by neetha Napew
I stopped pacing. “This your idea of poetic justice?”
He turned his head. “Deactivate the locking mechanism.”
I thrust my hands in my tunic pockets. “Don’t I get to speak to my judicial advisor before you start beating me up?”
Cool white eyes inspected me. “No.”
“Ha, ha, ha.” I sat down on the edge of the rock-hard sleeping platform. “Go ahead, Captain. Yell your head off, slap me around, whatever you want. It won’t change the facts. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You knew my orders regarding unauthorized psychic experimentation, Senior Healer,” he said. He stayed by the barrier. Xonea was becoming a careful man. Maybe there was hope for him. “You disobeyed me.”
“Yep. I did. How is Reever? Is he okay?”
“He has recovered. Why did you disobey me?”
“To find out who the killer is, Captain. And we did.” I rubbed my eyes. “Though Reever says I’m wrong.”
“Who was it?”
I dropped my hand. “You.”
The astonished horror on his countenance almost-almost-made up for what he’d done. The indignity of being arrested and escorted from Medical. Being pushed in a cell and locked up. Almost, however, was not good enough.
“Did you beat me? Try to rape me?” I rose. “Did you kill Roelm and Ndo? Did you kill Yetlo?”
“No!” Xonea said. He backed up against the barrier. Knocked into it with his shoulders. Guess he was appalled.
“No? You had plenty of motive,” I said. “Everyone knows how jealous you are where I’m concerned. Maybe you saw them all as a threat. Whoever has been attacking me obviously has an obsession with me. You nearly got yourself exiled for the same reason. This monster enjoyed hurting me. You tossed me across a room just the other day.”
Xonea dug his hands into the barrier mesh, fighting for control. “Cherijo, I would embrace the stars before I would harm you.”
“Sure you would. That’s why I’m currently enjoying these luxury accommodations, right?”
The Captain-of-the-Sunlace mask slid back over his face. “You are being detained for violating my orders.”
“Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. The first time Reever and I tried to access my memories and reveal the killer’s identity, you stormed into Medical You never did tell Pnor how you knew we were linking. Same thing happened today.”
“That is not how I knew what you were doing!” he shouted. “The information came to me through another source. I did not tell Pnor because it was a matter of honor!”
That was more like the Xonea I knew and wanted to push out a pressure lock.
“One of the nurses, I suppose.” I dropped back on the platform and reclined. The deck above me had seventy-six individual panels and a small stain to the right of the third cross section of rows fourteen and fifteen. “You’ve had one of them keeping an eye on me.”
“I cannot discuss the matter with you.” His voice drifted closer. Soundless as always, Xonea crossed the thirty feet of deck until he stood next to the bunk. He looked bigger and meaner and more handsome than ever. “Cherijo. Do you remember when you came to me here?”
“This conversation is over.” I closed my eyes. “Go away, Xonea.”
He knelt beside the platform. “I was prepared to die. You shielded me.”
“I have lousy judgment.”
One big hand reached out, encircling my throat. “When you came back from Pnor, and I touched you-“
My eyes flew open. “Forget it, Xonea.”
Fingers began releasing the front fasteners on my tunic. “I did not wish to stop touching you.” He pushed his hand beneath the open edge. “You pledged yourself to me.”
“Get your hands off, now.”
He didn’t. He was so close I could feel the heat coming in waves from his huge body. He wanted me. Maybe locking up a woman tickled his libido.
“I honor you, Cherijo. I desire you more than my life.”
“Well, I hate to disappoint you pal, but-“ I yanked his hand off my breast and sat up. “Desire someone else.”
The warrior replaced the lover. He seized me, hauled me off the platform, dragging me up every hard inch of his body.
“You want me,” he said. “I can see the change in your eyes. Feel the heat of your body.” He buried his face in my throat. Anger made his claws emerge. “You will be mine.”
He wanted to get rough? Fine.
I put my lips next to his ear. “Maybe I’m still warm from being with Reever.”
