Syn-En: Registration (17 page)

Elvis spritzed it with antiseptic until a small fog filled the chamber. “I shall hold the leg just above the knee. Zahar must hold his torso.”

“I’ll pull the bone in place.” Nell’s voice remained calm; her hands steady. Too bad her insides shook like a level nine earthquake. She set the diagnostic unit on top of the surgery bubble. The screen flickered for a moment, then the fracture came into view. “You may have to numb him once or twice before we’re done.”

Any more than that and the toxin could prove fatal.

The Padgow raised two antennae. “Ready.”

Sweat beading her upper lip, Nell gripped Iness’s ankle. Very slowly, she pulled. The medical imager constantly updated, showing the bone’s new position.

Iness moaned and kicked her in the thigh with his good leg. Once. Twice.

Pain spiked inside her head, before fading away. Maybe she shouldn’t have sent Anwar away. Muscles burned along her arms. “I need him to relax.”

If the boy tensed anymore, she might never get the bone in place.

Zahar hummed. “It’s alright, brother. You will be well.”

The Padgow rolled around her like a pink tumbleweed. He slapped the boy’s neck twice.

Iness sighed then passed out.

“Should have thought of that sooner.” The Padgow melted into a fuzzy bump. “That doesn’t require any toxin.”

“Good to know.” Nell leaned back and the boy’s leg eased into place. She twisted it just a little so the jagged pieces lined up. “Make the operating box rigid.”

The diagnostic unit beeped.

Elvis tapped the plastic walls. They didn’t move under his touch. “It should hold the bone in place while you work.”

“Get me the tweezers.” Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Nell scooted forward, looming over the injury. She stuck her hands into the preformed gloves. “I’m going to try to place the bigger chips in place, then insert the skeletal mesh. Afterwards, I’ll pull the smaller pieces out.”

The gloves shrink-wrapped her fingers and palms. She probed the wound with her index finger. The damaged flesh closed around her like set gelatin. Using the imager, she deftly moved the bits of bone into the correct position.

“It’s amazing.” Zahar sat opposite Nell, holding her brother’s hand while the Padgow nestled in her lap. “Is all Human technology so advanced?”

“This is rudimentary compared to what’s on the ships.” Nell removed the wrapping from the skeletal mesh and slipped it inside the wound. Once in place, it molded to the bone, locking the pieces in place. The second mesh overlapped the first by an inch. Next she squirted the antibiotics inside. The liquid foamed up, pushing most of the loose bone chips and debris out.

Elvis slipped the tweezers inside and misted them with sterilizing solution. “Forceps will be ready in sixty seconds.”

“I may not need them.” Nell eyed the readout. Oops, she’d spoken too soon. Two small pieces remained. One was definitely bone, the other looked like fabric. She flushed the area again.

This time both pieces floated free.

Elvis panted over her shoulder. “You should always check a third time.”

“Right. Measure once, cut twice.” She waited a minute for the scan to update. Finally, the screen cleared and flashed a new image. “Still clear.”

The Amarook set his hand on her shoulder. “Perhaps you should assist Doc Cabo in sick bay.”

“Not going to happen.” She could stomach Mom’s possession in an emergency, but not on a daily basis. Nell could lose herself inch by inch and not know it until it was too late. She’d find another way to be useful. She eased the self-suturing strip on both sides of the gash. The white tabs shrunk, pulling the skin closer and closer until only a thin line remained. Blood trickled down his thigh.

“Will he have a scar?” Zahar’s breath fogged her side of the box.

“A little one.” Nell smoothed an antibiotic absorptive pad on the injury. The edges wrinkled as it sealed the opening. “Operating box unseal.”

The plastic shimmered then buckled.

“That’s it?” Zahar scooted back.

Nell pulled the box off Iness before carefully propping his leg on her knees. Opening the hardening bandage, she wrapped it around his leg, starting at his thigh and traveling all the way down to encase his foot. Within minutes, the form had hardened. “Don’t get the cast wet if you can help it.”

Zahar’s nose wrinkled. “Iness doesn’t like to bathe. I hope he doesn’t take this as encouragement to break the other leg.”

“Me too.” One possession per crash landing was her limit. Nell felt Mom’s tentacles retract and her brain once more become her own.

