Close Encounters (27 page)

But I couldn’t.

Murder was illegal, and by now we had an audience comprising all the Dynatec crew and the Buri who had been standing guard on the camp. Unfortunately, that was way too many witnesses. “Let him go.”

He took me literally, simply opened his hand and let Frisk plummet to the ground. The captain landed with a bone-jarring thud and curled into a fetal position, arms clutching his middle, moaning like he was dying.

Ignoring the cannons Max now had pointed at the Dynatec crew, Dorn pushed her way through the crowd and stopped beside Frisk. “What’s going on here?”

“He shot Crigo.” I angled my chin at Frisk.

“It was self-defense,” Frisk whined. “He attacked me.”

Hands on my hips, I glared down at the worm. “Max, did Crigo attack him?”

“I doubt it, Kiera.” He used his outside speakers so everyone could hear. “Crigo was lying in the shade, watching the camp as usual. Captain Frisk was in the jungle behind him the last time I checked, and Crigo was paying no attention to him.”

“But you didn’t actually see what happened?” Dorn didn’t wait for a response. “Frisk could have stumbled on the cat, which surprised both of them. You did tell him that the cat was out to get him, Agent Smith. It’s no wonder the captain reacted defensively.”

Sure, blame it on the GEP. I almost snorted in disbelief. We both knew he’d done it deliberately. There was just no way to prove it.

“Get him out of my sight,” I told her. “Now. Before I change my mind. And if Crigo dies, Frisk better hope he’s somewhere I can’t find him.”

Dorn pointed at two of her men. “You and you. Take him back to camp.”

She moved aside as they hoisted Frisk between them, and mumbled “idiot” under her breath. Then she turned back to me. “I’ll make sure he’s restricted to camp from now on.”

“You do that.” I waited until the Dynatec people were headed back to their camp, and then ran for the cargo doors, anxious to reach Crigo. Thor stopped to issue an order to the waiting Buri and then followed me.

The smell in sick bay was sharp and astringent, burning my nose and making my eyes water. Through the resultant blur, I saw Crigo stretched on a bunk, tubes and wires leading from his body to openings in the wall. For a moment I stood there, fighting off the nausea caused by my fear.

“Max?” In spite of my intent to be strong, my voice came out in a raspy whisper.

“He’s alive. There are no external wounds. His vitals are extremely weak but stable.”

I tiptoed to the side of the bed and gently ran my hand over the broad head lying so still. “Will he make it?”

Max hesitated so long I thought he wasn’t going to answer me. “Are you sure you want him to? You know what a blaster set to stun can do to a rock cat. They’re very sensitive to even the lowest setting. I don’t think Frisk had his weapon set on low. I can keep Crigo’s body alive, but his brain may be permanently damaged.”

“No.” A tremor ran over me and tears trickled down my cheeks, but my answer was fierce. “You do whatever you have to do to keep him alive. He’ll be fine. He just needs to rest a while.”

“Kiera—”

“No!” I knew I was being unreasonable, but that which is not spoken aloud is not real. At least, that’s the way it felt. If I insisted hard enough that Crigo would make it, then he would.

Thor’s hands settled on my shoulders and rubbed gently as Max lifted off to move back to his original position on the other side of the lake. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

I swiped away a tear, and shook my head. “All we can do is wait. And if you believe in a higher power, pray.”

For a moment longer, he stood there behind me, and then his hands slid from my arms and he turned toward the door.

“You’re leaving?” Already I missed the comfort of his presence.

“For now. I will return as soon as possible.”

“Where are you going?”

He paused to give me a self-conscious smile. “To pray. Should I send back something for you to eat?”

Touched, I looked down at Crigo to hide the reemergence of my tears. “I don’t think I could swallow, but thanks.”

After Thor was gone I pulled a chair to the side of the bunk and continued stroking the unconscious cat, murmuring encouragement until my voice was raw. Time crawled forward in small, slow increments. “I’m here,” I told him over and over. “I won’t leave until you’re back on your feet. I promise. You’re going to be fine, better than ever. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be back bothering the dragon birds and hunting herdbeasts. You can even have my bed if you want.”

I choked back a sob and dropped my forehead to his warm, silky side, closing my eyes in exhaustion. It must be close to dawn by now, and I wondered where Thor was, why he hadn’t returned.

More for something to occupy my mind than out of curiosity, I sent a seeking tendril through our bond. He was awake, but concentrating so hard on something I couldn’t get his attention. And he wasn’t alone. Several of the females were with him, trying to help him…do something.

