Blood of Denebria (Star Sojourner Book 4) (9 page)

“Leave it alone,” I rasped.

“How do you feel?”

“Like shit.”

“Are you thirsty?”

The blur resolved itself into a tall, lanky Denebrian male.

I nodded, carefully.

“Good. This will dull the pain and help you to heal faster.” His round mouth, furrowed with brown creases, stretched into a smile. He lifted my head and held a cup to my lips.

The liquid was cloyingly sweet but I drank it and hoped the digestall pill I'd taken was still active.

“We added a sweetener,” he said. “We know that humans like their food sweet.”

“Thoughtful of you,” I said. “Thanks.”

He wore a uniform of sorts, with splotches of green and tan and brown. An insignia on the chest showed a sheaf of wheat crossed with a beam rifle. His skin, drab olive green with brown reedy furrows in the folds, blended with the camouflage colors.

“Who are you?” I asked. I watched wisps of hair on his plated head move as he said something to a female Denebrian at the foot of my bed in their native tongue.

She nodded.

“We call ourselves Defenders United for Homeworld,” he told me.

“Oh,” I said, but couldn't help smiling at the acronym, even though it hurt my cheek. DUH. “Wait a minute!” I got up on an elbow. “Wait a minute. My friend Huff. Where is he? Is he OK?”

He helped me to a sitting position. “Your friend is fine, though a bit of a handful.” His nose slits flared with a sigh.

Uh oh,
I thought. “What'd he do?”

“Oh. We tried to keep him sedated while we set his hind leg.”

“Is it broken?”

“Oh, yes. Compound fracture.”

“Damn.”

“He, uh, he woke up in the middle of the procedure. What a metabolism! And proceeded to tear the OR apart. Then, instead of opening the door, he ripped it off the hinges and threw it into the recovery room. We have people recuperating in there. He said he was going to find you and that the Ten Gods…” His shaggy brown brows furrowed. “I think it was ten, had better keep us safe if we had harmed you.”

“Huff…” I rubbed a hand across my eyes.

“We finally cornered him in the basement with the cadavers and called in a veterinarian who shot him with a tranquilizer gun.”

I closed my eyes and rested my head in my hand. “How is he?”

“Oh, he's fine. We managed to set his leg and put it in a cast. He's not happy. But he's fine.”

“Where is he?”

“Well.” He pursed his lips into a pigeon hole.

I waited.

“We, uh, put him into a kennel where our veterinarian keeps wild animals for rehabilitation before releasing them back into the desert.”

“Huff is not a wild animal,” I said.

“Oh, of course not.”

I stood up, feeling shaky, and tested my ankle with some weight. It was sore, but I could walk. He took my arm.

“He's a Vegan!” I said.

“Yes. I know.”

“He's a member of a…a gentle, peace-loving race of beings with a culture and laws and a religion, for God's sake!”

“Of course. I understand.” He steadied me as I limped to a wall hook and took my jacket.” I looked around the small room. The female Denebrian smiled at me. I nodded back. “Where are we?”

“A medical center we turned into a safehouse for our rebel forces. It's a farming village in the southern desert.

I paused. “How'd they know where to find me?”

“Our guerrillas have watched your team ever since you attacked the BEMs' headquarters.”

I put on my jacket. “We could've used some help, Doc.”

He accompanied me into the hall. Four Denebrian women sat behind a long desk dressed in the same uniforms. “Our people lack your Earth technology, Jules,” he said. “Our guerrilla units make forays into enemy-held territories. They do what damage they can, with weapons they make from wood and vines, and gather what intelligence they can. Then they disappear back into the desert.”

The women stared at me as we walked by.

“They could not have backed you on your attack of the BEM compound,” he said. “Oh, nurse, I'm discharging patient Jules Rammis.”

An older woman, by the gray patches on her cheeks and arms, nodded and wrote something on a scrap of parchment.

“They followed your team to Sparsegro Canyon,” Doc said, “and were about to contact you when the BEMs discovered your hideout and…” He lifted hands, palms up, in what I assume was a shrug.

I stopped. “My friends…”

“They got away.”

“All of them?”

“All of them.”

I sighed with relief and leaned against the wall. “Did your guerrillas steal that BEM ship that landed in the canyon?”

