The Wexkia Trilogy: Boxed Set

by Dale Furse

  She hauled her aching body out of bed. Everything hurt everywhere. Her chest, back, arms, legs, head, even her backside muscles resented moving. Unable to stop herself, she gazed at the bed. Oh, it looked so good. No. If she climbed back in there, she knew she would never get out again. Putting the communicator on her bedside, she gathered up the injections. They were their only hope.

  Standing over Deesc, she said, ‘I can’t let you die.’

  She bent over, placing the injection against the side of his neck. Figuring the jugular vein was the way to disperse it through his body, she checked for the vein. ‘I love you so much.’ Taking a deep breath, a violent fit of coughing immediately overcame her. The cylinders fell from her hands and clattered on the floor. As she covered her mouth with one hand, she pressed the other on her chest to stop it from ripping apart.

  She staggered to the bench and snatched up some clean cloths. They weren’t enough, so moved to the waste bucket and dropped to her knees. The movement should have hurt her, but with the constant expulsion of green gunk from her lungs wracking her entire body, she didn’t notice the thwack of her kneecap on the hard floor. She gagged. The hacking was so incessant, it made her vomit, and with nothing in her stomach, all that came up was bile. Unable to stay erect any longer, she crashed to the floor on her side. Shaking arms tried to hold her upper body up so she wouldn’t choke. Stop, she screamed silently. Breathe. Breathe.

  The coughs eased and her arms gave way. The cold floor stung against her cheek. She gasped. Her body went into automatic mode and air entered her lungs. She exhaled before breathing in again—feeble and slow…again…and again…until uneven breaths levelled out. Each shallow breath still hurt.

  Sitting up, she waited to make sure the fit wouldn’t return. She wondered if she had broken any ribs. After some time, she inhaled deeply. Hoping she was okay, she carefully got to her feet. Her right leg gave out under her and she had to grab the bench to stay upright. What now? Feeling her swollen knee, she guessed she’d bruised it. At least, she hoped that was all she had done.

  Taking one hand off the bench, she gingerly put weight on her injured leg. It hurt, but if she kept most of her weight on her left side, she could get around.

  She felt her chest and listened. No gurgling. Using the bench for balance, she bent down, picked up the dirty cloths and looked at them. Green. Definitely an infection. The ache in her back had eased. Although she felt better, she knew the rubbish in her lungs would build up again. She also knew she was fighting the insidious disease Varlor had spread. If she could do it, so could Deesc.

  Leaving the safety of the bench, she hopped from bed to bed to Deesc. She sat harder than she meant to on his bed but it didn’t disturb him.

  ‘Deesc, wake up. We can fight the infection.’ She shook his shoulders. ‘Deesc. Wake up.’ He gave no twinkle of response. She couldn’t see his chest rise at all.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  NELL SHOOK DEESC’S SHOULDERS HARDER, NOT CARING ABOUT his flopping head. ‘Wake up. Wake up,’ she shouted.

  She placed the side of her head on his chest and listened. No gurgling. Wishing she had a stethoscope like the doctors on Earth used, she moved to his mouth and resting her ear against his slightly open lips, concentrated. It was faint, but she was certain she heard a hiss of air.

  ‘Nell.’

  She looked up. Kandar sat on his bed with his feet on the floor. She hobbled over to him.

  She gasped, ‘You’re better.’

  ‘Yes, sweet child. Thank you.’

  ‘Me? I only fed you. It’s your strength that’s fighting the infection. I am too, I think.’

  ‘Infection? Oh, no. I never had the illness; I was nearly dead from starvation.’

  ‘I don’t understand. Everyone has the disease.’

  ‘No. Corls are immune. Varlor made certain of that.’

  ‘Huh?’

  His sad eyes gazed around the room. ‘Varlor neutralised my bracelet and locked me in the dungeon, leaving me to starve to death down there while my friends were dying up here. If it wasn’t for you, I’d be dead now.’

  ‘Oh,’ she said, and moved in closer to him.

  His arms opened to receive her and she fell against his chest.

  A minute later, he broke contact. ‘Tell me why you think you are fighting the sickness.’

  ‘Well, I might be fighting it or maybe I only ever had a chest infection. Either way, I know that’s what I’ve got now. Carl came home with a bad case of pneumonia last time he went bush, but once he took a dose of strong antibiotics, he was fine. My symptoms are the same as his was. Exactly the same. I have pneumonia.’

