by Frank Carey
"Good, I could use the help," Adaira replied.
"Can you find your way?" Connie asked.
"Not a problem," Ruby said while hopping off Chasm's shoulder and running out the hatch on eight, tentacle-like, manipulators.
"Wait until Adaira gets a hold of her," Corrine said.
Shenda sat down next to Chasm. "So, how did you appear out of nowhere like that?"
He furrowed his brow as he tried to remember. "I don't really know for sure. My ship was equipped with an emergency beaming device, but I never got a chance to activate it. I watched the Harvest Moon's main former beams blast through my shields, then I woke up face to face with something that said 'Baaaaa'."
"So, you met Xura. What did she tell you?"
"That you would help me stop Chrome."
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
"I don't know. If I were aboard the Harvest Moon, I could do some real damage to her systems, but her shields are strong enough for her to fly into a sun to refuel."
"Hmmm, well if I am to help you, I need to think on this more. So, you’re a GELF."
"Yes. Will that adversely affect our relationship?"
"Naw, not unless you have something against GELFs. You see, I'm also a GELF of sorts."
"Really? According to the League master database, you are an elfling. Are all elflings GELFs?"
"You've read the League database?"
"Partly. I have a copy stored in my brain."
"Damn!" Connie said. "Looks and brains..."
"Connie!" Bree admonished her.
"Ignore her," Shenda said. "Yes, I am an elfling, and no, not all elflings are GELFs, just me and my sister and two brothers. It’s a long story, but you see, you aren't alone."
"Skipper," Corrine said as her eyes went wide. "Our speed has doubled, no, make that tripled. Our ETA has dropped to under ninety minutes!"
"That's impossible," Shenda said as she got up and headed to the flight station. "Damn. You're right, our speed has increased three-fold, yet fuel consumption has only increased twenty percent. How is that even possible?"
"Ruby," Chasm said as he got up off the floor and walked over to stand next to Shenda.
She noticed how warm he was and how nice he smelled.
"Um, Ruby?" she asked as her tale demanded to 'look' at the warm, black elf standing soooo close to her.
"Yes. Her training is in ship's systems. A five mile-long ship uses a lot of fuel and she was supposed to help Chrome and Opal maximize engine efficiency. Ruby, you with me?"
"Yes, sir," Ruby replied over the exterior speaker of her gauntlet. "I found and eliminated several inefficiencies in the drive section. Engineer MacTavish seems to be pleased with my adjustments. To quote her: 'Can I keep you, Darlin’?'"
"Wonderful. Keep up the good work." He looked up and smiled at Shenda. She smiled back while continuing to wrestle with her body's response to him.
Breanne and Corrine just grinned.
###
The Marta McMurphy dropped out of FTL twenty miles out from the Cube. Immediately, a flock of six Cube patrol ships took defensive positions around the freighter.
"Boss, we've got an incoming call from the lead patrol ship, and it ain't friendly. They're ordering us to heave-to and prepare to be boarded," Breanne said with a worried look on her face. She checked her scanners. "Their weapons are hot and locked."
"Shit. Put me through," Shenda ordered.
"Aye, ma’am. Lt. Coreo is on the line."
"Lieutenant, what is the meaning of this? We are unarmed and filled to the ceiling with refugee civvies from Halo. Explain yourself!"
"Sorry, Captain, but we are under orders to take one of your passengers into custody. He is known as Chasm."
"Chasm? Are you kidding me? He saved Halo as well as my life. Who is your commanding officer?"
"My orders come directly from Director Devlin."
"Do you know who I am?"
"Yes, Princess, I know exactly who you are. You should be aware that the orders are countersigned by your uncle, General Royce Aymar. Now, are we done here? Will you comply?"
Corrine and Bree never saw their skipper as angry as she was now. "Chasm, I promise you... Chasm?"
Chasm was gone.
###
"Ruby! I need you with me, now. Meet me at the portside escape pods."
"On my way."
