Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  “Sabra, come put some data in for me, all right?”

  He was sitting at the com. She did what he asked.

  “Look.” Kaistril pointed out a screen with two bright spots. “We’re being followed.”

  “Will they catch up with us?”

  “I don’t think so. Sirn does—did—have craft that could jump and catch us, but no commander would send something like that after us. They probably want the ship more than they want us. I doubt they know about the film.” He stretched.

  “I’m functioning better than I thought I would. We can wait until we get to the Hub to remove the appliances.” His speech was labored, and he sat at the controls, looking tired and drawn. “It wouldn’t be a great idea to go into the sleep tubes. They’d find us right away. Unless there is a full power failure, we stay on course.”

  “How did they find us?”

  “I guess they figured we were on our way to Katherine Hub. And they may not have sensed us yet, because of the chameleon hull. I dumped sensors along the way so I would know if anyone was traveling toward the hub.”

  Sabralia checked the monitors. “We’ll be at the Hub in sixty-six hours.”

  “Hopefully I’ll be alert.”

  Kaistril was awake but slow to respond the rest of the day.

  “Make cloak…men see you.”

  Her choice of clothing was her transparent dress or the spacer knits with Alfyt’s jacket, both very revealing.

  “Right. I should make a cover up.”

  There was a tailoring device. She used it to turn some of the bedding into a loose gown and cloak.

  “Are you coming to bed?” she asked as their sleep cycle approached.

  Kaistril was at the com, running some type of report.

  “You go ahead. I’ll be there in a little while.”

  Sabralia fell asleep waiting for him. She awoke some hours later, still alone in the bed. She went out to see what Kaistril was doing.

  He was at the com, but slumped to one side. He was blinking rapidly.

  Something is wrong!

  “Kaistril. Kaistril are you all right?” He did not respond.

  Oh no, oh no. She adjusted his chair so he was lying down. He felt hot. She ran to the lavatory for a wet cloth. She bathed his face.

  His temperature was high, he was burning up. “Kaistril, we should get you into the shower. Can you walk?”

  He did not respond. She tried to pull him up, but could not get him out of the chair.

  The appliances had to come off. They couldn’t wait two days—he could be dead in two days.

  She tapped on the com until she found the file Kaistril had saved, on removing the appliances. Her fingers shook as she tapped the controls. She started to rush through the file, then stopped and took a deep breath.

  Kaistril needed her to know how to do this procedure to survive. She studied it for close to an hour, then assembled her supplies. The ship’s medic kit was well stocked.

  “Kaistril, I’m going to give you a neurosed, so I can take the appliances off. Can you swallow?”

  He did not respond.

  She tried giving him a sip of water. It dribbled out.

  The medkit contained a synthesizer. She put the neurosed in that and sprayed it up his nose. Then she undressed him, which was a heavy job.

  Next, the cleaning. She scrubbed him until his skin was bright pink.

  There were five vials of wound sealant. She would use two on his arm and three on his leg. She hoped that would be enough. If he bled heavily, she didn’t have the equipment or skill to save his life.

  Sabralia took a vial to his leg. It was made to harvest a small amount of flesh, to blend with the medical nano technology to seal the wound. It left a small bloody wound.

  Sabralia covered it with a patch and then had to sit down. There was going to be blood. Maybe a lot of it. Was she really going to go through with it?

  She looked at Kaistril. His face was pale and beaded with sweat, slack in unconsciousness. All his vitality had been stripped away, leaving him vulnerable and even weaker than she was.

  Yes. She would remove the appliances.

  She finished the vials, then set the pressure point devices, to slow the blood flow on his arm. With that, she took the scalpel, pried his arm com up with her fingers, and slit into his arm so the device could be pulled free.

  There was blood. She pulled the appliance off as quickly as she could, then applied pressure to the wound for a moment.

