Too Close to the Sun (The Sun 1) (25 page)

He leaned more heavily on her, forcing her to carry more of his weight. She was soon breathing fast and hard.

“Leave me,” he ordered, thinking only of her safety.

“Forget it.” Her words floated to him in a fog. “Just keep moving.” Angel released his hand long enough to slap the comm-link on her shirt. “Yanur, open the hatch. Hurry.”

They hit the docking bay at a pitiful run and reached the walkway leading to the hatch of the
Icarus
accompanied by the sounds of their pursuers’ footsteps close behind. Sparing a quick glance back, Nicoli was horrified to see that the closest man was directly behind them, his knife already raised for the blow.

Then suddenly, the man screamed and fell backwards as a black burn spot spread across his chest.

Turning, Nicoli saw Yanur standing in the open hatch, laser in hand.

“Hurry.” Yanur let fly with a few blasts over their heads into the oncoming group. Then he stood aside to let them board. “I’ve got it,” he shouted, slamming his fist on the button to secure the hatch. “Get us out of here.”

“Just hold on a little longer,” Angel pleaded as she lowered Nicoli into a passenger seat.

He waved his hand toward the pilot’s chair. “Go.”

She sat down and fired up the engines. It was unlikely that the men outside could breach the hatch door, but the sooner they left, the better.

“Delphi IV Cont...
Icarus
, requesting ...launch...” Angel’s voice faded in and out.

Nicoli felt the pull as Angel fed the forward thrusters and heard her short laugh a moment later.

“We made it,” was the last thing he heard before the darkness took him.

Chapter 15

Brother Joh’nan stood on one of the many balconies at the House of Scyphor and looked out over the landscape of his people’s new home
.
The first of Coronado’s two suns was just beginning its assent over the horizon, painting the sky in wispy shades of orange, red and purple
.
Memories from his host body recalled hundreds of similar such mornings, but for Brother Joh’nan, it remained a novel experience
.
One fraught with symbolism.

For decades, his people had suffered the results of their own curiosity, paying the price for careless experimentation and lack of foresight with their very future
.
When it seemed there would be no salvation, Brother Joh’nan had a revelation
.

The answer had been in front of them the entire time, but their weakened mental faculties refused to grasp it. They had experimented on living bodies for years, taking organs from donors as needed to replace their own, thereby extending their lives. They had sold other donors and organs on the Black Market, to get the funding they needed for food and to continue their experiments. It had not occurred to them to inhabit a donor body, until almost too late.

Once the idea was presented, transferring the life essence of one of their own into a host body had been ridiculously simple. A further refinement of the transfer process made it possible for them to access the stored memories of the host body.

This, in turn, led Brother Joh’nan to the idea of taking over another planet, as well. Coronado, with its rich natural resources and cultural resistance to technology became the ideal location.

Following the selection of their new home, they began abducting key personnel from that planet, transferring the life essence of one of their own into the victim’s body and reintroducing them back into the world from which they were plucked. Tapping into the host body’s memories, the resident Harvester fit into his host’s life with seamless ease.

The ultimate goal to assume control of the planet would have been achieved more expediently had Brother Joh’nan simply taken over the High Counsel’s body, but the man was old and sick. So instead, Brother Joh’nan took the body of one of the High Counsel’s key advisors, one that was young and, presumably healthy.

He raised his left hand and tried unsuccessfully to make a fist. He hadn’t discovered the neurological disease slowly eating away at the donor’s muscles until after he’d transferred to the body and re-established himself. For now, he would stay in this body, but as soon as it was possible, he planned to transfer to another. This time, he vowed, the donor would be healthy.

A noise behind him signaled the presence of another.

“I assume you have news or you would not disturb me while I’m enjoying the suns rising.”

“Yes.” Brother Damon spoke from behind him, his voice laced with concern. “The last group of initiates failed to arrive as scheduled.”

“You contacted the Rebirth Colony?”

“No response. It’s like no one’s there. The little information I’ve gathered from the area trading vessels seem to point to a failure with the planetary computer system.”

Brother Joh’nan understood what he was being told. Without the computers, the main operating systems of the planet ceased to function. Without those, the little life remaining on their home planet would perish. In short, their planet was dead, as were all the family and friends who had remained behind.

He nodded, accepting the news. Such was the way of things. It would have been impossible to transfer everyone to the new planet, so those left behind would have died eventually as disease ate away their ability to function mentally and physically.

“And our plans to build a transfer center in the colony here on Coronado?”

“Proceeding as planned.”

Brother Joh’nan let out his breath in a relieved sigh. It was the end for some, but fortunately not for all of his people. Not the end for him. He returned his attention once more to the horizon.

It was the dawn of a new existence for his people.

Chapter 16

When they reached open space, Angel turned to check on Nicoli.

“Oh no.” She set the autopilot and rushed to his slumped form. Pressing her fingers to his neck, she felt for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak.

“Yanur!” Where had he disappeared to? He knew Nicoli was hurt.

“Come on Nic, hang on.” She ripped off one of her sleeves and held the wadded cloth against the wound in his side, which still oozed blood. She let the fingers of her free hand gently brush the side of his cheek. “Hang on, baby. You’ll be okay.”

