Lacuna: Demons of the Void (15 page)

“The Geneva Convention, one of the Task Force’s standing orders, dictates that all people-”

“The Toralii are
things
, Commander, not people. They are
monsters
. Demons. Hunks of meat to be held up and beaten until their secrets spill out, then discarded out a convenient airlock.”

The man jabbed a finger down to the broken Toralii body. “This Demon spilled her secrets long ago, Commander, but still you keep her around. Still you let her consume our air, our water, our food...” His voice turned vicious and he leaned forward slightly. “You befriended a beast, Commander, and this has turned out to be a spectacularly
bad
idea. You’ve lost objectivity. The creature has given us all we can take... It is now refuse, debris to be discarded with the morning garbage.”

Liao tightened her grip on the rifle. “What did she tell you?”

Sheng’s grin widened. “The location of a Toralii resupply depot... and I fully intend to take this ship and
destroy
it. It was supposed to be the
Beijing
who would have this honour, but once I learned the good Captain Grégoire was there fucking his whore I knew I’d have to change my plans.”

Liao paused a moment, considering the man’s words. From a strictly military point of view he had a point; Saara had told them everything they needed to know, except the location of her home world and the reason behind the attack... and Sheng had extracted a very valuable piece of information from her, one not even Liao had been given.

Humanity had a history of mistreatment of “non-human” prisoners, where propaganda had dehumanized their enemies so completely that the offending soldiers no long even considered their enemies to be people. Now, it seemed, their species was carrying this habit to the stars... And while Saara was clearly non-human, in Liao’s mind she was a
person
and did not deserve to be brutalized this way.

It was, therefore, with some guilt that she recalled punching Sheng in the face. Although her actions had been done out of anger, and she had later controlled herself... it was difficult to claim to be the moral authority on the issue when there was an easy case to be made that she was a hypocrite.

“Call them demons, do you?” asked Liao raising an eyebrow. “If they truly are, then...”

Liao gently squeezed the trigger on her rifle. In the pure oxygen environment of the Operations room a large tongue of flame leapt from the end of the barrel, and with a bang-whiz the round blew out Sheng’s heart, the round blooming in a sanguine flower on his chest. The man collapsed in a bloody heap.

“... give them my regards when you see them in hell.”

She lowered the weapon, glancing around at the shocked faces all around her. “Apologies, Captain, for making a mess of your Operations room.”

James, at first surprised, casually shrugged. “Can’t say I wasn’t thinking of it myself.”

Act III

Chapter VII

“Horses and Stories”

*****

Medical bay

TFR
Beijing

Sol System Asteroid Belt

Two days later

“Will she live?”

An echo of her question to Doctor Saeed, made months ago, but now with one key word different: ‘she’. Her tone, too, was touched with something different. Rather than concern for her military objectives, Liao was concerned for
Saara
.

Was that treason? Was she a traitor to her own species by caring for their prisoner, or as she had come to know her, her friend? Did Sheng really have a point?

Saara lay on her bed nearby, her eyes closed, her face bandaged. Doctor Saeed stood nearby. He gave Liao a warm smile. “The Toralii heal faster than humans do, Captain. She has received a number of serious injuries... if she were a human, I am certain she would be dead, but fortunately that is not her fate this day. Sheng’s marines certainly did a number on her though.” He regarded her curiously, raising an eyebrow. “I’m assuming you had them punished...”

Liao folded her hands in front of her, blowing out a low sigh. “They pulled a Nuremberg defence. Said they were just following Sheng’s orders, like Cheung... Except, Cheung knew what she was doing and came around in the end.”

Saeed frowned. “I doubt that people ‘just following orders’ would beat someone so savagely... If you didn’t show up when you did, well, I doubt even my considerable skill would be able to save her.”

“In my heart I know that... and they know I know. They’re on very thin ice now. One slip and I’ll have James throw them off the ship...” Liao regarded the unconscious Toralii woman. “...When will she be able to talk again?”

Saeed beckoned to a seat, sitting down beside his Captain. “Her jaw was shattered, Captain. Six breaks... a very serious injury. We’ve surgically wired it shut, for now, and Lieutenant Yu tells us that the situation was explained to Saara; she wrote down all the help and information we could ask for...” a nod to the many security cameras, fitted with obvious microphones, “...which has all been recorded, of course.”

Liao nodded her head. “Yes, Yu is skilled. His assistance has been invaluable to our translation efforts. I’m glad he was able to help you.”

Saeed nodded, the doctor resting his hand on Liao’s shoulder. “Saara will be unconscious for another hour or two. I’m happy to contact you, however, when she’s ready to talk. For now, though, there’s nothing more you or I can do.”

Melissa nodded her head, folding her hands in her lap. “Thank you, doctor. I... I am concerned about her health. Between her surviving a nuke strike, then enduring Sheng’s almost equally destructive behaviour, I wonder if there are limits to what even the Toralii can take...”

“She’s strong,” Saeed offered, squeezing her shoulder slightly. “Her biology is amazing... I don’t think there’s any risk from what she’s been through so far. Just...” his face split in a playful grin, “...make sure she takes care of herself and eats her vegetables, okay?”

Liao laughed. “I’m not her mother, despite appearances to the contrary...” she smiled. “...But okay, sure. I’ll make sure she eats right. To be honest, though, we don’t really know her diet. She sure seems to love eating our food, but we don’t know how good it is for her. She might well be doing the equivalent of scoffing down on cheeseburgers and chips...”

“Probably, but she
seems
healthy, at any rate... at least, when she’s not being blown up by nukes or beaten by marines. But, again, who knows what healthy for her species looks like...”

