***
Jenavian sucked in a sharp breath as she finally awakened, and a cold hand pressed against her cheek.
“Easy,” Thexyl said softly. “You have been sedated for several days, and it will take time before the grogginess fades.”
She tried to swivel her head to focus on him, but everything was a blurry mess. Her second impulse was to reach out with her telepathy, but her powers were just as sluggish. She could sense another mind in the room next to her, though, one which was very familiar…
“We have escaped New Keledon,” the Kali went on. “And we’re currently on board a shuttle in astral space.”
“What?” she breathed.
“It will take some explaining. Just relax and let the stimulants take effect.”
Jenavian forced herself to swallow and breathe normally. Her psionic abilities could speed the recovery process if she could just concentrate…
It took another few seconds, but eventually her mind steadied enough for her to regain control. Her body warmed as she convinced it to release extra adrenaline, and soon enough her breaths came easier and her vision began to sharpen.
It was only then, once the cobwebs had been fully dusted from her mind, that she realized the suppression collar was no longer around her neck.
“I removed it,” Thexyl said when she touched her throat. “It was more challenging than I’d expected.”
“I bet it was,” Jenavian murmured. Experimentally, she glanced down to inspect herself, and the moment she saw the tears in her jumpsuit the memories of her last moments of consciousness flooded over her: the chase on the concourse, the battle with the alien mob, the flash of the stun beam striking her down…
She might have been wearing the same clothing, but she didn’t feel any lingering soreness where she’d taken hits from her various assailants. She reached up and touched her cheek where the V’rath’s claws had dug in, but she couldn’t find a scar. Her innate psychogenic healing capabilities would have sealed the wound by now, but it would have taken outside aid to repair the external damage.
“You should probably stay still for a bit yet,” Thexyl suggested.
Wordlessly, she brushed his hand away and sat up anyway. The infirmary was cramped—it couldn’t have been much more than six meters across—but behind Thexyl was a familiar body on a cot.
“Markus,” she whispered. His clothing was badly burned, and if not for the status monitors telling her otherwise, she might have assumed he was dead.
“He saved our lives.”
“What are you talking about?”
“After the attack, you and I were imprisoned,” Thexyl explained. “The incident set off something of a political firestorm in the city, and Markus evacuated us rather than leaving us at the mercy of the Council.”
“He’s wounded,” she observed, craning her neck to look past Thexyl’s shoulder.
“Badly,” the Kali said gravely. “Grier attempted to stop our escape and nearly succeeded.”
A sharp twinge of guilt gnawed at Jenavian’s stomach, but she clenched her jaw and willed it away. It wasn’t her fault that he was an idealistic idiot who’d thought bringing her here was a good idea. He’d paid the price for his naivety, and now she and Thexyl had their opportunity to escape with vital intelligence and their original prize. Realistically, things couldn’t have possibly worked out better.
And yet for some reason, the guilt just wouldn’t fade.
Jenavian swung her legs off the bed and walked over to inspect him more closely. He looked like he’d taken a pulse blast straight to the chest, and a normal human probably would have been dead. His psychogenetically bolstered nervous system was being obstinate, however, and with proper treatment, he’d likely make a full recovery…assuming he received it relatively quickly. Her own meager healing capabilities weren’t up to the task of repairing anything so serious.
“It doesn’t look like any major organs were seriously damaged,” she commented. “Though his right lung has seen better days.”
“He’s stable for the moment, but that could easily change,” Thexyl said. “Given the limited medical facilities on this shuttle, I was tempted to leave him behind .”
“I’m glad you didn’t. The Widow will still wish to interrogate him once he’s been treated.”
When he didn’t reply for several seconds, Jenavian glanced back over her shoulder. His yellow eyes were fixated on her, but his scales remained a neutral gray.
“Is there a problem?” she asked.
“He risked his life to save ours.”
She sighed. “He was also holding us prisoner in a city full of angry aliens who tried to kill us. He’s the enemy here, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“He is not my enemy, and neither are the thousands of innocent civilians on that asteroid. Once the Hierarchy learns of New Keledon’s existence, they will destroy it.”
Jenavian wrapped her fingers around the edges of the med-table until her knuckles turned white. “I thought we’d been over this. I thought you’d let it go.”
A streak of indignant green shot up Thexyl’s neck. “Those people have not committed any crimes, Jen. Are you willing to condemn them all to death?”
“You’re making a lot of assumptions. The Hierarchy might not destroy the city—hell, given how badly they seemed to want the Damadus data crystals, they might just try and study the whole thing.”
She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. “You truly believe that?” he asked.
“What I believe doesn’t matter,” she snapped. “We have our orders, and we’re going to follow them.”
Without looking back at him, Jenavian stormed out of the infirmary and through the shuttle’s small passenger cabin onto the bridge. The crimson smear of astral space greeted her outside the window, and she sat down in the pilot’s chair to fiddle with the controls. She might not have understood exactly how the astral drive worked, but it was easy enough to figure out how to turn it off.
She flicked the controls, and the ship rumbled in response. A moment later the endless red mist outside the cockpit window was replaced with an endless black one, and for the first time in what felt like an age, Jenavian reached out to the familiar presence halfway across the galaxy.
I have him.
The Spider and the Fly Page 38