  She had to get the nanoseal as close to the artery wound as possible. Sabralia set the device for higher pressure, then swabbed the area until she could find the torn artery. She squeezed two vials into it, then padded it heavily. After the prescribed time, she loosened the pressure point device, while keeping pressure on the arm with her hands. Blood seeped through the pad. She added another and pressed hard again.

  There was no time to panic, but her heart was racing.

  Her arms, shoulder, and neck ached from pressing down on his arm. Finally, she was able to raise her hands without seeing blood color the pad.

  She wrapped his arm tightly and checked his fingers. They looked all right to her, a little pale…but not blue.

  She slumped into the console chair. The thigh would be harder.

  It was finally over. Kaistril had lost more blood than she had hoped, but she was able to add to his fluid levels, and the com said his readings were in acceptable limits. Hopefully his Puregen heritage helped him heal really fast. She’d heard that was so.

  Sabralia taped his arm and legs to the chair to keep them still as he woke. The nanoseals would be set in three hours, and she had no more. She tucked a soft body warmer around him.

  She was splattered with blood, and the consul area was a mess. Slowly, Sabralia cleaned up the cloths and pads, and disposed of the empty vials. Her arms and legs felt like lead, and her head pounded. She stumbled to the shower and cleaned off quickly. Her hands and legs were shaking with shock.

  After changing into new garments, she remembered that a systems check needed to be done. She grabbed a cup of Kaf, which she drank as quickly as possible, then ate a quick meal that sat like lead in her stomach.

  The systems check took longer than usual, but she did it right, like Kaistril had taught her, and triple checked. The memory of Kaistril grinning and joking, yet expecting her to be so exact in doing a systems check, came to her. Star Goddess above, would he ever be that way again?

  Sabralia checked Kaistril every few minutes, thankful he remained stable. Finally, she grabbed another warmer, set a timer to wake her every half hour, and collapsed into the consul chair next to him, and fell asleep.

  An alarm woke her. She leaped to Kaistril, heart thundering in panic.

  The com showed all his systems were fine.

  She looked around in confusion.

  “Clean the appliances.” Kaistril’s voice was rough. He spoke without opening his eyes. “Nano…won’t transmit now…my body the energy source.”

  “Kaistril! Are you all right? How do you feel?” “Right.”

  He was awake. Tears of joy flowed as she checked him. He finally opened his eyes and looked at the console.“After us. Increase speed. Check systems. We should be able to burst for awhile. They know we’re headed for the Hub, but we can hide there. Get off ship.”

  “I can do that. We’ve made it this far.” She held his cold hand tight.

  “You did good,” Kaistril whispered, then fell back asleep.

  Sabralia rushed to shoot the appliances into the hygenie, then set speed and did a systems check. She still felt exhausted, but Kaistril’s com reports were still good.

  Much later, Kaistril awoke again. He groaned. Sabralia leaped out of her chair to his side.

  “What’s wrong? Are you bleeding?” She checked his wounds. They looked sealed, with no blood. Bleeding was the greatest danger. “No. Feel fine. Can’t move much.”

  She removed the tape from his arm and legs. He still didn’t move.
“You can’t move?”

  Had she paralyzed him?

  “Sure I can move. Just don’t want to. Feel weak.” He waved an arm then dropped it back to the recliner.

  “Oh. Well, that is one of the normal side-effects of the removal.”

  “Yes. Thinking and speaking are…effort.” Sabralia smiled in relief. “It is working! When I decided to take them out you were unresponsive, but you weren’t really asleep, either. Your eyes were blinking so fast. Soon you will be able to walk and no appliances will shut you down.” She ran kisses over his face.

  When she stood up he held up his arm with the fluid pouch attached to it. “I think you can take this out. I can eat and drink now.”

  Sabralia got the medkit to take off the fluid pouch, and Kaistril drank a meal replacement, then went back to sleep. She stroked his hair for awhile. He was going to be all right.

