Eomix Galaxy Books: Illusion

by Christa Yelich-Koth

  “Status,” he called, trying to keep his voice steady.

  Cadet Ikar picked herself up and limped back to her console, left knee swollen under her ripped pants leg.

  “Unidentified ship has been completely destroyed. No escape pods were jettisoned. No survivors detected, Commander.”

  “Lieutenant Koye, damage report.”

  Lieutenant Koye was still poised, although Trey could see him shake as his adrenaline dropped.

  “Shields and weapons are down,” he told Trey. “Engines are offline. A section of our hull tore off during the explosion. Injuries are coming in from that section now. No casualties reported yet, Commander.”

  Trey motioned for Ikar to come and take care of the wounded man while he sent a communication to engineering. “This is Commander Xiven. Status?”

  “Commander, this is Lieutenant Chief Engineer Byot. The explosion didn’t do any additional damage to the engines, but I can’t say how long until they come back online. Right now we are putting out the last of the fires. No major injuries yet, Commander.”

  “Keep me informed, Lieutenant. As soon as we can, reconnect us to the spaceport. Xiven out.” Trey returned his attention to Cadet Pitar. What kept Doctor Ludd? I can’t afford to lose any more of this crew!

  Trey watched Ikar tend to the wound. She pulled an emergency medical kit from underneath one of the consoles and placed a burn-pack onto the blond officer’s chest. The pack sizzled as it distributed painkillers and a cooling gel to slow down the burn.

  “I’m going to take look at your wound,” she said after the painkillers had taken the edge off. “It will hurt when I take the burn-pack off, but I need to see it.” Trey willed himself not to show his repulsion when Ikar peeled off the burn pack. The smell of cooked meat wafted from his chest. A circle of the cadet’s skin, about twenty centimeters around, flaked away in black wisps. The edges of the circle were a deep red, but the smoldering had stopped, so the skin wasn’t burning anymore. Ikar replaced the pack gently.

  “You will most likely have a scar, but the damage doesn’t seem too bad. Just a little crispy,” she said with a small smile.

  Dr. Ludd and a medical assistant droid arrived. The doctor made his way over to the fallen officer, lowering his hovering device so he could reach the wound. He sprayed a foam substance over the charred surface and Cadet Pitar’s face showed immediate signs of relief.

  “I should be able to fix this without too much permanent damage,” Dr. Ludd told Trey. He loaded the cadet’s body onto a stretcher. “Some of his nerves may be beyond repair, and I will most likely have to use a skin graft, but I think the burn itself isn’t too severe. No sign the infliction penetrated too deeply and I don’t think there will be any damage to the lungs either.”

  “Keep me updated,” Trey said. “What about…?”

  “She is still sleeping. She had no reaction to what took place.”

  Trey closed his eyes for a moment. The less he had to explain to Daith, the better.

  Dr. Ludd fired the repulsors on the stretcher. He made his way off the bridge with Cadet Pitar in tow, heading back to the medical wing.

  Trey had been so involved he hadn’t even noticed the assistant droid had sprayed the same foam substance onto his own injured arm and wrapped a surgical bandage around it.

  “Please come to the medical wing tomorrow morning to have the bandage replaced.” The droid spun its spherical body and zoomed away, without waiting for an acknowledgement from Trey.

  Trey gingerly touched his bandaged left arm, surprised at the lack of pain.

  Dr. Ludd must have used a pretty strong painkiller. And Trey felt grateful. Even though the fight had lasted only minutes, the damage to be repaired would keep him busy for many hours to come.

  Chapter 15

  Daith awoke groggy, strapped to an uncomfortable white bed. Her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the harsh white lights reflecting off the white walls. The sharp smell of cleaning chemicals filled her nose. A warm feeling pounded through her, like her pulse pumped fire.

  “Uhhh?” she croaked. The edges of her mouth cracked with dryness. The door slid open and a jelly-like being hovered across the floor to the bed.

