The Alien Library (10 page)

Cameron actually laughed.

Pindari found a smile on her face at the sound. She shook her head. “No, what is so funny?”

“I was thinking…” Cam took a breath and snorted before continuing. “That
I
was too sensitive!”

“Oh.” Pindari rolled her eyes. “Perhaps we are both too sensitive. Most Thinkers that come to us are very analytical at first. It takes time for them to grow accustomed to our emotionality.”

“Maybe so.” Cam sat down, then a hand lifted to her chest. “Pindari, something might be wrong. My implant sight is swollen.”

Pindari rose and walked over to the slight human. She carefully undid the tunic at the left side and let the fabric drop. She noted the sudden pearl of sweat on Cam’s brow. “Are you feverish, Cam?”

“No…yeah…I don’t know. It’s come on so fast.” Cam swallowed. “I was hungry.” She swallowed again. “Not so much anymore.” Pindari caught her as she fell limp toward the table. Calling out for help, she swept Cam up into her strong arms and nearly ran for Tendar’s quarters. The real fight to save Cam’s life began.

*****

The librarian didn’t know any of it. Not for nearly a week. She began to wake up, aware of pressure on her lower body. She moaned, cleared her throat, and slowly opened her eyes. Tendar’s face hung six inches above her, looking down at her with great joy. He smiled. “Ah, there you are.”

“Uh…hi?” she murmured. He sighed, eyes searching her face. What he saw reassured him, she supposed, as he relaxed his body atop hers, eased arms under her back and held her. She became aware of his cock, buried deep inside her. It felt hard and very warm. He moved his hips and she gasped.

“He needs you,” Daniel’s hoarse voice came from her side. “Relax, accept and then he’ll sleep.”

Relaxing wasn’t something that came easy with the situation she found herself in. Tendar was moving steadily and it felt wonderful. At the same time, she could feel his body trembling. She wanted to comfort him. He seemed to sense it and raised his head to gaze at her again. “Cameron, lovely Cameron, soft, sweet, succulent.” His head bent and he kissed her.

She surrendered to his lips, to his cock, to his rhythms. He rocked inside her, touched nerve endings that were flinging themselves with ecstatic abandon through her system. She arched, clenched at him and felt him deliver. Then he went limp. She panted, drenched in a sudden sweat. The next thing she was aware of was Daniel, stroking her face as Sil and Darjing assisted Tendar in leaving the bed.

Daniel smiled at her. “He needs a bath and then sleep. A long sleep. How are you feeling?”

She drew a trembling breath and knew something had changed. She met Daniel’s eyes. “Good. I think. I’m wet, feel like I’m lying in a puddle? Where am I? What happened?”

“You likely are lying in a puddle. He’s been inside you for days, keeping the infection at bay. Pleading with you to wake up.” Daniel took a deep breath. “I’ll have Pindari get you into the shower. Cam, we came close to losing you. Now, just concentrate on getting better. I’ll answer your questions, but not now. I need to see how Tendar is.”

She didn’t move as he followed the route Tendar had taken. She looked at a ceiling she didn’t recognize, trying to understand what was different. Pindari strode in and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m to see you to a shower. Do you think you can walk?”

“I don’t know?” Cam prepared to sit up. Pindari offered a small amount of support and it encouraged Cam at how little she needed it until she tried to put weight on her left arm. It wouldn’t hold it. She looked at the limb and gasped, suddenly aware of the redness at her incision sight. The area looked as bruised as it had the day the implant had been inserted, her arm hung useless.

Cam touched her left arm with her right hand. “I can feel some prickles?”

“What do you mean? Some prickles?” Pindari eased Cam’s legs to the edge of the bed. “Give me your left hand.”

Cameron tried to. The arm wouldn’t move. Looking at Pindari, she tried to remain calm. “My arm is paralyzed. I can’t move it. Prickles, it can feel my fingers, but like prickling. Pindari?” Her voice broke at the name.

“Sammy was worried. It was a bloody invasive procedure. Don’t worry, humans have healed from worse. It will get better.” Pindari sounded angry. She met Cam’s eyes. “I swear, it will get better. Come on. You want the shower?”

“Yes.” Cam sniffed, her head was all muddled but she determined not to surrender to fear. “Not going to cry…procedure?”

“The implant is gone. Let Daniel talk about with you.” Pindari saw Cam to the bathroom and sat her on a shelf, turned the water on. “Do you need help washing?”

“No, I’m right-handed anyway,” Cam replied, sighing as the water sluiced away what felt like a week’s worth of grime. She gently fingered her cunt and was astounded at the liquid literally pouring from her. She’d felt it begin to trickle as they’d walked to the stall. A bit of exploring showed that her ass in a similar situation. She leaned forward and just let the warmth ease from her. She almost laughed, then grew sober. “Pindari? Is this normal? I’m a fountain.”