Whatever was going on, I couldn’t worry about it now. I turned my attention back to Crigo. “Max, is there any change?”

“I’m sorry, Kiera. His vitals are still the same.”

With a sigh, I straightened, stretching the muscles in my back, then shook my hand. It tingled as if it had gone to sleep. I flexed my fingers a few times, then leaned over and gently rubbed the dark stripe between the cat’s eyes.

There was a whirring sound followed by a soft plop, and I glanced over to see a steaming tray sitting in the sick bay’s food-preparation unit.

“Thanks, Max, but I’m still not hungry.” Under my hand I felt the slight flick of an ear.

“You really need to eat, Kiera. Starving yourself won’t help Crigo.”

“I know.” Damn, my hand felt like it had bugs crawling on it, and I pressed it harder against Crigo’s head to ease the itch. “But forcing myself to eat when I don’t want it will only make me sick. I promise, if I feel the least bit hungry, I’ll eat.”

“Kiera.”

“Don’t nag, Max. It’s not attractive. I told you, I’ll eat later.”

“Kiera!”

He’d damn near bellowed, and I gaped in surprise. “Well, if it means that much to you…”

“It’s Crigo! He’s waking up!”

“What!” I jerked my gaze back to the cat just as his side lifted on a deep breath. His ear twitched again, and I realized it was the second time I’d felt it.

“His brain activity is increasing. Fast,” Max said excitedly. “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this happening before with a stunned rock cat.”

I leaned closer, almost nose to nose with the cat, excitement surging through my veins. “Crigo? Can you hear me?”

There was a flicker of eyelids, and then two amber eyes were staring into my own. I caught a wisp of puzzlement from him.

“You’re okay,” I told him. “Frisk stunned you, but you’re fine now.”

His head shot up so fast it knocked me back a step, a snarl curling his lips, and Max hastily withdrew all the life support paraphernalia. Gathering his legs under him, Crigo lurched upright, wobbled, and then his butt plopped back to the bunk. His emotions changed from anger to disgust and chagrin as he turned his head to survey his backside like it belonged on someone else.

“You’re still weak,” I told him, a stupid grin on my face. “The Frisk filet will have to wait a while. Here.” I grabbed the food tray Max had fixed for me and shoved it under Crigo’s nose. “Eat; you’ll get your strength back faster.”

He narrowed his eyes at me before lowering his head to sniff the food. Reluctantly, he began to eat.

The Crigo is better now?

Thor’s question had my brow furrowing at the tone of utter exhaustion it conveyed.
Yes, he’s going to recover completely. Have you been up all night?

Yes. As you suggested, we have been praying.

Except when he said
praying
, what I heard was “imploring.” A sudden uncomfortable suspicion hit me.
Who, exactly, were you imploring to?

The Limantti.

I was afraid he was going to say that. Doing a good imitation of Crigo’s butt, I landed back in my chair.
Let me get this straight. You asked the Limantti to heal Crigo?

It has never been done by someone not a Shushanna before
, he told me.
But I hoped it would understand through the bond I share with you.

Understand what?
I asked weakly.

That the Crigo is not just another animal. He is your family, and his death would cause you great pain.

Slowly I raised my hand and stared down at the black lines etched on my palm. The lines that glowed. The lines that had tingled and itched right before Crigo regained consciousness. The hand I’d been stroking him with.

I think you succeeded.
Numb with shock, I continued to stare at my hand a moment longer, then stuck it under my thigh where I couldn’t see it.

Shall I bring you food now?

No, Max can fix me something.
There was a whir as another tray of food slid out of the unit before I even finished the thought, and I wondered if the ship had fixed it for me or Crigo. Probably Crigo, since I wasn’t speaking aloud.
Why don’t you get some rest?

You also need rest.

I know, but I have to stay until Crigo can function on his own. I’ll curl up on the extra bunk here in sick bay.

The mental exchange came to an end, and I knew Thor had gone to sleep. Relieved at the privacy, I contemplated what had just happened. My feelings were ambivalent to say the least.

Retrieving the food, I carried it to Crigo and then got a tray of my own and dug in, hungrier than I’d realized.

Of course, I thanked the Goddess that Crigo was alive and well. On the other hand, the stone had used me to heal him, without my permission or knowledge.

I had to look at this logically, I decided. What would I have done if the stone
had
asked my permission? Stupid question. I’d have sold my soul to the master of the thirteen hells to save Crigo, with no hesitation at all.

