by Gun Brooke
Thea was hurting all over from being tossed against her harness for more than two hours. She knew she wasn’t alone in this discomfort, as she could well picture entire families strapped together in their quarters, wondering if they were going to make it.
“Enemy is withdrawing, sir. The larger vessels have already gone to magnetar drive. The smaller assault craft are guarding the perimeter half a parsec away. Do we pursue, sir?” the security officer asked Vayand.
“No, we don’t, Commander. Set up a perimeter of our own. Once we’re sure this is not a tactical ploy on their part, we’ll start bringing our family back together, one cube at a time. Damage report?”
“Nothing major on the cubes so far, sir,” the ops lieutenant answered. “We have twenty-eight assault craft dead in the water. Eighteen wounded pilots. Ten fatalities.”
“And on the cubes?” Thea asked as she freed herself from the harnesses and stood.
“We have no conclusive reports from the cubes yet, Madam President,” the lieutenant said. “Once we begin reattaching them, I’ll start receiving more accurate numbers.”
“I want to know as soon as you do.” Thea stood behind her chair, holding on to the headrest.
“Are you all right, Madam President?” Vayand asked and walked up to her. “That was a grueling two hours, sir.”
“I’m fine. Thank you. And you, Orien? You’ve been on your feet, and tossed around because of it, for the same two hours.”
“You think I’m getting too old for this, Thea?” Vayand smiled wryly as she shook her head at his silly joke.
“On days like today, we’re all too old.” Thea tapped her communicator and assembled her team to wait for her outside the bridge. She had a lot to do, but now she could step off the bridge and do her duty from her office. It was too early to expect any news about Caya, but soon Thea would be able to continue that investigation as well. All the cubes were safe and accounted for, which was somewhat reassuring.
Thea operated under the assumption that Caya was hiding to stay away from potentially corrupt presidential guards. If only she knew which cube Caya was in, but the young woman she loved clearly had a knack for vanishing. If it kept her safe, Thea was all for it, but she also wanted her found and returned to Thea’s care, where nothing would harm her. She didn’t want to listen to the small voice reminding her that it was while in protective custody that Caya had definitely not been safe.
Thea yanked at her communicator. It was time to put the stalwart commander back on track. “President Tylio to Commander KahSandra. Report.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Is he all right?” Caya bent over Foy, who lay in an alleyway, his scalp bleeding from a laceration he had sustained when cube seventeen had lurched under their feet. The alien attack had hit before Caya had been able to warn anyone in the governmental building. Before the fleet admiral ordered the ship-wide separation, they had managed to get to cube seventeen, which after the previous shuffle had bordered on cube eight from underneath. Now she had no idea if the authorities would piece Pathfinder back together the same way as earlier.
“I think he’ll live,” Aldan said, smiling tenderly at his husband. “He has a wooden head, this one.”
“Thanks a lot,” Foy muttered, but cupped Aldan’s cheek. “Thanks for catching me, love. I thought I’d go headlong into the life-support unit. They’re not meant to be jumped into headfirst.”
“I’ll say.” Aldan kissed the back of Foy’s hand. “Ready to get up? We need to find a place where Caya can page the president without being easily spotted. Perhaps the main square. It’s bound to be bustling now that it seems the attack is over.”
“Wait.” Tomita placed a hand on her brother’s arm. “Just give me a sec.” She looked around them, walked cautiously up to the end of the alleyway, and peered around the corner. Caya watched her new friend intently. She saw her body language change as Tomita glanced in the opposite direction, grew rigid, and then hurried back to them.
“Let’s go back toward the previous square. It’s not as big, but we can’t continue this way. I saw several individuals that created goose bumps all over my body. We’re all in danger if we head that way.”
“She’s hardly ever wrong. I take that back,” Aldan said wryly. “She’s actually never wrong.”