This time a sleeping platform didn’t break my fall. My face did. I flew through the air, bounced off the detainment cell wall, and slid to the deck. Shock and pain made it hard to breathe.
Maybe my mouth would get me killed one day.
I touched my face with trembling fingers. Blood was running from my nose, mouth, and four shallow gashes on one cheek. Those claws were really sharp.
“Cherijo.” Now Xonea was picking me up, his face all distorted. As if he was the one who had gotten up close and personal with the plaspanel.
“Guards,” I called out, wincing as that made the cut on my lip split wider.
The guards appeared outside the barrier. When they saw what Xonea had done, they jerked open the access door and hurried inside.
“Captain, the Senior Healer needs to be taken to Medical,” one of them said. He looked ready to shoot Xonea in the head.
“I will take her.” The other one actually raised his rifle toward Xonea. “Release her, Captain.”
It was an excellent opportunity to instigate a mutiny. Or observe my guards as they gutted the commander of the ship.
“No,” I said to both of them. I had deliberately provoked him, knowing how angry he was. “I’ll be all right. Get me a first-aid case, and get him out of here.”
Squilyp and Reever came for me not fifteen minutes after the guards escorted Xonea from my cell. Both reacted to the sight of my bleeding face. The Omorr exclaimed loudly and pushed the guards out of his way.
Reever simply stood, quiet and watchful. His eyes had never been that color before, I thought. Raw ice crystals had more warmth.
“I’m okay,” I said when the Resident crouched down and began scanning me. “Just some bumps and bruises.” I let him clean and dress the lacerations, then reached for Reever. “Give me a hand, will you?”
Scarred hands carefully lifted me from the deck. I hadn’t moved since I landed there. I didn’t want to know what was broken and what wasn’t. I moved my arms, legs, head, and bent over. No fractures. Lucky me.
“We’ll take you to Medical,” the Omorr said.
“Can’t.” Talking hurt my face. “I have to stay here. I violated the Captain’s orders.”
“The Captain ordered that you be released.”
“He did? How considerate.” I’d been giving the entire situation a great deal of thought. I looked at Squilyp and gingerly touched the dressing on my face. “How good are you with cardiac electristimulators?”
The Omorr looked confused. “I’ve used them dozens of times during training sessions.”
I turned to Reever. “I want to access the cultural and judicial databases in Medical. I need you to find something for me in the Jorenian HouseClan laws and traditions.”
He inclined his head in agreement. “How does this relate to cardiac equipment?”
“I’ll tell you after we find the data I need.”
We took a newly repaired gyrlift back up to Medical. Squilyp gave me a status report on the ward. Reever wouldn’t let go of my arm. We passed a number of crew members, who reacted with varying degrees of concern and anger when they saw my face.
The mutiny might just happen without me saying a word.
“Clear an exam table,” I told Squilyp. “Prepare for a cardiac case. I want you to make a full vidIaudio record of this procedure. Set up the monitor over there.”
Before he could ask me the dozen questions that order provoked, I took Reever into my office and shut the panel
.
“Access the databases.”
“What, specifically, are you searching for?”
“Laws governing the Jorenian right to Choose. I need to know exactly what is required to break a Choice.”
Reever accessed the judicial database, cross-referenced with cultural, and found the applicable laws within minutes. I stood beside him and read it for myself. I was right.
“Download this”-I pointed to a case reference-“onto a disc.” I told him the rest of what I wanted done and suggested he get Salo to help. He didn’t say a word until I finished and tried to go back out to the ward. Reever pushed past me and blocked the way.
“I cannot permit you to do this,” he said.
Now he was telling me what to do. “Get out of my way.”
“Cherijo, you cannot-“
I pointed to the gashes on my cheek. “Look at me, Reever. I could have lost an eye. Or half my face. It ends, now.”
He put his hands on my shoulders. “I want to stay with you.”
“Okay.” I let out a breath. “I’d like that, too.”
We walked back out to the cardiac berth Squilyp had just completed preparing. I climbed up on it.
