Beyond : Series Bundle (9781311505637)

by Miller, Maureen A.

  She gawked at his stomach, her mouth agape.

  “What are you staring at? You’ll be looking like this any day now.”

  Tears welled up in the corner of the young woman’s eyes and Aimee wanted to punch Salvan.

  “You don’t know that. You just said Zak was getting better.”

  “No one is getting better. No one.” He looked slightly rabid, and then his eyebrows dipped in consideration. “Except for one.”

  “One?” She and Zak asked simultaneously.

  Reluctant to respond, Salvan grabbed his portfolio and flipped it open, his finger skimming the interior and his lips flowing as he recited the figures.

  “Gordy.” The young woman inserted with a tremulous voice. “Gordeelum, the boy.”

  Salvan glared at her, but the young woman took one last fortifying glance at his chest and then squared her shoulders. “Everyone on this ship has been tested and all have shown the initial traces of the disease," she explained. "Progression has been on schedule, with some more accelerated than others.” She paused. “Except for Gordy. He tested positive initially, but the follow-up test showed nearly no trace of the disease. He is locked in a chamber nearby.” Her eyes fell to the ground. “He’s very scared.”

  “Oh, poor Gordy,” Aimee cried. “You can’t keep him alone. He must be terrified.”

  “He must be tested!” Salvan shouted. “His genetic composition could hold a potential antidote. He must be a deviant. He needs to be kept in a sterile place and above all, he cannot come in contact with anyone infected…which is everyone.”

  Slipping the bracelet on his wrist, Salvan waited listlessly until it lit up and then yanked the device off, cursing the readout. He hurled the ring across the room where it rolled on its side and warbled into a resting place on the obsidian floor. Stooping to pick it up, the woman swiped her light brown hair back from her eye.

  “I am Corin.”

  She did not offer her hand. Aimee wasn’t even sure they had that gesture here.

  “Hello, Corin. I am Aimee and that is—”

  “Zak.” Corin blushed. “I don’t think there is anyone on the Horus that wouldn’t know Zak.”

  Salvan snorted in disgust.

  Zak shook his head. Seated with his hands gripping the edge of the aluminum table, his bunched shoulders revealed his tension. He was an attractive man, but right now the most appealing feature was his chest and the red glow that was fading back into the black uniform.

  “Zak,” she gasped. “Your suit.”

  Startled, he looked down, splaying his hand across the dark fabric.

  “We need to test you again.” Corin extended the bracelet, waiting for Zak to thrust his hand through it.

  He hesitated and slipped his hand through the green bangle. It lit up like a band of Kryptonite until Corin drew it off. As she held the device up to the light, Aimee was aware of the collective pause of breath. Corin slowly smiled.

  “It’s clear.” Her smile grew. “Completely clear!”

  Zak looked like he had been slapped. His head jerked back. “Test Aimee,” he ordered.

  Aimee held her hand out aware that her fingers shook. Corin looked sympathetic as she slid the bracelet over those trembling fingers. The band pulsed with a vibrant green glow, but Aimee felt nothing.

  “It’s clear, Aimee.” Corin’s eyes were wide with the prospect of salvation.

  Zak launched off the table and hauled Aimee up into his arms. She clung to him. He was going to be okay. He was going to live. Her knees buckled under the magnitude of the notion, but Zak held her so tight she didn’t fall.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered against her ear.

  Salvan charged forward and wrenched the tool from Corin’s hand. He grabbed the woman's slim arm and forced her fingers through the ring. Corin tried to lurch from his grasp. Zak stepped forward, seizing Salvan by the shoulder, hauling him back with enough force to slam the crazed man against the wall.

  “What does it say?” Salvan cried, undeterred.

  Zak sealed him to the wall as he struggled to peer around Zak’s shoulder.

  Aimee was so consumed by the men wrestling in the corner she barely heard Corin’s muted cry. She turned to find the woman with her hand up over her mouth as she stared wide-eyed at the readout on the green hoop.

  “Corin?”

  Bright blue eyes met hers. The anguish in them told Aimee what she didn’t want to hear.