Chasm made his way past the throngs of refugees the Marta and her crew had rescued from Halo, many of them thanking him as he walked by. He found Ruby waiting for him when he arrived at the first pod.
"They want to arrest you?"
"Yes. I think they want answers, and I don't have time to give them any." He held up his gauntlet, signaling her to reattach. As she did so, he explained what was happening. As she finished, he opened the pod door.
"What now?" she asked.
"We leave in such a manner that Shenda and her crew cannot be held responsible. Access the Marta's system and use it to create a short range jamming field to hide our escape."
"Copy that. System activated. It won't take Breanne long to defeat my bypasses."
"Good," he said as he stepped into a pod, sealing both the inner and outer doors behind him. "Activate launch sequence," he ordered as he strapped in.
"Activated... Launch in three... Two... One... Launch!"
The pod left the ship and flew between two of the escort fighters in a corkscrew pattern before heading toward the Cube at full speed.
"We are being pursued. They have weapons lock."
"I find it interesting that a civilian freighter is equipped with military escape pods," Chasm noted as he pulled covers from control panels. "I noticed this fact when I first boarded."
"We are being fired upon. Two, mark nine ship-to-ship missiles."
"Nuclear or conventional?"
"Conventional! Impact in six seconds."
Chasm pressed a button on the freshly revealed control panel. Immediately, flares ejected from either side of the pod. The missiles locked on the flares and detonated a safe distance from the pod.
"They've armed chain guns."
He pressed another button that activated a powerful radio jamming system. The guns on both ships flared as their systems shorted out. "Damn, now that's what I call a jamming system," Ruby quipped.
"ETA to Cube?"
"You're going there? They want you dead!"
"They can join the club. Any idea how I can save Harmon?"
"I've scanned his medical records, and it doesn't look good..."
A barrage of projectiles strafed the pod. Luckily, the shields absorbed most of the impact, but one projectile made it through, hitting the jammer, which caused a panel to explode. A piece of metal sliced through Chasm's tunic, tearing a gash in his arm."
"Sir, are you OK?"
Chasm jinked to port and dove between two cargo haulers, momentarily losing the ship pursuing him. He looked down at his arm and saw his injury heal itself in real time as his glowing green blood knitted his torn flesh.
"Blood," he whispered. "Ruby, is my blood compatible with Harmon's?"
"Working... Yes, sir. What are you thinking?"
"If I inject Harmon with my blood, what will it do to him?"
"It will seek out and destroy every nanobot it can find, but sir, he will need a lot of it."
"How much?"
"Ninety percent of your current supply. I don't know if you can survive that much blood loss."
"I really don't have a choice. Can you locate Harm in all this?"
"I think so... Got him. He's near Hangar Eighteen," she said as she activated the bay's atmospheric field followed by opening its door. You better hurry, sir."
"Copy that," Chasm replied as he made an abrupt left turn and aimed the pod at the quickly opening door.
The pod entered the bay at full throttle as the four remaining pursuers pulled up at the last moment, barely avoiding a collision with the Cube's outside wall.
Chapter Thirty
The pod bounced across the deck several times before coming to a rest against the far bulkhead. Before it stopped, its hatch blew open followed by Chasm leaping clear, then landing ten feet away while strapping on a weapon from a locker he found inside. "Which way?"
"Through those doors, left, down the hall, then a right. His room is at the end of the hallway."
"Have they sounded the general alarm yet?"
"Oh, yeah."
"Spoof their sensors. I need time."
"Spoofing. There are ten of you running around the station, now."
Chasm headed out of the bay. Before he made it to the first turn, he was discovered.
"Over there!" A voice yelled from behind him followed by a barrage of blaster fire.
"Hey, Chasm, you have a weapon, remember?"
"I prefer not to use it against living beings. Security is just doing their job," he said. He pulled out his weapon and fired at a fire/smoke sensor on the ceiling. The hallway filled with fire-gone mist, making it impossible for security to see more than five feet in front of them.
