Love you. Nell closed her eyes. She was too tired to turn over.
He swept her hair out of her face. She felt him move away and the door ease closed.
“Leave it ajar.” Steel laced Bei’s voice.
“Of course,” Rayem murmured. “Shall I show you the other records?”
“I’ll stay on this level.”
Nell snuggled deeper into the blankets. That was her husband, always looking after her. She opened her eyes to slits. A blade of light from the open door slashed the darkness.
Blue script flowed on the wall opposite her. Nell Stafford. Interesting potential.
What the hell did that mean? The temperature of the room dropped. Fermites swarmed her, sealing her eyes closed and robbing her of consciousness.
Chapter 19
Deep inside the shelter, Bei eased the door to his and Nell’s bedroom closed. For a moment there… He shook his head. His wife curled into a ball under the blankets, her head nestled in a pillow and soft, even breaths slipped past her parted lips. She was fine. Everything was fine.
Doc’s footfalls whispered behind Bei. “The adrenalin spike?”
“Probably just some memory right before she drifted off.” Sometimes his wife’s erratic thoughts woke her up. Other times, exhaustion swallowed it. Today, Nell had pushed herself to the brink of permanent failure. Clasping his hands behind his back, Bei shifted his attention to his Chief Medical Officer. “Unless, there is something you are not telling me?”
“You know her better than anyone.” Doc scratched the hair on his chin. “Do you think…”
“I think if it was important, she would have woken and told me.” Nell couldn’t keep anything to herself if she considered it important. Unhooking his hands, Bei set his palm against the wall. His sensors detected no laser, diamond saw, or other tool markings. “Fermites.”
“That would be my guess.” Doc sent a data package on his scans of the writing. “I don’t like that the atomic pests can turn solid into liquid without warning.”
Ignoring the new packet, Bei replayed the image of Nell sunk forearm deep in the pillar. It had been a controlled immersion. Her struggles hadn’t sunk her further inside, nor had they released her. Bei closed out the visual and opened the file—Doc had assessed Nell’s condition after her encounter with the obelisk. She’d registered as fundamentally unchanged.
And she was not pregnant.
Bei cocked an eyebrow.
“I thought you’d want to know.” Red spotted Doc’s tan cheeks. “I mean about the…her arms. The other was routine.” Chewing on the mustache of his goatee, he cleared his throat. “Besides, given the fermites’ abilities, I thought it best to check, to see if they had messed with anything else.”
Bei blinked. Even his programming couldn’t reset to that paradigm. “Nell Stafford is an amazing woman, more adaptable than our software, but I doubt even she could become pregnant through her hands.”
And if she ever did, he’d insist she wear latex gloves for the next hundred or so years.
Paladin Apollie parted the curtain of fruit vines separating the hallway from the dining area. Licking crimson berry juice from her fingers, she shoved an etablet at Bei’s gut. “This hall of records is a bust. Nothing but a genealogy chart. I couldn’t even find evidence of the Surlat strain outbreak.”
“It’s on the deck below.” Doc flipped open the tip of his pinky finger and jacked into the port of the etablet. The screen flickered yellow and blue, and information winked on and off. His sclera turned as black as his irises. “Five extra deaths in one year.”
“Five.” Apollie snorted. “That’s hardly a pandemic.”
“It is for Davena’s people.”
Bei detected the softening in his officer’s voice.
Doc logged out of the etablet and pushed it back toward the featherheaded Skaperian. “The native population remained a constant for the two millennia that I checked. When a child was born, someone died.”
The hair on Bei’s neck stood straight up. “Fermite population control?”
“Maybe, initially. I don’t have enough data to formulate a hypothesis.” Doc shrugged. “After the Plague hit, the population started to decline. Fewer births were recorded every year and more deaths. Even without the Founders’ threats of violence, Davena’s people are dying. Within two generations, they will be extinct.”
If his Chief Medical Officer could convince the biologics, the relocation was as good as done. “Will you relay that to the oracle?”
Doc nodded then shook his head. “You may be placing too high a value on my charms.”
