Deviation (29 page)

Reesa felt an icy sensation push through the IV and frowned again. "I'm not sure what point you're trying to make."

The chill continued up her forearm and the room began to swim.

"Two points," David watched her, shrewd eyes unfaltering on her face. "One, whatever motivations you had in marrying my brother, you should at least hope for survival on his account. He seems genuinely attached to you."

"If I survive ... " her tongue was thick and clumsy and she sank deeper into the pillows. It was just as well, she had no idea what she'd meant to say.

"And two," David gripped the sideboard table and pushed it away from her bed. She saw the deep red of the euthanasia button smear in her vision. "I'm not going to let you die. So you'd best resign yourself to this fact and start fighting back."

***

David double-checked her vital signs as she drifted off. He hoped that something he'd said might encourage her. He'd seen enough proof that people with strong will could pull through amazing feats and he needed Reesa to have that. She was right, of course. If the Makeem found out about her they would order him to kill her.

Fortunately for both of them, Matthew's security had more than doubled since his arrival. David couldn't receive, or give, any sort of communication to General Erid. For the time being, he didn't have to worry about a confrontation. All he had to worry about was keeping Reesa alive.

He thought of the way Matt had stared at her through the chamber and frowned. Reesa meant something to his little brother, even if Matt wasn't going to admit it out loud. Their relationship had never been plagued with brotherly affection, but even David could see that Matt had gone out of his way to help cover up the mishap on Outboard Jupiter.

David tried to think of what their father might have done in Matthew's place and sighed. Their father would have turned David over to the Community for judgment; there was no doubt about it. He'd probably have laughed while he did it too, thinking this was payback for David's choice to study science rather than business.

No, he thought. He owed it to Matthew to at least try to save Reesa. He could find the cure. If the Makeem killed her later, that would be on Matt's watch, not his.

"Officials announced Thursday that they could find no evidence of foul-play within the ranks of the Novo Femina. While Makeem Loyalists still argue that their "unnatural" wealth remains suspect, those among the investigative team are steadfast that there was nothing amiss within the Temple's financial documents
." - A.P. January 2, 2292

"You can't be serious," Kate stared up at him as he pulled himself into the giant banyan tree. Huge, tubular roots hugged up against each other, curling around the massive trunk. There were many different crevasses and grooves and had she not been a thirty-something mother of one, she might have jumped at the opportunity to climb it. The young girl inside of her itched to follow Myron in his vertical ascent, but she frowned and kept her propriety about her. After all, Myron wasn't suggesting just a climb, he was suggesting a bed. As fun as it might have been to race up the tree, Kate really couldn't imagine sleeping up there.

"Of course I'm serious," Myron paused and craned his neck to squint down at her. "You don't want to sleep down there. The rats might get at your toes."

"Rats?" Her attention snapped to the ground.

"Yes, rats," Myron sounded truly amused. "I'll fetch us one for dinner but you're going to have to set up the bedding for the night."

"I am not eating a rat." Kate scowled up at him as he returned to climbing.

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. It's not my preferred last meal but I won't be dying hungry. And come the morning we have a 4 kilometer trek to the nearest outpost. You'll want energy."

A distinctly cool breeze caught her attention. The dark plume of storm clouds was just visible beyond the branches, and by the feel of the wind Kate knew it was heading their direction. If she was in charge of bedding as Myron said, then she imagined they would need cover. She wondered where the Martian ocean was located. She knew there had to be one, precipitation required a large body of water to work with, but she couldn't remember where Reesa had put it on the Martian map.

"Best we hurry, Kate," Myron said. His gaze had found the clouds as well and for a moment he looked concerned. Then he looked down at her and flashed a charismatic smile, "I hate getting wet."

Resignation forced her to grip the trunk of the tree. With everything so alien around her, the familiar scrape of bark against her hands, the very action of climbing reminded her of childhood and home. Myron helped her at the last bit, dragging her up and into a strange, bowl-like growth high up on the tree. It didn't exactly look comfortable but at least they were less prone to falling out.

