by Scott Rhine
Jumping through the archway, Max dove straight into the underbrush. Stealthily, he crept to the bush at Reuben’s side. The moment he placed his left hand on his friend’s neck to check for a pulse, the sniper fired. Max rolled back into cover. Movement ceased.
Leaning forward, she scanned the leaves below through her scope. “I even turned up the voltage for him. I wonder how far he managed to make it.”
Max popped up directly under her tree and fired a spread of darts. His left side was limp, but his right appeared unhindered.
Two darts hit the woman, and her face locked into a mask of terror. Her body slowly tipped forward, over the edge of the stand.
“She’s going to fall!” Kesh shouted.
She could plummet ten meters to the ground. With one working arm, Max wouldn’t be able to catch her. Kesh couldn’t make the dash there in time. As she dropped, Reuben hopped to his feet, ready to embrace her.
After dropping two meters, Daisy jerked to a halt and pendulum-swung into the tree. Her weapon clattered to the ground, narrowly missing Reuben. Hopeful, he asked, “Did she snag on a branch?”
“No,” Max replied, glaring at Kesh. “Unlike some people, she followed safety regs. She used a low-grav harness, though. I don’t want to put too much faith in it. I’ll dial back the gravity, but one of you will have to climb up there to tip her upright. My arm won’t work for a while, and all the blood rushing to her head can’t be comfortable.”
“Saurians don’t climb trees.”
Reuben took off his boots. Instead of hooves, his soft, brown feet were split like a llama’s. “Grab me a safety strap from the hook by the door.”
Kesh saw the underbrush rustle. “Close the hatch.” He tiptoed toward the exit. His dinner was getting away.
Max was already busy, issuing orders to the ship’s AI and fetching the strap.
“I’m coming to get you,” Reuben promised the air above them. “I’m glad we’ve cancelled the ambush game.”
Menelaus groaned, rubbing his neck. “Afraid I’ll tag you next time?”
Reuben replied, “People have been getting injured. A family doesn’t do that to one another. Besides, hunting and revenge may be a recent hobby for you, but they’ve been a way of life for Max since he was born. I don’t relish the idea of rolling over in my bunk to stare down the barrel of his gun.”
“Catch the rat!” Kesh shouted. “We have exposed wiring and conduits all over the ship. There’s no telling the damage it can cause!”
Casually, Max switched clips on his pistol. He pegged the vermin centimeters from the threshold of the round hatch. Microexplosives splattered the rodent’s delicious blood over the foliage. “Stop playing with your food. Next time, bring someone along to watch your back. We make these rules for a reason.”
Kesh grumbled as he scooped up the carcass. Pre-shredded food someone else caught was for hatchlings and elders who’d lost their teeth.
Considering the alternatives, Menelaus said, “For the female’s sake, I concede the game.”
Reuben climbed quickly. “She’s not responding.”
“Don’t shake her!” Max ordered. “She could have neck or spinal damage.”
The Goat attached a harness, and the team lowered her slowly.
When the unconscious Daisy reached the mossy ground, Max announced, “She’s in shock.” He fastened monitor patches to her forehead and chest.
“Did she get a concussion?” asked Reuben, frantic.
The doctor checked a few readings. “Kesh, get a backboard so we can carry her to sick bay.”
17. The Deep
Daisy remained in a coma for days, and Max was unable to find out why. Reuben slept in a cot on the other side of the small room. Whispering to Kesh, Max said, “The cause is brain related. I don’t know what I’m looking for. She needs the specialists in Laurelin.”
Kesh growled. “We don’t have time to return. Don’t you have a fallback?”
“No. Normally, Daisy would contact her sister, the nurse, to solve the problem.”
“Since her powers come from Magi DNA, do you think the Magi could help her?”
“Not the ones from the shuttle that escorted us. They’re mostly engineers.”
“What about the medical facility at Bright Frontier? Surely it’s advanced enough.”
After stepping into the hallway, Max whispered, “They aren’t supposed to learn the Llewellyn family has been experimenting with strands of Magi DNA. It’d sink diplomatic relations with Humans for a century.”
“The truth hurts. Death and war hurt more. Long term, the Magi will reconcile because the telepaths are family.”
Max opened his mouth to counter the statement. Instead, he said, “It’s complicated.”
“How did Llewellyn find a biosample? The Magi are so secretive.”
“An old crash site. The details aren’t important. Daisy’s getting weaker. I have to stick her in stasis.”
“Goat boy’s not going to like that prognosis. That’s how he lost Ivy. She went in for blaster burns, and Llewellyn pulled her from field work permanently.”
“With her injuries, she was too recognizable, no-good for undercover.”
“Reuben would’ve been fine with that if they let her leave Laurelin.”
“She knows too many family secrets,” Max explained.
Kesh snorted with disdain. “She’s too important to the breeding program.”
“Spare me your disapproval of mammal habits. What do we do next?”
“It’s obvious. Put Reuben in stasis. Tell him we’re going to jump early.”
“Echo wouldn’t jeopardize the ship’s secret.”
“Make up something about the planet being between us and the observation post so no one can see.”
Max held up a finger. “That part’s actually true.”
