by Brian Fisher
Chapter 17
Lieutenant Valche's body lay on a hastily assembled white table in the Commissioner’s office. The Lieutenant's head lay at an unnatural position. An Olcai medical technician examined the body, taking careful note of the smallest details.
"The neck was broken, severing the spinal cord, just below the skull. Death was instant, causing the victim no pain." the technician paused before looking at the Commissioner. "There is an unusual radiation here. It is very faint, but it is here none the less."
"What do you mean 'unusual radiation'?" Commissioner Valche asked, moving around T'Sula.
"My instruments are picking up an ambient radiation that should not be here." the technician took the pad that it had used, and started moving around the room. It paused in front of T'Sula. "Commander, it seems that the radiation is coming from you. To be more specific, it's coming from your hand."
"My hand?" T'Sula blinked and looked at the red spot on the back of her hand.
"The server at the restaurant." Kamira blurted out. Her eyes went wide at the thought of the implications. The bombing of the restaurant, all of the deaths that had come since, and the invisible killer that had taken the Lieutenant all of it could have been avoided, and lives could have been saved.
"What are you talking about Kam?" T'Sula asked, rubbing the back of her hand.
"T'Sula, you have what they want." Kamira stepped forward and took T'Sula's hand in hers. "Think about it. Just after the server put this mark on you, the restaurant that you ordered from was bombed. There has to be a connection." she sighed. "That thing was looking for you."
"Oh boy. Well, let's see if you're right Kam." T'Sula freed herself from Kamira, and held out her hand to the med. tech. "Scan me."
"Yes ma'am." the technician slowly scanned T'Sula's hand. "Commander Mir, there's an artificial object imbedded in your hand. You wouldn't be able to see it without a scanner. The one that I have is barely registering the object." the tech looked at T'Sula. "I would suggest that we remove the object, and find out what it is. If we go to the medical station, we should be able to remove it for you."
"This is interesting." Commissioner Valche interjected. "Commander, I hope that you will cooperate with us." Valche looked sadly at T'Sula. "Whatever is in your hand, has wrought hell upon us, and I, for one, would like to know why."
The world seemed to weigh down upon T'Sula. The walls started to creep closer, driving out the breathable air. Her head swam as she thought about the possibilities of what she carried. Only something truly profound could cause this destruction and death. Why would anyone willingly cause this much pain? So much anguish over such a small thing.
T'Sula glanced around the room. The Olcai simply stared at her, their massive, dark eyes unblinking. What could they be thinking? Kamira sighed and looked away, not willing to hold her gaze. T'Sula looked at her hand, and walked out the door. She didn't utter a word, she simply left.
Twilight light washed over her, bathing her in the beauty of Olcai. Her heart raced as she walked purposefully through the streets. T'Sula watched the people around her, praying to herself that she was simply experiencing a horrible dream. Just the day before the streets had been bustling, crowded with eager tourists going from shop to shop, hoping to find the perfect souvenir. A few men and women of a dozen different races still clung to the streets, or possibly to the remnants of a shattered dream. Their faces were tight, hollow. They trudged out of one store front, and into another.
The day swiftly disappeared behind a thick blanket of starry night. T'Sula kept walking, searching for a sign that everything would be alright. A brisk breeze picked up, followed by a short, cold rain. T'Sula pulled her arms close to her chest, and continued on until she reached the edge of the city, and could walk no farther.
She faced a wall. It was short, only a couple of meters in height, and a smooth cream color that reminded her of the gentle spring mornings of her childhood. T'Sula reached for the top of the wall, letting the texture of it caress her skin before she hoisted herself up. Once atop the wall, she sat comfortably and dangled her feet over the far side.
The gentle scent of the ocean greeted her on the breeze. Tears welled up in her eyes. Memories washed gently over her, trying desperately to take her away to a different time and place. Faces of friends and family smiled in her mind’s eye, and then faded away into the darkness that shrouded everything. She watched helplessly as the Ta'Reeth came into her home. She watched her mother and father struggling for their lives, then crumbling into the ashes of her home, and her innocence.
T'Sula wiped away her tears. She glanced down at her hand, and lightly rubbed the tiny red spot. It didn't hurt, not physically anyway. How many people had died, were dying, because of her? No, she chided herself. It wasn't her fault. She was responsible for the consequences of her own actions, not the actions of others.
Silently T'Sula cursed her limitations, her inability to cure the galaxy of its cancer as she stared out at the vast, open ocean. It was immense and powerful, and it was manufactured. The entire world of Olcai was an affront to her beliefs, but she had wanted to see it. The balance of nature was not possible in an artificial world. Out of balance, everything dies. Men, women, trees, even the planet itself suffers and eventually dies. Was it possible to kill a construction? When out of balance even a planet will grow a tumor, whether it loses its atmosphere or suffers from the 'greenhouse effect', it inevitably dies from its own form of cancer.