He lifted his shoulders and let them drop. “We, uh, we don't like to use the term
steal.
We prefer to think of it as a gift they brought to our world.”

I nodded. Whatever.

He reached into his pocket and took out a wrapped purple plant leaf tied with a small vine. “Take one of these pills every four hours and call me tomorrow morning. It will relieve the pain and help your ankle to heal faster.” He patted the leaf in my hand. “I already gave you one pill ground into your drink.”

Considering how primitive were the surroundings, I wondered about such hi-tech drugs. “Where'd you get these pills,” I asked, “and the anesthetic for Huff? Do you trade with other worlds?”

“Oh, no.” His narrow shoulders shook as he looked at the women and chuckled. “We are devout isolationists.”

“Then how did you and your people learn stelspeak?”

“A merchant ship landed on our world during my grandfather's time. We traded for many things, including the first-contact Rosetta from your planet Alpha.”

“You incorporated it into the children's learning process?”

“Yes. We wanted the nations to be bilingual, just in case of second contact.”

Should've also developed a military and war machines,
I thought but didn't say,
just in case of second contact!

But nature provides, cousin,” he went on and put a long-fingered hand on my shoulder. “In the desert, and the high plains beyond, and the lush forests. Nature does not advertise his wares. He is sublime, and it is for us to unveil his gifts.”

“Yes.” Being an astrobiologist, I totally agreed. Except for the “he” part. “Funny.” I smiled. “We Terrans think of nature as a 'she'.”

“Ah,” he said. “The nurturing 'she'.”

A nurse helped a wounded Denebrian soldier who limped down the hall. He paused. “You're the human telepath,” he said to me, “from planet Earth.”

I nodded, but I wondered how these people really felt about me, considering the reception we'd received in Korschaff.

He reached out a bandaged hand. “Can we tap fingers, my cousin?”

“Sure.” I touched his fingers with mine. He tapped them three times and smiled. I smiled back. A Denebrian handshake, I assumed. I was glad he hadn't touched my scraped palms.

“We have the greatest hopes,” he said, “that you will contact your government on Alpha and send help before the BEMs' main assault.”

I met his weary eyes. “We're trying, my cousin. God knows, we're trying.”

“Yes, my cousin.” He tapped his chest. “God would know.”

I paused at the main door. “Can I pay you? I have a credcount.”

He smiled. “That would not work here. You are a guest in our village, cousin.
Please.
Do not offer anyone payment.”

Probably against their hospitality customs. “Won't somebody turn me in to the BEMs when I go out there?”

“Oh, no, no! Have no fears of that. The entire village is a stronghold for DUH.”

“The BEMs don't come here?”

He shook his head. “As far as they are concerned, we are only a very minor farming village. There are much fatter pickings in the large towns and Capital Korschaff. Still, we have lookouts stationed. You know—“ He pressed a hand to his forehead. “They have already infiltrated the towns. They take our people and they…” He fluttered a hand. “I cannot speak of it.”

“I know,” I said softly and tapped the fingers he extended to me. “I thank you for your help, cousin.”

He nodded, wiped a tear and turned back to the hall.

“Fucking BEMs!” I muttered as I zippered my jacket and walked into the dusty desert street in the predawn chill with directions to the veterinarian's office. The drab angular buildings, made of black wood and stone, were scattered, without apparent rhyme or reason. A few Denebrians were already out, dressed in the inevitable green coveralls and yellow straw hats.

One tag dragged a travois with bundles of twisted dried black wood down the dusty street. He smiled at me and nodded as I walked by. “Going to be a cold day, cousin. Like some wood?”

“Uh. I don't have a fireplace…cousin.”

“Too bad.” He continued on. “A place needs a fire.”

An old male sat in front of a shop weaving a basket of straw and vines. Behind him, rows of beautiful baskets in different colors and shapes lined the storefront. I smiled as I walked by. He smiled back.

A young female stopped sweeping sand from the steps of an open restaurant and nodded as I approached. “Cousin,” she said.

I nodded back. “Cousin.”

Never had so many relatives, I thought.

The aroma of frying vegetables drifted out and I realized I hadn't eaten since yesterday. A cacophony of music emanated from inside, more like the clang of nuts and bolts being shaken inside a metal drum. I hurried by and wondered if they did “take out.” I'd come back with Huff for a meal after I bailed him out.