“Then why aren’t we jumping?”
“In case another ship emerges from the nexus before we were supposed to reach it.”
“I checked the shipping schedules. No Goat vessels are due for sixteen days, and any Magi crew would keep it’s mouth shut. Not only is the risk worthwhile in a medical emergency, but shaving time on this end will give us a margin of error on the arrival time for Glory Point.”
“Right.” Max nodded. “I’ll tell my wives. You get Reuben into his sleeper unit. If you do it while he’s groggy, he won’t ask questions.”
“I’ll program my own after we prep.” Emptying one’s bladder and balancing electrolytes was a good idea for anyone before entering stasis. Kesh would also put on thermal underwear because the ship was always chillier on waking.
“Good plan.” Max usually put everyone under personally and supervised their exit. Roz would be the sole person to remain awake for the turbulent passage through the subbasement.
Out of convenience, Max wouldn’t wake people until the last moment before docking at the Magi port. Kesh couldn’t stomach the idea of losing more of his limited time to the sleeper unit. Instead of allowing the ship to wake him in the normal sequence, Kesh estimated how long the journey would take and set an alarm.
****
The pod room was moonlight dim when Kesh’s unit opened. Lights on the wall pulsed an unhealthy amber because battery backups had been engaged. The zero-g warning was also lit.
On the first step from the pod, he had to strap his wrist to the rail. His sense of balance was out of whack like the time he’d ridden a Human merry-go-round with his hatchlings. Max will have a shot to fix this. He staggered toward the navigation chamber where his friend was suspended.
He tapped the panel to open the door. The navigation chamber sat inside a giant mirrored sphere. Lights blinked on several consoles. He was no a pilot, but he could tell the passage had not gone as planned.
At the center of the sphere stood a pale-blue, out-of-focus Roz. She was dressed in white ceremonial robes. She seemed to be searching the horizon for something. Tendrils of smoke writhed around her feet. She could have been a pri
estess straight from the Human myths he’d been reading. Perhaps his thoughts influenced her appearance. To keep his mind from wandering, he recited the names of wrestling moves from his father’s opus like a mantra.
After a single step in her direction, something squeezed his temples like the deep end of a pool. The closer he approached, the more intense the pressure became. His motions slowed. “What are you doing?” he asked. His voice sounded like an unrehearsed choir, with several variations in message and timing.
“I’m holding myself just below the surface of the event horizon.”
That’s what you get when you ask a saint a question, more questions. “What’s wrong?”
“I lost focus. I couldn’t find a reality where everyone was happy. I made things worse.”
He listened as several copies of himself asked, “What’s the damage?”
“Ivy died while linked to her sisters. The backlash put the two survivors into comas.”
“How do you know?”
“She paid me a visit.”
“You can speak to the dead?”
“I can sense them if we were close. My head injury prevents me from linking to the living, but here I can feel a different sort of collective.”
He recalled amputees who thought their limbs still hurt. In this case, she must have been experiencing phantom pains on a whole new level. Sinking to his knees, he crawled nearer. “We should return to normal space,” he said, in self-harmony.
Tears flowed down her cheeks. “It gets harder to leave them each time. They care so much for us. Echo is drawn to their song.”
“The living need you.” The pressure would crush him like an eggshell.
“It’s so peaceful.”
“For Max.”
Roz blinked. “Of course. He’s not ready yet.” Her hands touched holographic controls he couldn’t see.
Suddenly, he was riding an elevator deep into the mines. He must have blacked out because when the lights came on, she was leaning over him. “Thank you for snapping me out of my mood.”
Mood? “What’re friends for?” he croaked. Hearing just one self felt odd.
She offered him a water bulb. “Please don’t tell anyone else.”
“About Ivy?”
“I’m responsible. Anything could have caused the coma, but I pushed the probability matrix for a reason that would keep Daisy’s secret.”
The telepath wouldn’t need invasive medical attention anymore. “Max can look up a treatment on the hospital computers if she doesn’t come out of it herself. However, there’s no way you’re to blame.”
Roz raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s say you could’ve steered the course of the universe. Given a choice, wouldn’t Ivy have sacrificed herself to save her sister’s life and their family secrets?”
“Yes, but not a word to anyone. The academy would ban our stardrive research if they knew the side effects. Max would cancel the mission. I lost focus.”
“Is this going to happen every time we jump?”
“No. Because of our increased speed, we went a slightly deeper than intended.”
“You think?” If this that was a little deep, no wonder Reuben drank after his experience.
“Hubward bound should be easier to control.”
This wasn’t encouraging. “Forget about making everyone else happy or pleasing the whole damn galaxy. What do you want, Enlightened One? What will keep you focused and anchored to the land of the living?”
“A child with Max.”
“So do it. You don’t need smoke and mirrors for that. He’s fertile.”
The reference to his illegitimate child made her wince. “With Magi, conception takes all three members of the triad. Echo’s pretty old.”
“I’m sure this superior race’s hospital can do something about that.”
“They don’t like to risk mutations or introduce more Unfortunates to the galaxy.”