“Normal? I don’t know. It isn’t anything to worry about. It held the fever away and the infection. Tendar has developed rare talents, his body chemistry adapts to what is needed.” Pindari’s voice came from the larger room. “Do you want the arm in a sling?”

“Yes, please.” Cam sighed, feeling her body sucking in the water. “I must have been dehydrated,” she murmured to herself. “Jesus.” Her hand explored the incision; it looked worse than it felt. Looking at it made her feel lightheaded, so she kept her eyes averted. She spun on the platform and let the water detangle her hair. By the time she left the shower, she was able to walk and move freely. Her mind just refused to consider her missing implant. They had to remove it; she understood what that meant to her. Life without that safety net. Shaking her head, she set it aside. She dealt with what was before her.

Pindari sat in a chair, by a large window. The bed was still in disarray, and Cam heard voices from an adjoining room as she walked over to the cook. “I must have scared you badly. I wish there was something to say or do to make it better.”

“You just did, child.” Pindari smiled. “I bet you’re hungry.”

Cam put a hand on her belly. “Yeah. I am. But, please, tell me what happened? And how is Tendar? Is he going to be okay? He looked completely drained.”

“He is, and he will recover.” Daniel returned to the room to answer her question. “He’s in the bath, releasing all the toxins. He’ll be in there for a day, at least. Then he’ll need food. And sleep.” Daniel took Pindari’s hand. “He will improve with each breath.”

The Kharmon nodded, the lines on her face smoothing out at the news. She pushed off the chair. “First, food for this human. Then the heartiest meal I can think of for my nephew. Talk to her, Dani.”

“I intend to.” Daniel sat down in the chair, urged Cam to sit across from him. He took her left hand, cradled in the sling. “Tell me what the problem is here.”

Cameron saw the weariness on Daniel’s face and decided to reserve the bulk of her questions for later. “The arm is nearly useless. It doesn’t hurt, but feels slightly numb. It just isn’t answering commands. No, that doesn’t sound right.” She shook her head. “When I touch it with my right hand, I can feel the hand but not entirely.”

“All right. Some nerve damage was inevitable, considering the problem we had.” Daniel stroked her hand. “It should get better.” He yawned. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. You must really be tired to be yawning. I’ll wait on knowing what happened. Go to bed, Daniel,” she urged him.

He smiled crookedly. “I intend to. As soon as the bed is remade.” He glanced over at the huge pile of bedding, and saw three human females replacing the sheets and straightening all of it. He smiled, and sighed. Cameron saw his eyes nearly closed. He’d once told her he usually needed very little sleep. This wasn’t a normal.

The arm scared her, but she felt good. She felt strong. She could wait. Tendar had held her, for days. The thought blew her mind. She touched Daniel’s hand. “Ask someone to show me how to get to the kitchen and go to bed. Find me when you wake up and talk to me about what happened. Okay?”

“Okay.” His head bowed and he all but fell asleep.

She knew one of the women and called out to her, “Janice? Help Daniel to bed, please. And I need a guide to the kitchen.”

The woman smiled brightly and did as Cam asked. Ten minutes later, she sat at the kitchen table, watching Pindari scurry around the kitchen. “How long was I out?” she suddenly realized she didn’t know.

“Out? Oh, unconscious?” Pindari closed her eyes a moment to consider. “Three days before Daniel returned with Samuel, then another four after they removed that thing.” Her voice held real contempt, which surprised Cameron.

“A week, wow.” Cam hugged the robe she was wearing tighter about her waist. “Bet I lost weight.”

“Bet you didn’t. Tendar probably did.” Pindari set a loaf of bread down on the table. “Eat some of that, the soup is being heated up.”

Cam just smiled slightly, then asked why the implant bothered Pindari so much. “I mean, I understand it malfunctioned or I rejected it or whatever, but in general, it was a lifesaving device that I needed. A miracle of modern medicine, human medicine.”

“I know.” Pindari sighed. “But nearly everyone who has arrived with such miracles ends up dead or ill. Ix doesn’t like them.”

“Yeah, I figured that out.” Cam bit off a chunk of the bread, her mouth filling with saliva at the first touch on her tongue. She was starving. She chewed, swallowed, took another bite, eyes closed to relish the taste and sensation of food in a belly too long empty. When the soup was set down in front her, she pulled it closer and bent over the bowl, inhaling deeply. She all but worshiped the scent. “Your food always taste so good?

“I think so.” Pindari chuckled. “Eat.”

Cam didn’t argue, but dug in. She was pushing the bowl away when a man hurried in. “I heard she was awake!” His face turned toward her. “Ah! You are awake and alert. It’s incredible.” He tossed a small metal box up into the air and caught it. Then held it out to her. “Once one of their finest but not anymore.”