  ‘What are your symptoms?’

  ‘Aching muscles all over. My chest and back hurt too, but I think that’s really my lungs; and of course, a huge headache. I have been coughing non-stop but only brought something up a little while ago. What was in my lungs was the same as Carl had. It’ll probably build up again and you’ll have to do what the doctor told Annet to do. She had to hit Carl’s back with cupped hands while he hung off a bed.’ She climbed onto his bed and got into position, hanging over the side of the bed so her back was easily accessible. ‘Like this,’ she said through a mass of tangled hair hanging over her face.

  ‘Now you hit the top part of my back all over, but not too hard.’

  He did it perfectly. With no congestion in her airways, Nell didn’t cough up anything. She got up and sat beside Kandar. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I am not a physician. However, you seem to be right. You should be as ill as your patients.’ He went quiet.

  Nell figured he was thinking, so didn’t say anything either. She looked over at the injections still on the floor. Haast had said that Varlor had given him some sort of infection too. Of course! Cay-reace cured him.

  She slid off the bed. ‘Ow.’ Her sore knee smarted and balancing against the bed, she quickly transferred her weight to her other leg. Ugh. How could she forget that?

  ‘What happened to your leg?’ Kandar asked.

  ‘It’s okay. I fell before you woke up.’ She gazed at him. ‘Cay-reace might be able to help with the disease. He might be able to come up with an antidote for everyone.’

  Kandar shook his head slowly. ‘I doubt it, child.’

  ‘No, really. He cured an Eldorap in Kafir. I know the Eldorap and he told me Varlor had given him something that made him sick.’

  Scratching the side of his face with a pointy green nail, Kandar let out a low growl. ‘Varlor has proven his nefariousness. But to harm an Eldorap?’ His fist punched the bed. ‘That is scandalous. It is hard to believe…yet…Eldoraps are not prevaricators.’

  Nell had to guess what his last word meant. ‘No. I don’t think an Eldorap could lie if it wanted to. But Kandar, Cay-reace is our only hope. Can you get up?’

  He took great care in rising to his feet. ‘My muscles have wasted somewhat. I will be all right if I rest often.’

  ‘Good. I need you to look after the others while I contact Kale.’

  ‘Kale?’

  ‘Yes. He’s the only Corl, other than you and Tish of course, I completely trust. He can go to Cay-reace with Mekie’s direct twai I gave her. That way, I can talk to him and explain.’

  He nodded. ‘Explain to me what you’ve been doing.’

  Nell snatched the tube and jug from his side table and took him to the bench, collecting her twai on the way. She showed him how she managed the patients care.

  ‘You have to force the glucose down their throats if they don’t take it. I won’t be long.’

  ‘Do you have a skark?’ he asked, as she left.

  Not taking the time to answer any more of his questions, she hurried out as fast as he could with her sore knee. ‘I don’t need one.’ She smiled. He was probably too out of it in the dungeon to notice her Eldorap form.

  Crossing the front doors’ threshold, she shifted to Eldorap and pressed a button on the twai. Mekie shouted, ‘Nell.’

  ‘Yes
. Listen, I don’t have time to talk to you. Is Kale there?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good. Give the twai to him.’

  ‘Why?’

  ***

  Sam snatched the twai from Mekie and, holding her at bay, put it to his ear in time to hear Nell yell.

  ‘Don’t ask stupid questions and give the twai to Kale.’

  ‘First you tell me why you haven’t taken our calls?’ Sam wanted to know.

  ‘Sam. I’ll tell you everything, but right now, I need to talk to Kale.’

  ‘Listen, Nell, you need to know Varlor has been there. Kale found out that he’s gone to Grarlon heaps of times since before the start of the revolution.’

  Nell groaned. ‘I know; now, give the twai to Kale. If you don’t, I’ll hang up.’

  Knowing she would, Sam gave in. ‘Okay, okay, don’t get bent out of shape.’ He shoved the twai in Kale’s face. ‘Here. She wants to speak to you.’

  ‘Nell?’ Kale said.

  ‘Hey, Kale. I need you to listen and don’t interrupt. I don’t want those two knowing anything yet.’

  ‘Anything at all?’

