The Sands of Argurumal (Argurma Salvager Book 3)

by S. J. Sanders

  Veral gave her a confused look.

  “No, they would not ‘send in the troops,’ as you say. They would wish to keep the matter secret. They would likely employ skilled bounty hunters and assassins to capture us if possible or kill us. It would not be an attack that we would see coming,” he grumbled as he pulled open another access panel and hooked himself in that droid’s system.

  “Sometimes an accident is just an accident. My daddy always said that bad luck came in threes. I guess I’m due one more fucked up thing happening if he’s right,” she teased.

  Her effort to lighten the mood, and hopefully engage Veral in something a bit more interesting than his current preoccupation, fell completely flat.

  She sighed and exchanged a look with Dreth. Veral was over-the-top protective, but this repetitive examination of the droids was unlike him. There were certainly other things that required his attention than malfunctioning droids that had already been inspected by no fewer than six different individuals. Instead, he should be patrolling the grounds, taking comms with his mother-kin in various parts of their lands, and arranging meetings—all of it boring, boring stuff that she was obligated to try and be enthusiastic about now that he was including her in his duties, if that was what she could call trailing after him as if she were a dorashnal.

  She glanced down at Krono where he lay at her feet, his huge head resting on his forepaws. His sides heaved with a sigh, but he did not otherwise even twitch as his eyes tracked Veral. The poor creature rarely got out of the rooms since he couldn’t accompany Veral in many of his tasks. He kept Terri company while she rested, but when she was accompanying Veral, he was left in the room alone for most the day. Although she was assured that most Argurmas kept their dorashnals in their private quarters, Krono was accustomed to free rein throughout the Wanderer and regular intervals sprinting over open ground whenever they were salvaging planetside.

  The corridors of the household were hardly comparable to the freedoms they enjoyed. Terri couldn’t help but note that, despite being out of the room, Krono didn’t look any more enthusiastic than she felt.

  Krono was bored, she was bored, and she would have bet money that Veral was bored, too.

  There had to be more to his insistence on investigating everything himself so intently. He committed himself to it despite numerous reports from the household’s technical specialists, and even a report from the manufacturer regarding common droid malfunctions. Everything said clear as day that it wasn’t uncommon for programming to become corroded and the machine to switch to its auxiliary programming. With a droid also programmed for battle, corrosion could be lethal.

  She knew that he was on edge—the droid’s malfunction still gave her the occasional nightmare, after all—but she wondered if there was a chance he was also using it as an excuse to avoid his duties. He would deny it, of course, since he was obsessed with her safety, but… was he tired of being the Ahanvala and looking for any reason to escape it as soon as possible?

  Not that she could blame him. For as long as she had known him, he was a male who was in a constant state of activity. There were a few leisure opportunities that they enjoyed, but for the most part they were either traveling to a job or working one. It was the life they were both accustomed to.

  Terri wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she was getting increasingly restless. There was a lot to be said for living in the relative safety of the compound with anything she wanted practically at her fingertips, but she had to face it—she wasn’t made for this life. Staying within the four walls and courtyard of the Monushava compound—which had originally sounded like a good idea when she was pregnant and wanted to be near someone with medical knowledge—was slowly making her crazy.

  It was too dark and too claustrophobic, and lately she was feeling the constricting weight of it even more. There wasn’t a day she didn’t feel it as she walked the same routes through the hallways, trying to ignore the way the monotony of it all crawled under her skin.

  Changing her route did little to help it. To make matters worse, she was hopeless when it came to contributing to an Argurumal household. Unlike everyone who was programmed and trained to fulfill a duty, she was useless. There was not one productive thing that she could find to do in a place than ran like an efficient machine. Even when she accompanied Veral, she had nothing worthwhile to do except enjoy his company until she decided to return to their rooms with Harahna.

