Eternity Row (8 page)

“That in itself belongs on the impossible list.” Seeing Duncan’s frown, I explained, “It’s not just that you grew an extra kidney, honey. It’s hooked itself up to your circulatory system, and organs don’t do that without me or Squilyp doing a lot of cutting and sewing.”

The Omorr lifted his eyes from the scope. “Nothing
but
surgery can do this.”

I wished I could feel as certain. “Run a microcellular repeat on both kidney samples. I’m particularly interested in the bio-organic structure of the right side cells.”

Duncan finished fastening his tunic. “I will see Dhreen now.”

It finally hit me, why he was so determined to have a go at the Oenrallian. “You want to try to link with him.”

He eyed the isolation unit. “You can stay in the room, if you like.”

“Oh”-I folded my arms-“I’m definitely staying.”

The Omorr frowned at my husband. “His condition is extremely serious, Duncan. I do not want him agitated.”

“The minute he agitates, I’ll kick him out,” I assured my boss.

When we entered the critical care unit, I saw Dhreen was sleeping. Adaola, a former nurse and now one of Squilyp’s surgical interns, was changing his dressing. She saw Reever behind me and immediately stepped between him and the berth.

“He’s going to be on his best behavior.” I nudged him. “Right, sweetheart?”

“I will not injure him.”

The intern stepped aside, but stayed close enough to intervene if necessary. I picked up Dhreen’s chart and reviewed his vitals, which showed no deterioration, but no improvement, either.

“Will he die?”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” I looked up and saw Reever had turned completely white. He’d endured slavery, torture, and endless deprivations, yet he still got squeamish about something like a draining chest wound. “Let Adaola finish dressing his chest, or you’re going to throw up.”

We let the intern complete her work, then Duncan took hold of Dhreen’s hand. He was still a little pale, but seemed calmer and more in control.

“Dhreen.” He bent over the berth as the Oenrallian’s eyelids flickered, then opened. “Do you know where you are?”

“In a hospital.” Drugs made his voice slur the words. “On a ship.”

“Think of the last thing you remember,” Duncan said, then he went still and his eyes lost their focus.

I monitored Dhreen’s vitals, but there were no changes beyond a slight elevation in his blood pressure. Reever stayed silent and motionless for a few minutes, then placed Dhreen’s hand back on the linens and straightened. The Oenrallian smiled a little as he drifted into sleep.

I let out a breath my lungs had refused to release. “Well?”

“His thought patterns are a jumble of disordered fragments.” He turned and took my hand. “You were right; he is not making a pretense of this. I apologize.”

I made an impatient sound. “Apologize later. What did you see?”

“Nothing that made sense. Discarded toys. Oenrallians dancing on a street. Rooms filled with empty beds.”

Before I could interpret any of that, there was a huge
boom
outside the starboard hull panel, and we were thrown to the deck.

The main medical display chimed an emergency signal. “Alert. Exterior hull damage to levels nine, ten, and eleven. All crew members to engagement-response positions.”

“I’ll check on Alunthri and Marel on my way to Communications.” Reever pulled me close for a brief, hard kiss, then looked into my eyes. “Be careful.”

I pressed my hand against his cheek. “You, too.”

As the door panel opened, I heard Squilyp shouting, “Secure Yarek and the other patients! Cheiijo-”

I stuck my head out. “Give me a minute in here.”

Dhreen’s eyes fluttered open and widened as I bent over to grab the berth restraints. “What happened?”

“The ship is under attack.” I stripped away his top linens and removed three Lok-Teel from various parts of his body-the housekeeping mold evidently had taken a real liking to the Oenrallian-and adjusted the tilt of the berth. “I’m going to put you in sleep suspension, to protect your wounds.”

He tugged halfheartedly at the straps. “You’ll rouse me when it’s through?”

“I might even bring you breakfast in bed.” I positioned the suspension shroud over his face. “Don’t worry, this feels just like taking another nap.”

“All I do is sleep.”

“We can swap jobs anytime you want.” I calibrated a syrinpress. “Now close your eyes and relax.”

Once Dhreen was hibernating, I went out to help Squilyp with securing the rest of our patients and getting the staff prepared to triage incoming casualties. I paused long enough to signal Alunthri and check on Marel myself.

“Duncan is on his way, and I’ll be down as soon as I can,” I told the Chakacat, and reassured my daughter as best I could. “Listen to Alunthri, sweetie, and I’ll see you soon.”

“I nod ’fraid, Mama.” Marel showed me a wrist unit. “CanUncaw Xonea give me dis.”

ClanUncle was going to get his large blue jaw broken by me, as soon as this was over. “That’s great, baby.” When she wandered far enough away from the screen, I added, “Alunthri, get that thing off her, if you would.”

As more blasts hit the ship, we began setting up as many empty berths as the wards could hold. I started one of the nurses on the blood synthesizer, and another four prepping ortho and wound instrument trays.

“Cherijo.” Squilyp waved me over to the main display, where he had punched up an exterior view of the
Sunlace
. “It doesn’t look like a League ship. Are they mercenaries?”

“No.” I watched as the fast, heavily armed alien star vessel came about and flew toward the starboard side of the ship. “It’s a Hsktskt raider, gstek class.”

I grabbed the console as it fired another displacer salvo at the
Sunlace
, sending more shock waves through the hull.