T'Sula sighed, steadying herself. Night passed into the early hours of morning before she moved. The way back to the Commissioner’s office was quiet as the city began to wake, its denizens stirring to greet the day.
As she approached the office, she saw Kamira standing outside. Her cousin looked comfortable in her flowing robes. The light colors accented her dark hair. Kamira leaned against the wall, and watched T'Sula approach.
"I wondered when you'd come back." she pushed herself gently away from the wall to face T'Sula. "The Commissioner’s worried. Anyway, everybody's inside."
"Yeah, I thought you'd be waiting for me." T'Sula paused. "Kam, why me? Why does it always happen to me?" she willed her cousin to look at her.
"I don't know T'Sula." Kamira stepped closer to her cousin. As she did, the years seemed to strip away, leaving the two women as young girls, best friends confiding their secrets in one another and no one else. "You have a strength that I don't have. You are the one that I always turned to when I needed help. Maybe it's destiny. Maybe it isn't. I don't know. I do think that the Olcai need us. They need you T'Sula. I think everyone does."
T'Sula looked at her best friend, bewildered for a brief moment, then realizing that Kamira was no longer a little girl, but a woman that had her own strengths and abilities. "Alright, let’s get this over with." she sighed. "I'm tired Kam. I don't want to fight anymore. I'm sick of watching people die, and not being able to stop it."
"I couldn't agree more." Kamira replied as she opened the door for T'Sula.
"Let's find out what this thing is." T'Sula told Commissioner Valche as she walked through the door. "There's been too much death already. I want to finish this." silence swept through the office, as if death itself had paid a visit. No one uttered a word as the Olcai med tech stepped forward and ushered T'Sula and Kamira out the door.
Dawn broke over the cityscape, casting odd shadows over the small group as they walked to the medical station. The curfew was still in effect, so the streets were clear of any traffic. A light breeze tried to wash away the debris and horrors from the day before. Rubble was still strewn across the pavilion from the blast that had rocked the city. Blood stained the streets where the triage centers had been. The patients had long since been moved into a portable med station. All of the hospitals were now overflowing with wounded and traumatized patients.
The medical station dominated the park near the hotel. Large prefabricated walls supported the cloth roof. Sterilization field generators hummed loudly as the small gro
up neared the makeshift hospital. The smells of blood, disinfectant, and urine dominated the sterilized air, and threatened to turn T'Sula's stomach. She watched nurses hurry from bed to bed, trying to ease the suffering of others. Her heart ached to help in any way that she could, but she stopped, knowing that the best thing that she could do was to find out why this had happened and bring those responsible to justice.
The medical technician led the others through the station, dodging doctors and nurses as they cared for the injured. As they walked, Kamira saw the malgar that she and T'Sula had helped. He lay on a reinforced bed, with intravenous feeds running to his massive arms, and monitors flashing readouts over his head. She grimaced at the thought that this man would have died if it had not been for her, and her cousin.
"If you will please wait in here for a moment, I will get the authorization to remove the object from your hand." the technician left T'Sula and Kamira in a small room filled with various medical instruments. An ample amount of light came from the overhead lamp, showing the room in sharp detail. Most of the instruments looked to be outdated, but still functional. It was a condition that would not have been tolerated on a starship.
"So, tell me more about this husband of yours." T'Sula smiled. "I want to know all about him."
"Well, he's interesting, and a little stubborn." Kamira chuckled, shaking her head. "You know, you do have a way of distracting me when I need it most. Thank you."
"Seriously, I want to know." T'Sula's smile reached her eyes. "Besides, it is a good distraction."
"He's kind of complicated." Kamira said just before the technician opened the door.
"Commanders, this is Doctor Nadich. The doctor has agreed to do the operation for you." it entered and closed the door behind them.
Without saying a word, Dr. Nadich started arranging various instruments on the table. The small Olcai took a small, clear patch out of one of the drawers, and placed it over the red spot on the back of T'Sula's hand. A moment later, her hand was numb and the doctor started to work.
Dr. Nadich quickly extracted the tiny object, and placed it in a self-sealing dish before handing it to T'Sula. The dish was small, and its circular shape fit comfortably in T'Sula's hand. The Doctor left the room without saying a word, leaving T'Sula and Kamira standing alone with the technician.
"Not much for bedside manner, huh?" T'Sula remarked.
"Dr. Nadich felt that being here was wasting valuable time that could be better spent healing the injured." the technician replied before leading the women out of the medical station.