  In truth, the only thing she had to do was take care of their daughter. When not occupied with feeding, she could attempt to amuse herself with either a book or walking through the courtyard and various parts of the compound—and wait for time to pass. Unfortunately, dark, endless walls and the same flat conversation among those who regarded her more as a curiosity than anything else wasn’t nearly stimulating enough, and the courtyard gardens could only serve as a distraction for so long in her day before she became restless there too. Not even accompanying Veral, as had become normal as of late, had done more than taken the edge off for a little while.

  “Veral, perhaps your mate is right that this is futile,” Dreth offered, his voice breaking the thick silence surrounding them.

  Larth made a choking sound in the back of his throat, his eyes widening at the younger male.

  Veral snapped his head around, his hand paused on the systems panel of the droid he was currently leaning over. He straightened and glared openly at the other male, his vibrissae writhing in irritation. Dreth inclined his head toward her wordlessly. Veral’s head turned her way, and immediately his vibrissae flattened. His expression morphed into one of chagrin as he took in her tired—and probably somewhat impatient—expression.

  He removed his hand, turned away from the droid, and approached her as a tiny light flickered on the panel’s inside casing.

  “Uh, Veral…” she murmured.

  What was with the light? Was that supposed to happen? She didn’t recall seeing any of the other droids light up, but she also admitted that she hadn’t been paying particularly close attention.

  Mandibles purring with their vibration, he leaned in, his knuckles brushing her cheek lovingly. Immediately, she melted into the touch. The light thing was probably nothing. Aliens put alarms on everything, and it was only blinking.

  “I know, anastha.” He sighed. “I am—as you like to say—obsessing. You have been standing there patiently yet again as I inspect the droid futilely. Not even surveillance has picked up anything suspicious, but when I look at all the data, I am processing that there is something that I am missing here. Perhaps it is due to my own suspicious nature and my fear of harm coming to you. I will cease now. Thank you, Dreth,” he added in acknowledgment to the male standing just beyond them.

  The light behind him flickered faster, and Terri’s heart began to race. Okay, that wasn’t good. Still no alarms going off, though. Her eyes darted to Dreth and Larth to gauge their reaction since neither of them had remarked at all on it. Larth frowned in confusion as he met her eyes.

  Shit, they were standing right between the guards and the droid. They were probably blocking any view of it. She had better say something fast. Better safe than sorry, as her dad was fond of saying about… well, everything when it came to the ruins of Phoenix.

  “No, Veral. I mean, yes, you’re right… but that’s not what…”

  Nearby, Krono stiffened and whined anxiously, his vibrissae standing around him like a halo.

  Her mate frowned down at her, his body straightening warily as he glanced over at Krono and back at her again.

  “Krono? Anastha, why is your heartbeat increased?”

  The guards frowned and started walking toward them. Placing her hands on either side of his face, she yanked Veral’s head toward the droid.

  “What’s that?” she asked as her mate snarled, his muscles tensing, and the droid began to emit a sharp beeping sound. “Oh shit. That would be an alarm. Fuck!”

  Terri barely got the curse out when Veral’s arms banded around h
er, lifting her up against him, with Harahna protected between their bodies. He snarled, a sharp curse—her human cussing was clearly rubbing off on him—as he pivoted away and took off at a full-out run away from the beeping droid. Larth’s eyes widened in realization as he grabbed ahold of Dreth, jerking him back as they too spun around, falling in at Veral’s side. Despite their size, they were quick as they raced to the opposite side of the compound at a speed beyond what Terri would have managed.

  Even so, no matter how fast they ran, the beeping followed them, becoming louder and sharper until a cacophony filled the air.

  White noise filled Terri’s ears, muffling all sound as metal fragments flung toward them. At the wall Veral and Dreth dropped down low, pulling Krono tight against her and wedging her and the dorashnal against the wall, the Argurma’s enormous bodies surrounding them completely as the males turned their back to the explosion hurling toward them.