  ‘It’s too dangerous for them, but don’t worry, you’ll be okay. Corls are immune. Now shush up. There’s an infection here and I’m probably contagious. I need to meet you and you have to be completely by yourself. Somewhere outside the city.’

  ‘Nadar’s pole house?’

  Nell hissed, ‘Shh.’ Didn’t she just tell him to be quiet?

  ‘It’s all right. Sam and Mekie know I went there.’

  ‘Okay. We’ll go there.’ She changed her mind about talking to Cay-reace herself. It would take too long to explain everything again. ‘Now shut up,’ she said. ‘Remember when we found that Eldorap at Kafir? Varlor had given him some sort of disease and Cay-reace cured him. I think it’s the same thing Varlor’s done here. Go see Cay-reace. Ask him if he has any of the stuff he gave the Eldorap, or if he can make more in a hurry. Time’s running out here so you need to be as fast as you can. Oh, and bring something to take a sample of my blood to take back to Cay-reace to test for the infection. Have you got all that? I’ll wait for you in the ice house.’

  ‘All right. Do you want to speak with Sam or Mekie?’

  ‘No. Just don’t let them follow you.’ She disconnected the twai and grinned. Of course they can’t follow him. He has his bracelet so he shouldn’t be too long. She hoped Cay-reace would listen and do what she asked. He would. He liked Kale and he would take him seriously.

  She gazed up at the sky, and sighed. ‘I have to do it by myself sometime.’ Concentrating on the room in Nadar’s icy secret hideaway, she zoomed as fast as she dared along the invisible vortex highway.

  Once there, she noticed her knee was fine as an Eldorap.

  She shifted and groaned. Back to the pain of mortality. She hobbled to the simulator. ‘A glass of lemon juice,’ she said, figuring lemons had more vitamin c than oranges. Her lips curled as she took the glass and put it to her lips. It doesn’t taste as nice, though. Her eyed widened at the strong comfortable chairs that had replaced the broken ones around the table. She sat down and waited. The ice room was warmer than the first time she had been there. Huh. That was a long time ago and Nadar still felt the guilt over his part. She hoped he would forgive himself one day. She had. Varlor was the real criminal. So too were the other ex-Elders who followed their ancestors’ stupid beliefs.

  Kale arrived. ‘Hello, Nell.’

  ‘Hey there. Any trouble getting out?’

  ‘I left after going to the kitchen for a drink.’ He gave her a toothy smile. ‘Sam and Mekie won’t be happy about it.’

  Nell laughed. ‘Yeah, but if I’m infected, they’ll be really unhappy if they come anywhere near me. Did you bring the blood collection gizmo?’

  He pulled a small cylinder out of his pocket and took the sample.

  ‘Be careful with that and make sure you tell Cay-reace it’s contagious.’

  Kale nodded. ‘Are Father and Dar-tern all right?’

  ‘Your dad is, but my dad’s really sick. Deesc has the disease as well. That’s why I need you to make Cay-reace understand fast. We need five cures immediately; six, if I need one.’

  ‘Is it a virus or infection?’

  ‘I thought they were the same.’ She bit her cheek and shook her head. ‘Cay-reace will know. I’m sure it’s the same thing Haast had. Doctors keep their samples and notes, don’t they?’

  ‘Yes. The samples would be snap frozen and the file accessible at any time.’

  ‘Good. Go and get the stuff and have him make heaps more antidotes. Probably thousands.’

  ‘Thousands?’

  New tears fell down her face. ‘I don’t know, Kale. It’s awful there. Dead Grarls everywhere, but I have two still alive at the palace. There’s bound to be more, at least…I hope there’s more.’ Orenda’s image flashed into her mind. ‘There has to be,’ she whispered.

  ‘Will you wait for me?’ asked Kale.

  ‘No. I have to get back.’

  ‘I have never been to Grarlon.’

  ‘Oh, I forgot about that.’ She shifted. He gasped and drew away. ‘It’s still me, dummy,’ she said. She took his arm and sped to Grarlon, setting him down outside the palace doors. ‘You got it now?’

  He nodded and left.

  Shifting back, Nell made her way to the makeshift hospital. Kandar was bent over her father.

  ‘Dad,’ she breathed, and, ignoring her painful knee, she hurried to his bed. As she held his cold hand, she stared at his still chest.

