by Susan Hayes
As the laughter faded, a different energy settled in the room—one of determination. Everyone stood a little taller as they got back to work. Damos filled one of the carts with bowls of soup and packets of wafers that would provide all the nutrients a body needed. Eating one was like snacking on dehydrated gharshtu dung, though, which was why the broth was necessary.
He was on his third round of what they were now calling the “ward,” when he heard a disturbance at the main entrance. A growing number of voices and the stomp of feet had him leaving the cart to find out what was happening. So far the arrivals had come in a steady but manageable stream. If all these new arrivals were ill, there’d be no way the few still on their feet could keep up to the demand.
The first figure to appear out of the throng was the one he most wanted to see, and one who shouldn’t be anywhere near here. Anya.
She made straight for him, her lovely face wreathed in smiles and giddy excitement. Despite his confusion he managed to brace himself in time to catch her as she flew into his arms at full speed.
“I’m still mad at you,” she announced as she kissed him. “But we’ll sort that out later.”
He kissed her back, the sharhal blazing back to life the moment he touched her. “Hello, my choran. I have never been happier to see anyone in my life, but… why are you here?”
“Because we know what this is and how to help,” she announced, loudly enough her voice carried across the relatively quiet space.
The reaction was immediate. Heads turned, murmured conversations stopped, and everyone stared. For once, being near the center of attention didn’t bother him.
“How? What is it?”
A human female he’d never seen before walked in, also beaming. “We call it helix fever, or star pox. It’s a common human ailment, but not a serious one. We’re working on confirming this diagnosis, but since we’re all immune, we’re here to help. My name is Dani, and I’m a medic. Where are your healers? I need to speak to them.”
A buzz of excitement and hope filled the area as Vixi stood and waved a tired hand. “I’m over here.”
Dani blinked. “It’s just you?”
“I’m the last one still on my feet,” Vixi admitted.
Dani hurried over to her. “Then it’s time you sat down. You rest. I’ll talk. The others already know what to do.”
The others? Damos turned back toward the entryway. Humans and cyborgs were still arriving as others filed into the ward. Hundreds of them. Thank the ancestors.
“And there’s no risk to you?” he asked Anya.
She snuggled in closer to him. “None. I’ve had this bug as a child, and as an adult I’m vaccinated against it. Now, how’s Tra’var?”
“Resting and grumpy.”
“So no change then. And you? Are you okay?” she asked, her arms still wrapped around his waist and her head on his chest with her face tipped up so they could talk.
“Now you’re here, I’m perfect. And healthy. So much so that the healers have been taking all sorts of samples in hopes they can use my immunity to help the others.”
Her mouth quirked up into a half-smile. “And you thought you were protecting me by withholding your mating mark.”
“A decision I will regret for the rest of my life.” He cradled her close, bowing his head over hers so he could bury his nose in her hair. “We’re needed here, but at the moment we aren’t…”
“The next words out of your mouth better be a promise to bite me.”
“I will mark you as mine, place your harani on your arm myself, and then Tra’var and I will ensure you don’t wear anything else for several days. Possibly a week.”
“And no more leaving me out of things even if it’s for my own good?”
“That’s not going to happen again. We parted only a short time ago and I’ve already realized that was a mistake. Though in my defense, it wasn’t my doing.”
“No, that was Yardan, and he’s seen the error of his ways. He’s also too sick to interfere anymore, so Phaedra has left me in charge.”
“What do you need me to do?”
She gifted him with a smile that sent light into even the darkest corners of his heart. “You just did it.”
14
Her nanotech might be working at minimal levels, but it was enough to give Anya the energy she needed to stay on her feet. She was in constant contact with Phaedra, coordinating their efforts, brainstorming ideas, and sharing their progress. Phaedra was getting regular updates from her friend Dr. Jefferies, and so far it had all been good news.
The energy in the ward had brightened, too. The fear had faded, and everyone was breathing easier now that they believed they wouldn’t lose their loved ones to this ailment.
Getting everyone back on their feet would take time, though. Identifying the culprit had only been the first step in what turned out to be a complex process that sounded more like fairy magic and sorcery to her. She left the science and magic to the experts and got on with what she was good at—managing chaos and heading off problems.
A quick scan of the ward didn’t indicate any new issues. In fact, things seemed relatively calm. The cyborgs were everywhere, helping the sick, preparing meals, and assisting wherever they could. Dani was cloistered with the healers working on solutions, and the human colonists were taking care of those who had no family to help them. Even Cameron was helping, his flirtatious manner gaining him popularity with all the females, even the mated ones.
A soft sob caught her attention and she scanned the area, looking for the source. It took her a minute and a bit of walking to find it. Kara was hiding in the shadow of one of the outer pillars, her face in her hands and her shoulders shaking with more muffled sobs.
Anya’s first reaction was annoyance. Kara wasn’t sick. She wasn’t even going to stay at the colony. She had no one she cared for among the sick, so why was she crying instead of helping the others?
