Endurance (43 page)

You don’t want me dead, Cherijo
.

My teeth clenched against the familiar voice speaking behind my eyes. No, I didn’t. “Get out of my brain, Reever.”

He did exactly that, then gazed around him. “You plan to use this ship to transport the Forharees off Catopsa as well?”

“Probably.”

“Be sure to stay on that safe world when you arrive, Cherijo. Do not return.”

That was it. He started to walk back toward the air lock.

So that’s how he’s going to play it
. My initial amazement faded and I went after him. “Reever, wait. We need to talk about this.”

He stopped, and looked over his shoulder at me. “My presence is required back at the compound. I cannot delay my return.” He reached for my hand and held it between his for a moment. “Good luck, Cherijo.” He reached for the air lock controls.

“Duncan—” I started to tell him what I knew, then saw the indicators go red. “Hold on, don’t open it!”

Someone had accessed the outer hull panel in order to enter the ship. And I knew it wasn’t Noarr. Without another word I ran back to the Forharees’ chamber and released the door panel to stick my head inside. “Jgrap, take Kroni and hide in one of the storage containers. Whatever you do, don’t make a sound.”

I darted back across the small corridor into the galley, and tried to find a place to conceal myself. Within seconds, the centurons blasted through the secured panel and cornered me against the cleansing unit.

TssVar lumbered in through the ruined panel, and regarded me with faint disgust. “I suspected as much. Put her in a suit and take her back to the compound. Inform SrrokVar I have apprehended both Terrans.”

“Gael.” I struggled as the guards hauled me out of the galley. “You leave him alone, he’s done noth … ing….” My stomach lurched when I saw two more guards holding Reever between them. “What’s going on here?”

TssVar ignored me and went over to Reever. “You knew the location of the vessel, and concealed it from me.”

Reever inclined his head. “Yes, OverLord.”

“For what reason? The life of a female?” The Hsktskt flung a limb toward me. “Is she worth your rank, your connections, your life?”

That scared me. “No. I’m not.”

“She is.” Reever simply wouldn’t shut up. Half the time I’d known him I couldn’t get a word edgewise out of his mouth, and now he spilled like a defective infuser line. “Of all those I have ever experienced, she remains the only one I have ever loved. She deserves the right to her work.
Her freedom. Her life.” His eyes turned a beautiful, haunting shade of blue, “She is worth all of that, and more.”

TssVar hit Reever, hard enough to send him to his knees. “This will be your last betrayal, HalaVar. Our bond is broken. Your membership in the Faction rescinded.” He paused, then spoken to one of the guards holding Reever. “Place him in the slave tiers.”

The party wasn’t over yet. When the Hsktskt escorted me and Reever back to the compound, SrrokVar was waiting for us.

“OverLord.” He made the obligatory bow. “I demand this Terran male be executed, for crimes of treason against the Faction.”

TssVar was in no mood to grant something as quick as an execution, judging by the way he was stomping past SrrokVar. “File your request with my assistant.”

“Prisoners Wonlee and Kelly must be executed, as well.”

“Why?” Once more I tested the grip of my escorts’ claws. “Are you having all the torturing equipment cleaned and recalibrated?”

“Take her to my chambers,” SrrokVar said, and then stepped back as TssVar whirled suddenly.

“I will not permit further
research
, Lord.” TssVar turned to address his centurons. “Remove the slaves being held in SrrokVar’s chambers, and confine them to the auction holding cell until further notice.”

“TssVar.” I waited until he looked at me directly. “I need to treat those prisoners.”

He paused for a long moment, then inclined his head. “Allow the doctor to see to them.”

I mouthed a silent thank-you as I walked past him. One echoed many times by the battered, pathetically grateful prisoners I later treated in the holding cell.

Gael Kelly came to me the moment I was thrust into the cell and produced a med kit. “I think you’ll be wanting this,
dote
.”

I gave him an enthusiastic hug, glad to see his winsome grin had returned. My smile tightened as I thought of what SrrokVar had requested. “Give me a hand with these people, will you?”

The Irishman made a good assistant, mostly by keeping my patients distracted and calm. Everyone settled down as we took care of the last of the injured and discussed the situation in low tones.

