Between Darkness and Light (93 page)

“Fine,” he said. “Annoyed that I got caught again like that.”

“Any headaches, residual nausea, blurred vision?” she asked, reaching for her instruments. “Why wouldn't you let me take tests last night?”

She pushed his short tunic sleeve aside and reached for his upper arm. The prick of a needle made him start.

“None. And you know why,” he said, watching as she withdrew a blood sample. “I couldn't cope with you even in the same room. Whatever she used, it was powerful.”

“Then why didn't you let Ghidd' ah,” she began.

“Look,” he said firmly, putting his hand over hers when she'd pulled out the needle. “I didn't want any females near me, just leave it at that.”

As he let her go, she flushed and turned away. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I should have realized.” She handed him a swab to place over the tiny wound. “Shaidan sensed something happened and was distressed when I got back to our quarters.”

His ears flattened themselves to his skull. He'd forgotten about his son's ability to sense his strong emotions.

“He was fine as soon as I told him you'd just had a nightmare,” she reassured him. “There was nothing you could have done for him last night, Kusac.” She got up to go over to her console and insert the sample in the analyzer slot. “I can still get samples from the sheets,” she said, coming back.

“Thank you, and no,” he said very quietly, still pressing the pad against his arm. “We can't take that risk. I forgot to change them after you were with me the night before. I took them off and put fresh ones on—they need to be incinerated.”

“Oh,” she said, taken aback. “There's an incinerator here. If you can get them to me, I'll destroy them. You realize it means we've no chance of identifying her, though. Unless you could recognize her scent again.”

“She smelled of you, Zayshul, because of the lab coat,” he said. “I know we've very little chance of finding her, but I've my own theory about that.”

“Which is?” she asked, turning to the screen on her desk as some results began to come through.

“The method she used was the same one you did—some kind of sedative and then a drug she had on her skin.”

“It wasn't me,” she said flatly.

“I know that,” he said, flashing her a slight smile in reassurance. “But where did she get that information from? How did she know what to use on me?”

Zayshul turned round and pointed to the wall behind him, at a notice on the drug cabinet door. “There,” she said. “A list of meds we can safely use on you, those that have some side effects, and those that are unsafe.”

He looked. “That throws that theory out the window,” he said with a rumble of annoyance.

“Not completely. It could narrow it down to someone working in the sick bays or labs. I've been trying to work out why anyone would do that to you. They must have known you'd be aware of what had happened when the drugs had worn off.”

“I know there was a purpose behind it,” he said, checking under the wipe then throwing it in her waste bin. “I just don't know what, but I'm sure Kezule's involved. The way she did it, down to using a lab coat of yours to get the smell right, is just too meticulous.” He was finding himself more than a little distracted this morning, especially now he was this close to her.

“Don't be ridiculous,” she said, turning round again. “Why would he do that? It's more like something Dzaou would set up to try and force you out of command in favor of Banner.”

He digested this for a moment then shook his head. “No, not Dzaou. He's not that popular with your people. He'd never be able to persuade anyone to take that kind of risk for him.”

“There is another solution,” she said. “Someone who does want you that badly but knows that with my scent marker on you, you'd never look at her.”

“I doubt that,” he murmured, ostensibly leaning forward to look at her screen, but in reality just wanting to be closer to her. “I think you have a result.” Something in what she'd said niggled at him, demanding more consideration.

She looked back, and punching a few keys, waited for the information to collate. “She wouldn't be expecting to get caught. My bet is she'd have sedated you fully so that when you woke in the morning, you'd have thought it was a dream, a very vivid one, but a dream. Just like you did last time,” she added hesitantly.

He grunted noncommittally, sitting back again as he tried to follow his own train of thought. “Say there was someone interested in me,” he said slowly. “Could she replace your marker with hers?”

“I don't know. I've never even thought about that,” she said. “Probably not. There wouldn't be much point to the marker if it was possible, would there?”

“Replacing your marker would be a motive, though, and one that would suit Kezule,” he said, doggedly returning to his feelings that the General was behind this.

“Don't talk rubbish,” she said sharply. “Kezule wouldn't stoop so low! We're talking about rape here. That's a criminal offense here under his laws.”

“Believe me, I know that! If not Kezule, then would someone else do it for him?”

“I think you're on the wrong trail completely,” she said, reading the results off the screen. “There are traces of three compounds in your blood,” she said. “Chaiu and laoe, which when combined, make you very amenable, and kyiu, which is a general anesthetic we use for surgery. That is unexpected.” She turned her chair away from the screen to face him. “I expected to find the chaiu and laoe. The kyiu must have an aphrodisiac effect on you in a smaller dose. She couldn't have used a normal one or she, never mind you, would have been out cold.”

“What do the first two do?” he asked.

“Chaiu is a local anesthetic and laoe a strong analgesic. I used both of them on you when I was treating the bite you got during the hunt. Alone they're not a problem for your species, but in combination they do have a kind of hypnotic and suggestive effect on you. Basically, it would make you do what you were told without questioning it.”

He nodded. “That would tie in with the effects I felt. I was having to fight against that when you all arrived.”

“What is surprising though is how little of it is still in your system. To make you as groggy as you were when I saw you, you must have had a fairly high dose of the first two.”

He frowned slightly, remembering doing something the night before to try and neutralize the drugs in his system—had he actually succeeded?

“You know, at least with us, the brain is a remarkable organ, Kusac. It can repair itself, find new pathways when the usual ones are blocked or destroyed. Is it possible that your mental abilities are coming back? Have you ever done anything like this before?” she asked, following his train of thought with uncanny accuracy.