  “Good morning!” the being said, his body jiggling. “My name is Doctor Ludd. Do you remember me?”

  Daith’s eyebrows furrowed. Her head felt fuzzy. She vaguely remembered him and nodded.

  “Excellent,” Dr. Ludd exclaimed. “At least your memory seems to be working, which is wonderful news, so I’m going to give you a little longer to get your bearings. You seem alert, which is quite remarkable for someone in your condition so I’ll be back in a short while to ask you a few questions and to have you perform a few motor skill tests, to make sure everything is still in working order. Nothing unpleasant, mind you. A few things to help me record your progress and to chart how well you seem to be doing and I promise the tests won’t hurt at all so there is nothing you have to worry about. I’ll let you get a little settled and then I’ll come back in a bit.” Dr. Ludd started to leave the room but turned abruptly, wobbling on his gravlift at the swift change in direction.

  “Oops! I forgot to undo your restraints. You see you were a bit restless while you slept and we feared you might fall off the bed and you know the old saying of ‘Better safe than sorry,’ right? Unless, you don’t know that phrase because you may not remember it or have never heard the saying before because you don’t really have any recollections to begin with. At least, before the past few days, because, as you well know, and remember, you still have the memories of the past few days which is a great thing and encouraging in terms of getting your memory back and by that I mean the memory you don’t remember, not the memory you have of the past few days which I already said so I’m repeating myself so I’ll go now and let you settle a bit and then I’ll be back in a little while and we’ll talk more then.” Dr. Ludd’s lips splayed open in a huge grin while he undid the restraints. “Feel free to sit up, but I don’t recommend walking because you’ve had quite a shock to your system. I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know when I get back. You relax, take it easy, and I’ll see you soon.” Dr. Ludd left.

  Daith’s head spun. She tried to grasp the overwhelming amount of words Dr. Ludd had thrown at her, but her brain didn’t want to process anything yet.

  *

  Dr. Ludd stared at the medical charts in front of him with disbelief. The charts showed Daith had fully healed in two days.

  It should have taken six weeks—minimum.

  The charts showed her body temperature had increased to a feverous state the whole time she’d been unconscious, and she’d been without any other symptoms of illness. And now, she was responsive when she should have been in a coma or dead.

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” he told himself, tapping on the chart. Her body had even rejected the stimulant concoction he’d given her.

  Dr. Ludd floated back into Daith’s room and stopped at the end of her bed. “Feeling a little more oriented?”

  “I feel warm and tired, but otherwise all right.”

  “Good, good. Well, I have to tell you this Miss Tocc, you are a medical marvel. I was sure you would take far longer to make this kind of progress and yet, here you are, completely recovered and it’s absolutely astounding. Honestly Miss Tocc, I have no idea how this happened. I mean, not only are all your basic systems back to normal, but your brain activity has actually increased and this goes against everything I’ve ever seen. But don’t worry because I mean that in a good way and it’s just incredible!”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not really sure what you’re talking about. Why am I such a medical marvel?”

  “I’m the one who should be apologizing,” he gushed. He floated over next to her and explained while he periodically tested her joints and checked her vitals.

  “Do you remember performing the memory test with the star particle?” he asked, shining a light into her eyes.

  “Yes.”

>   “Good. Well, during your test, you released a huge amount of energy, which caused your brain to overload and, in a sense, short circuit. This caused a complete shutdown of your secondary functions, while leaving your primary functions intact.”

  Daith blinked a few times. “I passed out?”

  “Exactly. The problem was, you had expelled such a huge energy output we believed you would sink deeper into unconsciousness.”

  “You thought I’d go into a coma.”

  “Precisely. Anyway, most patients in your condition usually don’t recover for several weeks, sometimes not even for months. Stand up please.”

  Taken aback by this sudden change in conversation. Daith took a moment before registering what the doctor had asked. She got to her feet and Dr. Ludd continued to talk while he checked her neck and spine.

  “Unless they were given steroid treatments, which would have increased their recovery time, but only by a few weeks at most.”