“He’ll not sell these knackers, not as they are.” Gael scanned the twenty prisoners and sighed. “Bushed, the whole gang of them. I’m gobsmacked they didn’t do away with them on the spot.”

That reminded me. “Gael, I need to tell you something important.” I relayed the standoff between TssVar and SrrokVar, then the sadist’s requests for execution.

He didn’t say anything for a long time. “As thick as two planks, I am. Should have expected it. Letting on like I was going back to Clare.” He sat back against a wall and closed his eyes. “Pisses me off, it does. Can’t scatter from this one. Unless …”

I nudged him with my elbow. “Unless?”

“You could give up the sleeven and save us all.”

“The sleeven.” It took a moment to recall what that meant. “Oh, no, Gael, not Noarr. He didn’t betray us.”

“Didn’t he?” Gael swept his hand around the cell. “I begged him to help me get these knackers to safety, Doc. Scaldy chancer said no.”

“But that’s only because—” I stopped. I couldn’t exactly blurt out the details of what I knew, and the coming attack. “Trust me, Noarr had his reasons for refusing.”

“Away on.” Gael got to his feet. “I’ll not give out to you about Noarr. You’ll see what he is, when they come for us.”

“We’re not going to die,” I said, not totally convinced I was right.

“Everyone dies, Doc.” He gave me a strange smile. “Some poor bastards a little sooner than others. This time, you get to pick when.”

I didn’t get to pick anything that happened after that. I barely got the details, and those left me stunned.

TssVar’s stubborn refusal to execute me, Reever, Gael, or any of the injured prisoners created a rift straight down the center of his ranks. Half the centurons apparently agreed with SrrokVar’s demands to rid the compound of the unhealthy and the perennial troublemakers. The other half were intensely loyal to the OverLord and supported his decision.

In the end, it didn’t matter whose side anyone was on. SrrokVar directly petitioned the Faction Hanar, the supreme ruler over all Hsktskt, and demanded TssVar be replaced immediately.

In a completely unexpected, stunning move, the Hanar agreed and sent back orders to do just that.

SrrokVar was promoted to the rank of OverLord and given full command over the Catopsa facility. After being publicly reprimanded and demoted to Lord, TssVar was to return to the Hsktskt home-world.

As his last official act, TssVar had me removed from the holding cell and returned to the infirmary. There he brought his mate, FurreVa’s brood, and the quints just before they were scheduled to leave the compound.

“OverLord.” I nodded to his mate and gave the kids an encouraging smile. “I was sorry to hear you’re leaving.” Sorrier than he could ever
know, now that I faced the prospect of the sadist running things on the rock.

“I regret it has come to this absurdity.”

“SrrokVar will do a lot more than that.” I lowered my voice. “We may not have much in common as people, but what he’s doing to these prisoners is insufferable. Is there anything you can do to get your ruler to prohibit this research of his?”

The huge yellow eyes blinked. “Even now, you do not try to plead for yourself.”

I lifted my shoulder in a helpless shrug. Pleading for myself wouldn’t do anything.

TssVar glanced at his brood, then drew me to one side and bent his massive head down. “I will go before the Hanar when I return, and inform him of the damage being inflicted on Hsktskt property. That is all I can promise, Doctor.”

“That should be plenty.” I curled my small hand around one clawed appendage end. “Thank you.”

Before they made their dignified exit, my namesake tugged on the edge of my tunic. “I will continue to work hard at my studies. You will find no fault with me when I become a physician, Designate.”

I couldn’t exactly hug her, but I gave her an affectionate stroke on one limb. “I know I won’t.”

TssVar and his family left without looking back. I made unnecessary rounds and swore under my breath every time I sniffed.

We waited to hear when the first of the executions was scheduled to take place. I kept my fingers crossed, hoping the Aksellans and Jorenians would be ready in time to stop them.

No one quite knew what to do when SrrokVar announced that he had cancelled every single one of the executions.

Paul Dalton came in for treatment the next day for a wrenched back that was perfectly fine.

“You tried to get out of work on K-2 doing this, if I remember correctly,” I said as I scanned his back, keeping the display averted from Zella’s sharp gaze. “Nurse, prepare a therapeutic bath. Make it nice and cool.”