"The robes are not the best fabric for keeping out water," Myron said with a grunt. "But if you can secure some of the leaves as a roof that could work."

Kate eyed the dramatically large leaves shading them and nodded. He pointed to the bowl-shaped declivity and suggested more leaves for padding and then lowered himself over the edge again. Kate blinked in surprise.

"Where are you going?"

"To catch a rat, of course," he winked at her. "You'll be safe enough up here."

"What if that dragon thing returns?"

He smiled grimly. "Then here is as good as the ground, Kate."

He disappeared, dropping down from their perch with fluid agility. Kate exhaled, slow and controlled, and turned her mind to the task she'd been given. She wasn't dead yet and with everything Myron had given up for her safety, she wasn't about to quit.

Daylight faded too quickly on Mars. She managed to rip her robes in half and used one portion as an underlay, fixing the waxy jungle leaves on top by poking their thick, stiff stems through the fabric. This she tied to several of the branches hanging over the deepest part of the declivity, stretching it down until it was secured at a forty-five degree angle. They wouldn't be able to see much, but if it really was going to rain then she imagined that was a fair price to pay for staying dry.

The other portion of the robes she set aside, thinking of Myron's bare chest and the possibility of a cold draft. Her own spacesuit was still working, albeit barely. She didn't want to know how humid it really was on Mars. How Myron had managed thus far was amazing to her.

Surveying her preparations for a moment, Kate decided that the depressing lean-to of auburn robes and violet leaves was as good as it was going to get.

She scooted out from under the shelter and crawled to the edge. Her father had built a tree house for her and her brothers when she was a child and she'd loved it. But that was then, and this was now, and she was quite certain that the tree in her parent's backyard wasn't nearly as massive as this one. Her stomach pitched at the sight of the ground and she had to close her eyes. How high up were they? Thirty feet?

Opening her eyes again, she searched for signs of Myron. But there was nothing at the base of the tree and leafy branches obscured most of her vision of the ground. Sighing, she shifted to straddle one of the branches and tried to listen instead.

Wind was picking up speed, ruffling leaves in its passing. She could hear the groan of large branches bending, and the tangle of smaller branches fencing each other. If she hadn't been looking at purple veined leafage she might have mistaken it for the coming of a storm on Earth.

"Why purple?" She asked out loud.

Taking away the science that Hedric and Myron had given her, Kate wondered what would possess Reesa to make the planet into this color. Had she been going for an alien approach? Or maybe she just liked the shade and wanted to paint it this way. But she couldn't remember seeing Reesa wear anything purple.

Kate flinched at the thought of her friend.

Her mind flashed to that four hour wait at Tokeland Bay Marina. To the annoying press of her luggage latch against her left thigh. She'd thought of giving up more than once, of returning home and waiting for Reesa to contact her. But something had made her stay. Every time she stood up to leave she stared out at the black ocean, hunting for some sign of Reesa's boat and then she sat back down again and waited some more.

As the last traces of daylight bled from the sky Kate cursed herself for having waited.

***

"Who is it?" Matthew crouched beside Finnegan.

Through his helmet he could see the sway of the jungle as the storm began increasing intensity. Thus far there had been no rain but he knew it was coming. Their suits would keep them dry, but the ground would become unsteady. And it would be a welcome reprieve. Wildlife would take to shelter, if they hadn't already, and Kate would have a relative amount of safety.

Assuming she wasn't already dead.

Matt was fairly certain that the bloated, severed leg Finnegan was handling had come from a man. There was a certain, masculine bulge at the calf that seemed to suggest this. It was severed just above the knee; a crooked, diagonal cut that looked quite a bit like it had been chewed. He tried to keep that thought at the back of his mind as he waited for Finnegan's assessment.

The soldier worked quickly, smearing a portion of blood onto the palm-sized touch screen built into the forearm of his suit. The screen blinked twice, appearing light green in Matt's night vision before it brought up results.

"Freeman," Finnegan reported and set the leg down. "Traces of Dromodus saliva."