  “The disease is advancing in me,” Corin stated, crushed. She added a nervous laugh. “I guess it was a little too much to hope that there was a sudden adaptation to this virus.”

  “Oh, Corin.” Aimee put her arms around the woman, thinking how slight her frame felt. “It can still turn around.”

  “The entire ship needs to be retested,” Salvan ordered, struggling against Zak’s grip. Zak was bigger and it took little effort on his part to keep Salvan restrained.

  “Corin,” Salvan continued, but saw that the woman was disconsolate and not even listening.

  “JOH!” he barked, wriggling his arm free to tap the screen.

  JOH’s blue face appeared with alert black eyes, absorbing the scene.

  “Everyone on the Horus needs to be analyzed immediately.” Salvan shouted.

  “Tests were run just an hour ago.” JOH pointed out.

  “Now!” Salvan’s eyes bulged as his chest throbbed a vicious red flare. “It can’t be that only three people on this god-forsaken ship are safe from this curse.”

  JOH blinked.

  “Now!”

  “I will see to it.” JOH floated away.

  “And you two need to be quarantined.” He glared at Aimee as he specified this. She shivered under that crazed stare.

  “Corin,” Salvan continued his dictation, disregarding his restraint. “Take them to the BX lab. It is sterile and unoccupied.”

  “That’s your research lab.” She pointed out, still flustered by grief.

  “Did it sound like I was asking for an opinion?” Salvan finally shrugged off Zak’s hold, only because Zak allowed him to.

  Zak addressed Corin. “Will someone oversee this?”

  The words, someone sane were implied.

  She nodded. “Yes, there is a group of scientists supervising the official testing. Several physicians are still healthy enough to make the rounds at Jay-nine to assure everyone is—” she swallowed, “—comfortable.”

  “And what about you?” Zak asked with compassion. “Where will you go from here?”

  Corin twirled the thermometer in her hands. “I—I can help with the testing for a little while. I will be in the labs if you should need me. My symptoms won’t become apparent or debilitating for a couple of days yet.”

  Aimee wanted to know how the disease manifested itself, but she had the wretched premonition that she would witness the signs firsthand.

  “Follow me,” Corin instructed.

  Aimee cast one last cynical glance at Salvan. He was engrossed with his tablet and scratching his hair. Not a casual scratch. His pointer finger dug in like a hook with enough effort to draw blood. It disturbed her. She opened her mouth to say something, but Zak shook his head and whispered, “Leave him be.”

  “Corin,” Zak said. “I want to see Vodu.”

  Corin fretted at the notion. “If you are battling this disease…and winning,” she hesitated, “why would you want to subject yourself to that, or even risk jeopardizing yourself?”

  It marveled Aimee to see Zak’s strong conviction. The measured look he gave Corin was patient and resolved.

  “It has already been established that physical contact and proximity play no role in transmitting this virus,” he reminded. “It is airborne, and at a velocity that we can’t calculate. So if I go to the Jay-nine, it will have no greater impact than if I was to remain standing here.”

  Corin tilted her head. She sought a valid argument, but became distracted by the glow of her own chest. With her face still cast down, she nodded, def
eated. “You will excuse me if I don’t accompany you. I don’t want to go there…just yet.”

  “I understand.” Zak’s voice was solemn. He turned toward Aimee. As soon as their eyes met, his pained expression eased. He reached out and rubbed her arm. “I’ll be back soon.”

  No!

  “I’m going with you,” she whispered.

  That declaration pained him. “You don’t want to go there. You don’t want to see it. Stay here.”

  “Compromise with me. Come with me to see Gordy and then I’ll go with you to the Jay-nine.”

  Zak frowned, but a grin tugged at his lips. “I fail to see how that is a compromise if you’re getting both things that you want.”

  She couldn’t help it. She had to laugh. “You really haven’t been around women much, have you?”

  “No. But I already know you well enough to realize I’m not going to rationalize my way out of this debate.” He paused and then added, “Dammit.”

  The impulse to reach up on her toes and kiss him was strong, and he seemed to read that in her eyes. His own smoldered.

  “If I said no, you would just stow away, wouldn’t you?”

  “I would,” she affirmed.

  “Alright, but we have to hurry,” Zak urged.

