”
“The other picture had snow on it. What’s the difference? They’re both cold. You just have to dress warm.” A little annoyed, he tapped the screen again, typed in: mountains and hit Find. A list of images popped up, and he watched Yelena’s eyes widen.
Her finger shot out. “That one.”
He selected it. The mountain range was tall and had a belly of trees. There was a lingering fog, and the sky was grey. Sliding his finger over the side, he brought up the details. Once he read them, he told her, “We’re never going here. It’s on the other side of Federation space. And Terrans never ask for Federation help. They’re stubborn that way.”
“That’s Earth?” Her voice came out light with wonder. He had no idea why she sounded so reverent when referring to the Terrans.
“Like I said, it’s not somewhere this ship will go.”
“I like it,” she said as if he hadn’t spoken at all.
“I don’t.” Although this wasn’t his choice, he decided that the mountain on Earth wasn’t going to be her default image. He deselected the photo and brushed his fingers, skimming the images quickly. Saw one he liked and maximized it. He knew the planet. The mountains were bigger than in the picture.
Yelena pursed her lips as she looked over the screen. “Where is this?”
“Hettan. It has the same climate as Earth, but they haven’t destroyed several sections of the planet. It’s also bigger, with megafauna.”
“What’s megafauna?”
“Large animals.”
“Oooh.”
He liked hearing her interest turn to his choice. To double down on his picture, he told her, “They have several small communities, and they tend to break off each generation or so and build up new villages. They have modern technology and trade with travelers, but they mainly focus on their families and society.”