She brushed aside her irritation quickly, though. The woman hadn’t handled any part of her new life very well, so it was no surprise this would overwhelm her. It was frankly surprising she hadn’t gone with Phaedra to avoid any chance of meeting her mates. If that happened, she’d have to stay, and that wouldn’t end well. Some beings just didn’t have the temperament for this kind of life. “What’s wrong, Kara?”
The woman flinched, shoulders rounding defensively.
“Whoa. Easy. No one’s going to hurt you. And if they did, I’d have my mates beat them senseless and toss them in their forge so you didn’t have to see them again.” She didn’t think that was likely, but it gave her something to say to draw the other woman out.
“They’re going to. And I deserve it. I didn’t know. They said—” she sniffled and finally lifted her head. Guilt was etched into every line on Kara’s face.
Anya moved to face Kara and then squatted in front of her, ignoring the slight protest her knees made at this unexpected abuse. Nanotech or not, her joints had over forty years of mileage on them. She took Kara’s hands gently and said, “No one is going to hurt you, Kara. You have my word. Now, what are you talking about?”
“I did this.” The woman’s blunt confession set Anya back on her heels.
“Did what? What did you do?” She had to work to keep her tone soft and neutral. She wanted to shake Kara by the shoulders and demand answers.
“I did this.” She wiped a tear-soaked cheek and then used the same hand to point to the patient-filled arena. “I didn’t know. They said it was just an experiment and no one would get hurt. But they had to find a way to weaken the aliens’ nanotech. Because… because…” Kara lapsed into sobs again, leaving Anya clutching to the last shreds of her patience.
“You mean the Vardarians. Someone wanted to run an experiment on them and you agreed to help.”
Kara nodded, tears dripping off the tip of her nose.
“You released the virus?”
“No. No virus. I wouldn’t do that.”
Anya’s temper surged. “What did you do
, Kara?”
“They arranged for me to come here. Paid me enough to get my whole family off Earth and to a nice, civilized planet, not just a colony but an established world where we could live like kings.”
Bitter bile rose in the back of Anya’s throat. This woman had agreed to help someone experiment on the colony so she could buy her way into a better life? “I don’t care why you did it. I need to know what you did.”
“They sent me here. Told me to blend in and wait for a package to arrive. Then, all I had to do was follow the instructions. They promised no one would get hurt!”
“Who brought you the package?”
“I don’t know. I came home from classes one day and a box was sitting by my front door. We did that a lot, dropping off little gifts and treats for each other, so I thought one of the other girls… but it wasn’t. There was a cylinder inside. Metal. Small enough to fit in my hand. The instructions were simple. The next time I knew I’d be close to a Vardarian, I was to put the canister in my pocket. When I got within a few meters, I was to push the button on one end. That’s it. The moment that was done I could go home.”
“How long ago?”
“Six days. I should have been on my way home by now. I swear I didn’t know this would happen.”
Anya couldn’t keep the acid out of her next words. “You didn’t think releasing something that would attack the Vardarians’ nanotech would do them any harm?”
“They said…”
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know. There was a man. Blond. Short hair. Dark suit. His suit was nice. I mean the kind that costs more than most of us make in a year sort of nice. He spoke really well, too. Polished, you know?”
“Did he have an accent. Could you tell where he was from?”
“Uh, I don’t know. Proper. He didn’t speak like anyone I’d ever met.”
Given Kara had never left Earth until coming to Haven, that didn’t narrow it down much. “Did he give you a name? Any clue who he worked for?”
“He said his name was Mr. Grayson. Told me what I was doing would protect our kind from the aliens. That we had to take steps to keep our place in the hierarchy.”
That did not bode well. Not on any level. “And you believed him.”
“We’ve got to do something! Every alien race we come across is better than us. Stronger or faster or smarter. We’re going to end up as slaves or pets.”
“We’re already slaves to our own corporations. Don’t need aliens for that. We did it to ourselves.”
Kara just looked at her, but nothing in her expression indicated she understood Anya’s point. “So, what happens to me?”
“You’ve got a lot to answer for.”
“But I’ll still get to go home. Right? I mean, eventually?”
“That’s not up to me.” And Anya was sure that whoever made the final decisions wasn’t going to let Kara go with a pat on the head and a gentle reminder to be nice to others.
“You need to come with me, now. We’re going to go find River and you’ll tell her everything you just told me.”
“River. I like her. She’s nice… for a machine.” Clearly Kara had decided that by unburdening herself of the truth she was now free to continue to be honest about everything, including her bias against nonhumans. It wouldn’t help her cause, but that wasn’t Anya’s problem. Her job was to hand over Kara and then get back to fixing the mess the biased bitch had made of her home.
The hours blurred together. She spent time with Tra’var when she could, but each time he drifted off she’d go back to work. She had managed to be there when it was his turn to get the mix of healing accelerant and new nanotech based on Damos’ samples. Denz had outdone himself, finishing the new version after the rest of the techs had collapsed from illness and exhaustion. The Vardarians had never lived a day without their nanobots, and they’d all learned a hard lesson about how much they depended on them. Without that protection, their immune systems were almost nonexistent.
Someone had done this to them on purpose. The thought chilled her to the core of her exhausted soul.