“What charms?” Apollie chuckled. “He talks to Davena’s toes, his skin changes colors, and he practically drools when he peeks at her from under his lashes.”
“I have never drooled.” Doc took a step toward her.
Bei set his hands on his hips. Should he intervene or let them fight it out?
“Calm down.” Apollie patted Doc’s shoulder. “It’s perfectly proper behavior from a weak male when he wants to garner a strong female’s attention. For a featherless, grotesque-limbed creature, you’re not the ugliest of specimens.”
Doc opened and closed his mouth several times.
Bei’s outrage tumbled into humor. Skaperian superiority knew no bounds.
Apollie double-tapped a file Doc had inserted in her etablet when he’d copied her findings. A bar graph filled the screen—the steps led down to nil. “I concur with your findings, but wonder at the cause. You found no microbes on the planet. We know through Nell Stafford’s efforts, that even fatal injuries can be healed. So what is causing the population decline?”
Doc crossed his arms. “Well, if you want a feeble Human male’s thoughts, I have two hypotheses.”
Tilting her head, Apollie sighed. “My apologies, Doc. I can see that you have taken offense at my observation.”
Doc rolled his eyes.
An ache built at the back of Bei’s skull. All sides had gaps to close in this new alliance. Of course, Syn-Ens were accustomed to discrimination by biologics. But it had not been gender based, only about their technology.
She patted Doc’s shoulder again.”You’re educated in your field, can call up data with little more than a thought, and have decades of experience. Your opinion is valid and your conclusions are undoubtedly correct.”
Bei cocked an eyebrow. That apology came a little too easily.
“I must work on overcoming a lifetime of seeing men weakened by their emotions and having it color their normally sound judgments, especially when they are involved in courting.”
Bei replayed the featherhead’s speech. Thanks to his time with Nell, he recognized the whole ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ nuances to Apollie’s apology. Did his Chief Medical Officer?
Doc smoothed his uniform tunic. “Yes, well, you need to work on that.” Taking a deep breath, he finger-combed his black hair. “My first thought was that some kind of off-world contact occurred.”
Apollie’s thin lips turned down at the corners. “I checked the quarantine monitors since we were dispatched to Surlat. For the last century, this world has remained isolated. Neither has there been an asteroid strike nor meteor shower.”
Bei checked the CIC. Was it possible that the satellite caught all incoming space debris? Earth’s moon didn’t. Nor had Jupiter’s dozens of moons. He sent a query to double-check the Skaperian’s facts.
Doc waved his hand. “I dismissed it just as easily. The fermites act as both viral and microbial life on Surlat. If they are sentient and dependent on living organisms for their own lifecycle, the fermites would protect their hosts by destroying anything potentially threatening.”
Nell gasped and mumbled in her sleep. Their conversation must be disturbing her.
Bei parted the berry vines hanging from the top floor to this one. Fist-sized raspberries and strawberries knocked together. He stepped through the green curtain into the communal dining area, knowing the others would follow. “Yo
u will still make the vaccines.”
Across the clusters of tables and chairs, Rayem plucked berries, filling the square grass basket in his hands. Leaves caught in his beard, withered and browned before dissolving in a cascade of sparkles. “The new oracle will be hungry when she awakens.”
Bei swallowed a growl. Yet, another claim on Nell Stafford. “My wife will appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
Humming softly, Rayem collected the harvest.
“Of course, I plan to work on a vaccine.” Doc hefted his portable lab onto the table. Metal scraped metal. He set his thumbs on the biometric keypad and the latches popped open. “There’s no telling if the fermites will protect Davena and her people once they relocate.”
Apollie slid her etablet onto the smooth metal surface. It glided to a stop next to Doc’s suitcase. Standing on tiptoe, she collected the berries Rayem had missed. “So you’ve eliminated one idea. What is the second?”