"A Dromodus?" Newbill said, and then hissed a curse. "We're too late, Boss. Best we call it a night before it comes back for seconds."

Matt grunted in agreement before he could stop himself. The Dromodus was one creature that might consider hunting even during a rainfall. Intensely aggressive, that was their main classification. But he couldn't give up without knowing for sure that Kate was gone.

"Spread out and search for any more bodies. I want confirmation that she's dead."

The Fomorri all turned in unison, taking orders from Chamberlain for their positions.

"Pitts, Newbill, left flank," Chamberlain said. "Finnegan, you're with me."

Matt stood, cradling his R413 in both hands, and began to scan the jungle just behind them. He saw his soldiers split off, each of them scouring the area for more body parts. He wasn't certain what he would do if they didn't find Kate. Reesa wouldn't take it well, he knew that much. The poor woman was still blaming herself for the deformation of the female race. If she heard that her friend had been killed by a Dromodus, she'd probably blame herself for that, too.

He flexed his fingers around the grip of his weapon and scowled.

"Lord Almighty," Pitts said. "I've found a trail."

"Human?" Chamberlain asked.

Matt was already moving toward the soldier.

"Human and Dromodus, sir," Pitts reported. "Someone's still alive."

"Or they were alive," Newbill said. "Boss, please don't tell me we're going to hunt a Dromodus now."

Matt stopped just beside Pitts. He was right. There was a trail. He could see two sets of human prints in the soft dirt, and one set of Dromodus. Frowning, Matt continued to stare at the prints as the rest of the Fomorri gathered. All of his instincts told him to cut his losses and go. Fighting a Dromodus was like gambling a billion dollars in a rigged card game. And the rig was never in your favor.

"Romberg," Matt said, knowing the soldier was manning all communications on board the Io.

"Here, Boss."

"We're going to need a quick extraction when things get messy. Don't leave the cockpit. Not even to piss."

"Roger that," Romberg said. "Boss, you've got movement coming in from the south. It looks like a team of six headed straight toward you."

Matt grunted. Celeocia's team, no doubt. They were quicker than he'd given them credit for.

"Let us know if they get close," he said.

Romberg acknowledged his request and then Matt started walking. He heard Newbill mutter several curse words, but each of his Fomorri followed. They knew this drill. Meet the objective, he thought, or die trying. It was their own personal motto, carried down from before Matt's father led the Borden Company. And for once, Matthew actually wondered if it was worth it.

He thought of Blake Knox's hologram exploding into blue light, and of the debris his men had collected from the ocean. There hadn't been much left of the Fomorri vessel, and absolutely nothing of the pilot. Casualties were nothing new to Matt, but it had been a long time since one of his elite had died.

He didn't want to think of how many more were going to be killed.

***

She'd spent four years in the Army, most of it deployed in Afghanistan. In that time she'd consumed at least a thousand MRE's - Meals Ready to Eat. Once she'd even found one with rotten cheese and that awful taste was somehow preferable to the Mars Rat. Though Myron had cooked it with care, he had no salt or spice to cover the distinct, almost kelp-like taste of the meat. And while Kate prided herself on a strong constitution, there was something about the chewy, foreign texture that made her stomach revolt.

Kate gave up trying to eat and focused on Myron instead. "Why are you helping me?"

Wind slapped their make-shift roof about, gusting through the horrid little shelter Kate had made. She wasn't certain how it was still intact and thought that it should have snapped free already. Myron nestled in next to her when he'd brought up the already cooked Mars Rat. It was such an unselfconscious move that Kate hadn't argued. And, now that she thought about it, she did feel a certain amount of safety in his nearness. He wasn't Ben but he was close enough and he'd already saved her life several times over.

He wore what was left of her robes like a blanket and hooked one knee, casual like, as he surveyed her before answering. "Hedric should never have taken you," he said.

"I have a hard time believing you would risk your life just to fix another man's mistake."

"Perhaps Hedric isn't merely another man?"