She leaned closer and all but gaped at the device. It was blackened, corroded and pitted. He set it on the table. “I’m Sam. I used to work for the company who made these. Word traveled that someone had arrived with one. My reason for living. Finally!”

He laughed and she was able to transfer her gaze from the device to him. A pleasant looking man, slight of stature, and a bit round. His hairline receded, but his eyebrows made up for the lack. She thought him quite charming.

He winked again at her, and left the corroded device on the table. Pindari set a plate down in front of him and he beamed at her. Cameron kept spooning soup into her mouth, but paused long enough to ask a question. “Your reason for living?”

“Never fully understood why I was considered useful to the Ixian.” He savored the sweet pastry on his plate, eyes glowing before he picked it up and took a bite. He swallowed. “It isn’t like I haven’t found things to do. I’ve spoken to Daniel before about implants, in general.”

“You worked for Medthin?” She set the spoon down in the empty bowl. Pindari gave her a selection of pastry to enjoy immediately.

“Yup.” He sighed after a quick look at Cameron. “Never seen one do what that one did. Never heard of one doing that.”

“Doing what? It looks really old, but it isn’t. I had it four years before I arrived on Ix,” Cam replied. “What happened? You were there?”

“Oh, I was there. Daniel and I were on the road when word reached us that you had gone down. The device kept trying to work, evidently. You handled it well. The Ixian, pardon me, the Kharmon, didn’t. Daniel and I got here and Tendar shared the shocks with you. Sil and Darjing, even Pindari here took turns holding you. It got worse when Daniel began cutting. The shocks grew more powerful.” He shuddered. “You were limp, but you kept trying to scream.”

“Oh, how awful.” She stared at the tabletop, then swallowed her sudden case of nerves before asking for more details. “I’d been told the treatment would just seem like a mild cramp to anyone touching me.”

“Normally, that’s right.” Sam pushed his empty plate away. He focused on her. “You sure you’re ready to hear all of this?”

Cam thought a moment, then nodded. “Yes. Daniel looked so exhausted. Tendar was a shadow of his former self. What did it do to them?”

“The implant? Not that much, directly. They are very empathetic. Daniel watched Tendar keep the infection at bay and grow weaker each day. But you stabilized.”

“The implant caused an infection?” She poked at the discolored bit of metal.

“Yes. For nearly three days, it wreaked havoc on the flesh around it until we got here. When Daniel cut into your shoulder…” he watched her face. “…it wasn’t pretty. Blood, puss, fluids just poured out. All the while, it kept firing off. It took all of the Kharmon to keep it from Daniel and me so we could see the leads come free while Tendar literally plucked the implant out. He threw it.”

“Yuck.” She licked her fingers, wanting to enjoy the sugary sweetness of the pastry to the maximum, amazed that the gory details didn’t bother her more. “I know, I should be freaked out. I’m too hungry, sorry. Was it the infection that made me pass out? I never felt it fire off. I don’t know what it should feel like so I guess I don’t know.”

“I’ve been told it’s like a fast and hard blow to the chest. Not necessarily painful, normally.” Sam perked up as Pindari set down more bread, with cheese and fruit. “I adore her bread,” he explained to Cam.

“No argument, so do I.” Cam picked up a slice of fruit. “Daniel told me how humans seldom get ill here, why did it take so long for me to fight off the infection?”

Sam grimaced. “It was very bad. I will be honest with you, I didn’t think you’d survive. Tendar wasn’t giving up. I’ve never seen anyone draw fever that way. But it worked. They’d watch you, he’d be right there when you sank away and pull you back. You were wiped down and it would begin again. Finally, yesterday, you weren’t sinking. But you weren’t waking up.”

The heat of embarrassment rose in her face. “You were there? When he…uh…with me?”

He tilted his head at her, then blushed himself. “Uh oh. You’re bashful. I apologize. Daniel seemed to think you wouldn’t care? Wanted me there in case…uh… I’m not so sure right now why he wanted me there.”

Pindari snorted. “You may not be a doctor, Sammy. But you know medicine and you know the human body.” She turned to Cameron. “He helped with the stitching. Warned Daniel that some damage may occur with the nerves, helped keep your arms and legs aligned correctly. Does it matter what he saw?”

Cameron shook her head. “No, it doesn’t. I’m not normally…well…shy about what shows when I’m being medically treated. I’m glad you were there. My arm is screwed up some. It just won’t listen to direction. That isn’t quite right, it isn’t flinging itself about. Doesn’t hurt, tingles a bit.”

“It might do more than tingle, eventually. As feeling returns.” Sammy smiled crookedly at her. “They’ll help you with that. I’ve seen some real miracles here. You’ll get better.”

She looked at her arm, still cradled in the sling. “Okay. I’ve seen miracles back home and now here. I’m here, it’s gone.” She suddenly wiped at a tear on her cheek. “It worries me. It took so long to get used to having it inside me, like some foreign thing. It hurt sometimes and I never forgot I had it. I knew it was there to help me. They never knew why my heart failed.” She glanced at the implant. “That poor thing.”