Doc removed trays of sensors and leads from the suitcase. “The Human body is either becoming allergic to the fermites, causing fetuses carrying them to spontaneously abort. Or, when the population dipped five below the standard, the ratio of fermites increased enough to draw a critical amount of energy from the Human hosts, lowering fertility and fecundity, and creating a positive feedback loop.”
The beads at the ends of Apollie’s braids clacked together as she jumped like a cricket to get the strawberries higher up. “We have no evidence that the fermites harmed the host.”
Bei tapped the screen of her etablet, transferring enhanced visuals of Nell’s skin and the geysers of fermites. The atomic pests had fed on his wife’s energy like it was their personal smorgasbord. “You haven’t seen this level of infection before.”
“Not infection, per se. I believe the harm is a side effect.” Doc powered on his medical analyzer. “But given that the fermites are in the air, the food, and the intestinal track of the natives, the atomic pests might be too much of a good thing.”
Apollie bit a strawberry in half. “I think the fermites taste delicious.”
Doc’s lips twitched. “Careful, feather-face. Too many of those things and Gaug may not give you the daughters you want.”
At the mention of her intended, Apollie rolled the half-eaten fruit around in her long fingers. Furrows plowed her pale forehead and her lips pursed. “Maybe if I eat enough, I can take some fermites back, and they can undo the damage done to him.”
She popped the rest into her mouth and chewed.
Love made every species take dangerous risks. Bei glanced toward his wife’s room. Increasing his auditory sensors, he detected the rustle of sheets, Nell’s hitched breath, and a soft whimper. Today’s events were taking its toll. She would not be alone when she awoke. But he had work to do.
“You should go to her.” Doc removed a sphere from the bottom of the case. He rolled the silver ball down his arm, bounced it off his bicep, then caught it again.
“You packed a probe in your medical kit?” Bei raised a hand to receive the sphere.
“Nope.” Smiling, Doc lobbed the sphere at Bei. “I packed two. Just because you’re lounging about in bed, doesn’t mean you can’t be working.”
Depressing the buttons on the sides of the sphere, Bei synced the signal to the CIC. Green lights blinked, sensors came on-line, and the probe whirled. Very slowly, it rose in the air. “Start scanning at the lowest level and work your way back to Doc.”
The sphere glided across the room.
Doc juggled the spare probe in his hand. “Want a pair of them on the hunt?”
“Just one will do.” Bei didn’t trust the fermites. The atomic pests might sabotage their tech.
The probe whistled near the white-bearded biologic. Rayem ducked. A nervous chuckle slipped through his withered lips. Shuffling forward, he placed the basket of fruit between his body and them. “The ceremony is over. Shall I retrieve the rest of your party?”
Doc frowned. “How do you know the ceremony is over?”
Rayem scooted the basket onto the top of the nearest table. “All who listen can hear the Meek.”
“I don’t hear anything.” Doc cocked his head. “And I have pretty good hearing.”
Bei amplified his own audio sensors. He picked up nothing outside of the compound.
Nell thrashed in their bed. His name slipped past her lips. He caressed her mind. A black inkiness sucked at him. Was this her dream about the pillar? He whispered into her dream. I’m coming, love. I’m coming.
Apollie picked black seeds out her teeth. “I heard Nell’s cry.”
Rayem sidled out of the dining area. “You have not been to the pillar. The Meek have not judged if you are fit to commune with them.”
Apollie removed her utility belt and laid it next to Doc’s assortment of medical supplies. “So, you’re saying that once we commune with the great pillar in the sky, we’ll be able to hear your thoughts?”
Rayem stiffened. “The Meek do not like to be mocked any more than they like violence.”
Apollie snorted.
Bei raised his hand, asking for her silence. “Thank you, Rayem. Please bring Karl and Erin here. If we carry some disease that might harm your people, we must work quickly to stop it.”
Rayem’s wispy beard twitched. “You are a good match for the new oracle.”
Bare feet slapped the tile as he shambled away.
Bei listened to his light treads up the stairs, the nimble gait down the hallway, and the gazelle leap through the waterfall.
Doc shook his head. “Sometimes I think he is as brittle as an old twig, other times he seems no older than any of us.”