"Nice," Ruby said.
"Yes, and the mist greatly attenuates blaster fire. Uh-oh," he said as a blast door closed ahead of them.
Chasm leapt through the quickly closing doorway, landing a good ten meters past the door.
"I think you have a career in sports," Ruby said as they turned a corner and entered a room filled with partygoers. "Oops. They seem to have reconfigured this place."
Security swarmed into the room as partygoers quickly vacated the area.
"Any ideas would be greatly appreciated," he said.
"Balcony, straight ahead on opposite wall, but it’s..."
Chasm leapt and landed past the railing. Security could only watch, slack-jawed.
"... pretty high up. This was not in your briefing papers."
"I'll file a complaint if and when we get back to crystal."
Sirens sounded around them.
"Which way?"
"Straight ahead. Door at the end."
Chasm leapt again, covering the remaining distance in less than a second. He pulled the door open, ran in, and used his blaster to seal it.
"You seem to be lost. Can I help you?"
Chasm spun around with his pistol raised only to find himself facing a heavily armed elf woman wearing a medical coat. She was standing next to the most complex medbed he had ever seen. Inside was an elf male, her identical twin. He realized he was facing Queen Losira of Ventos Prime.
"Your Majesty, it is an honor to meet you. Ruby, status of Mr. Aymar."
"Sir, he's about to die."
Chasm fired, hitting Losira in the upper arm, causing her to drop her weapon. Chasm walked over to the bed's control panel while keeping his weapon trained on her.
"Ruby does this bed have a transfusion unit."
"Yes, sir."
“Activate the unit please,” he said while keeping an eye on a very angry Losira.
A door on the bedside opened to reveal a cuff with two tubes attaching it to the bed. It extended and stopped next to him. Chasm slid his arm into it.
"Program the transfusion and initiate on my command."
"Sir, this could kill you."
"Yeah, it's been that kind of day."
"No, don't hurt him," Losira pleaded.
"Kill him? I'm saving him. I’m the one who’s probably going to die," he said as he threw her his weapon. "Tell Shenda I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused. Now, Ruby. Initiate the transfusion sequence."
The cuff clamped down on Chasm's forearm as a pair of large diameter needles slammed into it, piercing a vein and artery. Chasm screamed as the pain activated his body's defenses. As burning green blood was pumped out of his body and into Harm's, it was replaced by synthetic elf blood, but Chasm's body was having none of that. While his kidneys and other organs consumed the synthetic fluid, his spleen and bone marrow used it to create more of his natural, super-charged plasma and cells, driving his core temperature to dangerous levels. Detecting the problem, his system opened up the capillaries in his skin while increasing sweat output twenty-fold.
With feeling quickly returning to her arm, Losira threw Chasm's weapon on a chair as she ran over to check Harm. She stopped and gasped as she read the computer outputs. The nanorobots killing Harm were dying by the millions, their bodies being consumed by Chasm's blood cells. But those little miracles were doing much more. Somehow, they had found enough of the elf's DNA to replicate tissue and organs at a frightening rate. One after another, displays were going from red to green as the computer signaled repairs being completed. Hearts, lungs, kidneys, brain—all were healing at impossible rates.
Then she saw Chasm's readouts on a secondary display tied to the cuff.
"Computer, emergency override. Disconnect cuff..."
"Belay that order," Ruby yelled from her gauntlet. "You'll kill both of them. The transfusion must complete for Harm to have any chance."
"You'll kill your host," Losira yelled back.
"He knows that," she said as she disconnected and leapt over to the top of the medbed.” That's why he disconnected me. He won't risk taking me with him if he crosses over. Do you want to help him? Get a damn crash cart in here. His hearts are about to go into AFib."
"Computer, emergency in this room. I need a crash cart and med team in here stat."
Chasm began sliding to the floor as he lost consciousness. Losira grabbed him in mid-fall and gently lowered him before grabbing his weapon. She aimed at the weld as someone pounded on the door. "Stand clear!" she yelled as she started a five count.