  A shout of denial left her lips. She wasn’t about to allow harm to come to any of them. She mentally shouted to her symbiont, projecting her need of a barrier as she moved her right hand from Veral’s shoulder where it was firmly clasped around the spine jutting up through an opening of his robe to grab ahold of Dreth’s shoulder spine instead. Somehow realizing her intent, Veral grabbed ahold of Larth and yanked him in close at her other side, his eyes staring at the mass rising from her symbiont.

  Metallic tendrils flew free from her wrist, more than she had ever seen before as they burst out like a tangle of thousands of whipping vines. She could feel her strength waning as they wove an ever-expanding tight net of metal until a woven shell surrounded them. Within a matter of seconds, they were completely covered by living metal as the first of the projectiles hit.

  Terri whimpered as she felt the dampened impact vibrating through her along those subtle lines like a spider feeling the vibrations of its prey caught in its web. It didn’t hurt, but was an overload of sensation buffeting her all at once. The shocks seemed to hit everywhere, and she couldn’t help the small cry that escaped her. Veral growled in her ear as his arm tightened anxiously at her back. Harahna squalled, her little body wriggling against Terri’s chest, the sound muffled by the ringing in her ears.

  Then there was blessedly nothing. No more vibrations or shrieking metal. Only Veral’s continuous, rolling growl and Harahna’s cries.

  A tremor of exhaustion filled her as she allowed the barrier to collapse and draw back into her. The shock of the metals re-entering her bloodstream made her shake uncontrollably. Veral didn’t let go her for many minutes, his growl shifting to a soothing purr as he stroked a hand down her back. She was distantly aware of Dreth shifting as he stood and stepped away to provide them with some privacy, but at that moment she couldn’t have cared less whether anyone was witnessing her recovery.

  When at last it was under control, she lifted her head from her mate’s wide chest and looked down at Harahna still caught between them. Her daughter looked back up at her, her face still scrunched unhappily as she sucked on her hand, her tiny mandibles still quivering with distress. It was only then that she noticed the metal tendrils that were wrapped around Harahna as well as her, securing the baby to her.

  Terri stared down at them, unable to tear her eyes away as the metal slowly retreated to the small, glowing symbiont on Harahna’s arm. Their daughter had instinctively protected herself and secured herself to her mother when frightened. Terri’s lips parted in awe as she exchanged a surprised look with Veral.

  Despite his surprise, her mate seemed to be especially proud of his offspring’s ability to protect herself. His vibrissae puffed and he crooned down at her encouragingly. She wondered how long it would be before the entire compound knew of their daughter’s achievement.

  Harahna wasn’t as impressed. She looked at both of them with her big glowing eyes before she pulled away her fist and her bottom lip began to quiver once more. Veral’s eyes widened, his vibrissae puffing and flattening at their daughter’s distress as he tilted his head down toward her and began his rattling purr once more. Terri drew her up closer, kissing her plated brow and murmuring nonsense until their combined efforts quieted their daughter.

  Assured that his offspring was unharmed, Veral gently set Terri back a bit so he could stand, pulling her to her feet in the process. His brow lowered as he inspected her.

  “You are well, anastha?” he rasped.

  She nodded, eyes straying over the wreckage of the droid.

  “Yeah, I think so. What happened?”

  Her mate twitched uncomfortably, but Dreth chuffed from where he stood a few feet away, his vibrissae snapping with his lingering tension.

  “Veral discovered a way not to corrode code,” Larth remarked with mild amusement as he brushed the wrinkles from one sleeve.

  Her mate shot him a dark look, but as he glanced down at Terri, Veral’s lips twitched wryly.

  “I attempted to corrode the system’s control code. A forced corrode was the only probability of an intentional malfunction I had not yet tried. It seems that the reports were correct about forcing certain codes to corrode,” he admitted. “It was in the manufacturer’s warning that there was potential for an unpredictable system reaction. I had estimated that the droid locking into battle mode could have been result of that, since the manufacturer was not clear about what systems reactions to expect. Seems that explosion is one of them,” he commented dryly.