She sank down on a stool next to Tra’var sometime before dawn. Damos came and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders before pressing a mug of hot soup into her hands.
“Rest. You’ve done all you can. The rest is up to him.” He kissed her cheek. “He’ll want to see you when he wakes up.”
“Thank you.” She leaned against his leg and smiled up at him. “I’m proud of you.”
He blinked at her. Then a slow smile dawned on his face, one that didn’t stop until he was grinning down at her, the skin across his cheeks turning a brilliant gold. He was blushing.
“Thank you.” He bent down and kissed her tenderly, his lips moving as they brushed hers. “I love you.”
He was gone before her tired mind could form an answer, but his words left her filled with a warm, contented glow. Taking Tra’var’s hand, she sipped her soup and waited for him to wake.
Tra’var woke from a dream about ice-filled rivers to discover it hadn’t all been his imagination. Cold water trickled through his hair to pool at the back of his neck, and something wet and chilly lay on his chest.
He heard a soft splash somewhere nearby and he opened his eyes just in time to see Anya lift another cloth from a bowl of water. He caught her wrist before she could reach him.
“No more ice or I’m going to need treatment for frostbite next.”
“You’re awake. How are you feeling?” She dropped the cloth to clutch at his hand.
It was the same question she’d asked him the other times he’d woken to find her sitting beside him. This time, his answer was different. “Good.” He sat up to demonstrate. The dizziness and fatigue weren’t gone, but they’d diminished to the point he barely noticed.
“Your fever broke overnight, and so far there’s no sign of the rash appearing. I think you’re on the mend.”
He pulled the wet cloth off his head and held it up. “If my fever broke, what’s with the cold compresses?”
A tiny smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. “If I say it was to make sure it didn’t come back, would you believe me?”
“I would have, if you hadn’t smiled.”
“My poker face suffers when I don’t get enough sleep.” She shrugged. “I wanted to clean you up a little. I asked Damos to bring me some water. He brought me a bowl of ice water and said it was time you got your ass out of bed.”
“And you went along with this plan?” He’d only been out for a day or so and already the rest of his trio were ganging up on him. It was clear that Anya, at least, had pushed herself hard. Her hair had pulled loose of its braid in places, and dark shadows lay beneath her eyes. Whatever endurance his nanotech had given her was long expended and he guessed the booster everyone was getting hadn’t kicked in yet.
“Well, he might have also mentioned he still owed you for dropping him in that river.”
“I have been betrayed. I am wounded beyond words.” He pressed a hand to his chest.
“You are clearly feeling better if you have the energy to be dramatic.”
Tra’var stretched, even unfolding his wings enough to loosen more of his muscles. “I am. I have also decided that I will accept this betrayal gracefully if it means the two of you have worked things out.”
Anya laughed. “We’ll get there. But it’s not like we’ve been sitting around discussing our personal problems while you and most of the others have been waited on hand, foot, and wing.”
He took a moment to look around him, the reality of how bad things had gotten finally apparent. His fever and fatigue had left him only vaguely aware of what was going on around him, but now…
Beings milled about everywhere. They lay on beds or sat on stools and benches. Those well enough moved about and helped those still recovering. Cyborgs and humans moved through the sick handing out food and offering aid or just companionship.
Movement on the upper floors caught his at
tention. Beings moved about up there, too. “Is the entire colony here?”
“More or less. Some of the cyborgs are running the factories and others are working on the new nanotech booster. It’s replicating fast enough, but it still has to be prepped and then loaded into the injectors. The sickest got the first doses, and now we’re working on getting it to everyone.”
“Damos saved us.”
“He did, though he’s having a little trouble adjusting to that fact. He’s become something of a hero. Everyone knows who he is now, and he’s finding it all rather bewildering.”
“I bet he is. It’s good for him, though. Where is he?”
“Last I saw he was with a group of children. Many of them are already fully recovered and have energy to burn, so he took them outside for a snowball fight.”
That stunned him. “Damos is playing with children voluntarily?”
“He is. Oh, no, make that he was. That must be them coming back now.”
A cacophony of chatter and noise heralded the return of a group of snow-covered, grinning children all clustered around Damos. He had two of the smaller ones perched on his shoulders.
“I think my fever is back. I’m hallucinating,” Tra’var said.
“You’re not.” She leaned in to kiss him. “You’re going to be fine. We all are.” She nuzzled his cheek softly. “I’m glad because it means I get a chance to tell you something.”
“What’s that?”
“I love you.”
His heart took flight and he hauled her into his arms, kissing her hard.
“I love you, too. When I thought I might not make it, I realized losing a life with you would be my greatest regret.”
He didn’t stop kissing her until Damos joined them. “So the ice water worked?”
“You’re a complete bakaffa. But yes, I’m awake now.”
“About time.” Damos fixed Anya with a fierce glare. “He’s awake. Now will you please get some rest?”
Tra’var frowned. “How long has she been doing this?”
“Since yesterday.” Damos’ expression turned grim for a moment. “It’s been a long night, especially since our mahaya refused to take the booster until every Vardarian had theirs.”