She eyed Paul, then me. “Seems very minor, this male’s injury.”

“When I need a consultation, you’ll be the first to know,” I said, which made her stomp off toward the treatment room.

I removed our headgear as soon as she was out of sight.

“You haven’t told your staff yet?” Paul asked as he feigned stiffness and reclined on the treatment table.

“Not a good idea.” Now that I knew Noarr wasn’t the Hsktskt informant, everyone looked suspicious to me. “Tell me what the status is on your preparations.”

My engineer friend quickly related how he and Geef Skrople had rallied support among the population, including the League prisoners Wonlee felt could be trusted.

“We’ve created a grid of the entire compound, and planned escape routes. The guards should be no problem, if you can pull off your end of the plan.”

“I’ve almost got enough supplies synthesized.” Which hadn’t been easy, especially with the League staffers constantly underfoot. “I’ll need a couple of trustees to handle the distribution from here—food prep would draw the least notice.”

“We’ll start moving it, then.” He smiled up at me. “Don’t look so worried, Doc. This will be a piece of cake.”

“Be cake, it will not.” Zella appeared beside me and tugged off her headgear. Her tail slapped the floor beside my feet a few times. “To move the drugs, what containers do you plan to use?” Her teeth glittered as Paul and I gaped at her. “That happens in this facility, the nurses know everything. You had us fooled, you didn’t think?”

“Who else knows?”

Zella nodded toward Pmohhi and the Saksonan resident. “Be trusted, they can. To help, we want.”

Paul stayed quiet as I considered what I saw in the nurse’s keen black eyes. “I’m not so sure I trust you, Zel.”

“The feeling, I know.” She helped Paul up into a sitting position, then slapped his chart in my hands. “No choice, you have.”

She’d forgotten a vow. Maybe I could do the same. “All right. Let’s get Pmohhi and Vlaav to give us a hand, and I’ll fill you all in.”

I was astonished to find out how much of our plans the nurses and resident had pieced together. They seemed eager to help, too.

“Those drugs need to be infused, not ingested,” Vlaav said. We’d kept our headgear off, and the sound of the therapy bath jets concealed our voices. “We do not have nearly enough syrinpresses for our own use, much less this.”

“Since we’re not dealing with intravenous infusion, we’re not going to use instruments. Intramuscular will work just fine.” I told them what we planned to resort to. “Wonlee has been hoarding them every since we got here.”

“That’s … barbaric,” Pmohhi said.

“If the shoe fits,” I said, and turned to Paul. “Stop relaxing, pal. You’ve got to get back to the tiers and spread the word.”

“Maybe I’ll sprain my ankle tomorrow,” the Terran said, grumbling as he climbed out of the bath.

Pmohhi and Vlaav helped Paul into a support brace he didn’t need, while Zella and I cleaned up the therapy room.

“Someone has been working as an informant to the Hsktskt,” I said as I drained the tub. “I need to know who.”

Her fur rose around her neck. “One of us, you think it is? Impossible, that is.”

“Don’t be so sure. This place makes even the most virtuous souls desperate. Someone might be trying to earn back their freedom.”

“Coming for us, they say the League is.” Zella disposed of the used linens and gazed at me. “Will be over if they do, your freedom.”

Joseph would see to that. “Maybe I’ll stay.”

“Testify to help you, we will.”

Like the colonists had on K-2. I let out a single, sad laugh. “It’s been done before. Didn’t help. Thanks anyway.”

A paw touched my arm. “Why you are so driven, that is. For you, there is no freedom.”

“No.” It struck me again, hard. If the Jorenians and Aksellans arrived first, I’d get a headstart. But Zella was right. I’d never be free, not as long as the League thought I was alive. “There never will be.”

“A way, there could be.”

I listened as Zella described her idea, then shook my head. “Won’t work.”

“Unless you attempt this, you’ll never know.” She seemed a little ashamed when she added, “As a slave forever, I do not wish to think of you.”

“Me neither.” I sterilized my hands and picked up Paul’s chart. What she’d said made me feel better than I had in weeks. “Let’s get moving on rounds. We have a lot to do before the food prep team gets here.”

“Doctor.” Pmohhi stood in the open door panel, looking rather flustered. “The female Hsktskt is here.”