“Let’s go. Give me a hand.” Foy stood, if a bit unsteady, and they began to make their way back in the same direction they’d come from. As they entered the main road, they saw several people in need of medical attention. Caya couldn’t pass them by. She was the sister of a nurse, after all. When Tomita objected, looking over her shoulder, Caya looked pointedly at the wounded and took half a dose of her obscurity potion. She had half a bottle left, and she counted on it being enough to reach cube one later.
Tirelessly, Caya bandaged sprained and broken limbs, showing the other three how to do it. She taped wounds that needed stitching or fusing later and put cold or hot packs on bumps and bruises.
“Please. Can you help her?” a young voice said from behind. A boy around ten years old stood with a small child in his arms. Caya estimated the little girl to be about a year old.
“What happened to her? Is she your sister?”
“Her name is Rhosee,” the young boy said. “She’s fourteen months old. She was asleep in her crib when the attack started. Mom was passed out on the floor. She hadn’t strapped Rhosee in because…because she was drunk again. I found Rhosee just now when I got home. They kept us in school. Strapped us in even though I begged them not to.” He started crying soundlessly. “I told them I needed to check on Mom and Rhosee, but they had locked our harnesses.”
“Where’s your mother now?” Caya asked as she examined the child, trying to remember the basic things Briar had taught her. She had spent many shifts with Briar at the hospital, both on Oconodos and on Pathfinder. Being a neonatal intensive-care-unit nurse, Briar was an expert on babies.
“She’s dead,” the boy whispered.
“What?” Caya snapped her attention back on the boy. “Are you sure?”
“I…I think so.” He was trembling.
“What’s your name?” Caya took his chin gently between her thumb and index finger.
“Miron.”
“My name is Caya.” She didn’t care that she used her real name at this point. “I’ll call my friend Aldan over, and I want you to take him to your quarters. I want to make sure we do everything we can for your mother…just in case.” Caya waved Aldan over and explained the situation.
“Don’t worry. You deal with the little sweetheart, and I’ll take care of Miron and his mother.” Aldan saluted and took the boy by the hand.
“You’re a natural,” Tomita said where she stood next to Caya, wrapping a bandage around the head of a concussed old man.
“A natural what?” Caya blinked the threatening tears from her eyelashes and refocused on the little girl.
“A natural leader. You don’t even think or stop to consider. You just do.” Tomita bumped her hip against Caya. “I’ll be saying I used to know you way back when you were just a young brat with a gift.”
“Brat, huh?” Caya stuck her tongue out before she began to unclasp the small cardigan the girl wore over her little jumpsuit. “I can’t find any bumps or bruises. No cuts.” She pinched the pale skin on the back of her hand gently. When it didn’t resettle immediately, Caya knew what part of the problem was. “She’s dehydrated. If she took a tumble from her crib and hit her head…She needs a hospital. We can’t care for her enough here. Where’s the nearest local clinic?”
Tomita pulled out a small tablet and punched in a search command. “Two blocks to the left from here. I’ll take her. You can’t just walk in there without us knowing it’s safe for you.”
“You forget that I replenished the potion,” Caya whispered. “I’ll take her. I can ask for more bandages, blankets, and so on. Trust me, they’re going to be so busy, and so grateful for any assistance, they won’t look at me twice.”
“I’m not sure—oh, look. Here’s Aldan and Miron now.” Caya saw the bad news written across Aldan’s features. The young boy was pale and rigid where he walked next to him. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry, Miron.” She took the boy by his shoulders. “No, listen. You have to be strong for Rhosee. She has only you, and she’s going to need you. I’m going to carry her to the clinic a few blocks from here, and I need you to help keep people from running into us. All right?”
“A-all right.” Miron looked dazed but nodded. “Before it was just Mom, me, and Rhosee…”
“And now it is you and Rhosee.” Caya tried to sound as reassuring as possible as she made her way through the street full of wounded and traumatized people. The little warm weight in her arms tugged at her heart, and she prayed to the Creator she wouldn’t be too late. Glancing down at the small child, she thought she was paler, and her lips were faintly blue tinted. “Come, Miron. We need to run. Can you help get people out of the way?”