“Senior Healer!” The Omorr sounded horrified. “Are you experiencing angina? What-“
“Power up the stimulator, Squilyp,” I said as I strapped my legs into the restraints. “Adaola?” I called out. “Are you on duty?”
The nurse appeared at the berth side. “Here, Senior Healer. What has happened to your face? Why are you-“
“I need two Jorenians.” I waved at another nurse, who hurried over, then addressed her and Adaola. “You are my witnesses. You may be required to testify before the ruling Houses as to what you see here today. Do you understand?”
Both nurses nodded. I turned my attention to the Resident.
“Squilyp, I want you to charge up and hit me with a full stim.”
The Omorr nearly toppled over from shock. “That will stop your heart!”
“I know. Once my heart has stopped, pronounce my death, wait three minutes, then revive me.”
“Absolutely not.” Squilyp dropped the hookups and hopped backward. “I won’t do it.”
“Okay.” I turned to Reever. “Reever, you have to make sure the monitor reaches-“
“Stop it!” the Omorr shouted, and grabbed my arms with his membranes. “You’re insane if you think I’m going to let this man kill you!”
The two Jorenian nurses came to my aid then. “The Senior Healer has the right to embrace die stars, Resident.”
I grinned at them. “I never thought I’d like that damn custom, but it does have its uses. Now either you do it, Resident, or Linguist Reever does. You know my survival chances are a lot better if you handle the procedure.”
“I know I should save myself some grief and not revive you,” he muttered as he took position by my berth. His dark eyes were tormented. “You’re sure about this, Doctor?”
“It’s the only way I can free myself of Xonea.”
When Adaola heard what I said, her eyes widened.
“Adaola. You were the one feeding Xonea the information about me and Reever, weren’t you?” I asked.
“He is my ClanBrother, Senior Healer,” she said. “I could not refuse him.”
Well, learn something new every day, I thought. She and Xonea had kept that from me.
“That makes you Kao’s ClanSister, right?” She nodded. “Then you’re my ClanSister, too. Do you think-you extend some of that loyalty to me today?” Evidently ashamed, she nodded once more. “Good. All right, people, see you in a few minutes.” I nodded to the Omorr. “Anytime you’re ready-“
“Wait.” Reever bent over me. His lips felt cold against my ear. “Come back to me, Cherijo.”
Ironically, Xonea had said the same thing the last time I risked life and limb. “I will.”
I stared at the deck above me when Squilyp charged the stimulator. I was doing the right thing. Heard the hum of the electric as the terminals descended. This wouldn’t kill me. At least, not permanently. Convulsed as the power slammed into my chest. On second thought...
My heart stopped.
At the very last moment, I felt the cold presence infiltrating my mind. I couldn’t fight. Couldn’t move.
“Now you will die, little one.”
Everything around me grew very small and insignificant. Just on the edge of my field of vision, a woman appeared. I tried to move my head to see her clearly. She was smiling, and held out her arms.
“Joey. Come to me, baby.”
“Maggie.” Had I really told Squilyp to stop my heart? “Maggie, am I dead?”
“Shhhh, no, baby.”
The berth, Medical Bay, and everything I knew was gone in a moment. I went deep within myself, to a place no one could ever touch. Not even the killer. How I knew that was a mystery. But Maggie was there.
There was no color or shape to the well of darkness I had fallen into. Only a warm security that I wrapped around me like an affectionate embrace. And Maggie’s voice, soothing as she eased away the pain.
“It’s okay. I won’t let you fall, kiddo. It’s okay.”
When I was an infant, she had done the same. I knew this place. What I didn’t know was how it was possible that I shared it with a dead woman.
The subliminal implants-had she put more in my mind? What were they for? What reason would she have had to do this to me?
“Always with the questions!” Maggie’s rich contralto spilled over with laughter. “I think a damn drone makes less enquiries!”
“Maggie. What’s happened to me? Why am I here?”
“That mop-faced pink guy was able to start your heart again. Problem is, someone interfered, messed with your brain waves, and you never regained consciousness. In reality, you’re in a deep coma.”