Thinking hard and fast, I finished eating, gathered up the empty trays for the disposal, and lay down on the spare bunk so I’d be close if Crigo needed me.

Suddenly, I was faced with the biggest moral dilemma of my life. Because if I’d go to those lengths to save Crigo, why was I quibbling over using the Limantti to save the Buri?

For the next hour, I tried hard to convince myself that it was a totally different proposition. That using the Limantti to save the Buri might endanger the rest of the universe. But even I wasn’t buying it.

Maybe Thor had been right when he said I didn’t trust him. After all, as he’d pointed out repeatedly, their Shushanna had used the Limantti for centuries with no ill effects. I’d just been too busy panicking to really listen. Or care.

That wasn’t like me at all, so maybe he was right about something else, too.

Maybe I
was
resisting the Limantti because of my own personal fears. I’d admitted as much when he’d first broached the subject, but hadn’t really thought the matter through.

I thought about the consequences now as I drifted to sleep. How could I, in good conscious, accept the use of the Limantti to save Crigo but not the Buri?

Could I really acknowledge that I was what Gertz had made me, no matter what it was, or was I talking myself into playing God?

I didn’t know, and I was too tired to figure it out.

I
came awake with a jolt when a huge paw swatted me upside the head. The damn cat wasn’t gentle about it, either. His amber eyes were shooting darts straight at me.

Gingerly, I sat up and rubbed the spot while I tried to get my sleep-addled brain to focus. “What was that for?”

He stalked to the closed sick bay door and sat down facing it while Max answered. “He wants to leave. I wouldn’t let him until you said it was okay.”

“How is he?” I shoved off the bunk and stood surveying the cat, who was now glaring at me over his shoulder, impatience rolling off him.

“His vitals and brain activity are back to normal.”

“No residual weakness?”

“None whatsoever.”

“Good.” Awake now, I moved to the desk against the far bulkhead. “Crigo, I don’t want you anywhere near the Dynatec camp for now. But if you’re going to check on Claudia and Ghost, I need you to take a message.”

He came back and sat beside me while I jotted a brief explanation of why Crigo had hustled them into hiding, put it in a flexiplast tube, and handed it to him. Thor’s note to Ghost would have to wait. Maybe Claudia could figure out a way to communicate the details to her guy.

“Be careful,” I told the cat. “And this time, watch your back. It might even be a good idea to let Frisk think you’re out of action permanently, so stay out of sight as much as you can.”

As soon as Max opened the doors, Crigo was through them, disappearing down the hall. I started after him, and then paused. “Max, if Frisk leaves the Dynatec camp, let me know at once. And try to keep an eye on Crigo, see where he goes.”

“I’ll try, Kiera, but I’m having problems with one of my satellites again.”

“The same one as before?”

“Yes. And the one closest to it on the left is flickering occasionally.”

That worried me. I didn’t like Max having blind spots. “Can you fix them remotely?”

“I’m trying.”

I hesitated, feeling the need to do something to help. But there really wasn’t anything I
could
do right now. “I have to get back to the village. If you don’t have them fixed by tomorrow evening, you’ll have to go up and replace them.”

“Yes, Kiera.”

Once outside, I took a deep breath of the perfumed air and headed toward the Buri village. The antigrav sled was gone, so Thor must have taken it with him the night before. A quick check through the bond told me he was still asleep, so I took my time, enjoying the simple pleasure of walking through a tropical paradise.

The dragon birds were out in full force, taking advantage of the afternoon sun filtering through the trees. One of them landed on a vine near me and cheeped a greeting. It was the same one that had been contemplating eating my weapon yesterday morning. His feathers flashed in shades of iridescence from green to blue to purple as he moved. To my surprise, I picked up a trickle of recognition from the tiny creature. Maybe they were more intelligent than I’d thought.

He escorted me almost all the way to the village, flitting from vine to vine, cheeping conversationally, and then abandoned me for a clump of flowers as big as my fist. If I was here long enough, and got all the other problems sorted out, I’d seriously consider studying the dragon birds a little closer. I had a feeling there was more to them than pretty feathers.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the village was the Quonset hut sitting off to one side. It looked out of place beside the adobe buildings of the Buri, kind of like an armadillo pretending to be a butterfly. Redfield must have set it up, and from the sound of movement inside, gone right to work.

I skirted it and headed for my new home. At the moment, all I wanted was a bath and a change of clothes.