“Yes!” Miron ran ahead of Caya, yelling at people to move, nudging the ones that didn’t shift fast enough from their path. “We have an emergency. A wounded baby. Move, move!” Miron’s high-pitched voice rang out between the bulkheads, and more people heeded it, making it easier for Caya to run.
She almost sobbed with relief when she saw the sign indicating the clinic at the other end of the street. Caya kept glancing at Rhosee, and when they were almost at the door, she could tell the little girl had stopped breathing. “No!” She didn’t dare continue without administering the heart-lung stimulation. Briar had taught Caya the resuscitation technique when she was a few years younger than Miron. Not hesitating, she placed the one-year-old on the deck and began performing compression across her sternum. Mindful that this was a small, frail child, she used her fingertips rather than the heels of her palms. “Miron. Get help. Tell them to bring a portable ventilator.” Caya bent to ventilate the little girl by using the air in her own lungs. These were traditionalist methods and usually not taught in modern medical universities.
“Here, she’s here,” Miron said from behind.
“Good. Someone who knows what they’re doing,” a stern female voice said. “Move a little to the side, but keep the compressions going.” A woman with steel-grey short hair knelt by Caya’s side while running a scanner across the small body. “She’s in distress, but you’ve kept her circulation going. Good job.”
Caya was too winded to answer. Merely nodding, she kept the compressions up until the doctor had attached the little girl’s body to a small machine that breathed for her and an external heart stimulator. Caya could see color return to little Rhosee’s face. Her lips were pink rather than blue, as were her tiny fingernails.
“Rhosee?” Miron fell to his knees next to the little girl. “Look at me. It’s Miron. It’s me.” He wept now, wiping his nose against his sleeve, and Caya could barely contain her emotions at the sight of the two children.
“Miron,” she said and took him by the shoulders. “Listen to me. I have to go, because I need to see someone and it’s very important. But if all goes well, I promise you, I’ll come back and see how you and Rhosee are doing. I give you my word.” She ruffled his messy hair. “All right?”
Miron hiccupped and looked up at her with huge, wet eyes. “You promise, Ms. Caya?”
“I do. Unless I’m prevented somehow, I’ll come looking for you. And if I can’t, I’ll do my best to tell my si—a really good friend of mine.” She bent to whisper in Miron’s ear. “This is a secret just between you and me. If I can’t make it, I’ll try to send Red Angel.”
The boy gasped and covered her mouth with his hand. “Creator of all things.”
“Exactly. So be brave. Stay close to Rhosee. I’ll see you soon.” Caya kissed his forehead, and just as the doctor turned to her, looking like she was about to interview her about the little girl, Caya smiled apologetically and disappeared into the crowd.
*
Thea stood in the foyer of the governmental building. Around her were the members of her cabinet that had been present on cube one when Pathfinder separated. The ones who resided in other cubes, who had their family members still there, were naturally concerned for their wellbeing, but as communications were reestablished, more and more were put at ease.
Thea wasn’t one of them. Every time a message was put through, it emphasized the fact she had no news of Caya. If she had been concerned before the attack, when it was a matter of Caya keeping herself safe and out of sight of everyone, now when casualty reports showed horrific injuries and even fatalities, it was an entirely different heartache. Behind each anonymous statistic, someone had lost a loved one. The idea one of them might be Caya burned through Thea’s midsection like wildfire.
“Madam President. Fleet Admiral Vayand is pleased to report that ten cubes are now locked into position around cube one. We are once again protected—”
“What?” Thea snapped her head up, narrowing her eyes at the minister of defense. “What did you just say?”