I paused at a water fountain for a drink, still trying to get the taste of sweet pickles out of my mouth. There, angled across the sandy street, was the vet's office.

“Huff,” I said, when the veterinarian, a tall, bulky female dressed in coveralls, led me to his cage. He slept on the floor, with his head on a blanket. His left hind leg bore a cast that kept it straight out. His soft white fur was caked with mud from the canyon floor. “Oh, Huff.” I turned to the vet. “Where's his water bowl?”

“We wanted him to be fully awake from the anesthetic before giving him water. But he has a chewie bone in there.”

“A
chewie
bone? You can open the door now.”

“Are you certain?”

Huff woke up and lifted his head. “Jules? Do I dream?”

“No, Huff. It's me.” I smiled. “I've come to rescue you.”

The vet shifted her feet in irritation.

“Oh, Jules Terran friend.” He tried to get up and slid back down. He looked at his cast and dragged himself to his feet. There were two small wheels under the cast and he used them to walk to the bars and lift himself. He clutched the bars with his forearms. “It
is
you.”

I smiled and stroked his paw.

“I saw them hit you,” he said, and leaned his head against the bars. I leaned mine to touch his. “You went limp and I thought you were…”

“Dead? Ah, they can't kill me that easily, Huff. I'm sorry I got you into this, my friend.”

He nodded and glanced at the keys in the vet's hand. “Can you get me out?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“I was just leaving when you came in,” the vet said. “Here!” She shoved the keys at me “
You
let him out. After I'm gone!”

Huff and I sat in the restaurant. They had graciously lowered the “music” at my request. While I studied the menu, Huff took out the chewie toy from his pouch and gnawed on it.

I sighed and folded the menu. Eggs, bacon and coffee would've been nice. I settled for Orange Gourd Twists in a Basket and berry juice, and a dozen grain rolls for Huff. But we both needed meat.

“I wonder if the BEMs are guarding the oasis?” I said. “I'd like to go back for the sous chef and see if the team left us a note, or maybe a hidden message to tell us where they went. Huff, where are your mouse beamers?”

“Gone when I woke up.”

Yeah,
I thought. The rebels would covet any beam weapons.

After a breakfast I could easily forget, we found a motel and shared a room. I shaved, showered, and brushed my teeth. There was no vib unit. I washed my clothes by hand and hung them on a line outside the window to dry in the desert air. Then I gave Huff a good brushing with a stiff brush provided by the motel, picking off parasites on his back and combing out tangles. As a creature of ice and snow, his soft fur didn't hold dirt, or even ice balls, I imagined, for very long.

We both laid down on the wide floor mat. I wrapped myself in a blanket made of soft plant material. Huff didn't need one. And we slept the day away.

By night, Doc's pill had worn off. I limped to the wooden stand and took another one. “Huff,” I said. “Your pill.”

He nodded, reached into his pouch, and took out one of his.

A knock on the door. I was naked. My clothes still hung outside, dry by now. But to a Denebrian, I was just an alien. “Coming,” I called, went to the door and opened it.

Reika, Joe, Chancey, Bat and Wolfie stood there.

Reika hooked her thumb in the strap of her backpack as she scanned my body and smirked. “Wash day?” She took a step inside.

I pushed her gently back out. “Very glad to see all of you. I'll be right back.” I closed the door.

After I got into my shorts and pants, I opened the door and let them in. “What happened?” I asked as I finished dressing. “How'd you find us?”

We sat around the table while Joe explained that the Denebs had contacted them after the BEMs were gone and told them where Huff and I had been taken.

I nodded. It was reassuring to see him clean-shaven and looking well rested. Circumstances being what they were, Joe pushes himself beyond the limits of his age.

Wolfie went to the window, opened it and surveyed the street below,

“Did you salvage the sous chef?” I asked.

Chancey crossed his dark, bare arms and sat back. “The Denebs loaded our gear on those…what did you call them?” he asked me.

“A travois,” Reika said and took out a thermos from her backpack. Her long straight hair, so black and shiny, fell across her face and she flipped it back.

“They've got horses to pull them,” Chancey said.

“Earth horses?” I asked.

Bat pushed the cap back off his square face. “They bought the fertilized eggs from a merchant ship years ago. They look like Arabians.”