  Straightening, Kandar turned his sad eyes toward her. ‘I’m sorry, Nell.’

  ‘No. He needs mouth-to-mouth, that’s all.’ She tried to push past the Corl.

  ‘No.’ Kandar wrapped his arms around her. ‘He can’t be resuscitated.’

  She tried to wriggle free but he tightened his hold. ‘Let go of me.’ She turned her hot angry eyes up at him, and commanded, ‘Let. Me. Go.’

  He growled, ‘Do not harm me.’

  ‘Nell!’

  Nell started and turned her head toward the direction of the voice. ‘Haast.’

  The Eldorap nodded to Kandar and the green Corl let go of Nell and stepped back. ‘Why was I not told of Deesc’s illness?’ Haast growled out his words and his black eyes were large and cold.

  Nell couldn’t take anymore at that moment. She gazed once more at her father then shifted and went to the kitchen.

  ***

  Again, Sam called Nell. And again, he got nothing. Something was definitely wrong. Very wrong.

  Mekie held her hand over Dar-Seldra’s twai, and said, ‘Mother wants us to go to Tish’s house. Should I tell her Kale is gone?’

  ‘No,’ Sam said. ‘Tell her we’ll be there as soon as we can.’

  She did, and as soon as she finished the call, he took the twai.

  ‘She said we all have to go there now,’ Mekie said.

  ‘Too bad. Nell obviously told Kale to do something for her.’ He was about to call Kale again when the young Corl appeared before him. ‘Where the hell have you been?’

  ‘I need Nell’s twai,’ he said.

  ‘Why?’

  Kale glared at him. ‘Give it to me,’ he growled. ‘I need to talk to her now.’

  Sam flinched. He’d never seen that look in Kale’s eyes and something in his voice had Sam handing him the twai. ‘She won’t answer.’

  Pressing the button, Kale said, ‘She will.’ He poked the disconnect button and called again as he turned away from Sam and Mekie.

  Sam smiled. Huh. The code he and had Nell thought up to let each other know who was ringing. They’d ring, hang up and ring again. He should have guessed.

  Kale kept his voice down, but Sam could make out most of his words between the mumbles.

  ‘Cay-reace—me to tell you—have the virus—pneumonia—need medicine….No. He says—symptoms—Eldorap’s—….Yes. He—doses—working—antiviral—…No. I won’t be long.’


  He handed the twai back to Sam.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Nothing. I have an appointment, so I’ll see you later.’

  Mekie said. ‘If you don’t tell us what you’re up to with Nell, I’ll tell Tish you refused to go home.’

  Kale hung his head. ‘That isn’t fair.’ His round green eyes pleaded with Sam and Mekie. ‘The appointment is important. I promise I won’t be long.’

  Giving Kale’s shoulder a pretend punch, Sam said, ‘Come on, mate. Why are you so upset?’

  Mekie flounced close to Kale and glared at him. ‘I mean it, Kale. Tell us or I’ll call Tish right now.’

  Figuring he should back Mekie up with her bluff, Sam said, ‘You might as well just tell us, Kale.’

  ‘Nell told me not to tell you.’ Kale sighed, side-stepped Mekie and plonked down in the arm chair. He told them everything he knew. Finally, he said, ‘Cay-reace is having the equipment taken to a UC skark and I have to collect what doses he had put away and his formulas on the way to the skark park.’

  ‘Right then. What are we waiting for?’ Sam headed for the door. There was no way he wasn’t going with the young Corl.

  ‘Nell’s going to kill me,’ Kale behind Sam.

  ‘Nah. She likes you,’ Sam said.

  Mekie caught up with them at the elevator. ‘I had to grab a coat,’ she said, pulling her yellow one on.

  Dar-Seldra’s friend, Fellder was with Cay-reace when they arrived. She was with the resistance, so she should be trust-worthy, but Sam had a bad feeling about her. Oh, she was nice enough and appeared to be worried about the people already infected, and she knew what she was doing when it came to biology, but no matter how hard Sam tried to convince himself she was okay, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she had a hidden agenda.

  Cay-reace explained the formulas to Kale before handing him the hand-held computer.

  ‘You two need to be immunised for the virus,’ Cay-reace said. ‘Come here.’ He opened a container about the size of a shoebox and took out two thin pen-shaped tools. Mekie offered her neck to him and he held the tool against her skin for a second.