“We, um, cube one is once again protected with ten cubes locked into place around us.” The man, tall and bulky, shuffled his feet. “This is of outmost importance as the government and the main bridge—”
“That’s what I thought you said, though I didn’t want to believe it.” Thea spat the words. “That implies that the surrounding cubes are nothing but a humanoid wall to keep the elite in cube one safe. That implies that somehow you regard the people in those cubes, the Gemoconians who have risked everything to find a new and safer home, as expendable. As long as we in here are safe, then to hell with everything else—is that how you regard your fellow passengers aboard Pathfinder?” Furious enough to tremble, Thea growled the last sentence.
“No, no. Not at all, sir. I would never dream of reasoning like that. I—I’m grateful for the fact all the cubes are accounted for. My wife and children have yet to dock with us. I actually think they’re last in line to do so.” The man ran a handkerchief under his chin. “I’m sorry if—”
“No.” She held up a hand, effectively silencing the minister of defense. “I am the one who is sorry. I spoke out of turn, and I apologize. We’re all rattled for having been attacked without any justifiable cause. I pray to the Creator your family is docked safely and that you’re reunited within a few hours like planned, Minister.”
“Thank you, Madam President. No need for you to apologize to me either. We are all aware what burden of responsibility can do when there is no reprieve from it.” The minister looked relieved to be out of her line of fire, and though Thea didn’t think she deserved his understanding and kind approach, she was grateful for it.
“Madam President?” A voice so like Caya’s, but with a little more timbre, spoke next to her.
Thea turned and saw Briar and Adina, the latter holding a protective arm around Briar, who was pale and looked fatigued. “How are the two of you holding up?” Thea took Briar by her shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Have you heard anything?” It was unlikely they would hear anything before Thea did, but there was the off chance Caya would get in touch with her sister by her own volition.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. Ever since my shift ended, I’ve been sitting by the screen in our quarters, scanning the crowds from the new reports, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. At any other time, I would’ve kept working after my shift was over, to help out, but all I can think about is finding her.” Briar’s copper-blond curls fell in disarray around her pale face. Her turquoise eyes, so like her sister, but not quite as hypnotic, glistened with tears.
“I’m so sorry for not having any news for you.” Thea caressed Briar’s cheek. “If you want to remain in the building you can either stay here or use my quarters. Briar, I would like for you to have personal guards if you do decide to leave.”
“That’s not necessary,” Briar protested, but she put no strength behind her words. “Honestly?”
“Humor me.” Thea exchanged a glance with Adina. The tall commander looked so
worried and worn; Thea realized Briar must be in a worse emotional state than she let on. Perhaps it was because the sisters’ special connection had been severed. If Thea was so profoundly affected by Caya’s absence, her sister, who in many ways had been like a mother for Caya, had to feel shattered. “And let Adina take care of you. I know firsthand how easy it is to shut someone out—you think you’re being strong, that you’re protecting them from your own emotions. Don’t make that mistake. Adina needs to be there for you, and you certainly need her and the rest of us, to see you through this until Caya returns.”
“And who will you turn to, Thea?” Briar asked softly. She took Thea’s hand and made no secret of how she’d entered Thea’s mind, which Thea surmised was only fair after the personal pep talk she had just given Briar. “You—you love her,” she whispered, her eyes huge in her freckled face. “You truly do. I always thought you did, somehow, but now…Oh, Thea. She will come back to us. She will. She has to.” Briar threw her arms around Thea, crying quietly against her shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered after a while as Adina slowly pulled her back.
“No need, dear. No need at all. We’re in the same place, in a sense.” Thea had not shed a tear while holding Briar and rocking her. Now, however, she found it difficult to contain her emotions, but people were waiting for her to address the people of Pathfinder as soon as it was completely attached. She would give a good, well-thought-out speech, and she would make sure that it entailed words only Caya would be able to interpret and understand.
Chapter Nineteen
It happened again as they rushed along the corridor leading to the closest jumper station. Caya was right behind Tomita, holding Foy’s communicator pressed against her ear to try to hear what the person responding said. So many people were shouting and talking around them, she could barely make out what she said herself.