  “I’ve been unconscious for weeks?”

  Dr. Ludd motioned for Daith to sit. “That’s the amazing part. You woke up after two days. And what’s more, your brainwave pattern is more stable.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “I’m not sure. The only conclusion I can think of is whatever part of your brain you used during your test must have triggered and released something chemical inside you and gave you the ability to heal yourself. But none of it makes any sense, medically speaking. I’ve only seen this once before and I concluded he must have possessed some sort of genetic mutation.”

  “Genetic?” Daith asked. “Do you think this is something I could have inherited?”

  Dr. Ludd swallowed. He couldn’t believe he’d nearly revealed he’d worked with her father before.

  “It’s possible, but the one I worked on before wasn’t even your species,” he lied.

  “I see.” Daith’s eyebrows furrowed and her forehead wrinkled, like she didn’t accept his explanation as true.

  “I know this is difficult, but I believe in spite of all these hardships, you will find your path. My best advice for you is to trust yourself. You will know what’s right.” Dr. Ludd patted Daith on the shoulder. “I’m going to keep you here for observation overnight, don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything.”

  “Actually,” Daith said, her hand on her stomach, “I am a bit hungry.”

  Dr. Ludd slapped his flipper to his head. “Of course you’re hungry! The amount of heat and energy you used would cause you to need an addition of nutrients. I had you on a supplemental nutritional feeding line, but I underestimated how much energy you were going to use, not that I could have guessed something like this would have happened, but still I should have thought to ask you right away, but this result didn’t match with your condition and I—”

  “I don’t mean to interrupt, but…” Daith trailed off.

  Dr Ludd let out a gurgling laugh. “Of course you meant to interrupt. I usually don’t stop talking unless someone else starts. Irritating habit, I’m told, to your species. Although I believe you tend to use too few words. I don’t understand how you can possibly explain everything you are thinking without using all the words I do. It makes—”

  “Doctor.”

  Dr. Ludd nodded at Daith’s cut-off. “My apologies again. I will do my best to restrain my flow of words. Now back to the subject of nutrition. I will get a droid to bring something in for you. Do you have any requests?”

  “Something served cold? My insides still feel pretty warm.”

  “I know just the thing.” He floated out of the room to place the order. Daith settled back on the bed and waited for the droid to arrive. When it did, it brought something Daith had never seen before.

  The small bowl contained a ball-shaped substance about the size of her fist. Daith tried a bite and found the food pleasantly sweet and creamy. Though light, it sated her appetite. While she ate, she felt the heat in her body recede. A yawn escaped her lips and her eyelids drooped. The bowl tumbled to the floor with a clatter. Her head fell back onto the pillow and she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

  *

  Trey’s vision blurred. He felt hate toward his office and all the time he spent there. Maybe he should return to the meeting room and process all these reports?

  His body groaned in protest, too tired to move. Trey readjusted himself in his chair and flipped through all the reports: crew injuries, power shortages, engine malfunctions, shield glitches, weapon failures, communication delays—the list seemed endless.

  He squeezed his eyes tight. Between commanding the ship, keeping his plan on track, making sure everything with Daith flowed smoothly, and having to read every report from every single station because there simply wasn’t anyone else on board who could do it, Trey wouldn’t be able to maintain his control much longer.

  He continued with the ship’s reports. The damage could have been much worse. Lieutenant Chief Engineer Byot had assured Trey the silari engines would be back online within a few standard days. The hull would be fixed by tomorrow, and the electrical systems, running on back-up generators, would be good as new once the engines worked again.

  The bad news was the young cadet who’d been burned on the bridge hadn’t survived his injuries. Dr. Ludd had said he’d had an allergic reaction to the burn pack. The ship wasn’t stocked with the right supplies to keep him from succumbing to allergic shock.

  Another soldier lost.

  Trey could hardly stay awake. His head drooped and he snapped it back up. He tried to read the report gain, but exhaustion won. His head fell onto the stack of datapads on his desk. Even before his face hit the cold plastic, Trey had fallen asleep.