Pindari nearly growled, then abruptly struck the box off the table. She spun away, into the preparation area. Cameron sighed. “She really has a definite opinion.”

“She’s lost humans to technology.” Sammy bent and picked up the implant. “Ix doesn’t like human machinery. I understand your worry, Cameron. Just be patient and you’ll believe that you don’t need this anymore eventually.” He bent to retrieve the device and tucked it away into his pocket.

“I won’t be so scared?” she nearly whispered, then looked at him directly. “I spent so much time being scared. I drove my husband away.”

His eyes filled with compassion. “Then he didn’t deserve you. Fear is natural. Didn’t you get some help?”

She shook her head and let loose a huge sigh. “I never got around to it. Then it was too late, he found someone else. I’d gotten used to losing him, but then I woke up here.”

“You must belong here, Cam. It took me years to see it for myself. But this helps.” He tapped his pocket. “Seeing you alert and eating. Please, don’t cry.”

Pindari returned to the table and sat across from Cameron. “Do you remember what we were talking about before you collapsed?” she softly asked.

Cam lifted her head and thought a moment. “Oh. About sensitivity…our both having too much. I think?”

“Yes. Now, listen to me. You are who you are. You feel what you feel. Someday, you’ll be able to talk about it. To me, or Tendar, Daniel, Sil or someone new. I am a blunt speaker, most Kharmon are. Some use it to be cruel, Jefarin, for example. Tendar will strive for kindness, even with hard words. I just speak. Let me know, next time, if I hurt you. Don’t make me wait until you are sick!” Her voice broke.

“Oh, shit. It wasn’t that, Pindari. The fever didn’t make me apologize.” Cam wiped at the crumbs on her plate with her working hand. “I felt bad before I was sick. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

Sammy stood up. “I will leave you ladies to talk. Cameron? I will be here for some days. And would like to see you again.”

“Of course. I hope I will be back in the library…?” She looked at Pindari, who shrugged.

“You’ll have to ask Daniel. If you’re strong enough, I don’t know why not. Theo can help with the lifting and Sil is there to help. You’ll have assistance,” Pindari said. “Sammy, thank you. For everything.”

“Glad to be able to of assistance.” He smiled and left the kitchen, taking a handful of bread with him. “I’m going to the garden.”

Cameron sighed after he’d left. “I’d like to see the garden.”

“We can walk over later, once I figure out what I’m going to make for Tendar.” Pindari took Cam’s good hand in hers. “Next time, you tell me what you are feeling. If you need to yell, you yell. I can take it. If I yell back it doesn’t mean I hate you, or don’t care, or wish you were gone.”

Cam squeezed the three fingers, wrapped about hers. “I know. I don’t yell much. Maybe if I’d talked with my husband more about how I felt, things would have been different. But it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

“I think it does. I don’t know why, but it does.” Pindari let go of her hand. “Now, Tendar will need something hearty. He drank while tending to you, but wouldn’t spare the energy to digest food.”

Cam snorted. “That sounds odd. Didn’t he need the energy food would give him to tend me? And Sam was there?”

“He wouldn’t see anything! He was watching you, your skin, the incision. Why so shy?” Pindari chuckled slightly.

“Public sex isn’t something natural for me,” Cam protested. “Quit laughing!”

“It wasn’t sex, until you woke.” The cook stood up from the table. “A stew, I think. You up to helping me gather the ingredients?”

“I hope so. One way to prove I’m ready to get back to the library.” Cam didn’t argue the point any further. Once the pot was gently heating, Pindari strolled with Cam to the garden. The day wasn’t very bright, and the lack of sunshine seemed to keep the humans there slightly subdued. It suited Cameron’s needs. They didn’t see Sam.

As it grew dark, they sat side by side, silent but in harmony. Pindari finally broke the spell. “Cam, I’d like to feed you again, before sending you to bed.”

Cam nodded, lifting her right hand and brushing her hair back. She sighed. “I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want sex, but I don’t want to be alone. I…want someone to watch over me.”

“Now that your device can’t do it?” Pindari’s voice was soft, and actually the cook seemed to understand.

“Uh huh.” Cam felt embarrassed, but relieved. “When my heart failed last time, I’d already fallen asleep and didn’t even know what happened.”

“Sil can help keep watch, and Darjing. Sam. We’ll see to it.” Pindari slowly stood up and followed through on her earlier statement. The stew wasn’t ready, so she made Cameron a small plate of assorted leftovers, then called Sil to take her back to her library room. He understood and lay next to her on the bed, just holding her as she fell asleep. She didn’t wake up when Darjing took over, or when Sam sat his turn. He chose a chair, saying he’d fall asleep if he lay down.