  Kaistril slept for most of the next day, though he did move around a little, to the hygiene chamber and the comfortable bed, with her help. He was lucid for small amounts of time.

  “Sabralia,” he whispered during one of his brief moments of full consciousness. “Sorry I can’t help.”

  “That is all right. I just want you to get better.”

  He fell asleep, lips curved into a slight smile.

  Kaistril slept while she got into the queue to dock at Katherine Hub, which was easier than moving between the probes Kaistril had made her practice on. The com no longer showed anyone following them, but they would queue up also, several hours behind them.

  Six hours before docking, Kaistril awoke. “Sabra, need help with the com.” She helped him to the com, then gave him a meal replacement drink while he tapped slowly, with just one hand. “I’ll sleep here. Link ups…for my family com…”

  His eyes fluttered shut and she eased him back into the seat, leaned it back, and strapped him down for docking.

  “First,” he said, though his eyes were closed. “Send message first thing at docking.” Once they were docked they could use Katherine Hub’s communication service, which was necessary because the small ship need a boost to get a message to New Prague.

  It did make sense. Send the message first, before they left the ship. She looked at the com routes and saw he had geared all replies to her arm com. He must have written this some time ago and saved it. Geared to her personal com, they could receive the message anywhere on the Hub.

  Sabralia made sure her arm com was powered up. There would be no natural sunlight on the Hub, but the com had a small device that could draw power from most ordinary power grids. Then she changed into the concealing gown and packed Alfryt’s bags with the jewels and info cubes they were taking with them. She was ready.

  Katherine Hub was an enormous space-built spiral of docking bays, surrounding a central globe complex from which the many spiral arms sprang. There was a government of sorts, run by the trade guilds, but they mainly dealt with tariffs and commodity inspections. The complex was known for its wild lawlessness, danger and ruthless trade guild mercs who dealt with any trouble without a trial or any type of process of law. Hundreds of people lived on the Hub, working on the space docks, markets and eateries.

  The docking procedure was similar to simulated ones she’d done over and over in the past days. She docked with no trouble at all.

  “Kaistril. Wake up! I did it. We’re docked!”

  Her excitement must have reached him, for his eyelids fluttered. He smiled, though his eyes were heavy. “Good piloting,” he whispered. “Send the message.”

  She pressed a kiss to his lips, and he opened his mouth and met her tongue. “One of these days,” he whispered, “we’re going to do lots of that.”

  “I can hardly wait.”

  “Me too.” He fell back to sleep.

  Sabralia followed the instructions he had left her and sent the message.

  Chapter Seven

  The com received a message from Katherine Hub about payment procedures. She chose the option of setting an account up at the Hub financial dept, and arranged for transportation to the finance center and back to the ship in three hours. That gave her time to get a grav chair for Kaistril, and sell some jewels.

  “Take a hot tube to go get the grav chair. I’ll go with you to the jewelers, and carry the weapons.” Kaistril’s speech was more normal, but he still sat back against the chair with very little movement. Sabralia reluctantly opened the weaponry cabinet and armed herself with two small weapons, both non-lethal.

  Sabralia had to go by herself to get a grav chair, for which she used an ordinary credit film from Alfyt’s bag. As Sabralia got into the transport she summoned, she saw several young men looking at her. Her heart revved up. Were they going to rush her? Try to steal her goods? Or kidnap her? Before her imagination could get out of control, she grabbed one of her hot tubes, tilted her chin, and gave them a defiant look, making sure the young men could see she was armed. They did not move toward her.

  The Hub was crazy with movement, chaotic. People on small gliders zipped around larger, slower transports, and moving pathways crisscrossed the entire interior of the Hub. The sphere-shaped center was full of buildings built on floating rafts or platforms built on jutting arms and scaffolding from the sphere wall. Balconies jutted from the sphere wall. Large door panels led to the spiral arms where ships docked.