“That stinks.”
“Yeah, it does.” I could hear her blowing out smoke from one of the illegal cigarettes she thought I never knew about. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Can’t we talk somewhere else?” I shuddered. “This place is giving me the creeps.”
“Voilá,” Maggie said.
I was back on Terra. In the house of Joseph Grey Veil. In my old room.
Maggie stood there, as if still alive. She dusted off the mantel and scowled at a regal photoscan of my creator. Same old Maggie. She wore a gaudy tunic that was a little too tight. Lots of accessories. Her silver-streaked red hair glowed like a traffic drone signal.
I sat on the edge of my sleeping platform. A glance down found a childish body dressed in pajamas. My hair hung down my flat chest in two long braids. Bemused, I held up one chunky dark cable.
“Trying to turn me back into a kid, Maggie?”
“I liked you when you were ten. You weren’t trying to be your father back in those days.” She reached over, picked up a doll, and tossed it across the room at me. I managed to catch it. “Remember Crissy Credits?”
I examined the toy. “Yeah, I do. She came with her own credit chip and miniature shopping center.” I fingered the doll’s bright blond curls. “You bought this for me.”
“Do you remember what Joseph gave you for your tenth birthday?”
I snorted and put the doll aside. “My first scanner. He made me practice using it on you. I identified that ingrown toenail with it.” I smiled, then winced at the flare of pain that produced. “You were my first surgical patient.”
“Goddamn it.” She planted her hands on her hips. “What did that oversized blueberry ape do to your face?”
My fingers touched my cheek. “Long story. Why don’t you tell me why you brought me here?”
“You brought you here. Once your heart stopped, the subliminal memories I implanted began to surface. It’s important, Joey. Stop looking at me like that.”
“I can’t believe you stuck all this junk in my mind.” I sighed. “So what gem of wisdom are you going to hand me this time?”
“Wisdo
m?” Maggie chuckled. “Is that what you think this is? Oh, no, honey. I’m no teacher.”
“You were a great mom.”
Her smile trembled a little. “Yeah, well, I tried. It wasn’t hard; you were a sweet kid. Now, listen to me carefully. A lot of those blueberry people are depending on you. You’ve got to stop this nutso who’s killing them.”
“How?”
“Use your head, not your heart. It’s like a dimensional puzzle game. You have the pieces. Put them together.”
It seemed like we had only been speaking for moments, but suddenly I became aware of the passage of time.
“I’ve got to go back, now.” Another sensation penetrated, a mind battering against the walls of the darkness. “Duncan.”
“Now, him I like,” Maggie said. “He has great eyes. How does he do that color-changing thing with them?”
“Maggie. Please.” I stopped and concentrated for a moment. “How could you like his eye color? You died before I ever met Reever.”
“You always think in such categorical patterns, Joey. When you get on this side of creation, you can lecture me all you want about existential paradoxes. Now go back. They think you’re dying.”
“Am I?”
“No, baby. You won’t die.”
I opened my eyes. “Ma... geee...” I croaked.
Adaola shrieked and dropped a chart down on the bed beside me. A moment later, Squilyp appeared. His gildrells stiffened like a bunch of exclamation marks.
“If you ever try that again, Healer, I will stop your heart for good!”
“ ‘Sokay... Squid... Lips...” My voice slurred, as though my speech center had been damaged. “Ho... long?”
“Thirty-seven hours since you entered deep coma.”
“N-not... c-coma...”
I slid into the shallow darkness of natural sleep, and I spent a long interval there before I sensed another voice calling to me.
Cherijo. Cherijo.
Duncan.
I felt disoriented. Disconnected from my body. Barely able to contain the frantic thoughts pouring into my mind.
Out of my... Are you in pain...? What went wrong?
Maggie. I managed a ghost of a chuckle. Subliminal... implants... long story. I smelled something warm and male close to my face. Heard the steady rhythm of a human heart. Felt the stroke of a gentle hand on my hair. So tired.