Thor was just waking up when I reached the bedroom, and joined me in the bathing pool. That, of course, led to a round of hanky-panky that left me breathless and replete. Having sex available whenever I wanted it was something I’d missed for the last cycle or so. I could really, really get used to it again, I decided.

The sun was skimming the treetops by the time we were dressed again, and Thor left to rustle up some grub. I waited until he went through the outside doors, and then moved silently down the hall to the Shushadeien.

The Limantti sat right where it had been the last time I’d seen it, and I shook my head. What? Was I expecting it to get up and walk around? Do a song-and-dance routine? It was a rock, for the Goddess’s sake. But the truth was, nothing that crystal did would surprise me.

I walked forward and stopped in front of it. From deep inside its ebony center came pulsing sparks of light. It had stopped broadcasting its siren call the second I stepped through the curtain. Now it was waiting.

A shiver of apprehension ran over me, but I forced the feeling away. Slowly, I lifted my hands and held them curved around the Limantti, an inch above its glossy black surface. No way was I going to touch that thing again. Not yet, anyway.

But it didn’t seem to matter whether I touched it or not. The crystal had so much power the air crackled with it, even when the stone was sitting quiescent.

“Where in the thirteen hells did you come from?” The thought flashed through my mind and out my mouth before I realized I’d spoken.

Instantly, I was overwhelmed with the sense of vast distances, of eons passing slowly in the cold darkness of space. And worse, a feeling of being so alone that it was more than painful. It was a soul wound, a hunger for companionship that left me gasping for breath and trying my damnedest not to collapse in a torrent of tears.

Before I could move, the feelings of sadness were gradually replaced by an intense joy, as the crystal discovered the Buri, tempered by its disappointment at their inability to really share with it on a mental level. It needed me for that, and it had waited so long I was tempted to give in right that second. But I couldn’t.

I stood there a moment longer, then lowered my hands to my sides and stepped back, my gaze locked on the crystal. “I can’t do this,” I told it quietly. “I’m not ready. There are things I need to understand about you first, like your history with the Buri. But I promise to have Thor tell me about your association with his people, and to at least consider the options from all angles. If I decide there’s a way to work with you safely, we’ll give it a shot, but you have to stop trying to lure me into it. Although I appreciate what you did for Crigo, the decision to join with you has to be mine or this won’t go well at all.”

The Limantti pulsed once and emitted a shimmering blue light that briefly illuminated the surroundings. Its intelligence was more alien than anything I’d encountered before, but I had no trouble picking up feelings of understanding and patience from it. There was even a hint of pleasure that it had helped Crigo. For that, if nothing else, I couldn’t help but like it a bit more. And the truth was, I now felt a bit sorry for it. Its loneliness had struck an answering chord deep inside me.

With a rueful smile at the realization that I was suddenly empathizing with a rock, I turned and went inside to find Thor. We had some talking to do, and this time I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

As it turned out, “no” wasn’t even on my list of options at the moment. I’d barely passed our bedroom when Redfield stepped through the front door.

“Agent Smith?”

“Right here, Redfield.” I walked to the front of the building to meet him. “What’s up?”

“I found something.”

Thor appeared in the doorway to the large sitting room.

“There is food prepared. Eat while you speak with the Redfield.”

With a nod, I gestured Redfield into the room. “We can talk in here. Have you eaten yet?”

He tilted his head as he thought about it. “No, I don’t think so. Sometimes when I’m working I forget to eat, or eat and don’t remember it.”

Okay, that boggled my mind. How could anyone forget to eat? Eating was right up there, with sex, breathing and sleeping, on my list of personal priorities. And the aromas coming from the dishes on the low table near the decorative waterfall had my mouth watering.

All three of us chose pillows, sat down and filled our plates, but I could tell Redfield’s mind wasn’t on what he was doing. I decided to take mercy on him. “What did you find?”

“Honestly, your ship found it, but neither of you realized the significance. Do you know how the reproduction cycle works in mammals?”

“Sure.” I stopped chewing long enough to answer him.

“The female releases an egg, it’s fertilized by the male sperm, and X number of months later a baby or babies pop out. Elementary.”

He smiled and shook his head. “That’s the end result, not the process.” Pushing his plate to one side, he pulled a pen and notepad out of his pocket. “Here’s how it works. Right above the brainstem is the hypothalamus.” He drew a crude brain and pointed to one organ.