  It looked like mass confusion to Sabralia. She had not seen this part of the Hub when she traveled from her homeworld to Sirn’s Harem; she had simply transferred ships out on the perimeter docks.

  Sabralia gasped as a small group of people leaped off a walkway into the open sphere. They were wearing some sort of floater device, which they used to float on over to another walkway.

  “What are they wearing, to float like that?” “Jack boots,” the driver told her. “Very popular here with residents. Cheap. They hold a charge for a short while, but the charge can be replaced by movement.”

  She entered a personal transport shop with no incident and picked a grav chair with a riding platform on the back. It had two sets of controls that either she or Kaistril could use. Being raised as royalty did have some positive effects. She seemed to have an attitude that commanded respect. The proprietor of the shop not only summoned a transport that would take her privately back to the ship with her grav chair, but also paid for it.

  When she entered the ship, she was surprised to see Kaistril dressed in some of Alfyt’s more somber clothing, including a coat with a long hood that shaded his face. “Get me weapons,” he said.

  She took far more weapons out of the cabinet than she could ever imagine using. Kaistril had her place them in Alfyt’s bags and lock them in the storage compartment under the chair. The cyborg appliances were in another bag he insisted she tuck in the storage area, too.

  “We’ll sell a small portion of the jewels and see how that works. If we show the whole collection, we might be noticed. We’re three days ahead of the ships that are following us. Might have time to sell ship.”

  Sabralia chose several sets of fine jewelry, leaving the rarest and most expensive in the bag, which they locked up with the weapons.

  They found a jeweler who asked no questions. Kaistril found nothing unusual about that. He was alert for the trade, but afterwards fell asleep in the transport she hired. The financial appointment was held in private and was over quickly. The credits she held were universal and easy to pass at any hub or port, and most larger cities. While there, she paid for the Hub news to be sent to her personal com.

  It was so much easier than she’d expected. Her account was bonded to their fingerprints, and a universal credit stick slid neatly into her com. “Back to the ship?” she asked Kaistril, who’s eyes were closed under the deep rim of the hood. He looked fragile, with blue hollows under his eyes.

  “No. We should find a room.”

  While he rested in the chair, Sabralia found a rental agency. “We require a decent lodging,” she had told one of the agents, “but we want something quiet.
We are not interested in luxury accommodations or gaming resorts or intoxicant saloons in the area.”

  The agent set up the appointment and gave her coordinates to a building quite away from the heavily-populated center of the Hub, and ordered a private transport to carry her and Kaistril’s chair to the building. Kaistril did not wake up as she moved him into the private transport, and she held his hand as they zipped and lurched through the bustling Hub.

  The rental unit was built into the Hub wall, far from the busy floating platform area that filled the center. A concierge showed her the room, while Kaistril remained in the transport. Sabralia liked it. Tiny, smaller than the stateroom on the ship, it had a narrow balcony that overlooked a courtyard full of light and greenery. She paid the fee, and the driver helped unload the grav chair while she helped Kaistril into the room. She paid the concierge a generous tip.

  She woke Kaistril up after the concierge left them alone.

  “This is good,” Kaistril said. “Until my brothers come…” He was exhausted, she could tell. She helped him to the small bed, and sank down beside him. I wonder how many brothers he has? Or does he mean military brothers?

  The activity of selling the jewels and leaving the ship wore Kaistril out. He slept for most of the next twenty-four hours and continued to sleep almost constantly the next few days. Sabralia stayed inside the small apartment.

  “The Hub is full of Sirn’s sympathizers,” Kaistril said in one of his brief moments of consciousness. “Order what you want for delivery. Get concierge to accept deliveries.”

  Daveed, the concierge, was willing to put her purchases on the apartment account, which she paid when he delivered the items she ordered. She was able to get food, clothes, anything they needed, while only leaving a payment record on the apartment account. She thought it might be a good idea if anyone was looking for them. They were lucky the Hub had no regular security force or methods for registering and tracking people.