"They're clear," Ruby yelled.
Losira fired, vaporizing the weld. The door burst open as the crash cart and med team ran in followed by security. She knelt down next to Chasm and checked his vitals as the med team went to work on him. Seeing he was in good hands, she turned to the med bed and saw the cycle was almost complete. Then she saw Chasm's readouts.
"You, AI, how much of your master's blood did we take?"
"He's not my master, dammit, his name is Chasm, and I'm his plarking companion. As for how much blood: what was necessary to save your brother's plarking life, about ninety-percent of his normal complement.”
At that moment, the medbed shut down and began to open.
Ruby jumped off the cover as it swung open to reveal Harm, healed, hale, and healthy. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed before opening his eyes.
They glowed with green fire.
Ruby jump on the small table next the bed and glared at him. "You'd better be worth it, elf," she hissed, before scampering down to the floor. She ran over to her friend and stopped, waiting to see if he would live.
Harm looked at the shocked faces standing around him. He looked down and saw the med team working on someone who looked familiar. Finally, he looked at his sister.
"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"
###
The majority of the Aymar family and several friends both old and new, sat around the teapot at the end of the conference room and just talked as they marveled at the return of two of their own—Harmon and Shenda. Scattered around them were tissue-filled trashcans and half-empty tissue boxes.
"I can't believe I missed all the excitement," Harm said as he sipped tea and hugged his wife.
"I wish I had," Losira said as she checked her brother's pulse.
"Any idea when my peepers go back to normal?" Harm asked as he looked at his glowing eyes reflected in a teapot.
"No idea. I don't think Chasm even knows, and before you ask, he's in the infirmary sleeping. In all my years as a doctor, I have never seen a physiology like his."
"Actually, some of my abilities surprised even me," Chasm said as a Katalan orderly helped him into the room and over to where the others stood. On her way past, she handed Losira his chart.
Shenda quickly moved over and put her arm around his waist while her tail peered at him over her shoulder.
&
nbsp; "Hey, Sis," Bobby whispered to her while pointing to the wayward appendage. Embarrassed, she grabbed it and tucked it into her belt.
"Thank you, Captain McMurphy," he said as he leaned closer to her. "I am still a little woozy."
"I told him to get some sleep, but does he listen?" Ruby added.
Breanne walked over to the black elf and asked, "Why did you do it? You took on six patrol craft in a life pod, crashed landed, got shot at, and nearly drained all your blood to save the life of someone you don't even know. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the lug like a brother, but you don't know him, or anyone in these parts from Adam. Why kill yourself?"
“Before I found myself aboard Halo, my only reason for existing was to destroy Chrome and the Harvest Moon. Then I met Shenda, I mean Capt. McMurphy. At that moment, my priorities shifted. To answer your question: Saving Harmon felt like the thing to do,” he said while staring at Shenda, his eyes filled with green fire.
"Chasm, you only just met her," Christa said as she handed Torren and Bobby a tissue.
"I've been alive for two years and asleep for one of those. In that context, I have known Capt. McMurphy for the better part of my life."
Shenda ran out of the room with Bree and Christa close behind.
Chasm frowned. "I seem to have said something terribly wrong. I must apologize..."
Marta leaned over and put her finger on his lips. "You're doing fine."
"I am?"
Harm nodded. "Yep. I think you're the first person outside the family who's ever told her the complete truth."
Chasm just frowned. "I do not understand any of this."
"Here, drink tea and stay calm," Aerith said, while handing him a fresh cup.
Chasm took the proffered cup and took a drink, wondering what would happen next.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ciara walked into the conference room followed by Lenneth Eloen, head of OffSec Special Investigations, and a Katalan Security contingent. She did not look happy.
"Please have a seat, everyone, we have a problem," she said while activating the main viewer. Meanwhile, the Katalens spread out around the room.