  Despite his cavalier words, he still had an arm banded around her as his vibrissae slipped through her hair, betraying just how rattled he was. She patted his arm reassuringly as she looked at the metal fragments littering the floor.

  “You would think ‘warning: deadly explosion’ would have at least gotten a mention,” she observed.

  Veral inclined his head in agreement as Dreth let out a soft chuff and kicked a bit of the rubble with one boot.

  “What now?” he asked, his head tipping at angle to glance at Veral.

  “I have exhausted every idea. There is no evidence of sabotage—as it seems a stronger probability that you would have been blown up—or tampering with the codes. It is just too perfect to be coincidence,” he growled.

  “Okay, so let’s go to the next plan. We will go hide with your far-kin. We only have a couple of weeks left before Harahna will be clear to travel offplanet. We can take the medic and a small guard and get away from here,” she suggested.

  Veral gave her a questioning look.

  “Are you certain? Even most Argurma avoid the Blowing Sands,” he said solemnly. “I admit that I desire to take you there and have since you birthed Harahna, to keep you both safe. I did not because I was concerned that our daughter’s inner throat filters were not developed enough. However, these few days have provided her with extra time for the filters to strengthen. If we go, we will have to keep her completely covered, but it would be possible if you are in agreement.”

  Terri shifted nervously. “She won’t be harmed any out there, right?”

  A soft smile curved her mate’s mouth.

  “No. We will take all necessary precautions and have the medic examine her just to remove any doubt. She will be fine,” he assured her, his hand smoothing Harahna’s vibrissae lovingly.

  Taking a deep breath, Terri smiled, warmed by a sudden surge of excitement.

  “Okay! Let’s do it. We’ll lie low out there for a while, and as soon as Tarik gives the ‘all clear,’ we’re getting the hell off this planet,” she grumbled. “Who knew that space would be the nice, safe, civilized place to be? I think I’m ready to go back to being a simple salvager.”

  Veral chuffed and brushed his nose against her temple.

  “Give me two days, anastha, and we will do just that. Soon enough, it will be just us,” he promised with a raspy rumble and a heated promise that made her toes curl.

  “Two days,” she sighed in agreement. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  Larth groaned. “Two weeks in the hidden caves and crawling through high-wind san
dstorms… I should have stayed enlisted as a warrior,” he muttered.

  Dreth looked over at him curiously.

  “Is it that bad? Our far-kin live there without problem.”

  “Worse. Our far-kin is accustomed to having their expelling vents clogged with sand, but clearing them out is unpleasant. You will see,” he muttered. “I will prepare everything we will we need and alert Hitani that we are heading east once more.”

  “You can always stay here,” Veral said, unperturbed by his cousin’s disgust.

  The male immediately bristled.

  “And leave the guarding of you to who? Navesha is preoccupied, Dreth has never been there and does not know what to expect, neither has Malraha or most of the household guard. I will go. I will just require a few things,” he muttered.

  26

  Behind his polite mask of indifference, Veral seethed at the presence of the local registrar. He knew it could not be delayed since they were leaving for the Blowing Sands early the next day, but he disliked everything about the registrar on sight. To make matters worse, the male just would not leave. He insisted that there was data that required further verification.

  “What further verification do you require, Registrar Akal’sivkoran’tanil?” Veral demanded as he held in a growl.

  It would be easy to break the male in front of him if he lost his temper. The registrar was smaller, his implants clearly designated more for interfacing with the databanks of the High City Ki’karthilan than the modifications given to one of the warrior class. Despite Akal’s limitations, he regarded Veral with dispassionate disdain. If it were not for Larth standing at his side, Veral might have been tempted to act on his murderous impulse.

  Veral was well aware of what the Argurma of Ki’karthilan, and all of Amhim’voreth thought of the people of the Quarnet’safet. The Dunes bred wild males and females, difficult to break to the council’s will, corrupted, and lacking in intelligence. Perfect to train as warriors and sacrifice indiscriminately. The only people lower were those hidden in the Galithilan and offworlders.