His eyes fluttered open. “Where...?”

“Safe. Out in open space.”

“Hurt...you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

He tried to smile, but the effort seemed too great. “Good.” His eyes closed as his head fell forward.

“Nicoli!” She shouted, shaking him, afraid he’d died.

His eyes fluttered as he struggled to once again lift his head. His words were little more than a breath and Angel dropped her head close to his mouth to hear what he said. “Okay...to die.”

Angel felt the impact of his words like a blow to the gut. He had given up, accepted death. With a sick feeling, she realized he seemed to welcome it.

Well, it wasn’t okay with her.

“Yanur!” She looked around for the older man as she shouted, but still saw no sign of him.
Damn.
“Don't you die on me, Nicoli Romanof. You and I aren’t finished. That blade was meant for me. You had no right stepping in front of it.” Her tone was harsh with fear.

“You’re... welcome.”

“I didn't ask you to die for me.” She wiped furiously at her face, trying to dry tears that refused to stop falling. “Don’t die on me, Nicoli. Do you hear me? Nicoli? Don’t you die.”

“I think the people in the next quadrant heard you.” Yanur hurried onto the bridge carrying his black bag.

“Where the hell have you been?”

Yanur ignored her as he dug into his bag and removed a small device. Angel recognized the triage unit as he ran it a couple of inches above Nicoli.

“How bad?” Her voice was almost a whisper.

“Bad enough.” Yanur put the triage unit back in his bag and pulled out a long cylindrical tube. He opened a compartment on one side, then reached into his pocket to remove several small greenish crystals. Angel recognized the raw tyrillium. “But I have no intention of letting him die if I can prevent it.” He popped the crystals into the tube, shut the lid and checked the gauge. Seemingly satisfied, he pressed a switch and the tube began to emit a low humming noise.

“Hold his shirt away for me,” Yanur instructed.

Angel looked at the blood-soaked shirt, matted against Nicoli’s side. Grabbing the front of it, she ripped it open, then gingerly peeled it back, exposing the wound.

Yanur held the tube centimeters above the raw edges of the wound, moving it slowly back and forth. Angel watched, amazed as the torn tissue started to knit itself together.

Nicoli’s breathing grew steadier, more peaceful. After a few moments, his eyes slowly opened. It seemed to take him a moment to focus, but then he saw her and gave her a weak smile.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, leaning over him, unable to keep from brushing a lock of hair from his forehead.

“Like someone slashed me in the gut with a crystal blade.” His voice sounded weak as he looked down at his side, touching it.

“Are you in pain?” Angel asked.

“Not now.” He looked over at Yanur. “I guess you were able to get the tyrillium you needed.”

Yanur smiled. “Yes. I thought at the time the price was a bit steep, but I’ve since changed my mind.”

Nicoli moved in the chair and Angel put a hand on his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Getting up.”

“No. You can sit here for a while and rest. And you,” she turned accusing eyes on Yanur. “You can tell me more about your little gismo there.”

Yanur offered her the wand to examine. “It’s a Cellular Reparator.”

“What exactly did it do?”

“It re-knit the torn tissue and replaced damaged cells with new ones. Any toxins introduced by the knife’s blade were also eliminated.”

She stared at the instrument in awe. “What else can it do?”

“It’ll fuse broken bones.” He gestured to his leg, which Angel suddenly noticed was no longer broken.

“Immortality,” Angel breathed.

“No. That’s one thing it can’t do. It will heal wounds, even severe wounds. But there’s a limit to what it can do. If the damage is too great, it can’t heal all of it. And once someone is dead, well, it certainly can’t bring them back to life.”

“Handy tool to have around.” Angel handed it back to him with some reluctance. “How do you get one of those?”

“You don’t.” Nicoli said. “Yanur invented this one and it’s the only one of its kind.” He gave her a pointed look. “And we keep this one a secret just between the three of us. Understood?”

Angel scowled at him. “I can see you’re feeling better.”

“As a matter of fact,” he said, “I
am
feeling better. I think I’ll go take a shower and wash off this blood.” He stood up, Yanur at his side to offer support if it was needed.

When he was sure Nicoli wouldn’t fall, Yanur moved back a step or two. Nicoli turned to look at Angel. His face was still an ashen color, but the spark of life was back in his eyes. “Angel, there is one thing.” He gestured for her to lean toward him. When she was close enough to feel his breath warm her ear, he whispered. “Kiera you gave me the right to step in front of that blade earlier today when you gave me--" he paused and gave Yanur a quick glance, "--the other gift.” His lips pressed a kiss to her cheek. As she stared at him stupidly, he winked at her. Then he turned and followed Yanur off the bridge.

She watched them leave, her mind in a stunned state. When they disappeared from sight, she turned to sit in the pilot’s seat. She adjusted the controls, a happy warm glow blooming within her. Feeling better than she had in a long time, she flipped off the autopilot and felt the ship’s power in her hands. It was impossible to stop the smile from spreading across her face.

* * * * *

Twenty minutes later, Nicoli reappeared on the bridge. Angel started to get up, but stopped when he sat next to her in the co-pilot’s seat.

“You keep the controls for a while.”

“Oh, okay. How’s your side?”

“Good as new.”

She looked over at him, skeptical.