“The hypothalamus makes a gonadotropin-releasing hormone that tells the anterior pituitary to secrete a follicle-stimulating hormone. Moderate levels of FSH are absolutely necessary for correct reproductive function, but the lack of any FSH indicates a problem with either the hypothalamus or the pituitary. None of the Buri females have FSH, and only one shows any sign of an estrogen-like hormone.”

I stopped eating to stare at him. “You’re talking about the hormone Max found in the gestating female Buri.”

“Exactly. And it means that at some point, she must have had the FSH or she could never have conceived. Now she seems to be the only female producing an estrogen-like hormone, which is nothing short of amazing. You see, they need the FSH to become adult females. Since they’ve obviously done so, I can only speculate that after going through puberty, their bodies stop making the FSH. Therefore, no pregnancies and no estrogen-like hormone except in the one case where a pregnancy
has
occurred.”

“So all we have to do is give them hormones and they’ll start to reproduce again?” I glanced at Thor to see how he was taking all this. To my surprise, he didn’t seem to be paying much attention.

I know we have few offspring. The why doesn’t matter. It’s the fixing we need. Only the Shushanna can do that.

Unaware of the mental conversation going on, Redfield continued. “Unfortunately, no; it’s not that easy, for several reasons. First, the Buri hormone isn’t estrogen. It serves the same purpose, and even resembles it a bit, but there’s enough difference in the two that one could never be mistaken for the other.

Second, the main problem appears to lie in the hypothalamus. There’s a part of the gland that’s atrophied in the female Buri, and it’s the part that produces the gonadotropin-releasing hormone. Unless we can find a way to revitalize the atrophied section, the Buri may die out in spite of all our efforts.”

I sat a little straighter, thinking fast. “Can’t we synthesize the hormone?”

Redfield shrugged and pulled his plate back in front of him. “Possibly. But it could take fifty or sixty cycles to do the research and development. I don’t think the Buri have that long.”

“No, they don’t.” Worried now, I mentally reviewed all the facts and hit a stumbling block right off the bat. “Wait. How did this one particular female manage to conceive? And what about Brownie’s little boy? His mother must be able to secrete the hormone too, or she could never have given birth.”

Redfield was shaking his head before I finished. “She doesn’t have it. Her hypothalamus is in the same condition as all the other females. I can only believe that for some reason, it became active again and she conceived. And then when the child was old enough to wean, it went back to being dormant.”

I turned to Thor. “Is that what happened?”

He put his fork down and faced me. “I did not understand all the words, but yes. Dryggahn’s mate worked many months to become with child, as did Sillia, the female who carries now. Most are not capable of this feat, and the few that are produce only male children.”

“How do they do it?” I asked, even though part of me already knew the answer.

“Through the Limantti. They have a small portion of the Shushanna power, just enough to invoke its aid in conceiving.”

Redfield was looking from Thor to me and back again. “What did he say?”

I wasn’t about to tell Redfield about the Limantti, so I said the first thing that popped into my mind. “He said they appealed to a higher power.”

Well, it wasn’t a lie. Exactly. “And he also said they only have male children.”

“That’s understandable.”

I glanced back at Redfield. “How is it understandable?”

“Because, I believe the sex of a child is determined by the female in the Buri population. The male’s sperm is pretty typical of mammals. Some sperm have the X chromosome, others have the Y. But whether or not the egg allows fertilization by either depends on the amount of hormone the female has released. In the one case we have as an example, only enough of the hormone was present to allow for the conception of a male child.”

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. “How did you get a sample of the male sperm?”

A grin flashed across his face. “I didn’t. Your ship had done an analysis somehow and he shared it with me.”

I was so not going to ask how Max had accomplished that deed. I was afraid I knew. Looked like a little chat with the ship on privacy issues was in order.

On the other hand, it meant Thor was fertile. And that meant at some point in the future, if I stayed with him, he would expect me to have a child. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. I mean, actually carry another person inside me? To someone who had been grown in a vat, so to speak, actually giving birth seemed a rather messy way to go about the whole reproduction business.

This would require a lot more thought on my part. And maybe a talk with Brownie’s mate and Sillia. I wondered if she’d let me watch when she gave birth. There were lots of vids out there showing the event, but I’d never been interested enough to buy one before.

You will be even more beautiful when you carry our child than you are now.

Yeah?

He sent me an image of myself, glowing like the sun, belly protruding as if I’d swallowed a minisub. I didn’t know whether to laugh or blush, so instead, I spoke to Redfield again.