Really, dear, you’re acting overly dramatic.

Elvis carefully folded the operating box into a square, then packed the first-aid kit.

Footsteps pounded behind her.

Panting for breath, Anwar climbed the stoop. He dropped to the ground near his brother. His hand hovered over the repaired leg. Pain contorted his features before he smiled. “I’ve brought the Ck’son to carry everyone to the ambassador’s palace.”

Green filled Nell’s peripheral vision, and she fell back.

“I will be happy to carry Iness to the festivities.” Ck’dow scooped up the boy on her bladed arms. She set him on her large back then wrapped him in gossamer wings. “No one should miss the festivities.”

Nell watched other over-sized mantises creep down the dimly lit street. Each had one or two laughing children on their backs and another cradled in their arms.

“It is certainly cause to celebrate.” Zarah dusted Nell’s backpack before handing it over.

A shadowy figure leaned against a dead streetlamp.

Elvis’s scruff stood up and he hunkered low. “Pet.”

Nell gathered her belongings close. Not everyone wanted to celebrate. “Have you found someone to take me topside?”

The sunshine streaming through the exposed dome seemed to dim.

“Of course.” Ck’dow gestured to the silhouette. “Pet has volunteered. He knows the tunnels best.”

“Pet?” The words squeaked through her tight throat. Nell bet the man knew exactly how to get rid of someone threatening his kingdom and make sure Bei never found her remains.

Chapter 18

Sitting on the ambassador’s throne, Nell sifted through foil packets. Most were empty. She needed one pill. Just one. The pregnant mother before her had a severe Vitamin D deficiency.

Nell checked the tablet count on the portable medical device. One left then her Santa sack would be empty. Flicking the used packets to the side, she finally found the last pill and handed it to the expectant mother. “Take this today. Then make sure you stand in the sunshine for an hour or so a day, every day.”

“Thank you.” The woman popped the pill into her mouth. Her pale face scrunched up as it dissolved.

Elvis poured her a glass of water and handed it to her. “And remember to eat a cup of sea grass a day.”

“I will. It tastes better than that pill.” She guzzled the water, drops trickling down the corners of her mouth. Behind her the Human band had left their instruments in the gazebo beyond the pool and stood in line. Pale people lounged in the patches of sun while the young glided like ghosts of healthy children between the grassy fringe and the serving line.

Good thing the grass is filled with Vitamin D.
Mom associated the woman’s name with her medical file on the diagnostic unit.
Without those tablets, the rickets pandemic will get worse.

Holding her distended stomach, the woman waddled around the full tables on the terrace. No one rushed up to take her place. No sick, lame, injured person stood in line, waiting to be cured.

Nell scanned the party.

Inside the rectangular body of water on the lower level, Shish bobbed to the surface. They dumped more armfuls of sea grass before turning their bulbous faces to the rays of sunlight streaming through the overhead dome.

A handful of mantises swarmed the new offering. They shoved the grass into their mouth with their chop-stick arms before throwing it up in slimy green mounds. Swarms of baby Ck’son fell on the regurgitated food wiggling and pouncing like happy puppies. Near the terrace’s staircase, a single green Ck’son puttered around the topiaries, trimming the spiral-shaped foliage and popping the stray leaves inside his mandibles.

Padgows zoomed through the legs of the crowd, eating the food dropped onto the stone patio by aliens and Humans. Every once in a while, they’d roll onto their backs and burp. Once bloated to nearly twice their size, the mopheads congregated in a pile of pink tumbleweeds deep under the stairs. When a man threw up near the loungers around the pond, two Padgows leap-frogged over each other to clean it up.

Nell shoved her bangs out of her face. “I think the medical clinic is closed.”

For now. The Syn-En doctors would need to re-examine everyone once the fleet arrived.

You did well, dear. I believe you have found your place in the Syn-En fleet.
Mom’s approval soothed Nell’s racing thoughts.
These people made it sound like there were billions of Humans scattered throughout the registered universe. They will all be under your jurisdiction once Humans register.

“Billions of people to account for.” Nell tossed the medical recorder onto the table and rubbed the kinks out of her neck. “And no one seems to know if we are supposed to go and pick them up, or if their former masters will just drop them off at our doorstep.”