Liao stood. Moving over to Saara’s bed, she gently cupped her much larger hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. “I’ll ask her when she wakes up.”

There was a moment of quiet contemplation as Saeed watched the two of them. When he spoke his voice was quiet.

“You like her, don’t you?”

Liao let a little smile play across her lips. “I suppose I do,” she admitted, “and I’m not sure why. I think it’s just that... well, you know. I’ve never really had many female friends – any, really – and this is... well, really, honestly, the first time I’ve ever connected with anyone of my own gender.” She laughed. “I wonder if it’s because she
isn’t
human...”

“It’s understandable,” Saeed offered, “people bond with the strangest things. Some people, for example, get along better with animals than with humans; my cousin is autistic and she finds that animals are, by far, easier to get along with. She doesn’t understand people at all, but when it comes to calming down a panicked mare she’s like a little horse whisperer or something. I’m not saying you’re like her, but that’s just the way it is... Such behaviours have been observed in neuro-typical people as well.”

Liao had always liked the idea of horses and other strong, large animals, but there were few opportunities to see them where she grew up. Still... Saeed’s observation of her was not far off the mark, strange though it was to admit. She stood now, offering the man a firm handshake.

“Alas, doctor, duty calls. I’ll be back later to check on her, okay? Let me know if she wakes up.”

Taking her hand, Saeed nodded. “I promise you’ll be the
first
to know.”

*****

Mess Hall

TFR
Beijing

Sol System Asteroid Belt

Two days later

In the great battle between exhaustion and hunger, eventually hunger won out. Although she had a yeoman to serve her meals in her quarters, Melissa preferred to eat with her crew; accordingly, when eventually hunger became too strong to ignore, Liao made her way to the mess hall, still flicking through a small pile of reports, triaging those that were not critical and skim-reading those that were.

Forgetting what she even ordered, Liao pulled up a chair at the long table and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them, she was staring into two familiar faces... James and Summer.

“Evening Captain!” came Summer’s enthusiastic greeting, which drew a chuckle from James. “Mind if we sit with you?”

Melissa gave a tired smile. “I don’t see why not.”

“I was just telling Summer about how my family came to Belgium from Rwanda when I was just a small child.” He indicated towards her meal. “I didn’t know you were a vegetarian...”

Summer laughed and shook her head, picking up a fork and tucking in to her chicken strips.

Liao looked down at her plate – salad with ranch dressing and a whole heap of potatoes.

“Neither did I,” she confessed. “I thought I ordered...” her voice trailed off. “...Honestly, I don’t remember.”

Summer just laughed again, but James frowned. “When was the last time you had some rack time?”

“...Uh...”

“If you can’t remember, it’s been too long.”

Liao shrugged her shoulders, absently popping one of the almost-fresh tomatoes into her mouth. “I have a lot to do... What if the Toralii find us in the asteroid belt?”

“I have enough time to eat on another ship,” James observed, grinning just a little and pointing his fork at her. “You should at least find time to
sleep
.”

“Besides,” added Summer, her mouth full of fish, “the likelihood of anyone finding us here is pretty damn good if they’re looking. An asteroid belt is basically empty space... I mean, there’s only about one tenth the mass of our moon spread out over an orbit between Mars and Jupiter... and if you remove the four largest bodies in the belt, you reduce the mass by half! That’s why we’re swinging out near Vesta, hoping to use its mass to-”

Liao grated her teeth. “I
know
, Summer. I command a spaceship, remember? I know how space works.”

“I’m just saying, we’re not really hiding very well at-”

“
I KNOW.
”

James and Summer both were silenced at the sharpness of her tone, and the people near her stared before deliberately looking away. The three ate in silence for a moment, then James put down his fork.

“Bed time,” he said in a tone that booked no argument. “C’mon. I’ll walk you there.”

*****

Medical bay

TFR
Beijing

Sol System Asteroid Belt

Later

The rest did her wonders. Much later in the evening, just as she was working her way through the most relaxing dream, Liao received the call she had been hoping for. Saeed had been as good as his word; the moment Saara was awake her radio crackled and his voice gave her the good news.

Pulling on her uniform as quickly as she could – and kissing James’ sleeping forehead on the way out – Liao rushed to sickbay as fast as dignity would allow. Yu was waiting for her there. Giving the man a curt nod, Liao made her way to Saara’s bed, her face brightening when she saw she was awake.

[“Captain Liao! It brings a smile to my face to see you. I didn’t think I would ever lay eyes upon you again...”]

Liao’s surprise was total. She stared at the Toralii woman, dumbfounded.

“Your jaw... Saeed said it was
shattered
. How can you speak?”

[“It was, but this recovery time is normal for my kind. Apparently, compared to humans, the Toralii heal fast, Captain Liao.”]

Liao cupped the Toralii’s hand in hers, squeezing fondly. “Some good news at least. It’s good to see you well, Saara. How are you feeling?”

[“Better than I did before, Captain.”] The Toralii woman gave a low chuckle. [“Apparently not all of your species treat their captives so well...”]

“Apparently not, no.” Liao tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “I’m... very sorry about what he did to you, what
Sheng
did to you... I didn’t know what he was planning, and I... If I had known...“

[“I know.”] There was a pause as Saara considered her next words. [“What happened to the man?”]

“I shot him. Ostensibly for mutiny, but... I have to say, what he did to you was
inexcusable.
Humanity doesn’t treat its prisoners this way... No civilized people should. Down that road lies inhumanity and madness.”