Licking her lips, Apollie wove a path through the tables and chairs then stopped in front of the basket of fruit. “I think the fermites send signals that link directly into their brains. They gave them our language from your ship’s Combat Information Center.”
“We detected no signals.” Bei checked all known frequencies. Nothing.
Admiral, this is Starflight 2. The biologics’ funeral is over. What are your orders?
Bei green-lighted the search for the dirtside Scraptors.
“You can’t detect the Amarook’s either.” Apollie wiggled her fingers over the collection of berries. Burgundy juice dribbled through the basket’s weave. “Yet, you know Elvis is in Nell Stafford’s head.”
Bei clenched his jaw. He didn’t like things he couldn’t detect.
Doc cleared his throat. “Or the fermites could be relaying messages through contact, like microbes exchange information. Until the pillar gives us the proper password, we could be ignoring the bits of foreign code because we can’t translate it and it exists outside of our systems.”
Bei liked that idea only slightly better. “We’ll visit the pillar on our way to hunt the Scraptors.”
“Thanks to my guinea pigs, Karl and Erin, I should have a working vaccine by the morning.” Doc sealed the case and set it under the table.
“Make sure you get your required two hours of sleep. I want you fresh in case we encounter the enemy.” Bei headed for his wife.
“In case we encounter the Scraptors?” Tucking the basket under her arm, Apollie strode back to Doc’s side, sat on the nearest stool, and studied her etablet. “I thought we were going to seek and destroy the Bug-uglies.”
Parting the green vines, Bei glanced over his shoulder at the Skaperian. “We’re going to seek and find the information they are after then copy it.”
Her jaw thrust forward. “Why not just kill them, like they killed your people?”
Bei rolled the tension from his shoulders. Why did he have to explain the obvious to another trained warrior? “Because we can save more Humans, Amarooks, and Skaperians by letting the Scraptors think they reclaimed their intelligence under our noses.”
Reaching inside the trays on the table, Doc sorted his supplies into two piles. “So we can study their weapons strengths and weaknesses, and find out how to defeat the tech before the Founders even bu
ild it. Imagine how tight the Scraptor’s waste flaps will seal in our first battle.”
Apollie smiled. “Victory will be almost as sweet as these raspberries.”
Dropping the greenery, Bei ghosted into his room. Fermites bumped up the lights enough for him to see.
Nell swept her arm across his side of the bed. “Bei?”
“Here.” He paused.
Her eyes opened to slits. Fermites diluted the dark blue to silver pools. “I had a bad dream.”
“What did you dream?”
She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “I—I don’t remember. There were things. Lots of things and… You were there but the rest wasn’t good.”
“Nightmares usually aren’t.” After she returned to sleeping, he’d tap into her cerebral interface and see if a copy had been recorded in the CIC. No point in worrying her.
Flopping her hand to the side, she stared at him. Her eyes darkened to their usual sapphire color. She patted the mattress. “You could make it better.”
“Oh?” He placed his palm on his flat stomach and inched it lower.
She threw a pillow at him. “This isn’t a negotiation. Get naked and get into bed. I don’t want to think anymore. I just want you and me, like it was before.”
“Better than before.” He knew all her favorite spots and discovered more to revisit. He whipped his tunic over his head and chucked it on the floor. He reached for his waistband.
“Your upgrades are the best ever built.” She leaned forward. Her uniform drained off her shoulders and reformed on the ground.
Bei shucked his boots and his trousers. “I thought you wanted me to undress you?”
“I did, but you were taking too long.”
“So you lied?”
Her gaze traveled up and down his body. “What are you going to do about it?”
His blood thundered in his veins. He loved a challenge. “You’re about to find out.”
He activated the camouflage in his armor and blended into the wall.
She raised the blanket to her chin. “Who’s cheating now?”
The lights faded to dark. Bei eased open his arm compartment. Removing two wafers, he tossed them to the other side of the bed. They pinged softly on the floor.
Syn-En: Plague World: The Founders War Begins Page 17