  Trey could see his mentor in front of him, watching a special news update. He remembered the update—a few years after Jacin Jaxx had visited Trey’s home planet, Sintaur, and stopped the civil war he’d been forced to fight in. The bulletin referred to Jacin’s wife who’d been attacked by some protesters who’d rallied against Sintaur’s new government, claiming Jacin had corrupted the individuals by using mind control.

  It put Jacin about five years after the previous memory, but his aged face, tired eyes, and premature hair loss made time passed appear at least three times longer….

  Elor had been attacked? Guilt gnawed at the edges of Jacin’s thoughts. How could he have been so stupid? He should have realized his family would be targeted.

  Deep down Jacin knew what really would have stopped this—if he’d been home like he’d promised. But he couldn’t admit to that. If he did, then the beings he’d helped, the power he’d accumulated, the energy and sweat and pain he’d put toward his work—all of his effort would have been for nothing.

  Rage swelled inside him. The situation wasn’t his fault. The protesters had done this. He’d been so patient with them. He hadn’t forced them to join him. He hadn’t made them change their minds about him. Obviously they weren’t as innocent as he thought. Jacin knew they had to be taught a lesson. How could they hurt Elor? She had nothing to do with his work.

  Jacin slammed his fist into the wall of his quarters. Bones cracked, but he didn’t care. He could repair the injury later with his mind. Right now, anger consumed him. He flung open his door and stormed down the ship’s corridor. He fumed, pulling apart the walls around him with the energy built up inside him, a hot torrent of flame.

  They have no right. She didn’t have anything to do with it. They deserve to be hurt, to feel what Elor felt, to feel pain! He reached the bow of the ship, shoved the pilot aside, and manually plugged in the coordinates to Lameer.

  Once there, Jacin raced into the crowd which had gathered around the hospital. He roared and threw bodies aside with his mind, bent solely on getting to his wife. One large man stepped in front of him and took a swing. Jacin ducked. With his mind, he pushed at the man’s broad chest and sent him flying. The man fell to the ground.

  Jacin tore past the screams of the crowd and found his wife’s room, her discolored face
asleep on the pillow.

  He ordered everyone out and began to work.

  The next day, Jacin awoke in his home to the sound of a newscast on the vidlink.

  “Good afternoon. This is a special news bulletin being broadcast globally around Lameer. We have received an official report regarding the riots outside Lameer Main Medical Hospital after Elor Jaxx’s admittance. We bring you live to an interview with Officer Laack, who witnessed the demonstrations.”

  “—there were several injuries and one death during yesterday’s riot. There has been no official report on who is responsible. As for Jacin Jaxx’s involvement, there have been contradictory statements from several witnesses. Charges against him have not yet been filed—”

  Jacin turned off the vidlink.

  He put his hands to his face. The officer’s words ran through his head. Someone had been killed.

  And Jacin knew he was the culprit.

  He remembered the man who would not get out of his way. The man he’d shoved backwards with his mind. The man who lay limp on the ground, unable to get back up.

  Jacin dropped his hands. He’d killed someone.

  If Jacin had used his hands to push the man instead of his thoughts, he would never have killed him. His gift had gotten out of control.

  But another thought crept in—the man had deserved to die. He had been one of the protesters, one of the ones who had put Elor in the hospital in the first place.

  Jacin observed his wife, preparing lunch for him and the girls, completely healed after Jacin had fixed her. But he couldn’t erase the memory of her in the hospital bed—jaw shattered, battered face, left leg propped in a gel splint.

  “The galaxy is better off without someone like him in it.”

  Trey awoke, his desk and cheek covered with vomit, his chin crusted with blood. The darkness in Jacin’s voice surprised him—the sneer on his lips. Trey had never known Jacin had killed a man at the hospital.

  And yet Jacin had been right. The removal of that man’s existence made the galaxy better. He’d had every right to protect his family. Those protesters should not have attacked Elor.