Damn! He had to be more careful, he realized, strengthening his shielding. She was reading him a bit too closely for comfort. “My mind isn't capable of healing itself,” he said shortly, suddenly remembering how on Ch'almuth he'd been automatically adjusting his body temperature in order to stay cool. “The damage was too extensive.”

She nodded, not pursuing the matter any further. “I'll run some tests on the blood sample you gave me and find out exactly how it reacts to kyiu. We ought to know in case we ever need to do major surgery on any of you.”

He nodded and got to his feet. “I better get on with my work,” he said. “Let me know your findings.”

“Meet me in the rec later,” she said as he headed for the door. “Oh, and if you bring me the—objects—you need destroyed at lunchtime, I can do it here.”

He looked quizzically at her.

“My tests won't be finished till tonight. I can tell you my findings then,” she said. “I think you should know as soon as possible, and tell the rest of your crew.”

“You have a point,” he conceded, moving toward the door.

As he did, it slid open to admit Giyarishis. “Good, here you still are,” the small bronze being's translator said. “Speaking with you I am needing.”

He hesitated, then obeying an impulse that came from his feelings of unease about their last encounter, he said, “Sorry, I'm late for work,” and brushed past him.

Giyarishis stood there, hands flapping in distress, watching his retreating figure.

“Was it important?” Zayshul asked, glancing at him.

“Will wait,” he said and stalked off despondently.

 

Kezule arrived in her lab not long afterward. “I need to have a few words with you,” he said, coming toward where she was working. “Can you stop what you're doing?”

“I'm only waiting for the results of some simulations,” she said, turning aside from her data analyzer to look at him. “I found out which drugs were used on Kusac.”

“Oh?” he said, perching on a tall stool beside her.

“What I expected. A mixture of a local anesthetic and a strong analgesic, coupled with a general anesthetic. Apart from the analgesics, the other two are only available to medics working in one of the sick bays and myself.”

“I wonder how she got hold of them,” said Kezule.

“I wonder, too, because she left no tracks in either sick bay. There's nothing missing on the inventory, and we do keep it rigorously up-to-date.”

“Sounds like you think it may have been one of your staff.”

“It could well be, considering a lab coat of mine was also taken. But then again, maybe all that is window dressing just to put us off the scent.”

He frowned, the skin around his eye ridges creasing. “Why would anyone go to such lengths?”

“I wondered that, too,” she agreed, watching him carefully. She could feel his uneasiness. “I've been trying to think of a motive, and the one that seemed to fit best is that perhaps it is someone jealous of my marker on him, someone who wants him enough to drug him so he'd pair with her. She could then replace my marker with hers.”

“Sounds rather convoluted,” he said, not meeting her gaze. “I think you may be onto something with the jealousy, though. And I remember something about a still-unclaimed bet concerning the Captain. Perhaps that was all the motivation she needed.”

“I don't believe that, and neither do you!”

“Jealous yourself, Zayshul?” he asked, raising a brow at her. “Why shouldn't other females be interested in him? Isn't that part of what the marker does? I know my daughter Zhalmo has been interested in him from the first.”

She leaned toward him, bracing herself against the work surface with her arm. “There's a military precision to this whole incident that suggests you or your young commandos are involved, Kezule. The only loose end was caused by Dzaou disturbing them! The only motive that makes sense is to try and change the marker on him. You're the one person who has most to gain from that!”

“You're talking nonsense, Zayshul,” he said, getting up and moving away from her. “I only came to tell you that I no longer care if you have your Sholan, so long as you turn the marker off.”

“Why now?” she demanded. “Because your little plan failed? How could you even think of doing that to him, Kezule? You were outraged when you found you'd been harvested on the
Kz'adul
, how did you think he'd feel about being raped? Didn't it occur to you what would happen if he found out?”

“I had nothing ...”

“Don't lie to me!” she hissed, jumping down and going over to him. “I
know
you were involved! At the very least, you asked for this to be done!”

He grasped her by the shoulders. “Did it occur to you that I did it for your benefit, and his?” he demanded, his voice low and angry. “I've watched both of you these last weeks and seen what effect this marker has on you! I asked Giyarishis long ago to find a cure for it, but he's come up with nothing! I thought that maybe another marker could replace yours!”

“Then what?” she asked, trying to pull away from him. “He'd be tied to her the way he is to me!”

“No, he wouldn't! The plan was for her to replace your marker with hers, then turn hers off, leaving him free of it completely! What kind of person do you think I am?”

“One that would send a female to drug and rape someone who is supposed to be your ally,” she said, wrenching herself free and backing away from him. “What you did was despicable and dishonorable!”

“What choice had I? I was afraid you could be injured by him taking his rage out on you when he found out about the marker, or that you'd end up obsessed with him!”

“He didn't,” she said. She'd had enough of his plots and lies, it was time he knew the truth, no matter the cost. “Despite how you've tried to manipulate him over Shaidan, you managed to get his cooperation, and he didn't hate you. What do you think he's going to do when he finds out about this?”

“What did you say?” he demanded, taking a step nearer to her as his crest rose in anger.

“You should have asked me first about replacing the marker. I could have told you it's impossible. I know, because I've tried.”

“You disobeyed my orders?” he said, his tone deathly quiet.

“Listen to yourself! Who do you think you are? A General still? Only in a vanished army and a way of life that's been dead for over a thousand years! I'm not under your command, Kezule! I may be your wife, but I'm as free a person as you! You've no right to give me orders!”

He stood looking at her, then, in a quieter voice asked, “What else did you tell him?”