“Probably a bit of both.” Elvis sniffed the plate of caprinae hooves oozing blood on a platinum platter near his settee. A string of drool spun from his jaws and he quickly shifted, allowing a nearby bucket to catch the stream.

Sitting on a pink cushion near Elvis’s settee, Zahar dipped tiny bottles into the bucket, filling then capping them. “That’s if the aliens give up the people. We heard rumors that the Unadul kept millions of Flegatz enslaved for a hundred years
after
the species was recognized as sentient.”

“That won’t happen to humans. Someone always talks, and we will always investigate the rumors.” Gagging at the ribbons of goo streaming from the full bottles, Nell covered her mouth and looked away.

Amarook spit has many curative properties,
Mom chided.

I know, but that doesn’t mean I want the loogie lotion bottled at my dining table.
Leaning forward, Nell pushed the off button on the medical reader.
Say goodnight, Mom.

Mom sighed.
I suppose it is better to shut me off and conserve the battery. Of course, the embassy still has power…

The cerebral interface avatar faded out of Nell’s brain. Alone at last.

Elvis sent an image of himself sucking the gelatin out of the caprinae hooves.

Obviously, she thought too soon. Nell’s stomach growled. “Would you stop that?”

“I think there is enough Amarook salve for now.” He patted Zahar’s little brother who stirred on the settee beside Elvis.

Nodding, Zahar corked the last of her bottles and added it to the others inside a woven basket. Then she checked the bucket. Viscous liquid sloshed a quarter of the way up the sides. “This will last longer if Pet stores it with the wine.”

Pet. Nell hadn’t seen the little despot since she’d joined the party. What trouble was he up to now?

Elvis flashed another mental picture. In this one, he chewed on Pet’s leg.

So tempting. She scratched the Amarook’s head.

Zahar rose and gathered the supplies. Biting her lip, she looked at her unconscious brother. “Will you watch Iness until I return?”

Sunlight touched his chalky skin. But his chest rose and fell at even intervals and his forehead was warm, not feverish.

“Of course.” Maybe Nell shouldn’t have turned off the medical kit.

Elvis snuffled his neck, then licked the bare skin. “He’s recovering. No sign of infection.”

“Thank you so much for fixing him.” Zahar bowed.

“No problem.” Nell waved her off. Mom had done the heavy lifting. Nell just didn’t want to be possessed again.

After one last bow, Zahar headed for the French doors leading into the house.

“You should eat while you have a chance.” Elvis picked up a hoof and held it up to the light. “I think we can safely make our excuses and begin our journey to the surface within the hour.”

“Yes, but will our journey be to the surface?” Nell pushed off the throne. Her muscles tingled from sitting on the oversized chair for so long. Motion in her peripheral vision caught her attention.

Near the mansion’s entrance, the lanky Pet rushed to Zahar’s side. He took the basket from her and handed her a silver pouch with a straw sticking out.

Nell’s heart sped up. Her silver pouch. The one that held the chocolate shake ration. The little fink was still trying to bribe his way into Zahar’s bed. “I really hate that man.”

Elvis lapped up the blood on his platter. “If I was forced to eat him, I would throw him back up and not in a good way.”

She slanted a look at him. “Is there a good way to vomit? One that didn’t cramp your insides so tight, you feel every blood cell moving through your head or make you pee your pants?”

“Amarooks do not wear pants.” He chomped onto the hoof. Bits of it caught in his feathered muzzle.

“Perhaps, I’ll mingle on the way to the buffet line.” If she took long enough, he should be done eating the caprinae hooves before she returned, and she could eat her meal without the mastication show. She stumbled toward the stairs leading to the patio.

A shadow crept across the terrace. A moment later, strings of lights brightened, pushing back the darkness.

Anwar emerged from the house just as Zahar and Pet headed inside. Anwar drew up short at the sight of them. Grabbing the basket from Pet’s hand, Anwar shoved it at his sister. “You don’t need him. Not for anything!”

The silver pouch fell to the ground, splashing chocolatey goodness on the white marble. Nell’s muscles twitched. Such a waste.

“I’ll see that this is stored someplace safe, Zahar.” Pet took the bucket of Amarook drool. He bumped into Anwar when he entered the house, pushing the man aside.