Prince of Luster (35 page)
Authors: Candace Sams
He glanced at the patient and considered the creamy skin of her full breasts and perfect proportions of her body, as it’d been fully exposed when Gemma pulled the blankets back to make her initial incisions.
When one of his other crewmen caught him essentially gawking, he cleared his throat and turned guiltily away. That medical assistant snorted in amusement while pulling clean, thicker coverings over the injured woman’s body.
“I … I was just thinking her physiology and mine might be similar for a reason,” he defended. “Lusterian researchers speak of ancestors visiting many worlds in ancient times, before a ban was ever initiated regarding planets that were too backward to be exposed to higher technology. Earth might have been one of those planets. It seems logical to assume some of my home world’s travelers might have intermingled with various populations, thereby producing entities whose physiology is similar. Even compatible.”
“That’s quite true,” Gemma maintained as she took off her gloves and bloody surgical apron before handing them to a nearby attendant for sterilization. “Unfortunately … our decontamination unit didn’t see the similarities, only the differences, Commander. The decon-unit actually damaged alveoli in her lungs. That’s what I was repairing.”
Gemma moved away from the incubation unit, and the presence of staff still cleaning and caring for Laurel. She crooked one finger and Darius bent to hear what she’d say.
“Sir … I had to add a third lobe to her left lung, move some veins and arteries around and reconstruct them. Primarily, I moved her heart to the back and center of her chest to accommodate the larger lung system.” She briefly glanced back and moved further away from Laurel’s resting space while lowering her voice. “The thing is … I can’t undo what I’ve done. Not without killing her. To put her back the way she was would cause her to strangle in our atmosphere, just like you saw. She couldn’t diffuse our air for more than a short time … a couple of hours at most.” Gemma shrugged and shook her head in confusion. “I can run a thousand tests and never know exactly what the decontamination unit did. I really don’t understand it since our atmosphere is so very close to Earth’s. That being said … she’d be a medical miracle back on her home world. She could survive
there
with what I’ve done. In fact, her breathing there would be vastly improved. But once her chest was examined she’d never be left alone. I don’t have to tell you that her current physical state would in no way resemble her former one. Any youngster with a basic knowledge of anatomy would know there was something very wrong with the placement of her chest organs!”
“But … you said she can survive this way … right?”
“Oh, yes, sir! She’ll be fine. The prognosis is great. In fact, no one from an advanced civilization would question the procedure. But, like I’ve said, an
Earth
physician—”
He raised one hand to stop her. “This shouldn’t have happened, Gemma! That decon-unit is supposed to protect us, not destroy the body tissue of other races!”
Gemma shrugged and shook her head. “Maybe someone higher up knows this is exactly why we shouldn’t be engaging Earth citizens. But I stand by my decision to bring her aboard.”
“That’ll be my problem—”
“You won’t have to answer for it alone, sir. Whatever’s said or done in regards to her presence, I’ll be with you. It was as much my call as yours.”
He ran one hand through his hair. “I’m sorry to say her return to her home was always a moot point, despite this sudden turn of events.”
“Sir?”
“I had orders to categorically stay away from Earth once Goll was caught and restrained. I can’t countermand them for any reason, not without risking serious consequences for the entire crew. The law in this regard is standard League code.”
Gemma snorted and sadly nodded. “I never really believed the admiral or any other official would give us permission to take her back, including the unusual circumstances. I just
hoped
I might make a case on her behalf.” She shrugged. “Not to dwell on the obvious but … she’s not going to like it. I wouldn’t.”
“I wonder if all Earthers would have been as damaged by our decontamination unit,” Darius mused.
“I don’t know, Commander. We may never know. We’re on our way home and that’s the way things are.”
Gemma put one hand to the back of her neck and tilted her head left then right.
“You’d better get some rest. I’ll stay with the woman,” Darius offered as he walked to the incu-unit and stood to one side.
“You’ve barely had enough sleep yourself, Commander.”
“Yes, but I’ve had
some
. When your patient comes out of this unit I fear you and your staff may need all the energy at your disposal. There’ll be many questions to answer.”
“Aye, sir. The instruments on the unit should alert you to any problems. Call if you need me.”
“Good evening,” Darius uttered as he watched Gemma walk out of the med bay. He took one last look at the patient then settled back in a nearby examining chair to get some rest. Thoughts of home filled his mind. But then his contemplation turned to Goll.
Unspeakable loathing filled him. He tried to tamp down feelings of vengeance but it was no use. But for their prisoner’s sire, life would have been vastly different.
There was a point when harboring such vengeance would have been unthinkable. Something told him that once Goll was dispatched, the emptiness wouldn’t heal.
For the minutes the execution lasted he’d have some satisfaction. After that, he wasn’t sure of anything.
“I’ll watch you die like the blood-sucking, soulless bastard you are!” he whispered. “Any race that would take a child’s life deserves the worst punishment.”
Bitterness filled him to the brim. It threatened to spill over and drive him to the prisoner section of the ship to do the deed now. It took everything he had to make himself stay right where he was. He mentally repeated his oath to watch the Earther.
No matter how he tried, sleep escaped. It’d been replaced by thoughts of the past, a past he couldn’t undo.
His hands gripped the arms of his chair until his knuckles went white. For some reason, all his attention went back to the unit and the woman therein. At least one other on this ship would feel as he did. At least one more soul would have a reason to see Goll dead.
But to keep from making a victim of himself, destroying his family’s historic reputation and all it stood for, he’d do his duty.
He dragged air into his lungs and reclined in the chair, trying to think about anything but the hole in his heart.
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