  Aimee took the cue and stepped up to Corin, holding the woman’s arms. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “I will be if more recovery cases are identified like both of yours.” She smiled weakly.

  “There will be!” Aimee squeezed Corin’s arms.

  "I have to stay here as long as I can," Corin explained, her eyes darting towards the hunched figure in the corner.

  Salvan was speaking to JOH and paid no heed to them. He was a demented man lost in a battle he would never win.

  "Gordy is two doors down on the left."

  "Thank you, Corin. We will be back soon."

  * * *

  Two doors down, Zak waved his hand to unlock the chamber. It was a sterile room similar to the one they had just been in. It contained an elevated table and a spherical chair tucked into the corner. White counter space with transparent cabinets accommodated decanters of mystical colors. At first Aimee thought they had the wrong place. It appeared to be empty. Then she took a step around the pedestal and located the young boy sitting cross-legged on the floor. He held a JOH down on his lap and let loose a faint giggle at whatever joke the blue character had just cracked.

  Aimee cleared her throat and Gordy's head jerked up. His shoulders quaked slightly, but the blessed sight was his clear silver uniform.

  "Hi," he said, watching her curiously.

  "Hi Gordy." She smiled.

  Zak walked up behind her as Gordy's eyes grew wide—wide enough she could see the lights of the ceiling flicker there.

  "Zak!"

  It was as if his greatest hero stood before him in the flesh. Gordy shoved the JOH aside and it floated back up into the air.

  "Hello Gordeelum." Zak crouched down so that he was on eye level with the seated boy. "It's not very nice being locked away in a room like this, is it?"

  Gordy's eyes bubbled up immediately and Aimee dropped down beside Zak, sitting on her heels and offering Gordy a sympathetic smile.

  "I don't know why I'm here, Zak. Were you sent to rescue me?"

  Zak swiped a hand over his face. He looked tired. Heck, he had just crash-landed onto the flight deck of the Horus. He dropped his hand and studied Gordy solemnly.

  "Gordy, they tell me you are special. That you are stronger than everyone on this ship."

  Pale eyebrows lifted. "I am? I'm not stronger than you. No one is."

  The idolization pinched Aimee's heart. Zak had such an impact on the people of the Horus, and he didn't even know it.

  "They say that you are so strong, you're not getting sick like some of the others."

  The boy's expression was torn between pride at Zak's accolades and indecision, along with a strong dose of fear.

  "Why can't I be with my parents?"

  "You will be. They are just getting tested right now."

  "JOH said it's because my Mom makes me eat Crup. That’s why I'm not sick."

  Aimee laughed. "JOH is probably right."

  "Listen to me, Gordy." Zak waited until the boy focused on him again. "You won't be here for long. We'll be back in a little while, okay?"

  "Okay." Gordy's eyes misted up again. "How long?"

  Zak grinned. "As fast as a terra angel can lap the Horus."

  Gordy laughed. "If it's you flying, then you will be back here before you even leave."

  "I'm not that fast." Zak raised his eyebrows.

  Gordy giggled again and then glanced at Aimee. His cheeks started to flush and she grew alarmed. But he cast her a sheepish look and admitted, "My friends think you are cute."

  Now she blushed. Her? Cute? Never to someone her age, and surely not to a ten-year-old.

  Gordy spoke to Zak as if the conversation was confidential. Man to man stuff. "They say Aimee looks different than all of us. She has that dark hair—like you. Are you both from the same planet? Can I go there someday?"

  There was an ache in Zak's expression and then it passed. "You want to go there and get your own dark-haired woman, is that it? Because this one is mine."

  It was a casual declaration to a young boy, but it tickled the inside of her stomach. She met Zak's eyes and held his gaze until Gordy interrupted.

  "You’ll be back as fast as a terra angel? You promise."

  Zak's eyes lingered on hers a second longer and then he turned to Gordy with a smile. "I promise, Gordeelum. Until then, JOH told me he has some lessons for you."

  Gordy rolled his eyes. "I'm so tired of lessons."

  "Lessons beat staring at the wall, no?"

  "I guess." Gordy shrugged.