Kesh gave a toothy predator’s grin. “Please. Without your help, they’ll never understand the math or the modifications you made to this bucket. You could ask for anything, and the entire race would twist themselves into pretzels to make it happen.” At the mention of food, he began to salivate.
A thin smile of hope bloomed on her face. “You think it’s possible?” A moment later, she frowned. “I couldn’t blackmail my own people, not after everything they’ve done. Besides, Max already played that card.”
“You don’t want to ask him?”
“He’s made his opinion clear about pregnancy in a war zone.”
“Hmph. You just sulk and keep quiet. Let me negotiate.” He relished the thought of bargaining again.
18. The Magi Frontier
Appearing less than a day’s travel from their destination had been satisfying until they contacted the academy. Then they parked at the quarantine dock, watching all their gains fritter away.
Roz sat on the bridge, awed by the sleek Magi space station. No one could determine how the aliens had been able to fashion a hull that large in one piece. “The simplicity of their design hides incredible strength.”
“We broke speed records getting here,” Max complained. “Twenty times normal jump velocity, and they’re making us sit through a third day of decontamination?”
Kesh joked, “Hurry up and wait. You should be used to this from the military.”
Softly, Roz said, “Our people do nothing in haste. This is for the protection of their entire species. You’ll have to admit they met us with hospitality—offers of free fuel and anything we needed.”
“That part was to suck up to you. I hate bureaucrats. Billions will die if we delay. An entire species may be wiped out.” The prolonged vegetarian diet had made Max cranky.
Echo appeared in holo form behind him. “Kingdoms, ideologies, and people vanish daily. That’s the cycle. The Enigma remains. We wish to transcend the subsistence cycle for the good of all. We’re on the verge of proclaiming a higher truth. Patience.”
“The non-Magi crew and I are confined to the Goat habitat,” Max complained. Magi maintained a pool of menial laborers to interact with other races on the border. They were also used for physical tasks that robots didn’t do well, repairs and alien cargo transfer.
“Your role is to guarantee their civil behavior,” Echo said. “They’re a little violent for our tastes. Besides, someone needs to tend to Daisy.”
As predicted, Max had researched a stimulant and psi-blocker combination in minutes. “Daisy’s awake but suffering from crippling depression.”
“I thought you couldn’t talk about a patient’s details,” Kesh said.
“In this case, she told Reuben everything. She blames herself for Ivy’s death. The moment Daisy fell out of the tree, she called out to her sisters by reflex. Distracted by the scream for help, Ivy ran her car off the edge of a cliff. She passed soon after our jump.”
Kesh opened his mouth to remark on the timing, but Roz glared to silence him.
Max continued. “What am I going to do while you’re hobnobbing with the greatest scientists in on the planet?”
“Reuben took it hard,” said Roz. “He won’t talk to me, and he sleeps half the day. Find something to snap him out of it.”
“Why do I have Goatsitting duty?”
Echo said, “This isn’t to penalize you. The Bankers have demanded we keep Roz isolated from the rest of civilization. After we stole the Ram from their custody, we have to give them some concession.”
A green light flashed on the console. “Academy leaders are ready to accept us at the main airlock,” Roz said, kissing her husband good-bye. The brief peck turned into a long embrace.
Kesh rolled his eyes and brought up the list of available Goat trade goods in the station warehouse.
“I thought you had a treatise to write,” Echo observed.
He grunted in reply. “Writer’s block. Maybe I can leverage the workers on this station into a financial opportunity. They ea
rn one-and-a-half times what specialists in Goat space would.”
“The days are longer here, and Magi have exacting standards. Realize that something on such a small scale won’t free the Goats from their loan.”
“It could distract Reuben.”
“Ah. You’re a good friend.”
Kesh said, “The Goat traders should dump the alfalfa. At harvest in another month, the prices will be less than half. They should double down on the nonperishables.”
“Stasis will keep the vegetation from rotting until the price rises again,” Echo replied. “It’s what they do every year.”
“But the energy costs eat their profits.”
Echo cocked her head. “I think your legacy will be the Black Ram’s new policies and his victory over the mistakes of the past, not writing a textbook.”
“My success hinges on whether I can bring him back from this hormonal funk?”
“An uplifter’s job isn’t easy.” Turning to Roz, she said, “If you give him any more to remember you by, he’ll need a shower. Let’s be off.”
****
Life on the Magi station felt sterile. The Goats suited up and inspected the hull of the Deep 6 for any damage or stress. However, the radio chatter felt as subdued as patrons in a library. “They don’t act like typical Goats,” noted Kesh.
“Many of these are failed Ram candidates,” Reuben whispered. “Despite high technical-aptitude scores, their psi levels are low, and they don’t fit in with normal society.”
The moment they were allowed to leave the ship, Kesh encouraged Reuben to visit the Goat workers. Perhaps feeling like a celebrity would cheer him up. His comrade needed noise and attention. “You owe your fans another video. Let’s take a tour.”
“I don’t feel like bumping fists right now.”
“The workers could use a morale boost. Besides, you owe the public an explanation for your disappearance. Markets could spiral downward if they think you’ve been kidnapped. It wouldn’t hurt to build some goodwill to counter the bad PR you’re going to get from helping the Bankers.”