The Omorr rocked on his foot. “Obviously not a scout vessel.”

I pushed a handful of hair out of my face. “What is Xonea doing? We’ve got to transition out of here.”

Before I could signal Ship’s Operational and demand to know why we were sitting around letting the lizards blast holes in our hull, a brief, high-pitched screech blared through the air.

I clapped my hands over my ears. “
Ah
!”

Squilyp, whose auditory membranes were ten times as acute as mine, made a horrible sound as he doubled over in agony. A couple of nurses rushed over to help me support him.

If that wasn’t bizarre enough, my daughter appeared out of nowhere, ducked between my legs, and grabbed the edge of the Omorr’s tunic. Her small hand shook as she touched the pink and white streaked blood draining from Squilyp’s ears. “Uncwip!”

“I am well, child,” he said, taking her hand in one of his membranes.

“Let go, Squilyp.” When he did, I grabbed Marel and held her for a moment. Alunthri was nowhere to be seen. “Baby, how did you get in here?”

“I wanded you.”

“Healer, look.” One of them pointed to the display screen.

A silent, light-bending ripple appeared in front of the
Sunlace
, spreading out in all directions. As the Hsktskt raider came about for a third pass, it ran into the ripple. I squinted as a huge flash of white light obscured the screen. When it cleared, the Hsktskt ship had been reduced to a pulverized cloud of debris.

It was so unexpected and lethal that, for a moment, all any of us could do was stare, openmouthed.

“Mama, wad dad?” my daughter whispered.

I swallowed. “A bad thing, baby. A very bad thing.”

“The Captain’s celebrated sonic cannons, I presume.” Squilyp’s face had gone pale pink, but he mopped up the blood on his cheeks and neck with steady hands. “Most proficient.”

“Dear God.” I’d never seen a weapon that could do that to a ship with one shot. Then I glanced down at my kid. “Intern, could you take Marel back to Alunthri for me?” I paused long enough to remove her wrist unit and stick it in my pocket before handing her off. “Go with ClanCousin Adaola now, baby. I’ll see you later.”

I watched her go, then turned to Squilyp. “Bend down here for a minute and let me check you.”

Blood filled the Omorr’s tympanic channels, which I evacuated, but there were only slight perforations which I quickly treated with a topical anesthetic. He claimed to have no lingering pain or hearing loss, so we went back to work. I signaled Alunthri to make sure Marel had returned home. It reported she was shaken by what she’d seen, but otherwise fine.

“I am sorry, Cherijo.” The Chakacat seemed confused. “I do not know how she got away from me. One moment she was there, the next…”

“She does it to everybody, pal. Don’t blame yourself, just lock down the door panel.” I saw a number of wounded stream in through the main entrance, and grimaced. “Looks like I’ll be tied up for a while. Would you stay with her until Duncan gets home?”

“I will stay as long as you like,” the Chakacat reassured me.

I went to help with the triage, which went smoothly, until Dhreen’s girlfriend showed up and demanded to see him.

“You can’t go in there,” I said as I herded her away from the critical care unit. “He’s in sleep suspension, and he’s also too weak to resist infection from the germs you’re carrying.”

“I have washed, thoroughly.” She spit the words out through clenched teeth as she tried to go around me. Although Xonea had made it clear to her that I hadn’t been responsible for Dhreen’s wounds, she still treated me like a leper. “He does not like to be alone. He needs me at his side.”

“He doesn’t need the bacteria that exist in places you can’t wash.” I saw the desperation in her dark eyes, and tried again. “Ilona, more than anything right now, he needs to stay under suspension.”

“So you say, patcher.” She stalked out.

More crew members reported with injuries, but all were thankfully minor, and Squilyp told me to leave.

“Everything here is under control. See to your family, Doctor.”

Marel burst into tears the moment she saw me, convinced her beloved “Uncwip” was hurt. It took a lengthy explanation, a signal to Medical so she could speak to Squilyp herself, then two bedtime stories before she calmed down enough to sleep.

Alunthri lingered, and seemed very upset, by the way it paced around our quarters. “I do not understand it.”

“I’m telling you, it’s like a hobby with this kid. Don’t let it bother you.”

“It’s more than that, Cherijo.” It stopped, and stared at Marel’s door panel. “I tried to track her, but I couldn’t find her scent path.”

Given the Chakacat’s extraordinary olfactory senses, that seemed a little strange. “Maybe you’re congested.”

“Perhaps.” Its whiskers twitched. “I will leave you now.”

“But-” I sensed it was upset and needed some space, so I let the topic drop and walked it to the door. “Thanks for helping out.”

The cats were also agitated; an extra server of dried cod bits soothed Jenner, but Juliet wasn’t interested in eating. My husband came in about an hour later, his face set in remote lines.

“I take it you saw what Xonea’s big gun did to that raider,” I said as I brought him a server of tea.

“Yes.” He stared down at the steaming liquid.

Now for the hard part. “Marel saw it, too. There was no warning, or I wouldn’t have let her near the console, but… she saw everything.”

He glanced at her room. “Is she all right?”

“I think she will be, but we’d better expect more nightmares.”

He abruptly handed the server back to me. “I need to cleanse.”

As Duncan spent an extended interval doing that, I sat and thought. Although I had no love for the Hsktskt, and several million reasons to despise them, watching that ship being reduced to space dust had sickened me. I could just imagine how much it shook our kid.