  Zak stood up and Aimee followed. At the door they both looked back. Gordy remained cross-legged on the floor and reached up in the air to snag the floating JOH. JOH must have decided the youth needed some entertainment. He dodged to avoid Gordy's hands.

  "Hey!" Gordy shouted and lunged again. But JOH out-maneuvered him. On the next attempt, Gordy giggled.

  Thank you, JOH, Aimee thought. You’re alright in my book.

  Chapter Thirteen

  They traveled in silence inside the lateral transport. Zak leaned his shoulder against the wall and watched listlessly as the symbols flashed by. He startled Aimee when he spoke.

  "I wish you weren't coming with me." His voice was hoarse.

  "I know." Her throat felt thick. "But, I'm scared. Much more scared than the crash-landing. Much more scared than attacking a walking tree. This—" she waved her arm, "—the extent of this overwhelms me. They are telling us that thousands of people are going to die. That this will be a ghost ship."

  "Not everyone is going to die."

  She looked at him. He was a beaten Warrior. A man who seemed too tired to stand under the weight this world had burdened him with. Shadows lurked beneath his eyes, and his jaw clenched. He wiped at his face again, as if he could brush away the fatigue.

  Their eyes met.

  Zak hefted off the wall and reached for her, his hands resting on her arms as he looked down at her with a tired smile.

  "I know you're scared," he said softly.

  Touching his chest, she countered, "I know that you are scared." She was startled when his hand clamped down on top of hers.

  "What—what should I expect to see in the Jay-nine?" she changed the subject. "On our planet a plague wiped out millions of people. It was many years before I was born, but I read about it, and it was horrible. The population was covered in sores, and they say the cloud of death suffocated the air." Her fingers curled against his chest. "Prepare me. Is that what I'm going to see here?"

  Zak evaded her gaze. He stepped back and stared at the approaching satellite. It was a spherical structure connected to the main body of the Horus by a single column. The sphere bore rings of lights, the upper and lowermost loops flashing yello
w. As they drew closer, she could see a thick band of black around the middle—a depression in the surface. To her surprise, she realized that the depression was an assemblage of outdoor balconies. No one stood on them, though. And just when she was about to ask about them, Zak spoke.

  "This disease strikes internally. There are no visible sores to speak of. One of the reasons for the suit is because it is such a silent predator. It attacks the—" he hesitated as if waiting for the translation, "—liver. People in the advance stages will have yellow skin and sad faces. That is what you will see."

  Were sad faces any less dramatic than open lesions?

  Suddenly Aimee didn't want to go there. But the Jay-nine sphere now filled the window to the point that she could no longer see past its circumference. The lateral transport was about to slip inside this sphere of death.

  Zak reached for her hand. He didn't look at her, but his fingers squeezed with encouragement. Aimee took a deep breath as the door slid open.

  Expecting the worst, she was surprised to exit into an innocent chain of corridors remarkably similar to those in the main body of the Horus. Zak still held her hand and she tried to relax enough to read the symbols around her, but they were faint, like fading murals on a cave wall. One symbol loomed at every intersection. She tried to pretend that she could not interpret it, but the truth was that it looked remarkably like a skull.

  There were very few JOH's here. She only saw one about every fifty feet. The skull emblem grew larger and more pronounced until she could no longer discount it for what it was.

  Ahead loomed two stately doors. Two physical doors—the types you opened with your grip and not a fancy hand trick. The doors were almost three stories high and looked imposing with their beveled surface. Aimee felt as if she stood before a sinister depiction of the gates of Oz.

  Zak stepped up to the entry and rapped his fist against it. The resonance was hollow. As if he suspected they were being scanned, he cast a hasty glance up at the arched ceiling.

  A groan similar to the call of an elephant sounded as one of the panels slowly swung outward. They backed out of its path, noticing the pallid man that shoved the portal from behind. He opened the towering door wide enough that his broad shoulders could fit through as he stepped out. With arms crossed, his stance was one of intimidation. The intimidation was weakened by the pale rose score across his abdomen. His features were common to the rest of the Anthumians, but unlike everyone else, a thin band of rust-colored hair hugged his jaw. Perhaps in the Jay-nine there was no time or care left to shave.